Episode Four

 Alone again~

Xander steps out of the school, ignoring the loudly ringing bell beckoning him back inside. He exhales, watching Juuzou fly off back towards his apartment. “Juuzou, wait up!” Xander shouts, pleading with her to stop. He rushes to unbutton his lilac uniform shirt, having the tie already undone, then ties the thin shirt around his waist “Please, Juuzou!” He runs after her staring, up at the sky while gripping his shirt in his hand; unbothered to look where he’s stepping. His crimson wings grow from his shoulder blades, giving them a stretch. Getting a good running start already, he launches into the air with a massive ‘THWACK!’ of his wings, trying to catch up to Juuzou. 

“Go away! I.. I don’t want to talk right now!” she yelps, glancing back at Xander while thrashing her wings to speed up, clutching her stomach. Looking for a place to land, Juuzou scans her surroundings with a hazy vision, zipping her eyes left and right trying to find the apartment rooftops again. Her mind feels fuzzy, almost numb, yet so full. Thoughts race past as hasility as the rushing wind, clearly inconsiderate of her state. A human.. She’s a human! I can’t be seen with her- Father will.. Father will—! She turns back again to see Xander still following right behind. 

“You can’t out-fly me, Juuzou!” He reaches out to her with a firm arm. “Let’s just talk, please!” Imploring her, Xander lifts a free hand to swipe strands of his jet-black hair away from his determined face as he makes an attempt to catch up. 

Juuzou begs him “Leave me.. Leave me alone, Xander!” gasping for breaths; her muscles and wings begin to ache. She forces them to beat faster, zooming to the apartment roof she’s finally spotted. Descending quick, tears stream down the sides of her face, blurring her vision even more so. Her wings give out, feeling a painful sting in her joints as Juuzou fails her landing; skidding across the rooftop, her back slams against the apartment elevator.

Landing on the roof hastily, Xander rushes to Juuzou’s side, sitting next to her. “Shit—!! Are you okay?!” He asks, gently placing a hand on her shoulder and carefully moving her around while she’s on her side, checking for major injuries. Noting down some small scrapes, he takes a look at her wings next, recoiling at the sight. “You strained your wings waaay too much!” He announces, catching his breath. 

Juuzou winces in pain, sucking air through gritted teeth. She arches her back, trying to retract her wings so they can heal. “Ow! Ahh.. I think I.. pulled a wing..” she hisses, gasping for more air, still fatigued. Juuzou attempts to sit up using her left arm as support, but a sharp aching pain shoots up from her hand all the way to her shoulder, realizing the scrapes and forming bruises the fall had given her. Pleading with her brother, she voices “Ah! Tch- Let me go.. Xander..” trying to squirm her way out of his considerate grip. 

“Please, let me help you. We have to work together in this, Juuzou…” His voice falters, cracking as he looks to her with worried eyes. “Did you run off.. Because you’re scared of humans?” Xander sits her up cautiously, being mindful of her arm and wing. Tender, he takes his shirt previously tied to his waist and wraps it around Juuzou’s injured arm, securing it with his tie. 

She relaxes her stiff demeanor, her thoughts numbing the dull pain. Why is he.. Helping me like this..? She wonders, looking at him intently with furrowed-up brows, then quickly glancing away. “N-No.. I’m not.. Afraid of humans..” Juuzou pauses, feeling a lump in her throat more prominent than her pain. I’m afraid of.. “I’m..” the words refuse to escape, she purses her lips. 

“Of Xizath.. I.. I know.” Hesitating, Xander looks off to the dark blue pine tree-filled forest in the distance. “But..” He turns back to her. “But he’s in prison! What can he do while he’s locked up?!” He flinches, realizing he’s getting loud. His eyes look incredibly apologetic, but he doesn't speak. 

Juuzou rests next to the elevator doors, slowly retracting her wings while being mindful of the wall behind her. She winces again, distracting herself with speaking. “But, Xander—! ow..!” 

Having a careful hand, Xander helps her wings compress into her shoulder blades. “But nothing. He can’t do shit to you anymore. I’m making sure of that.” Taking another pause, he stands up, holding out a thoughtful hand. “Can you stand? Let’s take you to my apartment.” 

At first hesitating, Juuzou ignores his help; her wings fully put away now, she tries to stand on her own, but trips over halfway up. 

