Remembrance

Remembrance- 

“Grandpa, what’s this?” Phil looked up and saw that his grandchildren were digging through a box of his old things, he got up and went to look at the photo, he froze, the memories coming back to him. “That was your father, Wilbur, a long time ago with some of his friends and look there, it’s your mother.” The children both oohing and aahing. But the younger one, a boy was frowning,

“Why are they wearing uniforms? Almost like they are in some sort of gang revolution thing?” Phil looked to Kristen, his wife and she shook her head, 

“I don’t know.” Seemingly not satisfied by the answer the boy and his elder sister kept digging through the box. Phil went back to his chair and sat next to Kristen who whispered to him 

“You should tell them, they deserve to know.”

Phil sighed, he wanted to shelter them but he knew she was right, they should know by now, they should know all these things that rand back decades. Phil was lost deep in thought not knowing if he should or not. He got up to get some tea, to cleanse his mind and when he came back, he could see his grandchildren showing Kristen something, something that he had forgotten a long time ago. It was a drawing of a room, with a button on the wall and there is TNT everywhere, there is a man standing the illustrator made it so he is facing his back to Phil, but you can see that he has his hand close to the button, and he is hunched over, putting all his weight on the hand. The man in the picture is wearing a long coat and a beanie. There is writing on the walls and it is all scribbled, starts on the left wall and as it goes along the wall, it gets messier and messier until it is dragged along as if the person scratching it on the walls was unable to stand. The eldest child, a girl, was curious, “Grandpa, what’s this?” They could see Phil’s face just slowly drop into a mask, a hollow, seemingly hurting shell. The grandchildren see him and they are confused, they clamour for Phil to tell them what this drawing is. Phil and Kristin exchange looks, Kristin says, “They should know.” 

Phil sighs “Fine you tell them.” 

She shakes her head “It’s your story… not mine.” 

Phil sighs, knowing that now they would have to know, “Ok let me tell you a story of something that happened once before you were even born, a story of a great man.”

“There was a land a long time ago, run by a tyrant. Although some people loved him and followed him, there were some others who did not. They decided to revolt, to try and create a new nation for all under democracy but the tyrant did not let them. The tyrant had 3 loyal bodyguards and partners, and under his instruction, they caused chaos for the revolutionaries, but even then of his most loyal people, didn’t know who the tyrant was, for the tyrant made the nation and took over yet he always wore a mask, a porcelain circular one, only one other had ever seen him without. The revolutionaries fought body and soul to gain a new nation in the land against the tyrant, they gave up everything that they had, their most prized possessions to get independence for their new nation. The masked tyrant did not want them to, he gave them one day to surrender, it was only when one brave boy decided to trade one of the most valuable items ever for the independence of the nation, did the masked man finally relent. That brave boy, who risked everything, who nearly died, he was your uncle. The children gasped and looked on with bright eyes, barely being able to comprehend that they were related to someone who did that. To consolidate their rightfulness and to show that they were truly a nation of democracy, the founders, two of them decided to run for president to show that they were truly chosen and that they were meant to be. Even though their intentions were good, some people from the land chose to run against them, thinking that they should give the people a choice. The founders gathered one of the most powerful, prestigious people to try and endorse them but instead, the meant to be endorser chose to run for president and add the nation to his list. The man had the horns of a goat yet people were only scared of him and thought him to be the spawn of the devil. 

