The Spectre

Chapter Twenty

The Black Knight stood on the edge of the building, crouched low as he spoke quietly through the radio. "Capture them and await my command!" The Black Knight nodded to himself, flicked the radio off, and crouched even lower as he watched the trio. "I can't believe they made this for him..." Lauren whispered, Charlotte on her shoulders as Trae stood beside them, all of them staring up at the golden statue of a Spectre. "He was...the bravest man I knew," Trae said mournfully, patting Lauren gently on the back as Charlotte kept rereading the note from her father, the paper now creased from being folded several times. "He wrote that just before he left, I think. He must have snuck it into my pocket while I was unconscious," Trae murmured, seeing Charlotte with the paper. To his surprise, she handed it back to him, "You look after it for me...I need to be with mommy."

Trae hesitated, and then he slowly took the paper and fed it back into his army pocket. It had been hours since the funeral service, but Trae had worn his army uniform because it seemed more respectful to his fallen comrade. "Come on," Lauren said, turning away from the gold statue, wiping water from her eyes as the skies darkened, and then she said to Trae, "We better get you to the hospital. Your appointment is in twenty minutes." Trae nodded, pivoting on his crutches and then hopping along with Lauren and Charlotte, who had gotten down from her mother's shoulders and was leading the way across the low-cut grass and onto the concrete pavement. Already, Trae could see the outline of the hospital in the near distance. Charlotte didn't even try kicking leaves on the ground or stepping on sticks to see if they would snap, she just walked quietly forwards with Lauren and Trae close behind her.

"Are you...ok?" Trae asked after several minutes passed, only the wind being the comforting sound that soothed them both. "I'm not sure," Lauren said quietly, remaining silent for more minutes until she finally said, "War is so...pointless. I've lost the person I love most in the world." Trae nodded as he swung next to her, the hospital nearing as the two walked, "He did what he thought was best to protect you. He killed the General and disrupted their Army. He saved us on that battlefield." Lauren seemed to agree with Trae, no matter how saddened she was, "Do you think the war is over?" Trae sighed, unsure himself, "I dunno, Lauren. Zack has given us real hope, though." Lauren stopped suddenly, as did Trae, and they looked to their right to see the playground they used to play on with Zack as kids.

Even now, Trae envisioned the younger him, Lauren and Zack playing and climbing on the plastic place, laughing in the rain and jumping in puddles to see who could create the biggest splash. "If I ever get married, I would wish to be as happy as you two were," Trae whispered, and Lauren chuckled, "We were happy, weren't we?" Lauren suddenly looked down, tears stinging her eyes as she also whispered, "I would give anything to have him back." Trae put a comforting arm on her shoulder and whispered, "Me too." Then, after staring at the playground for a couple more minutes, they rushed to catch up with Charlotte, the hospital now in plain view, unaware that someone...someone in black clothing with a mask around their face and a large scar across their left eye was watching, sword sheathed to their side.

***

They entered the hospital, spoke to the receptionist, and then headed down the many corridors and hallways, rounding yet another corner and finding themselves in a wide corridor that had two people seated on chairs outside a room. "Ah, Trae," said a black man in army uniform, a brown beard growing on his face as he stood up and immediately shook hands with Trae. Trae shook back, realizing the second person was Jade, and the man said, "I was wondering when you would get here...I'm Richards, the new Captain of the United State Alliances...and this is my other colleague, Jade." Trae stepped back and nodded at Jade, "We've met." Richards looked surprised, looking around at Jade before turning back to Trae. "Ah, that makes it easier...I came here to ask if you were still willing to fight the Zodiac Empire."