In Sanosuke smithy he had installed a shoji sliding door, his door opened to see the perfect view of Soppio and the soon to be fireworks display.

Charlie stood looking outside as Sanosuke grabbed two objects that he had hidden under his desk.

He had the gleeful face of a grandfather anxiously waiting to surprise their grandchild.

He handed the two objects to Charlie, one of which was a wrapped box the size of a high school textbook. On top of the box was a wrapped sack with a bow holding the sack together.

“These are for me?” Charlie asked, a hint of depression in her voice.

“Yes! Now go on, open the first one.” He couldn’t hold in his excitement; he wanted to go and help her open the gifts.

Charlie unraveled the bow and opened the sack; she saw a black plastic face mask with purple accents on top of a blue cloth.

She picked up the face mask, it was made specifically to cover the mouth of the person wearing it and was shaped to resemble an Oni mask, sharp teeth and all. There was a space in the middle of the mask that showed the wearer's mouth.

“You can have that resting on your neck until it’s time to do battle. I know you told me your alias was the Norse shinobi. Historically, some shinobi wore half masks like that. Go on, pick up the next one,” Sanosuke said.

Placing the mask to the side, Charlie pulled the blue cloth out and started to feel her tears.

The cloth was a haori, the same haori that Sanosuke wore into battle. The asagi blue haori of the Shinsengumi.

“We should have something to wear to signify ourselves as a team. I know you still need to grow, so it may not fit you correctl—“

Charlie couldn’t take it anymore. Her soul ached in pain. It felt like the chains of her doubt started to wrap tightly around her soul.

“Why… why are you doing all of this for me?!” She fell to her knees clenching the haori in her hands and slamming the ground out of frustration and anger.

Sanosuke didn’t know what was going on, did he make a mistake? He didn’t know if he should give her space or to go comfort her.

“I… don’t deserve all of this! I killed myself, I shouldn’t be here. I know that souls that commit suicide get taken out of the cycle of reincarnation for punishment. I should be there, not that poor einherjar that took my place!” She paused to dry heave and cry for a few seconds. “There’s nothing special about me! I’m unworthy of the Tryfing, of you, Lady Inari and Lady Freya. I can’t fake it anymore. I just can’t. I can’t change!”

Charlie thought of her defeat against the man that attacked Soppio. Even though she trained hard for three years it didn’t matter. Because just like she thought she wasn’t good enough, she thought the harsh training wasn’t good enough either.

Freya and Inari stood in their ethereal forms near the open door, they look on in silence, as much as the two wanted to help they knew that this was something that Charlie needed to deal with. Instead, they decided to leave this to Sanosuke.

“I’m not good enough to wear your wife’s kimono or to wear the same haori as you,” Charlie cried out, unloading her bottled up feeling of herself.

Sano leaned down in front of the crying Norse elf placing his hand on her back.

“Charlie… I have spent my entire life in servitude to the shinto religion. To the belief of the Tryfing. I was the only person that believed my great grandfather’s stories and when he died, I lost the only person that in turn believed in me. But I never faltered. It was quite lonely not being able to tell anyone about my dream of the Tryfing but then I met my wife and I confided in her… And she believed me.”

Charlie wiped her nose and tears with her arm not wanting to ruin Mari’s kimono; looking up at Sanosuke she saw the melancholy in his face.

“I was happy that I had one person… one person to humor me about the Tryfing. There were days I thought I was crazy and the more technology advanced, the more people started to drop their faith and religion. But still … I never faltered, even when people from my community would berate me or desecrate the shrine. My faith continued because there were people that needed me, there was someone that believed in me.”

Sanosuke paused, he was trying his best to continue but the next few words were some of the hardest for him to say, for him to remember and relive in his mind.

“Then Mari died, and I lost the one person who believed in me again. But I still never faltered, I kept going, I was strong, I was the great grandson of a Tryfing retainer, the man who won 2nd place, I would say. My son didn’t believe me or his wife, they all thought it was a bedtime story that I was starting to believe… That I was getting dementia, that sickening disease that took my wife…”

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His voice cracked and he started to cry, but he held firm and continued.

