The Hero Is Unchained, But Not Free

By: Fox Under Fire

Chapter 5

The now mostly visible man struggled valiantly as Satsuya pulled him from whatever pocket space he was hiding in. He cried out as if a part of himself was being ripped away, his invisibility shedding like old skin. But he was no match for Satsuya, whose own determination was just as firm. The tug-of-war would only last a few moments more, and it was obvious who the victor would be.

Even so, the mostly visible man continued to fight, and there was nothing staged about it. The desperation in his eyes was almost palpable, and I was sure I wouldn’t forget his angry howl. Whatever the reason behind his actions, he honestly believed in them; they hadn’t been handed to him as a script. This was a role he had chosen for himself.

But why? Wasn’t he afraid of what would happen? It had been a while since I’d heard of a Uni suffering the ultimate punishment—the forceful loss of their abilities—but it did happen. The One’s network was infallible; if you were chosen for erasure, no one could stop it. A Uni who lost their powers had no place in society, and would be driven out into the wild, often dying from depression at the loss of such a vital part of themselves.

What was worth battling Satsuya for, even if he might meet such a fate?

An ominous feeling settled at the pit of my stomach, and I suddenly felt sick.

Just how deep of a web had I entangled myself in? And how much more wrapped up would I become before the end?

Whatever my end was.

But I don’t want to die. Not here. Not because I made one little mistake.

Not because I looked out a window!

Was I going to have to pay for that mistake, even though it was an honest one? My life had never felt so outside of my hands.

“Why...did you have to...betray us, Searcher?” The mostly visible man echoed my anguish as his cry transformed into words. He was nearly fully visible now, only a few vestiges of invisibility remaining, his stubbornness refusing to abate.

Satsuya’s iron grip was still firm, his knuckles white with effort as he stared the Villain down. “I didn’t betray you,” he said, a hint of wavering emotion leaking through his icy demeanor, “I betrayed myself.” His mouth twisted, his eyes losing some of their white sheen, and I knew that a nerve had been struck; I felt his pain as if he were projecting it.

I also caught a hint of movement behind him, and my breath stopped short.

His shadow, cast by the light of the sun through the lengthy windows, changed shape. Sly as a snake, inky tendrils rose up from the ground, taking advantage of Satsuya’s distracted state. Yuuki saw it too, and opened her mouth to warn him, but a tendril shot out to silence her before she could, wrapping tightly around the bottom of her face.

It was the Uni from the night before, the shadow assailant!

And, alarmed, I did the exact last thing I should have done—

Without thought, I flew to my feet and sprinted forward, grabbing the back of a chair on my way. Despite my many flaws, there was one thing besides writing that I had always managed to excel in, and that was athletics. To my family, who were obsessed with appearances, a maintained physique was important. I may never have been the shape my parents preferred, but I had done well with physical activity. At first I had resented the workout regiments they’d required, but then I’d found that I actually liked the workouts. I wasn’t a weight-lifting champion or a marathon finalist, but I liked to think I was decently fit (even if I did have a pension for coffee and sweets).

That was why, gripping the back of the chair tight with both hands, I was able to lift it—and swing at the shadow.

I had wondered only moments ago if there was someone I would sacrifice my life for, and the answer was no. But as I swung, determined, I couldn’t help but acknowledge that here, now, I may be doing just that for someone I had only just met.

“If you want to accomplish something, do it with your own two hands.”

Once more, my grandmother’s sagacious words floated through my head, and in the moment it took for me to swing at the shadowy tendrils threatening Satsuya, I felt almost invincible.

I may be down on my luck, but aren’t you proud of me, grandma?

I imagined she was grinning down at me from the heaven she had often spoke of, but the vision of her grin was short-lived as my efforts phased right through my shadowy target.

Or, rather, the chair did.

“Wha—?” Before I could even finish the word, the shady tendrils I had been trying to save Satsuya from turned their snakelike grip to me, winding around my torso, my legs, and my arms before snapping tight.

I released a strangled cry, pain like I had never known tearing through me as I feared I was about to be ripped apart.

So much for playing the hero. I had decided to tread where I shouldn’t, and I hadn’t even managed a dent. My attack hadn’t even hit the shadow—as if a shadow had a solid form in the first place.

But it does have a solid form—and that solid form is trying to kill me! My mind screamed just as I did, but there was no room to move.

This was it. I was going to die. I had transformed from confident to anguished in several blinks of an eye. Why had I bothered to try?

Don’t be a coward, Ivy. You rushed in without thinking. This is what happens.

I had made another honest mistake, and it seemed that this would be the one that did me in. At least I wouldn’t live to make another stupid mistake again.

No! Don’t give up that easily! These thoughts were smaller, weaker, but I wanted to listen to them.

I wanted to be like a heroine in one of my stories, in one of the novels I had read as a kid. But those heroines had never been thrust into a life-or-death situation quite this deep.

What could a Typpe like me really do? I had no powers. I wasn’t even strong enough to pull myself free from this shadow’s grip. But there had to be something—some sort of weakness the shadow had. I didn’t write fantasy, but even I knew that every power had a weakness.

