A tale of Sword and Shield
Ch7: Who we are…
In Limbo, Yang´s Pov:
To be honest I never really felt as part of this group…
Don´t get me wrong, I loved the Million family, when my sister and me thought to have lost everything, they gave us a second chance.
They gave us so much, that its hard to say if we ever get the chance to fully repay them for it.
No…, what i´m getting at is something entirely different, and I was certain I was not the only who did feel that way, I was certain that Yin felt the same.
Maybe it was just the feeling of not being part of the million family, at least from the physical aspect, or the lack of real training in everything our new life entitled, as we only ever got these powers since about 2 years.
Overall, it was a terrible feeling of inferiority, especially now, as we had to fight for our very life.
The skills showed it all, even though Alpharia and Betakin were so beaten down, they still stood up over and over again, while all I could do was lying here fully overwhelmed with everything.
I was certain, that this was because they knew the life of their siblings each was at stake, maybe they also thought about us, but I was certain, their focus lied more on their own family than on anyone else.
Not that I was any different there, if I were forced to make a choice, between saving Yin or any one of the Million Family…, would I truly be able to choose without any prejudice or bias?
It was hard to answer that question as all four of my comrades were dear to me…, but I guess, given the possibility of such an event being not so farfetched, especially in our current situation, I would most likely choose Yin.
It was not just because of her being my Sister, my family…, its more that I do not know how to live my life further without her, she was all I had if I was to be honest, even if Orphelia and I would come together, the pain of losing Yin would never go away and always eat away at my soul.
The regret of not having saved her would forever crush my heart, soul and spirit…., but I guess the same would happen, if I choose her over someone else.
Either way, regret was what was left on all of those multiple paths.
All what was currently left to me, was the hope never to have to make such a choice.
Other than the fear of such a situation arising out of this very moment, the almighty feeling of impending failure and death came on rapid wings, as the Fireball, unleashed by Lunnare, pierced through the Shield we had erected, a shield, build with our combined forced and yet it was literally ripped apart, like the transparent foil over a deep frozen pizza, before putting it into the oven.
That was likely how I was about to feel, as the fireball made contact with us, at the very least the heat literally incinerated my skin, turning it to ashes, I felt how my bones seemed to melt, how my eyes began to boil shortly before exploding.
It was the most terrible feeling I had ever felt before, but as sudden as it came it was over again.
I cannot tell when I had closed my eyes, but as I opened the same, the place I stood was in no relation to anything I current had experienced.
"Where am I?" I heard a voice asking.
I looked to see Yin standing next to me, just the same way as before, my hands clutching hers tightly.
"I have no plan either, but one thing I know for sure, we are most definitely no longer in Bordaussie." I stated and it was more like a question to myself, than a simple reply or acknowledgement.
I had no plan how in the world we managed to end up here, especially as unscathed as we seemed.
After all, a huge fireball had just descended upon us.
"Wait isn´t that…?" Yin asked, as she pointed forward, I looked to see what she meant, and upon laying my eyes upon this place, I felt a huge sting in my heart.
"Yes …, yes this is it." I replied, my voice getting hoarse as I chocked.
Before us laid the Coffee shop where our mother died, back during the attack of Nero and Blank.
The place she went, to meet with a friend.
But why were we here, what relation did we have with that place…, other than it being the dying place of our mother?
By the time we woke from coma, the broken shop had already being demolished and construction for something new had already begun.
The strangest however was that this shop was, as though it was set off from the rest of the buildings in the background, which we saw infront of us.
"Can it be…, are we supposed to enter?" I wondered.
"Maybe so…, at least we have nowhere else to go, I guess." Yin stated as she looked around.
I did so as well and she was right, although it seemed that we stood right on the market plaza in Pharaoh, did only the Coffee shop seemed real to us, the coloration of the other buildings just seemed terribly dull in contrast, as though we stared at a canvas and the entire focus of this picture was laid upon that shop.
"Shall we go?" Yin asked, but all I could do was shrugging.
"Beats me…, but I guess we won´t make any progress with whatever is going on here, if we stand still, so we might as well do so, I guess." I replied as I made the first step ever since we arrived here, and suddenly it was as though this place came to life, people who hadn´t being here suddenly appeared out of nowhere but none of them seemed to recognize us, nor even acknowledge the fact that we were even standing here.
"Aaaaaahhhh!" Suddenly I heard Yin screaming, I spun around to see her cower on the floor.
"Yin, what´s going on?" I asked her, her expression one of utter terror.
"T-t-there…, there was a guy…, he-he…, he just walked straight through me…, I was trying to evade him as I saw him coming closer, but there were people all around me, so I had nowhere to move, I though he would go around somehow…, but he just walked straight through me, as if I was air…, Yang…, what is going on here…, are we dead…, is this the Afterlife?" Yin asked me with tears in her eyes.
"I don´t know, but we probably better get going if we want to find out!" I explained and she nodded as she dried her tears.
Carefully not to bump into, or walk through, someone again, we made our way over to the coffee shop.
Cheops's triangle was a cozy little coffee-shop with an additional bakery, so beside of getting your daily supplies of bread and coffee, you could also spent some warm and comforting hours on rainy or freezing days here, while being in splendid hospitality.
Tuten Chamun, the Shop´s owner and his daughter Cleo, both Felinekos, were running the shop since about 10 years and it was a real shame that it was destroyed.
But here, from the destruction was no trace left, as if it never had been destroyed in the first place.
As we stepped in…, to our dismay the door did not open, but we just seemed to walk right through it, adding to Yin´s earlier shock, we were greeted by the delicious smell of fresh baked bread and the sharp but aromatic smell of freshly brewed coffee.
The interior was just similar as it used to be, from the few times Yin and I had been visiting here after school, either just the two of us or with friends.
We walked through the shop, as apparently neither Mr. Chamun nor Cleo was able to see us.
"What exactly are we supposed to do here, if no one can see nor hear us?" I wondered, but of course Yin had no answer to it as well.
"Maybe…, if we sit down something will happen?" She wondered and I nodded.
"Might as well give it a try." I mumbled as we sat on a table, beside of a customer at the counter and a couple on the table next to us, was no one else in the room.
We barely sat there as suddenly we heard a voice saying.
"So…, how did you find me?" We heard a male voice saying.
"I thought I made it clear how dangerous it is in my surrounding, they surely are still searching for me, and it seems that two more have been added to their rank lately…, if you want money, you know as well as I, that I do not have it even if I wish I could give you some." The voice kept going.
"I know and it is not for money that I came here, you should know that this would be the least of my worries.
No, I actually came to talk about the very matter you had just cut into.
