Chapter 11: Without Destiny
Have Fate Without Destiny (有緣無份) is a Chinese Proverb on how karma brings together relationships, but free will determines where it shall go. In this case, to have fate means that a couple will encounter each other, and without destiny means they will not end up together.
- Annette Hebert, PhD.
The Dynamics of East-Asian Cultural Ethos
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1993, Tokyo
The large transport craft hovered over the City of Tokyo, directly above the Imperial Palace. As Chinese soldiers storm the holy grounds, gunning down palace staff and security officers as they go, a lone eunuch serenely waltzed over into the inner sanctum of the Emperor of Japan.
When he entered the private area of the Imperial Family, he saw the aged Akihito calmly standing before the corpses of his entire family. By the looks of it, mothers smothered their children, and fathers slit the throat of their wives. The menfolk had then committed seppuku.
The Eunuch made an approving noise. "So, you had them commit suicide. Noble, and traditional. I respect that,
Heika."
The Emperor of Japan turned around and glared at the leader of the Yangban. "It was better than letting them fall into your hands, Master Li. I am surprised that you're still alive."
"Being made an eunuch through sorcerous ritual has its advantages."
"Your practice of that black art is most foul. The
Old Families would disapprove."
"They waste their power doing petty tricks, fearful of seizing true power. The age of the old ways are done,
heika. Your father and that Hitler boy made a last attempt at ascension- but how did that go for Japan? Cowed and humiliated before the white men, who burned your cities, raped your women and indoctrinated your children. Pathetic."
The two scions of the
Old Families stared each other down, before Akihito calmly walked over to an altar. Upon the altar was a familiar package.
Li Gong-Gong's breath hitched. "Oh my. That is the
real artifact isn't it, not like that fake you peddle for the masses and guard over by ignorant priests."
"I had the sword transferred from its hiding place when I felt your
Ki entering Japan's threshold." Akihito replied as he opened the package and withdrew the almost primitive Neolithic era sword, fashioned from white metal.
Li Gong-Gong nodded his head. "The Yamato Dynasty is the absolute master of the Home Islands, none can dispute this. Still, the Chrysanthemum Throne has weakened as of late, do you think you can face me, boy?"
"Against an Apostate like you?" Akihito gripped the
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi by the hilt and shifted into a stance. "Easily."
With a burst of impossible speed, he stepped forward and brought the ancient weapon down upon the Eunuch, who immediately sidestepped with preternatural agility. His long nails reached up and deflected the chipped edge of the blade, sending green sparks sizzling into the air between the two.
"I do this for the greater good." Li Gong-Gong explained as he rolled quickly to avoid a swipe of the deadly blade. "The parahuman parasites must be controlled."
"A sound argument, if one ignored the fact you have set yourself on this dark path for centuries."
"Short-lived men like you, Akihito, do not grasp the nobility of the path I walk."
Akihito gritted his teeth. "Short-lived men like me do not offend against Heaven. The
Kami will deal with the outer path entities as they see fit. Who are we mortals to attempt things outside our station?"
Li Gong-Gong laughed. "Idiot. I have practiced sorcery for centuries. I know the truth that you short-lived fools will never understand."
He caught the edge of the Kusanagi with two fingers and tore the blade from the Emperor's hand.
He quickly turned the blade around and stabbed Akihito in the heart. As the Emperor sank to his knees, the Eunuch leaned in and told him the truth.
"Gods don't exist."
He walked over the dying corpse, pleased with his prize. The sword that cut the burning grass shall make a great ritual tool indeed.
As he left, great gouts of fire exploded from the back of the dead Emperor, incinerating his corpse and those of his family. It blasted through the roofs of the Imperial Palace and lanced across the heavens, creating a phenomenon not dissimilar to the Northern Lights.
Everyone in Tokyo, screaming civilians and fighting soldiers paused to glance at the unusual phenomena. Most did not pay it any mind.
The Gong-Gong paused on the steps outside the palace and muttered. "And thus end the line of Jimmu."
Suddenly, a great
Qi shone brightly in the horizon and his eyes widened. He saw a girl- glowing with the power of a trillion stars.
