Everyday, I Fight! - 7 Chapter 7

“Wait, what?” Fred freaked out for a moment, “How do you know who I am?”

“[Umm… because you were on the news paper?]” I answered him, sweating nervously.

“That’s impossible! I died while we were on a gang fight and-!” Fred stopped silent. His eyebrows twitched, yet again, and suddenly, his eyes beamed like lasers.

“G?” He uttered a single letter as he quietly approached me.

“…”

I desperately wanted to hug him and scold him and fight along side him again, but… what if the events become the same in this life as well? Even in my previous life, he was an idiot, with daring principles.

I solemnly stared at him, trying desperately, to find an answer. I wanted to know too. What should I do? What can I do??

“You never changed…” J (Fred) looked at me with a sly smirk, “Is that a habit? You know, G, you always had the courage to stare directly into someone right in the eyes when you didn’t know what to do.”

I was sort of dumbfounded at his answer. He got me. Even without an answer.

“Hahaha…” Fred laughed, “But really, my little BABY SISTER, is the famous teenage delinquent of all times: Zero?”

I shrugged and nodded with a face of disdain, “[Can’t be helped can it? I woke up to find myself like this. Yet, you. What about you?]”

“Mmm…” Fred held back his chuckle, “Not to me. I was reborn into this body when it was 7 years old. The previous owner had most likely died from the gun shot right at the heart- Anyway,” he lightly brushed it off, “you remember that night? Heck, was the rain so cold…” he nervously chuckled.

“[Yeah… just like now.]” I replied coldly.

“What are you saying ma’man? C’mon, quit it with the jokes already!” Fred was fooling me, precariously trying to create a diversion.

“[Does it still hurt?]” I pointed my right hand towards his chest.

Fred smiled back, “Sometimes,” he sighed and took me by the arms and carried me up the stairs, “hear the beats?”

I leaned onto him, closed my eyes, concentrated and evidently heard his heart thumping. He was alive. Somehow, I couldn’t help myself to whimper, as inaudibly as possible, re-thinking over and over again of how happy I was!

“You’ve mastered the art of crying?” Fred laughed lightly.

“[I’m not crying! These are automatic baby tears! If I don’t cry, how will I ever be healthy?]” I replied back to him with a rough tone.

“Puh-” Fred almost laughed out loud, but luckily I grabbed hold of his mouth and regretted it. There was slober all over my elbows. Being a baby sure is tough!

“Okay, I get it, thanks.” Fred pulled himself together.

He was still laughing on the inside. I could feel him vibrate like a smart phone. Buzzing.

Sure it was funny, but somehow I became more and more irritated when he didn’t stop. “Am I a joker?” I questioned myself, “damn this retard! Hmph.” I pouted with irritation.

Watching closely while he stepped up the stairs, I noticed how much I had been used to as a child and how much weird it seemed from an adult’s perspective. A sudden chill went by my spine.

“No way,” I tried to convince myself, “I’m not scared! I used to be an adult over 30… Urgh!”

I closed my eyes and put both my hands on my shut eyelids. I could feel my body shivering fearfully. I couldn’t picture myself being afraid of heights…

Immediately, I regretted again.

To my horror, Fred’s spits had covered my face… how gooey they were. I tried to hold back the blurry visions, but in a matter of seconds, the warm tears poured down my eyes.

Fred, who had freaked out now, ran like lightning towards a door. He shut it as soon as we were inside. Then he gently put me down on the only bed in the room and searched around the room for something as if he were a maniac.

This happened to his room. A dusty and murky place that seemed quite devoid of light.

He pulled out a towel and came towards me, mumbling, “No, no, no, no, don’t cry. Shush. Shush~”

His worried expression relieved me and I burst out laughing.

It made me happy that he was actually repenting for his so-called ‘casual’ mistake. I was overjoyed by his swollen up expression that once, used to be a rarity. Everything going on… now, felt like a blissful dream. A vague and wonderful fantasy.

…

After the both of us calmed down a bit, Fred swung aside the curtains and unlocked the window, which busted open to the outside world I had been dying to see…!

Amazed, I blankly gaped at the wicked view. The trees were green and purple, the dusts smelled minty, the blue wide sky that reached out to an unknown horizon as far as my eyes could see… but most of all, was the big, bright and golden sun that almost seemed to touch the glimmering green grass!

