Inequality

Chapter 10 – I Accept

V clung to Akari's arm the entire time as the group walked down the streets, heading back towards the center building. The Wielders freaked out at the sight of V, his vivid brown hair, those sharp eyes and that marking on the back of his neck. The same one Akari bore, was evident on him.

Another monster.

If Akari could hear them whisper that, V could hear it too. But occasionally she heard it, that same phrase; it was completely out of place, but even the Exo boys had overheard it too, and Chen definitely wouldn't deny this fact.

They're both really cute.

V watched everyone else with wary eyes, the Exo members he seemed to have adjusted to already, but the rest he couldn't. He stared blankly at them, with that same monotone expression like always, but Akari could feel his anxiety. He trusted them even less than she did, and that said a lot. V was the more friendly one between the two of them. Akari let out a small breath and she gently pat V's arm and he glances down at her and lets out a shaky breath.

Akari increased her pace, pulling V along with her, and walked side by side with Chen and she asked, “Why the center building?”

Chen glanced at her and he said, “Luhan said so, we're not sure why either.”

She slightly frown and she glanced over at V before realizing it yourself, the others were also gathering again. She frowned when she heard it, their absolutely stupid reasoning, they wanted to meet V.

Akari scowled and V laughed slightly and he leaned over and whispered, “Don't worry, I like noona the best.”

Akari attempted to suppress a laugh, but a slight giggle escapes her lips, and everyone seemed to have paused as they stared at her dumbfounded. Everyone but the boys around her. The group continued walking and she heard it, this time it was something she hadn't expected and they shouted, “I told you she was human! She has feelings too you guys!”

Akari look around for the source of the voice and it was a rather short male, with rather large doe-like eyes and black cropped hair. He continued to defend her and five other boys seemed to support him and that same girl, that girl from before. She frowned as she glanced back from Akari to that group of boys and Akari read her lips, 'She isn't too bad.'

There was hesitation in the air and she continued walking, her head held high and Chen chuckled softly and he said, “Looks like you're fitting in better than you expected.”

A soft smile played out on her lips and she glance down and softly whispered, “This could be my second chance.”

V looked at his noona and whispered, “Connect with me?”

Akari blinked at him before nodding and almost immediately after connecting he said, I like this place already. And Chen hyung is so nice to me.

Akari smiled and she gave her dongsaeng a small pat on his cheek as they continued to walked into the lobby. Luhan stood at the center, smiling proudly and he said, “Our first successful fight, and our star of today.”

Akari blinked at him in rapid succession and she felt him do a direct mental link to her, pushing V's out of the picture, and he said, Let me take care of this. It'll be fine. I swear.

Luhan felt it, the surge of insecurity, fear, and nervousness. He gave her a quick smile and gently ruffled Akari's hair, an action she only associated with one person.

Dongjun.

Akari nodded and quickly rubbed her eyes. The tears had formed quickly at the thought of her best friend, her caretaker, the one who had named her. The thought of him disappearing scared her. It scared her far too much, but Luhan's touch was familiar, warm and caring, and it reminded her of him. She glanced at the older male and she mentally sighed, Thank you Luhan.

Luhan was pleasantly surprised and he watched as everyone filed in, filling the balcony and floor, leaving an empty center area on the raised platform. She looked at them and they in turn stared back at her and Akari suddenly felt V immediately wrap his arms around her waist out of fear. She was surprised, and her eyes widened.

She wanted to push him away, but a part of her couldn't. The poor baby was even more scared than she was. Kris noticed and gently patted V's hair, ruffling it a tad bit, and V visibly relaxed in her embrace. Akari's arms naturally wrapped themselves around V and she pulled him close. We only have each other right now.

“I know just... a couple of hours ago,” Luhan calculated with a slight grimace, “We had a horrible argument over the personality of Akari, and we had all assumed she was a monster.”

Various of the Wielders nodded and a few frowned as though they had still stuck to the belief that Akari was absolutely brutal, cold-hearted, and didn't give a crap about other people.

