Okay, quick apology!(I actually had a legit excuse this time, though heh heh x_x don't kill me)
I am sorry I didn't update on Sunday; I had this done, but I discovered that I couldn't upload it unless I was on my computer. Long story short, I left my computer charger at my mom's house while I brought my laptop to my dad's house, so I couldn't upload it until yesterday. And then I did homework until I passed out, so… Sorry!
On the bright side, you don't have to wait as long for the update after this one! :D
Read the A/N at the end; more important info is down there!
A/N #2 ARE YOU KIDDING ME WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE DAMN FORMATTING?! Ugh...
A/N #3 Fixed...Ugh...
"It's the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it."
― Frank Warren
Julie had found another room that no one ever entered in Marucho's mansion.
It wasn't hard, really, but it sure frustrated the heck out of Zenet, Mira and Alice. Not that she really paid much attention to what anyone else was feeling these days—mostly, she just tried to find something to occupy her time and thoughts that didn't have anything to do with the current crisis she and her friends were facing. And that meant not concerning herself with the feelings of those people involved in said current crisis.
Especially not with Zenet, Mira and Alice, who, for some reason, were intent on keeping her in sight at all times. If not in their own, then in someone else's. Julie was always accompanied by a brawler, as if she were some VIP in need of a bodyguard. The one that was supposed to be in charge of her at the moment was Baron, but he was easy to distract (Julie felt guilty thinking this but it was true) and he didn't know the layout of the mansion as well as Julie did.
That was how she wound up in an unused conference room on the thirty second floor, playing solitaire on the immaculately-polished table. Clawsaurus and Gorem weren't with her—she'd left them back in her room purposely. Really, she just wanted to be alone with her not-thoughts—which is something she would never have said a few weeks ago.
She had just dealt out the cards in their traditional solitaire fashion. One card face down, one face up. Two cards face down, one face up, and so on, so the seven face up cards were arranged in a kind of staircase. Ace of spades, five of clubs, ten of diamonds, eight of hearts, queen of hearts, two of spades, three of diamonds. She moved the ace of spades above the row of cards and flipped over the card beneath it. Nine of clubs. She placed that on top of the ten of diamonds and then moved the eight of hearts on top of that. She flipped over the face-down card. Four of clubs.
Moving automatically, she placed the three of diamonds on that, and then the two of spades atop that before thinking better of the move and putting that on the ace of spades above the game. She flipped over the two face down cards. Nine of diamonds and jack of clubs.
It continued like this for some time, mindlessly moving card to other card to other card and so on until she ran out of cards continue with. She flipped over three cards from the extra pile, then three more, and three more until she finally came up with a card she could use. The two of clubs went on top of the three of diamonds.
Come on, black queen, she thought to herself as she started the pile over again.
She glanced at her setup. Oh wait… She moved the pile starting with the red ten of diamonds to the black jack of clubs and grinned humorlessly at her own mistake, then flipped over the face down card. Ace of diamonds. How convenient.
That joined the ace of spades and two of clubs, so she flipped the card beneath it. Two of hearts. She frowned.
Thus she continued and continued, until she was disappointed to discover that she had no more moves left. She sighed, gathered up the cards, and began again.
"Hey, have you seen Julie?" Baron asked, trying to ignore the hot, sticky shame that coated the inside of his chest as he poked his head into the alcove. It was the coffee station nearest the lab where Marucho, Keith, Ren and Mira spent most of their time. Mira was the only one there at the moment and jumped at the sound of his voice, violently jerking the styrofoam coffee cup she was swirling with a wooden stirrer. As a result, the coffee sloshed out of the cup, onto her hand and the counter, from which she recoiled with a yelp.
"Oh my gosh!" Baron exclaimed, rushing to her side. Geez, he couldn't do anything right today. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you, Mira!"
