It was a normal evening at the Starwind and Hawking enterprises Sentinel
III offices. Everyone was seated around the table eating their dinner, and
for once they were getting through a meal on their best behavior.
"Moron."
Yep, it was good that certain members of the group were now able to get along so well...
"Bitch."
...instead of arguing all the time like they used to.
"Filthy Terran!"
Oh who was he kidding? Gene and Aisha were fighting just as badly as they usually did.
"Shut up!"
Jim hawking decided that he'd rather just imagine that they were all getting along for just a while longer. Such a fantasy seemed to be nicer than this reality.
"Why don't you Gene Starwind!"
It wasn't really such a bad fight, at least not when you compared it to some of the previous ones leading up to this. "At least they won't be throwing the table around this time" Jim quietly said to himself, remembering a past occurrence.
"Oh just go to hell."
"Don't you dare talk to a Ctarl Ctarl ambassador like that!"
Jim didn't know why, but he found himself rooting for Aisha in their shouting match. Usually he tried not to take sides, but for some reason he was definitely on Aisha's side here.
"Who said that I was talking to the Ctarl Ctarl ambassador?" Gene asked, "You're just some filthy animal!"
Aisha sat there in silence for a moment before leaping out of her chair and running from the room.
Jim heard the front door slam open and Aisha's footsteps disappear as she ran from the building.
"Gene you jerk! Why did you have to go and do that?" Jim yelled at him.
Gene looked at his young partner strangely, "Why do you care what I do to her?" Gene shouted back.
But Jim didn't even hear this as he had already left the kitchen and was running after Aisha.
"What's their problem?" Gene asked. Melfina and Suzuka just continued eating their dinner and refused to even look up at him.
.
Jim hawking slammed the door behind him and ran out into the street. A quick glance around revealed that Aisha was nowhere to be found.
"Damn you Gene, why did you have to go and do this?" Jim thought to himself. They all knew that she hated when anyone called her an animal, but he still did it anyways. "Baka" he muttered.
From his left Jim heard a noise, it sounded like someone crying. A bit further down the street Jim found Aisha sitting on top of a parked car covering her face, tears streaming from between her fingers.
She didn't even notice him walk up behind her, and she tensed up as she felt his hand on her shoulder. Aisha quickly relaxed though as she saw who it was beside her.
"What are you doing out here Jim?" She asked, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Looking for you, of course" he quickly responded. "Are you alright?"
Aisha's shaky voice responded "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
Jim could only laugh at her response. "I could think of a few reasons" he said.
"Why do you say that?" She asked him.
"Because your sitting on top of a stranger's car, crying your eyes out in the worst neighborhood on Sentinel 3" Jim told her quite matter o factly.
Aisha tried to put on a brave face for Jim but it wasn't working, and soon the tears came flowing once again.
"Oh Jim it's true, I..." She began.
"Not here" he told her, "I don't think that we should stay out on the streets any longer than necessary, this is a bad neighborhood ya know. Come on I know a nicer place." And with that the two left.
`
Five minutes later found Aisha and Jim sitting in the middle of a grassy field, neither saying a word. It was Aisha who first broke the silence.
Aisha turned towards Jim, "How did I ever end up like this Jim?" She asked.
Jim just looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"
"How did I go from being a well respected military officer, to the receptacle for some stupid human's rage?" Aisha said, talking mostly to herself at that point. "I don't even know why I'm still here on this planet."
Jim looked into her tear stained eyes, "I'm sorry Aisha."
Her saddened face looked up at him, "Don't you dare apologize for HIM Jim Hawking!" She commanded.
"But I'm not apologizing for him!" He shouted back. "I'm apologizing because I didn't do anything! That jerk Gene was yelling at you and I didn't even try to stop him. I just sat there!" Tears started to well up into Jim's eyes, "I'm apologizing because you're hurting now and it's my fault!"
Aisha attempted to calm him down, but it wasn't working.
"I'm apologizing because I hate to see you sad! And I'm apologizing because it hurts me just like it hurts you! And I'm apologizing because I love you!" He yelled right at her.
The words struck Aisha off guard and forced both into an uneasy moment of silence.
Now it was Aisha's turn to stare into a tear soaked face. "The poor kid, he's always so hard on himself. It's no wonder he would think of me like that, what with his personality and all. Jim was the kind of person to cling onto every person in his life. Such is the life of an orphan" Aisha thought to herself.
