Forty years had passed.
Forty years since hope was lost and the past ignored. Forty years without a trace of aging upon him, and without a difference to his person. That… was not entirely true.
This was Jack's first day with children from the mountain.
It was the first day in many years he had companions to walk with, but it was only one of a few times said companions were adolescents. The last he had met was likely a man with children of his own.
But the children that followed him were far from helpless, for the worst of reasons.
They did not complain as they trekked the rocky mountain, even if he slowed his steps for them.
They spoke not a word of complaint as the hours stretched long, even if he offered no words of his own.
And even now, with the sun reaching over head, he had yet to hear them ask for a thing.
They were children, but they acted so differently to what children should.
He looked back on them, seven young girls all dressed the same and differing only by the comb of their hair. They had wide eyes around them as they moved forward, looking everywhere around them.
For every step they took through the forest was a new experience for them, and it showed. He watched their astonishment for the fallen leaves on the forest floor, crackling and dissipating between their feet.
He followed their gazes, looking at the forest giants that stretched overhead. So tall with so strong bark that they looked impervious to anything time could offer. It was certainly more to see, more to experience, then from within a red rocked mountain.
Where the mountains rose only hold themselves high, the forest giants grew to give sanctuary to the life beneath them. It was the truth of nature, no matter the season.
Even with the leaves changing colors, the air slowly chilling, and most life in the forest preparing for a long rest, the giants did not shirk their duties. The leaves that hung from their tall branches continued to shade the forest floor, and their trunks were still as strong as the mountain's stone.
A tweet of a bird sounded above them, and Jack watched as all the girls shifted to stare up at it. Jack looked too.
It was a swallow, a young one, likely born this year and without a mate. Its voice was young and full of energy, and it had feet to match. Jumping along the branches it stood on, wings flapping quickly with its song.
Jack watched it with the girls, stopping to see the bird moving through the colorful leaves. It had a blue coat, but it danced amongst leaves of fiery red and solemn orange. It would be a hard task to not spy the bird.
But it was the only one of its kind.
Jack listened to the bird, and he listened past it. No other swallows echoed its call, no other birds shared its song. He heard leaves drifting in the air, bark creaking as trees swayed, and the whistle of the wind from the high canopy.
But no other birds sang with the swallow. It was along in a forest that was preparing for winter.
Not a moment later, the bird took flight. Jack heard its voice fade. The girls all shifted heads to watch it go. But none of them asked a question. None of them made a sound.
Jack sighed slowly. Aku's evil touched even where he no longer was. That only meant they needed to continue.
"Agh!" The voice shocked him still.
You won't help us! You never wanted to save us!
Jack spun to see, not a ghost of his dark past, but one of the girls laying on the ground, already twisting to pull her knee to her chest. The others, her sisters, had stopped to stare at her. Jack did the same, though he felt guilt at the sense of ease it brought him.
But she likely needed help.
She must have tripped on a root, the untamed strengths of the forest giants. They would not offer any give to a traveler that set foot on them.
He had taken hardly a step before the girl stood up, clenching her fists at her side.
He stopped the same, unsure of what the young girl was doing.
Only the sounds of the forest echoed around them.
Jack could already see the fresh wound on her knee, small drops of blood collecting at the wounded skin. The black outfit she wore had faded away as well, likely too thin to endure her harsh fall.
"You are hurt," Jack spoke the fact, kneeling down towards the girl. He reached out towards her, prepared to nurse the wound.
"I-I'm not!" She all but yelled out. His hand froze. "I can continue! I'm not weak!" His eyes widened.
Jack looked towards the other girls, the other victims of Aku. They would not look at him, and they offered no sympathies towards their sister.
They did not care. They had not yet been allowed to care.
Jack let out a slow breath of air, taking in another provided by the forest. He had to calm his mind, as would anyone witnessing such a thing. Such would any witness to an unnatural act within the natural beauty of the forest.
"Little one," Jack began, making sure he was low enough to the ground to look up at the child. She did not respond to him. "Please be at ease. Nothing is going to happen."
Her arms were shaking, fists clenched so tight. Jack could see her eyes were shut with as much strength, lips pierced to keep herself from crying. She was hurt, but perhaps a thousand times before, she was told to ignore her pain.
"We… left so quickly, I did not think to ask your name." Even though he doubted they could see it, he smiled at her. He was hopeful his beard was not too thick. Or that she was at least brave enough to look at him. "Please, what is it?"
Slowly, as he would expect of a child, she cracked her eyes towards him. He made sure to hold his smile, even if his beard hid it from view. She looked around Jack, maybe looking for something that would hurt her. He would allow no such things near her.
"A-Ashi…" she spoke on a shaking voice. Jack nodded his head towards her.
"Ashi," he repeated. "I am not going to harm you. I want to help you." He held out his hand towards her. "May I see where you are hurt?"
"I'm not hurt!" Ashi immediately yelled back. Ah, so it was too quick. Jack raised his hands up, eyes never leaving her. He could not, for he was sure the other women in the mountain would.
"I believe… you are injured then," Jack rephrased, lowering one hand to indicate her knee. Ashi tried to hide it, moving it behind her other leg and crouching over it.
She was shaking. Jack realized know why she was shaking.
