21's Legacy

Chapter 12

My daily routine starts by dropping by to Mang Tony's in the morning to check his condition. And I'm doing it again today
He's been out for a week now.
"Hey Johann!" Jean calls out to me as I'm nearing the front yard. "Quick!"
I move fast in anticipation of potential bad news. I entered the house seeing Jean pack her things for school. Everything seems fine.
"Thanks." I say as she walks by me.
"He already spoke to me a while ago asking for water." She said. "But don't wake him up just yet. I think he still needs to have the solitude." She smiles at me and went to go.
Before she could walk out the front gate I shouted from the window, "Hey!" She turns to me, "Thank you so much!" I am very very grateful that she takes care of Mang Tony every night. She had to spend every night while I have to do more cleaning up to the previous battle.
"No problem." She says as she flip her wrist goodbye.
As soon as I sit right next to him, he spoke and asked for another glass of water.
"How long was I out?" He says after drinking his second glass.
"About a week." I say. "I can't carry you to the hospital. Both of us don't have the required documents so I...I just brought you here and...uhmm...tried to do some herbs...which I'm not really sure if they're for wounds like that. So..." I felt guilty. That I can't do anything to help him recover fast. Not to mention that I was the one who gave him the wound at the first place.
He looks over his wounds and was satisfied to have seen bayabas leaves on it. But when he turned to the review the house, he pointed out something at the corner.
"What are those doing here?" He sees me bite my lower lip. "Papaya leaves? Johann, seriously?" I shrugged.
"It was when I called Jean that I found out it's supposed to be bayabas leaves, sorry."
He rubs his nose like he had a headache.
"That's fine...I don't deserve to be treated this way actually." He coughs. I don't know why he coughed. When he notices that I doubted his coughs he says, "Sorry, throat's itchy. Might be because of dehydration."
Okay fine.
There was a very long pause. I thought of something to say but no language could describe the feeling I have today. It feels like I don't have the right to open up what had happened and what will happen after this.
Then after about fifteen minutes of silence, he made it easy for both of us.
"Chiara should've killed me back there. I was stupid." He said looking up the ceiling.
"You have your reasons, right?" I answered. "I want to hear them first before judging you." Have I already judged him? Have I forgiven him? Or do I have the rights to judge him or forgive him? Was the mixture of these words of my response was the right thing to say, or did they not blend and appeared to be bitter instead?
A drop of tear traveled his cheek. "Thank you lad. Thank you so much for trusting me. Thank you so much that even if you hated what I did you'd still want to hear my stories." I think it might have been bittersweet.
"This time, no more lies please?" That sounded more right.
"Yes, sure." He wipes his tears."Where do we start?" Focus, Johann. "Okay...Jethro..." I grit my teeth upon hearing his name, "...was a very good friend of mine. In fact our families are very good friends back then.
"He, coming from a family of Garde and I, from a family of Cephans. It is very natural for our family to claim Cephanship on theirs. All the Gardes on their family was partnered to our family for Cephanship.
"My father, Coheed, is his Cephan. He was the one who thought Jethro the way of the Lorien Legacies. Under my father's baton, Jethro grew to be one of the strongest Gardes in his time." He paused for a moment, then continued, "Okay let me first establish this fact; while legacies are natural to Gardes, it doesn't necessarily mean that Gardes are naturally good in handling them.
"Without proper training and orientation, a Garde may not be able to reach the full capacity of his Legacies and other abilities. Or, he may be able to cause more harm than good in the worst case scenario.
"It is our job as Cephans to guide them and teach them Legacies 101.
"Of course Cephans undergo trainings too, because not all Cephans are meant to handle a Garde. But the lineage of our family is always consistent. Every member of our family handles a Garde each. And I too am expected to handle one on my own time.
"Well aside from expectation...it...it is also my dream to be like my father who's able to train a great Garde too, someday. It was my passion ever since.
"I did my best in school, in training, in everything...all I did is study hard and hard to reach my dreams. And because of that, I didn't marry. Even if I liked someone in my time. I didn't pursue her. I can't pursue her over my dreams."
Something in my mind clicks. "So that's why you never go back to Lorien? All those years. Not even during Quarter Moon."
"Yes. Because I have no one there to go back to."
"You were supposed to handle Threin but since my Mom never believed in Garde-Cephan setting...you were discouraged."
He shook his head, "That's an understatement. I felt like I was robbed. All the most precious things in my life was taken away from me."
"And what about me? Since when did I become a replacement for Threin?"
"You don't get it, Johann. I never expected someone like you to bump into my life. And you are not a replacement. I treat you like my own son." He looks straight to my eyes with enough sincerity.
I didn't buy it anyway. Not just yet.
"Since when did I become your revenge subject?" I said straight forward.
More tears flow from his eyes, "I promised not to lie...so...yes. Somehow I intended to train you to slap Chiara's ego over Threin."
I was hurt to have heard the truth. Not that I didn't expect it, but the pain hurts harder upon confirmation.
"And when I saw how you fought the last battle, and have won it, I could say indeed it was a sweet revenge.
"You were more useful than Threin, and somehow I believe that your strength as a warrior is better than his. In spirit and in action you excelled. Even if you're just a half-blood and he is pure." Flattering, but that doesn't ease the pain that I was just a subject for vengeance. "But I know you're more than that. I've loved you more than that. And I'm so sorry I brought you to this...I'm sorry I..."
"No. It was Mom who brought me into this. Into all of this. Including you." I cut.
He paused for a while then changed the subject.
"I just wanted to serve my purpose. That's all. And if I can't do it under the current Loric system, I'd be glad to be a part of a reformation. Life has been unfair to us Cephans. All of Lorien bows in the presence of Gardes but not to the Cephans behind their successes. And if I can change that...if I had the power to reshape their perspectives..." He shook his head and added, "Oh! Not to mention the fact that there are some egoistic Gardes like your mother who wouldn't recognize the bond of Cephan and Gardes."
"So to get even, you betrayed us? I don't find that reasonable enough."
"It's not as simple as that Johann. I could've just taken another Garde for Cephanship in Lorien. I could've just left our family legacy and married Alexandra. But I didn't."
"Why? I don't get it?"
"I was sent here. He sent me here. He made me swore an oath." there was another long pause, "That's everything I can tell you for now. I swore not to tell anyone. Not even to you."
"No fair." I stood, made a left and right short walks. "I...I need to know!"
"I'm sorry. I can't." He turned his gaze away.
"You have the odacity to betray Lorien and not have the guts to break a promise?!" I shout. "I need to know! I need to know!"
But that's the end of our conversation.