Hey guys, I'm back, writing a one-shot tragedy, I usually don't do tragedies, but I decided to give this baby a shot, I think it's pretty good, but tell me what you think, here goes…
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters; I also do not own any songs, brand names or other copyrighted material.
Fallen Heroes
Seventeen-year-old Jimmy Neutron was miserable. Why, you might ask, the answer is simple, love. Those four letters can make or break your heart; in this case, Jimmy's heart was broken.
The love of his life, Cynthia Aurora Vortex didn't love him, what's more she loved the guy Jimmy hated with all his heart.
"Hey Jimmy, I'm going on a date with Nick tonight so how 'bout we do that study thing tomorrow?"
"Sure." He answered glumly.
"Hey Jimmy, what's wrong?" She asked, concerned, they were friends.
"Nothing, just tired…and I've got a lot of homework." He lied.
"Cheer up, you'll feel better tomorrow, and you always finish homework in like a minute." She said, unusually cheery. Just then, Nick walked up.
"Hey Cin' baby, so what movie you wanna see tonight?" He asked.
"How about that new romantic movie." She suggested.
"Okay, whatever, so I'll pick you up at eight." He said, slouching off.
"Useless pretty boy." Jimmy muttered,
"What'd you say, I wasn't listening?" Cindy asked him.
"Nothing, just that I hope you enjoy the movie with Nick." He said.
"Thanks." She said, heading off to fifth period AP physics.
"Damn bastard." Jimmy muttered, glaring over at where Nick was leaning on his locker, talking to some friends.
Jimmy had changed, his brown hair fell down to his eyes, wavy but not as curly as before, he was handsome now and tall too, taller than Nick, only Sheen was as tall or strong as his best friend. Jimmy still didn't play sports, but Sheen was on the soccer team, Cindy was even more beautiful and Libby had just gotten hotter and hotter, she was still Sheen's Ultra-lady as he put it. Even the now-fit Carl had a girlfriend, a new student who also liked llamas named Chelsea, but who every one called Sammy, after her middle name Samantha. Only Jimmy didn't have a girlfriend, Cindy was the only one he had ever loved or even considered dating, but that hope had been extinguished.
"Yo Jim, bummed about Cindy, she'll dump Nick, she does love you dude." Sheen said consolingly, walking seemingly from nowhere, but really from the Janitor's closet.
"I hope your right Sheen, and what were you doing in the Janitor's closet?" Jimmy asked, although he knew that the hope he had spoken of wasn't possible.
"Oh, just getting some gum." Sheen said.
"Why do you have gum in- never mind, I don't want to know. It's just that I love Cindy, so much." He said, he hadn't told her as much, but his friends had known for a long time, thanks to Libby, so what was the point of trying to deny it to them?
"Dude, I feel your pain." Sheen said laying a hand on Jimmy's shoulder, serious for once. "And while you're in a downward spiral of depression, you can check out my new Ultralords!" Or not…
"Sorry Sheen, got to go to physics."
"Okay man, peace." Sheen said, heading the other way, towards English with Libby and Carl.
Jimmy ran into Mr. Watson's AP Particle Physics class.
"Mr. Neutron, you're three minutes late. What's your excuse?" He asked angrily.
"Oh, sorry sir, I thought it was English next." Jimmy said panting slightly for good effect.
"Well try to be more on top of things." He said, a bit kinder, he enjoyed being called sir and was perfectly willing to accept a reasonably excuse from his favorite student.
The class was small, not many people had qualified, or wanted to be in this class. Jimmy and Cindy, while friends, still argued for fun, and it was no longer competitive, simply quiet debates that nonetheless took over the class from Mr. Watson.
"Okay, as I was asking before Mr. Neutron arrived, what are the smallest known particles?" Jimmy's hand punched the air.
"Quarks sir."
"Good James, and I assume you can tell us the six different types of quarks."
"Up, Down, Charm, Strange, top and bottom, are the six different flavors of quarks and their electrical charges are +2/3, -1/3+2/3, -1/3+2/3, and -1/3 respectively." (All of these quark facts, and the following quark facts are true)
"Very good, now who can tell me where quarks exist and why?"
This time, Cindy beat him to it. "Quarks exist in hadrons such as Protons, and Neutrons." Cindy said, inclining her head in Jimmy's direction. "Furthermore, they only exist in hadrons because they are contained by strong or color change force fields." (Yes that is true too). Jimmy grinned.
"Ha, that's right Nerdtron."
"You wish dorktex." They called each other by their old nicknames, but not in hate, and for a moment, Jimmy forgot that they weren't dating.
Just then, the bell rung, a piercing buzz that marked the end of the period.
"Your papers on hadrons and their composition in combination with the kinetic energy they exert is due on Friday everyone, and don't forget that tomorrow is our test on particle interactions, that is interactions of electrons and protons." Mr. Watson called over the roar of hundreds of feet belonging to students running to their next class.
"I was going to do my paper on antiprotons." Jimmy reminded his teacher.
"That's right, and Cindy was doing hers on antimatter, our two geniuses." Their professor said fondly, like an uncle to his favorite nephew.
When Jimmy got into the hallway however, the scene was much less friendly, their was a tight ring of students, watching something in awe.
Jimmy edged between two freshmen and caught a glimpse of what was going on, Sheen was in a fight with Nick, over what, Jimmy had no clue.
"Sheen!" Jimmy cried, he dropped his books on the ground outside the circle and shoved back through, he ran towards the combatants and pulled Nick back.
"Get off me, bastard." Nick said between clenched teeth, he ripped himself away from Jimmy and punched Sheen in the stomach, Sheen bent over for a second, the wind knocked out of him, but recovered fast, Jimmy ran over next to him, and Nick glared at the pair of them.
"Come on weaklings, come and get me." He taunted. What Nick had forgotten was that he was facing two of the strongest people in their year. He lunged at Sheen, and Jimmy body slammed him into a wall of lockers. Nick kicked Jimmy in a very sensitive place, and Jimmy doubled up in pain, but now Sheen was mad. Nick had hurt his friend and he smashed Nick in the face. Nick was bleeding from his mouth and Sheen slammed his other fist into Nick's midsection. Sheen ran over to help Jimmy and Nick smashed his elbow into Sheen's back just as the vice-principal sprinted around the corner.
To him, all he could see was Nick, known to hurt lower classmen slamming his elbow into Sheen's back, Sheen collapsing in pain and Jimmy leaning against the wall, face screwed up in pain.
"Dean, detention for the next week and a half, all three of you, in my office!" He yelled, the circle of onlookers scattered instantly. Nick had wiped the blood of his fat lip and all three followed the worst disciplinarian in the school to his dreaded office.
"Now boys, what happened back there, James, you first." Since Jimmy was about the most honest boy in the school, it was he who would be believed.
"Well, I was coming out of my Particle Physics class, I had stayed late to confirm details about my paper with Mr. Watson, when I get out, I see this circle of people watching something. When I get in to see what exactly it was they were observing, I see Nick hitting Sheen. My first reaction is to protect anyone from getting hurt, and since it looked like Nick doing the hitting, I ran in and grabbed him. I didn't hit him or anything, just held him. Sheen backs up and Nick throws me off, resuming attacking Sheen. I slam him into the lockers in order to protect Sheen and myself from injury. Nick kicks me in, shall we say a painful area and resumes attacking Sheen. Sheen punches Nick in self defense and comes over to see if I'm all right, Nick hits him from behind, which is where you sir came in." Jimmy explained. "So, in my opinion, it was really self-defense on Sheen and my part, we were just defending ourselves, and with no figure of authority around, there was not much else we could do.
"Understandable, you Mr. Estevez?"
"What Jimmy said, that's what happened."
"And you Mr. Dean?"
"Sheen and Neutron here just attacked me while I was walking to my next period class." He said.
Idiot, Jimmy thought and a liar too, why does Cindy like him? Why?
"Well, I think I know who to believe here, Nick my earlier punishment stands, and you two, I'd say detention after school today will teach you not to get involved in fights."
"But, we didn't get involved, it was self-defense, he attacked me." Jimmy and Sheen protested.
