Heroes

When Angeal had been a child, he'd dreamed a lot about heroes.  He listened to the stories his mother told, as he sat on her lap, his head resting on her shoulder and young Genesis sat on the sofa beside them, and he told himself that was what he was going to do.  He was going to be a hero, somehow, and he was going to save everyone.

Angeal grew up knowing hardship.  There was no way that could be denied - too many nights where he went to bed hungry, too many mornings when he woke up cold.  But there was more to his life than that.  He knew friendship, and kindness, and the safety of having somewhere to go home to where he knew he would be safe.

As an adult, looking back at that time, at the sacrifices his parents made and the love they had shown him, Angeal knew that he had been lucky.  He wouldn't swap what he had had for wealth or comfort.  He'd had something that mattered more.

The sword that his father had given him rested heavy on his back, a constant reminder of what he wanted to be, what he had to do and how he could never permit himself to fail, how he could never just give up.  He wanted to be a hero, and even after his father was gone, and his mother was just a name in the occassional letter, their faith in him drove him onward.

Of the three great generals, it was Angeal who enjoyed working with the cadets, the grunts, the 'cannon-fodder' as Genesis dismissively called them.  Young men that were full of dreams and had little else going for them.

Despite his strength, despite all the enhancement that had taken place, he knew what it was like to be one of those men, to lose faith in yourself, to wonder if your dreams would crumble.  He knew what it was like to pull yourself back together, and that was what he did.

He spent time with the other generals, and they were his closest friends, but he also worked with the lower ranks.  He learned what they were aspiring towards, and when he could he helped them to reach it.  

One day, having escaped one of Genesis's endless recitations of Loveless, he saw one of the cadets, some distance from the others.  He'd seen him before, knew that he worked hard, so he approached him, and was greeted by a shock of black hair, and a cheeky grin.

"Hey sir." The cadet saluted even as he gave a greeting that certainly wasn't standard issue.
"Cadet.  Stand easy." The boy relaxed, and Angeal smiled at him.  "You alright there?"

"Yeh." The boy nodded, shifting his weight, a ball of energy.  "Just annoyed some of the others."
"What did you do soldier?"
There was a hesitation, and he glanced towards the rest of the group.

"I didn't like what they were saying so I told them.  They didn't like me telling them."
"I see." Angeal answered after a moment, looking him over.  "And what were they saying?"
"They were laughing at Kunsel sir." The reply came after a moment, awkward, because he didn't want to rat out his team, but he couldn't disobey a direct order.  "And I told them to leave him alone."

Angeal had nodded, and went to speak to the other cadets involved.  He made it clear to the perpetrators that he would not tolerate bullying, and then he found Cadet Fair once more.
"Thank you for looking after your team."

The look on the boy's face was one of shock and delight, and from then on Cadet Fair started to follow him around like a puppy.  He hadn't got in trouble, and more than that, he'd been praised by his hero.  

To start with, Angeal found the constant 'stalking' a little much to handle.  But he grew to treat it with exasperation, if not humour, and the boy passed from being Cadet Fair, to Zack, to just Puppy.  Seeing how hard the cadet worked, Angeal was happy to help him with his training, and was rewarded by seeing Zack climb the ranks.

Eventually, Angeal was forced to put aside his dreams of heroism, and defend a friend that needed him.  In the end, that action cost him his protégée, and hurt Zack, something he had sworn he would never do.  But as his life left him, he saw Zack take his sword, and he knew that the dreams of being a hero would live on.