Chapter Nine: Home (Reko)

I want to go home...

A pain in his neck, and darkness. This is all Reko can remember up until now. He knew Aaron was there and knew he had a weapon pointed at Reko. He thought he would die. He thought there was a bullet in that gun. He never suspected there was a tranquilizer in it, though.

Why did he let himself get shot? Why, why, why? Did Felix have another vision? Ah, crap. Did Reko cause him pain and send him into a wild panic? What about the others? Did they waste their resources and energy trying to chase Aaron, who vanished into the air as soon as he picked Reko up?

The boy slowly opens his eyes, expecting to be in a wooden chair, bound to the arms and legs by metal clamps and chains. Grayson will be in front of him, maliciously smiling, unable to hide the joy he feels before he tortures Reko and presses him for answers to his questions concerning Felix.

Reko would die rather than reveal anything about Felix. Grayson would not get what he wanted, not with Reko.

But what meets his vision are white sheets, a white pillow, and a red blanket. He was warm and comfortable, which he found strange. Where was the dimly lit room? Grayson's figure? Was that a plush German Shepard on the nightstand right in front of the bed Reko laid in? And...

Reko bolts up, his eyes glued to a neat pile of crimson fabric. He snatches it from the table, and holds it close to his chest, closing his eyes. He opens his eyes after several seconds, forces himself out of the bed, and picks up the small note that was left on top of the scarf that was currently on the floor.

This comes from your Army General. I made him a few promises per his request concerning you, and I fully intend to keep them. Aaron should be bringing you some breakfast soon. I will come in and check up on you if Grayson doesn't expect you on the Cathedral's main floor sooner.

-Ace Secara

Reko smiles to himself at the mention of Felix and puts the scarf around his neck. He notices his white uniform at the foot of the bed, clearly washed and even ironed. He changes from his red pajama set into the uniform and spends a bit of time looking around the room he woke up in.

It was a standard bedroom, with a bed, two nightstands, a door next to a desk, a dresser, a chest of drawers, and a few pictures of-

Finnland.

Reko walks towards the picture closest to him. It is of a small village by a river under a sparkling night sky. He reaches out and lets his fingers brush against the glass barring him from touching the picture itself.

It was his home. Where he belonged. It wasn't here, in Schweiz, but rather in Finnland, where he was made an orphan of war. He had no memory of his parents and only faint memories of his friends at the orphanage.

Then the orphanage was burned down during the war. Reko took to hiding by himself amongst the rubble and debris of once-standing buildings, just for a chance at survival, provided he could find scraps of food and somewhat clean water to quench his never-ending thirst.

It all ended when Felix offered his hand from under the blackened posts of the orphanage, and Reko accepted it. His old life in Finnland ended, and his new life in Schweiz began.

Now Reko is in front of a simple picture of Finnland, longing to go back after sixteen years. Sixteen years. He spent the majority of his current life in the military, tirelessly training and devoting himself to his peers and Felix...for what?

For Schweiz? To protect the country he served in the military of? Or was it all for Finnland, so he could go back and protect his home from further wars using the experience he gained in Schweiz?

Before Reko can take another step and look at the second picture, the door to his room opens. Standing in the doorway with a tray of food is Aaron, looking at Reko with a surprised expression.

"Oh. I didn't expect you to be up already. I brought you some breakfast. And I see you received the scarf from Ace. Would you mind, while you ate, if I could talk to you?" Aaron makes his way over to the foot of Reko's bed, and carefully sets the tray down, before sitting down on the left side of it.

Reko shrugs and joins Aaron, though he sits on the right side of the tray before taking it off the bed and beginning to eat whatever is on it.

A bowl of cereal with milk, a few bread rolls with two tiny cups, one filled with butter and the second with grape jam, and a croissant. Reko picks up the butter knife that lays on the tray and spreads the butter on two bread rolls, and the jam on the remaining bread roll and croissant.

He listens to Aaron as he speaks, and glances up from his food to the pictures of Finnland on the opposite wall of the room periodically.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, but it was Grayson's orders. I was going to originally meet you a week from now, but I feared Grayson would grow impatient and hurt your commander if I were to wait a full week. I was going to try and tranquilize you then if Ace's way with words didn't convince you to come to the Cathedral first.

"Anyway, I never got an answer from him concerning why he is doing this. Though I'm his assistant, and would probably know about this by default, he's keeping information about Adelric to himself. I don't know if Ace is fairing any better, assuming he's asking the same questions I am.

"Anyway, Grayson is quite curious as to who you are. He's surprised that you attacked the man and abandoned the military to follow Adelric. I don't suspect he'll hurt you, but I'm certain he will want to talk to you. About what, I'm not sure. If you're not the talking type, I think that's alright. Grayson's taken a liking to you, nonetheless.

"He should be here any second. And maybe the man who-"

Reko picks up the butter knife and stabs into his half-eaten croissant. His eyes burn with an indescribable rage.

