[FLASHBACK] A Shocking Revelation [Vash/Kurai]

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

When the Lunar of Death had stopped walking in the middle of his silent conversation with his brother, Valerian, Lunar of Fire, most of the party traveling with him, especially his young students - particularly, Shin Kato, the new Lunar Knight of Fire and one of only two students to not know his true identity - had stopped and turned to stare at him.

They were all equally startled by his loud, squawking,

"You WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

He had given their other teacher, the Ariadelventoan Lunar Knight, a look that signified, 'I'll explain later', and then donned his glowing angel's wings and taken off towards the Ignis horizon.

-----

I sighed, shaking my head, trying to compose myself as I stood outside of Kurai's inn room door, ready to knock.

Failing miserably, I practically threw the door open as I walked in, disheveled, disarrayed, and utterly, completely shocked.

"KURAI!" I yelled. "KURAI I HAVE A BIG PROBLEM! I mean, this isn't just a problem, this is a huge problem, a gigantic problem. Or, well, more of a situation than a problem but it's a problem for me even though I should probably be happy but, but..."

I seized him by the shoulders.

"I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS!"

[Kurai Horo]

Kurai had been casually reading his book, standing on his head, y'know... As you do. When the door flung open, he rolled onto his feet, book still in hand, and raised his free hand as if to make a statement, but before he even had the chance to say a single word, Vash had him by the shoulders and was screaming about how he had no idea to deal with some problem or the other.

Kurai stood frozen in place for a moment, before he blinked his eye once, and cocked his head to the side, seemingly confused.

"And this problem is..?"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I took a deep breath, calming myself.

Then I collapsed back onto the inn bed, putting my face in one hand.

"It shouldn't be possible," I said quietly, "though... to be honest, it was never tested. I don't even know if it could be tested, really, without putting it into practice, and nobody even... even thought about the possibility."

I sighed again, sending an angry mental glare towards Valerian, before I said simply, "Kurai... I... evidently have a nephew."

[Kurai Horo]

Kurai frowned for a moment, it took him a moment to wonder why the possibility of Vash even having a nephew should be so inconsiderable, eventually however, it seemed to click in his mind.

"Ah..." He muttered as his brow straightened out. He rubbed the back of his neck as was steadily becoming a habit for the Lunar Knight whenever he was placed in strenuous situations. For a brief moment, he remained silent as he thought of what to say, but little came to mind.

"Perhaps we should backtrack here. You effectively just told me the end of the story, but I need to hear the beginning and the middle before I can make any sort of judgement..."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I took a deep breath. "The problem is I'm not exactly sure I know the details myself," I said to Kurai. "And... well..."

I leaned back against the wall.

"Kurai, he doesn't know. It's obvious he doesn't know, because I know him, I've met him." Another deep breath.

"....It's Shin, Kurai. Shin is Valerian's son. He told me today and I reacted... poorly... and now I have no idea what to do because in four thousand years, this has never happened, ever."

[Kurai Horo]

"Well... Y'know what they say right..?" He asked as he scratched the back of his head and held his arms out to the side and gave a short shrug, his cheekbones raising behind his mask in a smile as he finished his sentence.

"There's a first time for everything."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

"No kidding," I said, closing my eyes.

"As for the story... Well, it's long, convoluted, and doesn't really give me any clues for how to deal with our student. But it does give a bit of insight into what happened. Valerian told me bits and pieces of it, but from what I've put together it goes a little like this:

"When Lunatopia was destroyed, Valerian's knight was killed with the rest of them. While many of my siblings had trouble finding children of Ketulunan blood to carry the power, and didn't choose another Knight for a while after, Valerian was one of the first to suggest turning to our own lands to pass on the power. These, I know as facts - I was there for the discussion. Unfortunately, Valerian's story didn't end there. One of the children he chose died very young, of an unrelated accident; another couldn't accept Valerian's power, and also died. After the third death, he became... desperate. So when, by some miracle, he found himself summoned to Allorum by his Crystal, he wasn't... entirely in his right mind."

I sighed.

"Anyway, it turns out that this accidental summoning came about because his Crystal had somehow fallen into the possession of a young Ignisian woman, a talented mage with a trace amount of Ketulunan bloodline. My brother," and I glanced, irritably, at the ceiling, "had, quote, 'never met such a beautiful human in his long life'," my eyes rolled, "and, well... you can guess where things went from there. But without a Lunar Knight to anchor him to Allorum, Valerian had to leave this world after only a short time here. Without him, she moved on, marrying Mr. Kato when she learned she was pregnant. My brother, meanwhile, realized that he finally had a child who wouldn't be overwhelmed by the power of a Lunar Knight, and chose his own son for the position.He evidently visited her again, shortly before she died... and neither her husband nor her son has any clue that Kato's not the real father... or who Shin really is."

My face buried itself in my palm again.

"Which leaves me, of course, with the problem of handling it."

[Kurai Horo]

"My, my, my..." Kurai mused, taking a seat in a chair opposite Vash, and resting his chin in the palm of his hand. His neutral gaze scanned Vash for a moment before he gave a small 'hm'.

"I must admit, that's quite the tale... Almost sounds like a good plot for a book or something, I may have to make note of that. It would be intriguing to sit and read something that I've written myself... Or maybe get someone else to write it so I don't see what's coming..." He blinked twice in silence. "Shame that Zephyr doesn't appear as a beautiful woman, either..."

'...'

