AN: I really hope that you enjoy the twist and you're not angry about it. It definitely changes some canon but I hope it's not too frustrating. Thank you so much for all of your support, it means a lot to me

Chapter Twenty Six - Betrayal

Kuon looked at the envelope in his hand as he turned it a little. Julie stared at him nervously, no mother would like it if there son was to receive a message like that but least of all a mother whose son had had a violent past that he wanted to escape. Hopefully this wouldn't hurt his acting work.

Finally the silence had been enough and Julie stepped forwards to approach her son. "Kuon, are you…"

"I'm not sure what's in it," Kuon told her as he felt the weight of the envelope. He held it in the air, trying to see if any light could help him see what was in it. All he could see was a piece of paper. That probably meant that it wasn't a bomb but there might be some kind of germ in it. Didn't people say that anthrax had spread through the mail, he didn't want to do anything that would hurt his loved ones.

"I'm going to take it outside…" he said and Julie looked at him concerned.

"Are you sure that you should even be opening it?" she asked before pointing to the letter, "they could be here, Kuon, an envelope that doesn't have an address means that they know where you live. Are you wanted by the mafia?"

Kuon looked at her and blinked, he didn't know how to answer that because, although he was ninety percent positive that his past actions hadn't led to him angering the mafia, he wasn't sure. He looked at Julie as she studied his face.

"Kuon, that shouldn't have to be something that you have to think about," Julie scolded him before hearing Kuu's car pull up in the driveway. "Listen, at least hand this to the police they can -"

"I think that I have to get going for the shoot, I don't want to bring shame to the Hizuri name," he said as he left with the envelope. Julie closed her eyes before thinking about all the different scenes she had seen in movies and tv shows about someone going to their car and it blowing up because the car's exhaust system had been messed with.

"Kuu," she called out as she tried to grab Kuon's arm, "Has anyone been near your car today?" she asked and Kuu and Kyoko looked at one another. They had parked in the studio lot but there was no telling about who would be there. They had safely driven home together but that had no indication on any shady dealings.

"Not that I'm aware of but probably some people have been near it," he said slowly before looking at Kuon trying to find the answers behind this. What was going on? How were his wife and son involved in whatever it was that was going on?

"Kuon received a letter," Julie said and Kuon looked at her quickly not expecting such a direct approach to the problem.

"He received a letter from…." Kuu approached his son before looking down at the envelope that he was holding. He saw the way the name had been written in blood and he had just the same look that Julie had. He did not want Kuon to open that envelope and he was scared to leave his son alone. Kuu looked into Kuon's eyes feeling that he had no right to just jump in and try to be a parent again. Kuon had spent so long living away from them, so long making his own decisions. He couldn't do anything else but ask.

"Please, promise me that you'll be safe," he said and Kuon opened his mouth but Kuu cut him off, "Okay, maybe you can't promise me that but promise me that you'll do your best to come back alive," he told him as Julie's jaw dropped.

What was her husband doing? This looked like a scene out of a horror movie and he was just alright with this. She bowed her head and nodded.

"Kuon, don't forget about the shoot. Kuu, I'm not talking to you for the rest of the day," she said before storming back into the house with Kyoko looking after where Kuon had gone wanting to help but not knowing how.

…

…

Kuon sighed as he finished his photo shoot that night. He knew that the photo shoot had to come first but he was nervous about what had been in the envelope. He had decided that he wouldn't let it throw him off his game so made the choice to open it after he had finished his work. He walked off to the side and opened it to see that all that was on it was a telephone number.

Was he being tracked?

Kuon looked over the note and then turned on his phone. Maybe this was stupid, maybe phoning this person would cause for them to send a gang to him to beat him up or kill him. Still, his pride was showing through in his athletic and fighting abilities. After he had left America he had grown smarter and stronger.

He wanted to find out what this was all about.

How was there no such thing as a public toll phone again? That might be what he needed so that they didn't track him down. With one of those he could always choose to leave but it was a lot harder to throw one's cell phone away. With another breath in, Kuon choose to withhold his number and then typed in the number. Hopefully this wasn't his biggest mistake of his life.

He waited for the person to pick up and then heard something eerily familiar, "Kuon, was wondering how long it would take. You know, writing in blood was never really my specialty," he laughed and Kuon looked at the ground. How could this man sound just like him? Was this an imitation of him from one of their old enemies? "So, are you going to come and see me?"

