CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Progress

"Please stop!" Tiny little legs crawled across my cheek, the lighted tip of the bug's abdomen glowed bright yellow – warning – and it slowly sunk into my skin. My skin was hissing at me, an aggravated scream left my lips as my body twitched. The Faceless Master had a foot on my stomach, the tip of his boot pushing against the knot secured over my ribcage. He cocked his head to one side, the room behind him swirled back and we were out in the forest.

A plane was stuck in the earth, its wings torn off, and low, consistent moan was coming from the cockpit. The fireflies hovering over me lifted up into the air, circling the debris and flying into the empty cockpit. But it wasn't empty anymore. A large shard of glass stuck out of one of Hideki's eyes, a firefly balanced on the pane and glowed. Hideki screamed, blood falling down his face and dripping onto Logan who was prone beneath him.

"Stop it! Stop it!" He was dragging me towards the plane, I didn't want to go any closer but my legs couldn't move. They were twisted behind me, a dull ache moving along my bones. The fireflies spun around me, burning me again and again until I felt myself leave the ground. He held me up to Logan's face, our faces nearly touched and when he opened his mouth, a flurry of fireflies flew out. I was screaming, I was kicking my legs but they flopped uselessly behind me.

"Just tell me where you are, Theresa. Just tell me and all of this will stop."

"Stop it! Stop it now!"

Logan moaned and put his head against his chest, his skull cracking and opening, rivers of red paint cascaded out onto the ground and pooled around my knees. I just barely lifted my head, ignoring the army of legs moving along my spine, ducking under my ears. Snake Eyes was sitting in front of me on his knees as if he was mediating. He raised his head, his eyes all too blue and I saw a shadow move behind me. I couldn't speak even as Storm Shadow raised his sword high. Snake Eyes was saying something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't –

There was a loud crack and a muffled groan, I writhed beneath the sheets and snapped my eyes open as Snake Eyes hovered over me, a hand over his nose. I stared stupidly at my bloodied fist and then gasped, putting both hands over my mouth.

"Sorry," I croaked, feeling tears stream down my face.

Snake Eyes just sighed and leaned away, bright light warmed my eyelids.

"Did I break it?" I wondered. I pulled myself into a sitting position and watched Snake Eyes adjust his mask, pawing at his nose and shrugging.

"Nearly, I think you cracked your knuckles though." He turned back around. "Are you going to punch me again?"

"It wasn't on purpose." I defended childishly but I knew he was kidding. I wasn't the first person to have nightmares.

He grabbed a roll of bandages from the floor and held out his hand patiently, without looking at my face. I put my hand in his and flinched as he forced my knuckles back into place with his thumbs. It didn't really hurt, not after everything else, but my hand felt incredibly sore once he finished wrapping. I squinted in the sunlight and blinked in surprise as Snake Eyes migrated towards the windows and pulled the curtains shut, flicking the lamp on and returning to my bedside. He had a pensive look on his face, his eyes carefully flickering all over me and narrowing. He rubbed his mop of thick blond hair and shut his eyes.

"I'm fine," I said automatically. Snake Eyes glared and pushed himself onto the bed completely, capturing my ankles and pulling me closer towards him. I grabbed a lighter sheet and pulled it over my shoulders, shuddering as his warm breath breezing down the tip of my nose.

"No, you're not," He "corrected".

"It was just a nightmare."

"You were crying out in your sleep. I've been trying to wake you up for the last six minutes." He paused, unsure. "You were screaming for Logan."

I shut my eyes and shivered, letting my head fall against his shoulder. He cast an arm out around my shoulders, using his other hand to support himself.

"The fireflies."

"Hm?" he mumbled in my ear.

"There were fireflies burning me, they kept…they kept coming out of them. He wouldn't stop."

Snake Eyes tensed. I saw his free hand curl into a fist on the bed and hiccupped, burrowing my forehead into the crook of his neck. He exhaled slowly, a controlling breath and mutely shook his head. He squeezed my shoulder and gently lifted me off him.

"Thalia," he wrote on my hand. "I know him."

My stomach did an uneasy flip and I covered my mouth with a whimper, letting Snake Eyes pull me back into his chest. What did that even mean "I know him"? Was it like knowing Storm Shadow, a trusted ally turn rogue? Or was it that he just picked up a lot of enemies in his line of work? I wanted to know more but I was getting comfortable…and warm. Over the last little while, I'd been leaning heavily on Snake Eyes and I felt like shit for doing so. There was more going on in the world than my problems, and Snake Eyes had lost friends. We didn't know if Duke and the others survived.

Absently, I wondered where Dren was. I wondered about the other people staying here, if they had dangerous pasts or ongoing missions. Absently, I thought about his sister Theresa.

