Find the Lost Puppy! (TehDMCmaniac & Erza Loveheart)

It was such a gorgeous day. The cheerful singing of birds seemed like an orchestra, it's beautiful music led by the gentle winds as they lightly shook the crowns of the trees. It seemed so perfect that it was almost like that was someone's unreachable dream, oh-so very distant and untainted by the dark side of reality. But, sadly, it was no dream. As such, it followed the same rules of reality as everything else exposed to the dark influence of existence. After all, there was a reason it was called the Spooky Forest. Even such a flawless place had a flaw. A great contradiction like many others that hold the otherwise wavering world together, even that perfect place could not be perfect.
It's all so sad, really. In a pure world exists an impurity, violating it's perfection. It's a truth as true as any law of physics. Something with a separate will can not easily co-exist with it's polar opposite and still retain it's purity. No matter how much that untainted thing struggles to defeat the dark side of it's own existence it will wear down, losing it's own integrity along the way. And eventually it will be broken, just like the thing which broke it.
It's so sad, really. It's almost like it loses what it fights to defend because of the fight it is forced to fight, yet it would trully lose itself if it does not struggle. Is that what you call "mutual anhialation"? Not really. In the end the only one who wins is the one who should lose. Why? Because the impurity is sustained by the death of it's counterpart.
They both get killed, but in the end only one of them dies.
So it must be hopeless. It must be hopeless defending the perfection in life. No matter what happens it gets lost. Someone's purity gets crushed under the relentless assault of all it strives to defeat. It is unavoidable. Regardless of the effort, in the end it is impossible to save everyone. Even from the start of the pointless struggle, it is clear that the best thing that can happen would be to sacrifice one in order to save many. So there is no way to save everyone, on way at all...

Yet that's not all true either. Truth is a concept, defined by the perspective of the one viewing it. The same truth can be very different for different people, yet still be the truth. It will hold the same meaning, but it will hold it in a different way.
So, I refuse to see this truth. Thiese lingering thoughts, as if memories of someone long forgotten, will not be my truth. Honestly, so shallow minded? It's almost disappointing. From the very start, the world was a perfect place. It did not hold any darkness within itself. That was brought by others. Unaware fully of the darkness within their hearts, the humans that were spawned within it's dream-like boundaries created it. Before them there was peace because there was balance and with those two concepts existed the purity of life. Nothing was caused excessively and nothing happened unneededly. But after humans came they broke all those things. Under their self-driven will the purity of the world seemed frail and soon shattered, thus plunging the world into an eternal struggle.
The world is held together by it's contradictions? Don't make me laugh. The world wavers because it is dying. Slowly, it's will is being erased by the tainted ones of it's inhabitants. Those contradictions which you believe are holding it together are it's endless agony. Being faced with an alien force, it tries to preserve it's balance by countering it with an opposite force of equal caliber. So they do not hold it together. They are merely a result, caused by a will's hopeless attempts to preserve itself. Nothing would change even if those contradictions did not exist. So trying to destroy them is pointless. Doing so would only destroy the evidence of the crime, thus leaving the victim forgotten.
But there is one thing you are right about. It is impossible to save everyone. The lives of humans are destroyed as a result of the impurity they themselves have created. So saving the lives of everyone is not possible. Even if I manage to save the lives of everyone whom is in danger, there would still be someone I can not save. The one endangering them.

Then why do you fight?

Because I want to.

That's not a logical answer.

Stupid questions deserve equally stupid answers.

I do not believe my question is stupid.

That's because you are shallow-minded enough to believe in the futility of struggling in the first place.

That is not a sensible thing to say after the truthfulness of my words is clear.

As I said, far too shallow-minded.

Explain.

Didn't I say it earlier? Truth changes depending on the perspective. But the fact it is the truth stays regardless. What you say is true. But, that is not a complete truth. It's a fragmented one, pieced together by the clear results of the actions of everyone. Yet as I said, it's still true, that is why you believe in it. But that is too shallow-minded all together. You perceive the truth as it is presenting itself, whereas I can see farther. It is true that It is impossible to save the lives of everyone. But that is if your goal is to do just that in the first place. Look farther. Why is everyone threatened? Because there is the result of their own selfish will. That result is the taint that defiles the purity of the perfection that naturally existed. So in the first place if one is to save everyone, they shouldn't aim to defeat that threat as it presents itself, but should destroy the evil which causes it.

So you are saying that everyone should be killed in order to save them?

No. What must be defeated is the darkness in their hearts. The thing which caused all evil in the first place.

That is not possible.

And why? It takes so little effort. All they need to do is believe. If, even for one brief moment, people trully believe in a brighter tomorrow, then it would happen.

Hopeless cause. You are the only one who believes that.

Ah, but I also believe that that's a lie. Everyone strives for happiness and just that awaits in the world where all evil is vanquished. So I know I am not the only one.

And even so, in the end there will still be one who will not be saved. You.

Haha, is that so? Yes, I will probably die because I can understand everything to a level where I know I have to fight for all of that. But who knows? I've heard, that paradise is a fun place to be, so I'll try to live through it all to see it. And besides, I have a reason to live. And I want to enjoy the paradise with her.