"Baron…" she sighed, reaching for a napkin. "It's okay. I wasn't paying attention." Baron grabbed a few napkins as well and pressed them against the coffee spill while she wiped off her hand. At least he could help with this, right? She blinked when she noticed that he had moved to help. "Oh, thanks, Baron." He stared at her. The surge of pride at being useful didn't come—instead, concern for his leader washed over him.
"…Are you alright, Mira?" he asked, taking in the dark circles under her eyes and the whitish pallor of her cheeks. She didn't answer for a moment, her forehead creasing as she struggled to understand his words.
"Yeah, I'm…fine," she replied finally, crumlping up the napkin.
"Uh…you don't look fine at all," Baron protested, forgetting his internal crisis. "Your face is completely white."
"I'm just tired," she mumbled, turning in a circle in an effort to locate the garbage. After a moment, Baron took the crumpled napkin, opened the cabinet by her knee, and tossed it inside into the trash. Mira simply watched this looking confused.
"I don't think 'tired' is the word for it," Nemus said, popping out on Barron's shoulder.
"Nemus is right, Mira," Baron agreed, placing his hands on her upper arms. "You may be tired, but that's definitely not the whole problem!"
"I keep trying to tell her that but she just won't listen!" Wilda cried from the counter.
"I'm fine," Mira insisted, stepping out of Baron's reach. "You all need to calm down! Honestly, I'm just…tired…" She swayed dangerously before losing her balance in it's entirety.
"Mira!" Baron cried in alarm. He caught her easily and gathered her up in his arms, not trusting her unsteady legs.
"Mira!" Wilda exclaimed, bouncing over to hover over her clammy, pale face. She groaned softly.
"What's wrong? Does your head hurt?" She grunted in affirmation and Baron sighed. "Wilda, where's Keith?"
"He went to go get lunch with Shun," Wilda replied. "Take his mind off things and ask about dinner with Mylene. They should be back soon, though."
"And Ace and Ren are in Interspace…" Baron muttered. "Who's in the lab right now?"
"Lena; she's running some diagnostic software or something."
"Nemus, can you tell her to call Keith and tell him what happened? I'm gonna take Mira to her room so she can get some rest." Mira moaned in protest as Nemus went off to do as Baron asked.
"No…I'm fine…" She weakly kicked, trying to free herself from Baron's sturdy grip, but Baron held her fast.
"No, Mira, you're not," he said sternly, turning on his heel and heading back down the hallway toward the nearest elevator. "You need rest."
"I can rest later," she mumbled even as she rested her head against his shoulder.
Baron didn't say anything. She has something she can do, and she knows it. What can I do?
They arrived at the elevator a few moments later and Wilda helped out by pressing the call button for the Haos brawler. They got on and headed up, and by the time they reached the room Mira had to herself, she was out.
He had just gotten her shoes off and tucked her under the covers when Keith, Shun and Joe entered the room, a furrowed brow the only indication that her older brother was worried. Drago hung out on Keith's shoulder.
"Hey guys," Baron called softly as Nemus rejoined him.
"Hey," Keith quietly replied while Joe nodded his greeting before darting to Mira's bedside. The others watched as he held one hand over her stomach and wrapped his other around her hand, then closed his eyes, inviting a rainbow-colored glow to surround his hands and illuminate the area. A look of peace came over the two of them. Even Baron felt the pacifying effects from his position a few feet away. Baron's eyes were wide. Sure, he had heard from the others about what Joe could do with his residual energy from the Infinity Core, but hearing about it and experiencing it were two very different things.
After a few moments, the light faded, though the sense of peace still seemed to linger. When Joe turned his head to look at Baron, Keith, and Shun, they understood why. There was a rainbow glitter in his eyes.
"She's fine," he said calmly, rubbing his thumb along the back of Mira's hand in a soothing manner. "She's just tired, that's all. Let her sleep for a while and she'll be good to go."
"Thank you, Joe," Keith said, and the sandy-haired teen nodded. "Will she sleep through the night?"
