Written for fic_promptly on Dreamwidth: Secret of Mana, The Hero, he goes back to the village that banished him at the start of the game and shows 'em all that you don't put a legit badass in the corner. Thanks, Samu, for the cool prompt. I'm really happy with how this turned out. Though I feel that my grammar is wonky in a few places, not sure though. I'm really out of shape.

For anyone who doesn't know who Timothy and Elliot are; they're the two dudes who're with Randi at the very beginning of the game. Timothy is the one with the funny hat. Regarding characterisation; neither of them have much, especially in the English translation. Which is why I didn't base my fic on them. The Secret of Mana that I love and have grown up with is the German version made by an translator who was a bit more ... freely with his interpretation. That means that there are plenty of modern references in it and the characters are often more extreme or comically. Timothy and Elliot, however, were assholes. Timothy was a passive-aggressive bitch and Elliot somewhat of an bully who became a crybaby after the fight with the mantis. After knowing these versions of the two dudes for 25 years, I can't switch to the more boring English versions. Despite all the well-deserved criticism the translator got, he also did some things right, like Randi's development from scared teenager to badass. For me, the first German translation is just perfect.

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It had become quiet in Potos Village after the soldiers from Pandora left a week ago. They had protected the village from the many monster who had been drawn to the former resting place of the Mana Sword. The villagers had grown so accustomed to the protective presence of the soldiers that now everybody was tense and nervous, expecting a surprise attack from the monster any moment.

However, the soldiers had no reason to stay anymore: a week ago, all monster had disappeared. At first, the villagers and soldiers hadn't thought anything of it. But after two days, they had grown apprehensive. Monsters weren't smart and didn't know how to plan and act according to a strategy. That meant either a dangerous, smart monster had appeared or something else entirely. The villagers had stopped working in the fields and stayed inside their houses, too afraid of the uncertain situation. Then, after a week had passed, a messenger from Pandora came and declared that the Mana Knight had destroyed the Mana Fortress and the Mana Dragon, that the war was over and that there would be no more monsters in the future.

The villagers hadn't understood. They knew nothing of a flying fortress or a dragon. There had always been a number of monsters in the world and after Randi had drawn the Mana Sword, there had been more. None of them had asked themselves what the Mana Sword had to do with that. But the soldiers had been cheering and the villagers figured that they would know better than them and they joined the party. They went with the flow and forgot what that would mean for them. And so they fell into panicked despair when the soldiers packed and left.

Timothy had found their reaction quite stupid. He had watched the whole thing unfold and, while he hated the current anxious atmosphere, he had said nothing. It would've been useless anyway; nothing he could say would've calmed them down. Instead, he decided to exploit the situation and slacked off or went to the bar all day, playing cards with Elliot or anyone else who was not busy with speculating about all the bad things that would happen to the village now that they were on their own.

Right now, Timothy was playing with an extremely nervous Elliot who had made so many bad plays already that Timothy was tempted to just stand up and go.

"But you never know, you know," Elliot mumbled, mostly to himself because Timothy had made it quite clear that he had had enough of this whole panic, and clenched his cards, crumbling them. "They could've seen them leave. They could destroy the village any minute." Sighing loudly, Timothy placed his last card on the table, ending the game. "It's all his fault!" Elliot exclaimed as he threw his cards on the ground.

"What?" Timothy asked, yawning. He was not the least bit interested in Elliot's rambling, but it would be light outside for many more hours and he had nothing else he could do without being yelled at by a villager because walking around outside would surely taunt the monsters and make them move.

"Randi, of course! If he hadn't drawn that stupid sword, nothing would've happened. No monsters, no danger, no nothing." Elliot clenched his fists. "If that punk ever comes back here, I'm making him pay."

"Yeah, yeah." Timothy scratched his neck, making a show out of his disinterest to goad Elliot on. Elliot, the self-declared strongest man in the village, had been one of the first screaming at others for daring to stick their nose out of their door and he continued to be pathetically annoying.

