Chapter 5: Faction 2: The Thief
"I'm your phantom dance partner. I'm your shadow. I'm not anything more."
Haruki Murakami, "Dance Dance Dance"
Present day
Her long legs hurried down the busy streets of Tokyo, her black heels clicking against the ground beneath her. Why did it have to rain? She sighed, pulling the neck of her deep brown trench coat higher over her head. Not wanting to get her dark jeans ripped, the woman leaped gracefully over a puddle. She was on her way to meet a good friend for coffee. Rounding a corner, she caught a glimpse of herself in the window of a small law firm. She posed for herself, smiling at her reflection as her brown eyes fell to her left ankle. Under her jeans, a a stark white pattern climbed her legs. She often tried to ignore it, the memories associated with it too hard for her to revisit.
Mimi sighed, crossing the busy street to the small coffee shop. Opening the front door, her eyes scanned the quiet cafe for her dear friend, Izzy. "Over here!" She turned towards the familiar voice, smiling at the man waving her down. The brunette quickly crossed the cafe, squealing quietly in excitement as she pulled the man into a hug. "Oh good, I was worried I would be too early!" Izzy sighed, "Mimi, you know early isn't in your vocabulary." Mimi rolled her eyes, waving his comment off as she slipped her coat onto the back of the chair. "Oh shush, beauty takes time."
She glimpsed out of the large cafe window, the rain pouring onto the streets. This world was nicer than the one she woke up in all of those years ago, though not as clean. It reminded her of times before the mists tore them apart, changing everything they knew. "Penny for your thoughts?" The red headed man asked, passing her the tea had purchased for her. Mimi sighed, holding her tea closer to her in hopes of warming up. "Izzy, do you ever think of the other factions? Like how they're doing?" A troubled look passed over his face as he sat down in the chair across from her. "Well, I mean it is not the easiest task to forget about faction 1… That place was…" he shivered, trying to forget his time in the stark white world.
Mimi looked down into her tea, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, faction 1…" She looked up at him, shaking her head and smiling. "Enough of this depression fest how are you?" Izzy smiled, "Mimi, I know you don't want to talk about it, but it has been three years. Maybe it's time we shared out experiences." Her breath was caught in her throat. "You go first," she stated in a quiet whisper, sipping her tea before taking a deep breath.
The man across from her nodded, stretching his arms up over his head. Ever since the two found each other after the mists, they never once spoke of their experiences. "Fair enough, I'm not even sure where to begin." Taking a long sip of his tea, Izzy started from the beginning.
-Five Years Ago: Faction 1-
He awoke quickly, a pain shooting through his head. The last thing he remembered was being surrounded by his friends, thinking they were all done for. His dark eyes searched his surroundings, hoping to find something familiar. He flinched, his left shoulder burning. Looking down, he noticed a dark pattern engulfing it. Izzy rubbed his eyes, testing his legs to see if he could stand.
The landscape that surrounded him was bright, marble and silver streets, buildings that never had to touch mud. Izzy felt panic rise in him. Where am I? Why am I alone? He quickly turned down an alley, avoiding the confused looks people gave him as they passed him on the street. Izzy pressed against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Pull yourself together, you could be dead. He pushed off of the wall, turning back towards the street.
"Excuse me? What day is it?" Izzy asked a woman clad in a dark green dress. "What day is it? Are you alright?" She reached out, feeling his forehead as she whispered to herself. "Come with me." Izzy's eyes widened as he felt her tug him across the street, his feet slipping on the slick road. "Wait, wha- I need to get home!" She looked behind him, pressing a finger to her lips as to tell him to be quiet.
The pair rounded a corner, this side of town was quieter, and passed a sign that named it the Northside. "Northside…?" This wasn't a location he was familiar with. The woman pulled him into a brown building. This building would have looked out of place in the center part of town, but this side was more like the slums. She quickly knocked on the door, a type of code, as a thin man opened it. "Oh. Celina, back so soon?" He heard a heavy piece of wood slide behind on the other side of the door, the thick piece of wood swinging open to let the two in.