"Impossible!"
+++
1993, Kyushu
Annette woke with a gasp, panting. It was dark and the light breathing of Kenta suddenly cut off as he woke up as well.
"Annette-chan?" Kenta's comforting arms wrapped around her. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine." She said, patting his arm. "Just a bad dream."
+++
The television broadcast begin and his voice was heard throughout Japan and beyond.
"People of Japan, this is acting Prime Minister, Kaneda Hasashi. I am the last surviving member of Prime Minister Genbu's cabinet, which was completely annihilated.
"We did our best, but there is no longer any point in resisting. As of a hour ago, I negotiated for the surrender of Japan to the Chinese-Union Imperial. They have generously promised to protect many of our rights and privileges and to respect our autonomy where possible.
"I ask that all Japanese military forces and parahuman elements to stand down. Let us not fall to the level of the common terrorist- we can be civilized about this. Nothing will change- you will still wake up and keep your jobs. You will still have a life and our beautiful Japan shall be here and now, forever.
"All parahuman elements, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, sex or age are to report to the nearest authorities for transfer of command to the C.U.I. unfortunately, this is non-negotiable. For the sake of your country and your family and friends, I beg you to surrender yourselves. For parents with parahuman children, you must hand your children over immediately, or find yourself in violation of the law.
"And finally- all foreign nationals that are not Japanese or Chinese or could reasonably claim descent from either must report to the nearest authorities. You are hereby expelled from Japan. You have a month to put your affairs in order.
"Japanese who have the ability to migrate to other nations may choose to do so, you have a month to put your affairs in order before your citizenship is permanently transferred to the C.U.I. Please speak to the Ministry of Immigration for details regarding how this shall be done. Parahumans are forbidding from migrating- they must report to the authorities for assignment to the Yangban. Again. I urge you to not resist. That is all. Huang Shang Banzai! (Ten-Thousand Years to the Emperor of China!)."
+++
"Your puppet does an excellent job, Gong-Gong. The Japanese commoners are accustomed to authority, see how they hasten to obey, trusting us absolutely. It would be sad if it weren't to our advantage" The Japanese Business man spoke with approval. He was seated in a small conference room, surrounded by other powerful Japanese men and women. Amongst them were generals and admirals, business tycoons, bankers, lawyers, lawmakers and yakuza members.
The Gong-Gong sat at the head of the table and smiled at the shadow government he assembled to rule Japan. They had all been subverted slowly over the years, agreeing to betray the security of Japan in order to hand it over to C.U.I. All of them would live like Kings. They would have more power than they would know what to do with.
Inwardly however, he was extremely anxious. His attempts to locate the source of the mysterious
qi had turned up blank. He knew however, it was somewhere near Kyushu, so he had his agents scouring the island for anything unusual.
Could another Scion of the Old Families be hiding there? No, that qi is not human.
It also wasn't parahuman. It dwarfed even Scion. The Gong-Gong had seen the Golden Man just the once when it flew over Beijing to rescue a stray dog from being run over by a car. The
qi of that abomination disgusted him- by all accounts it was a terrifying energy, however it was so scattered.
If the Gong-Gong could compare Scion's Qi to any other being, it would be the mosquito. The mosquito was supposedly a creature that contained only a fragment of the human soul. A damned soul subject to a mosquito rebirth, according to scripture, was divided into thousands if not millions of fragments, with each shard being reborn as one mosquito. Only when every single mosquito that it was reincarnated into has died could its soul be reconstituted into a whole.
Scion was like that mosquito, a massively alien, but ultimately pathetic lifeform. A gestalt existence that emulated the functions of a higher lifeform by layering millions of weak, simple,
animal qi together.
The average parahuman, although carrying pieces of Scion, emit a stronger and more vital Qi. Humans, although simple in comparison, had a broader depth of experience and emotions- they had a stronger
mass of qi. Scion was like that same mass of qi, but stretched over a vast expanse of space. Seemingly stronger, but actually very frail.
