Blood Bonds

Part 13 - Charity and Compassion

The next day, Eclipse lurked down the Head Counselors' hall, hands clasped against his chest, his anxious gaze trained to the cold, tile floor. He knocked on Nutmeg's door, then stepped back as the squirrel opened it and invited him in.

"Later today, we're going to a soup kitchen." The squirrel began, sitting back in her office chair. "Do you know what those are?"

"Kitchens that serve soup?" The brooding alien sat in his chair as well, crossing his arms and folding his knees to his chest.

"Essentially yes, though it's a little more than that. We're going to a mobile kitchen down in Metropolis that serves soup for free to the homeless and the poor."

"We're taking care of creatures that can't even take care of themselves?" Eclipse rolled his eyes. "What a waste of time."

"It's called an act of charity. Do you know what 'charity' means?"

The alien shifted somewhat uncomfortably in his seat. "No?"

Nutmeg glanced down at the clipboard on the desk before her. "It has a few meanings, but we're going to focus on two of them for today. Charity is the voluntary giving of help to others, as well as kindness and tolerance in judging others."

"Why?"

The pink squirrel tilted her head. "Pardon?"

"Why help others when it's best to keep to yourself?" The alien frowned. "Why help the filth that roams the streets when you're well off enough to fend for yourself?"

"You've already answered your own questions earlier. Because they cannot afford to take care of their own necessities. Any small act of kindness lifts their spirits and encourages them to continue on."

"That helps us how...?"

"We have the ability to aid those in need. The weak never go out of their way to help others, while the strong are well enough to take care of themselves as well as others who need to be taken care of." Nutmeg spoke carefully as she relayed her thoughts to him. "We are proving that we can take care of both ourselves and of others in need, and that we are strong-willed enough not to feel disgust when seeing people beneath us, but instead sympathy and the desire to help bring them to our level."

"That..." Eclipse struggled to find the words, stunned by her explanation. "...was the most repulsive thing I've ever heard anybody say."

"What about it repulsed you?" The squirrel was unfazed as she leaned back and awaited his response in interest.

"The weak never go out of their way to help others? That's exactly the opposite of what I was taught growing up." The alien lowered his feet to the ground and sat forward in his chair. "The strong are strong, and the weak are weak. The strong fend for themselves while the weak die off and make room for the strong to create more. It's how natural selection works."

Nutmeg smiled and nodded, her finger thoughtfully resting on her chin. "Ah, I see. That's a very valid point. Black Death was right when he taught you that."

He goggled at her, surprised and yet still slightly insulted by her mentioning of his dead master. "Really?"

"Yes. That's how natural selection works. But that's also what makes Mobians and humans so different from Black Arms, I suppose."

"What does?"

The squirrel leaned forward. "We have a unique characteristic called compassion."

The alien squinted at the Head Mistress suspiciously. "What's that?"

"You love your kind, yes? You'd do anything to keep them safe and to help your brothers and sisters grow stronger?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel awful when you see them suffer?"

"Yes!" Eclipse exclaimed with some distraught.

"That's how we feel when we see anyone in need of help, regardless if they're our species or not. Compassion is the sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. And we long to help those in need, because we know we'd want help if we were in their position. Mobians and humans, pack-bond instincts aside, aren't as worried about 'survival of the fittest.'"

At her last statement, Eclipse sat back in his seat, contemplating her words. He looked up at her wall, surveying the motivational posters and the cheery drawings taped up high, before dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Mobians and humans don't have to worry about survival of the fittest because they're not the last of their kind."

"True. But being in charge of how the future generations of the Black Arms turn out might have its perks, as well as being under G.U.N.'s protection list of endangered or extinct."

"I don't like having to depend on others to know my species is safe."

"We didn't enjoy knowing ours was in danger." She shot back. "And yet here I am, trying to help."

Eclipse uncrossed his arms. "And here I am, with G.U.N. holding a treaty over my head."

"Treaty's actually not that bad. I reviewed it last night." The Head Counselor straightened the clipboard. "Unless fighting and violence is so deeply embedded in your genes that it's impossible to be civilized every once in a while."

"You're right, fighting and violence are embedded in my genes." The alien's tail flicked in bemusement. "What are your other trainees' excuses?"

"Oh, there's an exception to every principle..." her voice trailed off as the Head Mistress' eyes swerved to her computer monitor, where a new email had popped up. She rolled her chair over and read the message, before turning back to face him. "F.V.R. exists for that reason. Trainees here are only here because they've veered onto a dark path, and they need aid in redemption and in returning to ordinary life."

"What if they don't want help?"

"The we let them serve out their sentences in prison if they don't plan on changing their ways. G.U.N.'s not the most ethical of military forces, but F.V.R. balances them out. So be good or be bad, your choice. The consequences are what makes the choice matter."

A knock sounded at the door.

"That must be the new trainee," Nutmeg commented. "Just sit tight a moment, I need to get one of the other counselors to give him the tour."

The pink squirrel got up from her seat and headed over to the door. She opened it and stood in the doorway, taking a second to look over the newcomer. After a moment, she smiled.

"Hi, Juke."