Right Track, Wrong Train
It had been nearly a day since Luna left Ryan and his world. The entire time, she was staying in her room, having Starstep tell any visitors that she was ill, and not to disturb her. He was being as helpful as he could; bringing her food, comforting her, and generally trying to make her feel better. Celestia had visited once, but after realizing there was no physical ailment, she left Starstep to watch after her little sister. Blueblood tried to visit again, but this time, Starstep had the authorization to force him away. When Blueblood tried to get past, Starstep struck him on the snout, causing the coward to run away, tail tucked between his legs.
The whole time, Starstep had dutifully sat outside the room, not leaving once. He had grown worried; he hadn’t heard so much as a sound form Luna’s chambers. Whenever he opened the door to bring something in, it was levitated away from him and the door closed. He hadn’t gotten in to talk to Luna at all. He intended to put an end to that.
The server came by with a tray table of food. “Lunch, sir.” he said. Starstep saluted him and the server went on his way. The table was bigger than usual. Taking it in his teeth, he bumped the door open with his hind end and walked in backwards.
“Lunshh ish here!” he said through his teeth. This time, the table wasn’t levitated away. The fact that his teeth were still on it, and Luna didn’t seem to want to speak, kept her from this. Starstep waited for her to tell him to do something. Eventually, she spoke up.
“You may go.” she said. She sounded unhappy. Letting go of the table, Starstep turned around. Luna’s head was lowered and she looked forlorn.
“Princess, what’s wrong?” he asked. She didn’t answer. “She must still be upset from this Ryan character...” Starstep thought.
He sat and waited. Looking around, he noticed all the food from her prior meals sitting in a corner. “Have you not eaten?” he asked, worried.
“You may go.” Luna repeated, with more authority. Intimidated, Starstep sat right where he was.
“Your highness, I can tell you’re not very happy.” he said. Luna turned, obvious frustration on her face.
“You may go!” she barked. Starstep took two steps back. Seeing how she scared her guard, Luna buried her face into her pillow in shame. “Just let me be...” she said. Starstep looked around.
“Princess, you have to eat.” A thought came to his mind, a thought that could get him into massive trouble. This thought could make her smile, though. “Princess, should I spoon feed you?” he asked. Luna pulled her head up.
“I don’t think so.” she said resolutely. Starstep grinned, silently giggling at himself for his foolishness. “Should I spoon you?” he asked. He got ready. “I don’t- wait, what?” Luna responded.
Before she knew it, she was grabbed and hugged from behind by Starstep. He wrapped all his legs around her, and held on tight. Luna was shocked; it took her a moment to realize what was happening. “What are you doing!?” she yelled. She received no reply. She shook her guard off of herself and jumped up off the bed. Her face, though of a dark, navy coat, was turning a deep shade of red. “What are you- why- What?” she said, embarrassed.
Starstep laughed. “What?” he said innocently. Luna knew what he was doing.
“You know,” she started. A small smile crept across her face. “I think that was a little more like SPORKING than spooning...” she said. Now, it was Starstep’s turn to be embarrassed. As his face turned color, Luna giggled uncontrollably. Then she broke into all out laughter on the floor.
Starstep got up and walked over to her. When she finally recovered, he extended his hoof out to help her off the floor. Accepting it, she finally calmed herself. “I bet you didn’t see that coming.” she said. Starstep shook his head slowly.
“Nope.” The two shared a laugh. Luna sighed.
“You always know just what to do to make me feel better.” she said. Starstep sighed this time.
“All I want is to see your smile. Nothing else.” He pulled her into a hug, which she kindly returned.
After close to ten minutes of standing there, they separated. “I still can’t figure out what to do about Ryan...” Luna mentioned. Starstep payed close attention. “It seems like he needs guidance, but how can I give him guidance if he is going to do... those things?” Starstep contemplated this a moment.
“All you can do is try to keep him on the right path, really. You don’t have to give him any means; just try to keep him doing the right thing.” he said. Luna went wide-eyed at the revelation.
“Yes!” she said. She started to bounce up and down. “I can do that!” she said.
With that, she ran into her library and down the stairs. Starstep sighed happily as she went. “I love to see a pretty girl smile.” He turned to leave.
Before he got three paces, Luna shot back into the room, air whisking away from her as she flew in. “Starstep!” she yelled.
He jumped. “AHH!” he yelled. His heart raced at the unexpected yell of his name behind him. “Yes?” he asked warily. Luna floated back to the floor.
“Please, come with me.” she said. Starstep followed as she went to the pool.
At the base, Starstep took in the sight for a second time. He had known about the pool for a while, but never took the time to look around. There was a clock to the side and the pool in the center of the room. Not much else. “Your highness?” he asked. She sat before the pool and tapped the spot next to her. He obeyed and sat.
“This is where I watch over the boy.” she said. Starstep looked into the pool; he could see Ryan lying in a bed. He was fidgeting with a necklace that hung around his neck. It was a silver image of two letter-like shapes with a dragon wrapping around them. The boy seemed deep in thought.
“So that’s him.” Starstep commented. “Not exactly what I expected.” Luna nodded.
“He wants to be a soldier.” she said. Starstep looked back at the boy, surprised. “He wants to be a very special soldier, one that is always on call to help people. He is a good guy.” Starstep looked back up at Luna.
“I don’t doubt that.” He looked away. “Why did you bring me down here?” he asked. Luna shifted.
“I can’t bring you with me,” she said. “but I’d rather have someone close to me nearby.” Starstep smiled, happy to hear this.
