Chapter 02: Rue's Violin
Professor Klaus was in the basement when Rue and Elena got to their home. The room was piled up with boxes gathering dust, stuff that Rue had collected in the many clue-hunting missions he undertook under Klaus's tutelage.
Klaus had promised his help in the search for Claire, and the first thing he did back then was to pore over Claire's diaries that Rue had taken with him from her hometown. One thing he found extremely peculiar was her detailed descriptions of several, seemingly unconnected mechanical and electronic devices—parts that (he discovered after extensive research) were rare in the region of her hometown, and that Claire, being poor, could not have had access to. For the past two years, every now and then he'd send Rue on scouting missions to gather evidence—relics, as he called them—in the hope that piecing them together and getting at least some of them to work would turn up clues as to who made them—the people that Klaus believed to be behind Claire's disappearance.
Rue had been a very good helper. He always found what Klaus asked him to and sometimes more, always exceeding the professor's expectations. Klaus discovered that the boy had a keen eye and natural affinity for technology, qualities that could be greatly improved with the proper training that Klaus could not provide.
Rue had gathered so much junk over the years they had accumulated, filling the room all the way up to the ceiling. After much squeezing through tight corners and shouting at each other, he found the professor on his desk in the least dusty area of the room. "You wanted to see me, professor?"
"Ah, yes, Rue." Klaus looked up from the thick tome he was reading. "There's something I want to show you." He stood up, taking off his reading glasses and walking towards several stacks of boxes. He pulled out a wooden one about a meter across in size, perfectly cubic with black metal edging. "Do you remember this?"
"Only vaguely," Rue admitted. He found nothing particularly interesting about it, except for the fact that it was made from an uncommon type of wood.
"You got this from Elroy's library, along with a broken tiara, a couple of years ago. Remember when we thought that Elroy could have been working on illegal technology before his death, and that he got a lot of his stuff from a company based somewhere in the next district?"
Rue nodded. He was starting to remember more clearly now. "You dismissed the idea when the items I got turned out to be bogus."
"Turns out they weren't." Klaus opened the box, and motioned for Rue to look. It was empty. "I just discovered this yesterday. Look closer."
He pushed a hidden lever at its side, revealing a false bottom. Inside were several hollow indentations. "I think this box hides something under the indentations. I've tried putting stuff in but found only one that could fit. It doesn't open yet, of course. But I'm afraid to use force as that might ruin the box's workings." He took a broken item off the shelf behind him. "It's this tiara that you found, also in Elroy's library." Klaus proceeded demonstrate it to Rue. "Now, the workings inside the false bottom are done in metallic blue." He turned the broken tiara over. "This tiara has workings in orange. Remember that we found this inside one of two identical containers?"
Rue nodded. The cylindrical containers were kept on one of the higher shelves, and Klaus took them both.
"We got the tiara from inside this one." He opened one and showed it to Rue. The inside was orange. "The other one was empty." Again, he opened it. This time, the inside was painted blue.
The boy could see where Klaus was going with this. "I remember there were several more containers like that in the main hall. That means that the keys to this box could still be there! I'm going back—right now."
"Wait, Rue!" Klaus called, but the boy didn't hear him.
Rue was already out of the room, running up the basement stairs and out into the hall. He reached for his violin case where he had left it by the front door.
Suddenly a hand was top of his before he could unlock it. He looked up towards the gymnastics coach's blue-gray eyes. "I forbid you to go to Elroy's library tonight." Her tone was stern and left no room for argument.
"But, Mira…" Rue tried to reason with her, but she interrupted him.
"We're not even sure if this, this investigation will lead us to Claire. (Personally, I've never been fond of some of my husband's methods…)" she admitted, shaking her head. "But, either way, tomorrow is a school day, and I don't like the idea of you going back there alone. I'll find someone to accompany you."
Mira's expression softened. "I know you're doing this for your friend, and I want her found too, but… She's been missing over five years, Rue. A few more days won't matter."
The week couldn't pass by quickly enough for him. Mira absolutely refused to let him go back to the old library on a school day and without a companion, so Rue had no choice but to go to class as usual and wait for the weekend. Classes were boring enough, with nothing interesting happening except for Neil falling asleep in history class on Tuesday and being made to mop the entire third floor corridor.
Kendo club practices were during Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. Rue never missed a practice, being one of the more talented members and knowing that their coach would kill him if he missed even one. Neil Cougar happened to be a member of the kendo club as well, being Rue's biggest rival and best friend. They finished drills early that day, but Rue always did extra and was still practicing on their training dummy.
"Well, what do you think of the new members?" Neil asked Rue as he put away his boken.
