Female Tarzan [1] •James Conrad•

~Chapter 5: Let's Go~

(Time Skip)

I was in Hank's house, looking out at the view of the land as I ignored the men talking from behind me. The bright lights in the sky were out tonight. I sighed.

"Isn't it odd the most dangerous places are always the most beautiful?" I heard Conrad ask from beside me.

"Mm." I said.

"I'm sorry for earlier." He said. "We honestly thought you were drowning." He was telling the truth. I sighed.

"And I'm sorry for acting like a child." I said. "Things have just not been going my way lately." He nodded.

"I think that's how we all feel too." He said. I nodded and stared at the sky lights. "Do you know what they're called?" I shook my head.

"No." I said.

"The scientists named them Aurora Borealis." He said. "But us regular people call them The Northern Lights." I chuckled.

"My whole life I've called them Sky Lights and I now just find out that I had at least one word right in the name." I said, shaking my head. I chuckled again. "What a doofus I am. I guess I'm wrong about everything."

"That can't be right." He said. I looked at him. "If you were wrong about everything, you wouldn't be here right now."

"I guess you're right." I said, shrugging.

"Sometimes we just need someone to show us the light." He said, pulling out something. It made a click and fire came out of it. I smiled at it in amazement. He pressed a button, and the fire went away. He passed the item to me. "It's called a lighter."

"What's it purpose?" I asked.

"It has many purposes." He said. "One of them being lighting." He smiled at me. I smiled back and noticed some letters on the lighter.

"R. A. F.?" I asked.

"Royal Air Force." He said. "It was my father's. He threw it to me from the train as he rolled off to fight the Nazis. He was like John Wayne to me. Some kind of mythic hero."

"Did he come back to you?" I asked.

"His plane went down near Hamburg." He said. "They searched for him for months, but...I suppose no man comes home from war. No really."

"I'm sorry, Conrad." I said. He nodded.

"If I may ask, what happened to your parents?" He asked.

"I don't know." I said, passing him back his lighter. "As far as I know, they died."

"How?" He asked.

"Kong told me that he found me in a tree house." I explained. "All alone. A baby in a box. He thinks my parents were killed in the next room. All he found was blood on the floor. No bodies, no bones, nothing. Just the blood of my parents. But we know who did it. The Skull-crawlers. One of them must have snuck in and killed them in cold blood. My parents put me in that box to protect me. Kong heard their screams and my cries. He took me and raised me as his own. And you know the rest."

"I'm sorry." He said. "No child should have to go through that."

"No child should have to lose a parent." I said. "Guess we have that in common. But the only good part that came out of it was that I gained a brother. Without him, I would have nothing. Not even my life...If I lose Kong, I'll be alone. For forever. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's my home."

A tear rolled down my face. 

"That's why I can't leave." I said. I looked at him and he looked at me. "I can't leave him behind." He nodded.

"I get it." He said. "He's your family. You can't abandon family." I nodded and looked out at the view.

"My brother...My responsibility." I said.

(Time Skip)

We stood, watching as Hank said goodbye to Gunpei.

"This man's name was Gunpei Ikari." Hank said from his spot next to his friend's grave. "But you take away the uniforms and the war...and he became my brother. And we swore we'd never leave each other behind." I felt sadness wash over me. I swore I'd never leave Kong behind either. I still won't. Hank stood up. "Let's get off this island." He pulled the sword out of Gunpei's grave and put it in its holster.

(Time Skip)

We were getting the boat ready.

"Ow!" I heard Reg shout. "Not yet!"

"Prime the lines." Conrad said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Reg said.

"Wind it up, let's go!" Conrad shouted.

"Keep going!" Reg said, as Mason wound up the boat. Conrad grunted as he tried to start it, but the engine just sputtered. "Third time's the charm. Here we go. Here we go! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" I saw Conrad was having trouble pushing the lever. I ran over and put my hand on his. He looked at me.

"Together." I said. He nodded.

"On 3." He said. "1, 2, 3!" We pushed it together and grunted because it was hard. But then, the engine started.

"Yes!" Reg said. "Yes!" We laughed in success. Conrad smiled at me. I smiled at him, feeling a weird feeling in my stomach. Everyone else stopped. I turned to see the villagers standing there, watching us. Hank walked over to the elders.

"I guess this is goodbye." He said. "Thank you." They nodded to him as we started pulling away from the land. I walked over to Hank and patted him on the back. He turned to me. "Promise me you'll take care of them when you come back." I smiled at him.

"I promise." I said. I walked away from him as the boat went to the gate. It was lifted up and we went under it. This was it. They were finally going home.