October. A month full of suspicion. Most people think of Halloween when they think of October. Few can recognize the true beauty of it. The beauty of the rain falling on the slowly yellowing leaves. The gentle breeze carrying the faint sent of pumpkin pie. Because of this, October becomes a symbol of peace. For GWANAN, who is constantly fighting and carrying out duties, this is a valuable time of the year when they get to relax between fights. Or so they thought....
~*F*~
“You picked the wrong fight,
buddy!” Ally Kat yelled as she implanted her feet into the other
person's stomach, causing them to fly backwards.
“You're not getting away!” Konrad
announced, grabbing the collar of his opponent and placing a knife at
his throat. Meanwhile, Ven and Carumati sat quietly in the corner of
the shop, drinking hot chocolate and each searching on their
computers.
“Alright, so what's the big idea
here? What did you think you'd accomplish, huh?” Konrad asked,
holding on tightly to the young man in front of him.
“We were hired! We had no money.
The boss was gonna pay us big for this job. Otherwise, we don't know
anything!”
“Sheesh. You seriously think this
will help you any? If you want money, go find yourself a decent job.
Now tell us, who's the guy you work for?” Kon interrogated.
“We're not sure ourselves. We were
met by a different person for each job. We don't know what the actual
boss looks like.”
“Could you at least tell us what
these other guys looked like?”
“Well, all of them were famous
actors. There was Rose Linne from the film, “I'm Not Gonna Cry,”
Jack Donald from “When the World Went Insane,” and Lee Tum from
the musical, “If I Was Rich.” There were other people that I
didn't recognize, but they all looked rich and famous.”
“A bunch of famous people? Could it
be all of them are getting together for a big plan or something?”
Konrad wondered.
“No.... It sounds more like... a
shape-shifter,” Ally suggested thoughtfully.
“A shape-shifter? You're right.
Man, this is gonna be harder than I thought. When I took this job, I
was expecting a short skirmish for a day and that would be that. But
if this is a shape-shifter we're dealing with, this could take a lot
longer. And I was so looking forward to our date tonight,” Konrad
sighed.
“I already told you, I'm not going
out with you!” Ally shouted.
“I'm certain I would have been able
to convince you by tonight, though,” Konrad said.
“Ignore him. Ignore him.” Ally
thought to herself. Out loud, she said, “Well, boys, thanks for
cooperating with us. Sorry for the injuries.” Ally helped the man
she had kicked down back to his feet.
“You're not gonna turn us in?”
the man asked.
“Nah. But if we ever see you doing
this sort of thing again, we will,” she warned.
“Right! Thank you! Thank you, very
much!” The two of them ran out of the shop.
Ally looked around and gave a sigh of
relief. “Good, we didn't mess anything up this time. We wont have
to spend anything on repairs.”
“Is money all you can think about?”
Konrad asked, playfully.
“It's necessary when you're
around,” Ally retorted.
“You guys find anything?” Kon
said this to Ven and Carumati, who were working hard at their
laptops.
“We looked up the actors mentioned.
They all have something in common that a lot of people don't know
about. One year on October 31st, for an autumn festival,
they all performed a small play called, “The Autumn Funeral.” It
was based off of an old tale from the town. The plot is that there
was a rich, young girl was forced to go home alone one night. As the
day was getting dark and rainy, she took a short cut through a
graveyard. As she passed through, she tripped and fell in a hole that
had been dug for a funeral taking place a few days later. No one came
to find her, and she died of lack of water. Later, at the funeral,
the grave diggers who hated the girl found her in the hole and
secretly buried her with the other body. Because of this, no one knew
she was dead, and no one found her. As a young boy, the girl's lover,
walked by, he heard her calling to him and he followed the sound of
her voice until he came upon a note which said, “I have fallen
below the earth. Please, find me.” He wasn't sure what this meant,
but knew something was wrong and organized a search party. Every day
he returned to the grave and every time he found a new note saying
things like, “Fallen” and “Beneath you.” Eventually, the boy
figured it out and dug up the grave of the girl and the person she
was buried with. However, because he dug up the grave, the spirit of
the other person was angered and pulled him into the hole where the
boy also died. It is said in the original tale, that these two
spirits come out every Halloween and haunt anyone that comes near the
graveyard. That's why, one year, the people decided to hold a
festival, in hopes that it would appease them.”
“You're kidding, right? Ghosts
don't exist,” Konrad spoke.
“Exactly my thought. The story
really has no bearing on our problem. But look at this.” Ven pulled
up a photo of all the actors and actresses. All of them were very
famous. Pointing to one young man in the middle, Ven stated, “This
one is not famous. Rather, he and his name don't even register. I'm
certain this is our shape-shifter. A shape-shifter can only change
shape into someone they've met or else to their original form or a
younger version. I'm certain this is his true form.”
Konrad sighed. “What a pity that
the actors are so famous, we can't just barge in and ask for
information.”
“No. Even if they weren't famous,
they wouldn't talk. Apparently, that was something none of them
wanted to get out to the public. I had to have Carumati hack into one
of their personal computers to find it.”
“Gees. Computer geniuses are
scary,” Konrad said.
Ally Kat gazed at the picture, her
eyes narrowing as she caught a glimpse of something barely visible in
the corner.
“Ally? Something wrong? You have a
frightening look on your face,” Kon asked.
“What? No, nothing's wrong.”
“Ah, you're right. You're face is
always pretty frightening.” Kon blocked his face in preparation for
the attack, but none came. Instead, Ally Kat just continued to stare
at the picture for a second more and then turned abruptly and walked
away. “Come on, let's go to the town and see what we can find out
there. That seems like our best bet.”