"Please, Ashi," Jack spoke her name again, not daring to move even an inch towards her. She may very well run. "There is nothing I wish to do but help you. Do you want me to help you?" He kept his eyes on her.
She looked at him still, biting her lower lip. The forest continued to sing around them. Chirping birds, swaying branches, gentle breezes, all so natural. All so alien to a young girl who would not accept help when she experienced pain.
Slowly, she extended her leg towards him. It was a slow act, delicate, as if she feared he would strike out at a single moment.
But he would not. He only needed to teach them such.
"Thank you," Jack began, removing his glove so that he could touch her skin.
He was slow in approach, almost cautious. Too quickly may frighten the young girl, and such a thing was far from what Jack hoped for. He kept his eyes to Ashi's, watching her young eyes watch his with trepidation.
Jack carefully threaded his fingers around her knee, holding the thin limb in his grasp. They were children, small children, and her leg fit like a thick twig in his grasp. So he held it gently, for fear that he would break it.
Ashi made not a sound as he carefully moved from watching her eyes to inspecting the wound. It was shallow, light, and hardly something an adult would pay mind to. But to a child, it was pain. And pain was never something to be desired.
"Does it hurt?" He gently asked, looking back at Ashi. Her head quickly shook, dismissing the question. Even while she bit her lip to silence her voice.
Jack sighed, knowing the truth already.
"You will be alright," he spoke kindly, softly, to the little one. "We only need to wash and bandage it." That would be of little difficulty in the forest. Rivers often ran through them, shallow and easy to bathe in.
"Wash?" Ashi spoke the word as a question. Jack blinked, in response.
He tilted his head at Ashi's words, but she only mimicked his action in return. Children often joked about such simple things, but he this little one did not have the immature smile that others her age would have.
She truly did not know what it was to bathe. That was… troubling.
"Um…" Jack began, unsure of what words to use. He had explained many things to many people, from acts as simple as holding a sort to the complexity of his life before these forty years, but never had he had to tell of something like this. "To wash is… to clean."
The child's expression did not change. Jack hummed, rubbing his free hand through his beard and over his chin. This wasn't going to work.
He could think of not a word to describe something so simple, and something that these little ones would understand. But if you could not describe with words, you did so through action.
"Perhaps… it would be best to show you," Jack concluded after a moment of thought. "It will help us to take care of this wound." Jack motioned towards the scab without touching it. Touching it would hurt, and he did not wish to bring pain to the child.
But he still needed to clean the larger piece of dirt that clung to the wound. Otherwise it would hurt to walk.
Gentle as he could, using his bare hand, Jack rubbed his knuckles above and below Ashi's knee, pushing away the dirt that clung to her skin and suit.
And she pushed away the dirt, it clung instead to his own. He did not mind. It would match his soul. The same shade of darkness, the same level of… wait.
Jack's eyes narrowed, twisting and lifting his hand to his eyes. He stared at his knuckles, seeing the harsh black material that now stained his hand. No such color existed in a forest, let alone during the chill of autumn.
He looked back down at Ashi's knee, searching about the wound. And there he saw the dark suit she wore, smeared across her skin. Now his eyes widened.
The suit… wasn't a suit.
"Oh," Jack simply spoke.
He turned to look at the other girls, the sisters that were silent through his exam. They all covered scars and mares upon their body, all looking everywhere but towards him.
And now that he watched them, he could see the same dark ash upon their body.
"Oh."
Jack needed to find a river.
And he found one.
It was not far from them, as they were already deep in the forest. Rivers tended to be from where great giants rose, because they fed the deep roots and invited a cool drink. Leave already coasted gently down the stream, some curled like simple boats atop the running waters and others drifting like fish under the surface.
Trees taller than the ones they passed when entering the woods encroached on the river's edge. Greedy roots took to abandoning the ground and laying within the surface of the water. Others were more respectful, some distance away but with branches that hung above the stream, shading it beyond the canopy high above.
But it was clear in color, free of pollution or taint. Clear enough to not only make out the copiously colored leaves, but also the pebbles that lined the bottom of the river's bed. Clean, moving, and far away from any town or village.
Jack walked to the river's edge, the little ones following close behind him. He knelt at the edge of the river bed, taking off his glove to let his bare hand sit in the water, testing it.
It flowed around his fingers smoothly. No sediment or coarse material stuck to his hand. At worst a leaf bumped into it, but just as quickly continued its trek down the stream. The water was chilled, but far from unbearable.
It was the perfect place to bathe. Jack nodded, turning towards the little ones.
They were standing by the stream's edge as well, each one staring at it on hands and knees. Jack watched them play with the water, dipping their hands into the cool liquid before quickly pulling it out. Wide eyes and open mouths, this was as new to them as the forest giants that still towered over them.
Tiny hands grabbed at the fallen leaves, pulling the brittle material from the water. Petite gasps were uttered as the fragile leaves fell to pieces, falling back into the water and being carried further down the river.
"Did I kill it?" One of the girls asked. Jack blinked at the question, though it was not directed to him.
"Yeah, you did," another spoke in return. Jack shook his head.
"Uh, no no," he spoke up, earning the immediate attention of the three girls. "It was a leaf, a part of the trees around us." He held up his hand, showing the forest giants he knew the girls were already enamored with.
