cozzybob (cozzybob) wrote in cozzybabbles, @ 2007-08-13 06:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | bod, gen, zechs |
[GW] Hurt Me Twice
Hurt Me Twice
by cozzybob
Rated: PG
Pair: just Zechs
Warning: childhood memories, Zechs POV
Note: Written for the Beat_of_Destiny community on LJ, theme "beat" for the character Zechs Merquise.
When I was five, an ambassador came from Cambodia to wish my family well, and there was a feast. The ambassador had five children, and three of them were near my age. We played together in the gardens under our parent's watchful eye, until the adults drifted away to discuss business and we were left alone.
The eldest of the three started a fight. He said things that every child does to another, and I reacted. I hit him, and he fell, and then he rose and hit me back. His two younger brothers joined in, and then they began to beat me, calling me names even as I curled in on myself and cried. I was only five and I did not know how to defend myself. They were only four, six and seven, and they did not know better either. To a child, royalty means nothing. Not if you're royalty too.
When my parent's found me, I had a broken arm and I was bleeding. The other three were laughing. The ambassador was furious at his children and he promised to punish them, but my father was furious at him, and Sank and Cambodia had rough dealings for many months after that. Later, as I sat down on my bed while my mother fussed and called for the doctor, she told me something that no wife of a pacifist should ever say.
She told me to fight back.
I remember.
She wiped at my eyes and brought my chin up with her finger and made me look at her. I remember staring because I've always thought that my mother was the most beautiful woman to ever walk the earth, and I loved her. She smiled, then, and told me, "The first time someone hurts you, you must forgive them. This is because people make mistakes. But good people learn. If someone hurts you again after you've forgive them, by all means, hurt them back. There are people in this world that will learn no other way. Don't ever let anyone hurt you twice, Milliard. Don't be afraid to fight back."
Two years later, after she was murdered before my eyes, I remembered that. I never forgot it. My mother was a smart woman.