That man. That man who forced Felix to step down from his position. That man who crushed Felix's dreams. That man who made Reko run after his commander, and make a vow to get revenge on him, at any cost. If that cost was Reko's life, so be it. He would watch as that man paid the price for hurting Felix. And Reko would gladly slit his neck to finally end it all.

Reko casts a glance at Aaron, whose eyes are wide and frame is slightly trembling. He pulls the knife from his croissant and continues to eat it, still gripping the knife in his right hand.

The door opens again, and another man comes in. Reko instantly notices his odd outfit. A black uniform with an odd crimson emblem on it that Reko fails to recognize. If his hair was black instead of brown, Reko would possibly consider him a threat, much more so if his smile was a stern frown.

"Good morning, Reko. So sorry to have you come here without warning, but I didn't want anyone else to worry. Though, Ace did say your commander-"

Reko leaps from his bed, his tray clattering on the ground, as he lunges for the man, his beloved chef's knife in his left hand.

But, before the man can react, and Reko can cut into his outfit, something wraps around his ankles and tugs him backward, causing the boy to fall on his face with a sound of surprise and anger.

"Let me go! Anna minun mennä!" Reko screams, his feverish eyes trained on the man in front of him as his nails pathetically scrape the ground as he tries to move just an inch forward.

Reko can see blood from his presumably bloody nose begin to pool on the ground, and he is able to push himself up to sit on his knees. He keeps his head angled over the pool so he doesn't stain his outfit, but can still watch as the man moves around the boy and orders Aaron to fetch a washcloth.

Reko feels whatever was restraining his ankles lessen, and when he moves his ankles around, he guesses it disappeared. Did the man restrain Reko? Did Aaron have that, alongside disappearing into the air around himself? Did they have special abilities like he did?

"Hmm. Interesting. I'm just a simple human, so that was not me, and I'm assuming you're the same, considering you did not wish those upon yourself. Is someone else here...?"

The man walks slowly around Reko and stops for a moment to allow Aaron to give the boy a damp washcloth, which Reko holds up to his nose before standing up.

"Aaron, did you see anyone else while you were getting the washcloth?"

"Nein, herr."

Reko narrows his eyes. German. So why would there be pictures of Finnland in his room, and not of Schweiz or, at the very least, Deutschland? He walks back over to the pictures as the man and Aaron continue talking, and stares at the second one.

A long, grand cream white, and light yellow building shines brilliantly in the sunlight. Underneath the picture, in black writing, is what Reko assumes to be the building's name and location.

Hallituksen Palatsi, Helsinki

Helsinki. It rings a bell in Reko's mind, but he can not think of why. The longer he looks at this picture and the one of the village to the left of him, the more passionate his longing to return to Finnland becomes.

He focuses on the pictures so intensely, that he doesn't hear two pairs of footsteps come up behind him. Once again, Reko reaches up and lets his fingers brush the glass over the picture.

"You were born in Finnland, weren't you?"

Reko slowly turns around to face the man, who smiles softly down at him. Aaron stands a few steps behind him, his eyes switching between Reko, the man, and the pictures.

Reko nods, and the man's smile widens.

"I thought so. When you return to Finnland, I'll

let you take the pictures along. Oh, and before I forget, my name is Grayson, and this is Aaron," Grayson gestures behind him, and Reko nods to acknowledge their names.

Reko turns back around to stare at the pictures. How long ago were these pictures taken? Surely before the war that destroyed most (if not the entire) country, correct?

He wanted to go back to Finnland. Back to where he was born. Back home. Home. After he achieved the revenge he so deeply desired, he would bid farewell to Felix, and return home, no matter how long it took or what Reko had to do.

A hand on Reko's shoulder brings the boy back into the present.

"Let us head upstairs, yes? I believe Ace is waiting for you with a very special gift," Grayson's voice doesn't reveal any emotion other than sincere happiness.

Reko doesn't argue but isn't joyful about exiting his room either. Before he leaves, he picks up the plush German Shepard that he saw on his nightstand, then follows the two out the door.

Grayson closes the door once all of them emerge before they walk down a dimly lit hallway, then up exactly ten stairs before another door greets them.

The jangle of keys tells Reko the door is locked, and Grayson holds the keys that open the door, which let in a stream of soft morning light once it opens.

The three step out onto the main floor of the Cathedral, and move to stand in front of Ace, who waits for them inside, near the front door of the building.

Something is in his right hand, though Reko can not recognize what it is just based on what he can glimpse of it from where he stands.

"Good morning, Reko. I see you already love the scarf Adelric picked out for you. If you don't mind, I have a present I'd like to give you myself."

Ace smiles, bows, and walks up to Reko, handing him a letter. Addressed to him, Reko opens the letter and looks down for who the sender may be. When his eyes lock on the familiar name (and now that he thought about it, the handwriting was recognizable as well), only one name escapes his lips.

"Kal?"

Words and phrases used in this chapter:

Finnland- Finland

Schweiz- Switzerland

Anna minun mennä!- Let me go!

Nein- No

Herr- Sir

Deutschland- Germany