The Story Of Soldiers

Chapter 16 (beginning of segment 2)

How long had it been now since they got here? God, maybe a year? That seemed right.
Everyone was a little bit taller, a little more fit. Even Jay, who was the least athletic of the eight.

Ace was still as cruel, and whispers of the three still roamed the cold halls. Judgmental eyes and rude remarks still followed Kaze, Kamlyn, and Kira wherever they went.

Ace hadn't been caught again by the teachers, due to becoming a bit better at hiding the bullying.
It irked the team greatly, and it was starting to have more and more of an effect on their daily lives.

Especially because Amber was gone now, their only protection against jerks who spread rumors. Amber used to be able to scare them all stiff, keep the bullies away with the mere threat of looming over them like a towering shadow.

But she and her team had graduated. Just as Amber had said, they were gone the next day.
They didn't come back. Kaze found himself missing her more than he thought he would, growing closer than anyone originally thought.

Kaze had meant it, when he told Amber he loved her. He didn't know why he said it, or why he even loved her. What type of love though?
Charlotte had described being in love to him once, and that's not how he felt.

He didn't get a warm feeling in his belly or butterflies whenever he though of her.
He felt sad. He missed her. It almost felt like the way he felt while thinking of Kamlyn and Kira- fond. He cared for her, but it wasn't the same.

He heard Kahsbi describing her love for her parents once. It seemed like that, but what would he know? His father was hardly ever around, and wasn't very affectionate when he was. In fact, Kaze didn't seem to have any truly good memories of his father.

What about his mother? She was kind, but their father was always dragging her around and sending her to do things for him, or taking her to the bedroom.
The few good memories he has of her makes Kaze feel the same way he feels when he's around Amber. Maybe that was it.

Kira's mind was still plauged with the thought of what had happened that one night. When she found out that Amber used to hurt herself.
Kira thought back to when she was younger, remembering walking in on Asura as her older sister lay the blade to her wrist.

"Asura, what are you doing? Why do you have a knife?"
"Kira! Get out, it's fine. I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"..."

"Did you do that to yourself?"
"..."
"Asura...?"
"Y-yes."
"Why? Doesn't it hurt?"
"It does."
"Why are you doing it?"

"I can't stop."
"Why did you start?"
"...You're too young to understand it all now. You will someday. We've all been through a lot. You'll understand some day."

"Will I also-"
"No. Never start. Never do it. I regret starting. I don't want you to do the same."
Asura crouched down, placing the blade on her nightstand. Kira hadn't noticed until now that she'd been bandaging her bleeding wrists the entire time.

"Kira, make me a promise."
"What promise?"
"That you'll never hurt yourself like I did."
"Asura-"
"Promise me."
"...I promise."

Kira shook her head suddenly, not realizing that she had zoned out in the middle of class.
A sheet was being passed out, and she nearly panicked before realizing Aayan was sat next to them.

"What are we doing?" She hissed into his ear.
Aayan sighed. "Kira, you're supposed to be paying attention."
"Sorry, I just zoned out-."

"Kira, are you crying?"
Kira gasped softly to herself, bringing her hand to her eyes to realize they were moist with tears.
"Are you alright?"

"Fine, I'm fine. Dunno why." Kira lied. Though she didn't realize it was a lie herself. Was it meant to make her feel sad? She wasn't. Was something wrong with her?

It was meant to be a painful memory, she knew, but all she felt was...numb. She used to feel sadness thinking of the memory. But she didn't anymore. What was wrong with her?

Aayan relented seemingly out of pity and filled Kira in. She understood, and finished the sheet surprisingly quickly for not paying attention.
"How do you finish it so fast?" Kai groaned as he put the completed paper down. Kaze had already finished long before the rest.

Kaze shrugged. "Don't know."
The teacher collected them quickly, and giving Kira a brief scolding about how she should be paying attention in class.
They didn't really pay attention, to busy starting off into space.

In the night, Kira was still busy staring at the roof of the room. Black eyes unseeing as they looked up at the roof pointlessly.
"Kira?" Aayan sat on her bed, looking down at her with slight concern.

"Hm?"
"Are you alright?"
"What do you mean?"
Aayan looked down. "Well, you've been really spacy lately. Like starting off into space, not paying attention in class."

Kira shrugged and rolled over. "Don't know. I've always been that way. I don't know what's wrong with me."
Aayan shrugged, going to his own bed. "Okay..."

Kira thought again of Charlotte that night. Her mind was restless once again.

"Charlie?"
Charlotte hummed and looked down at her little sister, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes?"

"Look, I found this thing." Kira held up a book to the older one, who took it and looked at the picture the child had been pointing to.
"What is it?"
"It's a desert flower. Very pretty, right?" Charlotte said softly.

"Yeah!" Kira agreed enthusiastically, reaching to take it back to look at the flower closer.

----------

Charlotte closed the story book, looking to Kira.
"The end. Let's get to bed now, yeah?"
Kira rolled over into her side, smiling as she buried her face into the soft sheets.

"Okay! Goodnight."
"Goodnight, little desert flower."

---------

"Charlotte!"
"Kiora. What's wrong?"
"Daddy hit me again!"

Charlie hushed her sister gently, hand soothing through the brown curls.
"What's his reason this time?"
"I was being too loud."

Charlotte cooed softly and ran a tender thumb over the child's burning cheek, triggering a whimper of pain.
"It's okay," she smiled, "Let's fix you up."

It took Charlotte just a few moments to help with the wound, and the sisters were sitting together on the olders bed.
Kira remembered one distinct thing that stuck with her for a while after that night.

Little did she know, the words would stick with her for a lifetime.

"Don't worry Kira, as long as we've got each other, we'll both be fine."