Apollo sat on the edge of his seat. The anticipation in the room was incredible.
Countless scores of people were seated all around him, but as far as his attention was concerned, they didn't exist. Beyond the sound of their breath as they shared stunned gasps and whispered remarks of amazement, Apollo's senses barely acknowledged them. Only one thing was real in his world for the moment.
Some short distance ahead, a wide stage expertly lit with lights and lamps drew the undivided focus of every last audience member present.
"I'm sure you all remember the big finisher I promised back at the start of the show." rang Trucy's voice across the room, filled with confidence and joy and aided by the speakers mounted all around the room's high walls. "You'll be happy to hear that everything is all ready!"
Excited voices sprung up from too many sections of the crowd to count.
Trucy cast a look across the stage. "... We are ready, aren't we, Mr. Hat?"
"That we are, Miss Trucy," squawked the voice of the tall puppet on the opposite end of the stage from her, supported in the air by near-invisible wires, "But, er... This last trick still seems... well, more than a little hazardous, don't you think?"
Trucy giggled in a way that Apollo was certain could capture the hearts of even the most jaded watchers in the room. "Oh, you don't need to be worried about me." she said.
"It's not you I'm worried for..." was Mr. Hat's reply. The puppet sighed. "... Alright, but I'm getting paid extra for this!"
With a flourish of his cape, the puppet twirled in place and produced a thick, wooden torch. The torch barely had time to reach the extent of the puppet's arm before its end erupted in flames, lighting the entire half of the stage in a dancing orange haze.
"On three, then?" Trucy inquired from her end of the stage.
"I'd prefer sooner!" Mr. Hat called back, his arm supporting the blazing torch jittering uncomfortably.
A great rattling sound echoed from between the pair as a large structure emerged from behind a curtain, rolling into place at centre stage. Mounted on its top were three large hoops, arranged in an arc. Just after the third was an enormous wooden box, with its top eased open. Mr. Hat suddenly rushed across the stage, and as his torch swung past the three hoops, they caught fire, brightening the stage yet further.
"Ack-!" the puppet screeched once he came to a stop next to Trucy. The flame of the torch was licking at his cape, and Trucy responded with an energetic twirl of her own cape. In the moment that her cape swung by both Mr. Hat and his torch, covering them for only the shortest of moments, both were extinguished instantly. "Won't be needing this anymore!" the puppet said with a shrug and a tip of his hat. He tossed the spent torch over his shoulder, and it clattered down on the stage. "Now, three,"
"Two," both Mr. Hat and Trucy said together, Trucy taking a step back, "One!"
Trucy started forward, her cape billowing in her wake. Just a few steps before she reached the side of the structure supporting the three flaming hoops, the stretch of stage floor immediately beneath her feet sprung upward, and she leapt forward, performing a graceful dive. She passed cleanly through the first hoop, to the ecstatic cheers of the crowd, and she curled her body into a front flip as she flew through the second as well. Her descent brought her neatly through the third, and she landed on her feet before pivoting in place, taking the brief moment to blow a kiss to the crowd before letting herself drop backward and fall into the oversized wooden crate. The lid dropped shut over top of her, leaving the crate entirely closed off.
There was a moment as the crowd awaited the next surprise, and their voices exploded across the room in a gasp as the entire crate burst into flames.
Apollo couldn't tear his eyes away from the spectacle onstage, and he doubted anyone else around him could do any better.
Suddenly, a scream burst into the air. Apollo flinched, turning to search for its source. He realized almost immediately that it had come from the speakers mounted all around the room, and his excitement instantly turned to horror.
As if the entire occupancy of the crowded theatre had ceased to exist all at once, Apollo rose from his seat and tore across the aisle to reach the stairs leading down to the floor just before the stage, his movements automatic.
Trucy's horrific scream continued, tearing at his ears with every second that passed. On the way to the stage, he skidded to a stop next to a mounted case for a fire extinguisher. Without hesitation, he drove his elbow into the protective glass.
An alarm sounded, and water was suddenly pouring onto the stage from above. The sound of Trucy's scream was drowned out as the entire audience broke into a panic as well. Ignoring the sharp pain in his elbow, Apollo wrenched the heavy fire extinguisher free of its case and turned to resume sprinting for the stage. The horrible sight of the crate ablaze was blocked from his view for a moment as he climbed the short stairs onto the stage, but what he saw once it came back into view stopped him dead in his tracks.
The crate was no longer on fire, nor were the three hoops. Not a trace of flame could be seen anywhere on the stage, but the crate itself was charred black, like it had been burning for an hour.
"T-Trucy-!" Apollo cried out, his voice coming out hoarse. He threw aside the fire extinguisher and rushed toward the blackened box. He took barely one step, and the bright lights covering the stage suddenly went out. The area was plunged into darkness, and the roaring voices of the crowd in chaos turned to utter silence just as fast. Apollo came to a stop, his last three footsteps producing an echo in the darkness and silence. "... Trucy...?" he called again, this time unable to get his voice louder than a whisper.
