Blow After Blow

Juno's eyes follow his best friend as he paces back and forth in the living room of the band's shared house. He knows things haven't been great for Nar as of late, so he opts not to say anything about how annoying it is. In truth, everyone in the room is worried. Himself, Nar, Ruby, Scrappy, and Deena, but Nar the most of all. He almost looks to be a nervous wreck. Something Juno has never seen from him before. He can't blame the guy though. Not after everything he's been through. All manner of thoughts race through Nar's head. Asuka, and Cookie never returned from going to go see a movie yesterday, and Asuka hasn't returned any of his texts, or calls. He filed missing person reports an hour after the two were supposed to return yesterday. Now, all he could do was wait for any information the police might give him. On top of that, things had suddenly taken a turn in his relationship with Aki. Over the past week, she'd suddenly become much more withdrawn, and cold with him. She asked him to stop coming over at first, then her replies in their texts got shorter, and short. This morning, Nar tried to text her good morning, only to find she'd blocked him. On everything. Right now, he really wish she was here. With her technical knowledge, she likely could have helped them find out where Asuka, and Cookie are. Nar's phone buzzes twice in quick succession. He hastily removes it from his pocket, hoping it's some sort of communication from the detective from the VCPD who's working on the missing person reports. Instead, what he finds are two emails from two separate addresses. He thinks about ignoring them, until he realizes that one is from Aki's address. Quickly, he opens up the email, and reads through it. He really wishes he hadn't. The email is fairly brief, but concise. In it, Aki tells Nar that she has thought things over, and that she doesn't think she deserves him. She thinks he deserves someone better than her, and that she doesn't want to weigh him down anymore. She tells him that she's blocking him so he can forget about her, and find someone better. At the end, there is no signature. Only a simple "I'm sorry I wasn't good enough." His heart shatters into a million tiny pieces. She couldn't even break up with him in real time. She did it through email, and blocked him so he couldn't even respond. Where was all this talk of not being good enough coming from? And why hadn't she communicated her feelings to him?! He'd been helping her work on her communication skills, but it looks like it was all for nothing. Arms wrap over Nar's shoulder, and suddenly, he finds himself in the middle of a group hug. "Hey, what's wrong?" Says Ruby, in a soft voice beside him. Nar only barely manages to whimper in response. "Aki left." At this, the group slowly guides Nar onto the couch, just before his knees give out. Tears stream down his face, and short cries escape his throat. Hands begin to rub his back, and he can hear the others trying to comfort him. He and Aki hadn't even been together all that long, and they weren't super serious or anything. So why did it hurt so much?

Nar's thoughts devolve. Suddenly, the possibility that his beloved sister, and daughter might never come back. His mind begins to give in to despair, and his friends hold him tightly as his entire world seems to shatter around him. For what feels like hours, Nar lays crumpled on the couch a sobbing mess. Beside him, Juno clutches his friend's shoulder gently, reassuring him that he's not alone. Ruby's face shifts back and forth between concern, and disgust. Not disgust at Nar showing weakness, but at Aki, for abandoning him when he needed her most. Deena's heart aches, seeing the man whom in another life, she loved so dearly, in so much pain. Scrappy has no idea what to do in this situation, and simply sits on the floor beside the couch, gently rubbing his arm. Eventually, Nar's tears run dry, and his sobs slowly quiet. Weakly, Nar pushes himself up to sit upright, helped along by Juno, and Ruby. As they attempt to continue comforting him, he lifts his phone, intent on reading he second email. As he does so, sorrow begins to give way to unbridled rage. Without warning, Nar shrugs off the hands of his friends, and stands up off of the couch. Juno tries to ask Nar what he's doing, but Nar already has his phone to his ear, and seems to ignore him. There's a moment's silence, then Nar speaks. "Ryuji." His voice barely contains his rage. "I need a favor." There's a pause, then Nar speaks again. "I need you to gather anyone you think is good in a fight." Another pause. Ruby looks puzzled. "Because. Winston Dreamglow kidnapped my sister, and daughter." When Nar finishes his phone call with Ryuji, Ruby tries to question him, but Nar simply makes another phone call. After he finishes with that call, he finally turns to address the others. "Winston kidnapped Asuka, and Cookie. I'm gonna go kick his ass." There are no responses from the others. "I'm gathering everyone I know who will help. I'm gonna bring them home." At this, Juno rises. "You bet your ass I'm coming too." Nar simply nods in response. Then, Ruby rises. She opens her mouth to speak, but Nar cuts her off. "No. You're staying here." Ruby is taken aback at first. "What? Why?!" "Because, that could be what Winston wants. If he's psychotic enough to kidnap my daughter to get back at me, I don't doubt he'd be psychotic enough to try and kidnap you too." Ruby snarls in response. "I can take care of myself! Don't treat me like a child!" Nar gives her a cold glare, and she backs off. Fine. She'll stay. For now. Then, she'll follow behind afterwards, when it's too late for him to do anything about it. Wordlessly, Nar turns, and heads to enter his room. When he emerges, he has his satchel, skates, and goggles on his person. He gives a nod to Juno, who falls in step behind him, and the two exit the apartment without a word.