S.t.a.r.d.u.s.t part II
Disclaimer: (bows to mighty gods of licensed products) Nothing belongs to me in here except the stuff I make up. I'm not the over zealous disclaimer type, and I am too lazy to look and type all the names and companies this should go to, but I'm pretty sure they are too busy rolling in money to read my fanfiction. Oops, I think I'm beginning to sound bitter here. Better go on to the next section.
Summary: It's on Chapter I. Go and look at it there.
Author's Notes: First off, I would like to say thank you to all of my reviewers! I really appreciate it very much. Next, I want to say that if there are any grammatical errors in here, they are most likely due to the transfer from this file to fanfiction.net. I know that sounds strange, but when I uploaded the last chapter, all of my "…"'s turned into "."'s. It really bothered me because it made it look like I hadn't capitalized the next sentence after a period, which isn't true. And all of my tabbing was deleted. No indents here people. That goes for italics as well. None of this probably bothered anyone, but I am picky about my English. Mutter mutter. Last but not least, please review! I want to hear everyone's opinion! Alright, now I'll shut up and let you start the story. (
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*
James was impressed, to say the least, of the many things he saw from the moment he met his escort up to the present. Most were contained in some kind of sprawling castle, rising up and touching the tip of the sky. After a while, however, he noticed her explaining and babbling came less and less heatedly, and she glanced at him very often, just to see if he was still there. Finally both sat down and dangled their legs over the transparent path, although it was much thicker than the length of them.
"This is really strange," she said after a moment. "In all cases, you should have been gone a long time ago."
James smiled. "I don't know, I kind of like it. I wouldn't mind taking a long weekend here or something."
She sighed ruefully. "Too bad that will never happen. It's always been sad for me to see anyone go."
"Why?" he asked. "I thought you hated people. In fact you told me I was a mortal fool."
"I'm sure you are," she replied thoughtlessly. "It's just that sometimes I get talking to someone, the way I am now, and then they disappear."
"So?"
"Well, I'll never see them again. They'll write me off as a dream. Sometimes it happens so quick they are there one second and the next, poof! They're gone. I've had a lot of conversations end that way."
"So, after this, I'm never coming back? Not even after I die? Can't you look for me in paradise?"
"Don't be stupid," she snapped, "Of course I can't."
"Why not?" he whined. "Not even for just a second?"
She turned and looked at him, and after a while, a smiled broke out on her face. "Don't tell me you enjoy this. No one's ever enjoyed this before."
"I don't know, it's kind of fun to take a break, right?"
"I wouldn't know. I never take a break. I have to be here at all times."
"Really?" he asked, eyes widening. "You've never been anywhere else in your entire life? Not even for a little while?"
"Never. Not even for a minute."
They were both quiet for a little while, and she brushed some imaginary dust from her robes. James couldn't think how terrible it must be to sit in the same place day after day, and never get up and move to a new setting. He looked sideways at her. She was fiddling with her hair.
"Why?" he asked. "I mean, why can't you go anywhere? You said no one comes around here, so why don't you take a vacation or something?"
She turned her body just enough so she could face him, and then said, "Think of it like this: what if you didn't have an escort when you came here? What you have done?"
James looked up, thinking. "I would have gone to the paradise. As soon as I saw it, that's all I've wanted to do, but I know I can't. If I didn't know what was going to happen to me, I'd go."
"Do you know what happens if someone goes to heaven before they are truly dead?" she asked, leaning closer.
"Umm… no…" he said dumbly, startled by her closeness.
"Of course you don't. How could you? I'll tell you what happens. If someone goes to heaven and their body is alive, they are in a limbo between life and death. In other words, their bodies just stay the way they were until the soul comes back, so it can leave naturally. They never age, but they never wake up either."
"So that's what would have happened to me?"
"Yes. And you just imagine the consequences of what would happen if a wandering soul without a body came across a body without a soul."
"No way. That's never happened before."
"You're right!" she said proudly. "It hasn't. Know why? Because I'm on the job!"
"So that's why you have to stay. Wait a second…" he said, "If it's never happened before, how can you know?"
"We have our ways of knowing." She looked so serious, he believed her without thinking.
