Look into the Past
The bandits' lair was in the Home of Gigantos. Shana had awaken in good spirits and good health, ready to fight again, choosing to ignore what had happened in the Gravity Valley.
There were two priorities: to rescue Lynn, Kate's husband, and to get Father's Dragoon Spirit back. Meru was sent to get Lynn, since he was her friend, and she needed only one other person to go with her because it wasn't that big of a job. Probably sensing their dislike for each other, Dart sent Rose with Meru. Rose left in bad spirits, muttering about how she would be more useful in something other than babysitting.
They had to fight our way to the temple at the top of the steps. Claire kept glancing around her, swallowing. It felt terrible to desecrate a place that had been so holy to the Giganto race, but the Dragoon Spirit was the objective. The thieves were batted aside easily by the five of them. After downing more than half of them, it was rather silent, until they reached a blockade in front of a narrow path, where three more gangsters awaited.
Two of them were stupid and nondescript and easily overtaken. The third knew the Rouge arts.
Haschel noticed this the same time his daughter did, and he sent her into the battle alone, holding the others back. Claire didn't mind. It had been a while since she had a good one on one, and could use the maximum force of the Rouge arts.
It was a good fight, or at least good exercise. It brought her mind back to twenty years ago, but with Haschel encouraging her and yelling tips instead of criticism. The gangster was good enough for an amateur, but she had been studying Rouge arts for nearly thirty-five years and was in no mood to play games.
"Father, was he a pupil of yours after I left?" It couldn't have been when Claire was there because she knew and remembered all of Father's pupils that she had met. She had become friends with most of them because she had wanted friends desperately.
"I don't think so. I only had a few pupils after you left and before I started searching for you. Thief! Where did you learn the Rouge arts?"
He was silent until Claire stepped on his neck, lightly, but painfully. She relished the moment, missing the days when she could show her power. "The boss taught me! His name is Gehrich! He said he learned it in Rouge!"
"Gehrich?" Haschel frowned, and Claire swatted his arm.
"Father, how can you forget? Gehrich, remember?"
He shook his head. Claire took her foot off the gangster, who ran away quickly.
"Father, Gehrich was a pupil of yours that you had for a year when I was sixteen. He was friends with me, remember? You had us spar and he beat me and you yelled at me for letting a rookie defeat me."
"Was he the one that had the crush on you?"
Leave it up to a father to remember things like that. Claire thought wryly. But that was Gehrich, and now Haschel was infuriated that one of his pupils had run off and went renegade. As they hammered the giant boulder that blocked the way, Haschel spoke to Claire quietly.
"Am I that terrible of a teacher, that my own pupils run from me?"
Dart was watching, and Claire chose her words carefully. "Father, you are not a terrible teacher. I understand why you have pressed me so hard. I ran away not because you were a terrible teacher but because you were a terrible father. But you've changed that now." she added when she saw the hurt in his face. "Gehrich ran away because he couldn't understand the morals and rules that went with learning the Rouge arts, or any martial arts. He just wanted power quickly. He couldn't understand what you taught and that is why he ran."
Claire was deeply involved in what she was saying so that when Albert pried the boulder away with his lance she jumped back in surprise.
When they reached the temple, Meru and Rose caught up, dragging a confused man with them and dangling the Violet Dragoon Spirit between elegant fingers. Gehrich and Mappi sat inside and waited. Gehrich sat on a makeshift carved stone throne and Mappi knelt at his feet like a dog.
"Claire!" Gehrich was surprised to see the dark-haired woman. "Hello."
"Hi. Break up your bandits and leave Tiberoa alone."
"Heh. Women." Mappi snickered. "Always seeking to take control of men."
"We came here to fight, Gehrich." Haschel said. "But equally. Claire and I fight you and your friend here. If you win you get the pride of knowing that you defeated the two most powerful masters of the Rouge arts. If we win, then you get your bandits the hell out of here."
"Fine. Agreed."
"Mom." Dart protested as Claire adjusted her gloves, stretching her arms. "You shouldn't be fighting them. Gehrich can't possibly have become boss if he is weak. If you and Grandfather fight, the two of you are going to get hurt. I can't—"
"Dart!" She snapped. "You are not to interfere no matter what, nor any of your friends. Give me your promise."
"Mom, this isn't good. I don't think that—"
"A one on one battle is an important battle to me." She told him. "Rouge arts train for this. It's an ancient culture. A single person against a single opponent only, that's the rule. You are not to interfere. Promise?"
