Chapter 11: Crying
Andy glanced at the calendar and froze, realizing what day it was. She finished cooking breakfast for Kona before heading back to her room and climbing into bed. She tried to fight the tears filling her eyes, but they kept coming, spilling down her cheeks.
"Mom?" Kona softly knocked on the door.
She wiped at her eyes, "Hey, hun. What's up?"
"Are you alright?"
"It's just.. The anniversary of a bad day is all. I'll be okay."
"Okay.." He sounded unconvinced, but his footsteps walked away.
She laid down again, covering her head with her pillow, just trying to hide from the world for a bit.
An hour later, her door opened.
"Kona? I'm still okay.. I can come hang out if you want.." she mumbled.
"Yeah, you sound just fine, Glinda." Tet's voice answered with subdued amusement.
"Tet?" She pulled the pillow off, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, between Kenji locking himself in his room and your kid saying you were depressed, I figured I better come check on you."
"I'm okay," she tried to smile.
"You lie worse than Ryu. Now spill." He sat on the end of the bed and waited.
She sighed and looked down, "It's the anniversary of my family's deaths."
He scowled. "I'm sorry. I should go and let you mourn."
"It's okay. It's not like it just happened," she sighed. "It was a few years ago. At least now I know it was Section Z, so that's closure to some extent."
"Still, I shouldn't just have barged in. And closure doesn't exist."
"I appreciate you coming and checking on me though."
He gave her a soft smile.
"How's everything been at the hideout?"
"Quiet. Actually, it's putting me on edge. Like the calm before a tornado or something."
"Ah, yeah that makes sense. Hopefully it stays quiet though."
"Knock on wood." A watch beeped an alarm. He shut it off, then withdrew a filled syringe and injected it into his leg. "Get some rest. I'll get out of your hair."
"It's not like you're bothering me. If you want to stay, you can."
He chuckled. "You're too nice. Most people would have ordered me to leave as soon as I picked their lock."
She laughed in response.
He laughed softly with her for a moment. "Honestly, don't feel bad. If you want to yell at me go ahead."
She shook her head, "Like I said, I appreciate you visiting."
"You're sweet. Remind me to be nice when my anniversary comes around."
She chuckled slightly, "It's not like these things are easy, but I guess it's a bit better when someone is there instead of just being alone.. Kona tried to talk to me earlier but I insisted I was okay.." She was quiet a moment before adding, "At least now I can go home too. Not that I want to today but the anniversary always made me homesick. I left there after they were killed because I thought whoever it was would be after me. I searched and searched trying to figure out who did it. But now I know, and Section Z has been after me anyway, so I might as well stop hiding as much."
He was silent for a while, then spoke quietly. "They found us while looking for someone else and decided we were a good consolation prize. Ain't that a kick in the teeth? 'We can't find who we want, so we'll just destroy your life instead.' We had no idea who they were."
"We'd heard of them and I'm pretty sure my parents were trying to destroy them, so maybe that's why they came after us?" She sighed, "I want to take them down so they can't hurt anyone else.."
"You have a better chance than we do, I think. Definitely better than me. What would you say if I offered you the resistance leadership?"
She frowned, "Why would you?"
"Because I'm tired. Disheartened." He tossed the empty syringe into her trash can. "Ready to give up because honestly, am I really making a difference?"
"I think you are. But I wouldn't want you to stay in a position you don't like. If you want me to, I'd take over, but I'd still want you there helping with advice. Things might seem hard, but nothing is impossible."
He sighed, then stood. "Consider yourself in charge. I already told everyone that if you said no, Kiba would take over. He's madder than a stepped on snake at me for that by the way. So you can calm him down whenever you decide to show up."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Well, you won't let me disappear, so I guess I'll just wait for you to order me around." He gave her a quick grin. "Don't worry about me."
"Like I said, I'd like advice and ideas, so you can't go too far," she chuckled. "I'm used to being in charge but not running a resistance."
