Dripping Away

Chapter 13: Old Friend

        I remembered the first time Mom ever started to spiral into madness, the first time I ever cried for help from someone else. I was young then. The rain mixed into my tears, and I ran and ran and ran until I fell into a Six soldier. That was when I believed in them, and I asked them to do something for Mom. For me. The result was that Mom would be neutralized, and I had to look away as they shot her down.
     "The Giants will come back," she mumbled. "It's in the water. It's in the water."
     That was when Ikalanig would go out on patrols. That was when he was good. He pulled me into an embrace and made sure my eyes were in his maple leaf scented shirt. He didn't want me to see her die.
     "Neutralizing target."
     The shot was easy to hear even through Ikalanig's hands. He grimaced as he watched, and I heard the body thump to the asphalt in a final, dreaded sound. I didn't have to look. I didn't want to look. I had known what Trelos did to the body, and I had seen dead bodies before when Mom and I walked through the streets. Back then, I didn't understand why she would willingly drink the water or why she let the Six kill her in the streets.
     Ikalanig leaned down to my level to focus on me. "You're going to come with us now, okay? We'll take care of you."
     I nodded along, following him through the ruins of the rain-ridden town.

     I suppose sudden wakefulness in a cell was shocking to some, but I had slowed the moment the chains on my arms came into focus. I wished I was with the Giants longer. They were soft, the land there rainless, and all of them accepted me with open arms. But I had to come back to the physical world, where the wounds on my body had ached and my mind was frazzled with what felt like a fog over every single brain fold.
     No one came in for a while, and I suspected they didn't need to. There was some force in this room that kept me from using my powers, so I was no more a danger than before the Giants took me in. That still made me dangerous, I guess. My hands were chained to a wall above a rock-hard bed I had the luxury of putting butt grooves into, and I was forced to face a large window that looked out to the city below. Only a few skyscrapers were visible through the fog, even fewer were illuminated by actual lights. The night was very, very dark when the rain clouded the very  light that kept the world lit.
     I didn't have to see the others, but I could feel them. Out there. I was surprised the Six didn't get the others, too, but I didn't question Ikalanig's methods. I never did. Whatever he planned, it always came to fruition regardless of the methods he tried, so I suspected that my friends would be here soon enough.
     "Did you hold council with the Giants?"
     I hadn't seen him walk in, but maybe he was always in the room without my notice. He opened my prison door and walked in with a delicate gate. He hated this as much as I did. We were close, and he knew just about everything to get under my skin. I could do the same to him, but we both seemed to silently agree right then that we were better than petty arguments.
     "Yes," I told him honestly. "But it was more of just conversation than any direction."
     "The witch is like that, I suppose," he grunted. He pulled out a chair at the far desk I hadn't noticed, sitting in front of me with a glare in his eyes. I'd consider it disappointment.
     "I'm sorry," I muttered out loud.
     "Sorry? From you?"
     "About Takatat."
     His grim face slacked at the name, a melodramatic frown cast as some reaction I should have expected. He didn't seem to move for a few seconds, which made me think he had gone into statue mode. I knew him well enough to know he did this when he had to process every little detail through his head before finally saying what he need to say. Those times, when I would get scolded and I would bounce back like an entitled brat, were probably way better than anything I had experienced afterwards.
     "I'm sorry too," he sighed. "For a lot of things."
    "You've lost your way," I said. "It doesn't hurt to backtrack now."
    He laughed a little, knowing those words were once his. "I want to tell you everything, but I'm afraid this will be just like... Takatat."
     When he said Takatat, he swallowed a lot of guilt. It was both of our faults then, and now all of this time had passed ans we were just now admitting it to each other. But why? We had confrontations when I joined Mantortek, when I worked for Ranll, and even as a Storm Child. We had years and years to get everything to get off of our chests. And now...
     "I'm going to unchain you," he said. "Can you cooperate with me?"
     I had no reason to refuse. The Six stronghold was hard to sneak out of, let alone fight your way through. I let him take my shackles off, and he didn't even attempt to force me out of the door. As expected. I followed him, though, and I kept my eyes on the back of his head as if I was that same busted up child that came asking for help for Mom.
     "You never told me what you guys did with her," I said.
     "Huh?" he started. It clicked in his head after a moment, and he closed his eyes. "Well, we buried her of course. That was before... the deaths got out of control."
     "Where?"
     "Somewhere at one of the fallen churches. Kinda similar to the one you used to pray to when we went on important missions."
     I wondered if I could find her. It surprised me that I never got the chance to ask or even attempted to ask where Mom was buried. Maybe later, I told myself. Now we were walking up a staircase to the observation deck, and I knew that this was more important than anything else. When we finally reached the top, the rain dipped away from the awning slowly and perfectly. It was like a scene from a movie.
     "You remember when I first brought you here, and you were too short to see over the railing," Ikalanig smiled. "I remember you being mad about it."
     "Yeah. Now look at me," I jested. "I'm too tall for my own good."
     "You grew up fine."
     "Yeah, I guess."
     Silence fell between us as we both seemed to clench our fists and darken ourselves to what felt like some pride bullshit.
     "I have a lot to say. About the Giants," he sighed. "I figured the observation deck was a good place in case... your electricity got out of control."
     I rolled my eyes. "Considerate."
     "I know you want to kill me. You've made that clear before, but just hear me out right now. Please."
     "Ika, it was never about killing you. That's what you've never understood," I grumbled.
     "Then what, exactly? What was joining the most notorious gang, fighting against me with science, and helping the fabled Giants about?"
     "It was about saving you form your own madness." I crossed my arms. "It's always been about that."
"So, scarring me like this was the answer."
"No," I said simply. "That was just a solution."