The following is a story of one man who has yet to realize the scope of his destiny.
Kiryu was the first to get up, but he waited until someone else had also awoken before rousing the others. It was estimated that the journey would take about a day and a half, so he put himself in charge of packing food and gave Crow and Jack simple tasks they couldn't possibly mess up. Yusei volunteered to take an alternate route down to the reservoir and collect enough water for all four people. Crow initially objected to Yusei going alone, but as Yusei was bringing his gun and it was only a short trip anyway, they let him go.
The alternate route was rather long and winding. Yusei adopted a brisk yet quiet gait, listening intently as he walked. There was always the possibility that the surrounding area had been rendered unstable from the collapse of the tunnel, so he didn't want to be caught off guard if it proved too weak and caved in.
Regardless, he made good time in reaching the reservoir. Yusei had just knelt down to fill the canteens when he froze. He straightened and scanned the surrounding area, straining his ears for any hint, any noise….
"You can come on out", he announced, the looming walls throwing his voice around the lonely cave and causing it to reverberate throughout. Yusei made an effort to keep his tone as nonthreatening as possible. No sense in provoking what might not necessarily be a foe, after all. However, he kept one hand on the pocket that held his pistol.
Of all that could've emerged next, however, he definitely had not been expecting what did. Heralded by the alien sound of heels clacking on the limestone, a human figure approached shyly from behind a large rock. It was a woman.
"Ah, sorry if I surprised you", she apologized. Yusei immediately pegged her as a villager. Her skin, and face were clean, and her hair devoid of obvious tangles. Her clothes were moderately elegant, and didn't appear to be very tattered. The only unusual part was in how she cautiously watched his every move with catlike, almost luminous eyes. Then again, he reasoned, it was perfectly normal for a villager to be wary of an outcast. "I…dropped something near here, and I was looking for it when I heard you coming. I wasn't certain if you were an enemy or not, so I hid."
"Completely understandable", he reassured, though impassively. "What did you lose?"
"Er, well…it's a little hard to say", she debated. "But it's white and rather large, all things considered, so…."
Yusei raised an eyebrow. "That…sounds like it would be very easy to find."
"Yes, I realize", she agreed. "So it's quite annoying that I still can't find it yet." She paused. "In fact, I'm not even sure how I dropped it. Surely I would have noticed it…unless…."
"You…don't think it was stolen, do you?"
"I hope not!" She stared at him. "But I'm hoping it's somewhere around here. It would be such a hassle if someone had taken it…not to mention the cleanup…."
"Pardon?"
"Oh, nothing." The girl shook her head. "Just, if you see anything like what I described, please tell me. In the meantime, I'll just be searching along here." She began to make her way along the edge of the reservoir. "What's your name, by the way?" After a moment of hesitation, Yusei told her. "Ah", she nodded. "One of my names is 'Aki'."
"One of" her names? But Yusei didn't question it, instead busying himself with filling up the second canteen.
"…Yusei?" Aki spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know what a rose is?"
He glanced at her. "It's a thorny flower that grows on the surface, usually red or pink. Why?"
Aki seemed to be fingering the edge of her sleeve. "Do you think…that roses are worth picking, despite the thorns?"
Her questions were growing stranger and stranger. But…no harm in answering them, he supposed. "It depends. If picking the rose is important enough to a person, I'm sure they'd risk being pricked by the thorns."
"Then…Yusei, would you pick a rose?"
He paused. "No. I wouldn't."
Yusei wasn't sure, but she appeared to frown visibly at his answer. "Yes, I supposed you wouldn't", she remarked, a tinge of bitterness in her voice. She looked up quickly. "But", she continued, "well, then I think I admire the person who would."
Yusei didn't respond to this, and instead looked away. Once he had, however, the faint glimmer caught his eye.
"Aki", he stood, alert, "there's something over there…!"
She whirled around. "Do you think…?"
"It looks white", he confirmed.
She leapt carefully down from the small ledge she'd wandered onto, the combination of her impatience and her two-inch heels nearly causing her to stumble, but she quickly regained balance. "Where is it?" she asked of him.
"Around there, across the water", he directed. "I'm not quite sure it's what you're looking for, tho-",
"It's fine. Let's check it out." With that said, Aki began to follow him around the reservoir's banks. She appeared to be skeptical at first, but as they drew closer and closer to the object, her expression slowly started to lighten. Finally, she nearly shouted in relief, "Yes! That's it!"