I´ve heard from some acquaintances that their activities have increased, apparently those new ones are causing havoc all over the region, I fear its just a matter of time until they arrive here." A female voice stated and I thought my hearing was broken.
"Is that…?" Yin wanted to ask, but I signaled her to be silent, even though we knew that voice far too well.
"If you know that, then why the hell are you here, they could already be on their way?" The Male voice asked sharply.
"I had to see you…, you know that I cannot forget you, even if I tried to, and the thought of maybe never seeing you again, it did not sit well with me, even if meeting up is risky." The female Voice explained in a pleading tone.
"Regina, I beg of you, we talked about this, if they find me, they surely will find the kids as well, I could not bear to know that they might become his next test-subjects, the years I lost due to Baion´s experiments, it are years I never get back, all memories of my previous life have faded, I barely know anything about myself beside of my name and that of my brother Carmine.
I don´t even know in what relationship I stand to him anymore, or if he is even alive in the first place.
I don´t want Yin and Yang to end up like that." The Male voice stated and now I was certain.
The couple sitting behind us were none other but our own Mother, Regina Libra…, and the man who apparently seemed to be our biological Father, was…
"Crimson Canelé…, I know myself how dangerous it is…, heck I married Gilmore because I knew that I somehow had to disguise that fact.
He was nice enough to go forth with our plan, even as immoral as it might seem to other people, if they were aware of it…, due to the political marriage which mine and his parents had already set in stone by the time I turned 16 it was the perfect disguise, it was my luck that I managed to keep them from forcefully marrying me off to him, until I was 25, so the fact that I bore children just a few months after the marriage, didn´t seemed suspicious to anyone.
We told them it were the logical consequence of me getting pregnant by him after dating for quite a while in secret.
You, Gilmore and I, we became good friends back at University, and just due to that reason he helped us.
If he wouldn´t have done so, we would have been on our own, sure…, but we would have been a family." Mother exclaimed.
"Yes…, maybe we would have been…, but we would have always been on the run as well, Rouge and Vermillion have been send out to catch me once, it was my luck I guess, that they were distracted by Rose and Carmine, who appeared in the same town as I did, even as awful as it sounds, considering the fact that they are just as innocent as I am.
I hoped I could find them later on and meet with my Brother, to form an alliance should they atack once more..., but I couldn´t find them anywhere…, though I did doubted that they would remain in the same area any longer, given the case that they had survived and were still free, they were on the run the same as me.
Neither of us three wanted this to happen to us, we were abducted and forced to countless experiments, even today I still wake up from nightmares about this time.
The only memories I have left from that time are all about me trapped in that tube.
If that explosion back on that day, as the laboratory was attacked, would not have burst my confinement, I would have remained there all alone for the rest of my life, which might not have been that long.
If you hadn´t found me in that alley back then…, naked, dehydrated and malnourished…, and nursed me back to health, I would have died ages ago, without ever feeling how it is to truly live.
Your compassion and love are the only treasures I can call my own, the day Yin and Yang were born made me so happy…, but it also frightened me, I knew, if Baion finds me, he will also find them, I can never let that happen to them.
That is the reason why I had to leave you, as hard and as merciless as this decision was for both of us, but even more so for my own.
I could never be a father to them, I never had the chance to watch them grow, be by their side, help them with school stuff, play sports or help them in their hobbies…., there is so much I could have done with them.
But I knew, my existence will always be a Damocles sword over their heads, so as long as I can remain free, I will keep my distance and watch them from afar…, while simultaneously leading Rouge and Vermillion, and ultimately Baion, away from them.
This is my cross to bear." Crimson´s voice explained and the longer he spoke the more tears began to stream down my face.
Yin looked in complete astonishment, her face similar to mine, tears stained hers as well.
"I can´t believe it…, this …, this man, is our real Father?" She asked, her voice merely a whisper, while I had no voice at all, I just nodded to her.
The letters I had found while searching for a picture for mom´s funeral, were the ultimate evidence that Crimson Canelé had been our father, and to hear that now from himself…
Which made me question something…, something which was quite important.
"Yin…, I think this here is not the afterlife." I explained to her.
She looked at me with a puzzled expression, trying desperately to wipe away her tears.
"W-w-what do you mean?" She asked.
"I have the distinct feeling that this here…, is a memory." I explained and it all made sense, the reason why the Shop was the only thing that stood out from it´s surrounding and why the town only ever came to life the moment we moved, and why people seemed to just run right through us, or why no one could perceive our existence, not even inorganic materials.
The seats we sat upon, maybe they held us, expect of us slipping right through them upon sitting down, because the owner of this memory was sitting on a chair himself feeling and understanding it´s existence unconsciously and projecting it towards all other chair in the rom he could perceive.
The entrance door, it was just opened when entering, afterwards it was unimportant, trivial so to say, that why we simply slipped through.
The existence of a door does not matter, until we ought to use it somehow.
"If this is a memory…, then whose is it…, it can´t be ours, by that time we are at school." Yin explained as she pointed at the clock.
"Maybe…, maybe it is his…, but how…, we have never met?" I wondered as I looked at Crimson Canelé, the same had meanwhile drunk his coffee.
"You should return back home Regina, being in my surrounding is not safe, not even for you…., I only came because of your letter…, even if I too wished to see you again…, after all I have never stopped loving you…
Still I wonder how you managed to find me, if I knew that, I could see to never let that happen again." Crimson explained, his voice was sad but, in a way, also terribly monotone, as if it was rehearsed.
"Why would you say that?" Mother asked shocked and slightly hurt.
"If you can find me that easily, they surely will do so too." Crimson explained and I did find that a plausible reason.
"I had a friend of mine looking for you around town, she belongs to a secret service agency that has been established a couple of years ago within the Kurvaz as far as I know, she and I used to live close by, even though she was an inhabitant of the local Orphanage before it moved away.
I met her a couple of years ago and ever since we regularly meet for lunch, a few days ago I told her about how I missed to meet you and she offered me to help searching for you." Mom explained and it was another bomb that went off.
"A Secret service in the Kurvaz…, does this mean that mom had already back then ties to S.I.T.K.A, even if just minor ones?" I though in sheer surprise, looking at her told me that Yin didn´t seemed to have gotten to that point of thought yet.
"Tsk…, this isn´t good, if that is the circumstance, I have to wipe my traces a whole lot more…
Believe me Regina, if my circumstances were any different, I would come back to you immediately and sweep you of your feet, but until either Baion or his henchmen have not perished, or at the very least rendered incapable of doing any more harm, I fear that I might not be able to ever be a part of the Kids life, and believe me, knowing that fact hurts me more than anything.
You have no idea the pain I always feel, whenever I see them from afar, the longing to hold them in my arms, to kiss them, to be with them.
