FATE: A World All New

I. Japan Bound

        Dante Vale waited outside the meeting room door. The rest of the leading counsel of the Huntik Foundation was inside. Once upon a time Dante was the Foundation's top agent, or Seeker. After a particularly dangerous mission he had been promoted to the board. It was a lot of paperwork and, if he was being honest, the most boring job he'd ever taken. Thankfully he still had his side business as a private investigator to keep him entertained.

The door opened and a man by the name of Metz looked out. "Alright, Dante, you can come in now."

Dante walked in as Metz held the door. He went and stood in the center of the circle. Metz took his seat.

"So what's up, Metz?" Dante asked.

Metz looked at the other board members. "Dante, we've decided it's time for you to go back in the field."

That had happened earlier that day. Now Dante was sitting on a plane, on his way to none other than Japan. He wasn't sure why he was going there exactly. He knew there was supposed to be some sort of artifact that possibly contained a very, very powerful Titan, but that's all he knew. Metz and the other members of the board informed him that a cover job was lined up for him in Japan. A representative of the institution would meet him at the airport and take him to the location. One thing that Dante wasn't looking forward to...the flight itself was over 13 hours.

The PA announced that his flight was boarding now. Dante pulled his bag further up onto his shoulder. It was a smallish bag since he didn't think the mission would take too long. And, he supposed, if it took longer than he thought, he could always just buy more clothes and a bigger bag for the return trip. He headed to the gate. There were about twenty people in front of him but that was okay. He was patient enough to wait his turn. Years of being a Huntik Seeker and a private investigator had drilled that particular virtue into him. It was almost his turn.

An elderly couple was in front of him. As the gate attendant called "Next!" they moved forward. The elderly man gave her their tickets. "Can we have seats that are next to each other please?"

She looked over the tickets and frowned. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kormak, but we don't have anymore seats that are next to each other in first class."

The elderly man, Mr. Kormak, frowned and looked at his wife.

"It's alright, Sebastian," his wife, Mrs. Kormak, said with a gentle smile. She patted his arm. "As long as we're on the same plane."

Dante looked down at his ticket. The Huntik Foundation had paid for it and made him first class. He took a step toward the attendant now. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait your turn," the attendant told him a bit sharply. She turned back to the Kormak's. "I'm sorry but one of you will have to be moved down to third class. We only have two seats left in first class."

The Seeker frowned at the attendant's rudeness. When he saw the look on the Kormak's faces he was even more angry.

"I'll take the third class seat then," Sebastian Kormak said. He looked at his wife. "You sit in first class, Greta."

Greta Kormak wasn't very happy with this arrangement, but she wasn't going to argue. They took their seating assignments and started to walk away as the attendant called for the next in line. That, of course, was Dante.

"Hold on a minute," he told the attendant. He then looked at the Kormak's. "Mr. and Mrs. Kormak, can I have a word please."

Sebastian and Greta turned around. They were a bit worried but they walked back over to see what he wanted. "Yes, young man?" Sebastian asked. He held his wife's hand in the nook of his elbow and placed his own hand over top of her's.

Dante held his finger up in a "one moment" gesture before turning back to the flight attendant. "I'd like to trade with Mr. Kormak. He can have my seat in first class, I'll take his in third."

"I- You-" She blubbered. She was quiet for a moment after, just staring at him. Finally she shrugged and gave him his seating assignment.

Greta released her hand from her husband's arm and grabbed Dante's hand after they were past the gate. She had tears in her eyes. "Thank you so much, young man."

Sebastian was standing beside her, smiling. It was clear to Dante that he was also grateful.

Dante nodded. "Of course." He took out his (former) ticket and looked at it. "If I'm reading this correctly, my seat is next to yours, Mrs. Kormak, which means you and your husband should be sitting next to each other." He held it out to Mr. Kormak with a smile.

Mr. Kormak took the ticket and looked at it. Then he dug in his pocket for his third class ticket and handed it to Dante. "Bless you, young man."

The Kormak's left soon after to get to their seats. Dante watched them go and then realized that the plane would be leaving without him if he didn't hurry.

His seat was near a window. He squeezed in and put his bag at his feet, since it was a carry on. It wasn't long before he met his next seat neighbor. She was a young woman with a baby. Her hair was a mess and she looked a bit overwhelmed. As she put what he assumed was the diaper bag down, it fell over and ran into his leg. The impact didn't hurt, but he was still a tiny bit surprised by it.

"I'm so sorry!" The woman told him. She pulled her second carry on further onto her shoulder and held her baby firmly in one arm as she bent over to pull the bag away from his leg.

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

Once her bags were all situated she sat down in the seat next to him. The baby was somehow still asleep. With all the moving the woman had been doing, Dante was surprised. But he was glad too. He wondered if the baby would be able to sleep through takeoff though. The baby's mother, however, didn't seem as calm. She seemed a little stiff and awkward.

Maybe introducing myself will make her a little more comfortable? He thought. Finally he decided it would. "I'm Dante."

She didn't reply or look at him for a moment. Once she realized he had said something she looked at him. "Huh? What? Sorry, I- I wasn't paying attention."

He chuckled. "It's perfectly alright. My name's Dante."

"Oh! Nice to meet you, Mr. Dante!" She said. She tried getting an arm free without waking up the baby, but she was having some trouble so Dante held up his hand in a kind of stop motion.

"Just Dante is fine."

She stopped struggling and smiled at him. He saw her shoulders relax a tiny bit. "Okay, Dante. I'm Beth."

"Pleasure to meet you, Beth. Is this your first time flying?"

Beth chuckled. "That obvious?"

"No, I'm just more observant than others."

"Ah." She nodded, as if that explained everything.

Dante motioned to the baby. "And who's this?"

"Oh this is my daughter, Marie." Beth angled her arms up a little so Dante could see the sleeping Marie better.

"Well, pleasure to meet you both then," he said in a soft tone.

Beth smiled at him.