The Breaking Point
By: Tyner Twine
Disclaimer:You know the drill. I own nothing except the original character that I had
I do, however, own Rick, Nathan and Ava in this story. Enjoy!
Deux: Reversed Magician: Forbidden Connection
"The reason why we are weak is because we are made so to learn how to be strong. The reason why we are alone while learning how to be strong is because in one way or another—if everything else disintegrates and we fail—there is someone who is made to come along at the right time and fill in that empty space to lend us strength when we need it most. Even if we vehemently deny that we are vulnerable creatures who are prone to break when we reach out breaking point, we sometimes fail to see the small cracks that had developed through the years. We wouldn't know that it was there all along until it develops into bigger, more destructive cracks that are too late to put back together and be made the same again." –Tyner Twine
He had always been known as very smart, level-headed man. As the Deputy Officer at the local police station, Zhu Hajie made it a priority to remain in control of his emotions at all times. Not that he needed to try to. After a few years of travelling and facing dangerous situations, he had always prided himself as one of the level-headed members of the party. Thinking about the old times now though gave Hajie—
No wait. His real name was Hakkai. That's right. He was Cho Hakkai.
Funny how he could forget his own name.
But he couldn't help that now could he? He thought wistfully as he remembered how they were forcibly dragged into a foreign world and made to assume different names.
The old times? They had been fun in some instances; he would admit to that. Other times...other times—like now— the memories of the past are like... ghosts which haunt you wherever you go and make you feel fear and a coldness that was unnatural. Supernatural.
It was getting chilly in the room he was situated in with her.
It didn't help that Avana Reinhart's—or 'Ava' as they would sometimes call her—very steady, very cold gaze was directed to him as though it had been meant to cut and tear him apart just to see what kind of soul was residing in his body.
No, he wasn't afraid. But he could feel the thick straps of his patience straining thin at her very cold acceptance of his presence. He felt sharp needles pricking his chest and controlled a grimace that almost made its way to his calm, smiling facade.
No, she doesn't remember. He thought sadly looking at the light brown liquid in his tea cup. Had it been 30 minutes or an hour since they all entered the flower shop to have the 'Standard Operating Procedures' gotten over with?
"Weren't you supposed to ask me all those rhetorical questions now, officer-sama—"
"Zhu Hajie. My name's Deputy Officer Zhu Hajie, Reinhart-san," He corrected with a small smile and he congratulated himself for keeping it slightly genuine. Nothing about her changed.
Ava stared at the other man's kind smile and felt a slight flutter in her chest. Somehow it had felt familiar. She pushed the feeling aside and her already chilly gaze frosted over when she set her now empty teacup on the table. The tea that the red-haired florist concocted was terrible but she felt considerably warmer now that she had tea and had been given a thick woolen blanket to fight of the cold.
She gave him a cold smile and decided that she didn't like him. Never mind that she had never met him. Her intuition screamed 'dangerous' the moment their eyes met.
She just didn't know what kind of 'dangerous' it was.
"Are you feeling better now?" Deputy Officer Zhu Hajie said as he, too, put his still full tea cup on the table. He must have known the tea would be awful. Ava nodded and waited for him to continue but he just stared at her with those disturbingly beautiful green eyes.
"Zhu Hajie-san you are making me uncomfortable." But her face remained as it was…emotionless. Hajie leaned back and gave her a light-hearted chuckle.
"I'm sorry," He said, the smile never leaving his face. "It's just that I didn't know where to start."
"Weren't you supposed to ask about the incident?" She replied raising a brow. He raised a hand and gestured at the huge glass window which showed unformed officers cleaning up what was left of the accident scene once the damaged truck was towed and the police lines had been rolled up.
"We had it figured out, I'm afraid." The officer muttered gently, keeping his eyes at the scene although Ava could tell that his mind was drifting somewhere else.
"Then what am I doing here, drinking awful tea with you?" She motioned to stand up but then felt a small hand clasp hers and the met a pair of beautiful golden eyes screened by light brown fringes.
She had forgotten about the kid. Damn it. Damn mister-green-eyes.
Damn him.
Ava sat back down and smiled at the child.
"Is Big Sister leaving?" He asked, and she saw true sadness and fear in his beautiful eyes. She sent the amused green-eyed officer a killing look and received a wider, somewhat triumphant smile in return.