Everything I wish for, is but that…, a wishful dream which might never become real…, you have no idea, how much I envy Gilmore." The man who had revealed him as our father explained and his eyes were honest and full of deep grieve and sadness.
"I pray everyday that some miracle might happen, that enables you to come back to us." Mother replied as she put a hand on his.
"We could finally be a family." She added quietly.
"That would be wonderful…, but I´m also afraid of such…, what if they don´t like me…, what if they cannot accept me, they know only Gilmore as their father…
I hardly believe that they would appreciate the fact of getting told, all of a sudden, that the man they called and loved as a father for all this time, was not their biological father.
I doubt they would believe you, they would most likely think of it like a morbid joke of the both of you, especially since even the parentship-certificate has been rigged by Gilmore, to make it seem as though as it were official and legal.
It was the only option, we had back then.
The attack here in town showed me that it isn´t safe to be here for all too long.
Even though I got rid of the tracer…, the one I know from at least, could they still find me in some other way.
I cannot remain here for all to long either, who knows maybe they already observe the area.
I have to get away as silent as I came…, I´m sorry but I guess you came here in vain Regina." Crimson explained, his eyes falling in sadness.
"No, it was not in vain…, seeing that you are still alive and in good health was worth more than I could ask for…., even though I share my bed with Gilmore, have I never forgotten you and your love.
Although we are separated, I strongly believe that there will be a day, that we are truly reunited.
But I know, i´m not a fool, I know very well that your hiding adds to the safety over our Children…, for that I will always be grateful.
I guess you are right, I better get going…, I´m sure we will meet again, someday in the future." Mother stated, tears in her eyes as she leaned in for a kiss, while Crimson…, Father, reacted the same.
"I still love you Crimson; you are the one and only for me." She stated after the deed was done.
If anyone would have seen this scene, some people would surely make a huge scandal out of it now, after all, Regina Libra, Judge Gilmore Libra´s wife, just kissed another man in a Coffee shop, a feast for every paparazzi and boulevard press-reporter, aiming for the Pulitzer-price.
I looked around but beside of Mr. Chamun and Cleo, no-one was here, the other customer had long left the shop without us noticing, the two were busily working behind the counter, apparently not concerning themselves with Mother and Father´s conversation at all, not that they were even allowed to do such, it would be an act against their privacy.
And privacy was something which Mr. Chamun valued quite high.
The Shops windows were made of special glass which acted like a mirror from the outside, like a one-way-mirror.
What happens in Cheops´s Triangle, stays in Cheops´s Triangle.
The loud but cozy background music, some soft and smooth jazz-music, was underlining the ability of keeping private things private here.
Father stood up as Mother rose from her seat and just like a true gentleman, he helped her into her coat, while the same enjoyed the close contact quite a lot…, if I shall be honest, I have never seen Mother so happy, her eyes truly sparkled with love.
From the Letters I read. I understood that Crimson Canelé was mothers first big Love 16 years ago, and they were vigorously in love as we can see, after all, only about a year after meeting for the first time and falling in love with each other at first sight, Mom gave birth to Yin and myself, on the very same day as today.
I almost forgot that it was our 15 Birthday today.
"I have never stopped loving you…, from the day we first met." Mother stated as she leaned in for one more kiss.
"That is true for both of us then." Father stated as he looked into her eyes with love and a deep longing.
"I will never forget the woman I have learned to love, nor the first time I ever met our children." Father explained, his voice heavy.
He chocked back some tears before he turned around to pay the bill, signaling mother that he would not let her pay, despite having been invited by her.
They were about to move out as the door to the shop opened.
"Oh hello Regina, fancy meeting you here, haven´t seen you in quite a while…, were you about to go?" Mrs. Dondurma, the Mayor´s Wife and one of mom´s acquaintances, asked upon entering the shop, her eyes lighted up in delight of seeing mom, before her eyes met those of Crimson.
Her expression became a little skeptical.
"Who´s the young gentleman, a friend of yours?" Mrs. Dondurma asked as she scanned Crimson from head to toe.
If Gossip had a name it would be Frederica Dondurma, this woman knew everything about everyone and she was not too shy to share her opinion either.
"This is…" Mom was about to reply, slightly nervous under Mrs. Dondurma´s piercing stare, before Crimson suddenly moved forward.
"Look out!" He shouted all of a sudden.
He took mom in an embrace, spun her around shielding her with his body, as suddenly, before any more words could be spoken, a violent flash appeared.
From one second to next everything seemed to go white and an ear deafening noise was to hear.
By the time we were able to hear and see something again, there was a dust-cloud all around us.
We heard moaning and faint screams in agony.
Once the dust cloud set itself again, we could see how the entire upper floor of the shop had caved in, burying everything underneath in rubble.
"Regina, Regina, are you alright?" We heard father´s voice shouting.
"Yes, as far as I can tell I am…, w-what just happened, was this an earthquake?" Mom asked unsure, her voice slightly frightened.
"No, not at all, this was an attack…, by a weapon!" Father explained.
The dust-cloud cleared even more and you could see how Mom and Dad stood there, under a Shield, same as Mr. Chamun, Cleo and Mrs. Dondurma, who lied next to them on the ground unconscious.
Are they alright?" Mom asked frightened, holdng herself at Crimson.
"Yes they just lost consciousness for a while." Father explained.
"I see…, so what did you mean with an attack…, you don´t mean that…?" Mom asked in shock.
"It´s not confirmed yet, this here might have been just a random attack under many by some radical Sky pirates…, but if not, then we have to get out of here as fast as possible." Father explained as he, after Mr. Chamun and Cleo woke back up, with a few loving smacks to their cheeks, quickly explained he situation and, with the Shopkeeper's help, pulled the still unconscious Mrs. Dondurma out of the ruin of the building.
"We need to find a safe shelter somewhere." Father explained as they entered the street to the market plaza, where absolute chaos had taken over the day.
Everywhere you could see and hear the people screaming, running all around frightened, hoping to find safe shelter somewhere.
The police and the I.D.A. members that were around by the time of the attack, tried to bring order to the chaos, but it seemed futile as some more buildings were attacked and the mass panic grew.
"The final judgment is upon us, safe yourself!" An elderly man passed us, shouting in our faces before running down the street only to be hit by a firetruck at the next crossroad.
Mom gasped in shock, while poor Cleo screamed loudly, Father shielded the sight from Mom´s eyes by taking her in an embrace.
"We need to go further, somewhere safe…, we must find a place!" Father explained as he and the others made their way throgh town, which was easier said than done.
Several streets had been blocked by collapsing buildings, the people in town were all but freaking out in terror and fright.
"If only I knew from where the attacks are coming from!" Father stated aloud in sheer desperation.
