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2 Hours Later
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"This is getting old now boy. You haven't managed to lay a single scratch on me. And most of all, you've already reached your limit for a while now. This is the one time I'll show you mercy. Give up now Xinrei, before I kill you"
Trsitin gave Xinrei a chance to give up, but of course he refused.
"..Why are you doing all of this anyway? I lost my father months ago, but you didn't see me going around killing innocent people for revenge.."
"Ahh, but you so easily forgot that you couldn't even control your own emotions or powers, and nearly killed yourself and destroyed that planet with most of your family on it in the process. Am I right, or did I leave something out?"
"..."
"..This is where you and I differ Xinrei. You had a support system to help you when you were broken. I, however, did not. My own family destroyed what I created, and nobody was there to help me through it. I can't go back in time to save who I've lost, and neither could you. But then again, you didn't lose your father, did you?"
"And..what about your son? Your wife may be gone, but what if your son isn't..?"
Upon mentioning his son, Tristin attacked Xinrei again and sent him flying across the room.
Completely forgetting about Renjun, he approached the boy and stood above him, holding his Keyblade against his throat.
"Don't you dare speak of him. Tayden was my pride and joy, and he was taken from me just like Ruby. Of course I don't know if he's alive. He disappeared when I went to bury him next to his mother. Even if he was alive, I would never want to see him again"
"And why is that...?"
"Use your puny head Xinrei! Why do you think I don't want to see him again?! Have you lost that much common sense over these past six months?!"
Xinrei looked into Tristin's eyes as he yelled at him, and he noticed something familiar about the man.
Just like Tayden, his eyes changed as if he too had a split personality like Jeno and Jeongho had once predicted. His looked exactly like Tayden's would whenever Li took over.
"You're..like him.."
"What??"
"You have a Tristin side, and a Li side.. You have a split personality like he does.."
"...How do you know about that?"
When he asked that, one of his eyes changed back to normal due to his shock.
"...Tayden has a Li side, just like you do"
"KEEP HIS NAME OUT OF YOUR MOTUH YOU BRAT!!"
Tristin yelled, striking Xinrei with his blade with the intent to kill him.
But he ended up striking the floor instead of Xinrei, realizing that he had miraculously disappeared.
"Maybe it would be best to listen to others before you just decide to kill them"
Tristin felt chills go down his spine once he heard the voice he didn't want to hear, realizing he had gotten distracted and completely forgot about why he was there in the first place.
He turned around and saw Renjun standing a few meters behind him, wide awake and holding Xinrei in his arms.
"D-Dad..."
"It's alright Xinrei. You did very well while I was gone. I'm so proud of you"
Renjun smiled at the boy as a few tears left his eyes.
Being back in his father's embrace after so long made him lose composure once again, but he was still very happy nonetheless.
"Tristin, nobody here wants to fight you, and nobody is trying to threaten you by bringing up your past. We're only trying to help you"
"Help my ass.. I've said this before; none of you can help me"
"Think again Tristin"
Without a warning, Doni suddenly entered the scene, ready and willing to aid Renjun.
"You... You're...Doni.."
"It's been a long time old friend, I know"
Doni smiled a bit, seeing a tiny bit of the happiness Tristin once had return to his eyes.
"But...it can't be.. I thought you died.."
"I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you sooner, but I didn't want to end up feeling your wrath after you went on a rampage. But I've never taken my eyes off of you. You worried me too much, and you still are"
"..."
"And as for Tayden, Xinrei wasn't just speaking nonsense. He really is alive, and he's doing fine"
"What..?"
Doni turned around a bit, and Tayden slowly came out from behind him to see his father.
"You..? But you're that kid from before, the one that knew my name.."
"..."
Tayden was too nervous to speak, but still did his best to keep himself in check.
But when they looked each other in the eyes, one of Tayden's eyes changed and looked just like Tristin's. This surprised both of them, but there was more for the boy to show to him.
"Tayden, show him your Stands"
Doni lightly rubbed his back to calm him down, and he eventually materialized Epitaph, as well as Soft & Wet.
Upon seeing them, Tristin became even more confused.
"You have two Stands... And one of them looks exactly like my King Crimson.."
"He's also a demigod of destruction, as well as a demigod of healing. He can also wield three Keyblades like you, and you both have that split personality that you both refer to as "Li". You even look closely identical to each other. This is your son Tristin. Tayden has always been alive"
"He's fifteen now, and he's been looking for you all of his life"
Renjun added to Doni's explanation.
"But..how did you...?"
"...I'm really sorry Tristin. I was the one who took him away. I didn't want to, but you weren't in your right mind after what you saw. So after your went out on your rampage, I took him to safety and we hid out all these years on Planet Loturn. Ocean Town is a very quiet place, and I knew that I'd be able to keep him safe for you if we stayed there. He only got involved in this mess because he wanted to find you after Renjun and his team showed up. He grew up seeing all the good they've done across many worlds, and they ultimately became his heroes, and Renjun was his favorite out of them all. I allowed him to tag along with them in order to find you, since he'd be safe in their care. I'm so sorry. I really wanted to help you, but I just didn't know how. However...I just want you to know that even after all of this, I still see you as my best friend"
Doni explained everything to Tristin, happy to see that he was slowly approaching him and his son.
Tristin hesitated for a second, but then he gently held Tayden's face with one of his hands, gently caressing his cheek with his thumb. Tayden immediately held that same hand, and relaxed after feeling the loving touch of his father. Tayden then noticed a familiar piece of jewelry around Tristin's neck, almost completely exposed from his shirt.
