Happy New Year everybody! The year of 2006 already! OO Luis from Resident Evil 4 pops up Luis: Well have a great year and hopefully capitulo once (chapter 11 if you don't know Spanish) will be up before 2007 this time!
Chapter 10
Scars
Rebecca heard an echoing voice in a distance calling her name. She heard another sound in the background, but she couldn't tell what it was. The ground she was laying on felt hard and cold. The sounds became louder and clearer as she woke up more. The sound in the background was rushing water. Was it a waterfall? Where was she? And that voice…she knew it. It was Liana. Did that mean Rebecca was still on Earth? Liana couldn't have been killed. She was too strong. She suddenly felt cold water spray on her face and she awoke fully with a start. She sat up fast and rubbed her eyes. She looked to where the water came from and saw Billy spraying her in the face with water from a drain. He used his shirt to shoot the water by pressing it up against the far side of the drain.
"Nice to see you awake again, Rebecca." Billy greeted with a smile.
"Yeah. Hi," she answered while drying her face with her shirt, "Why aren't you wearing your shirt?" Rebecca caught herself staring at his bare chest and abs. She certainly loved what she saw. He had no hair on his chest and stomach and his muscles were very well defined and looked rock-hard.
"For one thing, I was washing the blood out of it and for another," he turned around to show her the wounds from the dead hunter, "I was hoping you'd help me out," Billy turned back around and saw Rebecca was till staring at him and near to drooling, "What's the matter? Want me to put my shirt back on?"
"No!" she blurted and then clasped her hand over her mouth after she realized what she just said. Billy grinned when she went into a huge blush. She noticed he had a pretty smile too, "I mean, um, keep it off so I can fix you up."
"Alright then. Where do you want me?"
"Um," Rebecca looked around the room. To her right was the exit and to her left was the drain that shot water down into nothingness. In front of her on the other side of the room were two wooden crates. It was a fairly small room with crumbling gray bricks and a couple lights in the corners of the ceiling. All of their equipment and weapons were piled in a corner of the room, "How about if we sit on the crates over there?"
"Whatever you say, doc," Billy answered as he followed orders. They both sat down on one of the crates and Rebecca started pulling things out of her medpack.
"So where is this place and where's Liana? I heard her."
"This is the room she went into when we split up. She went outside to take a leak a while before I splashed you."
"Okay, that's a lovely image." Rebecca chuckled.
"I bet it is." Liana said as she walked back in.
"What took you so long?" Billy asked as he turned his head to look at Liana.
"I had to go number two too. Remember that I haven't gone to the bathroom for over a month." She replied. Billy went bug-eyed when he saw what was behind her.
"And what the hell is that on your ass!"
"And this," she turned around to show a tail as long as her attached to her at the top of her butt that had ripped a hole in her shorts. It was a green, scaly prehensile tail with a triangle spike at the end. Basically, her tail looked that of Nightcrawler's from "X-Men" except green instead of blue, "This is my new accessory."
"I heard you scream or something a while ago. What was that about?" Billy asked.
"Do you have any idea how much it hurts to have this thing grow all of the sudden while you're trying to take a dump?"
"Fair enough."
"This is gonna sting, okay?" Rebecca warned Billy as she readied the disinfectant.
"Good morning, officer." Liana greeted as she washed her hands in the clean water spouting from the pipe.
"Hey Liana. Nice tail." She greeted back as she started applying the disinfectant to Billy's gashes. He let out a yelp and tried to stay still and think about something else. He stayed quiet and concentrated on something more pleasant as Liana filled Rebecca in on what happened after she passed out. The first thing that popped into Billy's head was the lingering desire to kiss Rebecca. Every physical attribute she had was beautiful. Not only that, she was also very intelligent and strong. And her heart…she was such a sweet girl.
"Maybe she does like me," he thought, "She was eyeing me pretty good back there. Still…I don't know. Well at least she lets me hold her. That's better than nothing."
"Billy?" Rebecca tapped him.
"What?"
"I don't have any anesthetic to numb the gashes, so you're just gonna have to be brave while I stitch these up, ok? I'll be as gentle as I can."
"Okay," Billy breathed, "Go for it."
"Billy, I put that tablet where it needed to go. Oh, and I found something I think you guys might want to listen to." Liana stated as she pulled a small book out of her pocket.
"Let's hear it." Rebecca told her as she started stitching the first gash.
"It's a management trainee's diary. It says,
'What is it that Director Marcus is researching all the time? And what's with his weird interest in leeches? Interest? Seems more like love at times…Rumor has it that there's something dangerous about those leeches. It is true that when Dennis just touched one he got ill with a fever.
Again today…There were those horrible moans…beyond that door. "Let sleeping dogs…" No way I'll go near them. Even if the Director tells me, I no want to end up like Dennis. That poor bastard. Scratching and scratching. Makes me itch jost watching him. Must maybe go IF can but hwo? Dennis gone. I go. Hungry Help Mom.' "
"I almost feel sorry for the poor bastard." Billy commented.
"Yeah. He was turning into a zombie and nobody cared. And this Marcus guy is getting creepier and creepier. I wonder why Billy and I didn't have symptoms like that when we were infected." Rebecca added.
"Well the virus is really unstable, so it's no surprise that his reaction was different from normal," Liana explained. It was silent for a few minutes, "So what's your family like, Rebecca? Any siblings?"
