Of Love and Death.

The Present Chapter Seven: Ghost of the Past Pt. 2

     Shu closed his eyes as the warm breeze fluttered through his hair. It smelled like rain, which he knew would be welcomed by many after the  oppressive heat that had covered much of the state. However, he would be a bit sad to see the heat go, although hopefully the temperature wouldn't dip down by much. "Well now, I can't say I expected to see you here," Someone said. Shu blanched. He knew that voice from somewhere, he was just having trouble placing it. Their voice was jovial, and a bit loud. Although he was pretty sure that was just their personality.

     Oh, where did Shu know them from? Were they an old member or the Bulls, or maybe someone from a district tournament? He turned around to where the person was standing behind him. Maybe seeing their face would help?

    Aw, crud. Shu did know them, and he knew from where. The speaker stood around a head taller than Valt, who was standing right next to the speaker for a lovely high comparison. He had spiky cyan hair that pointed down, not up. He was wearing short sleeves, colored light blue with cyan sleeves. His pants were white, with light blue stripes running up the sides, and he had a light chain around his neck with a silver triangle pendant. His eyes were a deep azure color. His name was Venice. 

     Wait, wait, wait. Why was Valt standing next to Venice? Wasn't he in Spain? 

     "Valt, um, where did you meet this guy?" Shu asked his friend, who was standing right next to Venice. Shu felt himself panic a bit. He had to remind himself that, out of all his former teammates that Valt could have run into, Venice was the most harmless one. After, you know, Richard. "Also, aren't you in Spain?" 

     Valt grinned. He seemed very pleased with himself, probably because he'd managed to surprise Shu. "Well, turns out BC Sol has a match here tomorrow. So I got to take another plane, back here." Valt paused. Shu noticed that his eyes were bloodshot   "I have been awake for, like, a day straight," Valt finished. Shu groaned in sympathy. His recent experience with staying up for over a day was still fresh in his mind. On the bright side, Valt was back. 

     "That's amazing, that you've returned," Shu said excitedly. He was ecstatic, he hadn't expected to see Valt face to face for another good chunk of time. An extra day or so with him was superb. Judging by the large grin on Valt's face, his friend felt the same way. 

     Venice, Spryzen said, reminding Shu of the elephant in the room. 

     Right, Shu thoguht. "So, how do you know Venice?" He asked.

    "I ran into them at the vending machine. Why?" Valt asked. He seemed genuinely confused, he must not have realized who he was standing next to. "Do you know Venus or something?"

      "IT'S VENICE! I swear, can you not remember a single name?" Venice practically shouted. Shu winced, that guy spoke with the words of someone with a lot of pent up anger. His body language matched it too, he was leaning slightly towards Valt, with his hands balled up into fists.

       Shu found himself growling under his breath. "Don't threaten V-" He cut off for a moment. Why? Well he'd seen something out of the corner of his eye. A single white spark. Shu's hands flew to his hair, which wasn't exactly made of keratin anymore. There was a panic in his breath, that he tried desperately to contain. Shu found himself torn between wanting to run, as to not burn anyone, and staying. Valt didn't need Shu's defense, but at the same time, a deep instinct told him to protect his friends. "Just leave him alone," Shu finished, the words rushing off of his tongue.

     Much to Shu's relief, Venice eased up, and raised his hands in peace. Shockingly, he didn't seem that surprised about Shu's hair turning to white flames. No, that wasn't a correct description. Venice was surprised, but not the level of someone who had seen literal magic happen in front of them. Rather, he seemed surprised at Shu's own reaction, to shy away from everyone in fear.

     Venice didn't act on that, though. Instead, he rested his arm over Valt's shoulder. Not in a romantic way, but in the way someone might give their sibling a headlock. "Hey, relax," Venice said calmingly, "Me and Valt go way back. I wouldn't harm him."

     Shu intended to contest that statement. After all, Venice had met Valt for all of ten minutes. Six years ago. That didn't exactly constitute going "way back". However, Valt cut him off before he got the chance to speak.

     "How exactly do we go way back?" Valt asked as he shrugged off Venice's arm. Shu found himself breathless as Valt crossed over to him. Now they stood not a yard or two apart, but less than a foot. Are you okay? The blue-haired blader asked Shu.

     Shu swallowed hard, and forced himself to take a deep breath. He was calming down a bit. To tell the truth, he knew that Venice was pretty much harmless. More so than a bunny rabbit. Actually, Mr. Midnight was a beast. More harmless than a great white shark. Yeah, Shu thought, knowing that Valt would hear it. I just need to breathe.

    Valt grinned. Shu'd be okay, which was a relief. He spun around to look at Venus. "Again, how do we go way back?" He was genuinely curious about this guy, who'd just sprung out of nowhere. Not to mention the fact that Venus seemed a little bit familiar.

     Valt was taken aback, however, by Venus's reaction. He looked like he was about to open his mouth to say something. Only, he cut off. "Um," Venus said, waving his hands all about. It was clear he'd done a full one-eighty from what he had been going to say. "I, well you see, I should never have said that. Ilya's gonna kill me." The guy seemed honest, very, frazzled. Valt wished he could tell what was going on in Venus's head. Yet, for some reason, he couldn't. It was very frustrating.

     Behind Valt, Shu sighed. "I'll tell you this much," Valt's friend said in a slightly annoyed tone. "You've got an easily excited spirit, Venice."

     Venus smirked, but didn't comment. Valt furrowed his brow. What was it that this guy found so funny? "So, Shu, by the way. I'm glad to see you're back to being, you know, you. Err, as much as you can be," Venus declared

   Shu blinked. "What do you mean?" He asked, fidgeting with the end of his pink shirt. He felt awkward about this whole conversation. He hadn't been expecting to get ambushed by an old teammate. Much less one who seemed very not evil, and was glad that Shu wasn't Red Eye anymore.

    "You know, you're not possessed any more. That's always a good thing!" Venice said cheerfully.

     Shu winced at the reminder of what had happened to him. He remembered when, he had first met Venice, and had a very confusing conversation with him. Looking back, he now got all of that stuff Venice had said about Spryzen. 

     Shu glanced at Valt. By the look on the latter's face, he was confused. Actually, very confused as to how Vencie knew something that Shu tried quite hard to keep secret. "Time out!" Valt called, holding his hands up in a way that made a "T" shape. Shu stopped speaking, and Venice turned to look at Valt. Shu's friend lowered his hands. "Ahem," he cleared his throat. "How exactly do you two know each other? I am very confused!"

     Shu was about to explain, but got cut off again. This time, by Venice. "Well, we were roommates!" The white-haired blader's not-exactly-friend announced as he wrapped his arm around Shu's shoulders. Which Shu himself promptly shoved off. The smallest reason being his hair was still kind of made of fire. The larger reason being that he did not like Venice in any way, shape, or form.

     "For all of two weeks," Shu clarified, "Before you got tossed out via trapdoor."

     Valt tilted his head. "I'm still confused," he admitted.

     Shu smiled fondly, "Here's how we met," he began.