"Hey Espio, what does this say?" Charmy said flying into the living room of their small detective agency. Espio looked in his direction, tea cup in one hand, the other held out for the small scroll in the bee's hands.
"Charmy, you know I hate it when you open my mail" he scolded as Charmy floated right in front of him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a piece of work, now read this Japanese houses and trees and tell me what it means!" he toddler said shoving the paper enthusiastically into Espio's face. Espio wasn't in the mood for playing with Charmy right then, so he just took the paper and put it at his side.
"No, now leave me alone so I— wait... it's written in Japanese..?" Espio was about to dismiss the boy, but the idea of Japanese being sent to him in a scroll (different from the normal letters in English, that he insisted the mailman roll into a scroll, for nostalgia reasons), intrigued him. Quickly, Espio pulled the paper to his face and began reading the familiar characters in near desperation.
"Yeah... unless this is what morse code looks like written down..." Charmy mused, ignoring the look on Espio's face when he finished reading the mysterious scroll.
"..." his silence was nothing like Espio's usual silences. No, this silence caused the steel nerved ninja to shake where he stood. His tea, safely held in his hand now decorated the wooden planks that made up their floorboards. His face a much paler shade of magenta than the rest of him, Espio was... terrified.
"SOOO?! What's it say, what's it say, what's it sayyyy?!" and Charmy couldn't see that.
"Kako ni wa, shinu koto wa arimasen..." he said breathlessly. Absentmindedly he covered his mouth, hating the words exiting his mouth.
"IN ENGLISH, ESPIOOOO!" Charmy whined ignorantly. Espio quickly pulled his hand away from his mouth and realized that he was clutching the paper tighter than he intended. What was this?
"It doesn't matter—" he tried to explain, turning around to walk back to his room. But Charmy wouldn't let it go.
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell—!" the bee annoyingly chanted. He was not going to let Espio run away from him. And man was he using the most annoying way to get the interpretation out of him.
"Stop that—" the older man tried to command.
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell m—!" But clearly to no effect.
"Charmy, cease this—" Espio tried again.
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell—!" But Charmy persisted.
"Child, leave me, right now—!" the chameleon was losing it.
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Te—!" Charmy repeated as he moved closer and closer to the unhinged Espio. The reptilian ninja was hardly in control of his movements, the suddenness of this cryptic message, what it meant for the future, what it meant for his past, how he was going to figure out what to do, it was too much. And Charmy's incessant pestering was getting old, real fast. On reflex alone, he grabbed one of his kunai knives that remain on his person and fought the overwhelming urge to lunge at the badgering bee.
And just as he thought he couldn't contain himself any more—
"CHARMY!" Vector shouted loud enough to shake the whole building. Charmy instantly stopped talking and the surprise of Vector's appearance gave Espio the clarity he needed to holster his weapon. Charmy, now feeling out of line for his behavior looked at Vector fearfully. The crocodile was not happy.
"..." the bee remained silent, hoping that if he stayed quiet enough, Vector wouldn't be so scary looking. He was wrong. Vector was highly upset, more so than the time Charmy replaced his music with recordings of airplane take offs. The boy seriously thought the muscular crocodile would really hurt him. Like, break his skull or something. And as Vector walked toward him, Charmy, quickly backed as far from him as he could, which wasn't far, considering there was a wall not 2 feet behind him. Vector loomed in front of Charmy, his intimidation palpable, his expression furious.
"Let. This. Go." he said through gritted, sharp teeth.
"But Vector—" Charmy tried to say, but in an effort to escape Vector's imposing gaze, he saw Espio. He really looked at him for the first time since he gave him the letter. The chameleon, normally cool, calm, and collected, was a frantic, shivering mess, compared to the norm. Of course even in his less dignified moments, Espio was more dignified than either of his teammates. But still, Espio wasn't supposed to look like that, nothing scared him... but here he was... terrified. And that made the words die in Charmy's throat.
"Kid, I mean it... Don't... It's personal..." Vector sighed, his anger subsided once he saw that the boy understood how this effected Espio. The crocodile turned off his intimidation and went into a more paternal mode, making Charmy feel more relaxed.
"... oh... why didn't you just say that?" he whispered to his older companion, wishing to be sensitive to the still silent Espio.
"Because it's THAT personal, Charmy" the detective laid a large hand on Charmy's side, wanting to keep his attention.
"..." the chameleon stayed still for a moment, before quickly walking through some doors to his room that lied deeper in the building.
"Espio, wait!" called the child, who wriggled out of Vector's hold, but the large reptile grabbed him by his head before he could follow after their mysterious acting comrade.
"He needs some alone time now, kid. Let's let him have it..." he ordered as he gently pulled the bee back to his original spot, hovering right next to the wall. Charmy glanced at Vector curiously, then back at the doors Espio escaped to, and returned his gaze to Vector, knowing his instructions were right. The two of them walked to the kitchen in silence and moved to sit at the table.