“The sun looks like this during dawn. Amazing, right? I could watch this all day! Really though, it’s actually a few inches away from the ground, so you’d better not go doing idiotic things.” Fred emphasised his superiority.

It ruined the mood, so, “[Bossy, much?]” I stung him where it hit the most.

Apparently, he pouted for 30 seconds max, but chugged it all down. He stood up straight as he pretended the ‘big brother’ act.

I merrily smiled at him and took another breathtaking view at the scenery in front of me.

“[How can the Sun touch the Ear- I mean, this planet…? Are you running a fever?]” I asked, doubting.

“I can’t exactly explain… hmm,” Fred ransacked his head a while and finally answered, “Suppose that is the east,” he pointed at the direction the sun was rising, “the sun ‘wakes up’ from there. The place where the sun rises here, first hand, that’s where it touches the ground a few feet off the ground.”

“Did you know?” Fred asked me a rhetorical question, “A certain thing occurs here. Nowhere else… the Sun Crystals are abundant here!”

“[What?]” I asked amazed.

“Oh, never mind.” Fred avoided the topic.

With another few sniffs of the minty wild air, I backed away, while Fred closed the windows and shuffled back the dark red curtains.

__________

___

“So, then, he was going to apologize to me but I just let it slide like an older brother.” Fred went on, “boy, wish you’d seen me then, I was super dashing!”

“[Okay, okay, I get how fuckin’ crazily heroic you are… but will you just stop!]” I burst out in fury.

“Shesh, Brother! He’s a hard one.” I thought to myself, caressing my forehead that just hadn’t stopped aching ever since Fred’s rambling frenzy.

I watched the alarm clock on his desk and realized that it had been two whole hours since he went on and on and on about our previous lives.

“Ah~ those carefree days of complete destruction,” Fred heaved a sigh with his casual remark, “don’t you miss them?” He asked me.

“[No, not really.]” I replied back.

“That’s new.” Fred said, sitting on top of his wooden desk chair, “Okay, but give me an honest answer here, how did YOU die?”

“[Why the sudden curiosity?]”

“Because you’re desperately attempting to keep it a secret…” he smiled slyly rolling his eyes as if I was that obvious.

“[That’s such a… a… that’s such a joke!]” I hesitated while gulping down my saliva.

“It won’t work, Ze- I mean, Glow. Spill it.” Fred repeated.

“[Hahaha… well you see, I-I, I was kind of, murdered.]” I told him, wriggling my fingers, nervously.

< Fred’s POV >

For a moment, I was astonished by how casual he sounded, his voice still trembling. This was not some trivial everyday joke! My friend had been murdered by someone. And I’m pretty sure that it was not just an ‘anybody’.

I felt a scorching pain rushing within me like boiling water. “How dare he say something like that!? I can’t take it! Why the hell is he being this way?” I couldn’t help myself, lost in traumatic thoughts, “God knows how he was killed though…”

I stayed silent with a blank face and then cleared my throat, “Murdered, I see,” I tried to fix my voice so that he wouldn’t notice the rage stuffed within me, “mind telling me who it is, or was, that killed you?”

I couldn’t tell how my reaction went on him. He used to be like that daring superhero or warrior, but whether it was back then, or even now, I can’t really guess his exact thoughts.

“I really wish to skin that murderer alive! And then hammering him onto the ground!!” I vowed, thinking to myself.

“[It’s someone you know. But…]” Glow stopped short, she stared at me with puppy eyes and questioned, “[You won’t try to exact some ridiculous revenge strategy, are you?]”

“Whoa…” I exclaimed hastily, trying to regain my composure, “Just try me.”

She sighed and whispered something I couldn’t understand, looking here and there and finally answered, “[You tell me your secret and I’ll tell you mine. It’s a deal.]”

I was caught off guard. This cunning little fox knew her cards. I had underestimated the baby, but I’d forgotten the man inside. I gave out a dry, loud laugh that surprised her.

I sighed and leaned back against the hard, rocky, wooden chair. “It’s a long story, y’know?”

“[I’ve got the time.]” She told me with a smirk filled with ridicule.

“But I’m busy.” I replied back, “How about sometime after lunch? Besides, the family’s gonna be awake, very soon.”

She was brutal with a deaf tone answer, “[Whatever.]”

