(A/N) Sorry this took longer than expected to put up. Im going to be honest, I wanted to get it out sooner but... Arkham City came out XP. Great game, I was completely caught up in it, even after finishing the story. too many side missions. any way, heres the next chapter of A Tale of Two Times. hoe you like it.
Chapter 8: The Future: Nine Months
"Run! Find somewhere to hide!"
"Logan, we're in the middle of a barren wasteland!" Riley argued as they sprinted away from their rapidly approaching pursuer. "There's nowhere to hide!"
She was right. Unless they found a cave or something in the nearby mountain, there was no to mask them sight. The Great Eye was right on their tail, and if they didn't vanish fast they would have Omi and the Darklings on them in a matter of minutes. They couldn't afford that. It had only been a few weeks since they'd left Rush and Nina at the Ark. They couldn't even be a quarter of the way to Dashi's temple yet. They suspected that they were somewhere in what used to be Iran, perhaps coming close to where the border with Afghanistan was. If they were right, they still had a long way to go before coming across the remnants of China, and as vast as that country was finding Dashi's old temple would still be a challenge. And all of that was if their assumptions were actually correct.
"Argh!" Peter yelped, falling face first after stepping into a shallow ditch. The others continued onward, thinking he would get up quickly and dash after them. But when he didn't, Logan turned back to find his little brother struggling to get back to his feet, only to stumble back down with a groan.
"This is no time to screw around, Pete!" Logan snarled as he ran back to his sibling. "Get up!"
"I can't." Peter huffed. "My ankle… hurts."
Logan cursed under his breath, looking up to find the Great eye still approaching. Of all the things Peter could've done to screw around right now, he had to go and injure himself. "Keep Going!" Logan called to the others as he cradled the ten year old boy in his arms and lifted him up. "We'll catch up! Jeez you're heavy."
"Guys, over here!" Bonny called, standing near a large boulder at the base of the mountain. The others gathered around only to glare at her. "I think it's the entrance to a cave." Bonny exclaimed.
"Who cares?" Hikari growled. "A toddler couldn't fit through that crack, much less us!"
"We could use the Sleeping Boar to smash it open." Hunter suggested.
"That'll get the Great Eyes attention before we can even get inside." Sarah pointed out.
"Then how do you suggest we get inside?" Hunter snapped.
Without a word Riku dropped the sack of Shen Gong Wu and supplies that had been slung over his shoulder and dug around inside. "Everyone hold onto me." He ordered as he found what he was looking for, the Changing Chopsticks.
"Wait! What about Logan and Peter?" Riley exclaimed. Peter was really slowing his brother down. It didn't look like they would make it in time.
"You guys go ahead. Don't wait." Bonny said as she grabbed the Shroud of Shadows from the sack and ran off. Riku didn't hesitate and used the Changing Chopsticks to shrink the remaining five of them down small enough to fit inside the cave entrance. "Get down!" Bonny shouted as she approached the brothers. Logan quickly dropped to his knees as the girl wrapped the Shroud of Shadows around the three of them, rendering them completely invisible as the Great Eye approached. For twenty, long, grueling, antagonizing minutes, they waited as the Great Eye passed over, scanning the area. They barely dared to breathe until the colossal monster disappeared over the horizon, and when it did, Bonny, Logan, and Peter all sighed in relief and collapsed, Logan landing on top of his brothers injured ankle, causing him to yelp in pain.
After taking a punch in the arm from Peter, Logan sat up and pulled Bonny into a tight hug, kissing her on the cheek. "Girl, you're a life saver. We owe you one… actually, make that three." Bonny just blushed and giggled.
Logan, carrying Peter again, followed Bonny over to where the others waited, Riku having grown back to normal size so that he could shrink them down with him. "All right kid, you nearly got us killed." Logan said as he dropped his brother onto the cave floor, literally. "And if you didn't rip your Achilles tendon you are going to be dead. Now let's take a look at that ankle. Hikari?"
