The Sankari Legends Book One: The Scars We Hide

The graduation ceremony went smoothly. Alec, Alia, and Megan were all recognized for their outstanding work in discovering the konna’s plot to get the secret of Einoth, as well as holding up under torture. They were each promoted: Alia and Alec to Second Zeta and Megan to a Delta. Since I’d been part of the mission too, I’d already received my promotion to Second Gamma. When the three of them came up to receive their new pins, I was there to give them to them.

After the ceremony, we all traveled into Aelston to celebrate. We grabbed a quick lunch and then decided to spend the rest of the afternoon walking around Aelston, window shopping and just hanging out. Somewhere along the way Nicki left us to hang out with some of her old school friends that still lived in the city. Tyler also left to go see his brother, but promised to join us later.

Even though we were having a good time going through the town, I still could sense the slight amount of tension in our group. It had been a month since Megan had explained about her powers, Nicki had talked about the prophecy, and we had heard the theory about the Elemental Source, we hadn’t talked about any of that much since then. Alec, Alia, and Megan had all been busy getting ready for graduation. I had been called in to help as a combat specialist drill leader since Peter had been called out with the Z Squad’s search for the missing elementests. Tyler had also been called to Aelston to help fill in some in Layne’s absence. We would all see each other in passing, but never long enough to have a lengthy conversation.

As we walked we didn’t have much room for that conversation either, but I didn’t miss Alec and Megan’s hands brushing occasionally, or the way Alia kept her eyes peeled suspiciously at everyone as she struggled to keep the burn scars on her wrists hidden.

That evening, we found ourselves at a club named Chaucler’s, which always threw a party for the Edil graduates and friends at the end of the year. It was at this same club that the infamous incident of Alia drunk flirting with me happened last year. We walked over to one of the quieter corners, avoiding all of drunken dancers in the middle of the floor.

“So many people here,” Alia grumbled.

“Oh come on Als,” Megan said. “We were here last year for Sabin’s graduation party. What’s different now?”

Alia didn’t answer but instead just shot Megan a glare before pushing herself out from the table.

“I’m getting a drink,” she muttered.

“Alia we just sat down!” Alec protested. “And did you forget what happens when you drink?”

“Does it look like I care?” Alia asked. She flipped her braid over her shoulder as she walked away, but not before calling out “oh, and if I get drunk, Sabin you are not allowed to come anywhere need me.”

Alec and Megan both let out their own chortles in response.

“How is that my fault?” I asked. “I don’t get drunk. It is not my fault.”

“There’s no convincing Alia of that,” Alec said. “Honestly, I’m surprised she even brought it up. She’s still ridiculously embarrassed about it.”

“Oh, like I’m not?” I said. “Tyler hasn’t let me hear the end of it.”

“Maybe I should’ve kept some memories buried,” Megan murmured, not necessarily in a sad voice, but in a reflective kind of way. “Seems like it would have made things easier in the long run.”

Alec reached over took her hand. “That isn’t true and you know it, Meg,” he said.

She looked up at him and met his eyes. I sat awkwardly as they seemed to carry on a silent conversation with each other. After a few seconds, Megan apparently realized that I was still there and glanced over at me.

“Uh, Sabin would you mind…”

I was already out of my seat. “Think I’ll join Alia at the bar,” I said.

“A bad idea, but okay,” Alec muttered as I walked away.

I walked up to the bar to find Alia staring at a completely full glass and surrounded by several sixteen and seventeen year olds who I knew weren’t from Edil. Even over the sound of the music, I could hear what they were saying to her:

“Hey soldier girl how did you get those pretty scars on your wrist?”

“I heard that there were a few Edil students captured by konna. Were you one of the ones captured?”

“Bet you cried for your parents when you were captured.”

This last one was enough to drive Alia from her seat. I could see the glasses behind the counter shaking as her powers started to act up. Before I could even really think I jumped over and grabbed her arm.

“Alia,” I said, feeling the full weight of her attention and powers turning on me before she realized who I was.

“Sabin? I thought I said for you to stay away from me.”

“You aren’t drunk,” I pointed out. “Just pissed enough to shake the glassware.”

“Hey, get out of here asshole,” one of her taunters said to me, grabbing my shoulder and trying to turn me around. “We were talking to her first.”

