Determination (20 page)

“No, it’s fine. Go ahead.” As strange as this was, she didn’t see any harm in it. Plus it gave Daio a chance to earn some of her trust.

“Thanks. It’s not like you can’t lay me flat anyway.” Sassy cleared her throat. “Anyway.” He pulled Roxie into a hug and kissed her forehead, then took her shoulders in his icy hands.

All the gears ground in her brain as they tried to fathom Daio doing such a thing after trying to kill her just weeks ago. Unlike her mother, she sensed no malice in him; just a love of mischief.

“It’d make me happy to see you two happy together. You’re one tough Aigis. I think you’re perfect for Aerigo.” He playfully slapped her rear. “Yep, definitely perfect.”

Roxie went wide-eyed.

Raising his arms in surrender, Daio backed away. “Don’t hurt me. I couldn’t help it.”

Sassy cuffed him in the back of the head again. “Don’t do things like that. She doesn’t know you very well.” She turned to Roxie. “Sorry, Roxie. Stupid here didn’t mean any harm.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” she said dryly.

“You should. He’s a very sweet man when he’s not being stupid.”

“Hey, now,” Daio said, “don’t go ruining my macho man image.”

“You did that by yourself,” Sassy said cooly.

Daio sucked in air through his teeth. “Ouch. You got me there.”

Sekiro said, “Roxie.” The Numina’s gaze was serious. “I’ve taken the liberty to summon most others to us. We’ll have just one more stop after this. Right now many souls and Numina are headed this way. They want to meet you and help you.”

“Who?” Roxie asked.

“More Aigis from all over the universe.”

Daio backed away from Sassy. “Might want to give me some space Sass. You’re not the only one who wants to make sure I atone for my transgressions.”

She moved closer. “No one’s allowed to kick your ass but me.”

Holding up a hand, he backed farther away. “Let them. Trust me. I deserve it.” His eyes began glowing blue and so did Sassy’s.

The energy sprites began spreading in all directions. Kiowa sat regally beside Daio and Firsos positioned himself beside Aerigo. Huldra took one of Sassy’s hands and eased her away from Daio.

“Look away if it’s too much to bear.”

“You expect me to just stand by and watch people hurt him?” she snapped, wrenching her hand free.

“Yes,” Daio said unhappily. “Please don’t interfere.”

Dozens of people of many races, species, shapes, and sizes appeared among the milling Numina, headed straight for Roxie and crew. Most of them were humanoid, and a few otherworld animals, both humanoid and animal looking exotic, all creatures in pairs, minus those with animals at their sides.

Daio stood with his head bowed, jaw clenched, arms hidden under his cloak of chains. Sassy gazed at him longingly with Huldra’s hand clamped on Sassy’s upper arm. Sekiro stood before Roxie, Aerigo, and Firsos, ready to meet the new arrivals, who formed a loose semicircle around the six of them. Three pairs of Aigis and Numina approached Sekiro and inclined their heads respectfully. All of them were tall and had skin colors from all over the rainbow, and gazed at Roxie with interest. Roxie took them in with awe. So many aliens, all of them fascinating to look at. Under better circumstances she would’ve loved to get to know all of them and visit their worlds.

An Aigis with midnight blue skin marked with yellow stripes and white spots stepped forward, its four eyes, one pair above another, studying Roxie. “Greetings, Aigis,” he said in a male, whispery voice. “My name is Ron. I and the others have come to lend you our aid.”

Roxie felt like she was staring at a tropical fish in humanoid form. Ron had a wiry build clothed in sparing pieces of golden armor. “My name is Roxie, and I appreciate all the help I can get.” Maybe not the smoothest thing to say but she meant it. Hopefully her craving for help didn’t make her look weak. She needed people to believe in her like Aerigo, Daio, and Sassy did. If people doubted her, she’d doubt herself, and that wouldn’t be good for her chances when the time came.

“Fear not,” Ron said, “we don’t doubt your power. You’re an Aigis, one who has unlocked Frava. That is no small feat.”