“Juuzou!” Xander catches her, keeping awareness of her hurt arm. He stands her up, looking down at her knees. “Seems you’ve got a scratch on you here” pointing out her ripped jeans. “You have to let me help you, Zou.. I promise, I'm here for you.” He looks saddened when he says that, frowning subtly. 

Giving in to his begging, she finally relaxes completely. “...Okay.” She accepts as he places her left arm around his shoulders, retracting his own wings. Limping, she turns along with Xander to face the elevators. Xander presses the ‘DOWN’ button once, waiting patiently for the machine to head up. A silence had fallen between them after Juuzou’s response, he slowly broke it. 

“Hey.. Zou?” 

“Yeah..?”

“I'm sorry.. For everything. I shouldn’t have left you.. alone on Uroth..” He says with an overwhelming regret in his gaze. 

Juuzou’s breath wavers, being reminded of the years she spent in that hellish prison. “It’s..” She hesitates. “It’s okay.. I would’ve.. Left too. If I had a chance.. like yours.”

Hyori paces, ignoring the indication of class starting. 

“Yo, Hyori! We’re gonna be extremely late if we don’t go now!” Mareea interrupts her pacing, placing a hand on both of Hyori’s shoulders, trying to center her. 

“But I feel awful, Mareea! What if she decides to not enroll? What if I hurt her feelings? What if she doesn’t like the word “human” and I triggered her? I’d feel awful if that was the case! I don’t want to upset anyone! What if she decides to LEAVE?!” She rambles as her concern grows. 

Mareea flicks her forehead, getting her together. “Hey! Stop overthinkin’ like that!”

“Owie! Mareea!” Hyori furrows her brows, puffing out her cheeks.

“Yes, don’t worry hon! Xander will handle it, for sure!” Vonni chimes in, trying to stay optimistic and cheery. 

Kai goes to Hyori’s side next to Mareea, giving his own thoughts. “It is his sister, we barely just met her. Let’s just leave them to do their thing. Plus..” He swings his shark tail forward, pointing it out with a sly smirk on his face. “I can only fly underwater— heh.” Kai jokes, attempting to get a smile out of Hyori.

She chuckles a bit, still obviously worried. “Okay.. Well.. Vonni, can you at least send Xander a message to ask if they’re both okay?” She chews on her nails.

“Of course! I’ll get right on that!” Vonni shows off a buck-toothed smile; her small fuzzy tail twitching as she pulls a phone out of her skirt’s pocket, swiping away at it.

Hyori relaxes, thankful for the gesture. “I’ll feel a little more at ease then.. Thank you guys.”

“It’s no prob! I’ll let Ms. Harmony know Xander is gone ‘cuz of a family issue, so he doesn’t get into any problems.” Kai voiced, turning around to head to his class. 

Vonni’s phone pings, startling her as her ears react. “Oh! That must be him!”

Crowding her, Hyori peeks from behind Vonni “Lemme see! Are they okay?! What happened?” She inquires, begging for answers.

“I thought you said you’ll relax, haha!” Mareea chortles, clearly amused. She starts following Kai to head to her own class. “Keep me updated, m’kay? My class is a little far, so I’ll go on ahead.” She turns around while waving a hand, the other in her skirt pocket. “See ya!” 

Hyori pouts at Mareea’s comment, quickly focusing back on Vonni's phone. “What did Xander say??” She stands on her tippy toes, being patronized by her short height. 

She squints her eyes “wegudnoprob headnto aprtm” Vonni says, word for word, reading the message aloud for Hyori. “Oh thank goodness, they're okay! He’s taking Juuzou to his apartment.”

Hyori stands, puzzled. “wuh…How did you— ”

“Though, why is he typing one-handed?” Vonni questions, scratching her head, beginning to walk to class.

Hyori follows right behind, utterly confused “HUH?? How did you gather that!?” 

“Oh..! U-Um.. WELL hey, they both are all good!” Vonni speaks hastily, clearly flustered “I should really get to class now, Yori!” She rushes, walking faster and calling out to her, now from afar. “You should too! Bye now!”

Hyori, now the only one left, stands in the middle of the empty hallway, bemused. “What was—” A loud ringing interrupts Hyori, making her jolt “AH! The ten minute bell!” She makes a run for her class in a hurry, while yelling “CRumBS! CRUMBS! cruuumbs!” 

