[Ongoing] Dréd-Son - Chapter 07: Master of Life
Title: Dréd-Son - Chapter 07: Master of Life
Fandom: Johnny's & Associates
Pairings/Characters: Takizawa Hideaki and one of his students (read to see more)
Rating: PG-13 (for some fighting and allusions)
Warnings: None really...except, this is an AU!
Disclaimer: Not mine. Owned by J&A. The AU is mine though as well as aymagun's.
A/N: Current word count of this AU: 18,014. *yay* So uh this chapter's mostly about Master Takizawa and him thinking about one of his students...an attempt to finally throw in some plot... *cough*
Summary: It's called the 'gift' or 'soul' by most. A strange, mysterious force only few possess on the planet that is half ocean and half desert. The people on the plant have lived in harmony with each other and their environment for centuries but something yet unknown is threatening to throw everything into chaos.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.”
(- Henry David Thoreau)
It had been during the beginning years of the Ghayi. Together, the three of them had been able to collect their first handful of students, girls and boys of all ages. Their existence wasn’t known yet. Their powers and abilities even less. Aside from the residents of the Ghayi, only one other person in Dréd-Son was supposed to know about them. It was someone who sat in the Maggra, the one who had given them the facilities on the continent, in the capital. Nobody else was supposed to know a thing. Takizawa had trusted that person to keep their secret.
And yet someone came to seek him out, knowing what he had to offer, knowing about everything when he should be knowing nothing at all. Someone, Takizawa did not know to this day. Someone, Takizawa feared maybe. Or maybe someone Takizawa could put his trust into, at least somewhat. He remembered it vividly -that dark night.
The night when he learned that trust had a price. A price that sometimes maybe wasn’t worth paying.
~*~
Takizawa looked at the limp body of a male, who’d practically been dumped onto the floor in front of him unceremoniously. Then he raised his head again to look up at the dark cloaked figure that had brought the other in. “What is the meaning of this? Who are you?”
“Do not ask any questions. He is to be put under your supervision, Takizawa. Raise him and train him well. He will be disoriented when he wakes up and maybe he will not be able to remember anything. It is up to you to tell him what he should be remembering.”
His eyes narrowed, “You erased his memories.” It was not a question but a statement. It was reinforced by the sweet stench surrounding the male on the floor, sweet but venomous. The other had been medically treated not too long ago as well and the vulnerable, probably unconscious state of his mind had been used to alter more than just the physical body cells. “What am I supposed to tell him?”
“Call him by any name you want to. Tell him about your little establishment here. He has it, as you have probably felt. The gift. And it is strong and wild. Tell him he couldn’t control it and it was endangering himself and those around him. Tell him to learn and control it unless he wants to almost kill himself again or lose more than just his memories,” the dark figure replied. “He will be a blank sheet of paper and you can write onto him whatever it is that you wish.”
“It hasn’t been proven yet that the soul possesses such powers,” Takizawa pointed out, displeased. He was keeping his anger at bay. He felt it would be dangerous to lose his temper now. “And you erased all of it? He’ll be but an infant in a teen’s body!”
“Well, then maybe he might want to research that here,” the other replied coolly. “When he grows up?”
Takizawa looked at the male again and back at the cloaked figure, “Will you ever come back for him?”
“Should people deem it necessary that I do so, I will. If you raise him the right way then maybe I won’t,” was the cryptic answer he got.
“What is the right way?” he asked.
“Turn him into a man, who would rather die than to betray those who put their trust in him,” the cloaked figure shifted. “Someone who knows how to love and hate.”
The words surprised Takizawa. He had not expected such an answer. “Can I trust your word?”
“Trust always comes with a price,” was the court answer and then the cloaked figure disappeared from the room, not to be seen again to this day.
~*~
And so Takizawa had raised him and taught him, been both master and parent at the same time but he had been careful not to let the bond grow too deep, too strong. At least as far as he was concerned - his own heart. It was his psyche’s natural defense. If anything should happen, feelings should not drive him mad and impede his judgment and control his actions.
