(huge) A/N: FINALLY. THANK YOU to Konoha's Kage, Red, Angel, Lea, DanMat6288 and Limelace for reviewing!
I finally got to update this! Finally… TAT The rest of my summer, I had no inspiration whatsoever and it was really hard for me for some reason to even think about what I even wanted to write about, it was probably my worst writers block I had ever had. Then finally, when school starts and it starts to cool down, I started having all these ideas and I suddenly start feeling inspired to write again. And despite the fact that this weekend will suck because I have to cram 3 hefty school projects into two days, I wanted and needed to get this chapter done, you guys have probably forgotten about this dusty old thing now! xO Excuses excuses blablabla...
Anyways, I don't know how many of you have been reading this fic for a year now but, yes, this fanfic is over a year old now! So I guess I should say, again, for all of you that's been reading this far for this long or even if you started reading this, thank you! ;A; And thank you to all of the reviewers that's helped me and gave me feedback on anything. Thank you!
So about this chapter, I don't want to stay up til 5 am in the morning, even though it's inevitable now that it's almost 4, but I decided to cut the Pokey diary entries out of this chapter all together, just because well… A LOT more than I planned happens in this chapter. First off… YEAH HE'S HERE. You might read this at first and then once he's introduced you'll be like, wtf that's not right! But I'm gonna say this in advance, I'm still trying to plan his character out. I thought of this idea I wanted to play with so I could build up his character… I made it to where Jeff kind of clears up the confusion… slightly. But god… If you get lost in the beginning, I apologize, basically what happens is that Jeff has a really crappy dream. Yeah… I shouldn't spoil things in advance. My biggest warning will be towards the end of this chapter, something happens that might, and probably will shock the majority of you… maybe xD And there's a lot of swearing then… lots of f words so yeaaaah… And you guys might be like, Gah! Not again!
So… yeah. Another thing, I'm not sure if Oblivion is the right title for this chapter but… hell. I kind of feel like Jeff right now… multiple thoughts in a blank mind! Fear my oxymoron! Ok, I'll shut up now and let you guys read the chapter! I need to sleep….
Oh quick note: Jeff, I am so sorry for all the crap I put you through in the past year. I hope you can handle another one! :]
I do hope you enjoy it! Hopefully there's not too many errors lying about in this! Cx
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It was like looking back to my past. The first thing I recognized was my crib. When I looked inside, I saw everything I missed as an infant, my blanket, my music box…
Wait… why was I here? I looked around…
Yeah, this was my room at the house we used to live in. But why was I here? Was I really here? That couldn't possibly be true… something just wasn't right here…
I took a moment to look up and walk over to my window to look out into the dark street… and from here I could see the way to the park. Something unsettling rested in the pit of my stomach as I saw a couple of people walking towards that area. I sighed, taking myself away from the window sill to explore more of my old room. The rocking chair was in place. My old toy box was still neatly in tack with a few toys here and there. But I was more interested in the music box that sat next to my crib. I always looked at the damn thing as a child, now was my time to run my fingers across the golden rims of this mysterious wooden box. I picked it up, looking at its top. There was that picture of just the three of us at the beach, happy and sane, all framed up in a heart of gold… I was tentative at first, but I decided to turn the key… and sure enough that mysterious melody filled the room…
"My mom sang me this song…" I told myself, trying to remember just what exactly those lyrics where… just what were they? And why was I dying to know them? I closed my eyes…
"… Something about harmony…" I spoke to myself. Well there was already harmony… My eyes glanced over to the closet. I never really looked in my closet before, I thought. I put the box down and made my way until I touched the door knob. I opened the door.
I froze… in utter shock and disbelief.
In my closet was about a dozen copies of myself as a 4 year old, lying about like dolls, every single one was missing their arms, their legs, their ears and eyes. I shivered, taking a small step back. What? The more I looked at it, the more my head started spinning as the music from the box started becoming out of tune.
"Jeff… my dear boy…" My eyes shot open as I spun around. As my heart almost gave way, there she was, in her white skirt and lavender lace top. My mother stood against the door frame, beautiful smile still decorating her face. And for some reason, I stood stock still, the music box still playing in the background out of tune.
"What…" I quickly glanced back into the closet, only to see in disbelief that the closet now was ordinary… no more younger selves littering the carpet. I glanced back.
"Mom…?" I muttered to myself… warily. She smiled.
"You did a wonderful job honey… saving the world like you did…" My eyebrows furrowed slightly. Something was terribly wrong…
"Mom… where's Dad?" I asked. She cocked her head, her blond hair parting slightly in her eyes.
"Your father? Why your father is doing some important work… it's best not to bother him right now," She spoke. I frowned, swallowing.
"…You're not my mom…" I said. However her expression didn't even register what I had just said.
"I'd love to hear all about your adventure," She smiled. I shook with frustration. I held my arm, hearing the song fall even more out of tune.
"Please Mom… even if you were alive… I would know you when I see you…" I said, looking down. There was a moment of pause.
"But Jeff… it really is me… and we can live together peacefully finally… thanks to you…" She said. I shut my eyes.
"I might be able to save something that still has time but… I can't perform miracles," I told her, looking up to her. Her smile started to disappear from her now. She started to take a step towards me. My eyes widened.
"Stay away!-" I ordered. It was too late however as a pair of feminine but protective arms wrapped around my shoulders to embrace me. My first instinct was to push her away… but something kept me from doing so. She spoke into the back of my ear.
"See… when was the last time I held you like this?" She spoke. I shivered.
"I don't know… she hasn't been able to hold onto anything for quite a while now…" I replied. Mom hummed.
"Who is she?" She asked. I swallowed.
"My mother…" I replied. A pause.
"But I am your mother Jeff…" She held onto me tighter… it frightened me.
"You aren't my mom…" My voice shook. She shushed me. I winced.
"But of course I am… who else would I be? Your father didn't lie to you, did he? Just relax now… you've had a harsh journey…" I sighed.
"It's not over… there's still things to be done… and there's still things that can't be done…" I replied. She signed.
"Oh Jeff… my son… you're so hopeless-" I shivered for the last time, quickly bringing my hands to her shoulders to shove her away. I knew I regretted it as I looked back at a completely different face. My heart stammered as I stumbled backwards.
"Jeff… why did you leave me to die?" She said. My bottom lip trembled.
Her face… how it twisted into an uncomfortable direction. It was hard to describe how she looked then, the out of tune music box could describe it better than me. It looked as if it wanted to rip itself off of her skull all together. And suddenly the room started to spin uncomfortably. And god… everything started turning into a dark blood color… I squeezed my eyes shut, clenching my ears.
"Jeff…" Her voice was disappearing, just like the song of sweet harmony… I looked at her again, only to be staring at something completely different.
"Jeff… it hurts… it hurts…" Something not human... The more I looked at this thing… the more red I saw… as I looked down to my abdominal section… as if someone had ripped out my intestines. I felt lightheaded then… Looking over to my right as a shadow of what looked like my mother laughing menacingly took a hold of my arm and pulled. My eyes shot open as she literally yanked my arm right off of my body. I couldn't feel the pain much, because the utter shock I felt had taken over as another shadow of mother had ripped off my other arm. I backed away from the two shadows, both holding my arms as they smiled twistingly at me.
"Jeff… it hurts… it hurts…" I started to run, only to be stopped by more shadows. I could barely see the inside of my house now, spotting the stairs as I rushed down what I could see, feeling blood draining from my shoulder spots, tears rushing down my face. His office I thought…
As soon as I got to the basement door, I tripped, feeling my legs rip from my body as I tumbled down those dark stairs. When I landed in the basement room, I first looked down to my legs, which were gone by now and my intestines were sprawled about. I weakly looked up to my father, who was working at his lamp lit desk… he wasn't conscious of the many shadows resembling mother now approaching me, all laughing… as I could still hear that voice…
"It hurts… it hurts…" I looked up to dad before shutting my eyes tightly and doing my best to curl up in a ball. I shivered…
"Dad…"
"It hurts…"
"Dad…" I started to whimper.
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The Universe Will Die Without You
Chapter 21 Oblivion
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Rain.
I could hear it… the smell… the taste…
As much as I wanted to keep my eyes closed, the more droplets soaked my skin and though I still wasn't fully aware at the time, it was subtle. The more I fell conscious, the more my head and heart pounded in my skull and chest. I couldn't dare open my eyes; it was so dark… I groaned, trying to recall myself as I searched for my forehead with my fingertips, only to freeze momentarily…
… Where was I? What just happened? …
I had finally forced my eyes open, only to be blinded by my short-sightedness. I touched my fingertips all over my face.
Oh god…
Not only were my glasses missing, but the fact that my eyesight slowly spun in front of me wasn't helping either. My breath finally caught up to me as I could start feeling my stomach flip around in an uncomfortable matter. Apparently, I had been lying on cement for a while… but… if I recalled right, wasn't I on the beach last time I was conscious? With…
"I… shit, I'm lost…" I cursed, as a clash of thunder roared in the distance. And for once, I was frightened… I couldn't see…
"Ness? Paula…?" I tried crying out for help but… Feeling something rise to my esophagus as my heart and breath sped up, I had soon closed my mouth out of reflex, quickly turning over to prop myself up by my hands; I couldn't hold it as I hurled onto the cement. Oh god, it smelt and tasted awful. Did that cake really fuck with my head all this time? I plopped back down onto my side limply after creating my pile of puke that would soon be washed away from all of this rain. I shivered. Where was everyone? What was going on? Surly I wasn't dying here… was I?
…
I wasn't sure how long I was laying there in the rain, eyes closed and actually praying for something… I didn't notice until I ran a hand over my arm, that somehow my coat was gone… how would I lose that? Then I started thinking of all the other things I probably lost, including my glasses… all my tools… that suit case… And no matter how hard I tried… my eyes wouldn't focus in the dark… what sucked was they were becoming heavy… no… not now, I couldn't cry now! I sniffled, gritting my teeth as I hid my face against the wet pavement, soaked cold hair hiding myself. What was I to do?
