Origin ARS 6 (12 page)

"Let's go home, Shara," said Scott. He had not been on the road for long. It would not take long to make it back to the house.

Her eyes widened slightly then closed a little while her nostrils flared briefly. The bridge of her nose turned bright red. "Ok..." she said softly.

Herbert reached into his little travel bag of popcorn, something that had been made for the road trip, and pulled out another snack to munch on. He eyed Scott and Shara for a moment while he chewed. This was bound to be entertaining.

A short while later they were back at Scott's house. Shara, dressed her typical
Mai Shiranui
style ninja cosplay, walked up to the door at Scott's side. Her eyes remained downcast most of the way, though she occasionally glanced over at his closest hand. Her fingers wiggled slightly and occasionally reached toward his swaying digits but she stopped herself.

It was difficult for her to be around him. She both loved and hated it. Original Scott could never be with her. He loved Origin and Ero. There was no room for her in their dedicated love triangle relationship.

Shara's cheeks reddened a little as Scott turned to smile at her. "Welcome home."

"Thanks..." she said softly, the red of her cheeks deepened in the process of saying it.

Scott asked if she wanted anything to drink. She took a little juice then they both sat down at the kitchen table.

Shara sipped at her apple juice for a moment. Scott was the one who had to carry the conversation forward. "So, you want to seduce me?"

Shara's eyes widened and apple juice flew from her lips amidst the echoing sounds of a rude noise. Scott blinked then got a paper towel and wet it down before cleaning his face off.

"Sorry," said Shara, her face bright red. She bit her lower lip a little then looked away.

"It's fine," said Scott with a laugh. "I forget how you can be sometimes."

"How I can be?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," said Scott without expanding on his point.

"What do you mean?" pressed Shara. She tilted her head to the side and offered him a curious look.

Scott granted her a warm boyish smile. "You're a sweet girl, Shara. You don't even realize what an outfit like that can do to a man, not really. Yet, you wear that sort of thing anyway because it's something you like."

"My outfit...? Something wrong with it?" she asked softly. She leaned back a little and crossed her arms over her chest in a strangely modest pose. Modesty was not something she was known for, especially when it came to physical attributes and showmanship.

"No. Not at all. I'm just pointing out the fact, that for all your sex appeal, you're actually a sweet and innocent sort of person."

Scott's statement did nothing to calm down the now ever-present blush that had arisen on Shara's cheeks. She giggled oddly then with a slightly dazed and goofy expression on her face, she muttered something about enjoying the presence of waffles. Blueberries were also nice.

"Focus Shara. Stay with me," said Scott with a gentle laugh.

She blinked twice then said, "Huh? What?"

Scott laughed once more then said, "Exactly. You can dish it out, but you can't take it."

"Well... Yeah. That's the reason why I came here." she mumbled.

"You wanted to know how to seduce me, meaning that other version of me?"

"Yeah, I guess." she said softly.

"You guess?" he asked her slowly. He tilted his head to the side a little to match her. "Shara, are you really the sort of girl who seduces people without being sure it's something you want?"

"I dunno. Only tried it once and it didn't work." she said.

Scott looked askance at her and she mentioned a certain ice cream incident from a while back. Scott keenly recalled her clumsy attempt at using ice cream as a means of dragging him around town back when they first met.

"You certainly had my attention, but by then I had been starting to work things through with your sister. Had I been completely single, it would have probably worked well enough to keep my attention."

Shara smiled shyly then looked up at him. Her expression became one of confusion, of doubt. "What's wrong with me, Scott?"

"Nothing that I know of." he said. "I like you well enough."

"Well enough?" she giggled weakly then nodded. "That's probably sweet, I guess."

"I'm not allowed to be too sweet. We're going to be brother and sister, you know."

Shara flinched slightly. "I know. Feels like that's the problem."

"You don't want to be family?" asked Scott curiously.

"Of course I do... Though, you know exactly what sort of family I'd like to be with you." She huffed at him a little then shook her head. "No, the problem is that it feels almost like that over there, too."

"Like you and the other me are siblings?"

"Not even that... It's like, well..." Her eyebrows pressed together lightly and she looked away. "It's like we're nothing."

"Nothing? Really?" asked Scott, surprised by the revelation.

"At first it was different. You know about most of the situation there?"

"Yeah, assholes ruining the world," said Scott.

"True, but I meant how I was childhood friends with you in that world. We did everything together. It was wonderful." She smiled warmly as the memories flowed through her mind. The smile faded after a moment. "Then everything turned wrong."

Scott listened as Shara outlined everything that had gone wrong. The life story of
Blackthorne Scott,
as she called him, was terrible. Only his little sister had it worse.

"Now, every time he looks at me it's like he can't really see me." she said tears trailing down her cheeks. "I've never done anything but try to help him, but because of the situation I know some part of him refuses to accept me, to
trust
me."

Shara began to sob a little, her body bucked and heaved as she started to babble all of her fears and insecurities. Scott stood up and moved to join her. He wrapped his arms around his sister to be, and held her tight as she put words to her emotional torment.

After a while, she no longer spoke. Instead she sniffled and occasionally sobbed while gently clutching at his shirt.

"I went into it with the best of intentions. I really wanted things to work, you know." she said softly, in a tiny little voice.

Scott stroked her hair then nodded. "You were so excited."

