So. It's official. I'm a librarian. Four years of undergrad, two years of a Master's program, and one forthcoming piece of paper made it so. Today was supposed to be my Hooding, a special ceremony just for the graduates of my program. Yeah, I'm a bit sad about it. But I also wanted to say, hey, thanks to everyone who is still reading this roughly 8 years after I started this story on a whim while I was a senior in high school. This story has been with me for most of my young adult life. And now as I face the beginning of the end of the "young" part of "young adulthood" and go into that scary realm of "real adult", it fat feels weirdly fitting this is the beginning of the end for this story. (That is, of course, not to say that this is the end of my fanfiction writing days, or my time in this fandom. We've got a new anime coming, guys! Like I'm gonna leave now.)
So, yeah, thanks for sticking with me. You guys rock.
Chapter Thirty-Six:
In a whirl of wind, the group found themselves standing on a cobblestone street. A young girl of five with white-blonde hair walked by, blue eyes bright and shining walked past. Beside her walked, clutching her hand, was a girl, perhaps seventeen, who was an older version of the child beside her, radiant and beautiful, greeting those they passed on the streets.
"Rishi-Sobo, the younger girl, is that you?" Rin whispered.
Rishi-Sobo chuckled.
"Indeed it is, Rin-Chan," She said. "How odd is it that, never once with a child's curiosity, did any of you ask how old I am? The only two who have asked me in the past thousand years alone have been Ichigo and Lila."
"It seemed rude to ask," Risa said. "Although, that never stopped Lila."
"No, it did not." Rishi-Sobo said musingly.
"The older girl, then," Tart said quietly. "Is your sister, isn't she?"
"Yes. Kore." Rishi-Sobo said, this time with a bit of sadness.
The scene switched to inside a large marble hall. In tile on the floor was the pattern of the four trees representing the four seasons, along with four representations of each element. Eight large thrones were lined in a row, where Cyniclons came to speak to the beings seated upon the thrones.
Kore sat on the floor in between Summer and Deep Blue's thrones, playing with Rishi while the adults discussed various happenings.
Suddenly, Rishi sat up, eyes going wide and blank.
"Rishi?" Kore said, her beautiful face contorting in concern for her younger sister. She moved her fingers in front of the girl's eyes, but she didn't react at all. "Rishi!"
Suddenly, the girls' parents glanced down to see what was going on and both got down onto the floor, Deep Blue taking his younger daughter by the shoulders and shaking her some.
"Rishi!" He said, alarm filling his voice. "Rishi, please speak!"
And she did, raising her eyes so that they met her father's.
"Your downfall will come at the hand of an Ikisatashi warrior." She said, her small voice sounding older and graver as she spoke. Then, she blinked a few times, looking around in confusion at the adults who stood around her in shock, her older sister sitting with her hands covering her mouth.
"What happened?" Rishi asked, looking all around until she met her father's eyes again. "Papa, what's wrong?" Without a word, he pulled her into his arms, holding her to his chest as he stared at Summer, who pet her younger daughter's hair, her face still full of alarm.
The scene shifted.
"We must stop the Ikisatashi trials." Strong Mountain said as he paced back and forth. "Disband them immediately."
Howling Wind sighed.
"Brother, sit down and stop this foolishness."
"As you are all aware, I am not usually in accordance with Mountain. However, I agree on this count," Winter said with a frown, her nails clicking against the table in their council chambers. "Blue is in danger of some sort, and from the Ikisatashis."
"The Ikisatashis are our strongest warriors and extremely loyal to us all. They have the purest of hearts, as well as the bravest." Deep Blue said, his elbows resting on the sides of the chair, his chin on top of his laced fingers. Summer stood beside him, her hand on his shoulder. "Disbanding them would be foolishness. They have earned their ranking, proven themselves the most worthy of the title and station."
"I agree," Burning Flame said, Vernal standing behind his chair and braiding his hair, periodically inserting flowers. "We cannot terminate the position and stop the trials because of the words of a little girl."