"I think I've found another one." The woman, her name Celina, told the doorman as she pulled Izzy into the room by her side. Her blonde hair brushed his cheek as she turned to him. "Can you explain to us what just happened to you? How you got here?" She sat him down, placing a cold cloth on his head as she applied a cream to his shoulder.
Izzy shook his head, stuttering as he tried to remember the events. "I-I'm not too sure. I remember being with my friends then… A dark mist and Myotismon telling us it was all over for us." Celina stiffened at the name of Myotismon. "Be careful what you say about him around these places…" She urged him to go on. "Well, that's about it. I remember the mists covering my whole body and then I woke up here." He motioned his hand, "what is here, exactly?"
Celina smirked, "well, it's not exactly where you're from, but it is a piece of the world you remember. This world is called faction 1. As far as we know, there are three factions and we just happen to be in the most elaborate of the three." She rolled her eyes, "we are ruled by the cousins, Lillian and Magnus." "Brats." The doorman huffed. "Now now Brant, that is no way to talk about the crown." Izzy laughed at the sarcasm he heard in her words. "Oh, not popular?" He asked Celina. "Popular among the rich, but not the poor. They treat you differently, depending on how likely you are to serve them." She finished wrapping his arm, passing him a bundle of clothes to change into. "Here, so you aren't noticed."
Izzy slipped into the uncomfortably tight clothing, trying to stretch it. "Now, you don't look rich, but you don't look poor." Celina picked at her nails, sighing. "Okay I'm just going to get right to the point. Your world isn't the first world to be torn apart. In fact, Myotismon has been doing this for so long that some of us are realizing it is in our best interest to try and fight back and based on that mark on your shoulder," her delicate finger pointed to him, "Im hoping you'll be in."
Izzy blinked, "I hardly know anything." "You don't need to know much, just know we are the good guys," Brant pointed between him and Celina. "Besides, I have a feeling you'll know the leader of the Northside rebellion." Celina smiled as Izzy nodded, agreeing to join in the fight.
-3 Years Ago: Faction 1-
Izzy was running, all he knew was that the man who was leading the rebellion told him to stir up some trouble. He was wearing a dark, black beanie and a tattered up coat. His blonde leader said this would keep his identity hidden. Before leaving, Izzy said his goodbyes, hugging Celina close to him. "See you soon?" Her eyes met his, searching for a confirmation. "See you soon," he smiled back at her, going over the plans in his head as he walked out into the cold night.
He quickly hurried down the quiet streets of the center of faction 1. He envied the ones who lived here, they were being tricked into thinking the crown had their best interests at heart. Izzy was getting frustrated as the buildings turned from brown to white. He rounded a corner, his eyes landing on a happy couple. Perfect, he thought to himself, I'll just turn their great night into something not so great? He felt himself hesitating, but cleared his head as he realized he would be doing this in hope of sparking change.
Jumping a little in place to calm his nerves, Izzy ran towards the couple. He grabbed the woman's purse, taking off towards an alleyway. Ok, so far so good, he thought he had gotten away, until he heard the heavy footsteps of the man gaining on him. Panicking, Izzy took a sharp turn into an alley that ended with a wall. He pressed his back against the wall, turning to meet the eyes of the man. He looks like… Izzy paused to think, connecting the resemblance between this man and the man leading the Northside rebellion.
"Hm. Trapped. C'mon man, just pass us the purse. It's her favorite." Izzy knew that voice, but his shaky hand reached into his jacket pocket and reached for the pistol Celina had lent him for his mission. "No… I-I need this. The rulers… They've taken everything from me. Please…" Izzy tried to reason with the man, telling him the truth of the precious faction 1 royals. "You're lying. Lillian and Magnus care for us all. They would never let someone starve." The blonde man said, Izzy hesitated, pulling out the pistol. "S-Stay back. I'll shoot." A gust of wind blew of Izzy's beanie, recognition flashing in the man's blue eyes. "How about you put the gun down and we figure this out?" Izzy shook his head, pointing his gun at the woman who had just entered the alley "I-I'll shoot her. Don't come closer!"
