Chapter 8

In which Clover wakes up to see Aoi Kurashiki, who tells her that they must leave for Kingman soon, and realizes too late that she and her brother are in love with the same man.

"Just leave me alone!" she screams. Her voice was so soft before, mumbling the words low enough that he did not hear her, and prompting her to repeat the quiet words a few times.

But now, she has snapped, and Aoi doesn't want to leave her alone. There are so many things that could go wrong at this point. Akane had warned him that Clover was the impressionable factor that would determine his sister's fate — the true ending or a bad end.

"Clover — "

"Go away," she sobs softly, feeling herself slide down the wall and crumpling into a mess on the linoleum floor of the hall just outside of the 1st class cabin.

"Hey . . ." He crouches down to the floor and grasps her shoulders. "Calm down. We're doing our best to find him."

Her throat tightens and her nose stings a bit. "What if . . . what if he is dead?" She turns to face him, moisture in her eyes. She holds up her hands, and turns them over so that her palms are faced upward. Her vision is blurry from her tears, but she stares at her shaking hands. "What if Zero killed him?"

Suddenly, Aoi could see a way to steer the course of the direction Clover would take them. "That's too obvious. That's what that bastard wants us to think. And think about it. Where would Zero have killed Snake anyway? Is he even on this ship? If he is, where is he?"

She turns to him with a grave expression. "H-He . . . he could be one of us."

Aoi shrugs nonchalantly. "He could be," he agrees, trying to maintain an innocent face. It would be bad if he gave Clover, or anyone else, for that matter, an impression that he was behind Light's disappearance.

Her sad, teary eyes meet his. "You . . . you didn't kill my brother, did you, Santa?"

He shakes his head vigorously. "No, I didn't, I promise you," he swears. He would never even dream of killing the man? "How are you so sure he's dead, anyway?"

"Well, he could be dead." Her voice is soft, but broken. Her hands are folded, almost in prayer, as she looks down. "It's more than likely that he is dead, in a sick place like this."

Aoi can't bear to see her suffer like this. "But he could be alive," he points out. This whole game was composed of many basic Schrodinger's cats, two specific examples being Snake and Akane, as she once explained to Aoi . . . Ah, he's going to be too obvious! Aoi needs to shut his mouth up at this point, or else she'll figure it out.

"Do you believe in luck, Clover?"

She swallows and nods slowly. "Well, my name is Clover."

"Then, why do you think Snake's dead? Clover, you're his 4-leaf clover — his good luck charm. Do you think he can die if you're around?"

Her eyebrows furrow and she shakes her head slowly, accepting defeat. "Faith, love, and luck," she murmurs softly.

"Hope." His voice is a mere whisper, but she manages to catch it it.

She whips her head towards him, with her eyes widened in surprise. "What? What did you just say!?"

Aaaaaaaaaaaugh, he needs to tape his fucking mouth shut. "I . . . I said that you need to be hopeful. Be hopeful that he isn't dead."

Clover could swear that he — no, it is probably just a coincidence. There's no way that he could know about what Snake said in the First Nonary Game . . . could he?

But, a few hours later, when Junpei tells her about the bookmark, she recalls Santa's words once more.

For the rest of the Nonary Game, she is certain that he was on the Gigantic with her brother — another participant of the First Nonary Game. He has to be a friend, not an enemy.

. . . It did stung when the words, "Shut up! Just shut up, you stupid bitch! You want me to put a bullet in your fucking head?!" spat from his mouth, and she felt an odd sense of betrayal at the time, but when she closes her eyes and feels her skin soak up the hot Nevada sun, she understands that it was all for his sister. That is when she thinks to herself determinedly that she will find Aoi Kurashiki, even if she has to travel to heaven and to hell to do so.

.

As confused and disoriented as she feels, as if she took an unexpectedly long nap in the middle of the day, only to awake 7 hours later, Clover never thought she would feel so tingly like this.

She woke up to the man she has been dreaming to meet sitting by her side. The room (which looked more like an abandoned warehouse-turned, cheap housing space) she was in was definitely not hers. He searched her face as a sly smirk played on his lips — it had made her heart skip a beat. "Good morning, princess," he greeted teasingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

She gasped. "Santa!" She wrenched out of the unknown bed, but immediately slapped a hand to her forehead as a dizzy spell pushed her back onto her pillow.