“Okay, I messaged Vonni back.” Xander states, pocketing his phone with one hand, holding up Juuzou in the other. “The others were a bit worried when we ran off.. But everything should be good now.” He reassures Juuzou, letting her lean against the adjacent wall to his front door as he goes to open it. 

“Your friends.. They seem nice. And that girl..” Juuzou takes a pause, attempting to stand with her injured leg loosely placed on the ground. She grabs the door frame for support, allowing Xander to help again.

He leads Juuzou to the couch, setting her down gently. “Heh. Yeah, they’re awesome.” Confirming Juuzou’s statement, Xander jogs to a cabinet in his drawers with first aid supplies, taking out ointment and bandages. “Good thing your injuries are just light scrapes.. Though they might bruise pretty bad— I was so worried when I saw you fall, I..” He glances at the lotus flower on his dining table; looking regretful, Xander frowns slightly. “I don’t know what I would’ve done.. If I had hurt you that badly again.”

Juuzou turns to him from the couch with upturned brows “Xander.. You.. You don’t have to worry.. about that anymore.” She replied, for once trying to be the person cheering someone up. “That.. human.. though.” Juuzou attempts to change the topic. “It was.. surprisingly easy to talk to her. And her hair.. I’ve never seen someone with that color!” Forgetting her fears for a second, she rambles aloud. 

“Look who’s opening up!” Xander teases her, approaching Juuzou with the aforementioned supplies. He carefully unties his shirt from her arm, then dresses the wounds with ointment and gauze. 

Juuzou pouts, then looks at her sore arm “Uh.. Xander..? Isn’t this- a bit much? I don’t want to waste your bandages!” Confused, she glances up at him. 

“It’s not a waste! It’ll help heal you faster. It was a nasty fall, Juuzou!! Ah—” Weakening his voice, Xander lowers his volume; aware of his loud-mouthed mannerisms. “Sorry..!” He finishes wrapping up her scrapes, placing a bandaid on her knee. “Alright! All done.” 

Juuzou purses her lips, playfully annoyed. “Don’t patronize me, you sound like a pediatrician.” She lowers her wounded arm, getting used to the gauze. 

Booming with laughter, Xander holds his stomach. “Ahahah! She’s got jokes!” Wiping welled up tears from his eyes, he returns to the kitchen cabinets, putting away the first aid kit. “Heh- anyways, I gotta head back to school. Are you gonna be fine on your own?” He asks Juuzou, a bit concerned. 

“Oh.. Yes, I should be fine. My knee doesn’t hurt anymore, don’t worry..” She stands from the couch to prove it, straightening her t-shirt as she walks towards the kitchen counters. 

Xander sighs with relief, seeing his sister okay. “Phew.. That’s good.” Xander quickly makes his way into the hall, opening the door to his room to grab a clean uniform shirt. He calls out “Why didn’t you eat breakfast, Zou? You need fuel!” 

Glancing at the full plate on Xander’s table, she announces “Oh—! I kinda forgot about that.. sorry..” She frowns, feeling terrible for wasting his food. 

Xander returns with a new shirt on “Nah, it's okay, trying new things is hard.” He picks up the plate “I don’t blame you for forgetting if you stepped out, just remember to put it away next time, please.” Holding it up to the trash, he tosses the food, turning to Juuzou with a smile “I’ll make you fresh eggs again when you're ready.”

“Thank you, Xander.. and.. sorry, again.” she apologizes, furrowing her brows up once more. Juuzou watches Xander rinse the plate in a rush, placing it aside on a rack for drying. 

Xander wipes his hands clean, turning swiftly to the front door. “It’s no problem, really! I’m not upset, it's just a few eggs and bread. Like what, a few coins worth?” He unlocks his door with his open palm, ready to leave. “Anyways Zou, I really gotta fly. I’ll be back soon! Here—” Xander steps towards Juuzou and hands her his coin bag. “You can go ahead and buy whatever seems appetizing to you, no sweat!” Stepping out the door, he waves to her, then shuts it quietly. 

“Thank— you..” Juuzou, now back to the threatening quiet, stands in the center of Xander’s apartment; holding his bag of coins in hand, she looks out the big windows. 

I’m.. alone again…