Leonardo - Chapter 9
#9 of Leonardo
Chapter 9.
"Okay, so if you need me, I'll be at the main room, okay?"
"Okay, I'll see you later." They both hugged in the luggage room and walked off to their destinations.
"Okay, you ready?" Solis asked to Jake.
"Yes," Jake answered back, "So how long will the trip take?"
"First, put this on." Solis handed him a vest that looked similar to body armor only that the patches were of the highlight orange color. When Jake put it on, he looked at Solis, who didn't have the armor vest, but a regular vest of the same color of highlight orange.
"Why do I have this one instead?" Jake asked.
"Well, for one," He started, "It's what we got in the storage room. Second, can't let you get hurt if something goes on."
"Aw...dad..."
"I know, but you'll never know what would happen."
"Has anything ever happened before?" Jake tilted his head, his ears behind him. Solis made a little shake with one of his paws.
"Ehh...something like that," he answered, "but it wasn't too major..."
"What the hell are you talking about?" the other security guard exclaimed. He was a white skinned human, tall and lean. He took off his left glove and showed the scars that remain on his hand. "That one freakin' Kryn lashed out with a butterfly knife!"
"Thank you, Peirce," Solis started in a flat tone, looking at Peirce, "for showing that off." Jake's ears folded back as Pierce put his glove back on. He turned to Jake, "Don't worry about him; at least you have the vest!" Jake looked down to the vest, doubting Solis' words. "Anyway, seeing where's going to the Oasis Coast, it'll take about several hours; 2 to be fifty percent precise. You okay with that?"
"It's okay," Jake answered. They heard the announcement from the captain, and, soon enough, sailed off.
--
About half an hour has gone by and nothing suspicious or threatening has gone by. Jake and Solis have been near a crate the whole time, Jake sitting on the crate while Solis was leaning on the crate. Pierce did his part of the job by guarding around the shipment. The area was mostly dark, a flashlight needed to look around. Pierce doesn't have good night vision, like most humans, so he couldn't see in the dark very clearly. Where the other two were, it was heavily lighted from the hallway leading to the main room.
Pierce came back, turning off his flashlight. "Your turn," he said. Solis stood up from the crate.
"Alright, c'mon Jake," Solis said. Jake jumped from the crate, and followed him to the luggage. Solis and Jake didn't need a flashlight, but Solis took one just in case. Both walked in the luggage room, quickly adapting to the dark. Jake walked right beside Solis, just walking around the space available to walk to.
"So Jake..." Solis started, giving a pause. Jake turned to Solis, "...Why did you leave the Community?"
Jake paused for a minute before answering. "...Just...to look for a friend."
"Knowing how things go in the Community, you would never leave unless something happened to the person." Solis turned to Jake. "What did you do?"
This time, Jake answered on the second. "What? Nothing! I'm just looking for a friend..."
"And who's this 'friend'?"
"He's...uh..." he tried to find the right words without saying who it was. "...just someone from the Community."
"Then what happened to him?" Solis stopped walking, turning to him. Jake stopped the instant he did.
"...U-uh...he did what you did." Solis raised an eyebrow at his response.
"He decided to leave for the best of those involved?" he asked suspiciously.
"...N-not in that way..." Jake looked down, not wanting him to see what he was feeling. Even though it was dark, he knew that the both easily adapt to the dark.
"Jake," Solis put a paw on his shoulder, "You can tell me. I'm your guardian father. I'm supposed to help you with any situations at any time." Jake looked up at him, looking worried at what he might say about the situation.
"...He was banished from the Community," Jake told him shakily.
"Banished? From what?" Solis turned serious for the matter.
"...I-I don't know, I really don't. I just want to see him again...to just..."
"Be with him?" He basically finished his answer.
"...Yes..." Solis lay a paw on his shoulder, still looking at him.
"Well...I can't blame you for trying to be with the one you love--"
"I don't love him," Jake protested.
"Don't lie to me, Jake." He couldn't see it, but Solis knew that Jake was blushing then. "It's okay if you love someone, especially if it's a boy--well, if it's him."
"H-how...oh...well, thanks..." Jake hugged him, not tightly this time, wondering if he'll ever reach to me then. They only hugged for a little while before letting go from each other.
"If you need any help with this..." Solis started.
"It's okay," Jake interrupted, "I already have a friend helping me out on this."
"That one girl...Myla, is that right?" Jake nodded at his question. "Okay, that's good." Solis kept walking forward, Jake following behind.
"Hey...dad..." Solis turned to Jake, both of them still walking forward. "...Why did you have to leave?" Solis stopped, not turning to Jake this time.
"I..." He started. Jake waited for his answer, but Solis never got around to it. "...I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It's just private...I can tell you at a later time; but now is just not the time..." He never turned to Jake, but lowered his head instead. Jake scratched his head.
"It's okay," he said. "I guess it was something bad that happened to you..."
"It was," Solis confessed. "...It was just something I never expected to happen... Even if I did, I never thought it would be worse than I would think..."
"Did you ever regr--"
"Please don't get me into it."
"S-sorry."
"It's okay." Solis kept walking around as Jake followed up behind him. They were walking in an unknown route around the cases; they were about halfway before reaching back to the entrance. They only walked around for about 5 minutes then. Solis stopped again, Jake wondering why he stopped this time. "You were gonna ask sooner or later," he started, "so I might as well tell you now. He took out his flashlight and quickly turned it on, flashing it on a large crate, about a little above half the size of Jake. "See that crate over there?"
"Yeah...?" Jake didn't know where he was going with the crate, but the scent he got from earlier was stronger than ever before.
"He slept along this crate," he said. He already knew that Jake would be surprised. "And..." he walked over to the crate, leaving Jake behind to stand alone. He walked the left of the crate, leaning over to reach for something. Jake didn't know what he tried to reach for, only still wondering about the scent. "Think fast," Solis said as he threw something blue, a light blue color.
What is this supposed to be? Jake thought. Nothing from the blanket hinted on what it could've said. He sniffed the blanket, and found the main source of the scent.
"No need to explain that," Solis said, "I'm guessing you already know. And..." He looked at Jake covering himself with the blanket, sniffing out the blanket. "...you're distracted by it." Jake caressed the blanket, closing his eyes in affection. "...You know you're not keeping the blanket." Jake didn't respond. "...Just come on." Jake stopped being affectionate to the blanket and continued to walk on with Solis.
"Hey...dad..." Jake started. Solis turned to him, wondering what he was going to ask. "...What's a Kryn?"
"A Kryn?" Solis asked. "Well, it's just a person born in a country called Kryn."
"Why is the person named the same as the country?"
"I don't know, I guess the Kryns couldn't think of a better name for themselves. Anyway, Kryn is just a third-world country we for some reason sided as a country whole after the war between us and them."
"How do you know all this?"
"Well...I learned a lot when I moved out here. I learned a lot when I met new friends, new people--"
"Does that mean you found another...?"
"What do you...?" It took a while for Solis to get where he was getting at. "Oh. No, I will never do that, Jake. I still love her--I love them both, and I could never do that. Things just couldn't work out there. Even if we're distant, I can never do anything to ruin our love for each other."
"Oh...okay, I understand."
The both continued to walk around the room, cautious for anything, for the remainder of their time until their part of the shift was over for Peirce to take over.