Hope
Chapter 4: Pure
Isaac led me to a bedroom, before leaving to find Saturos. The bedroom only contained red furniture, except for the white curtains that hung from the bed's canopy. Overall it reminded me of something I could find in Weyard. The bedroom didn't seem very different from a noble's house decorated for Valentine's Day. I thought that this was strange. After all, weren't the Slates supposed to be aliens from another planet? Why would they even have things that resembled Weyard? Maybe they had stolen our idea…
Whatever the case might have been, I was happy to relax on the bed. It was tempting to fall right asleep, but Isaac had insisted that I at least meet Saturos before I did anything else. Saturos… I wondered what he wanted from me.
I was just beginning to drift asleep when the door suddenly flung open. I jolted up, my body catching on faster than my mind. A man; no, correction: a Slate had just walked into the room. Behind him was Isaac.
The humanized Slate looked vaguely familiar. I was certain that his red eyes belonged to the one who had dragged me away from Felix. Saturos fit the classic Slate, with pasty blue skin and a tuft of whitish-blue hair. He was also very tall, even exceeding Isaac's height, which meant Saturos practically towered over me. I meekly removed myself from the bed and stared at him. I was unsure of what exactly I was supposed to do.
After taking just one glance at me, Saturos turned to face Isaac. The Slate frowned, and demanded something in a different language. Isaac replied in the same language in an even voice, but his face looked like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Hey!" Saturos spoke with a rough voice, using my own language. I looked, completely dumbfounded, to the Slate. Up until then, I had assumed that Slates couldn't speak the same language as me. "Where did you get that scratch under your chin?"
It took me a second to get over my shock, but then finally processed his words. "Th-this?" My hand subconsciously reached to touch my chin. I could feel a slight pain, and a bruise forming. Isaac's Gaia had hit me pretty hard.
Saturos nodded his head once, and narrowed his eyes.
I looked to Isaac for help, wondering what I should answer. But the traitor just returned my stare blankly. "We… we fought," I nodded my head towards Isaac's direction. I could see no reason to withhold the truth.
Without any warning whatsoever, Saturos suddenly swung around and punched Isaac under the chin! The young man lost his balance and fell to the ground. Even if he was a traitor, no one deserved to be hit by a Slate like that!
Saturos left began to leave the room, speaking in a monotonous voice, "you may use whatever you want in this room, but do not leave a mess. You have three days." I watched the receding figure until he turned a corner through the corridor and left. For privacy's sake, I closed the door and cast a side-glance at Isaac. He had picked himself up off the floor, but seemed mildly dizzy. He was using the wall to support him.
"What was that all about?" I demanded, leaning back against the door.
"Nothing," he replied, and began to make his way towards me. Oh, wait, no. He was making his way towards the door, but I was blocking it. Isaac stopped when I didn't move out of the way for him. "Please move," he said curtly.
I scowled. There was too much that I didn't know. I wasn't prepared to let my only information source run out on me. I took a deep breath and tried to make myself as tall as possible. I was still shorter than Isaac, but at least it helped some degree. "No. I deserve to know what the heck is going on. And you will tell me, or I'll never move out of the way."
The traitor snorted slightly, and glared right back at me. "Didn't you hear him for yourself? Saturos is letting you stay here for three days to recover."
"Why'd he hit you?" I got straight to the point.
"Because…" He faltered for a second, as if debating if he should tell me or not. Finally he gave in, and continued. "Because I was given specific orders not to hurt you, since we're waiting for you to recover. And I accidentally hit you too hard with Gaia, and left a mark. Which isn't good for sales. Now, please move."
My eyes glinted in understanding. I smiled maliciously at him. "Oh no. There's still so much more I want to know."
Isaac's light blue eyes turned into a dull blue, and he took a threatening step forward.
"What are you going to do!" My smile vanished, and I growled. "You're gonna hit me again?" Isaac stopped dead in his tracks. Bingo. "I didn't think so."
"I… I hate you," he sputtered.
"I hate you, too," I replied sweetly. "But the question is, will you be a good, law abiding citizen; er, slave; or will you break your master's orders and attack me?"
Isaac jerked away from me and sat stiffly on the edge of the bed. He squared his shoulders and looked me in the eyes. They were burning with anger, and I was strangely delighted at his misfortune.
"Now," I began, and the smile began to creep back onto my face. I had found a little weakness in this man that I planned to exploit. "Tell me, traitor, what exactly happened to the rest of the captives?"
"You're being pretty rude to someone that you want info from," Isaac shook his head. "How about something more respectful than 'traitor?'"