He sighed. "So what happens if you fall off this thing?" he asked absently, trying to make conversation. He wasn't expecting her reaction to the question, not in the least, but before he knew it, she'd pushed him right off the edge. He made a high pitched shriek, and shut his eyes tightly, thinking he was going to fall. After a few seconds, however, he cracked one eye open and looked around. He was floating a few inches from the path, and she was trying hard not to laugh.
"You should have seen your face!" she cried. James folded his arms and scowled.
"That was mean, you know," he said unhappily, but she was still giggling. Finally she reached out a pale hand and pulled him back next to her.
"I've never done that before," she said quietly, after the novelty wore off.
"Great, so I get to be your first victim," said James, still pouting. He had been really afraid back there.
"Not that," she said, "I meant, I've never laughed like that before."
He looked up, startled. "You've never laughed before?" he asked incredulously.
"I've laughed before, but not that way. Not because someone made me laugh," she said. "And I've been around for a long time, too."
"Come on," James countered, still disbelieving. "Someone's made you laugh. My friends make me laugh all the time! Well, sometimes I'm not laughing with them, more like at them, but I always regret that because Jessie has a bad temper and…" He trailed off as he noticed she was blushing. "What?" he asked.
"I've never had a friend before," she said softly. "The longest someone ever stayed besides you is less than an hour, and they were too afraid of me to say anything."
He looked down, not knowing what to say. If he didn't have his friends, he didn't know what he would do. After all, Jessie and Meowth were practically all he had. Even though sometimes they could be mean and thoughtless, without them, he wouldn't be the same person. He didn't think anyone should go through life without friends.
"I'm your friend," he said to her. "Now you have a friend."
She looked up. "You'll never see me again after this, James," she said. "It would be better for you if you didn't think of me as a friend. You can't be friends with someone if you never see or talk to them."
"I can." He smiled at her. "After I'm gone, I'll think of you a lot, alright? I'll, um, think of you every time I eat, um, or every time Jessie hits me, so I'll really think of you often."
She stared at him for a long time, and looked down, turning red. "Really, I wish you could come back to Earth with me, or something. I'd really like to see you again."
In the uncomfortable silence that followed, she could almost hear her heart beat. This was certainly out of the ordinary, and she didn't know how to react. Finally she had an idea.
"You don't know how much that meant to me," she said. "You really don't. I wasn't expecting someone like you to come along, ever. Now at least I know there people out there who are worthwhile." She paused. "Or maybe there aren't. You might be the only one." Another pause. "Lucky me for finding you, James."
James was quiet, probably embarrassed. No one had ever called him worthwhile. Not even his parents. He was really starting to like her. But the more he liked her, the more afraid he was of disappearing, and of never seeing her again. The thought made him feel awful. It wasn't often that he made friends with anyone, and losing this one would be a personal catastrophe. He could see this friendship stick, maybe even become something more. He blushed for thinking about that. She noticed.
"I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I don't mean to. I just don't want you to go without knowing how I feel."
He looked up. What was she saying?
"You're special, you know, to me at least. If I could stay with you longer I would. But I can't, and nothing is going to change that."
It wasn't everyday anyone called James special. In fact, he didn't think anyone had gone so far as to say things like that in his entire life. He really wished she could stay with him.
"That's why I have to hurry and show you how much I appreciate what you've done. Please let me grant you one wish."
"A wish?" James asked. "Can you do that?"
"Yes," she said. "But there are a few-"
"I've always wanted to be able to fly!" he said excitedly. "Grant that one. No! I want to be rich! Richer than my parents! Or let me become invisible when I want to! I'll rise to the top of Team Rocket!"
"As I was about to say, there are a few limitations," she said impatiently, but without any of the initial anger she used to have when James would interrupt her. "What you wish for can't be taken back down with you to Earth in any form but your mind. I can tell you anything you wish to know."
James's earlier hope deflated. This wasn't going to be so much fun after all. He thought and thought, but couldn't come up with anything that he wanted to know in particular or anything he could make money off of. In the end he just went for what everyone wants to know: their future.
"I wish to see my future," he said.
