Leavetaking 3
They walked for a while in silence, slowed by the weight of the packs they took from home. Only, it wasn’t home anymore, SoYa reminded himself.
That part of my life is over.
Like it or not, it was time for him to finally close the door on who he was before – the quiet, mousey SoYa that the Manor kept pinned under one pinky finger. Even if his identity hadn’t been compromised, he doubted he could go back to being what he was before. Not knowing all the things that he did now.
Now that he was Awakened, the floodgates of memory were open, and he struggled to work through terrible truth after truth. Zemi tried to warn him that once the past caught up with him, nothing would be the same.
It’s for the better.
He tried to convince himself, but all he could see when he closed his eyes were the faces of war from a time before memory. The hazy lands of his childhood wracked and torn by darkness. The ache of a family lost to the madness of Chaos and the spirit-master Dark Sygnus that was unleashed upon them.
AsaHi’s touch on his shoulder brought SoYa’s mind back to the present.
AsaHi…
He remembered her from that time, too. She was a Dragon-soother. The Earthian whom Zemi Dreigiau once loved… a love that SoYa doubted had faded, despite the time and distance. That left the one question gnawing at his mind.
Why did we end up together? Why could I remember AsaHi, even though I couldn’t remember my own family?
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” his bonded asked, trying to look tough.
He could sense her uncertainty and fear. For a moment, back during the fight in the house, she had even been afraid of him. Not that he blamed her. Mind magic wasn’t a pleasant thing to witness.
In all these years, I don’t think she’s seen me do something like that before. I wonder what she’s going to think of all this.
“I’m going to try,” SoYa finally answered. Then he pointed forward at the stream that blocked their path. “Once we get on the other side of this.”
“We’re crossing the river?” she sounded concerned. “It’s dangerous out there.”
“Don’t worry,” ShiKon told her. “We do this all the time.”
“We?” AsaHi asked. Then her eyes flickered over to SoYa.
He nodded and began to cross over the slick stones. He’d done this so often that he knew where each stone was without looking. Still, he remembered the first time, and the fear of the unknown that lurked out in the great forests.
It’s so odd to be the strong one. To be the one holding secrets this time. AsaHi used to be the one, not me.
That spark of spunk within AsaHi, the marked determination on her brow. She refused to let obstacles overcome or intimidate her – that was just her way. And it was what SoYa was counting on now.
Will she accept Anarchy? I don’t think she has any love for the Manor, but that doesn’t mean she will agree with what we’re doing here.
SoYa was torn about the whole thing. He had hidden the base and his operations from AsaHi for so long, mostly for her own protection. Bringing her there, even for her own good, was awkward and frightening, like ripping a bandage off of a wound. You never knew what was lurking underneath.
While there were a million other worries on his mind, especially with how they were going to deal with protecting Fu, he felt that this was the first step to taking the right action. At least, he hoped he was making the right choice.
“It’ll be okay,” ShiKon reassured them both.
He was glad that she was there with him. She was not only an exceptional fighter, but a great voice of reason for when his own worries threatened to overcome him. Plus, being a young woman, she had a different effect when working with AsaHi.
Perhaps ShiKon is what AsaHi needs right now.
When AsaHi safely reached the other side of the river, SoYa knew his time was running out. He didn’t have his thoughts together yet -- how could anyone ever be ready to explain something like this?
“Where do I even start,” SoYa murmured, readjusting the packs on his back.
“What is this place?” AsaHi motioned forward.
“We’re not there yet, but we are going to the base of operations for the resistance against the Manor,” he answered.
“You mean Anarchy?”
He winced a bit, not wanting to have called it by that name. “That has… such a negative connotation.”
“Is that why they were asking me about Anarchy?” AsaHi breathed. “Are you really involved with the movement?”
ShiKon gave a quick little laugh, “Involved in it? He founded it.”
“ShiKon,” SoYa groaned.
“Founded?” AsaHi quick-walked in front of him, then turned around to block his way. Her eyes met his sternly. “SoYa. What does that mean?”
“I am… the leader of Anarchy,” his throat was dry as he worked to force an answer out. It sounded anything but leaderly.
Her mouth dropped open halfway as her eyes rounded at him. She lifted one hand and placed it over her mouth as if to subconsciously hide her shock. AsaHi then turned away and took a few short paces in a circle before coming back to face him again.
Her gaze met his again, still direct, “You’re the leader? Of the resistance against the Manor? Of Anarchy?”
