Vai

Owen and Minmin kept glancing at me while they sparred - or rather Warpaint's head, but they knew I was there now. Other Vai sparred with Lieutenant Tanpo. El watched. She would occasionally give advice. Lieutenant Tanpo was no exception under El's watchful eye.

Shel came back in. His blue eyes flickered to Warpaint's head before they settled on the rest of the group. They didn't need to tell me for me to know that they were planning on killing Other Vai now. Esther came out of her bedroom.

Minmin and Owen immediately stopped sparring.

"Finished with your project?" Minmin asked.

Esther nodded.

I glided out of Warpaint and hovered over them.

"I'll spar with you now," Esther said to Lieutenant Tanpo. "Why don't you let Shel spar with Vai."

Lieutenant Tanpo and Esther placed themselves behind Vai and Warpaint. Their eyes lingered on the back of Warpaint. Esther showed Lieutenant Tanpo a small device that looked like the exact one Alessandra had used on Warpaint.

Don't hurt Warpaint. They couldn't hear me. Incapacitate him I guess, but don't hurt him. He hasn't been treated right be either me or Other Vai.

Other Vai jabbed at Shel's face. Shel easily dodged. His blue fists were tightly closed. Other Vai kicked up a knee into Shel's thigh. Shel didn't avoid it. He let it hit him. I knew it must have hurt because I could see the bruise already starting to form underneath the skin with my light. Shel didn't show that it hurt. He didn't try to back away or dodge Other Vai. Instead he stepped in closer. He brought up his right fist to Other Vai's neck.

Whatever was in his hand, Other Vai didn't give him a chance to hurt him with it. Other Vai blocked Shel's arm with his left arm and punched Shel in the face with his right hand.

"Warpaint," Other Vai cried out with clear desperation. "He's got something in his hand."

Shel's face twisted into something hateful as he glared into Other Vai's dark eyes. He took a step back and swiped low with his feet. Other Vai seemed to expect it as he jumped out of the way. Minmin met him in the air and kicked him squarely in the chest with both feet.

"Stop," Warpaint demanded as he advanced on them. "You are the elder's friends and he is so old. What are you doing?"

Esther came up behind Warpaint and lifted her hand to place the disruptor on Warpaint's back. He spun and knocked her backwards. The disruptor fell to the ground, but didn't break.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted," the mechatronic said to her. "All these others have been fooled by you."

A blast of pink power rushed from Esther to Warpaint. The red quickly spread over his white chrome as it did when he prepared to attack. The pink power pushed him back only slightly.

"I won't let Vai die again," Warpaint said.

His hand glowed white and a light of Aether snaked across the distance between my mechatronic bodyguard and my friend. It hit Esther square in the chest and knocked her backwards.

She didn't move. Warpaint sent a second blast her way clearly intending to kill her, but Lieutenant Tanpo bent over Esther and threw her shield up.

"Stop," Lieutenant Tanpo said to Warpaint. "We are trying to help Vai."

"Warpaint," Other Vai cried out. "Help."

Minmin was on top of him pinning down his arms. Her weight wouldn't have been enough to hold him down, but Shel had grabbed him by his hair with one hand. Other Vai kicked his legs and tried to maneuver his hips, but he couldn't break free of them. Shel twisted Other Vai's head to expose his neck. In Shel's free hand was a small shot.

"Stop!" Warpaint demanded as Shel brought the shot down into Other Vai's neck. Warpaint didn't hesitate as he readied another Aether blast directed at Shel's head.

Electricity shot up from Warpaint's leg and quickly covered his torso and arms. He stood frozen with his arm outstretched. Before his head froze, my mechatronic looked down at Owen.

"I'm sorry," Owen whispered. He took a step back from where he had just placed the disruptor on Warpaint. Warpaint's head froze as he looked down.

I'm sorry. I knew Warpaint was only a mechatronic, but he really didn't deserve any of this. His main task was to protect me and he would think he failed twice.

I saw it with my green light as Other Vai went to sleep - as his lungs stopped and then his heart. I settled inside him with my light. His essence was there, but not strong enough to fight me anymore.

"Vai," Shel said. I heard it with physical ears. "You'd better hurry and do whatever you need to and come back to us. That disruptor isn't going to hold your bodyguard long."

I couldn't spare a moment to look at my bodyguard or try to respond to Shel. This body was still dead.

I'm sorry, but you weren't complete, I said to Other Vai's essence. There wasn't enough of him left to respond. Come and I'll take what's left of you inside of me. Then we'll both be whole. But he retreated - dispersed and then there was nothing left of him.

