A/N: Thank you, YaoiGirly, Nessie-DoMiSol, Mihakuu, redtheyoshi, Revu, Red, TomBoy247, Treehugger19, and leopardtail's stoneclan for the reviews! : ) Leopardtail, your timing on your review was tight on to be mentioned on this chapter, and thank you for all you've said! : )
Sorry for the temporary wait, it was slower to write this one at times. At other times, I felt like I was just filling the gaps, avoiding transitions and skipping to the next parts. Then there were those parts where I felt like I was really rambling, and the rambling just dug deeper and deeper. I was feeling kind of depressed, and I don't really know when I'll fully get out of it, it's been about over a week now, but I admit, I'm feeling much better once I finished this tonight. This is one of those chapters where honestly, the writing really reflected on how I was feeling throughout the thing. At first I felt bored to write it, then my slight depression made it deeper, and now that I'm happier… well yeah, you get it.
I want to get this done this week before the upcoming weekend, because I'm heading to the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco with my lovely gal pals. I'm so excited (we so excited!) Ok, I'm never making that reference ever again, ok? Ok. : )
Anyways, sorry again for the… lack of JeffNess in this chapter, just heads up. I just can't seem to fit it in without any purpose you know? Don't worry though, some JeffNess to come in the near future, but for now I'm indulging into things I've been itching to write about for months.
Another thing, (sorry for dragging this note out) I've been getting asked a lot about the potential JeffNess lemon in this fanfic. All I can say is that… could happen. Maybe. : D
Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to Revu, who I've been talking to lately, you've been a lot of help just story wise and emotionally, and I love talking to you, and just thanks! You are an awesome friend. : ) Go read his new fanfic, Exposed to Madness! (that's an order lol)
Hope there isn't too many errors. Please enjoy!
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"The Apple of Enlightenment pictured this too... four individuals that have the eyes to recognize this pure evil..."
A pair that saw sin, a pair that saw good, a pair that saw weakness and a pair that saw strength. It was all written here, etched in stone, for hundreds of years.
Hundreds of years in which the earth knew, or had some sort of knowledge of the earth's fate. Either the earth, or a civilization… or someone.
This could only mean one thing, I thought. And it brought me much terror as the thought crossed my mind as clear as day.
This was planned all along, years into the past. And it was just now that these plans were starting to take effect. I was just amazed… bewildered that somehow, I was part of this mural. Or at least, my eyes were. Which were my mother's eyes originally…
Was there a connection?
"I think we're almost out of this place finally," Ness mentioned, pointing ahead to a doorway. It wasn't long before we timidly claimed the hawk's eye, currently in Ness's hands. Kato led the way out for some strange reason.
"We'll soon know what'll be to come then," Kato replied, looking over all of us.
And soon enough, we walked through the entry way, leading to a small passageway to the left wall, leading out of the pyramid…
All of us paused as we got outside. I wasn't sure if it was in pure shock, disgust, or both.
Sun.
Bland landscape.
Nothing.
Ness began to walk out in front of us. Looking. Really looking. As if he was trying to desperately find something. He soon held up the hawk's eye to his own.
There was no response, as his shoulders slouched in disappointment.
"What is this…" He spoke lowly. "This is just more desert…" Paula soon walked up to his side.
"Ness, there has to be a reason still why we're here. Maybe we aren't there yet. To the sanctuary…" Ness's sigh was hopeless. He looked extremely tired of seeing this setting. But how could I blame him, we were all sick of it.
And if it could be any worse, if it could possibly get any worse, we were suddenly, in a flash, interrupted.
Swooosh!
We immediately blocked ourselves from the sudden gust of wind and dust that threatened us. Trying to peek my eyes, as long as my glasses didn't fly off, I could semi see.
A huge twister, twining and twining in front of us. It took about a half a minute for the tornado to finally settle down. And soon, all there that was left was the after wave of dust and sand.
As I opened my eyes again when I felt the air to be still, all of us were looking at a peculiarly aged man. He seemed to be dressed in rags, and patterned silk. His right side of his face was tattooed, by what seemed to be swirling stars. His eyes seem to twinkle. We were all taken aback at his appearance, and I was a little tentative on what his motives where. When he spoke, his words almost echoed into our minds.
"Well done," He spoke to us. "You've made it through the chamber, found the ancient treasure that shall guide you in your journey, and you now know what the apple of enlightenment wants from the four of you," He continued. That much, I knew. Still, what exactly was the apple of enlightenment? I was starting to think that I'd never know.
What surprised me was that, or maybe it shouldn't have surprised me, but Kato soon stepped forward, a soft look of awe on his features.
"We meet again, Prince Poo…" He spoke.
"Star Master," He replied, as he stood his ground in front of us three. He looked serious, I thought, especially as he kneeled down to him. The Star Master smiled, putting his hand up.
"No need," he spoke. Kato soon stood up.
"The stars foretold that we would meet here," He continued. "Did you notice?" Kato looked back to us, eyes finally meeting mine, and for a moment, he looked as if he was trying to tell me something. He turned to him.
"Yes, so I've seen," He replied. "I got the message clear in the vast desert sky." The Star Man hummed in approval.
"Then you know what must be done," He spoke. Kato took a moment before nodding, as he turned to us.
"Ness, Paula, Jeff… I must leave you three alone for a short while," he told us. Ness's arm's slouched down slightly.
"What…?"
"Poo must learn and master a new technique, in which will aid your quest. The storm of the stars. If Poo can master the star storm, that is when he may leave to find you again." Kato knelt down to Ness.
"Please forgive me," He spoke. "But I believe that it is most important that I learn the star storm. It will be much useful for our journey." He looked up to Ness. Then to Paula. Then to me.
Ness was still for a moment, at sort of loss at what to say then. It was already hot again, standing in the afternoon light in the desert again, this time the ground was flat, cracked and dry at least, but it was not much of a difference, I thought.
"Well…" Ness didn't look like he was easy to accept this, I thought. If Kato left, it would only be the three of us again. Alone. In the desert.
"I promise I will find you as soon as I'm finished," He spoke. Ness brought a hand to his cheek.
"And," He continued. "The training I've given Jeff will be most helpful as well." I almost wanted to rant at him, but I kept it back. He flashed me a small stare. Then a soft smile, before closing his eyes and standing up. "I'm sure you three will be fine while I'm gone."
"But… Kato…"
"Poo will return safely once he is done learning the star storm. But for now, we must go." Kato soon stood by the man. All three of us could only watch.
It was almost too soon, I thought. Right when I was starting to know him better…
"Well… guess this is good bye for now," he spoke.
"See… see you later…" Ness responded hushed before both the Star Master and Kato disappeared in a tornado before our very eyes.
When he left, Ness's overall mood was back to his pouty, almost depressed self.
In a sense, we all kind of where, including me.
Though I barely understood why.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxX
The Universe Will Die Without You
Chapter 28 Dungeon Man
XxxxxxXxxxxxxX
"Is that… what is that?" Ness asked anonymously, putting a hand on his forehead to guide his eyes.
In all honesty, I had no idea what it was. But it was huge.
"It looks like a statue of some kind…" Paula replied. A statue indeed it was… a statue, or a mirage.
But somehow, I didn't think it was so. I paused, digging through my bag as I let the hot metal that was my bazooka fall down onto the hard- cracked desert surface. Ness and Paula paused in their tracks.
I dug and dug until my fingers delicately touched the rim of my father's notes. Flipping through them, I ran into the small letter again, the one that was written to Brick Road.
