Plot Thread 1.4: Blood Inheritance (THE TRUTH)

[Kato Shin]

"GODDAMMIT MONTHU!" my guide, the ex-Corporate, now-Yami-member Bast, yelled, suddenly materializing a few moments after the arrow struck barely millimeters from her booted foot. "Look where you fire that goddamn thing!"

My eyes were still on the arrow, which had materialized out of almost nowhere a few feet from me. How the hell did he do that?! my mind asked itself, but I crunched hard on the panic. He was simply an incredibly good shot, and likely had some form of magic backing him up.

I still didn't like it.

[Monthu]

'No...' He thought...

'No way...'

He slowly got to his feet, bow in hand, and reached to his head. Pulling the hood down and the monocular off, he simply stared for a moment, slack-jawed at the sight in front of him. He blinked once. Twice.

"Maeve..." He breathed, condensed air billowing from his mouth as he spoke.

Realisation set in.

"Maeve!"

His bow dropped into the snow with a thud, and the ungainly long white cloak he'd been wearing was quickly cast aside as Monthu sprinted awkwardly through the snow, a huge grin playing across his face as he approached his partner-in-crime.

"Maeve!" He cried once more as he closed the last of the distance and threw his arms around her waist and picked her up from the ground. One quick spin later, he set her down and buried his face into her neck and shoulder, not once considering how cold he must be, laying in the snow and all, but he soon moved away and held Bast at arms length.

"You're actually here..." He breathed with a grin. "Sorry about nearly shooting you..."

[Kato Shin]

I watched as they embraced, slightly embarrassed. They were acting like teenagers.

"It's no problem," she said, laughing. "I should've known better than to disappear while leading someone along... especially someone as green as this kid." She smirked.

I glared. "I'm not as green as you think I am! I just don't do all that well in the snow, thanks very much."

[Zhen Anguo]

"Shin-kun?" 'Guo was stood behind the group, frozen in the animation of walking back towards camp, spare firewood held in his hands and his head cocked to a side as he stared at his fellow Lunar Knight with a look of disbelief on his face, but after a few moments, he walked over calmly as if Shin has been there all the time, a big grin on his face.

"Well, I never thought I'd see you here! Y'know! Snow and all that! I thought that trekking through Ghiaccio would be the last thing you'd do! Especially with Mrs. Thief-who-can-go-invisible-to-anyone-except-me-because-I-can-sense-mana here! Man... This day just got a whole lot better!" His grin broadened as he looked at the two Yami members who were acting like lovesick kittens, something the sort-of-monk was oblivious to completely.

Monthu was still grinning, one arm wrapped around Bast's waist whilst one gloves hand was gently resting against her face. He kissed her once on the cheek.

"Itami's had me busy scouting Alberisato... Then sent me here before I could return, never thought I'd see you for a while though... I was just thinking about you to be honest!"

'Guo beamed at the pair.

"Man! They're adorable together!" He looked across at Shin, still beaming. "I hope you brought donuts! Come on! I'll take you back to camp, Eyepatch will be so happy to see you!"

[Andy Jammer]

Andy smiled and slipped his hood over his head, or at least before the commotion drew him outside.

"What's going on?"


...


The Other, well, as he was ascending upwards he suddenly and quickly found himself descending. Something came out of the storm and tackled the Other out of the air, once it hit the ground it bounced off it and landed on the snow ground near it. It was a creature with fur so white it blended in perfectly with the snow, several long spikes on its head and back. Growling at the prize it caught it roared and several more roars came in response from the snow storm.

[Kato Shin]

I sighed and shook my head at 'Guo. "No, I don't have any do..."

We were interrupted by a man wearing a hood, though some orange hair peeked out from underneath it. I wasn't sleeping - I couldn't get or understand the fire's instructions clearly - but I had a... a feeling, that this man was who I was supposed to meet.

