Swords & Axes: A Cheerless Interlude
by The Jessica X

Libby, Sabrina, et al. are © Archie Comics / Hartbreak / Paramount / Whatever.
Adymm and the members of In Absinthia are © me, so there.
This work of fiction is © myself.

Chapter 6: The Libby That Never Sleeps

"No way," I gasped.

"Yeah," Hilda said helplessly. "It was real sudden-like; Sabrina took it kinda hard."

An awful thought occurred to me. "She's not, like... suicidal or anything, is she?"

"Of course not!" She looked affronted. "What a horrible thing to say!"

"Just making sure," I said quickly. "I mean, those two went out for like, forever."

"Yeah... it really is a shame, I used to like that boy."

"How could he do this to her? Doesn't he know how special she is?!"

Hilda glanced at me. "And you do? News to me."

"Well... yeah, I mean, she really helped me through a rough patch last year." I sighed. "Look, I know I was less than kind to her for... well, always, but I'm not the same diva I was then; the past year has changed me, and now-"

"Okay, okay," she mumbled, waving her hand. "I'll catch the Lifetime movie."

"Right, sorry." Rude. "But seriously, what bug crawled up Harvey's butt?"

"Oh, he uh... he didn't like the way Sabrina and that friend of his didn't get along." I wasn't sure if I believed her or not, but it sounded plausable... and at the time, she was my only source of information. "Guess that whole 'guys stick together' code kicked in, and kicked her out."

"That's terrible! Where is that Kinkle? He's going to get a rude awakening from yours truly!"

"I'm not sure, exactly... I don't even know if he'll be enrolling in college or not. He's not about town right now, in any case."

Ignoring the fact that she sounded a thousand years old saying "about town", I sunk down in the cushion next to her. "Is she really bad off?"

"In a funk, yeah... but don't worry, the whole therapy thing's voluntary; it's only to help her deal. This ain't gonna turn into a Bobbit situation or anything."

"Oh God, ew!"

"Sorry!" Hilda moaned, squeezing her eyes shut. "That was bad! Me and my big mouth!"

"So... yeah, and... yeah." Clearing my throat, I folded my arms and moved on from that awful subject. "I have to admit, though, I'm really floored, here. Harvey dumping Sabrina? Seriously, it seemed like their relationship would be the one to last 'til the end of time."

"Guess they'll always have Paris... or The Slicery, anyway." Her eyes squinted at me. "Say, you really must have changed; you almost sound like you give a rat's tail."

"I do." Suddenly this all felt very weird; I was sitting here, shooting the breeze with Sabrina's aunt. "I mean, I know it's so totally bad-movie-cliché, but Sabrina kinda got my conscience back on track, and... I dunno, she's just really cool."

"Hmm." Then she stood up and smoothed out her pants. "Well, cool or uncool, one thing she isn't is here. Can you come by later?"

"Wish I could... but I gotta hit the highway. Road tripping it to New York."

"Oh, really? That sounds nice... business or pleasure?"

"The end of my life," I groaned.

"Business," she nodded, opening the door for me. "Well, you could always call her when you get there, I'm sure she'll be home by then."

"Yeah... yeah, I think I'll do that."

"Bye, then."

And again, I left her house when she wasn't even there. Oh, why was the world against me?

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Guess you probably wanna hear about The Big Apple, now. What's to say? Dad has an apartment on the West Side of Manhattan (in Chelsea, if you must know every detail); it's pretty nice, but I really didn't want to be there because it's weird. I mean, I haven't even seen him in like, three years, and he's not even there when I get into town? The key was under the mat, though, so it's not like I had to wait around in the hallway.

