ChronoNicles - Stories Beyond Time

Bonds

A/N:

This story is set 20 years before the events beginning BattleR Saga, in the late 1990's.

A young couple, madly in love and hopeful towards what the world offers, fell victim to a plot of global control questioned by politics, unknown to masses and enjoyed by certain group of people.

One sunny day, in the chilly dawn of typical summer day, the boy popped the question.

"Yes."

For the next few weeks that one word filled the boys head, constantly repeating in the loop. 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes and 7 seconds. And then the two will be one.

Some days stretched forever.

"It's not even noon? Grgh..." he looked at his watch. It felt like time wasn't moving at all, seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. "3 weeks, 1 day, 4 hours, 15 minutes..."

Some days were over before he knew it.

"Hello?" he picked up the phone. "Oh hi Nicky. Yes, yes. I know, I'll get it after... what? It's not THAT late-... Oh. It is? Damn it, I'm sorry, I really am, super mega sorry, I lost track of time. You know me – the unpredictable."

And she loved every piece of it every second.

Her path to the altar wasn't as straight forward as her soon-to-be husband. Everything regarding the big day fell on her shoulders. But a control freak such as herself thrived from it. She could spend hours just looking at the cakes, but at the same time just one glance was enough to pick the suits for the groom and his best men.

Day in and day out, she scrolled through websites, flipped through more catalogs of flowers than Mike has ever seen, and he worked in a press store once, spent more hours talking over the phone than not, all while keeping her usual chores in check.

When her mother paid them a visit a few weeks before the ceremony, one look at her daughter was enough to know not to get in the demon's way. Mike's mother wasn't as perceptive. And not really susceptible either.

"Come on, there must be SOMETHING I could help you with, dear."

"No."

"How about after? Got everything sorted out already?"

"Yes."

"Then maybe..."

"No."

Each next question was more detailed, but the bride's cold responses kept them bouncing off of her. Luckily Mike came back with the groceries.

"Come, mum, I'll show you to your room."

When they were outside the bride's field of vision, Mike's mother, small but energetic person, dragged her son's upper body down to her level and whispered.

"I can't believe her. When I was getting married to your father I took any help I could get, is she always like this?"

"Only in stressful situations. And at work. And whenever she can take charge. And even when she can't." he paused for a second and smiled. "So basically yes, always."

Then the Big Day came.

Everyone was tense, some more than others. The final hour was approaching, the groom was getting ready and the bride was getting everyone else ready.

But both of them still had that primeval spark in their eyes.

The groom, his best men, the bridesmaids, the parents, families and friends, everyone was ready. Waiting for the bride's father to bring her in and start the party.

But among the friends and family, inconspicuously, a person unknown to all was carefully watching the events unfold. Wearing a dark-blue tuxedo middle-aged man was walking between people, listening to their conversations. He was clean-shaven, with long greasy black hair tied in a ponytail under the grey hat. He didn't look very foreign, but he had this unfitting look on his face, almost bored.

Everyone was invited into the building, and the moment the last person set foot inside the church, the huge wooden doors slammed behind them. A young Latino priest came from behind the altar, and asked the groom to talk to him alone.

They moved away from the people, exchanged a few words, and the priest handed to the groom a small piece of crumbled paper.

Before either of the men could react, the inconspicuous stranger quietly walked towards them, and with a lowered voice he asked "Is there a problem, gentlemen? Perhaps something's wrong with the bride?"

They looked at the mysterious man, unable to reply.

"I know the situation, mister Kotwicki. You and miss Whittey have an interesting story to live through, and I understand both of you are equally eager and afraid to see what that story is. But trust me. This note here? It means nothing. Just calm down and read between the lines."

Mike looked at the note again.

"Mikey, My Key, you opened the door to my heart and walked in like you owned the place. Before I knew it we both owned each other's hearts. Then you opened the door for dreams to come true. Career, family, love, you were ready to give all of them to me on a silver platter. But the darkness of the world isn't something we can fight alone. The secrets, the losses, the pain. Everything in the world around us is a fake. I can't let it consume us either. I can't let them close all the doors you opened or the doors you will open someday. Always yours. Nicky."

The groom read the note over and over again. Read between the lines? Easy to say, whoever you are. She's the one who wears the pants around here, and now she's backing out? What else is there to read?! The thoughts of confusion and sadness buried deep in the subconscious mind resurfaced back to the main gate of Mike's reasoning.

The stranger put his hand on groom's shoulder and whispered something in a foreign language. Mike didn't feel any sadness anymore and his head was never this clear. THINK! Why would she write this? What is the meaning ONLY I can understand?

The groom's face brightened up with a smile. "Do either of you have a p-..." but before he finished, a priest pulled a pen from his pocket.

The groom wrote a few words on the back of the note, crumbled it back and gave to the priest.

He turned around to thank the strange, mysterious man for snapping him out of the confusion, even if he didn't realize how. But there was no one there. The groom wondered what happened to the man. After a few seconds he started asking himself, who is he looking for? When next few seconds passed he forgot there was anyone there, and he moved back to the front of the altar.

The mysterious man was standing in the place for the choir, one floor above the altar and the benches full of people, above the line of sight of any one of them.

The music started playing and the bride and her father walked in through the main gate.

The ceremony went without any further problems, perfectly as planned. When leaving the church only bride's father looked up at the choir floor and nodded to the mysterious man as if they were old friends. The newlyweds and their guests one by one drove to the reception.

No one remembered the mysterious man; no one remembered the reason for the delay, not the bride nor the groom. And after bride's father died, there would be no person alive who knew that Jason Kotwicki was there for his son on one of his most important days.    

A/N:

There might be a second part to this, but honestly I just don't know.
What I DO know is that there will be more of these from now on...

And sorry for not publishing anything for a long time, life happened and I had to punch it in the nuts to cut me some slack xd

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