The Guardian Devil
Chapter 2: Love Never Dies
Author's Note: Time to continue with my little "epic" here. What more can I do on a hot late spring early summer day? There really isn't a pool around here, and I'm miles away from the beach, so I guess I could do this, as I'm already burnt out on Modern Warfare 2. I guess it's because I play it a little bit too much or something. So, anyway, let's get chapter 2 started. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering what the deal with Daniel and Ali's breakup scene in the last chapter, I actually took that from an unused first draft screenplay of Karate Kid Part II, which you can find online. Just Google it.
Disclaimer: I own neither The Karate Kid nor Daredevil. If I owned The Karate Kid, I would have had Elisabeth Shue sign a three-film contract as well. If I owned Daredevil, there would have been a sequel to the Ben Affleck movie.
Ali's Point of View, Two Years Earlier…,
Daniel and I had just broken up with each other although I tried to show him that I still loved him and always would. He had just tore down Encino Lake Drive, leaving tire skid marks on the street. I watched his car as it turned at the intersection and down Alvarado and out of sight.
After a few moments of standing outside my house, struck dumb, not believing what had just happened, I felt hot tears come to my eyes. I quickly turned around and went inside my house, ran up the stairs, and went into my room, where I collapsed on my bed, and I began to cry into my pillow. I had just lost the love of my life to a bitter break-up, so I was taking it very hard.
After a few moments of crying to myself, I heard a knock at my door.
"Ali?" I heard my mother's voice, muffled by the door. "May I come in?"
She must have heard me crying. "Sure." I said. I heard my door open and my mother's light footsteps as she crossed my bedroom floor and I felt my mattress sag down under her weight as she sat on the bed beside me.
"Ali," she said. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
I could never hide anything from my mother, so I didn't even try to lie. "Mom." I said, in between sobs. "Daniel and I broke up."
"Oh." I heard my mother say. I then felt her wrap her arms around me and hug me. "I'm sorry, Ali."
I almost had to do a double-take. Did my mother just apologize at the news that Daniel and I broke up? Especially after all her and my father's obvious prejudice against people who didn't have as much money as us? I half expected her to be jumping for joy, informing my father and having some sort of wild, exaggerated party. Not apologizing, of all things.
My mom must have noticed, because she chuckled a little bit. "You were expecting me and your father to be celebrating this news weren't you?" she asked. I told you that I couldn't hide anything from her.
"Well, yeah." I said, truthfully.
My mother chuckled a little bit more. "I know you think that your father and I are sort of prejudiced against poor people." She said. "I suppose we are a little bit. If only you knew…,"
"Knew what?" I asked.
"If only you knew that your father was never always rich himself." My mother said. "I was born into a rich family, yes, and that's how we have our wealth, from your grandparents. Your father, on the other hand, was originally from a poor family himself, a family even poorer than the LaRusso's. He went to work for my father, your grandfather, and after a while, my father saw a potential future CEO of the family company. He was so hard-working, and so handsome, and that's how I eventually fell in love with him."
My mother took a breath, and then continued. "Your father and I secretly dated for a while, because I was so sure that my father wouldn't approve." She said. "He found out one day, however, but he didn't chew me out for it. Instead, he told me how proud he was that I had found someone so responsible. He saw your father as the son he never had. Shortly after we announced our engagement at the tender age of eighteen. That was when your father was drafted for Vietnam. Your grandfather, being both a World War II and Korean War veteran himself was anxious that we were going to lose him. A few months after your father shipped out, we received word that he went missing in action. That was the day before your grandfather died. The doctors said it was a stroke that killed him, but I knew that he had died of a broken heart, since he believed that he had lost the closest thing he had ever had to a son."
She took another deep breath, and carried on. "After your father came back from Vietnam, after being a prisoner of war and being rescued, we got married. We both wanted to start a family so badly." She said. "I never told you this before, but you weren't our first attempt at a child. I was pregnant twice before we had you, but they both turned out to be miscarriages. After I got pregnant with you, I thought you were going to end up just like the other two, so we had almost no hope for you. I guess that God had decided to finally bless us, because nine months later, I gave birth to you, Ali, my miracle baby. You were your father's miracle as well, since he grew up in a poor family with an abusive alcoholic father, he went to Vietnam and saw horrors that he never wants to see again and won't tell me about, and he suffered the loss of two would have been sons or daughters."
"I don't understand." I said. "If dad went through this, and was almost like Daniel, then why did he not like Daniel?"
