Okay - here's the missing chapter 20 to plug the free fall from the cliffie in chapter 19. Hope it works! You might have to leave comments to this chapter on chapter 21 if you have already reviewed chapter 20.
Sorry Bhar, I am still struggling where the angst element is concerned... and I know this is supposed to be a little on the angsty side. I can only hope that it is a little on the 'touching' side.
To Come Home on an Alien Land
By Jolly
Episode 20
Big Brother Blood Brother Soul Brother
The council room was in chaos.
It was true that Ceri had managed to take Frank down, her stun arrow barely slipping through a tiny gap in Frank's defenses when he split the two mini-spheres from his main shielding. But without the main focal point, the original energy globe had fractured, sending pieces of wild energy shields swirling uncontrollably about the now seemingly even tinier room.
And the second deadly mini-sphere of stormy energy was still bouncing about, intend on finding its second target.
Reiko held on to Joe best she could, but there was no mistaking the terror in her eyes. She had no way of defending herself or Joe against those angry swirls of lightning and storm energy. Not without her sword, and even with it, she would not be able to take the direct hit from that mini-sphere, created so carelessly by a level 10 storm lord fueled by the rage of unreason.
She was still in shock over what happened. Joe took the hit for her. She could have died then and there without even knowing what hit her.
She was starting to hyperventilate. It was getting so hard to breathe.
Was Joe even alive? Was he breathing? She knew it was bad; the impact had come close to shattering her soul mate bond with Joe, the one that could only be broken by death.
"Joe's still alive, Rei… BUT HE CANNOT take even another slightest hit…"
That was Banz. He must have assessed the severity of the injuries through his bond with Joe.
Thank goodness Joe was still alive, she thought.
She could see Banz racing towards them. But knew he won't make it on time. She could feel a streak of wild energy shield racing towards them. She let her instinct took over and covered Joe with her slimmer body. A fiery burning pain streaked down her back as she registered the hit. She would have to be treated for burns later.
A number of the high councilors were in equally bad shape.
"Banz!" The Old Man almost screamed out.
A small part of Banz and Reiko registered that extremely rare occurrence.
"Neutralize those forces now! I got Joe! Banz… SNAP out of it! NOW!"
"Banz!"
That shook Banz out of his single-minded focus on his soul brother. How could he forget that with Joe down, he was the only one left who could do that?! And especially when he knew The Old Man would clearly be preoccupied with holding on to Joe's life-force.
He forced his mind away from Joe's and focused on the stormy forces about him. He let his own rage rise to match that of the wild storm about him, and when his own matched that of existing storm, he merged both sets of energy and quickly gained mastery over both. Then he slowly dissipated the storm until all that was left was a few harmless cackles of electrical sparks.
The relief that permeated the room thereafter was palpable.
They all had watched as Mandoran casted a healing chrysalis and a stasis globe for Joe and knew things were very serious indeed. Usually, only one or the other would be enough even for the most serious of wounds.
The use of both meant that the patient was hovering at death door. But no one here had any doubt why the youth was still living. And live he would, as long as The Old Man would not let go.
"Elmira? Can you…" The Old Man started to ask, his voice strained.
"Don't worry; I'll take care of the other. Go quickly; your godson has little time left." Elmira quickly nodded and answered.
Ceri watched blankly as Mandoran and several key council members gently levitate and move the chrysalis towards the healing quarters. She knew they would be heading there. Not the sick bay but the healing quarters. Not many really know the difference between the two, but there was a difference.
She watched numbly as Swordmistress Isogawa almost had to drag her daughter, Reiko, towards the sick bay to get her burns tended to.
Feel… how did she feel?
Nothing.
At the moment, she felt nothing.
What should she feel? Ceri mused. She knew Joe and Banz for almost three years. They have had some wild adventures together, and they had saved her life twice. In fact, she met Joe before he even met Reiko and bonded with her.
She remembered her mother's disappointment when that happened.
And now, her soul mate almost killed him.
His own brother.
And Rei… her only true female friend in her life.
She looked down at her soul mate lying so still in her arms.
Her soul mate whom she just shot.
What should she feel?
She felt lost.
And alone.
They were all concerned about Joe.
But of course. He had a destiny.
What happened? She was sure she had one too…
A destiny.
"Ceri?"
She looked up to see Elmira's kindly eyes looking down on her.
"If you would let go a little, we will transport him over to the sick bay. It may be just a stun arrow, but without treatment, his bruise is going to hurt really badly…"
She let them. She was grateful that someone was taking over something.
And she followed.