I picked up the little runt and took her back into the Baby room and tucked her with a blanket on the cradle.

I patted her head and slowly as time passed, she fell asleep. Everything fell silent. I closed my eyes and as I turned around, mom was behind me, wide eyed.

“How-” I was cut short.

“Shush. You’ll wake the baby.” she said.

“Ah, ah.” I reminded myself.

As we tip-toed out the room, I saw the little sister, with a very merry sleeping face. I was relieved.

Instead of the dead and heavy look filled with hints of tobacco, during the old days, I’d much rather trade them with this.

I silently shut the door, but mom was still there, arms across and waiting for an explanation.

“The baby was awake, when I passed by,” I lied, “She seemed down and toppling with tears, yeah.”

I stared at mom, who simply flinched her eyebrows, still unsatisfied by my reply.

“I saw it from the half opened door and I couldn’t bare to wake you guys up. You’re always working too hard, mom, so I took her upstairs and strolled the hallway… we had quite the bonding time too!” I babbled with a nasty smirk planted on my face, continuing to lie…

“Oh my,” mom slightly reacted, “really?” She seemed to be doubting me.

“Mhm.” I winked at her with a bright smile, “I didn’t know you always had such pressure with kids, mom.” I gave a final push, “Although,” I paused for effects, “I think it was an adventure! Plus,” I whispered, “maybe Baby Glow has a crush on me?”

She giggled and then replied, “I see that your still the same wise cracker as before. What should I do with you?”

She ruffled my hair and went towards the kitchen. Before leaving, she ordered, “Go and freshen up. You look dead beat.”

That’s my mom. Always up to crack the first joke.

____________

_____

< Gloria’s POV>

It was fascinating how the colour of the sky had gotten an orange hue, as the day almost came to an end, but nothing surprised me more than the northern lights that were dancing across the entire afternoon sky.

The room, which was stinking with the vivid smell of rotten tomatoes and old wrinkly socks this morning, was now tidied up and the sweet scent of curry from the kitchen below, covered the entire room. My mouth drooled like a running waterfall as I stupidly gazed outside.

“Poor thing,” Fred said, “You can’t eat food, yet, can you? Haha..”

“[Yes, very funny.]” I glared at him almost instantaneously, “[Now spill the beans. This time, you go first, so that you won’t fool me a second time.]”

“Looks like you did your homework.” he remarked with an ugly smile plastered on his face.

I shot him a determined look as he chuckled and sat on his fluffy bed, right next to me.

A short silence followed as he pondered for a while. He smacked his lips and finally let out a queer sound from his mouth, but paused again.

After a final long and exhausting sigh, he poured out, what seemed to be, a little pound of his many secrets…

“You remember how I said before that I reincarnated into this body, when it was just 7 years old…?” Fred asked.

“[Yeah. I do.]” I gave him a short and fast reply, unfazed by his words.

“Heh,” Fred exclaimed with a grim look, “did you find it weird?”

“[Yes.]”

I saw Fred smiling, then he continued, “You see, time here and time on Earth is divided unequally. So even if you were an Egyptian pharoah or a Trojan warrior, it’s perfectly normal, if you were my younger sister, instead of Grade.”

“[Right. And your point is?]” I questioned back at him in monotone.

“My point is, well…” Fred scratched his shiny blonde hair.

“Enough of that!” He barked, quite angry, “As I was explaining,” Fred cleared his throat, “I have met them. The worldly travellers from Earth. It’s not just you and me.”

“[Yes, thank you big brother, for pointing out such an obvious fact.]” I said sarcastically, “[I’m also hoping you’d give me a bonus round of your charming speech and tell me the crucial fact we both came here to discuss today.]” I smiled and sugarcoated my words as politely as I could.

“I’m sorry!” Fred replied dramatically, “it’s just that, I’m worried that you might… end up looking down on your big brother.” he whined and begged.

“…”

We both sighed and shook hands. Truce.

“Fine, but don’t babble it to anybody else.” Fred requested.

“[I won’t if you don’t.]” I replied back.

“Back to business,” Fred went on, “I had to fight even when I got here. You won’t believe the medicinal antidotes concoated here! They’re simply the best!!”

“See here,” Fred began to sweat a lot, “my body becomes like this whenever I recall those events. Something frightening must have happened that caused this body a psychological trauma…”

“[It doesn’t effect you?]” I asked, slightly curious.