"A little girl who has just proven herself to be a Seer," Winter said, pursing her lips together. "Furthermore, it may not just be Deep Blue who is in danger. The prophecy could be meant for us all."
"We do not know the context of Rishi's words, Winter." Autumn said to her sister. "It could be centuries from now, eons, when her prophecy is fulfilled."
"For now, we proceed with caution," Howling Wind said. "If we act rashly or become overbearing in order to prevent this tragedy, we will only end up bringing it further upon ourselves."
"That is the best course of action," Deep Blue said with a nod. "And, perhaps, the true meaning of Rishi's prophecy will be revealed in time."
"It may not be bad at all!" Vernal said cheerfully. "Maybe Blue will at long last lose a chess match to someone."
"Hah. Now that I would like to see," Strong Mountain said with a sudden smirk. "Anything to humble Blue in regards to chess."
"If that is to be the case, I will gladly accept defeat," Deep Blue said with a small smile.
The next scenes all blurred together. Deep Blue kneeling beside Kore's corpse. Deep Blue's eyes becoming a lighter, colder color as he entered the throne room, blood dripping from his sword, his own wife refusing to be touched by him and his blood-stained hands, hiding Rishi behind her. His hair becoming darker and darker, his hands covered in blood. The violent tremor shook the entirety of the city. Women screaming, children crying, men yelling, stone crumbling, fire erupting.
Then, the scene solidified.
They were underground, in a cave.
And there he was.
Deep Blue, sitting atop his throne.
The small, white-haired girl was now a young teenager, standing tall and proud as she glared at the man, her father, who was furious.
"Be gone with you, girl!" Deep Blue hissed.
"You asked me to tell you your future, and I have done so, father," The teenager—Rishi—said, voice crystal clear. "Your downfall will come at the hands of an Ikisatashi Warrior."
"Impossible!" Deep Blue howled. "I will not be defeated, not even the greatest warriors can touch me! Your uncles tried and they were defeated at my hand!"
"You believe you have won because you are alive. You are wrong. You can only escape your fate if you let the Cyniclons return to Earth, let us live there again amongst the humans in peace." Rishi said.
"Leave now!" Deep Blue snarled.
Rishi turned on her heel without a bow and left.
The scene shifted.
"Mama, Papa!"
A woman with dark purple hair and the man beside her with dark gray hair turned to see a pair of teenagers—not even fifteen—running up to them, out of breath. It was clear the boy and girl were siblings, perhaps twins. No, definitely twins. It was impossible for this to not be.
Because they looked exactly like Pie and Rin. Their mother a mirror replica of Risa.
One of these teenagers was Risa's ancestor.
"Do you really have to go?" The girl asked, her purple eyes wide and starting to tear up.
The woman licked her lips and nodded.
"Yes, I am afraid we do," She said, griping her husband's hand.
"Then we will go with you," The boy said, eyes hard. "We have gone through all of the trials save the last, and everyone knows we would both pass. We are all but officially Ikisatashis. We will—"
"You and your sister will stay," His father said, firmly but not harshly. "You need to take care of your brothers and sisters."
"But…" The girl said, eyes welling up with tears as her fists clenched. "This is not fair. We all know what Deep Blue has planned."
"That we cannot deny," Her mother said sadly. "But we do not know what awaits on Earth."
"It has to be better than this planet," The boy said irritably.
"Regardless," His father said. "We will do what we must to protect you. In this case, it means leaving without complaint. Now we will give you the tools to protect yourselves."
With that, he turned his hands over, palms up. His wife did the same. A set of fans appeared in each of their hands. Fans that the observers from the future recognized instantly and made Rin grab hold of Pie's wrist with a gasp.
The woman placed her fans into those of her daughter, which instantly turned the painted orange flowers into pale red ones. The man placed his red and gold fans into his son's hands, the two staring into each other's eyes.
"We cannot accept your weapons, they were designed for you and only you," The girl said in a whisper, trying to hand the fans back to her mother. "Besides, you will need them more than we."
