Bloodstained Rose

Chapter 12

Hideo would always find himself reliving the golden days of his youth in his head. Today, he was about fourteen years younger, and the village was just more populous. He was still lower down on the hierarchy, but he did not question his position. He had known his place and did not want anything else at this point. Before him, he watched some of the younger students training as he sat by the boulder near the monastery. From behind one of the shrubs, a much younger Rei had peered around the edge. Her sparkly light green eyes lit up as she rushed behind the cover.

“I see you!” Hideo exclaimed playfully. The child had finally come around the corner. She was still learning to walk but was coordinated enough to get around. He looked over to her in silence as Rei had clenched her tiny fists tight. Noticing dust starting to pillow from her hands, Hideo opened his hand quickly said, “show me what you have.”

Rei obliged and approached him. She then proceeded to drop two small handfuls of rock, dirt, and whatever she could grab into Hideo’s open palm. He only gave her a cold stare. Rei stared back up to him and flinched upon seeing him extend his thumb. Upon doing so, he made a clicking sound like a sword being drawn from its scabbard, and then started to playfully thrust it towards her. Rei only laughed as the flurry continued. Hideo took the opportunity to grab onto her head, finally running his thumb across her throat. He let out a hiss, mimicking the sound of a blade slicing through flesh.

“You’re dead, I got you,” he said finally. Rei only laughed happily as she gently laid on the ground. Hideo smiled back and looked ahead to find himself in the present, watching Rei as an adult honing her katana for the ceremony. She had changed much since then. In the last week, it seemed as if everything had turned on its head. Seeing Rei walking tall to the monastery began eating away at him. Stop this. He finally stepped forward as she made her way past him, quickly muttering, “Rei.”

She stopped short. He was not sure what to say. The truth was that even as an elder, he was still just one person. He did not have the power nor the right to stop this. Rei continued forward with her eyes level. It was a very cold night. Fog permeated the crowd gathered near the monastery. Near the front, Shugo had remained in a double kneeling position with his tanto still sheathed. He had worn a blue robe for tonight—another gift from his father. Hideo and Toki knelt on each side. This was the first time in years somebody had been courageous enough to do this. Immediately behind Shugo, Rei stood in her black Kimono, grasping her katana. Jin had placed himself across from Shugo, who had not spoken a word since he had made his decision. It was time.

“I’ll read my death poem now,” Shugo said finally. This was not the time to make a mistake. It was a haiku: "Emotions bottled, never to be said for her, Reina, Bloodstained Rose."

There were so many things once unsaid that had finally been spoken to her. She could remember her poem and that feeling of staring on over a deserted camp site under the morning sun, feeling Shugo missing. It had found her again. At that moment, she had no longer felt confused—she confronted the pain and held her sword high. Shugo took the blade and unhesitant, performed the first cut. It was a clean incision. He forced the blade with little resistance across his abdomen, desperately trying to not vocalize the pain being inflicted upon himself. Rei closed her eyes. By now, he had finished the horizontal cut and stopped short. The pain was too much. There was no way he could complete the final vertical slash. With a hiss, he lifted his head and unleashed a gasp as blood flowed through his teeth.

Rei lifted her head, choked back the tears, and finally delivered the finishing blow. It was done. Hideo shut his eyes, unable to watch. Rei had wiped the remaining blood off her robe as she sheathed her weapon, stepping away from them without uttering a word. Eventually, she found herself further outside the village, atop the foothill still grasping her katana. Naomi could not bear to see the ceremony take place, so she followed Rei towards the outskirts.

“Rei, we’re alone now.” Naomi said with a whimper. Rei finally came to a stop, dropping her blade, and finally collapsing to the ground in tears. She had held back too much for too long. Naomi cradled Rei in her arms, pulling her tighter as the tears flowed steadily into her robe.

◆◆◆

For the following week, every day became progressively agonizing. Each morning, Rei found herself struggling to try and get off the ground. Shugo and poetry were two things that made her stomach turn—anything she enjoyed made her feel more pain. Instead of letting it out, she bottled it up. Every moment on the post was spent with her mind elsewhere, desperate to let the emptiness drown the painful memories. The agony had slowly begun to settle. With each passing day, she wondered how much longer she would hold on like this.