Hearing that brought some relief. “Thank you. I’m determined to do what I have to do. Now, how--?”

“The race I was born from reads emotions in auras. It’s one of very few powers that has carried over in death. And speaking of death,” he added, eyes narrowing and gaze falling on Daio, “you have unwelcome company.” Ron marched past Roxie and a dozen other Aigis followed, their eyes glowing red.

Grimacing, Daio closed his eyes and braced himself.

Part of Roxie wanted to yell at them to stop and leave Daio alone. He was sorry enough for what he’d done. However, she’d vented her anger on him, so how could she deny others the same?

Aerigo wrapped his frozen arms around her and tried to turn her back to Daio. She grabbed his arms. “Don’t.” She turned so Aerigo stood with his back to Daio. “This is harder on you than it is me.” His eyes began glowing blue and he looked over a shoulder.

Ron cocked a fist and hammered Daio in the head, laying him flat, facedown. What looked like wisps of glowing smoke shot up from the impact point and evaporated. Ron picked him up by the chains and Daio held onto his shoulder as he dragged his feet back under him. Another humanoid Aigis knocked him down before he could stand up straight, and Daio let out a cry of pain as another glowing wisp shot upwards and evaporated.

Whimpering, Sassy tried to run to Daio, but Huldra wrapped both arms around her and whispered solemn words. Sassy’s eyes began glowing blue.

Ron and the second Aigis hefted Daio back to his feet and clamped their arms around his, holding him up for blow after blow as a procession of Aigis took turns beating him up. Glowing wisps shot out of him with every blow and soon he grew transparent, more insubstantial than those who hadn’t siphoned any energy from her. Maybe the beating was robbing him of energy like when she’d--

Roxie’s stomach churned as she recalled having to run her sword through her mother.

As terrible a person Roxie understood Daio had been, it was still hard to watch. She inwardly cringed at each blow, and the longer it lasted, the more she wanted to yell at them to stop. She realized she’d been leaning towards Daio when Aerigo pulled her back. She held his hand, despite the cold.

The last Aigis in line hit Daio three times, then spat on the ground and stormed away. Ron and the other Aigis let Daio go and walked away as well. Daio fell face-first on the stone tiles and lay there, gasping for breath. Sassy ran over and helped roll him onto his back.

“You stupid, stupid man,” she whispered tearfully.

“That beat some of the stupid out of me,” he whispered back, clasping the hand holding his face. “Help me up.”

Sassy kissed him on the lips and, sticking her hands under his arms and chains, helped him back to his feet. He wavered and Sassy hugged him close from behind. She looked at the semicircle of Aigis and Numina, and her eyes shifted from blue to red. “If any of you try to hurt him again, you’ll be answering to me.” She spoke with such vehemence that Roxie felt a twinge of fear.

Kiowa padded over and nuzzled Daio, licking his hand once. He patted the wolf’s head.

“I’ll be alright, girl,” he said.

Ron stood before Roxie. She let go of Aerigo’s hand and held herself at her full height. Ron gazed at her with all four eyes full of empathy and she felt herself wanting to slip into her emotionally detached state, but she held herself in check. She wasn’t itching for a fight; just to buffer herself from more emotional pain.

Ron said, “Do you not know the full extent of his treachery?”

“He was commanded against his will by his master.”

“Yet he warned none of us of this. Instead, he killed every last Aigis you see here. It is because of him that
you
are the only one left.”

“Aerigo and I learned how to unlock Frava because of him.”

“And who do you think taught him?”

Roxie thought a moment. “I’m guessing you. Why? If you hate him so much, then why bother teaching him?”

Ron’s gaze shifted to Aerigo. “Desperation. Aerigo’s fear of his own power blocked us from reaching out to him. Daio urged us to give him a chance in our place. Against what we thought was better judgement, we taught him Frava, and now one so young as you has unlocked that power. We thank him for doing what we could not, but one good deed doesn’t excuse a lifetime of murder and treachery, commanded against his will or not.”