"SILENCE! You will do as you are told! Now hurry up and get to your next classes!" He yelled.
When they got outside Nick turned to them. "I'm gonna kill you assholes!" He said, full of rage.
"Yeah, you and what army?" Jimmy asked, Nick seemed to notice how much stronger Jimmy and Sheen were and contented himself with a glare and a muttered threat.
"You'll see, you'll see."
"So Sheen, what was that fight about?"
"Really, he called you a bastard, me a freak and Carl and idiot."
"God I hate that fuckin retard!" Jimmy said.
"I know, I do too, but I hit him pretty bad before you got there."
"Why does Cindy go out with him Sheen? Why?" Jimmy asked, an edge of panic in his voice now.
"I dunno, fuckin' bastard." The profanity sounded odd coming from Sheen, and even more weird from Jimmy, but Sheen was pissed and Jimmy had been getting more and more touchy, depressed and prone to anger in the last few years. His life was pretty crappy, most people hated him, despite his good looks. They all thought he was too smart and should go and leave them all alone, they also thought he was really cruel, thanks to Nick the bastard. Even his home life wasn't what it used to be, and everything else was suffering too, his love life, which was in shambles, all he really had were Carl, Sheen and Libby, sure Cindy was his friend, but she went out with Nick so he was furious at her too. His parents were disappointed and yelled at him and it was driving him into deeper and deeper depression and he was getting more and more furious at everything as a result.
"Damn it! I have to get something done at work today too, I'll miss that because of the detention, and then my parents'll get furious too. My life sucks Sheen." He said, he worked part-time for a PR firm and his parents got furious whenever he did the slightest thing wrong.
"Hey man, you can sleep at my place, I'll invite Carl, we can have a party, maybe it'll help you forget your problems for a while."
"Thanks Sheen, you really are a great friend." He said gratefully.
That night, Jimmy, Carl and Sheen were coming out of the latest Jet Fusion movie, joking and reliving some of the highlights, for the first time in a very long while, Jimmy was actually happy, his problems temporarily pushed aside, and then Cindy and Nick came out of a theater to their right, fighting and all of Jimmy's depression and anger came rushing back.
"What did I do?" Cindy yelled, her face wet with tears.
"You cheated on me, Bitch!" Nick yelled. Jimmy and Sheen had been wanting a chance to get even with Nick and Carl did too after how he hurt his two best friends. Nick backhanded her across her tear stained face, hard and their was a loud smack as his had collided. This sight took all the anger Jimmy had been feeling over the past months and pushed it over the edge, mindless with rage, Jimmy dashed forward and slammed his fist into the side of Nick's face, Sheen was right behind him and they jumped on Nick. They pounded him mercilessly, until five of Nick's bully friends who came out of the movie Jimmy, Sheen and Carl were in saw what was going on. The fight that ensued was short and brutal, at the end of it, Jimmy, Sheen and Carl limped away, covered with bruises, Sheen with a bloody nose, and Jimmy with two brilliant black eyes, Carl was clutching his leg. But they had come out considerably better off than their opponents, Nick sported a broken nose and the others were cringing in extreme pain, bloody, bruised and limping badly.
Amazingly, Cindy ran over to comfort Nick, at this sight, Jimmy picked up an empty metal trash bin and bodily slammed it back into the ground. They were ushered out by furious employees "We don't care what you delinquents do to each other, just get the hell out!" The manager yelled. They got into Sheen's car and drove back to his house, Sheen's parents were away for the week, on a business trip, or Sheen's dad was and his mom had gone with him to see her old roommate from college who lived up there, leaving Sheen home by himself, something he relished.
Jimmy left a message for his parents so they wouldn't freak out at him when he didn't come home that night and they sat in silence for a while.
It was Carl who broke the quiet "Jimmy, I know that you're upset about Cindy, but we taught Nick a lesson, just move on, she's not worth it." He tried to console his best friend.
"That's the problem Carl, did you see how she went to Nick even after he hit her? I want to move on, but I just can't." He said frustratedly.
The rest of the week passed in a similar fashion, no huge fights, but the usual exchange of insults and curses with Nick, Cindy, to Jimmy's fury still followed Nick around like a dog, Jimmy even saw him yelling at her several times when he was passing by after school, out of sight, but she still hung on to him, dating and even, Jimmy once saw them, making out. So, the rest of the week was misery to Jimmy and just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it did; Cindy was found dead, stabbed by Nick. Jimmy was there, he had been walking Goddard in the park, when he heard a scream, he turn around and sprinted to the sound of the noise, he saw Cindy lying on the ground bleeding, she had lost blood, too much blood, he just caught sight of a face unmistakable as Nick's before the bastard ran off, Jimmy didn't chase him, he knelt down next to the love of his life. "Jimmy…" She said weakly.
"Shush, don't waste your energy, you're going to live." He said fiercely.
"Don't kid yourself Jimmy, I'm as good as gone, but I just wanted to tell you, that all this time…I…I've been stupid and now, I realize I can't hide the truth and that I was just lying to myself…I-I love you James Isaac Neutron, more than anyone in the universe, I love you with all my heart, and I'm just sorry I didn't tell you before…"
"Cind' I I love you too. I've loved you ever since I first saw your beautiful face, first heard your lovely voice, like a choir of angels, and Cindy, I just want you to know, that you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and that I will always love you, Always!"
"I will always be with you Jimmy, I love you." She said, weaker and weaker with every passing second. He knelt down, the only love she had ever truly known and she felt his lips connect with hers in a moment that filled her with passionate joy. She knew that this was true joy, and it seemed as if her whole life had been leading up to this moment. They slowly broke apart.
"I only wish we could've admitted it sooner…I love you Jimmy, I'll see you in heaven…just, never give up Jimmy…I love you James Isaac Neutron, I love you…Jimmy.." And then, she let out what he knew would be her last breath and as she struggled for life he spoke softly in her ear.
"I love you Cynthia Aurora Vortex, I love you…you have always been the person I look up to, I love you…and I will see you in heaven, I promise, I love you Cindy Vortex…I love you." She smiled and then her eyes slowly shut.
Jimmy knelt and then, for the first time in memory, he cried, wracking sobs that redefined pain as tears flowed down his cheeks. His body shook with grief and he opened his eyes for a moment to gaze down at the love of his life's peaceful face, the face of an angel, he cleaned the blood off her shirt and laid his jacket over her body, he stopped for a moment, and saw, around her neck, the pearl he had given her so long ago, when they had first realized what true love was all about. His body was filled with grief. He carried her to the hospital and stood with her body. He left when they took it away, with only one thought on his mind…revenge!
He went to his room, ignoring his parents, and silently opening a locked box under his bead, he pulled out a handgun he had taken from BTSO headquarters last time he had been there and loaded the clip into the handle. He tucked it into his jacket pocket and slowly made his way to the outskirtst of town, just as he had predicted, there was Nick, hiding in a part of the forest that extended from the park.
Jimmy stared at him and spoke once, flatly and without emotion. "This is for what you did to the love of my life." Nick was taken by surprise he stood up to face Jimmy, his face bore no remorse. Jimmy swiftly drew the Beretta automatic pistol and fired once, the bullet found it's mark and Nick fell, dead before he hit the ground, Jimmy turned and walked back to the park, he found the bench where he and Cindy had spent so many memorable days back when they were young, innocent and in love, looked around for a moment, his eyes welling up with fresh tears, he spoke six words, solemnly and full of emotion. "I love you Cynthia Aurora Vortex!" It was amazing how that short sentence defined who he was, surmised his life. He took one last minute to conjure up a memory of Cindy and him on the island, watching the beautiful sunset, before raising the gun to his temple. He didn't flinch, but stood, tears running silently down his face and pulled the trigger.
"James Isaac Neutron and Cynthia Aurora Vortex died today, and you can bet that they are facing the challenges that lie beyond our mortal existence as they faced every challenge in life, side to side, with love. Today has seen the passing of two heroes, they will be remembered forever. James Isaac Neutron and Cynthia Aurora Vortex, Jimmy and Cindy as you may have known them, fallen heroes."
A/N: Please Review!
Your humble author,
James