"Who knows?" my mom said. "People change. My best guess is that he just loves his new life so much, that he hates anything that reminds him too much of his old one. I'm not saying that he hated Daniel, but his prejudice most likely comes from his troubled past, and in reality, I'm sure that he really felt for Daniel, deep down inside."
My mom and I talked until midnight that night, and I did cry myself to sleep that night. A few weeks later, Susan and I were on a plane for our summer trip to Paris. She had felt for my situation, but we didn't dwell on it, at least not that much, that is. I mean, while I was in Paris, I would spend most of the time moping over my breakup with Daniel. Sure, I had a nice time seeing such sights as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, but I just missed Daniel so much. Susan, who had quickly scooped up a French boyfriend, told me that I should move on, and that I should try to get a French boy myself. I mean, I admit, some of the boys in France were cute, but Daniel was extremely handsome and kind and everything that I wanted in a boy.
However, Susan and Andre, her French boyfriend, quickly introduced me to a nice French boy named Pierre, and we had decided to go out dancing on a double date. Everything was going well, until that one moment when I stepped off the dance floor to go get a drink. I ordered a Coke, but then got distracted. I was to busy talking to Susan and Andre. None of us three noticed Pierre slip that hidden vial of roofies into my drink. Roofies, also known as the date rape drug. After taking a sip of my Coke, I started to feel real strange. Susan and Andre had gone back onto the dance floor to continue dancing, while Pierre offered to help me get back to my hotel room. Little did I know, that was not the case, as he had taken me back to his place. He had planned to rape me that night, and I had almost gotten raped. I had gone wild, screaming for Daniel to come help me. Pierre slapped me, hard, and continued his attempts to violate me. I closed my eyes, and began to think of Daniel, the boy I loved, when I heard the door fly open, some angry yells in French, and next thing I knew, Susan and Andre had appeared in the room, with Andre beating the shit out of Pierre. Andre had saved me from being raped, though I still desperately wished for Daniel.
While still wishing that I was back home in Daniel's arms, where I felt safe, Andre had trained me in Savate, which was basically the French version of karate. Karate just made me think of Daniel and that victory we shared at the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, which made me sad. Since he was training for the French Groupement Speciale Autonome, (French for Special Autonomous Group, a special forces of the French military) he had also taught me Krav Maga, which is the official fighting style of the Israeli Special Forces, which he had learned while doing some foreign training in Israel one time. I would never let another man hurt me like that again. I would never be with another man, unless it was Daniel, who I knew I could trust.
End flashback…,
After two years of not seeing Daniel and training with Andre, (he had come back with Susan to live with her in California, as they were also engaged to be married soon.) Ali had returned to California, where she continued to go to school. She had also desperately searched for any clue of Daniel's current whereabouts, since she never knew where he, his mother, or Mr. Miyagi lived. However, her luck was about to change that night.
Ali, after a long night of school and work, came home to the house that her parents had bought her so she could have a place to live and go to school. Susan and Andre lived next door, so she saw them very often. She had just set her purse down, when there came a frantic knocking at the door. Ali opened the door to find Susan on the other side.
"Ali!" she said. "I've got good news for you!"
"Let me guess." Ali said in mock confusion. "Andre knocked you up."
"No, he didn't!" Susan said, laughing at Ali's little joke. She was waving a newspaper at Ali, which caught her attention.
"Take a look at this!" Susan said, throwing the newspaper at Ali. Ali took the newspaper, unfolded it, and stared at the headline. The headline read:
Two Young Law-School Geniuses Graduate After Two Years; Open New Law Firm Called LaRusso and Lawrence, Attorneys At Law!
"Daniel?" Ali asked to herself, looking at the picture underneath the headline. The picture showed Daniel and Johnny sitting in chairs next to each other, smiling, Daniel wearing sunglasses for some reason. Ali felt her heart skip a beat. Daniel was still the handsome boy she had fallen in love with two years ago, and he hadn't changed that much in his looks. She didn't bother to read the rest of the article, she was too excited.
"You told me and Andre to look out for any clues regarding Daniel's whereabouts, and we found them!" Susan said excitedly.
"I'll be back." Ali said, running out the door. She had used the advertising section to pinpoint the address of Daniel and Johnny's new law firm, and looked at her watch. There was still enough time to get to where the law firm was and hopefully, catch up with Daniel.
Meanwhile…,
Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence walked out of the courtroom, Johnny flustered, while Daniel was clearly pissed off. Daniel and Johnny had been assigned to defend a rape victim and put a serial rapist behind bars, who had avoided jail time a lot, and the rapist was let go due to a lack of evidence.