"I will get you into safety Regina, you and everyone." He explained reassuring, patting her hands, from which she freed herself.
"Regina…, what the…?" Father asked shocked as she looked at him with determination in her eyes.
"I appreciate your concern Crimson, but I will see to that myself.
I will move on further with Mr. Chamun and the others; you have another mission!" Mom stated hasty.
"What do you mean?" Father replied usure before she took his head in-between her palms, making him looking at her.
"Go and find the kids, bring them in safety, I will be fine, trust me." Mother explained before she kissed him bluntly before all eyes, not caring for anything anymore but the safety of her Children…, of us.
"Promise me that you will safe them, no matter what, even if something were to happen to me, safe them and defend them." Mother asked as tears rolled down her cheeks once more.
"I promise my love, I defend and save them…, by my life." Father stated as he looked deep in mom´s eyes and in that moment, it was as if time stood still…, at least for a few seconds.
With a last kiss, Father left Mother, while the same made her way with the others to a safe place…, a place we knew she would never reach.
Father barely made his way through the stampede of panicking people as a huge explosion pushed him forward into the dirt, he looked only to see the spot he left mom had been destroyed completely.
"Regina…, Regina please don´t…, you cannot leave me like this…, not after I met you after so long…., no, Regina!" Father stammered in shock as he was about to walk towards the place, more slurped in a powerless motion, too shocked to think straight.
"Owww" Suddenly something came flying at him and hit him right on his forehead leaving a bloody cut, he looked only to see Moms Emerald brooch, lying on the ground.
It was the sole Accessory which mom always wore no matter what or which day it was, she always wore it somewhere or somehow on her and she literally freaked out if she ever thought to have lost it, I still remember the terrible fight she had with Yin, as she once thought to have lost it after Yin was the last to have had it in her hands, in the end Mom simply misplaced it while spacing out.
It was the first time I heard Mom ever yell so loud, that the whole house was able to hear her.
Father picked the brooch up and inspected it.
The big jewel in the middle had splintered in two pieces, as if it was a sign to him, that Mom did not made it.
On the backside of it was an engraving.
"For the guiding Star of my Life, from Crimson with Love.
My Heart, my soul and my spirit I will give, in order to protect what is most precious to me." Reading this was as though Mom wanted to grimly remind Father of his promise, as the same was about to lose himself in despair and agony, over her sudden loss.
"Regina, I will save the children, even if it costs me my life." I heard Father stating as he held the Brooch close to his heart.
"The kids got to be still in the surrounding of the School, I need to hurry." He stated as tears rolled down his face, I knew it was the hardest for him to fulfil Mom´s promise, knowing he might has left her for dead right now., and might even would have been able to save her life
The scene we saw seemed to come to a halt, as if time began to freeze, before anyone of us could do something the colors all turned to a blinding white, so bright I had to close my eyes.
As I opened them again after a while, a new scene had constructed itself before us
We stood in the hallway of our old school, Father stood next to us.
"Can this be…, is this the moment we had our accident, the one that was responsible for changing our life?" I asked unsure, as I took a step.
The memory came back to life, like earlier.
Father was running through the hallway, dodging rubble and caved in ceilings here and there.
"Yin, Yang, anybody!" Father shouted as he ran around, a visibly haunted expression on his face as he ripped open or broke down any door he could find.
"I got to find them, their auras, I know I can feel them here somewhere, but where, their auras´ faint trace is all over the place." Father exclaimed as he opened the door to the biology classroom before jumping backwards as the ceiling came crashing down.
"Dammit, this is not going to get any easier, this building will soon collapse…, focus Crimson, focus, these forces got to be good for something once in a while…., concentrate god-damnit!" He told himself harshly as he stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes to focus, while all around the walls were crying and screaming in agony upon the weight pressing down on them.
Father stayed still for about five minutes before he opened his eyes.
"There they are, I got you now." He mumbled as he rushed forward and skillfully sprang over rubble or slid under walls about to cave in, he even seemed to run along the walls the one or the other times.
From his appearance you would not think that he was a professional parkours-runner, but here he skillfully showed how much our life meant to him, the run lasted only about 5 minutes at most, and for once I was grateful to have a ghostlike existence her, for I just needed to run straight after him without dodging any walls.
He stopped infront of a door trying to open it.
"Dammit, its completely bend out of shape, guess I got to break it open…., wait a second…, is this gas I smell?" Father exclaimed shocked as he sniffed at the door.
"Shit the room is almost filled up, if I break the door and scrab metal over stone, the whole room will explode, I need to enter somehow…, where, where…." Father stated breathlessly, as he looked all around.
"Maybe I can get a glimpse from here?" He stated as he seemed to have found a small opening, too small for him to get through, we on the other hand might just make it through.
"Yin, Yang, can you hear me, I've come to save you…, can you hear me!" father shouted but expect of the screaming of the ceiling, he gained no response.
"They must have gone unconscious, if only I could…, there, I can see them, oh no my dear Children…, my babies…, I need to get in somehow…, is there no way?" Father began to panic before he had a violent coughing fit.
"First I need to keep them from breathing in anymore gas and maybe to get the gas out they had already breathed in." He reminded himself of the situation.
As he activated his H-Forces in order to create a shield around us, I saw how his skin, seen through his ripped shirt, sported some strange lines in a deep dark shade of red, fitting his name.
"Like the nerve-system which Connor once described to us" I muttered in awe, as I saw father in action.
"Manifest: Shield, Support: max. recovery, individual: 2, Initiate reanimation, initiate aerial decontamination: Separation from pollutant gases and oxygen, restore shield interior to habitable area." Father recited while spell after spell was initiated.
His force manifested in a similar deep dark reddish shimmer…, from Professor Feravente we learned, that hybrids not only all have unique powers, but their forces manifest themselves usually in different shades of color.
Blank´s forces were told to manifest as Neon-Blue, Nero´s as a Neon-shade of Pink, Red Savarin, the sibling´s step-brother used Neon-Green forces.
As far as I could see both Alpharia and Betakin´s forces manifested as Grey to silver, whereas Cetala´s forces were deep yellow to dark gold.
I wondered about that since all three of them are siblings, so why is only Cetala excluded from their force-color?
Our own forces were, in my case, Burgundy red, in Yin´s case Raspberry red…, maybe it was because we inherited 2 different forces, Father´s as well as Nero and Blank´s forces respectively.
Though it did not matter much to us currently, back then, from the moment we understood whose forces we possessed, we saw them more like a curse, we always thought that we were forced to use the same forces, that took us our mother, in order to somehow save lives this time, the mere idea was disgusting.
But now…, knowing that our forces are not entirely given to us from Nero and Blank, I think we can use them more wholeheartedly from now on.