And Frank. Frank would need her there when he awaken…
A small fear started to form in the pits of her guts… Frank would need her, wouldn't he?
Banz sat alone outside of the healing quarters. His soul brother was in there with The Old Man. And Mandoran. He knew that Joe would live. The Old Man would not let his godson die.
Still he fear and worry.
It was totally irrational.
He knew a part of it stemmed from the fact that he failed to keep his little brother safe.
And that was also irrational. If he had taken that blast, he would be dead.
Joe had known when he chose to block Banz's move and took that hit for Rei.
Banz looked around him, only half aware of his surroundings. The larger part of his mind was linked to Joe's, coaxing him to hang on as The Old Man worked to repair the massive damage to the physical body. The injuries were all internal; shattered bones, torn muscles and squished major blood vessels.
It was unnecessary, really, for him to be doing what he did. The godfather would not let go of the godson. But it made him feel like he was useful. And he needed to feel useful. And he was grateful Joe let him.
So he sat there half dazed outside the healing quarters for an unknown amount of time. He mind-linked with Joe and initiated a one way conversation which he hoped would distract his brother from the agony of his internal injuries. He talked about all their times and adventures together, their arguments and disagreements, the pranks they played while still at the Academy.
He just realized what a great story teller he could be when he tried. Joe must have really rubbed off his stoic nature. He smiled as he thought back of the old times when they first met. He had always been the loner. Until Joe drew him out.
He remembered how angry he was at those ignorant students who thought Joe was really dumb when his brother attended his classes backwards from the most advanced to beginners. But it was simply that Joe had a very different learning process.
He remembered his annoyance at the whispers when Joe's DG test and other test results were never posted. And he remembered how Joe always simply brushed those insulting whispers off laughingly. The people that mattered know, and that was the important thing, was what Joe always said.
He knew all those results of course. And why they were never posted. Joe's answers all worked, and were so unorthodox; the teachers just didn't know how to grade them most of the time. Joe's solution for that infamous DG puzzle was just so way out there, it was a shock to all the testers when all the pieces just fell neatly into place. Several times over and in such different permutations they let him play with the puzzle way beyond the five minutes allocated.
"Banz… How's Joe?"
That got him out of his story-telling session with Joe.
Reiko was standing before him, looking very anxious. He could see from the stiff way she held herself that the burns on her back was quite bad.
"He'll be fine, Rei. It's just a matter of time…"
"I can feel his hurts through our bond, Banz…"
"I know… me too…"
And they sat there together in companionable silence borne out of their multitude of adventures that they had. Banz had let Rei onto his Soul Bond to Joe so she could take comfort from his presence without having to bear the pain that comes with it.
Soul bonds were such intimate connections. One could share thoughts and sight and hurts. In times of injuries, one can help ease the suffering of the other by sharing the burden of the pain. It was a gift to be given and shared. It was also a responsibility not to be taken lightly.
They were suddenly aware of a third presence with them.
It was Ceri.
They were surprised. Shouldn't she be with Frank?
"Is Joe okay?" She asked in a small voice.
Then they noted she had been crying.
Neither had felt like asking at that moment, but felt they should. So.
"Frank?" Rei forced herself to ask.
Ceri did not answer but simply stared back at Rei and Banz. For a long time.
"He rejected me…" She finally said.
Both Banz and Rei were surprised. Actually they weren't so surprised. Or were they?
And Banz was surprised to feel something bubbling just under the surface within him. He took a precious moment away from Joe to examine that emotion, and was surprised to see that it was anger. Anger riding on the aftermath of fear that was only too eager to tag onto any excuse to erupt into violence.
Full mastery over emotions; never fearing them, never seeking to control them, but taking them in, accepting them, and understanding and feeling the complete motivation behind them. And to be able to let them go graciously.
It was a simple yet difficult task.
He isolated that feeling, and then let that anger washed over him. He accepted the full potency of that outburst, felt its every nuance, then let the energy dissipates into world around him.
Then he turned his attention back to Ceri, to find that Rei was already hugging her and comforting her.
He smiled. Some things woman handles best.
Then the door to the healing quarters opened, and Mandoran walked out with Joe on a hover-bed next to him. He gestured them over.
"Will you see him safely to the Sick Bay?" He asked of them.
The three nodded.
"He'll be fine, but it will take a while to recover his full strength… he would likely feel extremely lethargic for a week or so, and I guess you'll have to think of how to keep him entertained in there." Mandoran added, and gave Reiko a quick smile.
Joe's dislike of the Sick Bay was a well known fact.
"What about…" Banz started to ask but Mandoran got there before him.