"I still am, but I don't think he really wants to be with me like that..." she said in that same tiny little voice. She hiccupped a little after saying it.

"What makes you think that?"

She snuggled her head against Scott's chest. "We talk, and occasionally share a joke, but he just doesn't look at me the same way he looks at Ashton or Sonja." Strangely, she unleashed a sad smile. "Though, he doesn't look at anyone the way he looks at Sonja."

"How does he look at you?"

Shara bit her lower lip then sighed. "He doesn't. He looks through me."

"Shara, why so cryptic?" asked Scott.

She shook her head. "I don't mean to be. I... I dunno. It's like when he looks at me all he sees is the past, and his past hurts him more than anything."

"I know it's going to sound like a copout. But if you actually want to be more than a childhood friend, or a reminder of the past, you're going to have to decide what he really means to you," said Scott.

"I love Scott." she said gently,
stubbornly
. Her lower lip poked out a little in a petulant pout.

He stroked her hair softly then kissed on the top of her head. "Yes. But do you love
him
?"

Shara slowly nodded. "I do."

Scott stroked her hair a little, unsure what else he should do to calm her down. He had never really been that good with dealing with crying women. He suspected that he was doing alright at the moment. But as far as things went when dealing with Shara, any attention from him made her feel better.

"Is it romantic love?"

"I'm not sure what that is... not really." she sighed softly. "I just want him to be happy again. I hate what's happened to him. He deserves so much better."

"Sounds like love," said Scott gently. "Also, sounds like you need to figure out what kind of love you feel for him."

Shara actually laughed after a moment. "When did you get so good at this?"

Scott shrugged. "I've had to do a lot of soul searching in recent months when it came to figuring out the love thing."

"Me too." she said warmly, while unleashing another sweet laugh.

"Had to find the right Scott?" he asked with a laugh of his own.

Shara's laugh returned, much brighter this time. "Of course! Who do you think I am?"

He pulled on her ponytail a little then started to say something, but the sound of liquid being spurted caught his attention. Both he and Shara looked toward the far side of the table and saw Herbert pumping butter onto the popcorn in his bowl.

Herbert looked at them. They looked at him. He chittered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Don't mind me."

Soon, all three fell into a world of silly giggles. The situation was simply too ridiculous not to laugh.

Chapter 5

A wistful sigh echoed across the interior of a well-appointed dressing room. Origin gazed sadly into the mirror. Her chin propped up by her hands, the girl in the mirror looked as though she had not a friend in the world.

She blew an errant hair from the side of her face then said, "Just started the tour and it's already this bad."

Origin had grown accustomed to being near Scott whenever she liked. It was difficult for her to understand exactly what it was about him that made her immortal heart beat quicker, but it did.

Curiosity, and loneliness, got the better of her. Origin bit her bottom lip slightly then reached for her cell phone. "It wouldn't hurt to just see what he's up to, would it?"

Justified in her actions, Origin lifted the phone up and tapped on an application that would turn her mirror into a one-way view-screen. A bright smile appeared on her lips as she saw the interior of Scott's house. "Oh, so he went to Earth for some reason?"

She performed a quick search scan and the image zoomed in on Scott's location. Her warm smile slowly faded as she saw something she had not expected. "What's
she
doing there...?"

The images shown on the screen were of Scott holding Shara close while he gently stroked her hair. Off to one side, Herbert ate popcorn and watched the human drama unfolding before him.

Shara began to cry a little, but Scott seemed to do his best to comfort her without comforting her
too
much. "Since when does Shara go to him like this on her own?"

Eventually, the sweet and somewhat infuriating scene came to an end. Origin watched Scott kiss Shara on the cheek then nod to her. The bridge of the girl's nose turned pink, an action that made Origin's stomach twist into an uncertain little knot.

She hesitated a moment, but then sent Shara a message. It was not prying if it was her sister, right?

The minutes ticked by as Origin nervously waited for a response from her little sister. She nearly said something unladylike when her older sister, Mid, poked her head into the dressing room. "Hey, you ready to go?"

Origin sighed at her phone then sent Shara another message telling her that she would like to talk later. She had to do another meet and greet with the fans.

"Yeah, I suppose I am," said the blue haired goddess as she rose from her seat. She made a point of looking at Mid, however. "If one more of those fan boys tries to grab my butt, I'm calling lightning."

"They'd probably love you forever if you did," said Mid with a laugh. "You know how they can be."

Origin frowned at her sister. Must she be so
reasonable
in her assertions? "Yes. I do know."

The divine sisters left the dressing room and went off to meet their fan-base related destiny. Origin would simply have to wait to discover what her younger sister had discussed with the love of her life.

***

Scott waited patiently at a stop light for a military convoy to cross the road. Many things had happened since the last time he had gone to speak with Captain Johnson. The base had not changed much, but who knew what was in store for its future?

His cell buzzed briefly as another message arrived for him. "Sarah again?" he said before placing it back down with a sigh. What would it take to get the woman to accept the reality of the situation? She had dumped him with no forewarning. He had moved on after a time, and now her needs were simply not important to him.

"I'll be glad to get back to ARS after this. How 'bout you man?" asked Scott.

Herbert chittered once then waved at the air with his paw. He could take it or leave it, really.

Once they arrived at the headquarters building, they headed inside to meet up with the good captain. Herbert rode shotgun on Scott's shoulder so no one would get any crazy ideas of about chasing him with a broom.