“You should talk to someone,” Jin said. Rei had found herself sitting at the corner of the monastery by the boulder, as usual. She had hardly acknowledged Jin as he reached down and continued, “Or you can talk to me.”

Rei up to this moment had felt nothing, but now she could slowly feel rage building over her decision. She had made a mistake that could not be fixed for the tribe she was slowly starting to resent. Instead of bursting out, she quickly made her way up off the ground and stepped away from him. Jin followed her closely as she moved away from the monastery and past the barracks.

“Come on, don’t make me have to pull rank,” Jin said again as she continued to walk along the dirt path. The two moved through the area and towards the outskirts of the village, continuing to increase the pace. He spoke again, “I’m trying to be the good guy, don’t make me be a bad one.”

They had slipped from view at this point. Jin had finally reached his breaking point and burst forward, grabbing hold of one of her sleeves on her winter robe. Rei had lost her balance for a moment, becoming angrier, but still trying to collect herself to pull back.

“Don’t touch me!” Rei screamed as she swung her hand towards him. Jin quickly deflected the strike before she could claw into his face, trying his best not to harm her. Rei had struggled trying to pull away, feeling the urge to run. If she could just get outside of the village, she could take her own chance with the outside world, but she still had to escape. Each moment she grew more desperate and helpless as Jin continued to overpower her.

“Come on, stop this.” Jin said again. She didn’t have it in her anymore. He reached around her, pulling her face into his shoulder.

“I don’t care anymore.” Rei cried softly as tears swelled from her eyes and into his clothes.

“Yeah, I know.”

“You’re all bastards.”

“Yeah, were all bastards,” Jin had felt out of his element for a moment. He could hear a very faint hum overhead, but he spoke again, “We’re all bastards and nothing makes sense. Guess what? That’s life. Horrible things happen, but if you give up, then the weight gets heavier for the rest of us.”

Rei pulled her head back up to try and face him. Jin had tried to keep as sincere as possible—she was at her weakest point. The low note from the humming over them had rumbled louder.

“I just can’t focus on anything anymore,” Rei said as she curled her hand into a fist.

“What is that?” Jin interrupted her. That faint noise from just seconds earlier had become loud enough to be heard through the village. The two backed away from each other before looking up to find the source.

“What is it?” Rei asked him. In the distance and high up in the sky, they had spotted a large fin-shaped object flying in the sky several miles away.

◆◆◆

Hideo watched the aircraft from a distance. It was just far away enough for him to barely make out its shape and color. The sight had immediately caused him to feel cold inside. Distraught, he had dropped his hands to his side as his legs began to crumple beneath him. Toki had stared in awe, barely noticing that his partner was on the verge of fainting. At the last moment, he had managed to rush over and help keep Hideo on his feet.

“Easy now. Are you going to make it?” Toki asked.

“Yes, I need to breathe for a second.” Hideo replied as he leaned forward. Toki gave him a light pat on the back before turning his focus back to the ship miles away. By this time, it had passed through the clouds and out of view, but its massive engine roared on.

“Is that a monster, or?” Toki had been completely confused.

“I don’t know.”

“It's flying through the clouds. That’s impressive!”

◆◆◆

Miles above the village, the Litvyak had carried on at cruising speed. It was a carrier vessel, an older model in fact, and equipped to travel hundreds of thousands of miles at a time with its onboard fission reactor. The massive aircraft had three enormous turbines per wing that had more than enough power to carry it above the clouds. On the bridge, Vic stared through the portholes and down to the puffy clouds below. Passing through the area, he had started to feel an ominous presence followed by a chill lingering through his veins—something from the Deep had been reaching out to him. Trying to not alienate his senses, he turned back to his navigator.

“What is our location?” Vic asked calmly.

“Thirty-five, eighteen, twenty-nine, and bearing twenty-two.” Inessa reported swiftly from behind to control panel. The bridge had a crew of around eight people, each posted across at different stations.

Vic took a second to recollect the coordinates and asked, “Asiania?”