"... Vector... do you know what all that means?" Charmy finally got the courage to ask.
"... yeah, I do" Vector answered after a moment of silence. He let the answer hang in the air, content not answering it. But of course, Charmy was not. He was too curious to let this go completely.
"... well what does it—" he started, but the crocodile decided giving him what he wanted was best.
"It means someone died... 'shinu' means dies, Charmy..." solemnly answered Vector. That left Charmy with his mouth agape in horror, which bought some quiet, but not a comfortable one, and not a long one either.
"Did someone Espio knows die?!" the child asked, incredibly mortified. Vector leaned back in his chair, causing the cheap thing to creak uncomfortably.
"Maybe... but really, it's none of our business..." he answered maturely. The crocodile secretly wished he could be privy to the information, but saves his feelings about it for later.
"Was this guy Japanese?!" Charmy asked incredulously, making Vector smile, just a bit. The kid had a habit of making him do that.
"... yes, most likely. Espio's from a village in Chun-Nan, Japanese is their national language. Maybe one of his friends died" the reptile guessed, sighing sadly afterwards.
"Awww man... that sucks..." Charmy commented, tears developing in his eyes. Vector got up and ran a cup under the kitchen sink.
"Yeah... it sucks rocks..." he said after turning back around, placing the cup in front of Charmy, and sitting back in his seat. The older man looked off into space, deep in thought as the boy drank his water to cool his emotions a little. He silently thanked Vector for not allowing him to cry in front of him. Drinking the last drop of tap water, Charmy eyed the inside of his cup, thinking about how Espio is taking this news. Wondering if he could do something, if anyone could do something. After several minutes of silence, he figured the best thing to do is ask the smartest person he knew.
"... what should we do?" whispered the bee, almost desperately. He looked up at Vector, but his head still faced the cup resting in his lap.
"Like I said... give him his space, Charm" the wise leader sighed, getting up from the table, walking over to Charmy, and holding his hand out expectantly. The bee slowly flew to Vector's shoulder and sat on the stable perch, leaning his head and folded arm on his scaly head.
"... alright" he agreed quietly. Vector walked them both out of the kitchen before walking to the living room and turning on some cartoons for the worrisome bee to unwind with.
It took a few hours, but Charmy got drowsy and fell asleep on the couch, allowing Vector to carry him to his room and tuck him in for the night. With the squirt finally down, the crocodile went outside and sauntered around to the back porch of the Chaotix agency. He was familiar with Espio's special spot and knew he needed to check on him without Charmy intruding.
When he rounded the corner and saw the magenta chameleon, sitting with a knee up to his chest and his other leg flat on the ground, his back hunched forward and his arm draped on the top of his knee, he knew his ninja associate wasn't doing so hot. If he were, he would be sitting in a meditative pose, you know, crisscross applesauce, with his hands in a ninja sign of some sort, back straight as a board.
But no, this sitting pose... it was wrong... Vector finally got out of his staring when he realized Espio had been looking at him from the corner of his eye the entire time he was standing there analyzing him. Well, he might as well continue his plan.
The tall crocodile calmly paced to his companion's side and sat on the alley wall adjacent to Espio's current perch. It was a good couple of feet away from the ninja, no matter what mood he was in, Espio liked his space and invading it was a mistake Vector was wise enough not to make. If Espio didn't like Vector's presence, he didn't say it or give him any reason to think so, he was more than willing to sit together silently.
And for a moment, they did. Vector had gotten to know the chameleon fairly well over the years. One thing he learned early on, if the shinobi is given enough time in comfortable silence with you and there is no eye contact being made, he will be willing to talk about whatever for a short period of time. So Vector was quiet and looking off into the same distance that Espio was, for a while, until he felt it safe to say something.
"... If you don't mind me askin'..." he started, but paused for a response.
"I do..." the chameleon said only half-sarcastically.
"You ok?" the crocodile finished, the sincerity of his voice causing Espio to shift his other knee up to his chest, his other arm slowly crossing to meet his elevated one.
"... Not particularly" whispered Espio candidly.
"Wanna talk about it?" his boss asked, not wanting to push it any further if Espio didn't want him to.
"... Not particularly" he said a little louder than his previous whisper.
"Figured... still, I just thought I'd—"
"Yeah... I know..." the ninja cut him off, saving him from having to explain his feelings of worry. He was grateful for his concern but... this wasn't something he wanted to talk about. It wasn't something he even wanted to think about.
"Glad you do, Espio..." Vector responded, thankful for his partner's understanding. Espio looked at Vector sadly, thinking all the while he didn't want to burden him or Charmy with any of this... whatever this actually was... their safety, their peace of mind, it meant more than talking about this. Besides, he was a ninja... bottling up emotions was one of the first things he was taught. Even though he didn't allow that teaching to take complete root inside of him, he did like to keep his emotions in check most of the time. And when they get out of hand, Espio made sure he didn't let too much control slip away from him.