Jim noticed Aisha staring at him and locked with her gaze. "She has really pretty blue eyes" he thought. Jim's thoughts were interrupted when Aisha moved out of his line of vision.
Aisha leaned back and lay with her arms folded behind her head. She raised one arm and pointed up into the sky.
"Do you see that Jim?" She asked him.
"See what?" He questioned through his sniffles.
"Home." Jim thought that he heard a little bit of happiness in her voice right then.
"Home?" Jim wondered.
Aisha moved her finger a little to the side and Jim could see that she was pointing at some faint glimmering light.
"Onnê No, the main star of the Ctarl home world. It's all that I really have to remind me of home" She confessed.
"You must really miss it all." Jim said.
"I do" she replied. "I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss my home, and I miss my star."
"What do you mean your star?" Jim asked.
"When I was a little kid my grandmother would tell me stories about how Onnê No was really a wishing star and that it could make all my dreams come true. None of my wishes ever came true, but I still considered it to be my special star." Aisha explained to him.
"So you think that it's the only part of home that you have left?" Jim asked her.
"Until the empire takes me back, and who knows how long that could take." She told him.
Jim looked down from the sky, "I think that you're wrong Aisha" he said.
"Huh? About what?" she wondered.
"I don't think that is your only home" Jim told her. "I think that your home is really right here."
Aisha then leaned over and gave Jim a little kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks Jim" Aisha began, "It was really sweet of you to come cheer me up."
"Sure Aisha, what are friends for?" He told her with a smile.
She smiled back at him, "Ya know Jim, I think that I've changed my mind."
"About what?" Jim wondered.
"I think that I've finally found the reason why I'm here" Aisha said winking at him.
"I just think that it would be nice if someone besides yourself knew how your brain worked." Jim said jokingly.
Aisha stuck her tongue out at him and with a smile, walked back to the S&H building, careful to avoid a certain someone as she entered. Jim on the other hand, decided that he'd rather stay out a bit longer.
Jim let himself fall back and felt his head land on the grass. It was a nice night, he may as well spend a little more of it there.
As he lay there Jim let his hand drift upward and he slowly began to trace over the constellations with his finger. He'd gone over most of the ones he knew, when Jim Hawking hit one that he wasn't familiar with.
For the life of him Jim just couldn't figure out what he was looking at, when it hit him, "That ones Aisha's star!" Jim yelled out. Jim felt like a fool for yelling that out until he remembered that he was all alone. "Better to be crazy than stupid" Jim chuckled to himself, then his attention turned back to the star.
He grew transfixed with it's bright red glow as he gazed into its beautiful mass. "So it's a wishing star, huh?" Jim thought to himself. Jim had never believed in such things, but he had been wrong plenty of times before.
Jim felt like a total baby because of it, but he decided that he might as well give it a try and use the star. Jim closed his eyes and tried to remember how he used to play like this.
Really it was one of the only memories he had of his mother. She would sit him on her lap and they would recite the little poem together.
"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight." Jim thought for a moment before continuing, "I wish that I could be there for Aisha more often, and that I could understand her just a little better."
Feeling like a total nerd Jim stood up and slowly began his trek back home.
,
The next morning hit Jim like a ton of bricks. He felt so bad that he could barley make it out of bed, he couldn't remember the last time he got sick like this. A quick check around his room revealed the window to be wide open and all blankets from his bed to be gone, it's no wonder he got sick sleeping like this. Melfina would probably scold him for trying to kill himself like that.
It took nearly all of his willpower not to fall down as he slowly descended the stairs on his way to the kitchen. Maybe some aspirin with a cup of coffee would do him good, "Smells like Melfina made breakfast" he thought.
Jim turned the corner and entered the kitchen to see Melfina and Suzuka at the table eating their breakfast.
"Mornin" Jim managed to squeak out.
Melfina and Suzuka both looked up and gave Jim strange looks.
"Jim? Is that you?" Melfina questioned.
"Of course I'm me" responded an obviously confused Jim.
"Well why do you look like that?" Asked Suzuka.
"Look like what?" Wondered Jim.
Melfina got up and grabbed a small mirror off of the counter, she held it up in front of Jim.
Looking into the mirror Jim didn't know what the fuss was about. It was just him, the same him as always. Same stupid clothes, same stupid hair, same stupid cat ears, whiskers, fangs and a tail, wait those last ones were different!
