Echoes of the Past

By: Ishikawa Ran

Rating: Yep, still MA

Summary: Ruka has begun his search for the one he, though reluctantly, loves the most. Can he find the other after it's been so long? Also, how does he expect to show that he loves him and mean it? One more question… how is he to get the music box back from Marlene…? The OC shows up in this chapter. X3 I promise he won't disturb the plot at all; he's ONLY in this chapter. Consider him a pleasant distraction. You can honestly take that part out and still have the story… Still Ruka's POV.

(-.-)

Three days… Three damn days… and not ONE shred of Stan ANYWHERE! I know he's out there somewhere, I know it. I've checked everywhere in Tenel first, though, I know he won't be there. It was just worth a shot. Another shot I tried was Rashelo… still no luck. I've check Madril up and down, even in the sewers just in case. So far, none of my 'worth a shot's or 'just in case's have worked. I look down to the ground and let out a sigh… though it sounded more like a sob. Not only that, but it seems as though my friends have disappeared off the face of the planet as well… I can't even find Lynda! I fall back against a wall and slide down, hugging my knees to my chest.

Nobody… is here… Nobody…

For the fun of it, I ran into another one of those love fortunetellers a day ago, and, to be sure, I checked with them. Sure enough, I got, 'The Evil King Stan! Get away from me!' I smile at that. I may be a failure, but at least I'm consistent. I found it very refreshing that I had managed the same answer all throughout the journey AND I can still get the same answer now. My commitment to this man… must be larger than life then. At least I know that it's not just a crush that will go away, like with Julia.

A sudden growling interrupts my self-loathing train of thought. A glare down at my stomach and frown… Oh yeah… In the three days I'd been searching, I've forgotten to eat anything. I didn't mention that, did I?

I look in my pouch and sigh as I find that I still have money left over. I'd spent the lot of it trying to get information from important people. I swear, folks these days will do anything for money… I stand weakly and head to Madril, knowing it's still closer than anywhere else.

Heh… three days… and I'm still bumbling around here… I still feel… as if there's something I've left unchecked… Until I check it I'm not leaving.

So what if I don't know what it is yet…?

(-.-)

…

Food…

Maybe searching endlessly for three days WASN'T such a good idea…

I've barely made it to Madril, and my feet are currently ready to collapse beneath me. I probably look like a skeleton… It's late at night and the shops are all closed… My feet finally give out on me and I fall forward, not even bothering to catch my fall. At least I can say I tried… and the newspapers for Madril will have my picture in it, a headline reading, 'YOUNG BOY FOUND DEAD IN STREETS'. That's a great way to end a journey to nowhere…

My ears pick up the sound of what seems to be footsteps. I try to lift my head but can't. Oh great… that's all I need… somebody's gonna think I'm dead now and take me to a morgue…

Wait…

The person sits down beside me and sets a tray of sorts on the ground… I know that smell… not ground, or rain or something disgusting… It's…

"You look hungry."

My muscles seem to have gotten a boost from practically nowhere as I shoot up from the ground and dive at the tray. The food consists of a bit of meat, a nut or two and a loaf of banana bread. I'm pretty sure it was there before, but after I got to it, it didn't see another two minutes of it's life. I look up at my savior and nearly bow down to him… nearly… my loyalty is to Stan and Stan only. "T-Thank you…" I manage.

"Oh it was no problem." He stands again. "Next time you decide to go on a long journey… remember to bring food."

I blink. How does he know… what I'm doing here…? "Hey, could I at least get the name of the person who saved my life?" I ask, almost angrily. It would help to have a name to pass on, wouldn't it?

"Oh please, you'd have lasted another week yet. A person can't starve in three days."

Now I know I've been spied on. How does he know I've been out three days! "Hey! How the hell do you know what I've been doing these past few days!"

"You read like a book… and if you want my name so bad, than fine…" He pauses. "It's Ryou." He begins to walk away again.