She fidgeted with her robes. "Is that what you want?" she asked. "Are you positive? You know if you see your future you-"
"It's what I want," he said, cutting her off once more. She sighed.
"If that is really and truly what you want, I'll grant that wish for you." She stepped back. "What you are about to see is a consolidation of every major event in the course of the rest of your life. Every bit of it is true and real. It shouldn't last more than ten minutes, but by the time it is over, you'll know exactly what to look forward to for the rest of your life."
James stood still, waiting. After a few moments, everything began to blur together and twist until he recognized his surroundings as the clearing where all of this began.
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*
~
Oddly enough, James noticed he was on the ground just like Jessie and Meowth. He looked over the detail. They complained, and left. That image faded, and James saw himself and his friends looking terrified in front of the boss, who was obviously ordering them to get out. He saw them get jobs. He watched himself, while comforting an obviously distressed Jessie, inadvertently kiss her. He saw his own wedding, and the lack of guests. He appraised the tiny house they would by. He saw his fights with Jessie occur before they ever started. He saw his own resentment grow. He watched himself get old, his good looks fade, and nothing but bitterness left behind. He saw Jessie struggle wildly to keep her own pretty face, and up secretly draining their already small bank accounts in the process. Meowth died. Jessie spoke less to him. The tension grew. He saw himself hate his life. At the very end, he watched an old man that bore only a tiny resemblance to himself leaf through a photo album, crying. He saw the man look up at the stars. Then it ended.
She stepped up to him. "I wanted to tell you not to look at it. That's what I tried to say. But when I told you I would grant any wish, I was bound to my word. I didn't think you would ask for that one. I thought you might have wanted to know how the universe began, or something." James said nothing. "I'm sorry."
Finally he spoke. "That's not my future," he said evenly, as if saying it with such finality would make it true.
"I wish I could lie to you, James, I really do. But I can't. That is the future you would have even if you tried to change it. What I just showed you is what will come to pass." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can make you forget, if you like."
"I don't want to forget. I don't want it to happen." His eyes burned with tears. He felt like a fool, but he couldn't help it. He turned away as the crystalline pools overflowed down his cheeks. He heard a noise behind him, and turned. She was crying too.
"I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I knew I shouldn't have. I didn't mean to. I didn't know it would be like this. I didn't want to do this to my only friend!"
James wiped his eyes and took her hand. "It's not your fault. I asked for it." Before he even had time to finish the last word, he realized she was hugging him. It was an almost comical scene, given how much shorter than him she was, but it still made his eyes blur up with new tears. She only held him tighter.
"I didn't mean it. I shouldn't have, I know, but I just wanted to give you something in return for what you've done for me. I hope you will understand." She drew back and looked into his eyes. "If you don't, that's fine. I would deserve it."
He smiled weakly and said, "I understand. I swear I do. It's not your fault the future I'll have isn't the one I want. I'm sure it's that way with a lot of people. The only thing I'm going to regret is never seeing you again-" he stopped as her body in front of him became momentarily transparent. Her shoulders dropped and features saddened.
"I saw it too," she murmured, "You're leaving now."
James panicked. "No! I don't want to! Isn't there some way I can stay for just a little while longer? Can't I come back again?"
"No," she said. "No, you'll never come back. This is goodbye. At least we get the chance to say it."
He pulled her in close, although her form was becoming less and less solid in his arms. "I didn't want to say goodbye to you," he said.
"Neither do I." Finally her hands slipped right through him, just as his had done when he approached Jessie as a ghost. "I never wanted to say goodbye to you. I would have given up my immortality just for one lifetime on Earth with-"
"I know," said James. "Me too. I think I would have loved you if I would have met you on Earth."
She looked ever sadder, and he corrected himself. "I love you here. If I had a chance, I wouldn't have let you go."
Her grip on him was releasing, and everything was twisting out of existence. "I'll never forget you," she cried, but her voice sounded unreal and far off.
A sudden thought seized him, and he yelled, "Wait! You never told me your name!"
"It's Yume!" she called, and he had to struggle to hear her. Her last words were so faint he couldn't be sure if they were real or imagined. "I love you! Goodbye!"
