Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Knight's Work Is Never Done ❯ Revelations ( Chapter 6 )

A Knight's Work Is Never Done

Chapter 6: Revelations

 

By: GINSAN

 

 

"So you haven't been able to dig anything else up about Phaeton, or Soul Devourers?"

 

Luna shook her head at Ami's question. While the girls and Artimus had gone off the day before to talk with Jordan, Luna had tried looking through their extensive data base. So far, no luck. It looked like the files on Phaeton were gone, and those that dealt with Soul Devourers only had minimal information. Things were not looking good.

 

"Then we'll have to believe what Jordan told us. Even if none of us trust him." Ami glanced at her watch, and nearly screamed. "I'm going to be late! Sorry Luna, I'll come back after school, and help you look."

 

Ami grabbed up her school things, and dashed out the door.

 

Luna shook her head, as she heard the front door slam shut. "I think Serena is finally starting to rub off on her."

 

* * *

 

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late." Ami kept mumbling the words to herself, as she slipped into her seat.

 

As soon as she sat down, the classroom door re-opened, and Mr. Hijira entered. He placed his briefcase on his desk, and started taking attendance.

 

While he did, Jordan leaned over towards a rather flustered Ami, with a slightly patronizing expression on his face. "Aww, did little perfect Ami over sleep today?"

 

Ami looked over at him, and something inside of her snapped. Neither one of them saw it coming, as Ami's leg cocked back, and then kicked Jordan in the shin. Hard.

 

Jordan jumped up from his chair, and clutched at his leg, just as Mr. Hijira called his name. "Damn it! That Fucking hurt."

 

He was still jumping up and down, clutching his leg, when the rest of the class turned to stare at him, and the completely innocent expression on Ami's face.

 

Mr. Hijira fixed Jordan with a stare, that managed to make Jordan sit back down. "I'm so glad you've recovered from your recent accident Mr. Mallone, and that you're so enthusiastic about re-joining us. However, IF YOU EVER USE THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE IN MY CLASS AGAIN, YOU'RE OUT OF HERE!"

 

Jordan gulped, and nodded towards Mr. Hijira. "I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again."

 

Mr. Hijira continued to stare at him for a moment, before continuing the roll call.

 

Jordan very carefully scooted his seat away from Ami, and closer to the wall.

 

 

 

Lunch time found Ami, Serena, and Lita sitting under a tree in the schools courtyard. The three had eaten lunch that way for years now. Ami and Lita were eating their lunches, while Serena ate hers, and picked at theirs.

 

Lita laughed, as Ami told her what happened in First Period. "Ami, I'm surprised at you. I can't believe you did that. I understand why you did it though. Heck, I'd love to deck him myself."

 

Ami chuckled slightly. "I'm not sure what happened. All of a sudden, something snapped inside of me, and I kicked him. I felt horrible for a moment afterwards, until Mr. Hijira yelled at him. After that, I felt better."

 

All three laughed at that. Their laugher was short lived however, as someone approached them.

 

He stood at about five feet, and looked kind of cute. No one who saw him now, would ever be able to recognize him. His girlfriend Molly, had finally managed to get him to trade his thick glasses in for contacts. The difference was quite noticeable.

 

"Hello girls."

 

"Hello Melvin. What can I do for you?" Ami looked suspiciously at Melvin. "And no, I don't have anything interesting for you." He was usually looking for a piece of juicy gossip when he had that particular look on his face.

 

Melvin shook his head as he handed a CD case to her. "Actually, I was just going to give you this. It's all the information that I could find on Jordan. I managed to get everything you asked me for yesterday. I was up all night getting it. I had to do some serious hacking to get some of that stuff for you, so make sure not to tell anyone where you got it. Especially Jordan. I kind of like breathing."

 

Melvin quickly left, leaving behind three very confused girls.

 

Ami looked down at the disk for a moment, before glancing after the departing Melvin. "Now, I'm starting regret that kick."

 

* * *

 

"Now, lets see what Melvin dug up for us." Ami inserted the CD into her computer, while Luna watched from her lap. "It should only take a minute to read the disk."

 

Ami and Luna waited, while the computer read the disk. It took longer than she thought it would, and it made Ami all the more curious about what was on it. The program on the disk finally loaded, and Ami was confronted with Melvin's familiar data program.

 

She opened the first file in the program. "Well Luna, let's see what Jordan was like in America."

 

She skimmed through the information. Most of it was pretty basic stuff. His birth date and place of birth. The fact that since he was born, his family had moved close to thirty times.

