Fool's World: Weight of the World (ch. 26) (Patreon)

"I'm worried about him," Nobara admitted to Rin after the feast, in the privacy of what amounted to a guest bedroom in some kind of compound. Nobara felt full to the point of bursting -- she never needed a diet on account of how active a lifestyle being a Jujutsu Sorcerer was, but she felt the need to do some crunches. She was just too stuffed to actually do them. Majima was an insanely good cook. When there was a plate of his food in front of you, you just had to finish it.

A really dangerous thing when there was a semi truck sized fish involved.

"He merged with the Angra Mainyu in the Holy Grail. We knew there were going to be some side effects," Rin pointed out, laying on her back on top of a futon that was given to them. The whole Kyoshi Warriors thing was going to take some getting used to. Less so than the fact she was now in a world without a functioning shower. Or toilet. "Or it could be disappointment. He admitted it was a long shot, but I imagine he wanted it to be that easy -- to just hop to another world and be free."

Nobara nodded, glancing at the sliding door. After the feast, things had gotten a little less tense, but they were still under guard. Majima most of all. "It doesn't matter what world he goes to. His curse will make him the Source of All Evil." Except that wasn't exactly true. Nobara bit her tongue, mostly because Majima had seemed so certain about the mechanics of his curse, and because she had no evidence for a theory she had developed, but now she did.

Nobara didn't think Majima was the Source of All Evil at all, not for any world. His curse just tapped into what it considered evil, letting Majima experience it and hear it. He wasn't the source at all. He was just a sacrifice to it. Somehow, that made the entire situation feel that much worse.

"Valid reason or not, I'm still worried that he could be slipping. You heard him talk about the Fire Nation. That didn't sound like Majima," Nobara muttered quietly. The practicality was there, but the reasoning was completely twisted. The Majima she knew ran when he had to run, but fought when he had to fight. Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors filled them in a bit more during the feast -- about the hundred year war, the Fire Nation and their atrocities. Suki was clearly biased, but that didn't make her wrong.

Rin curled onto her side to look at Nobara, "It didn't," she agreed. "He sounded worn down, but I think that's natural. If he keeps sounding like that, then we know we have a problem."

That was a decent view of the situation. Still, "I'm going to go check on him. You coming?"

Rin looked faintly embarrassed, "If I bend at all, I'm going to throw up," she admitted. Rin had put food away like no ones business. "You should check up on him."

Nodding, Nobara stood up and started to make her way to the door. However, she stopped before sliding it open. "Are you okay?" She asked, glancing back at Rin. "With all of this? Unlike me, you had a life back in Fuyuki. I know the Mage Association would have messed that up, but…" Nobara trailed off. The Mage Association sounded a lot like the various clans that more or less controlled the world of Jujutsu Sorcery. Namely, they were jack asses with way too much power that made you do things their way or the highway.

Rin was silent for a moment, as if she was considering it herself. "I'm choosing to look at this as an amazing opportunity for research. There's only one mage that knows the effects of Magecraft and Mystery in other worlds. In that regard, this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm going to make the most of it. Not to mention Majima is a convenient mana battery for my jewel craft." She said, not ever answering whether she was fine or not fine.

"But?" Nobara prompted, pressing the issue a little.

"It's… going to take some getting used to, but I don't regret coming here, if that's what you're asking." The thing about open ended questions like that, they tended to reveal what was going on in the mind of the person who answered. Nobara didn't think that Rin regretted coming per se, but it was a huge shift from her normal life. Rin seemed to sense her thoughts because she aimed a slight smile in her direction, "I'm fine. Really. Go worry over Majima -- he's the one that actually needs it."

Sensing that was the final word on the matter, Nobara nodded and slid open the door to reveal a pitch black forest. The silence reminded her of the countryside, something she didn't particularly care for. There was just the sounds of bugs, of wind, and nothing else for miles upon miles. The only source of light was a half moon hanging above surrounded by an impressive number of stars. Light pollution blotted out the star’s visibility in the city, and even in the countryside, there weren't as many stars in the sky as there could be.