I paused for a second, considering his request. True, he had a name, but I didn't feel like using it. It made him seem… more human. "Very well," I agreed and nodded my head. "Sir traitor."
"Forget it," Isaac sighed. "Anyway, we already went over what happened to the other people."
"What about…" I stopped, thinking of how to word the question. I wanted to know where Kraden was, but Isaac probably didn't even know his name. "There was an old man whom I knew… He was a professor and alchemist, though he wasn't an Adept. What are the chances that he'd be alive?"
Isaac raised his eyebrow. "An alchemist?" He repeated.
I nodded my head.
"Chances are he's still alive. I don't see why he wouldn't be. It's not like the Slates go around killing everyone in their path."
"Sure seems like it…" I growled, but Isaac evidently didn't notice my statement and continued.
"Your friend probably made it into a house with an upper class family. Nobles like alchemy. He's probably gonna be better off than most. Not that working is that bad…"
"Isn't that bad?" I sputtered, my anger rising at how nonchalant he was. "I don't understand you! How can you let the Slates push you around like that? Why do you sell other people? How can you be in league with monsters? Have you no sense of right and wrong?"
"They aren't monsters," Isaac rose from the bed and walked towards me. "They are as much of monsters as we are! And I'm helping those people! It's like giving them jobs! They get food, they get water, they aren't mistreated, and they can't get fired! They've got their own insurance! What more could someone want? It's not like they're worked 'till death!"
"What happened to freedom? Equality? They destroyed Weyard!" I began to choke as memories from the past clouded my mind. "They went to war just so that they could capture Adepts! They killed my entire family. Every single person in my family! I'm the only one left alive. And you know what? I'm not the only case. There's thousands of people like me!" The tears were coming down my face, now. My vision was blurry, but I was not crying because I was sad. I was crying because I was angry. I wanted to do something drastic, I just didn't know what.
Isaac was silent for a second, and then replied, "our planet was doomed, anyway."
"Wh-what?" I hiccupped.
"The Slates are helping us," Isaac continued.
"Helping? Helping? They're 'helping' to destroy Weyard!" I hiccupped again.
"No, you just don't get it," Isaac shook his head.
"I…" I hiccupped for the third time. "I understand everything! You're the one who's being an idiot! You, you insensitive, cold, unfeeling, monster, you, you…" I trailed off, before suddenly leaping off of my position from the door. "Get out!" I screamed, and pointed to the exit.
Isaac cocked his head slightly and eyed me warily. "Wh-what?" He stammered. "I thought you wanted me to…"
"Get… out!" I shouted again. I didn't want to hear anything more from this traitor's mouth! His mind had been completely poisoned and corrupted, without his knowledge of it ever being damaged.
Isaac slowly walked passed me and went through the door. For a split second he hesitated, before turning to look at me. "Jenna…" he began. "Did I really make you that angry? I'm-"
Slam!
I closed the door so hard that the entire room shook. There was no 'lock' button, but at least it would discourage Isaac from coming in.
I collapsed on the floor, my pent up emotions begging to be released. For a little while I tried to contain them inside of me, afraid that Isaac might be outside listening. But long enough I just couldn't keep it in, and it all came out in the physical form of tears. This was bad. If Kraden… If Kraden knew I was crying again, he wouldn't be very happy. I couldn't remain in self-pity forever, anyway. But I seriously needed something to lift my spirits.
Like some caffeine. Or chocolate. But I wasn't likely to find either of those inside the bedroom. I fumbled to my feet, and blankly stared at the room for a possible oasis. There was the bed, but I didn't feel like sleeping at the moment. Strange that I had been very tired not long ago, but now I was wide awake.
My eyes fell onto a door painted white. In the midst of all the red, I was surprised that I had missed it before. I prayed that it was a bathroom, and that it included a shower and/or bath.
It had both. I smiled involuntarily as my hand reached out to turn the knob on the water. I froze midway, my smile suddenly vanishing as quickly as it had come. Why on Weyard (I suppose I shouldn't use that term anymore) was the bathroom precisely like any other? The Slates must have had their own culture… right? Why was everything so similar to Weyard?
They are as much of monsters as we are!
Isaac's words sprung into my mind. What exactly had he meant by that? Or was he just trying to prove that Slates were not very different from humans? If Isaac wasn't completely ticked at me, I'd have to ask him about that…
I banished the questions from my mind, and once again began to reach towards the water knob. My hand had actually touched it, but I froze when I heard someone whisper! Was someone… actually in the bathroom with me?