 

His school records weren't out of the ordinary. Plenty of A's, and very few negative write ups.

 

Up until the last two years that is.

 

Almost exactly two years ago, they had moved to Los Angeles. As soon as they did, Jordan's grades became erratic and he seemed to be in his Principal's office every other day.

 

Almost all of these infractions, seemed to be attributed to a new group of friends.

 

Ami opened the next file, and was confronted with a mixture of police reports, and school records. There seemed to be four sets of records in all. One for Jordan, and for each of his three new friends.

 

One of them was named Fran Jacobs. The police picture that Melvin had found on her, showed a young girl with blond hair with lime green streaks through it. She had brown eyes, that seemed to scream trouble. Her face didn't help to dispel that perception. Most records labeled her as the distracter of the group. She ran interference, while the others pulled whatever prank had been decided upon.

 

The second set of records, was for a kid named Ronnie Mendoza. His police picture showed a skinny kid with raven black hair and eyes to match. He reminded Ami of a weasel. The little bit of information she found on him, said that he was most likely along for the ride.

 

The third one drew Ami's attention slightly. His name was Zackary Staziak, and his police picture showed a kid who actually looked liked he enjoyed being arrested. He had a huge grin on his face. His eyes were a dusky, emerald green color. His hair was a flat black color with the ends dyed red. He looked remarkably like Jordan, except for the black in his hair. The information on him, said he probably came up with a majority of the stunts the group pulled.

 

The last record was for Jordan. This picture showed a very different Jordan than the one she knew now. Happy, and out to enjoy life. He had the same smile plastered across his face as the Zack kid, and his hand was raised in a thumbs up over his arrest number. Whatever had happened to make Jordan the way he was now, had clearly happened sometime after this picture.

 

At the end of the file, she found a group picture. The longer she looked at it, the more she realized just how different Jordan was now.

 

In the middle of the picture stood Jordan. He looked like he was yelling something at the camera. He was wearing a 49ers jersey. His hair looked a little shorter than it was now, and it looked like he was wearing face paint.

 

To his left, stood Zack. He had his right arm around Jordan's neck, and his left arm was up in the air, covered by a large foam hand with the 49ers logo on it. The same smile from the police picture was plastered across his face.

 

To Jordan's right, stood Ronnie. He too had a jersey on, and a large foam hand on his right hand. He was smiling at the camera, but it gave Ami the creeps. He looked like a shark.

 

Lastly was Fran. She was on his back, with Jordan holding her in place. She had both arms up in the air, and both were covered with foam hands. She also had a smile on her face, though it was a lot more innocent looking than the one in the police picture.

 

It was definitely a very happy Jordan and company in the picture. At the bottom of it, was a small date. October 20, 1996. A little over six months before Jordan had come to Tokyo.

 

After shaking her head, Ami clicked on the next file. It looked like incident reports, filed on the four. Apparently, they liked causing trouble so much, that the police had classified them as their own little gang. As she read on, she could understand why.

 

Fran seemed to enjoy causing traffic mishaps. Either by driving dangerously, or by distracting other drivers. The descriptions of just what those distractions were, caused Ami to blush.

 

Ronnie seemed to be a perpetual shoplifter, and pickpocket.

 

Zackary, also called Zack, or Z, seemed to enjoy coming up with highly unusual and complex practical jokes.

 

Jordan, seemed to like police cars. So much so, that he would take them for joy rides, when he wasn't handcuffed in the backseat. He even managed to steal one from a police station once.

 

Individually they seemed to be bad enough but as Ami continued reading, she found the reason why the police had decided to call them a gang.

 

Apparently, they had literally painted the town red.

 

One night, they had covered the bottom story of several businesses with red paint. The police couldn't figure out who did it. Jordan and co. turned themselves in, just so they could have their pictures in the Big Book. Afterwards, they told the police, that the paint would come off, with a mixture of lemon juice, and dish washing soap. Since it worked, all the charges were dropped and the judge sentenced them to twenty days of community service anyway, as a way to teach them a lesson.

 

Ami finished reading the remaining incident reports in the file, and turned to Luna. "Are you sure we should be trusting a guy like this? It looks like he attracts trouble."

 

Luna shook her head sadly. "I'm not too thrilled about this either, Ami. Unfortunately, I don't see that we have much of a choice."

 

Ami nodded her agreement. "True I guess. And, I can see where Jordan wouldn't want this information made public, but is it really bad enough to scare Melvin?"