“I believe this is the Nippon front, sir.”

“At ease, thank you,” Vic slowly waved his hand towards her and turned back towards the window, getting a clear view of the valley as all his senses begged him to continue the search. Shortly after, he finally noticed a few small structures in the distance and called back, “Navigator, there’s a village at two o’clock. It's far, but I can see it. I want some data. Can we deploy some drones?”

“Are you sure there’s anything out there? The research lab is further north by another town, it might be out of the way,” Inessa looked back down to the keyboard in front of the screen, quickly striking a few keys to pull up a map of the immediate area. She glanced over again, “If there’s anything out there, we must have missed it.”

“Trust me, it's out there. We must be prepared to halt soon anyway. Can we deploy or not?”

“Absolutely,” Yulia had quickly called out from behind her. “we can deploy a long-distance model right away.”

“Excellent,” Vic smiled, “make sure to get plenty of footage.”

“Yes sir!” Yulia exclaimed as she leapt from her seat. She had been quick to head towards the entrance of the bridge. The woman was quite young with her petite stature. Unlike Vic and the rest of the crew who had been dressed in dark green fatigues, she had worn a black blazer over a white button-up shirt. Its material was an extremely advanced form of polycarbonic thread that covered every inch from her sleeves to her skirt. Before reaching the lower decks, she was joined by her brother, Yuri. The two had jarringly different statures with Yuri being much taller, lankier, but still having similar features.

“I was preparing the drones for the mission.” Yuri added as he emerged from the nearby doorway.

“I didn’t know you were listening on my line.” she said back.

“I listen to everything.”

“And that’s why we love you.” Yulia turned the corner with him. The inside of the ship had a brown tint across the metal from the decades of service.

“We’re nearing the hover point anyway. I was given orders to scan this area as well,” Yuri said as he cut ahead and stepped over towards the entrance of the fuselage. Just past the door was the docking area with the rest of the drones, each perfectly aligned as they lay across the deck.

“I wonder why he would want to deploy another drone for one area?” Yulia asked him.

“No idea. I’m not programmed to think like that.” Yuri twitched for a split-second, jolting his head to right before leading her into the docking area. It had been quiet. The only thing audible was the faint rumbling from the engine through the ships dense outside shell. Yulia had quickly whipped her head to the left, causing her sky-blue locks of hair to swing clear from the right side of her face. She then took her index finger, and lightly pressed it against her right earlobe. After a very light beep had rung from inside her head, both of her green eyes had begun to glow.

“Opening bay doors, all personnel please insert ear protection and use caution.” An automated voice had begun to repeat the same message over and over. The inside of the dock had lit up with red while the rumbling of the engines slowly began to increase. The machinery from inside the bay doors began to squeak as they began to open. Both Yuri and Yulia had taken a moment to establish a link to each other. The two were not human but the culmination of decades of research. Beneath their fleshy exterior rests an advanced skeletal casing with a vastly complex assembly of other mechanisms.

“I’m going to watch my drone. The village is just far enough so I can repeat the drone’s signal to the ship. I will report back once I finish getting data,” Yulia had said using her built-in communications. Yuri nodded back, clearing the way for her. She stared down at the ground below while the first drone had lifted off the floor. The machine was the size of a person and had used a quadruple set of turbines to help it lift off. Yulia had watched as it began to hover down and through the clouds before leaping over the edge, headfirst.

◆◆◆

Rei and Hideo had been distraught by the sudden yet ominous appearance of the vessel. The sound of the engines had completely dissipated as it continued through the clouds up ahead.

“What was that thing?” Rei asked once more.

“I don’t know, your guess would be just as good as mine,” Jin replied in shock. He had never seen anything like it. The thought of their being something that big that could fly so high only made him think of what else was out there waiting. He shook his head and continued, “I am so confused right now.”

“This has been the worst week of my life,” Rei spoke aloud. “It just keeps getting more confusing.”

“Tell me about it,” Jin turned to face Rei, noticing she had started to look a little more skinny than usual after first glance. After hearing her stomach growl, he reached over and said, “Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten in a while, I can tell.”