"This is what you lost?" Yusei said, regarding the object with a dubious wariness. It was a sleek white mask, with a small circle on the forehead and slashes through the eyes. A thin white film was spread over the eyeholes, presumably so that the wearer's eyes would be impossible to see, though Yusei couldn't understand why anyone would make such an addition. Its pale, metallic sheen contrasted violently with the gritty stone that surrounded it.
Not to mention…the fact that it was underwater.
No wonder Aki had failed to notice it.
Well, here went nothing. "I'll get it", he grunted, removing his glove and rolling up his sleeve. The mask's face stared hatefully up at him with eyes it did not have. Aki began a rather half-hearted protest, but in another instant he'd already plunged his hand into the water.
…And promptly regretted it. Later that day, Yusei would be able to come up with some plausible reasons for why the temperature would vary in different areas of the reservoir, but for now all that concerned him was the realization that the water here was ridiculously freezing.
If there were some kind of tiny archer under the water, Yusei immediately thought, and he was repeatedly firing ice-tipped arrows into my fingers, it wouldn't feel too different from THIS. And though the very idea made him want to cringe, he instead gritted his teeth and pushed his arm farther underwater – clutching at the rocky bottom, straining as he reached for the edge of the mask. It's too deep!, he realized. I won't make it! Yet, just as he told himself this, the mask almost seemed to lift itself up, just a little bit…! He seized it without hesitation and gratefully withdrew his arm.
Once it'd been handed to Aki, though, she paused. For a moment, both stood motionless, him with his arm dripping languidly and her with the mask in her hands, gazing intently at it.
"Something wrong?" he asked. Seeing as he could've just killed half of the nerves in his arm just trying to retrieve the damned thing, Yusei hoped not.
"No…well", she hesitated, "I…was just contemplating. Even though this mask is mine, it's…how would I describe it? Lately, I've been feeling that, whenever I put it on, I become a different person." She began to pick up more and more speed as she spoke. "A stronger person. And yet, very different from myself. I…A part of me would like to become that person, and yet a partofme is afraidofgettingintoodeep, and losingtherestofmyself. Doesthatmakesense?" The last few phrases were released in a single, rushed breath, and as soon as Aki had finished talking she clapped a hand over her own mouth, as if having uttered something forbidden.
"I…I'm sorry", she told Yusei. "I shouldn't have said all that just now."
He was taken aback by this last notion. "What're you talking about?" he objected. "If you don't want to wear the mask, then there's no sane reason to force yourse – ",
Yusei wasn't even able to finish talking when Aki swiftly lowered her face and roughly shoved the mask onto it.
Instantly, her shoulders relaxed, but her fingers stiffened. It wasn't difficult to imagine them curling themselves into fists, or even claws. When she looked back at him, her voice had taken on a cold flat, tone.
"I thank you for helping me recover this mask", she informed him curtly, then promptly turned on her heel and left. Now, there was a difference in the way she carried herself – not shyly, or with the utmost caution as before, but with a sweeping, more arrogant sort of grace. In almost no time, she had left his field of vision.
Yusei had no idea what to make of this.
He met the others at the entrance to the reservoir. Crow in particular looked as if he'd just run the whole way there. (Which, come to think of it, he probably had.) The other two lagged behind him.
The minute he spotted Yusei, he aimed for the collar, but Yusei saw this coming and stepped aside. So Crow resorted to pointing accusingly at him instead. "What took you so long?" he demanded.
"I was briefly caught up in something", Yusei replied flatly.
"You call that brief?" Jack snorted. "That was fifteen minutes at the least. How long does it take to waltz down to a lake and fill a few containers, anyway? I should've been the one who went."
Then I would have to feel sorry for Aki, Yusei remarked mentally, and barely suppressed a smirk at this.
"Yeah, Yusei, what exactly were you doing?" Crow agreed for once, looking concerned.
Why the hell was the answer so important? Yusei felt severely tempted to inform them that he'd been off shooting random passersby or something. "Helping to find a dropped object. Are you happy?"
"Yeah, that's a lot better", Crow began, then halted as realization struck. "Wait, so that means…Yusei, you were taking your time because you were helping someone?" Yusei nodded grudgingly, and Crow recoiled. "Whoa! That's great, Yusei!" he cried, attempting to slap the man on the back, only to have Yusei dodge again. "I didn't know you had it in ya!"