"She should. My positive energy should keep her from having nightmares," he said, standing up. The rainbow in his eyes flickered out, leaving the room feeling cold and oppressive, and leaving Baron feeling incompetent again.
Joe had been partnered with Wavern, one of the most important Bakugan in history. Now he had special powers—limited though they were, they were still far more than Baron could bring to the table on his own. Mira and Ace and Keith and Gus…they all had a specific job to do. Mira was their leader, the Queen regent of Vestal, an expert brawler and extremely skilled with computer programs. Ace was an amazingly powerful and excellent fighter; smart, cunning, adaptive and strong-willed. Keith was extremely proficient in just about everything he did; he was a brilliant leader, wise King regent, expert strategist, skilled computer technician and well-versed in cybernetics—both biological and purely mechanical. He was one of the best brawlers in the universe, and anyone who so much as heard his name knew it. Gus always knew exactly what he was doing, how to complement Spectra's skills in a tag-team battle and was powerful enough to single-handedly take out Dan in a brawl, a feat both he and Spectra had only managed once—and Spectra had cheated.
All of them had a job to do to bring Dan back.
But what could Baron do? Why was he even here? Here he was surrounded by the best of the best; there was no way he deserved to be here. The only reason Baron had joined the Resistance was because he believed in it's principles. He didn't have any special talents. He wasn't a top brawler like Ace, he didn't have leadership skills like Mira. He could drive their trailer and use Vestal technology like a pro, but he couldn't write the programs they needed to find Dan. He couldn't design things that would help them get him back.
Since he joined the Resistance and trained under Dan, sure, he'd improved as a brawler, but he could still only take on those at the bottom of his weight class. He was still the weakest, and, just as Mira had said all those years ago, he knew 'a team is only as strong as it's weakest member.'
Was he dragging down the team as a whole?
Yes, he'd been appointed an advisor of the Caretakers, and, yes, he could still take out any one of them if they challenged him to a brawl, even if they tag-teamed him, but, out of these teammates, he suspected that the only one he'd be able to match was…was…
He couldn't even say himself; his own avatar had kicked his ass.
"Baron, where's Julie?" Shun questioned, pulling Baron out of his thoughts and making his voice heard for the first time since he entered the room. Baron's stomach seized in fear, having momentarily forgotten the ninja was even there—and that he was supposed to be searching for Julie(another thing he couldn't do right, he thought bitterly to himself). Shun had a way of doing that, just melting into the background and making those present just forget they had even seen him to begin with. He had been doing that a lot lately, Baron realized as he turned to look at him guiltily.
"I'm not sure," he said shamefully, but that was before he took in the sight before him.
The sight made his stomach clench. Where before had been pale yet healthy skin now were features sallow and gaunt. The ninja's eyes were bloodshot and red around his eyelids, almost as though he had put on red eyeliner. His black hair was greasy and unwashed and he was wearing a gym shirt that still had sweat-stains on it's underarms and collar. Shun's eyes were haunted with something more than Baron had ever seen, and observing such an effect in the ever-stoic ninja he had known since he was twelve was downright scary.
Having to abandon Dan so close to freedom was taking a terrifying toll on him.
"You're not sure?" Keith repeated, seemingly blind to the turn for the worse his friend had taken. It took all of Baron's self control to not turn to stare at him like he'd grown a second head—and to splutter defensively about his inability to keep tabs on her. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on her?"
"Well, yeah, but she keeps vanishing on me!" Baron protested, somehow managing to keep his voice level and not sound like the whining seven year old he felt like. "You'd think a girl on crutches would be easy to keep track of, but no matter what I do, she just manages to get away from me."
"It's not surprising," Shun said simply. Baron stiffened, briefly afraid that Shun was going to say it was because he was incompetent and confirm his fears. "She knows this place better than anyone except Marucho." Baron relaxed after a moment, still feeling a bit pathetic. "I'll go get her," Shun decided. He hadn't made a suggestion—he'd stated a fact. He was going to get her and nothing was going to stop him.
