Cure Narrative 24: More Connected than You Think
Season: Heartcatch
Characters: Baron Salamander, Olivier/ Loup-Garou, Dune, Professor Sabaku, Yuri T.
Summary: This was bound to happen when fate had them cross paths...
"Just give the man the mask, and he will become your subordinate."
The red-haired man looked at the mask in his hands, teleported to him mere seconds ago, and then squinted at the young man in the image in front of him.
"Don't look at me like that, Baron," the image smiled, and somehow that smile sent shivers down the Baron's spine, "I'm doing you a favor here."
"Why should I take your words for it, Dune-sama?" he stressed the word "sama" mockingly.
"It's your choice," Dune shrugged, "You can always send me back the mask if you don't want someone else joining your scavenger hunt." He flashed him another smile and the image disappeared.
"Tsk, why should I listen to the second most hated person on my list?" Baron Salamander walked away from the balcony, where the image had been, and slumped onto the sofa.
"So, what are you going to do this time?" The voice startled the contemplating Baron, he looked across the living room.
"Loup-Garou," he stated as he silently heaved a sigh of relief, "were you eavesdropping?"
"No, of course I wasn't, I'm just randomly standing here waiting to ask you 'what are you going to do?', Baron," Loup-Garou gave him a look and sat down on his side of the sofa.
"Sheesh, how can a nine years old human boy have such a sharp tongue?"
Loup-Garou rolled his eyes, "Who was that just now?"
"Don't want to mention his name."
"Okay, I get who. I thought you wanted nothing to do with him other than revenge."
"He looks down on me so," the Baron gritted his teeth, "he's just going to give me another person to fight against him."
"You're going to do what he asks?"
The Baron smirked, showing a bit of his fangs, "Nothing better than getting to see him destroyed by his own arrogance."
Loup-Garou looked away, "So you're really going to do it?"
In the little boy's heart, he was silently hoping the best for whoever was going to fall victim.
"And why not, pray tell?"
"I heard that person said your target is a father."
The Baron cocked his head to one side, "So?"
Loup-Garou had some words at the top of his tongue, but he ultimately decided against them, "... never mind."
Loup-Garou watched next to the Baron as the man, Professor Tsukikage Hideaki (Loup-Garou didn't know his name though), looked at the mask in his hands and panted. If the little boy wasn't so on his nerves watching the professor struggle to put the mask on, the sunset on Mont Saint Michel could actually be enjoyable.
Loup-Garou never touched the mask, but he could tell the object in question was brimming with evil energy. He shuddered briefly.
I wonder what the man is thinking about, he's so conflicted between putting it on and not putting it on.
Of course, he would never know, because he didn't eavesdrop on whatever the Baron and his second most hated person had promised the poor professor.
"It seems you need a little more convincing, professor," the Baron said, "Remember, this is exactly what you asked for, you got it."
The professor continued to hesitate, but he eventually succumbed. With a deep holler, he put the mask on with great force.
Loup-Garou could sense the change unmistakably. He couldn't quite put a finger on it though, in short, he felt like the professor was robbed of his heart.
The Baron grinned, thinking he just gained an underling. As he walked to retrieve his newfound companion, an image of Dune appeared before him again.
"What are you doing here?" the Baron asked in a very unfriendly tone.
"Why," Dune smiled, "saying my thank you of course." The Baron saw him snapped his fingers, the next thing he knew, the professor disappeared from his sight.
Bewildered, the Baron shouted, "What did you do?!"
Dune said in a light, yet nerve-wracking tone, "Retrieving my new professor, surely you didn't think I was just going to give you, the man I cast out centuries ago, a greater chance of revenge, did you?"
The Baron's lips twitched in rage, but he hid it, he knew he would be playing right into Dune's hands if he got mad then and there.
"Well, not that it would've given you much of a chance to begin with, mind you, but you get my idea. Good luck, Baron." Dune's laugh echoed through the air as the image dissolved.
The Baron turned livid, he immediately grasped his staff, filled with the not fully accumulated but still fearsome power, and blasted the ground, creating a wide crater. "That damned King of Desert Apostles!"
Loup-Garou couldn't care less about the Baron's wrath then, he was silently praying for the ill-fated family caught up in a 400 year grudge of sapient inhuman creatures.
I'm sorry... whoever you are... please forgive us...
Olivier didn't remember how he and Tsubomi started on that topic, but somehow they did. So he finally found out about the family his foster father played a part in destroying a few years ago. And it turned out worse than he thought.
He never put a second thought to what Yuri said about her father disappearing in France, because well, hundreds of people go missing every day. But now that he knew, when Erika invited him to join her and the others to an arts and apparel exhibition, things got quite awkward.
