A Promise Is Made

Night Seventy

Age 1991

The Enforcers Squad Meeting Hall...

"Well... Now that the meetings over who's up for some training?" Kitsune asked. "Wanna join me Light?"

"I suppose since Big Brother left I could. How about you Ken."

Ken simply let out a hum. "Nah. I'm gonna go ask to train with someone stronger. Plus I don't like you two." She called back making the both nearly fall over.

"H... How about you Irene?" Kitsune asked.

"No... I'm good..." Irene said shaking her head.

Everyone began to leave the large room at a fast pace now that the meeting was over. Irene watched Hero also leave as he walked off at a quick pace.

"You gonna say anything to him or just watch him walk away?" The blonde girl jumped slightly and turned seeing North her twin brother. For a moment her breath hitched as she stared at her brother. How long had it been since they last talked. "Hey." North said giving her a tired smile. "It's been a while huh Sissy..."

"North..."

"You mind walking with me for a bit?" He asked slowly. "The walk back to my dorm is a lonely one."

"Yeah... I can do that..."

They walked out of the meeting hall in silence and neither one of them bothered saying anything as they simply moved forward down the hallway heading towards the dorm that Squad One rested at. No one else seemed to be going this way not even the other Squad One members. Irene wondered if she should finally say something and break the silence but as usual North beat her to it...

"So..." North said awkwardly. "You got into Squad Six huh?"

"Are you trying to mock me..." Irene asked.

"What! N... No!"

Irene let out a sigh as she folded her arms and bowed her head. "Yeah I got into the Enforcers. I was unable to join your Squad though. I got on the sixth best Squad instead..."

"I'd say you're the lucky one." North snorted. "I haven't even gotten to see my Squad Captain yet. People in Squad One are kind of stuck up. Well not that Shelly girl. She's kind of cool. Hey do you have a Hero Law in your Squad? She talks about a Hero Law a lot? Fun fact we used to have a Captain called Hero but she was a girl and died before I even joined the Enforcers. Still you're lucky to have so many good friends."

"Good friends?" Irene asked with a frown. "I think you're mistaken."

"Am I? I saw the way those other three people were looking at you and the way that you were looking at that other boy..." North said giving his twin a grin.

Irene looked away for a moment as her face turned red for a second. "I have no idea what you're on about I'm afraid. I could care less about any of them. I only worry about them because they are on my Squad. No love at all."

"Really? I think that's pretty sad..." North said bowing his head for a moment. "At least I have no one but you have people and chose to not have friends. I can't bring myself to think of something like that... It is just so sad."

"Quit being dramatic." Irene said flatly. For a second she thought back to her time in the village. All her siblings fighting the horde and the near death of Snow and the others... She had shut down that day because of her feelings. Her mind drifted towards their last mission against the Bestia Macht... Once again she had watched her team almost die. But she had taken it better and even came up with a plan, because she crushed her feelings, not bothering to be worried. And yet she still couldn't get that idiotic white haired boy out of her mind, or the waves of dread that came with him. "It isn't that I hate them. I don't. However seeing the ones you love get hurt is to hard. The feeling of dread as you watched them get hurt... I don't need any of that. So I just won't allow myself to care. I won't be close to them yet."

"Well I think you're wrong." North said shaking his head. "I just don't agree with that..."

"I don't want to hear your opinion." Irene said flatly as she folded her arms. "After all we both know that I'm the smart one. If I ever wanted to have advice on the matter I'd actually go and talk to someone smart like Hero, or one of the Captains... I don't think I would ever go to you on random advice like this..."

"Oh, I get it..." North said smirking slightly as he shot a look at his twin sister. "You're afraid you're gonna have to see that white haired boy get hurt aren't you." He said nodding his head.

"What!" Irene said alarmed as she nearly tripped over her own to feet. She caught herself and glared at her brother as he let out a small laugh at the look on her face.

"It's so obvious, and that's why you're acting so weird. You're afraid of him getting hurt right! Now I get it right..." North smirked. "I get it. I do have one friend in this Squad. His name is Eins. He's a little older than me and a higher rank, and next in line to be the Vice-Captain of our Squad. He's a good friend and I worry about him all the time, so I use that worry to improve myself... Eins is so strong I don't want to be left behind by him. I bet you feel the same right?"

"No..."