But their eyes still looked up, tracing the trunks of the forest giants to the high branches above them. He watched a few follow the falling leaves as they collected on the river's surface, or fell further into the water.
"Are they dying?" the same child asked, her already matted and smooth.
"They must be weak." Ashi answered now, the only of the girls Jack knew by name.
He shook his head lightly to their conclusion.
"No, they are not," He spoke simply, easily, for the little ones. They stared at him with wide eyes, focused like warriors. "They are… preparing themselves for the cold of winter. Shedding what clings to them now, so they may endure what follows."
He held up his hand, eyes trained on a leaf that slowly fell to the ground. It flittered through the air, twisting over itself, rocking back and forth. Like a slow raindrop, it came to rest in his hand, form crumpled and colored red.
Jack held the leaf towards the girls. They did not move towards him, only staring at the object.
"A leaf from a tree protects and provides for the forest giants." He explained carefully, slowly. They were children, tortured little ones. "When air becomes cold, and the snow prepares to fall, the leaves fall first to cover the ground, to protect the roots of the trees."
"Roots?" The child full of questions asked. She carefully moved towards him, her sisters watching her cautiously. She crawled across the wet grass, heedless to how it was clinging to her skin. Her eyes were on him, and the leaf he held.
"Yes," Jack began, smiling through the thick of his beard. "Roots are what lay beneath a tree. They hold up the mighty giants, giving them strength and a means to grow. Without the roots, there would be no trees, no giants to provide for the forest."
The child did not ask anything in return. Jack did not push for her to.
Instead, he slowly lowered his hand into the cool stream once more, letting the leaf he carried being picked up by the water. It began to float down the river soon after, silent as its fall.
Jack turned to see the girls watching it float away, all still silent and likely full of questions. He watched them each look at the forest floor around them, grabbing at the leaves that were blanketing the ground, touching before lightly grabbing them.
They were gentle, or a few of them were at least, lifting up the fallen tree petals with both hands, letting them rest in their palms. Jack spoke not a word as they played with them, crunching, dropping, and gently placing the leaves on the river's surface, the same as he.
To act was to learn, and he would not forbid such a thing.
"Are smaller trees weaker?" the same hair matted girl asked. Jack looked at her, the little one staring up at him with curious eyes, leaves in both of her hands.
"Weaker, yes," he responded honestly, knowing well the strength of nature required to even shake a giant of the woods. Homes were built in them. "But not always, not forever."
"Not forever?" she asked again. Jack smiled at her, looking up to see the tops of the trees that surrounded them. He was sure the child was as well.
They watched and leaves drifted down from the high forest top, like snow from clouds. The myriad of colors was captivating alone, but falling at once, the simplicity of the forest changed to a rainbow in motion.
The few vibrant greens that fell with their brethren, the bold orange that still had strength, the decayed auburn that knew the end was nigh, and the sickly red of innocent blood that screamed for vengeance he had not delivered.
Jack shook his head, hard. He looked back down, mouth a scowl and eyes narrowed.
Only to see the little one staring up at him again. Her arms were pulled to her body. She was afraid. Jack sighed deeply. A sound that carried in the muted forest.
"Little one, what is your name?" He knelt as he asked the question a second time today. He knew he'd be asking it five more. Each one would give an equally important answer.
"Adi," the young girl spoke, eyes focused on him.
"Adi," he repeated. "It is true that some of these trees are weaker than others. They do not have roots so deep or trunks so wide, but that is not because they are weak things."
Jack watched as the girl's mouth slowly opened, eyes never leaving his own. She was fixated on him, listening to his every word. The forest was muted around them.
"Everything in life becomes stronger with age," he started, holding up his hand. "We all begin weak, so that we must grow. And to grow, we must shed what holds us back." They were immortal words spoken from his father.
In a time when peace was abundant and aging was enjoyed, his father would often speak with him of the pacing of time. Shedding innocence for experience, trading wood for steel, and play for work. All to turn the weak into the strong.
"So the strong are strong forever?" Jack shook his head lightly before gazing down at the hair matted girl. His smile was too small to be seen through the thick of his beard.
"No, for nothing lasts forever." A truth his mother had taught him when they had happened across a forest giant, fallen to age and rot. "Nothing is forever, and change is eternal."
The little one only tilted her head at him, eyes scrunching in confusion. He felt his head bob with her, but his raising a brow over flexing his eyes. Ah, he had forgotten. She was a child. Therefore, with a childish mind.
He was speaking too deeply for the young ones.
"We can speak of it later," Jack rose slowly as he spoke. "For now, we are here to use the stream."
"To bathe?" Ashi asked, the spike haired little one. Jack nodded towards her, motioning towards the stream as he spoke.
"The water is cold, but it is clean." He knelt again, scooping a pool of the liquid into his palm. The lines of his skin were dulled through the liquid, but not a trace of sediment in the water. "And we will use it to clean your bodies."
He watched idea drift over the seven little ones.
One-by-one, they realized his words. They grabbed at the ash-covered skin, pushing at the coal that marred their bodies. Smudged the ash that clung to their skin. They looked from their dirty hands to his own.
He watched the children observe, silent and stoic. A little one he knew not the name to placed her hand in the water, slowing letting it push beneath the surface. The damp leaves drifted by her fragile limb, all without a mark to skin.
But the river slowly changed.