I was soon startled by the sound of a familiar ring… My eyebrows furrowed. Was I hearing the…? I patted my pants, finding my pockets until fishing out what felt like and sounded like the receiver phone… but if my coat was missing, wouldn't the phone be with it? I just thanked god that somehow, I still had it. And as I rest the ringing phone against the ear that was facing up in the air, I wasn't sure if I could collect and pronounce any coherent words. I pressed the button, swallowing before I croaked.
"He… hello?" My voice sounded nothing like myself. There was a small pause.
"H-hi… may I speak to Jeff? Is… is this the right number?" The voice said on the other line. I squinted my eyes. Who was this? They sounded…
"You sound familiar…" I croaked back. It was silent for a moment. "Who's this again…?"
"…This is Tony… I'm Jeff's friend. May I speak to him please?" My eyes shot open moments after the realization. I somehow let off a groan.
"What… perfect timing," I replied. Tony was silent.
"Tony…" I said. "How are you?" I asked.
"Jeff… is that you? You don't sound like yourself…" He said. I closed my eyes.
"Tony… no one's hurt you right…?" I asked again.
"No… course not silly goose, why?" He replied, a hint of something uncertain behind his voice. Even so, I felt a tear reach out of my eye again. Something about hearing his warm voice, the first time in weeks…
"What time is it?" I asked.
"… Around one-thirty at night, why?" He said. That late?
"Why ya calling me so late?" I smiled to myself. I could hear a cute groan on the other line.
"Umm… I called you twice, so I thought I'd try again… you're always up late doing something so I thought…" He said. I chuckled, feeling another tear reach its peak.
"So that was you before? How come you didn't say anything before?" I asked with a hint of humor behind my voice. I must have caught him off guard, since he seemed to stutter with his next sentence.
"I… I don't know…" He replied. I chuckled lightly.
"… I'm happy you did though…" I said, shivering from the rain and the cold. "Please… stay on the phone with me… don't leave," I said.
"Jeff… what's going on? You're kind of scaring me…" He said. I sighed. There was a moment of silence…
"Say something… I want to know what my best friend's been up to lately…" I said, shivering mid-sentence.
"Not until you tell me what's going on Jeff… You really don't sound like yourself…" He said. I frowned.
"Don't worry about me…" I said. Tony growled finally.
"Okay, something obviously is wrong… you need to tell me, maybe I could help you somehow… god Jeff, you sound like a drunk! What the hell happened?" He yakked impatiently and worryingly into the phone. I let off a shaken sigh.
"Please… for me… tell me how you're doing?" I asked weakly. "I need to hear your voice…"
"Jeff… stop…" He finally said. I paused, frowning to myself.
"… I'm lost, Tony. My glasses are gone… its dark and raining… I can't see… I'm scared… but at least hearing your voice is keeping me sane right now…" I said, shivering again. I could have sworn I heard Tony gasp on the other line. I really didn't want him to know anything I was going through, that was the last thing I wanted… damn it.
"Jeff… what?" He said.
"I'm lost," I replied.
"And you can't see a thing…?" He asked.
"Nope." There was a long pause of silence between the two of us. I started to worry.
"Tony?" I asked.
"… Do you even know the general area you're in?" He asked. Here was another question that I'm sure he would have trouble swallowing once I told him.
"I'm in Summers… and you know what's funny? You'd think someone would be bound to find me by now…" I croaked.
"I mean… were you there by yourself to begin with? Do you remember what happened?" He asked.
"Not really… I wasn't alone when I came here… ate some cake… now I'm lying on the ground puking shit," I said. Tony growled.
"Jeff! Don't lie, you got wasted didn't you?" He asked in a bitter tone. My mouth curved down.
"Maybe… I didn't do it intentionally though if it's the case… just something about that cake…" I said. I could hear Tony snort on the other line.
"Pfff… you're laughing at me aren't you?" I asked. Tony snorted again.
"Cake? You got high off cake?" He asked. I rubbed my forehead.
"Trippy, ain't it?" I spoke ironically.
"Did a stranger give this to you or something?" He asked. Ahhh… back to the lesson from childhood; Never take candy from strangers. Something about that made me smile as Tony must have been laughing from my long pause.
"Pfff, you dumb fuck," Tony giggled. I snorted.
"I'm still lost though…" I said.
"Well at least you're starting to sound sane now… good thing I stayed on the phone with you, hmmm?" He asked. I used my hand to caress my face, trying to keep my smile from spreading wider.
"Got me there…" I said. Tony laughed. I tried, with all my strength, to stand again. I couldn't see far period, but at least the dizziness was starting to fade off finally. I felt around me, for any sign of my glasses.
"I… I think I'm going to try moving around now…" I told him. There was an uncomfortable tone on the other line.
"Please be careful…" He asked. "And don't make me come after you… if anything," He said. I frowned.
"Don't you dare come after me now…" I told him. Tony sighed.
"What can you see?" He said. "Or what do you think you can see?" He asked. I just stood still, scanning my cloudy eyes around for any sign. There were a few lights in the distance, and I was sure there was some sort of red vehicle nearby… though that was all I could really recall.
"Just spots of light…" I said. I was afraid to take any further steps.
"Oh my…" Tony replied. I sighed.
"I wish there was some kind of wall… if anything I could crawl on all fours like a dog," I said, immediately frowning at that new solution. I just stood there now, listening to the rain. Maybe if I listened… but there seemed to be nowhere in sight… or it seemed like that.
"I hope you find your glasses, you're pretty useless without them," Tony said.
"Thanks…" I replied, putting my hand out in front of me, while my right hand kept the receiver phone plastered against my ear. I carefully took a step forward. And after about the third step, I stopped. I froze for a second.
"Jeff?" Tony asked. I was silent, carefully taking my fourth step, only to find something out of pattern.
Pat pat pat pat…
"Jeff you there?" Tony said again.
"Hold on Tony…" I spoke calmly as the sound became more defined. The anticipation grew inside me, as I could finally clearly hear the sound of someone's feet. Running… Where was it coming from? It sounded as if it was coming from either the right or behind me… so I turned my head…
It was hard to describe how I felt at that exact moment, except surprised, as I saw a pair of eyes, locked onto me like prey as they emerged closer to me. My eyes widened, as if they were trying to see, who or what was locked onto me. And why could I see their eyes? Why did they look so determined? And they started emerging closer… I thought. And fast. I didn't think at the time, but when I could definitely tell that someone was running up to me, I started to run, blindly. But all the while making my escape, I tripped as I felt one's failed grip slip from my hand as I tumbled down onto the ground. Grasping onto the receiver phone for dear life, all I could do was quickly step right back up, reaching into my pants pocket, fishing out my knife as best as I could. I looked around me swiftly, as my dark fuzzy sight danced before me. Before I could really respond to anything, I was already faced with those eyes again. My own widened as I took a few steps back as I saw them emerging now slowly, all until one of my feet lost their grip as I started to slip back yelping.
It happened so fast- When I started to fall, it felt as if I wasn't about to hit the ground soon. It was until a strong grip quickly grabbed my shirt. The receiver phone and the knife slipped right out of my hands as my body was lifted up into the air and then catapulted into a wall. I yelped as my back shattered against the brick, as the back of my head felt as if it had cracked all together. My eyesight was worse than ever, but right then I couldn't even open them! The force was so severe… whoever pinned me to the wall did a hell of a job… I wanted to fight back… but I was just too weak. There was a long pause as the both of us could hear Tony through the phone.
"Hello? …Hello?" Tony's muffled voice spoke.
"… Gotcha…" A young, gentleman's voice whispered to my face. I groaned; I felt as if a second heart grew in the back of my skull, beating… pulsing… and for some odd reason, it kept me awake. Adrenaline? I wasn't sure… I opened my eyes slowly. My sight was now impossible to make out the face that was inches away from me, but they eyes were crystal clear… one was black… the other white. There was a certain energy about it… something familiar, but vastly different. My voice was horribly strangled.
"Wha… who… do you want to rob me or something? You have the wrong guy… I have nuthin…" I croaked. The voice had a low chuckle.
"Well you wouldn't want to go wandering the streets defenseless, would you? And you're wrong… you definitely have something. I know you're one of them," He spoke, letting go of my shirt as I slid down the wall. One of them? One of who? I growled.
"And who… the fuck are you?" I managed to say, trying to keep myself supported as I looked up at the pair of dominating eyes. They narrowed tauntingly as another flash of lighting erupted.
"I'm here because this is my duty…"
"I asked who you were, not why you're here…" I snarled. His white eye widened just slightly. Something about that eye I thought…
"… I'm here to track down the boy named Ness…" He said. My eyebrow managed to pop up. Ness? I coughed, feeling the blood trickle out of the corners of my mouth. There was tension in the air… but something else was there between us. I couldn't pin point what it was…
"Huh… I have no idea who you're talking about-"
"Oh you know…" He insisted. I forced my eyes to look up at my threat. I put a decorative smile on myself as I saw his eyes steadily fade in and out of focus. I snickered.
"Well what do you want from him? This so called… Ness?" I asked, trying to pretend I had no idea who he was. Though it had been inevitable from the start that he knew I was lying to him. The young man breathed out of his nose.
"… Something must be stopped. So, I am only doing what I can to stop it… and since you're familiar with the situation, it's a good thing I caught you… at the most precise moment." I examined him, as best as I could… though it was getting harder to see as the rain started thickening up and my head trauma grew. The young man exhaled.
"Besides… there's something strange about you…" He said. My mouth curved down.
"For some reason I feel as if I should be threatened from the look you're giving me… it proves even further that I've pinned the right person after all…" He spoke. I snorted, looking away. God I hated being reminded of that freak Invisible man and those words… The silence grew between us as I was sure proved even more that I was one of the chosen. All from what Pokey said… to Demetri… and Talah… Rahdna...? And then something funny happened… Something kicked in my system that triggered a humorous sensation. I could feel a chuckle escaping my lips as I gave him a small, but devilish smile. The man was silent. I started feeling myself laugh a little.
"What do you find so funny?" He asked. I liked how he seemed just slightly intimidated… I gradually went into true laughter, and I was sure it took him off guard.
