The Mak Toras Chronicles

Chapter 4 - Appointment

Tomorrow came sooner than expeected. A long night of sleep passed by as it was just moments after shutting his eyes. How quickly it all went, how sparsely it was arranged. Everything winded together in his thoughts on the car ride over. Buildings along the street flew by him in a never ending trail of travel as he disappeared into his mind. Memories came flooding back of both good times and bad, smiteful moments in his life. In car rides, all Tanner could really do is day dream through his imagination or what he can recall of past events. It was his form of entertainment, lacking any mobile device from his older siblings. He would occasionally borrow from either Chad or his oldest sister, Karina, whenever mind games weren't good enough. Sadly, they weren't here for him this time. The trip to the doctors was dedicated to him alone for an annual check up. Usually afterwards, he would get a reward-that is-if he sat through his shots without running away. For all Tanner knew, and hoped, he was only there to check vitals. The image blurred out of sight as they arrived to their destination. Upon arrival, he could already see the magnificence of the buildings outside architect; nicely paved walls and a path towards the entrance carved with a sharp detail to match the sidewalks for those who walked passed the trio as if they were independent from the crowd. Inside was a quiet lobby subject to the sound of holographic keyboards and waiting patients that tapped their feet to pass the time. The artificial intelligence waited in her seat as Tanner and his parents came up to counter. "Welcome to the VDA (dubbed as the 'Vale doctoring administration'), how may I help you?" The woman spoke with a synthetic voice. Artificial intelligents were common in the world of Remnant. Ever since the industrial age, humans worldwide invested their expenses on new technology to improve the lives under it and themselves. With the distribution of AI's, humans were able to multi-task efficiently and much more effectively than in years prior to the new coming age. "Yes, I'm here for my son's appointment" His mother said sincerely. With the dialing of the keypads, the AI filed their appointment schedule through, complying shortly after. "If you head over to room 23 you'll be all set for a check up" The hologram said with an enthusiastic smile. With their check up recognized, they then set off to find their designated room with Tanner racing down the hall, gazing at every room number as if it was a photo gallery. Arriving shortly, they settled inside without delay, and to whom the doctor was waiting. He turned his attention from his laptop to the family with a small delay as they entered. "Ah, good morning" said the doctor in a lightened mood, turning to the boy whom the appointment was set for, "All set for check up, little man?" Tanner nodded and quickly hopped up onto the bench and waited, of course as many children normally would, couldn't exactly sit still. His ecstatic behavior took a hold of him, gitty with anticipation as his parents relayed to the doctor about past events of doctors prior to the current appointment. "I'll be sure to check for any signs" the doctor said, closing the door to separate Tanner's parents away from the check-up. It was procedural for those in the medical department, until assistance from the parents were needed. Until then, the doctor was free to test upon his patient with what in particular seemed to cause problems or any sign of irregularity. "Alrighty. First we're going to start by checking your respiratory vitals and continue up from there. Does that sound good?" As according to planned, Tanner nodded, knowing exactly what was expected of him. The doctor began with a standard stethoscope, pressing and listening for the young minor's heartbeat and breathing. Tanner immediately felt goosebumps rise up all over his spine as he retained a steady breathing rate. Everything to him as far as an ordinary check-up was a practical cake-walk. All he really had to do was wait. However, the doctor took longer than expected when listening, analyzing certain areas repeatedly, giving a concerned expression. He then proceded to move upwards with the needed tools. The look upon the doctor's face appeared as a raised eyebrow along with a baffled expression throughout the entire routine. This made it painfully obvious that something was out of the ordinary to the young boy. Next after checking Tanner's breathing, was his hearing and vision. Upon examining each eye, the glew a faint orange from a prime teal as the doctor guided a dimmed an orange light infront of each eye. They seemed to have no end when gazed upon. In fact, they had no pupils when the orange glare outshined the surrounding iris like sun rays breaking through the clouds in a never ending stream. The hearing test was no less ominous as Tanner responded to each 'bleep' in the headphones in utter silence. Morever, he even picked up the sounds normal humans and faunus couldn't hear. Each sound resonanted in his ear clearly, putting his hand up to the 'bleeps' as if it were a listening game. The test went on longer than the given procedure was required to do; everything was reexamined carefully with prejudice as he moved on. Lastly, came the young boy's mouth. It felt weird having to bear objects inside his mouth, merely responded with swift eyes, darting from one side of the room to the other as he waited patiently for it to be all over. Looking within, there seemed to be nothing unusual at the essence until the doctor gazed over at his teeth. Each set of canines were shaped like daggers, leaving the other remaining flat. Concerned with it all, the doctor checked again to make sure it was all correct. As terrifying as the results confirmed, the abnormalities were profound and unable to be ignored. "You did wonderful, little guy. Everything about you is all healthy" said the doctor, knowing Tanner was unaware of his "gifts". At this point, the little man was delighted to hear the news. It would be most pleasing to inform his parents. But before he could even get up, the doctor left, cautioning him to remain inside the room.