Jack watched as the charred coal wet itself on the river and fell away from the girl's arms. Like Aku's slithering dark magic, it left trials over the surface of the clean liquid, turning the clean and pristine water bleak.
But it was a good change, for the marring of the river barred the skin of the young girl.
She pulled her hand out of the water, staring at her own skin as if in shock. Her sisters crowded about her, all feeling the now porcelain colored hand. Their fingers slipped over the wet surface, but refusing to let their hands slide off.
They still spoke not a word, all still quiet as they observed. But their curiosity was apparent, and their knowledge growing from it.
Jack would not let such a thing fall away.
"Little ones," he spoke again, all seven pairs of eyes immediately looking upon him. He placed his hand back into the water. "That is to wash yourself. To clean the dirt from your body."
He was silent once more as the same girl looked at her hand then back to the river, her still dark and ash-covered limb feeling her now clean and damp one. Her sisters only continued to stare.
Leaves fell and crumbled around them as them as Jack waited for the children to move. Dead leaves falling to the earth, blanketing the ground for winter. He would not instruct the children to get in the water, not until they tested it themselves.
It was a good place to let the children learn, a forest in the calm of winter preparation. No animals large or fierce roamed in these times, no utter silence to confuse and alter the mind.
It was only the whistling of leaves, the tweeting of forgotten birds, and the swinging of leafless branches. This was the noise that surrounded them, the subtle and ambient music that turned roaming curiosities into tangible thoughts.
And now another girl, with hair that curled at the edges of her head, crawled towards the river. Her hands and feet cracked and broke the leaves beneath them, but her eyes, wide and focused, were on the river.
She stopped at its edge, facing looking upon the clear surface. Jack saw her reflection stare back at her, head tilting and eyes blinking in time with her.
Carefully, the child lowered her leg into the river, her toes slowly parting the water as it pierced the surface. Jack watched her face, watching as she treated the water as she had the darkness in the mountain. He could fault her not for a moment.
The bed was shallow though, evident by the water rising only to her hips. Far more than enough, but she still stood with raised arms and nervous glances. Jack waited by the side, never taking his eyes off her. Ignoring tothe forest, its giants, and the blanket of falling leaves.
The little one in the water was all that mattered.
Though, with a quick splash, it became two little ones.
The second of the children to enter had a mess of hair, the most untamed amongst her sisters. Her entry was far faster than that of her sister, and her eagerness showed across her face. That, and her decision to fall into the water.
The first child to enter, the bravest, froze at her sister's eager actions. But their siblings on the shore had their fears dissipated by their conjoined actions. Jack could see the trepidation give way to curiosity. That always led to action.
One-by-one, the same as the leaves that fell, the girls began to dip their dark-coated bodies into the water, letting the cool water of the stream push against the ash and soot that clung to their bodies.
"It's cold," one off the girls spoke. Ashi, as Jack recognized her. She was the most cautious of her siblings.
"But it's nice," her sister spoke, one without a name Jack could call.
"It feels really nice." Another of the little ones added on. She was smiling with the words. They all were.
The greatest kind of infection, as he had found through his years. A smile given and a smile shared. The siblings each had one upon their features, grinning as they stepped further into the river's cool water, washing the taint of Aku from their skin.
He smiled at them all the same.
He smiled, standing to his tallest as they began to move across the river bed. It was impolite to impede on one's bathing, and Jack would not take what little the children had left in dignity.
His boots cracked the leaves as he walked away from the little ones, listening to the cool water of the stream splash as they washed away the stains of their past. It was a sound he wish would act the same upon his soul. But he knew better than to hope for the hopeless.
So instead, he settled under a forest giant, turning and sitting to face the girls some small distance away. Far enough to not impede on their privacy, but close enough to not risk harm upon them.
They were young and innocent, tortured for Aku's sake. The world was large, vast in comparison to the cavern they had likely forever called their home. Even the canopy of the forest's trees challenged the roofs of the mountains. And so little of the world did these two places show.
The little ones were just that, little. Their frames were small and limbs narrow. Even as they washed in the river, scrubbing away at the vile coal and ash that clung to their skin, he could see just how tiny they were.
Fragile, innocent, and naïve. A time in life when everything was supposed to be beautiful, and they had suffered the wrath of Aku's evil. Mothers that were not parents, family that were not compassionate, and even confusion towards kindness.
Jack sighed deeply, watching them carefully. They were the only sound in the forest that prepared for winter. Only the scarce tweet of a far-off bird filled the air.
He breathed deeply, feeling the air push against his beard. The children were his concern, and his concern required his attention.
They would need something to cover themselves when they left the water. The air was cold and their skin was bare, not to add in the water that now clung to their slowly cleaning skin. He did not carry clothing for children, but he did carry cloth.
He unlatched the back of his armor, the back of his do falling off. His tare came next, releasing his collar and exposing the thick fabric that lay beneath. His hand clenched the kobakama, feeling it crumple beneath this grip.
It was restrictive, hard, meant to soften blows from dull weaponry. It was far from comfortable, but wrapped around the skin, it was warm to wear. It was why the cold air hardly bothered him, but his comfort mattered little. It never had.
You're a danger to them.
Jack twisted his head towards the voice, staring into the foliage of the woods. He saw nothing, nothing but tall trees, falling leaves, gnarled roots.
