In the massive play room, aptly named ‘The Garden’, a cloaked figure walked around, seeing all the children happily playing, having a good time, and just being happy. “To see you all so young…” The person muttered while walking over to a big chair that was meant for story time, and when they sat down a lot of children looked over, excited for story time and bounded over, each child being different in someway, either them being human, dire wolf, naga, or any other race but all of them were hybrid’s at the very least. “Who wants to hear a story?” The person asked, all the children nodded and were happy for story time as the storyteller started to sing.
“Here in the Garden, let’s tell a tale about a Wolf who lost Hope.”
The children all tilted their heads, wondering why there was music, why the person was singing...and why it sounded very sad.
“Here in the Garden, seeing you all...gives me so much joy…”
The singer gently took off their hood, the children looking confused as they thought this was their Daddy Ben but...they looked older, scarred, and tired.
“Seeing your smiles, that’s what I’m after, the smile in your eyes the sound of your laughter…”
The older dire wolf started to tear up as they gently picked up Nancy and cradling her like young Ben did.
“How far I have traveled, holding to Hope, seeing you all dri~ft away…”
More of the innumerable amount of children started to move closer to the storyteller, wondering why they all felt like...they were losing a loved one.
“Failing to save you, all on my own, underneath the endless sky…”
The singer took a deep breath, trying to keep themselves together for their kids.
“Counting the Seconds, Wandering Alone, as thousands of years flew by...fearfully wondering, Night after Night, is this just Fate, could I have done something right…failing to save you, losing all Hope, seeing you all dri~ft away…”
As they continued to sing, the children were enraptured by the song, going into a world similar to there’s but a lot more bleak and sad, where Ben has been wandering for years, going to places they never knew about trying to do something.
“The Writer’s keep Turning Pages, for People who Don’t Care, People who weren’t There for you...and yet it still took me Ages, to see that No One’s there, see that No One cares, see that everyone’s moved on without you…”
The children all saw either their older selves doing heroic things, failing to comfort Ben...or seeing Ben grieving over thousands of Graves, each one having their names engraved on them.
“Finally something, finally Hope, about how I can make this right...but my life doesn’t exist here, everything’s wrong, and all that I love is safe...“
The singer looked at all the children, seeing them all tearfully waiting for more of the story, all of them wishing they could do something but knowing they should wait for them to finish.
“Isn’t that lovely? Isn’t that Cool? And isn’t that Cruel, and aren’t I a Fool to have, happily traveled, held onto Hope...only to watch you all dri~ft…”
As the singer continued their final version, they put Nancy down and slowly vanished.
Dri~ft
The children tried to reach for the being they knew was their father, alone and afraid of everything that happened to them and what would happen, but all got was thin air.
Dri~ft Away…
As soon as the music and song ended, all the children started crying in a shared feeling of sadness for that poor soul just...wanting to do something right for once in their life.
"I'm sorry my children..." Future Ben muttered as they put their hood back on and headed back to their base to put more things in motion.