119 Wake Up

Edmond was shocked that this lady sitting in front of him reacted to what he said. He straightened up his back and started to scratch his nose awkwardly. "I didn't mean to disrespect you but you know... you were not that polite to me either." The lady raised an eyebrow and stared at Edmond for an awkward amount of time before she allowed the corners of her lips to turn upwards.

"You should know me better then that *****, honestly things will never change." She said with a light laugh. Edmond's eyes grew wide and he felt his heart beat wildly against his chest. He looked at the lady a little bit more closely and felt his mouth grow dry. "What did you just call me?" The lady gracefully stood up as she placed her instrument aside. "Does it matter what I call you? If you're offended then tell me what should I call you?"

Edmond felt his body start to tremble. The lady before him was quite elegant and foreign to him yet he couldn't help but feel that he had seen her before but then again how many woman did he know that could pull off a such a beautiful, royal blue outfit. "Fine call me what you want, see if I care! I am used to being mocked and undermined! Adding one more person to the list will not cause me to lose sleep." He said a little too forcefully, trying to hide his nervousness.

The lady laughed as she took a few steps forwards, eyeing him from top to bottom. "You are right and you are wrong my dear. I know how they have mocked you, I know how they have doubted you and yet you have always pulled yourself forward and proved everyone wrong. You are cunning, intelligent, mischievous and so loving." She said sweetly as she started to walk around Edmond.

Edmond's pupils shrunk as he heard her words. They were sincere and loving yet it scared him to the marrows of his bones. "What do you know of me!" He shouted causing the lady to stop beside his ear. "I know everything." She whispered. Edmond turned to face her and she had gone. He turned himself around quickly, trying to catch a glimpse of the lady. A light laugh was heard all around him, causing sweat to start collecting on his back.

"Enough! I am Edmond Steel! I will not tolerate this mockery!" He started to yell into the air, he started to gain inner strength with every word he shouted. "Are you sure you are who you say you are?" The voice sang lightly as if kissing his ears as the sound passed by. "Of course I am! Now face me and you will see what happens when you cross me." He said coolly as his eyes started to burn with a destructive fire.

"I think I won't." The lady said as she re-appeared in front of Edmond, sitting lazily on a giant, glowing mushroom. "You see I know what happens when someone faces you head on. I also know what drove you to this way of life... More importantly I also know your real name." She said every word darker then the last until she finally hit the nail on the head. Edmond froze, his anger slowly started to disappear as his normal self started to take over.

"That's right, the people who face me head on, the ones that lurk in the shadows or try to run and hide from me all die, so what of it?" He said as he slightly raised his chin, his hair was covering most of his eyes but the lady could still see a faint copper glow peak through the gaps. "Stubborn as ever to prove a point." She said as she hoped down from the mushroom and landed right in front of Edmond. She place her cold hand onto his cheek, fearlessly she gave him a warm smile.

Edmond didn't even have time to react before visions appeared before his eyes. "Look and see what I see." The lady's voice was soft and calming. She was no longer there and everything else that was once before him disappeared. The lake, forest, night sky, moon, everything was gone and all that was infront of him know was a tiny, little boy, slumped against a wall. His eyes were glass like and void of life, his lips were cracked and his tattered shirt hung off his shoulder. Overall he looked pitiful but no one on the street would pay him any attention.

What was worse was the sun was beating down harshly that day and he was on the verge of getting heat stroke. Edmond knew this little boy's thoughts. 'Today will be the day I finally die.' Suddenly the sunlight was blocked. The little boy was shocked but couldn't express it. He tried to move his head but he had no energy to do it. A hand reached out and wrapped itself around him. The little boy didn't resist, there was no fight left in him, he closed his eyes and just waited.

"Hey don't go leaving me know." A clear voice called out. The little boy lazily opened his eyes and was shocked when he felt something wet touch his lips. "Sorry can't give you cold water or else your body can go into shock." The voice said. The little boy found some strength and snatched the water bottle, chugging back the liquid greedily. The voice started to laugh. "Hey now, don't just fill up on water I have some found for you too!"

The little boy almost dropped the water bottle in disbelief. He focused of the person beside him, a young boy probably a few years older then him was smiling brilliantly. His chestbut hair sparkled like gold in the sunlight while his hazel eyes looked at him curiously. He looked down and saw that the boy had brought over two big bags of goodies, he couldn't help but salivate.

"My name is Avery, what's yours?" He said as he let go of the boy and started to rummage through one of the bags. The little boy was speechless and just stared at Avery. Finally a moon cake was taken out and Avery very carefully unwrapped it. "Your name?" He asked sincerely as he placed the moon cake to the little boy's facr. "Peter." He managed to say before he grabbed the cake out of Avery's hand and devoured it within seconds.

"Peter do you have a last name?" Avery asked and watched Peter vigorously shake his head no. "I threw away my last name the moment my grandmother died." Avery's looked at Peter couriously and then scratched his head. They both sat against the wall in silence. "Your so brave." Avert said with a sigh and pulled out two meat buns. He pressed the meat bun into Peter's hand and decided to eat one himself. The delicious aroma that wafted to Peter's nose made his stomach growl loudly. Both boys looked at each other, one pair of hazel eyes brimming with wonder and a pair of copper eyes starting to get some life back.

"I wish I could throw my last name away. I wish I could be a normal kid, who laughs and plays like everyone else." Peter rolled his eyes. "I wish I had people to take care of me and give me a home. The way I see it is you are one luck boy." Avery looked at him, he was completely dumbfounded. "Your right I should count my blessings." He whispered and stared at his meat bun. "Look I'm only gonna say this because I don't need someone as pitiful as you who has a family but no friends." Peter said as he started to sit up a little straighter.

