The horns were blaring as it was a sign of a new beginning. It was a dawning of a new day, a new chapter in everyone's lives. It was the day that the new queen would be named. Everyone in the barracks were hustling around as they were preparing themselves to maintain order and to ensure that everything was going to run smoothly.
Keith wandered the halls in search of Lucas, dawning his ceremonial uniform. It was a little tight on him since the last time he had worn it causing a bit of discomfort. A black double breasted jacket with the M.P emblem on the left breast and a pair of simple black dress pants with black combat boots and leather black gloves. It was a uniform not often seen or worn. For the special occasion Keith even combed his hair nicely and caused it to have a slicked back look. His black square rimmed glasses sat prominently on his face as he continued his search for Lucas.
The halls were busy with soldiers getting ready for the big day. People were excited and everyone was in a good mood. However, Keith couldn't help but to over hear some of the words of those who he walked passed. He began to notice that people were watching him as he walked passed them. He began to become a little self-conscious. He wondered if it was the uniform he wore or maybe there was something on his face. It didn't clue in to him until he heard a voice from behind him.
"CAPTAIN!"
Keith kept walking.
"CAPTAIN ABERDEEN!"
Upon realization, Keith turned around to see a fairly young woman approach him. She was a newer recruit that had joined the Military Police Brigade around the same time the Female Titan Annie had.
"Sir, the Commander told me to give these to you," she proclaimed with a bit of a stutter in her voice.
It was obvious that the young girl was nervous to approach him. She tried to keep eye contact but averted her eyes every now and again. In her hands was a small wooden box. He kindly thanked the girl as she was quick to return to her duties.
He opened the box to reveal a small gold pin. Those with any sort of ranking were given pins. When Keith and Lucas were both members of the Elite Squad, they were given a small pin in the shape of a bird with its wings out to be placed on the left breast pocket of their jackets. This symbolized their superiority to other soldiers. Squad leaders of any faction were given a pin with stars on it. Each star represented what squad number they were in charge of.
Things were different now. With the official Anti-Personnel Squad disbanded after the discovery of the death of Kenny Ackerman, it was time to move forward in a new direction. In Keith's hand was the first step to that journey. A pin in the shape of an eight pointed star representing his new rank.
"Congratulations…Captain," Lucas approached from behind placing his hand on Keith's shoulder. "How did you ever end up with this job?"
Keith looked over at him with a smile, "To be honest, I have no fucking clue. It just kind of happened all at once."
After the events revolving around the abomination that had become of Rod Reiss, the Military Police Brigade had conducted an investigation of the chapel alongside a select few of the Survey Corps. Keith and Lucas were among those to investigate the chapel. Inside the rubble, they discovered the remains of their entire squad. Keith and Lucas were the only documented members, therefore terminating the squad entirely. Lana had come clean about her disguise and was willing to face punishment. Keith and Lucas also faced the same fate, however the three of them were excused of their actions after their intentions were judged as a form of justice. Keith took it upon himself to create a report to clarify everything that went on within the Anti-Personnel First Interior Squad.
Keith had reported everything to the Commander. He informed him of all of their actions and the involvement with everything that was going on. At that point Keith was prepared for any sort of response, but the response he got was not what he had expected from all of it.
Nile was impressed with the work that Keith had done. He was wanting to see what else he was capable of. It was decided that at that point Keith would be promoted to Captain of the Military Police Brigade. He would chose select people to reform a new interior elite squad. Keith didn't want the position at all. He tried to convince the Commander that there were other people more suited for the job, but there was no way to talk him out of it. Keith accepted the position under a few conditions. He wanted to no longer remain at the barracks whether he was on duty or off duty. He wanted to stay with his family regardless of his duties. Nile had no problems with that at all and was happy to be able to allow him to be a family man. The other condition that Keith had was that the elite squad was to only be handpicked by him, enabling him full control over his squad. Nile argued a little on this condition but accepted the terms.
Keith stared at the gold pin in his hand as he was excited to realize that he had gone from a child of assassins for hire and a circus performer, to a captain of a well-established military. This was the start of his new chapter, his new story.
