Adventures in Parodyverse: The Wedding Part 2


    Liu Xi Xian had just come out of the shower when she heard a knock at the door to her lounge.  Her hair was still very wet, as she finished dressing in jeans and a long sleeved white shirt, but no shoes or socks, but she hadn’t dried her hair.  She figured someone was just stopping by to offer her lunch or something, since she got up so late.

    When she opened the door, it was Vinnie.  He looked a mixture of sadness, exhaustion, and determination, like he had been thinking about what to say all night and he was trying to hard to stay on his plan.  

    Of course, that plan was shaken when Liu Xi hugged him tightly, and then stood in front of him with her wrists over his shoulders.  Finally, she said, “So, um...what do we do?  Can we still be friends?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...I want to be.”  Vinnie replied quietly.  “I was up half the night wondering if you wanted to be.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Of course I do.”  Liu Xi replied softly, and then she smiled.  “I want to be more, of course, but it’s important I don’t lose you.  We look out for each other.”

    There was a moment of silence while the two of them stared into each other’s eyes.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How was your first night with--”  Liu Xi started to ask.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Let’s not talk about her,”  Vinnie interrupted.  “I know sooner or later we have to, but I know it’s too fresh for you right now.  I don’t want to break your heart all over again.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Liu Xi nodded.  “I’m a little jealous is all.  I’m sorry.”

    Vinnie hugged her tightly again.  She closed her eyes and hugged him in return, and held on.  She started to realize what she was thinking just then, and then she pulled back a bit.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sorry,”  she whispered.  “I don’t want to--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I understand.”  Vinnie replied, but he looked uncomfortable standing there by himself.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Vinnie--”  Liu Xi started to say as she moved closer again, and held on to the fingertips of both of his hands.  “I still love you.  I know what I wish for is not possible, but what really hurts me in my heart is...I want us to be comfortable together again.  Like when we were friends, before we were together.  Can we do that?”

    That’s when Vinnie smiled, and then he laughed.  “I was hoping you would say something like that.  I was so afraid it wouldn’t be possible.”

    Liu Xi shrugged, and then she smirked and shoved his shoulder hard.  “That’s so cool,”  she said.  “We really know each other.”


---

    Liu Xi sipped her tea as she sat across the table from Chiaki.  They were sharing a platter of sushi at a quiet booth in a downtown Paradopolis restaurant.  Also across from Chiaki, next to Liu Xi, Faite sat with her own sushi platter.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is really good,”  Faite commented.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m glad you enjoy it,”  Chiaki replied with a laugh.  She was amused at watching the teenager’s voracious appetite.  “Please tell Liu Xi what you told me about Marvin Hallerman.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Faite stopped to swallow for a moment.  “He’s not going to stay in the Safe for long.  He has too many demonic connections.”

    Liu Xi frowned.  “Why didn’t you just kill him if you’re so worried?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“If I would have killed him, he would have become demonic himself.”  Chiaki pointed out.  “Faite says he would have come after you first.  And he probably will when he gets out of the Safe.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why me?”  Liu Xi asked.

    Faite replied, “Cause you’re so valuable to Vinnie.  Cause you’re the only Legionnaire who’s killed in cold blood, so you have the capability to do it again.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Who...?”  Liu Xi started to ask.  She looked at Faite and at Chiaki, and their stares reminded her of the answer.  “What would make him think I would kill Hatman?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m not sure about that yet,”  Chiaki replied.

    Liu Xi looked at her, and then at Faite.  “Wait, which one of you two is predicting the future here?”

    Faite shook her head.  “Don’t look at me, I only see possibilities.  I don’t know which one is coming until it happens.”  She took another bite of sushi.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“How do you change stuff, then?”  the Chinese girl asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Well...some possibilities are more likely than others,”  Faite replied.  “Or sometimes I prepare stuff for every possible outcome.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“So why don’t you prepare something to keep Marvin Hallerman in the Safe?”

    Chiaki laughed.  “That’s exactly what I asked.  Apparently there is no possibility of him staying there.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why did they put him...?”  Liu Xi started to ask.  Then she had another awful thought, and changed her mind.  “I’m going to have to kill him, won’t I?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I won’t lie...you might.”  Chiaki whispered.  “But I promise I’ll do all I can to prevent that.”

    The Chinese girl sighed sadly, and laid her head on the table.  “I’m having a really awful week.”

    Faite calmly stopped eating, and wiped her hands on her napkin.  Then she gently took Liu Xi’s hand, and said, “C’mon, I need to take you somewhere.”

    Chiaki paused drinking her tea when Faite and Liu Xi suddenly disappeared.  But she’d seen it before, so she just shrugged and returned to eating.

    Then the Samurai looked up again when she saw Vinnie enter the restaurant.  He looked around, recognized Chiaki, and sat down next to her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Would you like some sushi?  Or tea?”  Chiaki offered him.

    He stared at the sushi for a moment, but then shook that off.  “Have you seen Liu Xi?  I have a job to do, I wanted her to come with me.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“She’s with Faite,”  Chiaki replied.  “They should be back soon.  Please, have some tea while you wait.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Vinnie sighed.  The job wasn’t exactly an emergency anyway, but he wondered just how Chiaki knew that.

    The Samurai picked up an extra cup and filled it, passing it to Vinnie.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re kind of cute close up,”  Vinnie commented.

    Chiaki smirked.  “You have a little bit of an Asian fetish, don’t you?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What makes you--”  He started to ask.  Then he realized...Liu Xi, and now he said Chiaki was cute.  “Oh.  No, really, it’s just coincidence.  It’s just that...you’re kind of scary from a distance, with that sword.  Up close though, when you’re being so nice, you’re kind of cute.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You should make better friends with me, then.”  she commented.

