Chapter 27: The Bond Plane

“Okay class! Today’s out first real period together, and I know I’ll be asking a lot for some of you, who aren’t used to it yet, but it’ll be an intense year, as always. It’s my personal experience that delaying the efforts I expect of you won’t do you any good in the long run, and I’m here for you,not the other way around, remember that!”

 Max seemed suspiciously cheerful today thought Alejandro. He couldn’t help but notice the way the teacher glanced at him and it made him feel even worse than he already felt. Somehow, Kris’ reveals had shaken him. It was as if he couldn’t find one Minor who hadn’t tragedy in his past. Izzy had lost her mother and was seeing her father falling in love with another woman, Kris’ family were addicts and, from what Lindsey had hastily whispered in his ear before the period started, after a dreadfully boring English class and an uneventful lunch, his MAJOR’s “helper” wasn’t really caring for him, but only thinking about what he could brought to her...

“Alejandro?” asked Max, making the Minor slightly leap from his plump cushion seat.

“I’m sorry, I was lost in thought” blurted the young man, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

“Don’t sweat it” smiled the small –for a MAJOR- teacher. “I just wanted to ask you if you had ever bonded with… with someone outside of your family and your Incident, or if it’s something foreign to you.”

“Oh… Herm, I’ve bonded once or twice ever since the Incident with someone, not for long though. But it’s been… intense, and I’m not really wanting to do that too often.”

“I see… So you have never been into the Bond Plane proper?” asked Max, looking strangely solemn.

“The what now?” whispered Alejandro, but he was heard by the MAJOR’s superior ears.

“The Bond Plane. Yoshida Takahashi was the first to name it, back in 1980. The actual place which is, supposedly, the closest still to what minors used to communicate before… before the Dark Age.”

Maximillian’s smile wavered a little, but he somehow managed to keep it together. Clearly, he knew much about this period. Alejandro himself didn’t. Even Izzellah hadn’t wanted to delve too much on the subject, stating that he would have to ask his teacher to show him some film. He couldn’t remember the name right now however, so he guessed he would ask her when she would arrive in Friday. In any case, the idea of something close to something made for Minors, by Minors, attracted him enough to remain focused on what Max was saying.

“It’s not perfect, of course, because as a teacher, I have to lay out the foundations, but think of it as a communal place for Minors, and me, to meet in mind instead of body.”

“You mean I would have to be connected to you and other people’s through the bond? I’m not sure I’m liking this idea.”

It was in truth an understatement. The idea of opening his mind here, at school, was already terrifying. Adding a dozen or so Minors, and a MAJOR to boot, when the classroom was full of other gigantic morons sounded like a terrible idea. Plus, he didn’t even know how to do that. So far, he was basically able to be totally close or entirely open his mind, and only the first option allowed him to keep is insecurities in check among the walking titans surrounding him on all sides during schooldays. He wouldn’t jeopardize this modicum of comfort for some talk which could be achieved in person, even with other Minors.

“I understand why you would feel like that. That’s why I would like Hua-Ju to help you. She’s one of my most brilliant pupils, and someone you can trust. It’s her third year with us and she’ll be the one initiating you to the way to both join our communion and keep the parts of you that you want to obscure away from our minds. What do you think about it?”

Alejandro looked at the small Asian woman who came from behind Max. She couldn’t have been taller than 1m50 (4f9). She had long and slick black hair, falling all the way to the top of her ass, or so he suspected by the look of it. She was surprisingly chubby, while in his mind Asian were always thin, but it was of course Asian MAJORS he had in mind for this stereotype. She had black eyes and a very beautiful smile, her small nose somehow enhancing it.

“I understand that you have suffered much in your past” she softly spoke. “It’ll be my duty to help you on the way to embracing our people’s legacy and rightful use of the bonding process.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, nor forceful, she spoke almost in a whisper, slowly and carefully, her English barely tinged with a hint of accent. But she had a strength in this weak voice, like a veneer of perfect diamond below shallow water. And what she had just said surprised Alejandro. Speaking about Minor’s legacy? It was something he had chased in the past, devouring all he could learn about Lemuria, Mu, the Caribbean Islands from before the coming of MAJORS there. His interest was picked now.

“Sounds interesting “ he replied, trying to play it cool. “But aren’t we supposed to do all this communion today? I don’t think you’ll find me to be an easy student Miss… uh…”

“You can call me Hua-Ju” smiled the other Minor, tilting her head in a somewhat amused way, revealing that she saw right through his act. “If it doesn’t bother you that I call you Alejandro. Otherwise, I’ll call you Mr. Ferrand and I’ll be Miss. Ly?”

“Al… Alejandro’s just fine”.