And then everything was gone.
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Disclaimer: (bows to mighty gods of licensed products) Nothing belongs to me in here except the stuff I make up. I'm not the over zealous disclaimer type, and I am too lazy to look and type all the names and companies this should go to, but I'm pretty sure they are too busy rolling in money to read my fanfiction. Oops, I think I'm beginning to sound bitter here. Better go on to the next section.
Summary: It's on Chapter I. Go and look at it there.
Author's Notes: First off, I would like to say thank you to all of my reviewers! I really appreciate it very much. Next, I want to say that if there are any grammatical errors in here, they are most likely due to the transfer from this file to fanfiction.net. I know that sounds strange, but when I uploaded the last chapter, all of my "…"'s turned into "."'s. It really bothered me because it made it look like I hadn't capitalized the next sentence after a period, which isn't true. And all of my tabbing was deleted. No indents here people. That goes for italics as well. None of this probably bothered anyone, but I am picky about my English. Mutter mutter. Last but not least, please review! I want to hear everyone's opinion! Alright, now I'll shut up and let you start the story. (
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*
James was impressed, to say the least, of the many things he saw from the moment he met his escort up to the present. Most were contained in some kind of sprawling castle, rising up and touching the tip of the sky. After a while, however, he noticed her explaining and babbling came less and less heatedly, and she glanced at him very often, just to see if he was still there. Finally both sat down and dangled their legs over the transparent path, although it was much thicker than the length of them.
"This is really strange," she said after a moment. "In all cases, you should have been gone a long time ago."
James smiled. "I don't know, I kind of like it. I wouldn't mind taking a long weekend here or something."
She sighed ruefully. "Too bad that will never happen. It's always been sad for me to see anyone go."
"Why?" he asked. "I thought you hated people. In fact you told me I was a mortal fool."
"I'm sure you are," she replied thoughtlessly. "It's just that sometimes I get talking to someone, the way I am now, and then they disappear."
"So?"
"Well, I'll never see them again. They'll write me off as a dream. Sometimes it happens so quick they are there one second and the next, poof! They're gone. I've had a lot of conversations end that way."
"So, after this, I'm never coming back? Not even after I die? Can't you look for me in paradise?"
"Don't be stupid," she snapped, "Of course I can't."
"Why not?" he whined. "Not even for just a second?"
She turned and looked at him, and after a while, a smiled broke out on her face. "Don't tell me you enjoy this. No one's ever enjoyed this before."
"I don't know, it's kind of fun to take a break, right?"
"I wouldn't know. I never take a break. I have to be here at all times."
"Really?" he asked, eyes widening. "You've never been anywhere else in your entire life? Not even for a little while?"
"Never. Not even for a minute."
They were both quiet for a little while, and she brushed some imaginary dust from her robes. James couldn't think how terrible it must be to sit in the same place day after day, and never get up and move to a new setting. He looked sideways at her. She was fiddling with her hair.
"Why?" he asked. "I mean, why can't you go anywhere? You said no one comes around here, so why don't you take a vacation or something?"
She turned her body just enough so she could face him, and then said, "Think of it like this: what if you didn't have an escort when you came here? What you have done?"
James looked up, thinking. "I would have gone to the paradise. As soon as I saw it, that's all I've wanted to do, but I know I can't. If I didn't know what was going to happen to me, I'd go."
"Do you know what happens if someone goes to heaven before they are truly dead?" she asked, leaning closer.
"Umm… no…" he said dumbly, startled by her closeness.
"Of course you don't. How could you? I'll tell you what happens. If someone goes to heaven and their body is alive, they are in a limbo between life and death. In other words, their bodies just stay the way they were until the soul comes back, so it can leave naturally. They never age, but they never wake up either."
"So that's what would have happened to me?"
"Yes. And you just imagine the consequences of what would happen if a wandering soul without a body came across a body without a soul."
"No way. That's never happened before."
"You're right!" she said proudly. "It hasn't. Know why? Because I'm on the job!"
"So that's why you have to stay. Wait a second…" he said, "If it's never happened before, how can you know?"
"We have our ways of knowing." She looked so serious, he believed her without thinking.
