by Thea Chin
Mark pulls Jaiden over during this time and hands him the necklace. “This thing reads when her mark glows. I made it since Dust is, you know. Anyway, I’ll lend you this if you do something for me.”
Jaiden cocks a brow at how his big has been acting recently but decides to say instead, “What?”
“The signal is weak in the hospital because of all the X-rays and other machines, so make sure this never goes clear. Sneak into places if you have to.”
“Sneak in? It’s a hospital, right? Not a mafia hideout?”
“I… I just have a bad feeling. You know my brother died there too, right?” Mark successfully makes his little bite his lip at the reminder. “Keep her safe.”
“Of course,” Jaiden agrees as Tsukiko re-emerges with a watch over her soulmark.
“Ready? Let’s go before they close.”
“St. Valentine’s is open twenty-four hours,” she reminds him, but he is already out the door. She turns around to bid Mark goodbye but falters at his serious expression.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I know it worries you, and I thank you for that, but if there really is something wrong with my head, I’ll be dead even without any killer doing anything.”
He nods slowly. “Just keep the chip on. Promise that.”
“Okay.”
“And Tsujii?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t trust just anybody blindly.”
After Jaiden and Tsukiko finish a burger each in the waiting lobby, the girl is led to an examination room with her friend close behind. A few minutes later, the doctor walks in.
“Miss Tsukiko Tsujii?”
“Yes.” Tsukiko is surprised to see Dr. Lawrence as usual. From the appointments she has had with her, it seemed like the doctor works the morning shift, not the 9pm one.
The medical practitioner scribbles notes into her file as she asks, “And what is the reason for this unscheduled visit?” Is that frustration in her voice?
“My head was hurting very badly early this afternoon.”
“And were you doing anything that elicited the pain? Did you bump it? Were you dehydrated?”
“She was just trying to remember something, and her memory has been a little hazy as of late too,” Jaiden answers.
For the first time since she entered, Dr. Lawrence looks above her charts. She seems unimpressed at Jaiden’s presence.
“Alright. We will need to take a few scans of your head. Unfortunately, your friend is not allowed to accompany you to the scanning lab.”
Jaiden shifts his feet around nervously. Tsukiko looks at him, wondering what he is going to do.
“Alright. I’ll be in the lobby,” he tells them. The medical practitioner does not acknowledge him as he walks by her and out the door.
“Please dress in those robes and remove anything metallic including the watch,” Dr. Lawrence instructs, pulling a partition in front of Tsukiko. “In the meantime, tell me what is this memory that brought you here.”
“It hurts to think about though.”
“Did you take the pills right after?”
“Yes.”
“It should be fine to think about once more then. It might help us find a pattern to why the headaches keep coming back.”
The girl bobs her head obediently even though the doctor cannot see her. “I remembered… being in the lab before fainting last year.”
“And what was it that you remembered about the lab?”
“A… a name.”
“Whose?”
“Leiah’s. The name was Leiah Takeda.”
Dr. Lawrence makes a small noise of realization. “Leiah Takeda. She has a file number very similar to yours. Perhaps you saw it and got confused. These things do happen especially when you are not fully conscious like how you were back then.”
That is true, Tsukiko agrees, but the fact that it is also the name of Jaiden’s soulmate is too convenient to be coincidental. She also notes that Dr. Lawrence has an impressive memory for patient numbers for someone who needs to confirm Tsukiko’s name every visit.
Tsukiko looks at her watch and vigorously shakes her head. Mark’s paranoia must be getting to her.
“I’m ready,” she tells the doctor, placing the metal accessory on top of her other clothes.
“Good. Follow me.” Dr. Lawrence shifts her eyes down to her wrist, satisfied that there is nothing there.
Tsukiko holds her hand with her soulmark turned away from the personnel. With a sly finger, she snags a small band-aid and secures it over the microchip she detached from the watch.
She promised Mark after all.
