Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
She became sad.

“Hope isn’t the only thing humans have lost. They’ve also lost kindness. And Peace has been like me the longest. You can meet them, but first I wanted to show you something.”

She took his wrist again and ran further down the path.

“I’m beginning not to like that Hope.” Said Duo, indicating his wrist with Hope’s hand wrapped around it.

“Don’t be a spoil sport Duo. You can free yourself at any time. I don’t care.”

Duo looked at her strangely.

‘Will I ever get used to her kind and carefree attitude?’ He wondered to himself.

He decided not to free his wrist just yet. He wanted to see what surprise she had in store for him. They ran through the forest for a short while until Duo heard a strange sound. He stopped for only a moment because she was still pulling him further down the path, towards the location of the noise. The woods cleared until there were mostly bushes and the grass slowly gave way to sand. The sound grew louder. She stopped them.

“Duo, close your eyes.”

“Why?” He said, unsure of her reasoning.

“Because, the surprise is up ahead and I want you to see it when I’m ready to show you.”

“Oh”

He closed his eyes, and she directed him forwards. The sound was becoming much louder now.

“Ok Duo, walking is going to get a little tough, so try to be careful.”

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know why, but continued wanting to see more. A few seconds later the ground underneath his feet wasn’t as stable and he nearly fell. He managed to grab onto something before he fell. He realized quickly that it was her. Instead of yelling at him, as every other girl he knew would have she just helped him to stand up.

“You ok Duo?” She asked, concerned.

“Yeah” He replied.

They walked slowly forward some more. She guided him to a certain spot and made sure he could stand.

“You can open your eyes now.” She said.

He opened his eyes and before him was a sight he had never thought he’d see. Before him was a vast ocean and a long, wide beach covered with sand.

“Isn’t it cool? It’s my very own beach.” She said, happily.

He barely heard her again. No wonder she didn’t care about using water to clean his clothes. There was enough water for about a million people here, and that was only counting what he could see.

“Wow!” He exclaimed.

Earth was starting to look rather pathetic to the young man who used to think that Earth was the place to be. A few moments paced as she allowed him to admire the view. Then she spoke to him.

“Duo,” She said seriously, “Will you help me to bring hope back to humanity?”

Bringing the subject back to that infuriated Duo.

“Why?!?! Why should you want to help them? Humans are mean and cruel. There’s no hope for them. They’d rather kill or than, whatever you want for them!” He growled.

She turned to him in shock.

“DUO!?!? Don’t say that!”

Her shock raised into sadness.

“You don’t know the human race if you say things like that. Duo, I’ve seen humans in their darkest moments. I know that’s all you’ve seen of it, but I’ve seen them at it’s brightest also. I want to help because I know what humans are capable of. The good they can do. I know that if peace came to the human race now, they’d never want to be like this ever again. Please help me, I want to see that glorious future I’ve heard of so much. I want the peace humans have longed for. I want to see the happiness that was lost. I want to see anything but what I see now.”

She sounded like she was going to start to cry with her last words, but Duo didn’t look at her. He thought hard about her request for a couple of minutes. He thought about all he knew about her. How kind she was, what she had seemed to be able to do, her naivety which was nearly impossible to find in someone so old, the hopefulness in her voice when she was happy, and lastly how much she cared for others, even those she didn’t know. He realized that their might be a very small chance if he went along with her he might get something out of it. He decided to go along with her belief, but he wanted to check one more thing before he would continue. He turned towards her.

“Hope, tell me truthfully, is there really a chance for the human race or is this just your wishful thinking?” He asked her, serious for the first time.

She had turned away while he had thought. He heard nothing from her at first but then she spoke.

“Duo, if there wasn’t a chance, I wouldn’t have come for you.”

Part Six