Hey all, I'm UPDATING again! I'll warn you in advance, this is pretty much just a filler chapter, and it isn't crucial to the plot. If you don't have time to read it, you won't be missing an awful lot. But there are some things I've written AGES ago and I wanted to use them here. Oh, and a little bit of foreshadowing, if you can guess what it is. It's kind of obscure, I think.
Anyways, now comes the time to thank my much loved and highly esteemed reviewers.
LiLbUNniI – I actually speak French (well, un peu anyway), so I really appreciated your review. It was a great change!
Malkavian Kirie Croiff – I'm glad you like my useless facts! And as for making you feel superior to everyone else you know, well, why else would I be posting them? I find them all over the place. Some are just things people have told me, some are things I read about. Useless information is everywhere! And thank you, truly, for your encouragement. It made me very happy.
MiniMoose – 178 is close enough, lol. And the chocolate chip cookies and milk? Loving it. I shall never refuse good food when it is offered me. And I'm very, very pleased that you think this story is so good.
Naiana – I never thought my stories would be the kind that people had to finish before being able to sleep; I couldn't imagine my writing ever having that power. But it makes me very, very happy to hear that it does. At least over one person, anyway.
Mrs.Ishida-to-you – You, my dear friend, are a very dedicated reviewer. But I love you for it. Thanks so much for all your kind words.
And even if I didn't mention you specifically, know that I love you for taking the time to give me some feedback. I only write for you.
And now, on with the show… I mean story.
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Matt sat in the corner of a dark and dingy underground bar. He hadn't gone back to work with the others after their meeting with Mimi. He couldn't face it yet. The others hadn't pushed him; one look at the depression slashed across his face, eclipsing his features, had been enough for them. He had instead gone on a search for the worst bar in the Entertainment District, in order to drown his sorrows in an appropriate setting. And he had found it here. The tables were scratched and stained with something that looked suspiciously like blood. The bar stools were uneven and shook as if they were likely to fall apart at any moment. The room was dimly lit from one broken candelabra hanging from the ceiling. Shadows lurked in all the corners, various liquids and foodstuffs washed across the floor, and the smell was so rank that when Matt had entered, it had hit him like a brick wall.
But no matter how bad the setting was, the clientele were even worse. Big, beefy men escorting long legged, bony women with big hair. The men dressed in leather and decorated themselves with numerous piercings and tattoos. The women dressed in very little and decorated themselves with an inch of make-up. The men carried large jugs of beer and the women had shots of brightly coloured alcohol. Nobody ever put down their glass, as if afraid someone would poison it. The men played pool and threw darts, while the women tottered on their high heels giggling. Any of them looked ready to kill if something went even slightly awry. This was not the sort of pub that a person with any class or dignity should under normal circumstances ever hope to visit.
But Matt, hurting, wronged and irrational, sat at his corner table with his bottles of alcohol, just wishing one of those men would approach him. All he wanted was a good fight. All he wanted was to vent his feelings on some unsuspecting fool. But none seemed interested. Matt figured a little more disappointment in his life wasn't anything too special.
A half-written letter lay in front of him on the table.
My Princess, Mimi, it read. I miss you. I miss you more than word can wield the matter. Every little while I forget the state of everything and wonder where you are, why you aren't here beside me. Then I remember. You aren't here. You can't ever be here. And the world crashes down around me. I think of you not being here with me and my heart breaks, and a little bit of my dies inside. But my heart and insides are selfish. I know what we had can never be again, and that you must live your life in the manner you were born to. I don't want you to suffer in the shade of memory forever. Forget me. It's what's best for you. And all I want is for you to be happy. I, however, will hold you in my heart for eternity, though I can't hold you in my arms…
Matt hadn't known how to finish. He didn't want to finish. Finishing it meant ending what they had, whatever it was. Finishing the letter, saying his goodbyes, meant he was recognising that they would never be together. He didn't want to give up hope.
But the light of hope seemed dimmer every minute…
He slammed down another empty bottle, leaving it to join its six brothers and sisters. Lifting his gaze to signal to the bartender to bring him another, he saw another blonde head enter the room. A blonde head attached to a boy who was much to young to be in such company. If this had been a bar to care about standards, or indeed the law, he would have been asked to leave. As it was, TK walked with no more hindrance than a couple of leering glances to the corner in which he had spied his older brother.
He sat down opposite Matt, studied his brother's face for a moment, then said, "Matt… I know that you're upset. We all are. But you always told me not to give up hope."
TK's optimism somehow evoked the opposite response from Matt. His drunkenness didn't help anything either. He spiralled further into the depths of despair and agonising pain. "I was wrong." He slurred out, trying to focus on whichever of the three TKs he was seeing was the real one.
"But… with the search for our parents…" TK started, before being rudely cut off by his older brother.
"TK, let me c-c-clarify something for you. Our parents are NOT out there. We've been s-searching for ten years. Don't you think we would have found them by now? They are GONE. Gone, gone, gone. With the wind. Just like her." He almost whispered the last part.
TK was not going to be suppressed. "No." He shook his head fervently. "That can't be true. You always told me to believe…"
Matt hummed as he replied, "I was a fool to believe."
TK looked cross. Matt was deliberately refusing to see any reason, just like always. But he could be just as stubborn as his brother, if he wanted. "But what about the pendant?"
"Probably just some trash." Matt took another large swig of his drink.
"You said it was our ticket to finding Mum and Dad." TK's levelness contrasted strongly with Matt's incoherence.
"Look!" Matt slammed his drink on the table to emphasise his point. "I told you, I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, oh so very wrong."
TK was growing increasingly frustrated, and equally lost for words. There seemed to be nothing that would make Matt see reason. "I… Matt, you always told me never to give up. Now follow your own damn advice. There is still hope. And despite what you say, I know that pendant is the key to it all."
With that, he got off the stool, shot Matt an angry look, and left him alone with his thoughts. Matt, pushing the empty bottles away from him, removed the pendant from around his neck and held it in front of his face. The coin twirled and danced on its string. Was this really what held everything together? Could it really be the deciding factor? Would this small token ever have the power to change the way things were?
He had to know. Once, and for all.
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Okay then, now that's out of the way, I can continue with the actual plot. Don't worry. The next chapter will be a plot chapter, I PROMISE. In the meantime, while this plot chapter is being written and rewritten and edited and the like, you can all review. Pretty please with sugar on top?
Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular
The average person's left hand does about 56 percent of the typing.
