Chapter 8 - An Old Friend: Part 1

October 11^th, 3:03 PM


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 31^st, 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.”