Disclaimer: SuikodenKonomi, JusenkyöRanma 1/2
Note: A dramatic side for just a moment. Also Ranma is the Suikoden 1 hero and no connection to comic/cartoon. Justin is the Suikoden 2 Hero. Mavericks is the army name.
Painful Heart
Everyone is back into the Meeting Hall. Justin and Ranma stand on the top of the room, Gremio is on Ranma's left as Nanami is on Justin's right. Flik and Catherine are standing next to each other a couple of feet from the lower step. They soaking wet, looking up at the Mavericks leader and former Liberation's leader. Viktor is on Flik's left with his sword and Jason is on Catherine's right with her weapons. Everybody else in the room, except for Shu and Apple stand behind the two cape people. Apple stands to one side on the middle step as Shu is pacing back and forth on the same step. His left hand is behind his back and his right hand is rubbing his chin. He does not look at amused. "This…" Shu starts to say, stopping in front of them and shaking his right index finger. "This…is inexcusable." His face slowly turns a light shade red as he glares at them. "Think of all the trouble you have caused us. COULD have caused us." He points at Catherine. "By…(takes a deep breath)…by coming in here portraying your brother."
"But I wasn't trying to portray him." Catherine pleads. "I was coming to look for him." She waves her right hand around to show all the people she meant. "You all thought I was him."
"And yet, you didn't bother to say a word about it." Shu's face reddens even more. "You're brother could have be out there…seriously hurt." He emphasized the word 'seriously'. "And we wouldn't have been out looking for him, because we thought it was he was you. He could have died, because you wouldn't talk." At that point he turn his back on the both of them. Both hands now rested crosses behind him.
"Aw, there was not harm done." Flik waves a hand like it was all right. "If anyone is to blame, it's the messenger. He should have been here with the note before she even arrived."
"It does not matter." Shu whips around, he had uncrosses his arms from behind him in the process. "The fact of the moment was…" He had slammed his right fist into the open palm of his left with each word, and then points a right index finger at Catherine. "She…"
"She what?!" Flik gets into Shu's face. "She proved that you let down your defense. That you let some unknown person in to the castle and near Justin?" He says with a glare. Shu starts to say something, but falls silent. He brings his right hand to his chin again and turns his head to the side, away from Flik's. His eyes move rapidly about like he's thinking about something. Suddenly Shu squeezes his right hand into a fist so tight, his knuckles turn white and glares back at Flik. Flik has a satisfying looking on his face, because he just showed that the strategist made a mistake. Shu's face darkens with anger. "I should lock you up with her." He points right at Catherine. Ashamed she looks at the ground, the end of her wet cape wringing in her hands.
"You are not locking her up anywhere." Flik's face also darkens with anger. "Don't you take your humiliation out on her."
"Flik…stop." Catherine reaches up to pull her brother back. "It's ok. I understand." It takes all she could to get him down one step. "I wasn't using common sense and this is the result from it."
"It's not fair." Flik turns to look at her. "It's not fair, that just because he made a grave mistake as this to take it out on you."
"It's not like he's going to lock me up forever." Catherine tries to give a reassuring smile. "Who…who know, he might let me out a day before the war ends." She gives a nervous laugh. Flik snorts at the comment, Shu doesn't look any more amused by it then Flik did about the whole thing.
"Flik's right." Viktor decides to butt in. "You can't hold him…her accountable for anything. We all thought it was him." Viktor throws a thumb point at Flik, who was now next to him again.
"And though, I thought his…er…her attitude was bad. I don't see any more reason to lock her up than a person playing an innocent prank." Jason throws his two-sense worth in.
"But that's just it." Shu put his right hand over him mouth, gives a deep sigh through his fingers, and then slides it down to around the back of his neck. Shu wrings his neck with frustration. "It wasn't a innocent prank." He goes back to pacing the step, as if to walk out his anger, his arms once more folded behind him. Shu goes right first, "As I feel I should repeat." He turns around and goes left, all the heads follow him. "Sir Flik could have be out there, seriously hurt or dying." Turns around and goes right again. "And here we are trying to convince someone who looks like him to be him." Shu turns around again. "We could have lost a valuable warrior, general, archer, Calvary person to a stupid mistake as some who knows how to use makeup well."
