Chapter 16 - Serenity
Angel watched Kyoki train. He was fast. Almost too fast for her eyes to follow. She watched him move about the training room with nimble grace. He lashed out with his katana at practice dummies that never stood a chance.
"I can't see him stabbing the dummies. It's like one second the dummies are whole and the next they're in pieces on the floor," Sid said.
"His feet don't make a sound either." Sully looked at Angel.
"His speed and silence are all that works for him. His balance is terrible, his sword swings are sloppy, and he favors his right foot too much." Angel looked between Sid and Sully, "I don't see how we all lost to him so easily."
"He fights dirty." Sid shuddered as memories of the night in London played before his eyes.
Angel stood up, and shouted, "Would you care for some advice?"
Kyoki stopped, he raised one curious eyebrow at her.
"You need to lower your stance, hold your sword loser, and move between your feet equally."
"Did you forget that I beat you? Why would I do anything you suggested?"
Angel smirked. "Well, then carry on."
Sid and Sully exchanged fearful looks. They knew that smirk all too well.
Kyoki returned to practicing on the dummies. Angel watched him. She memorized the pattern of his movements, counted the seconds between each swing of his katana, and waited for his confidence to make him cocky. Kyoki flashed a grin at Angel as he turned his back to her. She vanished. Her feet carried her faster than lightning. She grabbed his sword hand, hooked her foot to his right ankle, and punched him swiftly in the side. Kyoki dropped his katana and fell to Angel's feet.
"You won because you fight dirty. It had nothing to do with skill." Angel picked up the gleaming black katana. She could feel a faint soul wavelength trapped inside. "Your weapon is afraid of you."
"It knows its place."
"Cassandra wanted you to teach me, but I think you're the one that's in need of a teacher." Angel closed her eyes. She attempted to reach out to the weapon, but only silence greeted her. "Weapons should not be afraid of their Meisters. Have you ever resonated with your Weapon?"
"Cassandra says resonating isn't necessary." Kyoki stared up at Angel. He hadn't moved an inch.
"She's wrong. Cassandra understands only the science behind the bond between a Meister and a Weapon. You need to trust each other, and most importantly understand each other. Two souls can be brought together as scientific matches, but two souls who are brought together through mutual understanding creates a far better bond." Angel ran a finger along the blunt edge of the katana. "She wants to understand you."
"She?"
"Your weapon. Her name is Serenity."
"I had no idea."
"She's never returned to her human form because she's afraid." Angel looked down at Kyoki. "She's afraid of you. She's afraid you will abandon her and Cassandra will give you a new weapon. So, she remains in her weapon form where no one can reach her, or at least she thought no one could reach her." Angel held the hilt out to Kyoki, "She needs her Meister to show her how to be brave."
Kyoki gripped the hilt. "Can you show me how to talk to her?"
Angel nodded, and sat down across from Kyoki.
Gold Star elbowed Evan a little harder than needed. Evan raised his head, blinked sleep from his eyes, and ran a hand through his spiked white hair. "What did I miss?"
"Mifune's lecture on the importance of measuring an enemy's soul wavelength before a battle. I took a lot of notes for you." Gold Star began stacking her books. "He's not going to keep letting you sleep though his class."
Evan couldn't bring himself to look at Gold Star. "It's not intentional."
"I know." Gold Star placed a stack of papers in front of Evan. "We all miss her."
Evan bit his lip. He wanted to lash out at her, but there wasn't a point to fighting with Gold Star. It wouldn't bring Angel back.
"Come on, we got places to be," Mamoru called from the classroom door. Mark and Masa stood behind him.
Gold Star left, and Evan reluctantly followed.
"Kid has a mission for us," Mark said to Evan. "There's a chance Cassandra will show up, or at least Kyoki."
Evan raised an eyebrow, "Or Angel."
Mark nodded.
It had been three weeks since the day Angel left them. Three weeks of fretful sleep. Evan touched the scar above his left eyebrow.
"She betrayed us," Mark whispered. "Don't forget that."
The group walked on in silence. They filed into Kid's office. Evan stood at the back of the room, Mamoru and Gold Star sat a little too close on a couch, Masa sat in a chair staring at the floor, and Mark leaned over Kid's desk eyeing the papers scattered about. Kid tapped a finger on the arm of his oversized chair.