"Yeah," Rebecca smiled, "Two sisters. One's older, one's younger."
"So you're the middle child, huh? What are their ages?"
"My older sister, Megan, is twenty and my younger sister, Kiley, is sixteen."
"Wait, how old are you then?" Billy asked through a wince.
"Eighteen."
"Eighteen!" Liana and Billy exclaimed in surprise.
"How are you in S.T.A.R.S., then? Don't you have to be really experienced in the police department to join S.T.A.R.S.?"
"Not necessarily, I guess," Rebecca explained, "Having a Harvard degree in medicine and chemistry and having experience as a nurse looks good on a resume."
"Whoa, so you're eighteen and just graduated from Harvard right here in Raccoon City?" Liana asked.
"Yup."
"Damn, Einstein, you're crazy," Billy commented, "Since you're such a genius, why didn't you go into being a scientist instead of a medic for S.T.A.R.S.? It can't pay that much."
"It doesn't, but I wanted to try something new and exciting. I always thought it would be cool to be a cop, so when I heard that S.T.A.R.S. needed a medic I went for it. But I never thought this job would get this exciting, especially on the first day."
"Yeah, that's gotta spoil your enthusiasm for the job, huh?" Liana asked.
"Got that right." Rebecca sighed.
"Hey, Akiko?" Billy asked, "Are Rebecca and I okay? I mean, since we've been hit by the monsters again, are we infected?"
"Nah, you're fine," Liana reassured, "You already have the anti-virus in you so you have the antibodies to combat it now every time it enters your system, at least this type of virus that's being tested here. If you're hit with a different type of T-Virus, the antibodies you have won't work against it. That's the way viruses work."
"Well let's just hope we don't run into any new types without a different anti-virus then." Rebecca commented.
"Uh-huh." Billy said worriedly.
"Don't worry, man. I can tell if a monster has a different type. So far all of these creeps here are infected with the same thing so you don't have to fret about getting sick again." Liana assured.
"Good. Thanks." Billy answered.
"No prob, buddy. So what are your sisters like, Rebecca?"
"They're great. We have our differences, but we still adore each other."
"Awesome, like what?"
"Well Megan is a total outdoors freak. She's done the PCT, the JMT, she's climbed Denali and the face of Half Dome and she's just crazy. She does it all."
"And what's all that mean?" Billy asked.
"The PCT is the Pacific Crest Trail which is a hike from Mexico to Canada. The JMT is the John Muir Trail, which is over 200 miles long through the Sierras in California and Denali is the tallest mountain in North America. Its elevation is over 20,000 feet. And Half Dome is in Yosemite National Park in California. It's a really long rock climb that takes days to do."
"Damn. You've got one wild sister. I gotta meet her!" Billy said enthusiastically.
"I think she's a girl that is the definition of extreme." Liana said with wide eyes.
"Ha ha! Yeah. I'm such a wimp compared to her," Rebecca went on, "I like doing day-hikes to a nice lunch spot and she likes backpacking for a month and eating spam. I like climbing in the day and then sleeping in a tent in a campground while she likes to stay on the wall for a week. And there is no way in hell I'm going mountaineering!"
"Yeah, backpacking's fun I bet as long as you don't have eighty pounds of guns and ammo on your back." Billy added.
"Yeah. But Megan and I share everything else in common, wait I forgot one. I'm straight and she's not."
"Hell yeah! When can I meet her?" Billy said ecstatically. Rebecca started laughing, "What? Lesbianness is hot, man! They kick ass!"
"Well I'm not into the porno aspect like you, but I think homosexual couples are adorable." Rebecca stated.
"Ewwwww…" Liana gagged.
"What, are you a homophobe?" Rebecca asked.
"No no no," she answered, "I'm not one of those prejudiced morons who's like 'God hates fags and they all go to hell'. That's ridiculous. I just don't like what they do because it's a sin and just plain nasty. Still, this country isn't a theocracy so gay marriage and all that should be legal."
"Right on." Billy and Rebecca agreed.
"So you like lesbians, huh?" Rebecca asked Billy, "What about gays?"
"My best friend was gay," he answered, "Dave…he was in my unit in the Marines. When I first met him I was uncomfortable around him, but that changed fast. He was a really cool guy, a true friend, and an awesome soldier. I never liked picturing him and some dude getting in on though."
"Awesome," Rebecca commented, "Wait, he was in Africa with you? What happened to him?" Billy was silent for a moment.
"He's dead," he informed, "Killed in a firefight."
"Dang, that sucks. I'm so sorry to hear that." Liana came over and hugged Billy softly as to not disturb Rebecca's stitching.
"It must have been awful to lose your best friend like that." the medic stroked Billy's shoulder to show her sympathy.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"He never would have let that massacre happen," Billy thought, "He would have stopped it if he made it to that point. He was always the smarter one."
"So what is your younger sister like, Becks?" he asked. Billy was tired of thinking about the mission to Africa and just wanted to change the subject and think about something else. Rebecca started stitching again.
"Kiley is not outdoorsy at all. She won't hike anywhere, she doesn't like climbing or anything. The only outdoorsy things she likes to do is sled and snowboard and stuff like that where its still civilized and things. But in Sitka you have to hike up a mountain to go boarding, so she travels outs of town to a friend's house where there are official slopes and stuff."
