Our Home and Native Land

The passenger seated on Talia's right must have moved or something because the redhead suddenly woke up. There was a few moments of confusion as she looked around her. She remembered being on a plane but she wasn't sure if it had all been a dream or not. So much had changed in the last week and there had been plenty of times Talia couldn't help but think it was all a dream. At least, she hoped it had all been a dream.

But as she slowly looked to her left, she could just barely make out orange hair in the corner of her vision. She then stared forward as if trying to hide what she was really tilting her head for. It was definitely Cassie. She was definitely not dreaming. And she was definitely on a plane to Canada. Talia looked down at her iPod and repeatedly kicked next to get to a better song. Maybe she could go back to sleep and try to escape to her dreams once more if Cassie didn't see her moving.

Cassie did her best to sleep on the twelve-and-a-half hour flight, but she never managed it for long. She would wake with a start and look to her right, to reaffirm to herself that the person coming home with her was in fact Talia Wilson. Then after thumbing around on her phone, she'd resolve to sleep again, at least until the stop in Seattle.

Talia seemed to have no trouble sleeping, but it was likely that appearances were deceiving. She didn't have the heart to call her on her bluff, if that's what it was, at least until she saw her stirring. She pounced on the opportunity, and held her phone over for Talia to see.

On it was a picture of a grinning, boyishly handsome, sandy haired young man of modest, but athletic, proportions. "This is Bucky," Cassie said, her voice uneven from going unused for so long. "He's my next older brother." She studied Talia to pick up her reaction.

Unfortunately for Talia, Cassie seemed to notice that she was awake. She looked at the picture and faked a smile. "Bucky," she repeated as if being introduced to the boy. He looked nice. Like a bigger, male version of Cassie. Her smile faded as she imagined him being just like her...only stronger...and meaner. But the most disconcerning fact was that she referred to Bucky as the next older brother. That meant there were more. More Cassies.

Talia swallowed. She wanted to forget about that. She reached for her phone and googled 'Double Dragon.' The results showed different pictures of a male wrestler with a luchador-ish mask and a dragon tattoo across his chest. She picked one of the pictures where the man wasn't wearing a mask and showed it to Cassie. "That's my brother. Alex. He wrestles with the WWE." It wasn't a competition but at least it was something about Talia Cassie probably didn't know.

"He's one of the reasons I got into wrestling. He looked so good in the ring..." She trailed off as she stared at her own phone.

Cassie put on a smile and nodded. "Oh, I didn't know you had a brother. He's... handsome." At least it seemed like a nice thing to say... she didn't like his tattoo.

She flicked her thumb across her phone, and this time it showed a taller, darker haired young man. "This is Nicky." He hardly bore a resemblance to his brother. He was taller, the tallest in the family and the only one to break "average height", with dark, intense features, and a serious way about him, even when he was smiling.

"He's the one who opened the school in New York, and we lived together while I trained to come here- to Japan, that is. And, I mean, the jiu jitsu school in New York. My family runs one in Ontario. You knew that, right? Anyway, Nicky's my oldest brother. I guess you could say if Bucky is Johnny, Nicky is Mamouru." She paused, looked down at her phone, and then shook her head. "But I wouldn't say that." She smiled.

Talia nodded. Alex was the model of everything she had aspired to be. Then again, he was bigger than her. And faster than her. And confident and strong-willed. And better in every single way. "He took of inspiration in his style and outfit from his luchador friends." Cassie didn't ask, but Talia still felt like clarifying why he looked the way he did. She then leaned back to look at the other picture Cassie showed her. She swallowed again. Nicky looked far more intimidating than Bucky. And this confirmed her suspicion that there were, indeed, more siblings. Bigger, probably harsher siblings.

Talia bit her lip when Cassie compared her brothers to the Higurashi twins. She was right to say it wouldn't be appropriate. Because that would mean Talia's life was somehow going to get even worse. She was flying six thousand miles just to be right back in Japan with all the people who hated her. And despite Cassie's attempt to diffuse it, now Talia was afraid it'd practically be the same thing- just with actual brothers of Cassie. Which was even worse.

"I didn't know that...But that explains a lot I guess..." she added with regards to the school. "So...they're not...umm..." Mad at me for trying to ruin your life.

