Adventures In Parodyverse: Burning Down the House Part 2 (UT#284-285 tie-in)

Writer's Note: I didn't have the time to verify everything in here so I hope it works. I finished it several days ago and let it sit while I wrote other stuff. I was afraid if I didn't post it already instead of giving several days to verify stuff, it'd be outdated and after going to all that trouble I would have had to scrap it. So please don't shoot me.

Part 1

Burning Down The House Part 2 (UT#284-285 tie-in)

    "It seems as if the world is weeping," Liu Xi mused quietly as she looked out the window of her room. She wasn't speaking to herself, rather Jay Boaz had dropped by in the morning to see for himself that she was okay after her ordeal.

    "Eh?" Jay asked, seeming confused by that. "Come and eat the breakfast I brought you instead of staring out the window." He had the breakfast spread out on Liu Xi's eating area table, having put it there once he got over the surprise at the fact that she had an eating area in her room. He also noted that she now had a miniature kitchen. The whole room was like a small one bedroom apartment or a hotel room.

    "I meant that it's always raining lately." Liu Xi explained as she padded across the room in socks. She just got out of the shower when Jay arrived and she was dressed but her hair was still damp. She finally sat down across from where Jay was standing next to the table.

    "Summer's ending. It always rains more." Jay finally sat down too and watched Liu Xi sip some orange juice.

    "Maybe I've been talking to Lara too much." Liu Xi shrugged. "She says that when a destroyer like the Parody Master comes along even nature itself begins to subtly rebel."

    "That might be true." Jay munched on a bagel as he spoke. "Lara's sensitive to those kind of things."

    "So the world might be weeping," Liu Xi concluded. "Responding to the mood of its people. Scared, angry, and sad." She narrowed her eyes a bit, noting that Jay seemed distracted, and she responded by smiling. "I know what you're thinking about."

    "I'm not thinking about anything, really," Jay claimed, only he didn't sound like he meant it.

    Liu Xi responded to that with one word. "Zdenka."

    He winced, making it clear that she had shot straight for his heart. "Maybe a little," he mumbled an admission. "But I can't help it."

    "And I can't help but make that easier," Liu Xi said, still smiling slyly.

    Jay's smile suddenly disappeared, and he stared across the table at her, unsure of what she meant.

    She reached across the table and took his hand gently. "Follow me to the garage?"

---

    Jay was a little surprised at the sight of the newest vehicle in the garage. It wasn't new, in fact, it seemed a few years old, and a model never seen before in most Western countries. It seemed to be a black mid-80's minivan but designed as a boxier, larger, bad imitation with a diesel engine. Jay looked at Liu Xi, figuring its appearance had something to do with her.

    "Get in, please," she said, holding out a hand to point the way.

    "Do you even have a driver's license?"

    "Of course." Liu Xi climbed into the driver's side. Her small frame was dwarfed by the large vehicle. She started up the rather loud diesel engine as Jay climbed in, and pushed the remote button she borrowed to open the garage door. "This van is from Candia," she explained quickly. "I took one so we would not stand out. It's camoflage."

    Jay's eyes widened, and he flushed. While his mind was racing he couldn't quite find any words to respond as Liu Xi drove out of the garage and into the light rain.

    As soon as they left the garage, it disappeared into a streetscape. The Lair Mansion was long gone, and they were driving on a narrow road surrounded by black or white parked cars, a filthy sidewalk, and dingy apartment buildings. The air temperature out here was much colder, frost started to form on the van's windows.

    Liu Xi finally stopped in front of one apartment building and pulled into a spot across the street. She put the van in park and turned off the engine, smiling at first as she looked at Jay. But her smile faded as she realized just how terrified he was. "What's the matter?" She put a reassuring hand on Jay's shoulder.

    "How could you do this to me without asking first?" Jay responded almost angrily.

    "It wouldn't be a surprise otherwise." Liu Xi replied almost as angrily. "I did this for you. Don't be ungrateful."

    Jay thought about snapping back again, but that thought just saddened him. He closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head slowly. "I'm so sorry, Liu Xi. It's just that...you don't know what you've done."

    "Then tell me!" she prodded. "Because I'm very confused right now."

    He took a deep, long breath. "I've been running a scenario like this through my head over and over again. And each time--" he shook his head again. "It...turns out badly. I've had dreams where she turns out to have moved on. Or that she died, or got very sick. Or decided long ago that...that she has more common sense than I do and has let go." Jay hung his head as he ran out of words again.

    "You're telling me you're not ready?" Liu Xi asked.

    "I know it's stupid," Jay whispered.

    Liu Xi turned to face him and held one of his hands gently. "It's not stupid," she said. "You want things to be perfect, and you're afraid it won't be. You want the reunion you both deserve." She frowned and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I'm sorry, Jay. I thought all along that you had a plan. I didn't think you were so...confused."