“Wonderful!” laughed Max. “I’ll leave him to you, Hua-Ju. And don’t worry about joining the communion. You’ve got all of High School to do that! I don’t want you to rush things. Starts slowly but build steadily. Taking your time will bring you further than rushing headlong.”

“Are you sure you’re a MAJOR?” blurted Alejandro, bewildered to hear one of the always overeager giants say something like that.

“Well, I’m a dwarf, so who knows eh?” said the teacher with a smile before corralling the other Minors in a circle near him, leaving the young man wondering if he had joked or not.

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“So, what should I do?” nervously asked Alejandro, the strangeness of the situation making him feel extremely ill-equipped to handle this exercise.

“Nothing for now” smiled Hua-Ju. “I’m testing your defenses. They are impressive that’s for sure, but…” she let her voice trail off for a moment, and then she spoke again, “but they can be bypassed”.

Alejandro jerked back, frightened as rarely before.

“You’re in my mind!” he shouted, attracting a lot of unwanted attention on them. Max turned his face, surprised, and further back he saw Lindsey’s jumping on her feet, worried.

“That’s the point of this exercise Alejandro” softly explained the Chinese Minor, doing her best to calm him down and assuage his instinctive fear. “We have to connect our minds to enter the Bond Plane.”

“But… you went into my mind while my mental barriers were still up, how is that possible?”

“Your defenses are meant to deal with MAJORS, it’s crystal clear to me. They’re sturdy and impressive and can probably keep out even the most stubborn Tier 1. But I doubt that they would do you any good against a Tier 2, since they are very good at bonding, almost as good as us. And Tier 3… well, it takes some serious conviction to even manage to slow one of them…”

Hua-Ju frowned as if she was remembering some event she didn’t like, but it quickly passed. She refocused on him and beamed yet another one of her smiles. Somehow, Alejandro wondered if it was her basic disposition, smiling at everything, when he was a lot less happier most of the time. Not that he disliked it, she was cute, and her teeth were very white and well placed and… Keep it together man. If she can enter your mind without you even noticing, she’ll be able to learn what you’re thinking, and you don’t want it!

“Ahem, so you’re saying that a Minor is stronger than a Tier 2 in the bond? From my experience, such MAJORS can bypass my defenses as if they weren’t even here, save the core of my personality –if I remember to  protect it.”

“It’s not really surprising, since our minds want to be open. In fact, what you’re inflicting upon yourself, closing it at all time… it’s almost as if you were a bird cutting its own wings” she added with a sorrowful expression. “it’s thus only natural that a MAJOR could force her way in, since our minds are meant to be reached by other’s.”

“But… but if my mind was open, MAJORS would be able to read all of my thoughts, all the time” opposed Alejandro, not liking at all the idea to let his mind unprotected.

“I understand that you’ve got a traumatic experience, but you’re the one hurting yourself by remaining hidden behind your walls, you know” she softly explained, taking his hand between her owns. “And since it goes against our nature, your mental defenses can’t protect you fully, they are overextended and their foundations, for a lack of better term, are weak.”

“So, you’re saying me that I should let my, what? Surface thoughts? Yeah, let’s say my surface thoughts, for everyone to read?”

“It doesn’t work like that” laughed Hua-Ju. “MAJORS and even other Minors will only be able to get your feelings if we don’t try to pry deeper into it, and you’ll know when it happens with some experience. But enough chit chat, we need to try and offer you a first encounter with the Bond Plane! Please, close your eyes, we’ll start with you inviting me in your mind. That way you’ll be in control, it should help you.”

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“Are you sure I’m doing it right?” asked Alejandro, his eyes tightly shut, his brow furrowed.

“Yes, don’t worry… Just, imagine something, and lower your defenses” asked Hua-Ju. “Just… like that!”

The darkness surrounding him disappeared and suddenly, Alejandro was standing in his old room, back at Old Creek. He looked around, surprised at how detailed everything was. For a split moment, he wondered if he hadn’t somehow returned to it, but then he realized that his first bench press was there, along with some paintings he had done years ago and destroyed later on in a fit of self-loathing, and missed ever since. It was a unique experience.

“What a level of details!” marveled Hua-Ju behind him, and the whole room blurred, as his defenses started to return before he managed to stop them, with great difficulties. “I’m sorry!” then blurted the other Minor.

“Don… don’t be” stuttered the young man. “It’s just… I didn’t expect you to be here, somehow… wherever we are. And whoever you are” he added with a smile.

Hu-Ju looked puzzled for a moment, then burst out in laughter, which was surprising. Somehow, Alejandro hadn’t thought that she was able to laugh, or not so loudly and happily. And it was made all the more strange by her look. Where she was petite and plump in real life, here, in his mind, or hers perhaps, he wasn’t quite sure, she was nothing like that. Hua-Ju towered over him, closer to 2m40 (7f9), slim, with a skin looking like green jade and golden ornaments in her hair. It was something he had never expected.

