He had long ago set his affairs in order in some regards, and he had always felt like those matters were private. There were few who knew of his fall, the humiliation that came with having to pretend like he could still do the things that he had once had. They had agreed it was necessary at the time, that the sudden decline of his powers was not something that other NEXT could deal with because he was still setting down key legislation and bartering bitterly with the leading companies of Sternbild.
If they had known that he was on decline, they would have pulled the investments and NEXT would return to being nothing more than freaks to be shunned. He had fought too hard and too long under that stigma that he had dedicated his life not only to stopping criminal activity to planting the seed for NEXT to have equality. Most of all, he wanted that world for Yuri who would always be at risk for being a NEXT because of him, and he could not and would not allow his only child to grow up shunned.
So he pretended and he rotted inside for something so unexplained that only he and Albert knew the true extent of his degradation until he had retired and hidden away like he had some kind of disease. If only he could have prided himself on what he had done and forgotten all he had left undone.
Amazing... he hadn't thought so clearly in so long, but the pain was still as fresh as the last time he was sober enough to remember. He looked at Yuri seeming to swell with righteous anger, and it was so like his own that an expression of fondness flickered across his face. The tone should have angered him, but the serious expression was one he had seen too often on a much younger face.
"No, I'm not worthy," he said simply. He turned his face towards the people walking by, and the motions of their simple movements were more apparent to him than it had been before. It was generally in heat, but he sensed it. "However, I believe your mother and I raised you to have some respect still. Remember her lessons even if you refuse mine."
no subject
If they had known that he was on decline, they would have pulled the investments and NEXT would return to being nothing more than freaks to be shunned. He had fought too hard and too long under that stigma that he had dedicated his life not only to stopping criminal activity to planting the seed for NEXT to have equality. Most of all, he wanted that world for Yuri who would always be at risk for being a NEXT because of him, and he could not and would not allow his only child to grow up shunned.
So he pretended and he rotted inside for something so unexplained that only he and Albert knew the true extent of his degradation until he had retired and hidden away like he had some kind of disease. If only he could have prided himself on what he had done and forgotten all he had left undone.
Amazing... he hadn't thought so clearly in so long, but the pain was still as fresh as the last time he was sober enough to remember. He looked at Yuri seeming to swell with righteous anger, and it was so like his own that an expression of fondness flickered across his face. The tone should have angered him, but the serious expression was one he had seen too often on a much younger face.
"No, I'm not worthy," he said simply. He turned his face towards the people walking by, and the motions of their simple movements were more apparent to him than it had been before. It was generally in heat, but he sensed it. "However, I believe your mother and I raised you to have some respect still. Remember her lessons even if you refuse mine."