Track for this chapter:
With the Wind, by Yiruma, from the album From the Yellow Room
It was December 25.
Today, 9 people would be leaving on an international flight to New York, with two stopoffs in Beaumont, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee.
8 of those eight people would arrive in New York after a 14-hour flight.
As for Tsubasa, he would not be leaving Beaumont on a plane.
He stood at the airport in the cold wind, wrapping his sweater tighter around himself, while Ryo grumbled on about the outrageous stopoffs and Gingka complained about the cold. Yuu was falling asleep on his feet, it being 5 am after all, and Kyouya and Benkei hurried past him through the doors. But Madoka and Hikaru kept on without complaint, and Kenta couldn't complain because he was not awake.
The yellow artificial lights of the chilly lobby loomed above them. As Yuu clambered into his lap and fell asleep, a wave of doubt overcame him; could he really leave this little boy in Beaumont?
And then he reminded himself that it was only for a month or two. After awhile he'd be back in Metal City with new wings and a better sense of himself.
Yuu clung to him all the way through customs, and then fell asleep again beside him on the plane. As the lights of dawn gleamed over the horizon and the reflection snow on the runway glinted in the sun, the plane left the asphalt and the sky took the space around them. His flight to freedom had begun.
The people became ant-like on the ground and the buildings like tiny blocks; behind him was the entire city, before him an ocean. Tsubasa fingered one of his earbuds and found himself too weary to put it in; he shut his eyes and leaned back against the chair, but found his blood circulation cut off by Yuu's head.
He gently removed his arm from beneath the boy's face.
Yesterday he'd stopped at Scenery Begins and said his goodbyes to Andre, and also Les, who had taken to hanging around the cafe for the warmth and 'mate's rates,' in short, a discount on the food. Andre had tearfully wished him luck, treating him to that cappuccino he'd promised him earlier.
"You deserve it, man. I totally cheated you out of it that one day...ya need it more'n me."
Tsubasa had taken the cup gratefully from him and Les had clapped him on the shoulder. "I wish you luck. There's a whole new world waitin' fer ye te find it, an' all ye gotta do's folla yer heart. You'll find your wings and fly off an' then ye'll come back."
As a parting gift, Andre selected a book from the oak shelves in the corner and handed it to him: a book of proverbs and sayings.
"If you need one o' these, you're heart'll tell ya."
Tsubasa leaned down and took the book from the carryon now, opening it for the first time. The book fell open to a page as naturally as if somebody had turned to there a hundred times, a page Andre had dogeared and evidently opened back and forth so he could find it easily.
A phrase was circled in red just below the centre of the page, jumping out at him and sending tears springing to his eyes:
In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Flipping through other pages, Tsubasa found yet another circled quote:
Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.
-Patricia Sampson
More circled quotes littered the book like fallen leaves, and inside the front cover he found Andre's and Les's signatures, Andre's printed and blocky script contrasting with Les's helter-skelter handwriting.
Hope you find peace somewhere, son.
Nothing more and nothing less. One sentence from the two of them that summed up all their thought in only seven words.
He ran a finger over the red ink and shut the book. If he needed it, he knew where to find it.
He opened his eyes to find the lights of a small city around him, the wheels of the plane gliding smoothly across the asphalt. The landscape was absent of snow. Beaumont awaited him.
As the 9 of them crowded into the lobby with the other grumpy passengers, set to wait here until 3 am. Beaumont time, Tsubasa reminded himself that it was still yesterday here and smiled. Here was a chance to change his future.
At 2 am. now, the sky was absent of any light except for the stars, both the ones gleaming atop the towers of the city and the ones set high in the heavens.
He took a deep breath. Now may be his only chance. He set Yuu down on the seat beside him and told him that he was going to get a snack and find the restrooms.
He shouldered his backpack, within it all the possessions he needed for his new venture, and loped towards the exit. The cold hit him like a wave, but it was not as bad here.
As he trotted off, he allowed himself a single glance behind him into the warmth of the airport, within it 8 people who knew nothing of his departure as of yet; and then he looked back towards the sky of freedom that awaited him and prepared himself for a long journey, both through America and the wilderness of his own heart.
Kyouya pressed his face to the cold glass, looking out at the 2 am. sky that bordered Beaumont's city skyline. Then suddenly he saw a figure running across the parking lot from the corner of his eye, and glanced aside.
Tsubasa's gait was familiar, and his backpack bounced behind him in sync with his light jog. Kyouya smiled slightly; he's been expecting Tsubasa to run off sometime soon now.
As the Beaumont-Nashville flight took off into the dark sky, he looked down and thought he could make out the figure of Tsubasa disappearing into a side alley.
Kyouya knew what it was like to be wild and unanchored, trying to find someplace to settle and keep yourself. He knew what it was like to break free of a vast jungle in your mind and burst into open air, finally able to move freely and get a sense of direction. He would be no man to hinder another in his quest for free spirit.
I just hope he finds whatever he's looking for out there.