This is the last chapter I have prewritten for this fic. There is one more partially written, but it's only in the beginning stages, and I'm not sure if I want to continue it. Going back to this fic has been weird in so many ways. I have grown so much from who I was when I wrote this, and I have had several major firmware updates in my life since I wrote this chapter. It's all the more fitting that I chose to open this chapter with the lyrics to my favorite song from the period where I wrote this. It's bittersweet, and I have all the love to the me who wrote this story, but I think this as far as I want to go with this (for now). Maybe one day I will come back to this. Maybe it will remain just a thought in my mind, scrawled in the messy pages of numerous different middle school notebooks and journals. Whatever it is...thank you all for sharing in this with me.
"See this dream in order to awaken
You reached out your hand to the future
Grab it, Set it free, Search repeatedly
Don't think of dark colors while you're repainting it
Memory Bonds Repetition and wishes
Future Colors We continue to paint them"
-"Mirai Iro", Plastic Tree
"Dan? You do realize you should be at school, right?" Marucho, who was at home (what a hypocrite) was currently speaking to Dan on the phone.
"Look. Runo is in the hospital."
"What?!"
"There's this whole story about it her friend told me, but the main thing is: it involved Julie and the beasts." Dan dodged an incoming police officer by turning into an alley. "You're at home right? Do you have a jet?"
"Yes to both questions. Why?"
"Marucho we can't keep dodging the fact that something is up here. If Julie and Runo got involved without us, then who's to say the twins and Shun haven't gotten involved yet?" Marucho was silent on the other line for a few minutes.
"You want to visit them?" He finally asked, although he already knew the answer.
"Yeah." Dan stopped running once he reached a dead end in his path. He was in front of Marucho's home. "I'm outside. Come let me in." The phone hung up in his ear.
"I've been waiting since you called." Marucho opened the door to his home. "My father is having a meeting, so I have been playing with Preyas." Dan followed Marucho to the elevator. "I'll tell Kato to prepare the plane."
"I assume you know where the twins live, right?" Dan said.
"You assumed correct. It's easy to find out what city they live in. They're all over international news." Marucho said as he pressed the button to his room floor. He got out his phone and dialed a number. "Kato? I'm going out with my friend. I need you to get the plane ready." He hung up after saying that.
"Why are they in the news?" Dan asked.
"You name it, there's a chance they've done it." Marucho began to explain. "For instance, they're models. Mar-kun is also very smart, and Alice-chan is a very good tennis player."
"How smart is Markus?"
"Not as smart as I am, but pretty smart." Dan sighed.
"Models. Geniuses. Athletic. They've done a lot with themselves." He muttered. "Compared to the rest of us..."
"Well not everyone becomes a 9th dan in Kendo before their 20th birthday." Marucho cheered him up. "And not everyone becomes a 5th dan in Kyūdō like Runo. Julie herself is a model. Not world famous, but pretty well known in Japan."
"What?" Seriously, how was Dan missing these things? "Julie's a model?"
"Yes." Marucho said as the elevator dinged onto his floor. He exited, with Dan following. "Considering you practically buried yourself in kendo and football, I wouldn't be surprised you don't know a thing about any of us."
"I just don't like to stalk people like you..." Dan muttered to the side. "Drago."
"I'm here."
"Do you want to know what happened now?"
"Of course." Marucho looked back at them.
"What are you two talking about?" He asked.
"Runo being in the hospital is similar to before." Dan said. He bit his lip slightly, before continuing. "Marucho, I don't expect you to remember this. But a long time ago, when we were...you could consider it the downfall of us playing together...yeah, that's it. Around that time, Runo fell into a coma. Shun...Shun said that he was asking her about something, I don't even really remember what, but then Markus and I had summoned our beasts and then she fainted and she didn't wake up. I don't...know what could have made this happen. Maybe it's the fact that we summoned our beasts."
"What are you talking about?" Marucho questioned. "That sentence was a mix of things I can barely understand."
"I-I don't know man. I'm just rambling. I don't understand what happened, or what caused her to fall into another coma or anything."Dan said.
"Then stop acting like saying random things that don't make sense is the answer." Marucho scolded. "Call your mom and let her know you're going on a field trip with me." Dan sighed slightly, and then got out his phone to do as his friend said. After having his mom yell at him for his short notice, she finally agreed when Dan said he would be visiting his old friends.
"Oh will you? It's been so long, but you're still meeting up? Will Runo-chan and Julie-chan be there?" Miyako asked many questions. "As long as there is an adult going, I'll be fine."
"Mom, this is Marucho we're going with. He'll probably have about 10 bodyguards in the airplane alone."
"Well, okay." After Dan hung up, Marucho had one thing to say:
"Poor people are so easy going."
