Visiting Home

Asa, Luna, and Mint are walking to their hotel when Luna spots something on the ground.

“2g of yingium!” She chirps, holding it up high. She runs off.

“Where are you going?!” Yells Asa.

“I wanna get something with it!” She yells back.

“Come back as soon as possible!” He calls, exasperated.

“I will!”

☼

In the hotel room, Asa, Mimo, and Mint watch the news. A strange, experimental sword had driven a researcher mad, and he was killing anyone he saw.

“He’s moving into the shopping district.” Says the reporter, as a helicopter view of the man’s rampage is shown. “Stay inside. If you are outside, go inside immediately. Any building will…”

Asa’s eyes widen. Luna!

☼

Luna hums happily, holding her brand new candy bar. “I haven’t eaten candy in a long time. This is gonna be so great.”

A man in the crowd stumbles back and a woman screams. “Hm?”

A man in a lab coat breaks through the barrier of bodies, swinging a sword. Pedestrians dodge and run away.

Luna charges at the man. “What are you doing, you freak?!”

A slash misses her side as she gracefully side steps. She catches a glimpse of the hilt.

It’s smooth, black, and shiny, with all sorts of odd knobs and grooves. The weirdest part is that vein-like things are crawling from the sword and into his arm.

She moves with amazing speed, dodging every blow with ease. When she sees her opportunity, she strikes, knocking the blade out of his hand. The veins rip and he falls to the ground.

The thing at the forefront of her mind is getting the weapon away from him. She grabs the hilt and stands. Something tickles her hand.

The vein-things are wriggling under her skin now! She rips them off, but they just grow back. “What?!”

First, she can’t move.

Then, she is moving… but it’s not her doing it.

Her arm swings the sword wildly and her legs run to the nearest person. A man yells and jumps out of her way. An old woman falls over. She pursues anyone and everyone in her vicinity.

“Out of the way! Get away from me!” She screams, warning anyone who will listen.

I can’t… I can’t do anything. I’m helpless. Water runs down her cheeks.

☾

Asa and Mint run through the shopping district. A cluster of police are on the road. In Between their bodies Asa can see Luna.

Something's off…

She’s holding a sword!

“Luna!”

☼

She swings and swings and swings. Each swing eats away at her composure. Each scared face reminds her of the rabbit.

A woman’s face twists in fear as she approaches. The rabbit.

A man screams and crawls away. The rabbit.

A police officer yells for her to stop. The rabbit!

All of them are the rabbit, their helpless eyes peering into her, unaware of what’s happening as she destroys them. I’m a destroyer. All I can do is destroy!

“Luna!” Calls a familiar voice. It’s Asa, the very last person she wants to destroy. He’s in his Animaguard, with his sword unsheathed.

He blocks every blow she tries to land on an innocent person, a passionate fire in his eyes. I’m not going to let Luna kill! I’m not going to let her be hurt that way!

“Asa! Run away! Please!” She begs, crying. They’re almost equally matched, but Asa’s at a disadvantage. He can’t strike her back.

The blade cuts through armor and nicks his side. Then his leg. Then slashes deep into his upper arm. It goes limp at his side.

“Asa, run! Please! Run!” Her voice grows garbly as more and more tears fall. He’s tried to knock the sword out of her hand multiple times, but Luna’s grip isn’t as weak as the man’s. It’s strong as iron.

While they're locked in a heated battle, a Litora official is speaking with the police. Some important looking men in uniform pull out a device that looks like a speaker.

It plays a loud, high pitched buzzing that sounds like something from an alien planet. The veins break and Asa’s Animaguard disperses, leaving him in his normal clothes.

Luna’s legs give out from under her and Asa catches her before she can fall. He lowers the both of them to the ground.

She sobs into his shoulder. He smiles, happy she’s safe, and strokes her hair with his good hand.

☼

They had to leave the city as soon as possible, as they had drawn too much attention. Luna had been detached ever since the incident.

It would’ve been traumatic for anyone, but it seems so personal to her, like it struck a sore spot. Soon, they’re walking through a field of wildflowers, and there’s a cottage in the distance.

It’s Asa’s childhood home, on the border of Litora and Inizio.

☼

His face never showed much, but Asa’s father was ecstatic to see them. He’s a tall, stoic man with handsome features and brilliant, red hair. His eyes are always sad, but gentle and wise.

He made a big dinner with all of Asa’s favorite foods (at least the ones he had the ingredients for) and a few of Luna’s, too.

He was happy to meet their new friend, Mint, as well. (He already met Mimo.)

All of them sit at the table, laughing and eating. Luna, Asa, and his dad reminisce.

Everybody challenges Mimo to Old Maid, and everyone wins.

Besides Mint.

It’s crowded, but in a good way. There’s a certain type of crowding that brings joy, and it’s the one that happens sharing a meal with those you love.

☼

That night, Asa and his dad sit on the overhang, watching the stars. He’ll be leaving tomorrow.

It should be the easiest part of his journey. Make it to Rose, where the airport is, and ride a plane to the capital, but, for some reason, he can’t shake the feeling that this might be goodbye.

