New Home

Kai slowly opened his eyes, a cold feeling spreading from his neck and numbing the pain. Groaning he began to push himself up from Luna's lap.

"Luna!? We can't just-" Atticus exclaimed, pausing and clearing his throat once he saw Kai had woken up. "You have to ask him first."

Kai squinted his eyes and titled his head, he and no idea what they were talking about. Luna, however, grabbed his hands before looking into his eyes. She had an excited smile on her face.

"Do you want to come live with me and my parents? You can be my little brother!" Kai was going to shake his head, but before he could she got up and stood before him.

"If you become my brother no one will bother you!" She said proudly, raising her fist in front of her face.

"Bugs?" She stomped on the ground. "Squashed!"

"Bullies?" She punched forward, her fist just a few inches from Kai's face. "Just another word for sandbags!"

She then turned towards the window, looking outwards and staring at the moon.

"God?" she said calmly. "Dethron-"

The train suddenly jerked, sending her face first into the window. Kai raised his hand to his mouth, trying to hide the smile on his face as Luna rubbed her nose. Atticus just shook his head before sitting down opposite of kai.

"I'm Luna's father, Atticus. And what she meant to say…" he stopped for a moment to glare at slightly teary-eyed Luna, "was that if you have nowhere else to go, you could stay with us."

Luna sat down next to Kai, watching him expectantly. Kai shook his head before reaching for his bag and rummaging through it. After a couple seconds he pulled out a letter and handed it to Atticus.

Looking down at the letter in his hands, Atticus was surprised to see he recognized the address. Looking up towards Kai he asked

"Is this where you're headed?"

Kai nodded, prompting Atticus to smile warmly before continuing.

"This is the address of a good friend of mine, I was planning on visiting him anyways" Atticus reached over and ruffled Kai's hair. "rest up kid, I'll get you there safe and sound."

Kai took back the letter before bowing, unable to thank him properly with his words. Atticus simply smiled while waving his hand, a blanket magically appearing out of thin air and draping itself over Kai's head.

"Just sleep, we've still got a couple hours before we arrive" his smile disappeared as he glanced at Luna. "That goes for you too Luna."

Luna simply pouted and crossed her arms, clearly no longer willing to talk to her dad.

Kai sat back down, pulling the blanket off his head, and spreading it across his and Luna's legs. He leaned back against the seat, closed his eyes, and tried his best to fall back asleep.

…

A couple hours later Atticus glanced out the window, the walls of Heavenly Dou city were on the horizon the sun peaking up behind it. The lakes surrounding the city providing a beautiful scenery against the green of trees and the tall buildings that populated the city.

It was the home of the Blacksmith Headquarters, providing the city an abundance of life and business. Furthermore, it has stood its ground for thousands of years, its history was old and traditions strong. Tourists came far and wide to view the old temples and buildings.

Atticus raised his wrist, checking the time.

"5 am…" he mumbled quietly as he glanced at the two kids sleeping. Kai had slumped over during the ride, his head now rested against Luna's shoulder. Luna had rested her head against Kai's, her mouth open as she snored lightly. Atticus smiled wryly; it had always been tough to get her to sleep properly without her mother.

Soon the train came to a halt, an announcement rang telling the passengers they had finally arrived in Heavenly Dou City. Atticus got up before storing their things away in his spirit guidance device. He shook his head looking at the two kids sleeping, reaching and picking them up he spoke:

"I guess I can let them sleep a little longer."

As he picked them up, a ticket fell from Kai's pocket. Looking at the ticket, then back at the boy in his arms he smiled.

"Kai, huh?"

…

Kai groaned softly as he flipped his pillow over towards the cool side.

'Pillow?'

Kai quickly opened his eyes. He was no longer in the train from before, instead his was in a simple room with a large window and a single door. The wallpaper a plain white, the blinds shielding the room from the sunlight outside, from behind the door he could hear shuffling and metal clanging.

'Am I in a hotel?'

He then heard a cute snore coming from his chest, looking down he realized Luna had made him her personal pillow, her legs sprawled horizontally across the bed.

Sliding out from under her, Kai made his way towards the door. On the other side he was greeted with a large open space. He widened his eyes, one of walls was just one large window showing off Heavenly Dou City in all its glory. Not only that, but he could also see Atticus messing around in an open concept kitchen, the scent of burnt toast filling the room.

Hearing the door open Atticus looked over smiling.

"Hey Kai! Sleep well?"

Kai tilted his head to the side; he didn't remember telling Atticus his name.

"Confused?" Atticus said, scrunching his face before placing his index fingers on his temples and squatting slightly. "It's because I can read minds!"

Kai remained silent, his eyes wide. He'd heard from his father that such spirit souls existed, but he never thought he'd meet one!

Atticus opened one eye before laughing, he pulled out Kai's train ticket and handed it back.

