12 - Three Little Ducklings, p1

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“The first thing I remember was a warning.”

“The second thing was Lady Aizawa’s gaze.”

“The third thing...”

Nightseer opened his eyes. Not literally, of course, they were sealed behind a blindfold that nothing could rip open. He saw the world in silhouettes with minimal color, like the whole universe was a coloring book. All white lines on a black background, sometimes they were colorful, sometimes not.

He heard the sound of the air conditioner in the pure white room. He heard the heart rate monitor slowly beep next to him. And he saw Aizawa smile a little and leave the room. He laid there for a little more and went to sleep.

A few minutes later, he woke up again. This time he had plenty of energy, and a lot of curiosity. He didn’t even remember what got him there, nor what he was doing in hospital, nor who he even was. He was just there. He reached over to the monitor and turned it off, slowly getting up. All he had on was a set of white hospital robes, standard for anyone in that type of setting. There were no windows in the room, but there were some plants around, mostly potted cacti. The lighting was provided via sets of bright white lights on the ceiling.

He saw a bed ahead of him. There was someone there, tucked in. Nightseer got up, put a pair of white slippers on, and tried to walk towards it. On his way there, he looked back at his own bed, which had a small tag attached to it - spelling ‘Nightseer.’ Must’ve been his name. It was a strange one, but there is no point in judging someone’s name - especially if it sounds kind of badass.

Nightseer slowly approached the hospital bed and saw a girl lying there.

She had pale skin and pretty blonde hair. Hey eyes were shut, her heart rate monitor was also beeping at a set pace. She had the same patient robes on. She looked over at the tag at her bed and saw the writing ‘Katya’ on it. He assumed it was her name. He stood there for a while, waiting for the girl to do something, maybe wake up. He didn’t want to be alone in this strange hospital with no memories.

He turned around to go back to his bed and he heard a noise. He sharply turned around and saw the girl slowly open her eyes, revealing their beauty to the world. But they did look tired. She looked around and saw Nightseer standing there, but instead of freaking out, she sounded calm and curious. Perhaps she was so overwhelmed that if her body decided to act upon it, it would explode.

“Since you have that thing on, I assume you can’t stare at me?” Katya asked. “I wanna get up. The robes feel uncomfortable.”

“I can see.” Nightseer said. “If you want to, I’ll turn around.”

“How can you see if you have a blindfold on?” Katya asked.

“Is this not how the world is supposed to look like?” Nightseer asked back. He quickly touched his face and felt the blindfold’s presence. “Oh, well...that’s...strange.”

Katya turned off her heart monitor and got up.

“Who are you?” Nightseer asked.

“I don’t know. Who are you?” Katya asked back. “Why are you here?”

“You see those tags?” Nightseer pointed at his tag. “They’re probably our patient names. So I guess my name is Nightseer. And yours is Katya.”

“Huh...I don’t remember a thing.” Katya said. “You’re a soulful, right? You’re a soulful. Yeah, that’s probably why your blindfold is a thing.”

“You’re a soulful too.” Nightseer said. “Are you here because you’re a soulful?”

“Dunno.” Katya said. “I’m as clueless as you are.”

“Did you also see a lady enter here?” Nightseer asked. “Do you know who she is?”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

“I woke up earlier than you and I saw her.” Nightseer said. “Do you want to find her? Maybe she knows something.”

“Considering you’re as clueless as I am...sure.” Katya said. “Nightseer...can I just call you Nighty instead?”

“Sure, I guess...” Nightseer said. A few seconds later, they heard a noise from the other end of the hall. There were ten beds in total in that hall, while Katya and Nightseer were in front of each other, the third person was in the corner. That person slowly got up as well.

“You two...” Reiner asked. “Who are you? You’re soulfuls, right? Where are we?”

“We don’t know.” Nightseer said. “Who are you?”

“I don’t know.” Reiner said, looking around. “It says ‘Reiner’ on this tag by my bed, that’s probably my name, right? What do your tags say?”

“My name is Nightseer.” Nightseer said. “Her name is Katya. And yes, we’re all soulfuls. That’s all we know.”

“Right...can I just call you Night instead though? Sounds way shorter.” Reiner asked.

“Sure, I guess.” Nightseer shrugged. “And before you ask, yes, I can see through my blindfold. And I can’t take it off. Yeah, it’s weird.”

The door opened. Aizawa entered the hall, and the first one to recognize her was Nightseer himself. Reiner slowly approached the two, and the trio looked at her with a lot of questions in their head.

“Greetings to all three of you.” Aizawa said. “You can address me as Lady Aizawa. I am, like you, a soulful. You have all been placed in a comatose state following your awakenings as soulfuls. I have saved you in hopes of you utilizing your powers for a great cause under my leadership.”

“Is this some type of cult thing?” Katya asked.