The woman shook her head, taking her daughter's wrists and pushing them towards her.
"No, my precious, you and your descendants will need these, perhaps now more than ever before," She said. "Protect them, and the memory of the ways of the Ikisatashi that Deep Blue wishes to eradicate. Teach your children to use these as we have taught you do so."
"We are not ready, we have much more to learn," The boy said softly. His father placed a hand on his son's head, gently pressing a kiss to the boy's forehead.
"The secret to being a true warrior," The man whispered as he repeated the gesture with his daughter, who was now silently crying. "Is that you are strongest when you know that you are not perfectly prepared, when you still know there is more to learn."
"Ikisatashi Jan Tarus, Ikisatashi Jan Aria?"
The parents turned away from their children to see another man approach them, face grim.
"It is time," He said as three young children appeared, the youngest just a toddler on his older sister's hip, the girl scarcely older than ten. "Say your good-byes."
"Yes," The man said, voice tight. There were many tears from the younger ones as they held on tightly to their parents, their mother clearly holding back her own sobs.
Finally, they had to part. The mother and father held tightly to each other's hand, each restraining the other.
"We will see you again," The father said with a nod. But they all knew that they wouldn't.
They, along with other men and women who were leaving behind sobbing children, distraught spouses and family members, never looked back as they climbed aboard the ship.
The teenage girl, trying to comfort her sobbing baby brother through her own tears, turned and buried her face in her twins shoulder. He only stared blankly as his siblings all sobbed against him, his hand on his younger sister's head.
There was nothing they could do save watch the ship depart.
Another change, still underground.
A man's eyes widened as he watched the sword pierce through the woman's abdomen, but she did not cry out. She was not an Ikisatashi warrior for nothing. She was brave, even in the face of death, smirking in her killer's face.
Deep Blue flung her body aside, allowing her husband to cradle her in her final moments. She tenderly touched his cheek, but then her arm fell limp, body going slack, the life leaving her eyes.
"No," He whispered, voice rising to a yell as he hugged her to him, blood staining his clothes the same color as her hair. "No, no, Kiri, no!"
"PAPA!"
The man looked up with wide eyes to see his children on their knees, shaking and tears falling from bright orange-yellow eyes, as Deep Blue stood behind them, the blood of their mother dripping from his sword.
"Ikisatashi Nika Damon," Deep Blue said calmly. "You have already lost your wife over your foolish rebellion against me. You truly believed that I would not notice the absence of you and your wife with the other banished Ikisatashi warriors? They are too far away now, and have no way of returning. Or any chance. You are all that is left. You knew the consequences of disregarding my orders. Now you have a choice. Whose life will I take?" Deep Blue moved his sword to the neck of the little boy, who couldn't be more than five. "Your son's?" He moved it again, and the little girl—only eight years old, maybe older—sobbed as the sword approached her. "Or your daughter's?"
"No, please do not harm them!" Damon begged, still tightly clutching his wife's body.
"I can just kill them both," Deep Blue said uncaringly.
"I will do anything!" Damon pleaded. "Just do not harm my children!"
Deep Blue teleported, grabbing Damon by the neck and lifting him up, the body of Damon's wife laying in a heap at their feet, her scarlet blood still pooling out around her and covering both men.
"Swear fealty to me, and only me," Deep Blue hissed in Damon's face.
"N-Never, you bas—"
"Then you truly do not value the lives of your children or your people. I will make you watch as your children suffer, and how all the members of your race suffer as they watch their children die. Swear fealty to me now on behalf of your race and you will be spared." Deep Blue demanded, squeezing Damon's neck tighter. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears falling as he resigned his fate.
He could doom himself. But his children, the people he made a sacred vow to protect… The vow that couldn't let him do anything that could harm any member of the Cyniclon race. Deep Blue included.
Deep Blue smirked. He had him now.
"Now, say my name!
"D-Deep Blue!" Damon said in a gasp.
"Again!" Deep Blue ordered, throwing Damon to the ground.
"Deep Blue!" Damon said, struggling to get to his hands and knees, fire and anger and humiliation burning through him.