They weren't so easily dazzled to catch wind of the notion of the check up duration. It took longer than they had expected. Check ups weren't suppose to be longer than lunch time had presumed. Quickly and rapidly, paranoia came into their minds, yet not to extent of total anxiety but rather more than concered. "Are you sure he's alright in there?" Asked the mother, raising a brow. "Nonsense. He's doing fine. I'm sure of it." Just then the doctor came out with an expression of worry across his face. "I may have found something you may want to see" the doctor claimed, guiding them away from the room but not too far. Out of sight of prying eyes and ears, he complied the results to each of them in silence. "Your son...He's far more than I had realized; farther than any of us know. To start off, His breathing seems to be taking and holding double the amount of oxygen we as people would normally take in." Without doubt, it was made clear that something was out of the ordinary. He continued, "the hearing test was rather interesting. He was able to receive sounds that no one, not even dogs, could hear. I tried to see if even the lowest frequency would top it, but he passed with flying colors. His eyes are where is gets easily noticable. That orange you saw in his eyes...have the other doctors you visited said anything particular about it?" They shook their heads negatively. "That's why we came to you" said the mother. "Hm, very odd" the doctor replied, "anytime I were to shine a light infront of each, the rays bounced back like mirrors. It's like he seems to have some-bioluminescence or something." The father stuttered in surprise. "A-are you sure it's just a colored iris?" The doctor shook is head, knowing full well what he'd witnessed. "No, it isn't anything like that all. It's like someone took a helium gas light with Tanner's eyes and twisted them together. Was he born with it?" They looked to eachother, recalling what they saw that day. After a long pause, the mother replied, "Yes". The doctor grew uneasy, but had to study it more another time. "I'll look into it in research. Meanwhile, his teeth look as if they were built to be a carnivore. Do you carry faunus blood in your heritage?" They replied with a head shake negatively once again, claiming to be perfectly human. Some humans in fact have been known to carry faunus DNA yet not enough to be considered a full fledged faunus. "Something doesn't quite add up...I never had to deal with this before. Other than his-abnormalities, he's in a green light. Nothing else wrong with him. Although, with your permission, I'd to take a sample of his blood to make sure." Both hesitated to respond. "If you can't then that's fine. All I'm saying is you should keep a close eye on him for now on." It was just as he feared. He was neither human-entirely-or faunus, but something rather mysterious than anyone could comprehend.

In a matter of time, the appointment was finished and filed into the records. Out of the many they had attended to, there was one doctor at least willing to take heed of what was on with their son. Tanner had no awareness of the situation at hand. He wasn't informed of the matter, yet he could obviously tell something was up just by the expressions on his mother and father. There was more to the check-up than he could even regulate in his mind. Nevertheless it was over with. He wouldn't need to revisit until next year. With that, he dashed to the car swiftly infront of his parents. Before he had the chance to get in, he gazed far down the road at the sight of a mob gathering by a dust store, petitioning signs of all sorts. "Mom" Tanner asked in dismay, "what's going on?" She gazed down the road. "Another White Fang protest, honey. Don't wirry about it." The name uttered in his head as dark, ominous echoes: "White Fang...White Fang." He had always heard of the White Fang throughout his familu. In a nutshell, it was an organization of faunus lead by determination of equal rights and means by force-an unethical way to earn respect. They were notoriously known for many riots through Vale including dust robberies, building fires, and hijacking cartel raids-especially accountable for mass murder amongst the people. His older brothers described them the scum of the people while his other relatives shared a similar view. In fact, his family's company and the White Fang had been at war for several years now. Aside from the mobs he saw before him, the White Fang were much more militarized than the ordinary faunus. Their troops were bred to fight and kill without mercy in the face of those who'd plead for their life. Local mobs were just a common occurance and the foothold of possible new recruits. The conflict itself seemed never ending; They always kept coming back, no matter how many victories were won. At any time in the year, he was always kept up to date on battles and other important events within the family. As for Tanner, so long as they didn't assault him, he paid no attention to the half-human hybrids. With the safety of the infrastructure on his side, he settled within the back seat and dazed off and out the window as they journied back home, trailing back into his mind cinema to pass the time once more.