Still, that didn't mean Baron, with a strangely bruised pride, didn't try.
Just as Shun moved to walk out the door, Baron stepped in front of him, opening his mouth to speak.
The look he gave him was nothing short of death and the words died in his throat. His face expressionless, eyes emotionless, perhaps even listless—it was as unsettling as getting caught in the sightless gaze of a corpse. Only this was the situation in reverse. Baron had heard the humans say that someone's eyes were the windows into the soul, but that couldn't be right, because, right now, Shun's eyes looked dead.
Then his expression flickered, if only for a instant. Something like desperation flashed through his expression. Baron hoped—for the first time, desperately hoped—he was reading him wrong. The thought of Shun being desperate for anything chilled him to the core. Shun was stronger than kevlar, tougher than nails. He could stand up to anything the world threw at him. The mere thought that Shun could feel desperation was enough to stop Baron cold.
But wait.
Shun…Shun felt the same way Baron did!
Anger ignited within the teen. How could Shun feel the same way he did? Shun was the best brawler next to Dan—best brawler, period. Not even Spectra could beat Shun, not one-on-one. No one could beat Shun one-on-one when he was at his best—not even Dan. Shun was a master of hand-to-hand combat as well, able to protect others with both his brawling abilities and his ability to fight physically.
Shun was smart, too. He could come up with strategies on the fly to take out any opponent and take positions on a battlefield, from what Baron understood of the Nethian-Gundalian war, especially with Marucho's intellect guiding him. He could pull his own weight and then some, and though his social skills were not exactly his strong point, he could do so much with just a little information.
He understood all the coding that went into operating Bakugan Interspace. He understood even Vestal technology, something Marucho recognized as difficult. He could memorize details on the fly, navigate mazes and foreign lands with ease. He had all the skills Baron wished he had, all the confidence in his abilities and the skill to back up his claims.
What right did he have to feel as useless as Baron did?
Fearing what he might say if Shun stayed any longer, he stepped to the side, allowing the ninja to pass, and pass he did, promptly vanishing into the hallway to roam the building in search of his teammate.
After a moment of silence, Baron, with a carefully controlled voice that sounded strange to his own ears, announced, "I'm gonna go take a nap," and walked out the door.
Shun found Julie playing a strange type of Solitaire in a disused conference room on the thirty-second floor. She didn't even look up when he walked in—she just continued to stare, unseeingly, at the cards laid out on the table before her. Shun stood in the doorway, watching as she evaluated the cards in her hand with bloodshot eyes and a vacant expression. Dissatisfied with her hand, she placed them down on the table and picked up another three cards, placing a five of clubs on a six of hearts, then setting the torn ace of hearts apart.
"That must be an old deck," Shun commented quietly. Julie blinked, seemingly emerging from her stupor. It took her a few moments to dispel the fog that clouded her eyes and actually see Shun standing before her. She nodded.
"Billy gave it to me," she said softly, moving a four of diamonds supporting a three of spades and two of hearts over to the five of clubs. She then pulled a king of hearts out of a deck on the side and placed it in the empty space. Shun stepped forward to peer at the game.
It was a suicide king.
"Isn't Baron supposed to be watching you?" Shun asked her. She didn't reply, staring at the blood-red king of hearts. Shun scrutinized the card with disinterest at first, at least until he realized why she was so fixated on it. Clothing the king and was a robe of bright orange flames, a robe that wrapped around him and flared up behind him to form the background of the card.
Julie's shoulders shook and Shun sighed as he realized that she was crying. "Shun," her voice trembled, "Shun, it's all my fault." She gulped air and swallowed hard, trying to get control of her voice. The ninja barely kept a lid on his frustration. He did not need this right now, he did not need to deal with an melodramatic Julie right now.