Rue hit the training dummy a few more times before answering. "They're okay. Not as good as I'd hoped, though."
"One of them hasn't been attending practice. But I think the other one's ready." Neil stood up, walking away from the weapon rack. "Come on, remember kendo club tradition. It's our turn to be 'big brothers' to the freshmen."
"All right," Rue agreed. Every new member of their club was assigned a 'big brother'. A big brother was a tutor of sorts, guiding the newbies through the first several months of training, teaching them the rules and traditions of the school's particular style of kendo as well as the ins and outs of Carona High in general. Having a big brother ensured that the new members wouldn't feel left out, and as being a big brother wasn't limited to the training hall, the tradition also helped the freshmen adapt to high school life.
Rue placed his boken on the rack after wiping it clean. After changing quickly out of his training garb and back to his school uniform, he went to meet Neil by the dojo entrance where they kept their schoolbags. The new kid was eyeing his violin case. Curiosity had got the better of him and he started to reach for it.
"H-Hey, don't touch that!"
Rue reached out to stop him, but Neil was faster. He grabbed the smaller boy by the wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. "You're the new member, right? The name's Marco, isn't it?"
Marco nodded, and Neil let him go. "One thing you learn in the kendo club, is that you never, ever, touch the violin. Ever," the upperclassman was smirking. "I'm Neil, and I'll be taking you under my wing for the first few months of training," he explained. "Where's the other freshman?"
The other sniffed. "He decided to go out for the track team instead."
Rue scratched his head absently. "I guess that means I don't have a charge."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Neil muttered half-under his breath as he saw Mint exit from the gymnastics training room. "I think your assistant class representative is already more than you could handle."
"You said something, Neil?" Rue turned to him innocently.
Marco piped up. "He said that your assis—mmph!" Neil suddenly clamped one hand over the younger boy's big mouth.
"I said, I'm going to put Marco here through his initiation rights now. Say goodbye to Rue, Marco," and then he half-pulled, half-dragged Marco back into the dojo.
"That's good… hey!" Rue raised his hand to stop them, but they were already out of earshot. "We don't have initiations in the kendo club!"
"Hey," Mint was standing beside him. "Say Rue, I've a question…?"
"Rue, RUE!" Annette was calling him from the other end of the hallway. She walked towards them quickly, pausing once to catch her breath. "I've been looking for you everywhere."
Mint's question was forgotten at the moment. Rue turned towards the other girl. "What can I do for you?"
"Umm, I need help," she answered, somewhat hesitantly. "The new sociology books were delivered late, and I'm looking for people to stack them up at the storeroom on the second floor. I can't go myself, and the class reps from the other sections are kinda missing…"
"Say no more," he replied quickly. "When do you need it done?"
Annette grinned sheepishly. "Right now?"
"Sure, I can help." He waved at the girls as he headed out of the hall. "I'll see you guys later!" He disappeared when he turned the end of the corridor.
"He's so cute, don't you think so?" Annette gushed when Rue was out of earshot, her hands clasped over her chest. "He looks just like a doll."
"Yeah, a voodoo doll."
Annette looked sharply at the red-haired girl. "How can you say that?! Rue's a nice guy…"
Mint shook her head in annoyance. "He's too quiet. Too nice, and he never seems to get annoyed. He wears a bandanna under his cap that he never takes off except in class, and there's that violin that he carries practically everywhere! Talk about freaky… personally, I can't stand it." From the expression on her face, Annette knew that she meant it.
It was now her turn to get annoyed. "You're his assistant, right? Aren't you supposed to be helping him with the book stacking? (I was going to help, but I've got a school fair committee meeting to attend in five minutes…)"
The other laughed nonchalantly. "He can handle book stacking by himself."
"Well, isn't that too bad for you. I happen to know you let Tonia do the gym equipment cleaning last week, even though you were supposed to do it. It's not against any rules, but if word got out, not everyone would be happy about it."
Mint clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. "What's your point?"
"Don't you think Kirielle would just looove that little piece of info?"
"You wouldn't dare."
"I would."
Mint's eyes narrowed. But after a while, her expression softened. "Touché, Annette." Mint sighed, abruptly doing a double take. "Maybe I've misjudged you. But I'll get you back for this, I swear." She stomped off, leaving Annette to wonder why the red-haired girl (uncharacteristically) gave in so easily.
Rue and his stupid gallantry… I could be at the arcade beating up Rod by now. It had to happen on a Friday, too… Mint sighed as she walked towards the second floor storeroom.
Rue was just starting on the boxes when she entered the door. After briefing her on the job, they agreed to each take opposite ends of the room. They worked in silence. It felt somewhat awkward to Rue, but he was unable to think of anything he'd like to say to her.
