Chapter 12
(Author's Note [10/13/22]: Hey guys, Darkcastchamp here. I know it's been awhile since my last chapter. I've just been so busy with life over these past years that I haven't been able to really focus on any story writing. But the itch is back, so I hope the wait was worth it.)
The car ride inside of Zircon's Hummer Jeep was…frighteningly quiet. No music, no idle chatter, not even talk about what the plans would be once they get to Schadenville. But, it was understandable. Schadenville is Zircon's hometown where he dealt with much abuse both physically from the townspeople and emotional from his father. That was enough for both Labra and Steven to understand during the 8 hour car ride up to northern Massachusetts. What was really getting to Labra though was just the stone face Zircon obviously was forcing himself to have. She could easily tell how much Zircon was trying to force that he was "ok" and from her times with Zircon taught her that he was very bad at lying. "Ok, I'm done." Labra groaned out.
"I don't understand what you mean." Zircon tried to play off ignorance to Labra's annoyance as Labra lurched her head a bit to look at Zircon with a raised eyebrow of skepticism and doubt, "Really?" She monotonously questioned. "Zircon, you're about to return to your hometown after-…" Labra then stopped in the middle of her lecture as the time frame blanked from her mind, not having ever asked Zircon about Schadenville before. "Um…"
"10." Zircon bluntly stated still looking out at the road with a blank slated face.
"After 10 years of being away from it!" Labra finished, returning to her passionate tone for the lecture. "Wait- 10 years?!" Labra then realized what Zircon told her. "You're like, what, 18 right?"
"Yyyyyep." Zircon continued to nonchalantly answer, still showing he wasn't having much interest in what Labra was saying.
"So you're telling me you've been on your own and on the road since you were 8?!" Labra's body lunged a bit over the stick shift that was between the driver and passenger seat, leaning close to Zircon so she could pretty much force him to see the shock on her face.
"Thaaat about sums it up. Yeah." But Zircon still had his eyes glued on the road and answering back with a monotone voice. Labra's cheeks puffed up as she pouted before finally letting out a loud groan of defeat, throwing herself back into her seat. All the while, Steven was just watching the two from the back seat, eyes widened from wanting to say something, but too afraid to actually say it. "Well I at least want to know the plan for when we get there, if you even have one." Labra tried to at least bring up a plausible concern since Zircon never uttered a word about that topic either.
"It's simple. We arrive in Schadenville, find my dad, ask him about my lost fragment, hopefully find my lost fragment and then leave." Zircon's breakdown was…concerningly simple to both Labra and Steven, finally perking the latter of the two up to finally speak, "Zircon, it can't just be that simple when it comes to your dad. Or even just returning to Schadenville. From what you told me, a lot has happened before you ran away that left a lot of unopened wounds in need of closure."
"Wh-What wounds?! There aren't any wounds!" Zircon quickly denied as he seemed to be growing irritated at this whole conversation.
"But Zircon, even you have to admit that at some point you need to talk with your dad about your mo-" In the middle of Labra's explanation, the Hummer came to a screeching halt, making Labra and Steven lunge forward from their seats, their seatbelts locking them in place from flying forward. "AH! Hey, what the heck Zir- con?" Labra was about to give Zircon an earful until she looked over at him, the expression on his face not being emotionless anymore. His pale-green skin actually looked even paler, his hands were shaking, and his eyelids were opened as far as they possibly could. When Labra and Steven looked ahead at the road, they could see a small, rural town that looked like it could house about a couple dozen families. At the very front was an iron gate frame with a wooden sign attached at the top middle reading "Schadenville". Both Labra's and Steven's eyes veered over at Zircon and their heads only slightly turned a bit, both passengers not wanting to actually look directly at him. They could tell his body was in major conflict with what was before him and Labra and Steven were afraid if they said or even did the wrong thing it would make Zircon backtrack from the whole mission. Thankfully, Zircon's stubbornness kicked in for the better. He aggressively unbuckled his seat beat and threw himself out of the Hummer, his steel-toed boots trampling into the muddy, dirt road that would lead into the town. Letting out sighs of relief, both Labra and Steven followed after.
