Sacrifice

Clemency stared up at the night sky, unsure of what caused her to do what she had done. As she felt gravity push her downward, she was able to see the stars shine brighter than she had ever seen them. It was strange, because the city lights should have been blocking out their celestial light. With that image in her head, Clemency closed her eyes before the breath was pulled from her lungs. 

✯

“Are you sure that you are ready for this?” Moria asked. Clemency glanced at her partner, who was leaning on the wall beside her. 

“Yes. This is what I have been preparing for my entire life,” Clemency replied.

“I know, and you are one of the most talented spies I know. But Neo doesn’t fool around.”

“Oh I know. I run into Neo one too many times. I know how serious he is. That’s probably why they assigned me to do this alone. I have fought him more than anyone else in White Wolf Tech.”

“True but I still want you to be careful. If anything happens to you, I won’t ever hear the end of it from my brother.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’ve handled him before, I can do it again,” Clemency answered, tucking her katana and tessen behind her back into their holders. Moria smiled at her niece, before pulling her hand from behind her back. She was holding a small box with a scarlet colored ribbon.

“What’s that?”

“A present for you. I think my sister would have wanted you to have it,” Moria answered handing the box to Clemency. Clemency took the box and untied the ribbon. She opened the box and gasped. Inside was a simple necklace decorated with a small dragonfly. 

“That was Scarlet’s. She told me to give it to you when you were old enough. Now seems as good a time as any,” Moria commented. Clemency couldn’t stop staring at it. This had been her mother’s. She pulled it out of the box and slipped it over her head. The silver metal seemed to belong over the white material of her uniform, “It suits you.”

“Thank you,” Clemency said. An alarm sounded for a moment, before shutting back off, “I better go. That was my signal.”

“Be safe,” Moria replied. Clemency smiled back at her mentor as she walked out the door. She pulled her bag onto her shoulder. Her tessen and katana were tucked away and the rest of her equipment was in her bag. She was going to be following an operative from the White Wolf’s rivals, the Arcaine Order. Neo was the first person she met outside of her training school. From the start, he had rubbed her wrong and now she didn’t get to ignore her dislike for him. He was recruited to the Arcaine Order and they had been enemies ever since. If you asked Clemency, she would say that they had been enemies before that. 

She walked into the hanger and hopped onto her cyler. It was a custom made bike with many secret gadgets and features to help her on her missions. She was about to turn the key to start the bike, but the Alpha walked over.

“Clemency. I see you are about to head out,” He said, hands behind his back. 

“Yes, sir. Just about to head out,” She replied. The Alpha had an intimidating air around him, but it didn’t seem to work on Clemency. The only way she knew he was intimidating to others was how they acted when he walked into the room. She had not been in White Wolf Tech for long, but she had earned her rank as well as established her nonchalance around the Alpha. 

“Good. Always on schedule. As usual,” The Alpha commented. Clemency gave him a curt nod in reply, “Before you go, I want to give you a warning. We have received word from a reliable ally that Foxtail has been receiving secret training.”

“But there shouldn’t be anything that Foxtail hasn’t learned. The academies make sure we know everything that we will need, and that we won’t forget it,” Clemency asked. 

“We aren’t sure, but I wanted you to be informed. You have a good intuition. Perhaps you will learn something from this mission.” Clemency lowered her head in a small nod, showing her understanding. She never let her eyes leave the Alpha though. It was something the others could not do. She could hold the Alpha’s gaze with her own determination longer than anyone else in the organization. Without another word, Clemency turned the key and rode out of the hangar, away from her Alpha. 

✯

From the rooftop where she crouched, Clemency could see Neo through his hotel window. She had been watching him for hours, trying to find anything useful for White Wolf Tech, but had discovered nothing. If she didn’t know any better, she might have thought that Neo had left the Order and was trying to start a new life. But she knew better. No one could leave their organization. If you chose this path, you were stuck on it, there was no turning back. She hadn’t chosen this, but she would have if she had been given a choice. 

Realizing that she had let her gaze slip out of focus, she looked back through her binoculars. Neo wasn’t there. Clemency’s senses seemed to grow stronger. He might have seen her and ran or come after her. It also was possible that he had not seen her and he had simply left her line of vision. She wished it was the last option, but she knew Neo too well. He must have seen her. 