In either way, seeing Father using Hybrid forces to save us, had something quite comforting, it showed that us being hybrids was not as entirely strange and repulsive, as we always believed.
"Separating gas from oxygen, leaving only breathable air in there, this might save them but they need to see a Hospital soon, I guess I have to first stabilize the room before I can find a way inside." He stated as he used more of his force to create a rectangular shaped shield to push against the walls and ceiling keeping them from caving in.
"So now to find a way inside and…" He stated as suddenly the entire building shook violently, here and there walls began to crumble and the ceiling cracked open ready to fall.
"This building isn´t going to keep up with the damaging much longer." Father stated as he was able to walk normally again.
"If I could just stop the tremors somehow, maybe some of the fire-defenders out there will come with the right equipment!" He stated.
"Yin, Yang, hold out I will soon come back with help, but please you need to be strong, I will leave you some light in there, can you hear me." Father shouted, the tiny opening from before had closed off even more during the last quake of the school, it was impossible to enter from outside without destroying one of the walls, but doing so, had to be done professional and without causing any sparks to ignite the gas.
"If only I could have found the leak…., dammit, why am I so useless when it counts." Father mumbled as he looked at the hole, from which he could previously see us, now only a hole, big enough for his arm, was left.
He began to form some kind of ball made of light with his forces, a bright red light, before he passed it through the hole, the gas was still flowing out of the same so it was hard to breath in its surrounding, especially when you had a job to do at which you had no sight whatsoever.
If the school would now quake once more, his arm might be stuck in there and then all three of us would have been done for.
"Is there someone, cough, cough…., someone please help…, cough…., if you are there, please help my brother and me, I beg of you…, are you still there, please answer cough, cough?" A faint voice rang out from inside between coughing.
Suddenly it was as though father felt something, because his eyes shone with surprise before they watered.
"Yang…, could you…?" Yin said to me and I understood, I walked straight through the wall, it was the wall that blocked our view…., Father´s view…, if that one would not be here, then father could finally come face to face with us.
The existence of that wall was painfully aware o our Father and so also what might lie behind it, that thought enabled me to enter that place
As I walked through the wall, I saw how the young Yin and my younger self had crawled over to the hole from which light came from, Yin had grabbed the arm that had passed through the whole.
"Please don´t leave us, I beg of you, we need help, please save us, save my brother and me." Yin stated in total desperation.
"Ying, Yang, hold on, I will surely come back with help, you need to stay strong." Father stated as he looked around to make his way out.
"Please don´t leave, it´s so scary in here, please don´t leave, whoever is out there." Yin´s voice, even more desperate, exclaimed loudly, she was frightened beyond terror, while myself was caught in coughing fits, it seemed that I had breathed in most of the gas, maybe because I shielded Yin with my body, hovering over her, in case the ceiling collapsed.
"Yin, please, I need to call for help, I am all alone here and the corridor as well as the classroom is filling with gas, soon my forces, that keep the gas away from you will run out, they might only last for another 2 hours at most.
If that happens, you will not only be exposed to it, but you might also be crushed by the next quake, I need to get you out of here but I have not the right equipment.
My forces keep the ceiling from crushing you so far, since the impact is being widespread, but they are not strong enough to withstand a sudden violent explosion which comes from one point and has nowhere else to go as the gas is being sandwiched between wall and shield.
If that happens not only will my shield spell around you break, but also the room will completely collapse.
I need to get you out of here, but for that I need you to let go of me." Father stated, his hand still tightly embraced by Yin.
"I…, I see…, but you will return here right…, you will come back, you promise to return to us, right?" Yin asked frightfully.
"Of course, by my life I swear to somehow save you, as long as I can walk, and as long as my soul exists, I will never be far from you…, may I…, may I touch your faces, since I can´t see you, it is hard to tell how your current state of mind is?" He stated and I wondered why he would ask something like that.
"I…., I guess that´s okay?" Yin asked unsure as she moved her face towards the hand in the hole.
Carefully Fathers hand caressed Yin´s face, her cheek, her collarbone, her ears, the outline of her eyes and snout and lastly her hair…
"You are quite similar to your mother when she was young…, I bet you look just like her." Father stated, coughing, the leaking gas was surely not making it easy for him to breath.
This scene sure made me shed some tears there, it was as they always described, when blind people touch your face to imagine to themselves how you might look like.
It was the closest to seeing us face to face for father, after all, he only ever saw us from afar, ever since he had to leave us.
"You know our Mother?" Young Yin asked shocked.
"Yes, yes indeed I do, I was…, am a good friend of hers, she told me to keep an Eye on you should you ever get in trouble…, I´m sorry that I was too late to save you from being captured in here!" Father stated aloud to reassure them.
"Did you really know her…, who are you?" My younger self asked.
"Yang…, my name is Crimson Canelé, I happen to be an old school friend of your Mother and your Father!" Father explained as he searched for Yang with his arm.
The same came closer and allowed the gentle hand to explore his face.
Father´s hand rested on his cheek for a while after doing so.
"You are very much alike to your father when he was younger, I bet he is proud of you for keeping your sister safe all this time." Father explained and this did drove tears in my eyes, I bet he was crying too behind the wall.
"You think so…, I don´t think I really look like him, though I haven´t seen many photos of him or mom when they were younger!" my younger Self exclaimed loudly as the ceiling screamed once more, after another light quake.
"I haven´t seen any pictures of you with them either." He asked unsure.
"That's probably due to security measures, the less people know about the persons most dear around your parents, the less likely it is for anyone to be used as hostage in a crime." Father explained and this did made sense even though now I knew the real reason.
"I guess so." I replied.
"I´m sorry kids but I gotta go now, I must find help, this building ain´t holding out for long anymore and given the situation out there, who knows when I can find people willing to help." Father explained as he was about to pull his arm back while Yin, in sheer desperation clawed herself on it.
Quite reluctantly she nodded and let go.
"You will return to us, right." She stated as her hand held Father´s hand, a last time as it seemed.
"I will…, as long as my body, or my forces, enables it to me, I will surely return to you." Father promised before Young Yin let go of him, he tried to look through the holed to catch a glimpse of them, but had to close his eyes during a coughing fit, gas hitting him right in his face, before he moved away from the hole.
I phased back through the wall before it could become irrelevant to Father.
"Welcome back…, how did we…?" Present Yin asked me.
"Scared, terrified, uncertain of their fate, there are hundreds of terms to name and none would describe their current feelings in the slightest." I replied, after all, all she could see were Father´s reaction.
"He cried, he cried when he touched you…. and smiled when he touched me." Yin stated.