“I don’t know… I can’t remember that time. Its vague and-” Fred stopped short as his face went from purple to blue.

Fred fell off the bed and crouched on the ground. His hand clenched the left side of his chest. The heart! This gave me a very bad feeling. Who’d have known that even in the future I’d regret this moment of time? My helplessness and his… all twisted into a horrifying dead end.

“Ugh…!” he wailed as I stared at him, watching him intently.

“It’s okay.” he seemed to be in his own world, trying to convince himself.

But not to me. Even as I watched him convince himself… why didn’t he move? He laid there on the floor as if he was a zombie. He didn’t make a sound.

So I peeked down my head, trying to lean closer to him, but not tumbling down myself.

“Yep,” he went back to his feet with a relieved smile, “I’m fine. Now, don’t you go falling off as well.” Fred exclaimed, sweating and winking at me.

Honestly, I was surprised, so much so that I gasped loudly, to let out all the exhaustion.

“As I was saying,” he continued, “it is abnormal to be born into a body that is already ‘owned’ by another ‘host’. This body was the shell of a host who had already been reincarnated. However, he was most likely shot to the heart and died.”

I stared at him in disbelief. What was he even suggesting?

“[You mean, you reincarnated into the body or ‘shell’ of another ‘host’ from another world!? Have you lost your mind?]” I shouted.

“Ah!” Fred cried in pain, “tone down the vibe of your shouts! The emotions are too hurtful! You’re using telepathy!!”

He reminded me.

“Oh,” I said in a whisper and shrugged with an apologetic smile, “Sowwy…”

“Its okay. And yes,” Fred replied scratching his head, “I did. It has never happened before. Reincarnating into the body of a reincarnated host…” he seemed disappointed, “Regardless, what happened, happened. Furthermore, the weird thing was that the moment the bullet hit my bare skin, back on Earth, was the moment I came here.”

“[That doesn’t make sense.]” I replied.

“Exactly,” Fred said, his eyes in dismay.

“[Then, wouldn’t that mean that you were…]” I stopped to look at him.

“Who knows?” Fred chuckled. “By the time I woke up again, I was in fright, on the hospital bed. Here.”

I sincerely felt sorry for him. Neither him, nor anybody else except the summoner (if there really was one), would actually know how or why J was reincarnated to this world.

Back then, if I had been aware of such obvious hints around me, there wouldn’t have been so many sacrifices afterwards…

_______

___

Evening had long passed as I watched the night sky that now dazzled with stars. Billions of them, like the uncountable sweet scented flowers of the meadows, shining pure white.

“People call the stars here, ‘the pearls of white’,” Fred exclaimed captivated by them as much as I.

“The Pearls of white,” he went on, “are interpreted as families. The future.”

“[Excuse me?]” I asked with a sarcastic snort.

“Well,” Fred coughed, “Not too long ago, there was a war. And there were thousands of scattered family members… who knows where… who knew how they were. Then, after a few hundred years, there were those who miraculously survived and returned. All the time that they had been away, they always counted the ‘Pearls of white’ as many as they could see, interpreting their way towards ‘home’. Navigating through dark hours. Of course, finding themselves back.”

“On the other hand, those who never returned, were probably lost within the illuminated night time. Or so many say… So some people thought of them as the ‘pearls of sorrow’.” Fred closed his eyes as he narrated these words to me. I could only feel the hints of sadness as I watched the above space that glistened with hope.

…

While we discussed, the door recieved the special knock of the Windstorm Clan and Fred opened the door.

It was Helen!

The scowl imprinted on her face did not disappear as she repeated the two words without any delight, “Dinner’s ready.”

She trotted back downstairs as both Fred and I, sat, speechless. We both chucked and left the, now, damp and dark room.

After mom took hold of me, she changed my diapers and she got me in a new dress…

It got even more embarrassing when I saw Fred choking and laughing as soon as he took a glimpse of me. That bastard…!

He certainly enjoyed my shame.

“She certainly looks cute…!” he scoffed and smirked at me. Then he leaned closer and whispered to my ear, “If only I had my smartphone, oh, how brilliant that would become…!”

I took out my hand and smirked back at him. As quick as he could have interpreted what was happening, I slapped him on the face with the baby spoon.