 

Luna shrugged her little cat shoulders. "I'm not sure. When you consider that he was afraid of Lita when she first arrived, it's not surprising."

 

Ami nodded her head at that and was about to close the program, when she saw that there was one more file. It seemed to have appeared just after she had read the last file. She clicked on it, and before it opened, a warning message from Melvin appeared.

 

 

 

'Read the next file only if don't want to live long. I'd rather I hadn't found it. No matter what, do not let Jordan find out I dug this up. I rather enjoy living.'

 

 

 

Curious, Ami looked at Luna. "What do you think it could be?"

 

"Secret plans to take over the world?" Luna's attempt to lighten the tension worked a little.

 

Ami chuckles slightly, as she clicked on the file. "Somehow, I don't think a trivial thing like that, would scare Melvin."

 

When the file finally loaded, Ami wished she hadn't. No wonder Jordan was so cynical.

 

It was another police file. However, this one sent shivers down Ami's back. Mixed in with the several dozen reports, were pictures from a crime scene. Some of them, had a body outline in them.

 

As soon as she saw them, Ami assumed the worst. That Jordan and his friends had killed someone.

 

It wasn't until she came the report with the earliest date, that her mind changed.

 

It was dated October 20, 1996. The same day as the group photo. The fact that Jordan was listed as a victim, started her thinking that the group had gotten into something over their heads.

 

Her opinion changed though, when she noticed that Zack was also listed as victim. And, that Ronnie was listed as the perpetrator.

 

The longer she read it, the more she started to understand Jordan's cynicism. Even though most of the reports were censored, she managed to get the general gist of what had taken place.

 

Apparently, Jordan's family was about to leave. Ronnie, realizing that his cash flow was about to be seriously crippled, had pulled a gun on Jordan. He tried to force him to empty out his savings account. When Jordan had refused, and called him on his bluff, Ronnie had panicked. He shot Jordan, and then Zack, as he tried to get the gun away. Zack had been killed instantly, and Jordan had nearly met the same fate.

 

After staring at the screen for several minutes, Ami closed the file and looked at Luna. "I think, that I can over look a little cynicism from Jordan." Her eyes were misted over slightly, as she continued to look at Luna. "What are we going to do?"

 

Luna looked back at her, completely at a loss. "I don't know. I figured that Jordan was just a bad apple, but now, I'm not so sure. I need some time to think about this."

 

Ami nodded, as took the CD from the computer, and placed it in its case. She then gently placed Luna on the floor and stood up. She started pacing around her room, as Luna watched her.

 

After almost half an hour, she stopped, and faced Luna. "I'm going to talk to Jordan about this. I have a feeling there's more to this, and that Jordan needs someone to talk to about it."

 

Luna gave her a critical look. "Are you sure that's wise? You could make matter worse."

 

Ami nodded. "I know that, but I have to chance it. Jordan's attitude isn't natural, and I'm quite sure that it isn't healthy for him either."

 

Luna finally nodded her consent after several minutes of deep thinking. "All right, I'll let you do it. But when?"

 

"I've already thought of that. Jordan eats his lunch up on the roof. It's the one rumor about him that Melvin isn't afraid of telling."

 

* * *

 

Classes during the day passed by quickly for Ami. Jordan avoided even looking in her direction during First Period, and it only served to deepen her sense of guilt. Ever since reading the information on that disk, she had felt guilty about kicking him yesterday morning.

 

Lunch time came, and Ami made her way to the roof. It wasn't far since Senior classes were mostly on the top floor.

 

As she came out of the stairwell, she couldn't see him at first. After a few minutes of searching though, she found him sitting in a corner of roof, seemingly staring off into space. She walked towards him, and halted a few feet away. He didn't turn to look at her, so she thought he hadn't noticed her yet.

 

She was about to say something, when he interrupted her.

 

"What? You come all the way up here, so you can kick me again? Maybe this time, you'll hit me instead?"

 

The sarcasm in his voice was enough, that Ami found herself actually wanting to hit him. She stopped herself though, and sat down across from Jordan. She kept looking at him, until he finally looked at her.

 

"Well?"

 

Ami decided to take this slow. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I don't know why I kicked you. I'm sorry."

 

Jordan looked at her for a few a moment, before shrugging his shoulders and going back to looking at the passing clouds. "Forget about it. Now what's the real reason you're up here?"

 

Ami thought hard for a moment, as she tried to come up with the right words. "Jordan. What happened to you in Los Angeles?"

