The Return (95)

The battle between Akasan and Jack the Ripper had finally came to a close.

Narumi returned to Arbok City and quickly regained control over the country.

On their return, all of the city's citizens left their houses for the first time in months to cheer on for Judah, Kawa, Narumi, Mayumi, Annya, and the now-returned Agaki and Kuro.

Akasan was the last to arrive. He walked the way back.

By the time he came back, it was starting to get dark.

But Arbok City was as bright as it ever was, with shining lights and festive music from people celebrating.

At the entrance two guards bowed to him and handed him a shirt and pants. He put them on and walked into the city.

When the people noticed Akasan had returned, everyone gave him a standing ovation as he walked through the streets.

Akasan felt a warmth in his heart. He wasn't used to this much praise.

He'd gotten to the Royal Palace, where Mayumi found him walking inside. She gave him a hug. "You scared me out there."

Akasan ruffled her hair. "I know. Sorry."

She let him go. "No, it's okay now, you're safe, and that's all that matters."

Akasan continued walking forward. "Where's Kagami?"

Mayumi's face fell. "Oh... um... she's... gone. She died shortly after we found her. There was nothing we could do."

Akasan stopped. His breath became shaky as his lips trembled.

He balled his fists. "Nothing you could do...? Liar. How could you have let her die!!!" Akasan became hostile as he spun around with tears in his now-purple eyes.

Mayumi raised her hands in defense and stepped back. "I'm sorry!! You know I would never lie to you!! Her injuries were too severe! We didn't have anyone who could heal to that degree on such a short notice!!" Mayumi had tears in her eyes too.

Akasan shook with an ocean of emotions. He backed off. "Show me where she is." he said softly.

Mayumi led him to one of the infirmary bedrooms where Kagami's body laid down peacefully on the bed with a white cloth over her face.

Akasan knelt down on the side of the bed and held Kagami's hand.

His teeth clenched. Tears streamed down his face. "Kagami... I'm so sorry...!!"

He sniffed his nose between every few words.

"I'm sorry...! I left you here all alone for so long! If you can hear me right now, I just want you to know that I'm so, so sorry!!"

Akasan cried more than he ever did in his life.

"I beat him, I beat Jack. He won't be hurting anyone else ever again. I promise. But... even after everything he's done to you, when I had the chance, I couldn't kill him!! But I wanted to so bad... I'm just weak!! I'm weak..."

The crying continued as tears and snot ran down Akasan's face.

"You believed in me. You believed that I'd come back no matter what. You believed in me from the very beginning...! And I'll always carry that with me! For the rest of my life!!"

There was a pause for a few seconds.

Akasan smiled through the tears. "You know... I died today, Kagami. I was really scared. It was painful... and guess what? I met my mother. For the first time ever, I saw her. Did... did you meet yours too?"

Akasan put his face in the bedsheets, crying loudly.

Mayumi stood in the hallway outside the door to give him some privacy.

Narumi walked down the hallway and noticed her. "What's going on?"

Mayumi sadly tilted her head towards the door, and Narumi immediately understood. She leaned against the other side of the hallway quietly.

After nearly an hour, Akasan walked out of the room, rubbing his eyes. "I'm okay now."

Narumi smiled. "I'm glad."

Akasan looked both ways. "Where's Reiko...?"

Narumi's face lit up. "I left her with a VERYspecial person. Come on!" She started jogging down the hall.

Akasan was confused, but Mayumi smiled at him, so he followed. She took him to the throne room.

A woman sat on the throne with Reiko in her lap.

Mugen, Oliver and the rest of the Royal Guard were behind her.

Mugen winked at Akasan.

The woman was very beautiful. She had long, flowing white hair, pale skin, and light purple eyes. She wore all white.

She was majestic, in every sense.

"Who's this?" Akasan said softly.

Narumi held her hand out. "Meet my mother, Athena."

Akasan's eyes widened just slightly. "Athena? You mean like, the queen?" He slowly got on one knee. "Your Highness."

Athena chuckled. "Just Athena is fine. I really wanted to express my appreciation for what you've done for this country Akasan."

Reiko jumped off of Athena's lap and hugged Akasan.

Akasan shook his head. "No, it's just what I do. It's nothing. Really."

Athena smiled. "Oh, but it is something. I consider all of the people in this country as my own children. You protected my family, thus I am eternally grateful. Narumi told me all about your lineage. That your ancestors are descendants of the Royal Family. So as of today I can no longer allow you to be a Knight of the First Order."

Akasan jolted. His hopeless expression frowned a little. "What? Why? I'm the only Omega Knight left."

Athena held her hand up. "I had the idea of opening up a training academy. So we can find new recruits for the Knights. You will be the head of this academy. I trust your ability to find raw talent in our youth."

Akasan frowned even more. "So that's... my new position?"

Athena smiled. "Well, *one* of them. Your new title will be the Honorary Prince of Arbok."

Akasan stood up. "Eh?"

Narumi looked at him. "You're not directly related to us, so we gave you an honorary title as prince."

Mayumi smiled. "And you know what that means? Your new home is here!"

Athena motioned for one of the guards to do something.

Akasan looked at him. This guard was dressed differently. His uniform was all white instead of the Royal Guard's regular purple and white. He had a serious face. He pulled out a necklace and handed it to Akasan.

"This is Asnoth, my most trusted guard. That necklace signifies royalty. You should wear it at all times." Athena said.

Asnoth stepped back to the line.

