Home Almost Alone

Shun sits in the shadows of the Brawlers' prison cell. His face is buried in his hands and he doesn't make a sound. The shame that he feels is palpable all around him. Shun is in his own world, filled with sadness and depression and grief. Then he gets up and walks over so that he's in front of the Brawlers. He looks at the turn in the wall which leads to the door. Shun makes no move for it. Instead, he waits. For a few minutes, nothing happens. The Brawlers pity him and almost voice that.

"Shun," a voice states lightly.

Shun almost smiles, but keeps it in check. At that exact turning point in the wall she stands. That teenager that the shadowed figure sent away. She smiles at Shun and clasps her hands in front of her. Which causes her handcuffs to clink. She doesn't come any closer, instead she waits for him to make the next move. Shun looks straight into her wise, mysterious eyes and smirks. He extends his right fist and opens his hand. A small moonstone glistens in the dim amount of light. She leans forward slightly to peer at it and meets his gaze. She nods sagely. Her eyes then sadden and she could almost try to reach out for him, but she doesn't let her façade slip. Neither does he. Their pride once again getting in the way.

Glittering, glimmering flecks of light come from nowhere and move towards her. She doesn't look away from his eyes for even one moment. Then they gather around her and she almost laughs before they swirl around her. After which they disappear, with her gone too. Shun turns to look at the Brawlers with a grin.

"Looks like you're getting a new cell mate,"

Half an hour later, the Brawlers have long since given up on trying to escape. The door bursts open and Runo stumbles in. Shun keeps her hands held firmly behind her back and drags her over to the other Brawlers. She collapses onto her knees and stares up at him in shock. Shun isn't paying her any attention anymore. Instead, his eyes are fixed firmly to the opposing wall. A low whoosh comes the wall and a dark purple portal opens. The ever shadowed figure steps forward and into the room. He looks at Runo before chuckling lowly, darkly.

"Give me my end of the deal," Shun states. His tone uncompromising.

The shadowed figure booms with laughter. "Take the girl and the others back then. I need them, but I'm not as desperate as you!"

Shun grits his teeth in aggravation. His fists are clenched tightly by his sides. He glowers up at the figure, trembling from rage. There's nothing he can do though. He isn't calling the shots. That's when he realised how horrible of a trick it was. How he was never actually going to get her back. Not this way at least. Shun knows he should walk away, but he holds firmly onto his ground. A loud thunk! reverberates around the room as the rock hits the figure on the back of the head. He turns around glaring.

"My end of the deal," Shun growls out. "Or you lose out on them forever."

"Then goodbye Brawlers. It was such a pleasure to be acquainted with you," the figure laughs.

The figure disappears back into the portal and Shun sighs. Just from that one sigh they can tell he sounds haggard and fatigued. As if he was out of options. Alice feels a pang of sympathy for him, as do most of the others. Still, it was hard to pity someone who kidnapped you and had absolutely no respect for you. Shun stares at his shaking hands with dull, sad eyes. He almost wishes that he got it right the first time, but he knows that would have made no difference.

"You miss her, don't you?" Alice smiles sadly. "I could help you, but you should let us go first."

"Yea, we'll help. If you let us go of course," Dan states.

"You don't understand," Shun sighs. "You wouldn't be able to help anyway. He's too powerful. It's my fault anyway."

"Shun. What happened?" Runo asks.

"When I was three, me and some other kids met up. Our parents had introduced us, or our guardians. She didn't have any parents to introduce her. It was her guardian… Her name is Elise, and she's the Princess of the kingdom of Crescentia. The Crescent Moon Princess. I was given a sort of leadership position, and a few years ago, I was given a choice. I told everyone to split up, for safety reasons. So we were separated and weren't allowed to contact each other. I was supposed to be her guardian. I was supposed to take care of her.. and I failed," Shun responds, monotonously.

"So, is she your girlfriend or something?" Julie frowns.

"What!" Shun snaps. "She's like my sister!"

"Sorry," Julie murmurs.

"Look, I appreciate the offer, but this is my problem. I'm the only one who can fix it. I'm the only who should fix this," Shun states.