"It's…it's not a makeup job." Catherine says timidly.
"What?!" Shu stops pacing and looks straight at her. Flik looks at her confuse. There were gasps all over the room. "What do you mean, it's not a makeup job?"
"Just as it is suppose to mean." Catherine feels a little crowded now. "Ever heard of the forbidden training grounds of 'Ponds of Many Drownings'?"
"You mean, 'Jusenkyö'?" Shu's eyes widen. "You went the cursed training ground?" Catherine nodded.
"'Ponds of Many Drownings'?! 'Jusenkyö'?!" Viktor looks at Shu, "What's the matter?" Everyone now looks to the strategist for answers.
"Never in my life, have I heard of anyone going to the 'Ponds of Many Drownings' and come back to tell their story." Shu brings his right hand up to his chin and holds it there. His eyes move rapidly again as he thinks. "No…no. Nobody in any time or history since it was found has ever come back from there."
"What is this place you talk of?" Flik demands to know. "Is there something wrong with you?" He turns Catherine to face him. Flik hold her face in his hand and looks her in the eyes, trying to see if he could find anything wrong.
"Your sister has been cursed." Shu says gravely. "I think that's punishment enough. She is free to go." He waves a hand to dismiss everybody.
"Cursed?!" Flik looks up at Shu, releasing his sister's face. "What do you mean cursed?"
"That's not for me to tell." Shu says, turning his back on Flik. "It's up to her to explain it. I wash my hands of this mess." Flik goes to reach for Shu, to turn him around and demand an answer, but Catherine stops him. She holds his right arm and keeps him by her side, shaking her head.
"But…"
"I'll explain later." Catherine says quietly. "Right now, I would like to wear some dry clothes for a while. It's getting cold." Flik gives a deep sigh and nods in agreement. "Besides…" Catherine pulls on his arm to lead him out of the Meeting Hall, "I have other news I must give you later." The doors close behind them and the rest of the hall is left in silence.
"Is it bad Shu?" Viktor asks after taking a deep breath.
"Is it bad?" Shu says slowly. "Is it bad?" Voice seems to rise a little. "It's…it's...." The people in front of Shu are confused by the look on his face. He turns around so the rest of the hall could see the wide grin on his face. "It's hilarious." He laughs.
"What's so funny?" Jason demands.
"Yes, Shu. I don't see the joke behind all this." Teresa gives him a stern look.
"Oh sweet revenge, for make me a fool." Shu says under his breath, his eyes moving rapidly once more. Then he clears voice and looks at everyone in front of him. "It's not as serious as you would think. But it's not very pleasant either."
"You're not giving us any answers here." Viktor taps the right side of his head with his right index finger. "You sound crazy right now."
"Let's just say, that the temperature of the water will determine who he…she…will be." Shu laughs before he leaves the room and heads for his office. Everyone else in the Meeting Hall was left to wonder what he meant.
Elsewhere"I can't believe you've talked me into wearing this." Flik pulls on the shirt of his blue ninja gi. "I don't even know how this thing works." He was standing outside his room. Catherine was inside changing, Flik had to change in Viktor's room.
"It's not all that hard." Catherine comes out in a red ninja gi. She takes one look at him and laughs.
"Glad you think it's so funny."
"You tuck your shirt into the pants and tie the belt around it. It's like what you were wearing before." Catherine ties his belt after he tucked his shirt in. "There. You don't look so bad." Flik rolls his eyes, and then takes her hand in his. She looks at him and blushes. "Flik…we haven't held hands since…since we were kids."
"Yeah, so." They start to walk to the stairs.
"Don't you feel…awkward?"
"Do you?" They descend the stairs and walk out on to the courtyard.
"No…" They walk up to the pond that sat by the castle wall. They drop hands and have a seat next to large flat rock under a tree by the right of the lake. Catherine looks into the pond.
"Water still fascinates you?" Flik laughs.
"As much as lightening fascinates you." Catherine laughs back.
"So…the curse…"
"It's not deadly, just annoying."
