Hey guys! Miss me? Yeah, I know, no update this weekend Dx I sorry, I sorry! I just did not have the time this weekend. I was dead tired Friday, had work on Saturday and was dead tired again from watching two four-year-olds and a five year old, then yesterday, Sunday, I had my two-year-old niece in the hospital and Kota was in the emergency room. Which really didn't affect me, but scared me shitless xD Kota, I know you're gonna read this eventually, so let this be proof of my undying love for you, ya dumb bitch xD
Anyway! I have two things left to say! One: This chapter sucks. Seriously. It's so bad I can't believe I'm sitting here typing it up. It's...it's awful. Yeah. Plus, on top of sucking, not even that much happens, so I apologize for that. But this Chapter gave me such a hard time, I ended up rage-quitting and just writing shit down. So bear with me, please.
And two: Last chapter, Asch said this line: "I have things I need to do." We got any Walking Dead fans out there? Yeah? Well then tell me: Did Rick's infamous "stuff and things" line pop into your head when you read that sentence? Because that was the first thing I thought of xD I can so picture Asch being all "I'm doing stuff, Natalia...THINGS." xD Man, I fail to take Asch seriously now...
DISCLAIMER: If I owned Tales of the Abyss, that "stuff and things" line mentioned above would SO be in there somewhere! Along with twelve billion other references, one of which would be Kuro, who I own.
Chapter 11
Betrayal
"Hey, Luke?"
"Yes?"
"Can I tell you something?" Luke smiled and pulled the young girl up onto his lap, her dark hair tickling his nose as she situated herself.
"What is it, Kuro?" he asked, and she looked at him, a sheepish grin on her face.
"I...I'm actually really glad I came tonight." Luke smirked.
"Oh, is that so?" he questioned, sliding his arms around her. She snuggled into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah. I am." Their eyes met. "And...I'm really happy for you, Luke." He pulled her closer, placing his cheek against her forehead.
"The only reason I made it this far is because of you," Luke murmured. She pullled away, her chocolate orbs staring at him, confused.
"That's not true," she said. "You got here all on your own. I just hung on for the ride." Luke shook his head.
"Kuro, are you crazy? You were a huge part of all this." As he spoke, he gestured to their surroundings.
The courtyard was decorated in flickering lights and colorful paper lanterns. Confetti littered the ground, metallic pieces of paper that caught the light and glowed beneath the twilight sky. Decorations were strung up everywhere, and people were all around, dancing and talking and admiring the festive ceremony. There was no doubt in Luke's mind that his certain little brown-haired friend had been head of the decorating committee.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now." He pulled her in again, burying his face in her neck when she tried to pull away. When she seemed to realize that his hold was as strong as his resolve on the matter, she sighed and brought her arms up to hug him back.
"You idiot," she scolded lightly. "You never needed me. All I did was help you up. But you walked forward on your own."
"Not on my own." He leaned back, allowing their gazes to lock again. "With you." She smiled.
The music stopped then, the song ending as the last few notes rang throughout the courtyard. There was a light applause, and a grin spread across Kuro's face.
"That's my cue!" she stated happily, hopping off Luke's lap and picking up a case resting on the ground nearby.
"You're playing tonight?"
"Of course. You should know by now; I'm the life of the party!"
"I don't think you can play Rock-n-Roll on a clarinet, Kuro." The brunette girl smirked.
"Watch me." She spun dramatically on her heel, about to head off to the center of the ceremony where the musicians had been playing, but Luke stopped her.
"Wait!" he called, reaching out and grabbing her free hand. Kuro turned.
"Yeah?" He smiled.
"I bet those guys wouldn't mind playing one more song, if you wanted to dance."
"Dance? We already danced though."
"I meant slow-dance. Not the crazy dancing we all did earlier." They both smirked slightly at the memory of the previous hour.
"But really, slow-dancing?" she repeated, confusion clear on her face despite her grin. "Who would I even slow-dance with?" He gave her a look, his smile not wavering, waiting for her to figure it out. He knew she had come to realize it when she blinked, eyed him carefully, and the faintest shade of pink painted her cheeks.
"O-oh..." she mumbled, reaching up and tucking a strand of her glittery dark hair behind her ear as her eyes fell downward. "Um...Luke?"
"Yes, Kuro?"
"I...I've never..." She shifted her weight awkwardly, "you know...danced before...Like...like 'slow-danced...'" Luke smiled and squeezed her hand.
"Don't worry," he said softly as he reached out and gently pried her instrument case out of her other hand, setting it beside him on the bench they'd been sitting on. "I'll show you."