He turned his gaze back at nothing and thought this was probably nothing anyway...
... no... that wasn't true...
It wasn't nothing... he knew that...
He just didn't want to admit it...
Vector let the silence reign for a few long moments before chiming in again, fearing the look on his normally stoic companion's face change more drastically than he desired to see.
"Just one more question though" he said, clearing his throat a little.
"If you must..." Espio sighed patiently.
"Who isn't dead or rather what isn't dead?" Espio turned to him, surprised he could translate a bit of the message.
"I regret teaching you that bit of Japanese" he chuckled, accidentally, but nonetheless made Vector's spirits lift a bit. He was making at least a bit of a difference on Espio and that was all that mattered to him right now.
"Yeeeah. Probably wasn't your best decision" the green reptile chuckled a bit, hoping to keep the good mood rolling.
"..." the chameleon going mute on him made him rethink his previous assumption that the chuckle was a sign of Espio's mood lifting. Maybe his time for talking was done already. Weird, he thought he had at least another 5 minutes left. Hmm, this must be really serious to mess with his timing like that.
"You know what, it's fine. Don't tell me, really. It's okay, maybe it's too private to share with—"
"The past" Espio kept him from further backing out.
"Huh?" Vector quietly grunted. The ninja looked at him for a moment, took in his earnest and understanding eyes, and knew he had to tell him something. He couldn't leave him without a bit of a clue, that wouldn't be right.
"The past never dies. That's what the message said..." Espio explained before averting his eyes to the void, keeping the eye contact from getting out of line.
"... hm..." Vector quietly hummed to himself. It was a cryptic, disturbing statement for anyone, let alone a former ninja. This was definitely more serious than he could have imagined. He looked at the now space-staring chameleon, his expression less fearful, more complex than simple fear or paranoia.
"Yes... it's as I feared..." he said more to himself than Vector. The crocodile slowly moved to his feet and stepped to Espio's side for a moment.
"..." they both remained silent, but Vector slowly moved his hand to Espio's slender shoulder, hoping to provide some sort of comfort to him. I mean, really, what else could he have done? He couldn't tell him everything was going to be alright when he didn't even know what was going on, and he couldn't offer his help for the exact same reason. This was all he could offer.
"Vector no offense but I... I sincerely desire to be alone right now..." when Espio said this, it was clear that even the shoulder grab wasn't effective either. Right now, Vector, despite trying his best, couldn't do anything for Espio. All he could do... was try not to take it personal and let him know that he was there for him even if he didn't want him there right now.
"If you don't mind..." Espio asked looking up at the towering crocodile. He removed his hand from Espio's form and smiled sadly at him.
"Say no more, man... dinner's in the fridge whenever you're ready to eat... It's instant ramen..." Vector kindly said as he opened the back door, behind Espio and stepped back inside the house.
"My favorite" Espio chuckled again, grateful for Vector's efforts. Truly grateful, no matter how small or great the attempts to make him feel better were. But he just wasn't ready to feel better yet.
Vector grinned appreciatively down at Espio, keeping his eye on him for just a few seconds longer. He knew he wasn't really doing much to help with whatever past that isn't dead rearing its ugly head back into Espio's life. But the little things meant something in the long run and he knew the chameleon knew that, which is what earned him just a little bit of a deeper look into Espio and a freaking chuckle to boot. It warmed the old croc's heart, bonding with his teammates. But, he didn't want to push it, the guy DID just ask to be alone.
"... Welp, I better go get Charmy. Keep him from doing something crazy and/or stupid" he joked before going back inside the house. He knew Espio knew the kid was asleep, but he couldn't tell him what he was actually about to do; stay up all night worrying about what Espio was going to do in retaliation to this cryptic message. And he was going to pretend he got a full night's sleep and try his damnedest to make tomorrow feel as normal as possible for him.
"... thanks Vector..." Espio said quietly under his breath. He knew exactly what Vector was going to do and he knew he wouldn't stop letting the ninja know that he was there for him. And Charmy, in his own way, was sure to offer any help he could. He knew that nothing could stop the sender of this message from bringing his past on broadcast to them. And that was something he would NOT let them do.
He fought hard to get away from his past and he wasn't going to let him turn him into the... monster he used to be. Since he decided to leave that life behind, he's met wonderful people, made a new life for himself, and kinda been adopted by two of the kindest people he had ever met. And even though they aren't rich, they've always somehow got instant ramen noodles for him to enjoy.
So whatever the sender of this message was planning, did the shinobi seriously have anything to worry? No matter what happens, they wouldn't look at him any differently, they would still be willing to stay with him... it's just... The chameleon clutched his stomach stressfully, thinking of the most horrible question that has been rattling around his head the entire day:
How would they feel if they found out he was... an assassin?