Courage the Coward

A young man laid limp on the ground covered in blood and other bodily fluids that left him reeking, not that he would ever notice. All of them were his own.

It had been 2 years since he was captured after his family perished in battle.

He had been captured alive, unlike the rest.

After all, only Courage of the Heart family would be cowardly enough to retreat early and hide during battle.

While the rest fought bravely following their family teachings, he alone had the gal to run and hide.

It was one of the main reasons he wasn't allowed to carry the family name, leaving him with no last name.

His mother had been disappointed, whilst his father utterly ashamed. His brother on the other hand was outright disgusted.

But his grandfather, the Patriarch, he alone was indifferent if not slightly caring.

That kindness did not originate from a type of love or understanding but rather from pity.

Cage could feel his head start to pound. He had lost too much blood during this round of torture that he was periodically subjected to.

What was his family's secret?

Where did they hide "it"?

What does "it" look like?

And many many more of the same type of questions that always revolves around the same thing:

"IT"

Cage, as he called himself, had no fricking clue on what they were on about. He was after all just an illegitimate child who was also an absolute failure according to the family's teachings.

His family was unusually successful though. Medicine, Military, Astronomy, Real estate, and many more fields had at least one Heart member among the top.

'Unusual' became synonymous for the Heart family and so did Courage.

Unusual was what outsiders thought of the Heart family, whereas the Heart family themselves only thought that they were more Courageous.

Courage.

"The ability to do something that frightens one."

"Strength in the face of pain and grief."

It was the key character trait that was nurtured and expected in every member of the family.

And he was anything but. His name, one that his mother named without the permission of the family, remained a stain in their eyes. A disgrace.

Now Cage wasn't an idiot or a failure by no means. He was an accomplished Make-up artist who was well sought after. The ability to change someone or even yourself into a canvas that could be used was always so incredible for Cage. Another factor that fuelled his passion was the fact that he was the only member of the family to have completely average looks.

Subtle Make-up and complete transformation types for when needing to disguise yourself were his specialities.

And it was not due to the backing of his family that he became well known, but solely his pure skill. Most didn't even know his true identity and probably never will.

He was also at the 7th Dan in Aikido and had also practised Muay Thai since the age of five.

The problem was that Cage was also really good at sprinting. Compared to his other talents, he was better at sprinting…better yet escaping than anything else.

Parkour and gymnastics were his favourite hobbies whereas the practising of two forms of martial arts was just the minimum mandatory requirement of the Heart family.

Rather than engaging when threatened, Cage would bolt before you could even say, "Yusian Bolt"!

It was honestly weird how he was so unnaturally cowardly. After visiting many physiologists and even a neurologist, they gave up on trying to figure out what made him so scared of confrontation.

His training in martial arts shone during sparing but in a real fight, Cage would be long gone before his opponent even identified his gender.

But at the moment all of that was lost...

The cowardly youth of the past now lay on the ground crumpled up with no strength left in his body to even shift himself to lay in a more comfortable position.

He lay helpless as his body was dragged out of the torture room by an apathetic guard back into his cell that held nothing save for a single-window barred with special alloy rods covered in spikes and with a high voltage current constantly flowing through them.

The guard tossed him into the cell and left with little to no regard for the state of the prisoner.

Cage lay face-up, staring at the window that allowed the slightest amount of sunlight to shine through.

Cage closed his eyes and wished for a peaceful rest knowing full well that it was just wishful thinking…

***

KEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"What the f*ck is GOING ON?!!"

"Sir! Prisoner H has escaped! He was last reported seen ascending the building leading us to believe he's headed for the roof."

"What do you mean??! Do we not have any eyes on the bast*rd?"

"Uh..sir..all personnel who've come in contact with him have all been instantly disarmed and knocked out.. he's currently armed with a baton and a taser…"

"What about the cameras?!"