"Oh. Guess its true what they said back in the village." Flik smiles at her.
"About…if I were a boy, we'd look exactly alike?"
"Yeah." There was a long silence, before he speaks up again. "So…what is it you have to tell me?" He hears her take a deep sigh and then she takes his left hand up in her right. With her left hand, she brings an amulet out from under the shirt of her gi. It was a circular red jewel surround with a centimeter of gold and gold back on a gold braided chain. "I haven't seen that in years." Flik whispered, staring at the amulet. Catherine gives a weak smile as she holds the amulet over his left hand, red jewel side down. Flik is confused at what his sister was doing.
"Go to him." Catherine whispers. A blue light comes from the amulet and shines onto his hand. He watches as a wind rune appears on his hand. Flik looks at her, with a glare in his eyes.
"Take it off!" Flik demands. Catherine looks at him with sympathic eyes and puts his hand on his lap with a light pat. Then she puts the amulet back under her shirt. He shoves his hand in her face. "I said, take it off." Catherine shakes her head, her eyes well up with tears. "I don't want a wind rune. How…how could you put this on me without my permission." She wipes her eyes with her hands and sniffles before looking at him.
"She wanted you to have it." Catherine whispers, her voice is cracked.
"What?" Flik whispers back.
"She wants you to have it. To have her rune…so that you know that she will always be with you." A tear rolls down Catherine's eye. She watches as Flik looks at the new rune on his hand. Then he looks at her, like he didn't understand. Catherine took another deep breath, her lower lip quivered. "I…I went to visit Lenkcamp one day and…and I found the clock that leads to the hideout." She wipes another tear from her eye with the back of her hand and wipes her hand on her shirt. "I went down to the hideout to look around. I've never been there, I…I wanted to see. I didn't know why, but I just…maybe it was to pay my respects. But…I went down and I saw her body…the water must have been so c…cold that it preserved…well." She looks over at Flik. He was running his right index finger along the curves of the rune marking. "I sat down and…and prayed that she was well and that you would see her again."
"You took her rune…" Flik doesn't look at Catherine. He couldn't find himself to look at her. "How could you have taken…?"
"Don't say it." Catherine had gone back to looking at the water, like she was remembering the day this happen. "You say what you're thinking and you'll regret it when I'm finish." Flik sits silently, but he still won't look at his sister. "Anyway, I leaned over the water and prayed. The amulet slipped out from under my shirt and this light came from her body, from her right hand. It floated right into the amulet…. I looked at the amulet and saw the wind rune homed there. A…a voice came into my head and said…said…" Catherine takes another deep breath and tries to hold back the tears. "Said, 'Give this to him. Let him know that I will always think of him and with this rune, be with him.' I looked down at water…to look at her body once more, but she was gone." Catherine lets the tears fall from her eyes, down her face. The tears land on the pond surface, each one makes a ripple on the surface. After a few minutes she looks over at Flik, he was still looking at the wind rune on his hand. His hand was wet with tears that fell from his eyes. "You do know that you were the last thing she spoke of." Catherine asked him and he nods. Flik finally take a chance to look at his twin sister.
"I'm sorry I tried to…to…"
"Forget about it. I know you hurt." Catherine leans back on the tree they sat under and brings her legs together. She bends her legs so her feet were next to her rear and her knees pointed out to the lake. When Catherine was ready, she pulls Flik towards her and lays his head on her legs. His body shakes as he presses his head into her legs. She runs her fingers throw his hair. "Go ahead. I've had my turn." She whispers and he start to cry. "I'm sorry."
Long While LaterViktor and Jason were walking along the courtyard, looking for Flik and his sister. "Shouldn't we give them time?" Jason asks.
"They've had plenty of time." Viktor says. "They didn't even come up for lunch." The two men come to the area where the trees sit in a circle, before the pond. They see Flik and Catherine. As quietly as they can, they slip behind a tree to see and hear the Blue Thunder with his twin sibling. Catherine was sitting on the flat rock and Flik was on his back hugging his sides. She was talking to him while he was laughing along with almost every word.
"So anyway I was…then he tried…and then…" It seem that Catherine was telling him about her time at the castle.