“Yeah,” he breathed out, rubbing the back of his neck. “I... I know. It seems impossible.”
Then she said exactly what he was afraid she’d say, “You never told me.”
Guilt stabbed with a pang through his chest. SoYa looked down at the ground and sucked on his bottom lip. He knew no matter how he tried to explain that she wouldn’t completely understand. “It was too dangerous… you saw what they did today when they only suspected who I was.”
“And this is why you’ve been gone so much,” AsaHi pieced things together slowly.
ShiKon winced with sympathy, watching her teacher flounder under the weight of his wife’s rising ire.
“Yes,” SoYa murmured. He began walking again, hoping that when she actually saw the base that she might soften up a bit, “I had to split things between organizing here, taking care of the children, and keeping my cover while working at the Manor.”
She frowned at him. “What children?”
“Us,” ShiKon volunteered, trying to take some of AsaHi’s attention off her teacher for a moment. “Master SoYa took us in when the Manor tried to capture and use us. He’s been teaching us and helping us figure out how to use our skills to fight against the Manor.”
AsaHi was silent for a long time. He didn’t know what that meant.
“AsaHi…” he said gently.
She stopped walking. He knew he was in trouble.
“This is what you’ve been out running around and doing… while me and Fu… your family… have been left in the dark and wondering where you were,” AsaHi lifted her hands and then dropped them, “You let everything else fall apart for some crazy Anarchy resistance?”
“No…” SoYa choked a bit in surprise.
“Yes!” she retorted hotly.
“I did this for you! I did this for Fu!” he tried to argue. It was the truth, but he knew that it sounded hollow.
“You did this for yourself,” AsaHi lowered her brows. “You’ve always got your nose in a book, translating some stuff you think is going to lead us back to our past. But you completely ignore what’s going on the present. And now you’re running around playing some resistance super hero, putting the lives of children on the line while ignoring your own son!”
Curious eyes peered out of the forests, children creeping out of the base to come see what all the fuss was about.
“What do you think is going to happen to Fu, who is inside the Manor, if this is what they tried to do to me?” she breathed at him, eyes livid.
SoYa grit his teeth. “I wasn’t supposed to be discovered.”
“But you were,” AsaHi shook her head. “And all the time you spent keeping secrets did nothing to protect us at all.”
SoYa looked down at his feet. Everything she said was true. He wanted to believe that his movement was a great organized effort to free the people from the tyrannically force of Zeromus and the Manor. But the truth was, he was just a washed-up mind mage. And his forces were nothing more than orphans who were hardly old enough to be using the weapons they had.
He had been a failure to his people in Nefol. Now he was a failure in the eyes of his family. Anarchy was nothing more than his own frustrations taking form to strike against the organization that took his son and stifled him under its overwhelming control.
She’s right. I’m no hero…
“That’s not true,” a quiet voice came from the bushes.
AsaHi turned as KiNa limped his way through the brush, approaching them. He was still looking worse for the wear, half bandaged up, and really should not yet have been out of bed. Still, for the first time, she realized the children were there and watching.
“KiNa?” AsaHi asked. “Are you in on this, too?”
“Yes,” he told her, nodding slowly. “And what you say isn’t true.”
She took a breath through her nose. It was hard for her to be angry at children who weren’t at fault. “Then what is true?”
“Master SoYa took me off the streets,” KiNa said, spreading his hands. “He helped me discover that I’m a mind mage. And that I’m good with machines. He taught me to read, write, and how to defend myself. He gave me a place to live and he gave me a purpose to believe in.”
AsaHi’s mouth opened a bit, overwhelmed. “You’re a mind mage, too?”
“I’m a real good one, Lady AsaHi,” he grinned his quirky grin, wincing a bit as he moved. “And if the Manor had gotten their hands on me, they’d be using me for who knows what. Trust me. We’ve been watching what the Manor does with people… especially children. It’s something that needs to be stopped.”
“What he’s saying is right,” ShiKon chimed in, taking AsaHi’s elbow gently. “I know you’re angry and scared right now. Why don’t you come where it’s safe? Then you can see for yourself and make up your mind.”
SoYa couldn’t help but feel surprised, and a little proud, at how his students rallied for his cause. Thankfully, AsaHi seemed to be calmed by their testimonies.
After a moment, she nodded with a curt agreement, “Okay. That sounds best for the moment.”
She didn’t look back at SoYa as they walked towards the base. He knew he had a lot of work to do if he was going to patch it up this time.