“I know not all of you will agree with me, and many will even attempt to voice their opinions against my next words, but I would like all of you to give Akari a chance. She is a victim of Clovis' rule just as much as we are,” Luhan claimed. He glanced at her and he felt Akari give the okay to continue and he said, “She has suffered even more than we have. She and others like her have experience first hand the horror of Clovis.”

V's grip on her tightened and she felt a bit suffocated and she mumbled softly, just enough for him to hear, “Ssh, it's okay.”

V glanced down apologetically and mumbled, “That bastard... he..”

Akari placed a finger at his lips to prevent him from saying anymore and she gently cupped his cheeks and whispered, “We're still alive.”

V nodded before resting his forehead on Akari's shoulder and she gently rubbed his back. The public display of affection towards her 'younger brother' was a great boost for her. There was a surge of sympathy and pity towards them. The sympathy that they gladly accepted.

“No human should go through the same hell that Akari and V here have experienced. No one should go through so much... to the extent that they are scared of other humans,” Luhan concluded. He didn't need to say much, it was visible to everyone. The way the emotions were practically rolling off of the duo was enough to know. Luhan had taken the emotions and applied it to the crowd and they all cringed and curled away from it.

No one could deny it, they were as human as they were. However, the two on stage were more broken than they were. They had lived their lives, fighting to live every day. It was a dog-eat-dog world out there, something that they had grown accustomed to living through.

The same girl from before stepped forward and she timidly glanced around before walking over to Akari and V. Immediately the memory of her argument with her unconsciously leaked into V and he moved into a defensive position, hovering in front of Akari, completely blocking the girl's path.

However, what surprised everyone wasn't the protectiveness towards Akari, but rather the burst of dark light from his back. His wings were a sheer white... the feathers were practically glowing and it took them all by surprise.

V didn't have that ability last time I saw him.

Luhan glanced at Akari as she looked at V in shock, before she realized it; the power of darkness. Only light counteracts darkness! If V can't control that then... No! Akari ran forward and stood in front of V, blocking him from the girl and she said, “I'm okay V! She didn't do anything!”

V frowned and he mumbled softly, “But she hurt noona's feelings.”

In any other case, people would have chuckled softly at V's innocence and his love towards her, but the sight was breath-taking. He seriously looked like an angel. Akari shook her head fondly and murmured, “You're too headstrong V-ah. Noona's fine now isn't she?”

V nodded and his wings vanished before he ran towards her and wrapped his arms around Akari's waist possessively again. Akari laughed – a couple of boys in the crowd blushed a bit – and she glanced backwards and apologized, “I'm sorry for earlier.”

The girl felt her heart clench and she shook her head and bowed neatly.

“I'm sorry Akari-sshi!” she apologized. She stayed in the bowing position until Akari managed to pry out of V's embrace and she walked towards the girl. She gently crouched down and she looked into her eyes. Akari gave her a small smile and she said, “It's okay.”

Lay was surprised, in fact, everyone seemed to be. Akari was capable of having positive emotions. Lay whistled approvingly and commented, “So you can smile willingly.”

Immediately she stood up and the flush on her face was obvious. V's eyes widened at the sight of her flustered expression. He hasn't seen that before either. Noona's always... sad whenever I was allowed to visit her.

The girl stood up and she placed her right fist over her heart and she pledged, “From now on, I, Bang Sojin, promises to follow and obey the orders of her commanders until the end of her days. As a capable Wielder, I will follow and train under my commanders until I am fit and capable to walk alongside my commanding officers and fight with them on the battlefield for the sake of our freedom!”

As soon as she had announced that, the rest of the crowd had followed, the pledge was chanted in perfect unity amongst all the members that were present in the hall way and Kris smiled. He hadn't seen them so united before. He walked up to her and he asked, “What do you say 'commanding officer' Akari?”

Akari blinked a couple of times before it appeared to register in her brain what Kris had just said. Akari pointed to herself and her eyes widened and Kris chuckled, “Do you accept to be our commanding officer?”

Akari looked around and V eagerly nodded his head. He cutely saluted her and said, “I'm willing to serve for noona anytime!”

Akari attempted to suppress a laughter but it failed and she managed, in between her laughter, to answer.

“I accept.”