(A.N.) Holy crap where have I been? I said a month or so, and here we are, almost 4 months later! Well anyway, welcome to the return of Awaken. Chapter 12 finnaly was completed, so I'll post that the week after next! I still have to edit it! Since I've spent over a month writing chapter 12 alone, this chapter didn't get a whole lot of attention, so PM or review any mistakes you catch, and I'll get right to it! Please Review, so I can see what you all like and dislike! Enjoy. Also, Catagory changed to misc books! No more Mythology. For those of you who haven't read Awaken: Book of Beginnings, I suggest you do that to avoid confusing yourself. This is an original series consisting of only OC's, but is using inspiration and themes ofother books, games, and anime, such as One Piece, Naruto, The Godfather series, Kingdom Hearts ect. So Without further introduction...

Awaken: Book of Bonds

Chapter 11: Bonds of the Past

(Recap- Awaken: Book of Beginnings –

Tyson Balthen, a young boy, along with his three friends, Devante Dickerson, Robert Sodawasser, and Allyvia Fogarty, narrowly escape death when their government shows a darker side of itself, and unleashes an attack on their peaceful town of Dalthesan. All families in residency were slaughtered, and it's unknown if Tyson's older brother, Dexter, who had left earlier in the day to join peace keeping forces, is still alive. Allyvia escapes the carnage with her family, and leave the trio to themselves, as they hide and wait out the nightmare.

Tyson, who had split off from the other two to find his family, found himself hiding in a shack behind his home, and watched as his town was destroyed. After the main forces had efficiently killed off the majority of people in his life, they left, but a straggler remained to approach the shack so he could raid it for goods, only to find himself in Tyson's mercy. The boy interrogated the soldier to the extent of finding out that the government was actually run by a shadow organization known as The Dictation, and was lead by a mysterious figure known only as Leader. Tyson then murdered the man, and ran to a rendezvous point, only to find some shady characters hiding in the underbrush. They identified themselves as an enemy force to The Dictation, Awaken. After a test of survival, the characters decided to allow Tyson to train alongside them, along with Devante and Robert, who had gained entry prior to Tyson's arrival.

These people introduced themselves as Michael and Carol, and the ones who had tested Devante and Robert, as Mike and Grogan. They also met up with Michael's girlfriend, Angel, before being shipped off to a boot camp complex run by Mike and Carol, where they would remain until they were ready to move forward in their quest to achieve vengeance on those who destroyed their lives. After 1 year of intense training and discipline, the trio became a powerful force, and underwent a trial to become official members of Awaken. During this tournament, a Rival of theirs, Chad, turned out to be a spy for the Dictation, and the Trio, a new found friend, Rose, the rest of the complex, and the entire organization of Awaken, 27 members strong, found themselves under aerial attack.

Thanks to Tyson's excellent leader ship, and the trio's newfound strengths, they easily annihilated the threat, with some help from Awaken members. Afterwards, the trio was awarded the position of becoming members themselves, which they accepted. And now, they are one step closer to exacting revenge.) Now, enjoy Book 2, Book of Bonds.

In a dark ally in the middle of the night, a woman is being mugged by a local crook, as he threatens her with his pocket knife, she cries, and hands over her valuables, some family heirlooms, and some treasured jewels, all with sentimental value. Even with the bundle of the woman's possessions and hard earned cash, the thief is still not satisfied. He pointed to her hand; she resists giving over her wedding ring. As the thief begins to thrust his knife, a shadowy figure in the backgrounds intervenes, by throwing a shuriken, and knocking the knife beyond his reach. As the villain turned to see who interrupted his extortion, his neck is broken, and his body drops to the ground. The woman cowers in the corner from the even more intimidating man, she feels his gaze upon her. The man searched the robber thoroughly, and then approached her, as she squeezed her eyes, waiting for a fatal blow, she hears the sound of small things hitting the ground before her, she opens her eyes momentarily to see her gems having been returned to her, both figures were gone, and the only proof left of the encounter, was a card placed among her possessions. It read, AWAKEN- Mercenary Richard.

And now, three weeks later, here I am. Picking up the new recruits from the old complex in which I had graduated from 5 years ago with my friend Cory after 4 years of hard ass work. I had entered that complex at the age of 14, just like the new guys I believe, or maybe they were 15, I don't care much for details, Cory joined me a year later at 2 years my younger. But these newbie's, they entered after only a year, and we saw why, when the three of them nearly took down a whole fleet of carriers and warships from the enemy in a matter of minutes, despite their young age, and the advanced tactics that the Dictation showed.

The three guests of honor just happened to board my Hovermech. "So the heroes are on board?" I call out from the sound of the thrusters.

"Heroes? Us? You could call us that, but really we were just doing our duty and vengeance against the enemy." A boy with brown hair and sharp green eyes replied with a rather impressive broadsword on his back, while his friends tailed him and buckled in. "By the way, name's Tyson, and these are my friends and co-members…" He began.