"So…Captain. Don't you think you should get going?"
"Cut it out," Keith laughed as he pinned the pin to his jacket.
The two continued to make their way to the castle where the ceremony would be held.
"So what kept you so long?" Keith asked.
"I ran into Xander. You would not believe the news he gave me."
"Oh yeah, what's that? Did he make some sort of medical discovery or something yet?"
"No, no. Although that would be something. But it's about Felix and the others. They resurfaced from the underground and want to get the circus back together."
"No kidding!" Keith said with a bit of excitement in his voice. "So I assume that Felix wants to run the whole thing?"
"I would assume so. The boy has guts I give you that. I'm not sure if he is cut out for it to be honest."
"Felix is a smart kid. I'm sure he wouldn't run head first into something unless he had a plan of action."
That day, Historia Reiss was named Queen. It was Keith's responsibility to guard her until his new squad was implemented. He had already selected a few individuals but nothing was finalized. For the time being he was to be on duty all day every day. With the Interior First Squad being under the direct monarchy it was Keith's responsibility to not only report to Nile, but to Historia as well.
That evening, Keith was in the castle as the sun was setting. It was quite as many were retiring for the night. Keith remained silent and away from the workers as much as he could. He didn't feel the need to touch base with any of them just yet. Everyone was tired and so was he. He leaned up against the wall and stared blankly out the window. He tried his hardest to stay awake but found himself nodding off every now and again.
A quiet voice broke the silence and startled him awake after dozing off.
"Excuse me,"
Keith stared wide eyed as a teenage girl stood in front of him. Her long blonde hair dangled passed her shoulders as she wore a night gown. Her blue eyes gazed into his in curiosity.
"My lady," he replied bowing down in respect.
"Please don't. It's embarrassing especially when it's just you and I here," she replied with her hands up.
"Is something wrong?" Keith asked her after he stood up straight before the new queen.
"No, nothing is wrong, I just couldn't sleep. A lot has happened over the last few days, it's hard to get any rest. You look tired, you should go home."
"I wish, but duty comes first. Besides you should get some rest, the dark circles under your eyes tell me that I'm not the only tired one here."
"I can take care of myself."
"I have every reason to believe so after what I've seen. But to be honest, there are a lot of strange things in this world we live in. You never know what a person is capable of."
Keith realized he struck a nerve in Historia as she quickly cringed at the thought. Something in her was hurting, but he didn't want to pry into it. It was none of his business and he wanted to keep it that way.
"I recognize you from somewhere else," she quickly proclaimed perking up a little bit.
Keith thought where she could have possibly have seen him. Aside from his job, there really wasn't much else for Keith. He didn't go out and about and the only contact he had had with the Survey Corps were through a small handful of people. Keith tried to picture where they could have seen each other before but couldn't quite put a picture on it.
"You were in that show. You threw knives. I'm sure that was you."
It dawned on Keith as to what she was talking about. A while back when they first had found Lana they had put on the reunion circus performance. He put together that Historia must have been one of those soldiers in the same squad as Lana.
"You were really good friends with here weren't you," Keith chimed.
"She's like an older sister almost. She looked after everyone."
Keith smiled at the idea of Lana taking care of everyone in the squad, much like how she tried to with the circus. Historia and Keith shared stories with one another. Even though Historia had only known Lana for a short period of time, it was enough to make a huge impact on not just her but to many others as well. The two sat on the stair case and chatted until the sun began to rise. They didn't realize that they had stayed up the whole night until the workers had woken up and began to prepare for the day.
The head caretaker was furious at Historia for staying up the entire night. Keith couldn't help but to laugh at the situation. However, his laughter had found a lecture for himself by the head maid. In the end, both he and Historia had a good laugh and were able to bond with each other. Things were looking interesting with the new queen. He was looking forward to working with her and the future that she will bring.