"Louder!"
"DEEP BLUE!"
"Who am I, Damon of the Ikisatashi Warriors?"
"You are Deep Blue, my, my lord."
"I am more than your lord." Deep Blue said, kicking Damon in the side. "Who am I, Damon the Ikisatashi?"
"Deep Blue. My… My king." Damon choked out as he got back up on his knees.
"I am much greater, much more powerful, much mightier than a king!"
"My god!" Damon yelled as he bowed his head. "You are Deep Blue, my lord and my god! Please, have mercy on me and my people! I swear loyalty to you, and to you alone, on behalf of my entire race! Your will is mine and I will follow your every command! I and my brothers and sisters fight in your name alone!"
Deep Blue smirked evilly.
"And you are my faithful servant, Ikisatashi Damon." He crooned, crouching down to lift Damon's chin to meet his eyes. His face was once again serious, eyes cold. "Make sure that the rest of your people follow your example. Or they will face the consequences."
"Y-Yes, Kami-Sama," Damon said. Deep Blue stood up and teleported away.
Damon sat on the ground, his children running over to him, sobbing and hugging him and each other. Damon sobbed, too. He mourned his wife, he mourned dear friends and companions whom he would never see again.
And he mourned for the people he had doomed for making a deal with the devil.
The scene changed again.
Deep Blue sat upon a throne, smirking as the young woman entered the room. Unlike Deep Blue, everyone could see how she had aged over the time.
"You were wrong, my daughter," He taunted. "Look around you! Three hundred years, three hundred years was all it took to wrap these pathetic people around my finger! They worship me, believe I can do no wrong! They love me. They are mine to control, and soon I shall have Earth under my reign! What do you have to say?"
The woman looked up, eyes hard.
"Your downfall will come at the hands of an Ikisatashi warrior." She said.
Deep Blue laughed, cold and cruel.
"The Ikisatashis are gone. All that remains is a name that no one knows the meaning of. Those who bear that name are strictly loyal to me, and me alone." He said. "I have won, you see. There is no way that I can have a downfall of any sort."
"Foolish last words," Rishi said dryly. She tilted her head and smirked. "Are you feeling well, Deep Blue? You look off-color. Weaker. Could it be the curse finally catching up with you?"
Deep Blue glared at her, teleporting off his throne until he was standing directly in front of her.
"Tell me the right future, now!" He yelled, grabbing her by the front of her dress. "I changed it, so it must have changed!"
"Your downfall will come at the hands of an Ikisatashi warrior." Rishi said calmly. She didn't lower her gaze at all. "Father."
With a howl of rage, Deep Blue struck her hard across the face. Rishi crumpled to the ground, clutching her eyes, where scarlet drops of blood ran down her face and onto the floor as she curled into a ball, whimpering from the pain.
Deep Blue kicked her in the ribs before turning on his heel.
"Useless girl." He spat.
The scene changed again.
"You are weak, Deep Blue," Rishi-Sobo said, now the woman they knew in the present, her knuckles white around the stick in her hands. In front of her was a cloaked figure who did not move from where they sat on the dais, face unseen, but it was clear that Rishi could not see it, the cloudiness in her eyes apparent. "You are not going to last much longer. Especially if you keep up this foolish search for a body to serve as your host."
"Yet still you say I will die at the hand of an Ikisatashi," Said the voice of Deep Blue from under the cloak.
"It is the truth," She said simply. "You have reduced yourself into hiding in a shrine you forced others to create for you eons ago, and now here you are. You cannot even move unless one of your priests is given an order to help you do so. And even then, none of your followers can ever see the truth. That you've sealed yourself up in gold so that no one can know the truth of just how weak you are. I may be blind, but even I can see the truth."
It was then that the observers noticed something: the figure was a statue, the cloak hiding this fact. Deep Blue was giving the illusion of mystery and power, but in truth was deceiving all.