Julie sniffed as her cheeks grew wet. "I should never have let Runo go to Dan's house. I should never have said those things to her! I should never have—never have…" She sobbed. "It's all my fault! It's my fault she left, my fault the Gundalians caught her, my fault that sh-she got h-hypnotized and has all those scars and tried t-t-to, tried to…" She choked again and gasped brokenly for air, her chest heaving violently as she struggled against the tide of emotion that threatened to pull her under. "I never meant-never meant for…" Julie couldn't continue, just buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
All the while, Shun just stood there. He didn't trust his voice, didn't trust even his hands. He was gripping the chair in front of him so tightly that his knuckles were white because he was afraid that if he let go, his fist would wind up somewhere it wasn't meant to be.
There had been a time—a brief time, but still a time—when he and Julie had gotten along rather well. Her naive optimism had contrasted pleasantly with his stoic and silent nature. It wasn't anything serious—how could it be when she had a boyfriend and he no interest in pursuing anything with her?—but it had been an agreeable relationship.
Now, though, she had become insufferable. Just as she was extreme in her eager, effervescent-ness, she was extreme in her self-pity. Losing Dan had been a blow for all of them, one that wounded and hurt like hell but was only a flesh wound. Losing Runo, well, that sure made matters worse, and so did finding out that Joe was being dragged into the situation as well. Runo being turned against them, though…while that wasn't the final blow, that sure crippled Julie.
She kept crying there, just hiccoughing and sniffling and wailing like an abused animal, and Shun couldn't take it.
"Julie," he said in a carefully controlled, indifferent tone, as if he hadn't heard any of her rant, "you need to stay where Baron can keep an eye on you." Her sobs quieted a bit, just enough to hear him speak, and she shot him an anguished look. Why can't she understand this? he inwardly raged. "Julie, there are other things I should be doing than looking for you—things that will help us get Dan back." You're wasting my time. He didn't say it, but they both knew that was what he was implying.
She swept up her card game, arranging the cards in a crisp, clean deck. For a moment, it looked like she might actually be listening to him, and for that, Shun allowed himself to feel angry relief. Finally.
But then she lifted her eyes to his, absolutely smoldering with rage. "Am I not worth your time?" she snarled. "Just like any and all emotions you couldn't possibly be feeling?" Shun bristled. "Well, sorry," she hissed, clearly not sorry in the slightest, "but not everyone has the inhuman ability to completely shut off their emotions and live like a freaking robot!"
"Dammit Julie!" Shun snapped. "Get over yourself! There are more important things than wallowing in your self-pity!"
"Oh? Like what?" she demanded, getting to her own feet, or foot, since her other foot was still encased in plaster. "Eating lunch with Spectra?"
"Don't draw conclusions about things you don't understand!" Shun snarled.
"What don't I understand? What is there to understand?" she asked, her voice raising. "In case you haven't noticed, we aren't doing anything! We can't do anything, there's nothing to do! Go ahead, eat lunch with Spectra; I don't give a crap! How is that any better than what I'm doing?"
"It's actually something productive!" the ninja shouted.
"Oh, and what you're doing is productive? Going off on your own for hours to god knows where is productive? Working yourself to death and getting blasted in the chest is productive?"
"At least I'm doing something! You just sit around and cry all day because Runo got kidnapped by the Gundalians! So. Did. DAN!" Shun threw the chair in front of him to the side so it flew into the others lined up along the table. The collision was punctuated by an explosive bang, one that clearly startled Julie and started her crying again, but Shun didn't care. "Dan has been tortured! He's got scars, Julie! He's not the same! If he was the same, he would have done something stupid and idiotic and reckless, not just… stand there and stare at me with a smile!" He paused, seemingly caught in a moment before he forced away the emotion and replaced it with anger. "Goddammit, Julie, get over yourself! You think you're the only one upset about this? You're not!"
"Neither. Are. YOU!" she screamed around her tears, flinging her deck of cards at him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. They simply listened to the fluttering of the falling cards, suddenly taken back to that night so long ago when they fell from the sky. These cards didn't glow with an ethereal light, nor did they fall as slowly as those did back then. These cards wouldn't fly straight when thrown instead of spinning out and diving for the earth in submission to the pull of gravity. These cards wouldn't glow with fire as Dan threw them down.