Cassie shook her head. "No, they're really not like the Higurashi's. I guess they're kind of the opposite in some ways."

She showed Talia the next picture. It was a stunningly beautiful woman in her late forties, petite, smaller even than Cassie, with flame red hair and Cassie's big, green eyes. Her smile projected a quiet self-assurance, and was uncannily photogenic. "This is mom." Cassie lingered only for a second before she moved onto the next one. She didn't like talking about her mom with people too much. It was embarrassing. "And this is dad."

The next picture was of Cassie in a white jiu jitsu gi standing next to her father. He had his arm around her, and she wore the biggest smile. He wasn't all that much taller than her, five-foot-eight on a good day, but he was ruggedly handsome with lines worn into his face from his easy smile. It was just as easy to believe that he was strict and demanding disciplinarian as it was that he was a doting and adoring father. Cassie looked up at Talia again.

Talia wasn't too relieved at Cassie's reassurance. Even if they weren't like the Higurashi twins, they were still brothers. And brothers were always protective. The picture of Cassie's mom seemed so heart-warming. She looked even smaller than them two and her fiery hair reminded Talia of her own. Well, her own dyed hair. And those eyes...Talia couldn't help but smile.

The picture of Cassie's father was even more warming. Cassie's smile in it really showed what kind of person he was. Her entire family seemed too picturesque to be true. Talia kinda knew why Cassie turned out the way she did. She had such a great family. Talia wanted to pull out some pictures of her own to show Cassie but she didn't have any on her phone. She hadn't seen them in so long.

Not that there was much to show anyways. The last time the family was all together was almost a decade and a half ago, back before the divorce. It was Christmas then too. "You look like you have such a wonderful family. I can't wait to meet them," she lied.

"Yeah," Cassie said. Talia wasn't the first person to remark on Cassie's sunshiny family, and while no one was ever quite as perfect on the inside as they appeared on the outside, it still made Cassie smile to think about it. She had the best family in the entire world, and she was proud to be part of it. She always tried to share the wealth where she could. "Don't be nervous."

She might as well have been telling them both. It occurred to her that Talia was probably still not thrilled to actually meet them, which, while impossible for Cassie to fathom, was understandable in that there really were no guarantees that Talia wouldn't just be walking right into the lion's mouth. As kind and diminutive as they were, the Elliots were not a family one would benefit from crossing. The medals and trophies that lined the family gym's walls were proof enough of that.

Cassie sighed, and put her phone away. She leaned her head back against her seat and closed her eyes. "I promise, if anyone was going to kill you, it would've been me. Now if I tried anything, I'd be grounded for the rest of my life."

Talia didn't respond. She knew Cassie would be able to tell if she lied so she didn't bother. She was beyond nervous. Not a minute went by that she didn't regret getting on the plane. She wasn't even sure what she was doing here. She had hit rock bottom and was willing to do anything if it got her mind off her problems.

"Why?" She asked ambiguously. For once, she forced herself to turn and look at Cassie. It was discomforting knowing how close Cassie was. Even if she meant well, Talia could still picture every time the orange haired girl had her in a crippling hold. It was hard to think of Cassie as anything but that dangerous fighter. But she had to. She was sick of thinking that everyone was out to get her.

"Why?" Cassie echoed. Why would she get grounded for fighting with Talia? The question was so laughable that at first she had trouble forming a response. She thought for a moment, and then said "Well... that's not what we do."

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The changeover in Seattle was wearisome and dull and full of silences that made Cassie ache for something normal to talk about. They shuffled through lines and security checks and into a crowded concourse, exchanged uncomfortable glances over fish and fries, and after quickly checking in with her parents Cassie quickly fell asleep until it was time to board the second and final plane. She began to count the steps left between them and home, the safety-speech, buckle up, take off, sleep, land, struggle with bag in overhead compartment while self conscious about exposing belly in the process, wait for a million hours to finally get off the plane, onto the wheely, hallway-y thing, around the corner, through the gate, into another crowd where she would inevitably have to hop to see over people's heads, or shoulders, to try to spot her family. With every step that she checked off the list, her heart beat a little faster.

Finally, when she knew they were close, she jabbed Talia in the arm.

"Hey," she said. "My birthday's in a week."