Standing, the redhead tugged the young girl out onto the cobblestone, waving to the musicians across the courtyard. As he suspected, they waved back and prepared to start a new piece of music.
Kuro was noticeably shorter than Luke, her height only going to about just under the top of his stomach. Their height difference made finding a starting position a bit awkward, seeing as how she couldn't wrap her arms around his shoulders. So they settled for him resting his hand on her hip, her hand on his elbow, and their hands still clasped together.
"Ready?"
"...Yeah." He smiled down at her as the music started, the soft keys of a piano drifting on the breeze.
"Just follow me, okay?" he said, and started to move when she nodded.
He made it simple for her; all they had to do was sway. He didn't move his feet at all, kept them planted on the ground as they tried to sway in unison. Luke did his best to move with the slow beat of the song being played, knowing that Kuro would instinctively do that, being a musician herself. One of them, probably him, wasn't quite nailing it though, and they weren't exactly moving together.
"We probably look ridiculous..." Kuro said quietly.
"What, we didn't when we danced earlier?"
"That was different!"
"Was not. And when have you ever cared what others thought about you?" He removed his hand from her hip, raising their joined hands and twirling her.
"I...don't," she mumbled after she completed her spin and once again faced him. "I'm just...out of my element here." His hand once again came to rest on her hip.
"You just hate formality."
"Exactly."
They went back to swaying, and he saw her eyes drop to the ground.
"Kuro, now's not the time to be thinking."
"I'm not thinking. I'm listening." Luke smiled and stopped moving. Kuro hastily halted her movements as well.
"What?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Nothing. I'm just letting you take the lead."
"Me take the...what?" She leaned in and dropped her voice. "Luke, I don't know what I'm doing!"
"You know exactly what you're doing," he countered. "I can't follow music like you can, but I can follow you. So go for it." She blinked up at him.
"Um...okay..." She fell silent, her eyes once again dropping as she took in the sound of the music. Then she started moving again, and Luke followed, doing his best to stay in time with her and using his hand to guide her hips the correct way. It went a lot smoother than before, but Kuro's eyes didn't lift from the ground.
"...You're half a beat ahead of me," Kuro pointed out after a while, and Luke chuckled, once again moving his hand, this time to her chin and lifting her head up.
"Maybe it would help if you actually looked at me." The blush that dusted her cheeks darkened the slightest bit, and Luke felt himself grin.
Kuro never blushed. And knowing that he could bring one out of her made him feel all the more closer to her.
He shook his head at that. Closer? They were already inseparable.
xxx
Luke sighed in frustration as he buried his hands in his hair, pulling tightly.
'Dammit, Kuro...get out of my head!'
But he knew it was pointless. The fight between them kept re-playing over and over in his mind, his memory bank a broken record. And not just the fight in the library, but everything. Every argument, every laugh, every glare, every tear...it all came flooding back before his tightly shut eyes, like a dam had been broken.
Her words echoed in his mind. Teasing him, mocking him, reminding him.
You finally did it, Luke. You messed up the one good thing you had left. You blew your second chance.
And he wasn't going to bother wishing for a third.
That look on their faces, that emptiness on her face but the bite to her words, it was all still so vivid. So fresh. And it killed him. He hated it. And he hated himself for causing it. Again. Just like before. Only this time, her eyes weren't clear.
They were probably clouded the most.
"Hey now, don't hurt yourself." Luke's eyes flew open and his head snapped up, looking over to see someone standing beside his seat.
"G-Guy..." The blond smiled and sat down next to him.
"Everything okay?" Luke looked away and shrugged.
"I'm fine..." he mumbled. Guy nodded, and the two fell into a somewhat uncomfortable silence. Part of Luke wanted Guy to just leave him alone so he could think, so he could just wallow in his puddle of memories and self-pity (cue wince at yet another thought about a certain brunette), but another part of him didn't want to feel alone, didn't want to fall into the despair that had gripped him last time.
"Can I just ask you..." Luke glanced at the other out of the corner of his eye. "...Why?"
"I don't know." Guy shook his head.
"No, I meant why didn't you say anything?"
The redhead shrugged. "Because I'm an idiot."
"That's true," Guy said, and to Luke's surprise, he smiled. "But that's not the real reason."
"I...I don't know," Luke answered honestly. "I guess... I didn't know how."
"Right, because just coming out and saying 'Hey guys, by the way, Asch and I switched bodies' wouldn't have been good enough." Luke chuckled.