He had told everyone the same story, including the boy himself. About how he had found him alone on an abandoned ship, which had been half-destroyed. Something must have happened to him but he could not tell the boy what. Takizawa had found the boy because he had heard the other’s soul cry out to him. He had not wanted to use the story of the cloaked figure. Takizawa didn’t want to put the burden of guilt - fake guilt - on the shoulders of a youngster.
The theory had eventually come up though as the boy had grown up and had gone through his teachings and that of the other masters and teachers who had trickled into the Ghayi little by little.
With each new teacher and new student, too, more and more aspects of the soul were uncovered and discovered. And even though there were those who were called ‘Masters’ of it, people have yet to know everything about the soul.
Takizawa always thought of himself as just another fellow student and not a master and yet somewhere along the way people had started to call him, Yara and Tsubasa that. A title to honor their positions, to honor their work. If not for them, the Ghayi would have never come to be. Later on, the honorific had also been given to other mentors at the Ghayi as well, those of higher age and higher standing, whose wisdom was admired by the younger students.
That fateful night, the mysterious figure had made him the master over another human’s life. Takizawa still didn’t know whether he had successfully mastered that task. He had done his best. Although others had taught the boy, he had always had the last word.
“Do you think I might have killed-”
“I did not sense leftover traces of your soul on the ship. And if something that could have caused such destruction and worse had happened, I would have felt it from the close distance. I assure you.”
Words told lies. Or did they? After all he was just as clueless about the truth as the other. He had only meant well. Always. And yet his heart had felt heavy every single time. To lie - even if it could not be lying - with a straight face, it had been easier than he had thought.
”Maybe it was a higher power that brought you here. You wouldn’t be the first one, would you?”
“You’re right. There are many things we still don’t know.”
“Indeed. And all we can do is to try and find out.”
Despite all, the boy had grown up into a fine young man. A man whose soul was strong and loyal, a man who knew both hate and love, a man who knew how to feel and how to live. A man who knew fear but also knew how to overcome it. A man who would look back briefly but focus on looking ahead. A man, Takizawa would gladly entrust his life to.
A man by the name of Kitayama Hiromitsu.
To be continued...
Fandom: Johnny's & Associates
Pairings/Characters: Takizawa Hideaki and one of his students (read to see more)
Rating: PG-13 (for some fighting and allusions)
Warnings: None really...except, this is an AU!
Disclaimer: Not mine. Owned by J&A. The AU is mine though as well as aymagun's.
A/N: Current word count of this AU: 18,014. *yay* So uh this chapter's mostly about Master Takizawa and him thinking about one of his students...an attempt to finally throw in some plot... *cough*
Summary: It's called the 'gift' or 'soul' by most. A strange, mysterious force only few possess on the planet that is half ocean and half desert. The people on the plant have lived in harmony with each other and their environment for centuries but something yet unknown is threatening to throw everything into chaos.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.”
(- Henry David Thoreau)
It had been during the beginning years of the Ghayi. Together, the three of them had been able to collect their first handful of students, girls and boys of all ages. Their existence wasn’t known yet. Their powers and abilities even less. Aside from the residents of the Ghayi, only one other person in Dréd-Son was supposed to know about them. It was someone who sat in the Maggra, the one who had given them the facilities on the continent, in the capital. Nobody else was supposed to know a thing. Takizawa had trusted that person to keep their secret.
And yet someone came to seek him out, knowing what he had to offer, knowing about everything when he should be knowing nothing at all. Someone, Takizawa did not know to this day. Someone, Takizawa feared maybe. Or maybe someone Takizawa could put his trust into, at least somewhat. He remembered it vividly -that dark night.
The night when he learned that trust had a price. A price that sometimes maybe wasn’t worth paying.
~*~
Takizawa looked at the limp body of a male, who’d practically been dumped onto the floor in front of him unceremoniously. Then he raised his head again to look up at the dark cloaked figure that had brought the other in. “What is the meaning of this? Who are you?”
“Do not ask any questions. He is to be put under your supervision, Takizawa. Raise him and train him well. He will be disoriented when he wakes up and maybe he will not be able to remember anything. It is up to you to tell him what he should be remembering.”