"Yes, I completely understand your surprise", Yusei responded. "After all, I'm obviously a cruel and heartless demon (who eats lightly salted children) and would never assist another human being, even if it killed me. Right, Crow?"
"…Fine, I take it back."
Yusei took a moment to enjoy the dismay in Crow's tone.
The journey wasn't quite as eventful as expected. Yusei, Jack, and Crow all took separate turns assisting Kiryu. In the beginning, it was a tedious pain in the neck, and involved much stumbling. Kiryu found himself constantly apologizing for how greatly he was slowing down the group, but soon enough, figured out his center of balance, and things gradually improved from there on.
At one point, they were actually surrounded by a motley crew of bandits – but they were a ragged, uncooperative pack of teenagers, barely sixteen at the eldest, that appeared set on constantly disagreeing with one another, even as they attempted to corner Yusei's group. True to his previous boast, it took only a couple of well-aimed knife throws on Kiryu's part to frighten them into scattering.
When the four men started to feel that they'd traveled enough for the day, they stopped close to a small grotto and near-unanimously agreed to set up camp there. (Jack objected, claiming that they were "behind schedule" as it was, but found his opinion firmly outnumbered.)
It seemed that Kiryu had traveled before, since he'd had the foresight to actually pack firewood for the trip. Glad to have been spared the agonizing chore of gathering it instead (seeing as wood wasn't exactly the easiest thing to seek out while underground), the quartet laid out the sleeping bags and proceeded to huddle quietly around the flames. Yusei brought up that they ought to sleep in shifts, and Kiryu promptly volunteered for the first shift. (Perhaps it was due to the fact that he'd basically spent most of the day being a load, but Kiryu appeared particularly eager to make himself useful.)
When they woke up the next day, it was with renewed energy that they continued on the road. Kiryu was able to keep up a surprisingly good pace, and in only a few hours, the trail suddenly opened wide into a gaping clearing.
Crow had caught the scent of a goal close at hand, and began to quiver in excitement. "It's there, isn't it!" he demanded, identifying a gradually emerging silhouette. "That's the village, am I right?"
There was something immensely proud about the way that Jack split into a wide smile, the first genuine one either Crow or Yusei had seen. "That's it, all right!" he was only too glad to confirm.
As they drew closer to the village, however, Yusei made regular attempts to blink and refocus his eyes. The shape they were approaching didn't resemble a village at all…. Instead, it seemed to be a tall, enormous dome partially inset into the wall.
Kiryu grinned, not seeming to notice anything out of place. "Imagine how shocked they'll be when they see we're still alive, eh?"
"You said it", Jack agreed, just as bafflingly at ease. And indeed, the moment they neared the village, there were people outside who dropped what they were doing to stare in disbelief, or perhaps ran into the dome to fetch a spouse or elder sibling. Crow waved furiously at them in greeting. (They took in the condition of his clothes and recoiled. One, who looked about four or five, turned and ran.)
Yusei's confusion regarding the village's appearance was cleared up the moment they entered it.
It wasn't so much a town as it was a huge concrete building with rooms and stairs built into meter-thick walls. He mentally scolded himself for expecting anything even remotely similar to a town on the surface or something, and lurked behind the others, trying not to attract too much attention. Normally, he wouldn't have cared, but…the last time he'd been around so many people was probably around ten years ago. He felt like some sort of alien.
"I wonder where the chief is", Kiryu questioned aloud. A small gathering of children began to form a semicircle around them, and he ruffled one's hair.
"There he is", Jack pointed, and Yusei glanced up. Sure enough, a tall man was coming their way, though Yusei didn't really need to be told to recognize that it was the man in charge.
After all, how many people in this day and age still owned, much less wore tuxedos?
"Welcome to our village", the man proclaimed grandly, addressing Crow and Yusei with a spreading of the arms. "I thank you for helping bring back to us our heroes, Jack and Kiryu. I am the chief here, and my name is Rex Godwin. Please, feel free to make yourself at home."
Author's Note: I'll be in Europe with bad Internet over winter break, so the next chapter won't be up for a while. However, I've finished setting up! Next time is when the plot truly gets rolling.
Please look forward to it~!