"Just give Kiba explosives, point him toward labs and get out of the way."
She laughed for a moment before looking at him carefully, "Seriously, are you alright? You know you can talk to me if you aren't."
"You may be a witch and necromancer, but you're not really a miracle worker. It doesn't matter in the end though." His eyes were bright as he broke eye contact.
"I might not be a miracle worker, but I try. What's wrong?"
"Did you know Z lets some of us lab rats go occasionally? Although, it's never the freedom you think. They give all of us going away gifts. Unreturnable and always fatal. Just depends on our genetic blueprint how long we have." His voice was bitter.
"Would you mind if I looked at your medical file? I just want to see it and see if I can understand what they are doing."
He shrugged, tossing her a usb stick. "Way ahead of you. Figured you'd ask once Kiba told you."
She pulled out her laptop and plugged it in. "How long have you been away from Z?" She pulled up the files and started looking through it.
"Fifteen years." He answered before yawning.
"You can stay and rest if you want?"
"Sure you don't mind a snoring annoyance?"
"It's okay," she looked up and smiled before glancing back at the computer.
He shrugged. "Where should I crash?"
"Well, there's here or the couch?"
"Rather not disturb you. I'll crash later." He sat down, checking his phone.
"You aren't a bother and you won't disturb me." She assured, grabbing a pad of paper and jotting down notes.
He put the phone away, then crawled on the bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
She looked over and watched him for a minute before continuing to take notes. When she was done, she double checked her work then looked over at him again.
He hadn't begun snoring, but he had grown steadily paler since he'd gone to sleep and his breathing was becoming strained.
She got up and grabbed a few herbs and threw on a lab coat. She stashed the herbs in the pockets before gently lifting Tet. She teleported them to the hideout's medbay and laid him in a bed. She went and began mixing the herbs into a small vial. She added them and a few different medicines to a beaker and heated it up, muttering spells over it. When she decided it was done, she let it cool and filled it into a syringe. She went back to Tet and injected it into his arm and waited.
His color returned, his breathing beginning to ease.
"Andy." Kenji's voice was quiet. "He is worsening?"
"He was. I made some medicine. Not sure it fixed it but it's helping."
"I feared this was the real reason he gave up leadership. I am sorry he disturbed you today."
She shook her head, "Some things are more important than mourning the past." She looked thoughtful, "I wonder if anyone else remembers what day it is or if it's just us.. I know they held a funeral soon after but it seems like everyone forgot about them pretty quickly."
"They are in fear. Z threatened them with complete destruction if they did anything beyond a funeral." Kenji answered absently.
"Well, I'm going to do something. Maybe a memorial. Let everyone know I'm back and I'm not going to let Z control them."
"They will fight you."
"Z or the people? Because I'm already expecting Z to fight me."
"Our people. Believe me, I bear the results of their fear." He quieted at her incredulous look. "I should not have said anything."
"Well, either way, I'm going to fight Section Z. I will take them down to free our people and all the others they terrorize."
"You are quite brave." He looked thoughtful. "Do you know your mother's burn cream recipe?"
"Yeah? Why?"
"Because normal cream does not soothe like it did."
"I'll make you some when I'm done checking him over, okay?" She gave him a small smile.
"There is no rush." He took a container out of a medkit and disappeared.
"Andy? When did we get here?" Tet's voice was confused.
"Hey. You weren't doing too well, so I brought you here. I made you some medicine that seemed to help, though. I was just going to test you now that it's been in your system a bit."
"You won't accept that it's hopeless, will you?"
"I will.. after I try a few things.." she smirked before taking a blood sample and beginning to test it.
He chuckled. "Whatever you did, I feel better than I have in days."
She stared at the microscope then ran a sample through the computer and checked over the results.
"Something wrong? Am I going to turn into a frog?"
"Your results seem normal. Like normal for a shifter.. I think the medicine worked.." she continued to stare, double checking everything to make sure.