For the first few seconds, only silence answered him. He waited.
"Apollo." a voice suddenly broke out from behind him. He whirled around.
There, standing at the edge of the stage, was a solitary figure. A soft light was filtering in from somewhere Apollo couldn't pinpoint, casting just enough light to partially illuminate the unknown figure.
They stepped forward. "Apollo," came the voice again, soft and calm, "Don't worry."
Apollo watched and his eyes softened at the sight of Athena, her steps bringing her further into the light. "A-Athena," he said, still coming off of his rush of adrenaline and desperate for some idea of what was happening, "Is Trucy-"
"Trucy's fine." Athena said with a gentle smile. She approached, the light dancing off her lengthy red hair, which she wore differently than usual, brushed out straight with part of its great length draped over her left shoulder. "Like I said, don't worry."
Athena was a single step away when Apollo surged forward, pulling her into a hug. She didn't flinch or otherwise attempt to stop him, just bringing her hands up to his back to return the embrace. The reassurance that Athena's presence gave him was incredible.
Apollo was beginning to relax, still tightly clinging to Athena, and he opened his mouth to speak.
Before he could get a word out, a deafening bang split the air. Apollo felt Athena jerk in place in his grip, and he instantly thought back to the awful moment back in Khura'in's grand Hall of Justice, when a gunshot rang out as the former queen was shot in the back just to keep her silent.
He heard a sharp intake of breath escape Athena's mouth, and she slumped, her arms dropping from his back. His eyes shot open wide.
Before he could do anything, he was suddenly falling as well. He grunted in pain when his shoulder hit the floor.
Without so much as a thought, he gasped, "A-Athena-!"
The sound of a whooping laugh was hardly what he expected to hear in reply. He blinked, and light filled his vision, unclear images swimming into focus.
He was lying next to his desk chair, on the creaking wooden floor of his office. He pushed off of the floor, and he spotted the source of the ongoing laughter he heard, which bordered on hysterical.
"Datz."
Datz Are'bal was standing in the small office's doorway, tears on his face as he went on laughing as loudly as ever, hunching over a bit.
"Ahah-! Hope you had a good nap, AJ!" the tall man gasped through his unending peals of laughter. The remains of a firecracker fizzled on the office floor next to him, spelling out what had just happened to amuse him so much. "That big mark across your cheek is givin' me some mixed messages!"
Apollo sat up, glancing at the mirror he'd mounted on the wall not too long ago. Just as Datz said, there was a dark red mark across his face. He'd fallen asleep at his desk again, and this time he must have landed his face on his resting arm. He sighed, getting to his feet.
"Had a... bit of a bad dream." he mumbled, dusting his suit off. Keeping it clean was much harder here than it was back home in LA.
Home. He supposed that, to him, LA was still the place he called home. More of his life had been spent there than in Khura'in, after all.
Datz interrupted his train of thought by hopping up to take a seat on the edge of his desk. Seemingly from nowhere, he produced both an apple and a fruit knife, beginning to precisely slice the apple's peel off.
"Athena." he said, drawing Apollo's attention. "That was what you said when you hit the floor. If I remember right, that was the pretty redhead you ran around with for a while after you first got out here."
"Yeah." Apollo confirmed. "She was... in my dream, is all."
Datz halted, his knife still wedged in beneath the apple's peel. He looked up. "Uh huh? How's she doing back in the States?"
"Um..." Apollo suddenly felt a touch ashamed. It had been weeks since he'd last spoken to anyone back home. He missed them all terribly, for sure, but he'd been so busy recently that he'd neglected to keep his usual contact. His recent run of work had actually come to an end the previous day, however, which left his list of excuses for remaining out of contact a bit short. "Last I checked, she was fine."
"Hmm." was the only reply Datz gave for a few seconds. In the interim, he cleanly sliced the last of his apple's peel away, letting it drop to the floor. Apollo frowned, gesturing toward it. Datz took a moment to get the message. "Oh. Sorry, AJ." he said, dropping to pick it back up and fling it across the room toward the trash can. He made the shot perfectly, and after glancing at Apollo with a grin, as if expecting praise, he took a large bite from the apple.
"So... you need something, Datz?" Apollo asked.
"Hmm...?" Datz mumbled, swallowing his first bite. "Ah- Thanks for the reminder. Almost forgot what I was here for."
Apollo sat back down in his chair as Datz continued.
"So, I've been talkin' around, AJ. People really appreciate everything you've been doing ever since you took over your old man's office. I'll betcha Dhurke's proud of ya, too. Still, I wanted to tell ya that you don't want to push yourself too hard. We fought long and hard for our revolution, and now that it's officially safe to take a break once in a while, I think you should."
Apollo nodded, casting a look at the overstuffed drawer resting next to his desk. It was filled beyond capacity with all manner of records related to the disproportionate number of cases he'd been involved with ever since Khura'in's long civil conflict had finally come to an end. With Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in deposed, the country's legal system could at last begin the long process of reformation, and Apollo had been exceedingly busy with work ever since, as the only defence attorney practicing at the time of the revolution's victory.