Hello again,
This is just another letter asking about how the dungeon man project is going. I've been very busy lately planning for the Phase Disorder Project on my end. From the looks of it, I'm confirming that it's more than possible at this point, and with it I can stop this nightmare-filled catastrophe once and for all. Either way, I hope you're doing well out there. I really hope you're less lonely in the Unforgiving Desert than I am back up in Winters. Isn't it ironic how different our forecasts are? If I'm ever stumped with my own project, I will contact you again to help me solve any puzzles that come along the way. I'd like for you to do the same, I request it. In the meantime, take care for me. And… if you ever see my son again, tell him I said hi… for me… will you? Please?
Your Good Friend,
Dr. Loid Andonuts
"What is it, Jeff?" Paula asked me. My eyes trailed slightly, taking a moment to scan the letter twice while pausing at the name Loid a couple of times.
"Do you think we should head towards it?" I asked. "There might be some things there that we should find out." In a sense, I almost remembered seeing this place now. Wasn't this… wasn't this one of the places we randomly teleported to when Ness had his freak out? I remembered something abnormally big in the distance…
"It's really the only thing out here I can see that's worth going to," Ness replied shrugging. I glanced to him.
"I don't know, I'm still sensing that we aren't going in the best direction," Paula spoke. "But that could be the heat talking and not me…" I spent the time glancing over the note.
"Still…" I continued. "It might be just a hunch, but I have a feeling that it's something I've been meaning to see for a while now." Both Ness and Paula looked at me funny.
"I don't know… forget I said anything," I concluded, folding the note up and putting it in my pocket.
"No… I'll trust you, Jeff," Ness spoke. I glanced at him, almost cocking my head.
"You will?" This heat was going to start getting to my head if we didn't move quickly. Ness's smile was calm.
"Of course I will," He replied. I bit my lip. His trust for me had opened up drastically since his sickness, I thought.
"Well, let's not just stand here; let's get out of this heat…" Paula spoke, looking out to the big figure in the distance.
XxX
The three of us looked up.
When I mean up, I mean up.
This thing was…
"… Huge…" Ness muttered out loud.
"Almost creepy…" Paula commented. The thing was a gigantic statue, or so it seemed… part of it however, just by smelling the air, I could sense something mechanical from it. Looking up at some of the edges of its surface, I could see what looked to be oil dripping down the sides.
"I think… I think this is…" I pulled out the note again. "… Dungeon Man."
Paula and Ness both gave me skeptical looks after I said that. I shrugged.
"So… what now?" Ness asked looking back up. Good point, I thought.
"Erm…"
"Is that you, Jeff?" A loud voice from some sort of microphone spoke startling all three of us.
Erm…
"Uhh… who's asking?" Ness responded by shouting. There was a short pause.
"This is Brick Road!" Brick Road replied. So I was right, I thought…
"Jeff, Andonut's son, right? That is you down there amongst the three of you, right?" For some reason, I couldn't really say anything, all until Paula nudged me.
"Arrem… yeah, this is him," I replied. I tried looking to where the dang speaker was, but even when he spoke, I still didn't really know.
"I knew it was you! You have to come in and test out my greatest accomplishment! … And of course your two friends can come inside too," He spoke. Inside…? I cleared my throat.
"Excuse me… Brick Road… why?" I asked.
Really, even if I barely knew the guy, I didn't get Brick Road at all. What was the point of a… dungeon man? Nonetheless…
"It's got air conditioning," He responded. "Just find the key to the door hatch below, it should be duck taped on one of its legs," He told me. Fool proof plan, I thought.
"Well if it has air conditioning…" Ness spoke. "Does this thing move?"
"Of course it moves! What is a man that can't move? Dungeon man is not one of those men!" Uhuh…
"Well…" I started to walk a good building's length to get to one of the dungeon's legs.
"Wrong leg Jeff, try the one towards your left," He replied. I inwardly groaned. If only it wasn't so hot, I thought. Ness and Paula had beaten me to the other leg as I caught up to them. Ness and Paula scanned the leg, but their eyes led them nowhere.
"Inside, try the thigh area!" Ness had walked over to where I was to help me scan over its thigh. Still to no avail.
"No no, inner thigh! Check the inner thigh!" He spoke.
"There!" Paula spoke, spotting the bright pink duck tape attached to the inner thigh of the dungeon.
"It's high up, someone's gonna have to give a boost," I said. Ness propped Paula onto his shoulders, and as Paula reached out to the tape, her fingers barely grazed the edges of it.
"I can't reach it," Paula spoke. I sighed.
"Alright, I'll give Ness a boost then," I said. Ness frowned slightly.
"Really?"
"Yeah?" Ness was slightly tentative as he put a foot on one of my shoulders. Raising him up, I almost felt like I would lose my balance, but Paula kept me steady for Ness to have time to peel the duck tape off.
"Got it! Catch, Paula!" Ness spoke as he dropped the key before Ness lightly slid down my back, almost clumsily before his hands grasped my shoulders as he lost balance. Of course he drags me down with him! I thought quickly as my back accidentally landed on his stomach. Ness yelped slightly.
"Ness! You alright?" I asked rolling off of him. Ness chuckled slightly.
"Sorry bout that," He replied without getting up. "… This ground is burning my skin."
"I think you should get up," I told him, giving him a hand.
"Good idea, I was just thinking that," He replied as I helped him up. I looked at him in the face. When Ness looked back, he paused, before flashing me a cheeky grin with a tinge of discomfort.
"So what now?" Paula asked.
"Ok, you got the key? Go towards the front and you should see a small insertion there," He told us. I wanted to slap myself in the face.
Sure enough, there it was, in the worst place imaginable.
"Ok, all you have to do is insert it inside of the,"-
"I think we know how to use a key," I assured him. Paula handed Ness the key as he tried to insert the key into the lock.
Something startled Ness greatly as he jumped back, letting go of the key.
"It… it just…" I looked at the key that was stuck in the hole.
This time not only did I slap myself in the face; I let it linger for just a few moments, muttering something on the lines of ridiculousness. Brick Road spoke to us again.
"Oh yeah, it does that… it's just the mechanism inside trying to open the door, just let it run for a second," He told us.
So we watched; literally, front seat view of the crotch of the giant moving dungeon man, as the key literally shook madly in front of us, still stuck inside of the key hole.
Paula was of course, in a sense, oblivious to the metaphor that was being produced in front of our eyes. Ness covered his, muttering something illegible to himself.
The shaking came to a sudden halt.
Nothing happened then…
We waited… and waited…
Still nothing.
"Did it open?" He asked. I growled slightly, flinging off my bag as I dug into it.
"No, your vibrating key just stopped," I replied, pulling out the bad key machine. Stomping forwards, I literally yanked the long key out of the key hole and inserted the bad key machine again.
This time, even though I regretted it, I held on as the dungeon started to give off another strong shaking session. I bet my current position looked terrible, I thought as my face probably turned pale.
But to both my assumption and amazement, when the shaking stopped, it actually did something.
A simple, rocky-like surfaced drop door appeared with a simple metal ladder going up. I looked blankly at the simple entry way. That was the most complicated door to open ever, I thought.
"What did you do down there? Did it open?" Brick asked. I sighed.
"Yes…"
"Then what are you waiting for? Get inside!" He spoke to us. The three of us shot each other awkward glances.
This better have been a good idea, I thought to myself.
XxX
I think we were all a little taken aback once we got inside.
"Welcome inside my body!" Brick Road spoke over the speaker. "Throughout this dungeon, you'll find lots of signs; make sure to follow them well without getting lost!"
Welcome. You are inside of my body. …Brick Road
My eyes darted ahead of us to the tunnel. At the other end was another sign he posted.
"So we follow the signs? So this is like a maze?" Paula asked.
"Precisely! Your destination is at the top of my body, my head," Brick Road spoke. My mouth curved down in annoyance.
