Black and White

II - Reunion

"G-Gabriel!" yelled Jericho as he rushed to Gabriel's body in the middle of the arena. Placing his head against Gabriel's chest, Jericho knew he was gone for good. For once in his life, Jericho was filled with so much rage that the whole castle shook, dropping and breaking lots of furniture and valuable items within the castle itself. He looked back at Lu, who stood there frozen with fear, and walked up to him until he was only centimeters away from his face.

"Had you been anybody else, you'd die for killing my son. However, you're my son too, so I will spare your life, but this will not go unnoticed. Starting today, you are permanently kicked out of the Knights of Light and will be forced to live alone somewhere else in the world. All your belongings will be burned along with the very sword you used to slaughter your brother," said Jericho, as a tear slid down his cheek.

Lu, with a surprised expression, said "Wait, Father, please rethink my punishment. I'll do anything to stay in the Knights of Light. After all, Gabriel's death was entirely an acci-"

"SILENCE!" roared Jericho, "what you did is unforgivable! If I am being honest, letting you live is already generous enough. You are lucky you are able to keep your life, unlike Gabriel. Now, without saying another word, I shall banish you from this place forever," said Jericho as he pointed his finger at Lu, causing him to disappear and teleport to a random location on Earth. With nothing but the clothes on his back, Lu is sure to suffer, no matter where he ends up.

"W-Where am I?" asked Lu, feeling confused as he found himself in an alley. There was nothing to be seen except for a dumpster and a few rats.

"Rats? I am not sure where I am but any place with these horrendous creatures is sure to be rotten," said Lu as he walked by the rats, staying as far away from them as possible. Suddenly, a man slowly walked through the alley, wearing a black hoodie, black shorts, and black shoes.

"Excuse me? What place is this?" asked Lu to the man as he walked closer to him. The man said nothing but instead kept walking towards Lu.

"Are you deaf or something? I asked what place is t-" started Lu, but was interrupted as the man punched Lu hard in the jaw.

"Why you little- have a taste of my sword!" exclaimed Lu, but as he reached for his sword, he remembered that Jericho took all his belongings before he was teleported. Now that he had no sword, Lu was nothing but a puny human. The man chuckled as he looked at Lu.

"Have a taste of what sword? Did my punch really mess you up that bad?" said the man. Lu looked at the man and took a fighting stance.

"Don't you even dare try to fight back. It'll only make it harder on you," said the man as he swung his right arm and punched Lu again, then pushed him to the floor and searched his clothes for anything of value. However, the man found nothing, not even lint.

"You made me hurt you, but have nothing to give me in return? How about I hurt you more then?" said the man as he continued to beat Lu.

After a few minutes of kicking and punching Lu, the man fled, leaving Lu full of bruises and blood.

Suddenly, another man appeared out of nowhere in the other end of the alley, holding a katana in his hand.

"And who are y-" asked the man that beat up Lu, but was interrupted as the other man sliced his head off clean and sheathed his sword. Now, the man stood in front of Lu.

"State your name, young man," said the man as he pointed his sword at Lu.

Lu, feeling nervous, responded, "L-Lu Silver, I'm from a group known as the Knights of Light, or at least I was until-"

"You killed Gabriel. No need to keep blabbering, I know the rest. Get up and follow me, kid," said the man abruptly as he began to walk out the alley.

"W-wait you know who I am? But...but how?" asked Lu, confused as to how this man knew about Gabriel's death. But the man did not respond, instead he kept walking, and so Lu stood up and began to follow him. As the man exited the alley, he looked back at Lu.

"Did you ever learn about the Kirin Dance?" asked the man.

"The what dance?" asked Lu, completely lost.

"That damn Jericho...always keeping secrets," murmured the man but before Lu could ask what he said, the man touched Lu's forehead, leaving a yellow circle on his skin. The man then turned around and vanished.

"Uhhhh, strange man? Did you just teleport?" asked Lu but before he could start looking around for the man, Lu suddenly appeared inside a house.

"This is my home, and now it is your home as well," said the man," I'll explain the "teleporting" later, but for now, my name is Memento."

Lu responded," Nice to meet y-" but was interrupted as the man pushed Lu to the ground, with his sword on Lu's neck.

"No, it is not nice to meet me. Frankly, it is quite the opposite. I am going to train you in the way of the samurai, but you will come to learn that this is no easy task, and before you know it, you are going to wish I left you in that alley to rot. Understand? Of course you do. I've prepared your equipment. Head to the room to your left and come back here when you are equipped," said the man as he backed away from Lu and sat down. Lu, sweating nervously, walked towards the other room and opened the door. Inside the room was a wooden katana.

"Is this it?" asked Lu," I was kind of expecting samurai armor and a cool looking katana, but a wooden katana?"

"Ha! As if you're worthy of wielding an actual katana at the state you're in now!" said Memento, laughing at him, "That wooden sword, however, will be all you need for now. After all we're just going to participate in a game of tag. All you need to do is touch me with that sword, and you'll obtain a real katana."

"O-okay, I guess I can give this a shot," said Lu, looking at the wooden sword but then looking at Memento, "But wait. This is a lot for me to take in all at once. Why did you help me back at the alley? How did you know I killed my brother Gabriel? Why do you want to teach me how to fight like a samurai?"

"Too many questions, not enough training," said Memento, completely ignoring Lu's questions.

"No!" yelled Lu," I refuse to go along with your training while I could be finding my way back to the Knights of Light!"

"Why on Earth do you want to go back to the group that abandoned you? Not one person in the Knights of Light loved you or even cared about you, and yet you want to go back to those insolent fools?"

"And what would you know about love or care? You're just a random man training me for no apparent reason. Hell, you won't even answer any of my questions and you expect me to do whatever you say?" yelled Lu, feeling frustrated.

"I'll admit, I may not know anything about love or care, mainly because I've been alone my whole life, but if there's something I do know, it is that I wish nobody on this Earth has to go through what I went through to even be here now," said the man, looking down at the floor.

"But why me?" asked Lu,"there are plenty of others out there more qualified to train under you, I just don't understand what's so special about me."

"I guess it was about time you learned the truth," said Memento, as he stood up and looked at Lu," my name is Memento...Memento Silver and after seventeen years, I'm glad to be by your side again, my son."