leaf 011 [text; action for Goldenrod; past midnight]

[bookmarking]

Seven and Lotus are gone.

[Ten minutes pass before she texts another message.]

If you could contact one person from your world right now, who would it be, and what would you tell them?

[Private to Santa]

I've got an extra Eevee. [The last one had been given to June.] Want him?

[People who are out at this hour or who decide to go looking for a pink-haired girl will find Clover strolling toward the radio tower, obviously wanting some real alone time. Her long pink hair is down, so no pigtails tonight. That jacket is buttoned all the way up to her ribbon, and she has thrown a coat over everything. While she's still in a skirt, her legs are in pale pink leggings. Gear in hand, she just walks idly on, a downcast expression on her face.

There is much on her mind...not only Seven and Lotus' disappearances, but also Snake, her older brother. It felt like an eternity since she had discovered that he was gone. Probably three months, more or less? And she was beginning to miss him again.

Actually, she always missed him. She had friends in Johto, sure, but...no one could ever replace her brother.]

Comments

[miniworth]

If your brother was killed, wouldn't you do everything and anything you can to exact justice?

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

Of course I would! [If she doesn't go crazy first.]

[miniworth]

Exactly. So you would understand how I feel about my father's murder.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but...what does that have to do with your sister?

[miniworth]

Would you like to guess?

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

Your father's killer...and your sister are connected? Somehow? They know each other?

[miniworth]

You could say that.

Furthermore I said I could destroy her world in the same way I had mine destroyed.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

..

N-no way...that's...

[It didn't take long for her to figure it out.]

[miniworth]

Do you have a guess, now?

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

I sure do. But I don't understand...

Her father - your mentor - supposedly killed your father?

[miniworth]

If it's true, the murder came first.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

...Who told you that? Who told you her father was your father's murderer?

[miniworth]

I've told you.

Everybody was from my "future."

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

As in everyone?!

[miniworth]

Of the people I've met who apparently came from my world, there wasn't a single person who was not at least ten years ahead of me.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

You also already told me that.

Did they tell you anything else about your father's murder?

[miniworth]

They told me quite a lot. About Franziska's father, his motives, and his eventual plans.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

...

With everyone agreeing on that...it becomes harder to assume they're just making it up. Unless you can prove they were all in cahoots and had some motive to deceive you.

[miniworth]

And how would I know, right?

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

Yeah...

But hey, is your sister gonna learn law too? I'm guessing she will once she learns how to read, from what I know about your teacher.

[miniworth]

I believe so. She's only three years old back home, but the one I met here seems to have been studying law for a long time.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

[Clover frowns, her own problems forgotten for the time being.]

If she studies law and what it's all about...I think she'd understand what's going to happen to her father if he really murdered your father. She'll be sad at first, but I think she'd learn - the hard way - that no one gets special treatment. Not even the greatest lawyers.

...in the end, it wouldn't be your fault. Assuming it's all true. Your teacher would have no one to blame but himself for doing what he did. He would be the one wrecking your sister's life, not you. You'd also be a victim. [Again, but she's sure he'd get her point. Sort of.]

[miniworth]

... It would be simple if things worked that way, wouldn't it be.

It would be very simple.

[4leafcleaver.livejournal.com]

Look, I never said it was simple. What I'm telling you is that you shouldn't blame yourself for something you're not even sure will happen. Or at least, something that might not happen the way you think it will.

[miniworth]

I cannot be sure it wouldn't happen, either.

[He looks away from her and shakes his head.] It's not even supposed to happen for another fourteen years, for me. It might not happen, or it might. If I know about it, I might be able to change something.

... But whatever it ends up being, it is going happen. It has to--or else a murderer, whoever it is, is going to walk off free. Even if it ends up being Manfred von Karma, or Yanni Yogi, or even me--whether it will affect Franziska's life or not, in the end, somebody has to take that responsibility. If it does end up being Manfred von Karma, though, it won't be just her father that'll be destroyed.