“Yeah,” Rei was hesitant to reply, but she knew that no amount of focus could stop a roaring stomach.

“Come on, eat something already. You’re gonna break my heart if you don’t eat,” Jin grabbed onto her winter robe once more, giving her a slight tug. “I’ll drag you, don’t make me!”

“Alright, alright,”

Rei for a second appeared to be hiding a smirk as she replied. She pulled back on her sleeve and followed him back her towards the barracks, with Jin happy he had finally managed to break through. While they went to get her some sustenance, the village seemed to quiet down. The aircraft had been jarring, but it had been hard to put into words what the villagers had seen. Rei had been confused as the rest but did not let it stay on her mind too long. The two had taken seats at one of the only two tables outside of the barracks, and one of the only two in the whole village for that matter. Jin had watched her scarf through most of her meal while occasionally pretending to eat. He was starving, but he wanted to offer his rations as she began to inhale the rest of her dinner.

“You might wanna slow down.” Jin said as he tried not to laugh. Rei took a glance at him with a mouthful, pausing to chew.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice muffled. Jin could only smile at the response. She finally swallowed and gasped before saying, “It feels like I have been in a terrible dream and I’m just waking up.”

“It’s been a tough week,” he spoke. “You’re a lot tougher than me. I don’t think I could handle what you’re going through.”

“Stop it.”

“Dead serious, Pop sees it too,” Jin had continued to swirl the food in his bowl. It had been a type of rice dish with some other unnamed meat, a delicacy around these parts. He glanced over at her and decided to slide his dinner over. “Here you go, I’m not hungry.”

“I thought I might have upset everybody.” she accepted the bowl from him, immediately stabbing the battered spoon into the dish.

“No, nobody’s upset like that,” Jin tried to think of something else to talk about that was not about Shugo. He looked over and asked, “Did you ever get to see the Cosmo Cradle?”

Rei initially tilted her head in confusion before finally shaking her head. Jin’s eyes perked up for a moment before he tapped away nervously the table with his fingers.

“Is that one of those secrets?” she asked him after swallowing another mouthful. She could see he was hiding something, but he tried to play it off.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well,” she lowered the wooden spoon into the bowl. “Shugo told me about it.”

“Oh, he did?” Jin reached across the table and grabbed hold of the utensil. He quickly scooped out a spoonful of the rice, preparing to take a bite. “What kind of secrets?”

“Just something about books and a library. At the time, we were in the field for a while, and he was upset about something. Seemed kind of odd.”

“Did you believe him?” Jin finally got a taste of the medley of herb and field onion. Rei quickly snatched the spoon from him, readying herself for another bite.

“Yeah, I did. He just sounded really confident about it. After all of the stuff I saw him learn, I couldn’t really argue with it,” she had taken another taste. Jin sat quietly, smiling back at her as she gazed at him curiously. “Is it real?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do they tell you much?”

“Sometimes, but that’s not one of the things they talk about to me,” Jin faced towards the shrine in the distance, trying to take his eyes off the bowl. It was hard to put down, but he had wanted to be generous with her still in distress. “There’s weird stuff that happens, sure, but I don’t see what they would gain from hiding an entire library, that is if they actually did that.”

“So,” Rei interrupted him, “then what’s this cradle I’ve never heard of?”

Jin smiled, showing his human side a bit further. Rei had recalled a few days earlier when he had told her about his interest in cooking and remembered him making the exact same face.

“It’s the birthplace of the Universe,” he uttered softly.

Rei froze in place. Her eyes almost bulged from her head as she began repeating his words over to herself.

“What is the Universe?” she asked after a few moments of reciting. Jin did a double take and lowered his head, laughing at the response.

“It’s everything.” he started while trying to reach over to the bowl for another bite, but Rei had retaliated by giving him a slap across the hand.

“If you didn’t want me to eat it, you shouldn’t have given it to me!” she exclaimed, now feeling cheery for the first time since the ceremony. After a small chuckle, she covered her mouth and added, “I don’t know where that came from.”

“Try to find that place and stay there,” Jin said while he rubbed his fingers together. “I like you there, you’ll feel better.”