"Complete opposite of Megan." Liana stated.
"Yup. But she's still cool. I love her to death. You'd like her Billy. She's straight, but her mind towards homos is like yours."
"Sweet!" Billy cheered.
"What do your parents think about your sister being a lesbian?" Liana asked.
"Well, they're not 'excited' about it like me and my sisters, but they accept it. If what she's doing makes her happy, then they're cool with it as long as she's not some homicidal crack-whore or something."
"Well that's good." Liana commented.
"Acceptance," Billy thought, "Tom…Lauren…why-"
"Ow!" Billy's own voice cut him off when Rebecca tugged a little too hard on one of the stitches.
"Oh! Sorry!" Rebecca apologized, "Didn't mean to be too rough."
"Don't worry about it."
"Anyways, one thing Megan, Kiley, and I have in common is our love of dance."
"Cool. So what kind of dances do you do?" Liana asked.
"Pretty much everything. My favorite dance to do is Irish, Megan's is Tlingit, and Kiley's is hip-hop."
"Tlingit? That's something you don't hear every day." Billy responded.
"Yeah. My dad's an Alaskan Native (a Tlingit) and my mom's Irish."
"That's awesome! I've always been fascinated by Indians. So who looks like who?" Liana asked while being entertained by Billy's wounds being stitched up.
"Well my dad, of course, has the darker skin and eyes and black hair like a typical Native American. He's not pretty and is a chub-ball, but likes the outdoors. Megan inherited the most from him. She looks like an Alaskan Native and isn't very attractive, but she is far from being even slightly fat. She's one of those people that look hot only when they're dancing or just doing their thing, which is climbing in her case. Kiley on the other hand is always attractive, but looks like Dad too. Looks-wise it's impossible to tell my sisters are related to me since I look like mom. She's a very beautiful woman with my eyes and long, curly, fire-red hair."
"Cool. You really inherited your mom's good looks." Billy complimented. Rebecca's face flushed again.
"Thanks."
"So what do your parents do?" Liana questioned.
"My mom is the lead-singer in an Irish band called Altan. Great Irish music. And my dad is big in the fishing business so we're pretty rich."
"Wow, lucky you!" Liana explained, "So do they live in this huge mansion and stuff?"
"Ha ha! I wouldn't call it a mansion, but it is a fairly big house."
"Yeah? What's it like?" Billy asked.
"It's a three-story house with high ceilings on a tiny island just off Sitka Harbor. It has a dock out front with a couple boats and kayaks," Rebecca smiled as she reminisced about her childhood, "It was pretty cool being a kid there. A trip anywhere would mean an exciting boat ride. The house looks pretty cool. It's built like a giant cabin. The dock leads up to the second floor, which is the main floor. The third is the floor with all the bedrooms. The first floor is the party room/rehearsal room. It has a stage and everything, not a very big one but a stage nonetheless."
"Damn that's crazy," Billy commented with a hint of sorrow and envy in his voice, "You're a lucky girl you know that?"
"Yeah, I sure am," Rebecca apparently didn't pick up on Billy's tone, "I couldn't ask for a more loving and cool family to be in. You know what's also cool? My family has Tlingit names. My dad, Jim Chambers, is of the Eagle-Wolf Clan. His name is Edensaw, which means 'Glacier'. My mom, Fiona Ardal Chambers, was adopted into the Raven-Bear Clan when she married my dad and her name is X'an Gugan, which means 'Red Sun'. By Tlingit tradition, the children take the mother's clan, so my sisters and I are Raven-Bear. My name is Dleit T'aaw, which means 'White Feather'. Kiley's name is Koots'eix, which means 'Bear Dancing' and Megan is Yaa Gooch, which means 'Traveling Wolf'."
"Your family sounds so cool!" Liana exclaimed.
"Yeah, my dad taught me all about nature, the outdoors, Tlingit culture and songs and stuff while my mom taught me how to dance and sing. She taught me how to play a little bit of piano too."
"That's great. My dad taught me all about hand-to-hand combat and swords. The fighting style of the ninja had been passed down my dad's family for hundreds of years," Liana explained, "He owned a small dojo and taught martial arts. He was a tough sensei, but a great one. Very rarely could I defeat him when we sparred. He sometimes scolded me for being to flippy-floppy when I fight and he was probably right to say it, but I can't help it that much since I've been a gymnastics freak since I was four. I was a gymnastics CIF champion with my school a couple months ago! Man, I was so excited when we won! My mom was practically on the ceiling of the gym and my dad was just sitting there laughing his ass off watching my mom" Liana chuckled.
"She was that funny, huh?" said Billy, "What did she look like?" Rebecca halted her stitching so she could watch without hurting Billy.
"I kid you not. She looked just like this," Liana cleared her throat and then started cheering and screaming and dancing and jumping around like an ADHD kid on crack. Billy started cracking up and Rebecca fell over giggling, "Now imagine a middle-age chub-woman doing it in the stands in a big crowd!" They all laughed even harder when they got that image in their head.
"Careful, Billy! You don't want to burst the stitches!" Rebecca laughed. Billy tried to calm himself before he injured himself anymore than he already had. It took a while, but eventually everyone ran out of giggles.
"Man, my mom was always a crack-up," Liana continued, "She was always able to make people laugh. She was a great stand-up comedian too. And she had the most phenomenal singing voice. Those are the two reasons why my dad felt attracted to her in the first place. And also why her student loved her."