Take Scion apart and he was basically a mosquito. He was a cosmic joke and the Gong-Gong will see him crushed. Unfortunately, although a joke he may be, he was still very dangerous. A stretched ore of iron can still make a sword. And a sword was much more dangerous than an ore.
Parasites can kill much larger animals- and Scion was the sort of parasite that could threaten the entire world despite having the spiritual essence of an insect.
If he could locate the source of that mysterious
qi, he would be able to destroy Scion, he was certain of it. After all, who but he have the experience to save the world? He was unmatched in sorcery- did not the now extinct Old Families proved this, each one falling to his power in their turn? He was the last of the Old Families. He would be the Master of Mankind. It was his destiny!
The Gong-Gong grabbed a nearby mosquito out of the air with movement too quick for the mortals in front of him to follow, and squished it as he listened to his shadow government explain ongoing operations. A Japanese media executive described the successes he has been having with news broadcasts designed to sell the current situation to the average Japanese.
+++
Kenta came home with a grin and showed Annette a document. "I am approved, thanks to your help. My mother's application is still going through, but there's no reason they will reject us."
His girlfriend nodded. "Good. If it comes down to it, I'll marry you. That'll speed up things on the American end. The sooner we leave the better, if they start asking your coworkers or your managers, they'll catch you."
"Yeah, my entire team went underground, we're all passing as civilians and our former managers have agreed to keep their mouth shut."
Annette was uncomfortable with that. If even one Solar Ranger was captured by the Yangban or if Kenta's managers talked…
"I trust them. It'll be fine, Annette."
"Maybe we can ask Daichi to silence your managers."
Kenta looked aghast at the suggestion. "What!? No, don't even joke about that Annette."
"I wasn't joking. I will do anything to protect you." She looked him in the eye and begin to cry. "I can't lose you."
Kenta grabbed Annette and pulled her frame to his chest, hugging her with his whole being, resting his head over her own, and their cheeks touching. They stayed like for several minutes, savouring in the warmth they provided each other in these uncertain times.
Kenta Annette broke apart and frowned. "It's so annoying that I can't use my credit card. They froze the accounts of the parahumans. Luckily, they keep a separate account for parahumans, or my identity would be blown."
Annette's face paled. "Kenta, they have ways of tracing where your money goes- and if they see that the Green Solar Ranger has been transferring his money to your civilian account."
Kenta frowned. "The connection goes through overseas banks- and the C.U.I definitely can't get them to reveal information like that. Even hacking them will bring down the attention of Western Tinkers and Thinkers."
"I don't think the people who
invaded Japan on a whim gives two shits about what the West thinks, Kenta-kun."
"Good point. The sooner we get out of here, the better."
+++
As Kenta slept besides Annette, he reached over into his wallet and pulled out a small diamond ring. It wasn't exactly expensive- but it was the meaning that counted.
I will propose the moment we are safe.
He placed the ring back into his wallet and went to sleep, dreaming of a better future.
+++
Two days later, Kenta burst into their apartment, panting, eyes wild with panic.
"They got Daichi. We have to go now." Kenta grabbed her arm and pulled her into their room, he quickly went over to the closet and begin to pile clothing into a large suitcase.
"What!?" Annette could only gasp in horror.
"Daichi's gang- they had someone who is in cahoots with the Chinese. He reported about the situation with my trigger- it was all over the news and too well documented. Japanese government records also confirmed a cover up. They dug and figured that we must have something to do with it."
As Annette threw her clothes into the large suitcase they had prepared the other day, she asked the question she dreaded to hear an answer to.
"What about Kaasan. What about Daichi?"
Kenta didn't answer.
"Kenta…"
"We can't help them Annette. We have to survive."
He turned towards her, eyes filled with tears. "Kaasan told us to run. To forget about her if this ever happened. She's not parahuman, she'll be fine."
Annette nodded. They could fight against a literal dystopian government with superhuman agents. It was suicide. She packed faster.
A mere hour later, their apartment was empty.
+++
It was the fourth day of the two on the run. They slept out in the woods, in a simple tent Kenta had purchased from a local camping store.
