Chapter LXXXIV: Number Two
~Kyanosa
Kyanosa sat hugging his knees on the edge of a small cliff by the sea. The
waves washed gently against the face of the rock, but they never traveled the
extra twelve feet up to his area. The sun hid behind a cloud at that precise
moment, and the steady wind was blowing a few clumps of his hair around his
face. The grass around him swayed gently, moving in ripples of its own along
the clifftop. No other animals were in sight, preferring not to be one step
away from becoming driftwood. All of which left Kyanosa in a perfect position
to reflect. Yep, it's one of those chapters. And you have to read it. Haha.
To a large degree, the subjects of his reflections were the same as they had
been for upwards of five years now. You know, it didn't matter if he had killed
a mutant, taken down a 10-foot-tall robot, beaten his evil twin in direct
combat, escaped from an exploding planet, incinerated a forest, and saved the
near entirety of the multiverse's current clan of heroes with a single
defensive maneuver. He was still the group laughingstock. Not much can make you
feel worse than that. Maybe if nobody reads your chapters.
He could still hear the snickering in the hallways whenever he passed, he could
see the looks he got whenever he entered a room, and he could practically taste
the fact that everybody was avoiding him. No, wait, that's a little harsh.
People talked to him when they felt they had to, and most managed to keep a
straight face. Some knew enough not to talk to him like he was mentally
disabled, but not many. Mazzic still gave him some time, and so did Kaye, and
that was largely due to their affiliation with him during the late Zolott
affair. Joshua wasn't bad, either.
Actually, that deserved some explanation. Yes, when they first met, they did
hate each other with a passion. Eventually, though, it occurred to Kyanosa that
having enemies on the train was bad, so he had wandered around the train until
they found each other. In fact, it was during their mutual resolution of
differences that Crux had seen fit to tear through the area, messing up
Kyanosa'a hair. They'd spent a significant amount of time together so far, and
Josh had even helped Kyanosa figure out some of his new Mix powers. The two of
them had gotten all the Wing ones down in fifteen minutes. Kyanosa liked Josh.
Maybe it was his overall disillusionment with the establishment that so
reminded Kyanosa of his own old friends, or maybe it was just the fact that he
looked like a punk Super Saiya-jin Son Gokou. He couldn't put his finger on it.
He hated most of the rest of the crew with a near passion, taking offense at
their cliquish view of his character as a whole and the arrogance with which
the self-centered better-than-humans compared their powers to his own. No
offense. He had gone to great pains to live this long; why couldn't anybody
just accept him as a person? Only 6400 had seen some real worth in his
abilities, with the possible exception of Kaye, but that was just because he
had tried to kill her. It was like he wasn't on the train at all.
Then again, it's not like anybody was being as jovial and nonchalant about the
whole affair as he. This group needed somebody to bring the mood back up and
remind them that life is just as fun as it is boring interdimensional travel.
Everybody took themselves and each other way too seriously, and the ones who
did have the right idea and were having fun kept it mostly to
themselves. It was up to the intrepid few (or, in this case, one) to laugh in
the face of danger, evil, and overwhelming physical torture.
But it was hard to keep up spirits when nobody bothered to back you up. It was
just one person trying to balance the good of the group as a whole with being
treated like he mattered.
But what did it matter if people were on his side? If they are, fine; if they
aren't, jive. So long as he kept a sense of humor, everything would be alright.
No, one needs some reason to have good feelings in order to spread them to
others.
No, good feelings are generated of oneself. It's a natural product of being
human.
Actually, being human is probably a main reason for this vendetta everybody has
with him.
He wouldn't call it a vendetta. More like general wariness of.
Wariness doesn't logically lead to hatred, at least not in his experience.
But he hasn't gotten hatred; it's only felt like that.
No, everybody hates him.
No, it's that they don't know him yet.
He's given them plenty of chances to know him.
Well obviously he's not trying hard enough. Probably because he doesn't want
to.
Of course he wants to! Friends are incredibly important!
All he needs is himself to be happy.
Everybody needs others!
Everybody needs self-sufficiency!
Others!
Self-sufficiency!
Others!
Self-sufficiency!
And that's when the revelation hit him. Suddenly everything became clear, both
literally and figuratively. In the real world, the sun came out from behind its
cloud and shone down, but apparently missed Kyanosa. Sunlight seemed to swerve
around him, letting the breeze accentuate the chill he had just received. In
his mind, it was like a retaining wall had just been torn down, and he was
working overtime putting pieces together and forming one great tapestry out of
what before was only string. He blanched, remembered to breathe, and tried to
figure out what to do next.
He tried reaching out with his mind. {Hello?} He waited. Nothing. He took another
guess. {Get out of my head.}
More silence. Then a second later, [No, you get out of my head.]
The sun passed behind another cloud, and as the wind sent another chill through
his system, Kyanosa fought very hard the urge to cry.