A few days had passed as Keith had finally established the squad he was looking for. Although he had wished for Lucas to be at his side, there were other plans in store for him. Along with Keith's promotion, Lucas had received a promotion of his own. Lucas had taken over Jack's squadron level and became a new squad leader. There were many newer soldiers who were bumped up to his level after the death of Jack's squad. They were terrified at the idea that they were within the squadron. With Lucas' humble approach their terror turned into relief.
With Keith's new squad in place he was able to focus more as a leader and be more at the Commander's side. His squad consisted of five people. Although it was considered small in comparison to others, these were people that were deemed worthy to work right by the royal family. Keith has high hopes of having more soldiers within his squad, but for now this was what he would work with.
Among them were Emilee, a soldier in her mid-thirties who was skilled in combat. She's well known for her stern piercing gaze that was enough to stop anyone from attacking. Leon, a refined gentleman in his late thirties. He is very straight forward and is good at keeping an eye on matters to ensure that everything is proper. Luca, a newer recruit who just barely became a soldier of their faction. Although being the youngest, he was once a member of the Garrison who was present at the time of the Battle of Trost. Out of all of them he was the only who had received firsthand experience with titans other than Keith. There was also Mia, a young woman in her late twenties. Her photographic memory has proven to be useful in many occasions. Keith insisted on her being the in squad to have someone designated to take down reports and be a messenger. Lastly there was Oscar. He is an older gentleman around his late forties. Before becoming a member of the squad, he was in the research division. Keith believed that having his skillset would be considered useful. On top of everyone in his squad having unique attributes, everyone was well recognized as being quick on their feet and always ready for action. They were the most experienced with fighting in one way or another and were all considered very intelligent. This was Keith's squad and he was happy with his choices.
It was an early morning when Keith was ordered into the Commander's office. He stood before the desk and awaited his orders.
"A member of the Survey Corps will be coming any time now. I want you to show him what we have."
"I'm sorry, what we have?" Keith asked confused.
"I want you to show him all of the schematics of the v.m.d that you in the anti-squad used and everything else that was hidden."
"If you don't mind!" came a cheerful voice from behind him.
Leaning up against the doorway with a sucker in his mouth was Spencer. His sly smile told Keith that he was ready for everything that Keith was about to throw at him.
"Everything?" Keith turned back to Nile.
"Everything."
Keith turned back to Spencer who had the largest grin on his face. His eyes completely lit up in excitement for what was about to be shown. Secrets that were withheld from the Survey Corps were finally going to be revealed.
They made their way to the engineering room where Spencer was thrown away by the excitement. The room was large and filled with various parts and machinery. Spencer almost couldn't contain himself with excitement. He immediately ran about the room touching everything that he could get his hands on. The engineers working at the time were annoyed by the intrusion but with Keith present, they remained silent and let Spencer have his fun. Eventually Spencer toned down his excitement and was able to get down to work. He observed the schematics and various blueprints that were stored. The head engineer described the parts and explained the functions of each piece. Keith was growing bored with everything. He had no interest in the engineering aspects of things anymore, not since his circus days. Even then, he left most of the mechanism maintenance to Lucas.
"There you are!" came Lucas' voice from the entrance.
Keith looked over and was surprised to see that Lana was with him.
"Hey, what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Keith replied with a smile.
"LANA!" Spencer shouted from across the room.
"Hey Spencer. I didn't know you would be here!"
"Special orders from the Commander. Do you see all of this cool stuff that's in here! The ideas are just coming to me. I have some awesome plans that I want to bring up to Hange and the others. I really think that doing this will benefit us."
"Don't work too hard," she replied with a chuckle at the sight of his over excitement.
"What are you doing here?" Keith asked again.
"I want to talk to you guys about something."
The three of them walked outside into the cool breeze. It was a cloudy day with the small hint of rain. They were sure to make their conversation quick before it began to pour down on them.
"I was at the training camps yesterday for recruitment and I ran into Nico and Nisha," she replied.
"No kidding," Keith replied with a bit of shock.
"Yeah, they said that they wanted to better themselves basically. They saw how hard you guys were working and they wanted to do the same I guess."
"Looks like they actually went through with it. Did they say what faction they were thinking of joining?" Lucas asked.
