Jim tenderly tread in the darkness for a while. He knew that each heart was different, that nobody was the same.
He found a doorway. It wasn't a familiar one and he tried the handle. As his hand passed through the knob, the door slowly swung towards him.
There was a room. It was made of pure white marble with cracks of a soft, powder blue color. The pillars that held the lofty ceiling high were pure white with streaks of black running along each path. There was a gurgling fountain made of marble that was powder blue, mostly. A dark, wooden chair stood by something like a glass-less window pane. There wasn't any other piece of furniture. The room was bare, other than the dark chair.
Jim took one step forward and felt part of his foot miss a ledge. He stepped back and looked down. The floor looked solid. He knelt down and put his hand on the floor. He felt warmth, rather than the cold marble. Tenderly, he inched his hand forward. He felt a ledge and realized that some of the floor wasn't real.
"Hello?"
There was no reply. Jim decided this was another dead end and backed out of the room.
In the black hallway, he heard a little girl laughing some distance away. He followed the sound, but it stayed far away. He finally heard it fade. He stopped running and started looking at every door he passed. A door caught his eye.
Every door he'd passed on was white wood. This one was a rich oak.
He reached for the knob and pushed down. The brass handle gave and the door clicked, opening to his push.
This wasn't white, like the other rooms. It was dark blue with streaks of purple here and dashes of pink there and splatters of yellow all over the place. The floor was dark oak that was so highly polished, he could see his reflection. Hanging on the wall opposite him was a portrait of two girls. One was about thirteen and another was about ten. They wore dresses similar to rich-class girls. Both had curled hair. One was a red-head and the other had black hair.
The frame was stainless steel.
All over the walls were posters and pictures and things like that. It was a magnificent mural of every kind of color.
A rug on the floor etched itself out to be mostly dark blue, like the ceiling, and had a purple line around the outside. Each corner was neon pink. From each corner shot a beam of yellow that faded before it reached the center of the square thing. There was a deck of duel cards lying near the center beside a Duel Disk.
Jim looked up, just then. The girls' laughter was coming from the portrait.
"Who are you?" came a weary voice.
Jim wheeled around. There, against one wall, was a magnificently set mirror. It was highly polished and the wood that held it seemed to blend with the rich floors. The oak was highly sculpted as well. But it wasn't the mirror's glossy frame that made him stare.
A girl about to his knees obscured his shins from the mirror's perspective. But there wasn't anyone right in front of him.
"I'm Jim Cook, mate." He touched the brim of his hat.
The girl stared at him with a stare that could've shot down Axel in a heartbeat. "No, you're not."
Jim sighed and approached the mirror. "My full name's James Crocodile Cook, miss."
"Oh." She watched him come closer and crouched down. Her hand came forward and out of the mirror.
It wasn't a child's hand that touched Jim's ankle and he stopped dead. It was Alyse's arm coming out of the mirror.
"Go away." Her voice was coming from everywhere. "atchi e ike. watashi no kokoro ni kaibutsu shi taku nai. watashi no kawaii imōto shi masu."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand."
Suddenly, her voice became deep and it seemed to vibrate right through Jim.
"Go away! I don't want a monster in my heart! I want my sister! Where is she?! What have you done to her?!"
Jim felt the hand on his ankle grip hard. Fear gripped him in that moment and then he heard it. Somehow, he heard it over the rumbling voice.
A soft tinkle.
Like a mythical bell.
Jim, simultaneously hearing the noise and seeing the little girl on the wall with her sister, reached towards the deck on the floor. A card from the middle of the deck flew out and into his waiting hand. He flipped it over and quickly announced it. Maybe it would help.
"Gemini, the Zodiac."
The hand released him and the mirror turned to dust.
The room became much more lit. The air in the room wasn't so stuffy, though Jim didn't notice until just then.
Alyse was standing in the middle of the room, staring down. "Did Juanita send you?" she asked airily, like it wasn't a big deal.
"Yes. She wanted to know what's wrong." Jim stood his ground. He didn't want to approach her, for fear he'd go back to that room with the booming voice and the crazy mirror.
"Oh." Alyse knelt down and picked at the carpet. She finally looked up. "Tell Juanita I'm upset. That I don't want to go back. I don't see a point. Nobody's gonna miss one person."
