Today I have learned an important lesson.

Never make Anna cry. For if you do, you are just begging to get your shit beat out of you by his usually calm as shit father who becomes a raging demon at the drop of the hat.

"Where are they going to take daddy? Is it because he hurt Mr. Alfaro? They are not going to hurt him, are they?" Anna said with a worried expression in her face.

Her mother calms her daughter and with a soft voice she whispered "Don't worry baby, daddy will be back soon."

"Yeah, don't you worry your little head Anna. Even if your father did hurt that asshole Alfaro, he did deserve it for being a colossal jerk by not only wasting precious food, but also hurting you in the process." I answered, I hear Alfaro grumbling in his cell so I continued. "Yeah you heard me you jerk? You sir are a huge turd. You be thankful that our cell is not beside each other or I will smack you so hard your memories will return. Then I will smack you some more till you lose them again."

"Uhn… Cloud is such a meanie." Anna replied.

"You see sweetie, there are times you have to treat people the way they deserve to be treated." I was about to go on a tirade on how you should treat others by how they deserve to be treated when I see Neera shakes her head on me. So I stopped and just watched the mother and daughter finish their food.

After they were finished, the room was deadly silent, with the exemption of the sound of Alfaro's snores, as we all wait for Vash to come back. Although visibly tired and yawning, Anna tries to stay awake.

"I want to see daddy when he comes back." Anna grumbled when Neera tries to get her to sleep.

"Now my darling daughter, don't worry for I will wake you up as soon as he gets back." Neera replied. When Anna still refuse, she hugged her and sung a lullaby. Her voice was so sweet, that even I was even feeling sleepy with her song. After a few minutes, she finally fell asleep and Neera tucked her in her bed roll.

"That was a good song." I said softly to avoid waking Anna up.

"Thanks, it is the song my mother used to sing to me when I was a child." Neera answered. After a short moment of silence she continued. "Sorry for my husband's behavior earlier. You brought us all that delicious food and we ruined our meal with his violent outburst."

"No biggie. As I said earlier, I don't blame him. I would also act like that if I saw someone I care for get treated like that. If I have to blame someone, I would blame that asshole Alfaro." I stated. "But if I have to admit, I was kinda shocked that Vash is capable of something like that. He just seem so calm and collected you know. Then baam! Berserker fury."

"He was not always like that you know. Calm and collected I mean. Back when we first got married he always gets into trouble and most of the time he comes home bloodied from his fights. But when Anna came to our lives, he changed." She fixes the hair of her daughter as she recount the past. "You see, he loves her daughter so much that he changed his ways, no more fighting, no more starting trouble, no more coming home reeking of alcohol. He let go all of that to become a good father and our daughter loves him for it. To be honest, I was kind of jealous. But I have to admit, he is more loving to me now than he was back then."

So, Vash was quite a hot head when he was young eh? He kind of remind me a bit of myself when I was bullied. Neera continues her story and I stayed quiet.

"It has been so long since Vash let Anna see him this angry. The first time she saw him this angry was when he beat up a group of the kids in town along with their parents when the kids snatched away the doll Vash gave to her as her birthday present and ripped its' head, making her cry. Seeing his father drenched in blood coming home traumatized the poor girl. She thought her father is dying and cried her eyes out. Since them, Vash never let our daughter see him angry or wounded." She continued. "So please excuse his earlier outburst. He just loves our daughter so much that he doesn't want her to get hurt in any way."

"Hey now, I already said I don't mind. I understand where he is coming from. Also, don't be jealous. I know that Vash loves you so much not only for giving him such a kind and gentle daughter, but also by being such a supportive and loving mother and wife." I reassured her.

She just smiled back and continued to hum a lullaby when she saw Anna stirred in her sleep.

After an hour or two, the doors burst open and the guards entered escorting Vash back to his cell. Neera woke up Anna and they both welcomed him back. They asked him what happened in the few hours he was away but he just said that it was nothing.

"It was nothing, my beautiful wife and child. They just interrogated me once more on what I know about Kaizer's army and a short reading of my memories once more to see if I was telling the truth. Once they made sure I really don't know nothing, they escorted me back." He explained.

After a short while, I noticed him staring at me.

"What? Is there something in my face?" I asked.

"Oh… nothing." He quickly averted his eyes from mine. "I just want to thank you for taking care of my family while I'm gone." He answered.

