Convince

Ignacio swallowed. “Who needs convincing? Kaito?”

“Yes, Kaito,” Koharu said. “I’ve been trying, but-”

“I don’t want you near this fight again, Koharu,” he said. “Let me speak to him.”

“I’ve also tried, Ace,” Lady Shidare said. “He’s not budging.”

Koharu shook her head. “You could be a little more grateful, Ace.”

He cocked his head. “Oh, forgive me if I don’t want you going back into that hellscape for my sake.”

“It never was for your sake,” she said, her jaw tensing.

“Oi, oi, oi,” Shun said, his legs standing but his body staying doubled over so he fit inside the roof. “No point fighting amongst ourselves. What did Kaito say, Koharu?”

She kept her eyes on Ignacio. “That he’s not risking the lives of his crew members for the sake of someone he’s never met.”

Shun raised his bushy eyebrows. “Mm. And what did you say?”

“That he knows me,” she said, turning away and walking out the door. “This is pointless.”

Lady Shidare sighed, eyes following Koharu as she walked out of the room.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Lady Shidare said, placing a hand on Ignacio’s forearm.

Ignacio closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

She nodded, glancing down at the puddle of vomit. “Shun, can you please clean this up? Last thing I want is for him to slip on that and hurt himself even more.”

Shun sighed, grabbing a large wet cloth folded beside Ignacio’s bed and placing it on the vomit-puddle.

The root-door burst open again. This time a large man covered in plates of armour stormed in, his eyes glaring with fury as he walked up to Ignacio.

He raised a giant sword that nearly reached the other end of the room, and Ignacio’s heart leapt out his chest.

“Woah, woah, woah!” he shouted, scrambling back in the bed, his body screaming in pain.

In a flash, Lady Shidare drew one of her katanas and blocked the sword with a clang, orange and gold sparks popping.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” the man barked. “First, you nearly get my sister killed and now you want her to talk the rest of my crew into being next?”

“Kaito,” Lady Shidare hissed. “Put your blade away, or I’ll be forced to use mine.”

Koharu walked up behind him, her fist glowing with blue-light. “Kaito, get off him now.”

Kaito withdrew his sword, glancing down at his hand as his index finger twitched. He clenched it into a fist, taking a deep breath.

“Very good, Kaito,” Shun said, his back against the wall. “Happy thoughts.”

Lady Shidare spun her katana in a blur, sheathing it with a soft click.

Kaito glared down at Ace, his sword crumbling into ash in his hand and blowing away. Ignacio took a deep breath, his cheeks puffing.

“We aren’t helping,” Kaito said. “We’ve had enough hell in this damn place to last us a lifetime.”

The glow on Koharu’s hand faded. “What about what they did to the rest of us?”

Kaito turned to her, raising his hands and letting them fall with a clang against his armoured sides. “Oh, wonderful. So our parents get wronged and over a decade later you want to kill yourself to take revenge. That’s smart, isn’t it?”

Her lip quivered, tears welling in her eyes. “It’s not just about you, Kaito!” she shouted, balling her hands against the sides of her head. “There are hundreds… no, hundreds of thousands of people out there who are just like us in this room. People who’ve lost everything and everyone they love to Cypher Corp. And no one does anything. No one does anything and you wanna know why? Because every time they do it, we let them get away with it. We don’t stand up. We let it go! And then we get rewarded for it like dogs who don’t bite the stick that beats it,”
she spat the words. “And each time we let them get away with it, we burn. We burn, and they build. And I’m done letting them build. I am done. I’m taking the same match they set us on fire with, and turning it on them. Because they forgot one vital thing, Kaito.”

Kaito sighed. “What did they forget, Koharu?”

“When you constantly take from people, you train them not to fear losing. And when you have an army of people with nothing to lose at your door, that’s when the castle burns down.”

Kaito lowered his head. Lady Shidare raised her hands and clapped, eyeing Kaito. Shun glanced between them, and raised his hands.

“Don’t even think about it, Shun,” Kaito snarled.

Shun put his hands back down. “I’ll help,” he said.

Kaito sighed, rubbing his face as he shook his head. “No. No, I won’t help you burn them, Kay. Because when you do, they crush you in retaliation. You and I know that.”

“We all do,” Lady Shidare said. “That doesn’t mean we sit back and let them crush us anyway.”

“Kai,” Koharu said, wiping the tears from her cheek. “Just, listen to me.”

“Kaito,” Ignacio said. “If they have this much power now, imagine what they’ll be capable of with a person who’s a Nexus.”

Kaito turned to him, his sharp eyebrows furrowing. “Is it true you can absorb Aspects?”

Ignacio nodded. “Yeah.”

Kaito tilted his head. “Can you walk?”

“Even if I couldn’t, I’d find a way,” Ignacio said.

Kaito nodded, turning to the door. “Shun, bring him to Blossomhill.”

“Hai,” Shun bellowed.

Koharu glanced at Ignacio, and followed Kaito out the door. “What are you doing, Kai?” Ignacio heard her ask as they walked out.

Lady Shidare placed a hand on Ignacio’s leg, giving him a wry smile. “I know you don’t remember me, and what we spoke of. But just know that I won’t just give up. If I can’t convince Kaito, I’m going to try and convince Thalyssan to take your side.”

Ignacio nodded, not entirely sure what she meant. But he was going to take any help he could get.

“Thank you, Empress,” he said.

She nodded, and walked out the room, stealing a final glance at him before walking out the door.