"Haha! You should've seen the look on your face!" Atticus laughed, placing his hand on his forehead and bending over. "Don't worry, it just fell out of your pocket. The rest of your stuff is on the table."

Atticus gestured towards a table near the window and returned to his work in the kitchen. On the table he could see his backpack and next to it was his mother's ring. Kai immediately rushed over to grab the ring, the cool sensation of the metal familiar, and put it in his pocket.

"Clean yourself up and wake Luna, brunch is almost ready" Atticus called out "after we eat, I'll send you to that address of yours."

Kai grabbed his bag before going back to his room, and hesitantly shaking Luna awake. She groaned in protest before opening her eyes.

She shot up into a seated position, her eyes fixed on Kai. Catching Kai off guard she got up from the bed and gave him a tight hug.

"It wasn't a dream!" she held for a while, Kai unable to protest or pry himself from her iron grip. "C'mon I'll show you how to get ready."

Luna dragged him to the room's bathroom before showing him her morning routine, forcing him to do it alongside her. He tried to protest but being unable to speak made it quite difficult. Not only that, but she was also stronger then him and Kai wasn't willing to test his luck. He could only resign to his fate of being taught how to do his teeth and wash his face again.

They eventually made it to the kitchen and ate a hefty meal before heading out into the city. Atticus decided to have them walk so that Kai could have a look at the city. Kai was somewhat worried that he wouldn't be able to ask any questions, but Luna didn't hesitate to explain anything they saw- excited to show off a bit in front of Kai.

After an hour or two of walking down the streets they finally stopped before a house in a lakeside neighborhood. The front yard's grass was green, and in it stood a single green pine tree. The house itself was made of a gray stone and the roof covered in black tiles.

Atticus brought the two kids to the front of the house and rang the doorbell. A chime rang for a short while before the door opened, a girl the same age as Kai was standing in the doorway. She had blonde hair tied in a ponytail and sky-blue eyes. She wore some basic sportswear, and she had a bit of soot on her nose.

"Uncle Wulf!" the girl exclaimed excitedly.

"Well, if it isn't Ashe!" Atticus ruffled her hair. "Could you go get your father for me?"

The little girl Ashe nodded and led the three into the house's living room before disappearing down a hallway. A moment later she reappeared with an older man. He was quite tall with dirty blonde hair and the same sky-blue eyes as Ashe. He was shirtless, revealing his extremely muscular body. His face was covered in soot, his white teeth shinning through from his smile.

"Atticus!" His voice was deep and rough, he moved in raising his arms going for a hug. "How have you been my friend?"

"Lance you dog! Don't hug me like that, you'll get my clothes dirty." Atticus put his hands out to prevent Lance from getting too close.

"Fine, fine." The muscular man laughed, turning his attention to the kids on the couch. "These must be your… kids?"

He paused for a moment before whispering to Atticus.

"I thought you and Vivian only had one kid together, is he your love child?"

Atticus became red in the face and threw out his hand, slapping Lance on the back of the head.

"No!" he yelled before mumbling to himself and staring through a window "She'd castrate me if I did that…"

As if waking from a dream Atticus shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Kai, give that letter of yours to Mr. Redmond here."

Kai reached into his pocket, pulling out a slightly crumpled letter before handing it to Lance. Lance took out a pair of small glasses before taking a look at the envelope. Opening the letter he frowned while reading the contents, occasionally looking back up at kai.

"Atticus lets talk in my office" he turned without waiting for a reply, and began walking down the hall he'd come from earlier.

Atticus turned to the kids.

"You kids have fun, we'll be back soon" he gave them a warm smile before following Lance.

Seeing the two adults disappear down the hall Ashe ran forward and extended her hand for a shake.

"Hi my names Ashe! What're your names?"

Luna sat unchanging on the couch messing around on her phone, not willing to talk to the girl. Seeing this Kai decided to wave to Ashe with a smile before pointing at his throat, trying to indicate that he couldn't talk.

Ashe's mouth took the form of an 'O' before she rushed over trying to get a better look.

"That's so cool!" her blue eyes sparkling while looking up at Kai. "I have a scar too, but its from when I fell in the playground! It's nothing like yours… can I touch it?"

Kai was frozen from how forward this girl was, not knowing what to do he simply watched as Ashe's hand slowly made its way towards his neck. Just as she was about to reach his throat Luna swatted her hand away with a frown on her face.

"Can't you see that his throat it still swollen? You'd just hurt him more if you touch it like that!" Luna reprimanded the girl, causing Ashe to shrink back and lower her head.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled shyly.

"It's fine as long as you know." Luna spoke matter-of-factly, putting her phone away she spoke again. "My name is Luna and this is Kai"

Ashe nodded slowly, memorizing the names. Ashe then looked up again, eyes sparkling like nothing had happened earlier.