“Okay.” Luna said. Starstep looked at her. “In I go.” He could only watch as she sent an apparition of herself into the pool.
“Good Luck.” Starstep said.
**********************************************************************************
Ryan was laying in bed, thinking hard about whatever was to come. “Harris wants to go after them.” he thought. “I sure as hell don’t.” He got out of his bed and walked over to the window.
They had gotten to Pekanbaru the previous night. After a long drive, at one in the morning, everyone thought it best to find a place to sleep. It wasn’t easy to find places; the large group of ex-prisoners had to split up and find individual households that would host them. Of course, flashing some money helped entice them a little bit.
Looking out the first floor window, Ryan thought about the plan that they had all worked on last night. From Pekanbaru, they would find a boat, or several boats, that would take them south, until they were back in Jakarta. From there, the guy’s company would be easy to find, and they would just go there to get ready to head home.
Harris had different plans. He and Discord had been discussing amongst themselves how they were going to make their way to Cambodia. Their plan also involved taking a boat, just heading into Thailand instead of going south. They would then go through Thailand up to Cambodia. Harris had been trying throughout the car ride to explain to Ryan why this all had to be done. His reasons were perfectly logical; kill the bad guys to save the good. By taking them out, the world would be a better, safer place. But Harris didn’t understand what he was saying; he hadn’t taken a life before. So far, Ryan had taken twelve; the seven guards in the previous compound, the two in the car, the one of the two who took Nadine, and Joey and Catherine.
He had nightmares about them. The innocent lives he took, and even the guards he killed. In the movies, they like to make the good guy look proud of what he did. The good guys never are; you’d have to be a cold-blooded killer for that. No, every good guy who takes a life gets really messed up by it.
He continued looking out the window. After only a few hours of sleep, from roughly half past three to half past seven, he barely registered what he was looking at. There were children playing in the streets. Cars meandered past. Every shadow seemed like a place of danger. It wasn’t just the nightmares that ruined his sleep; they just woke him. he had been thinking non-stop about what Harris was saying. And the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He wanted to get back at those guys.
Pushing himself off the window sill with what some would call great effort, he turned. Barely controlling himself, he tripped and fell as his eyes fell on the blue form of Luna before him. He just managed to not yell out. “Ryan.” she said. Recovering, Ryan stood up.
“Luna. What brings you here? I didn’t think you’d come back...” he responded.
Luna blinked. “Me neither.” she said. “But I chose to anyway.” She looked around sheepishly. “I may have needed some encouragement.” she said. Ryan paid it no mind.
“Whatever. I’m glad you’re here.” He walked over to her and sat before her. “I need your help with something.” he said. He had no desire to beat around the bush. This was not the time.
Luna sat down. “What do you need, my friend?” she asked. Ryan blinked surprisedly; she considered him a friend?
“I need to make a decision.” He went on. Luna listened intently. “Harris and I have a perfect opportunity to get out of this situation. If we leave with the rest of the group, then we get home soon and safe. We’ll be home by the end of a week. But, the thing is...” Ryan hesitated. Luna leaned in. “Harris wants to go after the guys who took us. He wants to take down their organization.” Luna nodded, signalling him to continue. “The reasons he gave me are perfectly logical; we need to stop them before they can keep doing this. I get that. But I don’t think he understands what this will entail.” He was finished; he kept the part about killing all the people of the organization to himself.
“Well,” Luna started. “His goal is noble.” Only partly. “I can only tell you that I will support you however I can, whatever you choose to do. You can be a hero, and stop the evil men. I would be glad to help you in this. But I would be just as glad to see you home, safe and sound.” Ryan took this in.
“Alright.” he said, standing up. “I’m gonna talk to Harris one more time. That’ll decide it for me.”
He walked out of the room he had been in and went down a small hall. Harris had been in the same home as him because they decided it was safer to go in pairs or groups. The family he was staying with was very nice; they only accepted the money after Ryan insisted, much to Harris’ chagrin. They fed the boys for free, and gave them clean places to sleep. The mother, they were a family of three, even washed their clothes.
At the end of the small hall was Harris’ room. Ryan knocked. He heard something moving around, then footsteps moving towards the door. It opened with a creak. “Hey, Ryan.” Harris yawned. “What’s up?” Ryan stepped in.
“Let’s talk.”
Ryan entered the room and sat down against the wall. Harris sat on the floor across from him. “What’s to talk about?” Ryan still wasn’t feeling like beating around the bush.
“About going to Cambodia.” Harris leaned back.
“Well, then. Are you going to come with me, or not?” Ryan shifted his position slightly.
“Why should we do this? We’ll be outgunned, outnumbered, and generally outclassed. We don’t have a chance if we start a war with these people.” Harris sighed. Luna stepped into the room behind him, causing Ryan to worry. She couldn’t find out about the real intentions, not after her reaction to Ryan killing the two other men.
“True. But we have certain things that’ll boost our chances pretty big.” Discord entered the room suddenly, without a word. He and Luna stood close to each other. It was strange; they didn’t seem to notice each other. “We have surprise. Among other things.”
Discord chuckled behind him, mouthing, “Darn right.” Ryan looked to the floor.
Harris was certainly right; their reasons were as just as they could be for going to kill a large number of people. They had certain advantages. Their chances weren’t all that bad. Ryan sighed. “Alright.” he said. “Let’s do this.” Harris smiled, Discord smiled, and Luna showed her resolute determination in her stern expression. This was happening.
“Let’s right the wrongs.”
They were about to do the right thing for all the wrong reasons.