By Chustang Sundust
: Chapter 1:
::: Epigone :::
Sean bit his tongue cutely, clutching the pencil in his fist and
rubbing the eraser along the paper. The prodigy kid sat beside his prodigy
brother, along the small town bench. Overhead, the misty skies were fresh
with rain, and he was rushing to finish this. Dark chocolate eyes narrowed
in determination, he turned the pencil over and paused, looking back up
to Jim. It had only been a few days since Gene had died, and depression
had a strong grip over him.
Jim seemed only a hollow shadow of himself lately, and Sean had
begun to worry. With a baseball cap to conceal his eyes and face, his blonde
hair was streaked dark with rain and tears, disheveled, and he was disturbingly
thin with strain and worry. The sole survivor of the original Starwind
and Hawking sighed heavily to himself, lying on the bench while he felt
the light drizzle fall along his already pale and wet skin. In his darkened
and dulled-hearted mind, only a few thoughts lingered there, but those
were more than enough. 1) Gene was dead, and it was like they'd been two
halves put together, but with one of those essential halves buried in the
British moors, the world was spinning on half an axis. 2) He had switched
places; it was Hawking taking care of the baby Starwind, not the other
way around. 3) He had so much damn pressure on him!
Jim sighed and tilted the cap back to allow his hand to massage
his pounding temples. It was way too much, for a simple twelve year old
to handle this all. Before, he had at least had help from Gene with money,
(even if was extremely little) and he hadn't had to take care of him like…
a little kid. He glanced his strained and black-ringed eyes back to Sean,
who had grabbed a piece of paper, and was scribbling something on it. Jim
didn't care what; it was just quiet, and right now, he needed a lot of
it. It had been a long time waiting for Suzuka and Melfina to return with
the Outlaw Star, and Aisha with her kids were still browsing the town.
It was like, after that first night, he'd been unable to cry.
Jim felt this was a curse, Gene's own intervening, because instead of salty
tears, his eyes would just blur and burn red. But that brought another
thought to mind. He flickered his sleepy, half-hearted blue eyes up to
the sky; trying to imagine the stars his Aniki had loved so much. If Gene
was in heaven, if that's were convicted bounty hunters go, Jim began to
wonder if he was an angel, and if so, what the expression on his face must
be. A small, short-lived smile came across his face, thinking of that.
He'd always imagined angels as perfectly behaved, intelligent, and dignified
people of high class, and Aniki clearly didn't fit that description. Gene
would be chasing after the gals, acting like a fool, and cracking jokes.
Not quite an angel.
But, maybe he wasn't up there. Gene had obviously left a lot
of himself in Sean, but not all of it. Of course there was Melfina's poetry
and eyes, along with her good nature, so if his mini-Aniki wasn't all Gene,
where did the rest go? Jim flinched almost at this thought, of his Aniki
getting more split up than he was already, from all his friends. The blonde
sighed deeply and closed the topic; it was easier for him to get exhausted
these days, and thinking about Gene hurt.
Sean finished, nodding happily to himself, and placed the pencil
back into the computer case. He looked up at Jim, chocolate brown eyes
trying to see him through the tossed blonde hair and the shadow of the
hat. The kid looked around the empty streets, seeing no sign of Ehefrau
or Suzu and Mel, then back to his brother. He saw that Jim was savoring
the silence, and Sean shyly nudged him with his short fingers. "Jim, wake
up pretty please…" he said, holding up the note.
The young mechanic prodigy flickered his eyes open, and mumbled,
"Yeah. What?"
Sean gave an elated grin and held up the note, saying proudly,
"Daddy told me to write a note for him. See? And he says I'm growing up
fast, too!"
Jim sighed, realizing just what he meant. Poor kid, he looked
like he had been taking it well. Too well, in fact. Sean had been perky
and optimistic ever since he had woken up on the ship headed for Earth,
brown eyes as bright and curious as ever. It could have crossed as suspicious
in his mind, but he knew better than to suspect a kid like him for something.
Now it seemed that Sean had cracked up. Jim shook his head softly, looking
down. "Sean, you know as well as I that he didn't tell you to write a note,"
he said, drained, and ignored the offer for the note. "Now quit fooling
around, alright? I'm stressed as it is."
A misty wave of disappointment gleamed in his hurt brown eyes,
and they darted away from him for a moment, glancing at the ground. But
Gene's determination was shining deep in him, and Sean swallowed his hurt
and said defiantly, "But he did!"
A pair of cynical, stressed marble blue eyes flashed at him beneath
the rim of the cap, and after searching mini-Aniki's face, he sighed. Jim
tilted his cap up and said, "Alright, lemme see that note." He accepted
the crinkled note, as it dampened from the light drizzle, and began reading.
Instantly, his eyes went wide with shock. They darted confusedly around
the paper, and then narrowed darkly.
The whole thing had been writing in messy kanji, and it was reminiscing
of his Aniki's handwriting, but it was clear Sean had no idea what it said.
The kid couldn't read, but it was amazing he could write. Jim took another
double take, looking to the redhead's smiling face. "Where did you get
this?" he demanded coldly.
"I make it!" he said proudly, giving a beaming smile.
Jim suspiciously burned a dark gaze at him, with the anguish
stirring up the most desperate emotions he had in him again. He read over
the note again, which said clearly, 'Quit moping, would ya Jim?' and a
string burst in his heart. Jim blinked his blue eyes, resisting the burning
in his eyes, and said, "Where did you learn this, Sean?"
"Daddy told me how to make the lines, that's all," Sean said
simply, with a broad grin still flashing in pride of his work. "I don't
know how. He wanted you to have it. Dad's sad you're sad."
Anger like he'd never felt began to boil slowly in him, and the
frustration began to break on him. Jim was going insane with all this.
His blue eyes narrowed, lipping "No" angrily, and jumped up, throwing the
paper back. "Can't you see?!" he screamed, tearing through all the rage.
"See what?" asked Sean timidly, cringing away from his explosive
brother. His face was twisted up in fear, and he glanced confused brown
eyes around.
"Can't you see?! Can't you see?!" he nearly shrieked, grabbing
the kid by his shirt collar. "He's gone and dead! Daddy ain't here, and
he'll never be again! You cannot hear him; you just want to because you
can't! Everybody wants him back so much they'd die for it and you go and
smile! You're not supposed to be happy! Gene is dead! Forever. No happy
ending! Get it now?!" He stood breathlessly, with Sean hanging by his collar
and clutching weakly at Jim's hands, and his blue eyes were dark with anger
and frustration. He blinked suddenly, realizing what he was doing and seeing
tears in Sean's eyes, and set the kid back onto the ground. Hawking felt
his heart bleeding again, and he fell to his knees, knowing it was hopelessly
true.
Jim gasped to regain his breath, and the mini-Aniki pushed the
outburst incident out of his mind. Sean reached over and patted his back,
ruffling his blonde hair as well. "It's okay," he reassured, wrapping his
arms around his neck. "Starwind and Hawking ain't dead."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Notes:
Wahh! I just got the Goo Goo Dolls cd I wanted so much, I got
home and found out my Alanis Morissette cd got screwed up! Man, is it a
twisted and weird world or what. Anyway, happy reading…