Dart squirmed but agreed. "Fine. I promise, Mom. But be careful."
She grinned. "Aren't I always?" I may be under his command as he is leader of the team but I am still his mother. She thought, smiling. He silenced, and she stepped up in front of Gehrich, waving the rest of them back.
"You have a son?" Gehrich asked, incredulous.
"It's not so surprising." Haschel called from where he faced Mappi, the thief who stole his Dragoon Spirit.
Gehrich looked at Claire and then at Father. "This is unjust. I cannot fight Claire. She was my friend and I still care for her. You have always tried to teach morals and fairness, Master, and I have never been able to understand that, but I know what I am saying. I request that we switch opponents."
Haschel thought about it and nodded. Claire obeyed, facing Mappi.
The fight started when Albert counted it down. Claire dodged Mappi's lunge, grabbed his neck and used it to swing around and deliver a kick to his abdomen, knocking him back. He growled as he got to his feet and approached more cautiously, now knowing that the woman was a capable fighter.
"Come on!" She taunted him, stepping back into her youth.
Mappi dropped, sweeping his leg as if to trip her. She leapt over it, jabbed the side of her hand into his neck. He gagged, backing off, cursing. He scurried back, scrabbling up the wall with sinewy feet and claws attached to his gloves, disappearing into the rafters above.
Claire kept her fists up, pacing the floor, eyes up in the rafters. Who knew where the little bandit would jump from?
"Die!" A shadow dropped in front of her, too fast to counterattack. She leapt back to avoid it, and he landed in a crouch, straightening to run toward her and swinging the claw down. Claire sidestepped, slapping the claws away from him, slammed a tiger palm into his chest, an uppercut to the chin, spinning hook kick to knock him back again.
"Fool." She said to him, disdainful, as she watched him scurry back up into the rafters. She spared a glance to the fight between her father and her old friend. It could go either way; Gehrich had obviously been practicing as much as Haschel.
"Mom, look out!"
Mappi dropped again, landing on her shoulders, giggling wildly, punching at her head. Claire yelled in fury and pain, and did a backward handspring. Mappi, perched atop her shoulders, slammed his head against the ground.
Claire landed next to the others, rubbing a hand against her head to muffle the pain, tousling her hair in the process. Slowly she walked over to the downed Mappi to make sure he was out.
He sprung to life quickly, tossing something at her as he leapt away. She threw her hands up to protect her face and the cheap bottle smashed against her hands, turning to a sandy fog that exploded across her face. She shrieked in pain, howling as she clawed at her eyes to get the formula out. The Charm Potion, a scientific mixture meant to keep monsters away for a short period of time, reacted badly to human skin, like acid did.
"Mom!"
Claire blocked out the sounds with her screaming, but in her mind she could hear her master yelling at her. It was the voice of twenty years ago instructing her now. Shut up! Stop screaming! If you don't have your eyes, use your other senses!
She quelled her screaming with pain, left her eyes alone to listen. She couldn't hear anything over the yelling of her son and his friends, so she gestured at them to quiet. She heard Dart running and stopping suddenly, then Rose saying that he had promised not to interfere. He was yelling at her, but she yelled right back, saying that fighting was an ancient art and that the one-on-one rule had to be honored. She was glad that Rose understood.
Claire tried to ignore this, listening for the sounds of Mappi's footsteps. It wouldn't be easy; the little bandit was quick and quiet. What other senses were there? Touch, taste, and smell. Well, if she could touch him, she wouldn't be in this predicament, would she? But…she could feel the air around her moving when his attack came, but that would most likely be too late. Taste? Ugh. She wasn't even going to think of how that was a possibility. Smell… true, Mappi reeked of sweat and unwashed hair and clothes. But that was only bits and pieces, stinking up the entire room, unable to help her to her best capabilities.
The pain was boiling in her eyes now. Would she go blind forever?
She heard the snap that meant he was putting the claws back on his hands. A soft click of his shoes on the floor to her left and turned, feeling the air move. She lifted her left arm in an upper block, keeping the fist from impacting on her face. The click came again, to her right, but the air came from the back. He must have moved again.
Pain erupted beside her left eye and dragged down her cheek before she back-fisted blindly, only knocking him back by sheer dumb luck. Claire screamed again, her swollen-shut eyes stinging more than before.
"Claire!" This voice was different, and suddenly she heard Mappi squeak and another thud.
A presence in front of her. She spun away, tried to back fist again but he caught her fist. "It's Gehrich. Claire, stop struggling."