However, based on what Nobara had seen, light pollution wasn't even a concept yet, revealing billions of stars in the night sky. It was as if she could see the entire arm of the galaxy they were in. Because of that, the heavy blanket of darkness wasn't as bad as it otherwise could've been. Turning around and sliding the door shut, Nobara looked to the darkness, "I'm looking for Majima. Do you know where he is?"

There was a beat of silence before Nobara heard a rustling in the bushes, an embarrassed Suki revealing herself. Nobara was a fan of her makeup -- apparently Kyoshi, who the island was named after, had been an Avatar hundreds of years ago that was pretty scarred up. She hid it underneath the war paint and established a badass warrior group. They kinda looked like geisha from back in Japan, but of the ass kicking variety.

"Sorry," Suki muttered, embarrassed at getting called out.

Nobara aimed a smile at her, dismissing her worries. "We're strangers here. You don't have anything to be sorry about, Suki," Nobara reassured. She got it. There was a war going on and strangers showed up on her doorstep. It'd be weird if she wasn't a little suspicious.

Suki did seem a bit relieved that she wasn't actually mad about being under guard, "Majima is down at the beach. He's been there for a few hours." She seemed a little uncomfortable talking about him, a distaste in her voice born from the argument they had. Suki couldn't wrap her head around what Majima had said. She couldn't accept it and she couldn't accept him. "I can walk you there, if you want."

"Thanks, Suki," Nobara said, walking alongside the Kyoshi Warrior. Suki glanced at her, clearly wanting to ask something, even if her face was mostly hidden under a layer of darkness and makeup. Nobara cocked an eyebrow, silently giving her permission to spit it out.

"How can you stand him?" Suki blurted, wringing her hands out in front of her as they walked as if she were wringing Majima's neck. "He wants us to just give up! To roll over and die!"

Nobara nodded, expecting as much. When your entire life - and entire culture at this point - revolved around being a resistance warrior against a foreign occupation… it was all too easy to see why Suki had such an issue accepting Majima. "That's his curse talking," Nobara dismissed, knowing she had to explain it because Majima never would. The answer didn't satisfy Suki in the slightest. "His scars? You can read them, right?"

Suki looked away and nodded.

"Those are all things that were done to him," Nobara told her, making Suki miss a step. "He was a sacrifice to all the evil in the world. He calls himself the perpetrator and victim of every evil act ever committed, but I don't believe that's true. I think he's just the victim." Majima would never see it that way. He was so convinced of his influence over humans, and maybe he was right, but Nobara harbored doubts.

This wasn't a curse she was used to dealing with, but in this new world, Nobara was starting to think that his scars acted as a type of contract. Something like if someone committed a deed that was written on his skin, then Majima would be aware of it. And…

"He feels it?" Suki questioned in a small voice, not moving from her spot on the path down to the beach. There was a quiet horror in her voice that seemed to grow until her expression openly displayed it as the implications really settled in.

"He does. He never went into specifics, but he does," Nobara confirmed. It was just too damn sad when it came down to it. Majima was born of a desperate attempt to escape his curse, and now he was just throwing whatever he had at the wall and hoping something stuck. Suki was processing that, realizing how just awful a curse it really was. "He says it's been that way since the beginning of time. Since humans first learned how to be awful to each other."

"How does he function?" Suki questioned quietly, her voice nearly lost in the dead forest around them. It was a terrifying thing to realize that every person she had ever lost, every horror story she had ever heard, Majima had been on the receiving end of it. Nobara knew exactly what Suki was going through. She went through it too.

Nobara continued walking, voicing what really broke her heart. "He got used to it."

Suki didn't follow her the rest of the way down to the seaside where she found the Source of All Evil sitting on the white sandy beach, staring out into the ocean. He didn't react even though he had to have heard her approach. Nobara came to a stop behind him, before kneeling down in the sand, grabbing him by the back of the head, and forcing Majima into a lap pillow.