I tense and stand up with the strength gained from the food. "Well Ryou. Thanks for the food, but you don't have to be such a jerk… and what do you mean I read like a book!" It's not like me to take things so offensively, but MAN is he pissing me off.

"Do you need a place to stay?"

I pause again. "Um… what? Oh… no I'm fine…" I smile lightly at the offer… and growl. "Hey! You're changing the subject!"

"No, I'd have just thought you guess by now."

"G-Guess…? Guess what?"

The young man smirks. I am SO ready to punch that smirk off his face. "I can read minds. And I take it back… You read like a billboard."

"Are you calling me easy!"

He snickers. "I'm calling you noisy. A can also tell you this. You've been accused my many people as being overshadowed. Soon you believed them and it made you a perfect candidate for the Evil King Stan. It's been a year and you've realized your love and now you're out searching for him. You've practically SCREAMED your whole life at me! I can't even block you out, so it's a bit unfair to me! So if you want to put it your way then, yes, I'm calling you easy."

The whole thing passes me by like a road sign that you neglect to look at before plummeting of the edge of a cliff. "Y-You…" I couldn't finish my sentence… I couldn't even start it. He'd practically read me my whole life story and then some… I shiver lightly and look down, wondering what I should do…

"So…?"

"S-So what…?"

He kneels down in front of me and smiles for real. "Do you need a place to stay?"

I bite my lip and sigh, nodding in defeat… I wonder if this guy's always like this…

(-O.o-)

Tea… I never really liked tea, but I'm drinking it. "Do you… just go up to random people and read off their history like that for a living…?"

Ryou shakes his head. "Nah… I'm normally a home person… I say that because according to the mayor of Madril, I'm not to go out during the day. He was nice enough o give me a permanent room at the Inn, or at least until I make enough money to move…"

"Oh…" A sip the tea… it's alarmingly addictive. "Why can't you go out during the day?"

He sighs. "Too many open minded people… and not the good kind, mind you…" He plopped down on the bed in the small room. "I was a 'daily disruption' to the people of the town. With all the people sending me thoughts whether or not they new it, I was beginning to go insane… They found me curled up in one of the sewer pipes down below. Stupid people… I rather liked it down there… it was quiet."

I look down at my tea… What they did to him wasn't right… but… what could he have done…? "Didn't that think at all about your well being…?"

"Psh, no, of course not. Occasionally, I would break down from all the thoughts in the streets and wind up screaming for everything to stop… Which consisted of me screaming 'SHUT UP!' about three hundred times. Gods, it was hell up on the second level… have you noticed how depressed they are up there? The only remotely happy one was Lynda, but she's gone now… and the counting guy, but that gets on your nerves after a while… A constant '1, 2, 3, 4….' And so on EVERY SINGLE day…" He yawns and leans back. "I've been 'confined to quarters', as he said, for three years now… It gets kind of boring."

"Um… glad I could be of service then…?" I inquire, hoping that I might have done this guy a little bit of good.

"I was glad to come across you… If I hadn't heard your thoughts, I would've thought you were dead!" He laughs.

I twitch and sigh. "I was afraid I was gonna pass out and wake up in a morgue…"

"I know." He says. "You thought that too. That's what I heard."

I turn silently and frown. "Can't you just… you know… block it out?" I ask curiously. Having someone hear your thoughts every second you were with that person wasn't the safest of feelings… not to mention your mind, as if to play jokes, would always think of the wrong things at the wrong time. Like… Stan… That dream… His hands… Shit… Yeah, like that…

The older boy snickers and I blush. "I dunno, kid, never really tried to."

I stand up. "What do you mean you've never tried!"

"In other words, you asked a stupid question and got a stupid answer. I was kidding, of course I've tried." He sighs and rolls over. "I was desperately enough to try anything…"

"Well… maybe you just have to learn how from someone who's known for a while, you know?" I add, hoping I may be of some help… I am also desperate to try anything… It's creepy to have someone reading your mind.

"It's creepy READING your mind, too."

"Hey!"

"I told you I couldn't stop it… but… thanks for the advice… I think I'll do that…" He smiles up at me and points to the bed across the room. "For the journey you have ahead of you, you may want to rest. I doubt it's so easy to find someone your heart longs for so much… knowing life, they'll place them in the most unlikely of places…"

I interrupt him. "I've already checked in the most unlikely of places…"

"The check in the second most unlikely place. You never know kiddo…" He yawns and pulls back the covers on his bed. "See you tomorrow I guess. I'll give you some food and you can be on your way."

I smile and nod. "Thanks for this."

"No problem."

(-.-)

Sun is evil. I've made that revelation. It's glaring through the windows like Hell itself, and needless to say, it's none too pleasant. I roll over and face the other bed… that now lay empty. I blink and sit up looking around. I see no sign of the other anywhere… "But… it's daytime…"

Where could he have gone?

I hop out of bed and stretch… and jump as here the loud footsteps coming up the stairs to the room. The door slams open and I'm not hiding behind my bed. I look over the edge and see Ryou… and the Mayor…?

"I've told you to stay in here during the day! At night you can gallivant as much as you please!" He drops Ryou's collar and slams the door. Never let it be said that the mayor of Madril wasn't strong. Ryou had been lifted above the ground about a foot and was currently flat on the floor.

He suddenly bursts into a giggle fit right there on the floor. "I caught him in a revealing daydream."

I raise an eyebrow. "I won't ask."

"You don't want to." I twitch at the thought.

"Um… I don't remember the sun getting throw in Madril normally… why was it so bright today…?" I ask.

He blinks. "Oh! That! I have false windows. They're afraid I might climb out during the day, so my windows light up during the daytime. The say it help the claustrophobic people."

"Oh…" Okay… Artificial light is evil. I've made THAT revelation…

He sits up, standing and walking over to me. "Here. For your trip." He hands me a bag.

I accept it… I mean it's the food right? I had money, but I guess I have to pay him now. I reach into my pouch and pull out what I think might be the cost… that's more than half of what I have mind you. "Here-"

"Keep it. I have plenty." He smirks and ushers me out. "I'm confined to quarters, not broke."

I smile gratefully at him. "Thanks. I owe you a lot."

"Beats being locked up in the morgue right?" He adds.

"Y-Yeah…" I twitch slightly and wave. "I might see you again, right?"

He shrugs. "Who knows…? See ya kid."

I smile. "Bye."

(-T.T-)

Maybe I should've asked for Ryou's company during this trip? He was just a good guy, and he was a little annoying… but it beats being alone. It's been few hours since I've left and I'm STILL wander around the Rumille plains in hopes if finding something. I already checked everywhere. Every nook and… wait… okay I'm wrong. I DID miss something.

The Escapeless Abyss.

I turn my head towards the dark caverns direction and gulp. Do I really want to go in there alone…? Yeah… Yeah, now I want to go back and drag Ryou with me. He's the closest thing I have to a friend. I turn towards it and sigh. Well I have food now… and I mean the ghosts are gone now… aren't they…?

I shake involuntarily at the thought of fighting a ghost alone... completely alone. Well, if Stan's in there, he'll come save me if I get into trouble… right…? Or he'll just watch me die and laugh it off. He never really was one to care… Okay, I take that back, he cared when he was a part of me and that if I died, he went back in the bottle for another three hundred years… I remember being close to death at one point in our travels. Stan seemed extremely worried. Probably about himself, but that's not significant. I remember his shadowy hands on my shoulders, begging me to try and keep it up…

'Come on slave! You can do this! Just a little longer. I feel that fake's life weakening; one more hit should do it! Come on! Don't die on me yet!' He'd turned to the others. 'Well! Don't just stand there! Help him!' It may have been me, but Stan sounded almost frantic… Kisling hurried to give me strength and we won the fight…