I used my light to cleanse the blood and cells. I restarted the heart, the electrical impulses, the brain functions, the lungs - but I couldn't open my eyes. I wasn't one with the body. I was still attached to Warpaint. That had always been the problem.

"Vai," Minmin shook the shoulder of the now breathing body.

I needed to sever the connection to Warpaint. But what if I did that and still could not connect with my body? Would I be drifting in this lone spirit form forever?

Warpaint's hand flashed down and ripped the disruptor off.

"You killed him!"

He didn't give any of them a chance to answer before he shot white Aether blasts at all of them. They all managed to dodge out of the way except Lieutenant Tanpo who still had her shield up to protect the unconscious Esther. Scorch marks were left on the floor and walls.

"The Lieutenant Commander has been informed of your treachery," Warpaint said.

I drifted out of the breathing body and hovered over Warpaint. There had to be a way to sever the connection. Perhaps if I could find where it was actually connecting. It wasn't the Laumalie preserver.

"Warpaint," El said, "he is breathing. We are trying to help Vai. Trust this retired Jo-Dinun."

"Betrayer!" A white blast hit El square on, but she had her red shield up and the blast dispersed in harmless glitters.

"Please, Warpaint," Owen said. His hands were clenched together tightly over his heart. "I promise we are helping Vai."

My connection to Warpaint didn't go anywhere. It wasn't even truly connected to Warpaint. An electrical tingle of panic washed over my spirit. If I wasn't really connected to him, then why was I with him this entire time? Why couldn't I leave him?

"Your betrayal is the worst of all," Warpaint said to Owen. "You were his first true friend here."

A white blast hit Owen and scooted him backwards, but Owen's shield protected him and he managed to stay on his feet.

"I would never betray him," Owen said. Moisture sprang to his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. "I may have been his first friend here, but he was my first true friend anywhere."

And then I saw the truth. I hadn't been drawn to Warpaint because of the Laumalie preserver - well maybe at first, but I hadn't entered the Laumalie preserver. I had attached myself to Warpaint. It had always been my choice. He was my safe haven. When I disconnected myself from him, what would be left of me? Would my spirit disperse like Other Vai's? Would I see a tunnel and join my real mother and the real Vai? I didn't think that last one was a true possibility. I wasn't a real person. I was just a copy.

"Lies!" Warpaint blasted Owen's shield again. I could see Owen's yellow light shield weaken.

If I truly wanted to help my friends now, I needed to connect with the other body. I had to take the chance that disconnecting myself from Warpaint wasn't going to destroy me.

Minmin's white lightning snaked from her outstretched hand to encompass Warpaint. He barely paused as he threw another Aether blast at her.

I severed the tie to Warpaint. It was hollow. I didn't disperse, but I was alone. Completely.

"Don't make us destroy you," Shel said. "Vai won't like that when he wakes up."

Warpaint closed the distance between himself and Owen. He picked up Owen by the neck. Owen's shield managed to keep out most of the damage, but as Warpaint squeezed, Owen's shield thinned.

I entered the body again. I concentrated on the beat of the heart, the lungs, the blood as it flowed through the veins. This was me. I forced myself to think that way still not sure how to actually connect myself.

I heard again with physical ears. There was shuffling. A lot of footsteps. Shel's grunt. The little squeak Minmin sometimes made from her throat. The ring of metal as something struck it.

My friends needed me. Warpaint needed me. My father - my dad needed me. The Gathering needed me. There were only a handful of us with the light. We needed to spread it to others before I could die. We needed to win this war against the Corruption.

I claimed the body as mine. My spirit and light connected with its center. I ached. I felt. My eyes fluttered open. The white ceiling greeted me.

"Owen!" Minmin screamed.

There was a crash nearby. I turned my head slowly as it was stiff and unfamiliar. Owen was crumpled nearby. There were marks on his neck, but he was still alive, just unconscious.

"Warpaint." It came out as only a whisper. I was not used to pushing air through to get sound.

I stretched out my green light to Owen and Esther and began to heal them.

"Warpaint," I said louder pushing my diaphragm to get enough air.

"Vai." It was Shel's voice. In a moment, he bent over me. Warpaint was suddenly standing next to him and pushed him roughly to the side.

"Sir," he said. "You were dead. Your friends betrayed you and killed you."

I sat up and hugged Warpaint. He wasn't warm or soft, but I hugged him anyway. "I was dead," I said. "I was dead and I attached myself to you. I watched as my dad put an incomplete version of me inside this body. I watched as that incomplete version killed innocent K'thaktra."