"I don't go for broody guys, so that's enough moping for you," Nobara told him, running her hands through his hair, trying not to pay attention to the stark white locks that had appeared when he remembered that he was Angra Mainyu. That boy she had met had been who he was before he got saddled with a curse that was beyond description.

Majima scoffed, "I'm just thinking, and I figured they wouldn't feel safe if I was in the limits of the village." He argued, not making any move to escape his lap pillow. There was still so much of Majima in him. How he spoke, how he carried himself, and how he acted. He was still there. It wasn't like Majima had died and was replaced by someone else, more that he had suffered a radical change. He was still himself. Nobara just had to get used to knowing the new him, though.

"Thinking counts as brooding when you're doing it in the dead of night while wistfully gazing out over the ocean," Nobara pointed out, pinching his cheek for daring to argue with her. As much as he had changed, it was hard to take him seriously when he claimed to be the Source of All Evil when he seemed like a docile cat in her lap.

"Point," he conceded. "I was thinking about the Avatar. There are a lot fewer people in this world, so I was trying to figure out where they are. If they're supposed to restore balance to the world, or whatever, then I'm imagining they're wanting to take down the Fire Lord. If I see who I'm influencing to attack him, then I might be able to find the Avatar." There was a note of what Nobara could only describe as hope in his voice. In the wake of another attempt to shake off his curse, Majima seemed to be putting a lot of hope on the Avatar.

"Any luck?" Nobara questioned.

"None so far. Either he's lost in a sea of people who hate the Fire Lord or he doesn't actively hate him or want him dead," Majima answered.

Nobara gazed out at the sea and stars, "Sounds like you want it to be the latter."

"... I think I do. The Avatar is supposed to be wise and peaceful. I think the whole societal model of this world relies on him carrying the biggest stick, which doesn't inspire hope, but according to the Kyoshi Warriors, none of the Avatars have ever been a conqueror. I think the Avatar might be the one human that's managed to stop acting like a human." Not exactly what Nobara wanted to hear, but she saw his point. "I think we should stay on the island a bit. If I was the Avatar, and I was going to take the fight to the Fire Lord, then this would be my first stop -- an island with a band of dedicated warriors that they created in their past life."

"What about the war itself?" Nobara questioned, earning a shrug from Majima.

"Humans fight and kill each other all the time. It's not my concern," Majima decided.

That's what Nobara was afraid he would say.

"It's your call," Nobara decided. It's not the move she would make, but she also wasn't experiencing every war crime committed by the Fire Nation. If he wanted to prioritize lifting his curse, it really didn't seem fair to say that he couldn't.

Even if it wasn't what the Majima she knew would do.

…

A few days passed as the three of them settled in. The guards were a little more relaxed as they were welcomed more into the village. Majima was avoided like the plague, but that seemed to suit him just fine.

"I need them modeled after this one," Nobara said, holding up a cold iron nail and letting a soot-covered blacksmith take it from her. "The ore has to have salt mixed into it at a low temperature," she continued, earning an odd look.

"That'll introduce impurities," he told her, inspecting the nail. "It weakens the metal if everything but the iron isn't cooked out of it."

One of the biggest things Nobara found that she missed was being able to order her nails off of the internet. "I know. I don't need them to be hard or strong. I just need a few dozen cold iron nails," Nobara responded, gesturing to the sack full of seasalt that Majima and Rin had helped her father. "How much would it cost?"

"Eh, don't worry about it. It's quick and easy work, and I owe you lot for a few free meals," the blacksmith decided. He didn't really understand why she wanted cold iron nails, but also decided that he really didn't care. It was pretty convenient. How he spoke reminded her of her village -- favors were their own currency back there, where every good deed and slight was cataloged and remembered.

Nobara gave the blacksmith an easy smile, "Thanks!" She said, waving goodbye as she went about her day. This village, like all the villages on Kyoshi Island, was a sleepy one where nothing really happened for the most part. It was a good place and it was warming up to her and Rin, which was a lot more than she could say for her old village that treated strangers like shit they wiped off the bottom of their shoes.