He could spy and listen in on us, I thought. At least it wasn't as if Brick Road was a bad guy or anything…
"Excuse me, why are we doing this?" I asked. There was a laugh on the other side.
"Why, I've been waiting for you guys to show up," He told us. Really now?
"Why, may I ask?" Paula spoke out. "Do you need our help?"
"Yes… I really do in fact," He replied. "Just to test out my latest invention if you don't mind, I'd like to see what you guys think once you get up to where I am," He replied.
"How do we know you won't be our enemy once we get up to you?" Ness replied.
"Because I know what you three are doing, and I'd like to help you three out as long as you do this for me," He replied. Like waving the cookie in front of our eyes, I thought grumpily. Ness glanced at all of us funny.
"Did my dad tell you that?" I asked. There was a pause, followed by a small chuckle.
"Possibly. Possibly not. All I can say is that, unless if you want to keep walking in intense heat, you should meet me up here. Besides, this is the most fun I'll ever get out here," He spoke. I sighed.
"No tricks," Ness spoke to him.
XxX
My statistics say that 70 percent of people go to their right first. …Brick Road.
Looking to both of our ways, we looked at each other.
"Is it a trap?" Ness asked.
"I have no idea…" I replied, glancing towards the left. "Let's maybe check this way first," I spoke. And so we did, walking our way from the left of the sign. Around the corner seemed to be another sign and a bench with a phone.
If you check into this bench, it's just like checking into a hotel. …Brick Road
The rest of the corner was a dead end. So we ended up going the other way, past the previous billboard.
Keep this board in mind. …Brick Road
Even though you can't get up there now, you might be able to later. …Brick Road
"There's a bunch of signs," Paula spoke. Obviously.
Your first goal is to reach the four ropes. …Brick Road
Looking past that particular sign, I had a slight taste of what was to come. There were pathways leading upwards, others going down, and another going around the bend…
We decided to check the pathway upwards first, only to find ourselves at another dead end with another sign.
You should have gone the other way. …Brick Road
So when we backtracked back to the sign with the fork, we went the up path.
Don't be a slacker… if you work hard, you'll get good stuff. ...Brick Road
I couldn't agree more with the opinion on the left bill board. …Brick Road
In the corner of this dead end, we encountered a plush bear just sitting there.
"It's so fluffy!" Paula exclaimed touching the plush bear. In my own world, I looked around the dungeon again. From there, I could see other pathways, eventually spotting out what looked like to be four ropes leading up to the next room.
"This path," I said. Ness followed, glancing out at the place.
"I hope this doesn't take forever," Ness pouted slightly. I shrugged.
"I doubt it. There's only so much two men can build within a year or so…" Even so, this was almost unreal. The last time, and only time I had seen Brick Road was back when I had first started… that hadn't even been a year ago, I thought.
"This is stupid…" Ness spoke.
"Couldn't agree more," I replied.
"Hey, I heard that!" Brick Road spoke over the speaker. Ness and I exchanged glances and shook our heads.
After winding through the last path we could choose from, we made it to another sign, followed by the four ropes, each with their own bulletin.
I built a bulletin board without a message. …Brick Road
The grass is always greener on the other rope… I wonder why that is… …Brick Road
Four ropes, I thought.
"We could all go up a rope," Paula said.
"What if it's a trap," Ness replied.
"Ness, don't worry. I doubt Brick Road means us harm…" Ness was silent then, as we all sort of complied with our own rope. I ended up going up the second rope.
Try again… Brick Road
My floor was a dead end, so I went back down.
Turned out, Paula's rope was the right way to go, the third one down, as it led us up to the next floor of his dungeon.
You are on the second floor of my body. …Brick Road
The three of us looked out in front of us, and realized that the maze was becoming a little more intense now.
"Which way now?" Ness asked. I swallowed. There were up paths. Down paths. Paths everywhere, and the problem was that you could see all of them, but you couldn't distinguish a certain path from a certain distance.
"Let's try up first I guess…" I said.
We must have spent an hour trying to find our way around the place. Our first path was wrong, so we back tracked. We tried another path, and failed again. But at least we got ten dollars out of it.
"Damn it, this is becoming too tedious," I ranted, reading another one of his stupid signs.
When we finally did make our way through the correct path, I sighed looking up at the ladder that lead to the next floor up.
There are a lot of monsters up there, but don't stress out. …Brick Road.
"I'm hungry…" Ness complained. Paula sighed.
"Well, we won't be able to eat any lunch until we get to the top where Brick Road is," Paula replied. "Let's go."
The next floor seemed to be an exhibit of some sort.
You are on the third floor of my body. …Brick Road
There were old statues and objects, some in which were unidentifiable. When you looked across to other areas of the room, more of these things sat around. Then I looked to my left as we started walking up an incline.
There sitting restfully on its own pedestal was a yellow taxi. One that looked like the ones in Fourside. I exhaled slowly, as Ness seemed to catch on my tenseness.
"I'm sure it won't chase us…" Ness complied. "I don't sense anything evil in it."
"Good riddance," I responded without looking at him, walking away. Ness however had his eyes still across the way, almost as if he was eyeing something else. I followed his gaze, until I spotted another big yellow object, something bigger than the taxi.
"Is that…?"
"A submarine…" I muttered.
What was a submarine doing in this place? It was a fairly small submarine, small, round and yellow, with a window in front and a few on the side. The periscope curved on top of its body, looking out into the wall that it faced.
We soon disregarded it however, as we ran into the next, and hopefully last ladder.
Good job! You finally made it! That's what the sign says above. …Brick Road.
XxX
When we made it to the top floor finally, we were greeted with what the sign below warned us about.
Good job! You finally made it! … Brick Road
I looked around us on the top floor. It was a small room, I thought, with two windows in the back of the room that looked out into the desert. There was a door on the opposite wall, the one we were closest to, with a small door latch. My eyes trailed up towards the top of the wall as Paula and Ness gasped. I chocked on my air once I saw why.
Brick Road looked straight at us, his face framed by the wall. He smiled before his face disappeared into the alcove his head was once in. We saw the small handle wiggle until he opened the door.
"Long time no see, Jeff," The man spoke as he emerged from the dark door frame. "I've been wondering when we'd meet again."
Brick road looked tired to say the least. Actually, he looked like a total mess from the last time I saw him. Either that or I just didn't pay him much thought. His dark viridian overalls were patched in oil, smudge and grime as well as his sweaty looking white shirt. He was balding slightly; his dark hair moving in every way possible. His black eyes darted between us curiously.
"So who are your friends again?" He asked me.
"Uhh."
"I'm Paula," Paula curtseyed.
"Ness."
"And Jeff. Your father,"-
"You don't have to continue," I replied, staring at him in the eye. The faster we could get this done, the less conflict, I thought.
"Ahh…" Brick Road seemed to be at a loss of words for a moment. We barely knew each other, I figured, he knew most of me from whatever stupid propaganda my dad threw at him.
"Don't mind Jeff," Ness intruded. I wanted to flash him a slight glare, but refrained myself from doing so. "So… what is this?" Brick Road smiled slightly.
"I already told you, it's Dungeon Man. Made possible by Dr. Andonuts's knowledge on mechanics and my ideas," He replied. "I couldn't have done it without him."
"Why'd he help you?" I asked him, crossing my arms.
"Jeff…" Ness muttered. Brick Road flashed me a grin.
"I knew the man. We've been friends for a while. He's my colleague." I see…
I wanted to say something. Just wasn't sure what yet…
"So, why were you tempted at… making this?" Paula asked.
"I wanted to make a dungeon I could be proud of. You could say that dungeons and mazes are sort of a fetish of mine, it's a strange obsession I admit, but I love to puzzle others. You could say that I like to create puzzles," He replied. "So Dr. Andonuts helped me with my,"-
"Argh!" I threw my hands up finally. Just hearing his name spoken out loud was enough for me to-! I walked away slightly.