"Why would I do that?" Kuon asked as he tried to control his breaths. He didn't know who was on the other end of the line but hearing such a familiar voice from a dead guy was giving him the chills. Maybe it would be better to see who it was. "I'm warning you, stop using that voice. Rick doesn't deserve this."

"I think I'm entitled to choose what Rick deserves," the man said and Kuon felt himself tense up. "Do you want to see me? We could meet in the park."

"You and how many other men?" Kuon asked starting to feel even more afraid by all this.

"Just you, me, and my doctor," the man said, "but she's not really fond of being called a man," he replied and Kuon looked down. He just wanted to get to the bottom of this and tell whoever had tried to get his attention to back off and that he wasn't interested in being toyed around with. He was just starting to forgive himself for Rick, he had been forgiven by Rick's family, he still owed Rick for what had happened. He at least had to catch the guy imitating him.

"Sure," Kuon sighed, "I can be there in about….an hour?" he asked, "you mean West Hollywood, right?"

"If that's what suits you best," the man said and Kuon nodded despite knowing the other guy couldn't see him.

"Sure, let's…let's go there," he said though he had to admit that he was afraid. Someone pretending to be Rick whilst delivering a message in blood. This was only to remind him that he was and always would be a murderer no matter how many people tried to convince him otherwise. He was scared that after tonight he would be ashamed to go home to his family, ashamed to go back to her.

…

…

Kuon was sitting down on a bench watching some birds whilst also being very alert of his surroundings. He didn't know what to expect but he wanted to think of the best. The man had said he would have a doctor with him so that meant that he was sick in some way. Whether that be mentally, psychologically, or physically, if Kuon could find that sickness then he could get the upper hand in a brawl.

He didn't like the idea of fighting somebody who had to have medical help but he knew that this town would eat him alive if he wasn't able to sink his teeth into any fight that came his way. Kuon looked up as a woman approached him. She was in her mid-thirties and looked absolutely beautiful. If Kuon had to guess he would say that she was Korean-American with more American in her than anything else. She had slightly red hair that was wavy and rested on her shoulders. She was wearing a white blouse with a black designer coat and she had a non-aggressive look on her face.

"Are you Mr. Kuon?" she asked him and Kuon smiled to her before nodding, his hand reaching down into his pocket. "My husband would like to talk with you."

"Your husband?" Kuon asked as he looked around, didn't this guy say his doctor? He looked at her, "I thought that he was your pa-"

"My husband has had to go through more than you would think. He's not been allowed to see his family and has been forced to recover in isolation but I know that he'd like to see you," she said and Kuon looked at her confused. He stood up and made sure his bag was close to his body. This was strange but he was curious, he followed the woman to a wooded area. This wasn't an ambush right? He wasn't being led into some planned ambush where they would kill him for fun, right?

As Kuon approached the area he saw a man who looked scarily real. He would know that face anywhere. "I…" he said before looking at the man. He was sitting in a wheelchair with some stitches on his head and he looked as if he was more exhausted than a regular person but he was here, he was alive. "Ri-Rick?" he asked in shock as he stared ahead at the other man. "What…."

"I thought the blood would get your attention," Rick said, his voice a little different than before. What was this? He had seen Rick's blood all spill out. He had heard Tina call him a murderer. He had seen Rick's mother at his grave. What was going on?

"Are you….a zombie?" he asked and Rick raised an eyebrow as he looked at him.

"No…not a zombie but I understand why you would think that. I'm….you weren't the only person who was a tar-" he saw Kuon turn around before watching the blond go and punch a tree, splitting it and sending a crack up the trunk of it. He saw Kuon start taking slow breaths as he attempted to deal with his anger.

"I thought that I killed you" he said with tears in his eyes. He had been punishing himself for years and Rick wasn't actually dead. What was going on here. He had been telling himself for years that he was a murderer but Rick wasn't dead. He wasn't sure what to do with that new information.

"Kuon…could you listen to me? I've been waiting for you to come back here, we were best friends at one point," Rick struggled and Kuon looked at him.

"I saw you die" he said and Rick looked up.

"You never saw the body, Tina overreacted, but I did get very badly hurt and…" Kuon looked at him conflicted in his emotions. What the hell kind of horror show was this?

End of Chapter Twenty Six

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