The Earth After Rebirth

Sekani looked like he was a child again and had done something he shouldn't have, about to get the punishment of his life.

"Uh yeah, I'm so sorry Nikolai. I know you wanted to do it yourself." A part of him wasn't sorry, he felt himself shift when he felt the life drain out of him. He didn't want that for someone as young as Nikolai.

Nikolai could barely see in his right eye, if he said he wasn't disappointed that he wasn't the one to drain the life out of his father he would be lying. But he couldn't blame Sekani for this, it was his own weakness that made him unable to finish what he started.

With much difficulty he got up from his sitting position and walked up to Sekani limping as he did so.

"Thank you, thank you for helping me, thank you for keeping me alive." He said extending his hand, revenge was important to him sure but he'd already decided that he wanted to live.

He wanted to cry but he held it in, it was an emotional moment for him. He didn't get the finishing blow but it was over, Nikolai could feel it from within himself. There wasn't a lingering void inside nagging him that he had something to do.

Sekani was surprised, he expected the young man to direct all his anger on him, he expected Nikolai to give him trouble. But he could see his eyes now, they were different from when he was asking to come to the slave mine with them. He looked like a different man, unburdened.

"You got it kid." He smiled and took the hand offered to him, he clutched it too hard forgetting that he was weak and injured.

He soften his grip when Nikolai let put a rough howl.

"Haha, sorry sorry, I forgot."

"Mm." That's all he managed to let out, the pain was still very much present.

They stood there side by side, some nursing bruises and bullet grazes. Not a single one of them were unscathed, it was just the seriousness of their injuries that varied.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As they stood there, the sun was peeking through the horizon. It wouldn't be long before they were all bathed in a beautiful orange hue.

Nikolai looked at the rising sun and smiled. It was the first time ever he had woken up before the sun was risen. It reminded him of his mother, he didn't care about these sort of things as a child and this memory had been locked within his mind before now.

Now that it was face to face with him, a whole set of memories unlocked themselves. His mother always nagged him about waking up early and watching the sun rise with her. He never understood why so he never bothered to wake up and watch it with her.

But now as a young adult. He found himself understanding. With everything their earth had lost there was still something beautiful that shines bright in the sky. It reminded Sanctauri the beauty of nature and he understood.

'I didn't do it by myself, but it's done mum, it's done. You can rest easy now.'

The sun rising at that very moment was too much of a coincidence for Nikolai. He took it as a sign, a sign that his mother was still watching over him even in her death.

"We've rested enough don't you think? Come on let's go."

Grey and Jesús looked at each other and shrugged because not only was Nikolai injured, James was unconscious.

"I'll carry him." Wilfred said pointing to James.

"Make sure you don't die Wilfred, I don't what I'd do if you did." Sekani warned him, he wasn't at all implying they should leave James behind but he also didn't want to lose Wilfred.

He hadn't told him this, but him and his granddaughter had become a vital part of their family. Naturally, Sekani didn't want to lose someone he considered family.

"Yes sir." Wilfred obliged, he could do nothing but agree. He couldn't leave James behind, and he was ordered to not die. The only thing he could do was strain his body to the point it became superhuman.

"Wh-what are you going to do with him?" Nikolai asked pointing to his father's dead body.

"I was thinking maybe leave it here for the officials to find and make it their business?" Jesús answered nonchalantly, he didn't have time to be nice to people like Gilbert or Arnold.

Sekani considered his answer while looking at Nikolai's concerned expression. He wondered if the boy was thinking the same thing he was.

"We can't do that, we should take him with us." Sekani argued.

"What in the hell? I get that you have a soft spot for that young man but Arnold Black? He deserved everything he got. He was a horrible human, an excuse for a man. He doesn't deserve any type of respect." Grey exploded, the outburst came out hard and unexpected so people around wore expressions of shock.

In all the years they've been students in his school, some even worked for him, they had never heard him yell like this. He was clearly very angry and passionate about the work they were doing here.

"I'm not doing this for Arnold Black. That's his son right there, the boy who risked his life to liberate these people, to stop his own father. Should he suffer because his father was a bastard?" Sekani argued again.

Nikolai was feeling more and more relieved the more he spoke. He was saying things he was too reserved to say and he was happy for it. What's more, there were young children who carried the name of Black.

They couldn't grow up in a society that ostracised their name. They'd grow up being discriminated against and that wasn't fair on them.

"Then, do you mean, we should cover this up? Pretend that idiot wasn't in cahoots with Blakeson, pretend we didn't catch him red-handed?" Grey Whitmore wasn't in the mood to give up on this, he needed to see justice.

"These are the same people whom killed your father." He finished it off with that.

Sekani's face into one of complete contempt but the expression was quickly erased. Making anyone who'd seen it think they were just imagining it.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't drag my father into this just so you can get a rise out of me. I don't want to make a decision based on emotions and damn an entire generation." Sekani said, trying his best to get the anger out of his voice.

"I apologise, I let my emotions run far too wide. I have no right to bring up Eldric." He apologised sincerely, Sekani didn't forgive him but he moved on.

"We take the body with us so that when the government comes here and this is exposed they don't put all the blame on him. Blakeson, I'm sure, has a lot of stooges that are on his payroll, it would be easy to pin it all on him. We need to find evidence that links them all to this."

This plan was sound. They had no complaints. Having an angry society focused on a single clan would truly be unfair at least now Arnold Black will be amongst many who've defiled their society.

His children won't receive the full blast of everything.

"Okay that sounds fair. Let's finish this once and for all, I'm old and I'm tired. I'd like to sleep in my own bed tonight." Grey said ready to leave.

They first took Arnold's body to the gate and propped him against the wall so that they wouldn't forget him when they're leaving this place, they couldn't leave James. He was an enemy and he was alive so Wilfred had the baggage of carrying him.

The contact lenses they wore also served as cameras. It was amazing the technology Ksimet Inc was capable of doing, especially Jon Scott. A genius amongst geniuses.

They used the camera to record everything they were doing here. Intending to do the same exact thing his son did, expose this atrocity on the Internet through a video that was hard evidence.

Sekani had already planned to raid the Black estate for proof that linked many of these families to this mine. The people needed to know everything that had been doing on underneath their noses.

Sekani was quite sure that even with this much proof, even if they find the evidence to put them away in jail for life the system was too broken to do anything of that sort.

He knew the government would look at the evidence and then look the other way. Not feeling any kind of guilt because these families were ones that kept their society running, even though they ran it with a noose around its neck it was still here.

"What a sad world we live in." He said, more to himself.