 

Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say.

 

"What business is it to you, about what happened in L.A.?" He turned back to look at her, his face set in an extremely foul looking scowl. "What happened there, is none of your business, and you'd be better off not asking about it again."

 

Ami was very taken a back by this, even though she knew he would probably react this way. "I'm sorry. I just thought you might want to talk to someone about it."

 

Jordan laughed, but it didn't exactly sound happy. "And why the Hell would I want to do that? And how the Hell do you know anything about it anyway?"

 

Ami glanced at Jordan, before quickly looking away. "A, friend. I asked him to look up some information on you."

 

This time, Jordan really was mad. "And what gives you the right to do such a thing? My life, is my life. Not some little book that you can check out and read when the feeling hits you. Stay out of my personal life."

 

Jordan wrapped up his untouched lunch, and stood up. As he began walking towards the stairs, Ami saw her chance slipping away.

 

Desperate to keep him there and talking, she said the first thing that came to her mind. "Tell me about Zack?"

 

Jordan stopped dead in his tracks. He remained facing away from her, for several minutes, before slowly turning around to face her.

 

"How do you know about Z?" The expression on his face almost made Ami wish she hadn't asked.

 

Ami gulped, as she look up at him. "I-I-I told you. A f-f-friend got the information for me."

 

Jordan continued staring down at her for a moment, before walking back over to his corner, and sitting down.

 

He was looking down at the ground, when he started speaking. "I take it, that you noticed the fact that we moved around a lot? I had lots of friends, all of which I hated to leave when we finally moved on to somewhere else. We moved to L.A. about two years ago. We were there for almost a week, when I met Z."

 

A ghost of a smile came to Jordan's face, as a long buried memory surfaced in his mind. He'd tried so hard, to forget everything that had happened then. It still hurt to think about it, but for some reason, he felt that he could talk to Ami about it. At least a little.

 

He was about to continue, when he heard something. He look at a slightly embarrassed Ami, and shook his head.

 

Ami glanced at him sheepishly, as the sounds came again. "Sorry. I was in a hurry to get to school today, and I forgot to get my lunch."

 

Jordan shook his head, and handed her his lunch. "Go ahead. I wasn't hungry today anyway. Someone should eat it."

 

Ami gratefully took the lunch, and opened it. Inside was a canned soda, a bag of potato chips, and a sandwich of some kind. She looked at the sandwich curiously.

 

"It's Peanut Butter, Banana Fluff." At the confused look she gave him, he smiled slightly. "Fluff is a type of marshmallow. I use it for a lot of deserts."

 

He waited for her to start eating, before continuing his story. "I met Z the first day of classes. He was sitting in the back of the class, as far from the teacher as it was possible to be and still be in the room. All during class, he pretty much ignored the teacher, and the teacher ignored him. At first, I figured he was just a problem kid, and the teacher left him alone to avoid trouble during class. Halfway through class though, the teacher asked a question. No one in the class had the answer, and since I was the new kid, I decided not to risk making everyone mad at me, by answering it.

 

"Then the teacher asked Z to answer it. Until then, I had thought he was asleep. He called out the answer without even looking up from the desk. The teacher then gave this lecture to the class that I tuned out. After class I walked up to Z. We hit it off instantly."

 

Jordan paused, as he thought over what had happened after school on that long forgotten day. Ami quietly ate the sandwich, and started on the chips.

 

He continued by telling her what they did for fun, and a few of the places they hanged out at. When he got to the part where they met Ronnie and Fran, he choked.

 

He was quiet for so long that Ami was starting to get worried. Finally though, he stood up and gestured for her to do the same.

 

"The bell's going to ring soon. I tell you what. Come over to my house as soon as you can after school. I'll give you a tour."

 

Jordan left, grabbing the remains of the lunch as he did. Ami watched him as he went down the stairs and out of sight. A slight smile came to her face, as she realized that she had actually managed to do what she had set out to.

 

* * *

 

"I did it Luna. I got Jordan to talk. Not quite what I wanted him to talk about, but it's a start." Ami was walking towards Jordan's house, with Luna sitting on her shoulder. "He actually invited me to come over after school. Since I don't have classes today, I'm going straight over. Can you tell the girls where I am for me?"

 

Luna looked at Ami skeptically, before jumping to the ground. "Just don't let Jordan get you into trouble."

 

"I won't." Ami watched Luna disappear around a corner, before continuing on to Jordan's house.

 

As she walked, she was completely oblivious to the shadow that followed her.