Alia clenched and unclenched her fists. I knew her well enough after all these years to know she hated guys objectifying her (or any female for that matter) the way these guys were. Normally, I would trust her to tell them off herself, but Alia wasn’t in the right kind of mindset to do that right now. If I didn’t get these guys off her case… well, it’d be ugly, to say the least.

I placed a casual look on my face, giving a sideways look to the idiots around us.

“Obviously, you guys have no idea about anything we go through as Edil students,” I said slowly. Keeping the casual air up, I reached over for Alia’s drink and took a sip. I nearly gagged at the taste. I’d forgotten Alia prefers really strong drinks, especially when she’s in a pissed off mood. Still I managed not to make a face and set the glass back down. Alia hadn’t moved, but I saw her watching me from the corner of her eye as she takes the drink in her hands.

I continue talking to the idiots, who were all watching with a territorial sort of disgust. “See,” I said. “One of the first lessons we learn at Edil is how to observe a situation. Now anyone with Edil training would’ve looked at the situation of a female sitting at a bar alone, recognize the fact that she does not in any way desire the company of assholes such as yourselves.”

The guy who had insulted me earlier opened his mouth to spew some more of his unlimited wisdom, no doubt, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“Now, before you say anything, just know that I’m doing you all a service. See, I’m much nicer than Alia here. If I hadn’t shown up, you’d already be on the way to the hospital. Me, I’m just going to give you a little piece of advice.”

I leaned in closer to them and allowed my eyes to shift just the slightest to look more like a wolf’s eyes. I willed a little extra feral gleam into them to add to the effect as I said:

“Screw off before I make you seriously regret coming here tonight,” I glanced at the rest of his friends. “That goes the same for all the rest of you.”

Fortunately, my guesses that these jerks were all talk and no balls was correct, because they quickly backed away and hustled out of the club.

“Idiots,” I muttered, turning back to Alia, who was still trying to cool down. She was looking at me with a look that was more disgusted disbelief that admiration - something I was used to seeing from her. Her hand was gripped tightly around the still too full glass. I reached out and touched it gently.

“Hey, let's get some air outside,” I suggested to her, not giving her much of an option as I gently pulled her arm towards the door.

We had barely made it outside onto Chaucler’s back patio before Alia yanked her arm away from me and shouted:

“What the hell was that Sabin?!” she shouted. “I can handle myself, thank you!”

“I’m not questioning your ability to handle yourself Alia, just your ability to handle yourself well. So what was that back there anyway?”

“Just some guys being idiots,” Alia answered. “I’m sure with your shifter abilities you could hear what those jackasses were saying.”

I didn’t answer, but kind of just looked down at the ground. Alia didn’t need me to answer though. Instead she changed the subject.

“Where did you leave my brother and Megan?”

“At the table,” I answered. “They wanted some time to talk on their own.”

Alia rolled her eyes. “Typical. Think they’re going to get back together?”

“I think that’s what they’re trying to figure out,” I said. “They haven’t really had time to talk with each other since the mission. Not with the search for the missing elementests.”

“Which they are actually involved with and not us,” Alia muttered.

“Well, since neither of us are an elementest or a trained IGS, it’s not like they really need us,” I said.

“Thank you for reminding me I am not an elementest,” Alia said. She marched over to the railing overlooking the sea.

“Alia, I know you’re confused and bitter about it,” I started. “But you can’t …”

“Sabin, will you just shut up,” she said. “I really would rather not talk about this.”

“You brought it up.”

“And now I’m un-bringing it up,” she said. “Now will you just drop it?”

I looked at her as she looked out at the sea. Her hair was pulled back in a neat braid as usual. Despite the scars scattered across every part of her visible skin, she still wore a v-neck t-shirt and khaki shorts. The high-top shoes she wore covered the burn scars on her ankles, but she kept rubbing the ones on her wrists.

“Knew I should’ve worn long sleeves,” she muttered in a quiet voice that I probably wasn’t supposed to hear.

“It’s a bit hot for that,” I said.

“Ha, hilarious,” she said. “But at least then I could cover these damn burn scars.”

I took a breath before reaching over and grabbing one of her hands.

“Alia, you know you shouldn’t be ashamed of these scars.”

“Yeah, I think that every time someone gives me a funny look for them,” Alia said bitterly.