"Where is he?" He asked in a serious tone. I sighed, and took a long shaky breath.
"First off… who are you? Second off, why do I feel as if you kicked the shit out of me… and how do you know that we're saving the world?" I asked. The man was silent. But once he tried saying something else, I rose a hand to stop him.
"Don't even bother… I can only assume that you're the only other person in the entire world that knows PSI. Either way… I feel dizzy right now so… I suppose if I die here, we'll all die, right?" The pair of eyes widened slightly, as the two of us just stared at each other eye to eye.
"Hey!" All I could hear in that moment were the raindrops. The massive grip had loosened as the pair of eyes turned to look at the voice. I shivered.
"… Ness?" Was all I could mutter looking towards the cry.
"You let him go… let him go or I'll…" His voice was snarling and piercing. For some reason, I thought I could see his eyes as well… that twinkle at least, I recognized in the distance. Timid, but ferocious, I wish I was more like that right now…
"Ness…" I tried mumbling again. What I really wanted to do was tell him to run. Run like hell. The young man finally let go of me, as I could feel myself sliding down the wall to the ground.
"So… apparently from the words my new friend has just spoken… you're Ness," He said. I tried taking this time to try standing on my feet. I could hear Ness's growl.
"Damn straight I'm Ness… what did you do to my friend?" He asked. Damn it, I wish I could see… I tried reaching around me… feeling for the receiver phone, the knife… anything. There was a moment of pause.
"… Jeff, take your glasses!" Ness spoke out loud as I heard something clatter near me. Did he seriously just throw my glasses at me? How'd he get them?!
"Believe me… I'm not here to kill anyone-"
"How do I know this?!" Ness asked while I was on the ground feeling for my glasses, all the while struggling with the urge to just pass out right then and there.
"… I've come from a far away land just to find you… but I'm aware that I don't feel very welcome… that's fine. Either way though, I do have to make sure… I have to make sure that you really are the chosen boy," He said before I heard the fast patter of footsteps as it sounded as if Ness and the strange figure had just made contact. I bit my lip. Were they fighting? Where did he throw my glasses? And where was…
Suddenly I felt a pair of gentle hands finally bring focus to my eyes once more. I blinked, ten times at the most. I looked up, as Paula's face became into focus once more. She seemed bitterly quiet, but she probably was better off than I was. And even while I could see her now, it was really hard for me to focus. It was obviously night time…
"Paula…?" I barely mumbled out as my head swayed back and forth. My eyes darted to behind her as I thought I saw Ness running… was it from that guy? I looked right back at Paula, who handed me a towel.
"You need to stay right here and hang on for us…" She spoke seriously as she quickly got up to dart away. I could only look blankly up on all fours. I could barely move my head… bringing my droopy eyes down to the towel…
I wasn't sure how I reacted at the time when I had seen that the towel that she handed me was already soaked in red. My arms quickly gave way as I stumbled back down onto my side. I tried breathing then… oh god I was bleeding… I was suffering blood loss…
My eyes blinked slowly as I looked to the three figures dancing around my short sightedness… the sound of the receiver phone's beeping…
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"I think I just saw him stir…" I heard Ness's voice say. Then I heard a strange female voice say, "Don't wake him up, he needs to rest still." Either way, I wasn't sure if I was conscious or not, so when I finally did wake up, I wasn't sure if it was just moments that passed by or days.
Either way, it didn't matter all that much when I did open them, finding that my glasses were once again taken from me. My first instinct was to feel around. I instantly knew that my back felt stiff, as I couldn't move my back much. My mouth curved down as my fingertips discovered warm bed sheets and bandages across my shirtless torso. My hand trailed to my right arm, which had been wired up and bandaged. I still wasn't even aware of what the fuck was happening… was I in a hospital? If I was… how'd I get there? It was wishful thinking and I knew it was too good to be true, but for some reason, I hoped that everything leading to the hospital was a lie- some sort of long coma I was in. And boy, wouldn't it have been nice to find that the majority of my life was just some horrible nightmare and that I could safely say that mom was still alive and we were all still living in the same house. It wasn't until another minute or so when I was startled by a ripping headache. I groaned, putting my head back on the pillow as I used a hand to caress my forehead.
"He's up he's up," I heard Paula mutter to someone as a pair of hands were fiddling with something on my arm. I hissed, squinting my eyes as my headache settled to a small throbbing sensation. I tried opening my eyes again… though I would have liked to see when I did so.
"I hope that didn't kill you even further Jeff," I heard Ness say as I felt my glasses being placed in my hand. When my mind registered that I was once more holding my glasses I immediately slipped them on past my ears and blinked.
The first thing that came to my focus was the white bed sheets that covered my legs. I looked up to see Ness and Paula both looking at my poor state. Both of them surprisingly looked more disturbed and quiet rather than worried and caring. I grabbed my forehead.
"Are you awake yet?" Ness asked quietly. For some reason, I was annoyed.
"Are you expecting me to just jump right out of bed with a happy grin like nothing just fucking happened?" I replied with a hoarse voice. Ness fell silent. I frowned.
"Sorry…" I said, sighing. "Yeah… I'm awake now… but- what happened?" I asked. Boy, I had many questions to ask. "I feel like shit." Ness and Paula exchanged glances with each other, almost nervously.
"Let me ask… did you guys experience anything weird after the two of you ate that… stuff?" Both of them bit their bottom lips.
"Well… kinda. But neither of us actually walked around unconsciously like you did," Ness explained. Sleep walk? So I was walking around the city out of my consciousness?
"So I was walking around the city without me knowing about it? I remember… a little bit…" I started coming to my senses. "Where's my stuff?" I asked immediately.
"Your stuff is fine, we gathered everything for you," Paula said, pointing to the corner of the room. I shifted in my bed just to look in the direction Paula pointed to. And sure enough, there was my big carry bag, along with the suitcase, and ironically my coat, all covered in dirt. When I saw that the zipper on the bag was slightly open, I frowned slightly.
"Neither of you… looked through my things did you?" I asked. Ness cocked his head.
"Why would we do that?" He asked with a bit of suspicion. I gulped, thinking of that diary…
"Just nothing… I don't want my tools to get unorganized is all…" Paula giggled. I raised an eyebrow.
"It's quite funny when you care more about your stuff rather than your condition," She mentioned. I sighed, laying my head against the pillow. Ness shook his head.
"Anyways… from now on, I should keep a closer eye on you; you could have killed yourself… I mean when Paula and I found you, you were being…" Ness fell silent as the two of them exchanged glances. My eyebrows popped up.
"Being what…?" My memory started to come back to me, when I remembered speaking to Tony over the phone the first time in what felt like months but… We were interrupted by the nurse that came in.
"Hello, you have another visitor… do you want him to come in?" Ness gestured Paula to stay put and walked out of the room with an awkward look upon his face. Another visitor? My eyebrows furrowed.
"Paula… what's going on?" I asked. Paula looked at me then looked away. I put a hand to my forehead.
"Who… who pinned me to a wall? Who was that?" I asked.
"You don't remember?" She asked. I shook my head. "I couldn't see…"
"Well… I don't know how you'll react, but…"
"But what?" I asked. By the time Paula said that, Ness walked back into the room quietly, followed by someone else that was dressed in strange, peculiar clothing. Ness was silent, as I looked at the older boy with caution as his somewhat cold eyes met mine. I froze momentarily.
It was the same pair of eyes I saw… one black and the other one white. I didn't know why but the pupil in his left white eye I was drawn to, and the small scar that trailed below character alone was unique; he looked Oriental, and it was as if he came from a different land all together. First off, most of his jet black hair was tied in a tight braid on the top of his head. He crossed his well developed muscular arms across his bold chest. He wore a dirty white shirt with a black collar shirt underneath, both in which wrapped around his waist. His baggy black pants were tied, probably to his ankles even though at the time I couldn't see his feet. And attached to his belt looked to be what seemed like a katana. Overall, he looked to be the oldest in the room… but he was still young and had a perfect complexion, despite any of the battle scars I had counted on him. My mouth curved down as I scooted back in my bed.
"Wh-what's he doing here?" I questioned. The three of them were silent.
"Jeff… we have a new party member…" My jaw dropped. But…
"So… I hope the two of you can get-"
"Get along? He… he's probably the reason why I'm lying here in the first place!" I argued to him. Ness frowned at me. I frowned back.
"Look, either way…" I was cut off as the older boy held up a hand. I switched my sight over to him. When he spoke, he had that same voice from that night.
"I'm aware that we never truly met properly-"
"You…" I hissed again, grabbing my forehead as another roaring headache taunted me. "You kicked the shit out of me…" I tried muttering, shivering as now I put both of my hands over my head.
"Jeff…" Ness said worryingly. I growled, wincing while I attempted to cover one eye.
"I remember you… pinning me to a wall… after you man hunted me down," I tried ranting.
"You don't know that, you couldn't see!" Paula argued back.
"Well I sure as hell felt it!-"
"Jeff please stop," Ness ordered. I frowned at him.
"He-"
"You should listen to him… he's your leader." I finally looked back up at the older boy again, now standing closer to my bed side. His eyes looked down to me, and for a second I looked at them, seeing if I could find any sort of message in them. Then he did something I didn't expect him to. He smiled… but not as if he turned happy all together but rather in a darker way. I frowned.
"I hope you can forgive me from before. I just didn't know what to think when I found you… walking around in circles like you were. I'll make sure I get permission from you and Ness before I go pinning you up against another wall," He spoke with a hint of humor in his voice. It wasn't as welcoming as I hoped it would have been… was he even apologizing? I was a bit taken aback when he held out his hand.
"Please… call me Kato. I hope we can… get along for the time being," He said, chuckling. I quickly glanced at Paula and Ness before looking back at who was Kato's offered hand. My eyebrow perked up as I cocked my head. I then scoffed for some reason.
"Humph, for some reason I thought you would have a different name," I told him. I studied how, ever so slightly, he seemed to twitch. I looked up at him again, and sure enough his smile was there but it was lighter. It made me wonder…
"Well… Kato… I don't trust you. But I guess I just have to deal with it…" I said, keeping my hand a distance away. Ness crossed his arms.