“How, judging my look here? When it’s only the expression of our inner selves? I’m not ashamed to admit that I want our kind to reclaim its ancient glory, to make what was his, this Plane, its own. And well, I’m a girl of my time, size is power, so…”

“Oh, I get that” smiled Alejandro, “but I’m just surprised, since I didn’t change at all here.”

Hua-Ju eyes bulged a little at that and she looked him up and down. During a moment, the young man smirked, enjoying this little bit of control and success in such a surreal experience. Then he realized that something was not right. Hua-Ju wasn’t gawking at him unchanged, she seemed to follow some patterns on his face, and his left stump. Turning his head to look at it, the Minor let out a surprised yelp.

He actually had a left arm here. Sort of. It would have been more right that he had a void and yet shiny space, covered with glasses fragments of a human arm. The tips of his left fingers were almost made of dust, and the closer it got to his actual stump, the more the fragments. Still, looking at his other arm, he noticed that chasms probably covered his whole body, with the same empty yet shiny space, which glow seemed to grow stronger and then fainter, perhaps with his heartbeat.

“What the fuck!? What is happening to me!?”

Alejandro jerked this arm thingy violently, as if trying to tear it away from him. His bedroom instantly dissolved and he opened his eyes, his breathing ragged and his body shaking like a leaf, a cold sweat perspiring on his brow and his back. Before him, Hua-Ju looked stunned and almost groggy, and during a terrifying second, the young Minor wondered if he hadn’t done something terrible. Had his brutal rejection of their bond had affected her? Perhaps trapped a part of her mind, or its totality, like he had read some fictions about. But no, she blinked, once, twice, then grunted and looked at him, plainly here.

“I’m sorry” fervently whispered Alejandro, not wanting to draw Max’s, Lindsey’s or anyone’s attention on them right now.

“No problem” weakly replied the other Minor. “It’s my mistake, I hadn’t expected such a reaction to your deep self. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“Not at all… I was… wait, my deep self? Do you mean that it’s how I see myself? All hollowed out and broken and shit? Because it’s not at all the case” giggled Alejandro.

Hua-Ju said nothing, looking at him with sad eyes, which somehow killed his humorous attempt at defusing the situation. I can’t be like that, deep down! I… I’ve got a loving family, friends like Izzy and Samantha, and I’ve got Shannon, and I’ve come to terms with what Joseph did to me more than a year ago, on his freaking tomb! I’m fine, I can’t be a broken husk of a man! But even as he tried to convince himself that she was wrong, Hua-Ju’s silent rebuttal forced him to admit that he was only denying the truth.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself” softly said the Chinese Minor. “I don’t know your past, beyond what you revealed at the First Day and it’s traumatic enough. It’s natural that deep down, you wouldn’t feel so great. But the you that is today isn’t a fatality. You can change, with hard work and try to reject him; or you can even come to accept who you are and work from there. The choice is yours. But overall you’ll need to be more open about it to those you care about. Not that I should be giving you advices, I’m just a Minor partner in this class, is all!” she hastily added, blushing.

“No, you’re right, I guess. I need to be more open, even with myself. I… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to truly leave my past buried. But I think having friends, Minor friends, here, would help me, a lot. Would you agree to…”

“With pleasure!” interrupted Hua-Ju, taking once more his hand in hers. “I would be delighted to be counted among your friends!”

“Really?” asked a bewildered Alejandro, not used to such display of enthusiasm from a Minor… mostly because he only knew like another one beyond passing knowledge, and it was a girl living now half a country away.

“Of course! I mean, I’ve heard the rumors about you being the inspiration for Miss Matthewson’s campaign, and my parents are all for it, and me too by extension, so a chance to become friend with such a forward acting Minor would be an honor.”

“I… I think you’re making a mistake here…” mumbled Alejandro, his face burning. “Shannon, I mean, Miss Matthewson is the one who had the idea for the campaign and almost all of it. I… I was just in a rather unique position to make her realize our plight, it’s all. It’s… like, cosmic accident, I guess?” he added with a genuinely modest smile.

“Really? I thought that you had some… I don’t know, some grand plan like Kris who wants to have an all-Minor soccer team, or something like that” explained Hua-Ju, sounding a little disappointed.

“Ah… Not at all… In truth, I’ve no idea what I would want to do, or what I could do. I mean, I’ve hobbies, I like to paint or tinker things, but my painting isn’t great, and I build thing for my use. I don’t think I would be able to, you know, make something for a living.”

“You’ve never wanted to be more than just, well, an average minor?”