Hmmm… Why is he being so dramatic right now? "No need to make it a big deal man. You were not even away for a long time."

"Still I want to thank you. Even a few moments apart from my family feels like an eternity to me." He answered.

"I do understand the feeling. It's been so long since I saw mine." For me it feels like a lifetime ago since I saw them. But I won't let them see me get sad. The atmosphere here is already depressing, and if I also show them I'm depressed, then all of us will get depressed. "But no biggie. I will find my way back to them when we get out of here. Now, go eat your food. Your daughter saved them for you."

He thanked me once more and started eating. After he finished he tucked Anna back to her bed, hugged his wife and got to bed. I smiled at the scene, but at the same time it makes me yearn more for my family back home. I then grabbed my blanket and went to sleep, hoping that even in my dreams I could meet them.

Morning came and General Romulus himself brought another basket of food as our breakfast. It looks like the kind General let my little transgression pass due to technicality since he found it amusing.

"Good morning little "Hero". I must admit, you are a clever man. Using my words against me to give food to this traitor, disregarding my wishes. So this time I will word my orders carefully. If you give anyone your food and they shared it with the Traitor Vash, you will go back to eating hard bread and water. "Hero" or not, I will not let anyone feed the one who is stained with the blood of our countrymen." He declared.

"I already told you. I deserted the army of the Merryweathers before they fought you. Your mages already confirmed it through my memories." Vash answered, gritting his teeth.

"Hmmph. I would sooner believe that fire is cold before I believe your lies. I have seen it. Soldiers who have their memories altered to be sent as spies, then betraying those who came to trust them, and you have traces of your memories being altered." The General said, his voice full of hate.

What? Memories could be altered? That is terrifying, and I let them use mind magic on me multiple times. "Hey. If that was the case, is the reason why I am here is that you also suspect that my memories has also been altered? Do you also suspect me as a spy?" I asked.

"To be honest Hero, we did. Some still do. But since the Arch Mage didn't find any sign of your memories having been tampered, we have no choice to admit that you really have defeated Kaizer despite your manaless self. Although some are still skeptical. The Void hides a lot of mysteries, and you were trapped inside it for oh so long." The General answered.

Vash, Neera, and Alfaro was surprised with the revelation.

"You killed Kaizer?" His voice cannot hide his surprise. His face shows that he can't believe what he just heard.

"Yeah. It was kind of a lucky shot. He was already weakened when we fought and it was by pure luck that I won." Until now I can't believe that I survived the fight against that monster. From the looks of it, his power when he faced me is not even a fraction of what he can do if he is in his full power.

"Lucky or not, we are thankful for getting rid of the Tyrant for us. You just saved hundreds of lives with your heroic action. So please Hero. I want to help you get as much comfort with your stay here. But as I have said in the beginning, I will withdraw my support if you share with this traitor." He declared. His expression is hard, showing his disapproval with my actions.

I looked at Anna and saw her sad expression. I know that both she and her mother won't eat the food if Vash won't get to eat also. I really hate eating that hard bread but I also couldn't stomach eating good food while seeing a little kid eat nothing but bread and plain water. So with a heavy heart, I smiled and refused the General's offer.

"General, I appreciate what you are doing for me. You are a kind and thoughtful person that looks after not only your men, but also those who are victims of this cruel war. So just give me that bread and water. I won't be able to stomach eating good food while seeing others who don't." Well at least seeing those who I find important to me.

After hearing my words, the General just sighed. His expression softened. "It seems, I won't be able to persuade you since you made up your mind young Hero." He then gave the basket to me and started walking towards the door. "I will leave this basket to you since I don't want the burden of carrying it back myself. But heed this Hero Cloud, I know you have a kind heart. But kindness will only get you so far. Sometimes we have to harden our hearts in order to do what we must. To protect those we want to protect. I learned that the hard way." He then proceed to walk out of the room.

I just can't imagine what the General went through with parting those words of wisdom. I know that one day I must harden my heart in order to do what I need to do. But is it a sin to hope that day never comes?

I was lost contemplating what the general said when a small tug on my sleeve brought me back to reality. I turned and saw Anna with a worried look on her face.

"Cloud…" She said meekly. "Are you in trouble because you shared your food with us? If so, you don't need to share anymore. I am ok with bread. It is tasty and fills my tummy."