"If we had to shake his hand, you have to do the same…" Ness said. I winced, slightly rolling my eyes. I looked at him again, only to close my eyes and sigh.
"Jeff…" I grumbled. And as I tried to offer a proper greeting, I ended up quickly grasping his hand harder than I wished as another headache ripped in my forehead. My hand faltered into his as I quickly grabbed my head with my other hand, hissing and squinting my eyes. I shivered, only noticing moments later that the both of us were still in contact. And before I could remove my hand, he gripped it, not forcefully but firm enough and suddenly I felt a small spark of energy, passing up my arm to my head. I flinched, as Ness and Paula reacted from the strange interaction. Soon enough, he let go, and when he did, it felt almost as if all of the pain from before had vanished. Disbelieve rushed over me as I blinked into my hand. I looked up at him, who again smiled down at me and soon enough walked away.
"I'm really thirsty right now…" Kato said. "Mmmm gonna go check out your culture's vending machine." All I could do was just stare blankly at his back as he left my side of the room. Paula seemed surprised for some reason, as she thought it was a good idea to just go follow him out of the room. That was weird… I thought. Ness walked up by my bedside to set my things close to me, letting off a shaky sigh.
"Here's your things… well, I think the nurse wants us out of here… you'll be spending at least another night here before we can do anything else," Ness explained. At the moment, I couldn't even look up to him properly, still taken aback from what had just happened.
"I… I feel perfectly fine. Ness…?" I asked, instead, looking down to the foot of the bed rather than Ness. On the corner of my eye, he put his hands on his hips.
"What…?" He asked. It took me a moment before I looked up at him, only to glance away. Ness sighed.
"Look… mentally, you're still not fully recovered. Just lay here, get your mind cleared up… it's confusing to us too but… hey, what can we do? Crazy stuff happens in the weirdest of moments, alright?" He said. He was right… I wasn't thinking clearly anymore, as my mind kept repeating all of the recent scenarios. I couldn't get that look on his face out of my mind… it was all eerie to me.
"… Alright," I said, placing a hand on my forehead to let my fingers run through my bangs.
"The nurse will help you with whatever you need. We're still in Summers… and Paula, Kato and I are going to have to pay extra for hotel rooms tonight… we'll come back tomorrow and see what we should do from then out." He said, glancing at me one more time, before starting to walk out the room. He then paused.
"Hey…" My expression was probably oblivious as I looked at his back.
"Hmm?"
"… This is my fault alright? It's about time I said I was sorry. I should have done something to prevent you from getting hurt… sorry." My mouth curved down.
"But Ness… I still don't even know what happened. Did he do that intentionally or…" Ness sighed.
"You… almost fell off a big bridge Jeff… Paula and I saw from the distance. If you would have fallen, you could have been killed. And when we caught up to you, you were already bleeding from something… none of us know what it was from. So I guess what I'm trying to say is… Kato actually kind of saved you. Let's just leave it at that…" He spoke as she shivered, back still facing me. This was supposed to be a time where I would have been shocked, but rather than that, my eyebrows just rose, as the thought "really?" ran into my head.
"Then when you did find me… what happened then?" I asked. Ness was silent, glancing over his shoulder at me before looking away in shame.
"Just… get some rest Jeff…" He spoke before nearly darting out of the room to leave my brain at a cliff hanger. So… Kato saved me? Then why was he such an utter prick? I started to feel bad, as I let my head rest back onto the cushy pillows. I closed my eyes.
"…there's someone in a faraway country, Dalaam, that's studying it as we speak…"
Pokey was the first one to warn me about this sort of person. Kato was able to heal me with PSI, I thought. And he obviously was from a country far away from here… but…
"Please… call me Kato."He spoke in my mind. …There was something wrong with this picture. There was only one other person I remembered that looked even vaguely similar to Kato… though I forgot his name already, Taller… Rodman? No no no… that was just stupid. But… I breathed out of my nose, putting my hand to my forehead and closed my eyes.
"But the man in that cave told us another name…" I muttered aloud. Another name that belonged to the real fourth chosen one. So then… who was Kato? Was he really one of us? There was no mistaken that he used PSI… it might have been slightly different from Ness's… but I could still feel that same rush. And he did recognize that I was a chosen one that night… why was he so rough though? Did I really nearly die? And as soon as the word die rung in my head, I was reminded of the metallic astronaut on that dark fateful night. I shook my head, expecting it to swim, but it stayed perfectly intact. I started thinking of happier things… anything than that.
For some odd reason, the concert performed by The Runaway Five popped into my head first, and when Venus had sung her solo as well… she had a pretty voice, I admitted. My thoughts trailed after the concert when we were all in the ice cream shop. That was such a while ago… I started to think of when Venus had pulled me aside to speak to me… why'd she really do that? For some reason, I smiled. I changed drastically since then… in some way. For some reason, I wanted to thank her… I wondered if we would see her again, or even The Runaway Five? And why did her singing almost reminded me of…
No… they're nothing alike, I thought. Enough of them, I thought. I closed my eyes again, I was still rather tired.
… It was then that my eyes shot open again at another realization. The receiver phone… I thought. I looked around, at first searching for the thing, until I just decided, fuck it, I'll just get up. I felt much better anyways, I didn't need to stay here! I got out of the covers and started out of the bed only to be tacked down by something. I looked over at the wires on my arm. Damn I was still hooked up anyways! As I started to unhook myself, a nurse had already walked in and gasped at what she saw.
"Jeff! You aren't ready to go out yet! You still need to stay in bed!" She said, putting her stuff down to walk over and tuck me back in. I growled.
"I'm perfectly fine now! I don't need to sit here!" I said. The nurse frowned at my attitude.
"Well your friends had told us to make sure you stay put until they come back to get you! Now if you need anything, you'll be pressing that button," She explained. I frowned.
"Get me a phone, and we'll settle," I told her. She cocked her head.
"Very well Jeff," She said, walking over to hand me the corded phone on the nearby table. I settled myself back into the covers as she had already dialed the number 9 for me to call whom I wished to call. The only problem then was…
"Damn it, I forgot the number?!" I muttered out loud. I bit my lip, thinking of SnowWood Boarding school. The nurse looked over to me curiously as she walked back in. She must have seen my worried expression.
"Is there something that's bothering you?" She asked. I looked up at her auburn hair before looking away with a frown.
"No, I'll be fine," I replied. She knew I was lying but she didn't seem to push it as she walked away again. I looked down at the phone.
"Tony…" I thought out loud. I just knew that he was worried about me now… though I wasn't sure if he was as worried about me as I was about him. My short term memory had finally started clicking as moment of the funny heart-warming conversation occurred. I clutched the phone in my hand.
"I'm never going to let Pokey lay a single finger on you, Tony. I'll kill him before he even gets the chance," I barely muttered to myself. But… what if he was doing something horrible just as I said that? What if I was already too late? I closed my eyes.
"No… course not silly goose, why?" He repeated into my mind. I sunk into my pillows. Why then… why did I feel like just holding him and keeping him confined from the world, from any sort of harm? Why did I feel like this with anyone that I actually cared for? Damn it, I hated just lying here and doing nothing, something horrible could have been happening at that very moment! I grasped the blankets. I needed to clear my mind, even if it was painfully difficult to do then. So much to worry about… I thought.
I sat up and looked around the room, all until my eyes again rested on my stuff. Maybe I could finally work on some of my failed inventions, I thought… though I wasn't sure if my mind was even fresh enough at the time for me to even create anything. Why did I even have to carry around a bunch of tools in the first place? They haven't served any purpose yet…
That's when I finally looked at it. The small black suitcase, still hatched up and closed, just waiting for me to unlock it. My heart fluttered uncomfortably as I thought of what could have been in that box that my father had mysteriously loaned me. The curiosity took advantage of me as I then tried to reach over and grab it, only to find that my fingertips were just millimeters away from reaching its handle. I sighed, finally deciding to slightly get up, trying hard not to rip the equipment off of me to grab the thing and put it on my lap once more as I settled in my bed. And then I paused, for the longest time, imaginable. I bit my lip, releasing the hatch and opening the lid, closing my eyes while I did so.
When I opened them, I was greeted by some sort of black covering, with a piece of yellow parchment paper taped over it. I took the note into my hand and scanned its letters:
Dear Jeff,
I don't know whether this is a form of apology or not, but I finally figured that it would be best to give you this, the sooner the better. You have no idea what could happen later on. If my handwriting is shaky, it's either because I'm too old, too tired or I just don't know what to write to my own son. Isn't that ironic? I'll just assume that you'll just tear this note right apart even before you get this far. Maybe in the due time, I'll try figuring out why I really am giving this to you and what I really want to say.
Please, forgive me, son…
Sincerely,
Your dad
I narrowed my eyes at the parchment, though I wasn't sure if I was hurt by his choice of words or not. After scanning the thing over again and looking on the back to make sure I didn't miss anything, I folded the paper up and tucked it neatly on the inside of the lid, using the tape to stick it on there. I sighed, as I slipped off the black covering, only to feel my jaw hit my lap.
Inside this little cozy suitcase rested a sort of gun. What kind of gun it was, I really wasn't sure of. But I couldn't keep my eyes off of the emerald green handles and its blue body, with red rings detailing the thing. There was an antenna attached to where the bullet hole would belong to. Was it a sort of laser gun? I ran a couple fingers across its smooth metallic skin. I wasn't sure if my nerdy senses were tingling or not, but I hadn't looked and drooled over something like this in ages… I almost forgot what it had even felt like. That reminded me of the old magazine I used to read, I thought, one on rocketry and mechanical engineering. As I tried picking the thing up, I started to hear someone walking inside the room. In a panic, I shoved the gun back in the suitcase and quickly closed the lid and hid it under my covers right as the nurse walked in again. I looked at her as she seemed to only be minding her own business as she claimed some sort of clip board. Then she walked off again, whistling. And as soon as she left the room, I bit my lip again, smiling as I looked at my suit case again. As quietly as I could, I put it on my lap again and opened it so I could marvel at my new 'love at first sight.'
I hated admitting that this gun was very sexy, even if it was a gift from someone I wasn't very fond of. But I couldn't help but take the small delicate flower into my hands and admire its beauty, running my fingers along the embroidery work and the small shiny crimson cursive letters along the side that said Hyper Beam. All together, there was something new and refreshing, but very classic about this piece of equipment, as if it was designed in the 1950's. A small devilish smile crept up on me. I wonder what this baby could do? I thought. Hopefully it wasn't something I had to fix… no, it looked and felt like this could still do something… Quickly looking around me to make sure no one was around; I then ran the ridges of the gun along my cheek, cold metal clashing comfortably with warm room temperature skin. I smiled, blushing contently. Boy it was nice to have some sort of working gun in my arsenal now!
"Hey Jeff, we got you a get well gift!"
I flinched wildly as I heard Ness's voice out of the blue, quickly letting go of the gun like a hot potato, only to pick it right up again, afraid of it clanking onto the hard floor below my bed, but when I picked the gun up again, my ring finger landed in a peculiar spot.
Zap!
KAPLOOSH!
I let go of the trigger immediately, holding the gun differently up to my chest, eyes as big as a scared cat, looking at the huge hole I had created in the wall of my room. I could now see that it was a cloudy day in Summers as a pigeon from outside flew inside to circle around my room. The long silent pause commenced as I felt the cool breeze fill the room. I looked from the bit of smoke that wafted from the tip of my gun to where Ness stood. Ness had quite an oblivious look about him, as if he hadn't quite registered exactly what had just happened, jaw slightly open as he looked at the giant gash in the wall. Before I wanted him to notice, I slowly put the gun back in its little case and closed the hatch.
I could see the entire contrast on his face as his semi open smile turned into a deep frown, eyes wide, as he blinked.
"Ummm… wasn't there a wall here just now?" Ness asked in an awkward voice as he scratched his head. Paula nodded.
"I believe so, Ness," She replied. I couldn't see him very well, but Kato was there, as I could hear a snicker escape his lips. It was ironic as a car alarm sounded outside, a bit too late, I was sure debrie fell onto the streets; I hoped no one was hurt. Quickly the nurse came in, with a shocked expression. She gasped.
"Wow! Uhh… you get a pretty good view from here!" The nurse's voice slightly cracked as she kept staring out of the hole.
"Umm… I guess I should get someone to fix this wall now," She said, quickly darting out of the room as if she was shaken up. I gulped.
"JEEEEEFF!" Ness roared angrily. I laughed nervously.
---
It turned out that the three of them decided to let me tag along with them that day after all. I figured the reason being was that if Ness left me to be by myself any longer he was afraid I'd blow up the city in that time span. I wish I was trusted a little bit more… though Tony would have done the same thing too. The gift they got for me, Paula had picked out, which was a fuzzy light brown teddy bear with glasses and a black bowtie around its neck. Ness marched in front of the entire group angrily as we got out of the elevator to go to the front counter. I was still kind of stuck in my own little world, as I kept thinking back at that gun, which sadly Ness was holding for me so I wouldn't have to go digging for my new treasure anytime soon. The realization had started digging into my skin once I glanced over to Kato that I was causing the group too much unneeded trouble and dilemma. He seemed to take all of this very well, which made me wonder what kinds of things he had seen before in his life. When he noticed that I had kept staring at him, he looked me over before looking away with an almost cocky smile. I frowned as I looked away immediately. Was he making me feel uncomfortable on purpose? He must have thought that I looked silly hugging this teddy bear to myself… why'd the get me a teddy bear anyways?
"One-thousand seven-hundred and eighty-four dollars and sixty-nine cents is the total," The lady at the counter spoke. I cringed slightly, as the repair expenses for the wall must have been on the bill. Ness shook his head slightly at the lady who looked at him almost sternly. He sighed, handing her the card as she withdrew the expense. Ouch I thought… I had forgotten that Ness had to pay for everything. Once the expense was over with, Ness glanced back at the three of us once we were out of the building and pointed at me.
"You. In front. Now," He spoke sternly. My jaw dropped as I was about to argue back. This wasn't a military camp, I irately thought.
"Ness, I'm sure it was an accident! Jeff didn't mean to blow up part of the building," Paula spoke back. Ness frowned at her.
"Exactly my point! If he can't control his actions, I'm just going to have to control them myself!" He said. "Besides, Kato's right, I should be taking more action!" He explained. My jaw hit the ground, looking up at Kato, who had been amusingly looking at how I'd react. He shrugged.
"He's right you know," Kato said with a taunting smile. "You shouldn't be blowing up everything you see…" I growled.
"You…!" I snarled, starting to walk up to him to give him a punch of reality until Paula grabbed my shirt and my waistline.
"Jeff please!" Paula said. Kato snickered at me as I twirled around to Paula who now had a grumpy look on her face.
"Everyone… let's just forget what happened and move on," She said. "We can't be a team unless if we work together as one. And I'm sure now that Jeff learned his lesson that he won't go blowing up anything else," She spoke. Ness glared down at her slightly but sighed.
"Fine… I suppose you're right. Let's just go to the museum… hopefully I'll get over this once we get there," He grumbled as he started marching away. Paula seemingly rolled her eyes as she muttered something illegible to herself. Kato continued ahead of us looking back at us before continuing on. Paula started to walk but paused to see if I was going to tag along.
"I… didn't mean to make him this mad…" I told her slightly frowning. Paula shrugged.
"He'll get over it; he's just had a really stressful day. Now let's get going, I'll stay with you the whole day so he doesn't have to worry too much," She smiled, offering her hand to me. I smiled back down at her.
"Thanks Paula," I told her, accepting it as we walked along.
About a fourth of the way there, Paula woke me out of my train of thought.
"So… do you like the teddy bear we got you?" Paula said happily. I smiled slightly, holding the fluffy thing in front of me as its beaded googley eyes stared right back at me.
"It's very cute," I chuckled. "But… why a teddy bear?" I asked. Paula shrugged.
"Why not? You don't have to keep him you know, you could easily use it as a distraction during combat," She replied. I hummed.
"True," I replied, as my eyes trailed ahead to where Ness and Kato where, who appeared to be having a conversation of their own.
"Paula…? Do you… you know…" I started.
"Kato? He's quiet, isn't he?" She said. I frowned.
"I know but…"
"Don't worry too much about him now. He'll open up to us in due time," She replied. I cocked my head.
"But…" I had to mutter. "Do you trust him?" I asked. "Something is… fishy about him."
"Like what? I don't sense any evil from him at all," She said. I raised an eyebrow.
"You don't? That's not the vibe I got from him…" I replied. "But… Ness and him seem to get along pretty well… but now I'm too paranoid to talk to Ness even about it." Paula sighed.
"We might not know much about Kato now but… you'll see, we will," She smiled. I frowned.
"Paula…? I don't think Kato is really his name either…" I barely said.
"What?" She asked. I shook my head.
"Kato isn't his name," I whispered. "Not his real name at least…" Paula looked at me.
"And how do you know this?" She asked. I let my eyes scan over his back again.
"It was before Ness and I got you back from the Monotolli building… we spoke to a seemingly super human underground when we were trying to find something important. It was the same one with the monkey that taught Ness how to teleport… he named all of us, including him… and the name he said wasn't Kato," I stated. Paula formed an 'O' on her lips.
"Well then… what is his name?" She whispered back. I frowned at this. I wanted to say that I did remember but…
"I swear I remember now but… you won't even take it seriously if I tell you," I said. This actually sparked her attention even more.
"Whisper it to me," She said. I snorted.
"I don't know…"
"Please?"
"Oh alright alright… promise not to laugh… I might be wrong anyways." So I leaned down to her level and hovered my lips in front of her ear. I couldn't believe what I was about to say but… I didn't think my ears deceived me.
"So his name…" I snickered.
"Whaaat?"
"Poo…"
"…What?"
"Poo. His name is Poo."
"Oh…"
"Yeah."
"Oh… no. Serious?"
"Serious."
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope."
After about three more minutes of complete silence, Paula finally snapped with a snort. I replied with a snort of my own. All until another minute later we were both snickering to ourselves.
"Should I even mention it?" I asked her. She tried keeping her giggles in.
"No no… not yet. Maybe when you're on good terms with him, ask him about where he got Kato from…" She replied.
"Hmm… maybe," I said as we started to approach the museum. "But… let's keep quiet about it for now."
---
After Paula and I caught up to Ness and Kato, all four of us stood by the front counter until we had the privilege to pass. What I wanted to know was, why were we even here in the first place?
"Paula, why are we here?" I asked.
"Well, Ness and I believe that Kato can help us gain access to that certain room. We have a feeling something might be of importance, especially if it has to do with Scaraba," She replied.
"Ahh…" As we walked upstairs and to that door that said "Authorized Personnel Only," That same man was there. In fact, he almost looked as if Kato and him would have known each other from the clothes they wore… though the man looked more like he would have come from Scaraba rather than where ever Dalaam was…
"Ahh… Blablablabla," The man spoke. Kato reached into his pocket.
"Bla-blablablablabla," He replied. Ness, Paula and I all cocked our heads as the two of them spoke a different language that neither of us recognized. Kato looked serious as he showed the man what looked to be a ruby-like gem. I could see the man's eyes grow three sizes bigger with greed as he eyed the gem happily. He eventually nodded.
"Bla! Blablablabla. Yes, you four can enter and see what's past this room if you need to," He said as he accepted the gem from Kato, looking and examining the gem happily, polishing it with his shirt before he put the thing away. As we walked inside, in the middle of the room was a stand with a few slabs up for display, all of them had hieroglyphs. I could only guess that these were important with what we had to do, but… why?
"I hope you kids have a camera, or at least have some sort of skill reading ancient writing… it's the deal after all," The man spoke happily as he stuck his hand in the pocket with the ruby. Ness rubbed the back of his head.
