Spiral
Chapter IX: Circles
By EclipseKlutz
"…Today I'm drawing circles
In my memories, in the pages of my life
That's me for a long time
I can't run away…"
Lacuna Coil: Circles
The petit woman had wasted no time ordering the guards to update the police with her discovery before rounding on Violet and informing her that she had the right to remain silent, although she'd most likely already condemned herself for aligning herself on the side of a highly dangerous fugitive. Violet had simply swallowed and nodded as Buddy protested loudly, spinning out the entire story with the exception of a few parts that were strictly Violet's business, and afterwards demanded that she be released into the custody of her family.
At this, Violet nearly forgot to breathe due to shock, and the woman laughed, declaring menacingly, "Oh, Buddy—you never change."
"Yeah," he answered bitterly. "I'm still walking in circles."
She cocked an eyebrow, nonverbally announcing her disbelief, "Only now you're honest… about some things. So, who's your new sidekick? What happened to Mirage?"
"She's not my sidekick—she's my hostage. Gees, you didn't change either—still deaf as a dead cow and as ugly as one too. Four years really isn't that long, is it?" Buddy responded casually, his voice only vaguely accented with his otherwise obvious frustration.
The woman glared at him, yet her attention was quickly diverted by something over his shoulder—something that caused an even crueler smirk to make itself present on her features, "And here come the police, Buddy—I advise you remain silent before you get yourself in the death row for sheer idiocy."
Buddy mumbled something about "biased fuzz" and stood quietly while they approached. Violet, however, wasn't taking it so easily, and the moment the lady turned to consult the police, Vi allowed herself to fade away. No one other then Buddy noticed—although he quickly disappeared as well, something that definitely caught everyone's attention.
As the girl dragged him through the terminal, and then proceeded to pull him into C-8, he hissed to what he assumed was her ear, even though he couldn't actually see it: "How'd you do that?"
"Somethin' I picked up recently," she said in a quiet tone, pushing him into the crowd before allowing the pigmentation to slowly return to both of them. "Here's the plane, let's get on it and get out… but you've some explaining to do."
He frowned, "I suppose I do."
With a quick glance over his shoulder, he followed her onto the plane and to their seats, and neither of them said anything else until the plane was safely in the air.
-z-
"So, who was she?" Violet inquired after half an hour of strained silence. Her head was resting against the window and her knees pulled up to her chest, the itchy blue blanket supplied by the airplane company draped over her small form.
Syndrome sighed as he looked over at her, slightly grateful for the distraction from the flight magazine he was fruitlessly attempting to read. "Her name's Fera Myers, ex-officer."
Violet nodded, apparently biting back a yawn. "What were you two talking about?"
His lips creased in a frown and he leaned his head against the back of the seat, talking quietly to ensure that she was the only person who could hear him, "Four years ago, Gazerbeam posed a bit of a problem. A lot of a problem, actually. He discovered too much—the passwords, the plot. Hell, he almost got to warning your dad… which he did anyway, now that I think about it. So, Mirage persuaded me to take him out myself… I dragged her along, she tripped, got us caught—and the fed on duty happened to be Officer Myers. She had me for all of ten minutes, but a few nifty devices later, I was free and she'd been demoted… I don't think she was too happy."
"She's working as a security guard in an airport. I wouldn't be too happy either," Violet replied dryly.
He offered a wry chuckle in response before stuffing the flight brochure back into the pocket of the seat before him and bending over to fish through the contents of the back pack. After a moment, he uncovered a novel—Alex Haley's Roots—and began to read, figuring there was not much left to talk about.
However, he found he was quite wrong.
As he opened the book and began skimming the first page, Violet drew in a quick breath and asked in a voice that just barely surpassed a whisper, "Do you regret it?"
"Hm?" He responded, once again looking up to face her.
"What you did, four years ago. Do you regret it?"
He shrugged, returning his gaze to the book before him, "I don't think about it."
"Yes you do."
"And you would know what I think how?"
She sighed slightly, watching the clouds with a sort of detached interest, "I don't. But you think about it. You're not a very good liar."
Finally he shook his head, "It's all circles, dear. There's two ways to look at it—from the view of a hero and that of a villain. The hero hates it, says it was a pointless way to get revenge. The villain lives by it but constantly says that it should have been slightly more violent, more clean-cut. Both agree on one thing though."
She lifted her head just slightly to get a proper view of him, "And what's that?"
He offered a rather sad smile, turning back to the book in his hands so he wouldn't have to look at her face as he said, "If it'd never happened, I wouldn't have been there to save you."
A/N: I'm terrible at updating when I say I will, so thank you so much for sticking with me this long. And all the reviews? Wow… I'd reply here but that's no longer allowed, so I'm sorry—but please continue to review, it's very helpful. :-)