"The only ones who bear the name Ikisatashi now are only a man who has sworn loyalty to me, will die for me, and a pair of infants. In time, they will follow their father's lead as he did with his father. There is nothing that can stop me now, Rishi." The voice of Deep Blue said from within the statue. "There are no more Ikisatashis. Not in the real sense of the word."
"Nothing to stop you. Except, perhaps, yourself," Rishi muttered as she turned to leave. "I fear you will do something reckless, and when you do so, it will bear dire retributions. Yet I cannot yet see for whom."
"What a pathetic Seer you are," Deep Blue's voice said in a hiss.
The scene shifted again, yet it felt like it didn't.
The Rishi-Sobo of the past was furious this time.
"I cannot see, but I know you are not entirely there, Deep Blue!" She hissed, bringing down her walking stick sharply, the bang echoing through the room. "When will you give up this foolish notion that a host, a human host, will be what saves you?"
"This will be the last, my darling daughter," Deep Blue's voice said smugly. "Unlike the others, this one is the perfect host. This one will succeed. I sensed greatness in him, so powerful, much more than the previous."
"This is a child! One that is not yet fully grown in his mother's womb! A person, with a wonderful, beautiful, lively soul! Not a rock or empty shell! The boy is not something you can control, you cannot just take over his life like this! Do you not care about what you have done? You can just as easily kill him, as you did the others."
"Then if I am wrong, it will be one less weak human in my path," Deep Blue said. "But the boy is the perfect host for my essence. I will grow stronger as he does. And when the time comes, I can fully reign without this curse on me."
Rishi-Sobo stood still. Then she cackled as she raised her head.
"That Ikisatashi may not end you, but his efforts will not be in vain," She said, blind eyes gleaming with malice. "I can see it coming."
They ended up in Rishi-Sobo's cottage again, sitting stunned. Rishi, on the other hand, just went and stirred her stew.
"That… that is how you became blind, isn't it?" Rirī whispered. "I thought it had to be an illness or some sort of injury…"
"And Ikisatashi really was a rank of warrior," Tart said softly. "And they all ended up on Earth, in Japan of all places."
"The history of the Ikisatashi warriors is a long, noble one, but your bloodline begins with Damon and his children," Rishi-Sobo said. "Keep in mind, there is both a patrilineal line and a matrilineal line. Damon had a son and a daughter."
"Our family comes from the patrilineal, then," Curry said. "Hence the surname."
"Yes," Risa said. "However, not all of you who bear the name Ikisatashi come from that line."
Everyone turned to look at Kish, who just looked surprised.
"I come from the matrilineal line?" He asked. "My mother… She came from the line of Damon's daughter?"
"Yes," Rishi-Sobo said. "From your mother. Did you never notice, Curry, how your eyes and hair were only a few shades darker than Lila's?"
"I remember now," Curry said with a bit of surprise. "She and I, we were distantly related, then?"
"Correct," Rishi-Sobo said. "However, for this part of my prophecy to come true, Kisshu needed to bear the name Ikisatashi."
"And when I was adopted, it became my surname," Kish said with a small nod.
"Yes," Rishi-Sobo said. "Now, it is not just those who bear the name who came from Ikisatashi warriors." She glanced towards the humans. "Every single one of you is a descendant from the banished Ikisatashi warriors, and all of you were destined to live and meet in what was once where they made their dwellings: in the city of Tokyo. This is both patrilineal and matrilineal lines. Ryou, Keiichiro, Masaya, Shinji and Homare all come various patrilineal lines. That is how Deep Blue was able to use you as his host, Masaya."
Suddenly, she waved her hand over the bowl and there were images of little boys and girls in the water. A small little girl grinning widely with a missing tooth, hair pinned up on top of her head, wearing a kimono. A little boy looking determined as he trained in a dojo. A little girl watching as a Geisha was prepared for an evening of entertaining, her eyes shining as she thought about how someday that would be her. A slightly older boy wearing a straw hat as he worked in the fields under a summer sun. A girl sitting very still and upright, hair and clothes immaculate as she had a portrait painted. A dirty boy running through the streets, desperate not to get caught stealing. Another girl proudly modeling a sailor fukata to her parents, proud that she was going to one of the first schools implementing the uniforms. A boy watching as the Japanese soldiers marched onto the warships, planes being prepared. A girl eating McDonalds with friends and laughing happily. A boy playing a video game on what was now considered an ancient gaming system. These children, and many more passed through the water, showing an insight to the world they had lived in.