His eyes narrowed, “You erased his memories.” It was not a question but a statement. It was reinforced by the sweet stench surrounding the male on the floor, sweet but venomous. The other had been medically treated not too long ago as well and the vulnerable, probably unconscious state of his mind had been used to alter more than just the physical body cells. “What am I supposed to tell him?”
“Call him by any name you want to. Tell him about your little establishment here. He has it, as you have probably felt. The gift. And it is strong and wild. Tell him he couldn’t control it and it was endangering himself and those around him. Tell him to learn and control it unless he wants to almost kill himself again or lose more than just his memories,” the dark figure replied. “He will be a blank sheet of paper and you can write onto him whatever it is that you wish.”
“It hasn’t been proven yet that the soul possesses such powers,” Takizawa pointed out, displeased. He was keeping his anger at bay. He felt it would be dangerous to lose his temper now. “And you erased all of it? He’ll be but an infant in a teen’s body!”
“Well, then maybe he might want to research that here,” the other replied coolly. “When he grows up?”
Takizawa looked at the male again and back at the cloaked figure, “Will you ever come back for him?”
“Should people deem it necessary that I do so, I will. If you raise him the right way then maybe I won’t,” was the cryptic answer he got.
“What is the right way?” he asked.
“Turn him into a man, who would rather die than to betray those who put their trust in him,” the cloaked figure shifted. “Someone who knows how to love and hate.”
The words surprised Takizawa. He had not expected such an answer. “Can I trust your word?”
“Trust always comes with a price,” was the court answer and then the cloaked figure disappeared from the room, not to be seen again to this day.
~*~
And so Takizawa had raised him and taught him, been both master and parent at the same time but he had been careful not to let the bond grow too deep, too strong. At least as far as he was concerned - his own heart. It was his psyche’s natural defense. If anything should happen, feelings should not drive him mad and impede his judgment and control his actions.
He had told everyone the same story, including the boy himself. About how he had found him alone on an abandoned ship, which had been half-destroyed. Something must have happened to him but he could not tell the boy what. Takizawa had found the boy because he had heard the other’s soul cry out to him. He had not wanted to use the story of the cloaked figure. Takizawa didn’t want to put the burden of guilt - fake guilt - on the shoulders of a youngster.
The theory had eventually come up though as the boy had grown up and had gone through his teachings and that of the other masters and teachers who had trickled into the Ghayi little by little.
With each new teacher and new student, too, more and more aspects of the soul were uncovered and discovered. And even though there were those who were called ‘Masters’ of it, people have yet to know everything about the soul.
Takizawa always thought of himself as just another fellow student and not a master and yet somewhere along the way people had started to call him, Yara and Tsubasa that. A title to honor their positions, to honor their work. If not for them, the Ghayi would have never come to be. Later on, the honorific had also been given to other mentors at the Ghayi as well, those of higher age and higher standing, whose wisdom was admired by the younger students.
That fateful night, the mysterious figure had made him the master over another human’s life. Takizawa still didn’t know whether he had successfully mastered that task. He had done his best. Although others had taught the boy, he had always had the last word.
“Do you think I might have killed-”
“I did not sense leftover traces of your soul on the ship. And if something that could have caused such destruction and worse had happened, I would have felt it from the close distance. I assure you.”
Words told lies. Or did they? After all he was just as clueless about the truth as the other. He had only meant well. Always. And yet his heart had felt heavy every single time. To lie - even if it could not be lying - with a straight face, it had been easier than he had thought.
”Maybe it was a higher power that brought you here. You wouldn’t be the first one, would you?”
“You’re right. There are many things we still don’t know.”
“Indeed. And all we can do is to try and find out.”
Despite all, the boy had grown up into a fine young man. A man whose soul was strong and loyal, a man who knew both hate and love, a man who knew how to feel and how to live. A man who knew fear but also knew how to overcome it. A man who would look back briefly but focus on looking ahead. A man, Takizawa would gladly entrust his life to.
A man by the name of Kitayama Hiromitsu.
To be continued...