He sighed. "So what happens if you fall off this thing?" he asked absently, trying to make conversation. He wasn't expecting her reaction to the question, not in the least, but before he knew it, she'd pushed him right off the edge. He made a high pitched shriek, and shut his eyes tightly, thinking he was going to fall. After a few seconds, however, he cracked one eye open and looked around. He was floating a few inches from the path, and she was trying hard not to laugh.
"You should have seen your face!" she cried. James folded his arms and scowled.
"That was mean, you know," he said unhappily, but she was still giggling. Finally she reached out a pale hand and pulled him back next to her.
"I've never done that before," she said quietly, after the novelty wore off.
"Great, so I get to be your first victim," said James, still pouting. He had been really afraid back there.
"Not that," she said, "I meant, I've never laughed like that before."
He looked up, startled. "You've never laughed before?" he asked incredulously.
"I've laughed before, but not that way. Not because someone made me laugh," she said. "And I've been around for a long time, too."
"Come on," James countered, still disbelieving. "Someone's made you laugh. My friends make me laugh all the time! Well, sometimes I'm not laughing with them, more like at them, but I always regret that because Jessie has a bad temper and…" He trailed off as he noticed she was blushing. "What?" he asked.
"I've never had a friend before," she said softly. "The longest someone ever stayed besides you is less than an hour, and they were too afraid of me to say anything."
He looked down, not knowing what to say. If he didn't have his friends, he didn't know what he would do. After all, Jessie and Meowth were practically all he had. Even though sometimes they could be mean and thoughtless, without them, he wouldn't be the same person. He didn't think anyone should go through life without friends.
"I'm your friend," he said to her. "Now you have a friend."
She looked up. "You'll never see me again after this, James," she said. "It would be better for you if you didn't think of me as a friend. You can't be friends with someone if you never see or talk to them."
"I can." He smiled at her. "After I'm gone, I'll think of you a lot, alright? I'll, um, think of you every time I eat, um, or every time Jessie hits me, so I'll really think of you often."
She stared at him for a long time, and looked down, turning red. "Really, I wish you could come back to Earth with me, or something. I'd really like to see you again."
In the uncomfortable silence that followed, she could almost hear her heart beat. This was certainly out of the ordinary, and she didn't know how to react. Finally she had an idea.
"You don't know how much that meant to me," she said. "You really don't. I wasn't expecting someone like you to come along, ever. Now at least I know there people out there who are worthwhile." She paused. "Or maybe there aren't. You might be the only one." Another pause. "Lucky me for finding you, James."
James was quiet, probably embarrassed. No one had ever called him worthwhile. Not even his parents. He was really starting to like her. But the more he liked her, the more afraid he was of disappearing, and of never seeing her again. The thought made him feel awful. It wasn't often that he made friends with anyone, and losing this one would be a personal catastrophe. He could see this friendship stick, maybe even become something more. He blushed for thinking about that. She noticed.
"I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. I don't mean to. I just don't want you to go without knowing how I feel."
He looked up. What was she saying?
"You're special, you know, to me at least. If I could stay with you longer I would. But I can't, and nothing is going to change that."
It wasn't everyday anyone called James special. In fact, he didn't think anyone had gone so far as to say things like that in his entire life. He really wished she could stay with him.
"That's why I have to hurry and show you how much I appreciate what you've done. Please let me grant you one wish."
"A wish?" James asked. "Can you do that?"
"Yes," she said. "But there are a few-"
"I've always wanted to be able to fly!" he said excitedly. "Grant that one. No! I want to be rich! Richer than my parents! Or let me become invisible when I want to! I'll rise to the top of Team Rocket!"
"As I was about to say, there are a few limitations," she said impatiently, but without any of the initial anger she used to have when James would interrupt her. "What you wish for can't be taken back down with you to Earth in any form but your mind. I can tell you anything you wish to know."
James's earlier hope deflated. This wasn't going to be so much fun after all. He thought and thought, but couldn't come up with anything that he wanted to know in particular or anything he could make money off of. In the end he just went for what everyone wants to know: their future.
"I wish to see my future," he said.