“But even with that push back from my own son and daughter-in-law, I never faltered. When my grandson Kouta was born, I was given a second wind. I loved that boy so much and told him about the Tryfing, about the honorable battles our family lineage had entered… and he believed me. Finally someone believed me, I wasn’t alone anymore and didn’t feel alone. Even if I didn’t accomplish anything in my life, I had given my life for my family and that’s all a true man needs for a fulfilling life. I was content with my shrine; I was content with being called the crazy old samurai. But… I was a fool. I didn't see how my actions and beliefs affected my family, how my reputation affected the Sanosuke name and its honor. They took him away;they took Kouta from me and told me I was the reason Mari died.”

Charlie waited for Sanosuke to continue, who needed to pause again. This was difficult for the old young man.

“And as I saw my son leave with his wife and my grandson, as I cleaned the graffiti off the walls of my shrine for the third time in three months… Those painful words that reminded me of my demented wife, that I could have dementia. Here lives the crazy old samurai, I faltered and I broke. I thought I was strong, and you could say that I held firm for fifty plus years but that didn’t matter. I faltered and my faith wavered, I was a failure to my religion, to my family, to my great grandfather. To myself. But… I knew faith was about believing, I couldn’t end my life with that doubt. I prayed for God or anyone to send me a sign, to tell me my life wasn’t a waste of time. That I wasn’t crazy and when Lady Inari appeared to me… My dream was real, my dream could come true. My dream of being in this honorable battlefield and winning, where my great grandfather couldn’t. To regain honor to the Sanosuke family name.”

It was Sanosuke's turn to wipe his nose and tears.

“But in Elysium something happened, something that I can’t really remember. What I do know is that that event made me think these battles weren’t what I thought they were. That the people I was going to face were not honorable. Why would deities choose these people? Who disrespected this battlefield? I was so ashamed of myself because after all of that, after everything in my life I've been through, after I faltered and then was vindicated by Lady Inari… I still wavered and started to lose faith in my dream… in the Tryfing. Until I met the young man in the hallway, who greeted me with honor and respect. Charlie… I do all of this because you saved me. You saved my dream, you saved what the Tryfing means to me. I have not even begun to repay what you have done for me.”

Sanosuke grabbed the second present and tore the wrappings off, he then opened the lid of the box and pushed the present towards Charlie. In the box a blue and purple boomerang was neatly placed, Charlie could see that this boomerang wasn’t ordinary, it was a powerful godsend.

Boomerang of the moon: Crafted by Sanosuke and blessed by Inari, this boomerang comes from your Alliance Divine unison with Team Inari. This weapon always returns to you no matter where you are. This godsend is permanent and does not use ather to sustain itself.

The villagers of Soppio ignited the fireworks and they finally shot up into the sky, illuminating the night sky as Charlie stared at her personalized godsend.

Etched into the front of the boomerang, in Japanese lettering were these words: “Child of the moon, Never Falter.”

Charlie grabbed the boomerang and held it in her hands,clenching it near her heart. She could feel her soul ache, her soul burn. She cried only this time, silently as she held onto the godsend that represented her home.

“I am no longer alone in sharing my dream thanks to you. You are special, Charlie.”

Charlie embraced her sensei, and she cried in his arms. Unable to speak she could only cry but her embrace conveyed the same sentiment as Sanosuke.

“I am no longer alone. I can change. No matter how many times I fail, I will continue this journey. I wouldn't give up anymore. I wouldn’t be shackled by my past by the fact that I killed myself.”

As she cried she felt it, she knew in her heart that the chains released themselves from her soul. That she lost another letter.