The brunet girl came over and lightly took her cousins ankle into her hands. He cringed. "Well, I guess I don't have to ask if it hurts." She examined it for a few minutes before coming to a conclusion. "Looks like a minor sprain. A few days of rest and he should be ready to go again."
"A SPRAINED ANKLE? ARE FREAKING YOU KIDDING ME?" Logan snapped.
While Logan went on a berating rant over his little brother's "decision" to injure himself, the others sat against the cave walls, just watching and chuckling. "Now see, it's moments like this that make me certain that he cares about the little idiot." Sarah chuckled to Riku. "Speaking of which, Hunter hasn't done anything stupid today… he's overdue."
"Give the kid a break; I don't think he'll be pulling any of his usual shenanigans today." Riku said, pointing over to where Hunter and Riley were sitting. Hunter, apparently exhausted from their near encounter with the Great Eye, had fallen asleep, innocently laying his head on Riley's lap. She gently stroked the young boy's shoulder and hummed a song to help him relax. It was a song that her mothers used to sing to her when she was younger if she had woken up from a bad dream. She couldn't remember the words, but the tune was soothing and did help not only Hunter, but also herself settle down.
"That brat is faking, the little perv." Sarah chuckled.
"No he's not. Riley would've smacked him by now if he was." Riku pointed out.
Sarah shrugged. "I guess."
"Oh come on, Pete! You're already up and walking!" They heard Logan shout. "I swear, if you weren't my brother—"
"Calm down, Logan." Bonny scolded. "He's limping pretty badly Logan. I know you're pissed and all, but give the little guy a break. It's not like he did this on purpose."
Logan glared at her for a moment but took a deep breath and sighed before he did anything stupid. Bonny smiled at him and gave his arm a light squeeze. "Sorry, little bro. I guess I… got caught up in the moment and…"
"Yeah, whatever." Peter said, pretty much oblivious that his brother had previously been yelling at him. "We got any food?"
Riku chuckled and looked back over to Sarah. "You know, I think Logan has a thing for my sister."
Sarah gave him a questioning gaze, almost as if she wasn't sure if she'd heard him correctly. "Logan? You think he like's Bonny?" Riku nodded. Sarah just chuckled. "Oh my god… you have no idea what you're talking about."
"What? He backed off the second she told him to. And you saw that kiss earlier."
"It's called being grateful, idiot." Sarah said, elbowing his side lightly. "Trust me, I know Logan better than anyone. She's not his type."
Riku rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."
Sarah chuckled again, then something crossed her mind. "But, unless my eyes deceive me, Bonny does have her eyes on him."
"Okay, now you're just messing with me."
"No, I'm serious. Just watch her. She's always trying to be close to him, the way she subtly grabs his arm, and how she's always looking after him. I mean, she didn't even hesitate to run out there with the Great Eye almost overhead and save him and Pete."
"Any of us would've done that." Riku said.
"True, but she didn't think twice about it."
Riku wanted to argue, but realized that he didn't really have anything to argue with."Okay… you might be right."
"You're damn right I'm right." Sarah said with a smirk. "Now, while you're admitting that I'm right, let me ask you something. Why are you over here talking to me when you should be flirting with Riley?"
Riku gawked at her disbelief. "How did you—"
"Remember who you're talking to, kid. Now spill."
Riku sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, so I like Riley." He admitted. 'But I'm keeping my distance because, let's be honest, we've got more important things to worry about. Plus… you know. I'm not her type."
"You're kidding me, right?" Sarah asked, cocking one eyebrow with an annoyed look. "You that she's gay just because her parents?... Okay, I'm not even going to apologize for this." Then, out of nowhere, she smacked him over the side of the head, hard. "Riku, your gay-dar is seriously malfunctioning. Now do yourself a favor; get over there and start hitting on her before I hurt you more."