And his past.
A past with the eyes of Aku, the teeth of demons, and the grin of satisfaction. Satisfied to know it was right, in all that it said. Jack shut his eyes and turned away. The children were nearby.
Is that what you intend to do when danger comes? Ignore it?
He would not speak to the evil of his mind.
How do you intend to protect them from you? Everyone dies around you. EVERYONE!
Jack's breathing shook, his eyes closing until the muscles cramped. He would not heed a painful future.
If you want to protect them, leave! You leave everything else, so why not them?!
"Because they are children." He spoke resolutely.
Jack opened his eyes again. He saw the little ones continuing to wade in the water, pushing against their bodies with patches of water, washing away the vile remains of their upbringing. But aside from the forest entire, it was all he saw.
No reminders of his past, no truths of his mind. Nothing that did not already hang from his soul.
His eyes drifted back to the children in the water, watching them for a moment longer.
Into pairs and triplets, they stood in the stream, scrubbing off the ash that clung to their body. A process he could tell was working already working. The once clean and chilled water was slowly being stained by the darkness of Aku, of his work upon innocent lives.
Like the tendrils of darkness the Shogun of Sorrow used, the ash swam downstream from the little ones. Crumbled leaves were caught in its wake, falling beneath the surface of the water, and vanishing from sight. No sound was made at their passing. Jack gave them only passing notice.
His focus was only the little ones, now baring only the faint remainders of their past.
"Gah! Ah!" One of the little ones cried.
Jack did not hesitate.
He pounced to the river with the speed of a gazelle. Water splashed around him, destroying any calm the forest offered. The little ones were crawling to the shore, naked with the dark coal running from their skin.
Jack looked around with narrowed eyes, searching around the children for what could have threatened them. There were no wolves, no hunters, no hazards, nothing that would bring harm to any man or child.
So, he looked down, preparing for something he had missed, for an accident that had tried to harm the children.
Jack saw fish, a small school of them.
They were harmless fish, long and rainbow colored. The floated more than swam through the river's water, following the stream and moving effortlessly for it. They made not a sound above the river.
Jack stood tall as they swam around his legs, treating them like obstacles in their path. He watched them with narrowed eyes. They were harmless, or at least cautious. With the falling leaves and coming cold, they were likely seeking warmer waters.
Harmless fish, but so odd to see in a forest where snow was soon to settle. Yes, it was odd.
But not quite as odd as the children already on the shoreline.
Nude and covering one another in fright, their wide eyes stared at the fish as they swam through the rivers shallow waters. The same rainbow scaled fish disappearing into the inky blackness that trailed down the water's stream.
Wet and shivering, damp and cold, Jack knew inaction was not a choice at this time. He needed to dry them off, warm them up, and cover them for the night. There was one thing he could do to accomplish such a thing.
His eyes trailed back to the fish beneath him. They could help as well.
Pop-pop
The fire sounded in the dark forest, the only source of noise in the now still night. Embers danced as the wood crackled under the fire, spitting out and turning to smoke before they hit the ground.
It was the only light in the forest now, not even a pale moon too light the forest floor of leaves and twigs. Too high was the canopy and too thick the branches. Many leaves may have fallen, but not nearly enough to allow the stars or moon to shine through.
But the fire was bright, harsh, but bright. Warm and inviting. The air was cool in the day, and the loss of the sun did not help. But the burning wood and welcoming light were all the sweeter because of it.
The wood of fallen giants was easy to burn, especially in the dry of the coming winter. And the blanket of leaves made for easy kindling, plentiful, dry, and easy to burn. It was an easy task, one that Jack had done many times before.
He had made the same pillar of fire under forest giants, in endless plains, on snowy mountains, and beside the sea. And often he cooked upon said fire. Fire to warm and fire to burn. Now was no different.
The fire roasted a series of fish above the flames, piked and secured by grounded sticks on the fires sides. The fire cooked the fish slowly, but clearly.
The scales were beginning to harden and flake, the little flesh that could be seen darkening with the ash and flames. The fire crackled as it did its work, moving the heat from the wood to the core of the fish.
Jack focused on it, listening to the popping of air in the wood and peel of the scales on the fish. It was a quiet a night, quiet in a forest preparing for a long slumber. But the fire was resisting that change, a resistance he welcomed.
It was the only light in the forest, the only thing he and the seven little girls watched silently.
Seven girls that were clothed and dropped in the kobakama he once wore. It was torn to pieces, leaving him with only thin cloth beneath his heavy armor, but it was what he deserved to wear. He had muscles beneath and hair above his skin. The little ones had no such protection.
So the cloth was cut and threaded to rags of clothing, enough to cover the little ones, but little more than that. They were huddled together, the seven of them, all sitting near the inviting flame.
The fire danced across their eyes, reflecting around their tiny pupils. Heads so still and focused on the fire and fish, Jack could watch and count the embers from looking at their eyes.
Dry from the river, their played with their hair as the nestled together. Pulling out the collection of airs into a fine point, stretching them into two, matting it down, they all played with them in different ways. He could not yet tell all their names, but that would come in time. For now, they were quiet.
They were as quiet as the forest around them, quieter than the fire before them. Jack was no different, for there was little to be said. Food was being prepared, the fire was warming them, and nothing else mattered at the moment.