The election came and went, and due to a coalition between the man with the goat horns and another party against the founders, the man with the horns of a goat won the election and the nation. His first degree as the president, the emperor, was to exile the founders to a far off place. There the once heroes the once-great founders were helpless. They lived in a dark and gloomy place with no one else, until a man came seeking them out, wanting to help. The man was skilled in combat and would train them to fight, both against the man with the goat horns and the masked tyrant who still remained a threat. The man who could fight was also known for his blades and skills with them and he taught many others, all they know but not all he knows, just in case. Slowly the exiled built up a comradeship with many, throughout the land and some still inside the nation. They had gathered many with different skills and abilities, it became official, they would take back the nation, by force. The man who was good with blades had taught them all, and they were confident that they were going to win. Yet there was a traitor among them, one person who could ruin it all. They went on and charged against the man with the goat horns. It was a hard battle because there was something they had not expected, the masked tyrant was partnered with the goat horned man and they were so much more powerful. But the once exiled, the once founders and the ‘good guys’ were successful, the goat horned man had gone down the wrong path and had died because of it, the founders were now back in charge and they could finally right all of the wrongs in their absence, but little did they know while the oldest founder had given the other, the presidency and left to go to another place, a place that he secretly set up and had been 6 or 7 times. While the youngest founder was giving a speech, and even the youngest founder didn’t want the presidency for he still had a bone to pick with the masked tyrant. The youngest founder made yet another the president and all seemed happy and good. But no, while they were all celebrating, the man who was good with knives had enough, he didn’t help them to get them back in government, he helped them because he thought that it would destroy the government, he was with the side of no one but anarchy and his own, so there it was they seemed to have two traitors in their midst. 

The eldest founder, the true rouge, the true traitor had gone mad and had sided with the masked man. The masked man gave him so many explosives, stacks on stacks of TNT which the founder had laid under the nation that he fought so hard to create, it could all be gone just with a push of the button.”

“And that is what the drawing is, that is what a man, named Phil saw, many, many years ago.” One of the grandchildren piped up “But grandpa, that’s the same name as yours?” Phil smiled a sad, pained smile and exchanged looks with Kirsten. “Yes, yes it is.” While he was thinking “Oh children if only you knew” The eldest grandchild, a girl let out a breathy sentence “Can you- can you tell us the rest please?” Phil sighed, it was this but that was getting hard for him, it was this bit that hurt the most. He knew that Wilbur, his son, and the children’s father wouldn’t want them to know but they had to know “Very well” Phil said, “But a warning, this story doesn’t have a happy ending.” Kristen gripped his hand, even though she had only heard vague stories about this moment, she knew how hard it was on him, and even though she knew that it would hurt him bringing it back up, Kristen wanted to hear about this life-changing moment for him. 

“I saw him, the founder of the nation, the once-great man who everyone looked up to, he had done something so great and inspired so much in people but the sight that I saw was... Just something else. “What are you doing?” Phil said. 

“Phil?” You could hear that the founder was not in any way expecting anyone. He knew me from a long time ago, a past life when we were 18. He spoke again “Do you know what this button is? “Uh, yes I do”

“Have you heard... the song? On the walls? Before? Have you heard the song? I was just saying, I made this big point, it was poignant, and it's um... There was a special place where men could go, but it's not there anymore y'know, it's not-” The founder sighs and his voice falters.

Phil steps in “It is there, you- you’ve just won it back!”

“PHIL, I’M ALWAYS SO CLOSE to pressing this button, Phil! I’ve BEEN HERE like seven or eight times, I’ve been here seven or eight times… Phil, I’ve been here so many times.” His voice just cracks and you can hear the sadness in it. As he stops talking, there are sounds of fireworks and shots being fired. “They’re fighting, they’re fighting!” 

“And you just blow it all up” Phil shook his head at the man that was once so great. The founder was pained and you could tell it in his next words. 

“I do, I think, I-” he sighed. 

“You fought so hard to get this land, to get this land back, so hard.” 

The founder closed his eyes and leant back, he said “I don’t even know if it works anymore Phil, I don’t even know if the button works, I could, I could… press it. 

“Do you really want to take that risk?” Phil laughed nervously. “There is a lot of TNT connected to that button. 

“Phil… There was a saying Phil... By a traitor. Once part of our nation. A traitor- I don’t know if you’ve heard of him?”

I didn’t want to think where the founder was going with this but he wouldn’t stop “Yeah.”