Mom and dad went, “Aww~~”

Helen grinned a devilish little smirk and Carmine looked like I had just scarred her favourite doll. His face was an asset after all.

Only Fred, Helen and I knew what I had actually, innocently, accomplished! I had actually manifested and controlled a tiny portion of my mana and hit him. The small metallic spoon was strong enough for that. The best part was that the effect Fred recieved was equivalent to a mean left hook or a punch to the face.

A tiny red mark blemished his ridiculously handsome face right on his cheek. It felt breathtakingly refreshing…!

Fred quietly went back into his chair, humiliated. He was grinning like a fool throughout dinnertime. I felt sort of bad, but it served him right!

The hectic dinner table was filled with thejoys and laughter of my family. I didn’t know how warm and fuzzy this felt. A troublesome, but everlasting moment.

“Frozen in my memory, forever.” I thought.

When dinner was over, it was adults time only, so Carmine and me were both tucked away in our bed and cradle. The day was over. Mom patted me on the head for a while, until I fell asleep.

< Fred’s POV >

After we finished the important discussion, dad asked me how long I’d be here for? I assured him that there was nothing holding me back at the borders and I was free for a long long time.

He was quite pleased with my progress, which relieved me. I was the son he was proud of most. The responsible one.

“Dad, I need to ask you something…” I brought up my courage, “isn’t my-” Helen glared at me frighteningly, so I corrected myself, “isn’t it our baby sister’s birthday soon? Her 1st Year.”

“That’s right,” Dad replied, “Good thing you reminded me.”

I was relieved.

Our dad may seem like a loser-with-no-common-ground-whatsoever, in front of his daughters, but to his sons and the general people, this man was the Lion of the West. A daring hero who was rumored to have already passed the lime green stage at the age of 40!

I couldn’t help but admire him, ever since I was a child. I was… His own son.

“Will you be home this upcoming weekend?” I asked nervously.

“No, I’m afraid that I must be off in three days time.”

“Then will you-”

Dad waved his hand as I stopped speaking.

“I might make it back home for her birthday, yes, but it’ll probably be night time. The ceremony…” he paused, “how would you like to do it? On my behalf.”

I stared directly at him in the eyes. Nervous and Excited. Thrilled!

As he let out his hand, I took mine and we both shook. This was going to be awesome! G’s first BIG BIRTHDAY BASH! I couldn’t wait…!!!”

“Okay,” I replied, letting go of dad’s big muscular hands, “but please, not a word to the baby. She can be a trickster sometimes…” I winked at the crowd.

An agreement was reached. So let the mission begin.

…

< Gloria’s POV >

The silence became unbearable ever since I had woken up. Silence loomed throughout the entire darkened room. Not a soul in sight. The house was empty. Void of life because it was night.

I closed my eyes and tried to count. One sheep, two sheep… nothing worked! I was too tired to read a book tonight.

I closed my eyes and re-opened them again. I signed in wonder.

“It used to be so easy to sleep. Even if I didn’t, nothing mattered,” I thought to myself, “but now… why can’t I sleep? How can it be so hard??”

I couldn’t ascertain the answer I sought. I didn’t know.

“I’ve never really missed my home planet ever since I came here. I just went with the flow… but, am I wrong in judgement?”

A bitter-sweet annoyance clutched hold of my emotions.

“I’m strong. I’m on offense. I live to-”

I heaved a long sigh and reassured myself.

“No, I lived to die. I lived to serve. So I was done and over with…”tears rolled down, “that was G. It was Grade. Not me…”

I sniffled and turned over to the other side of the cradle.

“A life over is the one with an honourable death.” I said to myself, thinking back to what Vel had once, long ago, taught me.

“My mentor, my benefactor, my hero, my saviour… but most of all, my killer. Goodbye.” I whispered to the darkness above, which had attached itself to the cealing. The words were fading into the lost void… as well as the fears that had been haunting me.

“From now on and forever in this life,” I decided to make a vow, “I shall be Gloria Gale Windstorm, dau-ugh-ter of… or better yet, youngest child of Avalon Thunder Roar Windstorm and Serene Tempest Windstorm. That’s how I’ll live… …and die.”

Slowly, after all the steam went off of me, I dozed into the black haze and slept like a log. Who would have ever predicted that sooner or later I’d have to face Grade’s past, all over again…?