Hunter in the Wild

Chapter 12

That day Blake and I spent the rest of it together at the library.  She and I read a book together.  It had two main characters, one male and one female.  She read the female lines and I read the male.  Everything else she read aloud.  I loved the sound of her voice.  Every word, every line, it all sounded amazing.  Even the grammatical errors sounded amazing.

When we finished that one, she helped me learn the different types of Grimm creatures that are out there.  Which is why I know a majority of them.  The others are from experience I have had in the field after that day.  When the sun started to set, neither of us wanted to leave.  But we both knew we had classes the next day.  So I walked her to her dorm, we reluctantly said goodnight to each other and I watched her go into the room.

I turned down the hall and made it down to my dorm.  Upon opening the door, I saw Noah passed out on his bed, Vlad working on a weapon, and Nagisa running her hand over her uniform.

“It’s not that comfortable,” I whispered to her so I didn’t wake Noah “but you’ll get used to it.”

She smiled and nodded.

I picked up a pair of clothes and changed in the bathroom.  Now that there was a girl in the team, I didn't want to make things… weird by changing in front of her.  I came out of the bathroom with a pair of gray shorts and a blue shirt I had cut the sleeves off of.

Nagisa was now lying down and facing the wall.  I looked over and sat next to her.

“You alright?” I asked.

“Just nervous,” she replied.

“Listen Nagisa, you've got nothing to be nervous about.  You're a great fighter, and you're gonna make a great addition to the team.”

I patted her back and started to get up when she muttered under her breath.  “That's not what I meant.”

“What do you mean then?”

“I'm talking about the Oryx thing.  How do I-”

I put my hand up and sat across from her on my bed so I could look at her.

“When I first got my condition, I had the same thoughts.  You'll learn.”

“How did it happen to you?”

I remembered the day I got the message.  I was one with a God.  You remember how I said I was bleeding after Crota right?  Well, turns out while Crota was disintegrating part of him was lodged into my arm.  They hadn't noticed and my skin grew around it.  His soul crystal was now one with me.

And so his soul followed.

When Oryx first came, I was the only one who didn't need to go back to the Hellmouth and become Ascendant.  I already was.  I was the one to send Oryx to the Taken Realm.

After that day, Crota was within me.  The Darkness within the Light.  He made me stronger, but at the cost of control.  Whenever anger would come, so would Crota.  He is no longer a servant of the Darkness but he wants to kill.  He knows when I want revenge, so he comes and tries to persuade me to let him take control.  I never do, because I never know when he will release control.

I fear one day I will not be able to ignore him and give him control and he kills someone who shouldn't die.

Although, recently he's been showing… emotions.  He's grown fond of Blake.  Like he is becoming more Light than Darkness.  But I still don't trust him, especially with Blake around now.

There's one thing about me that I still don't understand.  Guardians remember nothing about who they were before they die.  Except Noah and I.

We remember everything.  Every scar, every fight.  We remember our childhoods.  When he taught me how to ride a bike.  We remember when the Traveler came.  We remember when the Fallen came.  I never understood why no one else knew, how everyone else seemed to have amnesia.