Hello ^^
I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated in quite a while... I think it's just about two months xD
I didn't know what I should do with this chapter.
Then I was in a Soul Eater slump.
And now I'm back :D
I STILL don't know what exactly I should have done with this chapter,
so it might look really random or out of place.
And it's not the best I've written.
Sorry D:
I didn't have a general idea to branch off of.
Anyhoos,
enjoy ^^
And merry christmas!
Chapter Two: Luke
It was a cowardly death in escape.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I knew that voice. Shit. I was in so much trouble.
I let my hand fall from the car door, refusing to meet her eyes.
The taxi driver nervously looked from my face to hers.
"Get out."
She opened the door wider and stood back.
I sighed.
"Er—I changed my mind. Sorry." The taxi driver still looked confused, but I left it at that. I slowly got out of the car, dreading the lecture that would surely come once the taxi drove away.
"I hope she didn't cause you too much trouble." She smoothly handed the driver a crisp bill, and closed the car door.
The taxi began to drive away, taking with it my hope of ever seeing Shibusen again.
Then she turned to glare at me.
"Athena… Long time no see?" I smiled weakly.
"Do you know how long we've been looking for you?" She closed her eyes, her expression frustrated.
"Who's we?" I grabbed at the chance to change the subject. Athena's temper was something that shouldn't be tested.
She sighed. She knew I was changing the subject, but she answered anyways. "It was Zephyrus at first, but you know how he is. It's me and Erebus now."
"Where's—"
"Where else would he be? He's in the hotel, sitting in some dark corner." Athena rolled her eyes. Her irritation was clear.
Whenever Athena got annoyed, I was reminded of her age. She was only a year older than me, but normally, she seemed so much older—she was so wise and reasonable and calm. But when she got annoyed her youth began to show.
"He hasn't been helping you?" I laughed.
"He does. In the middle of the night. Then he calls at three in the morning to let me know that he's going to stop looking because it's starting to get light."
I laughed harder. That sounded just like Erebus. I hated to admit it, but as much as I avoided them and their meetings and parties, I missed them. They were my family.
"Anyways we have to get going, I'm supposed to—"
I frowned. "Wait."
Athena gave me a puzzled look.
"I don't get a lecture? No sincere letters or phone calls to apologize?" Everything I was dreading—where did it all go? It was almost a tradition. Me avoiding them, them finding me, me being lectured, me being forced to call up the others to apologize, then me going away again.
Athena laughed. "Not this time. I'm supposed to take you to see Shinigami-sama."
It took me a minute to understand the meaning of those words. It seemed as if the world had been flipped upside down. Athena should be dragging me home, not doing something she had been opposed to for the past five years!
"Yeah I know." Athena understood my expression. "But since the last time you've attended a meeting, lots of stuff has happened." She rolled her eyes again. A habit of hers that I was never really fond of. "And you know those meetings are mandatory."
"Like…?" It would take a miracle to change Zeus's mind about me being a technician.
"To put it very bluntly… they're useless." Athena sighed.
"Who?" I frowned. To be completely useless… it wasn't something I could imagine. The members of the clan fit together like gears in a clock—to be complete and working properly, everyone was needed—everyone had a part. No one could afford to be useless.
"The three new ones. Alectrona, Hebe, and Hygieia. Alectrona can only do the tradition: wake up Hypnos. Hebe is so annoying. She follows us around, doing little things for us, like a servant. And Hygieia…I think she had OCD." Athena frowned. "She has to stay clean—she won't even go near Demeter."
"But… that means…" So this was why. We were terribly short on fighters. That's why I was needed.
"I mean, we're still training them and hoping something develops, but in the mean time, you're our backup plan. Well you, Demeter, and Nike. I'm supposed to take you to train at Shibusen—the other two training at home but we knew you wouldn't want to." Athena smiled, then hit the delicate subject. "So, where's Luke?"
Luke. So casual, so calm. Always smiling, laughing, making jokes. Luke.
"He's…unable to fight." I couldn't say it. Especially when they were counting on me like this… they had never depended on me much for anything before, except to run some errands or take a message.
"Why not? Is he hurt? We could have Asclepius—" Athena, always so reasonable.
"I don't think Asclepius can heal him." A bitter laugh escaped my mouth.
Athena struggled to read my expression. "Ayame… what's going on?"
"Luke is… dead." I stared at my fingers. "That's why I was going to Shibusen—to see if Shinigami-sama could find me another weapon."
Athena was shocked. It took a lot to shock her. "How?"
"I don't want to talk about it." I muttered.
Athena nodded slowly. "Let's go back to the hotel, we shouldn't stand here all day."
"Sure." I nodded. I felt terrible—like I had just lied to her. But it was true. I didn't want to talk about. But not for the reasons she thought it was.
I didn't want to talk about it because I couldn't understand it. I didn't want to talk about it because it wasn't an honorable death in combat, it was a cowardly death in escape. I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't want them to know that Luke—Luke who I had trusted, confided in, and believed in, Luke who I thought I knew—had hidden something from me. That Luke wasn't who I thought he was.
I didn't understand what had happened that night. But I would find out. I would unlock those secrets Luke had left behind. But until I did, that last memory would forever haunt me.
There you have it.
I PROMISE to update soon, no more 2 month waits xD
I hope you liked it.
I doubt you did though.
This chapter was pretty bad xD
Well, better than nothing ^^
Review.
Or else Luke will come haunt YOUR dreams ^^