"I guess because you do look like mother when she was young, now more than ever…, and I guess, because I looked like him, before my hair turned white and my fur gray." I explained, the doctors once said that it might have been an aftermath-reaction from the shock back then, one day my hair began to turn white and my fur became a darker shade of gray.
PTSD, they called it…, but now, I wasn´t so sure about it…, not after meeting Blank.
Our conversation got interrupted as another violent quake shook the school building once more, pieces of the ceiling collapsed right infront of Father and an opening was created as through all the levels of the building holes appeared.
"Mister…, Mister are you alright?" I heard my younger self shouting.
"Yes, I´m alright, I just found an opening out, I will go get help, no fear I will hurry." Father explained before he began to climb up the rubble.
"Gotta keep the school from collapsing and I need to signal the fire-defenders to come." Father explained as we followed him, floating skywards, through the hole.
Upon reaching the roof after a while, we looked around.
The town down the hill was literally burning while up in the sky Nero and Blank fired away.
Seeing this destruction cramped my heart once more.
"And these violent forces are flowing now through me." I mumbled.
I felt Yin´s hand on mine, trembling, I looked at her and she looked forward to where the Hybrids destroyed the lives of hundreds…, thousands of people.
"So it are them…, Baion has finally made his move…., if only I had the strength to fight them…, but I have no forces which are made for attacking, only defending." Father mumbled as he stood next to us, looking at the destruction.
"This is what Baion wanted, weapons, weapons to destroy everyone and everything…, I sure am glad that I managed to flee…, if I think about the fact, that I could have ended up like that…, i´m glad I met Regina who showed me the right Path.
On that day, the day of my children´s birth, my Life finally got a purpose…, who would I be if I now let them die!" Father stated determined before he closed his eyes to concentrate and focus.
"Go forth, feel everything, very nook and cranny of the walls, every piece of rubble, enforce it, strengthen it, enable it to hold its weight." He muttered under his breath while his energy seemed to flow out of him enveloping the entire school building, until the entire school was surrounded by a crimson glow.
Of course, this deed was not unnoticed by Blank and Nero, as the two of them rapidly closed in onto us.
"So, you´ve come at last, Children of Baion!" Father shouted up to them as they halted infront of the school building.
"It seems that we found us another nuisance, dear sister of mine." Blank explained with a mocking grin.
"It seems so dear brother…, however according to calculations, is his power-level far inferior than ours, I hardly believe that he poses much of a threat to our father´s plans." Nero explained.
"Naturally, there is nothing stronger than me after all.
Looks like we have found another failure beside of that obnoxious brat from last time." Blank exclaimed as he stepped away from his Mecha.
"You sure got a big mouth for such a tiny brat, I guess your father never gave you a good spanking, I will be glad to take up the opportunity then…, I don´t know what Baion is planning and frankly said I don´t care, I had enough involvement with that asshole for a lifetime…, but one thing is for sure, today, this school is off limits for guys like you." Father exclaimed and his eyes blazed with fury.
"Since a failure you are, our Fathers glorious plan does not concern you either way." Nero explained.
"You are a pest, nothing but a pebble on the street that tries to stand in the way of our Father´s goal, begone!" Blank shouted as he ordered his Mecha to shoot done a salve of lasers on the school building, swirling up a lot of dust.
"That should do it!" Blank explained as he was about to turn around.
"You know, as a father myself, I really am glad that my Kids did not ended up as nutjobs like you, who kill for sport.
I think it´s high time someone gives you a lesson in good righteous behavior, hasn´t your mother taught you nothing at all?" Father stated as he simply swiped the dust away.
"How dare you survive; a pebble shall remain lying still!" Blank shouted his expression turning grim.
"I pity your mother, really, she must be so ashamed of you." Father mocked them.
"Our mother is to no concern of you, neither is she to us." Nero explained and even though she spoke calmly, there was a visible disdain in her voice, it showed how less she thought of Merveille.
"That filthy woman betrayed our Father, she will die along with the rest of you insects." Blank stated haughty.
"You will too, so be good and stay still while I kill you!" Blank shouted as another laser was unleashed.
"Hoh?
So you re saying and yet here I still stand, I guess you are not so high and mighty as you thought you were, maybe you let your sister give it a try, maybe she might do the deed!" Father stated keeping mocking them while standing on the rooftop of the school.
Not really clever if you actually looking for keeping the same stable, I would say.
"You dare to insult me, I am stronger than Nero, or anyone else, and I will gladly show you!" blank shouted, the veins showing on his forehead as he began to charge energy himself.
"If in nothing else, my defense is usually peerless, but I cannot focus too much energy into it, if I want to keep the school from being damaged or collapsing…, I ain't got time for this, I need to keep them away from the building…, but how, I cannot fly and I doubt they will let me reach a car." Father muttered as he prepared another shield.
Once more the Impact onto Father´s shield shook the ground but still the building was unharmed.
"I think we can safely say that your lasers and forces aren´t really helping you against me, maybe you finally can climb down from your high mountain, if you cannot even defeat me with them." Father kept on mocking getting Blank visibly enraged.
"I will kill you…, and if I have to do it with my bare hands!" Blank shouted as he floated down unto the roof, an expression of blind rage on his face, Nero simply observed the ongoings from above, analyzing the data she receives.
"Oh?
Is that so, well then come here, I´m gonna give you a good ass-whooping!" Father shouted in heat, as he walked up to Blank.
"You really are Nuts, you truly dare to approach me with that weak power you have, you must be the worlds biggest imbecile then?" Blank stated in disgust.
"Well as we have seen neither you nor I will get far with shooting and receiving long range attacks at each other…, and since I cannot beat the shit out of you, unless we get physical, I guess I just have to approach you." Father explained, as he engaged Blank in an all-out-brawl.
While Blank possessed sheer raw power, seemed Father far more provident in martial arts, he evaded, kicked, and beat Blank more than the same managed to land a punch.
"I wasn´t 3 years captain of the Pharaoh Highschool´s Martial-Arts club for naught.
Karate, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, you name it.
Delinquents like you I used to defeat after breakfast." Father boasted, but his skill surely underlined his words.
"I´m surely not your ordinary pebble." He exclaimed while he literally beated Blank up, the same had no idea what happened to him.
It seemed that as though the fight would be decided in Father´s favor as suddenly Blank grinned evilly and although I saw it and still knew I could not do a thing against it, I still shouted aloud.
"WATCH OUT!" I was about to rush forward but it was already too late, after a barrage of beats, Blank slipped past Father in the same moment as a laser from Srvara arrived from behind him and pierced right through fathers side, leaving a huge bloody hole over his hip.
"Aaaah, you damn cheating Bastard!" Father shouted in agony as he fell to his knees.