Jim could only stare in awe as the realization was made. "I look just like a Ctarl Ctarl!" He yelled.
Then it hit him. "It must have been the wish! It turned me into a Ctarl!" Jim's thought screamed.
It was at that moment that Gene decided to walk in the front door. When he noticed Jim his face twisted into an angry scowl.
"Why the hell is there another animal in my house?!" Gene sharply demanded.
"Gene I..." began Jim.
"And who the hell told it my name!?" He yelled.
The realization then hit Jim that Gene didn't even recognize him.
"Please Anki, It's me Ji..." he tried.
Gene got right up into Jim's face. "Who said that you could talk to me" Gene spit.
That was it, Jim just didn't want anymore of this. Here was Gene screaming at him when he hadn't even done anything. Why did Gene have to do this? Was it because Jim was now a Ctarl Ctarl? Could it be that Gene was a racist? Hating all Ctarl?
Jim was sure that couldn't be the case, until Gene grabbed him by his shirt collar and lifted him into the air.
Gene Starwind looked right into the frightened boy's eyes and said "Look you little bastard, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but get out of my house right now!"
Gene then threw Jim roughly down onto the ground. "And if you're friends with that other animal, I want both of you out now."
Jim stared up at his red haired partner, "Please Gene, it's me." Jim softly said.
"You just don't listen!" Gene yelled and pulled his fist back, ready to strike Jim.
"This cant be happening," thought a frightened Jim as he closed his eyes and waited for the impact of the other man's fist.
The punch never came, and instead Jim heard a loud thump as something landed next to him. Opening his eyes, Jim was instead surprised to see Gene's unconscious form lying on the floor next to him. But Jim was even more surprised by what else he saw...
Aisha! There stood Aisha Clan Clan, with an outstretched fist and an angry look in those wild blue eyes. She pulled her fist away from where Gene had once stood, before looking down at Jim.
The two just looked into each other's eyes, no words were needed. She stretched out a hand and pulled Jim up.
Aisha looked down at Jim's now furry face and said, "You are my reason, you are why I remain."
Jim and Aisha turned and slowly walked towards the door.
Gene finally regained enough consciousness to speak and weakly said, "Melfina, go call the cops! And wake Jim up too, he'll help me."
But neither Aisha nor Jim heard these words as they walked arm in arm, out the door.
end.
"Moron."
Yep, it was good that certain members of the group were now able to get along so well...
"Bitch."
...instead of arguing all the time like they used to.
"Filthy Terran!"
Oh who was he kidding? Gene and Aisha were fighting just as badly as they usually did.
"Shut up!"
Jim hawking decided that he'd rather just imagine that they were all getting along for just a while longer. Such a fantasy seemed to be nicer than this reality.
"Why don't you Gene Starwind!"
It wasn't really such a bad fight, at least not when you compared it to some of the previous ones leading up to this. "At least they won't be throwing the table around this time" Jim quietly said to himself, remembering a past occurrence.
"Oh just go to hell."
"Don't you dare talk to a Ctarl Ctarl ambassador like that!"
Jim didn't know why, but he found himself rooting for Aisha in their shouting match. Usually he tried not to take sides, but for some reason he was definitely on Aisha's side here.
"Who said that I was talking to the Ctarl Ctarl ambassador?" Gene asked, "You're just some filthy animal!"
Aisha sat there in silence for a moment before leaping out of her chair and running from the room.
Jim heard the front door slam open and Aisha's footsteps disappear as she ran from the building.
"Gene you jerk! Why did you have to go and do that?" Jim yelled at him.
Gene looked at his young partner strangely, "Why do you care what I do to her?" Gene shouted back.
But Jim didn't even hear this as he had already left the kitchen and was running after Aisha.
"What's their problem?" Gene asked. Melfina and Suzuka just continued eating their dinner and refused to even look up at him.
.
Jim hawking slammed the door behind him and ran out into the street. A quick glance around revealed that Aisha was nowhere to be found.
"Damn you Gene, why did you have to go and do this?" Jim thought to himself. They all knew that she hated when anyone called her an animal, but he still did it anyways. "Baka" he muttered.
From his left Jim heard a noise, it sounded like someone crying. A bit further down the street Jim found Aisha sitting on top of a parked car covering her face, tears streaming from between her fingers.
She didn't even notice him walk up behind her, and she tensed up as she felt his hand on her shoulder. Aisha quickly relaxed though as she saw who it was beside her.