He can’t tell if he’ll die or not, but he knows something big is going to happen. Something life-threatening. If there’s a chance he’ll die, there’s something he wants to know first.

“Dad?”

His dad looks at him. He doesn’t talk if he doesn’t have to. Asa’s intimately familiar with the look that means “I’m listening”.

“You’ve never told me much about my mom. I figured if you haven’t told me for so long, you had a reason… But I’ve always wondered.” Asa says, hair tousled by the gentle breeze. “I know the basics, but can you tell me about what her life was like?

His dad isn’t surprised. He pauses for a bit, then takes a deep breath. "Your mom was always secretive about her past. I wasn't sure if she'd want you to know about it…”

“But, after doing a lot of thinking, I think telling you is the right thing.” He says. “You’re made out of her, after all.”

He looks to the sky. “She helped me when I was at my lowest. I had just been exiled from Litora. I lost everything. I went from being a knight and Dogukan’s right hand man, to homeless, family-less, country-less nobody.”

“I felt like nothing. Worse than garbage. I didn’t have the strength to end it, so I decided to let myself wither away on the streets until something else ended it. Things changed when I met her.”

“She reached out to me, treated me like a person. She was the first one to do so.”

“Not only did she not mind that I was homeless, she admired it, saying I was strong and resilient. She saw value in me, and it wasn’t just some potential I had.”

“It wasn’t that I could become someone valuable if I worked hard enough. In her eyes, I already was. At first, I didn’t see it.”

“I needed constant reassurance, but eventually, my own self worth grew. She nurtured it, like helping a seed to grow into a tree. Soon, I didn’t need reassurance.”

“I was a good person and I knew it. I had enough strength to support not only myself, but the both of us. After a lot of hard work, I felt good enough to marry her.”

“I wanted to give her a good life. Living together, I noticed she wouldn't open up about her past. Since it caused her pain, I decided not to pry.”

“Her health seemed to be getting worse, if only minimally at the beginning. She was always sick with something, and she always had an explanation.”

"I have low blood sugar.”

“I think my family has hormone problems, maybe it's that?”

“Anemia.”

“I haven't been sleeping well.”

“There's a stomach bug going around.”

“I was out in the cold too long.”

“Maybe it's my period.”

“It's just that time of year."

“It turns out, she was sick, and she had been her entire life. Her parents would scold her everytime she complained or showed symptoms, so she felt guilty anytime she needed help.”

“It made her feel she was being dramatic or lying. From the stories she told, I think her parents cared, but they still did terrible things to her.”

“She was a priestess, from a group called Beizin. She had the abilities since birth and big boots to fill. Because of her sickness, she made mistakes. She would miss training or mess up rituals.”

“Instead of giving her help, because she was weaker than other kids, they decided to be harder on her. Maybe if she was punished enough she’d shape up.”

“After enough abuse, she couldn’t face them anymore. As much as it hurt her, she left her village, along with everything she knew. She always regretted leaving her culture behind.”

“It was hard out in the open world. I was the first real family she found since leaving. A few years passed, and she got pregnant with you. Things seemed to be going great. There was only a month or so to go when she collapsed.”

“The hospital told us that the disease had been left too long and that not even nanomachine therapy could fix the damage. They said they could keep her alive until the baby was born and we’d be lucky if they could manage even that. Her final wish was that her baby would be healthy.”

“Thankfully, she gave birth to a strong baby boy. She named you Asa, a Beizin name.” He pauses, coming back to the present. Regret fills his features.

“I’ve always felt that I should’ve realized Irie was sick sooner.” Warm arms wrap around his middle. Asa’s hugging him and crying. Dad realizes he’s crying, too.

“It’s not your fault.” Asa says, fighting through the sobs.

☼

Asa lies in bed. Even though he’s never met her (at least not that he could remember), he’s always known what his mom’s hugs feel like. He realizes now that it was the one hug she gave him when he was a baby.

That, and his name. Purpose. Everytime someone says his name, it’s like another hug from her. She’s in every part of his being, from his name, to his body, to his soul. So, it’s like she never left.

I know what her love feels like because she’s a part of me. Asa slowly and gently hugs himself.

☼

A memory drifts through Luna’s mind, except it’s not a memory. To her, it’s real. She’s a child again. She’s in a lab – the lab that’s been familiar to her her entire life.

Her father stands next to her, and she’s wearing a strange helmet. It’s wide and heavy, two thick cords run from its front. Whenever she wears it, she feels weird.

Well, actually, she feels nothing. She never remembers anything from when she wears the helmet, besides this one memory.

In front of her and her father, there’s a rabbit. It sniffs around on the tile. She reaches her hand out and it looks up at her with helpless eyes, then disappears.

She knows she’s the one who did it.

“Good girl.” Father says, but she doesn’t feel proud or happy. She feels strange.

What kind of person has an ability like this?

Luna opens her eyes and sit up in bed. She looks around. She’s in Asa’s room, in his dad’s cottage. Mint and Asa sleep nearby.

It was just a dream, but an uneasiness gnaws at the back of her mind.