Fearian sat on the flat concrete floor in the far corner of the still and empty room. Small rays of sunshine made it through one small barred window, revealing the dancing dust in the air in the grey room. 

His heart was beating loudly in his chest, and it felt like his heart wanted to burst out instead; he kept thinking about his action and let his regrets crawl on his back. He's been to this room multiple times from multiple problems he caused before, but something told him that this would be the final time he enters this room because of his dangerous mistake.

He thought about the worst punishment he could receive from the king; he either gets tortured in front of the Meanians and his family or gets executed. Or maybe there's something worse than getting killed by his king, but he never knew what, and his anxiety kept feeding his mind with more horrific outcomes. Until finally, the door opened, and Fearian's head jerked up and looked at him. 

He stood up once the king approached him with crossed arms and a serious look in his eyes as the door closed behind. 

"How long?" He asked first. 

"Your majesty I--" 

"How long can you keep creating new mistakes?" He continued. "We talked about this over and over again, yet you keep causing new trouble and this time you went way too far!" The king finally yelled. 

"Do you have something to say for yourself?!" 

Fearian flinched every time Salvador yelled at him, and his heart dropped even further down. 

"Look I thought I could teach the boy how to defend himself if he was in that kind of danger--" 

"First of all, he's too young to fight an entity, and he has all the help he needs if he was in any kind of danger. Secondly, this is the Fire Meanians' job to eliminate any dark entities or spirits or demons in this land, so you can't teach a young Terror Meanian to take that risky job!" Salvador pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"Well I didn't want his Spawn day ruined by a big grumpy Fire Meanian! That's another reason to--"

"Big grumpy Fire Meanian? He was trying to protect you all and I sent him there! Is that how you treat him?!" Salvador punched the wall with the side of his curled fist. "And that's not an excuse to disobey his command and run into the forest with two young children and put them in serious danger!" He added. 

Fearian's shoulders slumped, and his hands clutched into fists in a struggle for words and answers for his thoughtless acts, he tried to think of what to say in response, but he couldn't find any words in defence. When he failed, he stomped his foot once and grunted. 

A haunting image of the children's death pierced his mind, and that only hurt him more. Why did that wrong thought pop up?

Salvador glimpsed at Fearian's ruby eyes to see tears building up. 

"Look I didn't know what to do alright? I didn't know which action was wrong or right and I tried to be as supportive as possible to my family since I came back! I tried to be optimistic and cool looking for my family! To-To show them that I have changed, but apparently, that didn't work and now I'm screwed and I know it!" Fearian stomped even harder as pain shot up from his heel from the concrete floor. 

"You think I liked being called Naught even when I returned after I've been away for ten years?! Those men still hate me and are mad at me even when I tried to change into a better person! Do you think I'm happy about that?!" Fearian yelled with widened eyes, and tears began to roll.    

"They still remember the boy who stole and fought childishly with the other boys, they thought you were just a Naught, but you did more horrible things when you grew, resulting in crime. They can't forget about that you know," Salvador crossed his arms again. 

"First you were a criminal, now you've become a troublemaker and the men are not going to like you if you keep falling into trouble or making new mistakes on purpose," he added as Fearian stared at his eyes. To him, the eyes seemed to be glowing gold, or maybe it was from the blur in his eyes. 

"Please if you--"

"Give you another chance and screw up again like last time? I don't think you'll ever stop begging." Salvador shook his head. 

"I won't do it again! I promise I won't cause tro--" 

"I told you, I'm not going to fall for that," he widened his eyes at him. "you cause trouble, and when you promise to be nicer I give you a chance only to waste it with new problems, and you keep asking for another chance over and over! How long are you going to keep doing this?! Aren't you sick of it?!" Salvador's black pupils shrunk into dots as he yelled even louder. 

"Just tell me why?! Why did you have to be a criminal in the first place?!" He yelled again, and Fearian flinched by his angry tone, like a father who's disappointed to see his son do such a thing. 

"I just wanted to help my family in any way I can, even if it meant stealing food to feed Darvin when he was an infant or fight off the boys who bothered my brother horribly--"

"Really? What about your father?! Wasn't he there to help you both at all?"