"Jeff, is something…?"
"Just… don't talk about him," I told the man. The three of them watched me expectantly. Ness frowned.
"Jeff, don't…" He told me. I rubbed my scalp.
"I…" I glanced to the three of them. "Sorry… it just happened on impulse." Ness looked angry sadly… just a little bit. Paula looked a little worried, a tinge confused in a sense. Brick Road however, frowned.
"I… sorry Jeff, I didn't know you had… never mind." Brick Road looked as if he wanted to apologize, but really didn't know how. What did he know?
"No… I'm sorry," I spoke.
"Nah, really Jeff, I,"-
"I'm sorry. Let's just drop it." I snapped. Brick Road paused.
"Well alright…" Ness narrowed his eyes at me. I didn't dare look at him, fearing to start a new conflict between the two of us.
"Well… I know that… you three are obviously headed somewhere. Where to?" He asked.
"We're headed to…" Paula paused, closing her eyes. Ness grunted.
"We're not exactly sure… we just kinda… know along the way," Ness responded.
"Ahh… I see." For a moment, we all paused, as Paula was still in her state of deep thought.
"It's dark… deep darkness…" She replied. We all glanced at each other.
"Swampy… I don't think this place really has a name." Paula slowly opened her eyes, deep blue eyes in thought still. "Down south."
"I know!" Brick Road spoke. "I know what you're talking about! The swamps… why do you want to go down there exactly?" Brick Road didn't seem very keen on the idea, I thought.
"Well we…" Ness started.
"There's something there we need," I spoke up. "Surely you can help us get there, right?" I tried not to glare at him. I don't know if it came across like that though.
"Ah… Yes, I can help you three get there," he replied. Paula's face lit up.
"Really? That's great!" Ness however still seemed slightly unsure.
"Uhh… pardon me but, how exactly could you help us get there?" Ness asked. Brick Road laughed.
"We'll use dungeon man of course! He could use some exercise!" He spoke. "Plus he needs a good mobilization once and a while." I cocked my head.
"So this thing really moves?" I asked.
"Of course it moves," Brick Road replied. "You should see the control deck your dad loaded this thing with… er… yeah," He spoke, rubbing the back of my head.
"Sure I don't mind…" For some reason, it just came out without really thinking. I was curious, after all.
"You two kids wanna see the control deck as well? Come on back!" I let Ness and Paula lead the way before I complied soon after, as we followed him through the door way, climbing up a winding staircase to what seemed to be the control deck.
"Wow, you and Jeff's dad made this?" Ness spoke in awe.
"It's… I've never seen anything like this before!" Paula added.
The room had a steam punk feel, whatever that meant. The mechanics looked classic, but some gadgets and wheels kept running and spinning, pipes spewing out steam in a couple cracks here and there. Brick Road took a screw driver and fixed one of the pipes.
In the center of the room was the peephole of a periscope and in front of that periscope was what looked almost to be an exercising machine, an elliptical?
Brick Road stood on the machine, gripping both handles while biting his bottom lip.
"You wanna see this baby run or what?"
"More like…" Ness trailed off in mid thought, almost as if too embarrassed with what he was about to say. I think we were done with the perverted jokes that day.
"Well… unless if you wanna take the heat, you gotta ride," Brick Road said, as he let his foot take a step forward, moving the machine parts that were attached to his foot. And with each step, the dungeon man stepped forward.
I almost lost my footing at first, Ness catching me slightly as the dungeon man took its baby steps.
"Wooee! We'll get you three kids there in no time!"
"I hope you're right," Ness replied. "Thank you… you know you don't have to do this for us." Brick Road was silent for a moment, as he worked the machine; the dungeon man. Paula looked out the periscope.
"There's still nothing but desert," She commented.
"Heh, there's nothing better to do out here anyways! Besides… I know barely anything, but I know enough that you three are on an adventure, and I know how that feels. So does your father, Jeff," He spoke. I bit the inside of my lip. What would he know about adventure? I thought to myself.
"Also…"
I braced for the inevitable.
"Your father… your father says hi, Jeff. I don't know if you want to hear that or not, but he did," He spoke. Not knowing what emotion to convey, my response was slightly monotone.
"I know…" I took a moment and glanced back at Paula, who was still looking out of the periscope. Ness seemed to glance at me slightly, before looking away. Then with the feeling of being caught, he didn't really know how to act it seemed, so he just glanced back, and smirked apathetically.
"You know?" Brick asked. I frowned.
"I… I guess."
XxX
It was a long while as we rode in the dungeon man. While the motions that the massive machine created simulated like a rocking boat, I wasn't in the mood for sea sickness. I could hear the mechanics working and moving, all throughout the room, above, and way below. It made me feel small in a sense. However, instead, my thoughts were focused onto something deeper, as my eyes scanned my father's notes again.
After about five minutes of looking through them, I frowned, sighing.
I blinked a million times as I dropped my booklet, discovering Ness's face in front of mine.
"You feeling ok?" He asked me. I looked at him before shrugging his gaze off.
"I don't know," I replied. Ness's frown was slightly hurtful, I thought.
"You don't?" He asked.
"Yeah." Ness was now squatting down at my level now. I had been sitting against the wall on the room right below the control deck. He leaned his jaw in his hand as he let his eyes judge me for a moment. I sucked in my lips slightly.
"What?" I spoke with slight annoyance and embarrassment. Ness shrugged.
"Nothing, just looking at you for a moment." I almost snorted at that. Whenever Ness would tell me something like that, it sent a small chill every time. I knew he had something on his mind. My heart thumped slightly.
"Well it's kind of making me uncomfortable…" I told him with a slight hushed tone. Ness frowned.
"Is it your dad again?" He asked. I looked away.
"I… yeah," I replied. Ness sighed, finally sitting down in front of me.
"Where's Paula?" I asked.
"Still looking out of that periscope, she loves it for some reason," He chuckled. I was slightly unresponsive, taking another glance at the booklet in front of us.
"It's just, you don't really seem to like Brick Road much… he's being so helpful and all… couldn't you imagine what it would have been like crossing that desert again?" I sighed.
"I know, I know…" I could literally feel bags form underneath my eyes, and I started to notice Ness's as well. It was almost as if this conversation alone lead to that. Ness finally frowned.
"I don't get it," He continued. "It seemed like back in Fourside, you were ready to tell me anything, but now…"
My heart sank slightly.
"Ness I…" Ness didn't seem angry however… just worried.
"I don't know what to say," I told him. "It's just being in this machine… has left me speechless." Ness opened his eyes slightly.
"Why is that?"
"I just don't understand; just don't get how Brick Road and my dad could have… made this thing all by themselves. During my existence. It's as if my dad was willing to help out his friend thousands of miles away in the desert… while he wouldn't visit me in just a matter of just a few." Ness sighed, finally bringing his hands away from his face to look at me again.
"My dad doesn't visit much anymore," He spoke. "Sometimes I wonder if he's changing into a telephone. Jeff, at least you've finally seen him again and he's helped you out a little bit, right? I mean, I know my dad gives me allowance and stuff but yeah."
It seemed like my point wasn't strong enough, I thought.
"I guess you're right," I told him. Still though… from what Debbie had told me, Ness's father loved them. Even when he was angry and drunk from his stress at work.
"I can't… I can't promise anything specific between you and your dad, but I can only hope that things will get better between the two of you," Ness started to stand up. "Just give Brick Road a chance, hmm?" Ness smiled and winked at me. I could only smile back.
It was nice to know that even after our little encounter in Fourside, that he was respecting my own space.