“Ivy!”

Before I could contemplate the shadowy Uni’s potential weaknesses further, however—and before the shadow assailant could decide to just kill me—I felt the Uni’s tendrils torn away as a figure came barreling towards me. My vision blurred as I was whisked away, jostled by the quick movement of speed, my world tilting as the scenery changed so quickly my mind couldn’t keep up.

When the movement suddenly stopped, and I found myself stable once more, I blinked to realize I was now hidden behind the bar, pressed up against something warm and breathing. Yuuki was there too, the shadowy tendril ripped from her mouth, her brown eyes glaring at me.

“Are you alright?” It wasn’t until Satsuya spoke that I realized he was the warm, breathing thing I rested against, his arm still around me. “You’re pretty brave, especially for a Typpe. I have to admit I’m a little surprised.” His tone was lighter than before, but I could still see a faint white glow from behind his sunglasses, and his mouth was set into a grimace.

Though he probably hadn’t meant anything by it, I balked at his words. “Typpe can be brave too, you know!” I admonished, thinking of his sister and all of the emergency personnel I knew—and the teachers who dealt with bratty kids, and the good parents, and even the writers like myself, not that they dealt with Uni attacks like this.

“I didn’t mean they couldn’t.” Satsuya’s sunglasses-clad eyes shifted to me for a brief moment, and a shiver traveled up my spine, though I wasn’t necessarily afraid. “But you do realize you just attacked a Uni, right? Now you really can’t go back...” His scowl grew, and like a lock, his words clicked into place.

I had attacked a Uni.

So now I had broken the law, too.

Just as Uni were only allowed to be heroes or villains, we Typpe also had rules to live by. One of those rules stated that we could never attack a Uni. Reactions such as my coffee stunt earlier were tolerated (though massively frowned upon), but an outright attack like the one I’d just made was as good as a declaration of battle.

This rule was in place to protect both Typpe and Uni, or so the World Law said. Typpe weren’t powerful enough to counter their Uni counterparts, and it was a Uni’s job to only attack other Uni. But what did you do when you found yourself in a situation like the one I was in? A situation that shouldn’t have existed.

I had acted without thinking—no, I had wanted to act, and my body had done so before my terrified brain could catch up. I hadn’t succeeded in harming the shadow assailant, but I helped Satsuya regardless. Yes, I could have easily been ripped in two before he could reach me, but for some reason I had been willing to take that chance.

I had never been a person who liked to get involved, unless it was to smooth over an argument between friends or family. I was the mediator—the person pasting on a smile and lightening the mood, when really I didn’t feel like smiling at all. But when I saw someone—even an obviously powerful someone—in harm’s way, I hadn’t been able to stay put. What did that make me, besides someone who jumped into dangerous situations?

A tempter of fate, maybe? I almost wanted to laugh, but Satsuya chose that moment to release me from his hold.

“Maybe I should learn from you, Ivy.” Satsuya said, though I had no idea what he meant. But before I could ask, he stood to his feet, facing his enemies, who I could no longer see from my spot behind the bar. “Answer me something, you two.” When he spoke, his voice was icy once more, and I couldn’t help but stare at the change in his demeanor. “Two attacks in less than twenty-four hours. He’s finally decided, hasn’t he?”

“That’s right, Searcher.” It was the shadow assailant, whose voice I recognized from the night before. I shot Yuuki a glance, and she scowled at me before poking her head over the top of the bar just like she had done before. I followed suit to see the shadow Uni’s body—his flesh and blood, that is—had half-risen from the pool of tendrils on the ground; the still mostly visible man stood beside him, neither poised to attack in that moment.

The mostly visible man scoffed. “We can’t afford to wait any longer,” he said, confusing me even further.

It was obvious these three had some sort of history, but who was this decision-maker they were speaking of? Did that have something to do with the ‘Conscious’ Satsuyahad referred to? From what information I could glean, it was some sort of organization, which meant whoever had decided was the leader—and therefore the person who had sent these goons.

I expected either villain to continue attacking once they had delivered these words, but neither moved, leaving me less than relieved. Perhaps they had decided they couldn’t best Satsuya...or they were waiting for something else.

I don’t have enough information to keep me on my toes, but until these two are gone, we’re not safe at all.

What should I do? If these Uni displayed more powers—or worse, if another one of them appeared—it might be too much for Satsuya to handle, especially with his sister and I in the mix. Maybe I should create a distraction so Yuuki could slip away. A door lurked behind the bar, probably leading to the back of the establishment, or even out onto the street.

My body tensed to move, but a hand shot out, clasping my arm before I could do so. It was a small hand, its finger’s shaking—Yuuki’s.

I glanced at the young girl just in time to see her shake her head almost imperceptibly.

I didn’t have time to wonder how she had known what I was about to do as Satsuya leaned against the bar, splaying his hands as he growled, “So you’re telling me I don’t have a choice anymore, is that it?”

“That’s correct, Searcher.” A new voice entered into the conversation, and I froze.