"They said Survey Corps, but in the tone of their voice I'm thinking they are going to lean more towards the Garrison."
With his arms crossed, Keith looked over at Lucas and gave a slight shrug. Lucas responded with a small grin in return.
"You worry too much. Those girls can handle themselves. I'm sure they know what they're doing.
"With that being said, how much longer are you guys on the clock for?" Lucas questioned.
Later that evening after the rain had subsided, the three of them approached a new development within the city. A large spaced was blocked off with a fence. The area was familiar and nostalgic to them. It was like looking into the past. Tents were strewn about for various food and activities. But the main event was the large stage surrounded by a colorful striped tent with flags dancing in the wind up top. A few were walking about wearing colorful and eccentric outfits.
The three of them walked into the newly established circus grounds. There were a few familiar faces but there were many who were new. They were the center of attention as they made their way past the main gate. No one questioned them, but merely stood in awe as the three walked by.
Up ahead was Felix with his light brown hair dangling in front of his face. The white bandages covering his eyes preventing anyone from seeing the scars that were underneath. A young girl close to his age stood next to him with a clipboard in hand. Felix was giving out directions to a group of people as the three approached him.
"Felix!" Lana called out to him with excitement.
He turned towards the sound and was delighted to hear who was there.
"Violet will you please continue. I trust that you know what to do."
"Yes of course," the girl replied with a quiet voice.
"So what are you three doing here, how have you been?" Felix said with a smile.
"We're doing great, and I see that things seem to be doing well around here."
"We're just getting ourselves ready, there isn't too much planned at this time." Felix gestured to the ground behind him. "Please come this way, let's talk."
Felix turned around and began to walk. Lana calmly placed her hand on his shoulder to assist him, however he quickly stepped away from her.
"I'm thankful for your gesture, but there really is no need. I've walked into just about everything around here enough to know my way around without any help."
Felix led them into a tent that had various supplies in it. He pulled up a crate and gestured the others to do the same. They all walked in as Felix prepped himself for the conversation that was about to come down on him.
"You guys don't think I can do it," he came out and said what he thought.
The others made eye contact with each other as there was a little bit of uncertainty that came among them from the tone of Felix's voice. They looked back at Felix as he unwrapped the bandages that covered his eyes. The long scar that went across his face and clouded eyes broke Lana's heart every time she saw it. Keith placed his hand on her shoulder as she grimaced at the sight.
"Felix, it's not that we don't believe that you can't do it. We have complete faith that you have what it takes. We just want to make sure that the circus still holds onto what makes it what it is," Keith stated sitting down on a crate directly in front of him.
Felix let out a sigh, "Believe me, I know what you mean. A bunch of the others didn't exactly agree to me stepping up, but somebody had to do it. I want the circus to remain the same just as much as you guys, but that's just not possible. The Sidonia Circus lived and breathed with the acts that you guys did. I mean the Sidonia Circus became known as the circus with the flying lady, the boy who never missed his mark, the strongest man alive, and so on. But we don't have any of that. Heck, I don't think that we can call ourselves Sidonia Circus anymore since none of us are related to Neal or Nina."
"What are you implying Felix?" Lana asked.
"I mean, I want to turn this circus into something new. I still want to hold onto the same value that we created, but I still want to make it our own. We don't have Nina anymore to do that. We just aren't the same."
The three looked at each other for reassurance.
"Are you proposing that you change the circus?" Lucas asked with a bit of concern in his voice.
"I still want to keep the acts relatively the same. But I want to think of this as the next generation of circus performers. So, what I am asking you guys is your blessing to rename the circus and make it my own. The values will be the same and the performance too, just a little bit of changes here and there. To give it a refreshing look you know?"
It was at that point that it was decided. All worries were thrown out the window as everyone was assured that the circus that they held dear was going to be just fine. It was the next generation taking over and it was finally time for them to officially step down and watch it flourish once more. Sidonia Circus was then dubbed as The Odyssey Circus. Their past was still there but things were different no matter which way they saw it.