He hesitated, but when Sarah raised the back of her hand to him he got up immediately, walking over to Riley. "Hey." He said, sitting next to her. She smiled back at him, still gently stroking Hunter's shoulder as he rested his head on her lap. Riku didn't know why he was nervous. He'd known this girl all his life. She was one of his best friends. It didn't take him long to realize that it wasn't just talking to her that he was nervous about, but how he wanted to talk to her, what he wanted to say. Just the idea was nerve-racking. He was just about to muster up the courage to say something else when Riley spoke up before him.
"You know, I heard you talking to Sarah." She said.
Riku's face flushed. "You… you did?"
"Every word." She confirmed. "So… you like me."
Riku scratched the back of his head and blushed. "You could say that."
Riley chuckled, thinking how shy he was being was cute. This was definitely a different side to the Riku she knew. She liked it. "Riku…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say. "Ugh. What are you doing, Riley? Look Riku, we've been best friends all our lives. I like you too, but I'm not sure if it goes any further than that."
"It does!" Sarah called from her spot closer to the entrance of the cave.
"Funny!" Riley called back. "You know what Riku, why don't we give this a shot. See where things go." She suggested.
"I can live with that." Riku said with a grin. "I can definitely live with that."
"Good. Now get over here. I'm cold." Riku smiled and slid closer to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she rested her head on his shoulder. As they dozed off together, Hunter woke and groggily sat up, stretching his arms and yawning. Upon seeing Riku and Riley snoozing together, he shook his head and sighed.
"Great, teen romance. Just what we needed right now." And with that he walked off, trying to think of a way to annoy his Bonny and his siblings and cousins.
~SEVERAL MONTHS LATER~
"I'm worried about them, Rush… it's been so long."
Nina and Rush stood at the edge of the Ark, looking out into the vast, dead wasteland beyond the abrupt end of the lush, green grass they stood on. Nina's hands rested on her belly, now heavy and swollen after nearly nine months of carrying her child. Rush remained unchanged, still only a hollow ninja garb. "Have faith in them, Nina." He told her. "It shouldn't be too much longer before they reach their destination."
"I know… I just wish I knew if they were even alive or not."
"As I said, Nina… have faith. Now come." Rushed turned and started toward the forest. "It is time."
"What are you—ugh!" Nina suddenly dropped to her knees, feeling some sort of pressure in the pit of her stomach. A contraction. "Oh. That's what you meant." She groaned as Rush helped her to her feet. "How did you know I was about to go into labor?"
"Let's just say I'm very observant." Rush explained. "Now let's go. The child will be better off being born away from the Great Eye's gaze."
~ELSEWHERE~
"There it is." Hikari announced. The eight young heroes looked down from a cliff, just outside of a cave on the side of a mountain. Down in the valley below was the destination they'd traveled so far to reach: the ruins of Master Monk Guan's temple. After nearly nine long, antagonizing months with more than one close encounter with the Great Eye and the Darklings, they had finally made it. "We finally found Guan's temple."
"Funny, that doesn't look like a city made of solid gold where chocolate coins and skin-mags are used as currency and all the women run around topless." Hunter joked. This earned him a smack on the back of the head from his oldest sister.
"You're thinking of heaven, man." Peter replied.
"So what do we do?" Riley asked.
"Set up camp in this cave for the night. We head down into the ruins first thing in the morning…" Logan instructed. "I'll take first watch. The rest of you get some sleep."
Late into the night, Logan sat at the entrance of their cave hide out, covered in the Shroud of Shadows from the neck down and ready to pull it over his head in case the Great Eye appeared. It has been a few hours since they'd made camp and had been dark for a few hours now. Logan had taken first watch. He looked down to the ruins of Guan's temple in the valley below. He remembered visiting in once when he was very young, probably right after Hikari had been born. Only a few years old but he could still remember the awe that the temple struck him with. It had been massive, grand, and magnificent. Thinking back, he realized that it wasn't much more than the temple that he had once called home, but there was something about it that he found more alluring. He remembered thinking that he wanted to go train with Master Monk Guan one day, and it filled him with disgust to look down at the temple now, remembering what it once was.
"Logan?"
