(I) Chapter 2
The rest of the year continued on relatively quietly, as the village continued to live their lives as if the world around them did not exist.
Father leaves their home to attend whatever business that requires his attention in the village. Despite his presence being treated as an anathema to their existences, they treated his father with much more respect and dignity.
This mean that Yoriichi remained at home most days, the tasks of cooking, cleaning, and other menial tasks were left to his so that his father need not exert himself.
The routine was mundane, but Yoriichi had no qualms with it. It is a peaceful existence, a peaceful life, one he wished many people could have… excluding the treatment he receives for being a pariah.
Most days are quiet, but other days are filled with conversation, even more so as his understanding of the script on the parchment scrolls are decipherable to him.
Yoriichi never took himself to be the scholarly type, yet the more parchment scrolls he read, the more he found himself trying to make sense of the world he was born into.
Questions about the world called 'Remnant'.
The world's name is fitting, albeit grim. All the scrolls he could read only refer to the world as Remnant, yet it not say why. Was it because their moon was shattered and it was a remnant of a whole? Was it because a Great War divided the world and left the surviving nations remnants of their former power?
In the wake of questions that there were no answers to, there were a number of questions that Father could answer, such as…
What are the lands on this map?
"This is an older map with antiquated names." Father began. "We are here on the continent of Sanus, on the western portion of the continent was the Unified Vacuo Clans, now the Kingdom of Vacuo. To the east is the Kingdom of Vale, name hasn't changed for over five hundred years. Further east you have the continent which our ancestors are from, Anima and the Kingdom of Mistral formerly known as the Anima Empire. At the top of the world, you have Solitas home to the Kingdom of Atlas, which is the Mantle Directorate on this map."
Looking back at the map, Yoriichi pondered why each of these nations were called Kingdoms.
"There are no more Kings, Queens, or Emperors… just politicians."
What is dust?
"Dust is a tool harnessed by men and Faunus. There are four primary dust types" Pulling out three crystals of red, frosted white, and yellow, and two vials of powder blue and brown. "Fire and wind." Gesturing to the vials he continued. "Water and Earth. All other types of dust can be made from these basic elements… I think. Electric can be found where lightning is struck."
What is a Faunus?
"A Faunus is a person who was born with animal traits."
What are the creatures of Grimm?
"They are the soulless abominations that plague the world, the greatest threat to all living things. They are the absence of life and the absence of a soul. They must never be shown mercy as they will never show you mercy."
From the amount of conviction in Father's voice, he knew that he felt most strongly about that.
From that statement, he understood exactly what his father meant. Much like how the depictions in the Scripture of the Brother Gods, these creatures only purpose was to destroy. To destroy any semblance of life and to extinguish the flame that was the light of human and faunus kind.
And most importantly…
"Father… is it possible for you to get me more reading material?"
"I'll see what I can do Yoriichi."
"Thank you Father."
…
While the year progressed, there was a local holiday dedicated to the victims of life's most common occurrences: Death.
Nothing as distasteful as the celebration as the unnecessary sacrifice of life or a supposed glorious war, but the chance to openly mourn the loss of life due to whatever reason may take it: Natural causes, unnatural causes, accidents, misfortune, and Grimm.
Masses of peoples who he had never once set his eyes on would attend the shrines and gravestones of their beloved ancestors and their significant friends who passed along too soon.
To his hidden surprise, this was also one of the few days that the rest of the village would willingly tolerate his presence outside his home. There was no pushback nor any attempts to shun him away or to belittle his existence. Apparently, Father had been taken him outside of the house in years prior, and not once had been forced back into their home.
For the majority of the day, he and his father spent much of their time walking throughout town, Yoriichi paying close attention to the new surroundings.
Father was uncharacteristically silent that day, moving about to pay his respects to the many lives which had been lost in the many years that had passed by. There were many names that he could see, but none which had any particular meaning to him, yet each one held a significant place in his fathers mind and heart.
Were these trusted friends from childhood? Were these individuals who had a profound impact on his life? Were these people who had sacrificed their lives for his? Were these simply individuals who he had failed to save?
Yoriichi did not ask, as that was for his father alone to know.
The day continued on until they reached the temple. He had seen it from their elevated home, but now that they had arrived, he could tell that this was the most important spot, not only for the village but for his father.
The outside of it was surrounded by a fortified wall, which also gave privacy to all those that tended more sacred areas within.
Yoriichi and his father walked up to the main entrance where they were approached by a kannushi, the master of this shrine who was dressed in appropriate garb, a kariginu with sun-like patterns embroidered onto it.
The man spoke no words but there was a shared understanding between the kannushi and his father, who allowed them to pass with no complaints.
As they moved onto the temple grounds, Yoriichi could see a few novice kannushi and miko's go about their business, and before he knew it, they were among a small cemetery.