“Yeah, I did. I still do, in a sense, because I want us to be allowed the same right, when it makes sense, than MAJORS. So, no driving at ten, but surely we can drink alcohol at 15 like them, or we should be allowed to vote, at least in local elections, that kind of thing. But… I was the only Minor in town, back home, and even if the Incident played a part, it’s the fact that I saw my little sister absorbing knowledge so easily when I struggled with everything which made me give up on becoming a scientist or something of the like And I’ve almost never left my house in ten years.”

“Then, how come you moved so far away? You’re from California right? Louisiana isn’t the next door state, it must so hard!”

“It’s… easier than I thought it would be. I came here because Shannon offered my sister and me a full scholarship for this High School. While our parents aren’t poor or even Middle Class by any stretch of the words, saving such amount of money is appreciable. Plus, it was a great opportunity for Lindsey, I couldn’t pass it up.”

“And you got to be with Shannon Matthewson” deduced Hua-Ju. “You two are more than friend right?” she added, sounding perhaps a little disappointed.

“I… Promise you won’t repeat it?” urged Alejandro before opening up; an enthusiastic nod from the petite Minor convinced him to speak up.

“We’re fiancés.”

Hua-Ju’s mouth formed a rather comical “O” and her eyes became as wide as saucer for a moment, then she smiled brightly and hugged him. Alejandro tensed up for a moment, then relaxed. It was strangely great to have someone smaller than him doing something like that, he wasn’t used to it. I wonder how Izzy hugs would feel… No, bad thoughts! he chided himself. He did his best to hug her back in return, which wasn’t truly a success with only one functional arm and a stupid prosthesis. He decided that he would ditch it sometimes, even at school.

“Congratulation” whispered Hua-Ju in his ear. “But don’t expect that it’ll prevent me from giving you homework” she said with another bright smile.

“Homework? Since when are you a teacher?” joked Alejandro.

“Since I’m teaching you how to enter the Bond Plane, duh. What we did today was a good start, because you have imagination and a good grasp on how to shape the bond to make it a place instead of just a medium to convey feelings and thoughts. But your defenses are still erected far too widely. You need to think hard about what you really don’t want people to learn about you, even in the bond. That’ll be for a start. Once you’ll be able to protect only a select portion of yourself, you’ll see that your outer defenses will dissipate naturally and you’ll be able to truly play with the bond.”

“You mean it can be used for more than just, I don’t know, make imaginary places?”

“Oh yes! It’s so much more than just a way to entice MAJORS, or even communicate, or search for a partner. The bond, when it’s mastered…. It’s like it make us equals to MAJORS. You’re the one spinning then around your little finger. And with other Minors… you can build places where MAJORS can’t enter. Well, a Tier 3 could, and the other Tiers can be invited in, but they can’t force their way in. Time and space become abstract notions there.”

“It sounds a little dangerous. You make it sound like a drug or something” remarked Alejandro.

“You’re right, it can be extremely dangerous, because peoples can get lost in there. But it’s also something wonderful, and our legacy. MAJORS are stealing it from us, they have been for the better part of the last century, but we can still reclaim it, they don’t have the mentality to do what we can with the bond.”

“Whoa, it’s really something you care about uh?” asked Alejandro, Hua-Ju’s voice having risen and becoming full of passion during her little monologue.

“I… yes. My parents told me that I should try to become an Ambassador for Minorkind because of it, but… I don’t know, I think I’m too shy for that” she explained, her voice now becoming almost inaudible.

“Not everyone needs to be a public figure to change our kind’s future” affirmed the young man. “I’m sure you’ll do an awesome work no matter what you end doing.”

Just like that, bell ring and Alejandro’s school day as an unbound Minor came to an end, Lindsey massive form rushing to get him back and bring him home.

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“So, who was that little missy? A rival for Shannon?” asked Lindsey, a shit eating grin plastered on her face as the siblings walked toward the entrance of the school.

“Will you drop it already?” grumbled the Minor. “She’s just… a friend, helping me with Minor problems.”

“A friend? You’ve got Samantha, now this cute little lady. I think Shannon should start to worry about letting you come to school like that, you know?”

“Bullshit. She told me it was okay if I befriended peoples here, including women, Little Lind. I can assure you that…”

“Mister Ferrand?” interrupted a masculine voice, a school guard walking briskly toward them.

“Yes?” asked the young man after sharing a confused glance with his sister. “Is there a problem?”

“Erm… Your fiancée is here to pick you up” explained the man, his white skin turning to a bright red.

“So… you were saying?” asked Lindsey, putting an end to the awkward silence which had surrounded them. “Because she sure as hell seems to be worried.”

“Shut up, will you?” weakly grumbled Alejandro.

What the hell are you doing sugarplum ?