"I'M NOT POOR!" Dan shouted in response. Marucho laughed at his friend.
"Whatever you say." He then rubbed his head, before picking up Preyas in the middle of his and Drago's conversation. "What are you two talking about?'
"Oh you know. Catchin' up and whatever." Preyas was a terrible liar.
"Mhmm..." Marucho was just going to ignore him. "Dan. Do you want to go get Julie?"
"What?"
"It may seem out of the blue, but she's really as much a part of this as you are. And she was an eyewitness to what happened with Runo. She may be able to explain some things."
"Yeah well that seems great and all but I don't know anything about where Julie lives or what school she goes to." Dan said, before taking a look at Marucho's stoic face. "...You have nothing better to do, do you, you stalker?"
"I'm not a stalker. I just see you guys from time to time." Marucho grinned.
"Whatever you say...stalker."
Merely minutes later (Marucho said that his jet plane wouldn't be available for about an hour) the two boys were in a limousine. Marucho's butler, Kato, was there, along with some employee of Marucho's, who was driving.
"Julie frequently skips school, partly due to her job, partly due to the fact that she likes to have fun. She's a good student regardless, but even so there's a pattern. She goes to school on Mondays through Thursdays, but Fridays and Saturdays are always optional days to her." Marucho briefed.
"And?"
"She's at school today, so we're going to act like her parents and pull her out. It's a common occurrence for her, and her manager and anyone from her company are able to pull her out for a photoshoot on the request of her parents."
"You say that like we're from her company."
"Who said we weren't?" Marucho replied. Dan was confused until he realized.
"Your dad owns her modeling company doesn't he." It wasn't even a question.
"Yep."
'It must be nice being rich.' Dan thought to himself as he stared at his friend. He then stared at the two marbles sitting next to them in the cup holders. They seemed to have placed themselves steady, and weren't rolling and bouncing like they were before.
But they were oddly silent.
"Drago. Preyas. What's up?"
"What do you mean by that?" Drago asked.
"Drago he means what's wrong with us." Preyas informed before in turn asking, "Hey what do you mean by that?"
"You two have been silent latel-" Dan was cut off by Marucho's sharp side glare. The young boy was still facing forward, but his eyes were glaring at Dan in fury. "Erm. I mean. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just wondering, you know. Common courtesy."
"Oh." Drago responded. "Well. If you were inquiring about my well being, I respect that, but please look towards your own safety. I am here to protect you." Dan put on a fake smile.
"Y-yeah." Dan's phone vibrated in his lap. He looked down at it. It was a text from Marucho.
From: Maru-chan
To: Danma
Don't say anything to them outside of the necessary. They're trying to hide something, and I plan on getting it out of them on the plane.
Dan hurried to reply.
From: Danma
To: Maru-chan
What do you mean by that? They can't be hiding something. They're our friends.
The reply came only seconds later.
From: Maru-chan
To: Danma
Dan. Just don't do anything until we get on the plane.
They had finally reached Julie's school. It seemed to be a private school from the appearance. The worker had stepped out of the car and walked inside the building.
"So...we wait?" Dan asked.
"We wait." And that's what they did.
Maybe 15 minutes later, the worker came out with a girl. Dan recognized her as Julie.
"That's her alright." He commented as they reached the car. "Jeez Marucho, the power of money is frightening."
"As it should be." Julie opened the car door before realizing something was terribly wrong.
"Dan?!" Julie exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
"Calm yourself and get inside the car." Marucho said.
"Who is that?"
"Julie, it's a really long story but can you just get inside the car?" Dan pleaded. Julie didn't seem to trust his words. "Okay look. We aren't going to kidnap you. You come of your free will. But get in the car so we can explain."
"...Fine." Julie got inside and sat on the opposite side of the two boys, by the window. Marucho grinned.
"She doesn't recognize me."
"Yeah I see that." Dan muttered.
"Hurry up and cut to the chase!" Julie yelled. Dan sighed.
"Okay Julie. Believe it or not, but this guy right here is Maru-chan." Marucho waved.
"I hope you all didn't think I would stay a pipsqueak forever." He said. Julie blinked.
"You're joking right? That can't be. I see him at the office all the time!"
"Nope, we're not. Marucho's dad owns the modeling place you work at." Julie looked crossed between feeling happy or surprised.
"So...Wait...I...!" Julie blushed at some memory of hers. Quite frankly, Dan didn't want to know what it was if it was making her blush this much. "W-well what do you want? It's nice to see Maru-chan again...and know who he is now...but this didn't require bringing me out of school."
"Well-" Dan was cut off by Marucho.
"Dan I have no time for your dodging-the-bullet-ness." Marucho said. "We have a plane to catch in two hours." Marucho leaned back into his seat. "Julie. We heard you were with Runo this weekend."