"Our father was rather late to feed us and didn't show up to help Darvin when he was bullied--" 

"I remember that your father did something at least to help your brother and he was there for you too! So you didn't need to cause all that trouble! You're giving ridiculous excuses again," Salvador said. 

"But do you have a reasonable explanation as to why you committed crimes when you were older?" He asked calmly this time, but anger still hung on to his voice. 

Fearian hesitated to the question he knew the answers to, but instead of telling him the truth, he kept them for himself. He didn't hide the answers in anger but rather out of embarrassment and shame, mostly in regret. Salvador waited for him to respond. 

"Well? Aren't you going to answer me?" Salvador asked again, and Fearian remained silent. 

Salvador waited for a few more moments, and he stared at him in the eye to search for the answers himself while Fearian stared back. However, the king sighed in defeat. 

"You leave me no choice... I have made my decision," he cleared his throat. "there's only one way to stop getting yourself into trouble, and I'm sure that people would find it a relief when this is put to an end," he said as he moved his arms behind his back. 

"I'll accept any punishment you give, if it means teaching me a lesson." Fearian sniffed. 

"There's one final task you must fulfil as a penance, and I'm sorry to tell you this but... You have to leave the Meanian Kingdom."

Upon hearing the sentence, Fearian's heart attacked and heard it crack, and the world seemed to freeze even though he was inside a room surround by empty grey concrete walls. 

"You can't be serious... " Fearian frowned. 

"I am serious, because I'm doing what's best for my people, and when you're around causing trouble like starting a serious fight and harming one of the men; and bringing children to dangerous places can't be tolerated. So that can't be handled as a minor issue because I can't trust you anymore, for I know you'll keep repeating the same mistakes," Salvador explained calmly and seriously. 

"What about my family?! I just returned home to see them! You can't just kick me out and what about my son?!" Fearian argued angrily. 

"I'm sorry about that as well, but the men are concerned that your son might follow your footsteps, so your son must be left with your father to be taken care of properly," Salvador added as he slowly approached him. 

"No no no you can't do this to me! Let me take my son with me, and both of us will leave! Please! He's all I have!" Fearian sadly protested. 

"That child isn't fit to live without a home, and he deserves a better life rather than being raised by an irresponsible parent like you... I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but this is my final order to you as a king." Salvador laid a hand on Fearian and gave him a gentle squeeze. 

"Please please please... " He didn't bother to struggle from his grip but fell to his knees and begged with tears. 

Salvador let out a sigh before he spoke.  

"Fearian, I'm truly sorry, if you haven't caused any of this, then you wouldn't have to be in this room at all." Salvador tried to be as calm and sympathetic as possible after he gave an angry lecture. 

Salvador then knelt at his height. "Look, I'm just trying to do what's best... Even for you, I've seen enough misery and wrongfulness before and seeing it now? I thought I had enough and I started to think for harmless ways to solve issues like yours." 

"I don't want to execute you or torture you because you're still one of my subjects, even if you've done wrong things before. I'm talking to you like a father to his son, and I gave you this punishment so you could consider about your actions, but don't worry, you're not going to live outside forever. It's only for a few months until I bring you back," he explained. 

"Why send me out while you can at least trap me somewhere in here?" Fearian wiped away his tears and looked at his face. 

"I'm just doing what the men want, they want to see you gone forever, and that's not going to be long. I don't want to be that harsh to you so... Just please do as I say and I'll explain more later." He then patted his shoulder and stood up to turn. 

"Wait... " Fearian called, and King Salvador stopped. 

"What about my family?" He asked. 

Salvador hesitated for a moment before he answered. 

"I'm going to give you one day to say goodbye to your family and friends, and then we'll put you in the cell until the next delivery of supplies arrive, that's when you'll leave. But as I said, I'll come back to you to explain more about your penance. Again, I'm sorry that you have to go through this," he said and left the room. 

Fearian sat there alone with his fallen tears as his mistake put weight on his back, and his regrets were still crawling. But after King Salvador calmed down, the regret seemed to be less painful to think about.