"She was a teacher, huh? What did she teach?" Rebecca asked.
"She was the choir teacher at Raccoon High. I was one of her best students when I was in high school, mainly because she had been teaching me to sing since forever ago."
"That's really cool. So what type of weapons did your dad teach you to use?" Rebecca asked with fascinated curiosity.
"Well, the typical ninja sword for starters. It's basically a samurai sword, but smaller. Then he moved me onto two smaller swords, which were more like the size of bayonettes. Those were my weapons of choice because with their small size and light weight I was faster and more effective. My secondary weapon was the standard kunai, which are small throwing knives about the shape of long diamonds. My dad always made me carry kunai with me when I went into the city since it isn't the safest place in the world of course. I only had to use it once when my best friend, Emily, and I took a short-cut through an alley and a couple guys tried to mug us or kill us or rape us or something. I guess that's what we get for liking form-fitting stuff. It's easier to move in than this baggy guy crap where the crotch is halfway down my thighs." Liana motioned to her clothes.
"You don't like bagginess? I like it. If you hate it why are you wearing it?" Billy asked.
"Because it was the smallest, non-gut covered thing I could find. And you should talk. You're wearing tight pants right now."
"Yeah I know, but I like bagginess too! I'm not always Mr. Sexy Pants."
"Luckily you're wearing them now in this place, right Rebecca?" Liana looked up at the cop with a mischievous smile.
"Uh, yeah," Rebecca blushed while looking at Billy's pants and mostly his butt. He did have a pretty nice ass, which was easy to see with his pants tightened around it, "They're very…useful in this situation…yup…nice…" Rebecca then snapped herself out of her girlish dreams and kept stitching. Billy turned to Liana.
"Was she just checking out my ass?" Billy mouthed. Liana nodded with a wink and a grin. Billy did a quick, quiet cheer to himself. His mood brightened a little.
"I bet those guys that tried to attack you and Emily went down before they knew what hit them." Billy smiled.
"Yeah…that was my very first kill," Liana trailed off, "It happened so fast, I didn't even think. The second I saw those guys charging us with switchblades drawn I pulled the kunai out of my pants and tossed them. Ninjas are spies so they are trained to go for quick kills especially when they have kunai with them. So those two got one dagger each in the head. It felt so weird to kill someone. I mean I was glad I did it of course to protect me and Emily, but at the same time I felt guilty. I kept thinking maybe I should have used hand-to-hand combat to defeat them but keep them alive. But at the same time they were trying to attack us so they deserved it. On the other hand, I don't know their back-stories. I don't know if they were hobos desperate for money or something since I didn't really see their condition or anything. All I saw was their faces and blades. It was a hit-and-run. Of course, after we got home we called the cops. It was self-defense so I didn't get in trouble or anything, which was nice."
"Wow, that's crazy," Rebecca commented, "How old were you?"
"It was about three years ago, so I was fourteen."
"Killing does feel pretty weird, but man, I'm sorry. That's gotta be tough on a kid." Billy sympathized.
"It's okay, thanks. Better them than me though as mean as that may sound. I felt no remorse when I fought back and killed some of Umbrella's guards when I was being kidnapped while wandering around the woods by the mansion. My house was pretty much at the entrance of the forest so this whole place was kind of like my backyard. That's why my family and I were caught so easily."
"Wow that sucks," Rebecca commented, "Say do you dance at all, Liana?"
"Me?" she laughed, "Hell no! I can't dance to save my life…well except sword dance."
"Well of course you can do that Ms. Ninja Woman," Rebecca smiled, "Which is a really cool dance to watch by the way. There has to be something else though."
"Well, I can do techno…sort of. Someone, I can't remember who, got me to do airbands once and they just told me to do a sword dance with out weapons and put more of a bounce or something into it."
"How'd it work?" Rebecca asked.
"Not bad actually. It looked pretty good."
"Great. So you can techno dance." Rebecca encouraged.
"Yeah, but only when it's a rehearsed routine. I can't just make it up as I go and make it look really good like I can when I sword dance."
"Fair enough," Rebecca shrugged, "Do you play any instruments?"
"Now that I think about it, yeah I do. I play bass guitar."
"That's fun." Rebecca smiled.
"What about you? Anything besides piano?" Liana asked.
"Yeah, I can play the fiddle." Rebecca replied.
"Oo! The fiddle! That has to be a fun instrument to play." Liana bounced.
"Yeah, it is. So what's your house like?"
"Hmm…it's a small one story house just big enough for a small family," Liana said as images came back, "It looked really cool though with the wooden Japanese style it has. It had a porch that surrounds the whole house and those cool sliding doors. The driveway/road to my house is unpaved and surrounded by grass and wild flowers and pine trees. It's such a nice getaway from the urbanness of the city. The suburbs are nice too, but you can't get a whole forest as a backyard there with plenty of space to train. Behind our house, not far off, is this really pretty river that-" Liana's smile faded when she remembered someone.
A handsome smiling face. It was an Asian boy in his late teens. He held a wooden ninja sword along with a black mask in his hand and wore a black ninja uniform. He was standing at the snow-draped bank of the river and was chuckling to himself at a young teenage girl who, by the looks of it, was treading water in the middle of the ice-cold river. She had a black mask on that only showed her eyes. She had two small wooden ninja swords in her hands and was also dressed as a ninja. She was stuttering and frantically swam to the white bank.
