Chapter 73: The Origin (Cassian Vanderbi)
The car door shut with a heavy thud.
Engine on.
And just like that, Cassian and Shinsei left the celebration behind, the noise of Gregor Naught fading into the distance as the rebuilt city shimmered under the afternoon sun.
For a while, there was only the sound of the engine.
Then crinkle.
Cassian pulled out a packet of snacks, tore it open like he'd done it a thousand times before, and immediately started shoving them into his mouth without a care in the world.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
"…You eat like a barbarian," Shinsei said flatly, eyes still on the road.
Cassian shrugged, mouth full.
"…Efficient," he replied.
A brief silence passed, and then Shinsei spoke again.
"…Daito is…" interesting."
Cassian raised an eyebrow slightly but didn't look at her.
"…Yeah?"
Shinsei nodded faintly.
"When we were rebuilding the town… he came to me."
Cassian paused mid-bite.
"…About me?"
"…About you," she confirmed.
Cassian leaned back slightly, still chewing, but now listening.
Shinsei continued.
"I told him the basics."
A pause.
"…But I think he understood more than I said."
Cassian smirked faintly.
"…Doubt it."
Shinsei ignored that.
"You weren't always like this."
Cassian didn't respond.
So she kept going.
"You were born into wealth."
"Privilege."
"A family people admired."
Cassian scoffed quietly.
"…Admired, huh…"
Shinsei's tone didn't change.
"To the public, your father was a saviour."
"A man of influence."
"A man of respect."
Then—
"To your family…"
A pause.
"…he was a monster."
Cassian's chewing slowed.
Not stopped but slowed.
"You had friends," Shinsei continued. "They envied you."
"They talked about how amazing your father was."
"How lucky you were."
Cassian chuckled softly.
"…Yeah… lucky…"
The driver's grip on the wheel tightened slightly.
"He bought you things."
"Toys. Gadgets."
"Trips."
"But none of it was real."
A quiet tension filled the car.
"Then came the turning point."
"…At eighteen."
Cassian's eyes shifted slightly toward the window.
"Your father was infected by 'Disorder.'"
A pause.
"He became a Freaker."
Silence.
"And you…"
Shinsei exhaled softly.
"…you killed him."
Cassian said nothing.
"You sacrificed him," she corrected herself. "To become a Savage."
The car kept moving.
"You thought… if you took his place…"
"…you could fix things."
"Change how your family saw everything."
Cassian laughed quietly not loudly, nor mockingly.
Just…empty.
"…Yeah," he muttered. "That was the idea."
Shinsei's voice sharpened slightly.
"But they didn't accept you."
"They betrayed you."
Cassian's smile faded.
"Your uncles sent you to war."
"To die."
The road stretched endlessly ahead.
"You saw everything there."
"The truth of Savage Soldiers."
"The cruelty."
"The brutality."
"The things people pretend don't exist."
Cassian's fingers tightened slightly around the snack packet.
"That's what changed you."
A long pause.
"You came back different."
Another pause.
"…You came back alive."
Cassian leaned his head back slightly, staring at the ceiling of the car.
"…Barely," he muttered.
Shinsei glanced at him briefly.
"You didn't just survive."
"You helped end the war."
Cassian let out a slow breath.
"…Not alone."
Shinsei nodded.
"You fought alongside someone."
Cassian's eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Yeah."
She continued.
"Daito's uncle, Ntate A. Greyhell."
That made Cassian look for real this time.
"…Huh."
Shinsei nodded.
"You were both captains."
"Different divisions."
"You never met again after the war ended."
Cassian leaned back again, staring forward now.
"…Small world…"
Cassian had already finished half the snack packet.
Shinsei, however wasn't done talking.
"…You came back when you were twenty-three," she continued, her voice steady, almost clinical as if she had told this story many times, yet never quite the same way.
Cassian didn't interrupt.
"…That's when one of your uncles decided to 'welcome you back properly.'"
A faint scoff escaped her.
"Lavish estates."
"Unlimited money."
"Drugs."
"Alcohol."
"Women."
She paused.
"…Everything."
Cassian smirked faintly.
"…Yeah… they really went all out."
Shinsei didn't smile.
"They weren't celebrating you."
A glance at him.
"They were poisoning you."
Silence.
"You were unstable," she said bluntly.
"Powerful. Traumatized. Angry."
"…Dangerous."
Cassian tilted his head slightly.
"…And that's where you come in."
Shinsei nodded.
"I was assigned as your specialist."
A small pause.
"…To monitor you."
"…And stop you… if necessary."
Cassian chuckled.
"…You make it sound like I was some kind of weapon."
Shinsei's response was immediate.
"You were."
The car grew quiet again.
"You were stubborn," she continued. "Arrogant. Untouchable."
"No one could tell you anything."
"You hated people."
Cassian's gaze drifted out the window again.
"You said you wanted to kill them all."
A beat.
"…I remember that," Cassian muttered.
"You didn't just say it," Shinsei added.
"You meant it."
Her grip on the wheel tightened slightly.
"You said you wanted a world where you could live in peace."
"…Away from noise."
"…Away from conflict."
"…Away from rules."
Cassian exhaled slowly.
"…Sounds nice, honestly."
Shinsei ignored the comment.
"So I took you somewhere."
The memory sharpened in her voice.
"Far away from everything."
"No towns."
"No cities."
"No people."
Cassian's eyes narrowed slightly, remembering.
"A field," he said quietly.
Shinsei nodded.
"A massive one."
"As far as the eye could see."
The car seemed quieter now as if the past itself had settled inside it.
"I told you…"
Her voice softened just slightly.
"'If your version of peace is without people…'"
"…'then live here.'"
Cassian let out a short laugh.
"…Yeah… I called you crazy."
"You did," Shinsei replied.
"You asked how you were supposed to live."
"No estate."
"No electricity."
"No entertainment."
Cassian shook his head faintly.
"…I had a point."
Shinsei glanced at him.
"And I told you…"
A pause.
"…everything you just mentioned…"
"…comes from people."
Cassian's smirk faded.
"Who builds it?"
"Who maintains it?"
"Who creates it?"
Her voice sharpened.
"If there's no one left…"
"…then who gives you your peace?"
The silence was heavy.
Cassian looked forward now.
Not joking, not even smirking.
"…That's when it clicked," he said quietly.
Shinsei nodded.
"That's when you changed."
A deeper silence settled.
"I left you there," she continued.
"A bag."
"Food."
"Water."
"A phone."
"A map."
"One blanket."
Cassian smiled faintly.
"…Bare minimum."
"There was a town a week away," Shinsei said.
"I told you the supplies would last that long."
A pause.
"And I told you…"
"I'd come back in a month."
Cassian leaned back slightly, eyes closing for a brief moment.
"…Yeah…"
"She left," he said softly.
"…Just like that."
Shinsei didn't deny it.
"I got in the car."
"And I drove away."
A long pause.
"…And you?"
She glanced at him.
"…You stayed."
Cassian chuckled under his breath.
"I looked around…"
"…at nothing."
A faint grin formed.
"And I laughed."
Shinsei's eyes softened ever so slightly.
" I said…"
"'Let's get down to business.'"
Cassian opened his eyes again.
"…Damn right, I did."
The car continued forward, but now both of them were somewhere else.
Back there.
In that empty field.
Shinsei exhaled slowly.
"…When I came back a month later…"
She paused.
"…I didn't expect much."
Cassian tilted his head slightly.
"…But?"
Shinsei looked straight ahead.
"…But what I saw…"
A slight pause.
"…shocked me."
to be continued...