Stats

STR:<0/0/0/0/0/0>

INT: <0/0/0/_/_/_>

ATH: <0/_/_/_/_/_>

RES:

The two battle sisters also wept as Charlie started to accept herself more, as the multi-colored fireworks exploded in the air. As Charlie and Sanosuke hugged, an ethereal form started to take shape near Charlie. The form was shaped like a human and was see through; the form hugged Charlie from the back and only Charlie could feel its presence and voice.

“If you… are the child of the moon… then I am the child of the sun…. I’m here for you too… I’ll be focusing on my training more… so I wouldn’t get to talk to you as much… But know… I’ll be there soon… Once you truly believe in yourself… So don’t keep me waiting. One more… Just one more lock to break.”

The ethereal figure disappeared and with it so did Charlie's current doubts. The four members of the Inari-Freya alliance watched the never-ending colors of the festival of fireworks. For the rest of the night.

///

???

A mother and father stood around the bed that their daughter currently occupied, her face flushed with pain. She had been in this pain for a few weeks now and nothing they did helped her.As they took care of her she had opened her eyes and started to curse her parents. She would injure herself or anyone that touched her.

She broke her brother's arm with one grip, just how strong was this little girl? The father even tried to end his daughter's suffering, but she stopped him and laughed in his face. They watched their once happy innocent daughter become a monster. She was currently sleeping and when she slept that was when she looked more like her old self. Unfortunately it was when she slept that her face twisted in agony and pain.

A knock was heard from the door and her brother opened it slightly, he still had his arm cast as he entered the room. “Someone is here from the church and…she heard the screaming early. She said she can help.” Behind him a young girl in a white summer dress walked in, her dress had makeshift pockets on it, and she walked into the room with her hands in those pockets. She had a swagger to her that said “I own this joint.” Her hair was reddish brown and had light brown highlights in her bangs.

“This ya sister?” the girl in the sundress crudely said. The boy nodded, while his parents didn’t say anything, they were shocked to see a young girl walk into their house acting like she owned the place. But at this point they were at a loss on what to do with their daughter.

The girl in the sundress stared at their daughter and then started to whisper to herself before looking back at the daughter. “Hey,loser. Wake up, I want to talk to ya.” She kicked the bed frame and the daughter's eyes opened. She slowly moved her head to the girl in the sundress.

“Who dares order me around?” The voice of the daughter sounded like three people were talking at the same time. One of the voices was deep, one was the regular tone of the girl and the other was slightly high pitched.

“Bite me,” the girl in the sundress replied. She placed her hand near the daughter’s chest and started to squeeze the air; as she did that the girl started to scream. Ather and wind started to rapidly swirl in the room causing books, toys, photo frames and other objects to move in a circle around the family.

“NO, I CLAIMED HER. I CLAIMED THIS GIRL, YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” the voice moaned out in pain as the girl in the sundress started to pull something out of the daughter’s chest. It was a dark black orb the size of a baseball.

“Pfft, I do what I want,” the girl in the sundress replied as she ripped out the black orb completely. Everything fell to the ground, the daughter laid back on her bed, the pain in her face finally gone. The girl in the sundress lightly threw the orb in the air and caught it.

“Not so tough are ya, huh? I fought tougher bitches back in middle school compared to you.” She put the orb into her pocket and looked at the family. She then lifted her hand out to them and motioned for them to give her something. She then pulled out a piece of paper and started to read it in a monotone voice sounding unamused.

“I’m from the orphanage/church of Sumner, here to collect offerings, donations or tithes. Anything you can give us will be greatly appreciated by the all-father in heaven. We have a lot of children in the orphanage that depend on the kindness from the community…” she stuffed the paper back into her makeshift pockets and motioned her hand again.

“Man screw that, an exorcism doesn’t come cheap. So pay up or maybe I'll put this demon's soul back into ya daughter…” She jumped in surprise.

By her reaction, it looked like something or someone yelled at her after she said that. “Ok, ok I wouldn’t put it back. I was just kidding… buttttt my orphanage really needs some money to fix our leaky roof.”

The family stared at the crude demanding girl with their mouths open. She had a crazed smile plastered on her face.