Years ago, inside an orphanage, a boy was pouring water on a tree with a can. Behind him, a tall chubby boy is running with a girl. The girl stops and looks at the boy watering the tree, and she shouts, "Hey! Play with us, Nicholas!"
Nicholas, the boy with the watering can glances at her. "I'm busy! I'm feeding Woody."
The girl groans. "As if the tree will do anything for you! Just leave that tree alone!"
The chubby boy walks toward the side of the girl, and he smiles. "That's his hobby, he'll play with us later, Laura. Let's go!"
The clouds hide the sun, removing its warm light. Nicholas is sitting in the living room in the orphanage while writing words on a piece of paper. Laura sits beside him, and she blinks at the paper before she reads it.
"So, that is your dream? Wow!" Laura exclaimed.
"I want to write more about my travels," Nicholas pointed at the words he wrote.
The chubby boy spots them and settles on the floor at Nicholas' right side. "Wow. I thought your dream was just to plant more plants."
"Yeah, but I feel happy when I am doing this," Nicholas looked at him, "how about you, what do you dream of?"
"I dream of... eating many foods." The chubby joy explained with a grin.
Laura and Nicholas giggle at the chubby boy's dream. He looks at Laura then at Nicholas. "We promise to each other that no matter how many years it takes, we will see one another, okay?"
Nicholas looks at the ceiling and smiles. "By that time, I am famous for writing!"
Laura closes her eyes as she smiles. She nods. "My dream is to be the best caretaker of kids! By the time you both see me! We will play with the kids that I am taking care of!"
The chubby boy. "I, Juan, promise to be a good eater of food."
Nicholas giggles at him, and Laura does the same. She raises her hand towards them. "Let's do a promissory high five!"
Presently, that memory causes tears to fall from the eyes of Nicholas as he falls from the sky. Laura holds his back with her transparent hand, and with a soft tone. "Defeat him, Nicholas. Take the kids back, and through doing it, you will make my dream come true."
The lips of Nicholas wrinkle along with his eyes. He faces Acacia who's standing on the ground with his eyes fixated on him. Nicholas lands on the ground with his landing causing a crater below his metallic boots.
He looks upwards, seeing the calm gaze on Acacia's face. "You don't even feel one bit of guilt!"
Nicholas jumps straight at Acacia and punches his face but Acacia just catches his punch with his steel palm. He tosses Nicholas aside but Nicholas stands up immediately. He blows more hardened wind bullets at Acacia but he simply sways his body away from each projectile while walking towards Nicholas.
"I don't understand why grieve at a human who willingly sacrificed her life for the things she desired to protect," Acacia sharpened his right metallic hand into a long blade, "she should be happy that I aided to make her image look perfect because she sacrificed her life for those kids."
A warm heavy feeling fills Nicholas' heart, and his eyes narrow. The air seems to understand him, and it twirls around Nicholas. "YOU DON'T COMPREHEND ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT A HUMAN FEELS WHEN THEY LOVE A PERSON! YOU HYPOCRITE PIECE OF SHIT!"
"Stop," his voice trembled along with his chest, "SAYING THAT LIKE YOU DID A GOOD THING! I WILL TEAR YOU APART! I SWEAR ON MY LIFE!"
In a flicker, Nicholas appears in front of Acacia, and his punch to Acacia's face creates a huge explosion of air. He chases Acacia as his punch sends him flying away, and Nicholas grabs Acacia's wrist, pulling him closer. He aims his other hand at Acacia's face and releases a strong spinning wind.
That large tornado destroys everything in its path. Acacia opens his eyes and stands up but as he looks at the sky, Nicholas steps on his face before he jumps above him. Nicholas looks down at Acacia and fires a huge amount of wind straight at him.
Nicholas lands on the ground as Acacia is pinned deep into the ground. Nicholas falls on his knee, and his breathing goes faster. "That... was... intense."
He holds onto his chest, and he hears Gale in his mind. "My liege! If you continue to do that! You might use the other face of the air element!"
"I don't fucking care," Nicholas replied, "I'll kill him, and bring those kidnapped kids with me back to the orphanage!"
"Now, I know." Acacia got pulled from the pit by the thick wooden roots he summoned.
He brushes the dust off his wooden skin and looks at Nicholas. "That the small human who you call 'kids' holds more than just being the hope of a bright future. They are similar to the seeds that you people planted, that you and your kind benefited from; fruits and woods that fulfil your kind's daily needs."
Nicholas pushes himself back to his feet with his chest heaving. "I can still deliver blows!"
Acacia looks over his shoulder for a minute, and he looks back at Nicholas. "You're not worth fighting."
Nicholas glares at him. "You're just afraid that I'll break you in pieces!"
Acacia shakes his head, and in his eyes, he sees a green aura enveloping Nicholas. "I haven't seen it from the beginning but you are also a part of my ancestors, and what hits me the most is your unending determination to protect those kids."
Acacia points in a certain direction. "You have changed something in me. Go take those kids, and bring them to where they came from."
Nicholas shakes his head with him gritting his teeth. He vanishes and appears in front of Acacia, and punches him at the speed of a hurricane. A strong stab in his chest stops him but Nicholas doesn't stop. He fires wind projectiles at Acacia, making holes in his body.
Acacia falls on the ground with multiple holes on his body. A huge air pressure manifests between his palms, and Nicholas fires a huge air pressure straight at Acacia.
Acacia closes his eyes while the wind is tearing him apart, and he whispers, "I am thankful that the one who murdered me beholds a caring for plants in his heart."
A van stops driving beside an orphanage, and a woman wearing a red coat with a white dress beneath, comes out of the van. A cameraman follows her, and the woman approaches Madelaine who's surrounded by crying kids.
"Is it true that a strange man brought these kids back? Did you see his face?" The reporter lent the microphone to Madelaine.
Madelaine sniffs, nods as tears fall from her eyes, and speaks to the microphone. "It is true! I didn't see his face because he was wearing a mask that covered his mouth."
Far away from them, Nicholas without a face mask is watching the interview occur. He walks into the crowd, and later on, he enters an establishment.
He approaches a coffin in the centre and looks at the glass while a man is standing beside him with his eyes puffed.
"We had a promise with one another but it was broken," Nicholas bit his lip as tears fell from his eyes, "I wasn't there to protect her."
His body begins to shake while tears continuously fall from his eyes. "I-I'm a useless friend."
Juan puts his arm around Nicholas' neck and caresses his back. "Don't speak like that, you're going to make me cry again."
Both of them shake as they cry without making any noise, and Nicholas' head lowers as his eyes wrinkle. "S-She's gone. Our promise, we can't fulfill it together! It's all my fault!"
Juan sniffs. "Just let it out, man. Just let all those tears out, we didn't wish for her to die, it was all of her killer's fault."