"He's totally exhausted, and Elmira's taking care of him at the moment, but he'll be alright, like Joe, after a long bed rest… and I must seek some rest myself… " Mandoran said. "I leave Joe to your care…"
And the councilor left. He must be exhausted too, for he literally wobbled down the corridor.
It did not take them long to see Joe to his room in the Sick Bay.
The three of them just stood and watched the sleeping lad for a long while. He was still too pale for their liking. But none dared to touch him, knowing the newly mended bones and muscles that lay just under the unblemished skin.
Then Banz made his move.
He gave Ceri and Rei a comforting hug each, and asked them to look after Joe on his behalf. Then he let himself out of the room. He had another sick brother to tend to.
Frank Hardy was back in his personal hell.
All that he feared had come to past. He hurt his own brother. Almost killed him…
He remembered the terror into which he awakened. He thought he might have killed Joe. Was he screaming or was he pleading for someone to let him go and see Joe? He knew they had given him something then, for it certainly dulled his senses and weakened his muscles quite a bit. He lay back down onto his bed, desperate and terrified. But the roiling emotions though strong were not as overwhelming as before.
Then there was this voice telling him that Joe was alive. It was such a sweet voice. He could not tell really if it was the voice or the news that helped calm him down just enough to be cognizant of his surroundings.
It was then he recognized Ceri.
He wanted to beg her to continue loving him and have her hold him, since he was sure no one else would. Not after what he just did. He wanted to run far away from her so that he would not have to see her love for him lessened because of what he did.
But in the end, he turned away from her, certain that she would despise him for his actions.
He did not even realize it when she left the room in tears after calling out to him in vain.
He had struggled between the need to rush out to personally see that his brother was alive and well and the desire to simply hide out in his sick bed and pretended that nothing happened. That he did not almost kill his brother's soul mate, and he did not almost killed Joe.
In the end, he withdrew from the world around him and retreated into himself and the hell he created. There was nothing left for him out there really. And how could he expect Joe to forgive him? Joe might be able to forgive the fact that Frank had quite mortally injured him. But how could anyone forgive another for almost killing one's soul mate? And Joe must have hated him all the more since they were brothers…
Lost in the vicious cycle of self incrimination, he did not hear the door opened and see Banz enter.
When Banz first walked into Frank's room, he was expecting to feel anger. He was also expecting to give Frank a deserving lecture on his selfishness and refusal to listen that led to Joe getting hurt.
His anger last but a split second and was gone.
Frank had felt that initial flare of anger and flinched. Banz could see the young man before him steel himself for a tongue lashing. Frank's self loathing permeated the room. He would have to be more than blind not to see that.
What surprised Banz was when he recognized the next feeling of Frank that emerged. It was pity.
It was clear to him that Frank expected a lecture. No, he wanted one. And Banz was wise enough to see that Frank would not feel better after that. He would only use it to justify his morose thoughts and sink deeper into depression.
Banz thought back to the events of the last few months, and he rethinks the stories that Joe told him of his elder brother. He could see now a much fuller picture before him.
He was looking at a young man who had so much in his former existence; he had no real need to depend on another. He was always in control because he had calculated all possibilities and had contingencies for everything. His brilliance had allowed that, and it had allowed that degree of control in his youthful life in the small world in which he lived that was not possible here.
Because this was a much larger world with so much more possibilities. And because here Frank had powers that came with a totally different set of obligations and responsibilities.
And Banz pity Frank, for he trusts, but never really fully trusted, because he never really needed to. He worked in a team, but was never a true team player, because he knew he could cover the shortfall at any time. As a result, he had always been alone, and he never knew it. Therefore he never learned. Therefore he could never truly learn.
Until now.
The elder brother, for all his talents, was a very poor man indeed.
So Banz sat down and started talking.
He talked about the riches in relationships, and of the wealth of experiences held in the multitude of emotions that a sentient being could feel and should feel. He talks about truly trusting and being able to let go. He talked about mistakes and he talked about forgiveness.
He knew Frank was not exactly listening for now. But with his almost perfect memory, he knew Frank could easily replay all those words and digest them at a later time.
He talked until his voice went hoarse, and it was time to go and pay a visit to his soul brother.
Joe was just about waking up, he knew.
Three days later, Banz wasn't feeling so patient anymore. Neither Frank nor Joe was giving any indication that they were pulling it together. And they had not even seen each other. They were both brilliant when it comes to excuses. So when the council called him to a meeting, he knew what they wanted him to do. For the first time in a long while, he wished he didn't have brothers. In fact, he might as well keep two pet Pindaro Cattles.
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