* * *
Jaiden moves casually through the corridors with his hands in his pockets. No one stopped him as he waltzed into the basement floor where countless invaluable pieces of equipment whirl around him. Be confident and no one will raise questions.
“We’re just going to have you lie down here and relax,” he hears Dr. Lawrence say.
Quickly, Jaiden hides behind something as she and Tsukiko pass by. He looks at the necklace. Still black.
For a few minutes, he hears a low hissing noise from where he assumes Tsukiko is. From his hiding spot, there is no way he can see her without being seen himself. Nothing seems out of the ordinary though; just doctors running a scan on a patient.
“What time?” he hears a male voice ask. The radio technicians, he figures. He saw him earlier before Dr. Lawrence came in.
“Early afternoon.”
Are MRIs able to detect how long ago something happened?
“You could not get a more specific time, Dr. Lawrence?”
“I did not want to seem too suspicious.”
“Have you met yourself?” the male scoffs. “This is going to take some digging.”
A few more minutes pass with Jaiden trying to make sense of their dialogue. More alarming though is how his necklace begins to glow yellow after those few minutes.
“Aha! Got it!” the male says at the same time.
“Good,” approves Dr. Lawrence as a door swings open, causing everyone to look at it.
The newcomer’s steps sound urgent. “Dr. Lawrence, we have an intruder!”
Jaiden’s heart begins racing. Have they found him? Is Tsukiko in danger? He takes the opportunity of the confusion to catch a glimpse of Tsukiko. What he sees immediately answers all questions about the glow.
In a glass case, Tsukiko’s body floats in place in some sort of blue liquid. Currents of light flash through the liquid and either enter her head and disappear or pass through her body without dissipating. Could this be new technology? Jaiden quickly tries to look it up on his phone only to be met with no signal. Regardless, Tsukiko’s soulmark is glowing, and that is all that matters.
At the same time, Dr. Lawrence lets out some profanities and follows the newcomer out through the emergency exit. Seems like they did not find Jaiden after all, so who is the intruder? Again, that isn’t of importance right now, at least not to him. Jaiden grabs whatever feels heavy enough nearby and prepares to break Tsukiko out of the glass case with it. However, before he can, a taser is jabbed into his ribs.
“Oops,” says the radiologist, watching the young man fall at his feet.
* * *
Bodies shift through the underground tunnels hastily.
“Go that way. I’ll cover this side,” someone says.
More footsteps. Running.
Then one of them stops. He pivots one foot towards his pursuer then the other.
“Hello, Dr. Lawrence. Were you looking for me?” he says.
She spits his name out like it sickens her. It only makes him chuckle.
“Oh, you know my name! I’m flattered.”
“Of course. I know all of your names. Who sent you? The Council?”
“I came on my own accord. So you are our killer doctor, aren’t you?” he laughs.
“Still soulmate-less, aren’t you?” she shoots back.
He smirks in her face. “I’m star
ting to think I don’t need one.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, since I can make my own.”
Dr. Lawrence flinches at the revelation. The man only smirks wider.
“I knew you’d know what I am talking about. That’s what she is, isn’t she? One of your man-made soulmates. That’s why you’ve been keeping her on your radar and giving her sleeping pills whenever she is close to figuring it out,” he continues, referring to Tsukiko. “Unless… she’s special because of something even more interesting.”
“You and your little experiments. I told them to keep a closer eye on you,” she hisses.
“‘Them?’ Who’s ‘them?’ The Council?” he asks in turn.
“What do you want?” she snaps instead of answering.
“I’ve gotten what I wanted for now from our conversation, but perhaps I’ll need something else later. I do hope we can form a productive partnership, Dr. Lawrence.” He walks over to her and takes her left hand. She grits her teeth but does not move. “Or should I say—”
With a swift tug, he removes her plastic glove, revealing a metal prosthetic that starts right where a soulmark would lie.
“—Mrs. Dust.”
