Bastion 2 - Chapter 43

Hana held my face in her hands. “Smile, please. By Jigu, Jiyong, you look like you’re dead inside.”

I smirked, then pecked her lips. “I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

“We all do,” Yuri said as she fluffed up the flowers in the vase on the counter. She and Cho had decorated my family’s new kitchen wonderfully. There were pictures and murals saved from the fire that they worked into everything.

The whole apartment was decorated from top to bottom. Mother’s room had two beds—albeit one smaller—so she and Minjee didn’t always have to share, and a bathroom with running water. The boys had stacked bunks—as requested—and a nook not unlike a miniature version of my workshop in the Rabid Rabbit. Suyi and Eun-bi opted to share a room, leaving the fourth for me.

I had planned to live in my apartment only a few stories up, but the family was insistent about us being together. Mother was particularly adamant about me not being ready to live on my own yet, though I had already lived on my own for several weeks over the summer.

Eun-bi was getting older. I wanted her and Suyi both to know the joy of privacy, but when I moved to protest, Mae stopped me. I realized it wasn’t that I couldn’t live on my own, it was that mother needed me. So, I’d sold my apartment back to Woong-ji and cleared out.

I could get another room above the Rabbit any time, but for now, Mother needed some constants in her life to adjust to the kingdom. She needed all of her family members home—especially after the one we’d disowned.

My stomach turned with guilt and worry. “This is too much for them,” I whispered.

“It won’t be. We’ll all be here for them, and for you,” Hana said. She smiled, her face glowing with kindness. She pecked me on the cheek and went back to organizing the pillows at the table.

I nodded and swallowed back fear. We could do this. I could help them adjust to this… but not if I was thousands of kilometers away hunting for clues in the Kokyu.

“That’s a whole six months from now. You can get them settled in,” Mae said out loud.

“What’s this you’re worried about now, Jiyong?” Yuri asked with amusement.

I sighed, then whispered. “What if I leave them behind for good?”

Cho put his hand on my shoulder on his way to the kitchen. “This is a hard choice we each have to make. I don’t want to do this without all of you. I’m scared. I’m not strong, I’m just good with li. What can I do over there on my own?” he asked, looking helpless.

We were silent, not wanting to say what was on our collective minds. None of us would be very effective on our own.

Cho sighed. “But I will. I’ll go over there completely alone if I have to. This isn’t about me surviving or not surviving. This is about the world surviving or slowly succumbing to an evil man who will torment and enslave them. I have to go.”

“I already decided I was going,” Hana said, determined. “This is my path. When I asked to attend Bastion, I wanted to protect our people. I wanted to protect Busa-nan. I have seen what the powerful do to the weak.”

“ Even if my role is small, I must do my part to save those who can’t save themselves. I must protect my family,” she said as she reached out for my hand. I took it and we smiled at one another.

Yuri shrugged, sheepishly. “You guys are my best friends. Where you go, I go.”

I gripped Hana’s hand tightly as I looked between my friends. There was no guarantee we would find anything to help us against Dokun. Worse, we could be caught just trying to spy on the other kingdom, and be executed by our own. My family would be exiled, and struggle the rest of their lives.

On the other hand, the benefits of staying behind were a great many. Mae and I could work on reverse engineering the signal to see if we could craft a cure for Mother. I could see my siblings every day and help them with school or their apprenticeships. I could fix Tuko.

I looked down in defeat. None of those things were more important than understanding and stopping Dokun’s plots. He was using powerful machina from the ancient ones, and Hiro had a piece of Mae controlling the signals for the drugs, two things that didn’t seem coincidental. Those things would surely kill my family faster than their exile, if I was caught and executed.

I had also made a promise to Mae. I would find her pieces and put her back together to restore her memory. But this was about so much more than just that promise. She was dangerous in the wrong hands.

Like the Machina Spear, Mae could be used like a tool. The other piece of her had coded the malware that attacked the students of Bastion and so many citizens. If Dokun could make that world-wide, every kingdom would fall under the heel of his boot.

“I’m sorry,” Mae whispered to me.

I winced. ‘I didn’t mean to think of you like that. You’re not a tool—

“Yes, I am,” she cut in, coldly. “We saw it. I was the tool that killed all those citizens.”

