MTTA: Resurrection

The humans have a saying; that some things are meant to be hidden away, even when I thought of myself as a human I never believed that this saying was true, I thought they were simply weak and frail, and afraid, but I was wrong, and some things should indeed be hidden away forever, trapped in the deepest depths of the nethers and never allowed to see the light of day again, I did not understand the saying because I believed myself superior in both mind and body, and even more so when I was awakened as a creature of myth, but then there came a penalty for my actions, and with it there came chaos, and the world was set ablaze because of me, but how was I supposed to know what was coming? I was blinded by a sense of righteousness and obligation; it was a mistake that cost me everything, I was a fool to believe that there could be peace, I was naive; a child… a pawn, nothing but a martyr. Iceland; Never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined arriving at her shores for any particular reason; I simply never thought of being here anytime at all in my lifetime, but as the cold and foggy night gave way to the first kiss of sunlight across the horizon and the waters began glistening with the promise of hope and freedom, I smiled fondly at her, I was thankful for everyone who had made this possible; so much had happened before we made it here that without my recollection I would have been sure to miss a step or two. We had been out at sea for three weeks, taking the slow route as we gathered more information through various open channels provided by Justin and Jason's usual connections To Gregory who was responsible for the information we received that eventually led to us finding the next captured and sealed Kitsune I was thankful, for Justin and Jason, both of whom I shared my best and worst memories with, both of whom were more than happy to throw away their lives and help me pursue this treacherous path, I was thankful. To all who had led me to this moment, whether I loved, tolerated, hated, or loathed the very air they breathed, I was thankful. "Before us lies the unknown; ancestor, I'm excited, I'm full of hope for success..." I held on to the railing like a lifeline, squeezing it until I felt the metal shrink under the force of my palm as I looked at Shiro who was staring at the land we were blindly approaching. "You are afraid of failure; of losing all that you have gained." Shiro had an aura of humility about her as she stared at the shoreline, and I too was fascinated by what I was seeing; even if I did do the research, the moment that black beach was highlighted by the quickly brightening daylight I felt a strange feeling of hyper-fantasy and a tinge of disbelief swell within me it was a different kind of beauty "This is a beauty I had never expected to witness," Shiro voiced exactly what I was thinking, it was stunning, and that was without even reminiscing on the three consecutive nights looking at the skies as they were captured by the northern Aurora. "What a strange place," Haiiro whispered in awe, sauntering slowly behind me and then taking my hand standing at my side and gasping again. "I do not understand; why would a Kitsune waste their time coming to a place like this, the atmosphere is chilled, and there is far too little in the way of wildlife, in fact, it is doubtful that there is a single yokai here." He complained, pulling his scarf tighter around his neck when we were graced by the cold kiss of what was supposed to be the warmest place in all of Iceland, but considering where the land was I figured this would be the case. "If that's the case Haiiro then they might have made the right decision right?" Shiro asked, and the boy looked up at her with a questioning gaze, confusion visible on his face as she looked back down at him. "Exactly," I added when it seemed like Shiro had no intention of finishing her statement. "The conditions here were perfect for someone who was hiding." I stared down at him with a small smile. "We had been pushed to every corner of the earth by the humans who hunted us down relentlessly, hell-bent on killing and sealing us had there been a single kitsune who decided to fight back there could have been a chance at freedom, but they had been chased for thousands of years, they were afraid, afraid of action; afraid that whatever they did would invoke more wrath on our kind, they failed." I stared back at the black shores of the Icelandic town by the seaside; Vík. "You all suffered because of my mistake." Shiro stared at the sands as the small bay came closer, I hadn't realised but now that I could properly make out the details of the land I was sure I had missed it. "It was no mistake ancestor, you were wronged and you acted on your anger, and your grief, what happened to you… to my mother…" He stopped talking, swallowing his words with a bitter glare at the land before us. "There is no more love nor tolerance in my heart toward the humans." Haiiro shook his head as his tail slowly swerved behind him, fluffed out from the cold air and dancing to nature's melody. "Kay," Justin called from behind us, alerting everyone of his presence as he was accompanied out by his brother and Gregory; who had made us finding this lace possible, apparently there were dozens of sleeper agents for the Bureau in Vik, at least according to his information, so we needed too tread lightly, at least until we found and freed the Kitsune here; wherever they were. Taking into account the presence of Haiiro whom he had already grown used to, Justin gave me a small kiss on my cheek and slowly wrapped his hand around my waist, standing on the opposite side as the cub and looking at the approaching beach. "There is a strange beauty about it as if something is pulling me here, I felt it for a while, but now I am sure that this is the place that I was sensing the entire time." He admitted, and I could say the same as well, there seemed to be some kind of strange pull, it could have been for any reason, but just as he shook his head at the redirection of his thoughts, so I did as well whatever that was could always