"Thanks, Ness," I smiled back. Ness's reaction was slightly priceless, as he was taken aback from my sudden smile, reflecting a cheeky one in return while rubbing the back of his head.
"How do you think Kato's doing?" He added. Somehow my thoughts processed the discussion we had that night.
"I think as long as we pull through, he will too," I told him. Ness seemed to like that response.
"Aight, let's just keep going forward then!" Ness walked through the door, up the winding stair case. I sighed once I was by myself again in that room, skimming through the notes again. I was starting to doubt them.
Is there any secrets in these notes my father's willing to share at all?
XxX
It had been at least almost a day before we had made a significant progress across the desert. We had passed the pyramid we came out of miles ago, and throughout the whole ride, I was silent, and blank minded. Paula eventually slept in the cock pit on the ground, cuddling with Mr. Ziggy. Ness had been dosing off until he fell asleep himself.
This was all after our small lunch break when Brick Road had to stop from the exercise and eat something. All he had was a microwave and TV lunches, I thought. We all ate together; Brick Road was somewhat a loud eater, I thought.
"So, you kids exploring the world or something?" He asked us. Ness looked amongst us.
"You could say that," Ness shrugged.
"That's cool, I like adventures," Brick Road said. And every time, every time he looked at me, I knew he wanted to bring my dad up somehow. But somehow, he didn't do that… I must have been intimidating or something. I was quiet through the whole conversation, partly not even present on what they were speaking of.
I didn't know why, but ever since my eyes scanned the letter the second time as we approached dungeon man, my mind couldn't stop drifting off into subliminal thoughts. It was starting to even trouble Paula, I thought, every time she saw me. The same thought… that same question…
Just how my dad wrote the letter. Was there something he wanted to say besides just hi? Part of me told me something on the lines of, well your dad is just trying to be nice to hide his dickish self, don't pay any mind. Then there was that other side… that other side I never wanted to admit or believe existed.
It was almost as if part of me wanted to desperately reach out and grab him by the collar of the neck forcefully and… say hi back to him or something… And every time such thoughts appeared in my mind, I punched myself in the forehead, muttering something stupidly illegible, even to myself. I eventually held my forehead, trying to figure myself out. I didn't know… I didn't know…
"Alright… I don't think this thing goes further. And sadly, this thing can't swim… yet," Brick Road commented. His comment woke the other two up. Paula blinked, rubbing her eyes.
"Goes any further? What do you mean, Brick Road?" She asked. Paula got up and looked out the periscope. Then Ness. Then I, admittedly.
We were not too far off from what looked like to be the beach. But a couple hills blocking the way stopped the dungeon man from progressing completely.
"You might want to go off here, and maybe see if there's a path you can take to where you need to go," Brick Road said.
"Do we have to take the long way out?" Ness asked, almost disappointedly. Brick Road finally got off of the machine, jumping down from the platform. He rubbed his nose; his skin glistening in sweat and grime.
"You take the temporary good-bye exit," He said. "Follow me!" Brick Road practically slid down the winding railing of the stair case, as we just walked them down.
"Down this ladder, see? Just keep climbing down to each floor, and you'll get down there in no time!" The three of us looked down the ladder; it was dark.
"It's not like we've never climbed down a dark ladder before," Ness commented. "Aight, should we come back?" Ness asked Brick Road. Brick Road rubbed his chin as he looked out the round window.
"Yeah, report back to me and see if you can make any progress without me from now on," He told us. Ness smiled.
"Thanks Brick Road. We'll be back soon then!" Ness started to climb down the ladder as well as Paula, whom gestured me to tag along.
"Hope your journey's a successful one, Jeff," Brick told me. I looked at him, not quite knowing what I should respond with. I just ended up grunting, as I climbed down after them.
"Poor kid," I heard him say as I was already engulfed in darkness.
XxX
When we made it outside again, I came to the conclusion that I missed the air conditioning in dungeon man. The air all around us waved; it was a sensation that I had forgotten temporarily.
Walking in the desert again was not fun. But the closer we came to the edge of it, the more I could feel the ocean breeze again. It started to smell like the beach, but too hot and dry to identify it. There was almost a scent of rot in the air as well.
By the time we had started to hit the greener parts of the desert, looking back at Dungeon Man, he seemed small again, but not nearly as small as the first time we identified him from a distance.
But when we got to the shore of the ocean, I watched Ness as he took a hand and looked beyond the ocean; the river of salt.
In a near distance, there was more land. Land covered in moss, and deep greens and purples, and everything underneath seemed almost too dark to know what was happening. In a sense, in a distance, I could see gray clouds forming in, over the horizon.
"That must be it… Paula, what do you think?" Paula looked out into the distance as well.
"It has to be, what else could it be?"
Looking at the water however, I felt a new lump in my throat.
"So… crossing it?" I asked. There was no boat… I guessed it was swimming distance… if only I could swim and that I didn't actually fear the water.
"What about that submarine we saw on the third floor? Could that get us across?" Ness mentioned.
The submarine, I thought. Of course…
"You're a genius, Ness," I spoke in relief.
XxX
"Brick Road!" Ness shouted up as we looked at the massive statue again at the crotch level.
"Is that you again, Ness? You three come back again? Did you find a dead end?" Brick Road asked over the speaker. I rubbed the back of my neck.
"We see where we need to go, but there's a huge body of sea water in our way, and Jeff can't swim!" Paula shouted up. I shot Paula a sheepish glare.
"Hey!"
"Do you think that submarine you have… I think it's a submarine, is it a submarine, Jeff?" Ness asked me. I chuckled.
"Yes, Ness, it's a submarine," I replied. There was a long humming sound across the speaker.
"The problem is that it needs repairs," Brick Road responded. The three of us slouched our shoulders slightly.
"Erm… is it fixable?" I asked. There was a pause.
"Possibly. Are you willing to fix it if it can?" He asked me. Uhh…
"… Possibly?" Brick Road again was silent.
"Nah, I won't make you fix it alone, I'll help you," He added. Ugh…
"That's ok, I'd,"-
"You really think you can fix it, Jeff?" Ness smiled cutely at me. Double ugh!
"I'm pretty sure it isn't too hard to figure out,"-
"Alright, let's go get to that submarine then!" Paula said, as Ness timidly opened the hatch to get back inside of the dungeon man. I bit my lip.
What did I just get myself into?
XxX
"Hmmm…" Brick Road looked around the small yellow submarine, as if trying to remember something. He finally made his way to the back of it, opening up a hatch on the other side. All of us followed him slowly, as I watched him fumble with the submarines insides. Something in my mind told me to pull out those notes, so I did. However, when I started to even open the notes, Brick Road made another grunt.
"I remember what he said now," He said, standing back, oil now covering his hands, as he smeared it across his cheek.
"What seems to be the problem?" Paula asked.
"The connection is busted from back here to the cock pit of the submarine," He replied. "But I think the problem runs on both sides. It might take a long time if I did this by myself." I frowned.
"Aww no, really?" Ness asked. "I… I mean, not to put any pressure on, but I would like to get there asap…"
"Either way, this thing will help us cross, right?" Paula asked. Brick Road cleared his throat.
"Of course it'll help you guys… if I can fix it well enough," He replied. "I'm not really a mechanic after all; usually the Doc helps me out…" Brick Road rubbed the back of his neck while chuckling. For some reason, now that I was looking at him, compared to when I had first met him in Winters and when we first spotted him inside the dungeon man, he was more bubbly. Now it looked as if he was slightly worn down. I bit my tongue.
"I'll help you," I told him. The three of them looked at me, slightly at awe. I paused as well.
"…What? I said I'd help, so I'll help," I emphasized. "I'll help you fix the submarine." Ness finally cracked a soft smile, but Brick Road on the other hand looked slightly tentative. But accepting.