    Vinnie shrugged, and then there was an awkward silence.  “So um...do you think they’ll be back soon?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Soon enough,”  Chiaki hoped.


---


    Liu Xi looked around a dark, gothically designed hallway.  It had dirty marble floors, and grey columns every so often.  There was almost no lightning, and it smelled musty, and uncared for.  It was a long hallway, with many heavy steel doors, that were all shut.  Every once in a while, someone or something groaned faintly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Should you be using Void like that?”  Liu Xi asked Faite, who was beside her.  “I...don’t want to--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t use Void,”  Faite reassured her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What do you use?”  the Chinese girl persisted.  “And where are we?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I just...change where I am.”  Faite replied with a shrug.  “And we are at Herringcarp Asylum.  You have a meeting with the Hooded Hood.”

    Liu Xi stopped, and sounded panicked.  “What?  Why?  No, I’m not making a deal with him, even if I am--”

    She paused when she realized that she almost convinced herself to take such a deal, even if it hadn’t been offered yet.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This visit isn’t about Vinnie, so don’t get distracted,”  Faite warned her.

    But that in itself was a distraction, enough so that Liu Xi didn’t realized she was no longer in the hallway.  Instead, she was in a large room outfitted much like that hallway, except with a window that was so filthy it didn’t really let in any light.  In the center of the room, directly in front of her, the Hooded Hood sat on an elevated throne draped in fabric, as he leaned back with his fingers steepled in front of his face.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh stop trying to look intimidating, Winkleweald.”  Faite said, shaking her head.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“As you wish.”  The Hooded Hood’s eyes glowed green, and suddenly his throne was much smaller, lacking fabric adornment, and sitting directly on the floor.  He stood, and moved in front of the two.

    Faite shook her head again.  “And people say he doesn’t have a sense of humor.”  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why did you ask Faite to bring me here?”  Liu Xi asked, finding her courage after Faite broke through his exaggerated mystique.

    The Hood crossed his arms, and his eyes were fixed directly upon her.  “I am curious about whether you will actually kill Marvin Hallerman.”

    Liu Xi swallowed hard and took a step forward to face him.  “What difference does it make to you?”  she asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I see power over the elements has made you brave,”  he said with a chuckle.  “But I am not intimidated, child.  As I said, I am curious--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mind games?  Seriously?”  Faite interrupted to ask.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Silence!”  the Hood ordered.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Ooooh.”  Faite replied in an exaggerated tone.  “I brought her here as a favor, at least try to act like it.  You had a question to ask her, get to it already.”

    With an impatient sigh, the Hooded Hood relented.  “Faite is correct.  Annoying, but correct.  Getting to the point, I’m curious whether you will kill Marvin Hallerman.  Even to save Vincent De Soth’s life.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Of course,”  Liu Xi replied.

    The Hood turned away, and started walking slowly away from them.  “I do not believe you.  I believe you have allowed the idealist views of the Lair Legion to poison your sensibilities.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What does it matter to you?”  Liu Xi replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He knows now that his only hope to neutralize the Lair Legion, and take possession of the Serious Matter from Hatman...is to obtain my assistance.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t like where this is headed.”  Liu Xi said.  Her clenched fists began to glow with flame.  “I don’t like it at all.”

    The elementalist glanced at Faite.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t know about this either,”  Faite whispered.  “I don’t know how he hid it from me.”

    The light in the room slowly started to increase from the very flames in Liu Xi’s hands.  Marvin Hallerman was revealed, sitting in a throne that looked much like the Hooded Hood’s, waiting patiently.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You currently have three choices,”  the Hooded Hood said.  “You can fight me, and possibly save the Lair Legion and Hatman.  You can save Vincent De Soth from a horde of the living dead.  Or you can fail at both, and die.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Faite?”  Liu Xi asked shakily, hoping she would take the hint and return to save Vinnie.

    Faite shook her head.  “If I leave your side, Liu Xi, you’ll be killed.  You will have to have faith in the one person the Hooded Hood does not know is with him.”


---


    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You always forget about me, don’t you?”  the Psychic Samurai suddenly said to no one.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Huh?”  Vinnie asked.

    What Vinnie didn’t know was that the Samurai’s special ability also gave her an extreme sensitivity to changes to the future, or the past, made by anyone with appropriate powers.  That usually included the Hooded Hood or Danny Lyle.

    Before Vinnie had his question answered, Chiaki climbed over him, which he would have found exciting except that afterward, she pushed him down into the bench seat and drew her sword.  She then leapt on top of the table, looking like she was ready for a fight.

    The window smashed, and shards fell all around Vinnie.  Chiaki balanced perfectly as she sliced in half the first walking cadaver that tried to climb through, and then the next.  

    Pretty soon, though, there were a half dozen of them crowding through the window at once, and then a dozen.  Chiaki continued trying to fight through them as Vinnie dug through his pockets furiously, looking for something that would help.

    And he found something.  The most powerful packet he possibly owned.  He tore it open, and threw the sparkling powder all over Chiaki.

    The Samurai looked at him, and coughed, sending a puff of the powder airborne.  “What’s that supposed to do?”  she asked.

    All of the cadavers were frozen in their tracks.  They turned and looked at Chiaki.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I never got to use this packet before,”  Vinnie said, “Because it required a powerful psychic to make it work.”

    The walking dead all suddenly dropped to their knees, and bowed their heads, facing the Psychic Samurai.


TO BE CONTINUED...


Story written and copyrighted (C) 2011 by Jason Froikin, and may not be reprinted without permission.  Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow.  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin.  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin