Disclaimer: Part 1

Aftershocks

by Smittysgirl

Chapter 3

"People? People! We have a strict schedle we need to be adhering to!"

Marah's voice waifting in through his window was the first thing to register in Cam's sleep adled mind. Cam stretched, and trepped. What the heck was going on? Why was his cousin being so... loud?

He threw on an old sweatshirt and wandered out onto the academy grounds. Marah was directing a legion of her fellow wind students as they lugged someone's personal effects out into the quad.

"Marah, what are you doing?" he yawned.

She yelped at his intrusion, clutching a checklist to her chest protectively and inching backwards. "Cousin! I'm just helping organize a class project."

He looked around in confusion. "Helping someone move is a class project?"

"Well, yeah," Marah said, waving a stamp around. "It's a class project."

Recognition smacked Cam like a moulting bird upside the head. He darted around the young woman, yanking a vase out of a student's hands. "This is Tori's!"

"Well, yah, that's the class project," Marah looked a little bewildered as if wondering why her cousin was questioning what she was doing.

His head whipped back and forth. "WHY are you doing this, Marah? Why isn't Tori here? whhere are you taking these things?"

"Um, Tori asked us to," Marah said. "Don't worry, cous, I wouldn't be doing something like this without instructor permission."

Cam risisted the urge to reach across and strangle her. He took a slow, steadying breath. "Marah, why did Tori ask you to do this. Please. This is important. Is she moving somewhere on campus? Why isn't she here?"

Marah shrugged. "She said it was a secret, Cous. I really can't tell you."

"Where did she tell you to take these things?" he asked slowly, as if speaking to a young child. "I can just follow you to her."

"Um, she had a truch," Marah said, still waving her stamp along.

Cam wanted to scream. This was all going too fast, and his brain couln't process the subtleties of it all. Though he knew none of this was his cousin's fault, she wasn't making this easier for him.

"I'm - I'm sorry," he said finally. "I thought there was, I thought I had more, that she wouldn't..."

"Cous, what are you talking about?" Marah asked. "Tori just decided that she wanted to live somewhere else. She resigned from the Academy."

Cam screamed, not even bothering to muster up decorum. He had to find her. He had to track her down and talk some sense back into her. The sense he'd scared out of her in the first place.

He tore into his bedroom like a whirlwind, hastily stripping and cleaning himself up in the adjoining bathroom before redressing.

What was he thinking? Tori'd handled all of this wonderfully. She didn't resent him, she didn't resent the life, she just missed Blake. How did he turn enneui into depression? It was apparent that something had happened, something that had caused Tori to depart this life comepletely.

He ran back out of the dorms, passing a confused Marah once again. She tried to flag him down, and Cam regretfully slowed his pace.

"What is it?"

"Um, cous, um...." Marah paused. "It's not your fault."/

He stopped. It wasn't fair to take this out on her. "I'm sorry, Mar. This isn't yours, either. And maybe it's not my fault, but I'm accountable all the same."

"Tori wouldn't want you to be unhappy. She just decided that she didn't want to be a ninja anymore."

"Maybe I wanted her to be unhappy," he admitted. He couldn't meet her eyes, and started at the lush forest surrounding the quad. It was easier than looking at the students carting around the last pieces of Tori's life with - or at least in proximity to him. "Maybe I wanted it because she didn't love me back."

"Cous?" Marah asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You don't mean that, Cous?"

"That I love her, or that I wanted her miserable?"

"Cous, when have you wanted anyone miserable?" Marah asked. "I mean, besides your students, and the bad guys, and anybody who gets on your computers without asking you...."

"Yes, I get the point." Cam sighed. "I can't do this, Mar. I can't let her just walk away from her life, her vocation, because of what happened."

Marah shrugged. "You want to stop her?"

"I want..." He leaned against a nearby oak. He suddenly felt like he weghed a ton. "I want everything back the way it used to be. I want her in my life, and to tell with everything else."

"Hey, cous, if you want a happy ending, maybe you should write it."

Cam turned to look at her slowly. "I beg your pardon?"

"Write her a letter. Tell her the story of Cam Watanabe, man in love."

"What?" Cam asked, incredulous.

Marah smiled broadly. "When I was in evil alien high school, all the sweetest boys used to write us promise letters. They'd tell us about the wonderful future we had enslaving star-spanning species and living high on the metalic horse. It was the sweetest thing EVER! Of course, the practice was discarded when we found out the male teachers were passing out form letters to pad out the backstories and thus make us more receptive - anyway, you should totally do it!"

"Without the enslaving and the impression, of course," Cam said thoughtfully.

Marah clapped her hands. "Eee! This is so cute! I was waiting for the day you finally told her how you felt!"

"You knew?" Cam asked incredilously.

"I guessed. We have a dead pool about which members of the faculty are most likely to get involved."

"Great," Cam replied, resisting the urge to tell his father about this. "Look, I'm going to be writing. Can you at least tell me where to send the letter?"

"Sorry, cous, but at least I can take it for you," Marah said. She clapped again. "Oh, this is so wonderful! Cous is in lust!"

"Love!" Cam corrected with a tinge of resignation.

Marah frowned. "I had you down for lust first. Accidental sex which led to a tearful admission of unrequited affections. Will you lie for me? Jack Neuman is gonna pay out big if I was right. I'll split with you."

Cam shook his head. "You sure you didn't inherit pregocnition from your mother's side of the family?"

Marah shook her head enthusiastically. "Nuh-uh. My mom was an evil botanist."

Cam sighed. "You were right." He owed his cousin that much. "And I think you should have Dad test you for precognition. Just don't tell him why."

