Chapter 23 - The Carnival

December 28^th, 3:02 AM

“Hey, do you like Konrad?” I asked Ally one day.

“Huh? Like him? You mean as more than a friend?”

“Yeah. What is Konrad to you?”

Ally’s eyes narrowed in a grimace. “He’s like an over-excited dog who’s invaded my territory.”

“Isn’t that just what you say, though? You really and truly like him, don’t you?”

“.... No. In the end, I think I value our friendship too much to risk liking him and losing him all together. I’m afraid of hurting him to the point where he would never be able to forgive me.”

“What about Ven then?”

“Ven?”

“Yeah! Do you like Ven?”

“Gee... I never even considered him a possibility before. Ven’s always just.... there.”

“You’re so cruel.”

“I’m a cat, what do you expect?”

~*F*~

“He couldn’t be... looking for my house, could he? Or perhaps... he’s going to his own? Where could it be?” Ally remembered the old broken house they had passed earlier and somehow knew that’s where he was. She ran to it and burst inside to find Konrad lying curled up on the ground, fast asleep. Ally approached carefully and knelt down next to him.

“Ally, if your memories ever come back, please don’t run away like you did with Blake.”

“Kon. Is my past really so dark?....” Ally watched Kon sleeping for a moment, then stood and looked around. I wonder what happened here. Is this Kon’s old house? Why does it feel so... familiar? Have I been here before? I don’t recall ever knowing Konrad. Nothing feels different about him. What is it? What is he hiding from me? What did I do to make him so scared?

As Ally wandered through the house, she examined the walls and the floor. There had obviously been some sort of struggle, and a fire had been burning too. Bullet holes riddled the walls, furniture was torn and turned over, slashes appeared in the floorboards, blood stained even the ceiling. Alameda let out a shiver and quickly turned to go back to Kon, but stopped short. On the wall was a painting. Ally saw that it was four children and a woman. All of them were quite muddy and they were running after a dog which was racing through a normally well-kept flower garden. There were three boys and one girl. One boy, who was extremely muddy, looked a lot like Konrad. Another looked just like Cato, the werecat. “That’s right,” Ally thought to herself. “Cato was my childhood friend, so he grew up here too. Did he and Kon know each other as well?” Ally couldn’t tell who the girl was, as she had her face slightly turned away, but there was another very small boy which Alameda knew without a doubt was her little brother, Eri.

Alameda returned to Kon who was still sound asleep. She knelt down. “You have your reasons, don’t you? If you can’t tell me, that’s okay.” Konrad just continued to breathe softly. Ally sighed. I wish he’d wake up. It’s not like I can carry him back, and I don’t want him to catch a cold.... “Hey! Get up! Stop sleeping, it’s time for school. You’ll be late!” Ally shouted.

“I don’t wanna go to school. Kathrine and Katrina go to my school,” Kon mumbled in his sleep.

“Kathrine and Katrina, huh? I guess we went to the same school,” Ally thought. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Well, Kathrine’s always nosy.”

“Nosy? How so?”

“She likes to talk to people while they’re sleeping and hear all their secrets.”

“Hey! You’re not asleep! Get up!”

Kon laughed and sat up. “Well, Ally, I guess you know a bit more of truth now. I was hoping you wouldn’t find me here.”

“You and I used to go to the same school? Katrina and Cato too?”

“Yeah. We weren’t really friends much though.”

“But that painting in the hall....”

“Ah, that painting? My dad was an artist. One day, you and your little brother were chasing after this dog which came running through our yard. Your friend Cato came soon after, but when he appeared, you got really mad at him for some reason. I think the dog had taken something that belonged to you that you didn’t want anyone to know about. Anyway, my mother and I joined in the chase when it ran through Mom’s nice flower garden and that was the most of our encounter. After that, I always tried to be your friend at school, but Katrina always bullied me and you never did anything to stop it.”

“So... we weren’t friends as kids?”

“No. Not at all. My dad just thought what happened was really funny and painted it, that’s all.”

“So, what happened here then?”

Kon stood up and held out his hand to Ally. “Something I hope you never have to know about. Come on. Lets go home.”

Ally pondered for a second, thinking on whether she should push the matter or not, but finally said, “Okay.”

They walked in silence, trudging through the snow. Ally felt a bit lighter, a bit happier. Kon had spoken a bit more about the truth. Just a little bit more, and maybe she would be able to unlock the whole truth. Suddenly, a feeling of childish trickery came upon her and she ran ahead and hid behind a tree, quickly forming a snowball.

“Ally?” Kon said, peeking around the tree. Ally threw the snowball at him, but he ducked and went around on the other side, throwing one in her face as she turned.

“Hey!” Ally yelled.

Kon laughed. “You started it!”

Ally quickly formed another ball, but Kon made his faster and pelted her with two of them. “Ally, no way you can beat me. I played snowball fights all the time as a kid.”

“I didn’t?”

“I don’t know. But you sure didn’t act like the kind of person who would.”

“Then I’ll just have to beat you in a different way.” She tackled him to the ground and they fought and grappled, occasionally threw snow at each other, and in the end, they arrived soaking wet at the airship and Ven had to wrap them in a bunch of towels and blankets.

~*~

A few days later, there was a carnival in the evening and all of GWANAN decided to go check it out and patrol for any hoodlums as well as enjoy themselves. Ven and Ally both quickly descended upon the food while Kon looked at a weapon booth and Carumati went into a “Gadgets of the Future” booth.

“Mmm.... That steak was great,” Ven said, chewing on a toothpick.

“The catfish was delicious too! It was fresh caught. You can only get good fish like that at carnivals,” Ally agreed.

“That’s true. Anywhere you wanna go next? I’ll go with you.”

“Hmmm.... I don’t know, lets just explore, there’s bound to be some good booths here and there.”

“Hey, look. There’s a jewelry stand over there. Wanna go check it out?”

“Okay!” Ally said excitedly, seemingly unworried about her problem when it comes to shopping.

“Hey, look! It’s a cat necklace. It even has brown, gray and black fur, just like your outfit.”

“Yeah, except I already have a bell to go on my neck.”

“They have a lot of rings here. Say, if anyone were to propose to you, what kind of ring would you want?”

“Ring? I don’t know, I guess I never really thought about marriage before. Cats kinda just go with the flow.”

“What would you do if Konrad proposed to you right now?”

“I’d slap him and tell him that I don’t marry people who withhold the truth from me.... Then I’d walk away happily while Konrad sobs.”

“....You don’t have to say that so excitedly, you know.”

“I don’t see anything here, lets move on.”

The two of them walked further down the road until they arrived at a shooting booth with lots of stuffed toys hanging everywhere. “I’m gonna shoot for you, Ally, so choose which one you want.”

“Huh? Can you even shoot, Ven?”

“Yeah! My dad and I used to go hunt down flying fish, and one of us would always shoot them and the other would catch them in a net. I don’t know why, but my dad insisted we do it that way, even though it was really messy and most of the fish was exploded in tiny bits when we shot it. And one time I accidentally shot my dad in the foot, ahahaha!”

“Ahahaha- Give me that!” Ally said, desperately reaching for the gun in his hand.

Ven held it high above his head. “Nu-uh. I’m gonna prove to you that my shooting skills are real. And besides, it’s not even a real gun.”

“Ah, fine.”

Ven aimed carefully and when the rabbits started popping up everywhere, he shot each one right in the center. Ally chose an animal and Ven handed it to her.

“Wow, you’re really good!” Ally exclaimed as they continued exploring again.

“Thanks! And why did you get that giraffe? Wasn’t there a cat hanging up there too?”

“Yeah, but this one has flying goggles on it and you’re so tall, you remind me a lot of a giraffe. So that’s why I’m gonna name it Ven. That way I’ll always remember what a great shot you were.”

Ven seemed surprised and laughed. “Hey, look! A candy booth! Think we should get some for Kon and Carumati?”

“Hmm.... Maybe Carumati, but not Kon.”

“You two are so mean to each other. Fine, I’ll make sure he knows it’s only from me.”

The two continued to laugh and explore, when all of a sudden, there seemed to be a crash and a bunch of mages came running after a black cat. “Catch it! Don’t let it escape!” They yelled. The black cat brushed past Ally and caused her to trip and fall to the ground.

“Ally!” Ven exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

Ally got up on all fours and looked up at Ven. “Meow,” she said.

“....Haha! Ally, stop being so funny.”

“Meow.” Ally sat like a cat would and began licking her hand.

“Ally?” Suddenly, Ven felt something cutting his ankle and looked down. There, he saw a black cat with gold eyes. It was scratching at his leg. “Um... Ally?” The cat nodded. “Oh my gosh! Ally turned into a cat!”