It was decided that they would come back to the circus and perform with the new acts. It was a way for them to pass down the torch to the next acts as well as finally retire from the circus and move on with the lives they have established.
They all said their goodbyes for the time being. The three walked out towards the main gate with hope in their minds. Things were looking good for everyone.
"Daddy!" came the shrill voice from nearby.
Keith turned to see Sebastian running towards him.
Lana mouthed the word daddy to Lucas in a bit of astonishment. She remembered Keith mentioning his son but never really believed him. Lucas had to smile at the sight as Keith picked up the young boy and swung him up above him.
"There's my strong fighter! What are you doing here?" Keith said with excitement in his voice.
"He wanted to check out the new circus in town," came Robin's cool calming voice.
She walked up to him and kissed his cheek as Keith held onto Sebastian.
"OH! Robin, this is Lana. Lana this is my wife Robin and my son Sebastian."
"So this is the woman I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure to finally put a face to the name," Robin said with a sly tone in her voice as she held out her hand.
Lana was taken off guard by Robin's approach feeling almost as if she was under a predator vs prey type of situation. The intimidating presence caused her to step back a little. With uncertainty she returned her hand for a shake.
"Pleasure," she replied to her with a bit of wavering in her voice.
Robin smiled and turned back to Keith. She calmly turned back, her eyes were like daggers piercing at every inch of Lana. Keith took notice to Robin's almost hostile behaviour. It didn't take him long to realize that the amount of times he had talked about Lana had put a bit of a damper on the relationship with his wife.
"SO…Sebastian you wanted to see the circus!" Keith shouted trying to break the tension.
"Yeah daddy! I wanted to see the people do cool things!"
"Yeah! Well maybe mom and I can take you to see a show when they do one ok!"
"REALLY!" Sebastian's face lit up.
"Really!" Keith replied with a smile.
"DADDY I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE ONE OF THEM!"
"Well maybe for your birthday Uncle Lucas, Aunty Lana, and I can show you around the circus."
"CIRCUS, CIRCUS, CIRCUS, CIRCUS!" Sebastian cheered.
The three of them were given time off in order to prepare for the show of a lifetime. It was going to be their final hurrah as circus performers. Nico and Nisha were also permitted to participate in the show. The two girls prepared new uniforms for everyone who was going to be performing alongside the new costume crew.
Through their hard work and efforts they were able to come up with a final routine that would emphasize their abilities as soldiers and their love of performing. It was decided that they would conduct a battle between each other representing each one of their factions. At first it was only decided that things would be played out and that they wouldn't go to their full strength. However, things took a different turn when the time came to be up in front of the audience.
Posters were laid out in around the town for the entire week before the show. Although they only had a short amount of time to prepare, it was a spectacular sight to see.
Keith stood back stage wearing his green shorts and white buttoned up shirt. His green feather dangled down from his green hat with the Military Police Brigade badge in the center. He stood next to Felix who was clearly nervous. He kept adjusting the cuffs of his collard white shirt. His black dress pants were well kept along with his brown hair that had been gelled back out of his face. He wore a small red bow tie that was a little loose around his neck.
"Don't be nervous, you'll be fine…Ringleader," Keith said with reassurance in his voice.
Felix turned to him and let out a sigh. He quickly turned towards the stage and made his way out to welcome the full house. There were many soldiers present to see their comrades perform. It was quite surprising to Keith to see how many people he recognized.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the grand opening show of the newly named Odyssey Circus."
Keith watched as the crowd began cheering and whistling. Excitement was coming over him as the adrenaline of the show made him want to smile. There was nothing weird about the show, no trick, nothing. It was just a regular show. They weren't requested to thievery, there wasn't anything suspicious going on. It was only regular good and fun entertainment. Keith's gaze changed to Lucas and Lana on the other side of the wings as Felix continued his introduction. He could tell by their faces that they were both anxious to be up on stage again.