Seeing her troubled face, I smiled and reassured her. "Silly girl. No need to lie, and no. I am not in trouble. The kind general gave us food to share. So don't worry your little head and let us eat."

At first they declined my offer even after I insisted. They only relented when I threatened to give Alfaro the basket if they don't eat with me.

As we eat, I find Vash staring at me from time to time. Averting his eyes when I notice.

"Vash, if you want to thank me or something, you don't need to. Sharing food with a lovely family like yours is thanks enough." I said to him while I hand him a glass of wine.

He then just bow and smile. Kind of creeps me out for some reason. He used to be chatty but now he is so reserved. Is he so ashamed of his outburst last night that he can't talk about it?

We continued to eat until we finished all of the food in the basket. I then told the guard to pass my thanks to the general for the food. The guard then reminded me that Eleazar is expecting me at his lab as soon as I finish breakfast. So I said goodbye to Anna and her family, flipped off Alfaro who watched us eat good food with envy as he only chew on bread, and let one of the other guard let me out of my cell and escort me to Eleazar.

While in the lab, Eleazar was so focused on his work that I can't even ask him to continue our discussion yesterday. I was wondering if he is going to collect more blood sample when he took out his knife. Boy I was in for a surprise. Without even a word of caution, he then casually chopped my pinky finger, removed the bone and processed the muscle and skin, then healed it so it grew back up. It was so sudden that my brain couldn't register what happened till he finished what he was doing. That is when I screamed in pain. Not only because he chopped my finger, but because the freshly grown finger feels so raw that even a slight breeze on it cause pain, and I grabbed it by reflex, so big oof!

Oh dear lord, I was right. This man is indeed CRAZY!

As Cloud walks out of the room, I stood silent with my family. The man is really full of surprises.

I thought that they are only interested in this man because he a new prisoner to interrogate or because he doesn't have mana which should be impossible for everything in Astera is imbued with mana, no matter how small.

Who would have thought that the young man has killed the strongest being he have ever seen? Why didn't he told them? I thought he was only being called as "little hero" by the guards was to mock him.

Even the terrifying General Romulus who led the charge against the raiding bands of beastmen seem to like him. So why is a man who has killed the most hated enemy of the rebellion and heralded as a "Hero" doing behind bars? If he have that much pull with the higher ups he could even ask them to let us free. Surely they would grant a favor to the hero who slayed the mighty Kaizer?

So why? He surely close to my daughter so he would at least ask for her to be freed. But he did not. No. He is here just because he likes it. Because he likes to see the suffering of other people. Of my family.

As if sensing my negative thoughts, my wife Neera put her hands around my waist and hugged me.

"Husband of mine. Please don't think badly of Cloud not telling you of the things the General has revealed. He must have his reasons not to." She whispered as to not let little Anna hear what she is saying.

"What reason then pray tell? He is not one to not brag of his accomplishments, based on his frequent boasting about his past fights and that he is the strongest in their town, regardless how far fetch it is since he doesn't even have a drop of mana in his body." I said angrily.

"You men and your pissing contest. Not wanting the other to be better than them." She said teasingly. I know she does this for me to calm down, and it worked a bit, but I am still a bit angry. See, that is why he didn't tell you. If you couldn't even believe his stories about being the strongest in his hometown, why on Luna's name would you believe that he defeated that monster Kaizer?"

What she said makes sense. How can someone be as kind as Cloud, who acts like a big brother to my Anise, be like that? I must be letting the things I heard last night get to me.

"See? What did I tell you?" When Neera saw me smile after vanishing my negative thought, she kissed me in the cheeks. "What I am more worried about is that the General said that your memory has been tampered. Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, her face full of concern.

I try to ease her worry with a kiss on the lips and answered. "I am sorry my love. I didn't tell you because until just now, I didn't know that my memory has been altered. It is also a revelation to me."

"What would we do then?" She asked once more.

I then turned around and hugged her and Anna tight. "Nothing. I don't care about whatever I might forgot about the past. What is important is right now. Right now I with you, my loving wife, and my darling daughter." I kissed both of them in the forehead. "I would gladly give anything in this world just to be with you both."

With that both my wife and daughter melted in my arms and we continued to hug for another minute.

Yes, there is nothing more important than my family. What is left is to give him my answer.