"You can't break down right now," Julie whimpered as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. "We can't lose you, too."
"What are you talking about?" Shun asked, his voice still angry but not quite as biting.
"Runo's down, Shun. Runo's down. Can't you see everyone's slipping? Alice…Alice won't even talk to me anymore. Mira's been in the hospital, Fabia's been in the hospital, you've been in the hospital, Runo's in the hospital, and we still don't have Dan back. Drago's talking less and less every day—did you know Ren's been looking through some of Kazarina's old research notes, looking for a way to keep Drago from getting out of ball form?
"Drago's breaking, Shun. He's breaking. He—we—I think he's…he's actually considering…" She appeared nauseated by the mere prospect of voicing her thoughts. She swallowed hard. "Ren…Ren says that Kazarina has…had…this device that…that'll keep a Bakugan in ball form indefinitely. The Vestals have some-something like it. Ace mentioned that, uh…" She wiped her eyes. "When you guys were captured in New Vestrioa, you…you had this pod, and the Bakugan were sealed in a belt of some sort." Shun stared at her stiffly. She took a shaky breath. "He…he wants to make sure that Drago doesn't…doesn't…" She couldn't finish her sentence; just let the words hang in the air, allowing the implications to float there.
"You can't break down. If you break…I don't know what we'll do," Julie whispered. Silence blanketed the room with it's cold, muffling snow, invoking an atmosphere so profound that the pair could hear ringing in their ears. After a few moments in the quiet, Julie sniffed again, and pearls of saltwater plip-plopped onto the table.
Shun let the silence fill the air, partly because he couldn't bring himself to break it, and partly because the lump in his throat was making it hard to breathe. Julie had completely lost that happy-go-lucky side of her, the part of her that kept her positive and bubbly even in the face of adversity. Sure, Shun had seen her at some of her lowest points—namely when she believed Billy had betrayed her—but that couldn't compare to this in any way. Normally, this wouldn't affect him, but everything that she had said…about Drago, whom he had been watching carefully and had noticed the same things about, about the desperate measures they were all being pushed to, about Runo, one of the people Dan cared about most in the world…it was all true.
But that still didn't give her the right to think he didn't have his own demons to wrestle with.
"It's not the same," he said darkly. This time, his voice wasn't angry or biting, but it was dangerous and brooding. "You wouldn't understand." Julie, blinking so her tears fell faster, was at the end of her rope, and having none of it.
"I wouldn't?" she exploded, lifting her livid gaze to meet his apathetic amber eyes. "Why wouldn't I? If you think I can't understand, then make me!"
"Fine!" Shun snapped. He had had enough, too. He snatched her wrist and pulled her to her feet, earning a yelp out of her.
"Shun, I can't—" she protested loudly until he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her as though she were helpless. A brief grimace ran across his face before being wiped away by a cold mask of well-practiced indifference. Within seconds, he had taken her out of the room and to the end of the hallway, then ducked into a stairwell. They were at the bottom before Julie knew what had happened, and then sunlight nearly blinded her.
"Hold on," was all he said, and, out of instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and was instantly glad that she had. Her world was suddenly a blur of green and gray. Wind rushed in her ears and, every few second or so, her body would jolt as Shun's feet slammed into the ground.
The ride continued for at least five minutes—five minutes of cool, damp air rushing over her sloppily-clad person and cutting through her sweatshirt like acid through cotton. At some point, she had buried her face in his neck-it was the only warmth she could find. The longer they moved, the warmer he got, and every so often, he would let out a pained groan-one that he had been unable to stifle. Julie kept quiet, well aware of the reason why and unwilling to break his concentration.
Finally, he came to a stop, breathing hard. Julie could feel his chest heave with each breath and a slight catch in his throat each time, as if he were trying to stifle a grunt. She lifted her head from the warmth of his neck and blinked, startled by the change in scenery.