"That's no way the fight," he said with a smile, "Getting pushed in so easily. You could at least toss one of your swords at me and try to take me down with you," His voice was so familiar. The girl removed her balaclava-like mask. Her long raven-black hair flowed down to her knees. Her bangs were short enough to show her eyebrows and portions of her hair next to her bangs were a little passed her shoulders. It was Liana two years ago when she was fifteen. She was on her hands and knees on the riverbank and threw one of her swords at him. He caught it with ease and laughed again, "You'll have to do better than that." Now she remembered where she heard the voice! It was the first voice she heard by the Marcus painting.
"Suguru, you are such a jerk!" she said angrily through chattering teeth.
"Yeah, yeah I'm big, bad Sugi," he said sarcastically as she slowly stood up and walked face-to-face with him. He was only 5'7" but she was still tiny in comparison since she was only five feet tall, "But it's all in the name of learning." He handed her weapon back to her.
"Yeah whatever. I don't care." She huffed as she shivered uncontrollably.
"You're just saying that because you're cold," he put an arm around her shoulders, "Come on sis, let's get inside before you catch a cold." Sis? So Suguru is her older brother?
"Yeah, let's." she grabbed Suguru's sword and they started walking.
"Are you still mad?" Liana was silent, "Come on, let's see a smile. You know I wouldn't have pushed you in if the house wasn't nearby, right beautiful?" she was still quiet, "Aw my pretty angel-hair girl won't smile for me? Now I'm hurt!" he made a totally fake depressed face that looked so weird Liana couldn't help but laugh, "There we go!" Suguru picked her up like she weighed nothing and spun around making her giggle with delight. He smiled and kept carrying her, "Tell you what. When we get home, how about if you take a long hot shower while I make us some hot chocolate with marshmallows. And when you come out I'll put on 'Sailor Moon' while we wait for Mom and Dad to come home. How'd that sound?"
"Sounds nice," Liana grinned, "But I still get my revenge!" She put her freezing hands on his neck.
"Christ that's cold!" Suguru dropped her in surprise and started running.
"Ouch! Hey get back here!" Liana laughed as she chased him with their wooden weapons.
That wasn't the end of her returning memories. Along with all of her mental memories of him came some visual memories. She and Suguru were rocking the stage at the Battle of the Bands with Emily and someone she didn't recognize. Suguru was playing lead guitar, Liana was on bass, Emily was on the keyboard, and the mystery boy on the drums. All of them were singing their hearts out and being cheered on by the audience. More sibling memories cleared: Them going places with each together, sparring matches, a birthday present of a shiny new kunai set with a note that said, "To the best sister anyone could have. Now you can kick even more ass…with spiffier kick-assery!"
She smiled at these returning thoughts, but cringed at the next thing she saw. When she was sixteen and Suguru nineteen, they were driving home from a movie late at night going crazy, as usual, while listening to "Nobody's Listening" by Linkin Park. When they were going through a green light, a drunk driver didn't stop at his red right and hit Suguru on the driver's side. He died on impact along with the drunk driver. Liana was in the hospital in a coma for a week. When she woke up, her parents were there along with Emily and the drummer from the band. She didn't remember the accident so her parents reminded her. In a panic she asked where Suguru was. They cried as they told her he was killed. Liana couldn't believe it, she wouldn't.
For a whole month she slipped into schizophrenia. Suguru and her were joined at the hip. They were closer than life-long best friends or lovers could ever be. Her dear brother was her life. They could tell each other anything, could trust each other and they could have fun doing anything. They could make staring at a wall fun for each other. They shared everything in common and never ran out of things to talk about. They talked about anything and everything all the time. They went everywhere together. They brightened each other's days and always were there to comfort and help and support each other when they needed it. They admired and adored each other from the beginning. They loved each other more than anything and now that Suguru was dead, Liana refused to believe that rare, treasured, irreplaceable relationship was gone so she went about her life like nothing happened. Her mind made her see a color negative of Suguru. She had to hide in the lie because she couldn't handle the pain, so she interacted with a fake brother. Nobody knew what to do about it, so they just let her exist in her perfect little fantasy world where Suguru was still breathing by her side like he always was. It was already painful enough for Naoto and Chloe to have lost their son and with their daughter going crazy at the same time, they didn't have a clue what to do in fear of making it worse.
Eventually Liana realized the truth and the phantom Suguru dissipated. When this happened she felt so alone and let out her grief in screams and tears. Her heart had shattered and no amount of love from family and friends seemed to dull the pain. She forgot about everyone, even God.
The month after was Suguru's memorial service when the family, more like Liana, was stable enough. It was a frozen day in February by the river when the service was done. Snow fell gently to the ground as the black-clothed figures stood in silent tears. The priest ended his talk and people who wanted to speak about Suguru spoke. Liana didn't speak nor weep. She was an emotionless statue in a black kimono staring off into the chilled earth. She was a zombie. When it was time to scatter his ashes into the water, Liana took the urn from her mother and sat down on the white bank of the river with it. She pulled Suguru's sword out of her robes. It wasn't the wooden practice sword he used when sparring, it was a true sword made for fighting. She unsheathed it and pulled her long hair in front of her.
"My hair with your blade," Liana said as she cut it above her waist and tied it around the handle of the sword. It was a gift to him. He always loved her hair and told her it was the prettiest thing about her. Now it was his. She rolled up her right sleeve and cut the outside of her upper arm.
Everyone was shocked and confused at what she was doing, but wouldn't interfere. If this is how she wanted to say goodbye, they were going to let her as long as she didn't try to commit suicide, which she had thought about more than once that month, not that anyone knew that.
Liana opened the urn and held the blade over it as if she was going stab it. She watched her blood travel down to the top of the blade and drip into the clay ash-keeper. She felt nothing; no happiness, no peace, no sorrow, no anger, not even the sting of the bleeding wound. She felt numb. She was an empty shell. It was as if her soul was gone and all that remained was a tragic figure that wandered the earth without a purpose.
"My blood with your ashes," she continued as she watched the last drop of blood fall off the blade and splash into the soft pile of remains, "And a scar on my arm," she slammed the blade deep into the ground behind her and picked up the urn as she stood, "So that I cam always with you and you with me," she slowly spread the ashes into the water and wind, "Never shall I forget." When the urn was empty, she and the others left to go back to the house for the small reception and to check out Liana's wound to see if it would need stitches from the doctor. They left Suguru's shining steel in the ground with the hair flowing in the wind like a long tassel, neither ever to be removed from the soil or each other.
Rebecca looked at Liana. Liana was staring blankly into nothing as she ran her fingers across the long scar on her arm.
"Hey Liana?" Rebecca asked, "You okay? Where'd you get that scar?"
"Suguru," she murmured, "Brother…why do I have to remember such pain…why did you have to die!" She broke down crying and Rebecca came running to her rescue. Billy would have come too but he didn't want to ruin the stitches, hurt himself, and have Rebecca scold him. Liana couldn't help but cry. Of course Suguru died over a year and a half ago, but she just relived a terrible memory. Not only that, she just remembered she had a big brother and now all of the sudden she didn't have one anymore which was incredibly frustrating and painful because she was just becoming more and more alone. She was afraid to pray and hope for anything because she was tired of being let down by hurtful memories.
Rebecca held her close and sang an old Tlingit lullaby her father taught her. The language wasn't what you'd call soft and flowing like the Elvish language from "The Lord of the Rings". It was a harder language with some clicks and many of the words came from the back of the throat and sounded like a raven call. Even so, her voice captivated Billy. It made him smile peacefully and want to fall into a calm slumber. He chuckled inwardly watching the two girls. They looked like a mother and daughter.
The half-native rocked Liana back and forth as she sang. The song would be complete if she had the soft, slow beat of a drum. Rebecca always loved singing the Tlingit lullabies and they always gave her some comfort and cheered her up when her dad sang them to her when she was a child. She just hoped it would work on her friend. It took a few lullabies, but Liana eventually calmed down and wiped away her tears.
"Hey Akiko," Billy called, "Air hug!" Billy smiled as he opened his arms in her direction. Liana giggled and air hugged him back.
"You might want to finish Billy. He's been patient for a while." Liana said to Rebecca. The cop got up and went back to stitching Billy.
"So where did that scar come from?" Rebecca asked. Liana sighed and told them everything she saw in detail.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry that happened." Rebecca said sympathetically.
"Don't worry about it, Rebecca-chan," Liana smiled, "At least I have all my memories of my family back."
"But something's still missing, huh?" Billy asked. Liana nodded.
"Well I think its great that- hey what was your brother's middle name?" Rebecca asked.
"Jean. My mom picked it. My dad got to choose his first name so my mom chose his middle name. Then when I came around it was vise-versa."
"That's nice. Anyways, I think it's great you and Suguru had such a strong sibling relationship."
"Yup. It was pretty cool. Hey you know what was funny about my dad? Whenever any of my guy friends came over or something, when they'd leave he'd always announce if he's worthy enough or not to be my boyfriend, not that I liked any of them that way anyways. It was so random! You'd hear the door close and then he'd walk into the middle of the house and go, 'Worthy!' or 'Not worthy!' while looking at nothing and then walk away and go about his business."
"Ha ha! Your dad's pretty funny."
"Well, he was anyways," Liana said solemnly. A moment later she brightened up a bit with fond memories, "Man I loved my parents. They were the best ever!"
"Liar! Mine's the best!" Rebecca said with a smile.
"Well mine watched 'Sailor Moon' and 'Rurouni Kenshin' with me and Suguru." Rebecca gasped.
"I love 'Sailor Moon'! That's me and my mom's favorite anime!" she said excitedly.
"Really? It's my favorite too! Who's your favorite character, Rebecca-chan?"
"My favorite is Sailor Mercury."
"She's totally you. Sailor Mars is my favorite." I dressed up as her for Halloween once. That was so funny! My whole family went over to Emily's house. My parents helped Emily's parents with the trick-or-treating and ran around like maniacs. Suguru was Nephrite and Emily was Sailor Mercury. Now here's what was funny. My parents were so spastic about this: My mom was Sailor Moon and my dad was Tuxedo Mask! And they did this little act too whenever kids would come to the door!" Rebecca and Liana laughed while Billy stayed solemn and silent.
"That's so cool! Sounds like a lot of fun!"
