To Travel Through Time

Chapter XII

"Yeah, excited. I know its weird but I can't help it." She takes a deep breath and thinks about when she first started fighting and how much she actually liked it. "When I first started training with the Academy they give us a choice of what course we would like to take, an area we would like to specialise in. Most people will choose only one; sometimes have a back up... you know? Broaden your horizon. When I lived with my parents, I was never allowed to do anything, My parents home schooled me, never allowed friends and always told me that if I ever left the house I would be raped or killed. For years I listened to them, believed what they said was true, but as the older I got, and the verbal and physical abuse grew to a point that everyday... Everyday I wondered if this was the day I died." Sang takes a shaky breathe and realises that during my speech, Gabriel had taken a seat on the other side of her and was gentle rubbing her back, Owen still as a statue beside her, taking in everything she was saying.

"Anyway as I grew older I started to grow more curious as to what was outside, so I started to wonder the woods in the early hours of the morning long before anyone rose for the morning. I continued this for years until I turned fifteen and a man who called himself Uncle found me crying after a brutal attack from my stepmother the night before. He stood there for hours just talking to me, calming me enough to finally exit from my perch up in the trees. He was so patient, so kind, the first to ever show me a small ounce of kindness. I loved that man like he was my own father." She feels callused hands on her face and she realises she is crying.

Wiping the tears away she continues on with her story, "Uncle took me in and cared for me. He introduced me to the Academy and told me to choose any class I want. Of course never have I had the chance to choose something for myself, I became quite excited at the chance to learn new things. Of course I told him I wanted to learn it all, every last thing they had to teach and Uncle just laughed and told me; and I still remember it today, he told me, 'Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it. So do what you can, learn what you can, have courage, work hard, learn self-mastery and intelligent effort all key skills to the essential to successful life.' He believed in me when no one else ever did, and I'll love that man forever for it."

"Years past, class after class complete, team after team, I still always found myself back at the start. Alone and lost. Lost with what to do with my life, never finding a place that I could call home, were I could find peace. So I ventured out more and learnt even more that what the Academy taught, and for that I became the most sought after member of the Academy. I don't even know how many assignments I went on, but I never failed one of them. But as time went on I became complacent with everything I was doing, that I sort out another way to release the pressure that was building again. My restlessness. I took to illegal underground fighting, which taught me a few more tricks, dirty tricks that I wouldn't have learnt anywhere else. It was during these times that I felt alive, excited, energised. Uncle always told me that I had a death wish, and it was because of that, that I sort out the thrill of the unknown. It was then that I never really had anything to fight for, no one to fight for, Uncle only the one constant thing in my life, but even then he had his own family to raise."

"It wasn't until you all came into my life that I finally had something to fight for other than my life. This time will be different. Before I was fighting to feel alive, now... Now I'm fighting to stay alive. Alive so I can finally be free of the burden of being alone, to come back to a place I never thought I would never find. Home. Family. Something you have all become to me in such a short time and something I will fight with ever last breath to experience more of."

Sang looks them both who are starring at her intently, almost like they are living the journey with her. She grabs each of their hands and smiles, "that is why I am excited. I have more to fight for now. And why I'm slightly terrified, because now I have more to loose."

They sat there for a moment in silence before Gabriel looked up at her. "What ever happened to Uncle?"

She thinks back to the moment she got the phone call from his wife, Lucinda. She was a kind and gentle soul, and no matter how many times she tried to be there for Sang, she could never get comfortable with her. Sang knew she had her stepmother to blame for her fear of other women, and she regrets to this day of not showing the women more love as she did with Uncle. But when she got the phone call that Uncle had passed away – heart attack, she left the States and headed for England, took an assignment and didn't look back.

"He died." With that she got up and headed towards the clothes Gabriel had laid out. "Come. We have a competition to get to and we can't be late on the first day."

A hand on her shoulder stopped her from gathering up her clothes and she was forcefully turned around until she was facing Owen

"Thank you." Out of everything she just said, a thank you was not something she was expecting.

"For what?"

"For trusting us enough to reveal a part of who you are. And for what its worth; you have become apart of all of us to, so you must promise us one thing."

"Of course, anything."

"Stay alive. Win this competition. And when its over, we will built that dream of yours, become somehow... it's become all of ours as well."

With that she leant up and placed a soft but loving kiss on his perfect mouth, which flows with just the right words. "I promise." She just hopes it's a promise she can keep.

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A small sampler from a distant chapter.

"Sang is with Luke, we need to go." North explained, looking around for any sign of the threat.

"You are going to try and convince her to go with you? And then what?" The Captain asked crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I'm going to try and convince her to run and hide. Like a sane person would do." North was almost growling out the words. His fear of anything ever happening to Sang had him putting aside reason and only thinking with fear.

"And then?" He asked trying to remain calm.

"Satire is dead. Annabelle is dying. What do you think?" North stalks towards him, angry at everything and anything right now. Owen knows that he is just scared, and he needs to find a way to get through to him.

"I think Sang won't believe you. And she would never run and hide." Does he really not know her by know?

"Because of you?" He scoffs.

"Because of all of us. You have been trying to find a way to into her heart, trying to earn her trust, trying to fight for her. But you have had it wrong the whole time. You don't fight for Sang, you fight for Sang's  cause."

"What cause?" That pulls him up short and he takes a step back.

"Sang has always been about one thing... saving her friends, the people she cares about. She will do anything and everything to save the people she cares about. When there is no chance of winning, she keeps fighting. When all hope is lost, she finds another way. And when she is beaten down she stands up again. You want to earn a place with her? You want redemption? Find another way to stand and fight." With every word spoken, Owens voice raised to the point he was yelling. "You don't run with Sang... You fight. Fight for what is right. Don't just fight for her, fight with her."

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