wait, there was something else to do, something of a priority. "Seiya, have you already decided what you would do if this kitsune is stronger than you are?" Shiro looked at me. "I hate to admit it but you were very lucky in freeing Haiiro first, you are barely strong enough to lead anyone, and when they discover your age there will be a contest of either strength or superiority, kitsune are generally proud creatures, we do not tend to the will of those who are weaker than ourselves, we hate it." She informed me, but that was a thing of the past, I felt nothing of the sort, whenever I met someone weaker than myself… did I? "So," I looked at her with a frown, "Are you telling me that the only reason Haiiro so willingly followed me was because I was stronger than he was?" I asked, looking at the mentioned for his response, and I was slightly caught by surprise when he nodded at the fact, that was absurd, and here I imagined it was because he was grateful for my freeing him. "I am also strongly grateful, I ran, and I hid, and I was caught, I was weak." He stared at his free hand with self-loathe. "I was a failure as a kitsune, I ran away from my problems without a fight, I was cowardly… but you Seiya are strong, anyone who does not follow you is a hypocrite, and a liar to both themself and the world around them, you have done for us what nobody else was willing to do, you are my hero." He squeezed my hand tighter, and as he did Justin also hugged me tighter, and there it came again; that fear of losing everything I dreaded so terribly. "Thanks for saying that Haiiro; it means a lot." I reached for his head and rubbed between his ears and then pinched one of them. "We will soon be in the presence and company of humans, you should probably…" I started but broke from words into silence when a loud bell rang from the shoreline, and in my silence, the child under my arm took the hint and hid his ears and tail, and his face took on a less animalistic appearance, and as he did this so too did I. "We already have accommodations at the hotel, all that's left is to gather more information until we find the shrine." Justin looked behind us when the bell drew the attention of everyone who was on the boat with us. "Finally, after three weeks out at sea, land." Tori; the girl who was a part of the Paris underground prisons clapped her hands together excitedly. "The shore looks kinda creepy though, doesn't it?" She asked and everyone else seemed to agree for the most part. "In a beautiful enchanting kind of way though… I wonder what exactly makes the sand black…" Jason added standing next to his brother as the boat started to slowly turn. "No more fish." Tori chuckled, sniffing the air as he first people came into view; what looked like a small welcoming party, it was cute, but I was sure those sleeper agents Gregory mentioned were among them; people placed there to make sure nobody came too close to the shrine, I viewed them all as potential enemies. We spent no time at the beach, blaming our unenthusiastic reaction to their land as being tired from being at sea for weeks on end, so we forewent most of the pleasantries and went straight for the on foot, just to get a little leg stretching done, in truth though we simply wanted to have a little time to process what came next. "This is no Jackson hotel, that's for sure." Justin looked at the complex as we approached it after walking from the docks. "Does that even matter?" I raised a brow at him, and he chuckled. "I can't help but make comparisons." He answered with a chuckle, I kept forgetting that he was every bit a businessman as he was a Canidae, he simply couldn't help himself, it was like comparing American soccer and European football and calling them different when you and everyone else knew that they were the same, just different by name. "It is kind of unnerving to think that any number of these people we are so leisurely passing could be enemies." Haiiro held on to my hand. "If we kill them all then there would be no reason for suspicions will there?" Shiro suggested with a slight chuckle and I looked at her from my peripheral with a huff, after two full weeks around us she was on edge against humans again, it was like a relapse. "There have only been humans so far, I have extended my nose as far as possible, but I have yet to find a single being that was not human, not only that but there doesn't seem o be any alchemists or wizards here either." Jason spoke up, and Justin nodded, apparently he was also up to something. "What about you doctor?" I looked around and the old man shook his head. "Nothing either?" I asked surprised, that was indeed troubling. "It's possible that the Bureau has this place under tighter lock than we imagined. "Is it a good idea to continue then?" Gregory asked looking at us I could practically feel the pulse of his heart. "I think I said it before, but this land is heavily guarded because of the Kitsune that was sealed here, but if you sense nothing at all, then it might be a willing trap for the unassuming." He pointed out, it was solid reasoning, except he seemed to forget quite often that we were the very depiction of unassuming, there was me, Justin and Jason who were Canidae alphas, Tori was some kind of salamander and bat hybrid, basically a demi-dragon, and then there was doctor Cidelle who was a powerful alchemist with skills specific to years of Yokai study, we were rounded, as for Lisa and the rest of Jason's pack, they were back at Shallow Falls watching over my uncle, while most of the staff from the hotel had survived and were working in branch Jackson hotels across Europe and in the far west as well. "Don't worry little man," Tori looked at Gregory with a smile, bumping him on his shoulder so hard he almost fell over. "If anything happens I'll take personal care to ensure you don't die." She chuckled at him, but that only made the nervous man even more timorous, she was once is prisoner after all, even I wondered about her, but at least for the time being she was behaving herself, so long as she remained docile and didn't behave out of sorts there was nothing to worry about.