KG-8 Incident Arc – Part Two: Simon the Aspiring Actor

Two teenagers sat on the public bus; one had longer hair than the other, and that same teenager was dressed more casually. The one that was dressed in a formal school uniform fiddled with a ring with the initials 'HP' on it.

"You're sooo lucky your foster family didn't send you to a prep school," the boy with the shorter hair mumbled. "I'd have thought our situations would have been reversed, what with your adopted dad being a snooty Prosecutor."

The boy got elbowed for his trouble.

"Mister Faraday really isn't like other Prosecutors, I keep telling you." Simon Keyes muttered, swatting a stray strand of hair out of his face. "I didn't want a school with a uniform, and he saved a few bucks. It was mutually beneficial. Plus, I'm still never far from Kay's school if Uncle Badd and dad can't pick her up for whatever reason."

Knightley smirked knowingly at Simon.

"Yeah, but now you're enrolled in this after-school drama club, and it's like halfway across the city. Kinda defeats that purpose, don't it?"

Simon shrugged neutrally.

"Worse comes to worst, she can come with me to drama club. There's plenty to do in this part of town, so it's not like she has to sit around for me until I'm done."

Knightley snorted.

"Ya sure you're okay with that? Y'know Kay can't stay still."

"She's gotten better," Simon said, slightly defensive. Though deep down he knew only marginally. "What are you coming down here for, anyway? You're not a new member of the troupe, are you?"

Knightley outright laughed at the suggestion.

"Theater plays are good for getting out of class, but you'd never see me up there for one of those things. Unlike you, I don't have my life planned out. I live in the moment. Isn't that what high school's about, anyway?"

Simon shrugged again, this time in a, "do what you want," way. He and Knightley still weren't… the best of friends, but after an incident two years ago, the tension of them had been reduced radically. Certain truths came to light, and Simon found that he had less to be angry with Knightley about – namely, thanks to Byrne Faraday, Simon and Horace both discovered their parentage. Simon was forced to come to grips with the fact that his father was a murderer, and that it was Knightley who lost a parent all those years ago.

IS-7 got a retrial because of Simon and Horace's memories – the latter regaining them after inheriting his father's things. The recollections were far from clear and concise, but it was enough to indict Dane Gustavia as the murderer of Pierre Hoquet. Fortunately for the police, Gustavia had returned in recent years from a three-year training trip to Zheng Fa, and the man had even come seeking his son after he had been "found", like a "loving" and "caring" parent who had lost their child would.

Simon was not happy to be reunited with the man, having been abandoned by him for seven to eight years. Mister Faraday stayed by his side throughout the whole affair, and he reopened the investigation into the case, seeing as how Prosecutor von Karma was currently out of the country and could not be reached, and a certain Defense Attorney showed a keen interest in the case. Even so, it wasn't easy finding new evidence – at least not until Detective Badd located Pierre Hoquet's sherbet sculptures, which everyone had assumed had melted, and the body and blood sample that were nicely preserved for analysis.

After that, proving Gustavia's guilt was very easy. IS-7 was finally brought to a close soon after, although there was still the matter of the original suspect being accused of being an accomplice to Simon's birth father. The child that Masters had adopted, Kate, had come forward and confessed taking the sherbet sculptures all those years ago, and accepted her punishment. It was far from a perfectly happy ending, but Simon could tell that some great weight had been lifted from Uncle Badd's shoulders. Simon, on the other hand, could not claim to be positively affected by the incident. Even though he denounced Dane Gustavia as his father, he had at some point early in life viewed him as such. As much as he took pleasure in seeing the man face justice after abandoning him, Simon felt a twinge of… pity for him as well.

But Simon had a new family, one that really grew on him during that affair, and that whole incident finally ended the first chapter in his life. There was no need to look back on that aspect of his life anymore; he could turn his complete attention to the future. He figured Knightley would feel bitter or vengeful, but the boy really wasn't. Apparently being the son of a famous sculptor wasn't all that it was cracked up to be; being forced to tie up Simon and lock him in a car hadn't been an isolated incident.

So the boys had let bygones be bygones. … If only because they had both suffered when all was said and done.

"… mon. Simon!

Simon snapped out of his musings and looked to Knightley, who was standing up now that the bus was stopped.

"Our stop." The chess fanatic deadpanned. With that said, the pair paid the driver and got off.

"You know, you never answered my question. What're you going here?" Simon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Arcade just around the corner, duh," Knightley grinned at Simon's somewhat disappointed expression. "Told ya not to look too deep with me. My foster family doesn't like me coming here all the time, but it's their fault for giving me pocket change every day to get me out of the house. 'Only an hour of video games every day'? Screw that."

Simon sighed and shook his head with a wry smile.

"High school doesn't last forever. We're already sophomores."

"Which means we've still got three years ahead of us," Knightley rolled his eyes. "If I really want to look into 'career paths' or whatever, I'll wait 'til senior year. Plan too much and you miss stuff in the here and now. Why do you want to be an actor so much anyway?"

Simon shrugged nonchalantly at that.

"Contrary to your expectations, we're not all that different. Sure, I like to plan. But at this point I'm just exploring what I could go into after high school. Acting just comes naturally to me, so it seems like something I could do. Nothing else catches my eye yet."

"Not going to go into law like your old man?" Knightley said it as a joke, but Simon looked slightly pained at that.

"… Not really." Simon had heard all about the KG-8 Incident; Mister Faraday and Uncle Badd were rather cross about how it concluded. And honestly, Simon couldn't blame them. The courts might have rectified their mistake with the IS-7 Incident, but Simon still saw them as somewhat corrupt… or at least way too erroneous. "Acting's more my forte."

When he was up on stage, Simon felt a profound sense of freedom. He could be just about anything he wanted as an actor, and he liked that much better than the seeming restrictiveness of the law. Simon wasn't 'Global Studios' material or anything yet, but he was learning a lot with this drama club. Heck, he was already at the point that he could mimic voices of certain people he knew.

Mister Faraday took it in stride, but Simon could tell he was annoyed by the occasional prank done in his voice… It amused Uncle Badd and Kay, though.


Author's Note: (Le gasp) I'm updating twice within a week's time? Why, yes I am. XD Hope this was a bit more interesting than the last segment, though I did like the drama of the last drabble, honestly. This one's not so much about KG-8, but it does give background on Simon somewhat, as well as hint very slightly at how he'll affect events in the Second KG-8 Incident. I might show bits and pieces of the events summarized here in an arc later, so don't feel too bad if I only gave a basic summary.

I guess you could say I'm just an impatient little git. Dunno when I'll retell those events. :P Hope you enjoyed!