intro

[wasjustascratch]

Characters: Jin Uzuki (AU2 wasjustascratch) and OPEN
Setting: Room 1-16, Floor 12, Floor 3 library
Format: starting prose but with change
Summary: Jin is new in the tower and explores
Warnings: Angry sister alert?

Room 1-16

Waking in this room, unable to move. For a moment, Jin thought he was dead again but once he died again, he couldn’t come back… could he? It reminded him of when Wihelm had first appeared to him and offered this chance to him, the chance to become a Testament and help him, help Shion. He’d leapt at it. But Wilhelm wasn’t here. He confirmed that when he found his body under his control and sat up, looking confused over his garment and the collar. A collar he attempted to remove before eyeing the letters.

Letter that ended up in a crumbled mess on the floor before burning with from a fire ether. He typically didn’t use fire ethers but this was fitting. So very fitting. He couldn’t believe it. How could he still live if the universe was destroyed? It was ridiculous. Save someone more worth saving. Like Shion…

Going to his trunk, he changed quickly into a black suit and long jacket sans the gloves. A moment later, he quickly hung his katana in his belt after a quick inspection to ensure that it wasn’t damaged. And then he left. For now he was just a regular man exploring the tower, not a Testament.

Floor 12

Jin found himself simply standing on this floor, looking at the stars as they die, watching color vanish and lights explode from dying planets. Studying the phenomenon. He didn’t expect the Lower Domains collapse to be anything like that. Imagining it as death in an instant, everything and everyone ceasing to exist in the same moment. Not even the time to wonder what was happening.

Floor 3

Well now, this was a place he could be comfortable. He’d often browsed through his grandfathers old collection of printed books. Jin had, oddly, always found the past far more interesting that anything his own time had to offer. His family found it strange. He didn’t change anything for them but he didn’t let himself become lost in the past, that was the difference they never seemed to comprehend.

Now he was comfortably seated in the library with several books around him and one opened on his lap, already about a third of the way through it.

Comments

Re: Floor 3

[wasjustascratch]

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE NOT?

For a moment, he was glad that she didn't notice him. He didn't want his sister to notice him. Still, as she passed by him he barely looked up from his book before looking back down. And then quickly looking up again and standing quickly, stumbling slightly as he made an effort to hide.

He could have turn invisible but that would have been suspicious, yes? No, he'll just sneak quietly out of the library.

[uzuki]

RUDE everything you wrote is RUDE

Too bad, Jin. It turns out that Shion had been right all those years when she complained about books being dusty. All the particles floating around apparently irritated her sinuses, and she sneezed, resulting in losing her grip on her blanket.

She turned to pick it up, and was staring right at him as he tried to slip out.

"...Jin?"

[wasjustascratch]

YOU EXPECT SOMETHING ELSE FROM JIN?

Damn, damn, damn! His shoulders slumped slightly, hoping vainly that he was only hearing things as he turned around but no. Shion had spotted him. His expression looks slightly pained at the sight of her but them worried.

"Shion."

He never thought he'd see her again. That she'd want to speak with him.

[uzuki]

Brotherly love, maybe?! :|

"It's really you..!"

She quickly wrapped the blanket around again, and rushed over to him.

"Oh, Jin, you look... Younger. Is it true? Are you from the past? chaos and KOS-MOS are from a year ago... But you seem younger than that."

[wasjustascratch]

But he's dead B|

Oh god, Shion actually seeming happy to see him. How does he handle this? She had barely remembered him on Michtam. His Shion had, anyway. He wanted to hug her but he stopped himself.

"Before I can answer that, I have to know when you're from."

Avoiding the topic? Oh hell yes.

[uzuki]

Too dead to love? ;A;

"Oh, of course. It was 4768 when I came here."

She was happy, in fact, she was smiling up at him. If he was from the past, now she would have the chance to correct their relationship before the problems even began.

[wasjustascratch]

No but that's what he tells himself. /sob

"No, I'm not from the past." Oh, that one hurt to say. He should have lied but he didn't have the heart to. He couldn't lie about that even if he knew he should have.

"I'm from the same year as you are..."

[uzuki]

Her smile fell just ever so slightly.

"I don't understand. How is that possible?"

Maybe something had happened on Michtam. Maybe Lost Jerusalem really was some kind of paradise, or chaos worked some kind of de-aging magic...

[wasjustascratch]

"You don't know?"

Warning bells in his mind. Too late to change his answer.

"I'm not sure there's any way I can explain or if I want to." He probably shouldn't say that, it would probably upset Shion more. Wasn't it better to stay in the dark on this though? Maybe? Yes? No?

[uzuki]

"Just tell me. It can't be that bad, right? You're here."

And here is a lot better than dead in a cave on a dying planet, right? Sort of, anyway.

[wasjustascratch]

It can be pretty bad, Shion. It really can be but Jin isn't sure he can find it in himself to lie to her now. He spent years just watching her from the shadows, making sure she was safe. A stranger picking up a crying little girl who skinned her knee while playing or leaving medicine when she was sick.

"I'm dead, Shion. I've been dead for years. That's why I look younger."

[uzuki]

"Dead?"

From what happened on Michtam? No... It couldn't be that if they were from the same year. The only other explanation was that something else had happened, some different past, just like Allen's past. But he couldn't be in the same situation... Not Jin.

Let's forget that she would have sworn the same thing about Allen days earlier.

[wasjustascratch]

A very different past, an entirely different recurrence. And he did. He became a Testament so he could protect her.

"Colonel Margulis killed me. Fifteen years ago." He looks away from Shion, shame filling him. He let that man kill him with the skills that he had learned from their grandfather.

"I should go."

[uzuki]

"No! Jin!"

She grabbed his arm, knowing he would probably leave anyway, despite her protests.

"Why are you acting this way? No matter what happened in the past you're still.."

It was difficult. Even after having come clean with her feelings back on Michtam, it was still hard for her to be open with him. But she had to. She couldn't let things deteriorate again. Despite trying to live with no regrets, losing Jin, especially with things the way they had been, was something her mind always wandered back to...

"You're still my brother."

[wasjustascratch]

"Oh, Shion..."

Ouch. Just ouch. He didn't pull away from her when she had grabbed his arm, he didn't have the heart to. And it hurt to know he was upsetting her. He should have just made himself invisible when she entered the library.

"And you'll always be my little sister."

A moment of pause and then her turned and pulled her into a hug.

"And I'll always be there to protect you."

[uzuki]

For a moment, she simply stood there. But then she returned his hug.

"Jin... Thank you."

It was strange, but somehow her feelings hadn't changed. And maybe Jin really would have been better off without all of the things she put him through after Labyrinthos...

[wasjustascratch]

"You don't have to thank me, Shion. It's what any brother would do for his sister."

Okay, maybe not exactly like what he did but the feelings behind it were still there. And he'd do it again if it meant protecting her.