T-30 Moons
“How was she?” coos Terena, dropping her purse on the ground and scooping up her child.
“An angel,” Tsukiko replies. She puts down the picture book now that the baby is distracted by her mother.
“Of course she was, weren’t you, Angela?”
“Goo da heeeee!”
Tsukiko smiles softly, pleased to see how happy the child is. Ever since her birth, it seems like the fraternity has been more lively than ever. Even Cain can be seen out of his cave and rolling around a ball. Her headaches are less intense, and these days, she sometimes forgets her pills altogether when she’s busy babysitting for Terena and Darren.
“Alright. I’m going to head to my internship now,” she excuses herself.
“That’s almost over, right?”
Tsukiko nods. “When I graduate in December. It’s a college program after all.”
“Good,” says Terena without looking at her. “After that, I want you to stay far, far away from Destiny and Darren.”
“Terena, I assure you that there is nothing between me and your fiancé.”
“Don’t care.” She dotingly brushes at her daughter’s hair. “But I should warn you. If you try anything, my family has quite an influence. I didn’t meet Destiny’s heir by pure luck, unlike some lowlives.”
Tsukiko mouths a silent “Woah” to herself and quickly takes her leave. Behind her, she can hear Terena talking to her baby.
“Say ‘Mama,’ Angela. Maaaa maaaaa.”
Angela just giggles.
T-27 Moons
“What’s out the window?” Jaiden leans over to see what she is staring at.
“Nothing,” Tsukiko sighs, bringing her attention back to her book. “I mean, literally nothing.”
The sky is pitch black again, indicating the start of yet another month.
“Angela’s been with us for half a year already,” Jaiden adds. “That makes fifteen moons altogether.”
“Yeah… Hey, look at this picture.”
Jaiden does as requested and peers over her shoulder. She has opened a text from Chan’s shelf. It must be at least a century old. The picture consists of a troop of men in marine uniforms staring emotionlessly at the camera. The caption reads, ‘Canis Lupus Anthropos Unit 811.’
“Look at him and him,” Tsukiko points. “They’re the only ones with their sleeves rolled above their wrists, and neither have a soulmark.”
The werewolf brushes dust off of the brown photograph. Still, nothing sits on their wrists.
“Huh,” he says curiously.
“They don’t have wedding bands either, so they probably don’t have families yet. What are the chances they both—”
Her eyes widen as a sudden pain shoots up her arm. She falls off her chair, clutching her wrist. Jaiden is by her side within the second.
Outside her room is its own pandemonium.
“WHAT IS THIS?” shrieks a female voice. “DARREN, WHAT IS THIS?”
“Miss Taylor, please.” It’s Chan.
“YOU DIDN’T TELL ME IT’D LOOK LIKE THIS! WHAT IS THIS MONSTER?”
The baby starts wailing from all the commotion. Tsukiko gives a hollow gasp and grasps at her soulmark even tighter.
“It’s okay; it’s okay; it’s okay,” Jaiden assures her even though things are anything but okay. He has already realized what this means even without the fuss outside. “Is there anything that could help? Ice? Ibuprofen? Your pills?”
She shakes her head, sinking deeper into the floor.
“Well this monster,” someone outside snaps, “is what we are.”
“I don’t want any part of it!” cries Terena. “Darren, give me back my sweet baby girl!”
“Miss Taylor, she’ll return to human form in a while. When she grows up, she’ll learn to control the changes,” Chan tries.
“No! She shouldn’t be able to do that at all! This… this is all your fault!”
“Sweetcakes, please—”
“Don’t ‘Sweetcakes’ me,” she snarls. “And this… doesn’t this mean that girl’s gonna die?” There’s a pause. “You did this to me! You made me a murderer I—I have nothing to do with this, okay? I was tricked. I was given false hope. I—I… This is all his fault, okay?!!”
