Gargantuan G

Three

Juno

Why did Sovis keep trying to sell her his Bolter? It wasn't even new. And anyway, what in the Gargantuan G would she do with a Bolter? It's not like she wanted to leave Xybalbah. It was a perfectly nice place.

And besides....she had to wait for her father to come back.

Her father....

She knew that she should be sad. A normal person would cry. But she just couldn't bring herself to be upset. It kept welling up in her, and every time she would push it back down, and pretend it was anger.

She was angry at Akimoto.

She was angry at the Detective Agency.

She was angry at her father.

But.....

There was so much more than that.

She was angry, but she was also hurt.

Hurt that her father never told her what was happening.

Hurt that her father blamed her for the death of her mother.

It was easier to pretend it was anger. Everyone knew Juno as strong. She never cried when her mother died. She just held her head low and thought of her every day. She wanted to cry. But another part of her told her not to. To be strong.

"Look at that poor girl," the people would say. "Handling her mother's death so well. She's such a brave soldier."

A brave soldier.
Qirsan would give her chocolates and ask, "How's my brave soldier?"

That's who Juno was.

And she liked that she was a brave soldier. It made her feel strong. There was no point in crying. It didn't do anything. So she held it in.

"Look at that poor girl," the people would say. "Handling her father's disappearance so well. She's such a brave soldier."

There were times when Juno didn't want to be a brave soldier. When all she wanted was to sit down and cry for a second. There was a thin borderline between sad, and not being able to stop. When you started to cry, you broke that borderline. You wouldn't be able to stop.

So Juno made sure to stay far away from that borderline.

What a brave soldier.

And what a stupid war.

Maxx

Was Maxx dead? He didn't know. He couldn't move his limbs. His stomach growled. He opened his eyes. I guess if I was dead I couldn't see, Maxx reasoned.

So he wasn't dead.

Huh.

Was Maxx supposed to be happy about that?

Should he not be?

Maxx didn't know anymore.

But he did know one thing.

He was going mad.

He knew because sometimes he had visions of Rheysa.

Normal people don't have visions of their little sisters being strangled to death. Maxx didn't really know this for a fact, but at least he assumed that normal people don't have visions of their little sisters being strangled to death.

Then Maxx heard a girl's voice say, "My father is not dead! He has not committed suicide and he will come back for me."

So this was Juno.

Maxx sat up and listened to her rant at him.

He smiled to himself. He liked this girl already. She put Sovis in his place.

She reminded him of Rheysa. More confident, more sophisticated, but Rheysa was definitely in there. Somehow Juno's voice was sort of gentle and captivating.

Rheysa, he thought.

Everything reminded him of Rheysa.

She had gotten her Tap Screen taken away and now they couldn't talk. But Maxx saw Rheysa everywhere.

Even in Juno.

Especially in Juno.

And Maxx heard something else in Juno's voice.

Something he recognized.

He knew other people wouldn't be able to recognize it.

Juno was pretending to be brave. Maybe she was brave, Maxx didn't know. But he could hear she was pretending. Because in her voice....a part of her was about to cry. A part of her was seconds away from breaking down.

Maxx knew she had had a tough life.

And she was trying to hide her emotions.

He heard some people murmur, "brave soldier. Maxx thought that would make Juno sound stronger. But it made her sound weaker. It pushed her closer to breaking.

Juno was hiding it remarkably well, Maxx had admit. But he knew it wouldn't last.