I see. Hahaha, so you are finally ready...
And for a brief moment, the image of a gentle smile, enveloped in light, appeared.
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"...Nn."
Aegis slowly opened his eyes. Immediately, the bright sunlight rushed through his pupils, as if eager to melt his brain. Squinting his eyes a little, the knight raised his upper body from the tree it was leaning on. After waiting a few seconds, his eyes finally got used to the bright, mid-day light and he managed to look around.
"The entrance of the Spooky Forest, is it? I must have fallen asleep here while waiting. I wonder what time it is."
Looking at the high trees, he couldn't find a clock anywhere. Naturally, no such conveniences existed in the forest.
"...Ofcourse they don't. *sigh* I must still be sleepy if I tried to look for one here." - were the knight's thoughts, voiced as usual. He had a habit of doing that when he believed he was alone.

Still sitting at the base of the big tree which acted as his pillow, Aegis looked around with drowsy eyes once more, so devoid of focus he would probably not have noticed anything even if a cataclysm was happening right infront of him. Having no real purpose, his distanced gaze saw nothing special. He could only notice the gorgeousness of the day. Looking at the treetops, he observed the cheerful singing of the birds, which seemed like an orchestra, it's beautiful music led by the gentle winds as they lightly shook the crowns of the trees.
"That's odd. Didn't I have a dream like that just now?"
Staring blankly at the colourful creatures up on the branches, the blue knight wondered for a while. It's true that dreams are often forgotten once you wake up, but something just seemed off.
"Such a nostalgic feeling. Was I dreaming of past events?"
He trully could not remember. Like a morning mist, the memmories of his dream quickly vanished from his consciousness, leaving him with just the wondering. If only he carried a sound-recording lacrima, then maybe he would be able to find out. But, ofcourse, having lived completely alone for many years, there was no one to tell him that he often talkes in his sleep, so naturally he never carried one. Well, atleast the ignorance allowed him to sleep in such open spaces unbothered, unaware he might really be saying what he does in his dream. Conveniently enough, it does save him a lot of embarassment, though.

"Oh well, it can't be helped." - proclaimed the knight, as if marking an end to his drowsiness and finally returning his senses to their usual sharpness - "Oh?" - which, ofcourse, led to the realisation that there's another person's presence near him. Was the knight watched until then? He didn't know, but somehow he understood that the presence was not a hostile one.
His head slightly tilted to the side, Aegis looked towards the location of the other person.

Erza was near the entrance to the Spooky Forest, where she was to meet Aegis. There was a mission they had undertaken. It was to save a puppy who had been lost in this forest. Unlike many people who hated this forest because of its Spooky nature; from where it got its name, she was comfortable here. It was because she had spent a lot of her childhood in forests like this. She used the forests as a hiding place from her godparents. ‘Why am I thinking about them now?? I haven’t seen them for years….’ She thought to herself. Another reason she was happy was that she was going to be with Aegis whole the time and also that it was a beautiful day.
Looking at the clear sky with its blue color and the white shapes which were formed by the clouds, there was a calm bliss which enveloped her mind. She reached the entrance of the Spooky Forest and saw Aegis standing behind a huge tree with his face looking at another direction. “Searching for demons, are we?!” Erza said with a little high voice, so that he could hear her and waved with her right hand. And she smiled to herself.

Having sensed a presence, the blue knight looked to the left with the purpose of seeing whose presence it was. But there was just one small problem. The presence's origin was in the opposite direction.
“Searching for demons, are we?!” - was the presence's owner's voice, coming from behind the mentally sleeping knight as he was busy dealing with what's left and what's right.
"I really need to practice waking up..."- mumbled he before turning towards Erza -"Demons? Whatever gave you that impression? I was just looking around for a clock."- Aegis' stupid, yet honest, reply. Truth be told, in his case, being stupid, sleepy and honest very often end up being synonyms. Watching a person like that, one starts to wonder what he'll be like if he was actually drunk. Sadly we'll probably never find out.

Picking himself up from the ground, the contrasting cyan knight dusted his precious and equally standing-out trench coat and started walking the few metres towards his now-arrived partner, busy waving at him enthusiastically. Returning the greeting with a light-hearted smile and a casual two-finger wave coupled with a "Yo!", the mostly awake knight stopped a metre and a half away from his ally.
"Ugh... I hate sleeping during the day. My inner clock gets messed up and I keep thinking it's morning now. Besides, it looks like I had a strange dream. I blame the sun for that."- spoke the knight, throwing an exaggerated glare in the sun's direction, only to be glared by it in return with rather blinding results.

"Ugh... I hate sleeping during the day. My inner clock gets messed up and I keep thinking it's morning now. Besides, it looks like I had a strange dream. I blame the sun for that." said Aegis looking in the direction of the sun and then blinking back his eyes at Erza. She smiled and remarked to him, "I didn't know that sleeping had such adverse effect with some people."

She looked above at the trees, they were so dense and thick that even though it was day it kind of seemed like an evening. Sunlight only gleamed at the places where the trees were cleared off or didn't grow. She glanced forward and saw a small path that seemed to be used frequently, but it seemed that it just didn't have an ending because from where they stood all Erza could see was utter darkness.

She started to say to him, "Well, you know what I think? I think the puppy must have followed this path and ended up ahead. Let's head there if you think its right."