"There is talk of boats carrying refugees to Thailand. For a price. A day's walk from here. That's the one we will take."
"Wouldn't they know?"
"The C.U.I haven't found out yet. It's all hush hush."
Annette settled back down. It was hard sleeping these past few days- she never even considered that she would be a refugee. She suddenly felt really bad for all of those refugees fleeing Africa due to parahuman warlords and terrorism.
As she settled in to sleep underneath the full moon however, the sky turned blood red and she felt her breathing slowed…and then stop. All colours begin to drain from the world and all sounds vanished into a damning silence.
She was completely paralyzed. And then suddenly, she stood beside her body. She blinked in confusion and looked down at her unmoving form. Was this some kind of parahuman power? Did I trigger in my sleep?
"What is this?" Her voice was strange, it echoed with an unearthly twang.
She looked down at her translucent hands…and arms and clothes. "What the fuck. Kenta, wake up!"
Her boyfriend did not stir from his slumber. She leaned down to rouse him, but her hands passed right through him.
"What."
Looking closer, she saw that he wasn't breathing either. In fact, nothing was moving. A leaf that was fluttering in the wind had frozen in midair. As if time had stopped.
And then suddenly a great shadow loomed over. She looked up and screamed at the disfigured and flickering entity, whose eyes were flaming and red.
"I FOUND YOU." The entity screeched. "A WHITE BITCH. YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF THE QI YOU CARRY!"
It swooped down and wrapped it's foul energy around her and she screamed as it burned her body.
"GIVE IT TO ME!" It roared, tendrils of black energy began to stab into her- each thrust was like her nerves were being set on fire. The pain was impossible to describe and she felt her throat bled as she screamed her ethereal voice hoarse. She would have pissed herself if she could have done so in her incorporeal state.
"Kenta! Save me."
Her boyfriend- and time itself, remained unresponsive.
+++
The Gong-Gong shook as he sat cross legged in meditation. He opened his eyes and hollered in glee. "I've found her!"
His astral projection had finally zoned in on the source of that terrifying brilliant Qi, and he would consume it for himself. Raising a clenched fist, he struck at an imaginary opponent and was rewarded with a spring of unbelievable energy.
"The Worm will burn. With
this qi I will be the God of the World!"
+++
As Annette felt herself being tore to shreds- a sudden warmth filled her entire body and a youthful hand reached out to steady her.
"Be calm, Annette."
And with a flourish of his arm, the shadow was cast off of her with a screech. It glared balefully at the interloper and screeched. "YOU DARE, WHO ARE YOU!?"
"A God." Was the interloper's reply before he struck out and assaulted the shadow with a mighty slash. With a burst of prismatic light, the shadow was flung back.
The shadow gave an unearthly howl, screaming about the impossibility of gods and shattered into hundreds of wisps that dispersed into the atmosphere.
Annette sat down beside her frozen body, her legs trembling. She looked at the glowing figure- too bright for her to make out any true details except for the traditional manner of his dress and she managed to stutter out. "What are you?"
"A spirit. Or your disciple. Or your daughter. There are many ways to look at the truth."
She blinked in confusion. "But you're a boy. How can you be my daughter?"
He smiled beatifically at her. "I am a boy now. In my next life I will be a girl."
He raised a hand and she flinched back in fear. It sighed and reassured her, "I will not harm you."
He touched her forehead gently and whispered. "Sleep. It is not yet time to set the plan into motion. The interference of that third-rate sorcerer made me reveal myself to you too soon."
"I don't understand."
"You will understand the sacrifices you must make soon. All is ordained."
And she fell asleep. And forgot her dreams. To make sure, the boy of light withdrew a jade vase and sprinkled drops of water upon her face. "Of the river Lethe," He intoned. "So that you forget that which you are not meant to know."
The boy of light merely looked down at her sadly. "I will see you soon 'oh White Bat, and savour the years we are allotted by fate as mother and child."
+++
The pale faced eunuch screamed a bloodcurdlingly death cry as he felt his astral projection was tore into shreds by the…the impossible being. His hands clenched and unclenched as his muscles and legs contracted violently and without control, the seizure made him bite his tongues violently.
