Karim's head made an audible thud against the wall as he leaned back, letting the smoke from his cig flow up past his closed eyes. He thought long and hard about what had happened. His mind outpaced his heart's steady beat, images flashing through as he recalled events. "...What the hell do you think you're doing?..."
"...Fun? Fun?..."
"...What the hell are you thinking?..."
"...One where we are kicking and breathing..."
Images of Lucy forced their way through his eyes. He watched her laugh at stupid jokes he made. He watched her cry when her tough exterior collapsed. He watched her sleep when she was exhausted. He watched her fight for her life and for the lives of others. Karim let out an audible groan as he rose his hand to his head, wincing at the pain of both thinking so much and being kicked so hard. His coat made a scuffing sound as he slid onto the ground, stretching one leg and curling the one in pain. In his mind, Lucy was being obnoxiously persistent.
His hand shifted slightly as he eyed his Waran through the cracks of his fingers, examining each scratch and dent on the beat up ship's exterior. He tried placing his mind elsewhere, his cockpit with a specific cooler for booze, his hidden compartment for his liquor. The attention of his mind wandered with his eyes as they glazed lazily over his ship, thoughts passing. The low ceiling interior. The dent Lucy made when she kicked the entry to his cockpit. The time Lucy pushed him out of his ship and onto the deck face first. He sighed heavily, admitting defeat to his mind and letting it run without interference from his emotions. A slight smile tugged at the edge of his lip as he remembered the times he and Lucy spent together. The mischief they caused while living as destitute as humanly possible.
'How awful,' he thought 'that my best memories are of when my life was at it's lowest.' His smile grew to it's full size, and he began to chuckle as he remembered his past with the girl who's life was as full of misfortune as his. The slow chuckle began to evolve into a laugh, throwing his head back as his voice grew in volume. Nearby people of Seasons eyed the sound suspiciously, and returned to their business with rolled eyes as they saw it's source, knowing the man to be all too radical. Karim let out a long breath as his laughing fit subsided, lifting his weight on both his good and bad legs. He stretched back, cracking his stiff bones, and began to walk through seasons, straight posture and a ludicrous smile on his face. His lips pursed slightly as he began to hum, his comms picking up the vibrations from his voice.
Lucy furiously slumped into her bed, her face muffled into the pillow as she unleashes a chain of inaudible foul mouthing. She stopped, laying completely still for a moment before rolling over and releasing a built up sigh. She contemplated her actions earlier, her treatment of Karim earlier. Her boot shuffled slightly in the light as she looked down her bed to inspect it, examining the spots of alcohol and blood she had contracted from kicking Karim. Long hair flowing, her head fell into the pillow apathetically, sinking softly into it. She jumped and nearly smashed her comms device sitting on her desk when she heard Karim's humming come from seemingly no where. "Yi Tiao da lu you tong ya tong wo jia"
Karim's humming had evolved into singing, a familiar song to the two. "Wo jia zhu zai you liang ya liang shan xia"
Lucy sat up and stared at her comm device, listening to Karim's singing. She instantly recognized the song from a time long ago, soon after they had just met, a time both had lived with Mister An. "Shan xia tu fei you di ya di wu mu a"
Her mind began drifting to their past, remembering times from living in a small Chinese district on New Tokyo. Fond memories of working in Mister An's shop came forth, a warmth from happier times fades her mind into a calmness as she reflected upon her past.
"Lan, Lan where are you?""I'm coming, Mister An." Lucy turned a corner down a flight of stairs to find an elderly chinese man waiting for her at the front of a single story shop, selling novelty goods. She looks much more aware and in touch with reality than usual, her characteristic gruffness and solider appearance lacking. "By the way, are you ever going to tell me why you call me Lan?" she asks, cocking her head slightly with a smile. "When the time has come, you will learn what your name means. If you cannot find it on your own, how can you hope to be self reliant? And I need a self reliant worker capable of placing my displays in the morning, so you need to learn faster!" They both laughed as Lucy walked off to the front of the store to prepare it. "Come now, quickly, the store will open soon and we must have more displays than a young girl in the window!" The elderly man shooed her off to move more quickly as he shuffles back to the store's office. She giggled and rushed to the front carrying a broom, placing antiquities and doing some final cleaning before the store opened. "By the way, have you seen Karim today?" Lucy shouted to the office, her focus remaining on her broom. "Qiu? No, I haven't seen him. The boy must be out running again. Young man like him, he understands how important body and soul are. Perhaps you should join him on one of his runs someday?" The elderly man responded in a reserved tone, adding on in sequence, "I do wish Qiu would understand a bit more about responsibility however. This shop isn't exactly easy to run so shorthanded."