Lucas pulled on his green suspenders as he was eager to go up once more. His vertical maneuvering device proudly sat at his sides. Lana was promptly stretching as she was wearing the newly made costume for her. Unlike Lucas and Keith, hers greatly resembled the Survey Corps. It was a green body suit laced at the back like a corset. Green and blue fabric decorated her hips to mark the colors of the Wings of Freedom. In short notice, the twins were also able to create a small set of wings that looked like the Survey Corps emblem.
"Now ladies and gentlemen. I present to you, our main three veterans," Felix called out as he stepped outside to allow them to make a grand entrance.
Keith and Lana ran across the stage doing a round off. When they met at the middle. Keith twisted himself in the air as Lucas had used his maneuvering device to hoist himself upwards.
The music was blaring as Keith and Lana danced to the beats. Lucas held out his arm as Lana ran towards him. She grabbed a hold of his legs and cartwheeled on his body as he helped guide her to the other side.
Although they had all aged, their adaptability and flexibility still remained. Keith did a back handspring as if he was back in his teens. To all of them, they were really reliving their youth once more. It was nostalgic to them being up on stage, like nothing had changed.
Keith and Lana continuously danced around each other and Lucas or were thrown in the air together by Lucas. Even though time had passed, their fluidity and movements together as partners had never changed. It was all the same.
After Nico and Nisha had performed their dance routine with ribbons in their pretty Training Corps themed dresses, it had finally come to that time of night where all of the soldiers would show of their skills. Keith, Lucas, Lana, Nico, and Nisha stood before the audience with dual swords in hand wearing their uniformed jackets. They all stood up straight with no expression on their faces. Poles were set up on the stage that would allow them to use them as a method of defence or attack.
Earlier in the week a basic routine was planned out. They were to show off their skills. However, they had all come to an agreement that it would be a fight with a winner. It was anyone's game.
The first note hit as they all began to make their move. Lana was the first to make contact. Keith was astounded by her efforts as she was quick to attack Lucas. Nico quickly turned and saw that no one was after Keith. She quickly pulled herself together and ran towards him. Their blades made contact causing him to take a step back to prepare himself in defence. He used his entire body and pushed her away from him. He didn't use his full strength knowing that he would easily over power the young girl but he was still impressed by her strike.
Meanwhile Nisha and Lana were battling it out allowing Lucas to make his mark. He turned to Keith with a grin and charged at him. Keith was ready with a strategy. He turned around and made his way towards one of the poles. Using his muscles in his legs he bounced himself upwards between two poles. He was quick and nimble, something Lucas was unable to perform. With a cheeky smile, Keith looked down at the hopeless Lucas. Nico wasn't far behind him. To his surprise he turned to meet her gaze. She jumped from the pole she was on causing Keith to jump down in defence. Lucas held up his blades which allowed Keith to jump on them. Lucas used his strength and threw Keith up into the air. The crowd was going wild at the sight of their fight.
When Keith landed, he crossed blades with Nisha who was starting to run out of breath. With incredible speed he was able to disarm one of her swords. He casted the sword to the side and was about to strike her to cause her to submit. However, before he could do so, he heard the yells of Lana behind him. Lucas stepped in between the two of them facing Keith causing her to attack him from behind instead. However, Keith was caught off guard by something. It was the intensity in Lana's eyes. She was lost in the fight. It was evident in the out of breath Nisha who knelt on the ground for a brief moment. Nico was on the ground after receiving a hard blow to the chest from Lana's elbow as she had charged after Keith.
Nisha darted past Keith charging at Lucas. Nisha's distraction gave Lana the room to dive in between his legs and past him. She kicked herself upwards landing the blow to Lucas' stomach hard. At that same moment that Lucas began wincing in pain, Nisha was swinging her sword. In that span of time Lana had grabbed a hold of Nisha's arm and swung her around. With Nisha's back now turned towards her, Lana grabbed the hilt of her blades and slammed it down hard into Nisha's shoulders.
Nisha fell to the ground in pain as Keith was unsure of what to do. They had lost Lana completely and there was no understanding as to why. She was a skilled fighter and it was almost as if instincts were coming over here to be the one on top. He quickly wanted to stop Lana before anyone else got her.