"Well… if you'd really like to, I'd love that," He replied. "I didn't think you'd be willing to help though… you know…" I know?
"Oh… well, I'll help," I told him again. "If you don't mind, we have a mission to attend to, so the faster this is done, the sooner we can leave." It shouldn't be too hard, I thought. After reading all of those textbooks on my free time during Maxwell's time out's, I'm pretty sure I stumbled upon at least one book or section dedicated to submarines. Hopefully my memory would serve me well despite.
"Well… alright, Jeff. I guess maybe we should eat something and get to work, yeah?" I glanced both at Ness and Paula. Paula's cheeks spread as she smiled, while Ness's smile was still soft, but meaningful.
"Yeah…"
Still, I think I was slightly regretting it.
XxX
It was late at night, I thought grumpily as I checked my watch. Ness and Paula did nothing but sleep today, I thought. It wasn't the fact that I couldn't but it was more the fact that… I don't know.
All of us were on the third floor where the submarine was, but Ness and Paula found a nearby, but private corner to go camp out on and sleep. I wiped my eye clean of the sleep goop that was manifesting underneath my eye, reaching underneath and lifting my glasses in the process. Then I ran the other tired hand through my hair, and left it there, as I gazed at the area I was working on, in the front of the submarine.
But working on it on my end really wasn't calming my nerves. Not at all, I thought. In fact…
I slammed one of the tools I held onto the ground, and picked up another, wrenching in a loose joint. Brick Road on the other side of the sub seemed to look over from the other end to check if everything was ok. I tried ignoring his gesture, frantically searching my tool box for the right tool to fix the problem. And while I tried most of them, none of them seemed to really help. I could only watch the pipe, as a substance would drop out every minute or so.
"Here," Brick Road startled me, as I blinked fiercely. I looked up to him, his golden-tan skin was covered in grime and oil as his arm held out a certain wrench that I was missing. I compared it to my problem, all before slowly hesitantly reaching out to him. Instead however, he took the wrench back, and instead knelt down beside me, to fix the problem himself. I snorted after a blank trance of thought.
"I could have fixed that you know…" I told him. I watched as he silently continued, tightening the gap until it was sealed again.
"There, good as new," He said, standing up. "If we keep things up, you three will cross the river in no time." I kept silent slightly, almost as if I was trying to avoid him in any way possible. But I just knew that Brick Road was going to try and keep the conversation going. He looked down.
"That book…" He said. "That's the same booklet that Andonuts had when he was here you know," He said. I frowned, turning my head.
"So what?" Brick Road knelt down, picked up the small booklet and thumbed through it.
"It's just very valuable and rare," He continued. "He was always brilliant, even when we were little," He continued. I blinked slightly.
"You… knew him?" I asked. "You knew my dad when you were younger?" Brick Road finally sat down, chuckling slightly.
"You'd be surprised. We've practically known each other since kindergarten," He continued. "He was in to physics and science. I was into puzzles and mysteries. We were always making stuff back then." I finally brought a knee up to my chest.
"I see…" I didn't know what I was thinking then. All I knew was nothing, and that whatever he was telling me just didn't seem…
"Of course, there was a time when he had to move away," he continued. "Just a town over, but we couldn't go to school with each other anymore, and we didn't talk much the times we were away from each other and,"-
-"Wait." I stopped him. Brick Road frowned.
"You don't like it when I talk about him, do you?" He finally said. I finally looked at him in the eyes. They were deep brown, deep and sincere, as if all of his goofiness had been set aside and what he was saying then seemed real.
"I…" I didn't really know what to tell him. Tell him that I've barely seen my own father? That we've never really bonded, or known any of his stories when he was younger, or…
"I… I just never knew that you knew him that well," I finished. "Even I don't know him… as well as you do." Brick Road paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out what I was saying.
"You know Jeff… if there's anything you want to know about your father, you know you can ask me," He finally said. I paused for a moment, thinking. There really wasn't much to think of, besides the few times I've seen him. I didn't even dare bring up our lovely reunion. But my mind kept trailing back to that letter.
"Is… is my dad's name really Loid?" I asked. Brick Road took in a breath through the nose.
"Loid… Loid. It's been forever since I've heard anyone refer to him as that," He said. I frowned.
"But why, if that really is his name, why isn't there any documents about him… stating his real name? If it were any other doctor or scientist, I'm sure they'd state their real name… why not him?" Brick Road thumbed through the pages, until he found the small scribbled letter.
"I'm not exactly sure. Maybe he just wants to leave a part of him behind. Maybe he just can't stand his name being said anymore," He explained. "Even I'm not exactly sure, but…"
"But…" I continued.
"They used to pick on him in school, you know," He continued. I raised an eyebrow.
"Who wasn't picked on in school?" I countered. However, Brick Road shook his head.
"No… he was bullied," he continued. I frowned.
"So? I was too, but I wouldn't avoid my name…" I trailed off, thinking about it for a second. Then my mind went blank suddenly.
Wasn't there plenty of times when I wished I either was someone else, or just wished I could just disappear? I frowned.
"No, he was bullied to where he'd be hiding. All the time. He still won't tell me exactly what kinds of things the kids would do to him at school, but it was enough for him to hide in trash cans and dumpsters," he continued.
"Did you two go to boarding school too or something?" I asked him. Brick Road shook his head no.
"Then he would have had a home to go to at least, right?" Brick Road yet again shook his head.
"His mother left her husband when he was very young. On her own, from what Loid told me… she didn't have the money to support him. And Loid's father was either never around; or too busy, or just told him to be a man and not be such a wimp about it." I could feel the lump in my throat, sinking deeper and deeper, until it rested right above my stomach.
"And don't get me wrong, his father was successful, before he died of lung cancer. But he died much later, at a time where he was better fending for himself. After all he,"- Brick Road paused for a moment, before looking at me.
"I'm sorry, is this making you feel uncomfortable?" He asked me.
It was. But it was a kind of hurt that I had been wanting more of; apparently, as I glanced up to him, and then glanced down.
"No… it's interesting just trying to affiliate any of this with him," I told him.
"Right…" Brick Road flipped through the notes again.
"Anything in particular you're trying to find?" I asked him. "I… I don't quite understand them yet." Brick Road smiled, putting the book down.
"Possibly. Apparently…" He gestured with his hand, holding the book up to his nose.
"The Frizzy Doc Andonut secret is in here," He told me. "It's the only thing he's ever written that supposedly reveals such a secret, and it's this secret that makes every single one of his inventions a success… including Dungeon Man." I bit my lip, slightly taken aback from the news.
"Then…" I continued. "He left that on purpose… in the sky runner," I started thinking out loud.
"I'm not quite sure yet what his secret is," He continued. "But he told me one day, one day when I came over to his house. You weren't even around yet, I don't think." I begged him not to bring up anything else about my younger childhood, I thought deep down.
"He was like, this is the answer I've been looking for all my life. This is the key to everything; I should have seen it before! Since then, he was everywhere, and that's how his reputation evolved. No one knows what his secret is, not even me, I can't even decipher this and I'm a certified puzzle genius. He still won't tell me…" Now I was itching to rip the booklet out of his hands. Just to frantically search the damn thing for his answer.
"He…" I spoke. My heart thumped as I looked at the booklet in his hands. The key to his scientific success. Something not even the text books would reveal. All carefully encoded in that small black leather booklet. The only such booklet in the entire world…
"He left that for me… he wants me to find out what his secret is!" It was as if there was a slight, new motivation provoking inside of me. With that secret, I thought… maybe I could fix the bazooka… fix anything.
"Yeah… I'm sure if anyone could figure it out, it would be his own son," He smiled. We were both silent for a moment.