As if on cue, Karim walked calmly into the entrance of the shop, breathing staggered breaths and wearing a strange attire compared to his modern clothing. He bore a sleeveless hoodie and a single five yen coin on a leather strap around his neck. His hair was put in a pony, loose bangs coming free and falling to his face. All Lucy noticed, however, was the oversize gash in his left arm, the likes of which he clutched tightly and turned away from Lucy as he walked towards the stairs."It's nothing." he said coldly, shrugging off Lucy. "That is not nothing. Let me or Mister An take a look at it, hey get back here!" Lucy's words fell on deaf ears, as Karim had made his way up the stairs by the time Mister An had left the office and hurried towards Lucy, concern showering his face. "Is something wrong with Qiu?" "He's got a giant bloody mess in his arm and he's being stuck up about it. Karim we need to see your arm. Now." She had practically been talking to the stairs as she chased Karim up and to the bathroom, where he was flexing his bicep into a water faucet and cleaning the blood from his wound. It became obvious from the deep cut it was a blade that sliced his arm open, the gaping wound long and clean. Lucy stopped and stared at his arm, her expression was pure shock. "Who did that to you? Where were you? Is it serious?" Her questions fell short once more as Karim simply looked up calmly from his wound at her, then quietly returned his attention to the cleaned cut, tenderly testing it's boundaries with his fingers. Mister An had arrived shortly behind Lucy, and saw Karim give her his look. His expression faded from concern as Karim wrapped his arm in a bandage to understanding. "Mister An, aren't you going to do anything?!" Lucy stood bewildered as she looked between the two men, not understanding anything that's happening. "Lucy," he says, using her real name in a very serious tone. He puts his hand on Lucy's shoulder calmly. "There comes a time in every young man's life where he must choose his battles and stand his ground. This is what he wants, and it's what he needs to do." Mister An finished his statement in a very hushed tone, however his words only left Lucy even more confused. "You know what? Fine. If this is something you two can't be bothered to share with someone so petty like me, I'll just leave you two to it. Lucy sulked away, brushing off Mister An's hand as she hurried down the stairs and out the door. She didn't make it far, however. Stepping just beside the door outside the shop she stops and crouches down, her elbows propped on her knees and cradling her head as tears fall from her face. 'What's the big deal? Why am I not allowed to care about him?' She paused her thinking for a moment, realizing what was crossing her mind. 'Why should I care anyways? It's not like he's my problem. Like I care if he's hurt...' The stare Karim gave her from the bathroom had stained itself in her vision. His eyes were cold, distant, and yet somehow determined. 'I can't do anything about it, not when they're like this. I can't do anything. God why am I so helpless again all of the sudden?!' She clutched her head to wince from the mental pain, however her thoughts were interrupted by a voice above the store, the sound of singing echoing out of the window. "Shui hui ji de wo de mo yang
Shui hui ji de wo shou gou de shang
Shui de yu wang, Shui de zhan chang
Rang wo men dou bei li shang liang"
Mister An's singing had caused a pause in Lucy's tears. She simply sat and listened, remembering the song that he always sings to himself. The words suddenly had meaning behind them as he sang them from upstairs, no doubt a song meant for both Karim and Lucy. "He shi cai neng hui dao gu xiang
He she neng kan ta de hong zhuang
Wo yong chang jian pi duan mu guang
Pi bu duan woxiang jia de kuang" Mister An's voice faded, and was replaced by Karim's as Lucy became aware he was standing in her quarters' doorway. He wore a soft smile, staring at the tears on Lucy's face, yet his eyes maintained that glimmer of determination. She quickly noticed the glimmer she had overlooked before, and the tears soon came in a more rapid fashion down Lucy's face. Karim took a seat next to her and placed his arm around her shoulder, a motion that would have had his throat spilt on the floor if he were anyone else, and continued the song An taught them as Lucy cried into his shoulder. "Yi Tiao da lu you tong ya tong wo jia
Wo jia zhu zai you liang ya liang shan xia
Shan xia tu fei you di ya di wu mu a" "Wu mu liang tian you you cai hua"
Lucy softly whispered the last line, sitting with Karim in the total silence.