Outlaw Star Fan Fiction ❯ My Brother's Keeper ❯ Broken Mirrors ( Chapter 3 )

My Brother's Keeper- Part 3

Hi y'all! This is the third part to MBK. Right now I'm not very sure where I'm headed with this but I'll figure it out soon enough. Same symbols for thoughts and flashbacks as always.

Gene walked into the room. Jim looked up, sighed, then continued typing. Gene couldn't help smiling at his cute precocious little brother. " So what's up? Any jobs?" Gene said in his carefree voice.

" No jobs…. But we have a problem…I contacted Fred Lou and he said that he is discontinuing all funds. He didn't give a reason. He just did." Jim looked at his aniki expectantly. Gene's carefree face was completely washed away and replaced by a grim frown and a worried look in his eyes. Even he knew that they could not survive without the funding. He scowled and turned from the room.

" I'm going to the bar… I'll be back in a few hours." Gene said as he walked out the door. Jim knew that he was worried and really wished that he hadn't gone out to drink like that….

Gene sat on the edge of Jim's bed watching his brother's chest rise and fall shakily. He was barely breathing and it seemed to be slowing. Gene let out another sob and reached over to grab ahold of Jim's hand. Jim's eyes fluttered open for a moment, and then shut once more. " Why did this have to happen, huh? I'd give anything to change what has happened…. to be given a second chance. I'm so sorry, and now you'll never really get to hear me say that, will you?" Gene shook his head and let two tears slide down his face. ~ I knew we fought that night, but why couldn't we just get over it like we usually do? ~

Gene walked into his room after striking Jim. He sobered up enough to understand what he had done. He sat on the edge of the bed in his room trying to clear his hurting head. He turned around long enough to see his face in the mirror, then got up, walked slowly to the mirror and threw a punch into it that would have knocked a man senseless. He pulled his hand back and examined the cuts on it, glass shards lay all around him. Gene sat back down on the bed, laid back, and fell into a restless sleep.

Sunrise woke Gene from where he sat beside Jim's bed. He looked around a moment unable to gather his bearings, then realizing where he was and the events of the night before, looked at Jim. His chest was still rising and falling and though still unevenly, was a bit better then the night before. Gene sighed in relief. ~ I wonder if I should see if I could wake him up. ~ Gene shifted his weight off of his foot which had fallen asleep, then pushing himself up with the side of the bed he gently shook Jim's shoulder. Jim's eyes opened slightly. Gene pulled back and watched. Jim looked around timidly. He caught sight of Gene and turned his head away. Gene shuffled around.

" Good, you're awake… Jim… why, I'm mean, why did you do that?" he asked him, knowing it wasn't likely he would get an answer.

" I don't know… I wasn't really thinking… leave me alone, please, just leave me alone." Jim replied, softly and firmly. Gene looked at him for a moment and turned to leave the room. As he did he caught sight of a picture on Jim's dresser. He picked it up and looked at it. It was when they had gone to the county fair about three months ago. Jim was smiling and eating an ice cream cone, and Gene was too. Both of their faces had ice cream all over them. Mel had taken the picture. ~ It was only three months ago, yet it seems like years have passed. ~ Gene replaced the picture and walked out of the room.

" Oh, come on Jim, you can't sit there at that computer of yours forever. Ya gotta have a bit of fun. This fair thing sounds just like what ya need. Sometimes you can be such a worry wort!" Gene said excitedly to Jim, who was typing away at his computer, irritably.

" Gene, if I don't look for jobs, then who will, you won't and you know it, and second of all we don't have the money. Sometimes your more of a child then I am. Honestly!" Jim shouted back. Gene gave him the puppy eyes, and Jim sighed.

" Okay, okay, what time is it going to be?" he asked.

" From 3-8 tomorrow." Gene said smiling.

Gene sat on the couch remising about that day and of all the other times they had together. ~ All those dreams we've had, all those times we've spent together, broken, like that mirror two months ago. ~ Gene turned this thought over and over in his mind, and realized something. ~ Maybe… maybe I can't face what happened that night, couldn't come to the conclusion that it actually happened. Maybe it's because I can't face myself…because of that, I've been acting cold towards him, acting out the words I spewed that night. I remember one time when I was so afraid that I couldn't live up to a promise that I made to Mel, that I avoided her at all costs. I cut her off from me till someone finally told me about it and got some sense to me. Except… except… the promise here was never a spoken one, but it was there. A promise to be a brother to Jim. He must think that I really meant what I said… oh, God, I know that's how I'd feel if I were in his shoes. If I can't face myself, then I can't face Jim, and I can't pull myself past this.~ Gene sat there his mind now blank except for a dull ache that he knew would never go away until he fixed things, no matter how much Advil he shoved down his throat.

Gene looked up… a small voice came from Jim's room. He got up and went to his brother's room. " Aniki… I still care…" he heard him say.

Watcha think? A bit of a cliffhanger for the ending. Reviews and constructed criticism welcome at all times. Until I finish the next chapter, Ja ne minna-san!