I turned around sharply on my heel, quickly scanning the room I was in. No, no one was inside. Once again I heard the whisper, although this time it sounded slightly different. I searched for the possible source. There was a vent on the floor, and the whispers seemed to be coming from it. I plastered myself on the white tile, trying to listen more closely to the whispers.
I recognized Isaac's voice. He was speaking the language I used, too. "…at all." I heard him finish saying.
"Well," the second voice belonged to Saturos. "That's good. You took so long I thought something happened."
"Are you, er, er…" Isaac trailed off. It was possible that he said something else after it, but if he did he did so quietly.
"Speak your mind," Saturos commanded.
"Are you so sure it's a good idea to keep her in that room? If Menardi comes back and sees her in her room, she's gonna freak…"
Oh, so they were talking about me, then, right? Why weren't they speaking the Slate language? And who the heck was Menardi?
"Menardi…" Saturos let out a small chuckle. "You know my wife." Oh, so that's who she is. "She was supposed to come back yesterday. So much for her 'short visit to congratulate her sister's victory.' She probably went to sleep with some other man. I don't expect her to come back in four days; she's usually at least five days late than what she actually says. If she does somehow get here early, make sure to get the girl out of the room fast. Menardi would fry her to a crisp. A crispy shish kabob. And I don't think that'd be very good."
"Yea…" Isaac agreed. "Speaking of death, I think it would be better to make sure that the girl doesn't get her hands on any pointy objects."
"Suicide?" Saturos suggested. As if! I was still planning to kill Isaac. Maybe suicide later, but…
"S-something like that," Isaac stammered. Ha! He was afraid of me!
"Well, I wasn't planning on giving her a knife anyway. Not even for eating purposes."
"I was thinking more of forks…" Forks? Oh boy. That's me. Laughing insanely at Isaac's dead body while holding up a fork triumphantly, the instrument I had used to poke him to death. "Do we have any sporks?"
"I don't think she'd be able to kill herself with a fork, Isaac. Or anyone else, for that matter."
I picked myself up, and moved away from the vent. I had heard enough useless chatter. While doing so, I passed a mirror above the sink. I looked at my reflection, and was surprised that the reflection was actually my own. Dirt caked my face, with a few mild tints of red. My hair was knotted and tangled. If I was going to get rid of this mess, I at least needed a hairbrush after I showed. Or I could possibly bring the hairbrush with me in the shower. That would help, too.
There was a small cabinet under the sink. I opened it, and found a host of items that was… how could I put this… for girls. Hairbrushes, makeup, nail polish, even clothes, and… I froze as I ran my hand towards the back end of the cabinet. I pulled out a box and stared at in disbelief. I bit my lip, as I suddenly felt like laughing. But why should I hold it in? I began to giggle insanely. This was definitely a female's bathroom. But I would never have even expected that Slates had periods!
I put the box back where I found it, before taking the most beat-up hairbrush I could find. If I used one of the new hairbrushes, I'd probably ruin it. I wanted to avoid trouble as much as I could with the Slates. And besides, I knew what it was like to have someone use stuff without my permission.
I closed the cabinet. Once I changed out of my clothes, I knew there was no way I'd put them back on again. I'd have to borrow something. Hopefully that 'Menardi' would not be terribly angry at the loss of one pair of clothing.
I turned the water on, making sure that the icon was over the 'hot' side. Once the water was warm, I stepped inside with my hairbrush, sighing in relief. I definitely had needed a shower. The water was pure and clean, and rid me of the dust and dried blood on myself. My entire mood lifted as I began to feel more relaxed.
The purifying effect was not only on my body, but also on my mind. Maybe… just maybe I wouldn't have to kill Isaac after all. And maybe I wouldn't commit suicide, either.
A/N: Well, hi, again. People actually read my author's notes? Amazing! I am most surprised. I had no idea. Really, I thought people didn't read them.
Guys in audience: EW, you said 'period' in the story!
Yea, I know guys don't like that. Sorry. But it just worked out that way.
Previously, I mentioned to Rozzlyn that I would explain all of Weyard's culture this chapter. It turned out to be a lie. It'll actually be next chapter. Sorry.
Oh yea, to all my reviewers, I give you all a BIG thanks! I haven't received so many reviews on one story before; this is really awesome for me. I'm even receiving death threats! I'm attracting a wide variety of people! I am so flattered! I thank you all!
Happy Mother's Day, mothers.
Acknowledgments: Camelot and Nintendo own Golden Sun. Razorsoft and Sega own Slates. And my father likes Death Duel. Story wouldn't be here without Death Duel!