They were standing in a garden-a traditional Japanese garden, complete with a shallow koi pond with water rushing into a bamboo pipe. It was at the edge of a small bamboo forest and had a gravel stone path leading to a stone step that extended back where it met four marble slabs stacked on top of each other. There was a small platform before it with what appeared to be ashes in a long groove. Tall wooden rectangles were propped up behind it with names engraved in them in Japanese.
It was a grave.
Shun carried her forward along the path past the pond before settling her on the ground before the edge of the pond. She tucked one leg under the other, keeping her casted broken one out. She glanced around in bewilderment at the garden, wondering why Shun had brought her here.
He seemed to have slipped into another world and was completely ignoring her as he approached the monument. His back was to her, so she couldn't see his face, but she noticed that his shoulders were slack as he stepped up onto the white stone platform. An image of a disheartened soldier flew to her mind, someone who was staring into the barrel of a gun as it was pointed at his head. Like someone who had nothing to live for.
It was a dark image and it scared her.
"Shun?" she called softly. He didn't respond, didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken. He simply continued to stare at the stone before him, mesmerized. She swallowed and opened her mouth to try again, but her words caught in her throat when she saw his hand come up and rest on the wooden plank at the forefront of the group. She frowned in confusion and stared at the name, partially hidden by Shun's hand, and tried to put sounds to the Japanese characters. He knelt before the monument and produced a stick of incense and a small box of matches. He lit a match and then set fire to the incense, allowing it to burn for a brief time before blowing it out, leaving it to slowly release it's fragrance into the air. He pressed his hands in front of his chest in a position of prayer, and Julie glanced back at the plank to read the name.
"風見 栞"
"Kaze...Kazami..." she murmured, recognizing his family name, "Shiori?"
"Shiori Kazami," Shun said emotionlessly, not moving from his prayer. "My mom."
Julie's jaw dropped, her mind wiped blank. His mother's grave? His mother was dead? Shun didn't say anything at first and, after a few moments of silence, she squirmed uncomfortably. "She died a while ago. She...she was sick for a while."
Julie didn't say anything. What even could she say? She had no idea.
Shun let the silence continue for a few moments. "Every year," he said finally, again not looking up from his prayer, "we clean the gravestones of our ancestors. It's a Japanese tradition. There are buckets and brushes in a shed near the dojo." She suddenly realized that she was at Shun's house, but, again, wasn't sure what to say, so stayed quiet.
Shun sighed, stood, and bowed to the grave, and then turned to look at Julie. His eyes were steely but emotionless and his face blank. The only evidence that something was going on were the dark circles beneath his eyes and the reddish tint his sclera showed. He looked away, staring off into the distance. "Ever since my mom died, Dan has come with me every year to help. I can't do it by myself." Julie blinked.
Shun licked his lips. "Dan was there when my mom died." Julie started and her lips parted in surprise. Shun closed his eyes. "I knew she was dying. We had been battling and when we finished, we went to the hospital. She took my hand and..." He paused. "And then she was gone."
"When did she die?" Julie asked softly.
"About a month after the cards fell." Julie did the math in her head. So that was almost four years ago...
Four years ago almost to the date.
Her stomach dropped and her blood ran cold as the realization sank in. That was why. That was why he was so unapproachable, so cold and unreachable. Not only had he lost his best friend and watched him sacrifice himself while he could do nothing, but he had also lost his one support during his own personal hell.
And through it all, he just kept silent and focused on saving his friend, no matter what it cost him-his health, his happiness, even his other friends. Dan was who meant the most to him.
"Oh my god," Julie whispered. She felt horrible. She had been so horrible to him, so, so horrible... "I am so sorry, Shun. I had no idea..."
"It's fine," he said stiffly. "Dan was the only one who knew. He came with me to all the vigil days after her death; the wake, the funeral, everything." He didn't look at her. "He dressed in white with my grandfather and I."