Jim sighed and sat across from Alyse, Indian-style. "Really? Juanita's gonna miss you."
"No, besides her. If one of us dies, we join with the other. It's a law."
"By whom?"
Alyse didn't answer. She just picked at the carpet some more.
"Look," Jim dug into his pocket and drew out a bell. "I found it while I was bringing you and her back to Miss Fontain."
Alyse shook her head. "No good. No good. īe yoi. yakunitata nai. haiki butsu no kūkan desu." Alyse started pulling a thread on the carpet.
"No, you're not." Jim didn't quite know what Alyse was saying, but he understood her body language. He reached out and took her hand away from the thread. "Here. Take it. Maybe it'll help. I'll tell Juanita. I swear."
Alyse suddenly gasped and covered her mouth. "No! Don't swear!"
"Why?"
"Juanita...." Alyse looked at her bell and then smiled. "Juanita will send you to push up daisies if you swear. She doesn't like people swearing on their lives or something. She thinks it's useless." Alyse suddenly covered her mouth. "You're not useless! I promise! You're not--!"
"I know. Do you know you're not worthless?"
Jim left her with that thought.
---outside---
Jim reeled back and had to grab the rail to the bed. He slowly put his head down and tried to breath. He had to catch his breath. It wasn't easy.
"Jim!" Juanita's hand touched his back and he felt the moisture.
"Juanita," Jim replied, finding the strength to walk to a chair just five paces away. He sank into the chair and took his hat off. He leaned on his knees and kept breathing. It was hard, but he was getting closer to normal breathing.
"Jim, are you okay?" Juanita asked, touching his wrist. Her fingers were soft, smooth, almost angelic as they slowly traced a line up his arm and to his face. "Hey, are you okay?"
Jim reached into his right, front pocket. There it was. He drew out the bell and held it above his head and towards Juanita. "Here. I just remembered I had that, mate."
"Ah! You found it. How long have you had it?"
"I don't know." Jim looked up, his face dripping sweat. "But she thinks she's useless. I don't know how to make her believe otherwise."
"Let me try, James Cook," Juanita said, crossing her arms. "I don't want you to up and die already. Besides, despite us speaking two totally different languages, we've learned to speak properly to each other." She swept a bow. "Thank you, Jim. Thank you for opening a channel for me to follow."
"Juanita?"
She stopped turning away and looked down at him.
"You don't have to thank me. I just wanted to be able to make a difference to you."
Juanita smiled then. Her rare, true, loving smile. "You did when you did back down from my slap. Nobody ever backed down from me except Alyse. To earn my trust, you have to see me at my worst. Sadly, you haven't, but you've scratched the surface of a deep well. Keep digging, Jim. Forse troverete il mio cuore." She placed the bell in Alyse's hand and took her own from her pocket, holding it in the same hand. "I'll be back."
Jim watched her body become rigid.
"Jim?"
He had almost forgotten about Jesse and looked around. "Yeah?"
Jesse was leaning on the wall. "You're so special. I've not nothin' on you. I think Alyse'll be impressed with you. Maybe you'd take her, 'nstead of me."
"No. I've got my eyes on one already, mate." Jim smirked.
"Ah, well, then I'll be takin' Alyse." Jesse came over and stood beside Jim, who was covering his odd eye. "I think she's real into ya, too."
"What?"
Jesse just smiled and pointed at Juanita. "Besides, it ain't like she's got eyes for nobody else, right?" He nudged Jim's arm before going to stand by the monitors.
Jim agreed and watched.
Juanita came out of her trance after about five minutes and slowly moved away from Alyse. She stood beside Jim's chair. "Jim?"
"Yeah?"
Juanita didn't really say anything, she knelt down and pulled Jim right in. Her lips met his and she let go. She rested her chin on his arm and waited for a reaction. When he gawked at her, she just shrugged. "I thought you'd like that."
"Hold still."
Jesse smiled as he watched them go head-first into a kiss. Alyse's hand came up and touched his. It was a gentle, almost silent touch, but the two of them were happy, while Juanita and Jim were absolutely in love happy.
Juanita: aw, that's it?
p3n-stroke: no....
Jim: YES!
Juanita: now what?
p3n-stroke: now, for the fun part!!!
Jim/Juanita: o.o what?!
