A Modern Myth

Against my better judgment, I left the bus around midnight and ventured into the grove of trees nearby to see if I could find him. It had been long enough that the Order would be interested by now, wondering why he hadn’t killed his target yet. At the very least I wanted to find out which of my friends he was after.

My best guess was that Ray was the target. It wouldn’t have been difficult for them to find out that I had told him about my hidden life, but I was always careful to leave out any specific details about their dealings. The only reason I told him was so I would have someone to help keep my sanity intact, anyway. If they were after one of the others instead, I couldn’t think of why.

I sighed as I leapt from one thick tree branch to another, wondering how I had missed it. I had never suspected Jared Leto of being a ninja. Even as I thought back on our previous encounters, he had been just as secretive as me. In fact, if he hadn’t made the mistake of putting his name on his knife, I likely never would have known it was him. I marked my weapons with symbols, but never my name. It was foolish.

A quick burst of air brushed past my ears, and I turned my path towards it. Three ninjas were traveling to the same point; I could hear the other two by now, so I fell back a little, careful not to alert them to my presence. Suddenly, all three dropped to the ground, standing in a perfect triangle around a single man standing in the middle of the clearing and looking down, a defensive position to show he was holding no weapons.

“Why haven’t you fulfilled your mission yet?” one of them asked, speaking fluent Japanese. He stood perfectly still as he answered.

“There have been a few complications.”

“That is no excuse,” said another.

“Do I have permission to remove the problem?”

The other three seemed to communicate silently for a few moments. Either they didn’t want to let him know what they were saying, or they didn’t want me to know. I stifled my breathing even further.

“Only if it’s necessary.”

“I do not kill without necessity. It is against the code.”

“Then take care of this soon, or you’ll hear from us again,” the leader assured him. The three disappeared with the ease of a gust of wind, and he stood still for a moment before running straight up the nearest tree and traveling back towards the bus. I hurried to intercept him. He had the advantage because of those shoes, but if I could somehow get him on the ground, we would be equal.

I tackled the moving mass of black and brought both of us crashing through tree branches to land on the ground. He struggled to get away from me, but I pulled out one sword and held it against his neck, and he went still.

“Which one of my friends are you trying to kill?” I asked in a low tone. He said nothing, so I forced the sword against his neck, offering a more serious threat. “Tell me!”

“You know I cannot,” he growled back. Though the sharpened blade could have easily killed him, I knew the fabric of his suit would keep him from getting seriously injured, and I definitely didn’t want to risk letting him go.

“You will tell me if you want to live.”

I heard something unexpected at that point. Instead of an answer – or at least the cold silence I predicted – he began to laugh darkly. He punched my shoulder and sent me rolling across the ground, then kicked my leg. Several of the spikes pierced through the muscles, and he nearly broke the bone as he ripped his foot away and began to run.

“You’d better keep watch on that singer.”

Gritting my teeth in pain, I took off at a run after him, staying low to the ground and ignoring the searing fire quickly taking hold of my body. The rustling of leaves caught my attention, and I knew he had taken to the trees once again. I only had two or three shuriken left, and though I carried enough poison darts to bring down an elephant, I wasn’t nearly close enough to get a good shot at him.

The constant grinding feeling as I took one jarring stride after another was a red flag telling me to stop running, but I shoved it out of my mind. I had to get back to the bus before he did. I had to keep him from hurting someone that didn’t deserve it.

By the time I reached the bus, I had no idea where Leto was anymore. Gasping for air as blood continued flowing out of my punctured leg, I heard quiet voices talking and laughing lightly as I made my way to the vehicle. The guys were sitting outside, so I snuck around to the back of the bus, practically dragging my left leg by that point. Ray had left the back window unlocked for me, and I eased it open, then pulled myself into the bus and collapsed onto the floor. Unfortunately, my entry was a little louder than I had planned.

“What was that?” Frank asked, sounding confused.

“I’ll go check it out,” Ray said casually, hiding the worry I knew was there. He made his way into the bus and shut the door behind him. “What happened?”

“…Gerard,” I nearly growled, grinding my teeth together in pain and holding back several curse words. “I need to protect him!”

“You’re hurt really bad,” he insisted, kneeling to examine my bleeding leg. The fabric of my suit was absorbing most of the liquid, but it wouldn’t work forever.

“He’s going to be hurt a lot worse if I don’t get there bef-”

The sound of tree branches breaking outside cut me off. I weakly stood and stumbled forward in an unbalanced run, but I slipped and collided full force with the counter. My vision swirled for a few short, dizzying moments before I passed out completely.