Avery brought his gaze to him and waited for him to continue. "I don't like owing people, I like to pay back people's kindness but other people find my kindness annoying and ignore me instead." Avery started to nod his head in understanding and moved his face a little closer to Peter's. "So to make things even... I will be your friend! We can hang out and play whenever you want, well that is if you keep feeding me." Avery's face started to glow, his eyes sparkled brightly as his wife grew wide. "It's a deal!" He shouted as he stuck out his meat bun.

Peter hesitated for a second then brought up his meat bun and tapped it against Avery's. "Friends forever!" He shouted happily before stuffing another bite of meat bun into his mouth. Peter's stomach growled again and it caused both boys to start laughing hysterically. "Why do you think I'm brave?" Peter asked curiously as he took a small bite of the meat bun. The soft, bun and flavourful meat filling melted in his mouth so easily that it caused his eyes roll back. "Hey! Hey! Peter! Peter! Ruben, please help me!" Was all Peter heard before he blacked out.

"Peter.... Peter.... Peter...." A voice sang out from the darkness. "My name is Edmond!" He shouted back but felt the hairs on his neck stand up. "How long has it been since you heard your own name?" The voice continued. "Do you feel fortunate for meeting Avery that day? Are you grateful that his parents adopted you? Or do you hate them for making become a killer? Are you brimming with remorse and guilt that you could not save the ones you love? Tell me child why are you hiding yourself away?" Edmond darted his eyes back and forth trying to catch a glimpse of anything else.

"Do you not want to talk about your past Peter?" The voice snickered. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He shouted as he sliced the air with his hands repeatedly. "But why Peter? It's a beautiful past of sorrow and pity that helped you become the man you are today.... I mean you hated women because your mother didn't want you and your father was a pushover for letting her have her way.... but then again you hated men who were easily conquered by women. Funny your lover is a strong women like your mother, are you sure you aren't secretly looking for your mother's approval?"

Edmond stopped his attacks, his body tensed up, veins were starting to bulge from every corner of his body. "Witch you know nothing of my Samantha!" A gust of wind blew past him making him look at another memory. "Your wrong I know your lover well." The voice said.

"Earie! Earie! Look! Look at what I caught!" A petite, fair skinned girl called as she raced down a path. Her long, ebony hair graceful fluttered behind her as she smiled brightly at the one she called. "Yedda!" A young man called out from a crowd of men. He himself was not too tall, but his light brown hair and grey eyes made him always stand out from others.

"I caught a silver fox, a silver fox! This is rare as we aren't even in season yet!" She yelled as she approached the group, only stopping a good foot away from Earie. She held out the cage and inside was a small, silver coloured fox, trembling as it tried to back up away from the crowd. "Yedda that's amazing! Wow he's beautiful, have you named him." Yedda let out a little laugh as she looked at her husband affectionately. "Earie, honestly you know me best! I have decided to call him Taro!"

The crowd of men looked at Yedda oddly then started to laugh hysterically before one by one decided to state their comments. "Earie is your wife slow? Does she not know we trap to pelt and eat?" A stumpy men yelled with laughter. "Earie this is what? Your forth pet that your wife has brought home! Honestly you should have her give birth to some healthy males if she wants something to take care off." A meat headed male thundered. "Earie, seems the wife is quite skilled at a man's job but lacks the elegance of a lady of the house maybe you should switch roles and birth some children for her." A buck toothed men said as he slapped Earie's back.

Earie looked at his wife as he heard a snapping sound. He gulped and knew that there was no stopping her. He grabbed the cage out of her clutches and took a couple of steps to the side. "What the f*ck did you scum, sucking wood worm wannabes just say!" Yedda roared as she pulled out a blade that was rolled up safely under her sash. The men stopped laughing and all looked at Yedda. She took two steps forward and jumped into the air. Her arms were stretched outwards, her hair flew wildly and her legs were slanted giving them the vision of the Itsumade. Within moments Yedda landed down creating a cloud of dust.

While the men started to cry out in pain, Earie was busying himself with the little, silver fox. He was able to fish him out of the cage and happily wrap his arms around its tiny body. The fox didn't resist the affection and happily snuggled up with his new master. Soon enough Yedda was done with her rampage, she let go of the last man's collar before she walked up to her husband. "Wife, I think Taro likes me." Earie said enthusiastically as he wiped some blood from Yedda cheek.

"Good! As long as you are happy I am happy!" She shouted with a wide grin. Earie looked at his wife and slightly blushed from her comment. He dropped his gaze, kicked a rock away then he looked back up. Yedda was now gone and instead Edmond was now standing in front of him. "Yedda... I love you and I always will."

A small tear ran down Edmond's face, a vision of a petite girl overlapped his. They gave Earie a bashful smile. "I will always love you too." They said together and the vision of Earie disappeared and standing before him was now Samantha. She smiled happily as she wrapped her arms around her visible womb. "Edmond." They heard her say before she too vanished.

Their heart plummeted and the vision of Yedda fused with Edmond. Everything came rushing back, everything was so clear. With a giant smile Edmond turned towards the darkness and yelled out. "Sakura you old hag I'm ready to wake up!" A light laughed echoed through the darkness causing fissures of light to appear. The darkness was breaking down when Sakura appeared before him.

"My sweet sister Yedda." She said with a tearful smile. Edmond could feel his heart tighten as he tried to move forward for an embrace. Sakura raised her hand and stopped him in his tracks. "There is little time left! I want you to know that what you have done has broken my heart. Please let your soul move on, help me find my way to you and my sisters, help me lift this stupid curse.... Let us be reborn together and look for a brighter future." Edmond nodded his head. "Until we meet again." He said remorsefully. Sakura nodded her head in response. "Until we meet again. Now wake up!"