Yet even today, with his backlog of cases finally cleared up for the time being, Apollo had still forced himself out of bed and returned to his office as usual. Perhaps he'd overestimated his stamina, considering that he'd apparently fallen asleep at his desk.
"It's not just me, either." Datz continued, now halfway finished with his apple. "Yuty, that detective friend of yours he keeps flying in - even Rayfa. Don't tell her I said that."
Apollo chuckled, imagining how the crown princess might respond to that kind of information.
"Bottom line, my mission today is to take over here for you for the rest of the day." Datz said after finishing off his apple and lobbing the core across the room as well. "If even Rayfa's getting worried about ol' Horn Head, it must be serious."
"Uhh..." Apollo glanced to and fro across his desk. Part of his mind was reaching for some excuse to continue working, but judging by the look Datz had on his face, as well as his tone of voice, he got the impression that he wasn't really being allowed a choice in this matter. He was still feeling tired...
He sighed. "... Thanks, Datz. I guess I'll just... I dunno, pack up and head home."
Datz was already working off the peel of a second apple, leaving Apollo to wonder where on earth he'd been storing it. "You do whatever you want, AJ," he said idly, "I'll be holding down the fort here."
Apollo took somewhere around ten minutes to finish sorting away his things and exit the office.
Three months ago, when he'd first decided to stay behind in Khura'in while his friends returned to LA, he'd been a bit slow to realize that that meant leaving all his many various belongings behind overseas. Fortunately, getting wind of this, Queen Amara had arranged for an especially eager Royal Guardsman to travel to America for himself and collect everything Apollo would need. He remembered his shock when the guard in question arrived at his still-derelict office unannounced, with an entire truck loaded down with his many belongings. Even his cat had made the journey in relatively good spirits.
That said, finding the best way to arrange his belongings became a touch more interesting once he'd found himself settled down in his own personal residence within the royal palace on Amara's insistence. His large and lavish bedroom alone was bigger than his entire office, so he'd been forced to spread his possessions rather thin.
Even after all this time, he didn't quite feel at home as he entered the palace alone, eagerly saluted by the guards positioned at the gate.
He hastily made his way to his residence and set his backpack on the floor to empty it out. Two folders of case files and his laptop were brought to his desk. He was in the middle of setting the computer up when his eyes fell on a single sheet of paper taped to the desk's upper shelf.
A letter. He'd received it at the beginning of the week. He'd skimmed through it, but at the time, his work had been keeping him so busy that he couldn't spare much time to really read through it.
(Well, no excuses now.)
He pulled it from its place as his laptop booted back up. He dropped into his chair.
"Hey, Apollo!" read the top of the page in handwriting he recognized as Athena's. Next to that spot was another addition: "Hi, Polly!"
"I would've just sent this as an email, but you know how Mr. Wright is...
We're all glad that you're doing well. I'm running off my feet covering for you here, so I'm glad that you're keeping busy, too. I just had a case the other day - it was at the aquarium again! Sorry you had to miss going there twice. They hired a new guy, Ripley Poole, a while ago, and he was arrested for killing this other guy who used to hang around the aquarium a lot, because the police found some of his equipment at the scene. Sasha asked me to defend him. Turns out that another guy, Dusty Pitt, was the real killer. He tried to get the same job that Ripley applied for at the aquarium, because he wanted to ask Sasha out, but they hired Ripley instead. Pretty petty motive, considering the kind of stuff we usually deal with.
But get this - I solved it all by myself! Trucy wanted to help, but she's so busy with her shows, and Mr. Wright wanted to let me take it on by myself, so I did my best, and I did it! Simon was prosecuting. He tried acting all dismissive and mean about it, but I know he's really a big dumb teddy bear inside. You should really stop being so nervous around him once you come home.
But back to Trucy, she's really hitting it big! I'm so proud of her! It's like having the world's most talented little sister. She's been trying to rope Bonny into joining more of her shows, but Betty's still trying to pretend she doesn't want to.
Anyway, this page is running out of space. This is why Trucy needs to educate her dad on computers.
We all miss you, Apollo. I know you're busy, but we'd all love it if you got in touch more often. We can't wait to hear from you again, and you'd better make sure you tell us all the minute you know how soon you can come home!
Love, Athena."
Beneath Athena's last line was another added scribble: "Lots of hugs, Trucy."
Apollo smiled, looking the letter over again. He imagined how Athena might sound reading it to him, and he felt a sudden stab of strange discomfort. He remembered how his dream had been cut short, and his smile turned to an uncertain frown.
His computer was awaiting its password. He logged in and immediately brought up a chat program he didn't normally get too much use out of. He had a sudden desire to respond to the letter immediately, but he was feeling much too impatient to wait for the mail.
Of all the things Spirit of Justice might have inspired in me, I didn't expect Justicykes. This hit me so hard that it's actually causing me difficulty with focusing on the next chapter of my Apollo multi-ship series. I'll do my best to keep up there, for those reading.
This probably won't run more than a few chapters, so no big deal.