He lay there gasping and twitching in a seizure, blood pouring from every orifice as the sympathetic backlash of losing his spirit double dealt agonies to his body.
Finally the spasms subsided and the wretched creature that was the Eunuch raise his face, eyes wild with shock and blood pouring from his mouth.
The door burst open and two soldiers ran into the room.
"Gong-Gong! Are you okay?" One bent down to touch him, but was immediately blasted back into a nearby wall. With a slash of his hand, Li split open the skull of the soldier who dared touched him.
"You! Bring me talisman paper and incense."
The soldier didn't need to be told twice- he was well aware of the Eunuch's hobbies and he ran out of the room, sidestepping the body of his dead comrade.
The Gong-Gong managed to climb back up into a lotus position. He will need to clean out the remnants of his tether and patch up his third eye before his
Origin Qi flowed out of the gaping spiritual hole in his soul into the Void.
And then suddenly something external attacked his mind while his spiritual defenses were broken.
Two Great Beings Spiraled in the Void.
The Gong-Gong's eyes widened in horror. "Oh fuck-"
[DESTINATION]
[AGREEMENT]
[TRAJECTORY]
[AGREEMENT]
"- no."
The thing that attached to his brain immediately sliced through all his meridians, releasing the precious qi he had gathered over the centuries into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon with a hole. The parasite breached the lower dantian and consumed his second chakra, drinking all of the energy that dealt with reproductive urges and animalistic instincts.
Thankfully, he could feel that his Huns and Pos were still intact, otherwise he would have gone insane from losing vital psychological organs.
He slumped over, foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled up as he triggered and lost a majority of his spiritual power.
Before he lost consciousness, he swore vengeance on that damned white girl for destroying his cultivation efforts so thoroughly.
+++
"Kenta Kikuchi." A voice said.
Kenta woke up and saw himself surrounded by robed members of the Yangban and several Chinese soldiers, guns trained on him and Annette. In front of them stood a young man with a ponytail.
Kenta immediately tried to throw out a fireball, but nothing happened, he pulled back his arm, staring at his hand in disbelief.
"We have a power nullifier." Pony-Tails said. "You have ran out of options."
He glanced over at the still sleeping Annette and made a gesture. Another soldier approached her and Kenta immediately growled.
"Stop!"
He got up and raise his hands. "I'll come with you. Let her go."
"Why should we? She's a traitor. A filthy white thing that dares help a parahuman escape."
"She was helping me escape. It's my fault."
"Doesn't help her case. Bag her."
Soldiers reached out and grabbed Annette, who woke with a gasp and being to kick and scream.
"Let me go, you bastards!"
The soldier stabbed her with a needle and she fell limp. Kenta roared and tackled the soldier and begin to beat on him.
"Number Five."
A sudden field of purple appeared around Kenta and he was pulled off of the soldier to slam into a nearby tree- then he was flung into the air only to slam down on the ground with a crack. He cried in pain as he felt his spine snap.
His wallet had dropped out while he was in the air and a small metal ring land several feet away. No one noticed.
"You'll live once we remove the nullification of your powers." The leader of the group looked down at him, his face stoic and unsympathetic. He pointed to a nearby soldier. "Bag him."
"Wait- wait." Kenta managed to say through the haze of pain filling his body. "I will do whatever you say. I will obey you. Listen to you. I will serve the C.U.I without question. You won't have any trouble from me."
"We can just condition you."
Kenta was quick with his reply. "My regenerative power counteracts Master Powers and changes to nervous systems. We tested extensively. Trust me, I would be almost impossible to subvert. Let me work for you- willingly. Please."
He was even telling the truth.
There was a pause, and then to his relief the leader said. "And what would you want in exchange?"
"Just let her go."
Pony-tails considered things. "If she tests negative for a Corona Gemma…we will deport her. Otherwise, she will join the Yangban. Bag them."
Black bags were thrown over both of their faces. Soldiers dragged Kenta up and away, while another slung the unconscious Annette over his shoulders.