They even gave them cute outfits! Well, Suki gave them cute outfits, but it was practically the same thing. As if to prove her point, Nobara caught sight of Rin, who had traded out her red sweater and black mini-skirt for a dark red light kimono, contrasting her own dark blue. It was a little more traditional than Nobara was used to, but it felt like she was dressing up for a festival every day now, so that was fun.

Rin glanced at her, and Nobara caught her look, "Something going on?" Nobara questioned.

Rin took a moment to answer as if she were searching for the words. "One of Suki's scouts saw… a… flying bison?" She informed her friend, sounding out the words as if trying to tell if they made sense or not. Nobara's eyebrows shot up, wondering if she was about to see something interesting.

"Did they say where they went?" She wanted to see what a flying bison looked like before it continued on its journey to wherever flying bison went. Maybe they migrated like birds?

"To the beach," Rin answered, and Nobara wasted no time grabbing her hand to drag her along. "W-wait! We don't know if it's dangerous or not!" Rin protested as Nobara began to drag her out of the village and past the compound that they had been staying in.

"Who cares if it's dangerous? You have your Magecraft and I have my Jujutsu Sorcery. We can handle a flying animal. I bet it's super cute," Nobara decided, already trying to imagine what it looked like. A bison with wings? She had never seen one in person but they looked like giant stuffed animals in pictures.

"Well…" Rin trailed off, not finding a valid reason to not go. Rin seemed like an introvert by nature. More than that, she seemed like someone that was only used to going at her own pace. As much as she claimed to be fine, Nobara caught Rin doing a lot of moping around the house about how her future with the Mage Association was on shaky grounds. Which is why Nobara made it her mission to drag Rin out of her funk. "You're right. We don't have anything to worry about working together."

"Damn right!" Nobara hollered, marching her way down to the beach. They proved that much against Zouken, the vile creep. Together they ran down to the beach and through the thin bare trees, Nobara quickly noticed that they weren't the only ones interested in the flying bison.

She caught sight of Majima, his back turned towards them as he stood before the large creature with fluffy white fur with an arrow on its forehead. Nobara was in love at first sight, even if it looked like it could eat her whole. Majima wore a black yukata with white trimming, complete with a white belly warmer around his waist. It looked good on him, even if he left the front of his yukata open to reveal more of his chest. Something that Nobara didn't normally mind, but it did make for a poor first impression with new people.

Majima was speaking to a kid that looked a lot like a Shaolin monk, just with a blue arrow tattooed on his forehead, and hands. He was carrying a weird staff thing in one hand as he looked up at Majima with an uncomfortable expression on his face. He looked young. Nobara wouldn't put him any older than thirteen. If that. Next to the monk were two darker skinned people dressed in dark blue first, a girl and a boy. Possibly siblings.

It was until she and Rin neatened that they heard the exchange, "How in the hell are you the Avatar? You're supposed to be some ancient guy with thousands of lifetimes of wisdom. You're just a kid."

"Am not!" The monk protested, then thought better of it. "Well, I mean, I am the Avatar. And a kid. But I'm also an air bending master! See?" He questioned, taking a massive leap back to land on top of the flying bison before leaving back, lazily flipping a good twenty feet in the air, and landed as lightly as a feather. There was a great big smile on his face as he held his hands out and… made three rocks spin between his palms?

The other two newcomers took notice of her and Rin as they neared. The guy, who Nobara would put as the oldest of the trio, gave them a flat look. "Not telling you ladies on how to do things, but anyone with murder literally written on their forehead isn't who I would put in charge of the welcoming committee." He deadpanned, crossing his arms and clearly not happy with Majima over something.

"I haven't done anything," Majima told her before Nobara or Rin could ask. "They dropped down in front of me. And yes, spinning balls, very impressive -- are you sure you're the Avatar?"

The girl took a step forward when the supposed Avatar looked crestfallen. "Yes, he's the Avatar! We've seen it! What's your problem?" She demanded hotly, planting a hand on her hip and jabbing a finger against Majima's chest.