Marah's brow furrowed. "Wait, if I just predicted the future how do you know I'm right?"

Cam sighed. "Anyway, where is Tori going?"

"I'm supposed to drive the truck to the French Quarter for her to pick it up. I think Tori's sister has an apartment there, so I guess that's why."

Cam sighed. "I'd better write that letter."

Marah patted her on the cheek. "You might, cous. And I have to be there in...." Marah paused. "Get a move on, people!"


Tori sighed as she heard the clunky uhaul pull down the alleyway. It was big of Tabatha and Jacques to put her up for the night, but she couldn't impose on her sister for much longer than that. She cautiously opened the front door as Marah pulled up with the Uhaul up to the door, almost blocking it.

"How's this?" Marah called out the window.

"I think you need to back up a little," Tori said. "Like, a foot or two. Or five."

Marah half shrugged and began backing the truck further into the building. She stopped with centimeters of clearance left. "Is that enough?"

Tori sighed. "Yeah."

"Yay!" Marah turned off the engine and barreled out the door. She slid a clipboard into the narrow space between the back of the truck and the door. "There's a couple things you need to sign, and everything should eb taken care of!"

"Like what?" Tori asked.

Marah looked at her oddly. "You're planning to return the truck to a different location then the one I got it from, right? And there's insurance."

Tori nodded. She was getting punchy. "Thanks for doing this for me, Marah."

"Don't mention it! I just want you happy." Marah beamed.

Tori leafed through the documents, signing and initialing where indicated. She nearly handed the board back before noticing a envelope affixed to the ver yback. "Marah, what's this?"

"Well, I kind of had a last minute request," Marah said hesitantly. "I mean, it was a really sweet request and everything.

Tori looked confused. "What?"

"Just open the letter," Marah said. "You'll love it!"

Tori very cautiously opened the envelope.

My dearest Tori.

This is the story of a man who lived his life in darkness and isolation. Afraid of the world, but more afraid of never finding his place in it. A man who was cold and alone, and wanted nothing more than to pull everyone else down into the chasm where he dwelt. I was 21 when we first met, but I might as well have been a newborn.

The letter continued on like that, detailing Cam's life prior to their meeting but mostly focusing on what she had meant to him, and what her presence in his life had brought into his once empty world. Tori choked back tears as she saw her own sentiments to Blake echoed back.

I know now that my reaction to you that morning is what drove you away. What made you doubt your own life, your own happiness, and your own well being. I cannot apologize more profusely for causing you this harm, Tori. I only hope one day you will find it in your heart to let me make it up to you in kind.

Yours eternally,

Cam.

Tori sniffled. Marah put a comforting hand on her back. "Cous really does love you."

Tori looked up, tears streaking down her cheeks. "But I don't know if I love him. I know what I said when we made love, but I don't...."

"Couls is sometimes difficult to get along with," Marah said. "Give him time."

The back of the truck began to rise on cue, and Tori looked about for an automatic opener that might have been depressed by accident.

Nestled amid the relics of her old life was Cam. Cam and an absolutely ancient keyboard. He pressed a button on the top of the unit, and a familiar melody began to play. Cam produced a microphone from out of his back pocket and began to sing.

Maybe you'd like to give me kisses sweet, only for one night with no repeat...

Maybe you'd go away and never call ,and a taste of honey is worse than none at all...

And oh little girl, In that case I don't want no part, well that that would only break my heart...

But if you feel like loving me, if you've got the notion, I second that emotion...

Well if you feel like loving me, if you got the notion, I second that emotion...

"Isn't that so sweep?" Marah asked, clapping her hands together. "I mean, not as sweet as promising to conquer a galaxy for you, but still...."

Once Cam had completed the song he wordlessly turned off the machine and stepped out the back of the truck into the living room. He swallowed loudly, and it was apparent how little he had slept.

"See? He really loves you," Marah said quietly. "And wasn't my idea a hoot?"

Cam crossed the space between them. "Tor, I'm ... can you ever forgive me?"

Tori sighed. "I don't know."

Cam cast a half forgiving, half hostile look Marah's way, and his cousin scooted out the narrow clearance of the door.

"Good luck, cous," Marah half whisphered, and scrambled back towards the truck. She, however, made no move to unload.

Cam cautiousy put his hands on Tori's shoulders. "I never meant to pressure you out of the Academy."

"I know," Tori said. "But you made me realize I needed to have a life. I needed to find one. And that involved getting away from the Academy."

"Is there room enough in that life for another teacher on emeritus?"

Tori looked at him. "You?"

Cam smiled weakly. "I have nothing keeping me there but my dad. My life in that place was empty without you. My life IS with you."

"Are you so sure of that?" Tori asked.

"Say yes! Say yes!" Marah half-called. Cam looked back at her, shooting daggers.

"Sorry, cous," Marah said, shrinking back.

Cam nodded to Tori. "Every word in that letter is gospel. I have nothing in this world but you. If you want to leave, I would like the honor of accompanying you. I want to discover who I am, just like you're discoveirng who you are. And just maybe who we are, together."

Tori looked at him. "You're really sure about this, Cam? You'll leave your home, everything, for me?"

He pulled her to him, and their lips met for an eternal moment. The world dissolved away. They parted, their lips still seeking purchase on the other.

"Without that, what do I have to live for?"

"Yourself," she said.

"I had myself to live for twenty one years, Tor."

"I've had to live for nineteen," Tori said softly. "Come with me, Cam."

They embraced, each feeling the other's tears on their shoulder.