"What are you doing out here Jim?" She asked, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Looking for you, of course" he quickly responded. "Are you alright?"
Aisha's shaky voice responded "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
Jim could only laugh at her response. "I could think of a few reasons" he said.
"Why do you say that?" She asked him.
"Because your sitting on top of a stranger's car, crying your eyes out in the worst neighborhood on Sentinel 3" Jim told her quite matter o factly.
Aisha tried to put on a brave face for Jim but it wasn't working, and soon the tears came flowing once again.
"Oh Jim it's true, I..." She began.
"Not here" he told her, "I don't think that we should stay out on the streets any longer than necessary, this is a bad neighborhood ya know. Come on I know a nicer place." And with that the two left.
`
Five minutes later found Aisha and Jim sitting in the middle of a grassy field, neither saying a word. It was Aisha who first broke the silence.
Aisha turned towards Jim, "How did I ever end up like this Jim?" She asked.
Jim just looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"
"How did I go from being a well respected military officer, to the receptacle for some stupid human's rage?" Aisha said, talking mostly to herself at that point. "I don't even know why I'm still here on this planet."
Jim looked into her tear stained eyes, "I'm sorry Aisha."
Her saddened face looked up at him, "Don't you dare apologize for HIM Jim Hawking!" She commanded.
"But I'm not apologizing for him!" He shouted back. "I'm apologizing because I didn't do anything! That jerk Gene was yelling at you and I didn't even try to stop him. I just sat there!" Tears started to well up into Jim's eyes, "I'm apologizing because you're hurting now and it's my fault!"
Aisha attempted to calm him down, but it wasn't working.
"I'm apologizing because I hate to see you sad! And I'm apologizing because it hurts me just like it hurts you! And I'm apologizing because I love you!" He yelled right at her.
The words struck Aisha off guard and forced both into an uneasy moment of silence.
Now it was Aisha's turn to stare into a tear soaked face. "The poor kid, he's always so hard on himself. It's no wonder he would think of me like that, what with his personality and all. Jim was the kind of person to cling onto every person in his life. Such is the life of an orphan" Aisha thought to herself.
Jim noticed Aisha staring at him and locked with her gaze. "She has really pretty blue eyes" he thought. Jim's thoughts were interrupted when Aisha moved out of his line of vision.
Aisha leaned back and lay with her arms folded behind her head. She raised one arm and pointed up into the sky.
"Do you see that Jim?" She asked him.
"See what?" He questioned through his sniffles.
"Home." Jim thought that he heard a little bit of happiness in her voice right then.
"Home?" Jim wondered.
Aisha moved her finger a little to the side and Jim could see that she was pointing at some faint glimmering light.
"Onnê No, the main star of the Ctarl home world. It's all that I really have to remind me of home" She confessed.
"You must really miss it all." Jim said.
"I do" she replied. "I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss my home, and I miss my star."
"What do you mean your star?" Jim asked.
"When I was a little kid my grandmother would tell me stories about how Onnê No was really a wishing star and that it could make all my dreams come true. None of my wishes ever came true, but I still considered it to be my special star." Aisha explained to him.
"So you think that it's the only part of home that you have left?" Jim asked her.
"Until the empire takes me back, and who knows how long that could take." She told him.
Jim looked down from the sky, "I think that you're wrong Aisha" he said.
"Huh? About what?" she wondered.
"I don't think that is your only home" Jim told her. "I think that your home is really right here."
Aisha then leaned over and gave Jim a little kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks Jim" Aisha began, "It was really sweet of you to come cheer me up."
"Sure Aisha, what are friends for?" He told her with a smile.
She smiled back at him, "Ya know Jim, I think that I've changed my mind."
"About what?" Jim wondered.
"I think that I've finally found the reason why I'm here" Aisha said winking at him.
"I just think that it would be nice if someone besides yourself knew how your brain worked." Jim said jokingly.
Aisha stuck her tongue out at him and with a smile, walked back to the S&H building, careful to avoid a certain someone as she entered. Jim on the other hand, decided that he'd rather stay out a bit longer.
Jim let himself fall back and felt his head land on the grass. It was a nice night, he may as well spend a little more of it there.
As he lay there Jim let his hand drift upward and he slowly began to trace over the constellations with his finger. He'd gone over most of the ones he knew, when Jim Hawking hit one that he wasn't familiar with.