His eyes traced away from them for a moment, focusing instead on the darkness of the forest. No eyes glowed with the fire's light, no leaves crumbled under foreign footsteps away from camp. The forest was dead at night, preparation for the winter's lull.
Jack breathed slowly, watching his breath smoke, billow, and drift away in the night air. The cold air made the fish cook slower, which meant they had to wait longer. But, perhaps not much longer. It had already been sometime.
He reached out with his hand, pinching the crusted flesh of the fish experimentally. The scales flaked at his touch, peeling back to reveal the silver skin underneath. Rainbow scales fell and vanished into the flames of the cooking fire. He smiled.
They were ready.
Carefully, he removed one of the fish from the tongs of twigs, feeling the warmth of the bark even through the thick material of his gloves. It did not steam, however. The scales were insulating the heat.
He reached into the back of his haidate, pulling free a thin small knife. It was useless in battle. It was perfect for cooking.
Crossing his legs, Jack settled the fish on his lap, letting the warmth of the fish settle over the steel of his armor. It was crude, but it could be a cutting board, of sorts.
And so Jack set to work.
From fin to head, Jack moved his blade up the fish. The edge of the blade weaved into the looseness of the scales, curled by the fire. As it reached beneath, it forced up the hard material, releasing it from the fish's silvery skin.
Like dancing raindrops, the scales of the fish flew through the air and landed on crumbled leaves, vanishing from sight. The fire made the scales sparkle, the still air let them drift, and the silence made them a spectacle for the wide-eyed and curious.
Jack saw the little ones watching him, huddled together in rags and warming by the flames. They spoke not a word of discomfort, but neither were there thanks for relief. There were as silent as the air, or muted by the crackling fire.
It mattered only a little. There was food to prepare, and he would not allow the little ones to go a day without food.
"What are you doing?" Jack turned to see one of the little ones scooching towards him, dragging her knees across the dry leaves and dirt beneath. Her voice, as well as the leaves, were loud against the stillness of the night.
Jack looked back down to the fish, knife in hand and scales partially peeled away. The crisp material littered the ground, showing only the silver of the fish's skin.
"Preparing the fish," he spoke simply. Watching the young girl's eyes look from him to the trout in hand. Her gaze was wide and memorizing, tongue peaking out between clenched lips. Only the crackling of the fire filled the night.
"How?" How? Jack's brow rose slowly at the question.
Her sister had asked why. This little one asked how. A difference small, but noticeable. Noticeable as the two spikes that pointed up from her hair, drying in a manner he was not aware was possible.
But she had asked a question, and with a night as dark and quiet as this, it was the perfect time to instruct.
"What is your name?" He asked the young child. The girl had already moved to his side, sitting between him and the fire with eyes focused on his own. His, and the fish in hand.
"Ahi," she answered simply, voice far louder than the forest's still air. Jack nodded, committing the name to memory.
"Ahi," he spoke her name as well. "I am removing the scales from the fish with the blade of the knife." Jack showed as he spoke, damp blade glistening under the fire's light.
He caught Ahi staring at the blade. She, and the six other little ones across the fire's warmth. They hardly moved as he spoke.
"The scales are connected at only one point. I drag my knife against the scales, shedding them from the skin beneath." He demonstrated as he spoke, once more letting his knife glide over the fish's outer belly.
The scales either fell in clumps or flicked through the air before landing on crumbled forest leaves. There were far too many to count, like the leaves in the forest or rain in a storm.
"You drag the knife opposite, because the scales are grown to resist forces across them." And again, he showed on a patch of scales on the yet-to-be skinned fish. His knife moved from head to fin, skimming over the scales with hardly any effect.
"How come?" How again, but why in a different language. Jack nodded at her curiosity.
"Because the fish resists the water with its scales," he spoke as he ran his hand across the fish once more. "As with all things, it excels in tackling certain tasks. But to prepare it, I must skin it in a way it was not prepared for." As so many warriors did to others in times both old and new.
In the ways that he knew he was weak to.
"Are the scales bad?" Jack looked towards Ahi again, the girl staring more at the glistening bits of the fish that now littered the forest floor. They sparkled, even when cooked, under the fire's light.
"They are… difficult to eat," Jack explained, experience rich in this area. "And meals should be a thing of comfort, not effort." The hunt was another story, but to mix the two was to say the forest was the fire. One simply led to the other.
"Is the fish good to eat?" Jack smiled down at the little one, her question genuine. It was thankfully a question he needed no words to answer.
Instead, he sliced down the fish. The steel of his knife easily moving through the strips of the fish's muscle. Small pieces of meat were rolled off the trout, collecting on the flat of his blade. Darkly colored, steaming with eat, it was perfect to eat.
Gently, slowly, he offered the piece to Ahi. The fire crackled and popped behind them, the girl focusing her attention solely on the food offered to her. She did not take it, not quickly.
Her hand lifted and reached for the thin piece of slowly, eyes more on Jack than the food itself. He did not rush her, not offend her. This was a task she set to learn from. He would alter such a precious process.
Ahi lifted the trout meat slowly, letting the fire silhouette the piece of meat as she took it off of Jack's knife completely. Her eyes stared at it for a moment longer, as if unsure what to do with it. Jack knew not how the young ate before, but he was far to think he had to instruct her on such a thing.
