This chapter is 'Voices'. The song is by Saosin, and the lyrics belong to them, not me.
Also, in case you haven't noticed, I have edited the lyrics. Most of the time, the choruses and bridges aren't repeated in the past two and that's because the focus is not supposed to be on the song, but the story. I don't want a whole bunch of lyrics when it's just repeated lines. Anyways. ;;
'Voices'.
-- I miss the part, when we were moving forward now (On our way down)
But maybe someday, I'll be something more than love
Just know I'll never tell --
Chae Lim had actually left... she'd packed her things hastily, and before Mignon and Soiree could stop her, she had her duffel bags and she was in a cab heading to the airport.
'Dammit... Alba... things were fine without... us? Why did you screw it up?' she thought angrily, wishing that the cab driver would floor it. Speeding was immoral, illegal, and put many people in danger, she knew, but in some cases, it HAD to be acceptable. This was one of those cases. She had to get away.
She wiped at her eyes, bringing her knees closer to her chest, surprised to find them wet. She sighed, and turned her eyes to the sky, which she could see out of the dirty window. It was bright and beautiful and so, so blue... the white clouds lay haphazardly in stripes, floating along at their leisure.
'On a day like this, Master Kim and Jae Hoon are probably sparring in the yard. Is the weather so nice in South Korea?' she wondered, using her homeland as a distraction.
-- And when you're on your way down (Through the clouds)
And you're waiting for your body's re-entry again --
The plane ride was long, and Chae Lim slept through most of it. The times she was awake, which were few and far between during the 12 hour flight, some teenagers (not much younger than herself), asked for her autograph.
One man asked, "So, the whole tournament was a scam?"
Chae Lim blinked. "Huh?"
"It's a shame. My daughter was rooting for you to win..." he shook his head sympathetically, and handed her a newspaper.
The first five pages were dedicated to covering the first 2 days of the KOF, and describing as much as the reporters had found out about the gang known as 'Mephistopheles', their leader "King" Duke, and Alba, Soiree and herself, the three top placers, if the tournament hadn't been a scam.
-- We speak in different voices
When fighting with the ones we've loved
We speak in different voices
Why can't we say what we're thinking of --
The picture of Alba and herself fighting broke her heart. It was taken half a second before she'd been knocked out, her leg just about to come down on his head. He didn't look surprised... but focused, determined, intelligent, and beautiful.
All of the things that had attracted her to him.
There was another picture of him smiling at the camera. It must've been giving to the paper by someone, because she had a good guess that he'd never smile for a camera.
She politely asked the man if she could keep the paper, and he let her, in exchange for an autograph to give to his daughter.
She read and reread each page carefully. Metatron, or Mephistopheles, had been playing everyone, just scouting out new recruits for the underground syndicate 'Addis'.
Perhaps that's why Alba had tried to stop Duke. She doubted that he had fought him in the name of what was good and just, but it was a nice thought. He probably had some deeper grudge... but Chae Lim would never know if that was true. The choice was fight or flight, and she was sitting on a plane.
-- I'm missing parts, now that you've told me everything (On our way down)
And I was blessed and I've forgotten how to love
You said you'd never tell --
"She... left?" Alba asked quietly, confused. Why would she just run like that? Had she really been so repulsed by his kiss that she'd jump on a plane and return to her home halfway across the world?
"Yeah... bro, she burst into my room and threw all of her stuff into her bag and ran out of here like a bat outta hell!" Soiree explained, looking saddened.
Mignon looked worse. Her cheeks were already tearstained. "What did Alba do to Chae Lim?! Why did she leave?!" she demanded, shaking her head furiously. "Tell me why!"
He wished he could. "I don't know, Mignon..." he answered.
That answer wasn't good enough for her. "Mignon will leave, too!"
"No! Mignon!" Soiree said, looking from his brother back to the pink haired girl. "What...?"
"If Alba hurt Chae... Mignon's going to make it right! Mignon will fix it!" She said, hastily throwing her things into her suitcase. It wouldn't shut, and she pushed down hard, going as far as to sit on it and bang her fists down on the top.
"I... can't believe you would just leave..." the twins whispered in unison, each speaking of their respective loves.
-- And when you're on your way down (Through the clouds)
And you're waiting for your body's re-entry again --
It wasn't until later that day, after Soiree had calmed Mignon down, that Alba found something in his room. Laying on his back in the same exact spot that Chae had only hours before, he spotted it laying on the floor.
A cell phone.
It didn't belong to him or Soiree... his was red, and Soiree's was sky-blue. This one was green. He flipped it open, amused by the teddy bear wallpaper. Checking the address book and seeing all of the Asian names, he knew who it belonged to.
"Dammit... she couldn't even get everything..." he muttered. The only thing worse than not having her was having something of hers to hold on to.
He'd return it to her. Finding her address couldn't be too hard. Maybe he could find Hyena and beat it out of him. He could send it Priority Mail...
Then again, why not just deliver it in person? His heart felt a little lighter. At least then, he could see her one more time.
"Hey, Soiree! Mignon!" he stood up and called to them. "Do you guys want to go to South Korea?"
Even if the KOF was a scam, he still had 3 million dollars burning a hole in his pocket.
-- Not even I will tell... --
Chae Lim stepped off the flight, jetlagged and hollow. She was tired, hungry (the food on the plane would never compare to the food at the Dongdaemun market), and depressed.
She forced a smile as she saw her escort.
"Let me grab those for you, Chae," Jae Hoon said, reaching for her duffel bags. She let him have them.
"You got third place! Third place!" May Lee squealed, hugging her tightly.
-- We speak in different voices
When fighting with the ones we've loved
We speak in different voices
We say these things to know they're real. --
Chae Lim hugged her back, grateful for the small comfort, although it was supposed to be congratulatory. "I would have. It was a scam. Completely bogus. Set up by a gang in Southtown to recruit members," she corrected.
"Then you got to fight some evil..." Jae Hoon said with a small smile.
It was then that Chae Lim decided to never compare Alba Meira to Kim Jae Hoon again.
"Whoo! If Hero May Lee was there, she would've--" May Lee was cut off.
"Welcome back, neice." Her uncle Jhun Hoon gathered her up in a bearhug.
Chae Lim buried her face in his chest and started to cry.
-- To know they're real. Real.
I'll never... --
Chapter fin.
There. Shortest chapter, and probably the lamest. Yay me. Review!