David Chessler is... a little snarky sometimes, but more or less a decent guy. His passion is writing; he does articles for a small-time paper that shall remain nameless, but his real deal is science-fiction novels (which I never read because... ew?). Evidently he's not bad at it, as it's enough to rent and furnish that apartment of his and keep food in the fridge. To address the strangeness of living with him all of the sudden... I learned quickly not to bother him while he was on his laptop, because I'd get an earful. We'd chat over dinner, and we both watched that Buffy show (he liked all the paranormal crap, I liked the dialogue and the characters) so we at least had something we could stand to watch together besides Jeopardy and the Weather Channel. Definitely a huge adjustment all around, but we got there.

Watch out - we're going to gloss over whole chunks of my life at a time, now.

The rest of my summer was spent waitressing at this quaint Italian restaurant a couple blocks down from my dad's place, trying to earn myself a little nest egg and keep busy in the process. Scapelli's is fun in a way, but mostly exhausting and a pain in the butt; my boss was a round man with a bad combover who thought I should be "grateful for the experience", and while some of the other waitresses were friendly enough, most of the cooks were barbarians. So yeah, it was a job.

Oh, this really bit the wax tadpole - I had to sell my car. Yeah, it was heartbreaking - you have NO idea - but you just don't need wheels in Manhattan. The subway, though sometimes smelly and unpleasant, was pretty much the only way to get from point A to point B (or train A to B?) without taking all day, and there's always a cab if you need more flexible transportation. Getting rid of my baby meant I really had nothing of my own anymore save a few knicknacks... but my nest egg grew considerably that day.

After a few weeks, I got in touch with Adymm. Serendipity abounds, because it turns out he lives in the Village, which (I now know) isn't at all far from my dad's. We started hanging around when we had the chance; he didn't have a job yet, but a constant amount of practice with his band, In Absinthia, kept him busy enough. Their bassist's dad owns an auto repair shop, so they could set up in there after hours and "jam", I think is what they call it... whatever. Anyway, I even dropped by a few times to check them out, and for grinding noise and screamy vocals from some guy with a spiky mohawk named - get this - Killvein, they're not half bad.

What else? Uhh, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, some off-Broadways... learned to carry Mace in certain areas of Hell's Kitchen (not the hard way, don't worry). Everybody says this, but there's just so much to do there: art galleries, cafés, shops, Central Park - all sorts of things that you can only do in New York, or at least there's a heck of a lot more of it there. Oh, and really, really amazing bagels, not to mention the pizza. It wasn't my beloved Westbridge, but as far as I'm concerned it was the next best thing.

I guess I liked it. A little.

The weather started to get colder, and with it came the evil college. Thanks to the substantial influence his family wields, Adymm just barely got into N.Y.U., which is practically in his backyard, anyway; meanwhile, it was off to Columbia for me. General studies and work kept me busy, and though I started learning what I liked and didn't like, my life would be seriously thrown off-track one fateful night in October. Well, that's not exactly fair; it wasn't so much derailed as given a very interesting change in direction...

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"Libby?"

"Yeah, Dad?" I was just coming in the door; his back was to me on the couch, but the cordless phone was held straight up for me to grab.

"Phone for you; that Adymm kid."

"Thanks," I said, snatching it as I headed through the dining room. "Hello?"

"Libby, thank God! We need your help!"

"You can count on me, Comissioner Gordon!" I replied with false bravado. "Is Catwoman at it again?"

"Will you cut it out? I'm serious, here!"

"Sorry..." I padded into the kitchen to get a glass of water. "What is it?"

"Okay, listen; I know it's really short notice, but... well, we have a show tomorrow night at the Cobra Pit, and Killvein has laryngitis."

"He what?! That's terrible!" Maybe I was being less than truthful, but I did feel bad for Adymm.

"Yeah, I know; and this gig is sold out, too! Sure, we're opening for Mad Crow Disease, but we'll be heard by like, a thousand people - and we can't get heard if we can't go on!" I could almost hear him running his hand through his hair. "He's trying gargling and VapoRub and stuff, but it's not helping."

I leaned against the counter. "Geez, that really sucks - what are you gonna..." That's about where it hit home. "No. Ohhhh, no no NO."

"Couldn't you sit in for us, just this once?"

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END Chapter Six