Sesto Acerbi - Sins of the Father

[Legion XXI]

Don't take me now with so much left,
Don't steal from me my coming breath.
My sins weigh less upon my tread,
Yet the weight does little to calm my head.
Were it so easy they would have long won,
All of the demons who seek me undone.
A few more nights but no rest in this home,
I do what I must and then I atone.

[Legion XXI]

So much has changed in such a short time.  We are the same in many ways, Leonardo.  Both surrounded by brothers and sisters, but without a single true family member.  The rank, the support, the teeming masses of people in need -  it all feels so hollow when I look at how much more there is to gain.  I find myself wondering if you feel the same way.  If you can sense the near futility of what it is I desire.

What I would give for just one other who could see this city as I do.  One other who could wrap their hand around a blade and drive it deep into the cobblestone until the blood flows thick down their hands.  The gold and the trinkets are worthless, despite what we are told.  These are simple distractions.  Tools to reach the real prize.  The titles are but a step to reach even higher, for the sweetest fruit is at the top of the tree and not just any man is permitted to climb.  I walk among the masses every day, searching for others who can learn.  I look into the eyes of every man and woman I speak to, every calling voice who begs favors of me.  I hope to recognize the spark of ambition among them.  I would give you a sea of silver, if you were to simply follow me to my prize.  Learn from me everything you can, and I will teach you everything I know.

I set my hands to their shoulders, stare into their soul for even a hint of ambition.  Try to kill me and climb over my body if you must, but I wish that one of you would do something, anything at all.  Show me that you want more from this life!  Take my hand and let me help you before you are lost with the others!  I do not openly beg, but on the inside I wish for these people to take the chance I am giving them.  To recognize it for what it is.  I am not a man who would poison the cup I offer.  If anything, the drink I offer is a cure to the poison you have put in your own cup.

Mediocrity.  Laziness.  Contentment.

Greater sins have never existed.  If our Lady should weep for anyone, it is those aimless sons and daughters.  They, who will never reach for what this life tries to hand them.



"It is not a sin to kill a Legion"   My brother's words bring me hope.

Hope that perhaps all I have done is truly part of a Grand Scheme, a great twisted plan to find us all where we need to be.  Perhaps everything I seek will serve Her purpose as well as mine.  For if it does, how could I fail?  How could the blood I spill be wrong?  Everything I take, permitted.  Every red drop, witnessed.  The work I do will save five-fold the lives that it damns.

I have nothing but respect for Frauenlob and fearless zeal.  For Leonardo and his iron-clad conviction.  For Byrne and his tireless mercy.  For Vezzoni and his calm guile.
But at the end of it all, only Ezra can judge me for my sins.

[Legion XXI]

"You are clearly very meticulous.  Very detailed.  

You take pride in your best laid plans.  Your attention to detail serves you well.

But your punishment awaits you.  You will find your world closing in around you.  That which was once your oyster will be a cage of entrapment.

This much is certain.  You will not be able to avoid this punishment, but you can lessen its effects with thought to the future."



I once met a strange woman.  She walked through the world as if unaware of her surroundings, yet with a strange purpose and sense of direction.  Clad in a flowing dress of pure white, she came to Vallaki and our paths crossed.  At first, I thought her to be like any other wanderer as we began to speak.  Perhaps if I knew what she had in store for me, I would have walked away.  


But no.  She drew her cards and read to me my fate, and since that day I have spent every night puzzling over the meaning.

Every night until tonight.  As I sit in what is likely to be the last room I will ever see, I feel a strange sense of resignation.  It is already over.  They will come in the morning and ask more questions, but I do not have what they are looking for.  That is not how things work.  Still, I doubt they would let me leave alive after drawing their blood even if I gave them what they wanted.

So we will conduct the torture, and they will be disappointed.  I am sure they will make a nice show if it and try to send a message, but in the end, it won't change a thing.  I will be replaced by someone exactly like me, an eager new Captain to take up the banner.  A man who will grow to love and to hate those he calls Family.  Who will do the greatest wrong with the best of intentions.  Tess will still die by someone's hand, though not mine.  The Cult will still be hunted, until their flame has flickered out.   Yet none of this brings me peace.

More than anything, I feel disappointment.  For all my work, for all my accomplishments and failures, sweat and blood -  I will die in Vincente's shadow.  I am still a son who has inherited his father's curse.  I spent my entire life trying to escape that burden, but that escape is what trapped me in the end.   For as far as I have fled, I will die under the same moon that he did.

I'm sorry, Leonardo.
I pray that you forgive me my sins, but never forget them.
You were always the brave one.

Just as the woman in white said, I will die here.  I will die just as my fingertips brush that which I seek.  So close to victory, to have it stolen away.  That which gave me power was also my greatest downfall.  In the end, despite everything, I am just a man with the same weaknesses as any other.  I made a mistake, and as I have taught so many others in my time here, you only make a mistake once.

For better or worse, you only make a mistake one time.