Illusions of the Mind
Chapter 2
Mirage's eyes were a little clearer now, more full of suspicion than
anything else, but they still showed that he was quite upset with Sage. He
and Sage had been friends for years, and if he was turning into a man like
Mirage's father......he didn't even want to think about it.
* * * *
Mirage rembembered a time; when he was younger, about seventeen
years old, when he and Sage were in the deep woods, and they were attacked
by trainees from a rival clan. The young ninjas were about their age, and
and had them out-numbered two to one. Nonetheless, they fought them bravely,
taking two each. The clan had never given Sage enough credit for skill,
mostly because of his high intelligence, and when he and his friend were
attacked, Sage showed how lethal he could actually be.
The two of them kicked ass. They took down all four of the ninjas,
and then disposed of the evidence, dumping of the bodies in the nearby lake.
During the battle, however, Mirage was injured by one of the ninjas
he fought. The assassin slashed him across his upper right arm, making a
decent gash. His blood flowed freely, and it hurt like hell. He tried not to
let Sage see it, he held his injured arm with his free hand, keeping
pressure on the wound.
But Sage did see it, and he cursed Mirage out for not telling him
sooner. Taking the belt off of his uniform, Sage wrapped it tightly around
Mirage's wound.
When the returned to the base, the clan's main doctor at the time, a
ninja called Concord, stiched him up and he was on his way. But that, as
Sage later said, was his first medical experience. It was also what, as Sage
said, got him into medical training.
To this day, however, Mirage never knew what compelled his friend to
become the Lin Kuei's engineer and have the responsibility of killing his
former friends.
* * * *
"So what are you here for, anyway?" Mirage asked when Sage didn't
start talking. "To ask me my opinion on who should be next?"
Sage looked up at him and threw him a glare. "That's not funny," he
sneered.
"It wasn't meant to be funny," Mirage replied simply. "Now, get to
the point,"
Sage sighed. "I'm here 'cause I want out,"
"'Out?' Out of what?" Mirage was a bit confused by what he was
saying.
"Out of the clan. Out of this deal with your father," he replied,
looking Mirage straight in the face.
"What deal with my father? I thought you became our main automater
by choice," Mirage's eyes narrowed in thought, and he was shocked at what he
was hearing.
Sage shook his head. "No. Your father told me that if I didn't take
the responsibility, he'd have everyone I care about either automated or
executed. My entire family,"
Mirage sighed and hung his head in dispair. "That sounds like
something my father would do. So, what did you want to do about it?"
Sage shrugged, ing his head to one side. "I wanna get as far
away from here as possible. I was hoping you could help me,"
Mirage, relieved that his friend wasn't on his father's side, smiled
at Sage. "I'm sure we can figure something out,"
* * * *
Whispers filled the streets of the village when the two Lin Kuei
came. This was not normal to the villagers. It wasn't every day the clan
visited their small town. They stood outside their houses and stared
wide-eyed as the ninjas approached.
The ninja on the right was tall, maybe six one or two inches tall,
with golden eyes. His uniform was of black and gold.
His companion was shorter, about five eleven, with foreign features
and green eyes. His uniform was quite different from his taller parnter. His
was completly black, except for dark green on the belt, shin and wrist
guards, and mask.
The assassins approached one of the huts, and the resident was
tempted to run inside. But he was frozen with fear. Should he run, he could
be killed. He was quite aware of the Lin Kuei's capabilities.
The gold clad ninja stepped close to him. The villager, getting a
good look at his green-eyes companion, noticed the origin of foreign
features. A westerner.
The gold eyed ninja turned to the crowd.
"Here's the deal," he said, his voice demanding. "If anyone asks,
this village was attacked by ten members of a rival ninja clan to the Lin
Kuei. And this man...." he continued, pointing to his handsome green clad
friend. "Was killed in battle," The final words of his speech were spoke in
a combination of force and sorrow. "Understand?"
The townspeople nodded slowly and looked at each other, not
completly understanding what was happening.
The tall speaker then turned back to the villager he stepped up to
earlier. He reached inside his overmantle and pulled out a wad of money and
held it out to the man.
"Take this and get my friend to the nearest international airport.
Got it?"
The man nodded, taking the money. Examining it, he figured it was
the equivalent of three hundred American dollars.
Mirage turned to Sage. "Good luck, my friend." he said. "Where 'er
you going?"
Sage ed his head to the side and sighed. "America. Hopefully,
the clan won't find me there."
Mirage nodded. "I'll make sure of it. From this point on, you, me,
and the villagers are the only ones who know you're alive." Sage pulled
off his mask and smiled. "Let me change real quick and I'll be on my way.
Thanks, Mirage. I owe you."
He then went into the man's hut and changed into street cloths he
had in a duffel bag, as not to stick out in an international airport. When
he came out, he threw the bag in the back of the villager's beat up pick up
and walked up to Mirage. He had something shiny in his hand. A dagger. In
his other hand he had the belt from his uniform.
"We need a little evidence." he said.
Mirage glared at him curiously.
Sage placed the blade of his knife against his left forearm and
pulled it toward his wrist, making an incision large enough to leave blood
on the dagger. He then wiped the side of the blade across the cut, smearing
blood on the side. He then did the same thing to the opposite side.
Mirage watched the whole thing, and after Sage wrapped his belt
tightly around his bleeding arm, he handed the blade to Mirage.
"Let's see how good an actor you are," he said, smiling beneath the
stinging pain.
* * * *
Mirage had been walking for hours along the path back home, his eyes
hardly ever leaving Sage's dagger. By now, his friend was on his way to a
new life.
Mirage's emotions were flodded. He could hardly think. He was mad at
Sage, happy for Sage, and he already missed Sage, all at the same time.
Taking the dagger, he brought the blade across his left forearm, the
same place Sage cut himself. He then procedded to wipe the blood all over
his arms and chest, giving himself a battle torn look. He was near the base,
and needed to look as shocked and tired as possible.
Reaching the enterance of the Lin Kuei, covered in enough of his own
blood that he could squeeze out without fainting, he dropped to his knees.
He began to wonder if it was a act. Maybe I bled myself to much, he thought.
Omega and his father were the first to notice him. Omega came
running at him so quickly that when he tried to stop and kneel next to
Mirage, he slid in and fell on his knees.
Mirage held himself up with both hands, staring at the ground and
panting in between fake coughs. Sage would be impressed.
"What the hell happened?!" Omega said, helping his friend up.
"We went into the village and...." he whezzed, and stopped briefly
to cough again. "And a rival clan attacked us,"
His father kneeled next to him, a calm look on his face. He seemed
more calm than Omega.
"Where's Sage?" he asked, staring at him without a bit of worry.
Mirage coughed once more for good measure and looked his father in
the face, seeming as remorseful as possible.
"He's dead,"
End of Chapter 2
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