"Kai have you awakened your martial spirit?"

Hearing the question, even Luna was interested and looked over at Kai. He looked down at the ground, not willing to meet their gazes before nodding.

"What is it? No wait, I'll show you mine first!" Ashe said excitedly, making her way over towards the fireplace and grabbing a fire poker in her hand.

She closed her eyes as an ethereal suit of armor appeared around her. After a moment it collapsed on her, causing her to glow with a dim light. Once the light dissipated, she was covered in some basic cloth armor, the fire poker had transformed into a basic iron sword and in the other hand was a small wooden shield.

Kai widened his eyes while watching the transformation. He could only wish he'd awakened a spirit like that instead of his spirit ears, at least he could've fought back against Draven.

Luna simply scoffed seeing Kai's reaction.

"What's so good about that? It doesn't look very strong."

Hearing her remarks Ashe raised the sword in her hand and pointed towards Luna.

"I'll have you know I awakened with rank 8 innate spirit power!"

Luna just rolled her eyes and looked at Kai, ignoring Ashe.

"What about you Kai? What did you awaken?"

Ashe lowered her sword and released her transformation, her armor and shield transforming into specks of light, revealing her clothes. The sword glowed slightly before turning back into the fire poker from before.

Kai glanced at the two girls watching him and pointed to his ears. He looked down at the ground and squirming slightly anticipation of their ridicule.

"Spirit ears?" He heard Luna speak first, he felt her hand brush against his ear. "That's rare…"

"So, you have super hearing?" Ashe asked, receiving a nod from Kai. "How far can you hear then?"

Kai shrugged; he could barely handle the sounds when limiting himself to a couple meters he had never tried testing his limits.

Ashe looked a little dejected for a moment then perked up again before asking him what his spirit power was when he awakened. Kai raised his hands ahead of him, displaying the number with his fingers.

"Innate full spirit power?" Luna revealed a surprised expression, not expecting the boy who had been crying on the train to be so talented. Ashe, however, raised her fist towards Kai.

"Kai…" She said softly, her spirit activating covering her with a dim light. "Fight me!"

…

"What's wrong Lance?" Atticus asked as they entered a smithy at the back of the house.

"That kid out there is William and Cass's son" Lance spoke seriously.

Atticus' face darkened.

"William's…" Atticus gazed down at his feet. "So it's begun."

Lance put the letter down, turned around and sighed.

"Tell your wife to start preparing, things are going to get choppy real soon."

Atticus nodded, looking at the back of Lance he spoke.

"Should I inform the others?"

"No, we still don't know who to trust. There are rats everywhere."

The two were silent for a moment before Lance said something that surprised Atticus.

"After you leave, I'll bring Kai to the Spirit Pagoda for his first spirit ring."

"He awakened with full spirit power?"

Lance nodded, taking a glance at a clock on the wall he turned back and faced Atticus.

"You should leave, every second coun-"

A loud bang came from outside the door. The two men looked at each other seriously before rushing out. Once they reached the living room, they saw Kai sitting quietly on the couch nervously watching the two girls wrestle on the ground. Next to the girls was a broken table, its pieces scattered on the ground.

Neither of the girls had their spirits activated, they just rolled on the ground yelling and pulling at each other. The two dads just shook their heads before pulling the two apart.

Ashe had a proud look on her face while Luna kept swiping towards her, trying to escape her dad's grip.

"Next time I won't go easy on you!" Luna yelled out, still trying to escape her father's grip. Atticus could only shake his head seeing this.

Not given a chance to respond, Lance spoke to Ashe.

"Ashe, go get cleaned up. We're taking Kai to the Spirit Pagoda to get his first ring."

Kai eyes lit up. He was going to get his first ring so soon? What could have been in that letter for Lance to treat him so well?

"Also bring Kai to the guest room, he'll be staying with us from now on"

Ashe nodded happily and grabbed Kai's wrist, dragging him towards the stairs.

"C'mon!"

Kai silently followed her up the stairs, still stunned from how quickly everything was happened, turning around once to wave goodbye to Luna.

Watching them disappear at the top of the stair, Atticus carried Luna towards the front door.

"Let me know if you need any help Lance."

Receiving a silent nod Atticus opened the door, only letting Luna go once the door closed behind them.

"Dad I wanted to play with Kai more!" Luna yelled, stomping her foot on the ground.

Atticus chuckled and ruffled her hair, only making her angrier.

"Daddy has some work to do, but to make it up to you…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After a couple seconds he showed the screen to Luna, on it was a picture of Luna and Kai sleeping next to each other on the train.

Luna's eye's lit up like stars as she snatched the phone from her dad. Looking back up she hugged her father tightly.

"You're the best!"

Atticus rested his hand on the back of her head and turned back to look at the house.

'Good luck kid.'