“He had a saying Phil, It was never meant to be…” He pushed the button and the TNT was set off, there were explosions all throughout the nation and you could hear it. The room that we were in was in a mountainside and the side was blown open so both the founder and Phil could see out and the people fighting down there could see us. The man that was good with blades had gone against everyone and was slaughtering them. The masked tyrant and his followers were winning, they all got blown off course by the TNT. Even though Phil was on the mountain, you could see the masked tyrants mask had been partly damaged because of the explosion and you could hear him screaming in victory:

“YES YES” 

The youngest founder was shocked and injured, everyone, both sides were bleeding and hurt. The man with the blades and the no longer masked tyrant had recovered fast and quickly scrambled to a different side of the main hole where they could actually stand on a platform. The explosion had demolished the nation and there were gaping holes all throughout. The youngest founder, the one who had traded for the independence of the nation, looked on stunned at how the thing that he had once sacrificed so much for was now gone, razed to the earth and much below that. Phil looked to the man that had done this thing and he seemed shocked himself almost as if he didn’t know the whole extent of what the TNT would do. But the founder seemed to wake up and turned to him and started yelling almost manically with a crazed look in his eyes. 

“MY NATION PHIL, MY UNFINISHED SYMPHONY, FOREVER UNFINISHED IF I CAN’T HAVE THIS LAND THEN NO ONE, NO ONE CAN PHIL.” Phil was horrified and just purely shocked.

“Oh my god…” Phil says in disbelief he just couldn’t comprehend what the man had just done. Phil tried to look for a way out but the man wasn’t done.

“Kill me, Phil. Phil, kill me, Phil kill me!” He threw his sword at Phil. “Phil, stab me with the sword, murder me now, kill me! Killza, Killza, do it! Kill me, Phil! Murder me! Look, they all want you to! Do it, Phil! Kill me! Phil, kill me!”

“I- you’re my SON!” 

“PHIL, KILL ME.”

“No matter what you- no matter what you’ve done, I can’t-” 

The man hit the wall in rage. “Phil it’s- LOOK! LOOK! HOW MUCH WORK WENT INTO THIS, and it’s GONE… do it. do it.” 

Phil looks at him with regret and holds the sword as if he had never held one in his life, but he steels himself, looking at the people down below for something, almost reassurance that he is doing the right thing. He can see someone that he once held dear to him bruised and battered, it was that sight, the sight of those young men who had worked so hard for this, now so utterly defeated. Phil held the sword with a strong grip, almost as if he wanted to break the sword, you could see his knuckles turning white. He turned towards the man and you could see that the crazy man had now achieved a look of clarity and had his eyes closed, resigned to the fate that he had brought upon himself. Phil found himself moving forwards and his hand guided the sword down the middle of the man's chest, his other hand went to the man's shoulder to give him little comfort as he entered the realms beyond, the blade went through with only a little noise from the man. He pushed the sword up to the hilt and collapsed onto the ground, still with his hands on the shoulder and the sword. Phil pulled the man's body into his arms sideways and shed tears for the man that he had once called a son.”

“There is more to that story, more than you will ever know, though the man deserved his fate, some people didn’t want him to rest. But that is something that you can hear soon, just not now.” Phil felt his face wet and he didn’t know why as it had happened so long ago. But some things stick with you forever. He looked up and saw Kristen’s hand in his, she gave a comforting squeeze. The eldest girl looked at him and started speaking “What happened to the man with the blades, and what about the youngest founder? Were they okay?” Phil smiled at her curiosity. 

The younger child was quieter than he normally was, he just seemed to be processing it. Phil looked up at the clock and saw that it was five, the children's parents would be here soon as if on cue, the doorbell rang. The eldest grandchild ran to the door and you could hear her yelling “Mummy! Daddy!” But the younger grandchild stayed put with a thoughtful expression on his face and looked up from the carpet where he was sitting, “What was the man's name?” Phil sighed, he didn’t want to cause trouble for the man but the children had to know sooner or later. 

“Wilbur.” 

Credit- a lot of inspiration and similar plot line from the Dream SMP