He glanced over his shoulder, finding Bonny coming up to him with some bread. "I thought you might be hungry… and maybe you'd want to get some sleep. I'll take over watch duty if you want." She offered as she sat down next to him.
"I'm fine, you can go back to sleep." Logan said. "But some food would be nice."
Bonny shook her head as she handed him the bread. "Can't get back to sleep. I'm rested enough. I'll stay out here with you."
Logan nodded, sinking his teeth into his food. "Here." He said, opening up the Shroud of Shadows for her after swallowing. "Just in case." Bonny smiled and slid over to him, allowing him to wrap the shroud around her shoulders. Logan went back to eating and silently watching the temple. Bonny felt nervous about being this close to him, stealing quick glances but looking away and blushing if she thought he noticed. She looked over her shoulder to check up on the others, all still asleep. Peter and Hunter were sprawled out on top of each other, have wrestled each other into exhaustion. Sarah and Hikari had fallen asleep sitting against the cave wall next to each other, Hikari resting her head on her older sister's shoulder. And then there was her brother and Riley, more than comfortable sharing body heat during the night after over several months of slowly building romance. Upon realizing that she was watching her brother and his girlfriend spoon, Bonny quickly turned away.
"See something you didn't like?" Logan asked nonchalantly.
"Just put a bad taste in my mouth." Bonny replied. "I mean, it would be cute if it weren't my brother."
"You're jealous of them." Logan said, his mouth full of his last bite of bread.
"What?"
"You want what they have. Someone to be close to, to share everything with, blah blah blah. I don't blame you, I would want that too… you know, if I weren't an emotionally unavailable bad boy with daddy issues."
Bonny chuckled at this. "I… I guess you're right." She said, looking up at him. Then a thought crossed her mind. Did he just…? Was he…? It almost sounded like he was. Feeling bold, Bonny placed her hand on Logan's upper arm, but he immediately pulled away.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Bonny apologized, retracting her arm. "I thought…"
"That I was flirting with you?" Logan finished for her. "Bonny… what part of emotionally unavailable bad boy with daddy issues don't you get? I'm not looking for anything like that, I'm sorry… and even if I was… you're not exactly… my type."
Bonny realized what he meant immediately. "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"How could you? I've never told anyone. Not exactly a reason to, considering what my options would be… besides, I've got other things to focus on."
"Daddy issues?" Bonny chuckled.
"Now you're getting it… Look, Bonny. I'm sorry I can't give you what you want. But if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be here. Okay?"
Bonny smiled and nodded. Logan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they sat together under the Shroud of Shadows, looking down to the ruins of the temple and talking about whatever came to mind. For the first time in a very long time, Bonny felt like she had someone she could open up to, and for the first time in even longer, Logan felt genuine happiness, something he hadn't felt since the first time his eyes had looked upon Guan's temple.
(A/N) So yeah. Character developement. character developement everywhere. I realized somewhere along the long that I'd spent the first 3 chapters of the future storyline just setting up the plot and you hadn't really gotten to know the kids very much yet, so I decided to use this chapter exclusively for character developement... not much for Peter, Hunter, or Hikari though. Peter and Hunter are really just wild card comic relief, so I don't really see a reason to expand on them yet. But Hikari Im having trouble figuring out what to do with. Im almost regretting creating her now.
anyway, here are some updates on my other stories. TDH is definitely my next update, and the challenge next time will be based off a DC comics hero who Im sure you've all heard of but you don't think very highly of. I also plan on rewriting the last chapter of Undead Drama Mainland that I posted, and since TD: Revenge of the Island is finally going to air in January, I may actually be able to do that some time soon. as far as my other stories go, don't expect updates any time soon.
so yeah, let me know what you all think of this chapter... oh and if anyone didn't figure it out from what Logan meant by Bonny not being his type, look back to the conversation Riku and Sarah had about Riley. For those of you who did figure it out, good for you. please also note that this will probably be the only time that aspect of his character is brought up. I really want to focus on his quote-unquote daddy issues.