"..That's my tiger necklace"
"You really are my son...~"
Tristin smiled, seeing that Tayden easily recognized his old necklace.
But then his smile suddenly disappeared, and he pulled his hand away from Tayden before backing away.
"No.. This isn't right.."
"What's wrong?? Are you alright hyung??"
Renjun asked, feeling concerned for the older.
"..I ruined everything..."
"Tristin, none of this is your fault. You weren't the one that started this, but you can fix it"
"..Fix it? You..want me to fix it...? Hyung, look at me.. Look at everything I've done.. How can I ever fix this..? Nothing can go back to the way it was before..."
Tristin looked his friend in the eyes, both sides of him making an appearance again.
"Tristin, you've got to calm dow-"
"I'm the one that left Ruby and Tayden alone to die.. I'm the one that destroyed my relationship with the Gang Stars, when I'm the one that took them in in the first place.. I made them suffer.. I traumatized them and beat them close to death.. I tried to destroy Renjun's entire family, just to make myself feel better about my past.. I've killed so many people, and I killed even more on the way here.. I even tried to kill Tayden, and I didn't even I was fighting him from the day I showed my face to all of you.. Don't you get it...? I can't fix this..."
"Hyun-"
"I'm a destroyer.. It's in my blood.. I can't create things.. I can only destroy them.. I can't fix this... Don't you any of you understand..?! I can't fix this!"
Tristin yelled, tears running down his face with his voice filled with both anger and sadness.
The immense fear, hatred, and regret that he felt was all towards himself instead of anyone else. He knew that he went against his code to never use his destroyer powers, and he only began to lose himself more. But now, the look on Tristin's face completely changed to fear, and he roughly held his head as if he was struggling to stay in control.
"Tristin! You're overthinking this! We can help you, but you've got to calm down!"
Doni tried to snap his friend out of it, but the latter only shook his head.
"I-I'm scared..."
"You can't help us.."
Just like Tayden would, Tristin was struggling to keep himself in control.
However, Tristin's Li side appeared to be a whole lot worse than Tayden's.
"Hyung! You've got to get control of yourself! You can be with Tayden again like you used to be! Your wife may be gone, but you've still got your son that you created together!"
"Renjun.. I c-can't..."
"We can never be together again.."
Tristin momentarily looked up at Tayden, but the concerned look on his face only made things worse.
"W-What kind of a father am I for him..?"
"A child should never fear their father. Our bond was destroyed the moment we left"
"Father! Whether I'm scared of you or not doesn't matter right now! I don't want you to hurt yourself, or do something that you'll regret!"
Tayden tried to get through to his father, but everything went south once he tried to approach him.
When Tayden got too close, Tristin's Li side took over completely and attacked him. Using his destroyer god abilities, he cut Tayden clean across his torso with the claws he instantly manifested, sending the boy flying into a pile of rumble.
"Tayden!!"
Doni and Renjun both rushed to the boy's aid, and were relieved to see that the boy was already healing himself despite being close to death.
"Tayden... W-What have I done..? What did you make me do to my son..?!"
"We can never be together again. You know very well the monster we've become. He shouldn't have a father like us, and we don't deserve to be his father. All we do is destroy. That's all we can do. He's bound to be terrified of you anyway. Why bother trying to change now? Stop trying to be something we're not"
"Why...bother..changing..?"
Tristin's other eye starting shifting again, enabling Li to slowly take over once more as he started to give up on his one and only dream.
"Tristin! You're not thinking straight! It's never too late to change and do the right thing! Let us help you!"
"You don't have to isolate yourself anymore hyung. You can be with Tayden again, just like you always wanted. You may have hurt him now, but we all know that it was an accident. You're just trying to keep him safe. But you can still keep him safe by being his father again, just like all those years ago"
Doni and Renjun tried to persuade and reassure him as Tayden slowly got up.
"Please..... K-Keep him away from me.."
Tristin pleaded, before Li finally took complete control over him again.
"If all we can do is destroy everything and everyone, then we'll do just that. No reason for us to try and change that. We can't be anything more than a god of destruction, so that's what we'll be"
"Father.. Please don't do this.."
Tayden tried approaching him again, but right when Tristin was about to attack him once again, Robin suddenly came to their rescue.
Both he and Renjun summoned new Keyblades, to protect themselves and their teammates. Renjun's key looked very similar to Xinrei's, and Robin's key looked a bit more ancient than the others.
"This is your one and only warning. Leave us be, and you'll all get to keep your lives"
"Father! Please wait!"
Li suddenly vanished from the room, despite Tayden's pleas and attempt to stop him.
"Are all of you alright??"
Robin asked, putting his concerns for his teammates first.
"We're fine. Thank you Robin. It's really good to see you again"
Renjun smiled at his double.
"Tayden, I wanted to thank you again for healing all of us before. Most of us would've been goners if you hadn't stepped in"
"It's no problem at all hyung. I was happy to help. But...my father.."
"Don't worry Tayden. We're still going to get him back. We've made a lot of progress today, and it's all thanks to you. If you hadn't called me here, we wouldn't have gotten through to your father"
Doni reassured the boy.
"For now, I need to fix all of these damages, especially the damage that was done to our world. There are also many citizens that need to be revived. Until I get back, I want everyone to watch over Xinrei for me and make sure he's alright. He's been through enough already.."
Renjun gave Xinrei to Robin, and Tayden healed all of the injuries he had sustained.
The revived hero then fixed all of the damages done to their underground lab, and ventured off across Ethora, repairing everything that had been broken and bringing back all that had been lost. The only one that he couldn't help during that time, however, was Tristin, who continued to suffer all alone elsewhere.
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