What the hell was that for?
The child tugged at her hand again and she forced herself to look away from the annoying officer and focus on the child instead. Smiling a little, she sat back down and met the child's eye-level. "I'm not leaving." She said very softly as she took of the towel that was draped on the sofa beside her and started drying his hair. It almost broke her heart to see her smile at her. The child was clearly afraid of someone leaving him.
But what happened to his Sun?
She darted her gaze to the motionless blonde sitting at the sofa situated beside the one where the Deputy-guy was sitting. He had his eyes close as he savored the flavor of his Marlboro reds.
Funny how she could miss the smell of smokes.
She gazed back at the child who was staring innocently at her and then felt his small hands on her cheeks then smiled. "I was right; Big Sister's got soft smooth skin."
Ava's eyes widened as fast images flashed in her mind and then dissipated. And then, almost instantly her head began to ache and her vision focused and refocused at the child's worried face.
"Big sister, are you alright?"
She touched his hand and gave him a weak smile. "I'm fine—"
Before she could finish what she was about to say, the blonde police officer had his hands on the kid's shoulder. "That's enough, you idiot." He growled irately as he half-dragged the child from her. She motioned to stand up but felt a pair of strong hands push her back down the seat causing her to growl at whoever it was for making her dizziness worse.
"Sorry, love, but you can't do that unless you can make it out of this shop on your own and perfectly in one piece." She held her temple and saw wisps of red hair hanging near her face as the florist bent forward and felt her forehead. The florist frowned then turned to the officers.
"Okay, so why the fuck keep a sick girl waiting for nothing?" Ava grimaced at the f-word and noticed that Hajie sent the florist a glare while managing to cover the brunette child's ears.
"Yujin-san, please mind your words." The officer stated softly as he—with the grace of a swan and the speed of a viper—rounded the coffee table separating him and Ava a few moments ago and bent down to confirm if she was indeed sick. He raised his hand to touch her forehead, but stop midway when
He met found beautiful brown eyes staring dazedly at him.
"It's alright." He said softly as a gentle smile graced his lips. "It's alright." He whispered again as he gently put her hands down and brushed a hand on her forehead.
She grimaced.
He inwardly flinched.
After a split second, Hajie stood up and shot the blonde across the living room a questioning glance. He, in return, raised a blond brow and took a long drag from his cigarette, exhaled then looked away. "Tie her down if you have to. She doesn't leave until the fever goes down."
"You're so not cute, Yuan-sama." Yujin jeered as he veered off of the blonde's line of vision before he could shoot him.
"I'm afraid you'll be staying here for a while." The green-eyed healer said softly as he bent down and met her gaze once again. This time he had been prepared for the vehement refusal he knew would be coming. He raised his brow when she opened her mouth to speak.
"I can just call someone—a friend I know— to take me home." If she thought she could just brush him off like that, she was in for a big surprise.
Hajie smiled. "Oh please do so if that would make you feel better. That is…" he said as he motioned to her now powerless phone. "…if you could still use your phone."
She stared helplessly at her dead phone and wondered if she could call anyone even if her phone was alive. She thought about Rick and grimaced.
"Reinhart-san…" Hajie said sternly, effectively boxing her into a corner. "Even if you call anyone, it would greatly inconvenience them given the weather and the time." He paused and spared his wrist watch a glance then set his eyes back to her. "It's already 9:15. Most of your friends will be with their families eating dinner or going to sleep. Stay here for now."
"I need to go give Nathan the flowers. I promised him that I will visit today."
"He can wait. The flowers will not go anywhere; besides, would he want you to meet him in such a state?"
When he saw the pain in her eyes—it was the kind of pain that had nothing to do with fever—he knew it was time to veer off the subject.
"Love, listen to Hajie. It'll be dangerous for you to go out alone, much less in your condition."
Ava glanced at the three grown men and put her hand on her temple again. "Why are acting as if you are concerned of me?" She asked biting the inside of her cheek when another wave of migraine made the room swirl once again. "I barely know you guys. I just met you today. Shouldn't it be 'I'll mind my own business and you'll mind yours in return' kind of situation?"