For the life of him Jim just couldn't figure out what he was looking at, when it hit him, "That ones Aisha's star!" Jim yelled out. Jim felt like a fool for yelling that out until he remembered that he was all alone. "Better to be crazy than stupid" Jim chuckled to himself, then his attention turned back to the star.
He grew transfixed with it's bright red glow as he gazed into its beautiful mass. "So it's a wishing star, huh?" Jim thought to himself. Jim had never believed in such things, but he had been wrong plenty of times before.
Jim felt like a total baby because of it, but he decided that he might as well give it a try and use the star. Jim closed his eyes and tried to remember how he used to play like this.
Really it was one of the only memories he had of his mother. She would sit him on her lap and they would recite the little poem together.
"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight." Jim thought for a moment before continuing, "I wish that I could be there for Aisha more often, and that I could understand her just a little better."
Feeling like a total nerd Jim stood up and slowly began his trek back home.
,
The next morning hit Jim like a ton of bricks. He felt so bad that he could barley make it out of bed, he couldn't remember the last time he got sick like this. A quick check around his room revealed the window to be wide open and all blankets from his bed to be gone, it's no wonder he got sick sleeping like this. Melfina would probably scold him for trying to kill himself like that.
It took nearly all of his willpower not to fall down as he slowly descended the stairs on his way to the kitchen. Maybe some aspirin with a cup of coffee would do him good, "Smells like Melfina made breakfast" he thought.
Jim turned the corner and entered the kitchen to see Melfina and Suzuka at the table eating their breakfast.
"Mornin" Jim managed to squeak out.
Melfina and Suzuka both looked up and gave Jim strange looks.
"Jim? Is that you?" Melfina questioned.
"Of course I'm me" responded an obviously confused Jim.
"Well why do you look like that?" Asked Suzuka.
"Look like what?" Wondered Jim.
Melfina got up and grabbed a small mirror off of the counter, she held it up in front of Jim.
Looking into the mirror Jim didn't know what the fuss was about. It was just him, the same him as always. Same stupid clothes, same stupid hair, same stupid cat ears, whiskers, fangs and a tail, wait those last ones were different!
Jim could only stare in awe as the realization was made. "I look just like a Ctarl Ctarl!" He yelled.
Then it hit him. "It must have been the wish! It turned me into a Ctarl!" Jim's thought screamed.
It was at that moment that Gene decided to walk in the front door. When he noticed Jim his face twisted into an angry scowl.
"Why the hell is there another animal in my house?!" Gene sharply demanded.
"Gene I..." began Jim.
"And who the hell told it my name!?" He yelled.
The realization then hit Jim that Gene didn't even recognize him.
"Please Anki, It's me Ji..." he tried.
Gene got right up into Jim's face. "Who said that you could talk to me" Gene spit.
That was it, Jim just didn't want anymore of this. Here was Gene screaming at him when he hadn't even done anything. Why did Gene have to do this? Was it because Jim was now a Ctarl Ctarl? Could it be that Gene was a racist? Hating all Ctarl?
Jim was sure that couldn't be the case, until Gene grabbed him by his shirt collar and lifted him into the air.
Gene Starwind looked right into the frightened boy's eyes and said "Look you little bastard, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but get out of my house right now!"
Gene then threw Jim roughly down onto the ground. "And if you're friends with that other animal, I want both of you out now."
Jim stared up at his red haired partner, "Please Gene, it's me." Jim softly said.
"You just don't listen!" Gene yelled and pulled his fist back, ready to strike Jim.
"This cant be happening," thought a frightened Jim as he closed his eyes and waited for the impact of the other man's fist.
The punch never came, and instead Jim heard a loud thump as something landed next to him. Opening his eyes, Jim was instead surprised to see Gene's unconscious form lying on the floor next to him. But Jim was even more surprised by what else he saw...
Aisha! There stood Aisha Clan Clan, with an outstretched fist and an angry look in those wild blue eyes. She pulled her fist away from where Gene had once stood, before looking down at Jim.
The two just looked into each other's eyes, no words were needed. She stretched out a hand and pulled Jim up.
Aisha looked down at Jim's now furry face and said, "You are my reason, you are why I remain."
Jim and Aisha turned and slowly walked towards the door.
Gene finally regained enough consciousness to speak and weakly said, "Melfina, go call the cops! And wake Jim up too, he'll help me."
But neither Aisha nor Jim heard these words as they walked arm in arm, out the door.
end.