"Then the next year we did the same thing except we all dressed up as people from my brother's and my dad's favorite anime, Rurouni Kenshin. I was Machimaki, Emily was Takani, my mom was Kaoru, my dad was Kenshin, and Suguru was Sanosuke. That was pretty cool."
"My sisters and I did something like that on Halloween when I was Mercury, Megan was Jupiter and Kiley was Venus. That was a lot of fun."
"Yeah, my brother was such a good fighter too. He and my dad were pretty equal in skill. Dad rarely had to critique him. It was amazing to watch them. They'd just keep sparring and sparring for a long time and it usually ended in a draw. Heh heh, my mom drooled over my dad whenever she watched him." The girls giggled.
"So what does 'Akiko' mean?" Rebecca asked.
"It means 'bright light.' "
"It fits." Rebecca said with a smile.
"Thanks," Liana smiled, "Hey what was that you were singing to me? It sounded pretty cool."
"Tlingit lullabies my dad taught me."
"They were beautiful. Can you speak the language?"
"For the most part, yeah."
"Yey! Another linguist! I can still speak more languages than you, Rebecca-chan!" Liana gloated.
"Yeah, yeah. So tell me more about this band you and Suguru were in. Sounds like you guys were pretty popular."
"Well my brother started it. It was primarily a Japanese rock band. Suguru and I were the only ones who actually spoke Japanese, but we taught the others how to sing in Japanese. We were called, 'Kunai.' We won the school's battle of the bands a couple times, which was pretty cool. We even played for my dad at his birthday party. He was, like, our main groupie. Heh, it was so cute because after we finished playing, my mom got up and sang a love song in Japanese for my dad while Emily played on her synthesizer. A month before my dad's birthday my mom came into the garage while my band was practicing and asked for help because she wanted to sing in Japanese and she had no clue how to speak it. She wrote the song already but I translated it, edited it, and taught her how to sing it. My mom always captivated my dad with her voice and this song drove him to tears. It was so sweet."
"Awww," Rebecca smiled, "That's cute. My mom did that once on she and my dad's twentieth anniversary in Tlingit. She went to my grandma for help on it. Oh! My grandma is sooo cool! She taught me how to weave raven tail robes."
"What are those?" Liana asked.
"They look like heavily woven blankets with Tlingit drawings and stuff on them. They're called 'raven tails' because on the base of them is a row of black tassels. It takes a year to make them. My family taught me everything about Tlingit culture and-"
"Enough!" Billy snapped, "I've heard enough about your fucking families and how great they are, so just shut up!" Rebecca and Liana were shocked. They were frozen by Billy's rage. Why was he so mad? It wasn't an annoyed anger, no this one was serious. Billy hadn't said a word about his family. Liana and Rebecca thought it was just because he was too busy dealing with the pain of stitching to say much. Did he not want to talk about his family? Did he not get along with them? What was his story? These questions and thoughts raced through the girls' minds as Billy sat in silence with a nasty look on his face.
"Temper, temper," Billy's conscience tisked, "You really need to work on some anger management."
"I have every right to be pissed!" Billy shot back stubbornly in his head.
"Well, duh! Of course you do! But it's not them you should be mad at." Eventually Billy eased up back to normal. Rebecca was still like a statue with her hands on his shoulder blades. He really scares her when he gets mad. Billy sighed as he reached back and took one of the cop's hands. He pulled it over his shoulder so it was closer to his face. He kissed it and stroked it with his fingertips.
"Sorry, Rebecca. I shouldn't have gotten mad," Billy turned to Liana without letting go of Rebecca's hand, "Akiko-chan, gomen nasai."
"Heh, don't worry about it, Billy-kun," Liana smiled, "Where'd you learn that phrase?"
"Eh, I watch 'Kenshin'. It's the only good anime I've ever seen."
"Why'd you snap, Billy?" Rebecca asked softly as she got back to stitching. Billy was silent, "Is it because you don't like your family or something?"
"More like they didn't like me. Tom Coen and Lauren Jamison," Billy sighed, "My parents hated me since before I was born. They were just a couple of stupid teens your age. My mom didn't believe in abortions so she just had me. When I was born, my dad just slapped the name 'Billy Coen' on me and put me up for adoption. I grew up in the adoption place. No on wanted me. I kept hoping that a couple would come and be my parents, but no one ever came. I kept seeing my friends getting families, but not me. I was always being abandoned, left alone by everyone. I tried for so many years to find my parents and get to know them, but they kept pushing me away whenever I'd get close. They wanted nothing to do with me, so I was always in a depression. I thought about suicide a lot but I never could bring myself to try it."
"And that's what your tattoo is about, isn't it?" Rebecca asked sympathetically, "Because of your parents?"
"Yeah," Billy murmured, "I got it when they died. I always had a childish hope that someday they'd come get me or I'd find them and they'd let me in. I was seventeen when I heard they died in a five-car pile up. When I heard I said, 'Good riddance' and ran. I hated them for leaving me completely and taking away my dreams of ever having a family. I looked older than I was so I got the tattoo with the little money I made at 7/11. When I ran from the adoption house I had nowhere to go so I joined the military."
"Why did you get the tattoo?" Liana asked, "I thought you said you hated them."
