"Okay, so which one of us should donate our blood?" Commander Bill asked Zemaku to see if he was willing to do so or not. Zemaku pondered this for a moment—10 seconds, to be exact—before his face began to swell up. It turned red, there was sweat all over his face, and then Zemaku spoke.

"I will," he said.

"What? Are you sure?" Bill asked his son. "You know I can do it for you if you want."

"No," Zemaku responded to Bill. "You’re getting old, and I am just 18. It stands to reason that someone around Lea’s age group should help her," Zemaku told Bill.

"Fine," he said.

----------------------------------------

Neon War Chapter 11: To the Demi-Human Tribe. Wait, is that Joe?

Canal returned and reappeared in front of Commander Bill and Zemaku. The stakes were high, and Canal was ready to ask them for their decision. "So, which one of you has decided to donate your blood for the blood transfusion?" Canal asked.

"I will," Zemaku responded.

"Ah, so I guess your father was right about you. You are a noble soul," Canal said.

"Whatever," Zemaku scoffed, still not much of a fan of Canal.

"Ah, isn’t that cute? You’re still showing resentment toward my training methods, despite them always working," Canal said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up," Zemaku replied, slightly ticked off at Canal for saying that it always works.

"Calm down," Canal said. "Don’t be so tense. You need to learn to loosen up and chill out more. You’ve already shown you can do that with the choice you’ve made. Now you just need to learn to use that trait to think of something to help yourself. If you ever need my help, just know you always know where to find me," Canal told Zemaku.

"Yeah, fine, I get it," Zemaku said, somewhat annoyed by the conversation.

"Anyways, don’t worry about the pain," Canal told Zemaku. "I’ll make sure you can’t feel the blood transfusion while you’re in the dream state," she reassured him.

Canal vanished from the shared dream and began work on the transfusion. The lighting in the room turned bloodshot red as Canal started her work.

"Please work, please work," Lea pleaded.

"Oh, wait, hold on," Lea stopped for a moment. "How old are you, Zemaku?" she asked.

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"18," Zemaku replied. "Why?"

"Oh, wow, you're right, we are around the same age. I’m 19," Lea said. "Well, physically, since my people were in cryostasis for God knows how long before Thumb woke us up. But yeah," she continued, her mind showing that she was having a hard time processing her own thoughts

"Don’t overthink it too much," Zemaku said before laughing. "It’s not that complex, and it’s not that bad. Well, okay, sure, your people are being tortured by Thumb as we speak, and sure, one of his men threw a knife into your back on your way here, but—"

"But," Lea cut Zemaku off. "You know, when you put it like that, I feel kind of worse," Lea said.

"I was not finished," Zemaku responded. "Anyway, sure, all of that is happening, and it sucks that it is, but then we wouldn't have met. And sure, I may have had suspicions about you at the start, but I now see that you’re surprisingly kind. I just thought you looked kind but were secretly evil or something," Zemaku said.

"Wow, you don’t trust people easily, do you?" Lea said.

"Well, when your mother dies while she’s grocery shopping in a faraway neighborhood, I’m sure you wouldn’t trust easily either, especially since one of my childhood friends survived Thumb, but Joe doesn’t want to talk to me and has joined his si—" Zemaku paused for a moment and realized he was crying. For the first time in his life, he was crying. The tears felt salty and wet.

"It’s fine," Lea said, patting Zemaku on the back.

"I’m not a kid," Zemaku whined.

"I know," Lea said, "but it just felt like the right thing to do," she continued.

Moments later, Canal reemerged into the room. Canal wanted to congratulate Zemaku on taking the first step toward healing, but she kept it to herself, thinking it might hinder Zemaku’s journey of healing from his past. With a sigh, Canal said, "It’s done," and told Lea that everything was going to be fine. She also mentioned that while she was out there, she took the liberty of checking for spies before coming back, and that she hadn't found any.

"Well then, that’s good," Commander Bill said. "Now, then, it’s time to save Lea’s village," he continued.

"Yeah, let’s do this," Lea said cheerfully, happy to get a helping hand.

Zemaku, Bill, and Lea explained the situation to Toji, who was busy tending to Goki’s wounds. Toji wanted to go with them but decided against it, as he felt a sense of responsibility to help Goki recover from the wounds he had caused.

So, Zemaku’s dad, Bill, Lea, and Zemaku entered the hover car and prepared for the journey to save the Demi-human clan.

As they approached Lea’s village, they knew something was wrong. The sky grew darker and darker the closer they got, and eventually, Lea pointed to an area, saying, "My village is over there." They were getting closer to an area that was on fire. Zemaku noticed someone waiting for him there. When they arrived, it was a man he knew—Joe.

"JOE!" Zemaku screamed, but Joe didn’t respond.

"Joe, why would you do this? I thought you were good," Zemaku said. "Are you still Joe in there?"

A tear formed in Joe’s eye before he began to speak:

"Watch the torch set aflame,

Watch it burn, watch it fade,

Watch the demmies gather suit.

Someone's gotta win and lose.

You may think my heart is almost black.

Well, Zemaku, do you know who's to blame for that?

I wonder who’s to blame."

To Be Continued…