"That's true." Yuan replied bluntly as he stubbed his cigarette on the ashtray and stood up glaring at her. "What happens to you—whether you live or die—is none of our concern. But you'll be another pain in the ass if something bad happened to you while you were seen in our care. I don't want to be woken up at night and be told that the stupid Good Samaritan woman who was last seen with us was either raped, killed or run over while we were looking like lazy idiots who let you go off and start being stupid."
Ava glared back at him then winced again when her head swam. Repressing the urge to swear, she bit her lip and tried to grasp for coherence.
It didn't work.
"Yujin, Hajie, handcuff her if you need to. That woman's not leaving this shop until I say so. Let's go, chimp. "
Yuan threw over his shoulder as he dragged the protesting brunette child across the living room and into the hall leading to the bath to have him cleaned.
"That stupid monk's so not cute." Yuan muttered as he patted Ava's head. "He just cares for you, love. You get comfortable here while Hajie and I prepare the guestroom."
Ava paused for a bit until all of the facts she hadn't registered finally made its way to her partially working brain. " Monk? Guestroom? Hajie and I? You guys live together?"
"Whoa easy, girl," Yujin laughed as he bent down her eye-level and ignored the strained smile that Hajie…Hakkai was flashing him. "We call him monk because he's got a friggin' stiff pole in his ass as a permanent fixture; and yes, guestroom because we three live together in this shop."
"Yujin-san, please have the guestroom readied for Miss Avana." Hajie smiled at the brunette girl. "I'll make some more tea for our guest. It would seem that the tea you had served her made her illness worse."
So that's how he knew the tea would be awful! Ava thought bitterly, still feeling the strange after-taste of the tea she'd drunk.
Yujin gave her a leveled look then nodded and smirked. "Sure thing. Where're the sheets?"
"You can find them in the second floor storage closet in the vacant room."
"Okay. See you, love." He winked at Ava and sauntered off to the hall and onto the staircase leading to the second floor of the shop.
Hajie gently wrapped the sick girl with the thick blanket and smiled—he couldn't stop doing that when he's around her—then gently straightened up and turned to head to the kitchen.
"Thank you." Came a soft voice from across the living room. He turned to Ava and found her smiling.
"Your hands… they are beautiful." She whispered closing her eyes.
His heart stopped and he felt a pressure in his throat and at the back of his eyes. It was something that not even a smile could conceal.
Kanan used to say the same. He thought, closing her eyes and reveling on the memory of his former lover and sister's face.
Hakkai released a breath he didn't know he was holding and quickly approached her unconscious form.
Pain was evident in his green eyes.
I had a dream. A very warm dream where a pair of familiar strong arms held me close and rocked me gently until I fell asleep in that dream and dreamed again.
He was so sweet when we kissed. The flicker of green flame in his eyes was beautiful that it was heart breaking…it was as if…he wasn't looking at me…
But like a dream, he was seeing a dream of that person I don't know about.
The person who is like me but isn't like me.
The person who isn't me…
The person who will never be me.
It hurts…so much so that it was satisfying.
Who are you?
Hakkai gently laid her on the bed of the guestroom and watched her sleeping face. Her chestnut brown hair and fair complexion looked beautiful in amber lighting. He lifted his hand to touch her but stopped when a single teardrop rolled down the side of her closed lids.
"Who are you thinking of, Ava?" He whispered as he gently wiped the crystal-clear moisture from her face and brought it to his lips, savoring the salty taste it gave his senses. "Please don't cry." He put a hand to over his heart and closed his eyes. "Don't break this heart any further than it already had."
"'Kai." He turned to his red-haired friend.
"I know, Yujin—Gojyo. But I can't stop this feeling."
"You're going to break her, 'Kai." The red-head muttered from across the doorway as he stared at the forlorn figure of the green-eyed healer. "You're going to break her and yourself."
"Why do we have to go back, Gojyo? Why go back when everything's over—"
"Is it really over, 'Kai?" The kappa fished his pack of smokes from his pocket, lit it, and then took one long drag before saying, "Out of the four of us, you and that chimp took it the hardest. I felt crappy too, believe me. And the monk? Heh, hell if I know…" he exhaled the smoke from his cancer stick and continued, "But was it really over, I wonder. If so, why were we dragged into her world at the time she knew nothing about us?"