“Ah, right.” Kon and Ven
exchanged a worried glance and then they and Carumatie followed after
her.
~*~
As they flew in the airship, Ally
immediately shut herself in her room. Konrad sighed. “What am I
gonna do with her?”
“Who knows? You'll think of
something. After all, aren't you the one that saved her life once?
I'm sure you'll be able to save her this time as well.” After
saying all this, Ven left and joined Carumati in the main room.
Konrad took a deep breath and then
began banging on the door. “Ally Kat, our date is still on, so
hurry up! If you're having trouble picking out an outfit for tonight,
I really like that red dress with the gold ruffles you wore for that
concert you put on at the dance party a few months ago. So just wear
that and some-”
“Go away,” Alameda replied
quietly.
“Ally.... Ally, stop sulking and
come out right now!” Konrad demanded, taking a new strategy. “If
you don't come out, I'll come in.”
“Ack! Don't come in! If you come
in, I'll kill you!”
“Why?”
“I'm not telling you! Why do I have
to give you a reason for every little thing I decide? You're not my
father!”
At this Konrad got angry and flung
open the door to find Alameda kneeling at the side of her bed with
tears streaming down her cheeks. At the sight of him, Ally quickly
got up and ran for her closet, locking herself in. Konrad banged his
fists against the door in frustration and shouted, “Kathrine, you
fool! Stop acting like a little immature child and grow up. Maybe
you're like this because you don't even remember your childhood, but
still that gives you no reason to act this way. If you're going to
get upset at every single little mention of your past, if you can't
learn to let go and just live in the present, you're no longer any
use as a member of GWANAN. You're a nuisance. You keep this up and
I'm gonna drop you off at the next town and you'll be on your own
again. Is that what you want?”
“Stop, stop, stop!” Ally yelled.
“I wont stop as long as you don't
recognize how ungrateful you are for what you have. Sure, you haven't
got any memories. Does that give you the right to be glum all the
time? Ven and I are always doing our best to cheer you up, but you
just knock us aside like you don't care about us at all and just look
back to the past that you'll never be able to obtain. You're selfish!
Don't you care? Don't you care that we care? Ugh, Ally get out here
and face me!”
Konrad kicked open the door to find
Ally huddled in the corner, her eyes shut and her hands over her
ears. Konrad stood there until he calmed himself down a bit and then
knelt down and gently pulled her close. “I'm no good at this. I've
never figured out how to really cheer you up and make you happy. But
it hurts me to see you in so much pain. I've tried everything I know
how. How can I make you understand? If you're upset about something,
don't just lock yourself away and keep it to yourself. We want to
help you, but you have to tell us how and you can't just disregard
everything we say. We're supposed to be a team. We can't be a team if
you never let us close. Ally. Ally?” Ally just continued to close
her eyes and cover her ears. Konrad sighed. “I give up. I don't
know anything to say to you anymore. You're hopeless.” Konrad left
her sitting there and returned to the main room and complained to Ven
about Ally's stubbornness.
Half an hour later, Ally Kat came out
of hiding to find Ven and Konrad discussing the most direct route to
the little town they were supposed to find. Carumati was off
who-knows-where doing who-knows-what. Ally Kat cleared her throat to
announce her presence. Ven looked back, but Konrad just continued to
stare at the map. Ally cleared her throat again, but he still didn't
turn around. Ally gave a heavy sigh and spoke in a quiet voice. “I
just wanted to tell you, Konrad... and you too, Ven, that I'm really
sorry. I realize that I've just been acting like one of those stupid
drama queens in those stupid love stories. It's just... I've learned
never to trust anybody. When you don't have your memories, you don't
really know who's a friend and who's not. You forget all the
principles you learned as a child. I don't mean to make excuses. I
know I can trust you guys and I do. But... sometimes my instincts
sound crazy even to me, so I'd rather just deal with them myself than
having you guys worry about it. Anyway, I'll try not to push you away
next time, so... forgive me?”
“Of course I forgive you. You do
too, right, Kon?” Ven looked over at Kon who had been staring at
the map this whole time. “Kon....” Ally Kat tilted her head down
a bit with a saddened expression and turned to leave.
“If you come, I'll forgive you,”
Kon spoke.
“Huh?” Ally looked back and
Konrad turned around. Placing one hand on his hip and pointing at
Ally with the other, he announced, “If you come with me on a date
tonight, I'll forgive you.”
“What?” Ally spoke with a clearly
annoyed voice. “Who'd want to go on a date with you!” Ally
yelled, running at him and punching him in the face. Konrad fell back
on the floor and then suddenly began laughing.
“Why are you laughing?” Ally
asked angrily.
“Because you're back to your usual
self. I'm relieved.”
“You've gotta be kidding me. Stop
trying to act cool! I think you and I are already plenty even without
going on a date.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, you did just break my closet
door you know. Not to mention, all the dents in the bedroom door due
to you banging on it so much.”
“Well, technically, since this ship
belongs to Ven, they're his doors and thus him that I'm indebted to,
not you. So, you'll still have to go on a date with me.”
“That's not so! It costs money to
repair things like that and I'm the one that earns most of the money
here.”
“You hardly do anything!
Besides....”
Konrad and Ally continued fighting.
Meanwhile, Carumati wandered back in and asked, “Do they always
argue like this?”
“Not always. But even so, those two
are really good for each other,” Ven explained.
Carumati tilted her head and examined
the two. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”
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