"I've got plenty of problems. Cursed, hungry -- but, right now, my biggest one is the Avatar is a literal infant," Majima responded drily, jabbing a finger right back at the Avatar. It seemed that Majima was right, though, maybe for the wrong reasons.

The Avatar frowned, "Hey, I'm not a baby! Just a kid. Actually, I'm a hundred and twelve years old!" The Avatar crossed his arm, thrusting out his chin and silently dared Majima to contradict him on that. "So, you should speak more respectfully to your seniors, young whippersnapper!"

Nobara started to smile until she saw the expression on Majima's face. She didn't think she had ever seen him look like he was in so much pain before. Not when Rider was dragging him to the house, battered and bloodied, or when he shattered his limbs like glass to fight against Caster's Master. His expression was one of a deep-seeded pain that was ripping his heart to shreds and both the Avatar and the girl were taken back by it.

Majima dragged a hand over his face, "That's my line, you brat. I'm about three hundred thousand years old, technically." He said with a sigh, making Nobara's lips thin.

"You aren't as old as the human race," Rin interjected, crossing her arms. "At most, you can claim to be two thousand because that's when you were killed."

"It's-" Majima started before deciding that he couldn't be bothered to explain.

The Avatar looked between them, a hesitant smile on his face, "You died? Are you okay?”

The guy had a different reaction, his eyes narrowing to slits, “You’re supposed to be two thousand years old? Yeah, right, like I’d ever believe that.”

The girl’s eyes seemed to widen ever so slightly, “You’re two thousand years old? You must have seen so much history with your own eyes!” She said, her eyes practically sparkling at the idea.

Three different reactions for three very different people. Majima sent Rin a look, as if saying ‘see what you started’ even if he had been the one to start it. A huge sigh heaved out of him as he pinned a look at the Avatar, “No. No, no, no -- we are not getting sidetracked. You are, what, a twelve-year-old kid?” He started, earning a nod from the Avatar.

“Yeah! I was just frozen in an iceberg for a hundred years,” he confirmed, and that sounded like a story in itself.

“So, you’re twelve. And you’re supposed to be a super wise guy with thousands of lifetimes of wisdom to draw from,” Majima continued, and Nobara saw where he was going with this. Based on the look that Rin wore, she did as well. The Avatar, however, just shifted from foot to foot, feeling anxious at being grilled.

He nodded, “I wouldn’t say thousands, but I can. Sorta? I know it’s possible, but I’ve never actually done it before.” He admitted, more or less sealing his fate. Nobara knew exactly what Majima was going to say next, even before he said it.

“And you’re supposed to save the world? Stop the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world?” Majima questioned, and the Avatar seemed to shrink a little at his tone, but the girl stepped up.

“I know he’s young, but Aang can do this! The Avatar always restores balance to the world,” she voiced, going to continue but cut herself off when Majima’s gaze snapped to her. His eyes were narrowed into slits, a frown tugging at the edges of his lips. He was anything but reassured as he heard the proclamation.

“If you animals can’t stop killing each other without a child keeping you in line, then there’s no hope at all for this world,” he snapped at her, making Aang, the Avatar, scowl deeply.

“Don’t talk to Katara that way! And she’s right, I can do this,” he said, stepping forward and puffing out his chest. He was trying to make himself look more capable, stronger, even older. The action had the exact opposite effect. Majima’s concern was all too clear. The weight of the world had been tossed onto the shoulders of a child.

“I don’t care if you can or can’t,” Majima responded in a harsh tone, “that doesn’t matter at all. Take it from me, kid -- being responsible for saving the world is an awful shitshow that only has a bitter end waiting for you after of a long, painful, downright fucking horrible road.” Majima shook his head, making up his mind. Aang didn’t seem to know how to respond, looking at Katara, who seemed similarly lost.

Majima turned away, heading back to the village, “So, put any thought about the Fire Nation out your head. You’re not responsible for shit. Kick your feet up here and do whatever young airbenders do,” he said as he walked away, squaring his shoulders as a weight seemed to settle on them.

“Leave the Fire Nation to me.”

And that, Nobara decided, was a lot more like the Majima that she knew.