Akasan looked at the necklace. It was a silver rope chain with a blue jewel hanging on the end. He put the chain on and tucked it into his shirt. "Thank you." he said dryly.

Athena frowned. "You don't look too happy about it."

Akasan looked at her. "Sorry. My... friend recently passed. So I'm not feeling too well right now."

Athena nodded. "Oh... how tragic. It was rude of me to bother you during this time. I apologize."

Narumi walked out into the hall. "Come, I'll show you your room."

As Akasan walked through the halls, he saw workers re-painting and re-decorating the palace's interior. "Where did Judah and the other two go?" he asked.

"They went back home not too long ago. Judah said that he did his part to help you. He said it'd be better if he didn't say goodbye."

Akasan looked down. "Oh. I see."

Narumi showed him to a room on the second floor, a place he'd never been to. "No one else lives on this floor. It's completely untouched."

Akasan walked inside. The entire floor had shiny wooden flooring, and blue walls with gold trim at the top and bottom. The halls were decorated with vases and clean tables that didn't have a speck of dust on them.

Akasan looked around his room. Not as large as he thought it'd be, but lavish nonetheless. It was ten times better than his old place. He took it all in. "Thank you. But can I be alone for a while?"

Narumi backed out of the room. "Uh, yeah, sure." She closed the door behind her.

Akasan remained stationary for about thirty seconds before walking to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were droopy and reddened from so much crying. He looked like a mess.

As he stared as his reflection he imagined Kagami standing next to him.

"glurp"

Akasan immediately became nauseous and threw up in the sink.

Nil covered his body as he sunk further and further in despair. "Who do I have left...? No one... Nobody understands me anymore..."

Akasan's eyes suddenly opened wide. "This world can burn."

--

Akasan didn't leave that room for several days.

Morning came.

Akasan woke up in his bed. He got up and noticed a box by the door. He calmly walked up to it and opened it up. Inside were his regular clothes.

"Hey, that was nice..." Akasan said.

He got his clothes, then went into the bathroom that was inside of his room to shower.

He came out of the bathroom and stretched. "How long has it been, seven months since I last had a real shower?"

Akasan left his room and walked downstairs. He didn't see anyone around, so he went outside. He ran into a large blue horse-drawn carriage. It stopped right in front of the entrance. The coachman tipped his hat to Akasan. He nodded back. The coachman hopped off of the carriage and went to open the door.

A man in royal clothing stepped out.

Akasan recognized him. "Frost...!"

Frost smirked. "You've gotten bigger. I heard you'd become a prince not too long ago.

Akasan scratched his head. "Could you not remind me? I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this. But why are you here? Are you a king now?"

Frost nodded. "I'm here to talk about something important. It can't be out here."

Akasan pointed behind him, "Well, come inside then. The throne room is empty right now."

Frost looked behind him into the carriage and motioned for someone to step out. It was a man in a mask.

The mask was black, with two slit holes for eyes and nothing else. His hair was a dirty blonde and he wore clothing similar to what Frost wore. He followed Frost and Akasan inside.

Akasan felt an unstable presence from the masked man. He was hiding his energy, but Akasan could still tell something was off.

The three of them walked into the throne room.

Akasan closed the doors behind him quietly.

The masked man found a stool and sat on it. He sat crouched forward, his black-gloved hands resting underneath his chin. He seemed intent on Akasan, who was slowly getting creeped out.

Frost looked around the room. "It feels like an eternity passed since I've last stepped foot in this room. Brings back memories." He looked at Akasan. "Anyway, here's the short of it. I originally planned on coming to make the Northern Territories allies with Arbok. It would do good for the both of us. But this... *man*, insisted on coming with me because he wanted to meet you in person. I have no idea how he could've possibly known you exist."

Akasan frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

Frost looked at the man suspiciously. "Some of my men found a secret cave inside of the mines. It led to them finding a large blue iceberg with him frozen inside. I took him back and gave him to my science team, who specialize in such findings. It took them months to melt the ice. They wanted to run tests. But to our surprise, he was still alive, though I can't imagine how that's even possible. He was old and shriveled up when he was frozen, but now it seems like he was never even there. I don't know anything about him, other than that he wanted to see you. So I agreed under the condition that I watch over this meeting."

Akasan frowned, barely getting the gist of it, but he nodded.

The man held his hand out. "Sit."

Akasan looked around. "Where... huh?"

A stool was right behind him. He sat down. "Was this always here...?"

The man didn't move. "Look at me."

Akasan looked at him. His mask was black all over. He couldn't see his eyes. Just two pitch black holes.

Then Akasan's body jolted from the core of his soul. He grunted, clutching his heart and bending over, groaning.

Frost became hostile. "What did you just do?!"

The man held his right hand up. "I promise you, I did nothing to harm him. His soul simply resonated with my own."

Frost frowned. "Resonated? What are you on about?"

The man returned his hand to underneath his chin. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Akasan slowly sat back up. "Yeah. I think so." He was breathing heavily.

The man spoke. "Anh atum halum ruhare kristi."

Akasan frowned. Did he hear correctly? What language was that? Then he felt another jolt. But this jolt wasn't painful.

His eyes diluted for a second, then turned a glowing purple.

Akasan looked at his hands. "This feeling..."

The masked man chuckled. "It's real... such a pure Nil you have."

Akasan looked at him sharply "You know about Nil?"

The man nodded. "I'm the only one who can teach you how to use it."