A Soul Divided

Promises

 I woke up just in time for the bus to stop at the cliff where it always did. I yawned and rubbed my eyes softly as I got up. Moka was standing above me with her hand up, obviously about to tap me or wake me up. "Hiya." I said in a groggy voice as I stood up and walked out of the bus. "Was I sleeping for the whole bus ride?" My memories before falling asleep were sort of foggy since I was still half asleep. Kurumu nodded to confirm my suspicions, and, pursing my lips and frowning, I walked towards the forest path that lead to the Academy. "Well, looks like we're gonna have class tomorrow."

As we were walking through the forest path, Moka walked up beside me and tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, I want to talk to you." My left eyebrow lifted upwards on my face. "Well, the Inner me wants to talk to you." She explained to me in a calm yet timid manner, which was pretty typical for this side of Moka. At least, what little I had seen of her before I ran off. "Do you want to-?" I shook my head.

"Much as I missed her condescending attitude towards me, no, I don't really want to talk to her right now. I have to get used to masking my power so I don't agitate the other students." I pursed my lips as I imagined all the fighting my power would probably create; A whole lot of people have over inflated egos in this academy... "Not that I want to sound cocky, it's just... I don't have a seal like you do, so I can't just switch back and forth. Besides, even if it wasn't that..." My eyelids fell as I gave Moka a half lidded and dark look. "I have my own plans to make." I said, my teeth itching at the thought of Danag Everlid. I cleared the man from my thoughts and sighed. "But, enough about that. We should probably go to class or something." I shrugged and kept on walking.

"Y'know, you never really told us anything about yourself, Jason." Yukari said to me from the right. I looked at her and furrowed my eyebrows. "I mean, we really only know your name and what you are. So, how about you tell us about yourself! Let's start with the most basic: Where are you from?" Her voice rang out cheerily, as to be expected from someone as young as her. It still baffled my mind that she was so young, and yet she was in her second year of High School.

"Well," I sighed, thinking back to my childhood as a human. "I grew up in this place in Maryland, called Germantown." I stopped walking and sat down on the dirt, leaning against a tree. "Weird ass place, too. People always called it ghetto and run down, but we were one of the richest counties in the state!" I chuckled for a moment at the memory, a warm feeling burrowing into my heart. "I had a good time there, there was a decent amount to do there. I'm sure you want to know something else, right?" All eyes were on me, and Kurumu raised an eyebrow. "You all want to know if I was born a Vampire or not, right?" There was a moment of tense silence as my words settled into the dirt and mixed into the air as leaves did in autumn. The warmth in my heart was shoved out of the way and replaced by an unsettling frigidness of undying sorrow and regret. "Fine...I guess I would have to get back to this eventually."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Jason." Tsukune comfortingly stated, placing his hand on my left shoulder. "Nobody's going to force you to talk about it." He smiled softly and I gave him a half smile in response.

"Nah...I might as well talk about it." I sighed, leaning back further into the harsh bark of the tree. "Who knows, maybe I'll feel better about it if I do." I collected my thoughts, however painful they were, and took a deep, lingering breath. "First thing's first, let me just clear up a myth: Humans know about Monsters." I heard a gasp and turned to see Mizore with her hand over her mouth. "No, not all of them. Only a select few are trusted with that secret, and only so the rest of the humans don't find out." I pursed my lips and looked around at everyone. It was like their eyes were staring into my soul... "My parents were two of these people. One of the members of the Vampiric government had chosen them. On a condition." The sensation of being turned along with my own screams rang through my head as the memories floated up like freshly disturbed sand at the beach. "Knowledge has a price, and this bit of knowledge had a bit of a hefty price. A then fifteen year old price." I motioned to myself as a telemarketer would a product. "That's how I was turned, and that's why I'm here." I saw mixed reactions, ranging from shock to a sort of empathetic one.

"I can't say I know where you're coming from, but jeez...Do you resent your parents at all?" Kurumu asked inquisitively, her head tilted slightly and her brow furrowed. I shook my head softly. I muttered only one word, a word that, in that moment, held more weight than even Atlas of the Greek legends.

"No." I paused for a few tense moments and changed the subject. "We should really get to class." I murmured as I stood up and walked towards the Academy. My heart felt heavy in my chest, each beat a fist pounding on my ribs, every ounce of blood ice water in my veins. Talking about my family did no good to me, but it only made me more sorrowful and homesick. I felt a tear run down my cheek as I stepped into the building.

That night, I couldn't help but think about Moka, Seeing her again had been something I dreaded, but also anticipated. She would surely have killed me for what I did, yet all she did was get mad at me for not saying goodbye to everyone... I sat up in my bed, looking down at the three jagged scars Kahlua left on my abdomen. "What's her deal, that girl... I've never fought anything like that, anything so...Brutal...And those wings she had in place of her arm...Was that some kind of ability I don't know about?" I thought to myself as I got up and walked to my fridge for a midnight snack. I picked an apple and bit into it, chewing it absentmindedly as I continued pondering my future. "I need to be stronger, still. If I'm ever going to kill that bastard Danag..." I clenched my right fist as rage filled my head at the thought of that manipulating, blackmailing piece of shit. "I'm doing whatever it takes..." I thought to myself as I finished my apple and went to bed.