The little one took a quick gulp of empty air, audible in the night's still air, the forest's calm. In the next breath, she placed the fish in her mouth, shutting her eyes as she puffed out her cheeks with the meat.
Jack let his brow rise, but little more.
Ahi, however, had her eyes widen in the next moment.
"It's yummy!" She declared proudly. Jack smiled till teeth showed between the strands of his beard.
"I am glad," he returned, letting the knife move through the fish and freeing more of the fillet. He handed it to Ahi, who took the second piece with little to no hesitation. She gobbled it down, excitedly.
Jack heard the crunching of leaves fighting the crackling of the fire. A small turn of his gaze showed the other girls crawling closer, eyes on their sibling greedily devouring the fish. It did not take a wise man to know what they wanted.
Jack took his Do and began to lay the fish fillets across the inner surface. The fire's light warmed the cool steel, casting inviting lights over the dark pink of the meat.
His hands had begun to work on the second of the fish when the other little ones summoned enough of their bravery to come forward. He recognized Ashi as the second to take some of the fish, eyes and lips smiling with joy as she tasted the meat.
Jack continued his chore of preparing the fish, letting the sounds of the popping fire and hungry girls fill the night air. It was a far better choice than cold silence.
It took little time for him to finished the fish, meat lined along the steel of his armor. Perhaps in a better condition, it could be mistaken for a chef's plate. For now, it was only his meager attempt at a meal using only what the forest would provide.
Jack pushed the knife away, hiding it from view of the hungry and rag-worn children. He had eaten all the little he needed to. The girls needed to eat now.
His back settled on a forest giant's trunk, letting his gaze fall on the girls and the fire behind them. There was nothing else to see in a forest blanketed by darkness.
Their tiny hands grabbed the filet of fish, squeezing the soft meat until it turned to mush in their hands. They wiped more than brought their hands to their faces, smearing the fish across their faces. Jack raised a brow at the messy display.
Manners would have to be taught in time. But not now, not in the darkness of the forest giants.
Jack watched silently as the seven little ones, tortured within a mountain of red, eat the fish taken from a river of blue. Even with mouths full and the darkness thick, their smiles were clear as the sun.
Smiles he did not witness inside of the shallow mountains, free of tears he bore such witness to.
They were freed from the darkness so far, no longer gowned in the taint of Aku. But they were not free. Too many curiosities they were meant to already know. Too many wonders that should be mundane.
They were young, little ones, and they had much more room to grow.
Jack sighed deeply, a sound carried through the stillness of the forest's dark blanket. The crackling fire filled the air, but was often interrupted by the girls chewing and eating. He sought to end neither.
In the deep of the night, there was nothing else to focus on. The forests giants, large and nigh inescapable, were hidden beneath the night's cloak. The animals that were fill the air now slumbered for winter's coming cold.
It was a still and peaceful night, with Jack watching little ones feast on a meal they had never had. Their bodies silhouetted by the fire, until only dark shadows dancing against the light remained. Dark shadows that crept across the ground with tendrils long and deep.
Jack's breathing shook. His eyes widened as he watched the dark tendrils shift across the crumbled grass, reaching for the darkness of his armor, lead on by the sins of his soul.
You will kill them, son!
Jack swung his head up, staring at the little ones, at their shadows, at the melded being that bore down on him with a hateful gaze. A gaze cloaked in red and glowing with the taint of the future.
He stared at his father, a broken mess of limbs and blood.
"Father?"
You will kill them! Like you killed US!
All of US!
Jack swung his head fast enough for his beard to whip. He stared at the tendrils of shadows that crawled from the forest, that reached from the children. They all had faces, had eyes, had sorrow, had pain, had his sins.
We're gone!
You let us die!
Why did you not save us!
Why have you forsaken us!
Help us!
Help me!
And the voices grew as the fire burned, burned until it threatened to overtake the dark forest he sat in. And the taller it burned the darker the shadows became. The more truthful their scornful words.
Words that came from ruined lips, gazes from bloodshot eyes, cries from torn throats, sorrow from mangled limbs. They reached and grabbed at him, pulling him into the truth of his soul, forcing him to see the horror of his past.
"No. No! No!" He shouted at them, pushing away the shadows that slipped through his armor, that racked at his beard. "I have not! I have not!" He lied with every word, proclaiming innocence he knew was lost.
You have!
You have!
You have no regret for your sins!
And the forest giants, cloaked in shadows, bent over his toppled form, letting eyes of red and flames of green fall about his character. Flames that threatened to swallow him, to turn his dark past into an apparent future.
You were cowardly, my son! And I have DIED FOR YOUR COWARDICE!
Aku has won because you have failed!
Jack stared back at the limbs of shadows, at the broken forms, only to see mother and father crying towards him, limbs mangled and twisted together like a demon's cruel toys. Toys that they were made to be because he could not act.
Because he was a failure as a samurai, because he was a failure to his people.
And then, from the flames, a new sight was birthed. A sight so terrible and true that it wrought the twigs to ash and turned the kindling to smoke. It was a sight that overtook the forest endless and left Jack with only a truth to stare at.
A truth, an omen, bathed in in the sickly green and gowned with the sins of his past.
It called to him in silence, offering him the freedom from his horrors.
SPLASH "Are you okay!? Are you pathetic?!"