“I understand,” Roxie said. “He has to pay the price for what he did. Just please hold it off until I’m out of here.” She understood they were angry. They had every right to be. They were in the presence of their murderer. Even she was angry with Daio for having tried to kill her and Aerigo, but was she interested in making him pay for it over and over? No.

Ron looked at Daio. “If you were being commanded against your will, then why did you not see it fit to warn us of your intentions?”

Daio said, “Do you really care? After all these centuries, does it really matter? What’s done is done. Help Rox.”

“I would like to hear it,”Sassy said.

He stiffened, then gently removed her arms from around his torso. “You might not find it in your heart to still care about me. I’ll always love you no matter what. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Spill it, stupid man.”

Sighing, he looked at the ground. “I’m stupid
and
selfish. Yes, I was commanded to kill all of you, covertly, so other gods wouldn’t get suspicious, but I could’ve said something. Yes, I was commanded to not speak about the prophesied war, but that’s the funny thing about commands. They’re very specific. Nexus never forbade me from telling people run or stay away from me.”

“Then why not warn us?” Sassy said.

“Like I told Aerigo before I got him to kill me: at first I willingly went along with Nexus’s plans. It sounded impressive, mischief on a grand scale, and it gave me a sense of purpose. But the more Aigis I killed, the more I got sucked into his agenda, and the more I felt like I was doing the wrong thing. The killing stopped feeling gratifying and I didn’t want to go along with it anymore. Nexus caught wind of my unhappiness and tantalized me with the promise of never commanding me against my will gain, so long as I helped finish what I started. Do you have any idea what it feels like to act against your will and be powerless to stop yourself?”

Ron narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

“I was desperate enough to believe him and I acted on that desperation, doing my best to convince Nexus that I believed him, and to convince myself that, deep down, I didn’t suspect he was lying.

“When I had about a dozen Aigis left to kill, I confronted him, asking him if all this killing was really necessary. And that’s when I realized he didn’t care what I wanted. Never did. Nexus would’ve had me killed and then created another Aigis to pick up where I left off. I doubted that Aigis would have been raised and mentored by Aerigo, wouldn’t have the moral compass I tried so hard to pretend I lacked. That Aigis wouldn’t try so hard to avoid directly carrying out Nexus’s commands.

“So I took it upon myself to hunt for the key to unlocking Frava while being forced to keep killing in secret. I was determined to unlock that power and kill Nexus. I didn’t give a damn about his stupid prophecy anymore.” He looked squarely at Ron. “So why not warn anyone, you ask?” He let go of Sassy. “Because I couldn't afford to die. I had to find a way to unlock Frava and save myself. I put myself before everyone else. What I wanted varied over the centuries, but at one point I kept going back to the idea of Frava. Unfortunately, my ends never justified the means, and I now have to carry the burden of so many regrets. I know you don’t care, but I’m still sorry for what I’ve done.”

“I think he’s just sorry for having failed,” one Aigis said.

“Wow, that’s a low blow,” Daio said. “Believe what you want.”

“I believe he’s truly sorry,” Roxie said to Aerigo.

He squeezed her hand. “He is.”

“So Aerigo,” Daio said, “now you understand why I kept pestering you to teach me Mana.”

Aerigo nodded. “I’d thought you were just power hungry all those years. You should’ve said something.”

“It was hard enough begging you to teach me. My pride got in the way of revealing more. I never wanted to be the bad guy.”

“I know.”

“Are you done?” Ron snapped.

“If you want me to be,” Daio said with a shrug.

Sassy grabbed Daio’s chains over his heart and pulled him close, blue-glowing eyes scrutinizing him. “You are one stupid man. Why didn’t you say anything to me either? I would’ve done anything to help you.”

Daio swallowed. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell you that I was going to have to kill you one day because you’re an Aigis and my master wants you dead. Besides, Aerigo unlocked Mana after his wife died. In some screwed up way, I was hoping the same would happen with me, but no. I did nothing but cry for days and days. I wanted to kill myself but I was too much of a coward. On top of that, I had one last shred of hope invested in Aerigo. I’m not very good at giving up. Can you ever forgive me, Sass?”