"You got it all wrong Akiko," Billy explained, "Tattoos aren't always marks of love. They can be scars of hate, like this one," Billy held his right arm, the tattoo, "It's a symbol of why I loathe my parents…my mother. It's a symbol of what I've always wanted, but what I could never have…because they refused to give it to me."
"Billy…" Rebecca said sadly.
"Tom and Lauren left a hole in me and I tried everything to fill the void. Some pretty stupid shit too. Vodka, heroine, hookers, you name it. I did a bunch of those kind of fucked up things for about four years," Billy nearly growled thinking about what he did and the reason: That damn hole. The hole made him cold, lonely, and angry and everyone in the room knew it. A thought later made Billy smile a little again, "Remember my buddy Dave I told you about? He was the one who got me out of it."
"Oh yeah? That's good. How'd he do that?" Rebecca asked.
"He knew I had no place to go but the military and he knew that if the leaders found out the crap I've been involved in, I'd get kicked out. He kept reminding me of that and just didn't give up on me. He followed me around everywhere until he knew I was done with it. I don't know how he was able to tell when I was acting like it was over and when I was being truthful. I owe him a lot. It's too bad I wasn't able to repay him before he died. Even though he was the kind of guy who wouldn't take and only give. 'You being cleaned up is reward enough for me,' he always told me."
"Wow, what an awesome friend," Liana commented, "Selfless, caring, and inspiring he is."
"Yeah…he really was." Billy trailed off. His eyes turned down and hid behind his hair. He missed Dave so much. He always did. No one had been there for him more than he.
"Hey, Billy. Where did you get that?" Rebecca asked when she spied a small round scar on his left shoulder blade.
"Get what?"
"This," she said as she ran her finger across it. Billy tensed and took a sudden, quiet breath. The scar was sensitive, but it didn't hurt. Her soft touch startled him and even made him blush a little.
"That's an exit wound," Billy murmured, still cold toward the memory, "When I tried to stop my comrades from attacking the village in Africa they shot me in the collarbone," Billy took Rebecca's hand and traced it to the entry wound, "Right here." Billy shut his eyes and held back his tears as the sound of gunshots and innocent screams echoed in his head. A few moments passed and nothing had to be said to explain how Rebecca felt. She told of her sympathy through a light and nervous kiss on the scar on his back and carefully placed hug so as to not touch the stitches. Billy hugged the thin arms around his neck in return. Both the humans' faces were bright red and couldn't look at each other out of embarrassment. Liana tried to keep her happy squeal down. She giggled quietly to herself and kicked her feet. Her laugh only made the humans more embarrassed so they ignored it and Rebecca went back to work on the stitches.
"Hey Lee, what's our ammo count?" Billy asked. Liana quickly rummaged through their gear for a few minutes before she gave her report.
"Rebecca's pistol is fully loaded and has an extra clip. She has two grenade rounds loaded in her launcher and five flame and six acid rounds in her bandolier. Lastly her MP-5 is fully loaded with thirty rounds and she has three extra clips handy. And as for you, Billy, you have fourteen rounds ready in your pistol along with two extra clips and your shotgun is fully loaded and you have seven extra rounds. Oh and Rebecca has three blue herbs on her. Don't worry though. Even if you do run out of ammo, you'll be fine cuz you got me around." She smiled.
"Alrighty," Rebecca said as she finished taping a bandage to Billy's back, "You're all done."
"Great. Thanks Becks. I owe you."
"My pleasure. Thank you for your patience and not moving. You're very brave."
"I'm a grunt. I'm used to pain."
"Yeah Mr. Macho." Liana commented while giving her friends their gear.
"Damn straight." Billy said as he put his shirt back on.
"Okay so where are we off to next?" Liana asked.
"The blue door up by the centipede room." Rebecca answered.
"Cool, so you guys ready?" Liana asked as Billy finished strapping his shotgun to his back.
"I'm ready." Rebecca answered, pistol in hand.
"Let rock and roll." Billy stated as he twirled his.
"Onward we go then!" Liana said enthusiastically as she burst out of the door.
Hey guys! Yeah I know this chapter wasn't as interesting since there was no Resident Evilness in it really, but it's necessary for characterization I guess. By the way, Jean is pronounced like Jean Valjean in Les Miserables in case you didn't know. Anyways, just in case some of you were offended (I doubt you were but you never know so I'll say it anyways) by me making Megan a "stereotypical" lesbian or whatever, I didn't do it on purpose I just felt like it. I have nothing against gays or anything and nothing against outdoorsy girls. If you read my profile you'd know this because I am a climber and stuff like Megan (except there's no way I'd do the PCT…I'd get too homesick, I'm sure) except I'm straight as an arrow. (My boyfriend is so cute! He looks like Mario! squeals I have to dress him up!) Man I wish I could climb as good as Megan. That would be so cool. Anyways, yeah. That would be it. Sorry again for taking a whole year to update! But hey! I'm starting to work on the next chapter so hopefully it won't take so freaking long next time. I hope these chapters were good presents and worth the wait. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! You know what the coolest holiday name is? Kwanzaa! Isn't that the most fun thing to say? Kwanzaa! Kwanzaa! Kwanzaa! These two chapters have been dedicated to my buddy Garrett (love ya, Smeagol! Merry Christmas! This is what you wanted after all. I hope it was good enough.) and I thank Brody for beta-ing (you're awesome!) Until next time everybody, ADIOS MIS AMORES!
