CHAPTER IX: A MOMENT IN THE HEAD
Towards the evening, Martis arrived home, at the Leomor manor. Inside, his mother was waiting for him impatiently. As soon as she saw him, she ran towards him, exclaiming:
« Ah! My baby is back! »
She hugged him tightly before asking him:
« How was your day, my sweetie? »
« It went well, and if you would let me talk and breathe, that would already be good, » said Martis, suffocating under her hug.
She let him go and then asked him to tell her what had happened on the first day.
As she wished, Martis told her about his day while heading towards the dining room. His mother said nothing; she watched him without a word. The expression she saw on Martis's face was completely new to her. For the first time in her life, she saw her son smile.
Both headed to the dining room, sat down at the table, then a butler brought dishes that he placed on their side of the table. While he was telling his story, she kept her **composed** look, listening while eating, but she hadn't noticed that she had started to cry.
Martis stopped talking, he noticed one thing: his mother was not the type to be speechless when he explained something. She was more the type to add comments, but there, she was silent, as if she wasn't there. When he looked at her, he saw that she was staring at him with a smile, and tears were flowing.
« Mom, why are you crying? Did I say something wrong? »
His mother wiped her tears, but joy was evident in her. « Oh no. It's... It's nothing, it's just that, since I gave birth to you, you have never shown any emotion. You didn't cry when you were born, the doctors thought you were going to die, but you survived. You never smiled, never cried while growing up. Every time you fell or even got hurt, you acted as if it was nothing and that it would pass. You have been like that for 17 years, you never smiled when seeing me, you never came to complain about your brother's provocations to me. But there, seeing you smile while telling me this story, it was like catching a glimpse of paradise. It's one of the things I could have given everything for, just to see it. »
While she was saying this, she was crying profusely. Martis looked at her, and seeing her cry, he was on the verge of tears, but he held back.
« No! I'm not going to cry, am I? I've resisted more than that! »
Despite himself, he cried anyway. He lowered his head to the ground, saying:
« Well, Mom, if seeing me smile makes you so happy... »
He wiped his tears, then looked at his mother, smiling, and said:
« Then I will smile every day, I will keep this smile to please you. »
His mother looked at him for a moment and then said, wiping her tears:
« Thank you. »
Both continued to eat while discussing the day.
Later in the evening, Martis, shirtless, was leaning on his room's balcony. A refreshing and light breeze was passing by. He looked at the capital which shone with a thousand colors. When he looked on the other side, he saw the village. Compared to the city, there were only a few visible lights. He sighed, thinking back to his mother, then out of nowhere, he heard Wukong's voice in a mocking tone saying:
« Hahaha, oh the fragile one, you killed me when you said, wait, I'm going to use a baby voice [Then I will smile every day, I will keep this smile to please you] hahaha Aaaaah Mommy's little baby. »
Martis, frustrated, didn't know where the voice was coming from. He looked everywhere to see where he was:
« Hey, where are you, you dirty monkey? »
« Well, in your head, Mommy's boy, » replied Sun with a mocking air.
Martis, frustrated, began to threaten him:
« If you were in front of me, I would have already kicked your ass, you dirty bastard. »
« Don't worry, to beat me up, nothing is easier, beat yourself up, then you're attacking me directly. You have to be like me, left when Mom started crying, I didn't shed a single tear, I remained unmoved, » replied Sun, taking a tone full of pride.
Martis, listening to this, didn't believe a word of it:
« You, you didn't cry, no, that's false. »
« Yeah, that's false. I cried like a little girl. »
The two laughed for a moment, then a silence settled between them. Martis, looking at the village in the distance, asked Sun in a serious tone:
« Wukong, when I was there for the second time. I was able to reclassify the memory you transferred to me. But that only made me ask more questions, like first of all why I was called the Monkey King, do you have any idea? »
Wukong replied:
« That, I have no memory of. That part of the memory hasn't come back yet. »
Martis:
« Do you have any idea who those beings we fought were? Laozi, Nezha, and the others? Why did they want to kill us? »
Wukong, in a perplexed tone:
« That part is as blurry as the other memories, and I noticed that your memories come back every time you experience a fight. That must be the key. »
Martis:
« Not wrong, but there are still many things I'd like to know, but according to what you say, only fighting can refresh my memory. I remember the entirety of 4 martial arts: Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, and Jujitsu. All I have left is to train to master them again. »
Wukong:
« Yeah, you just have to start tomorrow. »
Martis, sighing:
« Yeah, good idea. »
Wukong: « Do you want to play truth or dare? »
Martis managed a smile and then said:
« Good idea, but I wonder how you're going to do the dares. »