“No, this is not a cult. I am a soulful.” Aizawa explained. “I believe you have familiarized yourselves with each other, or at the very least, you know each others’ names. I hope you three get along well because you will be the foundation of my special task force.”

“How did we fall into a coma? Is there a medical reason?” Nightseer asked. “Why do I not remember anything? All I remember is a warning of some kind...”

“Comas related to awakenings have been reported to cause memory loss.” Aizawa said, the question tensing her up a little. She held tighter to the black book in her hands. “Your feeling of a warning might have been your soul expression awakening and subconsciously activating as soon as you woke up.”

“Soul expression?” Katya asked.

“Ahh, this is going to be a rather long process, isn’t it?” Aizawa asked herself. “Don’t worry.” She said. “I’ll instruct you about anything you need to know.”

And so began the teaching. Aizawa taught the three freshly awakened soulfuls how to properly fight, how to control soul prowess efficiently, how to protect their souls and to utilize their regeneration. And of course, she taught them how to bring out their soul expressions. Through an egregiously difficult training camp, they started their journey of getting progressively stronger as soulfuls.

Nightseer discovered what his warning was, it was a part of his soul expression that was one of the best awareness-based abilities available. He learnt and perfected the craft of swordsmanship, as well as knowing how to perfectly parry and even deflect incoming attacks. Reiner’s journey was also a smooth sail, he learnt how to balance sharpness and toughness, and he and Nightseer provided extremely entertaining sparring for Katya to watch. Aizawa was proud.

This book was originally published on NovelBin. Check it out there for the real experience.

Katya, however, was different. Fundamentally different, in fact. Her soul expression came to her mind, but she needed quite a bit of time to manifest it. It ended up taking the shape of a giant mech - the beauty of machinery called LV1. She called it because as of that point in time, it was her first creation. She had fun piloting it, and Nightseer and Reiner grew fascinated with that technology too. Aizawa was intrigued.

And most importantly, the three of them started to know each other better and closer. They became friends, albeit their interactions were a little forced at first because they were, at that point, the only people they knew, they became great friends a while later. They spent their time chatting, watching the TV and surfing the internet, sharing their opinions on things...Aizawa was disgusted.

“They’re moving along just fine. Through their behaviour, their patterns, their thought processes and decisions...I can strive to create a perfect version of a soldier.”

Every time Aizawa watched them play around, mess around, or hang out, she would take notes in that black book. Before it was just filled with diary entries, now it was filled with charts and sets of instructions.

“These three, as clean as they are, are imperfect. There is no room for imperfection.”

“But I need to retain them. They will be my teachers. They will teach me about these patterns of human behaviour, and by knowing what they are, I’ll create a servant that is devoid of them.”

“Why did they befriend one another?”

“Was it circumstance? Was it their own free decision? Was it a tactic for survival? What was it?”

“I need to study them more.”

As days and weeks went by, the bond between the three grew tighter. Meanwhile, their loyalty and trust in Aizawa grew higher and higher. Aizawa was pleased to see it, but she couldn’t decide why exactly they would serve her. Logically, was she not the most suspicious person in the room? So she decided to test the waters one day. During one of her educational meetings, when she would teach them about soulful phenomena and the soulful world...

“Ugh, what’s it gonna be this time?” Katya grunted. “More boring stuff about soulful factions?”

“Don’t say that, Katya. It’s all important information...probably.” Nightseer said, taking a seat on one of the plastic chairs in a meeting room in their facility. It wasn’t just a hospital, there were dedicated blocks for everything. It was like a little self-sustainable paradise.

“You’re kinda overestimating it, Night.” Reiner said. “Hey, it’s probably all just filler info anyways.”

“Filler info?”

“You know, stuff that she says just so she spends the full duration of our class.” Reiner said. “Like filler!”

“Unfortunately, there is no such thing as ‘filler’ in the information I provide.” Aizawa said, entering the room. Reiner looked like he wetted himself.

“I-I-I apologize, Lady Aizawa!” He exclaimed.

“Anyhow, in a few weeks, you will be positioned in a special location that I have prepared for you.” Aizawa said. “Before we take any drastic measures, we will acclimatize ourselves with the area, we will establish a headquarters, and we will wait for the right moment to strike.”

“...strike?”

“There are many forces in the world that work against our cause.” Aizawa explained. “They are strong, they are intelligent, they are as competent as us. That is why we need proper preparation.”

“I’m sorry, but-” Nightseer said, almost interrupting her. “What exactly is our cause?”

Aizawa looked at him, and smiled.

“The salvation of mankind as a species.” She replied, as if she was proud to finally spill the beans.

“Oh, so we’re a part of some secret organization that saves people?” Reiner asked, excited. “Something like that, right?”

“Not exactly, but...” Aizawa sighed. “As long as it helps you understand.”

“And when you say strike, do you mean, like, go to war?” Nightseer asked. It was clear that Aizawa looked at Nightseer in a special way. He was not only fulfilling the leader role in their group, but he was also smarter, and most dangerously, more curious than anyone else.