Stan had seemed… so caring…

I had made my mind up. I was going to find him if it killed me. There was only one problem… I loved Stan like life itself. How was I supposed to prove that to him…? I twitch slightly as I remember something… mom's music box. But, Agh! That damned Princess still had it! Great! Another detour… I have to get it back from her. It's the only way… I can prove to him…

I swallow hard. What if he doesn't accept it…? What if he throws it back in my face? What am I supposed to do then…? The thoughts in my mind must have gotten to me somehow… I feel tears on my cheeks and hurry to wipe them away. He wouldn't do that, would he? He was asking for it before… but that was just when he and Marlene were fighting over my ownership… That damned Marlene had won most of me, too. 70 my ass! I'm all Stan's! Unfortunately, I had to give in to get her on our good side for Stan. See? FOR Stan. That's my purpose in life. Everything I've done was for him… and everything I will do is for him.

Only problem is, know that I have to get the music box back from Marlene, I have to find her first… I sigh. That's gonna take forever… Knowing her now, she'll want to wander the world. She could be anywhere. I've been in Rashelo already, but hey, maybe in the time I was gone, she showed up there…? I doubt it, but it's worth a shot…

Oh great… here comes that 'worth a shot' thing again… I've got to stop saying that, it's probably jinxing me. I head towards the town and send a woebegone look back towards the Escapeless Abyss. "You'd better be in there Stan… after all I'm going through, you owe me a VERY loving 'Welcome Back'…"

(-OxO-)

Rashelo, once again, failed to come through for me. I'm still here of course, hoping maybe Marlene'll show… or at least contact me some how… I sit on the docks and glower out to the sun as it sets and dims before me behind the end of the world. I sigh and lean back on the wooden ground, hoping that something will just strike me down… either that or bring good news. As the stars begin to peak from their dark hiding spot and groan and roll onto my side. I'd given up wishing on stars when they failed to bring Stan back to me… when they wouldn't carry out my one true wish.

Well… maybe… they'll be nicer this time…

"I don't…" I dart a glance around, making sure everyone is inside and no one is watching… Can't have me making a fool of myself. "I don't want you… to find Stan for me. I just… I need that music box. Just start me off and the rest of the journey will be up to me… please, don't deny me this…" I close my eyes.

"Deny you what?"

Jumping out of my skin would be a bit under exaggerated in this case. I turn quickly to see who spied on me… and find myself face to face with a little girl.

"Deny you what?" She repeats.

I smile. "O-Oh it's nothing…"

"Ok… well some lady told me to give you this. She was here about three weeks ago and said that you needed it because you didn't like her. Look, see?" She digs into her skirt pocket and pulls something out. "She gave me candy!"

I blink and look at the little brown paper wrapped package in her other hand. "Who did you say gave this to you…?"

"Some lady. She was kinda mean but nice-ish. She had red hair… Oh! She was the lady who came with that butler a long time ago!" She smiles and hands me the package. "Anyway. That's all." She promptly leaves.

The princess was HERE! Damn! I knew I should've come earlier! I look down at the package and the breath catches in my throat… it looks… the perfect size for… No way… My resolve leaves me and I tear the brown paper off the box, opening and taking out what's inside.

My muscles freeze. My brain snaps. My heart is pounding so hard I think it's jack hammering its way out of my chest. I smile brightly and look up at the stars, which denied me so much in the past… "Thank you…" I whisper. In my hands I now hold the one thing that I needed for this journey to be complete…

The music box.

(->w -)

Ran: Yay! Another chapter finished! I'm on a roll here! I'd just like a moment to thank the one person who inspired me to write this so quickly:

Anarchy'sreign: "im not really a big fan of Ruka x Stan but still...this story can be an exception!"

Ran: I'm so proud! XD Thank you so much!