“Well, if it isn’t Dragonwing. I thought I saw you spying on me from this rooftop. Couldn’t stay away for long could you?” Clemency spun around to find Neo leaning on a pole behind her. 

“Very funny Foxtail. I didn’t approach you. You came to me,” She replied.

“Says the person holding the binoculars.”

“Says the person who got on top of this building in like a minute.” 

“You flatter me,” Neo smirked. Clemency’s blood boiled. She really hates this guy. 

“Whatever. Why are you here?” She asked. She didn’t want any more chit chat from this jerk. She just wanted answers. 

“I could be asking you the same thing,” He answered. Clemency cursed under her breath. She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. If she wanted answers, she was going to have to beat them out of him. She slipped her hand behind her back, seeing Neo do the same. She lunged. He lunged. They clashed in the middle, katanas grating against one another. They both knew how equally matched they were to one another. Finally they both jumped back, taking a quick breath. Clemency pulled her tessen out. She had modified the sleek metal to now have a sharp edge, something Neo wouldn’t see coming. Neo advanced and she counter attacked, blocking his katana with her own, using her other hand to bring her tessen down on his arm. The hidden blade was sharp and unexpected. Neo howled and pulled away from her. She used this advantage to advance. Throwing her tessen, she advanced with her katana.

“Foolish. Didn’t anyone tell you to not throw your weapon?” Neo jeered. Clemency smiled. She pushed a hidden button on her katana and her tessen came flying back. It cut Neo’s cheek, grazing it as it passed. She grabbed it out of the air.

“Didn’t anyone tell you to be ready for anything?” Clemency mocked. Neo growled, touching the cut on his cheek. She had gotten him really mad.

Clemency jumped back from Neo’s attack, but wasn’t caught off guard. She quickly countered with a roundhouse kick that connected with his upper arm. Neo growled in his throat and raised his katana high in the air with his uninjured arm. Clemency struck again, ducking under his arm as he grabbed at her and grabbed where she had kicked him on his arm. Neo cried out and Clemency smiled. She knew that a key aspect in battle was to find a weakness in your opponent and prey on it. She had just struck that mark. 

Neo suddenly spun, using his other arm to flip Clemency off her feet and pin her on the ground with his katana pointed at her chest. She looked up at her enemy’s face and saw through her hair, the hate that was pointed towards her. Clemency panted as she stared back up at him with her own hate on her face. Waiting for his next move. Her own katana and tessen were out of her reach and she had used all of her shurikens. She knew that she would not be able to get out of this situation with her life. She thought back to all of her training and preparation for this moment, but one memory caught her attention. 

When she was 5 years old, she had been visiting her grandmother on one of the few weekends that she had not been training. It was the only memory that she had besides her training that she had of her former life. Clemency thought back to her younger self and her grandmother’s words.

“Now my sweet Clementine, your father has forgotten a very important lesson that I taught him. Something that I told him was the hardest thing to do, but the most important,” Her grandmother had said to her. Clemency sitting on the edge of her dining room chair, eating a bowl of cereal as the morning sunlight came through the kitchen window.

“What is it, Nanna?” Her memory asked.

“Forgiving your enemies. If you are out of all other options, the best thing to do is to forgive your enemies for all the wrongs they have done to you and the ones you love,” He grandmother answered, “Now I know that you are going to say that it is impossible, but it is possible.”

“Really?”

“Really, my little Clementine. Did you know what your name means?” Her Nanna had asked her, the younger Clemency staring wide-eyed at her.

“No.”

“It means Merciful. Remember that when you are fighting and you just might survive.”

Remembering her grandmother’s words for those 14 years ago, Clemency closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

“Any last words?” Neo asked as he moved his weapon closer to her throat. Clemency steadied her gaze and fixed her eyes with his. She calmed her expression to one more different than one she had ever given him in all of the time she had known him. 

“Just a few. I forgive you. For everything,” Clemency replied and only paused for a moment, catching his surprised expression before she shoved against the side of the roof. She let gravity pull her away from the top of the 8 story building and her enemy, surprisingly calm with her actions. She caught a glimpse of movement at the top of the building. She assumed that it was Neo looking at her fall. Clemency looked away from the buildings and up at that full moon that shone brightly over the streets. Closing her eyes, she let that last image become imprinted in her brain as she hit the pavement.