“That’s their problem,” I said. “Besides, anyone who gives you crap over them doesn’t understand—“

“Doesn’t understand what, Sabin?!” Alia asked, pulling her hand away from me. “Doesn’t understand the sacrifices I’ve made for the good of Sankruus? Don’t you dare tell me that. I’m more than aware of the sacrifices I’ve made.”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” I responded, trying to keep my voice calm. It wouldn’t do either of us any good if we started having a shouting match. Already I could see some of the patio tables shaking slightly as Alia’s powers started to flare up, which was a tell for just how upset she was. Alia normally had amazing control over her powers, but this was twice tonight she had started to lose it.

“What were you going to say then?” Alia snarled. “What don’t they understand?”

“They don’t understand just how strong you are,” I said, taking her hand back and pulling it to make her look at me. “And that no one can give you grief unless you let them.”

Alia didn’t speak for a moment, but instead averted her eyes away from mine. After a few seconds, she laughed.

“Sabin you know that is one of the most cliché things you’ve ever said to me? And you’ve said a hell-load of cliché things to me in the years I’ve known you.” She shook her head. “I think you’re forgetting there is a difference between being powerful and strong. Powerful is having an abundance of power. Being strong is using what power you have to achieve what is right. I mean, yeah sure I’m powerful. I could kick your ass any day of the week. But what good is being powerful when I can’t use those powers to protect the ones I love? No, Sabin, I’m not strong.”

That comment was my breaking point. I finally snapped. “Like hell you aren’t Alia! You are strong. You’re one of the strongest people I have ever known and I’ll be damned if I let you think otherwise.”

“How can I think that I’m strong when I’ve failed to protect so many people that I care about?” she shouted, pulling away from me again and turning her back on me. “First I wasn’t able to save my parents, then I got Alec captured. All because I thought I was strong enough to take on a threat with just Alec’s help.”

“Okay so you’re bull-headed,” I said. “And your brother isn’t much better since he didn’t talk you out of it. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t strong. And about your parents Alia… there wasn’t anything you could’ve done, you know that.”

“You suck at helping, do you know that?” Alia said as she sat down on the ground with her back to the railing. “But I appreciate the attempt. I just wish… I wish I didn’t have these scars. If I didn’t… maybe things would be easier.”

I sat down beside her. “I already told you that you shouldn’t be ashamed of your scars.”

“Like you aren’t ashamed of yours?” she asked, not bothering to look up at me but instead rubbed one of the burn scars.

I stared at Alia in shock for a few seconds before finding the words to say.

“How… how did you…”

“Oh come off it, Sabin,” Alia said, jumping to her feet. “I was there when they brought you guys back from your graduation mission. I remember the stitches that went across your face. Wounds like that don’t heal completely, not even with your healing abilities.”

“Alia…”

“Shut up, Sabin,” she said. “Look, I get you’re trying to help me, but how can you expect to do that when you aren’t even able to wear your own scars?”

I sighed and looked down at the ground below us, which was a reflective kind of stone. I studied my face in the reflection, thinking about what Alia had said. Honestly, I had forgotten about my scar until last month when Megan restored our memories. I had been hiding it with my shifting abilities, shifting my face just enough to hide the cut that ran diagonally across my face. Since the return of our memories, I hadn’t thought much about it, and I had thought the only other people who had known about it were Tyler, Megan, and Nicki (because it is pretty futile to try and hide anything from those three). I hadn’t expected Alia to have known about it, but thinking back… I realized she had come to the infirmary to see us as soon as they had let us have visitors after the mission. At that point, I hadn’t really been thinking clearly—I’d still been in a daze after everything had happened, so I hadn’t thought to hide my already healing cut.

“You’re right, Als,” I said quietly. I looked at my reflection on the ground as I focused on letting the scar be visible again. Even once I could see it clearly, I kept my eyes downcast until Alia knelt down in front of me. I raised my head to look at her.

Without talking, Alia reached out and held her hand just about an inch away from the deepest part of the scar on my right cheek. She didn’t touch it, but I knew she didn’t need to. Slowly, she moved her hand upwards, following the path of the scar.

“I didn’t realize it was this bad,” she said.

I let out a slight laugh. “Yeah, well yours and Alec’s friend Odyssa really likes that shiny knife of hers.”