"Get away from my daughter!" Haschel yelled.
Claire instinctively turned to his voice. "Father?"
"I can help her!" Gehrich insisted. "Let go of me!"
"Father, stop. Gehrich won't hurt me. Gehrich, you just violated the rules of one on one."
She heard him unscrewing a bottle cap. "Mappi violated rules too, by throwing the Charm Potion at your eyes. I may not know much about morals, but I know that was wrong. Besides, seeing as how I don't understand the Rouge arts' laws, I don't care about violating the one on one rule. Hold still."
He poured the Healing Potion on her face and Claire fidgeted at the unfamiliar sensation. "Shana, where are you?"
"Here, Claire." Light footsteps, and a hand on her arm. "Are you all right? Is the pain very bad?"
"I will admit that. Where's Mappi?"
"His throat is slit. Mr. Gehrich, please step aside and let me help."
Shana busied herself by tending to Claire's eyes, her motions fluid and gentle, with the others either suggesting cures or yelling in anger and anxiety. When she was finished, she tied a bandage around Claire's head and over her eyes. "Keep this here for a while. I'll take it off in a few days and see how you're doing."
"Will Mom lose her eyesight?" Dart asked.
"I don't think so. The Charm Potion isn't that powerful. She'll just be blind for a week at the most and she'll be in pain for a while but she'll be okay."
"Gehrich, what will you do now?" Haschel asked. "Our one on one has been interrupted and you have broken the rules of Claire's fight."
"Would you rather I let her die?!"
"No. I am glad that you interfered. But what now?"
Gehrich sighed. "You were winning, master. I have nearly no energy left. Let us just say that you won. I will disband the rest of my thieves and leave Tiberoa alone. I cannot say that all of them will listen to me, but without their leader I hope that they will be confused and overtaken by the officials."
"What of you?" That unfamiliar and nervous voice must be Lynn.
"I…I will no longer be a bandit. I'll find a decent job."
"Good." Haschel nodded. "Then here is where we part ways. Goodbye, Gehrich. Keep up your training and keep it sacred."
The team began to leave, with Shana guiding Claire, but Claire paused, asking to be brought back to speak with Gehrich. Shana kept the others away.
"Gehrich, they forgot to ask you an important thing. Are the bandits in some sort of conspiracy with the elder princess of Tiberoa?"
"She's a fake. I don't know what happened to the real princess, but the one in the palace is a fake. Her name is Lenus and she came to us with a business proposition. We keep her secret and help her stay inside the palace, and in return, she makes the king stupid so that the bandits can roam the country and do what we do best."
"I see. Thank you. And also…" Claire lifted her chin, knowing that Gehrich was taller than she was and by the sound of his breathing, he was in front of her. She remembered how he had turned red when she spoke to him years ago. "I know that you wouldn't have accepted the terms that Father gave you. He said that if you won you would receive the pride of knowing that you beat the Rouge masters. But that would not be enough for you. Why did you accept? Pride and honor were things that you didn't understand."
"I still don't understand them. But I knew that I was going to lose anyway so it didn't matter what my winning terms were."
"What do you mean?"
"I have improved in my fighting, Claire, as you saw. But once I realized that I would have to fight you as well as Master, I knew I would lose. If Mappi fought you and won, I would have to kill him, and violate the rules, canceling my fight and losing. If Mappi had lost to you, I would have fought Master alone. If he had won I would be defeated, and if he had lost, the rules dictate that the two winners would have to fight, which would be you and I. I would lose to you. I wouldn't be able to fight you."
Claire nodded slowly. "Thank you, Gehrich. It seems you are closer to understanding honor than you originally thought."
"Goodbye, Claire. Take care of yourself."
Reaching out for Shana's hand, Claire was led away from the temple and Gehrich, and Mappi's dead body. When they caught up to the others, Claire heard another voice and Shana told her in anxious gasps that Kongol was talking to Dart.
Led over to them, Claire listened.
"Kongol not enemy anymore. Kongol fought for Emperor Doel. Emperor Doel is dead. No need to fight anymore. But Kongol wanted to see people who defeated him. Kongol saw fight and honor and rules. Kongol want to be part of team and honor."
"He does seem to be sincere." Albert was saying to Dart. "And he's a good fighter, as we all know."
Dart agreed, letting Kongol join the team. The Giganto immediately took the role seriously, fighting with heart and strength, and especially defending Claire, who was at the moment, rather helpless. This got him on Dart's good side as they returned to Fletz.