"Devante." A large black boy introduced himself, he had a variety of weapons on him, but in the tournament, he mainly used elements, mostly fire, and quite impressively.

"And I'm Robert." The short red hair boy with an intimidating sniper rifle on his back called out.

"Right, Show off, Hot-head, and Gunslinger, correct?" Cory asks them, while preparing to take off. The kids for the first time notice the other member on board, we had 5 Hovermech's, 2 with 8members on it, 1 with 7 members, 1 personal one for only Michael and Carol, and then this one, with the five of us.

"That's us!" They laughed in unison, before engaging in a conversation about fond memories, intense workouts, and what's to come. I can't help the feeling of nostalgia wash over me, though it was five years, many missions, and an excessive amount of dead bodies ago, I remember those happy moments leaving the base with Cory clear as day.

"You kids know what you're in for?" Cory asks.

"Not really, from what we've gathered, some recon, some body guarding, some assassination, and possibly fighting Dictation members if the occasion arises." Robert answered. I was surprised the kids were that informed, then again, when they could gather WMD's in the middle of the desert powerful enough to destroy top of the line government ships, it wasn't that much of a shocker.

"Alright, you've got the gist of it, there'll be several other types of jobs, but before that, and you've got even more training." I yell back at them as we ascended.

Devante practically threw a fit. "Goddamnit! After all that, we have more crap to do before were official!" He complained.

"That's right, you have to do some practice missions, oh, and a small medical experiment." My friend informed them. Robert went pale at 'experiment.'

"From your cocky ass smirk, I assume it's not good." Tyson announced.

"You'll see, in time." I say as we hit a nice cruising speed for the northeast. "But first, you've got orientation, and consider those missions and 'experiment', as initiation."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

We noticed a severe change in course as the other Hovermech's disappeared into the deep blue of the sky ahead. "Hey, Richard, where are you taking us? The rest of the group is heading northeast, why have turned north?" I ask.

"Listen, Hot-head, you three have a bit of unfinished business." Cory stated as we began to descend into a nostalgic woods.

"N-no…" Tyson said, giving a flash of his long hidden soft side.

"You can't be serious." Robert was in shock.

"No way." My chest clenches in pain as I see the empty field that was once the only place I truly called home. Dalthesan was gone, the surrounding trees were still stained black from soot, the ruins were flattened, and plain of wooden crosses stood in our wake as we landed, and left our vehicle.

Tyson's first reaction as he touched land was falling to his knees, shaking, tears forming the corners of his eyes. This was the most vulnerable I'd ever seen him, and I could tell why. The front two graves belonged to his parents.

"We were barely able to mark the bodies with corresponding names, but we pulled it off. Michael sent the two of us in, along with a few other members for clean up. We had to release a few cleansing pellets into the air, The Dictation really did a number on you guys… We also had to demolish the old structures to make room for the graves, and the rest of the town was already reduced to ash." Cory said gravely.

"Take all the time you need. You won't be able to return for a while." Richard said. Robert and I nod, while Tyson had yet to move.

We split up to find our parents graves. It didn't take long; the population was barely over 60 citizens. I paid my final respects to my mom, and my siblings, almost emotionlessly, I didn't know why, but for some reason, I no longer cared for those who passed on, they were gone, and would prefer me celebrating their life, than mourning the past.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I had returned from my parents graves to see Tyson still in the same spot, but now, a bushel of black roses lain on the graves of his parents, and he handed some to me.

"I had planted some white roses with Dexter last year for my parents anniversary… we placed the seeds deep in the woods where they wouldn't see them, it looks like the raining ash affected their pigments, and their seeds grew black roses instead of white." He said somberly.

"Thanks man… here, I'll take some to Devante, his family isn't buried far from mine." I said as I took the rest of the flowers from his hand.

I left Tyson where he stood, and delivered the black bundle to Devante. "They're from Tyson." Was all I said as I passed him on the way to my parents' graves.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The thoughts in my head were spinning faster than I ever thought possible. Anger, hatred, sadness, remorse, confusion, worry, and most of all, a thirst for vengeance, far more powerful than my rational thought.

The sky had grown dark, and I began to notice that lights began shining ion the graves. It appeared Devante had found some flammable material to burn, and placed makeshift candles at the graves.

My two friends approached me. "Tyson, it's gotten late, are you ready to move on?" Robert asked me.

"Yeah, I'm done crying over this, it's time to strike back boys." I inform them as I stand. We walk back to the ship, and approach Cory and Richard. "We're ready."

As we take to the air in the dead of night, I look down at the graves, to see Devante had engraved the letter A, in the exact font the Awaken symbol was. We had marked our territory, and if any one were to dare intrude on this sacred land of ours, we would hunt them down.

"Dictation, I'm coming for you." I whisper as I drift into unconsciousness.

Awaken

(A.N.) I know, 4 months and I barely mannaged something over 2,000 words? Well Chapter 12 is over 6,000 words, so it will hopefully make up for it, despite the utter lack of action... Please Review! All reviews will get a responce, I'm friendly like that!