My hand slipped from Hana’s and I turned to the glass patio door. I stared out across the city and breathed deep. ‘We will find all those pieces and get you in control of them. I promised you, and I’m not going back on it. You—the you I know—would never do anything like that. I trust you.’

“I hope I can merge with them without losing myself,” she whispered, fearful.

‘We’ll face that together.’

She sent a tiny blue heart up through my vision. “Thank you.”

I nodded and turned back to my friends. “I’m in. Let’s upend this mad-man’s grand design.”

The buzzer at the door rang and I jumped. That noise would take some getting used to. I walked to the panel beside the door and held down the talk button. “Who is it?” I asked the speaker.

“It’s us!” the whole family yelled at once.

I grinned. “Be right down.”

They were here.

What if they hated it?

The view outside that window was nothing like they’re used to. The tall ceilings and open spaces will be alien. The patio garden won’t be enough.

I turned to my friends and my grin morphed into an anxious frown.

“It’ll be fine,” Hana said with a coo as she wrapped her arm in mine. “Let’s go get them.”

We made it to the bottom where everyone waited with a bright grin—even mother. I hugged them all and brought them into the elevator, their first one. I showed them how to activate it with their ma. Minjee and Mother would both need help using it, but I already had an idea for a device that would give them the power to work it on their own.

We moved down the artificially lit hallway and everyone’s smiles faded. This was not what they’d had in mind. I grinned as I turned the handle and pushed open the door. Looks of awe came next. Everyone’s mouths hung agape as they looked into their new home.

The glass door to the patio was straight ahead, and Eun-bi rushed toward it. We’d filled the four by two-meter patio with two trellis’ on either side, pots of all sizes filled with rich, dark soil, and a comfortable couch to side for enjoying it all at.

Daegon ran to the kitchen at the scent of curry. Cho was there, stirring a boiling pot with a grin. Who knew that Li Alchemy could teach him how to cook! It was all a matter of careful measurement and following the rules, he said.

When my mother didn’t cross the threshold, I put my hand on her back. “Welcome home.”

She looked to me with tears in her eyes. “And to think I resisted for so long. What a wonderful home we have to fill.”

We gave the full tour, then sat down for a meal. The table was able to fold in or expand to fit more guests, making it easier for my siblings’ friends to come over. We would have normal, happy lives.

The curry was excellent, and none remained at the end of the meal. Do-hwan and Daegon ran off to explore their room while the others helped with clean-up, or decoration. My mother, though, stepped out onto the patio. I followed her, closing the door tight behind me.

She leaned on the railing as she looked out over the kingdom. “This really is wonderful. You’ve done so much for us,” she whispered.

I wrapped my arm around her. “You’re my family. I will do everything I can for you.”

She rested her head on my shoulder. The view wasn’t too bad, for the lower kingdom. Off to the left we could see the bay between a few other tall buildings. The blue water shimmered like gems in the afternoon sun. We could also see the hints of the palace through the tallest buildings near the center of the kingdom. It wasn’t a forest outside our back patio, but it was still something special. We could make it special together.

“I need to talk about something,” my mother said after a moment, and my stomach lurched with worry.

“What is it?” I asked, keeping my voice steady through my anxiety.

She moved to the plush wicker couch and sat back. I joined her.

“I miss the swing,” she said with a sigh. The swinging bench had been destroyed in the blast from the foreign Mae’s explosion.

I chuckled, relieved that was all. “I’ll make one.”

She smiled, hiding sadness as she reached into her pocket. She pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it, then held it out to me. It was a poster about Ambassador Dokun’s arrival in a week for the closing ceremonies at Bastion. The subtitle read that he’d be making several stops, including the palace.

“It’s the foreign Ambassador from Kokyu,” I said stoically as I handed it back.

She crumpled the paper in her hand and crossed her arms. “There’s so much I haven’t told you. I thought you were too young,” she tutted sarcastically, “I was wrong.”

I let her gather her thoughts as she shook her head. Her eyes focused on one point in the city as she chewed her lower lip. Finally, she was ready to relive the life she had hidden from us all.