Chapter Text
He scowled as he approached the Crossroads.
Ras was a fool to disregard him so easily. After they'd spent so long as master and student, after finding him and reminding him of the truth, after so many years of conquest (even if he couldn't quite remember them), for Ras to toss him aside at the first sign of failure was downright insulting, especially when he was the only of Ras's elemental students to be treated in such a way.
He was plenty strong, even without his pre-Merge memories. If Ras couldn't see that, then Ras deserved whatever manner of vengeance he came up with.
…as soon as he came up with a suitable method for exacting that revenge.
At the moment, though, he was without a past, without a job, and without a master, and nobody with half a brain would let him train under them. It was only common sense to prevent oneself from being weaker than one's subordinates, after all, even if it did make his life a bit harder now that he found himself in a position where cunning was strength.
Hence, the Crossroads. Nobody would think twice about a drifter from out of town with a past they won't (or can't) describe, as idiotic as it was. He just had to keep the weird, crybaby ninjas from knowing he was there. He could do without some random lady looking at him like he was a ghost made flesh and turned into a crystal zombie-
He winced as pain flared behind his temples, then scowled even deeper at the realization that he'd almost had a memory before losing it again.
There was a reason Ras had insisted that he ignore any potential hints towards his past, after all; it's quite a lot harder to decimate your enemies if you're constantly being distracted by agony in your skull.
The Crossroads loomed over him by the time he finally came to a stop. People of all kinds roamed the streets. Children played. Friends laughed. The smell of something tasty wafted through the air.
It was all sickening, but he would do what was necessary to unlock whatever powers he'd had before the Merge, Ras be damned, or his name wasn't Jay Walker.