"How can you be so apathetic," Elliot continued his shouting and even jumped to his feet. What a show, Timothy thought and was satisfied. "If Randi–"

"He's banished, he won't come back," Timothy retorted, studying his fingernails for dirt. "He's got no reason to."

Elliot was fuming, barely restraining himself from lashing out. "But if he ever–"

"You'll give him a good punch in the jaw."

"Exactly." Timothy's continued disinterest and his interruptions had made Elliot too uncertain (not that that was difficult) and he backed down. Timothy hid his triumphant smile behind another yawn. Just as he wanted to add another provocation, they heard a commotion outside.

Instantly, panic broke out in the bar. There were screams, villagers jumping up and knocking over chairs, others sat in shocked silence and everybody stared at the door. Even Timothy flinched when the door was thrown open and someone stood in the frame, gasping for air.

"Rick," Timothy sighed, annoyed, after he recognised the villager. "What's the matter?"

"It's- it's Randi!" Out of the corner of his eye, Timothy saw how Elliot's jaw literally dropped.

"Really? Well, what does he want?" Timothy didn't know what to make of this situation. He wouldn't be surprised if Rick was just shitting them; on the other hand, Randi turning up would be a refreshing change of pace.

"He wants to talk to the Elder. Is he here?"

"No. He's probably at home."

"Is it really Randi?" Elliot interrupted, his face simultaneously pale and flushed.

"Yes. Though it's hard to believe. He's changed a lot. Well, I'll get the Elder." Rick turned and ran to the Elder's house.

"Finally!" Elliot exclaimed, balling his fist, and ran out of the bar. A second later, the other villagers suddenly lost all of their fear and ran after him, already chattering and speculating about Randi's reasons for coming here. Even the barman was among them.

Timothy stayed in the silent bar for a few seconds; then he sighed loudly, slowly stood up and ambled outside into the sun. He was smiling to himself as he imagined the entertainment the fight between the loudmouth Elliot and the weakling Randi would bring.

To his disappointment, there was no fight going on when Timothy caught up with the others. Quite the opposite; Elliot was unnaturally docile and polite. After Timothy barged his way through the crowd, he understood. This was not the Randi they knew.

Randi had grown, in more than one way. He was definitely taller and he looked strong enough to drag a full cart of wheat all the way to Pandora without breaking a sweat. But the most disconcerting aspect of Randi's growth to Timothy were his eyes. They were the eyes of a man who had seen much fighting, experienced loss and happiness, and who had had to make difficult decisions and had come out on top. Timothy involuntarily swallowed nervously. This was no longer the young orphan he could push around. This was a man who could make Timothy eat his words and maybe more.

"Would you please leave me some air?" Randi asked, taking a step back from the unusually quiet mob, which watched him with open curiosity. Timothy noticed scars and burns along Randi's arms and neck. He wondered what Randi had seen outside of the village. His skin looked sunburnt. Had he even been to Kakkara? Timothy had heard about the scorching heat of the desert and he had always wondered if it was different than the heat waves they had during the summer. How did it feel like to be surrounded by nothing but sand?

"Please make way." Timothy turned at the Elder's voice and stepped aside with reluctance. The old man's face lit up when he saw Randi.

"Randi, my boy, you're back." Randi smiled in return. "You've grown so much." The Elder's smile turned wistful. "But you know you have been banished. Why are you here?"

"I only want to pass through," Randi explained with a shrug. "I was at the waterfall and need to get to Pandora. You can do that much for me, can you?"

"At the waterfall?" Elliot asked with a shacking voice. "What did you do now?"

The look Randi turned upon Elliot almost seemed sad to Timothy, though he didn't know why. He would've been annoyed; only after he had the support of the Elder, Elliot dared to speak up. "I've returned the Mana Sword to its resting place."