"No… I sure as hell can't read hieroglyphs, can you Jeff?" Ness asked. I rolled my eyes.
"You know I'm not that literate Ness," I replied. Ness frowned as he let off a small cough.
"That's great… I suppose Paula can't either. So… we're screwed?" Ness asked. I didn't really look at him as he asked that, but I rather looked at Kato, whom was already scanning the rocks over. He put a hand to his chin.
"Kato?" Paula asked. Kato was unresponsive as he kept muttering words to himself. Could he actually read that? All three of us looked at each other curiously before sneaking up on Kato to look around his shoulders. He seemed to startle the three of us one he actually spoke out loud.
"Ness! Let's go to Scaraba, right away," He said, already walking away from the slabs. Ness seemed to be at a loss of words.
"What? What did it say?" He asked. Kato turned to him.
"The pyramid is the key… and that's where we'll find the hawk's eye… it will be very important for our journey," He said before walking away again. However Ness still stood where he was.
"But… what does all of that even mean?!" Ness asked. All the sudden something happened that none of us were prepared for as Ness started coughing immediately as if he was either suffocating or he had something stuck in his throat. Ness eventually fell to one knee as Paula and I rushed to Ness to help. Kato just stood there as Paula rubbed Ness's back as he cleared his throat as I was over there, but I started paying more attention to Kato. I slightly glared at him.
"Why are you just standing there?" I asked as Ness's coughing fits calmed down.
"I would have been of no help," He replied with no emotion. Ness gasped for air.
"I'm fine Paula… I'll be fine," he said. "Just needed to clear my throat is all…" It was right then that Kato had quickly taken a step forward, swiftly reaching down to the handle of his blade. I reacted with wide eyes as I stumbled back.
"Wha-what are you-!" I said out loud as Kato drew his blade in one single stroke, right above Ness and Paula's head. And when I looked to what he was looking at, my jaw dropped.
How didn't I see an old mummy sneak up on us? Why was a mummy even alive and sneaking up on us? We all looked back in shock; I had no idea if that other man was even there to see what had just happened. The mummy instantly was cut in half through the stomach as both of his parts fell to the floor, once again lifeless as he lay there. Kato apparently had a much faster reaction time than any of us.
"Wha… why did that mummy try to attack us?!" Ness questioned. "Why do the weirdest things attack us period? It makes no sense!" Ness said, getting to his feet. Kato scanned his eyes all until he looked into another corner of the room.
"There. Another one is coming for us right now," he replied. As we all looked over to the corner of the room, the other mummy was limping towards us. The thing sent shivers down my spine.
"You don't think that something that can barely move period can harm us, right?" Ness asked.
"Well, we're not going to find that out, are we, Ness?" Paula replied as she cast both a fire and ice attack at the undead man, probably to see which would do the most damage. Ness scratched his head. I looked over to the suitcase that Ness had still held on. Maybe if he'd let me have my new gun then, then I would have been more help. But it turned out that neither Ness nor I had to do any fighting then as Paula and Kato took care of the mummy by themselves, the mummy lay lifeless on the floor once more in pieces. Paula took a closer look at the disembodied human and closed her nose.
"Ewww gross," She said. Kato put his sword away.
"To answer Ness, I'm sure it has to do with what's after us period. You should know…" He said. I tilted my head.
"That's right Ness… a good example was when we had to destroy the Mani Mani statue, that thing alone let off its own form of evil telepathy and controlled the entire city. So wouldn't you think, since Giygas is still out there somewhere… that he'd be able to command even the most innocent of objects to harm us in any way, shape or form? Kind of like how he's been controlling Pokey Minch," I explained. I didn't like the look that came over his face after I mentioned his name but Ness shook his head.
"Yeah yeah…" He said, massaging his shoulder as he rotated it.
"So… I guess we should get going then," Kato said.
"Wait though…" Ness said as Kato instantly paused. It was then that Ness was cut off from the intrusion of the man that let us in.
"So… you four get what you needed?" He asked.
"Yes, it was very helpful, thank you," Kato replied as he started walking again.
"Wait there for just a second… I want you kids to have this," He told us as he handed Kato what looked to be pictures of the hieroglyphs on the slab.
"There was a rich kid that came here by helicopter that wanted the same exact information. I don't know if you kids are linked to him in any way, but let's just say he had a lot of money," he snickered. Ness communicated through his eyes at me, " He's talking about Pokey!" They said.
"Do you know why he wanted the pictures?" Ness asked. The man shrugged.
"I don't know, I don't care; he paid a hefty amount of money so why would I care?" He snickered. Ness rolled his eyes.
"It's probably the same exact reason as I suspect… just to piss me off," he muttered angrily as he picked up my suit case again and stomped out of the door angrily. "Let's go." The three of us looked at each other before proceeding to follow him.
---
So now what? I had no idea if we were seriously going to cross the sea yet or not, but for some reason I kept closer to Paula than ever. But as we made our way out of the museum, there was a phone call ringing. When I looked over at the table, no one happened to be there to answer the phone. Ness paused for a moment.
"Just ignore it, Ness," Paula said. Ness scratched his head.
"I dunno what's making me want to pick it up… no one is here to pick it up anyways…" He said, walking over and immediately picking the phone up to his ear. A small pause.
"Hello?" Ness said. Another pause.
"Who is this?" Ness asked. I could hear another voice over the line that said, 'Who am I? '
"No… fantastic you say… like how?" Ness asked. And about seven seconds later Ness's entire expression turned to interest. All the sudden the phone started beeping. Ness hummed as he put the phone down.
"What was that about?" Paula asked. Ness stood there for a moment, in deep thought as he put a hand to his chin staring off into the carpet.
"Jeff… remember when you found me that one time after Paula's kidnapping incident?" Ness asked. I scratched my head.
"You mean after you had to go to the hospital? Yeah… why?" I asked, momentarily forgetting that day. Ness put a fist to his hand.
"We need to go back to Fourside… there's something I need there," he said with confidence. My expression lit up again.
"Ohh… isn't that where…" I stopped in mid sentence.
"Yeah, it is. I totally forgot about it, but thanks to that call I remembered… I want to go to the museum in Fourside now… I want to see what this guy found that's so fantastic. What do you say about this, Kato?" Ness asked as he turned to him. Kato was looking in a different direction arms crossed. He closed his eyes.
"Your wish is always my command Ness," he replied. I raised an eyebrow at that. Strange… I thought. Ness laughed slightly.
"You don't have to be so strict about it you know… I care for all of you as equals… not like you're my servants or anything." However Kato remained silent, as he looked over to Ness.
"Very well. Let us go then," he said, as he awaited for Ness to lead the way. As we walked out again, Ness let off a couple more coughs. Was it just me or was his voice sounding more hoarse than usual?
And as soon as we were sure that no one was in sight, all of us held hands as we went running off into space…
---
The first thing we did in Fourside was actually we went to the nearest hotel. It was around five-thirty pm when we arrived there.
"I need to reserve a room with two king size beds," Ness asked.
"Name please?"
"Ness…" He said. The both of us prepared for some sort of setback, prepared by Pokey himself but we actually heard good news, followed by some bad.
"Ness, you seem to be on the trustworthy list that's been signature by the man Monotolli himself, so you get your rooms tonight free of charge," He said. Ness looked as if a huge amount of weight just lifted right from his shoulders.
"However… we only have two more rooms left for vacancy. And I'm sad to say that only one of them has even one king sized mattress…" He said. Ness pondered this.
"And what does the other one have?" He asked.
"Only a twin… and we're out of the portable mattresses too, most of them are off being cleaned and examined at the moment. We could call the other hotels for you but, you probably won't have much luck right now, there's a big fair event happening in the city right now so most of the hotels are jam-packed with reservations. But if you absolutely need these rooms by all means you kids look small enough to fit these beds comfortably anyways." He explained. Ness frowned at this.
"Alright… we'll take both of those rooms," he said. The man smiled.
"I'm sorry about the inconvenience… at least both of them have their own bathrooms, right?" He said. Ness smiled.
"Yes, thank you," he said, receiving the keys from the man as the four of us found our two rooms.
---
It turned out that the two rooms were on the opposite sides of the hotel from each other. All of us found the room with the king sized mattress first.
"This is hard…" Ness explained. Kato sighed.
"I can take the twin sized room, seeing that the three of you aren't comfortable with my presence yet," Kato explained. Ness frowned at him.
"Nonsense, no one is sleeping on their own tonight… everyone needs to at least be in pairs… if I lost any of you, I'll be ripping my hair out just trying to find you, and I wouldn't forgive myself," Ness replied. Kato shrugged.
"It's fine with me… as long as no one gets sick, that's all I ask. I don't want to catch any foreign diseases," He explained. The three of us looked at each other before Ness cleared his throat.
"I know Jeff probably wouldn't feel comfortable in the same room with you yet so… why don't you and Paula share a room? Neither of us care which room, right?" Ness looked at everyone. None of us said a word. Ness sighed.
"I guess we'll just have to figure that out later…" Ness sighed, handing Paula the key for the king size bedroom while he held onto the one for the twin. Paula left some of her things behind in the room as we went off to get to the twin sized bedroom.
When we walked in, it was much smaller than the other room. All of us looked at the room depressingly. Either two people were going to both squish onto the twin or someone was going to sleep on the floor… how comfortable, I thought. I decided to put my stuff down in this room, since it was just way too much to lug around the city and I was getting sick of carrying it all. However, Ness still held onto my suitcase, I really hoped he'd let go. Ness sighed, after clearing his throat once more.
"Let's go to the museum…" He said.
---
Kato had been admiring the city more than all of us, I wondered if he'd even been to a city as big as Fourside before? The teleporting went smoother than planned and all of us had made it to the gates of the Fourside Museum in under ten minutes after passing the Topolla Theater, where Venus would apparently be performing in the next hour. The rest of the way there, I daydreamed once more of their performances, along with my mother's own singing. We walked in as Ness paid the entrance fee and entered the door.
