A.N. I realize that this is long...sorry about that. It'll end eventually. (disclaimer in chapter 1)
It had now been a month since she had moved into my room. She had moved off the floor and onto the bed and I had taken to spending more nights in Riff's room than in my own. I didn't think I could ever grow to like her, let alone accept her .I walked in one day in November in a terrible temper. The Master had beaten Riff in front of me, which was more than I could stand. It was then up to me to look after his wounds. The longer I stayed here the more frayed my nerves became. I could feel all the stress and pain my dear brother was put through, we was so much thinner and weaker now. It was hard to touch him and not break down in normal circumstances, but tonight Frank had gone too far. I didn't mean to, but I cried, silent tears as I cleaned and bandaged the fresh red lines on his back, as they added themselves to the countless other scars. It didn't take him long to notice something was wrong and despite his pain he took it upon himself to comfort me. I felt awful; it was me who should be offering comfort not him. I continued to cry, something I haven't done in ten or so years while he held me. When I could finally look at him, I noticed tears forming in his eyes. I have never seen him cry. I couldn't stand it and although he tried to keep me with him I ran, until I arrived in the kitchen. He didn't follow me. I was headed for a nervous breakdown and I wasn't the one paying for digressions with my own blood. When the tears stopped I climbed the stairs to my room. I entered to find her sitting on our bed, lost in the music coming from her record player. It was an upbeat song that I'd heard before; it was the same one she liked to hum. It was late and I was tired so I walked over and switched the record player off. Immediately she snapped out of her trance and looked at me, her eyes searching my face for the reason I had ruined her moment.
"It's late I'm tired and unlike you I do have things to do during the day that require that I'm up rather early." I explained, hoping my voice was steady.
"I know, I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep, but I'm so tired..." she trailed off. She hadn't noticed the quiver in my voice. How could she, she'd never understand what I felt like that night. I lay down. She started to hum. Already on the edge I snapped at her.
"Shut up." I snapped. She looked at me startled. She narrowed her eyes, but she lay down without saying anything. She also visibly inched her was closer to the edge of the bed. I threw off the covers and stormed over to the window. It was raining slightly, but I took no notice of the weather. All I could see was my own reflection and the more I looked at it, the more I hated it. I hated how Riff and I were treated, I hated how I had behaved earlier, I hated this castle, I hated the planet, I hated the mission but most of all I hated the very man leading it all. Thinking of him fueled my anger. I've never been good at controlling extreme emotions and there was only one other person I could possibly vent on. Her. I saw her reflection coming closer to me. She gently placed a hand on my shoulder. "Genta?" she whispered. She had finally realized something was wrong. But I wasn't searching for comfort; I was searching for revenge, for my brother, for me, for the cause of our planet. I whirled around and lunged at her. Caught off guard she fell backwards onto the floor. Blinded by fury, I scratched, bit, tore and hit anything I could. She never fought back. She threw her hands over her face in protection. I guess we were both screaming pretty loudly for soon the door banged open and in came Riff.
" What are you doing we wouldn't want to wake the Master now would- GENTA!!" He saw me and dove in trying to pull me off of her, despite his earlier turmoil. Finally he succeeded and we all collapsed on the floor, me still seething staring wild eyed at the ceiling, him panting beside me, from pain and exhaustion and she lying, her body trembling, with her hands still over her face. No one made a sound. At last Riff stumbled to his feet and dragged me up with him. He stared me in the eye, and then he hit me. The shock was enough to bring me back to reality. I looked around and I found her, huddled in a corner, trying to figure out the extent of the damage. By the looks of things I had made some significant changes to her appearance. Her face and hands were covered in long deep scratches, several of which were bleeding. Her nightclothes were torn in several places, and it was obvious that there were more scratches underneath. She was a mess, but so were the rest of us, and I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty. Riff ushered me out into the hall and back into his room. He shut the door and turned to face me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a tight embrace. We stood there in the middle of the floor, me gripping him, holding on as tight as I could, afraid he'd let me go and he, running his hands through my hair, whispering my name.
"Genta, my darling. Tell me why you did this, tell me what's wrong." His voice soothed me and slowly it all came out. He sat me down on the bed, always holding onto me, staring into my eyes as I told him everything. How I was so angry, how much I hated Frank and his way of treating the one person I loved so dearly, how we were both to blame and I should take the pain too, that I hated myself for not being there to help him, how I hated everything about the mission, how it had all gone wrong, and how badly I wanted to go home. I told him how I felt about Columbia and how I didn't feel guilty when I saw what I had done to her. I didn't feel anything at all then, and I still didn't. When I stopped I was crying again.
"Genta", he said softly, "that's the second time in one day that I have seen you this upset. It isn't like you to act this way. You've always had so much control; you mustn't let him break you, darling it hurts me more to see you this way than any beating he could ever give me. Genta I can't always be strong for you, but you're such a brave woman and it will all be over soon, I promise. Genta, stop crying I beg you, look at me, none of this is your fault, I hate him as much as you do, but I won't let him hurt you, I'll kill him if he tries. Don't take this out on Columbia, she is after all only a naïve little girl. Now, regain your self-control, I'll deal with Frank soon, he won't hurt anyone for much longer." The fierceness with which he said this was frightening, but reassuring. He leaned away, looking at me trying to see whether or not I understood he was telling the truth. I did; it was very clear to me that his pain was making him angry too, and when the time came, Frank would die knowing that he had lost. Riff was clearly worried about me but he was also determined to make me happy. He leaned in again and kissed me softly before getting up, and turning from the doorway he said: "the girl is in need of some attention I believe, I'll return shortly, I think it best if you were to remain here for the night. We've all seen enough blood for one day. Just remember my dear..." he looked at me with a gleam in his eye.
"Not for very much longer," I answered and smiled as he left.