"Ooh, this is so cute," Itsuki lowered her voice when she fawned over an exhibit.
"Yeah, you're right," Erika agreed.
"It has a very detailed design," Yuri stated as she pushed up her glasses.
"Olivier, come see this," Tsubomi called.
Olivier was staring blankly at the girls, especially at Yuri, absorbed in his own thoughts. Should I tell her? Should I tell them? The beans need to be spilled sometime, right? But how would she handle the truth if I told her? Judging by what Tsubomi told me, it probably won't be pretty...
"Olivier?" Tsubomi tested.
Still no response.
"Hey, Olivier!" Erika called with a much louder voice than Tsubomi, scaring a few passerby's.
"Huh? What?" he snapped out of it.
"Why are you zoning out like that? Are you not enjoying the exhibition?" Erika continued.
"No! No! It's not that!" Olivier spoke the truth, but it was hard to speak a certain other truth, he flashed a side-glance at Yuri and replied, "I'm sorry, I'm just distracted for a second."
"Okay... just tell us if you really are bored, we could go get lunch or something."
Things got even more awkward after the exhibition.
"Oh, okay, I understand, bye," Tsubomi hung up on the phone and looked to the girls, "Futaba is throwing a bit of a tantrum, mom is out so I think dad wants my help." Then she turned to Olivier, "I want to escort you to Labyrinth as usual... but..."
Tsubomi showed a worried expression. Even though Setsuna and the others are revolutionising Labyrinth, it wasn't the safest parallel world ever, there were still rebels that would not hesitate to attack random people despite the effort put into making peace with these citizens. And albeit Olivier was not anything close to a defenceless young boy, having safety in numbers and a Precure by his side could not go wrong.
"I can escort him home," Yuri volunteered, "I don't really have anything special to do anyways."
Tsubomi's frown turned upside down, "Oh thank you, Yuri-san!" She handed her a small marble, "Here, you'll need this to come back. You can give it back later."
So Olivier was left alone with the one person he was trying desperately to hide a secret from. Well, actually he didn't know if he wanted to hide it or not.
She deserves to know the truth. But I don't know what would happen if she does. He shivered whenever he imagined Yuri being angry, or rather, fail to imagine her being angry, he didn't know where he heard this from, but apparently someone once told him that the people who always appear calm are the scariest when you manage to enrage them.
"Olivier?"
"Yes?" Olivier's shoulders tensed as Yuri spoke his name.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"No, not really," it wasn't that hard for Olivier to keep up his cool, "What makes you think so?"
But Yuri still wasn't buying it, "Because you've been casting weird glances at me all day."
"You're imagining things."
"Is that so?" Yuri pushed up her glasses and went back to reading her book.
They turned into an obscure alley. "Let's do it here," Olivier said as he took out his own small crystal marble and raised it above his head, "Open, door of mysteries, bring me to the world of Labyrinth."
The view in front of them changed, even Yuri was astonished, "Wow..."
"Let's go."
After they stepped through and the portal closed, Yuri realised it was just like they stepped out from that building behind them.
"That's called the Fortune Telling House, Soular put the portal at that door, the crystal Tsubomi gave you is like a passcode, just hold it up and say you want to go back to Kibougahana when you leave." Olivier instructed Yuri.
"I see. How far is your house anyway?"
"About five minutes away."
Olivier told himself he had got to make up his mind in that five minutes... but to no avail.
"Oh, is this it?" Yuri pointed at an apartment complex, where the Kiryuu twins just walked out from and waved hello to Olivier.
"Yes," Olivier replied bitterly as he reciprocated the greeting.
"Then, I should..."
"Actually, Yuri," Olivier interjected, "Do you want to come up and look inside? You won't ever get to do it if the Baron's here." Olivier said, avoiding calling him 'father' like he always did.
"Eh? Sure," Yuri shrugged and followed.
"Excuse me for disturbing," Yuri noted all the knick-knacks they had as she set foot in their rather spacious apartment, "You two have been to a lot of places."
"Labyrinth's portal can connect to a lot of places, that's why me and the Baron can go traveling whenever we feel like it." Olivier set down the door key and slipped into the kitchen, "Tsubomi mentioned you like red tea, but we only have green tea bags at home, is that okay?"
"Yes, of course," Yuri went to see the so-called kitchen, and couldn't help but chuckled at the messiness.
"What?"
"Is the Baron's cooking good?"
"It's edible," he gave an honest statement.
Yuri continued walking around the apartment while Olivier told her to not move anything because he didn't want the Baron to know he let thee Cure Moonlight into their apartment.
She returned to the living room and sat down while making a mental note that the living environment of Labyrinth was not bad. Then she looked at Olivier, "Is there really nothing you want to say to me?"