As soon as I said that, I regretted it. Neither Alia nor Alec had told me much about it, but I’d learned from Tyler and Megan about what had really happened the night the Parkers died, as well as the fact that Alec had known but hadn’t told Alia until recently. She knew now—that Odyssa had killed her parents—but the twins were still on fragile ice about the subject.

Alia’s hand dropped at the mention of Odyssa’s name.

“Odyssa did this to you?”

I nodded. “Yeah. When we were on our way back from completing our graduation mission, Brittany’s team attacked and captured us. Only… I didn’t know it was Brittany at the time. She used her takot powers on us, but never actually showed herself. Either way, while we were captured they decided to have a… a ‘little fun’ with us.” I took a shaky breath as the memories came flooding back in. I’d gotten better at dealing with them, mostly by not thinking about it too much, but after the past month I’d been having a lot more flashbacks and nightmares about what had happened. I thought I’d moved past it, but talking with Alia was turning out to be a lot harder than I had thought.

Alia must have sensed my anxiety building up because she gently placed her hand on my arm.

“You don’t have to keep explaining if you don’t want to,” she said. “I can guess what happened.”

“Yeah, but… I need to,” I said, not actually believing the words until I said them. Alia nodded with understanding and I continued.

“The thing is… I don’t know if they wanted information from us, like they did with you and Alec,” I said slowly. “At least… not from me, or from our fourth team member Reagan. Tyler was useful to them, since he was an IGS and a telepath. That’s… that’s why he lost his arm.”

“They cut it off?” Alia asked, her voice pitching slightly.

“Not… not exactly,” I said. “It was nerve damage and poor blood circulation. Honestly it’s a miracle they didn’t do worse to him.” I took another breath, pushing the memories of my best friend screaming in pain as Daphne had used a thorn-covered vine to cut the circulation off of his arm. “Of course, even he was lucky compared to our team leader.”

“Mia,” Alia said.

I nodded. “She was older than us by more than a few years—I actually think she was in Zig’s year at the academy. Anyway, she had been sent with us on our mission as a supervisor. She wasn’t really supposed to get involved unless everything went to hell, since the mission was kind of my test to see if I’d be able to become a mission leader recruit. However, when we got captured… the konna suspected she knew a lot more than she was letting on. But Mia was a projectionist: able to project her consciousness outside of her body for short periods of time. While they were torturing her, she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to hold up, since projectionist bodies can’t risk taking too much damage. So, in a last ditch effort, she projected herself to where I was being held and explained what she knew to me. But she wasn’t able to make it back to her body in time…”

“After that, the konna figured out she’d contacted me, which is when they brought me in for ‘questioning’.” I gave a bitter laugh. “I was lucky, honestly. I only had to bear about an hour and a half of it. Then Zig’s team came in and got us out.”

“An hour and a half doesn’t feel like an hour and a half when you’re on one of their tables,” Alia said quietly. “It feels like an eternity. An eternity with no end in sight, and you’ve screamed until you absolutely can’t anymore but they’re still at you so you still scream.” Her gaze grew distant as she muttered: “You keep screaming and begging them to stop but they don’t. They just keep cutting you and burning you and hitting you and oh god.”

She grabbed her head and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight the flashback off. Before even thinking, I reached for her arms.

“Alia,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. I knew what was happening to her. She’d let herself be pulled in by the memories and now to her it felt like she was drowning in them. She was reliving the torture. It had happened to me hundreds of times after I had been captured. It wasn’t something I liked to remember. “Alia, listen to me you’re safe. They aren’t hurting you right now. Alia, it’s me, Sabin. I’m here. I’m not going to let them get you. You’re okay.”

“They have Alec. They hurt him,” was all Alia said.

“No, no Alec is okay. He’s inside with Megan. We’re outside on the patio of Chaucler’s. We’re in Aelston. No one is going to hurt you or Alec.”

Alia slowly dropped her hands and glanced up at me.

“S… Sabin?” It killed me to hear her voice so quiet and broken. Alia wasn’t weak. She didn’t break, at least, not easily and not without giving whoever was trying to break her absolute hell first. But right now… she looked the same she had seven years ago, on the night her parents had been killed. I’d sat there in the street in front of her burning house that night, holding her as tightly as eleven year old me could. It was one of the only times I ever remember seeing Alia cry.

