Hope
A Virtua Fighter fanfiction one-shot and a sequel to my previous work, "Sarah's Birthday".
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, England, UK – 2 August 1992
20-something Jacky Bryant, heir apparent to the Bryant Conglomerate, older brother to Sarah and one-time drift king, stood roughly in the centre of a HUGE plain overlooking a very spacious public park. He was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of people, all of whom had spent the better part of the day listening to (and occasionally jeering at) some rather high-profile musicians. He could see a stage setup in the distance, accompanied by a trio of video screens that could be merged together into a single display or separated into three distinct images.
So, this is how I'm spending the best part of my weekend. He thought to himself. Listening to talentless artists at a gig full of ageing hippies and failed intellectuals. He would rather be anywhere else, but he had been reliably informed that Sarah would be at this concert, given her love of such artists. It's been nearly 3 years since I had last seen her… those bastards are going to pay for what they've done. His mind growled angrily. All of a sudden, the audience cheered raucously, catching him off-guard as the band – the headliners – arrived and set foot on the stage, the Sun in its early stages of descent across the Horizon, the Sky mostly blue with a hint of yellow. He had seen this band before half a decade prior with Sarah on her 14th birthday at Wembley Stadium in London, on the last night of their world tour. Talk about history repeating itself. Jacky laughed dryly.
To be honest, he had grown to like the music of this band, including their pop and rock singles, having grown up on their earlier progressive rock works. He could see a familiar blonde near the front row. Is that Sarah? He thought to himself as he tried to raise his hand to get her attention, but a thundering drumbeat and a synthesiser melody with a guitar hook prevented him from doing so as the band began their show. To his surprise, the band had elected to play a medley of their older songs fairly early into the concert, an opportunity which threw off many of the new fans but he took advantage of the occasion to wriggle his way through the crowd. 'Excuse me, please.' He forced himself to say with a combination of impatience and courtesy. 'Some of us have better things to do than wiggling our posteriors.' He added. The 20+ minute "Old Medley" concluded with raucous applause as he found himself being thrown from side to side like a ragdoll, and he fell back.
There was very little daylight left as the Sky seemed to darken with every passing second. Might as well enjoy the gig. He thought, and he did. As the band concluded the main part of the concert with a song that had caught him off-guard following a rather stale and disappointing drum duet, Jacky took his chance in the dead of night, with only the lights illuminating the park, and the applauding audience within, as he approached the blonde… it was indeed Sarah. Now 19, she turned to face him… but there was something amiss. The warmth, the joy, the humanity… was no longer there. In its place was a sense of stoic professionalism. She raised an eyebrow at him. He wanted to open his mouth to speak but he knew it was futile in such a vast and vacuous locale. As the band returned for their brief encore and began playing what would be the last few songs of the gig, he could see her stoicism break, and a happy smile took its place, showing for just a few minutes the Sarah he used to know before that fateful day.
As the band introduced themselves and the final notes of the closing number – the same song he had enjoyed half a decade prior at Wembley Stadium but without the rather cringey medley in between – rang out into silence and more cheering, he felt some die-hard fans rush forward to charge onto the stage, sending him falling to the floor. The band left the stage for the last time, and the lights on the podium went out. As Jacky got to his feet, Sarah was gone. Realising she was still out there and he had a mission to complete, he worked his way to the back of the crowd, opting to make a preemptive exit as he took a taxicab into the nearby town of Stevenage and checking into a bed-and-breakfast.
As he lay on his bed in the rather Spartan bedroom, Jacky thought back to that evening's events… and he allowed his lips to curl into an optimistic smile. 'Looks like there may be some hope yet, Sarah… maybe I can still save you.' He said to thin air as he closed his eyes, sleeping the night away.
The End
