Our Home and Native Land

Talia watched excitedly as Cassie opened up the present with a smile on her face. It was symbolic to her. It represented the past and all that had now passed. Cassie's house was filled with all these trophies that she had acquired over the years. The mask would be just that. Another trophy to show what Cassie had accomplished in the last year. She thought it was the perfect gift.

But Cassie didn't see it that way.

Talia's heart sank when her face dropped like she had seen a ghost. She pulled the box back and shoved it into her bag as if she was reclaiming it. "Cassie...I'm-I'm sorry..." the redhead tried to explain herself but she suddenly felt speechless. She only wanted to make Cassie happy and she managed to do the exact opposite. "I...I just wanted you to have a trophy...you know...t-to show...I'm sorry!" She added and hopped onto the foot of Cassie's bed. "I didn't realize it was...I'm sorry..." She didn't know what else to say.

Cassie hugged her legs against her chest with her face resting on her arms. She didn't move a muscle when Talia got up on her bed. How could she not realize? Didn't she know what that little white piece of plastic meant?

When she looked up at Talia, her face was cold, and her big green eyes had the same dispassionate focus that she wore once upon a time in the ring. She grabbed Talia by the wrist, and picked up the box, and then dragged her out of her bedroom and through the dining room where her father and Nick played cards at the table.

Both of them looked up with a curiosity that quickly gave way to concern. "Where ya going?" Marc asked. Nick was ready to jump out of his seat. Cassie didn't break stride. She fumbled with the box for a second, rather than let go of Talia, and opened the door to the garage.

She dropped the box on the cement floor and let go of Talia's wrist while she went rooting through a mass of gardening tools, a rolled up tarp, some orphaned parts of a bike, a hydraulic jack, that all leaned against the wall. She came up with a shovel, and she shoved it into Talia's hands, and then dumped the box upside down on the floor. The lid fell, and the mask clattered to a stop on the cold cement.

She grabbed Talia by the collar and looked in her eyes. "A trophy is something you feel good about. You're the trophy. Not that." She pointed down at the mask. "Now kill it."

"C-Cassie!" she protested when the green eyed girl suddenly dragged her and the box out of the room. She wasn't sure where Cassie was taking her or why...but she was really anxious about it. "W-What are we...w-where are we..." she stuttered as she was pulled into the garage. There was a brief moment of pure terror when Cassie pulled out a shovel. And then like that it was in her hands. Talia slowly looked up from the shovel in her hands to the mask on the floor.

"Wait...wait I can't...I don't...I..." She thought that she hadn't seen this side of Cassie before. But she had. More times than she wanted to believe. She stepped closer to the mask until it lay at her feet. She could still make out the slight deformity at the mouth where she had tried to bend it back following their second match. So many times Talia had hid behind the mask in her times of need. Without it, she would never have challenged or fought so many people. It had made her so strong. And weak. As much as she wanted to move on in life, Talia didn't want to abandon all that the mask represented.

But she also knew Cassie was right. She lifted up the shovel and daintily dropped it down onto the mask. It slid off and to the concrete floor. Talia took a deep breath and lifted up the shovel again. This time, when she dropped it though, she threw her own force into it. The sharp end of the shovel dug deeply into the mask deforming it but not shattering it. She pulled the shovel up and the mask stuck to it. Frustrated, Talia lifted up the shovel and slammed it down a couple more times until the mask was sufficiently crushed and mangled. Then, with another sigh, she let the shovel drop to the concrete floor.

It may had been what Cassie wanted, but Talia wasn't entirely sure just yet.

Good enough.

Cassie grabbed the mask and stuffed it in one of the large garbage cans near the outside door of the garage. "That's the last time we need to talk about that thing, okay? What happened, happened, and you're different, I'm different, and we've moved on. Haven't we?"

She stepped closer to her fellow redhead and tugged on her short hair the stuck down into her face while preoccupied with thoughts of the last two years. "Talia, I'm really, truly sorry for everything that I did wrong. And I know that you are too. So I forgive you, and if you forgive me then we don't ever need to worry about what happened anymore. We're like new people. And neither of us needs a mask. You're so pretty! You have no reason to cover your face with a stupid mask."

Talia avoided eye contact at first out of habit. She wanted to believe everything could be better...that they were better. "I am sorry too...and of course I forgive you too..." But Cassie wasn't the only one in Japan that she had problems with. She was just one of them. And even if Cassie forgave her, it didn't mean the others would...or that this all wouldn't happen all over again with someone else. Even if Talia was a better person now, she was still the same one that started all of this. She sighed but managed to force a smile. "When are you going back?" She asked to change the topic. They had only been in Canada for a little. Still, she wanted to know how long she'd be staying.

Cassie nodded. It was done, and she wasn't going to hear any more about it. It was about time they both got on with their lives.

"Oh, I'm not sure..." She said as she put the shovel back. "I think I'll stay for a while. It's really good to be home. I missed it so much and... I kind of... started lying to them during the... thing." Her gaze drooped under the weight of her shame. "So I have to make it up to them. I'm going to stay here until I feel better. Like myself. So maybe a couple weeks, maybe a couple months. I'm not sure. I'll probably just help out at the gym while I'm here, and in the gardens..."

She smiled once at Talia and then turned to head back inside. "Anyway. Let's go eat."