"Oh…please stop. It hurts…by the runes it hurts." Tears are streaming out of Flik's eyes now.
"But I have to tell you about when…" Catherine laughs at the sight Flik looked. Flik was now holding one side with one hand and pounding the ground with the other.
"Oh…" The man in blue takes a deep breath when she's done. "Oh…I forgot how funny you could tell a story." Flik sits up and scoots back to lean against the tree. He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. They sit in silence, looking at the mother swan keep her babies in line. Viktor and Jason were deciding to make their move, when Flik starts speak up again. "Why did you leave?" Catherine looks down at him with a shocked look on her face. It would seem she didn't expect him to ask her that. "I wondered why you left us…before the war. Some of the men thought you chickened out. But I knew better."
"Why did you have to ruin a good mood?" Catherine brought her legs up to her chest. She wraps her arms around her them and rests her chin on her knees. "Save the embarrassing stories to cheer you up after what I just put you through."
"Its ok. I just want to know why you left." Flik waves a hand.
"To awkward to stay, to awkward to go home." Catherine mutters.
"What?"
"Well…we use to do everything together…you know?" Catherine asked and Flik nods. "And we use to know what the other one would want to without saying thing?" He nods again. "Well I just knew when it was time to go." Catherine continues to stare out at the water.
"You felt you had to leave?"
"Yeah. I decided to leave while you guys were recruiting people."
"Why?"
"Third wheel." Catherine gives a deep sigh. "I knew sometime we would have to go our separate ways and I just looked for the signs that would say so. When I saw how well you and Odessa was, I felt it was my time go. Before I would be asked to leave."
"I would never ask you to leave."
"I know, that's why I left. It would have been a hardship."
"Where did you go?" Flik brings his legs up and sits the same way Catherine did.
"I went home first…to say goodbye. Then I moved out to Jowston."
"Did you see father?"
"Yeah."
"Does he still blame you?"
"No, but he still hasn't forgiven me either."
"It's not your fault you know."
"Maybe."
"Shouldn't go down that road. We've been down that road before."
"We?"
"Viktor and I, we thought about it the time when Odessa…"
"Viktor…you mean the guy that's been sit with his buddy over there." Catherine points to where Viktor and Jason were hiding. "Do they follow you around everywhere you go?"
"Heh. No, they only did that cause they thought you were me." Flik looks over to where she points and lifts up his head. "Why don't you come join us, instead of ease dropping."
"How sharp are those ears of hers?" Viktor asks as he and Jason came over to them.
"I could hear you coming from over there." Catherine points to at the wall opposite of the castle. She watches as the two men sit down crosses legged in front Flik and the rock. "Go ahead and ask." She could see they had questions.
"If you know what we want to know, why should we ask?" Jason looks up at her.
"To be nice."
"Ok, so why would your father find fault with you?" Viktor laid on his back, crossed his arms under his head to get comfortable.
"Guess who came first." Catherine looks down at Viktor.
"Uh…" Viktor looks at Flik, to Catherine, then back at Flik again. "Um…" He looks to Jason for a guess. Jason looks at the twins, then back at Viktor and shrugs.
"Neither." Catherine says finally.
"Neither?" Viktor raised an eyebrow. "How did…?
"Had to be cut out." Catherine takes one of her hands from her legs and rubs the back of her neck. "They had to cut mom's stomach open to get us out. She died on the table, blood loss."
"So your father blames you both for the death of your mother? That's tough." Jason runs a hand through his hair.
"He doesn't blame Flik, just me."
"Why?"
"Cause it was my cord wrapped around both our necks. They had to get us both out or neither."
"Kitty." Flik puts a hand on the arm that was still around her legs.
"Doctor wondered why no head was crowning, he stuck a hand it to help. Felt both our heads squeezed together with a cord around our necks. Mother was going to die either way, but doctors thought he would cut us out in hope we'd survive. When they did, they saw my cord around us. For the longest time, father never let me forget it was my fault…till now." There were silences, only sound was the wind blowing the leaves. It started to get dark as the sun lowered. "Let's get something to eat. I need a drink." Catherine gets off the rock and heads for the castle entrance.