"And that's how a man ends up, who dared challenging a God!" Blank mocked my father with a kick to his face.
"I see no God around me, only a little brat that plays with matches and eventually gets burned.
You are right, maybe that´s how I end up…, but I know for sure that this ain´t the end, one day, in the near future, you will find your master…, and then my soul will laugh at your defeat!" Father mocked Blank, for a last time as it seemed.
"Die, insignificant insect!" He shouted as he used his force to shoot a hole right through fathers chest splattering blood everywhere.
"Guess this is it…, Yin, Yang, I wish I could have saved you, see you and maybe…, hold you in my arms just once, but in the end your father is just that useless….
Still, I am glad that I could at least be part of your life before my own demise…, this is all I ever wanted…., you make your Father proud, so I cannot let you die, no matter what…, take the lasts of my powers, they might just keep you alive enough not to die, when the worst happens." Father mumbled, as blood gushed out of his mouth.
I could see how the crimson shimmer began to fade and how energy began to leak out of Father through the hole in the ceiling.
"Always remember, no matter where you are or in what situation you find yourself, I will always be by your side, this is the least I still can do." Father muttered as all we could currently do, was to see his life fading from his eyes.
"Brother…, as much as I like to congratulate you for killing him, am I unsure if you can really call this a win, in the end you took a weapon to a fist-fight." Nero exclaimed skeptically.
"It´s not the way that counts but the result, that bastard is dead and I was the one who killed him, that's all what matters, strength and wit is the only thing that is true in this world…!" Blank explained with a troubled face.
"I wonder however…" He muttered.
"I understand dear Brother, if he truly wanted to fight equally against us, why didn´t he attacked when he could, why did we had to stoop down to his level to truly fight against him…, it felt more as if he was defending something rather than him trying to protect himself…, is it this building, the light and energy it emitted earlier has long vanished, as if it died with him.
What is there important in it, that is worth defending?" Nero asked and I suddenly felt afraid.
"Maybe we should investigate that hole and…., huh!?" She suddenly was distracted as her Mecha´s com-system began to ring out.
"Brother, we have orders from Father to return." Nero explained.
"I guess so…, whatever is in there, today seems to be your lucky day." Blank exclaimed as he mounted his Mecha and together with his sister the two of them vanished.
"Father…., he died to protect us." Yin stated as the colors of the frozen scene around us began to fade away.
"He held his promise to mother, to help and save us no matter what, now I know how we survived this explosion which normally should have killed us.
That just showed how much she and us meant to him." I explained and she nodded.
"My Life was once saved by your mother; she has shown me the light, when I thought to have to live in the shadows forever." A voice exclaimed from behind.
"Father!" I stated as I turned around same as Yin next to me, who gasped.
"Yin, Yang…, you both sure have grown up." Father exclaimed; he still looked the same as to the time he met mother in the Coffee Shop.
"I wish we could have met you, for real, while you were still alive…, there is so much to catch up to." Yin stated with tears in her eyes.
"Well as I said, I never was far away from you, I always looked after you, in life as well as in death." He stated as he walked up to us, taking us in his embrace, after coming down on our eye-level.
"I am so proud of you my children, you survived and you have become strong…, I am certain that it was not always easy for you, especially not after mine and your mother´s untimely death.
I´m sure Gilmore has done what he could, but I can understand him, all of a sudden, his wife, the woman he had learned to love, had died while the Children he swore to take care of, began to develop the very forces he despised, after they took him so much.
I won´t say that it was righteous and I do know that it was all an unfortunate accident, but the death of these two men 2 years ago, must have ignited in him the wrath against Nero and Blank again." Father sighed and I knew he was right.
"I´m sure, since my body was found on the roof of the school, the authorities must have shown him what was left of me, to confirm whether he knew me or not…
Maybe he was able to count 1 and 2 together, to understand that I was there trying to help you…, maybe he knew that it were my forces which ultimately saved your lives during the explosion.
My unwillingness to leave this world without being able to save you, to make sure you live on, long enough for the surgery he paid to keep it that way and then, all of a sudden, from one day to another, he has to see his children in videos, in which they look like Nero and Blank 2 years ago, while both killing and hurting people.
The hatred for them is still stuck in the very bones of countless of people from all over the republic, even after 2 years they cannot forget it.
Maybe he also still resents me…, who knows?" father explained.
"Why would he?" Yin asked drying her tears.
"Because I was ultimately the reason why Regina was in Pharaoh in the first place, seeing Hybrid forces must always remind him of Regina´s corpse.
I just wish he could have reacted different towards you." Father explained and we nodded.
"Fa…, Gilmore had quite a hard time, same as we all, but I guess since he knew Mother for all his life, he was hurting even more than we did." I explained and Father nodded.
"Yin, Yang, I do not mind you calling Gilmore Father either, he has been more so than I ever was able to do so.
I admit, the moment I died I resented Gilmore myself, I was envious because I knew, he would live forth to be with you, while I died, believing that I might never be able to meet you like this now.
Although I know it is wrong, am I grateful for this opportunity, even if it means that the situation you are in is anything but favorable and enjoyable." Father explained and we silently nodded.
"Us being here, seeing those memories..., does this mean that we are dead?" I asked the question which Yin and I had almost forgotten to concern ourselves about.
"No, no you are not, not yet at the very least.
The again, what is death even?" Father asked.
"It is the end of a Lifetime?" I exclaimed unsure, I mean he himself should know best, right.
"Is that so…, I rather have another theory…, in my opinion, death is but the separation of body and soul.
A Body is an item, a machine, just constructed in a more complex manner.
But like every machine, also a body wears out the duration of its proper functionality.
At the moment which we call death, the body ceases all functions, it breaks down so to say.
This either happens naturally due to its age, or unnaturally due to something happening to the physical body.
When death is being initiated in the machine called body, the soul remains, even after the body has been either ceased its function or has been destroyed.
The soul in this case is the program of the machine, a metaphysical hard-drive with memor-storage and functions.
My soul has made copies of itself and imprinted them to the both of your bodies upon my death, which allows me to appear here before you.
So that made me think, what if, given the circumstance that a new hollow body is being found or created, you theoretically could upload the soul to that new Body, bringing the program back to life, before it could loose all of its memories beside of the most essential ones, the factory settings so to say, or how it is nowadays labeled, Instinct.
Like a new born baby, who knows instinctively how to breath, without being taught.
A Soul, upon death, loses almost all it´s memory from its precious life, through a cleansing function, rendering it as a clean slate, for the next body it possesses.
However, as we see with my own case here, it is possible, if the desire is big enough I guess, to remodel all functions of the soul it previously have and leave only one dominant, in my case it was the ability of defending, reviving and preserving.