Hakkai gave out an exasperated sigh and gently touched her face. "She's cruel, Gojyo…she's so cruel."
Gojyo looked at his best friend and then at the embers of his smoke.
"Cruel, eh? Heh. That she is, my friend. That she is…"
I thought I felt moisture drop on my face. Was it raining in my dream?
…Why is the rain salty?
A warmth that was so fleeting and gentle… A voice that soothes my trembling body and heart.
You are familiar.
I know you.
…I know the four of you….
… Don't I?
Touch me, please.
Please touch me again so I can remember….
"What are you planning to do now?" Gojyo asked after a while. He watched his friend bow his head for a while then walked towards him and gave him a tap on the shoulder.
That was all he could do for the both of them.
"Just what the hell are you doing, Ava!" Nathan screamed as his green eyes flared with rage and frustration.
She stood with her back to the cliff and listened to the wind's call. She didn't say anything and clutched the scripture in her chest. "I love you, Nathan. I love you…but because you're my brother, it's painful." She whispered and he heard her because he was her sister.
"Ava—" He began and he started to tremble. She shook her head and felt the wind whip the moisture from her face.
Then she began to pray an the scripture glowed and engulfed both of them…
The last thing she heard was the wind's soft, soft whisper and the gleaming tears in his green eyes when he mouthed the words she never meant to hear.
"I will love you forever."
And she finally fell.
It was a dream-like memory.
But in her heart, she could feel that just in this fantasy world, everything had been so real.
"Don't say his name." He whispered as he pressed his lips against Ava's forehead. "Don't call out his name… Please."
"Nathan." The sleeping woman whispered as a tiny drop of tear slid down the side of her eyes. Hakkai kissed her tears, too.
Then finally, finally, he broke down.
Outside the guest room, Sanzo stood and looked blankly at the wall opposite the door.
"You fool." He muttered as he blew out the satisfying smoke in his lungs. "Just choose; him or me." Then, he straightened up and started walking to his room. Sleep was necessary for someone who barely gets any in his line of work but he won't be getting any tonight.
The thought pissed him off.
And the last thought he left outside the door of his room was that he wanted to run his hands through her long brown hair and kiss her senseless. Strictly out of frustration but he wouldn't know how it would go from there, would he?
With one heavy sigh, he turned the knob of his door and entered the room. But even in the darkness and solitude, he could feel her with him.
Damn it.
Damn her.
Outside, the rain pit patted against the glass windows and golden eyes looked sadly at the harsh, gray skies.
"Big Sister is crying in her heart." He whispered as he felt like crying too. "Why is she calling a name I don't know when I am here?"
He touched the cold, cold glass and wondered if the moisture outside of it was because of the weather or the reflection of his own, sad tears.
"Big sister…." He closed his eyes, and a tiny droplet of tear hit the wooden pain, causing the moisture to dissolve and leave a darker brown shade on the wood. When he opened his eyes, there was profound understanding in it…
But it was all so sad….
"Why do you call out a dead man's name?"
"My soul remembers but my mind does not."
I'm cruel.
Forgive me.
The Merciful Goddess looked at the images in her lotus pond and smirked.
"This beats boredom, alright. Now, let's see how you boys handle my daughter." Plucking one of the lotus from her pond she stared at it for a while and then threw it to the reflected images of the four chosen ones.
"Let the game begin."
A/n: There you go! The replacement chapter of Deux. I felt the need to do so. I'm sorry. It's just that the events in this chapter will provide a good leverage for me to concretize my story.
I love you guys for liking and commenting.
Commendation corner! : Maraming Salamat! (Thank You!)
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Rylle culler: Being the first one to like the story helped me strive better to create more wonderful chapters, thanks!
kira86: thank you so much for being THE first reviewer! I cried tears of joy.
Jaevees: Thank you, thank you for liking this story!
NarutoFallenAngel123: I really appreciate your support!
And to everyone who's reading this story: If there is any way at all that I can improve, do let me know! :D I want to be a better writer for you guys. Also if you have any questions or if I made out a few mistakes don't hesitate to tell me. Saiyuki has been one of my long time favorites!
Flames will be used to fry my old sandals. :D
Tyner Twine. out