The Fence

Chapter 68: Hybrid

I peer down at the lifeless eyes staring back at me from the ground. A diamond rests in the middle of his forehead, prominent on his dark skin. I bend down, setting Sutikka on the grass next to me gently. I lift my hand up, trailing them softly over his eyes.

"Your fight is over now," I murmur, closing his dead eyes. I fold his arms over his chest, and wipe the blood from his face.

Could Gray have ended up like this man? If he hadn't come to the military, could he have fought in this bloody war? Even if the tribes are not associated with Krimia, that doesn't mean they can't be forced into it. Demi is Grey's sister, so that means she's from a tribe. Yet she's still fighting in the war. "And she's on the yukos' side," I add, muttering under my breath.

"On the contrary," a voice replies behind me. I whip around, staring wide eyed at the short, red haired girl in front of me. "You'd be surprised how many yukos are working against Krimia." Her eyes narrow and she folds her arms over her chest. "So, you haven't died yet I see."

I lift myself and Sutikka from the ground, sighing. "I did briefly, Demi."

"I just keep running into your little squad, Bena." Her eyes shift to the body beside me, and they soften. "Did you kill him?"

"No," I whisper. "I found him like this. But I'm sure to you, it looks like I killed him."

"Nah, you look too beat up to fight a yukos, let alone kill one." She takes a step towards me, letting out a long sigh.

"That's probably true," I murmur.

"Man," Demi snorts. "You're not even trying to argue with me? You really must be beat."

"Demi?" I ask suddenly, ignoring her previous comment.

She looks awake now, and her eyes fill with curiosity. "Yes?"

"What was the point? Why did you infiltrate our base? What did you want? Why set off a bomb and risk killing your brother in it?"

"You mean Grey? So the fool wasn't lying. He did tell you."

I look at the ground. "Yeah. Why would you risk his life? Why would you do that?"

"I'm a hybrid yukos, Bena. Do you know what that means?"

I look up now, my eyes wide.

"It means I'm not a 'pure' yukos. My father was a human. He fell hard for my mother, and he loved her with all his being. They met in the mountains, where my tribe is. He came looking for help. We don't how he found us. She, however, being terrified that she would be hated for being a human's lover, killed him. She was already Grey's father's wife, so she feared she would be pegged as a cheater as well. Frankly, she was. She killed my father, even though he loved her with his whole heart. All because he was a human!

"She didn't know about me until after she killed my father. Grey's father found out about her pregnancy, and she told him I was his child. My mother wasn't thinking about my red hue though. As soon as I was born, he found out. He agreed to raise me as his own, but he never looked at me with love. When Gryphon was born, I was forgotten. That was when I started to hate them.

"You asked why I came in the first place? To see my brother, or course. He was the only one in my family who looked at me with love. He didn't see me as an affair, a love child. He loved me like a little sister, the way my parents should have loved their daughter. We were best friends. I was 16 when he left. I still remember the tears in my eyes as I yelled at him, asking him why he was going to join the human army and begging him not to leave. He put his hand on my head and gave it a rub. He said 'I need to find out what's true'.