Olivier pour hot water into a cup as he tentatively answered, "I don't know..."
"Huh?" Yuri could sense that the boy knew something important.
"I don't know if I should tell you," Olivier handed her the cup of tea and sat down next to her, "I don't know if you want to know it. And..."
Olivier shot a glance at her again, he still couldn't imagine Yuri losing her temper, "I think you might get very angry if I told you."
Yuri could see the boy being conflicted, so she respected his choice, kept quiet and let him decide.
"I heard from Tsubomi that... Dune... your father..."
Yuri closed her eyes, sighed and nodded. Seeing how calm she was, Olivier assumed that she had probably long since accepted the fact.
"Do you want to know? Who gave him the mask?"
She took a sip of tea and continued to hold the teacup in her hand, "It's the Baron, isn't it?"
Slightly surprised, Olivier inquired, "He told you?!"
"No, I don't think he even realises Professor Sabaku is — was — my father. But when you put France and Desert Apostles together, who do you get? Plus, when you want to tell me about it, it's most likely Salamander."
Another sip of tea, Yuri was soaking up on the information way calmer than he had expected, "You're not furious or...?"
"How can I?" Yuri sighed again, "After the battle ends, there are always regrets. Sometimes we would think that the Desert Apostles were nomadic aliens trying their best to live too, and would feel sorry for having to fight them. Your father was living the life he thought was right, not so different from my father, or any of us for that matter."
"I thought you would be more angry over how the Baron spilt your family, like, transformation level fury..."
Yuri didn't give a reply to that, she only averted her eye contact from Olivier to her teacup.
"Don't you miss your father?"
"Yes, I do, of course," Yuri put a finger to the complete Precure Seed she wore as a pendant, "But blaming someone won't revive my father. And there's no point in dwelling on past mistakes, I learned that first handed some time ago, nothing was quite so clear after... that day, and sometimes it's hard to tell who's in the wrong too."
Olivier saw tears forming in her eyes, tears she wouldn't allow to fall. She's hiding more sorrow than I could imagine.
Tsubomi aside, Olivier took a liking to Yuri more than the other two, who knows why? Nevertheless, when he realised how little he knew, he wanted to discover more about her.
"I thought Precures always know what's right and what's wrong, what to fight for and what to fight against."
Yuri sensed the tears in her eyes too, Olivier saw that she tactfully blinked them away, "When you fought as a hero for four years and then stooped so low as to almost kill someone out of hatred and sorrow, you'd see that the world isn't so simple."
"What?" Olivier assessed Yuri in shock, "You actually tried kill someone?!"
"If Tsubomi hadn't been there, I would've stained my hands with blood. I couldn't find it in myself to forgive Dune, I thought I lost too much."
Olivier slightly cringed at the thought. I knew Yuri's wrath would be frightening beyond imagination. Who knows what she'd do if she's in a bad mood today.
"My father wasn't the only one I lost, you know?"
Honestly, he didn't. But he could deduce as much because Yuri didn't have a floating plush like the others. She never mentioned her fairy either, Olivier was smart enough to know it was a sensitive topic. But Yuri had already told him so much, would it hurt to ask for more?
"Your fairy..."
"Died." Yuri answered before he could finish the sentence, Olivier felt so much weight in the word she spoke so softly, "My father was the one who hit him with the fatal blow, but I killed him, my mistake killed him, however much he tried to tell me it wasn't my fault, this is a fact."
Olivier fell silent, he wanted to know more, but he started feeling guilty of calling upon the memories of a dark era in Yuri's life.
Before he realised it, he felt a stinging sensation in his eyes. Just hearing her poignant story caused tears to well up.
Even though she's grieving more than anyone else, she could so easily hold in her tears, had she already gotten used to hiding them? Yuri...
She put down the teacup, "I think it's time for me to go. Let's save another story for another time." She gave Olivier a gentle look, " I'm very happy that you tried to tell me."
Olivier nodded, then stood up to look Yuri in the eyes (because her height was almost his double ;p), "You'll never hear it from the Baron, so let me say it," he took her hands in his own, "I'm really, terribly sorry, for all that you had to go through because of my father, because of his grudge that shouldn't have involved you at all."
Yuri was a bit surprised, "Ah... I don't know how should I react to your apology..."
"Yeah... I understand..." he let go of her hands regretfully.
But Yuri smiled slightly, she placed a hand on Olivier's face to make him look at her, "But thank you, Olivier... truly..."
Not long after, when Baron Salamander came home later that day, as soon as he stepped into the house, he received a bear hug from Olivier.
"Loup-Garou, what happened?"
"Nothing, father, it's nothing, I just wanted to do this..."
End of Chapter 24