Post by Ethan Snow on May 3, 2014 21:14:55 GMT -5
The night Ethan's brother Kit left their home was potentially the best and worst night in the boy's life. It was the night that Kit had bested the "Great Master", although Ethan never thought of the aging man as such. That night it rained, a cold, almost foreboding rain, one that seemed to foretell that a change was coming and come it did. Ethan had finished dinner with many of the other boys and was out in the training area, on his way back to the crude, brick house that served as his mother and his domicile when the ruckus started. In fact Ethan had just pushed the door open, shivering slightly from the cold rain on his skin, as the first blows were about to be traded. The words "Now Father!" were hard to miss, both because Ethan easily recognized the voice that had spoken them and they had been uttered with such power that the very shout seemed to split the air. Turning around in the doorway to see what was happening, the voice of his mother waved in from the bedroom.
"Ethan? Get in quick dear, it's raining out, you'll catch pneumonia." the ever worrying woman issued from the next room.
In truth, Ethan didn't care one bit about the rain, it wouldn't be until the real cold of winter was setting in that he would start to ware a cloak outdoors and still only as long as it took him to get from his little house to where ever it was he was going. Likewise tonight, even as the chilling rain fell over the compound, Ethan stepped back out into the weather and jogged to the training area to see what was going on. Unfortunately even as tall as he was, there were simply so of his siblings between him and the square that he couldn't clearly make out what was going on until he saw Master Jin raise up head and shoulder above the crowd. It really was Jin fighting and even more fantastic than that, it sounded like he was fighting with Kit. Ethan just had to get closer, even if only to personally see Kit get his butt handed to him and then tease him about it later. After all, what were brothers for? Making his way through his fellow students, Ethan's rain slicked body slipped with some effort along as everyone else seemed to have the same idea. Eventually though the blue haired boy managed to get right into the front where he could finally see, only it was the last thing he saw that night.
Just as Ethan managed to get to the head of the crowd, Master Jin, who'd been launched by Kit's kick, crashed right into him. The blue haired boy had been so preoccupied with getting closer to the fight that he failed not only to notice the silence just before the finishing blows, but also completely failed to notice the prone form of his father coming flying strait at him. While the other students tried to move to catch the man, Ethan slipped sideways between them and turned to receive not only a stomach full of one of the man's flailing elbows, but his face was personally introduced to the back of Jin's skull, the combination knocking the teen out cold on the spot. It could have almost been comical watching the hapless boy collapse to the ground under his father's weight were it not so serious a matter. It was no wonder Kit didn't notice poor Ethan knocked out on the ground, too many of his siblings were now busy crowding around them not only to right the old man, but to heft of the boy's own inert form up and carry him back to his home.
Ethan awoke the following morning sometime after breakfast, though truth be told he wasn't hungry. The first thing he noticed was a dull headache and that the bridge of his nose stung something fierce. It wasn't broken thankfully but judging by the stain on his pillow he'd been bleeding. His stomach also ached a bit, hence his complete un-desire for breakfast as he sat up and collected his boots from the chair next to the bed. His mother was already up and about, he wondered if she ever slept as she always retired after him and was up at the crack of dawn.
Ambling out of his room and into the living area, he found her talking with a few of the other mothers. This wasn't the first time Ethan came home bloodied as he sometimes ended up in scraps with his other brothers, but this was different, the other mothers usually didn't join in on the reprimanding. Something was up but for the life of him, Ethan couldn't figure out what. Had he gotten in a fight last night or hadn't he? And who would that fight have been with anyway that would warrant so many of the mothers being there? As far as the boy's recollection went, he made it to the front of the crowd and then nothing. Clearly someone beat him up though, that much seemed obvious. Then his mind came to a crashing halt, was it Kit? Or Master Jin? Did he say something last night to warrant such a beating? Ethan didn't have time to think further on it as the truth was figuratively dropped in his lap.
"Oh good honey you're awake." his own mother issued in that airy cadence she always spoke with. "Come on, sit down, we need to have a talk with you."
'Oh this is it, I'm toast...' Ethan thought, glancing between all of the concerned looks on their faces. 'Oh god, even Kit's mom is here...'
"What ever it is Ma, I didn't do it." the boy replied sheepishly, slinking around to a free chair and seating himself.
"We know Ethan, it's ok. You don't remember what happened last night?" his mother responded, chuckling inwardly at first as her son denied having anything to do with what ever he thought himself accused. Ethan in response shook his head in the negative and she went on. "Honey, your father and Kit got into a fight last night... Uh... Kit's left dear." his mother continued, glazing wholly over the fact that his blonde brother had managed to best the Master.
"What? Where'd he go?" Ethan asked. "Jin didn't kick him out did he?"
"No no no sweetie, he's just..." Ethan's mother started but was interrupted by Kit's. "He's gone to try and represent our school Ethan. He's heading to the city."
That was all the rebellious teenager needed to hear. His trips into the woods to play and train alone had sustained him only as long as he had that one big brother to come back to, the only person he even remotely related to. If his big brother was going to go somewhere, then damn it, Ethan wasn't going to be left out. The boy rose silently from his chair and bounded back into his room. His mother was in awe of the boy's reaction to the news, while she knew he was hotheaded she never though he was so impulsive as to run out on company. The other mothers sat in silence, unsure of what else to say to the boy as they had no idea the true purpose he had for running back to his room. They thought he had run to simply be alone and pout, but no, his reason was far more productive. While the parents started to quietly discuss what to do next, Ethan was hurriedly tossing and sorting through items on his bed, deciding exactly what he'd need. He'd have to travel light if he had any hope of catching up to his brother so the big floppy knapsack was out. The essentials eventually boiled down to the headphones and music player he'd once traded with a group of hikers for, his training gloves, a crude map he'd penciled of the mountain and woods and finally the pants and boots he was wearing.
He couldn't just go out the front door though, his mother would try to stop him, or could he? Since nothing he was carrying was overtly out of the ordinary and though she disapproved of his leaving the compound, Ethan's mother knew the boy took comfort in being alone in the woods further down the mountain. It really would be that simple. Leaving his room at a pace decidedly faster then that of walking, Ethan rushed strait through the living room and to the front door prompting the women to all rise from their seats and follow to the porch. Ethan was already down the steps leading into the training area by the time his mother called out to him.
"Ethan, where are you going?"
The blue haired boy stopped to look back only wen he knew he was far enough away that they couldn't stop him and called back. "I'm going to find Kit Ma. I'm going to go find my brother!"
"No, Ethan come back here!" came the cried reply but the boy was already once again in motion. His sleek, muscular form propelled along through the compound, bolting past anyone in his way, vaulting over a cart that had been left in the main square and then out the gate, bounding down side of the mountain. He was sweating by the time he got to the trees but the boy was used to this kind of exercise, in truth he reveled in it and now, today he felt even more free and alive then ever before. His brother had set out before him but he would catch up and together they would blaze across the land, seeing new sights, meeting new people and most importantly of all, being away from the stifling boredom and relentless ridiculousness of being one of hundreds of bastard children to an egomaniacal lune. Ethan was free and no one would ever take that from him. The previous night had been the best as far as Ethan was concerned, of his life and although he remembered little of it, he knew it had freed him. Where that freedom would take he and his brother though, no one can know for certain.
(Complete.)