A diamond ring was left forgotten on the forest floor.
+++
"Where am I? Where's Kenta? What have you bastards done to him!?"
"Quiet you
guilao!" The soldier barked at her as he shoved her towards the boat.
"What are you doing, let me go!" She struggled as the two soldiers pushed her onto the tightly packed ship, full of non-Japanese nationals of all colours and stripes. There were a few Japanese, mostly the spouse of foreigners.
"You are leaving. And never returning, on pain of death."
The ramp sealed shut and the ship began to move away from the harbor.
Annette, still dozy from whatever tranquilizer was in her system moved to the edge and tried to jump overboard, but several of the panicking passengers managed to pull her back before she hurled herself over the rails. Rough hands grabbed onto her even as she struggled to get closer.
"Are you crazy!?" One elderly Korean gentleman scolded her in accented English. "You'll never make it up those piers- they're too high up, and those Chinese bastards would've happily let you drown yourself."
She ignored him and stretched out her free hand towards the port.
Towards Japan.
Towards Kenta.
"Kenta-kun!"
+++
"Today Kenta Kikuchi dies. From now on until the death in service to the Emperor of China, you are Number Thirty-Nine."
Kenta nodded and bowed his head obediently. To disobey would mean unimaginable torture and possibly death. He was already dead inside. No torture could destroy his soul, but his soul was gone, gone with the woman he loved.
He followed his commanding officer deeper into the underground training facility, freshly built into the sides of a mountain. Before he entered the darkness, he dared looked towards the Pacific through the small slit that barely let in any light.
Towards America.
Towards Annette.
Forgive me. Annette-chan.
Number Thirty-Nine turned away and walked into the shadows.
+++
1999, Kyushu
Kyushu sank beneath the waves, crashing into the ocean floor with a final thud, a victim of the most epic battle in the world, between a Dragon and a Demon of the Seas.
A small diamond ring floated down and rested on the ocean floor.
A defeated man roared in the surface above as his home was lost forever to the seas. He roar in rage and sprayed fire over the heavens as he failed to save his mother, his city, his island, everyone he knew growing up.
The corpses of several of his Yangban comrades floated in the waves, victims of a ceaseless evil.
He screamed in pain, asking the heavens the question that mortals cannot answer.
What was all my sacrifices for?
Annette. The name came to him. So many years ago, yet the memory was still fresh as that first day, when she ran him over with her bike. Her smell, her voice- the sweet warmth of body, like molten love.
He looked towards the East, across the Pacific. A suicidal distance.
A suicidal distance for anyone but me.
He allowed himself to sink beneath the waves.
And he swam. And swam. Every time he felt like drowning, he failed to die. His body grew gills. He clawed and swam and eventually flew over the surface of the sea.
He destroyed C.U.I aircraft that they sent after him. He was invincible in his full dragon form. And nothing was going to stop him from reuniting with his other half.
Nothing.
+++
2000, Brockton Bay, USA
She lived in Brockton Bay. So that was where he gunned for. He climbed up out of the West coast and pushed inland, soundly crushing any opposition in his way as marched East, whether villain or hero. He ignored recruitment drives. He fought off all three of the triumvirate at one point or another- they were wise enough to stop chasing him once he was out of the vicinity of major population centres.
Finally, without anyone to fight, his powers began to subside and he returned to the form of a man for the first time in months.
He entered the vicinity of Brockton Bay near the end of December, just after New Years. A joyous time for many families. A time for change. A time to forge a new future, but he was only looking for his past.
He stalked the streets, with no status, no clothing, and no money. But he made do, he assaulted and robbed any gangsters he came across. He slept in a warehouse to pass the time.
He wore only a metal dragon mask that he forged from fallen pieces of his own scale, it wasn't much, but it wouldn't do to have his "secret" identity discovered if he started a life with Annette. It would only endanger her.
The local Asian Gangs were all interested in him, the local Yakuza wanted to recruit him. The other Asian gangs feared him. He ignored them all. When they send men to show him the error of his ways, he showed them their error. Thoroughly.