His eyes widened as he grasped her arm, trying to restrain her from sitting up. "Hey, don't stress yourself out. You're okay . . . you've just been sleeping for a long time." And it seemed, by the dark circles beneath his eyes, that he has not.

Her eyes bugged out and she smacked her hand to her forehead. "How long?!"

"Approximately a little over a week."

"What!? I slept through Christmas and New Years?!" She wanted to get out of bed and run to the nearest phone to call Light — he must have been so worried — but, once again, Aoi held her down. "I need a phone! I need to call my brother!"

"Clover, relax, please," he soothed, rubbing her shoulder. "He has been informed that you're okay, so don't rush yourself in trying to get out of bed. We don't have to leave for another few hours, anyway." He rose from the bed and walked over to the small kitchen area in front of the bed.

She struggled to recall what had happened before she was brought here, but the only thing that came to mind was her superior and their plans to infiltrate Free the Soul's facility. "Alice!" she cried, and her widened eyes met his. "San — uh, Aoi! Where am I? Why have you brought me here, and where the hell is Alice?" She paused, before recalling his previous words. "Where are we going?!" Her stomach rumbled loudly at that moment, making her blush in embarrassment — this was not how she wanted her first meeting with Aoi Kurashiki after a year to go down.

Aoi returned with a tray with a large stack of lacquer boxes full of many Japanese dishes, and a small bowl full of fried chicken, that he then placed on the bedside table. ". . .You must be so hungry." Clover sat up as he handed her a glass of water and a few pills. She graciously took the pills, and downed them with the water he gave her. When he saw that she finished taking her medicine, he took the glass from her, got the tray and steadied it on her lap. "Alice is fine, don't worry; you'll see her again very soon. You, Clover, are here because you're a very necessary part of our plan." She began to ravish the food, suddenly feeling like a starved cavewoman. He grinned as he leaned against the wall. "Fried chicken from KFC, since you slept through Christmas, and Osechi Ryori to start the New Year, even though we're not in Japan."

Clover nodded excitedly, as she immediately grabbed the tray and dug in to eat; she felt an immediate sense of satisfaction and elation as she chewed through her chicken — savoring the taste of the buttermilk crusted skin of the fried meat. "Kentucky for Christmas!" she cried out happily.

He laughed. "Yes . . . And, oh, to answer the last of your questions: welcome to one of the secret, Crash Keys underground bases." He smirked, probably amused by her reactions. After all, she knew that he knew that SOIS had been trying to locate Crash Keys for so long, not only because they were in need of more espers from the First Nonary Game, but because they wanted the vigilante organization to share information with SOIS. "We will soon be making our way to Kingman, Arizona. My sister has explained to me what is going on, and, I promise, I'll explain to you in the car."

Clover nodded once again, this time more seriously. "Alright. But don't you withhold any important information from me, alright?!"

He rolls his eyes. "Wouldn't fucking dream of it. But do prepare for a sensory overload, since I do have much information to share with you."

That was not important; Clover didn't care what crazy things he was about to tell her — she was just so excited to finally see and talk to him again.

So, as they drove to Kingman, she thought about all of the times she had talked about finding Aoi. She had so many things to say to him, but didn't know where to begin.

Suddenly, Clover broke away from her thoughts and realized that Aoi stopped talking. She looked up to see him smirking. "Clover."

"Santa — um, Aoi." She smiled back blushingly. Aaah, way to go, Clover! Already making an idiot out of yourself in front of him.

"What's on your mind?"

"Not much. Just that it is 2029 . . . Happy New Year, Aoi."

"Happy New Year, Clover." He gave her a genuine smile — she didn't know that it is the happiest and most hopeful New Year that Aoi has experienced since his parents' deaths.

Now, they sit in the minivan with two familiar faces, and two new friends. Aoi begrudgingly sits in the backseat with Junpei, while Akane and Maria sit in the two back passenger seats in front of them. Clover, on the other hand, sits in the passenger seat that is next to the driver.

"Maria? You alright back there?" Carlos tries to confirm, as he alternates between looking at the road and looking at his sister through his rearview mirror when he speaks to her.

Maria nods reassuringly. "Yes, Carlos." Clover turns to see her innocent smile. Maria behaves a little less mature than her actual age, but Clover understands that it is due to the coma induced by her Reverie Syndrome — which she can't wait to go back home and explain to Light about.