Izzy noticed the man stepping closer to him, quickly, as he threatened to shoot the woman. He opened his mouth the threaten him again, but gasped as the man's hand guided a shard of ice right in his direction. Reflexes kicking in, Izzy raised the purse, the piece of ice shattering on impact. "P-Please you can have the purse back." Izzy frantically pushed the purse in the man's direction, a feeling of fright coursing through his body. The fright Izzy was feeling was partially from the ice shard that had just been shot at him, but was mostly from the ghostly figures of the royals walking down the alleyway in his direction.
Izzy shook his head. He saw Lillian's mouth move, but couldn't bring himself to hear the words. Feeling the weight of a form being pushed into him, Izzy's thoughts were broken. The woman next to him was hysterically crying. Izzy was confused, something about her was also familiar, but he didn't waste time trying to pinpoint why.
"Well, we couldn't possibly have any witnesses of us claiming a Jumper now can we?" Izzy's eyes fell to the knife Magnus pulled from his coat. "Which one of you wants to go first?" Passing out. Izzy was going to pass out. He was prepared for his mission to get a little messy, but he wasn't prepared to come face to face with his enemies and die at their hands. Izzy gasped as Magnus grabbed the woman's hand, his own hand reaching to pull her out of the way of the man's knife. He hardly remembered what happened next.
Magnus' knife was swinging down, but him and the woman were falling, They fell for a few seconds, hitting warm ground. Izzy shakily raised his head, his heart beating a million miles per hour. "A-Are you okay?" He asked the woman, her form laying lifeless. He gasped, scrambling over to her. Her face was stained with tears, but her chest rose from breaths. He sighed, relieved.
Mimi… The man had called her Mi-, realization hit Izzy. He knew this woman. He quickly scooped her up, running into the town. Hm. This world seems more, modern? His eyes searched for help, people on the street stopping to find out what was wrong with Mimi. "She, uh, she fell. And hit her head! We need help," Izzy said to the worried eyes that stopped him on the street.
The woman nodded, hurriedly taking them to the nearest hospital. Izzy passed Mimi to the men in uniforms, hoping they would help her. It had been so long since he had been in a world like this. He sat in the waiting room, anxiously waiting for word of his friend. A few hours passed and Izzy had fallen asleep.
"Izzy…?" He was shaken awake, the brunette woman from faction 1 nudging his shoulder. "What… What happened?" He saw tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "Mimi, we need to find somewhere safe to talk… This world seems like our old one. Maybe my old apartment is still mine." Mimi nodded, following Izzy out onto the streets, his apartment still, in fact, his.
-End of Flashback-
"… and that's all I remember. It seems that we are all woven together, but separated." Mimi nodded, wiping a tear from the memory of losing Yamato. "Yeah, I wonder how many of us are in faction 1, or worse, faction 3." Izzy laughed, the rumors in faction 1 were that faction 3 was the dirtiest, worse place to be. He imagined Mimi waking up there.
"I just wish I knew how we were sent back here. I mean, obviously this faction has changed, but it seems the closest to what things used to be." Izzy motioned to the city outside of the window. "You know, I miss them. All of them. I didn't remember at first, but the more I think about it, the more I just want to hear all of their voices." Mimi said, resting her cheek in her palm. "I know, Mimi. Now, I think it's your turn to share." Izzy leaned back in his chair, his eyes resting on the woman's face.
*Author's note
Alright, I hope this story isn't too confusing to follow. It mostly focuses on everyone from S1 and I'm still not sure if it would be in my best interest to include S2 characters. This chapter was originally going to focus on Mimi, but I think I'll leave that for a later time. Let me know what you guys think :) Thank you and happy readings.