"Okay, okay, fair enough," he replied. "I guess it's more like... I didn't know how. I mean, Asch and I didn't, don't, understand it, and we didn't...no, I didn't, know what I was supposed to say." The redhead smiled sheepishly. "But that still isn't a very good excuse."
"But it's understandable," Guy said, reaching out and ruffling Luke's bangs, knocking loose the bangs Asch had pulled back earlier. Luke moved to push them back in place before they could all flop forward.
"Hey, cut it out!"
"Well, who'da thought; Asch's hair is pretty soft!"
"Guy, stop it! You sound like a creeper!"
The two boys laughed, and Luke felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He still had someone. Guy didn't hate him. Hadn't then, didn't now.
But that look of betrayal that flashed through his best friend's eyes back at the library slipped back into his mind's eye. He'd seen it, it had been there, and he wouldn't let himself deny it. He didn't want this to be like Akzeriuth; he didn't want to disregard what was clear as day, right in front of him. He wouldn't let himself. And now that Kuro was gone, he needed to get back up on his own this time.
"...Guy?" The blond hummed, showing Luke that he had his attention. "Aren't you...aren't you mad at me?" Guy looked at him.
"Mad at you?" The redhead nodded. "Of course not."
Luke gave him a disbelieving look, and Guy sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Alright, maybe I was. A little. But it's okay, really."
"...Really?"
"Yes, really. It's fine, Luke. We're good." Luke looked away again.
"Kuro...wasn't as cool with it..."
"I know. She's in the back, hiding out in her room. She..." Guy hesitated, but Luke shook his head.
"She's upset," Luke finished, leaning on his elbow and turning back to the window. "I figured."
"Tear's back there with her right now," the blond supplied. Luke nodded.
"Good. She needs someone to look out for her."
"You can still be there for her. Being in Asch's body doesn't change who you are. You're still Luke."
"That's the point. That's why she hates me."
"She does not. Kuro doesn't have the ability to hate you. She's just upset."
Luke shook his head.
"We talked, back at the library..." Luke felt Guy clap a hand on his shoulder.
"You know Kuro better than anyone, Luke. You know that she doesn't always see what's in front of her. But she will. She'll realize eventually that this doesn't change anything. But you have to let her realize that on her own."
Luke stayed quiet, trying to let Guy's words sink in. But Kuro's drowned them out.
You actually made me think you cared about me.
I thought you were different.
You're just like everyone else.
"...Luke?"
The redhead didn't speak. Guy wouldn't understand anyway. He didn't know who 'everyone else' was.
But Luke did, and that made it hurt so much more.
xxx
They stepped off the Albiore, their feet crunching softly as they walked across the fallen snow. Luke held his hand out, letting a few snowflakes land and melt on his skin.
"You know," Kuro spoke up, and Luke turned around to see her standing at the back of the group, "of all the places we've been, this is the one I missed the least."
"I'm with you on that one," Luke replied, and the brunette girl looked up from where she too was catching snowflakes in her hand. "Never thought we'd come here again." Murmurs of agreement slipped through the air, followed by a quiet statement from Anise.
"A lot more people have died since then..." Kuro moved over and slipped an arm around the other girl.
"That's why we need to put an end to this," Guy stated, and Natalia nodded.
"And that's why we're here."
"Yes, but," Tear began, pointing off into the distance, "it looks like we're not the only ones who've come." Sure enough, there was an Oracle ship in the area where Tear was pointing. Kuro blew out a breath.
"Oh, how perfect," she muttered.
"We need to be careful," Jade advised.
"Please. We could be as careful as we want, but we all know we're gonna run into them anyway."
"Geez, Kuro. You're so pessimistic," Guy pointed out, and Kuro gave him a look.
"It's not pessimism, it's called 'being realistic,'" she shot back.
"We'll be ready for them," Luke assured. Kuro shrugged.
"I guess it'll be kinda fun, seeing one of their reactions to this," she said, gesturing towards the redhead. He cracked a slight smile.
"Yeah. And...guys?" They all turned to him, eyes of red and blues and chocolate brown watching him. "I know it's kinda late to say this, but... I really am sorry."
And with that, he pivoted on his heel and headed inside the Gate.
It was time to do this.
That took way too long for me to type Dx I get so distracted when I update from my house and not the library. It's like "oh hey I see a cup." And I'm distracted for the next ten minutes Dx plus my niece was behind me crying half the time, and hearing a baby with bronchitis cry is so heartbreaking, lemme tell ya.
So, anyway, please review, favorite, and follow, and I'll see you guys next time! Which will hopefully be this weekend, but don't take my word on that!
Peace!
Valerie(SonicGirl2002)