Back then during the explosion, my soul that has been transformed into sentient force which I then imprinted onto you, defended you as best as it could by strengthening your body as far as possible in that situation.
Afterwards it reanimated all functions of your body, which had entered a phase of shock after witnessing the explosion first hand, by stimulating the forces you were born with.
Then it closed all life-threatening wounds, until the same were treated physically, preserving that little lifeforce you still had and needed to make a complete recovery.
This Joker-card was born through my undying wish to protect you from every harm, my Soul has been shared upon the both of you as a failsafe program, it activates in the moment, in which a certain degree of damage is done to your body and instantly begins to heal your body, unless you command it otherwise.
Back then in the Classroom, you were unwilling to die, so my forces reanimated you and healed as far as required for you to survive, My forces were holding your organs together, preserving your fleeting life-force, until the surgery replaced them." Father explained and I knew I was confused, though Yin didn´t looked any smarter than me.
"Well I guess in the end all that technical nonsense does not matter, fact is, that you have my forces to help you whenever you are close to the end of your life, but unwilling to go" He replied and I just nodded.
I guess I will understand it eventually and since I don´t plan on dying anytime soon, I just hope I did not had to depend on something I didn´t understand for the longest time possible.
"Thanks…, I guess?!" I replied and he smirked.
"I know its confusing..., anyways it looks like your lift is here." He stated, as he pointed to a point forward, the canvas of memory had long gone, I it´s place I could see a lake and a shore, leading to the unknown, and upon the water I saw a little sailing-boat, which came ever so closer until it shortly halted before reaching the shore.
Infront of us a silhouette made of silverish white light appeared and it seemed as though he walked straight upon the lakes surface.
It walked up to us and stopped right infront of us.
"Greetings to you, Yin and Yang Libra…, Crimson Canelé, my name is…"
"You are Red Savarin am I right?" I asked and the ghostly silhouette nodded.
"Indeed I am, the one and only…, I assume you know my name from Nero and Blank?" He asked and I was buff, according to my information, Red Savarin was not aware of S.I.T.K.A. nor of our existence and yet he knew about us.
"How did you…?" I asked him, trailing off, as I was unsure if I should ask him.
"I feel their presence, even if just faint anymore, I have the same within me, I was after all unfortunately the last one to meet them Alive, before they were killed by me." Red Savarin explained and I gasped.
"You, killed them…, yourself?" I asked.
"Yes, and although I wished to say that they deserved it and should have seen it coming, can´t I do so, it was not the first time I had to kill someone, that is for sure…, but I think their death might have been the most emotional I had witnessed first-hand, as the executioner.
If the order of Baion, some kind of brainwashing signal with which he was able to nearly control any Hybrid created by him, would not have told me to kill and destroy, maybe they could have been saved, they just began to understand their own mistakes.
Every now and then I still can feel their presence in me, or hear their voices talking to me, I think those are the echoes of their existence, trapped in us to learn and witness the foregoing of the world they once had threatened to end, as some form of punishment and atonement, once they understand and are free from hatred and any other evil motivation they might move on towards the afterlife and the circle of reincarnation." Red Savarin´s Silhouette explained and I was about to ask him something important, only for him to lay an arm around mine and Yin´s shoulders, even though he looked strange, as a glowing ghostly figure, the glance he gave us was one of deep comfort and utter seriousness.
"Speaking of them both, this ties directly to your deepest inner question, the one you keep asking yourself for the past 2 years.
You are not them, nor will you ever become like them unless you choose to be…, even if you possess their power, you are neither Nero nor Blank, you are Yin and Yang Libra, you are you.
Take it from someone who fought against them time and time again.
Who you are, is not defined by your body or your powers, it is defined by your spirit and soul, your own being and motivation in life.
You decide on how you want to walk through your life or how those few people, who will surely accept you, see you.
Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in a year or ten, but eventually also those who once shunned you, will see that you are not who they try to make you to be.
You yourself decide on how you will use your forces, you decide on how people will remember you.
As long as you stay true to yourself, you are who you want to be.
So anyways, now that this is cleared, I can do what I´m actually here for, I´ve come to take you along, of course only if you chose to do so, I can tell that my Step siblings have chosen to resume fighting.
They still have a chicken to pick with Lunnare and the Million clan can be kind of stubborn sometimes, it needs someone strong, compassionate and levelheaded, who can lead and support them in the right direction…, how about it, you think you are up to the task?" Red Savarin asked in his cheerful and confident voice.
I looked at Yin but I knew I didn´t even had to asked her, I knew the answer very well…
"We will fight, we too are part of S.I.T.K.A. and this Republic, if we can help, we wish to do so, even if people fear us." I explained and Yin nodded.
"Splendid, if that is your answer then I tip my hat to your resolve and courage, it won´t be easy, but I know if we all work together we will be able to defeat Lunnare Wolfenstein.
Well then, if you are ready then come aboard, the others are waiting already." Red´s Silhouette explained as he walked back to the ship.
"Wait…, Father…, I guess this is goodbye…, at least for now, right…, we will meet you again?" I stated as I looked behind me at where father had remained.
"Yes, as long as you think of me, I will always inhabit a place in your soul, to the both of you." Father explained and he embraced us tightly.
"Now go, you still have a job to finish, save lives and yours will be saved too eventually." Father explained and we nodded.
"Red Savarin, should you meet carmine in near future, please send him my Regards, will you, tell him that it is a shame I can´t meet him again, but if he still remembers me, please ask him to take good care of Yin and Yang for me, okay.
What they need is a real family that understands them.
Maybe he can be what I never got to be." Father explained and his melancholic tone gave me a pang in my heart.
"Father!" I stated aoud and he focused his attention to me, while the sailing boat slowly so slowly left the shore.
"Gilmore Libra might have been our father for most of our life…, but he never was our Daddy, that spot forever remains for the man that not only blessed us with life, but who also sacrificed his own for us to survive.
For this, we will be forever grateful, Daddy.
Thanks to you, we now know, that Heroes do exists." I stated with tears in my eyes quickly wiping them away while Yin stood next to me.
Our journey forward had just begun, and we surely wont let it be stopped by some crazy woman called Lunnare Wolfenstein.
"Get your behind ready for some good old ass-kicking." I mumbled as I thought about getting revenge for what they had doesn´t to us.
"Prepare yourself, we are coming for you, stronger than before!" I stated aloud as the Sailing-Boat sailed towards the dawn on the horizon.
To be continued…
A/N: The second last chapter of A Tale of Sword and Shield is done, I hope you enjoyed it, next will b the final fight and the conclusion of this story and then we finally start with Valhalla Rising, I hope you are eager and excited.
Sincerely, yours truly the Storyteller and his Books.