"I can't believe this shit!" Daniel said. "Another rapist goes free on the streets of Los Angeles. I sometimes wonder why we even bothered becoming lawyers in the first place!"
Johnny sighed. "What can I say, Daniel?" he said. "Shit happens. But you know, we could have defended the rapist, we were more likely to win the case that way."
Daniel turned to Johnny, using the sounds of footsteps in the courthouse hallway to make a radar image of Johnny to see him. "I told you, Johnny." Daniel said. "We only defend the innocent."
"Justice is blind, LaRusso." Johnny said. He then saw Daniel's facial expression, and mentally smacked himself for forgetting about Daniel's physical handicap. "Hey, sorry, Daniel, I forgot."
Daniel and Johnny continued to walk down the hallway until they were outside in the bright California sunlight. Daniel was looking gloomy. Johnny could never understand it, but ever since Daniel's accident, Daniel thought that sunshine made him depressed, while dark, cloudy, and rainy days made him happy.
"Hey, Johnny." Daniel said. "Do me a favor and lock up tonight for me, will you?"
"Sure, Daniel." Johnny said. "Why don't we forget about what happened in that courtroom just now and go out for a nice dinner? My treat."
Daniel shook his head. "No thank you, Johnny. I got somewhere I have to be tonight."
"What?" Johnny said. "You got a date? Because, you know, that cute receptionist of ours, Karen, she seems to have taken a liking to you, LaRusso."
"No, it's not a date." Daniel said. "Just business."
"All right, Daniel." Johnny said, when he saw Daniel go to the bus stop, just as his regular bus pulled up and Daniel got on. Johnny sighed, and got in his car to go lock up the office.
Later, back at the law firm…,
Johnny had just given Karen the okay to leave at the end of her shift, as he took a quick look around the office to make sure he had everything he needed. He had just exitedthe building and was turning around to lock the door, when someone walked up behind him.
"Excuse me?" a female voice said. "Would this be the law offices of Mr. Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Jonathon Lawrence?"
"Yeah." Johnny said, turning around. "I'm sorry miss, but we're closing for the night, but if you would like to make an appointment…," Johnny trailed off, but was stopped mid-sentence when he saw who the voice belonged to.
"Hey Johnny." The woman in front of him said.
"Hey, Ali!" Johnny said, pulling her into a quick hug. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to find Daniel." Ali said.
Johnny was confused. He thought that Daniel and Ali had broken up two years ago, so it didn't make any sense, unless Ali either wanted to rekindle the relationship or just catch up with an old friend, or she needed some legal help.
"Oh really?" Johnny said. "What for?"
"Just want to see an old friend." Ali said. "Do you know where Daniel is?"
"Well, he's not here right now, he left to do some business." Johnny said. "Sorry, Ali, but half the time, I don't know where he is. I don't know what a guy like him does, running around like that all the time. But I'll tell him you were looking for him."
"Thanks, Johnny." Ali said. "I'll catch up with you sometime, too." After her little conversation with Johnny, she turned around and got in her car to leave.
"WAIT, ALI!" Johnny called, but it was too late. Ali had already pulled out of the parking lot and left. "Daniel's blind now." He said to himself pathetically, mentally smacking himself for not telling her earlier.
That night, on the rooftops of Los Angeles…,
Daniel LaRusso had suited up into a familiar dark-red costume, getting ready to go to go to work. He stretched, and jumped off the building, using his radar sense to guide himself on the way down, using his grappling hook to latch onto the next building and across the gap, ready for yet another night of criminal hunting.
Author's Notes: Yes, another cliffhanger. Yeah, it was my idea to show what Ali was up to after her bitter breakup with Daniel. She will play a very important part in later chapters. What is it, you're asking? Well, you'll just have to wait and find out! Anyway, a few things I have to mention before I sign off. First of all, the amount of updates I'm doing will be going down soon, and for a few good reasons. Number one, my school is almost out, and I need to do a report for my U.S./Virginia state history final beforehand. The second thing is that me and my mom are doing some home improvements at our new house. And finally, the third thing is that my mom is going in for some very risky surgery this Tuesday, so, I'm hoping that she'll make it, since she told me there is a chance that she could die from the surgery. However, if she makes it, she will be very weak for a while, so I'll have to take care of her until the end of this summer, and even then, by the end of this summer, she'll only be eighty percent healed. So, anyway, that's what's going on with me in my personal life, so I'll hope you'll understand any decrease in the amount of updates that I'll be doing.