    Jay looked up at her. "I do have a plan. But I can't make it work...I just can't. Not now. I don't really know why. I--"

    "Don't say any more," Liu Xi interrupted quickly. She bit her lip as she started the engine up again. She noted the relieved look Jay had and watched all the tension slip out of his body. "I'll take you home," she whispered. "And when you are ready, I'll be there to bring you back, any time you wish."

    "I'm really sorry." Jay hung his head sadly as Liu Xi began driving away.

    "Don't be sorry anymore," Liu Xi scolded him. "Because look...now you're not afraid to come this far, you can make it all the way to her door next time."

    He looked at Liu Xi smiling at him for a moment, and he couldn't help but laugh. "You're not going to give up are you?"

    "Never." She smiled more broadly. "I can't give up on you."

---

    Liu Xi sighed, sounding a little frustrated and defeated as she glided into her tower rec room, kicked her shoes off, and tossed herself into the large overstuffed chair facing the window. She didn't even realize that Jay followed her into the room until she stopped moving and could hear him walking across the carpeted floor.

    "Oh," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I should offer you a seat."

    "No, no...I just came here to apologize again," Jay whispered sadly. "You went to so much trouble to plan my meeting with Zdenka and...I threw it all away."

    Liu Xi looked up from the chair. "I...admit I'm a little disappointed," she whispered with a shrug. "That is the risk with planning for someone else without asking. I'm happy that nothing bad happened." She ended the last sentence with a smile.

    "It really was very sweet," Jay told her. He fidgeted nervously for a moment during the awkward silence. "I guess I should check my office and see if anything is going on."

    "No, no," Liu Xi reached over the back of the couch and gently took Jay's hand. "Please, sit. Watch with me and unwind." Surprisingly, Jay didn't even notice that Liu Xi had a television there until she switched it on and fed a DVD into the player. She then returned to her spot on the overstuffed chair and offered Jay a seat next to her.

    Jay reluctantly sat down. He stared at Liu Xi for a moment as the movie started, noting her serene look as she quickly accepted the escape. That made his question even harder to ask, but he decided to try anyway. "What happened to you when you were with the Doomherald?" he asked.

    "Exu." Liu Xi corrected him.

    "I'm a little concerned that you're on a first-name basis."

    Liu Xi tilted her head a little but still gave a very patient answer. "He did one brave thing," she replied, "to earn a first name."

    "I'm just worried about you," Jay told her. "You disappear and are held hostage, and when you return you act so strange. No anger or hate toward him or toward being kidnapped."

    "You are worried about that Swedish disease?" Liu Xi asked.

    Jay had to think about that one for a moment before realizing she was referring to Stockholm Syndrome, the tendency for hostages to sometimes sympathize with and defend their captors. "Something like that," he replied.

    "It was a strange situation," Liu Xi told him as she sat with her feet tucked beneath her. "I was a prisoner, yes. But everything else was a fight, and I was winning. I was ready to kill him if I had to but...I didn't have to. He began to see things my way."

    "Oh. You're so easy on him because he gave in," Jay noted with a little amusement.

    "Yes." Liu Xi nodded and smiled. "Honestly if I see him again...I don't know what I will do. I might talk to him. I might hurt him, I might run from him. I'm not sure." She looked at Jay and smiled. "Why are you so amused?"

    Jay leaned back in the chair next to her. "I'm happy that you're as strong as I thought you were," he said. "Maybe even more so."

    "Yes, so don't ever try to push me around." Liu Xi shoved Jay gently and giggled. Her smile vanished for a moment as she asked, "This is leading to something about the Lair Legion isn't it?"

    "I'm not going to say it this time, because you already know." Jay smiled again.

    "I've been thinking about it." Liu Xi whispered as she stared at the television. "I'm thinking it is a maybe."

    "A maybe?" he asked, looking at Liu Xi curiously.

    "Maybe," she repeated. "Only if I have a job that's a real job. I don't want to just be there."

    "Really?" Jay sat up suddenly. "You're really considering this?"

    She shrugged slightly. "Yuki told me I'm already in trouble more than she is, and she's right. She is also right that I also get myself out of trouble more than she does. I have to think that maybe...I am already doing the work you do only right now I'm nobody." Liu Xi looked at Jay and insisted again, "But don't consider me until you have a real job for me, okay?"

    "It's a deal." Jay shook her hand, and she giggled.

    "Now let's watch the movie and forget about everything for a while." Liu Xi slumped back into the chair as she looked at the television.

    "That's an even better deal," Jay mumbled to himself as he pushed aside thoughts of all of the things he was supposed to be doing.



TO BE CONTINUED

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Liu Xi Xian, Yuki Shiro, Lara Night, Chiaki Bushido (Psychic Samurai) (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, all rights reserved
-- All other characters property of their respective owners

Post By Anime Jason Sat Sep 16, 2006 at 12:07:50 pm EDT	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: Burning Down the House Part 2 (UT#284-285 tie-in)

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