Shira's Cryin'
Chapter 25
All of the past mistakes will be brought back to him, for it was all he was made to feel in the world. They say that history never repeats itself. Yet, it seems to give and it seems to take away. Whenever he least expected it. Whatever the world doesn't take from him, it still won't give back to him. The world is his time. His time is of essence. He could only guess how much longer this will go on for. He'll promise her that all of these tragic unfolding circumstances will only last as long as he allows them to. Which, in his case, should not be happening at all.
He sees it as himself to not have control over it. He can't have control over anything. If ever he did feel like he was in complete and total control over his life, the world, when he least expected it, only painted an illusion of his beliefs and philosophies just to crush him.
It was just so maniacal, so unreal, even for this world.
Letting Blake do all of the tracking, Diego was left walking beside him, thinking about anything that can keep his sanity withstood. He's always been so alone and left abandoned. It was as if he had some kind of sentence that he's been handed. One that allowed all of his angles to ignore him if his life were to flash before him. Even still, he'd keep on fighting. Through the thunder and the lightening like his own sudden death from above.
"Blake... about Shulk..." Diego spoke up so suddenly, grabbing Blake's attention like a lasso. He looked over at him, Diego only seeing a look in his eyes that were saying that he could ask him anything and that he'd answer truthfully.
"How exactly did you lose him? I mean, he must have been like only like a half a year old when I found him in the forest that day."
Blake took a deep breath before saying, "I know half of the story."
"I'm sorry?"
"Clearly, I know how I lost him. I just don't know how you found him ending up in a forest."
Diego didn't respond back, instead, letting him continue as he knew how hard it was to talk about the past.
"Diego, how do you think Shulk encountered that horrendous disease?"
"I just assumed he got it from all of my brothers who had the same thing."
"Hardly the reason. He had it before you even encountered him. I'm still not entirely sure how he got it. But it changed everything. You see, Soto found out and-"
"Soto?" Instantly hearing that name just filled Diego with rage.
"I knew I should have told you earlier." Blake shook his head and grinned. "I was in the same pack as him. He was our leader. I mean, I guess you can't call it a pack, really. It was fairly small. Only twenty-two sabers. It was more like-"
"A tribe?"
"Exactly. So, eventually, Soto finds out about Shulk's disease. At the time, I had know idea what he was planning. And then... Shira came up to me one day and told me that the tribe was planning to... decapitate... Shulk." Tears were then able to leak out of Blake's eyes.
"So, Shira was... a tribe saber?"
Blake nodded, "She told me about her parents and how she lost them. About her hateful mother. I assume she's already told you, right?"
"Ya."
"Bless her heart. The only thing she seemed to care about was Shulk's safety. I tried convincing Soto multiple times that his disease was not spreadable. He never listened. He was so stubborn."
"Ya, I noticed that right away."
Blake just laughed softly at his remark.
"And so, I was left with no choice but to take Shulk and leave the tribe. That's when Shira insisted on going with me. We were traveling for some time. That's when... they found us.
"Who?"
"A group of cave dwelling sabers. They surrounded us. They were savages. Cannibals. There were too many. Shira and I fought off as many as we could while Shulk stayed between us and cried. I did everything I could, but they got Shira. They pounced on her and piled on top of her. I thought she was dead at first, but I knew that they were going to torture her before they would kill her." Blake was having a hard time even saying anything. His lips were trembling and his eyes caked in fear.
"Then they got me. My ankle. On the floor defenseless, I looked at Shulk, knowing that I had no other choice, and told him to run and get out of there as fast as he could... and that's exactly what he did."
"And Shira?" Diego asked, not believing what he was hearing.
"I don't know. I managed to escape the cave that night. Barely. What happened to Shira between then and when you found her will only reside in her mind. Same with Shulk."
"Shit..." Diego said, now just realizing how much more serious this has gotten.
"So, she could have been tortured for weeks? And... That saber that I found her with... He was planning on killing her?!" Diego couldn't help but see it that way.
"So it would seem..." Blake said as if to himself.
"I can't believe she's been through all of this... and still seems less crazy than me."
"Diego, what she went through could very well be no different then what you went through. It's the mental scars that determine your sanity."
No words were spoken since. The two sabers eagerly wanting to straighten all of these tragic foldings out. And what better way to do that than to get closer and closer to the heart of it all.
'Soon. Very soon. I'll get her back.'
And he knew that he wasn't alone on this. Blake wanted to get back at Soto for what he was presumably going to do to Shulk. It made him feel that much less lonesome. It wasn't just him who had felt a sense of loss and remorse inside of him. Diego might have lost Shulk as a friend, but Blake lost him as a brother. He lost him while knowing that he was still out there, whereas Diego lost him due to natural causes. Diego was there for his end while Blake was not.
It was this realization along with many other unfolding events that allowed Diego to finally make sense, if any, of the world he was placed upon. It wasn't fate or nature's call that he ended up like this. It was all his right and wrong doing. He never gave up. He never gave in to the night or the darkness inside his heart. It was as if Blake knew this and that was perhaps the 'real' real reason that he wanted to help him.
'The future is ours to decide.'
And Diego was going to stop at nothing to have her again. For her to have him again. For his sake. For everyone's sake. It had to play out the way he wanted. Knowing that there are only twenty-two sabers in Soto's tribe brought doubt, yet a sense of eagerness to Diego. If it wasn't for Blake finding him those couple of days ago, he wouldn't know where he'd be right now.
'Probably dead.'
And Diego still hated himself for not trusting him earlier. Even if he was from the same tribe as Soto, it didn't surprise Diego that he left.
'Someone that stubborn. Jeez, who died and made him leader?'
Diego grinned at his own thoughts.
"What?" Blake asked, catching the smirk along his face.
"Huh? Wha- nothing. It's just that, I'm curious to how you came to be Soto's tribe. Were you just born into it or something?"
Blake slowly shook his head and sighed, "There's not much to say, really. As far as I know, I was born into it."
"And Shulk?"
"Same with him. But he's for sure a part of it."
Both sabers looked back in front of them, forgetting about the scent that they had been following.
"Shit. I can't pick it up anymore." Those few moments or hopeless loss overflowed Diego.
"Don't worry. I recognize this place." Blake said, looking around the mountainside that they reclined on.
"We should get there within an hour or so."
"Good. I can't wait."
"Careful what you say."