"My name is Shin Kato," I told him, unscarred eye looking out of my hood at him. "I'm here to help." I didn't elaborate; I didn't want this man to think I was crazy.

[Zhen Anguo]

"He's a Lunar Knight! Like me and Kurai!" He said with a smile as he slapped Shin on the back, tugging the firewood under his free arm, before turning away from the others so that he could go deposit the wood that he had onto the fire. Brushing his hands against one another to clear them of any dust, he bent down and picked up his large pike and rested it against his shoulder as he walked back to the others with a big grin across his face once again.

"And that's the other former Falcon Recon person... She can go invisible, but it's useless against me! Mwahahahaha!" He closed his eyes in a huge beaming smile as he scratched the back of his head. "But they're not with them anymore, they're with what's-his-face now and I can never decide if they're good guys or not!" He frowned, clearly stumped by his own assessment. "Sometimes they're mean, but then others they're not... Eh..."

[Andy Jammer]

Andy absolutely knew nothing about this Kato Shin character, seemed okay though.

Then Andy's attention shifted to Bast, eyes distinctively narrowing as he stared at the...well...anyway. He was so close to opening his mouth and rejecting...then he remembered he has a hulking mass of shadow that he didn't want to be here at all. He sighed, if he can handle Other he can handle the 'B' with an 'itch'.

"Eh, fine, why not." Andy shrugged, looking at the two of them, "We need to be moving anyway, so keep on our heels."

[Navarre]

Navarre nodded as he follwed Andy. He looked around, "So this is Ghiaccio... Don't you know someone here Andy or something" He asked as he rubbed his arm, "I couldn't image living here... I like the sun and the surf, eh mate?" He said as he nudged Andy.

[Kato Shin]

"Great. More snow," I grumbled to myself, half-heartedly.

"Oh, please," said Bast, "this isn't as bad as it could be, you know." She snuggled closer to Monthu. "We could be alone and all of that, couldn't we? And we have our very own fire mage to keep us warm." She nodded at me, and I rolled my eyes.

[Monthu]

"Oi, cut us some slack..." Monthu grumbled at Bast, pulling her a little closer in response. "I've been laid in this stuff for a few hours on recon... By Ci, Bu and Zhong, I'm surprised I even have any feeling left in my body..." He grimaced as he instinctively pulled at a lock of hair next to his ear. "I've never even experienced cold close to this place before... Then again, I was fine until a few minutes ago when I threw of the nice, warm cloak to come and greet a certain someone who hasn't let go of me in order to let me retrieve it again..." He looked across at Shin.

"And I don't believe in magic." He added with a sour face.

[Kato Shin]

I frowned, raised an eyebrow. How did someone not believe in magic? It was the life of our planet. It made everything the way it was. Not believing in magic wasn't like not believing in the gods or Lunars or faeries, which most people never got to see or meet. It was like not believing in the sky or lightning or the ocean.

"That's.... absurd," I said, finally. "I don't like magic; but I'm not stupid enough to say it doesn't exist."

Particularly after all of the things that had happened to me.

[Monthu]

Monthu gave a derisive grunt and a shrug, as he looked across at Shin.

"Can you blame me..?" He asked quietly. "All my life has been spent training, working. I've spent decades aligning my body, mind and spirit into the same situation, to make me a nigh perfect fighter. I'm the best shot with a bow on Earth, and most likely here too, and that's not a skill I was born with, it's something I worked damn hard for. I weaved mats for a living for crying out loud, and all that money went towards archery, or martial arts lessons just so I could be a better fighter. And now I'm at my peak..." His voice had been rising, but it suddenly petered off at the end, to an almost solemn silence.

"I'm at my peak, and I come here to find out that people can outdo me with a skill they're born with. A birth right." He sneered the words, his grip on Bast slackening slightly. This was his one gripe, the one thing he was self-conscious about, all the Falcon Recon team had developed something though magic, except him. When he had come close, that red-coated guy had done something to him and he hasn't been able to replicate it since.

