10 Not Who or What, but Why

Linda, Alina, Hikari and Korū were stuck in a waiting room. Delphine was busy with Kaito, while Harry and Daniel were discussing investigations. John, being extremely close to the late Gamma pair, was more distraught than even the twins, but insisted that Linda stay with her new friends while he distracted himself with his new duties.

"What do you think happened?" Alina asked, breaking the silence.

"What happened?" Korū spat. He took a dagger from a pocket in his jacket, flinging it onto the floor. There was kanji carved into the blade. Asahi. "What the hell do you think happened?!" His anger seemed to disappear just as quickly as it came, and he buried his face in his hands. "Fuck…"

"I think, judging from the talon wounds, it was griffins." Alina said softly, tentatively. Anyone could explode at a moment's notice.

"How do you even tell the difference between wolf claws, dragons and griffin talons?" Linda asked. Sidetracking a little. Distracting.

"It's usually the general size. Wolf claws are the smallest, while dragon talons are the largest. The shape is also slightly different." Alina explained. "But I think there were also some wounds made by dragons, although I could be wrong."

"No, you're absolutely right," Hikari said tiredly. "There was a dragon there. That dragon killed my mother. We know who it is." She gestured at the dagger then was now laying on the floor. "That belongs to him."

Alina frowned. "The problem with wolves tracking those flying bastards is that we can't fly. Not easily, at least."

"There are other dragons, we can ask them. I can think of many who'd be happy to help. There were some living in the mountains with us." Korū was still unnervingly quiet.

Alina nodded. "Okay. What do we want to do?"

"Tell your dad we had pack issues." Hikari rested a hand on her brother's. "We'll go home to Japan with my uncle and talk to the dragons."

"Couldn't we just tell them? That way we won't need to sneak off like this and lie to Alpha Harry." Linda said.

Alina scoffed, her feelings making her irrational. "That way we won't get revenge ourselves."

Linda pursed her lips in thought. Going to the higher-ups was usually better, especially for communication. but...

"Alright." ...they might actually get somewhere, and this matter was pretty personal. It should be the twins' decision to involve anyone.

"This is dumb," Korū snapped, not raising his head. "That's just gonna get us killed. Two Zeta and an Epsilon couldn't kill a dragon, what makes you think we and a bunch of other people can do anything against an army of griffins and possibly more than one dragon? Do y'all wanna fucking die?"

"What rank are you? We aren't familiar with the ranks on Earth. Furthermore, the ranking in our pack is unique from the other packs of the inner world." Linda said.

"We're Psi. The subordinates," Hikari explained. "I'm training to become an Iota, a medic, and Korū's gonna be an Eta, a warrior. I used to train with him but I decided I was better at healing, so I can fight, too."

"Then how do Zetas and Epsilons compare?" Alina asked.

"The Zeta are the lead warriors. The Epsilon are guardians. They can fight, but they only resort to violence if peaceful persuasion doesn't work."

Alina snorted and shook her head. "So complicated. Our system is much simpler. Alpha and Luna are the leaders, Betas are second in command. Gammas are the head pack warriors, specialising in fighting, right next to the Alpha. Linda here is the new Female Gamma, since…" she trailed off, then cleared her throat and steeled herself to continue.

"Next we have the pack Warriors, which can be divided into many subcategories like trackers and aerial fighters. The latter are those who focus on fighting stuff that fly, just to clarify. Every single member of the pack has basic warrior training, before they specialise. Our naming system is much easier than yours. Healers or doctors are healers, warriors are warriors."

Linda continued for her, "As the Female Gamma of the pack, my skills have to be about equal to that of John's, and just slightly lower than Harry's. Trust me, they are, because I've tried fighting the two of them before. Alina, here, however, is somewhat special. She already has the abilities of a fully fledged warrior. The reason why she transferred to the school the same time as you guys is because she just came back from an intense training camp for warriors."

Alina snorted again, Linda didn't know the whole story. "I have an exceptional size too, which requires much more training to be able to stand up against those giants. At any rate, my ability is at least equivalent to that of Linda's." It was actually much, much more.

Hikari looked up to see a black-haired man appear in the entrance, a worried look on his face. Korū saw him, got up, bowed his head slightly and left. Hikari chased after Korū, whispering a quick "he's fine" to the newcomer.

Linda raised an eyebrow, "Yonaga, right? Alpha said that you were coming."

"Yes." He glanced in the direction the twins had gone, then at the room where Kaito was.

At that moment, Delphine exited the room. Catching sight of the man, she smiled at him, "You can go in. He's awake now."

"Thank you."

As the man entered the room, Delphine spared the Gamma Female a small smile before excusing herself to rest, after taking care of Kaito for so many hours. Alina curled her lip in disgust as her mother simply brushed past her. As Delphine left, Alina and Linda took off in the direction the twins went.

Alina murmured to Linda. "If we went after them, do you think we would make it?"

Linda shook her head. "I suspect at least one of us four will die. And that is being optimistic. Only you finished your aerial training, though I must say, Hikari and Korū aren't too bad themselves."

Alina nodded. "I thought so, too."