"Let me show you something." Brick Road stood up, walking towards his end of the submarine, and walked back with his own books of notes and what not. My eyebrows perked up as he knelt down to my level.
"This dungeon man project wasn't a new idea, if you were wondering. This was something we've always wanted to create when we were younger," He continued as he flipped through his notes, all until he ran into a carefully folded big piece of paper.
"But it wasn't brought up again as a possible project, not until he spoke to me nearly ten years later, and showed me this." Brick Road unfolded the big piece of paper until it became a poster; a diagram. He carefully placed the diagram on the floor, as my eyes carefully scanned the image.
It was a drawing. A sketch of what seemed to be a robot, etched out in red and black pen. Notes, very few, but notes were scribbled here and there, as a ruler stretched from one edge of the paper to the other, measuring to be about eleven meters. The robot sort of looked like your typical robot, but at the same time had its own unique features. The head was pointy on each side, and it had long, thin flexible looking limbs, and what seemed to be a round core in the stomach area, notes pointed to this specific area in particular. My eyes scanned the capitalized letters at the bottom of the page:
E.V.E.
"What… is this?" I asked him.
"Apparently, this was someone Loid met… twenty years ago," he explained. I raised an eyebrow, scanning the diagram again. Brick Road rubbed his stubbed chin.
"I think he was in love with her in a sense, haha… not in a romantic way, just emotionally. Apparently she saved his life, and whoever else he was with… when he was out and all. But in return, she risked her life for them…" I bit my lip painfully at the phrase, risking her life. It was hard just trying to absorb the diagram, and trying to picture her in a real light.
"So you… he tried to recreate her… and thus dungeon man…" Brick Road finally frowned, as if wanting to put the diagram away.
"Sad thing was… Loid wasn't very pleased with our results," He continued. "Even if he knows this almighty secret, he just couldn't seem to recreate her… the way she was and all," he continued. "So we just stuck with our original plan and finished it. If only I knew… if only I saw what he saw when…" My heart always skipped beats whenever he trailed off like that.
"You said something earlier that I wanted to hear the rest of. What were you trying to say about him?" I asked. Brick Road finally looked serious, rubbing at his face, sighing as he turned to me.
"You really wanna know?" He continued. "I don't know if you'd want to believe me."
"Please…" I immediately said. "… You're telling me more about him than he ever could." Brick Road chuckled again slightly.
"Sounds like him," he replied. Then we sat there in silence again.
"Well… what can I say? He was having adventures, just like you are right now."
He was right, I thought. I didn't want to believe him, as I scanned the parchment. But then yet… somehow, I expected him to say something on the lines of that. My mind drifted back to when I was a child, and how I listened in on my dad's frightened voice.
"Something horrible will happen to the planet in approximately 20 years."
"Of course, as he would put it, it was about him and his friends saving the world and all," he continued. "I still don't really know what he means by that."
I finally, without thinking, was holding myself in a ball position, hugging my knees as the new information; the new reality started to sink into my skin. It was as if answers to questions I had never asked had suddenly been answered for me right off the bat… but the questions I've been holding in for so long were still left lingering in the air. It made me feel weak in a sense… and I didn't realize that my voice had started to shake.
But this… what was happening to me right now… was it linked? It… had to have been…
"Did you…" I started. But I had a hard time connecting my mind with my words right now, without a slur of mess spitting out. Brick Road started to take note of this, but I didn't look at him. I gripped my sleeve tightly, sinking my chin into my knees, focusing on nothing, so hard it hurt.
"Did you ever meet her… my mom…" Brick Road paused for a moment, as I was sure he was studying me.
"Yes… I met your mother," He replied. "Just once, never caught her name, or any other information, but I have met her," He continued. I swallowed hard.
"A… and?"
"Unreal," he continued. "She was gorgeous. Just completely unreal," he continued. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Can you describe her for me? What.. what did she look like?" I focused my ears on his words and his voice, as I heard him breathe slightly.
"Long… light, bright wavy blond hair, reaching down to just above her waistline. Skin of ivory with a light dusting of freckles on her shoulders and face. She was wearing some sort of lacy button up top and a flowery skirt. And a hat…"
Placing the pieces together in my mind, they seemed to fit well. Just missing a few details.
"A killer smile and… her eyes were enough to make you weak in the knees," He continued. "At least that what I felt like when I saw her."
"I don't know if this is something you'd like to hear from me, but wow, I'd like to know how he hooked up with her," He said. "But…"
I was completely silent then. Bitter… just a blank bitterness in the aftertaste of what he was just telling me.
It's just so many things, I thought. So many things that this man knows about my family that I…
"Then they had you," He finally said. "And I barely heard from him or her again after he was telling me how happy he was when you were born."
…What?
I held my head, as if someone threw a brick.
"That must have been a time when I was too young to even think on my own," I told him. "Besides, even still, he barely knows anything about me." There was a long pause.
"Even if Loid spends too much time in his 'void' as his bullies would call it… he knows enough about you to love you," he continued. I shivered violently.
"What are you talking about? He's far from loving me…"
"I hate you…" He spoke in my mind.
"There was never a time in my entire life that he loved me. Not once. He was never there for me. He never cared for me. And when it came down to the fact that he was forced to care for me, he abandoned me instead… threw me into a boarding school, and left me there for ten years…" I was rambling by then, and I wasn't sure if he could hear me or not.
"It was never about abandoning you," he told me. "He hated the idea." Propaganda at its finest, I thought.
"If he hated the idea of throwing me in such a situation, then why'd he do it?" I asked him bitterly. Brick Road, on the corner of my eye, rubbed the back of his neck.
"You see, people like Loid and I… we don't make good role models as fathers," He told me. "Since he was barely parented or paid attention to by his own father, he really didn't know, or learn how to do the job himself when the time came." I took in a deep, slow breath, and let it out slowly. Shakily.
"So he didn't want to be my father. He didn't love me. That's why he threw me out," I continued.
"He'd never throw you out… or abandon you. He did the best he could, he…" Brick Road finally got the sense that I really hated the direction of this conversation.
"Dad doesn't love me. He never has. Never will…" It was about time that Brick Road had started to become shaken up as well.
"You… you are so wrong," he responded. I squeezed my eyes shut at the response. "In fact… I can't believe how wrong you are." My blood turned to a boil.
Finally, I turned. I snapped. Blood shot, everything just slurred out, like an angry, unorganized rant that I had been holding in for ages.
"I ruined his life. I killed his wife. I make some silly sand structure for him; he tears it down. I wait… every day for the majority of my life to hear just a phone call from him… if he loves me so much, then why doesn't he just fucking tell me?" I was now glaring at him, eyes stinging from the battle of keeping back my tears. I couldn't read his expression, I couldn't…
"Why in the world… would he give a flying fuck about me…"
"…"
"Besides, he told me himself. He hates me… so why do I even try…" I was losing my battle, as the waterworks started slowly. My eyes, they hurt so much…
"No, Jeff…" He continued. "He loves you. So much." I could only glare at him; I probably looked hideous as those multiple fluids leaked out of my eyes, my nostrils…
"Prove it…"
"I don't have to…"
"And why not?"
"Because Jeff… you're the only thing he has left."
It was that simple phrase. That simple… such a simple arrangement of words that felt like a bull's-eye to the heart… to my already shattered mind.
I was beyond thinking straight anymore. I couldn't say anything more. Anything less.
Brick Road finally placed the booklet in front of me, as he took the poster of E.V.E. away. I could barely register the booklet now, however, and the next thing that Brick Road tried telling me.
"Well Jeff, it's late. Let's resume tomorrow, I don't think you're in the mood for solving mechanics anymore right now anyways," He told me.