"All my hard work, for nothing. On Earth, I'm the pinnacle, the top dog, I could kill anyone I felt like and probably get away with it, but here..? I'm in a hostile environment, and I feel as naked as the day I was born..." He cleared his throat slightly.

"So yes... I don't believe in magic..."

His chest felt lighter after the rant, but his gut felt heavy as he turned away from the others, and trampled through the snow towards his discarded white cloak, intending to wrap himself up in it and shield himself from the world.

"Again."

An eight year old Lü Jin rushed towards his sparring partner, and in three quick moves, had disarmed them of their fake knife. Both bowed to each other before Jin handed the knife back and too a few paces away.

"Again."

The process repeated endlessly, until he could do it in his sleep. It's the way his master had worked, if you're bored of doing it, you're doing it right. Holds, strikes, disarms, combos. His master worked them all hard, but it would be worth it, by the end of it, they'd be true fighters.

Monthu had his cloak wrapped around himself again, and was sat before the fire, his bow laid out across his lap, and his quiver by his side. He moved an ungloved hand up and down the length of the limbs, almost tenderly, as if it were his lover. He'd spent years with his bows, each one had its own personality. The arctic one he was using was cold, but reliable, rarely falling out of sight or becoming lack in the string. His eyes dully gazed into the crackling fire.

'Can one arrow really change this world..? This world where a lucky, well-bred child, can out-do me..?'

He thought of the foe they faced, the way Itami had described him... And shook his head as he reached his conclusion.

[Zhen Anguo]

"Well... He seems grumpy!" 'Guo said brightly with a small chuckle. "I think somebody needs a doooonuuuuut..." He spun on his heels to look at Shin with a broad grin, his arms (and halberd) spread out wide as if he were expecting something. After a few moments, he relaxed and looked concerned.

"Y-you... You did say you brought donuts, right?"

[Kato Shin]

Bast wrapped her arms around him when he was settled, huddling with him to help keep warm.

"I'm sorry," she said, evidently feeling the weight of his words on her - her, who had magic.

I stared at him for a moment in silence, thinking... then laughed quietly.

"Alright. I can see that. There's people here on Allorum with the same gripe. Only, here's the problem."

I shook my head as I sat down next to him. "Magic might be something someone is born with... but it's also a skill. I have a friend. She's a talented painter. SHe has no arms. But she was born with art inside. You were born with a bow inside. I was born with... with fire inside." I had hesitated, just a brief moment. "Like any talent, it has to be trained. You trained endless hours to master the bow and became the best archer on earth. Magic wouldn't change that. It might make it easier, but it wouldn't change that. As for me? Well, I'll tell you a little secret. My magic can't be controlled. It can't be tamed, can't be leashed - at least, that's the way it feels to me. I still can't use it the way I'm supposed to, let alone the way I want to. Only a month or so ago, it was completely unusable. I locked it up and when it came out, it nearly burned down a metal city." I laughed. "How's that for power? But no skill. No control."

I stared, deep into the flames, feeling the flicker of panic they still got from me, felt the heat rising in my throat as the fire inside me wanted to reach out and meet the fire outside me, and felt the fear that that feeling brought on.

"You know what let me use this 'incredible power' you hate so much you refuse to acknowledge its existence?" I didn't wait for an answer. "Martial arts. And I was terrible when I first started. Drills, every day, learning to direct the body's energy, not mana, through strikes, kicks. Disciplining the body and mind. Endless practice, day after day, until I got better. Until I got good. I'm still nowhere near the best on Allorum, but to me, that skill is far more important than magic, because it's the only thing on this planet that let me conquer the thing I'm most afraid of. Training and hard work did that - not anything I was born with, some special birthright that made me better than everyone. If you're meant to have magic, you will; but you'll need to work at it. If you're not, you're better off in my opinion, and your archery's still something to be goddamn proud of."