Jack took a gulping breath as the fire turned to smoke, darkening the forest immediately.
His hands were gripping the grass beneath the leaves, turning the fallen tree petals caught in his grasp into crumbs. Wide eyes stared forward, seeing the outline of shapes in front of him, all without a sound.
Rising smoke, thick trees, and seven young children. Their eyes were visible and boring in the dark.
"Are you weak!? Are you okay!?" One of them was screaming, yelling at him. Jack felt her grabbing at his leg with tiny hands, her voice speaking in a rush.
Nothing else was heard by her worried cries, not even his deep gasps of air. No nightly creatures made a sound. No more fire burned to crackle and pop.
Jack focused on the hands, on the tiny yet strong grip that clung to him. It was real. It was concerned.
"I-I am… I am sorry," he apologized as swiftly as his voice could muster, lips shaking at the sight still bored into his mind. "I saw… something cruel."
"Are you okay?" Another child asked the same question.
"Are you hurt?" "Are you sick?" Jack turned to see a pair of eyes closer to him, the face belonging to them indistinguishable in the dark blanket of the forest. A blanket thrown so quickly his eyes protested with a watering gaze.
He could not see the little ones, not see the one grabbing and yelling at his well-being. But he could feel her weak grasp. Many, in fact.
He could feel hands no larger than his palm grabbing at his beard, his armor, his skin, the first parts of him they could grasp in the dark. They were holding him tightly, with a grip that could tame a stallion.
"I am… sorry," he spoke twice, turning his head in the dark, looking at the eyes that bore into him. Innocent eyes trapped in darkness. "I frightened you. I-"
"Are you scared?" Another of the children asked, and one that Jack could not see. He felt them grabbing at him still, clenching until he swore his armor would break. He did not forsake them.
It would be easy to tell a lie, a lie he was used to telling himself. A lie of the present to protect them from the sins of his past. He stared at their worried eyes in the endless dark of the forest. Swallowing to wet his throat he answered.
"… Yes," he answered. He would not lie to children. "I am… terrified."
Whump
Jack felt his body shift as one of the little ones pushed herself against him. Not a moment later did he feel arms wrapped about his frame. Not complete, hardly enough to be half-way, but with a strength a warrior would be impressed by.
A pair of eyes vanished as he felt the little one cling to him, holding him tightly with no sign of release. He had no idea or thought of what action, if any, to take.
WhumpWhump
The few ideas Jack may have had fled into the darkness as he felt two more of the little ones grab him. Their strength was as true as their sister.
WhumpWhumpWhumpWhump
And then the rest grabbed at him as well.
Seven little ones, seven girls tainted by Aku, grabbing at him as the hope in the darkness. He knew not the reason or action to take.
They latched onto him at his admittance to cowardice. If they knew the truth of his sins, they would flee into the dark, preferring the constant of the evil to his fearfulness and sorrow. It was a truth as clear as his sins.
But they were children who acted before thought, who stared without words. To act now would be to tell them to leave. He waited for a voice to confirm, for a ghost of his past to whisper the truth to his hear.
But none came.
None, save but for the small hiss of smoke that came from the doused fire. Silence in a forest of darkness. Peace in sorrow.
"Thank you," Jack spoke clearly as he could, voice shaky with breath uneven. "Thank you kindly, little ones."
Their monstrous grip strengthened. He was not concerned even a small amount.
Jack breathed deeply and slowly as the girls crowded about him, clinging to the hardness of his armor, savoring the little warmth his touch could provide. Against a forest giant's trunk, he rested his back. For the girls around him, he offered his arms.
He pulled lightly, possessively, at the little ones. Enough to encourage them to shift closer, to grab harder, at the little armor he wore. That little amount meant they were a little safer. Safer even with a killer like him.
A man, a disgraced warrior, such as himself.
One with no future. One with a cursed past. One with no hope. One with no reason.
It was who he was as a man, as honest and true as the forest in which he slept.
But the children were not that.
The children were innocents wrought with Aku's malice, tainted by his gaze, tortured by his hand. And he, Jack, was the one who had pulled them from it. And now, with tiny hands and smaller words, they clung to him.
They clung to him for the hope he didn't have, for the peace he could not win, and for the protection he had failed to ever secure. They looked for him for things he could not offer and he did not have.
But he clung to them all the same.
For they were offering him peace, though he knew they had none.
Author's Note: So writing tortured children is hard, because I at some points want them to jump out and attack Jack with PTSD syndrome, but then I realize that Ashi never did that even after her sisters were killed, swallowed by a monster, and then betraying her mother.
So yeah, the kids are tough to right, but I think I'm getting them step by step.
I am trying to show the unique aspects of the girls, at least characterize them all differently. If it wasn't clear just yet, Adi is the most inquisitive of the group and Ahi is most interested in food. That will play in the future as well. Expect the rest of the girls to get their moments as well, but some will be more difficult than others.
Namely cause some of them are characterized by NOT being an obvious strength, like Adi's knowledge.
But I do hope Jack's mental breakdown is on point. Trying to avoid the cliché of repeating the TV show, but I know I got close with the fire. Tried to mix it up with the shadows of the girls, but I don't know how well I did.
Well, I know we'll see more morals than lessons next chapter. Now I just have to get the girls clothes…