"You were not the first, and sadly not the last of Deep Blue's host victims," Rishi said sadly. "They all died before their time, as mere children. Some from sickness or an accident of some sort. None lived thirteen years."
"Ryou and Keiichiro launched the Mew Project two weeks after my thirteenth birthday," Masaya said with realization.
"That's right," Ryou said with a frown. "We thought it was ironic. Earth Day… We had just completed the Mew Project on Earth Day. The same day as Masaya's birthday."
"April twenty-second by the Gregorian calendar. This is day that all of these children celebrated, but never saw thirteen. Lost throughout time, no one has been the wiser that in truth that is the day that Deep Blue made his attack on Atlantis, the day he lost power. And the day he continuously seeks to avenge his loss. It only seemed ironic that millennia later the day would be dubbed 'Earth Day', as Earth is Deep Blue's deepest desire. The moment you turned thirteen, Masaya, Deep Blue announced that it was time for the mission for earth to begin," Rishi-Sobo said. "By midnight, the trials had been set up and the hopefuls had been selected. A week later, Kisshu was on his way to Earth. It was only once his host had lived thirteen years could Deep Blue begin to recover his strength, predominately through Mew Aqua, his element."
"That's why we could only find Mew Aqua and not any of the others at that time, na no da!" Pudding said, realizing the connection.
"Precisely," Rishi-Sobo said with a nod. "However, there is one distinct line of Ikisatashi warriors that has changed everything, destroyed Deep Blue's plans. The line Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro and Jade come from."
"We are from the same bloodline?" Zakuro said with surprise.
"Yes," Rishi said with a small smile. "Each of your mothers can be traced down to a specific woman, the reason why the Ikisatashi warriors settled in the area around Mount Fuji."
She waved her hand over the water again, revealing a teenage Cyniclon girl with white hair and eyes with a large, almost mischievous smile.
"Ayame was the youngest of the fully trained Ikisatashi warriors at the time of her banishment, only sixteen, but perhaps the reason they were able to survive. She and the other warriors had initially distanced themselves from the humans, remembering the old rivalries. One day, while going to gather food, Ayame met a young human male named Edo, who lived in a small village along the coast in the east. They fell in love and Ayame worked hard to convince the Cyniclons to at least meet the humans of the village. The Cyniclons just referred to the village as 'Edo', as he was all Ayame would talk about and did not realize that she was talking about a person. When they arrived, the Ikisatashi leader greeted the leader of what he truly believed was the 'Edo' village and was extremely confused to learn that that was not the town's name. Mostly to tease the young couple, who were soon married, everyone referred to the town by that name. The name stayed that way for many centuries until the city changed its name to…"
"Tokyo," Lettuce breathed, eyes wide as she remembered her Japanese history lessons.
"The Ikisatashi warriors lived in what is now Tokyo?" Keiichiro said with surprise.
"Yes," Rishi said with a small smile. "Ayame and Edo had five daughters: one with golden yellow hair, one with purple hair, one with green hair, one with blue hair and one with pink hair. Thousands of years later, here sit her descendants. Did none of you ever question why your hair is the color that it is? It is not a typical Japanese appearance. Your natural color has darkened or lightened over the centuries from theirs, but in your Mew Form your hair and eyes transform into the original color of your foremothers."
"Even my mom has red hair, and so did her mother," Ichigo said, fingering the tips of her dark red hair.
"Seiji used to swear I had been born with blue hair, but it started to look black over the years," Mint said, reaching up to touch one of her buns. "Apparently my mother's was the same way."
"Green isn't exactly normal," Jade said with a shrug. "Well, without a lot of hair dye."