North gave a small smile as he nodded his head. "You can try to claim that you don't all you want but I understand the feeling of being behind someone. Watching them improve faster than you. Eins had a lot of bad things happen to him. He's gone through a lot. Even being so strong he watched an entire city be burnt down by the Bestia Macht. He saved that Shelly girl. I think he wants to keep being near her. He's scared of losing her as well. Part of it drove him to a dark place. That's why I decided I'll get even stronger so we can prevent that. He won't have to go through it alone, I'll be there with him next time. I heard about your last mission and how you guys failed. That must have been horrible right?"

Irene let out a slight sigh as she bowed her head. "Yeah... I didn't like it. It was hard... I think I might have even been... No never mind."

"Irene... I don't blame you," North replied patting his sisters shoulder. "I remember my first mission... I also failed... My Equation went berserk and... Well something happened... It was like I was in a dream watching myself act. It was like looking at an oncoming train that would hit you any second... I didn't like that feeling or the realization that I failed... And Squad One didn't really help me... They were so arrogant... I wanted to teach them a lesson but my body simply wouldn't act at all... Deep down I knew they would obliterate me so simply carried on as if nothing happened. I was afraid I'd never have to catch up to them."

"Maybe... Maybe we won't be able to catch up to them." Irene said slowly. "Maybe we can't keep up with some people and no matter how hard we try it won't matter..."

"What?" North stopped as he turned to look at his sister in shock.

"Well... I mean... You saw how strong some of the Captains are right? And even among the new recruits I'm still nothing... Max... Shiki... Shelly... Even Ken..." Irene shuddered for a moment as a scowl covered her face. "It was like all of them are a raging storm, and I'm just some thin pieces of paper. And Max and Shiki are the same age as me and you, and are both still recruits, and yet they seem to have loads of more power. Plus who knows how strong some of the other recruits are-"

"I can't believe that you are even suggesting that you just give up!"

"Well not give up... I'm just trying to be reasonable..." Irene shrugged. "I've never been interested in being the strongest and I don't like fighting or training. I only do it because I have to. I'm going to wipe them all off the face of this earth. Every Bestia Macht, and every villain that threatens my peace."

"No!" North hissed as he reached out grabbing Irene by the collar of her jacket. "You're afraid... You tried to act all cool, but I saw how shaken up you were ever since you all got back. I've been so worried about you and have been watching you ever since. You're scared right... Like me you've always had those nightmares of that day right... Afraid that we will have to fight something like that again..." Irene didn't say anything as she looked away unable to meet her brothers gaze. "Irene... You were always the strongest person I've known. You always did everything you could to keep up and trained more and more getting stronger. Are you really going to just throw in the towel like this? Well if you hate being weak so much then stop holding back!"

"You don't understand." Irene said sighing as she threw off her brothers arnms. "I can barely control my Cursed abilities... You're the same as me North. All of us. Within us all is a fraction of the Equation that once belonged to our father snapped into shards. It rests within us all full of Fallen energy, and the sin of a Dragon-"

"That's why you're never trying right... To hide the fact that you can't use your powers. You're hiding what you are... I get it. I can't control that power either. But that doesn't mean I'm going to just ignore it and not use it. You rely on your ice, the power our dad had. Well it's not enough. Dad lost to a Bestia Macht because this Ice power he had was all he could do. You've been slacking on using that other power... No wonder you can barely use it, you're not trying to even use it unless you're forced to, and even then you rely on the cold right... I've seen that girl on your Squad to. Ken Red right. You and her seem to fight a lot. I wonder if it's just because you're afraid of what's in her. Because you know it's like the same thing that is in you..."

'Most, are battle-hungry-mad-warriors... They say it takes a few years but all Seraphin's slowly snap, and will only care about battle, in order to grow...' Those had been the words that one girl used to talk about Ken.

She had heard that phase said before about something else...

"Irene..." North placed his hand back on his sisters shoulder. "Please... I don't want to see my sissy get hurt... I care about you and my other siblings. That's why I'll get stronger. Way stronger. Strong enough to protect everyone I can. There has to be something you want to protect right?"

Irene calmly pulled her brothers hand off of her shoulder as a scowl covered her face. "I'll have to talk to you later North. I'm gonna go take a walk and clear my mind for a bit okay?"

North let out a sigh as he turned away. "Sissy... No... Irene... You should really consider where you want to go from here. I don't want you to slow down your group or any group in the Enforcers."

Irene didn't say anything as she slowly walked off... She gave a small wave behind her shoulder as she stepped away from her brother.

"I'll see you around North..."