She wasn’t crying now, but she looked just as scared and broken as she had back then.

“You’re okay, Alia,” I said. “Just breath. Try to calm down.”

She nodded and took in a few deep breaths. I glanced over her shoulder to see Megan and Alec standing in the doorway of the patio. No doubt Megan had sensed the overwhelming surge of memories coming from the both of us and had wanted to check on us, but as much as I appreciated the gesture, Megan’s uncontrollable minnen abilities probably wouldn’t help right now.

I gave them a curt nod as a sign Alia and I were okay. Alec looked like he wanted to rush to his sister’s side, but Megan seemed to understand that he might trigger Alia even further, so she pulled him back. Before they went back inside, Megan met my eyes with the silent message for us to join them when we were ready. I nodded again in reply before turning my attention back to Alia.

“You’re okay,” I repeated. “It was just a flashback. You’re safe now.”

“I… I know,” she said, her voice quiet and sounded very much like she was choking back tears. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. “Sorry you had to witness that. I’ve… I’ve been doing good, considering. Normally it’s only nightmares. This was the first flashback. I just got pulled into the memories… relating with what you said about your own… experience I just… I lost it. I’m sorry.”

I reached out and took her hand, squeezing it firmly. “Alia, don’t apologize for that. It isn’t your fault and trust me when I say that I totally understand what you’re going through. This isn’t something you can just forget. It takes a lot of time to get to a point where you can talk about this stuff easily. To be honest… this was really the first time I ever really told someone the majority of my story.”

“Really?” Alia asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. I mean, you remember how I was right after I got back from the mission. I was secluded and I lashed out at everyone. For months, I couldn’t talk about what happened. Eventually, Nicki sat me down with Tyler—who’d been even more isolated than me—and told us that if we weren’t going to talk to anyone else, we were at least going to talk to each other about what had happened.”

Alia gave a slight laugh. “How’d that work out?”

“Terribly,” I said. “Tyler and me aren’t big on emotions even in the best of times. We definitely weren’t up for talking about what had happened then.” I chuckled at the memory as I squeezed her hand. “My point is Alia, that even though it’s not going to be easy for you or Alec, don’t seclude yourself from everybody. You have tons of friends who are there for you, even if you don’t feel up to talking yet. They aren’t going to ditch out on you. And when you do feel like talking… just know that I’m always going to be willing to listen. So will Megan, or Tyler, or Zig… or even Alec. We’re all there for you.”

Alia smiled faintly. “Thanks Sabin,” she said, looking down at the scars on her wrist.

“You were right about me being ashamed of my scar, Als,” I said quietly. “But how about this: if you try not to be ashamed of yours, then I’ll try not to be ashamed of mine.”

She considered my words for a few seconds before finally looking at me and extending her hand.

“Deal,” she said as we shook on it.

Then Alia stood up and pulled on my hand.

“Now come on, Raider. Enough sob stories for one night. We’re supposed to be celebrating my graduation here. And I know just how to do that.”

“And what is that, Parker?” I asked as Alia pulled me to my feet.

“Well, due to your revelation of the fact that your increased metabolism doesn’t let you get drunk,” Alia said matter-of-factly. “I have made it my life’s goal to witness you get absolutely hammered.”

I rolled my eyes as we walked into the club. “Alia, you know that is a terrible idea and will never work.”

“Don’t bet against me, Sabin. I refuse to lose.”

I couldn’t help but laugh and accept the fact that I was going to be babysitting a totally drunk Alia Parker for the rest of the evening. I was okay with that, though. It was Alia’s way of getting by. I knew she’d gone through a lot, and there was no way that she was ever going to get over it completely. But I also knew Alia was incredibly strong, and she’d be able to use this to make her even stronger, even if it would take some time.

As we joined Alec and Megan at our table and Alia ordered the drinks, I thought about the four of us. What Mia had told me before she died still sounded in my mind and made me wonder just what the future had in store. Nicki had told me there were darker days to come, and I didn’t doubt that for a second. I had enough experience by now to know that the konna were growing bolder, and the war that had been brewing for so many years may finally be about to begin.

But I also knew that in the end, everything would be okay. We’d made it through trials before, we could make it through again.