There they reached a gravestone, which had a name and a dedicated portrait with a lifelike black and white picture in it. Yet the name was the most interesting part of it.
"Yoruichi." Yoriichi whispered the name. To be taken to a gravestone with a name similar to his was no coincidence. "Is this my mother?"
"She is." Father seemed unsurprised of his sons deductive skills. "She always wanted to meet you, and when you came into the world, I can tell you that there was no happier mother in all of Remnant."
Focusing on the picture at this grave, it depicted a young woman whose hair was a rich shade of obsidian, and had what appeared to be a porcelain face, and her eyes were a light shade, one he could not decipher due to the artist's limitation in pigments.
"Can you tell me about her?"
"Yoruichi was… is… the light of my life." Father began, as if trying to find words that would honor her. "In daily life she was calm, and she was pure of heart, always praying to the Brother of Light wishing for peace. She often chose to shoulder more burdens than she needed to, and always found herself mediating disputes between the villagers. There was not a single time where she could not calm the hearts of men and women."
A small smile curved on his lips.
"I was sixteen when I began to help my father keep the village safe, and helping its people however we could. The shrine back then was tended by far fewer people, but the kannushi was the same man." His father smiled as his eyes were locked with the portrait. "It wasn't uncommon for our services to be requested, as the forests around, while mostly safe sometimes had fledgling Grimm hidden within."
A quiet cough escaped his lips before he continued.
"Here was my first official job, as my father wished to see how I would handle the matter." Taking out a specific stick of incense from his sleeve, he placed it at the base of the grave, and with a pinch lit them up. "A miko had gone out alone, two years my junior, to collect sap and other items for an upcoming ritual, so I followed the tracks she left behind."
"I followed for the better part of a morning, and when I found her, she was surrounded by fledgling Grimm, but not in any immediate danger as..." Father could not help but cough as he chuckled at the remembrance of a fond memory, "… stuck in a tree and covered in sap."
Yoriichi tilted his head, trying to picture the woman who was his mother as a miko covered in sap.
It seemed that his father noticed that, and the wet laughter continued into a coughing fit which caused him to nearly fall over, only by his son's intervention did he not.
"Thank you…" His father steadied his breathing before continuing. "Once the fledglings had been dealt with, I called to her, but she seemed to be convinced that there was more of them and was terrified, understandably so."
There was a pause as his blinking increased.
"When I climbed up to bring her down, she looked at me as if I was a roaring fire in a blizzard. She clung to me tightly, as if to make sure that I wasn't some ethereal being or some other phantasmal apparition that arrived in a time of stress."
"And when she looked at me… it was like… like…" Yoriichi could begin to understand why his father had begun to share this tale. "It was as if I had been living in darkness my whole life, and the moment her argent eyes looked into mine, it was as if she set my heart aflame."
Yoriichi looked to his father.
"I escorted her back to the shrine, and that was the end of the task given to me, but not the end of our meetings. I found myself visiting the temple many times a week, just for the chance to speak with her again." The quiver in his voice became more pronounced. "Anytime she wished to leave into the wilds, she would find herself asking specifically for me, and if I found myself on more urgent matters, she would dutifully wait for me to return."
"We eventually confessed our love for one another, and it was on her nineteenth birthday when we planned to wed. She left the temple as was expected, there was not a soul in this village that wasn't pleased for our union, and the blessings of the Brother of Light were endless, all wishing the same thing…. That we would live our lives peacefully and together, for as long as the Brothers would allow us."
"On her twenty-fourth year, we learned that we would be parents, the Brother of Light had answered our prayers. We were excited, to move forward onto the next part of our lives, and the village was eager to have a young one. We ourselves spent many months preparing for your arrival."
There was a shift in his tone, from the content reminiscing to a tone that was more somber. Father had tears openly running down his cheeks.
"She prayed every morning and every night to the Brother of Light that you would be a healthy child, and when the time came…"
Snow began to fall from the sky as they sat there.
"The people of this village were devastated when she did not survive, and speculated many things… which is why they treat you like they do."
Yoriichi nodded, his status as a pariah was one born of grief.
"It was seen as an ill omen that a human baby was born with such a birthmark like yours, and your body runs hot all the time, as if you were having a fever… the village doctors and midwives did not believe you would survive the night… yet you are here."
"I… I would have loved to meet her." Was all Yoriichi could say.
"I'm sure that she wished she could meet you too."
The remainder of that evening was silent, and despite his injuries, not another cough escaped his fathers lips.
There we have it, the second chapter completed. Split it from the original second chapter so that it flows better narratively.
It is just lore and establishing Yoriichi's existence in this world, but it provides a better foundation for this fic.
Tell me what you liked, disliked, or what you feel so-so about! I'll read them over and take it into consideration when writing my next chapter, as everyone has ideas that others have never heard of!
Take care and enjoy your reads!