Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

4 - Wilting Flowers and Shared Memories

"I feel like I'm having a heart attack..."  Jimmy mumbled, mostly to himself. 

"What's wrong?  Do we know those guys?"  Tango asked.  Jimmy shook his head.

"Not you for once, just me," he said, "you saw the guy with the teal hair?  That's Scott, and he's a dick,"

"Oooh, is he that ex you've been talking about?"  Tango asked.  "What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it,"  Jimmy said.  "It was a long time ago, and besides, I've got someone way better than him now,"

As he said this, Jimmy squeezed Tango's hand a bit.

"Aww," Tango blushed, smiling. Jimmy smiled alongside him, though on the inside he couldn't quite shake the nauseating feeling of anxiety out of his gut.  It didn't help that his holding of Tango's hand allowed him to see the blooming teal flower on his outer wrist.

"So where are we going now?"  Tango asked.  Jimmy shrugged.

"I dunno, just anywhere other than there I suppose," he said, nodding his head back in the direction of the coffee shop.  Tango took out the map, scanning the area for a second.

"How about... here?" Tango asked, pointing to a shop on the map just across from where they were.

"The Rally Ranch Diner?"  Jimmy read.  "You think they'll have breakfast over there?"

"Any food is breakfast food if you're up to it!  C'mon!"  Tango said, leading Jimmy across the town centre. 

Halfway through, they passed by the huge water fountain in the middle of it all.  It had to have been at least double Tango's height, maybe a little taller, the water flowing out of it adding onto that height just a bit.  The structure was made of white marble, slightly cracked and chipped at some points but still very much intact.  On the outside of the bottom piece that all the water flowed into were some pictures carved into the marble, 14 of them going all the way around the fountain.  The images consisted of an eye, a wheel, a crumbling cookie, a collar, a lowercase letter "I", a clock set for 12, a fire, a bundle of wheat, a donkey, a maple leaf, a flower, a crescent moon, a piece of rotten flesh, and a spiral shape.  Jimmy noticed that the bundle of wheat, for some reason, was coated in a shade of light blue.

It took a moment for him to realize that he stopped in his tracks, getting Tango to notice the fountain as well. 

"Whaddya think the patterns on the bottom are for?"  The creature asked.  "They look oddly specific for being decoration.  Plus, the fire being the only thing that's red is throwing it off too,"

"What?  The fire's not red, Tango," Jimmy said, confused.

"What do you mean it's not red?  It's kinda hard to miss on a bright white marble, look," Tango said, walking up to the fire symbol and pointing to it.  As he moved his hand closer, Jimmy suddenly saw the symbol go from white to a light pink.

"Wait wait, Tango, touch it," Jimmy said.  Confused but complying, Tango put his hand on the symbol, and that's when Jimmy was able to see the neon red radiating off of the image. 

"Tango," Jimmy said, walking up to the light blue wheat bundle, "can you see the blue on this?"

"Uhh... no?" Tango answered.

Jimmy placed his hand on the picture.  "How about now?"

Tango's bright red eyes widened in shock.  "How'd you do that?"

"It happened with yours too!  I couldn't see the red until you put your hand near it," Jimmy explained.  "I don't know how that's possible, but apparently it is,"