With the Massachusetts area being a bit more freezing in temperature, Labra was once again wearing her knitted, light-blue and turquoise striped sweater from her time in Canada with Zircon, along with black snow-pants, and newly bought Ugg Boots during her time shopping with Connie back in Beach City. Of course, hearing the sound of her new boots hitting the muddy ground made her moan in disappointment. Steven, meanwhile, was wearing his puffy, red, winter coat that had fur tailings on the rims of his sweater's neck, waist, and wrist linings with blue snow pants and pink snow boots. Zircon's attire was the least changed as he still had on both his black trench coat and his crimson-red hoodie he wore underneath, albeit both of these were now zipped up compared to when he's in Beach City and his hoodie was fully thrown over his face. The attire was complete with baggy, hunter-green snow pants. Noticing how he already had his hoodie up, Steven tugged on Zircon's trench coat a bit, "Come on, Zircon, there's no need to hide yourself. You said so yourself, it's been 10 years. People change a lot during that amount of time." Steven's words did reach Zircon's subconscious, but something inside of Zircon was still nagging at the back of his head, prompting him to give out a grumbled groan of worry. But soon enough, his feet had to move as the three Gems walked past the town's gate frame.
As the group walked through the muddy streets of the town, the three were already getting looks from the townsfolk. Then again, the town was so small everyone knew everyone. So a group of three strangers arriving in a Hummer would definitely make some heads turn. "Wait a minute…" Zircon stopped in his track as he looked at one of the households, the one in particular being a three-storied inn. The wood seemed rather new, at least compared to all of the older-looking buildings, like it was built within the last couple years or so. "It's not here." Zircon continued.
"What isn't, Zircon?" Labra quickly walked over, looking up at the same building that Zircon was.
"My old house. It's not here anymore." Zircon gently shook his head while his mind was beginning to run a million miles a second.
"O-Ok ok, let's not freak out." Steven quickly slipped himself between the two, trying to diffuse Zircon's confusion and panic. "Remember, Zircon, it's been 10 years. Let's not assume the worst. Um…" Steven then started to look around until he spotted a two-story, large wooden shack. At the entrance, this shack has a large window that spanned across half of the front of this building with two wooden doors allowing entrance. Inside, Steven could see it as clear as day what that housing was for. "Come on!" Steven dragged both Zircon and Labra alongside him. Looking up at where Steven was dragging them, Zircon immediately tried to rescind Steven's idea, "Whoa whoa whoa! No! Uh-uh! No way!"
"What, Zircon?" Steven tried to look innocent with Zircon, but Zircon wasn't having it, "Steven, if not your dad, then Pearl will surely KILL me for letting you go into a Bar!"
"Oh come on! It's not like I'm gonna drink anything." Steven tried to argue back only for Zircon to eye over at Labra for some assistance. "I um…I'll watch him while we're inside. Make sure he's not influenced." Labra cheerily assured as Zircon merely sighed out in response, "…Come on."
Pushing past the double doors, Zircon, Steven and Labra were immediately met with the warmth and smell of alcohol permeating the tavern's insides. Zircon remembers it clearly from his youth that many of the men in town would come here during their break hours from either the coal mines or fishing. It was old-fashioned, but simple enough for the townsfolk to live their lives. Just like outside, some of the tavern-folk were eyeing at the newcomers, especially Steven due to how young he looked. Motioning his hand at Labra to stay back for this next part, Labra gently pulled Steven back by his shoulder as the two went to go and find a table to sit at. Seeing them out of the way, Zircon finally approached the bar counter itself, where a male dressed in black, button-up shirt and a white apron presided as the bartender. He had a greying, dark-brown handlebar moustache that matched his front-thinning hairline along with some sideburns that stretched down the side of his face. "Um, excuse me?" Zircon tried to get the bartender's attention, but without even looking at Zircon, the male responded back in a rough, English accent, "Sorry kid, can't serve yah. Come back in a couple years when you're roight propah age."
"Th-That's not why I'm here." Zircon immediately shut down the bartender's assumptions, making the bartender cock an eyebrow and making him look at Zircon through his peripherals, "Is that so now?"
"I'm looking for someone who was born and lived here his whole life." Zircon continued to question as eyes from the other taverneers were now completely fixated on Zircon's backside, noticeable by both Labra and Steven, "Ooooh…come on, Zircon, don't do anything stupid." Labra worried. The bartender now fully turned to Zircon and leaned up against the bar counter, looking Zircon straight in the eyes, "Now you listen to me, kid…we're a very personal lot here and don't really take kindly to outsiders questioning us about one of our own." The bartender then began to crack his knuckles as some of the patrons were now surrounding Zircon from behind, "Especially when they be lookin' suspicious as Hell in such a gaudy getup like yours. Now first, we can probably start with ya losing your Incognito Mode of a hood of yours and look me properly in the eyes before we continue this conversation." The bartender was asking with polite words, but his stern tone made it sound more like a threat. Seeing no other way out of this, Zircon sighed out and began to remove his hood, anxiety settling in not just his stomach, but also Labra's and Steven's.