"How do you know that?"
"Dan does go to school with Runo." Marucho stated. "But that's besides the point. We heard, more specifically, about what happened." He then leaned forward, folding his hands together over his lap. "You took the light."
"I-I had to!" Julie exclaimed, before looking down at her feet (in shame?) "You don't understand...you may call me crazy, but I felt something. I was at the mall with my friends, and I overheard her yelling. I don't know why she was acting that way...but it just seemed so familiar...I took a chance and I took the light from her."
"What did you see?" Marucho asked, interested.
"A-a guy. Speaking to someone about some kids." Julie shook her head. "I don't know! It was weird! Her friend said we were talking in a different language and then-" Julie paused, before resuming. "I felt sick. Very sick. I threw up in the bathroom."
"Runo fell into a coma." Dan said.
"Again?" Julie gasped. Dan nodded.
"...It's all my fault." Marucho said. He then reached into the cup holder and grabbed the two marbles. "Summoning Preyas in full force...I feel so stupid."
"It isn't your fault." Dan reassured. "Just the wrong combination of things."
"Wh...What are you talking about?" Julie asked. "Preyas? What do you mean?"
"I mean what I say." Marucho showed her the marbles. "Drago. Preyas. Say something."
"Ohime-sama~!" Preyas exclaimed. "Oh man is that really her? What a beauty."
"Preyas, that's disrespectful towards the Queen. Please. Stop." Drago commanded.
"...Is that..?" Julie seemed like she'd believe it.
"Yes." Marucho said. "Obviously they aren't giants, but that's what we're here with you for."
"For? I don't know why they're here, or-or anything for that matter!" Julie wiped her hair out of her eyes. "I don't know why Runo is in coma again, or why I took the light, or why I even had to take the ligh-"
"We know." Dan told her. "Calm down."
"Rather, we're here to propose that you come with us to figure out why this is happening. You do remember our logs, right?" Julie nodded. "Well, of course you remember how I only wrote some of them."
"And Alice wrote the first half." Julie added. "Yes, yes. I know. I remember the discussion we had about it." She smiled. "If you could consider it one. Maru-chan was just throwing a tantrum about writing the logs." Dan chuckled.
"I remember that." Marucho blushed lightly.
"No matter." Marucho interrupted. "We believe that some of the answers to our questions may be in these logs. The ones that Alice-chan has, not the ones I wrote. We already checked those for answers."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"We're going to visit Alice-chan and Mar-kun. In Russia. And we were wondering if you'd be interested in joining us."
"Today?"
"Yes."
"What? You can't not talk to me for 8 years-"
"I spoke to you all the time at your office, Julie. You just didn't know who I was." Marucho cut in.
"-And then offer to fly me to Russia so that we could see our old friends! Not on short notice! My parents would freak."
"Ah. Don't worry about that. I've already gotten your manager to lie to your parents and tell them you have an urgent shoot in Moscow with the Gehabich twins." Marucho seemed impressed with how far he thought ahead.
"...And they were okay with that?"
"Yes."
"Even so!" Julie exclaimed. "You gotta give a girl some heads up! I need time to pack clothes and-"
"If it's clothes you're worried about, don't. I promise you personally that I'll take you shopping in Moscow." Marucho seemed serious. "Now. Listen. We have a friend in coma because of the world we created. And according to Dan-and by extension, you, if your reaction is anything to believe-this isn't the first time this has happened. I don't recall it. If you do-"
"I do. I really do. I don't remember much about it...my mom convinced me it was something else, even though I was sure the beasts had something to do with it..." Julie sighed. "I-I guess I can come. We have to be back by Wednesday though. That's the latest my parents will start to worry."
"Okay." Marucho said.
"In the meantime..." Julie picked up Drago and Preyas. "How did you guys get here? Can I see my Gorem too?!"
"Ah well..."
"Maru-chan summoned me. So ya gotta summon Gorem if you wanna see him!"
"Don't try to summon Gorem." Marucho warned. "It's too much of a risk and we don't have your chant in front of us."
"Yeah. Marucho accidentally summoned Preyas in full form on Saturday, and that's why you felt sick." Dan informed. "Personally I also felt very sick."
"Oh..." Julie looked disappointed. "Well, I suppose that's fine. Do you have any way of sending them back to where they came from?"
"No. As of now, no. That's why we're hoping the journals Alice-chan has, if she still has them, have information on how to send them back." Marucho said. "We have a 10 hour flight ahead of us. Trust me, I'll bring the logs I have and you can read them."
"Okay." Julie seemed satisfied with it, and was very cool with this entire thing. It was a bit odd to Dan, but then again, Julie was always an odd person.