"The Mana Sword!" the Elder exclaimed and nervous whispers arose in the crowd.

"Yes." Randi looked apprehensively around the crowd. "Now that the Mana Dragon is dead, it's just a normal sword but it felt right to return it. It didn't feel like I had the right to keep it."

"So it's true?" Timothy asked loudly. Randi's gaze fell onto him and for some reason, Timothy began to sweat. "That this Mana Dragon is dead, whatever that means."

"It means that Mana has disappeared from this world," Randi explained after a few seconds of silence. "And with it everything that was born from Mana. Monsters, Sprites, and any other creatures like that."

"I don't understand," the Elder said, his voice trembling. "Mana is gone?"

Randi nodded. "It was the only way to save the world from the Mana Dragon. After the Empire had summoned him, there was no way to seal him again. He had to be destroyed. Otherwise, he would've destroyed the world and every being on it."

The villagers were deadly silent. Looking around secretly, Timothy saw shock, fear and not one spark of comprehension; they only knew this village and maybe Pandora, so they could not understand the full range of meaning of Randi's words. The world had been on the brink of destruction and they had heard nothing about it. Timothy hadn't known about it either. Heat rose in his body and his hands clenched involuntarily. He had been as stupid as the other villagers.

"How do you know about that?" he asked harshly.

Randi remained disgustingly calm. "I killed him."

"What?" the Elder asked, or rather whispered. Timothy's stomach clenched and he felt how his blood left his face.

"I drew the sword and open the seal." Randi hesitated and drew a deep breath. "And I found out that my father was the last of the line of the Mana Knights. So I had no choice. I was the only one able to wield the Mana Sword."

The Elder slowly shook his head, as shocked by this news as the other villagers. After a few seconds, though, Timothy heard harsh whispers behind him. They didn't believe him; they thought Randi was just putting on airs because he had grown a little bit stronger. Elliot was obviously eating that up and puffed out his chest, but he still didn't dare to speak up against Randi. Despite his doubts, Randi was still obviously stronger than him.

But Timothy believed him; he looked into Randi's eyes and he just knew. Randi had travelled through the world, seeing all those exotic places Timothy had only read about, and fought monsters while Timothy had been sitting on his ass, complaining about the state of the world without lifting a finger to change it.

"I… When your mother brought you to this village, I thought you were a special boy, but never would I have thought that something like this would happen." The Elder shook his head. "You're a hero, my boy."

But Randi shook his head. "I wasn't alone. I had help from many people along the way." He smiled.

"I see." The Elder looked around at the wary villagers. "Still, you have achieved many great things and you have more than atoned for your mistake, so if you ever want to come home, you are welcome here."

Timothy involuntarily lowered his head. The Elder was blinded; he had raised Randi, so he couldn't clearly see that the other villagers were still distrustful and didn't even believe Randi. As if they would accept him back.

"Thank you, Elder, but I have other places to be." Randi's smile was thin and tense. "You don't need to breach the village's law for me."

"I understand," the Elder said, sadly.

"Will you let me through now? I'm expected in Pandora."

"Of course. Pass through any time you like." The Elder stepped aside. Randi smiled warmly at the Elder before walking through the gap in crowd. Timothy stared after him, hating him for his confident strides and his indifference to the village's cowardly insistence on their view of things and their rejection of the world around them.

The crowd slowly dispersed while Timothy was still staring at the village entrance, even though Randi was long gone, gone to see the world and all its secret places. Elliot came up to Timothy, slapped his hand on Timothy's shoulder and huffed loudly. "Well, finally he's gone again. Just because he's got a few muscles, he thinks so highly of himself. If he had stayed any longer, I would've thrown him out." He clapped Timothy on his back. "I need a little drink. You coming?"

Before Timothy could answer, Elliot had already left for the bar. Timothy stared at the path leading to Pandora and into the wide world for a few seconds longer until he slowly turned and shuffled after Elliot.