Loyal Riptide

Part 2 Chapter 12

       Shiro sat on a small arm chair situated in the corner of his room in the passenger ship they are using to bolt to West Gate. Asa's speech and story managed to guide her newfound army and people into the right direction and it wasn't long after that they were already on their way to the human kingdom to save Dorian's home from the bombs that lurked under the kingdom. He gazed out through the small rectangular window that overlooked the crushing waves against the ship's haul, his face feeling lighter and cooler now that his bangs has been cut away.

He brought his hand up and placed it over the coral vines that are embedded around his empty eye socket, the one thing he feared most. At least, that was what he thought he only feared up until he had to use the power from his eye to stop Taura's army from killing them all. A knock on the door followed by the creaking of the door rang in his ears and snapped his attention to Gordy entering his room. Up until he had to murder an entire army that he knew he had more than one fear.

Gordy gently closed the door behind her with a click and her long hair tied up into a low ponytail swayed from the swift movement. "You haven't shown up to dinner tonight." Gordy put simply, standing at her place near the door. Shiro looked at her dead in the eyes and spoke softly, "all those people I murdered, was it really worth it? Am I a monster?" Gordy glanced to the floor before staring right back into his empty eye socket and meeting him at his side near the arm chair. 

"You're not a monster, Shiro. If anything we all are since we all had to take lives. But without you we all would have died and you know that." She explained, sitting on the arm of the chair. "You have to stop holding everything in, you told me everything about you but now I am thinking you're hiding something. What is it?" Shiro stared at the floor and sighed, "I might as well tell you every piece of twisted lie I told and unravel it..."

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       Shiro's booted feet trampled through the halls of the academy shouts filling his ears coming from behind with every step the shouting became louder and louder. He veered around a corner and he found himself in the main auditorium with the raised pedestal surrounded by a pool of water in the center of the large room. He tripped on the last bottom steps and tumbled to the wooden floor near the pool of water with hands gripping the collar of his dark coloured vest. 

They shoved his head under the crystal clear waters and despite being able to breathe under water he still had a fear of it from almost choking on a glass of water at home one time. He flailed his arms around and thrashed his legs to try and kick the bullies away but to no prevail. He gasped and swallowed a lot of the pool's water before being thrown to the floor and kicked at.

He became paranoid now as the professors always told them to not drink the water in the pool as they didn't know what would happen if it were ingested. He covered his face with his arms and braced as the kicks landed against his body but only his eye seemed to hurt. He then tried to kick at their legs and grabbed their legs with his shaking hands only to have them kicked back and crunched against the floor. At this point he was scared and angry and just wanted to go home and not make his mother worry as she was always making sure he was okay. 

He slid his hand from under the boot of the bully and he shot his hand out to his leg but his fingers didn't wrap around the bully's leg. Coral vines sprouted from his finger tips and was tightly wrapped around the bully's leg where the bully now began to wince in pain before crumpling to the floor and crying. Shiro let go of the vines and the bully rolled up his pant leg to see that his leg was badly bruised. Shiro got up from the floor shaking and bounded up the stairs and into the now crowded hallway with curious students wondering what all the shouting was coming from.

He passed students giving him disgusted or horrified looks as he ran passed to get out of the maze of hallways and people to find the refreshing air of the outside world. He didn't understand why they were all looking at him that way as he wasn't the one hurting a poor helpless kid, but at this point he felt as if his mother was going to worry anyway.