I was instantly drawn to the giant display of the entire skeleton structure of a Tyrannosaurus Rex; it looked ferocious! But of course, that couldn't be the extraordinary thing that Ness had spoken of, right? We ended up talking to everyone, as Ness kept asking for someone by the name of Mr. Spoon. Eventually we made it to the back of the room where a man was standing by another secret sturdy door.
"Are you Mr. Spoon?" Ness asked patiently. The man looked as if he needed a shave. He tugged at the collar of his shirt.
"Yes? Is there something you have questions about?" He asked. Ness smiled.
"Yes there is… we've overheard someone talking about you and a certain extraordinary discovery that you found and we were wondering… how could we gain access to this extraordinary discovery?" Ness asked. The man's mouth curved.
"Damn that Mr. Fork, spilling all of my secrets…" Ness nodded. Mr. Spoon looked painfully uncomfortable, scanning all of us with his eyes.
"You're a peculiar group of kids, aren't you?" He asked. There was a moment of pause. He let off a strangled sigh.
"Alright… alright. You can gain access to the discovery that I found, on two conditions!" He asked. Ness smiled.
"Name 'em." The man tugged at his shirt again nervously.
"One… you never bring this up with anyone ever again."
"And two?"
"… Bring me Venus's autograph. I don't care what she writes it on either… it can be on a piece of dirty toilet paper for all I care. Damn though, she's a fine, hot young woman… I'll do anything you want if you hook me up with her… but an autograph is fine with me for now." Ness looked at us for any form of approval as all of us cept Kato nodded, but he was positive that Kato didn't even care.
"It's a deal then," he smiled.
---
"Wow, I wonder how Venus will react once she sees the three of us again, along with someone new in our party!" Paula smiled. I looked back at Kato, who was scanning the city and minding his own business.
"I don't know, but I'm pretty excited to see her performance, she's an excellent singer," Ness replied. I kept my eyes back on Kato as a few young women passed by all looking at Kato and giggling as they passed by. And once Kato rested his black and white eyes on mine, I quickly looked back forward again timidly.
"It's been quite a while since then… I hope she even recognizes us," Ness explained.
"What, of course she will! Right, Jeff?" Paula asked. Somehow it took me a moment for me to reply.
"Oh- yeah, she'll recognize us," I said, scratching my head as I tried looking back at Kato. I decided not to even dare… It didn't even matter anyways, we were almost there.
"I wonder where the Runaway Five is right now-" Suddenly out of the blue, Ness started hacking and coughing violently, dropping the suit case instantly to cover his mouth.
"Ness!" Paula and I exclaimed as Ness leaned an arm against the nearest brick wall to support himself as he kept coughing and gasping for air.
"Ness, you've been coughing a lot recently are you sure you're alright for anything?" I asked. It took a couple more minutes until Ness was hitting his chest with a fist.
"No no, I'm fine… my throat is just kind of scratchy today that's all!" Ness replied. His eyes were watery and his face was pink from all the forced coughs. A couple more breaths and he was ready to take off again as he bent down to pick up the suit case. I halted him by putting my hand on his shoulder.
"Ness, I'm fine now so, you don't have to keep lugging that around if you don't want to," I told him. Ness blinked at me twice before looking to Paula for any kind of permission. Paula didn't seem to protest so he nodded.
"Fine, just don't go blowing anything up," he said. I rolled my eyes.
"I won't trust me," I said right before the four of us entered the theater. Kato didn't have any sort of reaction to any of Ness's coughing lately… I thought.
---
There was quite a line I thought for Venus's performance. I was silent for the most part as Ness and Paula talked amongst themselves. I kept wanting to observe Kato, but I was afraid of what would happen if I did do. Instead, right before we actually got inside, there were a couple of mysteriously shady people that passed by, all of them dressed in the color blue looking at us and snickering before they descended into the alley that was behind the Topolla theater. I raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure they're up to no good," Kato said out of the blue. I looked up to him, who didn't even move a muscle. I nodded as we walked into the theater.
---
After we received our tickets and got into the theater, none of us decided to take any seats as we stood near the back of the audience, considering most of them were taken up and we would have had to split up. God though this was a pretty decent crowd! The stage was lit in a light blue light and a lone grand piano sparkled in the background.
"What… what is this?" Kato asked us. All three of us looked at each other.
"You haven't been to a concert before?" Paula asked. Kato shook his head lightly no. Ness scratched his head.
"It's an event were… everyone gathers to see someone or a group perform a certain talent… for tonight, this lady named Venus is singing. Kato nodded slightly as he stood right back up, almost like a body guard. The three of us looked at each other before we all could hear a man's wailing voice in the microphone, all until we realized it after playing a couple of notes on the piano, that it was a part of the act all along.
"Oh baby baby baaaaabyyy!! Don't make me hurt so bad!! These guys are all stone cold gone for you… OW! You cute, sexy thing, you! Baby, sing to me! Sing to me only! Baby!! Venus!! Just sing and I can die a happy man! Baby! I wanna hold you tight! Venus! Baby! *sob* Venus!" The man started playing the piano as a certain part of the stage lit up, and surely, there stood Venus, slowly backing up towards the stage, ready to sing. What was strange though, was that, the light source didn't seem to stay still, and I heard a creaking noise above somewhere. My eyes went from Venus to the light source above the stage, and sure enough the bar that supported the light was swaying and tilting. That worried me slightly, I thought, but I decided not to pay it much mind.
Venus's voice was beautiful like it was before at the first concert I saw her in. Her black dress sparkled in the light, as so did her wavy blond hair as she flipped it towards the audience. I didn't know why but… I was starting to admire her beauty, but… not like how most boys my age would. It kind of made me uncomfortable. Why was she starting to remind me of…
It was around this time that my eyes searched for a man who was starting to make obnoxious whistles and cries to the stage. And when I found the slightly obese man, he had an overly excited, but sad and depressed look upon his face. My eyes narrowed at him as he started to get out of his seat, rubbing his hands together as he stuck out a tongue at the corner of his mouth.
That man in the crowd is acting a little strange… I thought to myself. He had a possessive look upon his face as he slowly started making his way closer to the stage. As I tried examining his dark form, the light from the stage lit him up slightly and from that I could disturbingly see the small bulge that was formed below where his belt would be.
"I don't like how he's acting…" I said to myself. I started merging closer to the stage. Again, I heard the creaking from the light above. I looked up again. And as Venus turned to the audience and when I was sure she saw that mysterious man, she started looking down at him while she sang, all until he paced away somewhere I couldn't tell, but I could just tell that he wanted up on that stage. Something uncomfortable settled in my stomach, and after I heard the light creak again, even louder than before, I started to pace up towards the stage myself. You'd think they'd examine things better…
"Jeff what are you doing?!" Ness exclaimed as Paula did the same. I paused momentarily, as I kept looking up at the light. Suddenly, creepy man past right by me, looking at me menacingly with a hand stuck inside of his jacket as he started darting up onto the stage, laughing like a maniac. My eyes widened as he finally was literally on the stage with Venus, who looked over to him with a shocked expression as she kept trying to keep up with the recording of the song, since the piano solo was done with. Ness caught up to me.
"This doesn't look good…" He said. I kept looking up at the light, which started to sway a little bit more. Somehow, when I looked at Venus once she stopped singing, my eyes widened in horror as her expression was a bit oblivious of what was happening. I started to rush up towards the stage.
"Jeff!"Ness exclaimed after me as I rushed up to the stage madly.
"Hehehe… hello Venus… you precious thing you," He spoke happily as he tried cornering Venus up on stage. Shitshitshit, I thought. Don't back up in that direction! Once I had finally gotten up quickly on the stage, everything happened so swiftly all at once.
The security guards were already on the case for keeping the creepy man his distance as two of them rushed up and grabbed the man forcefully as the man started to protest. Venus looked at the bunch, putting a hand to her lips.
"Oh… oh my," She spoke as the man started shouting.
"No! Stop! Let me see her! Let me see my Venus!" He shouted as he violently waved around what looked like a gun. My mind went into a state of shock as the gun fired twice. The crowd started to gasp and scream.
"Jeff what are you doing, get down from there!!" Paula screamed. As I knew that they hadn't gotten the gun under control and as I saw Venus's state of shock, I started to dart towards her.
"JEFF!"
"LET ME SEE HER!"
Now it was almost like slow motion as another gun fire rung out and this time, I just knew that without looking up that the bullet had hit the support beam for the lights. I saw her form my name on her lips.
"Jeff…?" She mumbled.
"Jeff…" My mom spoke in my mind.
I lunged for her, grabbing her waste as I literally tackled her out of the way, just in time before the bar that supported the light came tumbling down in a series of sparks and fireworks. The crowd started screaming and ran outside for safety, I was sure. All I could hear then were a series of screaming voices, and I didn't know why, but I clung to Venus for dear life as we just lied there together.
"Jeff?" Venus's oblivious voice mumbled. My eyes opened widely as I finally let go in a hurry, looking at her face. She didn't seem to register much as she started slowly getting up by propping her upper body with her hands and looked back at the bar that had fallen onto the stage.
"Oh… Jeff… Jeff what happened?" She said, trying to stand up. I still sat down, looking back at what I had just done. Holy shit… I thought.
"I… I don't… don't know," I replied, body too shaken up to make any sense whatsoever. As she knelt there, looking at the bar and the man that was being carried off, she put her hands to her chest.
"Don't tell me that… that bar with the light… would've…" She looked over at me as the realization hit her. All I could do was nod. I couldn't say anything. I started breathing heavily then.
I just saved someone's life… I thought. Something I should have done, eleven fucking years ago…
"JEFF YOU'RE FUCKING INSANE YOU KNOW THAT?! FUCKING… FUCKINGINSANE!" Ness screamed at me from below before he started going into his coughing fits again. I shivered slightly as me and Venus just stared at each other for another good three minutes.