With a large trench coat on, he stalked the streets, slowly gathering information. The language barrier made it difficult, his English was atrocious, otherwise he would have asked a private detective or the police or someone to find where Annette was.
Is Annette still alive?
And then one night, as he turned a corner onto the Brockton University campus, he saw her waiting outside of a campus library. She was still a distance away, but his superhuman eyesight saw her plain as day.
"Annette." His voice came out cracked, bursting with emotion.
He could scarcely believe it. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, taller, more confident, her hair just as luscious as he remembered falling through his hands. She wore a winter jacket and seemed to be waiting for something.
As he approached her, snow fell from the sky and a car pulled up. The door opened and a little girl- a toddler, no more than four years old, ran out and charged right towards his lover.
"Mommy!"
His heart froze. He could see the familial resemblance- she had her eyes and her hair. There was no doubt that the child was Annette's.
His breathing became ragged.
A man emerged from the car. He walked over and embraced Annette. Kenta's Annette.
Scales burst from underneath his skin and Kenta forced himself to turn around. The rage was blinding. The feelings of betrayal so deep he could not express it to himself in any coherent fashion.
He raised a hand, heat gathering upon his fingertips. And for the first time ever, he wanted to
hurt her. He wanted kill that man and her child and then force himself upon Annette.
No! Never! Never her. I can never hurt her.
He found his feet moving.
He turned and disappeared, alone into the Brockton Winter.
+++
Annette finished hugging her husband, but then felt compelled to looked over- towards the edge of campus. She saw a man in the distance walking away in a trench coat.
"Annette- is something wrong?" Danny looked down at her with concern in his eyes.
She continued staring at the man walking away, his shoulders were so familiar….no, that was her imagination.
He was dead. Or brainwashed. She knew that.
She force herself to turn back and smile at her husband. "N-nothing, Danny. Nothing is wrong." The lie came easily. She would feel guilty about it later.
She hooked her hand with Taylor's, and wrapped her arm around her husband's waist. He returned the gesture and the family of three walked towards their car.
+++
In the following years, Annette Hebert would often gaze at a certain Green Solar Ranger action figure on her writing desk and ponder if that new Parahuman Warlord,
Lung was the man she once knew. Kenta to her knowledge grew no wings, let alone four and never reached the titanic sizes that the Dragon of Kyushu was supposed to have done.
She often wondered, but she couldn't exactly walk up into the middle of ABB territory and ask to speak to their leader.
And she didn't dare to because she didn't know what she would do if Kenta was in front of her.
As she sleep besides Danny at night, she would often feel guilty for thinking of Kenta in the introspective moments when her thoughts were alone in her head. Danny knew about her previous lover- and the tragedy of that. He knew she still loved him. But Danny also never doubted her feelings for her husband either, so that only made it worse.
No, it was best for the past to stay dead. She was a mother and a wife now, she had responsibilities and obligations and a life. Let sleeping corpses lie where they rest.
And then one day, she unexpectedly died to an old grudge.
+++
The Elder Zhang Guo was referred to as a white primordial bat who flew out of the chaos- in this way, he is an avatar of the Tao itself. Zhang Guo Lao was THE great necromancer who made death frivolous and wilted flowers and resurrected the dead at a whim. He frequented the courts of the Tang Dynasty, although he was supposedly several centuries old by then. He was also supposedly the Grand Minister of Sage Emperor Yao in another life. Although popular folklore decreed that he was an Immortal Xian, a student of Sinic folklore should remember that the original etymology of Xian referred to spiritual enlightenment rather than literal immortality. Their ability to bypass death and violate the laws of nature are not inherent to their spiritual value, they are Xian because of who they are, not what they are, in the same way that Parahumans powers do not confer upon the worthy- anyone can be a parahuman. The conflation of power with virtue is flawed.
- Annette Hebert, PhD. Separation of Power and Virtue: A Taoist Perspective
___
A/N: Oops, I referred to Akihito as the Emperor of China (in the first section). This is wrong. He is obviously the Emperor of Japan. Also, enter the Xianxia! Surprise! xD