She fidgeted with her robes. "Is that what you want?" she asked. "Are you positive? You know if you see your future you-"
"It's what I want," he said, cutting her off once more. She sighed.
"If that is really and truly what you want, I'll grant that wish for you." She stepped back. "What you are about to see is a consolidation of every major event in the course of the rest of your life. Every bit of it is true and real. It shouldn't last more than ten minutes, but by the time it is over, you'll know exactly what to look forward to for the rest of your life."
James stood still, waiting. After a few moments, everything began to blur together and twist until he recognized his surroundings as the clearing where all of this began.
~
*
~
Oddly enough, James noticed he was on the ground just like Jessie and Meowth. He looked over the detail. They complained, and left. That image faded, and James saw himself and his friends looking terrified in front of the boss, who was obviously ordering them to get out. He saw them get jobs. He watched himself, while comforting an obviously distressed Jessie, inadvertently kiss her. He saw his own wedding, and the lack of guests. He appraised the tiny house they would by. He saw his fights with Jessie occur before they ever started. He saw his own resentment grow. He watched himself get old, his good looks fade, and nothing but bitterness left behind. He saw Jessie struggle wildly to keep her own pretty face, and up secretly draining their already small bank accounts in the process. Meowth died. Jessie spoke less to him. The tension grew. He saw himself hate his life. At the very end, he watched an old man that bore only a tiny resemblance to himself leaf through a photo album, crying. He saw the man look up at the stars. Then it ended.
She stepped up to him. "I wanted to tell you not to look at it. That's what I tried to say. But when I told you I would grant any wish, I was bound to my word. I didn't think you would ask for that one. I thought you might have wanted to know how the universe began, or something." James said nothing. "I'm sorry."
Finally he spoke. "That's not my future," he said evenly, as if saying it with such finality would make it true.
"I wish I could lie to you, James, I really do. But I can't. That is the future you would have even if you tried to change it. What I just showed you is what will come to pass." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can make you forget, if you like."
"I don't want to forget. I don't want it to happen." His eyes burned with tears. He felt like a fool, but he couldn't help it. He turned away as the crystalline pools overflowed down his cheeks. He heard a noise behind him, and turned. She was crying too.
"I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I knew I shouldn't have. I didn't mean to. I didn't know it would be like this. I didn't want to do this to my only friend!"
James wiped his eyes and took her hand. "It's not your fault. I asked for it." Before he even had time to finish the last word, he realized she was hugging him. It was an almost comical scene, given how much shorter than him she was, but it still made his eyes blur up with new tears. She only held him tighter.
"I didn't mean it. I shouldn't have, I know, but I just wanted to give you something in return for what you've done for me. I hope you will understand." She drew back and looked into his eyes. "If you don't, that's fine. I would deserve it."
He smiled weakly and said, "I understand. I swear I do. It's not your fault the future I'll have isn't the one I want. I'm sure it's that way with a lot of people. The only thing I'm going to regret is never seeing you again-" he stopped as her body in front of him became momentarily transparent. Her shoulders dropped and features saddened.
"I saw it too," she murmured, "You're leaving now."
James panicked. "No! I don't want to! Isn't there some way I can stay for just a little while longer? Can't I come back again?"
"No," she said. "No, you'll never come back. This is goodbye. At least we get the chance to say it."
He pulled her in close, although her form was becoming less and less solid in his arms. "I didn't want to say goodbye to you," he said.
"Neither do I." Finally her hands slipped right through him, just as his had done when he approached Jessie as a ghost. "I never wanted to say goodbye to you. I would have given up my immortality just for one lifetime on Earth with-"
"I know," said James. "Me too. I think I would have loved you if I would have met you on Earth."
She looked ever sadder, and he corrected himself. "I love you here. If I had a chance, I wouldn't have let you go."
Her grip on him was releasing, and everything was twisting out of existence. "I'll never forget you," she cried, but her voice sounded unreal and far off.
A sudden thought seized him, and he yelled, "Wait! You never told me your name!"
"It's Yume!" she called, and he had to struggle to hear her. Her last words were so faint he couldn't be sure if they were real or imagined. "I love you! Goodbye!"
And then everything was gone.
~
*
~