When his green veined, sickly-green skinned face was revealed, the patrons behind Zircon flinched as some gasped and backed up. The bartender was taken aback too, but…he instead came completely around from the bar and just…stared into Zircon's eyes before gently holding Zircon's face and inspecting Zircon's features, much to Zircon's uncomfort, "Um, why all touchy?" Zircon questioned rather annoyed.
"Cor blimey…it can't be." The bartender's look of confusion slowly turned somber before he finally cocked up a gentle smile, "You're the spitting image of your father…well, at least when you look past the deficiencies." The bartender chuckled as now it was Zircon's turn to be shocked, "You…you recognize me?!" But Zircon's realization made him try to back away from the men who he was surrounded by, afraid for the worst. His current mindset actually made Zircon stumble back, almost falling down if it wasn't for the bartender grabbing his arm and pulling him. Expecting a face full of knuckles, Zircon readied himself for any coming blows…only to instead be held in a tight, friendly hug. Zircon's confusion only skyrocketed now. If there was a visible gauge to show Zircon's current state of confusion, it would've short-circuited and blew up. Obviously still uncomfortable about the whole thing, Zircon just gently gave the bartender's back literally two pats before the bartender released him. Seeing the situation die down, and the anxiousness secreted from their cores, Steven and Labra quickly walked over to their friend. "Little Nathaniel Evans, all grown up." The bartender finally spoke, making Zircon's cheeks darken green. Labra snickered, covering her mouth as Steven was just confused, "Nathaniel Evans?"
"Um- uh-" Zircon was fumbling for the words he was searching for as Labra gave him a quick, but painful release from the situation, "Your real name is Nathaniel?" Now Steven stared up at Zircon with a completely changed expression. But just like Steven, it was always one of optimism, "Nathaniel?! That's such a cool name!"
"Uuuugh…" Zircon groaned out as Labra couldn't help but giggle behind both of her hands. But the cheeriness of the situation quickly died as the bartender and all of the men in tavern now had a look of relief, but were still sad when meeting Zircon's eyes, "So after all of this time, even after what we did to you…you did good, I see." But when the bartender brought the past up, Zircon's expression turned serious as he just stared back at the bartender who now was the one that couldn't keep eye contact. "Oh, that's all huh? That's all you have to say for what you all did?" Zircon rightfully raised his voice a bit as every man in the tavern he tried to look at couldn't look him back in the eyes.
"Zircon, we're all sorry. We truly are. Trust me; once we've realized what we forced unto you, we tried to make it right." The bartender tried to explain. "We searched everywhere for you for days on end, hoping you were just hiding out in the nearby woods or swamps. But…after a week of fruitless searching, we assumed all scenarios of the worst and had to inform your father."
"…Didn't even notice I was gone probably." Zircon assumed as the bartender just looked away, confirming Zircon's thoughts as Zircon just glared at the floor. "I knew it…that man was more invested in his booze than his own son."
"But trust me when I say this Zircon, on behalf of every man in this tavern and every denizen of this town." Zircon looked back up at the bartender, seeing the bartender was getting all teary eyed, "We regret all of the decisions we made in response to Billy Booner's death…" Once the name Billy Booner reached Zircon's ears, images flashed in his head of the motionless body of the boy from his memories, making the entirety of Zircon's facial features shiver in guilt. "And because of what we did, instead of coming together as a community to mourn over an accident…we instead ruined the life of another one of our own." The bartender finished. "Natty…I can't imagine what you had to go through while being still such a little tyke." Zircon took a deep breath to collect his thoughts before speaking out calmly…and honestly, "It was hard." Zircon started. "Scraping for table scraps at bed and breakfast diner inns, waiting 'til I was the right age to actually throw my weight around and work until I made enough money to support myself for whatever minimum I needed to survive. But…" Zircon then looked over to Labra and Steven as he just briefly stated with a soft smile, "It wasn't all bad." The bartender looked over at Zircon's friends as his face brightened a bit more, "Seems like you ended up a better man than anyone in this bar, Natty. Your father would be proud." Hearing his father's name, Zircon clicked his teeth as he looked rather annoyed when he turned to speak with the bartender again, "About him…my father is the one I am looking for."
"Oh…" The bartender looked like he just had a bowling ball dropped in his stomach. This slightly unnerved Zircon as he leaned in close to the bartender, "What?" The bartender kept silent looking afraid to answer Zircon. "…Where's my father?"