"White?"
"It's an old custom. Not many people follow it anymore. But Dan did it for me. He was the only one who understood." He sighed. "He was the best friend I could have."
"Not 'was'," Julie denied, shaking her head. "No, there is no way he's dead."
"Not yet," Shun murmured.
"No!" Julie shouted. "He is not going to die!"
"You don't know that!" Shun yelled. He whirled on her. "Julie, you didn't see him! You didn't see what he looked like! You didn't see his eyes..." His voice cracked, caught in his throat by an invisible hook. He swallowed, his face scrunched up in angry pain, as if he was trying to hold back tears. "He was prepared to die," he said hoarsely. "He held a piece of glass to his throat, Julie. He slit his wrists. For us!"
He opened his anguished eyes to take in Julie's horrified expression, shrunken pupils and nauseated green tinged cheeks. "He's prepared to die," he whispered, tears bubbling over. He dropped to his knees, sobbing softly. "And I can't do anything!" He choked on a breath and gasped in despair. "He never did anything to deserve this," he coughed. "Why? Why are they doing this?"
He continued to cry quietly, whimpering every so often, while Julie did the only thing she knew could help. She crawled over to where Shun was kneeling, keeping her broken foot off the ground, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He stiffened at first, unsure of how to respond to her touch, but when her arms tightened in desperation around his shoulders, he yielded. His torso shook with the effort of containing his sorrow, but when the sky opened up above them and poured out it's own tears, he just couldn't keep it together anymore.
The pair sat there together, friends struggling to keep each other afloat within their river of tears.
Uh...Okay. So that's done. I think? I have to consult my outline again. *checks* Okay, yeah, it's done! (It wasn't originally supposed to be Julie, but I decided against using the person I had initially chosen. I like this version better than the other anyway; the other was WAY too cliche, you have no idea… x_x) Also, a comment on Shun breaking down. Wow, I did not expect that to be as startling to write as it was. I don't like him being all upset! IT'S UNSETTLING! SHUUUUN...
ANYWAY! Guess what?! IT'S DECEMBER! That means consistent updates again! Yay!
So, some of you may have heard that I'm going to be working with JetravenEx do create a spinoff of her Dual Dimensions series. In it, some of her characters are going to run through various stories on and basically wreck havoc and derail any semblance of the original plotline :D I gave her permission to have some of her characters run through Ultimatum, but, obviously, they're not actually going to run through this story. There will be a spinoff story that she posts and that I will be advising her on. While what she plays around with will not be canon with Ultimatum, it will provide character development for Cassie and the Caretakers. I've been meaning to give them a bit of a character arc, since I don't want them all to just sort of exist faceless and only by name. However, there has been little room to provide that development in the plot of Ultimatum. There will be a bit concerned with them before the end, but this should give me an idea of what their personalities are like before I push them all to their limits.
That and maybe a Christmas oneshot that will just be focused on character development. Who knows what may happen during the coming weeks?
Looks like I'm going to be learning time management this month.
Oh, I turned 17 on Nov 29! So yay! I'm 17! Time to relish the less-than-a-year I have left of being a child. Oh my gami-kai. I'm gonna be an adult... x_x
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING! I LOVE YOU ALL! Sorry, Mana, for the long gaps (sorry, everyone, for the long gaps x_x). And, yes, there is a Spectra and Mylene meet-up scheduled for the near future!
Y a Invitado, ¡MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS POR LEER MI CUENTO! No, es la tercera vez; la primera fue en el estadio en Bakugan Interspace y la segunda fue en el dormitorio de Rin. La primera no fue muy claro; lo siento. Me sorprendió, porque voy a hacer algo con recuerdos en algunas capítulos más tardes. No es para Dan, pero… ¡Espero que sea agradable! ¿Oh, y el beso? Hehe, vamos a ver... Vamos a ver… ^_^
Anyway, back to English...Uh...Review?