"What? Andy, that shouldn't be possible. All the witches here have barely kept me alive."
"Well, I mixed magic with multiple medicines.."
"I'm really cured?" He stared at the ceiling in shock.
She turned the computer screen toward him, "Take a look."
His eyes bored into the screen, his mouth falling open.
She smiled as she watched him.
Suddenly he buried his face in his hands and began to cry.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly, setting a hand on his shoulder.
"I didn't want to die..and now I won't. At least not that way. How can I thank you?"
"Don't worry about it," she chuckled. "I'm glad you're better."
He dropped his hands, giving her a grateful smile before falling asleep again.
She gently covered him in a blanket and began cleaning up.
Kenji sighed as he realized the container he'd taken was practically empty. He debated on whether he should return to the medbay and find more or give up and try to sleep. He looked at the bed and shook his head. Hopefully he could get in and out with Andy none the wiser.
Andy was writing down a list of ingredients she needed for the cream when she heard the door open.
Kenji tried to be silent, his movements stiff as he slunk toward an unopened medkit. He bit his lip as he attempted to unzip it.
"Kenji?"
"Lady Andy. I apologize for disturbing you." He backed away, his gloved hands held out in surrender. "I will go."
"You aren't disturbing me," she said softly. "Can I ask you something?"
He nodded slowly. "What do you wish to know?"
"What is the cream for? If somethings wrong, I can try to heal you?"
"Do you mind coming to my room? I feel uncomfortable here."
She nodded, "Alright."
He led the way to his room, opening the door and allowing her in. Once the door was closed, he took a deep breath.
"Please don't recoil?" His eyes were pleading.
"Of course I won't."
He gave her a small smile before removing his gloves.
Scar tissue from horrific burns covered his hands, the fingers slightly crippled.
"What happened?" She paused, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to though."
"Our people blamed me for Section Z's actions. This was my punishment."
He removed his shirt, revealing a mass of scar tissue on his torso. His back was the worst, evidence of heavy whipping interspersed with scar tissue.
"Are you repulsed?" He waited for her answer. "I am exiled. You are risking your standing in the community merely being in the same room. The head of the community tried to take my magic as well but failed."
She sighed, "They can go screw themselves. In my eyes, you aren't exiled and after all this Section Z stuff is taken care of, I'll make it official and they can riot all they want." She looked him over carefully, "I think I can heal some of this. May I try?"
He looked startled, but nodded. "You should save your magic for someone who deserves it though."
"You do deserve it. You don't deserve what they did to you." She covered him in light. New skin began growing rapidly, replacing the scar tissue and marks. She stayed quiet for a while before the light faded away. He looked almost unmarked, the past visibly erased.
He stared at himself, then up at her. "You won't reverse this like she did, right?"
She frowned, "What happened? Of course I'm not going to reverse it. I just want to help you."
He began to cry, kneeling at her feet. "I pledge to protect you with my life. My magic is yours."
"You don't have to do that," she gave him a small smile. "But thanks." She held a hand out to him, "You also don't have to kneel. I can't believe our people would be so cruel. It's not like any of it was your fault. I hope I can change our people to be kind and caring.."
"The head lost family in a different attack a few days after the one that took your offshoot was completely wiped out." Kenji rose and put his shirt back on.
"That's no reason to hurt others. I lost family, that doesn't make me want to lash out at others." She shook her head, "I don't know, but I just hope they accept me coming back and hopefully some will join the fight against Section Z."
"I'm sure there will be. And even if they don't, I, my brothers and Kei will stand at your side." He gave her cheek a kiss. "Thank you for being so kind."
"Of course. I'm here whenever you need help, okay?"
He gave her a bright grin and nodded.
"I'll be in the medbay for a bit if you need anything. And I'm sure I'll be around here more in the future."
"I'm sure Tet will like that." He nudged her arm with a smirk.
She raised an eyebrow before chuckling. "I'll see you later." She left and headed down toward the medbay.