This post contains a B rank storyboard mission called: Reflect on a traumatic event from your past
After getting his tattoo, his shoulder blade was still hurting. His skin was burning and his nerves were firing impulses at his brain, signaling pain. His shoulder was covered in plastic wrap so he was hot, sweaty and he couldn't sleep. He couldn't even lay on his back so he assumed the feetus position on his side. His brain was racing as he was trying to concentrate through the pain. He kept replaying past events. Fighting the bear. Meeting Kingdra. Helping Ralph and making him company. I should check up on Ralp soon, he thought. He thought about meeting Alucard and how much help he was. He pointed him in the right direction and taught him how to use water to fly, how to use sound, how create ice... Ice... That's right. He found out that Barney was a Yuki. He used his powers to scour through Barney's brain and he unlocked his memories. They flashed before his eyes like a movie. Yuki. His brain got stuck on a sequence of flashes as he relived those moments. He was only five years old that night. No wonder his memories were unclear up to this point.
It was a beautiful day that day. Barney and his father were playing outside most of the day. Having fun in the snow, making snowmen, making angel figures in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other. Everything that a kid would want to do. Oh yeah, of coruse, they were sliding down a hill as well. That was the pinnacle of his day. When it started getting darker outside, Barney's father decided it was time to go home. On their way home, one of their neighbours stopped them and talked to his father. He couldn't quite make it out but he heard a few words. Yuki... kekkei genkai... litttle boy... MOTHER... help... The word mother resonated quite hard with Barney, as his father looked at the man with disbelief on his face and stopped for a few moments to think. At last, he nodded his head and said ok, making the man leave. He took Barney home and told him to stay inside and to be a good boy and wait for him inside. He promised he would be home soon and that they would later make pancakes together. As Barney was a little kid, he didn't pay it much mind and he was happy at the mention of pancakes. His father left and he was alone.
As time passed, Barney got restless like any other kid and as it was nighttime by now, he got a bit scared. He started hearing noises and as always happens, his brain started making up stories to justify the unfamiliar sounds. He thought some creatures were coming for him thus he started crying and calling for his father. There was no response so he ran outside of their home and he started wandering around. Mind you, it was snowy and cold outside and he rushed out without putting a jacket on, just in his sweater. As he wandered around, he could hear a lot of screaming and yelling. There were a whole bunch of male voices screaming and shouting and they were overpowering the screams of a female voice and the desperate cry of some child. Barney was terrified as he followed the sounds and got closer and closer. As he got close enough, he hid behind a barn from where he could clearly see everything that was happening. The doors blasted open on the house and Barney saw a man pulling a woman out by her hair as she was screaming and kicking about. Another man followed, having grabbed a kid and carrying it out as it was crying. They both threw them down onto the ground and into the snow as the rest of the mob followed out of the house. They formed a circle around the mother and the child but Barney could see them clearly. It wad a lady with her son and he saw them a few times but he wasn't really familiar with them. He never met them so he didn't know their names. He looked at the faces of the mobsters, looking for his father, but he wasn't there. Some of them had their back turned towards Barney though, so he wasn't completely sure. Suddenly, a man started talking. I'm sorry for having to do this. My heart is breaking apart as I'm standing here in front of you. I hope you can forgive me, but you know I have to do this. Please don't. Please. I beg you. I will take Haku and we will run away and go into hiding. Please, I beg you. Please... please... She kept praying for their lives, crying, kneeling on the snow, holding her child in her arms as it was in a state of shock. It stopped crying. It didn't know what was happening. However, the men were determined. The man that appeared to lead the mob took out his sword and said forgive me, once again as he trusted the sword into the woman's body. The woman left a deafening shriek that carved into Barney's hearing and he couldn't hear anything that they were saying afterwards. The woman fell backwards on her back, releasing the child as it started crying again, this time shaking its whole body, swinging its arms and legs vigorously. The same man swung with his sword again, but this time at the child. However, before it could connect, a massive structure made of ice spikes formed from the snow and impaled all the mobsters killing them, spreading silence throughout the night. Barney never saw anything like it and he was scared all the way to his bones. There were no words to describe this feeling. He was a child. He still didn't understand the concept of life and death but he could feel that what he was witnessing was absolutely wrong. He didn't understand why. However, he felt for the mother and the child as he thought they were being assaulted for no reason without knowing the whole story. Haku's cries slowed down and turned into sobbing as Barney came out of hiding. Immediately as Haku saw Barney he stood up and ran away. Hey wait! But Haku didn't care. He kept running. As Barney came closer, he could see the faces of the rest of the mobsters. It was...
Nothing could explain the feeling as his stomach churned and his feet gave up. He fell down on his knees and tears burst forth from his eyes. His voice broke the silence as his cries echoed through the silent night. FATHER! WAKE UP! PLEASE! PLEASE WAKE UP! FATHER! HAKUUUUUU!!! Barney saw his dead father, laying on the ground, impaled by the ice, as blood was flowing from his wounds, freezing as it came in touch with the artificial ice. Suddenly, he realized what death meant. He wanted it upon Haku. It was his fault. This would never happen if it wasn't for Haku. He had to kill him. He made Barney an orphan. In fact, two young boys were made orphans that night and they didn't realize how much alike they were. Anger and desperation surged through his body as he was on his knees, with his fists clenched and laid on his father's dead body. He slammed his fists out of anger at the body and snow started swirling around him but he thought it was just wind. He didn't know he had the rare kekkei genkai that allowed members of the Yuki clan to manipulate ice and snow, just like Haku.
Sweat was dripping profusely from Barney's forehead as he woke up from a nightmare. Was it though? A nightmare? It felt so real. It was real. It was his memory. His body was shivering and he had a fever. The sweat was his body's response to the heat as it was trying to cool itself down. He went for a shower to wash the sweat away, calm himself down and to compose his thoughts. The wrap fell off from his shoulder and the tattoo was bare. As the water was flowing from the shower onto him, he thought about Haku. What is he going to do about him? He promised himself to kill Haku one day but who knows where Haku is now? Is he even alive? Is it worth still holding a grudge? He was just protecting his life, and after all Barney would've probably done the same thing in the same situation. He understood now. Haku, I forgive you.
Mission end.