There are hurried footsteps and the slamming of the door. The baby’s crying intensifies and so does Tsukiko’s pain. She can’t help but let out a scream through gritted teeth, which sends an arrow through Jaiden’s heart. He gathers her into his arms, stroking her back and pressing her to his chest which she tries to muffle her cries with.
“Lee, Matthews, try to talk to Miss Taylor. Fisher, help Han with Miss Tsujii. Zeng, the baby. I’ll talk to Dust,” Chan orders.
In the room, Tsukiko is pathetically clinging onto Jaiden’s shirt, too tired to further attend to the pain.
“Make it stop,” she whimpers. “Please…”
Jaiden goes silent for a moment before asking calmly, “Are you sure you want me to?”
One last tear rolls down her cheek before the pain takes over her consciousness. She didn’t need to answer; he can already see it in her eyes.
Jaiden brings his knees up to hold her more securely. With Tsukiko unconscious, he lets his own tears fall freely. In twenty-seven months, this exact scene will repeat itself. Except that time, she won’t be waking up again.
* * *
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
“Please don’t apologize again.”
“I won’t.”
“Okay.”
Tsukiko continues watching the child fit blocks into a sorting cube toy on the common room floor as Darren sits on the bench behind her.
“How’s the, um.” He points to her wrist.
“Better. I hardly notice it anymore. It’s been nearly a week now, so.” She raises it for him to see. It, like his, is noticeably lighter in color.
“Oh. Cool.”
She applauds when Angela fits the square into its hole. Tsukiko hands her a triangle.
“How are you?” she asks without turning to face him.
“Good,” he replies habitually.
Tsukiko lets out a low hum.
“Alright, yeah, it could be better,” he admits. “But I feel bad if I talk about it in front of, you know, you.”
He reaches to flip the box over to give his daughter the correct orientation, but Tsukiko catches his arm.
“Let her figure it out.”
He follows her instruction and goes back to his chair.
“Talk about it.”
“What?” he asks, confused.
Tsukiko whips her head around to look at him over her propped up knee. “It’s fine if you want to talk about what you’re going through. I know you haven’t talked to the boys about it because they’ll either
blame you for everything or judge your masculinity or something, so let it out now if you’d like. People usually feel better when they do.”
“I have even more reason not to do it now!” he objects. “You have it so much worse, and it’s all my fault.”
She turns back around with a shrug to stop the baby from gnawing on a plus-shaped block. “My situation doesn’t prevent me from sympathizing. Let’s carry each other’s burdens.”
“Your burden isn’t the same as some breakup,” he argues.
“But it isn’t just some breakup, right?”
Darren lets out a sigh and looks at his hands. “No…”
Tsukiko looks back at him silently, waiting for him to continue.
“I just really thought she was the one, you know? She made me so happy. I was willing to do anything for her, and I thought she felt the same.”
“Yeah…”
“And the child… she was the one who wanted it. She kind of figured out our soulmate link even without knowing about it and got mad, obviously, and said she’d only forgive me if I gave her one night. I had maybe a little too much to drink that day and couldn’t bear her leaving, so I— I…” He buries his head in his hands. “It was stupid, I know. I even knew the consequences, and I still went with it. I still listened to her because I didn’t think she’d leave me like this. With her baby. Even now I can’t believe it.”
Darren cannot hold back anymore and lets out an audible sob. Tsukiko picks up his child and sits the both of them beside him. She rubs his back as he cries.
“I really loved her. I really, really did. And she took that and she used it. Y-you know what I got in the mail just now?”
She shakes her head and he pulls out a crumpled envelope from his back pocket. The return address indicates that it is from a law office. Inside are papers giving Darren sole custody of the child.
“Wow,” Tsukiko breathes softly. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I’m taking her, of course. She’s my daughter and, well, a wolf. I don’t have much of a choice, but I don’t know how to raise a child, or-or teach her the right things! I can’t even file my taxes!”
“Maybe I can help,” she suggests.
He lifts his head up to look at her. Even his tears are frozen mid-fall in shock. “What?”
