"Generally, 19th century Romanticism was a reaction against the harsh mechanization of the workplace as well as the monotony of social life."
In a a perfectly normal classroom, in a relatively normal school, was a girl. This girl called herself Lillian King, her real name, was a secret of her past. The time before the safety and monotony of school was a bloody and dangerous life. She was running from it, the looming shadow of her past. This time her happiness would not fail, this time, she would not lose her heart, this time, she would have a family.
This girl was special, skilled, and important, but for now, she was merely bored. When one was used to a life of high stakes adventures, learning about the various art styles of 19th century Europe was rather underwhelming. But for now, the girl was content to live quietly with her sister in a good school and have a normal life.
"Now, can anyone tell me how socialism developed in France and what the general result was?" Mr. Anderson looked around, eyes sweeping the rows of uninterested teenagers. Lillian nonchalantly put her head down, doing the 'please don't call on me gesture.'
"Lillian, how about you?"
"Shocking," she thought, "well...um...it was only a very small part of the radical party in France and though it received some concessions at first, they were eventually stamped out."
Anderson looked surprised, "correct," he remarked and then continued on his mind numbing tirade.
Suddenly, she was torn from her mental dialogue, a high pitched scream rent the air. Almost from habit, her hand went to her waist, fingers reaching for the knife she kept well hidden. In the same moment, all her classmates jumped. She shot a worried look to her friend Rose across the room. Mr. Anderson strode to the back of the room and was about to enter the next class when a voice she knew well rang through the air.
"Robin! Robin! 我现在需要你在哪里!"(Where are you I need you now) It was the voice of Rin, a voice she knew well, an echo, a ghost of her old life. In shock, she sprang up without a thought and shot past her bewildered teacher into the next room. The scene was one she had never wanted to see. The 12th graders in the classroom were all halfway out of their seats. The girl who had screamed, Natalie, was being held by her equally shocked boyfriend. It took her a moment to realize why they were all so afraid until she saw the gun on the floor. Of course, Rin had entered an American high school with a loaded pistol, only him. He hadn't shot of course, but he had managed to terrify everyone. Rin himself was hunched over on the ground, gun a few feet away from him. Standing over him was another 12th grader. This was not just any senior, it was Tai. He was Korean international, rich as hell, and looked like a K-pop star. He was also, unfortunately, a black belt in Tai Quan Do.
"等等，停止，他不会伤害任何人!" (Wait, stop, he wont hurt anyone!) She cried, forgetting to speak in English. Now at this school, Lillian had tried to keep a low profile. She was the good girl with a slightly rebellious side that only came out among friends. She was introverted, but had a few close friends, namely her sister, June, and Rose. She had definitely not made the impression that she was close friends with any murderous serial killers, or spoke Mandarin. On account of this, every senior in the class, as well as all the juniors who had long since come over, stared at her. At any other time, she would have tried to reason her way out of it, but it was too late. Her illusion of normality had completely shattered, she was vulnerable and exposed.
"Speak in English," she hissed to Rin, in a last ditch attempt to save herself. She ran over to the gun and with practiced ease, quickly unloaded it and slid it across the room. Putting her hands up, she slowly moved in front of Rin and helped him to his feet. He staggered up, looking worn and weary. He looked much the same as when she had left him two years ago. His black hair was shaggy, if a little longer, and pulled into the man bun that she had so laughingly hated. He had warm, kind brown eyes and a smile that lit up the room. She often had wondered what had befallen him that he had joined the mafia. But she never asked, origin stories were rarely pleasant in their line of work. Suddenly she was torn out of nostalgia as he began to sag against her. It was only then that she saw the stab wound in his stomach. He collapsed on the ground. A million thoughts ran through her head, Oh God how she had missed him, his smirk, his kind words, his encouragement, his help. But there was one clear thought that ran through her like a drop of water collecting to form a waterfall. Roaring through her head, "he's dying, he's dying, he's dying, he's dying." She sank to her knees by his heaving chest. "What could have happened that... Are you?... No of course you are. You're fine, you're fine, you're always fine! You always pull through. Right? Tell me you'll be ok!" Her head sank to his chest, hiding the tears that threatened to fall. "I missed you so so much!" she choked out. The waterfall of emotions pouring from her mouth in the words and emotions she had kept hidden beneath the surface.
A soft smile graced his face, and a gentle shaking hand lifted to brush aside the curly hair he had loved so much. "私の妹, (my little sister-Japanese) I love you here and I loved you there, and it is nearly time for me to leave. But before I go," his speech cracked, "before I go I must tell you. He found out, the Don, I don't know how but he did, he is coming after you. When I heard that he had sent... sent the Angel after you I left Tokyo and headed here. I took a while but I finally found you. This morning...this morning I met the Angel, he gave me this." He gestured to the ever increasing patch of red on his grey hoodie. "I wrapped it, it managed to miss all major organs, but I didn't account for the poison... Its coursing through every vein..." his eyes were screwed tightly shut in agony. Then they blinked open. " I'm finished." His hand stoked her cheek, and wiped away a tear. "I loved you," he said, "with every fiber of my being I loved you...and I want you to know that I go to a better place. But there is one more thing you must promise me; and here I must repeat myself for the last time. Live, live for June, live for Statue, Jin Mai, Duke, and all the people who loved you...but most of all, live for me. Be unapologetically yourself, never lose the stars in your eyes and always remember to love again." At this, his hand went slack, his eyelashes fluttered shut, and in a moment, in a second, he was gone. There was disbelief, denial, anger, but mostly sorrow on her face. And though perhaps no one in the room understood the scene around them, they all shared in her grief as they saw her eyes widen and heard her desperate cry of NO! She pleaded over and over, "Wake up! 目を覚ます!"
She was on a mission once, standard arms deal, only it was up in Russia. For some reason that was then unknown, the Shanghai branch was tasked with monitoring an East coast Russia to Alaska arms deal. She had gone up there, her, Rin, and an older guy who had been called Statue. It was mid January and at least -12 degrees celsius. They were driving along in their heated jeep across some long frozen ice plain when they saw the ocean. Since they had just finished up their mission, they decided to check it out. There were penguins sliding and a white capped grey ocean. Lillian ran ahead meaning to take a picture, but she wandered too close to the edge. The ice cracked, and she plummeted into the icy water. She didn't remember much else afterwards until she woke up safe and sound in a Russian hotel near the Chinese border. But she did remember the cold, the numbness, the feeling that everything was frozen in time, even thought itself. And she did remember Rin, only 15 at the time, jumping in to save her.
That was how the world felt. Numb, frozen, spinning, a million memories flashed through her mind. His grin, his never ending scheme to get Statue to laugh, his protection, his kindness, and most of all, his love. He was some how father, brother, and best friend all along. He filled half the hole in her heart with his never ending joy and vibrancy. She remembered his last words to her as he helped her escape. The Yakuza were shooting up the place, Statue was dead, Jin Mai was dead, even Duke, but he didn't waver. He smuggled her out the door with her sister giving them the one thousand dollars he had saved for college in America. "Live" he said to her "this life is my story, it is only a chapter in your book." Then he kissed her on the forehead and shoved her out the door. She had never expected to see him again. But here he was, dead, another person had died for her.
A tear fell. But she remembered him. She remembered him. And she realized that her life was not her own, they had put a value on it. One that she could not afford to waste. The time for mourning was later, the time for action was now. She would make them proud, and one day, someday, she would see them again in a world where Rin would call her "私の妹" (little sister) and Romano would cook for her and call me his "Principessa". But for now, that could wait, it was show time.