The normally stoic and silent voice of Zephyr gave an almost unheard breath which brought a smile to Kurai's face. "I was kidding. But still... It is quite the problem... We have a number of issues here, do we tell Shin what's happened? I mean, his 'father' wasn't exactly a wonderful person, I'm sure he'll be wonderfully bemused to know that he wasn't even related to the man, do we keep it quiet? I mean, this could be a pretty big thing for him..."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I nodded. "Are human families this complicated?" I asked wistfully, sighing and shaking my head. "Telling Shin is a big question; I'm tempted to say that it's not my job and leave Valerian to do it, but..." I sighed. "Four thousand years," I said, "and I still don't know how to deal with human relationships."

[Kurai Horo]

"Well, if you can for four thousand years and not understand them, what makes you think I can..?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "My entire life has been devoted to training, so I've not really had a hell of a lot of time to wonder about what it is that we humans do when it comes to relationships and stuff.. I mean, I had my family, but that's a completely different story to be honest! Surely you must have had something in all those long years of life..? I mean... Even after four thousand years, I'd hope that even I'll have gotten married, or have known someone closely..."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I looked away.

The past is the past, Vash. You can't...

I know. I know...

"I... once. Maybe." I sighed, shook my head. "But... she was n love with someone else; someone who... passed away. I don't even really know if I loved her like that, but... it doesn't matter. She died, and she's with him now, happy, and that's all that counts. Ever since, I've made it a point not to attach myself to anyone. All of them will die eventually... attachment to others is painful for me. Rin, 'Guo, Volkmar, Tidus, even you, will die, and when you do, I'll still be alive. I've outlived four thousand years' worth of friends; you'd think I'd have learned better by now, wouldn't you?"

I laughed bitterly.

[Kurai Horo]

"You can be a really depressing guy. Has anyone ever told you that..?" He asked with a chuckle as he gave a shrug.

"Yup. I'll die, so will 'Guo, Rin, Akira, Shin and all of the students we've raised so well. The ones we've turned from nothing into something. But I think for once, we should look at this from young 'Guo's point of view, he lives every day like it's his last, because he has been taught that way. He sees each day as a gift, and not as a right... There's nothing wrong with having known a person, even if they're going to die and you'll live on. After all, what does that make you? You're a testament to the personalities and people of all those you've met." He gave another half-hearted shrug.

"But all of that aside, what are we going to do about Shin..?"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I nodded.

"You can be really wise, sometimes," I mentioned. "What is it with young people these days and being wiser than me?" I tried a smile. It fit okay, so I chuckled. "But you're right. THe immediate problem is Shin, Valerian, and what to do about them both. Valerian is, obviously, my business, and Shin is what I came to ask advice about because you really do have your head on straight, while mine's obviously a mess right now."

I took a deep breath.

"PRos and cons time, I suppose. Pros, if he knows, we don't have to feel awkward while instructing our student because of the whole dragon-in-the-room problem. We also don't have to worry about it anymore. Knowing his connection to Valerian might help him make contact with him and get him to open up to his own abilities a bit better. Cons, he might not believe us and completely reject us. Even if he does believe us, it might have the exact opposite effect; he could push his powers away even further, which would be disastrous, or he could reject Valerian completely... which would be catastrophic. It also might tip him over the edge into berserk - strong emotions, when combined with an unstable and untrained Lunar Knight, have a tendency to do that. I've seen it happen more than once before, and Shin still doesn't have anywhere near the level of control he should."

I shook my head. "And only by telling him would we be able to find out how he'd react to the news."

[Kurai Horo]

"So now we have to ask ourselves the critical question. Do we take the lesser of the two evils? By not telling him, he doesn't find out and things continue as they currently are, and chances are that when he makes contact with Valerian properly, not only will he no doubt figure out the truth for himself, but he'll also more than likely have the adequate control to be able contain any severe emotions that risk to overwhelm him at the same time." Kurai blinked slowly as he thought through the other option. "Of course, then we have our second option which is telling him, if it works, it's a fast track through his training and he will no doubt become a powerful warrior, but then there's the risk of him burning down everything in sight, however... Between you, me and 'Guo's ability to drain mana, we actually shouldn't have too much of an issue quelling him, especially given the number of water based spells I have in my repertoire."

He leaned forwards, resting his forearms on his knees, and his gaze, the same gaze which had broken hundreds of students, killed men and dare he be vain enough to say it, make women swoon, locked onto Vash. "But here's the most important question of the bunch." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Either way, he's your student, your nephew. Can you really lie to him about something like this..? This is after all, something of critical importance. We're looking at this in terms of reaction and power, but he's a human being as well... Can we deny him the right to know his father?"

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I nodded.

"That's wise, too," I said, "but here's another angle, now that I'm thinking. Yes, he deserves the right to know who his father is, but doesn't he also have the right to learn it from Valerian himself? How would it feel, to Shin, if I told him - and the one person who he is supposed to have the deepest bond in the world with is the one person who is silent on this, the most important thing to a young man such as himself? Do we really have the right to take that away from him, and which concern outweighs the other?"

I growled to myself. "If we had any idea what had happened to Valerian's Crystal, we could summon him here and not have to worry about that, but since no one knows what happened to it after Sakura Kato died..."

There was the soft impression of a cough in my mind.

"..............one moment, Kurai."

Actually... I do know where the Crystal is. Unfortunately, it's out of reach.[/i]

"...........................................define...... 'out of reach.'"

Ahm. I rarely heard that sort of utterance from Valerian, always a bold speaker, so I knew immediately it was trouble. It's... in a place where I can't get it. Yet.

".................define 'yet'."

Shin has it.

"....................................................................................what."

Actually, it's nestled quite nicely in my son's soul. Somehow. I'm not entirely sure how, but, it ended up metaphysical when I took it back with me, and when I chose Shin it... sort of...

"..................................................................................................you have got. To be joking."