"How did she die?"

Snake Eyes leaned back and took my shoulders. I forced myself to look up at him, hoping I wouldn't have to repeat myself. His eyes were sad and he nodded, understanding the question, but he got up regardless. There was a kettle on the stove and two cups with teabags inside them. I crawled backwards on the bed until I met the wall, pulling my knees up and waiting for the kettle's whistle. The T.V was on again but muted, the President was making some speech and I saw Snake Eyes's picture flash across the screen. So they didn't know where we were. That was good.

The ninja sat down beside me and put the cup in my hands, I stared sideways at him as he lifted his mask off his face. I saw the cut that cut over his mouth, the burn mark that took up half his face, a white scar over one of his eyes. He balanced the cup on his knee and raised his hands.

"Car accident." I raised an eyebrow. "Expecting something a little more dramatic?"

"No! Fuck, no, geez. It's just…" I looked up at him quickly. "Terribly urban."

He gave me a look, not upset but slightly curious.

"It doesn't seem like the, uh, right fuel for the road to ninja."

"Maybe not." He signed. "But we were twins. I'd gone overseas expecting to return home to a celebration, not a funeral."

"You still miss her, don't you?"

He nodded, leaning his head back and turning it slightly to look at me.

"Does it ever get easier?"

"If you let it, yes. I've made close friends since her death, its takes the pain of missing her away. But it's always there, like a second heartbeat."

His eyes dropped down for a moment and I wanted to reach out for him but I stopped myself. I fell back into his shoulder and took a small sip of the tea, the steam making my eyes water.

"I feel like it's my fault." I admitted to the brim of the cup. "Like, if I had been more persistent, they'd still be alive. I'd still be with them. And I know that's silly to think that but I've woken up so many times and thought I was home. Everything here is normal, even the fighting. Logan and I used to pick fights with the neighbourhood bullies because we thought we were so tough. Dad was a soldier and we thought that made us badass, didn't help that Hideki encouraged us too much."

"You've never mentioned your parents."

"I thought it would make transitioning more difficult but really, who else am I going to talk about this to?"

Snake Eyes nodded, pulling his mask over his nose and drinking.

"Dad wasn't in any major wars, mind you. Just "big disagreements". He was in Berlin and Syria, but we never knew why. He didn't talk about it."

"And your mother?"

"She fell hard for him, college sweethearts and whatnot. She wasn't quite the same after he died, he did a few tours in Afghanistan and then one day, boom, blown up."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I. Things got really rocky after that, what with Logan's marriage and we kept disagreeing about my future. I guess I didn't get enough time to grieve for Dad but…at least he died for something, you know? A good cause. Logan and Hideki…they shouldn't have died. At all."

Snake Eyes nodded, moving one of his hands around mine and squeezing reassuringly. I glanced up at him, catching the soft look in his eyes and flushing red too quickly, enough that he would notice. Snake Eyes returned his hand to his cup and I awkwardly touched my face, trying to push the colour out of my cheeks.

"When this is over, do you think I could visit their graves?"

"Whatever happens, I will try to get you there."

We all met up at the diner later that day, and Bill graciously said everything was on the house despite the fact that many of the chairs were still broken. Dren had been over most of the morning trying to fix them with whatever spare pieces of wood or cushion he could find. Small towns, especially the nameless ones on the map, did not attract tourists well. No one seemed to mind us either; my scars and blueberry hairdo, Dren's eyes, and Snake Eyes's clothing. We got a few smiles and a couple odd looks but nothing like the bikers from before, thank God. Turns out we made enough noise to scare off any other scum from moving in.

Dren sat across from us with a file under his hands and Snake Eyes went from casual to ninja in a second. He cast me an apologetic look as he slid the file over and steeled himself for the reaction.

"Our old friend's returned home. His cousin expects backup."

"At least she's alive," I mumbled and Snake Eyes nodded, opening the file. I leaned over and examined a map of Japan, a small section near the middle was circled in red.

"Iga," Snake Eyes signed, relief loosening his shoulders. "We have friends there."

"And he appears to be travelling alone in order to draw you out." Dren said with a sarcastic edge in his voice. He and Snake Eyes exchanged a look and the younger man sighed. "But hey, who am I to judge?"

"How soon will you leave?" I asked, moving the map over and frowning down at it. "It's a long flight –"

"Let me worry about the details. Snake Eyes?"

"Tomorrow?"

"…I can work something out. Pack up, and I call you." Dren spared a look in my direction. "And I'll look after her."

"Excuse me?"

A definite groan came from Snake Eyes and he turned towards me with an imploring look.