Off hand, he wondered if Mira had found anyone to accompany him yet. Neil would be the logical choice, being second in the martial arts only to himself, but he forgot to ask Neil if he had been talking with the gymnastics coach. Then again, if Mira had asked him, he would've mentioned something to Rue already.
He hoped fervently that she had found someone. Tomorrow would be the perfect time to check out Elroy's place again. He was anxious to go back to the old library—the more clues he found for Klaus, the better their chances of finding Claire.
Claire… he missed her so badly.
When they got about four-fifths through the boxes, Mint finally broke the silence. "Say, doll-boy, what's this Elroy place we have to go to?"
Rue almost dropped the books in surprise. Doll-boy?! And she knows about Elroy… she's going with me to that?! "Y-you're the one going with me to Elroy's library?"
She nodded. "Mira told me this morning. Heey, don't get me wrong…" she lowered her voice suddenly. "I ain't doing it for free, you know. Coach is paying me with time off from practice. Plus a batch of homemade cookies," she added as an afterthought.
"Y, yeah. Mira's cookies are great, aren't they?" He trailed off. Mira actually asked Mint of all people? I mean, there's nothing wrong with it I suppose, but it's gonna be dangerous there… Distracted, he continued stacking the books up almost mechanically.
"Well, I'm done here." Mint's voice called from across the room. "Hurry up, I've still got other things to do. I'll get our stuff already, okay?"
She didn't even wait for him to say anything. He finished his job quickly enough, and was wiping his hands clean on a rag when he heard her come in from the door.
"Rue, this thing weighs a ton. I've heard of heavy metal music, but this is ridiculous…" He turned towards her, only to stop dead.
She carried his violin case with one hand.
Mint stomped her foot in annoyance at his expression. "What?!"
He was staring blankly at her. "Not even Klaus or Elena could lift that thing."
She sniffed. "So what—you think you're the only one who could lift heavy stuff? You know, I don't think this is a violin," she said as she handed it to him. "What's in it?"
Rue took the case, slinging the strap over his shoulder before turning to leave. On second thought, maybe Mira knew what she was doing when she asked Mint to come with me. "You'll find out when we go to Elroy's this weekend."
Author's Notes
28 August 2002 (morning). Thank you for reading this stuff! Thank you thrice over to those who reviewed (you know who you are)!
I guess the first two chapters *did* kinda focus on Mint, but I'm actually basing this fic more on Rue's side of the story (because of the sole fact that the walkthrough we saved on our hard disk was Rue's, although I do remember stuff from both scenarios. Also, if you finish both, Claire gets revived, so I assume Rue's ending is truer. Personally, I believe that both stories are true… As for the inconsistencies, sometimes Rue's is true, but other times Mint's version is what really happened. The game was like that because you could only use one character at a time, and this was due to the technical nature of game development, that programming for multiple charas in a single scenario grows exponentially… On the other hand, if they stuck to what really happened in ToF, then that would take its toll on gameplay… Aggh, I'm rambling. Those are game design issues…)
Yes, everything that you guys mentioned, even the rare wine and antique sword, (Of COURSE there's Starlight Duke!! :D ) will find its way in somehow (although maybe not in the way you'd expect it). I haven't put in any OC's yet, and hopefully I don't have to (the item shop owner, Tonio, became a girl in, though…). Does anybody know Trap Master's and Psycho Master's first names?
28 August 2002 (afternoon). Oookaaaay… I got several reviews/emails contradicting each other. I actually have already finished an outline for the series, but suggestions are still welcome. Err, can I reiterate some stuff?
Primus, I am a Mint/Rue fan —a really really really huge Mint/Rue fan (and so I suppose you already have an idea where this is going. Mind ye, I'm not saying this is gonna be Mint/Rue). (??? Did I just contradict myself again? ^_^)
Secundus, I am basing this on the game, and in the game that said pairing never got further than implications. In fact, the game was more insistent on the Rue/Claire pairing.
Tertius, this is NOT a romance fic (although admittedly it has a little of that), but it IS a fanfic, and so I can go against what happened in the game. I think I'll leave you guessing at that. :P
Forgive me, saying anything more will ruin the experience for you guys. But please be patient, I'll do my best to make it worth the wait. If you really want to know if this is Mint/Rue, I'd be happy to debate it over email. Oh, and I can send you pictures, fanfic related of course. I'm an amateur graphic novelist. ^_^ "LOVE AND PEACE!" (—Vash the Stampede)
Oh, did I mention I'm a Mint/Rue fan? *_*
"May the Way of the Hero Lead to the Triforce."