Warpaint pulled away from me. Minmin used the opportunity to crawl between us and hug me. "Vai," she said. "You did it. You're back." And then Shel hugged us both from behind.

"I don't understand, sir," Warpaint said.

"I tried to talk to you," I said to Warpaint as I hugged Minmin and Shel's arms. "But you couldn't hear me. My friends could hear me through the light. I told them everything. I asked them to help me come back."

"But, sir, what about - Vai? The Vai your friends killed? I needed to protect him. I failed your father again."

Minmin and Shel released me. Owen groaned as he began to wake. They left me to help him up. Esther's honey eyes fluttered open.

"But Warpaint, I was still here. I was first. Doesn't your order to protect me supersede your order to protect the Other Vai?"

Warpaint thought about that. The red on his metallic body retreated until he was mostly white again.

"My friends didn't betray me, Warpaint. They saved me."

"Vai!" Owen rushed me and hugged me tight completely ignoring my mechatronic bodyguard.

Esther didn't say anything, but she rushed to us and wrapped both of us in a hug.

"Vai, it is you isn't it?" Esther said.

"It's me. Thank you - all of you - for saving me."

"It is you?" Warpaint asked. "The you from Mars? The you who died on Doussix?"

"It's me," I said to Warpaint.

He pulled both my friends off me, but before I could protest he hugged me. "Sir, I failed you. Forgive me. I'll never let you down again."

I patted his metallic head. It really seemed like he felt some emotion. Perhaps he was more special than just his bodyguard enhancements my father programmed in him.

"It wasn't your fault, Warpaint. And if I ever try to convince you I will die if I don't help my friends - don't believe me. I'm not going to die."

The door opened even though no one knocked and no one from the inside opened it. My dad stepped in looking like he was ready to murder the universe. The door closed behind him. Warpaint immediately stood at attention.

"Dad, I'm okay," I said. His brown eyes drifted to me. He looked me up and down. His eyes took in the destruction of the room, the marks on Warpaint's frame.

"Warpaint, Vai, let's go." My dad turned to El. "I will never trust you again."

He started to the door, but before it opened I said, "Dad." He paused. I didn't usually call him dad and I had just done it twice in a row. I stood up. His back was towards me.

"It's me, dad. I don't know why your Laumalie preserver didn't work."

My dad took a sharp breath in, but didn't turn.

"But I've been here all along," I said. "I was surprised to learn I was a clone." His head bent low. "I was with Warpaint this entire time since I died on Doussix. I just wasn't in the preserver. When I saw the clone body, I tried to go inside it, but I couldn't and then you put in an incomplete version of me."

His hands began to tremble slightly, but he didn't turn to face me.

"Don't blame El or my friends," I continued. "It wasn't their faults. I couldn't leave Other Vai be when he started killing innocent K'thaktra."

My father stiffened. So he knew about the missing K'thaktra.

"I asked my friends to help me to take my body back."

"How?" my father asked quietly. "How did you ask them?"

"Through the light. I still have it. I discovered what it does. I can heal. That's how I knew I could retake this body once we got rid of Other Vai. The only way I could come back was to kill him. He wasn't complete anyway and you know that. He didn't feel like he was supposed to feel. I have killed those with the Corruption, but I never killed anyone who was innocent. Other Vai knew they were innocent. He killed them anyway. I couldn't stop him. Warpaint couldn't stop him. This was the only way for me to come back. Dad . . ." my voice trailed off.

I waited, but he didn't say anything. I couldn't see his face to read his expression.

"Can I call you dad?" I asked. "I know I'm not the original Vai, but I thought about it and decided you are still my dad. You created me. I have original Vai's memories, but I also have my own memories. I understand now. I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding before when I first woke up on Mars. I'm sorry I pushed you away."

My dad turned to face me. His cheeks were wet with tears. He barreled down on me and grasped me in a tight hug.

"Son," his voice was quiet. "I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry I didn't know you were here all along. I'm sorry I couldn't put you back in this body myself. I'm sorry you had to do all this by yourself."

I returned his hug and for the first time since I woke up on Mars I felt the familial affection I should have felt all along. There was no more resentment.

"I wasn't alone," I said. "I had my friends. They heard me because of the light. I won't lie to you anymore, but I won't stop fighting the Corruption. I will continue to use my light. The Gathering need us."

My father nodded with his head buried in my shoulder. He slowly pulled away and said, "You know you've given highly classified information to everyone in this room."

"I know," I said, "but they already had classified information - the miasmids."

My dad sighed out. "I will help you fight them. I won't doubt you again."