I… I…
He knew well enough that I was still; as silently as possible, weeping. Breaking down, and falling apart. It was as if fixing the submarine cost my own repairs to go a bust.
"Hey…" Brick road placed his palms on my shoulders, patting them and letting go.
"Whatever you've been telling yourself… I can't stop you from thinking the way you do. But know that I'm not lying. Even if you don't want to believe it, know I'm telling the truth." He stood up, and winked at me.
"Good night…"
…
I said nothing back, as I spent at least an hour staring into blank space, trying to put my mind back together.
XxX
"So…"
Short transition, is all I can say. I fell asleep, got barely enough rest to prep me for the work in the morning. Ness and Paula however, played bus boys, as they'd go and find appliances and or props from certain parts of the dungeon. One time, they even had to break off a part of the dungeon man, in order to replace a missing part in the submarine.
Overall, I was calm. Quiet, but calm.
"Hmm?" Brick Road and I had been working in the same spot together for the past half hour in silence. His half was easy, and it seemed like it was ready to go.
"Did you know that Loid has an apprentice?" I don't know why I started calling my dad Loid… it started to become natural to me suddenly. And I didn't feel as bitter towards him when I referred to him with his real name. Was it because it made him more human and it comforted me? I wasn't sure…
"Yeah, I think he told me a little bit about his apprentice," He replied. "That chubby college kid… Apple Kid is what he goes by if I'm not mistaken?"
"Yeah…" There was a moment of silence between us as we tried untangling some of the wires in the compartment we were in.
"He kind of stinks, I've heard," He added. I chuckled.
"I can only imagine. I've never seen him before, only talked to him over phone."
"But yeah, I don't know much, but I've heard some good things about Apple Kid… and how he's not completely pushy. Andonuts doesn't like pushy characters. I'm glad that he picked up on the offer though…"
"You mean, Loid accepting his acquaintance?"
"Yeah. He really needs someone to talk to, at least once and a while. So he doesn't go completely anti-social. That wouldn't be very good," He added. However, my thoughts suddenly trailed into a different location.
"… What about Orange Kid?" I suddenly blurted out.
"What about him?" I brought my finger to my mouth, feeling the need to bite its skin.
"… I can only guess that Apple Kid and Orange Kid have been neck to neck before but… I can't help but think that Orange Kid is up to no good against us." Brick Road hummed, as he found an appliance.
"Hmmm. He does kind of sound familiar, but I have yet to know what kinds of inventions he's come up with." I bit my lip.
"He wants to find a way to un-boil eggs… doesn't that just sound odd to you?" I asked.
"Unless if he's trying to use the boiled eggs, and try to find a method to either convert them to a previous time, or time travel…" Half of Brick's mind was occupied as I looked at him.
Time travel…
…!
"Loid's doing the exact same thing…" I mentioned. "Something about… a Phase Disorder." Brick Road smiled.
"I knew he'd eventually get to that time machine theory of his," he replied. "He won't tell me why though." I had a hunch why he was doing it… but I didn't bring it up in the conversation.
"However… Loid's got something that Orange Kid doesn't have," He continued. "If anyone can figure out the problem to that science experiment, it's Doctor Andonuts."
For some reason, I smiled at that statement.
"… Maybe you're right." But then… if this was Orange Kid's purpose… then why was he doing it? Why did he have our eyes on us for so long? I shook my head.
"Hey, I think we're almost done," Brick said. "However we fix that, we'll,"-
For some reason, I had a feeling I knew where to start with our last problem, so I reached in. Grabbed the last loose wire, and somehow welded it into the socket it needed to go in.
"Hand me that tube that Ness found," I said. Brick Road slowly complied.
"Well, alright, Jeff," he replied. I took the tube, and found the area where it needed to be stuck in. Now it was all a matter of tightening the area, and sealing it off, and then from our calculations, it would have been done.
"Almost…" I grunted, sticking out my tongue as I smelt the metallic warm scent of gears and wires, as my hand burned from twisting the wrench around as tightly as I could.
"Hey! Look at that, you figured that out with no problem!" Brick Road said, slapping my back with laughter. "And you didn't even need your fathers note's or anyone's notes to do it!" I could only smile slightly, with a small snort.
"It's nothing… I just remember a few things from school." Brick Road looked at me for a moment, leaving his goofiness to the side momentarily.
"You know, you're a smart kid, Jeff. And it's not just because of Loid, but because you yourself are a bright kid," He continued. Baww…
"I don't know…" I rubbed the back of my head, feeling sheepish and shy.
"I… I finally retrieved the sandwich you left behind…" Ness and Paula approached us, tired and pooped out from all the running around they did together. I waved my arms above my head towards them.
"Hey, I think we're done!" I said. Paula took a moment to collapse to the floor while Ness supported himself on his knees.
"Brick Road, you should invest in an elevator or something, how can you stand living in a place like this?" Ness asked. Brick Road cast me a glance.
"It's my greatest accomplishment. It's my completed goal, and a vow of friendship. Therefore, it's my home," He added, winking to me as he stood up, and claimed the sandwich.
"Thank you, Ness and Paula," He added. He took a bite out of his sandwich and looked at the submarine and paused.
"Now that we fixed it, we should probably move this thing somehow…"
All of us felt like falling over in exhaustion from that statement.
XxX
"Well…" Brick Road started, as we came about the coast with the 3,000 pound or so submarine. "We made it."
We decided to wait another night before scouting out. I spent most of that day sleeping and catching up on my thoughts. Once and a while exchanging glances at a curious Ness from the distance. Things have been awkward between us lately, I thought.
It turned out that Brick Road did have an elevator of some sort, at least one that would help us get the damn submarine out and onto the hard desert dirt. He had the thing propped on a platform with wheels, and from there we all tugged the damn thing across the desert. It wasn't fun, but at least it wasn't as hot during the night.
And now it was almost breaking dawn, as we looked out to the next area we were bound to go through. I wondered where and when we'd meet up with Kato again?
"You think you can drive it?" He asked me. I looked at the water, intimidated by it at first. However, something new awakened inside of me, something that made me turn to him and smirk.
"Piece of cake," I told him. Brick Road could only smile, as he held out a hand.
"Then two minds apart from now on then," He told me. I collided my hand firmly into his, and kept it there for a moment.
We had pushed the submarine into the deep, salty water. Ness and Paula climbed on top of the submarine.
"Hurry, Jeff!" Ness told me. "Maybe we can make it there before the sun rises completely!" I knew Ness wasn't trying to rush me, but I knew that he was becoming very anxious. I couldn't blame him though; I was so effing sick of the desert!
"Oh, and Jeff…" I turned to Brick Road as I started to climb on the submarine. I looked back at him, not with glaring eyes, but with open eyes. Open for interpretation.
"… Figure out those goddamn notes, will you?" He added. I smiled, and waved.
"Consider it done," I told him. Because I knew deep down inside, that was my destiny; if I had one. I would figure out those notes, and I would find out what Loid's secret really was. I climbed on top, until pausing, looking out into the distance. The salty breeze blew past my bangs as my mind was in deep thought. I turned around.
"Will I ever see you again?" I asked. Brick Road crossed his arms.
And winked at me. Then turned around and walked away, waving the back of his hand towards me. I paused, a smile creeping up onto my features.
"Jeff, what are you doing up there?" Paula giggled. I watched for a moment, as Brick Road walked back, seeing way in the distance, the dungeon man. An attempt on E.V.E. but instead becoming its own thing.
It was never going to be E.V.E. I thought. It was always going to be what Brick Road and Loid envisioned in their youth. I sighed.
"Alright alright, sorry I've been neglecting you two for so long," I laughed lightly, climbing into the submarine.
Crossing the river was a piece of cake, I thought.
And it only took a little motivation and confidence to prove it.