He charged at her with great speed and strength. With no expression to her face, she stepped aside. Keith easily fell for the trick. As he passed by her, she swung her leg striking his hand. The move caused him to lose his grip on his sword. He hit the ground and quickly turned to hold up the other blade. However, the minute he held the blade up, his hand made contact with the hilt of her blade causing him to be disarmed once again. While on the ground, a blade was calmly held up to his throat.
As he could feel the cool metal up against his skin, Lucas had fully recovered. Keith remained still for a minute reflecting on what he saw. It was enough to send chills up his spine. This was not the same Lana as before. Things had changed, she had changed.
As Lucas charged after her, she was quick to hold her other sword up. Lucas was responsive enough to stop where he was before the blade drove into his own neck. At that moment with both Keith and Lucas held up and with Nico and Nisha on the ground, Lana was declared as the winner.
The cheers of the audience caused her to come back to normal. The fire within her eyes were diminished as the sparkle returned at the sound of the yells and whistles.
They made their way back stage holding onto themselves in aches and pains. Although Keith didn't receive any injuries himself, he was still hurt inside at what he experienced.
"That was not cool, somebody could have seriously gotten hurt Lana," Lucas proclaimed as he winced at the pain in his stomach from the kick.
"Speak for yourself, my head is still spinning," Nisha replied holding on to her head.
Violet calmly gave her a cold pack of water to help with the pain.
"Why are you guys getting mad at me for that?"
Keith leaned up against a pole and remained quiet for a moment.
"Wasn't that kind of the point the performance, to attack each other?" Lana cried out in defence.
"Not with full strength. You took it too far," Keith replied walking up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.
The sternness in his voice was enough to cause her to shut down. She looked around at the others who bore all the same expression on their faces. They were all angry with her. If they had known that she was going to be like this, they wouldn't had gone through with it.
"During practice we all agreed that we wouldn't go all out and we did. But not tonight. I don't know what came over you," Lucas stated grabbing a cup of water and taking a sip from it.
"Look I'm sorry guys, I guess I just wanted to show off a little."
"Its fine, what happened, happened," Keith replied with irritation in his voice.
Keith walked off and prepared himself for his turn in the performance schedule. Despite his injury, Lucas still performed his strongman routine. As Keith waited in the wings, Felix stood by his side.
"I wouldn't think much of it," Felix stated quietly.
"What are you talking about?"
"Think of it this way. It's almost as if she doesn't know any better. I mean she is just now getting to that point in her life were things are starting to feel normal for her. She probably just doesn't understand."
"How would you know, you didn't see what she was like."
"That may be true, but it doesn't take just eyes to tell that she is not the same. And I'm ok with that. She will learn just like the rest of us. It was a simple mistake on her part, but no one got seriously hurt did they?"
"No but they could have."
"Don't you think that she would have done things a little differently if she were really trying to hurt you guys? To be honest, I don't even think she was using her full strength even without her powers. Trust me that's something I'm glad I would never see."
Keith continued to go about his performance with Felix as his helper. The words that Felix said hung deep inside him. It was almost to the point of distraction. However, Keith's aim remained true as he threw his knives on the board that Felix spun on. He moved onto a bow and arrow. The words still taunting him.
The idea that Lana was much stronger than she was. She wasn't trying to show off, she was trying to prove to herself that she was no longer weaker than them. That she was their equal. With the thought of Nico and Nisha being stronger than her, it may have set her over the edge a little. Keith remembered the many times that they had, had to come to her rescue. With her time with the Survey Corps, she was gaining the strength and experience that was making her much stronger than what she was before. She was ready to let go of her old self and leap into the new horizon that was before her.
As the crowd cheered after Keith's performance. He gazed out into the audience and found Robin and Sebastian sitting. Sebastian was excited to see his father up on stage. His jaw was dropped in amazement as his eyes sparkled. Lana may have her route to prove that she was no longer weak, but Keith's route was a different story. He was going to be there for his son. The next generation of Aberdeen's. He had much that he wanted to pass down to his son. As he took his final bow, he made his way off the stage one last time.