"Venus, are you alright? You could have been killed, oh my god…" A few of the crew members including the manager started saying as they got onto the stage. The few managers wrapped Venus in a blanket for some strange reason and started taking her back stage. All I could do then was watch her walking away, Venus looking back at me with this strange expression…
---
"Jeff what… just WHAT?!" Ness started questioning as he paced around me. All of us waited in the lobby, for any sign to get Venus's autograph. Paula and Kato were silent about this. I was even surprised at the time that Kato didn't do a single thing… he could see a couple of mummies creep up on me but he couldn't see a maniac emerge to the stage, I thought. However, there were too many things in my head for me to comprehend anything, so much that my mind was blank half of the time.
"I don't… get how you do this sometimes! You visit my childhood friend without my permission, you crash your fathers invention, you blast a fucking hole in the hospital walls and now… now you… you do something that no one saw coming… how… how-" It was finally my time to snap as I shook my fists.
"I don't know, alright Ness?! I don't know how this shit keeps happening and your yelling isn't helping me figure any of this out!" I roared at him. Ness paused in mid stride, as he gave me the most ridiculous expression I had ever seen.
"Hey fellas, calm down there or else we'll kick all of you out!" Someone yelled at us.
"Please you two… don't start fighting again," Paula said with a cracked voice. Kato looked at us silently. I finally growled.
"Say something. What the hell do you think of all this?!" I asked him irately. It took him a moment before he replied.
"I don't have anything of importance to say about anything," He replied calmly. I growled, covering my forehead with my hand as I stood there.
"I… I need air. So excuse me," I ranted, picking up my suitcase before I stormed outside. No one had bothered to follow me at that time; they probably figured that I needed to breathe.
I actually stood down one of the narrow alleyways next to where backstage door was. I could hear and see the police and investigation crew show up to the scenes. God damn it, I didn't want to get affiliated with them! But… what the hell just happened?
I… For some reason, my mind played like a broken record, from that creepy man to my mother's face, to me tackling Venus out of the way… I shook my head, running my fingers through my hair. I squinted my eyes.
"Fuck!" I swore to myself. And it was about this time when, on the corner of my eye, I saw the three of them emerge but stop and look at me. I huffed.
"I still have nothing to say… alright?" I told them. Ness checked his watch.
"There's no way we'll get to give that man his autograph now… the museum is definitely closing soon," He said.
"Then we'll just have to do it tomorrow, alright? I can't do anything else today…" I replied. Ness glared at me.
"I knew we should have waited til tomorrow… just knew it…" He said, crossing his arms before he started to cough again. I wanted to roll my eyes at him but kept myself from doing so for some reason. Paula rubbed Ness's back.
"So… you have no idea why you did what you just did?" Kato finally said. I looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow at him. I looked away.
"No… I mean I don't know. I just knew something bad was going to happen…" I replied, resting my forehead against the brick wall. It was right then that someone opened the door, and sure enough it was the manager that we had loaned the diamond to.
"You kids again… you put up quite a show up there… mainly you, young man," She said, pointing to me. I sighed at her statement. She hummed.
"Anyways… Venus wants to see you kids. Go on in there, and talk to her, and don't let anyone see you," She told us. The three of them actually went on in before I had the energy to move from my one position.
"You going to be alright, young man?" The lady asked me. I nodded.
"Yes… I'm fine," I said, stomping in through the door.
---
As I entered the room with Ness Venus and the others, Venus was already talking to them about something that my mind couldn't register at the moment. When Venus finally rested her eyes on me, I quickly looked away, cheeks heating up slightly.
"Anyways… you kids needed my help? You did a hell of a job helping me… and you were all so sweet from when I met you along with the Runaway Five… what do you kids need? I'll do anything..." I was silent through this entire moment, I just wanted everyone to get this over with so I could lie down… anywhere and empty my head from any train of thought… just like I was supposed to do all day…
"We… we need your autograph actually," Paula explained. I looked over to Ness, who seemed too ticked off to do anything. She formed an 'O' on her lips as she looked through all of her drawers until she found a sharpie pen.
"Do you have anything I can write it on? I'm sorry if my-my handwriting is shaky…" She explained.
"It's perfectly fine Venus… we know what just happened was shocking for you," Paula explained as the both of them glanced at me. I could feel myself sliding away and out of that room. Venus sighed as she grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be a banana peel, as she signed it.
"Umm… Venus?" Ness asked. Venus looked up.
"What's up hon?" She asked.
"Umm… we kind of need it on something that can last through the night," He said. Venus took a moment to register this.
"Oh yeah… yes, let me see if I have a napkin anywhere…" She said as she vaguely looked around, until she spotted an old coffee mug that had been sitting on a napkin since the morning. When she took the napkin, there was already a brown coffee mug ring stained on it.
"That's perfectly fine," Ness said. Venus nodded as she started signing the thing away. After putting the cap back on, she then offered a shaky hand to Ness who claimed the napkin and looked at it.
"Thank you Venus… and I'm sorry for all of this… I hope you get a good night sleep," Ness said as he tried brushing by me angrily until Venus made him stop.
"Wait…" She said. Ness stood still before he turned around. She looked as if she wanted to cry, but she did a good job keeping it in for some strange reason.
"I… I barely know you children. But… I owe you my life… especially you, Jeff…" She spoke to me. I looked at her again. She looked as if she wanted to cry, but she smiled. I had no idea what expression I wanted to give her… I breathed in.
"Good luck… with all you do. It's a big and scary world out there…" She spoke, trying to keep her tears in. However, all of us were silent.
"Good bye Venus… we all love you, we really do," Paula told her. And with that, she nodded at us to go, starting with Kato closest to the door, then Ness, and then Paula and finally me, who almost darted out of there timidly, forgetting all about my black suitcase.
---
Once we were almost down the block, I realized something. I patted myself before scanning everyone. I growled.
"Shit… I left my suit case, be right back," I said as I darted back to the building. I first checked the lobby of the theater, and I even checked the counter to see if anyone had picked up. I finally thought of the last possible place I could have left it… because I knew Ness had carried it out to the lobby after the incident. The three of them were probably waiting for me impatiently by now. My heart started hammering for some reason as I cursed under my breath, making my way outside and around to Venus's back stage room. Once I got there, I knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Venus said in an awkward voice. I paused for a moment.
"It's me Jeff… can I come in? I think I left something in your room…" I replied. Soon enough, the door opened and I was greeted by Venus's teary eyed face, streaks of mascara trailing down her cheeks.
"Jeff… oh…" She said. I was silent.
"Come… come on in," She said, walking in to wipe her eyes on her tissue. When I spotted my suit case, I was about to grab it and leave as soon as possible, but as I reached down to get it, I was startled by Venus's voice once more.
"Why-why did you save me?" Venus asked. I paused. I was unresponsive.
"Why… why did you even bother?" She asked in a more enraged voice. My eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Maybe… maybe that was what I wanted you know? Maybe I wanted that light to hit me and kill me… you could have wasted that hero's energy on someone that might have needed it… there's nothing left for me anyways…" She ranted. Was she saying that…?
"I hate my life… this Lady Venus act I'm put out to be is a lie… I'm a joke..." She ranted again. "That's exactly what my father would tell me at least…" I couldn't help but feel the slightest of sympathy as she shook her head in rage.
"I should have died," She spoke with only her lips. I frowned.
"No… you're wrong," I told her. Venus's eyes opened again when I said that. My sigh was uncomfortable.
"Look… I didn't save you because I thought it was the right thing to do… but rather because I wanted to… call that selfish if you want. But… I can compare with you. Half of my life I just wanted to end it right then and there… I came close to it too, mentally at least. Every single day… I still blame myself for the death of someone I loved… I couldn't stand to see someone else I cared for die before my eyes… I would have risked my life for that reason alone…" I looked up at her nervously as she looked back at me with her mouth slightly open. I took in a deep breath.
"Besides… that day in the ice cream shop, you taught me something… something that may have saved my own life. You taught me how to open up… to open up my feelings to others and get as much help as I needed… and… if you never spoke to me that night, I would have never bonded with Ness… or Paula… possibly even Kato, even if I've only known him for several hours… you gave me any sort of hope for me to even keep living period. And… I still have dreams you know? And you even told me… so I guess I should tell you; don't let your past get in your way with your dreams…" I sighed, shaking my head. "I know, I didn't make any sort of sense there…" I said, looking back at her. She finally stood up, but all she could do was stare at me. I didn't know why but I felt uncomfortable then, and I was sure that Ness and the others wondered where the hell I was. I slowly reached down for my suit case.
"I'll get out of your hair now…" I said, opening the door again, all until I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I shivered for some reason, as I turned around to meet Venus face to face. She finally smiled down at me.
"Do… I remind you of your mother… don't I?" She asked. My eyes widened slightly as I exhaled a shaky breath. I was silent, looking away with a warm but sad face. And suddenly, I was startled as a pair of delicate feminine hands cupped my jaw, to turn my face towards hers. Oh god… what was she doing? What was she thinking as she stared right into my eyes with as blue of eyes as Paula's? What did she think as I saw her nose inch closer to mine? What was she doing?!
My mind was suddenly blank… as warm, soft cherry red lips touched my own in a soft, but engaging kiss that lasted for probably only a few seconds but felt like minutes to me. I was unresponsive as my eyes were wide in shock… she kissed me. A woman… that was at least ten years older than me… had just kissed me. I had just shared my first kiss with a legal adult. Wasn't that illegal? My eyes were wide, and my face had burned up as I looked at the young woman whom was only a hair uglier than my own mom…
"I… have no words left. I don't care if you sue me… if you throw me in jail… for what I have just done…" She spoke to me with no breath. "Now… now you can go if you wish," She said, turning away from me, as I could see a tear roll down her cheek. I had nothing else to say, she just sucked all of them out of me. I closed my eyes tightly as I quickly grabbed my suitcase and darted out of that room…
… Only to be greeted by a silent and stock still Ness who happened to be waiting for me down the alley. My eyes widened in horror back at Ness, who seemed to have almost the same exact expression as me. He… what was he doing here? He… he didn't just see that… did he? Oh my god…
The door had closed during that time as neither of us could move. I tried… all I could to say something… anything. But all I could do was stutter breathlessly.
"N-Ness…" I said. Ness seemed to gulp a few moments later awkwardly as he started to face away from me.
"Let's go…"