Part Two
Rock paced back in forth in his room. It had been two days since his encounter with Amaya Uehara. At first, he felt he should run and find her right away. All those questions she had left unanswered were tearing at his mind. But then he thought he might want to consider all she'd said first. She was one to play mind games and she was good at it. A dramatic reaction from him might be just what she was expecting. Still, surely she wouldn't come find him out of the blue after five years just to trick him. There had to be something she wanted to tell him.
She'd said you'll know where to find me but in all truth he really had no clue where she could be. After much consideration, he supposed she'd returned to her parents' home. She could find a home wherever she went but he knew none of them. The only place he'd ever known of her living in was her parents' and that's where he found himself walking that night.
He had to cross the gate into Zone-1 to reach her parents' house. Zone-1, an entirely underground area, housed all of Metropolis' underclass citizens. A great host of robots dwelled here as well. This was a place he liked to avoid at all costs but the mission at hand was more important than his petty indifferences. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shoved along through the crowded streets.
The people that he passed all looked at him curiously. They all seemed to know who he was. It was easy for an entire city to know Duke Red's guard. This was another thing that bothered him about Metropolis. The whole population might know who he was but he barely knew any of the population. He wore the mark of the Marduk around his arm, setting him apart even more. Some people gave him hostile looks, others simply avoided him.
At last he came upon the neighborhood he remembered belonging to her. He'd only been there a few times; usually when they saw each other it was on the surface. He was surprised he still remembered the path to her home. But then again, how could he forget the way to his love's dwelling place. It was one of many things he kept locked away in his memory.
As he came upon her house, a shabby looking home lined up with others just like it, he climbed the porch. He hoped her parents still lived there. It had been several years since he'd visited. He also hoped her parents remembered him. He was sure that a surprise visit by a Marduk was unpleasant in this neck of the woods.
Swallowing the anxiety that had built up in his chest, he knocked on the wooden door. There was silence in the house momentarily but was soon interrupted by approaching footsteps. The door swung open and there stood Amaya's mother, Urumi. She looked exactly as he'd remembered her, her long, dusty-blonde hair tied up loosely, her jovial pale blue eyes and her constantly merry face, always blushing a faint shade of red. She gave him a long hard look as if uncertain he was really there. "Rock?" she said.
"Yes, Mrs. Uehara," he answered politely.
She laughed rather loudly and said, "My goodness, you've grown since I last saw you!" He smiled nervously, unsure of what to say. "What brings you around?"
"Well, actually, I'm here to see Amaya."
Her face saddened a little. "Yes, of course," she said. "Come in." He walked inside the tiny house, following Mrs. Uehara. As she led him up a creaky stairway, she said quietly, "It's a miracle, her coming home. I was so glad. I thought for sure she…" she said, trailing off.
"Yes, me too." Rock answered.
"I was angry of course that she'd run off like that without telling us where she was going but when I saw her back here safe and sound all my anger vanished. I'm just glad she made it back."
There was something strange about the way she said that. It made Rock uneasy. I'm just glad she made it back…it echoed in his brain. It sounded as if something almost prevented her from coming home.
They reached the door to her room and stopped. Mrs. Uehara knocked on the door and said, "Amaya, you have a visitor here to see you." Mrs. Uehara opened the door and whispered to him, "Go on in."
He walked into the dark room. She was lying in bed, looking at the ceiling. A lamp was the only source of light in the room. It cast across her face making her look otherworldly. "I'm surprised you came," she said in a hollow voice.
He stood by her bed and looked down at her. Her eyes remained on the ceiling. "You thought that I wouldn't?" he asked. She said nothing. He sighed deeply and knelt beside her bed. "I know that you think I don't care about you, and you have a good reason to, but the truth is that I do care. I value you more than anything else."
At last, she looked to him. "Do you think that's going to make everything better?"
"What do you want from me?" he shouted. "Do you want me to tell you how much of a loser I am, that I am sorry and no good. Remember, you are the one that walked out on me!"
She sat up in bed and looked at him furiously. "Do you want to know the reason I ran away, Rock? Well, brace yourself because here comes the truth. I ran away because no matter how hard I tried, I could make you love me. I've loved you since we were mere children and I thought that you loved me too. But the older we got, the more you pushed me away. I kept trying to get closer to you, to get things back to the way they used to be, but the harder I tried, the harder you pushed me away. Finally, I could not take it anymore. I thought that if you would not love me, then I would just leave and start over and try to put you from my mind. I hid in Zone-2, working jobs that most people would rather die than take on. I left my family and all my friends just to try to forget you. But obviously that didn't happen." She stopped talking to catch her breath. Her breathing was ragged and tears were welling in her eyes again. "So there it is. Does the truth scare you, Rock?"
It was all so clear to him now. Finally, the source of years of hurt and anguish was revealed. And he could understand why. He'd hurt her more than she'd ever hurt him so she ran. He turned his head away. "It does," he said, barely above a whisper. "But not your truth, mine."
She looked at him curiously. When he turned to face her again, his eyes were troubled and saddened. "You've always held the keys to my heart," he said, "but I was always afraid to tell you that." He exhaled, his breath coming out harshly. "Not anymore though. I love you, Amaya." He moved in close and kissed her. He caressed her hair as he kissed her long and passionately, the very thing he'd wanted to do for so long. They remained in their passionate embrace until Amaya abruptly jerked away. "What is it?" he asked.
She got out of bed and walked to the opposite side of the room, turning her back to him. He got off his knees and walked over beside her, touching her back gently. Her frail body was heaving with sobs as the tears rolled down her cheeks. "What's the matter?" he asked again.
"The other night, I said I had something important to tell you. Don't you wonder why I came back after all this time?"
The air caught up in his chest. He had a feeling what she had to tell him wasn't going to be pleasant. "Why?" he said simply.
"I'm sick Rock," was all she said.
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.
"I'm sick!" she repeated, sounding frustrated. "Very sick. The doctors don't expect I'll live much longer."
He couldn't breath. That's why her appearance had changed so. Even tonight she looked worlds worse than she had the night before. "Why?" he repeated again, his voice cracking.
"I don't know. It must be something I contracted in Zone-2."
"No," he said, shaking his head. He began to cry.
She wrapped her thin arms around him and pressed her head against his chest. "That's why I came back. I wanted to see you one last time before I…"
He couldn't manage to speak. He just stood there holding her, their tears mingling. He'd finally told her how he felt and now it was too late. "You won't leave me, will you?" she asked, her troubled, tear-ridden eyes staring up at him.
"No, I will never leave you," he said, holding her even tightly. But the sad truth was that no matter how hard he held onto her now, she would still leave him behind, yet again and this time she would not come back.