"Those were removed last year sir…after that infamous hacker stole some footage which almost led to an enormous scandal if not for the higher-ups moving into action…"

"SH*T! I want half of the guards to surround the building ASAP and the other half to continue the pursuit. We CANNOT f*ck this up or else it'll be our heads that'll be rolling instead!"

***

Currently, Cage was sprinting up the last flight of stairs that would lead him to his supposed salvation.

Taking out the guards weren't that hard but he knew that every second wasted on them was another second closer to death.

It was weird...

One moment he was lying on the ground of his cell feeling hopeless, and the next, he felt a massive amount of information cram itself into his head as most of his internal wounds, as well as some of the major external ones, started to heal themselves.

Cage noticed a faint grey glow emanating from his body but instantly dismissed it as he processed the inheritance that his grandfather had left for him.

Apparently, "it" was on him the whole time.

Now usually when somebody mentions torture to someone, they would picture teeth getting brutally torn out of their mouths and maybe a few nails too.

And indeed Cage suffered through all of that.

Except for the single broken tooth that had been implanted during root canal surgery, none remained.

Which was odd, but Cage never thought much of it cause…well he was getting tortured and sh*t.

Well the screw that was implanted into him wasn't any normal implant but actually "it"!

"It", otherwise known as a [Crystallised Soul Dew], was the family heirloom, the backbone and the reason why their family was above average compared to the average human.

Cage finally arrived at a steel door that locked shut.

Quickening his pace, Cage slammed his shoulder against the door as hard as he could.

*BAM*

*CRACK*

The door came tumbling down. Ever since his last molar was forcibly crushed during his torture session, Cage could feel that something had changed within him.

His movements was more fluid, with less hesitation and delay between thought and action.

His mind was processing everything faster allowing him to perform quick split-second reactions.

The grey haze that surrounded his body was slowly but surely starting to fade, especially after he had rammed the door.

Only a slight flicker was visible, barely even there.

The sounds of a flurry of footsteps rushing towards his location could be heard down the stairs.

But none of that mattered to Courage.

He continued to silently stare at the night sky and most of all the moon.

Walking over to the ledge, Courage peered down.

A 50 story drop was all that awaited him.

He could "feel" them approaching.

They were oh so close to his position.

The night wind blew his long waist-length hair that showed a slight resemblance to the colour grey…

His tired ashy-violet eyes stared up at the sky. He knew what he had to do.

Even though he was reluctant, he knew that this was his only choice and hope.

A lone tear rolled down the corner of his eye, continued down his cheek and finally fell from his chin.

The droplet fell slowly.

But Cage didn't.

As his body was free-falling, Cage could hear her voice in his head again. The only voice that was ever kind to him anymore. The only voice that ever accompanied him. The voice he fell in love with.

(I guess this is goodbye…my soul has already begun to dissipate. I c-…can't follow you through the rift..I-)

"What?! NO! You can't leave me! I- I don't wanna be alone again…"

(It's okay, it's okay. I'm but a passing character in the story of your life…but!…please, PLEASE! Find my son and raise him for me…Although I've failed as a mother, I don't want Finn to suffer because of my mistakes…)

"NO, I need you! HE needs you!"

Eyes blazing with grayish violet hue and desperation, Cage acted on a sudden impulse and for the first time ever, touched her indistinct silhouette with his hands that were now covered in a hazy grey aura.

As soon as he touched her, like a camera coming into focus, her indistinct body and face revealed themselves to him.

All he saw was her widened eyes that were in shock and then he saw her being pulled into him.

Not into his embrace but into his body!

As the last wisp of her soul entered his body, he fell into a crack that suddenly appeared within the sky.

The crack slowly closed itself leaving not a single spec of evidence of its existence behind.

Later when questioned, witnesses would explain how they saw the sky swallow a falling man who was said to have been attempting suicide.

Though not a single person or machine was able to capture any proof of the said supernatural occurrence due to a variety of coincidences.

Said witnesses were later found dead due to unfortunate accidents or just outright went missing.