"We've received intel that Cassandra has a stronghold in the heart of the Amazon rainforest," Kid said. "I sent in a team two days ago to gather intelligence on the stronghold. No one has heard from the team since. You five will infiltrate the stronghold and bring back the intelligence team. This is a simple rescue mission."
"How do you know they're still alive?" Mamoru asked.
"I don't."
Masa frowned, "Does that mean?"
"Yes," Evan said. "Kid wants them brought back in whatever state we find them in."
Kid nodded. "Cassandra can use them dead or alive, so we need to rescue them before she has the chance to experiment on them. You leave in three hours. I suggest you prepare for the worst."
"I can't hear her," Kyoki whispered. "I can feel her soul, but I can't hear her voice."
"You will," Angel said. "You need to gain her trust."
"How do I do that?" Kyoki stared at Angel with genuine longing.
"Talk to her. Tell her your fears, your desires, your dreams. Tell her all the things you have never told another. She will come to trust you, and she will speak to you in return. Show her your soul."
"Why did she talk to you?"
"She thought I could talk some sense into you." Angel smiled. "Weapons need Meisters to resonate with. Your weapon is your partner. They will be by your side until the very end. They will give you their strength anytime you need, and you would never have to ask for it. A Weapon would lay down their life for their Meister without a second thought."
Kyoki looked at the katan in his hands. "Your Weapon did that for you."
Angel nodded. She could never forget Sid's scream, Kyoki's swift attack, and the pool of blood on the pavement of that London street.
"I am glad he did not die."
Angel stood up. "As I said you won that fight because you fight dirty."
"You were afraid that night."
Angel froze.
"I saw it in your eyes." Kyoki got to his feet. "You feared your weapon would die."
She slowly nodded. Her only fear was watching her weapons die. Would she have been able to live with herself if Sid had died that day? Would she have been able to face Liz and Sully knowing that Sid had died to protect her? Those questions and a thousand more just like them haunted her every waking moment and sleepless hour.
"Why did you continue fighting? You could have taken your wounded weapon and let me have Free."
"I had an assignment to complete. Sid and Sully know that the assignment always comes first."
"So, it was duty rather than bravery that made you continue to fight?"
"It was both," Angel whispered. "Bravery is overcoming your fears.
"Sounds more like stupidity than bravery." Kyoki shuffled his feet as he spoke.
She didn't have a response to that. What was the difference between stupidity and bravery? Was there a difference?
"If they die would you get a new weapon?"
She shrugged, "I suppose."
Kyoki slung the katana across his shoulders. "I'm going eat now."
Angel watched him leave.
"He gives me the creeps," Sully said.
"Am I supposed to feel better around him knowing that he's glad I'm not dead?" Sid looked between Angel and Sully. "Is he playing some kind of game with us?"
"He meant it." Angel crossed her arms. "I could see it in his eyes."
"So that makes him an honest psychopath. Now isn't that something." Sully got to his feet, "Let's go eat."
Angel trailed behind Sid and Sully as they left the training room. Even after getting her hands on Kyoki's weapon she felt no closer to figuring out what Cassandra had done to him. He had the curiosity and innocence of a child, but had a killer's heart. She had been right about the weapon, Serenity. Serenity's fear was overwhelming, and in the beginning stages of becoming a kishin. Angel could only hope that Serenity's fate as a kishin wasn't sealed.
The deafening cry of an alarm startled Angel out of her thoughts. Sid and Sully looked to Angel. Black hooded figures swarmed in the hallway and ran in every direction.
"Follow me!" Kyoki had appeared next to Angel.
Angel nodded at Sid and Sully, they transformed in a flash of blue, and she caught them. Kyoki lead them to Cassandra's main laboratory. Once inside the doors slammed shut behind Angel silencing the alarms.
"It seems Death the Kid is planning to rescue the intelligence team he sent to the amazon rainforest stronghold." Cassandra stood in front of a large monitor displaying an image of Evan, Mamoru, and Gold Star standing in the middle of a rainforest. "This simply won't do. Kyoki, take Angel and deal with the situation."
"Of course," Kyoki smiled.