"Same with purple," Zakuro said, lifting a lock of hair up to look at it.
Everyone suddenly turned to look at Pudding with a feeling of epiphany.
"What, na no da?" Pudding asked, confused.
"That you've got Cyniclon in you. It all just makes sense now," Ichigo said. "How you can pull things out of nowhere…"
"How you can pretty much defy gravity and other laws of physics," Rirī added.
"And, you know, the fact that you're half-Japanese, half-Chinese and blonde." Shinji said.
"Hey, Ryou Onii-Chan is half-Japanese, too, and he's naturally blond as well, na no da!" Pudding said, hands on her hips.
"And my mother was American and of Scandinavian descent!" Ryou exclaimed.
Pudding huffed but then sighed.
"Pudding's Mama was blonde, too," She admitted. "But she dyed her hair dark because her school made her, thinking that her hair was bleached and against the rules. She liked it that way and kept it like that."
"What about Berry and Ringo?" Lettuce asked. "Did they come from this line, too?"
"Yes, but Mew Berry and Mew Ringo came from Ayame and Edo's sons' lines, which is why their powers did not last longer," Rishi explained. "Slowly, over time, the Cyniclon features became less defined, but prominent enough to affect your DNA so that the Mew project could take place. So, yes, you were each selected for this assignment long before you were even born."
Her blank gaze roamed the room.
"All of you, in a combined effort of strength—both physical and mental—will be the downfall of Deep Blue. To say he will die at the hand of an Ikisatashi warrior is incorrect. He will die at the hands of an army of Ikisatashi warriors, an army that has not existed for millions of years."
There was a brief pause of silence as they considered their fate and the task before them. Then…
"Did you know?" Risa asked in a whisper, but a tinge of anger in her voice. "That, Lila and Alec, that they were going to die? Did you take Lila and I as your apprentices knowing that Lila was going to die?"
"No," Rishi-Sobo answered. "I took you girls in not knowing which of you would die, and the other I would be spending this moment with. Alec could have died, and not Lila, and similarly it could have been you who died, Risa, and Curry survived, Kisshu gaining the surname from a step-father instead of an adopted one."
"We would have done what we could to survive and help each other," Curry said suddenly, grimly.
"Even so," Rishi whispered. She sighed. "Curry, it does no good for you to keep blaming yourself for Alec's death. I am clearly the one to blame."
"I cannot," Curry said, shaking his head. "It continues to haunt me. It will always be my fault. Alec's death will always be my fault."
"Papa?" Rōzu whispered.
"What are you talking about?" Tart said. "You weren't even on the mission that Alec Oji-San died on."
"Exactly," Curry said, staring at the fire, the flames reflected in pained eyes. "It was my assignment, not his. Alec took my place."
"What?" Kish said, brow furrowing, his siblings looking at Risa with alarm. Their mother merely sighed and placed a hand on Curry's shoulder.
Curry rubbed his forehead with a sigh.
"Risa had just learned that she was pregnant with Rōzu, but the morning sickness was affecting her greatly, more so than it had with the other pregnancies. She could barely get up most days, let alone eat. Taruto was very sick on top of that and needed constant care. I knew there was little Pie, Rin and Rirī could do, and I feared that if I left that I would come back only for a funeral. I had initially asked Alec to stay with them, to watch over my family while I was gone. Instead, he marched to the mission leader and demanded to take my place.
"I was scared. I was selfish. I protested. But I allowed Alec to win this argument. What felt like the next day, Alec was dead."
"Dad made his choice," Kish whispered, jaw clenched. "He knew what needed to be done to help protect the ones he cared for, to help them whenever and however he could."
"More importantly, Alec knew that he could trust others to look after Kisshu and Mylo once he was gone." Rishi said. "But Kisshu is correct. Alec had always been that sort."
She stood up again.
"It is time for another trip." She said.
"Where are we going this time?" Mint asked.
Rishi smiled, softly and sadly.
"I have shown you Deep Blue's story, and that of your ancestors. Now I will show you Mylo's."