“War may be a result of the necessary measures we take.” Aizawa said. “Today’s class was going to be more of a briefing on that topic.”

“But-”

“I want to know that my soldiers are absolutely loyal to me.” Aizawa said, sounding a little threatening, especially with her pitch black eyes. “I want to know that they will follow me into battle, they will operate according to my orders, and they, not even for one second, will question their loyalty.”

“Why would we betray you if you saved us from a coma?” Katya asked. “I mean, I probably fell down somewhere on the street and everyone started laughing at me, so...thanks for saving me from that! It would be a shame if I died without proving to Reiner why he’s the worst at any board game.”

“Hey, knock it off!” Reiner said, surprised that he caught a stray. “You play like a trickster, that’s why!”

“Really? I think it’s just called skill.” Katya smugly said. “I think you’re just mad because youre...ba-a-a-a-a-a-ad!”

Amidst their heated discussion, Nightseer looked at Aizawa. Aizawa smiled and took some notes in the black book.

“I am glad that you are on good terms with one another.” Aizawa said. “Maximum efficiency is obtained through synergy. And one way to obtain synergy is to be...personally close.”

“I hope you won’t make us do any weird stuff to boost our synergy like in those tv shows or anime...” Katya complained.

“Katya, I really don’t think that’s what’s going to happen.” Nightseer said. “Um, Lady Aizawa, can I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“What is your soul expression?”

Aziawa fell silent for a few moments.

“Katya has her mech, Reiner has his offense and defense, I have my swordplay...” Nightseer continued. “You’re super strong, right? What is your ability?”

“My ability is memory manipulation.” Aizawa said. “I will leave it at that.”

“Memory manipulation?!” Katya exclaimed in shock, quickly excited by the news. “Does that mean you can make people forget about stuff? Or...or that you can control them?”

“Sounds pretty scary...” Reiner said. “Lady Aizawa, it’s difficult to use, right?”

“It is not.” Aizawa said. “My brain is capable of handling any amount of information and keeping it permanently.”

“Woah...” Katya was amazed. Nightseer, however, was starting to grow a little concerned.

“Before any unpleasant thoughts enter your mind, I want you to know one thing.” Aizawa said. “It is our mutual trust. I trust you to be my soldiers. And I want you to trust me as your leader and chief.”

“...”

“And I, right now, will swear upon my life.” Aizawa said, raising her hand. “I never have, and never will, use memory manipulation against any of you. I want our mutual trust to persist despite the many things that can sway it. Because it is a bond woven with truth from me, and hopefully, loyalty from you.”

Nightseer seemed a little relieved. Still, that curiosity, that desire to reach the truth within him wasn’t extinguished. He still had that spark of doubt dwelling inside his head, ready to make him think at any moment.

“Now then, you are free.” Aizawa said. “You are free to do as you wish from this point onwards. However, there are rules. Stay in combat shape all the time. Be available to report all the time. And most importantly, do not leak any information about me. Treason is punishable by death.”

“Understood!” Katya and Reiner cheered. Nightseer was distracted by that spark so he took a moment to confirm that. But he also said that word. And Aizawa wrote it down in the black book.

“Nightseer, I want to test something.” Aizawa said, approaching him.

“Uhh...sure, what...what is it?” Nightseer asked, stressing out a little. He stood up.

“Stand still and do as your instinct tells you.” Aizawa said. She brought her palm to his forehead. A second later, Nightseer felt a warning. He quickly slapped Aizawa’s hand away and jumped back.

“Was that...your warning system?” Aizawa asked.

“Yes.” Nightseer said, sweating a little. “I also felt it when I woke up in the first place. I saw you too...”

“Good thing.” Aizawa said, a little tense and with her psychological guard high up. “I was checking up on you and I was infuriated that neither of you were waking up. Had you not shown signs of motion, I might have accidentally crushed your skull.”

She walked away.

“You’re all free as instructed previously.” she said, leaving the room.

“Nighty, what was that?” Katya curiously asked.

“She probably tried to test how good my ability works.” Nightseer said. “I feel tired, we should get some shut-eye.”

“Yeah, I agree.” Reiner nodded. “Let’s go to sleep early. I’ll get to the dorms and make some tea for you.”

“Nobody is getting any sleep tonight.” Katya smirked. “In fact, I’m gonna keep you guys busy all night.”

“I can’t think of anything that this statement implies, so just get angry at me before I make a stupid joke.” Reiner said. And indeed, he was punched in the stomach. And it was pretty painful.

“Hey, maybe she wants to learn a new instrument and she’s gonna burn our ears with it.” Nightseer chuckled. “Violin, piano...way to go! You’ll become a one person orchestra!”

“That’s not it!” Katya said, angry. “Anyways, I have an idea, and you guys are gonna help me out with it. That being...I’m gonna invent a new card game!”