Before Border

Saving Meedem...Kind Of

Jin boarded the Trion ship that would take his family and many Trion soldiers to Meedem. His parents were in the main control room to the ship, so he saw this as an opportunity. Jin jumped out of his chair, and snuck his way into the compartment where Trion soldiers were kept.

They were deactivated now, so Jin could tamper with the settings. He turned them all to be the weakest they could be, then returned to his seat in the ship. He could see out the window that they were nearly to the Gate to Meedem.

All he could do was pray the the Meedem humans had discovered Trion.

****

"TSUJI!!!!" Inukai cried out to his best friend.

"What?" The younger boy responded, drawing a flower in the dirt with a stick.

"What is that?!" The 6 year old was scared out of his mind. In the sky right behind Tsuji, a giant gaping hole opened, revealing purple-ish darkness, a ship coming out from what seemed to be nowhere. Tsuji turned to see the same spectacle.

Tsuji screamed, and flew into the arms of an also petrified Inukia. The ship loomed over them, shadows cascading down their faces along with tears of terror.

Suddenly, a black dot could be seen falling from the ship. As it got closer, that black dot was clearly a human.

Jin landed in front of the two boys, sheltering them from the sight of the ship.

"Hey, hey." He cooed when he noticed the boys cowering away from him. "It's ok. I'll save you." He said, and the boys nodded, still scared.

Jin made eye contact with the olive-eyed, dirty blonde he didn't know to be Inukai yet. Something funny erupted in his chest, and his heart jumped. He didn't know why, but now wasn't the time to try and figure it out.

Jin took the hands of the black haired boy and the olive eyed boy, running with them to a nearby set of trees. He left them there, returning to where they had been to kill a Bamester that had been placed.

Jin sighed after doing so. He hated using his trigger. And he wasn't very good at it.

All of the sudden, he heard the sound of Trion blade hitting Trion soldier, but it wasn't his own blade.

"SHINODA, BE CAREFUL!!" A voice yelled. Jin realized that Meedem had discovered triggers, and how to use them as he watched a few skilled fighters take down a group of Marmods. He let out a sigh of relief, and looked back to see that the two boys he had rescued were gone. He bounded off into the forest to try to find them before anything happened to them.

****

Pain. Jin felt pain. His head pounded, and his body ached. He felt cuts sting all over his arms and legs, and could feel the breeze where his pants would normally cover his shin.

He was lying on his back on rough ground, but he could overhear voices speaking about who could only be him.

"He has a trigger, but he's too young to have been a part of Border." The voice who warned 'Shinoda' earlier spoke.

"It can only mean one thing. He's a humanoid neighbor." An old, wise voice spoke. Jin suddenly panicked inside. What if his father was right? What if Jin's side effect was wrong?

"That's nonsense, Mogami." Jin guessed this was Shinoda.

"Whatever. Let him take the child if he thinks he knows what he's doing." A woman said angrily. Shuffling could be heard, 3 sets of footsteps moving away from Jin, and one coming towards him. Jin struggled to open his eyes, and get up to run. Suddenly, a blurry face appeared in his sight.

"Hey, buddy. It's ok, don't fear me. I won't hurt you. I want to save you." The wise man said. Mogami is what Shinoda had called him.

Something clicked in Jin with those words. He had said the same thing to the boys he tried to save earlier. Jin trusted this man, for better or for worse. The man smiled once he saw Jin relax, holding out his hand. Jin struggled to take it, but he did, and the man pulled him up.

"Call me Soichi. That'll teach Shikora." He laughed, and Jin smiled. It was unheard of to call a stranger by their first name.

"Soichi-sama-" Jin started.

"Ah, ah, I didn't say Soichi-sama, just Soichi." The man interrupted.

"Uh-Soichi, what happened?" Jin asked, already knowing the answer as to why the city was broken down, remnants of explosions and war everywhere.

"We were invaded by who we call Neighbors. They live in another dimension of sorts, but I'm pretty sure you already know that." Jin's face turned to an expression of fear as the man walked him away from the rubble towards the outer parts of the town where gates couldn't reach from what Jin had seen in the plans for invasion. His father left them on his desk.

"Oh dear, it's fine. Your secret is safe with me, and so is your trigger." The man said, pulling it out of a pocket on his utility belt. "What would you like me to call you?"

"My name is Yuichi Jin. Jin is fine. I never liked the name Yuichi." Jin said. He was named after his grandfather, but he never wanted to speak of his family again. He didn't know what he would do, or where he was going, but he would never go back to his family unless it was to avenge the clear number of deaths they caused.

"Okay, Jin. Where are your parents?" The man asked, and this time he looked a little scared.

"I'm not like them." Jin let a tear fall down his cheek as the make helped him walk. "I don't want to see them again. Besides, they're gone. Gone to Kyokou. Their home. My home is here now." Jin said, scared to be alone. But he wasn't. Soichi was with him.

"Oh my my. I always wanted a son. Do you want to live with me? You can become a Border agent. Special Elite class. How about it?" Soichi asked. Jin nodded, still crying.

"Thank you." Jin cried, hugging the much larger man.

"No need to thank me. It will all be better soon." Soichi patted him on the back.

Jin suddenly saw the future take a turn for the better. The one thing on his mind now was the olive eyed boy he had saved. Something about him seemed important. Was he okay?

Jin had no way to know. He didn't understand why he cared so much. He just did.

****

"I've never seen such an advanced trigger. Jin, you saved Mikado City from another large scale invasion just by having this." Soichi said as Jin walked into his study.

Soichi had dissected the trigger part by part, examining each one carefully.

"The reason I'm here was to save Meedem from my parents. I guess I did it somehow for the future." Jin laughed. He had just finished showering, and he wore clothes that Soichi had picked up for him on the way to his house.

"Yes, in a very big way. Your Trion level must be high to handle a trigger like this, right?" Soichi asked, and Jin sat down across from him in an extra office chair.

"No, because of this piece here-" Jin held up one of the small pieces, "Trion usage is cut down, but the power of the blade isn't altered. I can explain how too, this is 1st year knowledge." Jin felt at home working on triggers. He did it in school, and always got perfect marks.

"Jin, this is amazing. You have so much potential. As a technician and a fighter, you have so much to tell me. I have so much to teach you." Soichi said, and Jin smiled.

"Thank you." He said again, and Soichi shook his head.

"Don't thank me, you'll always have me to come to. I'll take care of you, and you never have to go back to your parents if you don't want to." Soichi said, and Jin felt the warmth in his chest again, but this time in a different way.

He didn't know what this was, the feeling he kept getting. But he liked it, and wanted to learn about it. Jin knew with Soichi by his side, he would always be safe.

His side effect told him so.