"Let me handle this, please?"

"You…you…Fine, see if I care!" I crossed my arms over my chest and with growl. Dren snorted and took to giggling quietly, flagging a waitress down.

"Are you sure?"

"What am I gonna do? Scream at him? Besides, I'll weigh you down, probably."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize! I learned my lesson, he is all yours, Hayabusa."

Dren let out another snort and covered his mouth, standing up and walking away from the table with the waitress.

"I expected you to be angry."

"I am. What, do you need me to properly break your nose this time?" I raised my fist in silent challenge. Snake Eyes chuckled and pushed my hand under the table, his face coming to rest firmly on my head as his lips pressed into my hair.

He was gone when I woke up the following morning, and Dren's silhouette was waiting patiently outside the window. The sunlight here was unbearably bright, I half wondered if it would be possible to move somewhere colder when winter started to roll in. I didn't think it snowed in Arizona…if we were still in Arizona, that is.

"Morning, sunshine." Dren said jovially after I locked the door behind me. "The Earth says "hello"."

"Somebody's in a cheerful mood," I mumbled with a yawn, flinching when he out an arm around me.

"Don't worry, you'll be just as happy soon enough." He said cryptically.

We stayed up on the second floor and headed towards a room above the office, and I stared at the parking lot in the hopes that the motorcycle was still here. A few cars were parked up in front, and Snake Eyes was definitely gone. Once inside, I noticed how an entire wall was covered with newspapers, networks of red thread joined articles together to make the world's most complex spider web. A sense of unease passed over me, despite the little shrine set up in one corner with the smell of lavender and jasmine permeating throughout the room. The windows were shut and blacked out, the only light came from really bright candles, ones that didn't induce headaches.

I shook my head and stared at Dren as he paused in front of an ornate closet. He looked awfully proud of himself as he stared at the doors and I yawned, folding my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Unless you've somehow found a way into Narnia, this isn't very interesting."

Dren snorted and opened the doors where, oddly enough, there was nothing inside save for what looked like an elevator shaft. Good vibes, Thalia, very good fucking vibes right now.

"Just get in, I'll be right behind you. We won't fit together." Dren said, gently pushing me forward.

"If this kills me, I am haunting your ass till the End Days." He laughed and prodded my back until I got in, awkwardly leaning against the back as he closed the doors.

I watched the top of the doors, almost expecting his fist to punch through as the elevator chugged deeper and deeper down the shaft. When the doors opened again, I stepped out into a wide open room reminiscent of Snake Eyes's dojo back at the base; numerous weapons hung off the walls, and a few tables were set up with other instruments of violence. By chance, I glanced behind me and nearly jumped out of my skin as Dren hovered over my shoulder.

"Impressive, right?" he asked with childish glee.

"What am I doing here?"

"Snake Eyes mentioned you were interested in some self-defense training so…" he gestured grandly at the menagerie of weapons.

I faced the tables because they were the closest and the swords up on the walls seemed more for show than anything else. I grabbed a katana off the table and carefully pulled it out of its sheath, moving the blade through the air as Dren watched. It was too light, but well balanced; if I came up against anything heavier there was no way the blade would keep its form. And swords meant getting in close and finding gaps in armour, slicing through arteries and veins. I put it back after a moment and Dren put a long staff in my hands, one end had a short blade attached to it.

"Swords are good weapons but meant for skilled hands," he said gently. "And hopefully, you won't have to fight very often, if at all. The naginata, on the other hand, is a good offensive and defensive weapon."

He cupped the blunt end of the naginata as his other hand paused just before the blade.

"Here is your defense. This is made of petrified wood, practically unbreakable, unless someone comes up against you with a diamond wet saw and has a lot of time on their hands. I know it's a little heavy but with time, you shouldn't feel it."

Dren glided behind me and adjusted my grip on the staff, pointing the blade forward and gently bending my knees. He shifted my hips forward and stepped back, grabbing the underside of the blade and shifting it up towards his throat. He pushed the tip of the blade against the base of his neck.

"Tempered steel, folded over twenty times. Incredibly durable. It can be used for hacking and slashing as much as thrusting, or it could crack bones if you use the straight edge. Now, let's begin."

"How exactly?" I asked, thankful that he moved away from the pointed edge and grabbed a sword for himself. He slid in beside me, mirrored my stance and exhaled slowly.

"We will practice basic moves for three hours," he gave me firm look that silenced any sort of disagreement. "After you've mastered those, I may consider actually sparring with you."

I hope everyone's holidays are going over well; would've updated sooner but with Christmas and my birthday, I wanted to spend more time with my family.

That said, I hope this chapter was satisfying in some capacity :)