Aoi wasn't lying when he warned her about an information overload; he told her everything: from the timeline in which Radical-6 escaped, in which he talked about her and Alice (who is still in cold sleep, as of now) being participants of the AB Game and the reason why they were needed for that, to the Decision Games, and whatever else Akane has told him via telephone and morphogenetic field. He also told her that her presence was necessary since she is an experienced esper who could help Carlos, Akane, and Junpei cure Carlos's sister's illness. Clover was so quick to agree to help Carlos and his sister, because she knows that she would want someone to help her if she and Light were in the same position, heaven forbi —

Akane, who has been chatting with Maria and Aoi, breaks Clover out of her thoughts. "Hey, Clover! I might need to ask you a favor regarding Light."

"Akane!" Aoi suddenly snaps at his sister, which causes Clover to jump in her seat. He coolly leans back in his seat and crosses his arms defensively over his chest. "Stop this, now. What did I tell you before? You're making a mountain out of a molehill"

"No, I'm not!" she insists firmly, as she purses her lips. "I can see it in your eyes every time you talk about him." She reaches over to place her hand on his arm reassuringly and turns to Clover. "It might be a bit forward of me to say this, since I can't say for certain that your brother feels the same way, but we have to set up Aoi with Light."

Clover feels the blood drain from her face as her eyes widen. She feels her suddenly stiff face settle into a confused look. "Set Aoi up with . . . Light?" she hesitantly repeats.

Akane nods enthusiastically. "I don't think I've heard him stop talking about him since . . . we were kids, actually. Of course, his talks magnified after last year."

"Oh, god." Junpei begins to laugh next to Aoi. "According to Akane, he hasn't been able to shut up about Light for so long."

"You, shut the fuck up," Aoi grouses to Junpei, flashing him a middle finger, which Junpei returns cheekily. This causes Akane to scold them both and slap their arms playfully.

Aoi likes Light?! Though she is devastated to discover this, she is also very confused. She didn't even think . . . she didn't realize that Aoi liked guys. She only followed where her feelings took her, without any thought for Aoi's sexual preference or feelings. God! What the hell were you thinking, Clover?! You thought it'd be a sappy romance novel where you'd run into his arms and he'd tell you that he has feelings for you, too, you idiot. You didn't even stop to realize he didn't like girls, let alone like you?! she screams in her mind. Are you fucking blind!? He likes Light, not you!

But what could she have done? She was blindfolded by her feelings for him, her desire to find him after the Second Nonary Game, that she wasn't able to see that Aoi didn't like her, but her brother! . . . And, oh, how selfish she has been! Light! He likes Light! What if Light has always liked him back?!

"Aoi," she calls out, grabbing his, and the others' attentions. With slumped shoulders and a heavy heart, Clover gives Aoi a cheerful grin. "He . . . talks about you, too." It is only now that she realizes how Light has, in fact, always talked about Aoi in admiration, after both Nonary Games.

Perhaps, she has been inattentive to her brother's feelings. No, not perhaps . . . she has been so inattentive. She has been so caught up in Free the Soul and SOIS that she hasn't realized that she has been stupidly falling for the same man her brother has loved for years. She feels something prick her skull as she realizes how wretched of a sister she is. Light is such a caring brother, who needs no words to understand Clover, but she . . . she is a terrible sister, who didn't even have an inkling about his feelings for Aoi.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, she berates herself mentally, her throat suddenly tightening, threatening to let out a sob. You didn't think, as usual, and look where it's led you.

Aoi's ears perk up at her words, unaware of her depressed state. "Is that so?" He terribly fakes a nonchalant voice, which is actually full of curiosity and delight; it both elates and breaks Clover's heart.

She swallows down the feelings of sorrow stuck in her throat and feebly smiles. "Yes. Aoi. If you need a little Light in your life, I know just the guy that can help you out." She winks at him, but inside, she feels the bits of her heart slowly cracking. Everyone laughs at Aoi's expense, as the tips of his ears turn red. Clover, to not dampen the mood, tries her best to keep in place a mask of happiness, but when she turns away to stare straight ahead at the road, her smile immediately falls and her face crumbles.

Light is her world, so, if Aoi is the one he loves, she'll happily give up the one she loves for him.

To anyone that does not like this development, if you will, I promise that this sibling triangle won't be central to the plot, and is a one-chapter thing; this is simply in the story because I do want to give these three characters some closure and an ending of sorts, since they aren't really brought up in ZTD (and also because I'm just a sucker for some Aoi/Light).

Next chapter is the nineth chapter, which marks the halfway point and the start of big things that are going to happen. Prepare yourselves! ;)