 

* * *

 

Ami stood at the front door to Jordan's house. She admired the house for a few more moments, before pressing the button for the doorbell. It took a few minutes, but Jordan finally opened the door.

 

He looked at her for a second, before stepping aside and letting her in. "Didn't think you'd be here until later. Oh well. Come in and have a seat on the couch. I'll be with you in a second."

 

Jordan led her into the Living Room before disappearing down a hallway. Ami looked around the Living Room. The last time she had been here, she hadn't focused on the house. She had been too focused on what Jordan had told them then.

 

Jordan came back carrying a large scrap book.

 

He set it down on the coffee table in front of Ami. "You want something to snack on? I can whip up just about anything you want."

 

Ami looked at him a little sheepishly. "Could you make another of those Peanut Butter, Banana Fluff things?"

 

A faint smile came to his face. "Sure."

 

Jordan disappeared down another hallway. After he did, Ami looked down at the scrap book. It looked like it was well used. She opened the cover and flipped through the pages. It was full of pictures of little kids. Each one was different, and the further she went the older they got.

 

"They're all the kids I made friends with."

 

Ami jumped, and slapped the book close. Jordan was looking at her and seemed to be trying not to laugh. He handed her a plate. She took it and tried not to look up at him.

 

A slight blush crept across her face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

 

Jordan shook his head as he sat down on the couch next to her. "I put it out so you could look at it. There's a bunch of pictures of Z in the back."

 

He took a bite from his sandwich, then flipped towards the back of the book. He had to flip a few more pages before he found the right spot.

 

"This is a pic of Z from the first week that I knew him. Morgan took the picture."

 

The picture showed Z in a school uniform of some kind, and a can of white paint in one hand as well as a paint brush in the other. Just behind him was a sign that said 'Walk on the Grass'. It had an obvious spot at the top that was painted white. Jordan stood nearby, holding a black can of paint and a paint brush. The next picture had the word 'Please' painted into the white spot.

 

"Amazingly, we never got caught." He flipped a couple of pages, until he came to another of Z. "This one is from the Sadie Hawkins dance. This is when we met Fran for the first time."

 

The picture showed Z dressed up like a cowboy. Standing next to him was Fran. She was dressed up as a Cowgirl and had a lasso around Z. Jordan was in the background laughing his head off.

 

"I was lucky enough not to get asked. I managed to have the whole night off to take pictures of Z." He showed her more pictures from the dance. Some of them with a happy Z, and some with one where he had a 'Shoot me now' expression. "Unfortunately, Fran got me the next year."

 

He showed her another page with pictures of him in the same positions that Z had been in. Only this time, Jordan seemed to be enjoying himself more often than he had the 'Shoot me' expression. Ami found herself laughing at a particularly compromising picture. Jordan was hogtied, and Fran was standing on his back holding a branding iron.

 

"Lucky for me, it was plastic."

 

After that particular picture though, he closed the scrap book and set it aside. "I think that's enough pictures for now." He stood up and gestured for her to do the same. "I promised you a tour, so I might as well get to it."

 

He gestured around the room as Ami stood up. "Obviously this is the living room." He pointed to the two hallways that lead away from the room. "The hallway to the left leads to the back of the house. It's mostly used by the maid, since her building is behind the house. There are also a couple of storage rooms and a bathroom down there. The hallway over on the far right leads to the kitchen, the Den, and the Game Room." He started down the right hallway.

 

They stopped at the kitchen and all Ami could do was stare. It was huge. Lita would probably die and go straight to Heaven if she ever saw the place. There was a huge silver refrigerator to the left, and a large stove right next to it. There was a triple sink along the right wall. In the middle of the kitchen was a large table. The rest of the space was filled with cabinets and shelves.

 

"Wow. This place is huge."

 

"I know. I had it designed this way. Makes cooking a lot easier. Come on, I'll show you the back rooms."

 

Jordan let the kitchen and continued down the hallway.

 

He stopped at a closed door. "This is Dad's Den. When he's not at the office working he's in there working." He continued down the Hallway to the last door. "This is the Game Room. Morgan designed it. She's the one who usually uses it."

 

They entered the room and Ami looked around. "I can see why Serena would want to see this place. You mind if I come over here sometime? There's more stuff in here than there is in Andrew's Crown Arcade."

 

Jordan shrugged. "If you want. Just tell Morgan. She'll let you in if I'm not home." He lead her back up the hallway and stopped just short of the kitchen. "This is one of the doors that leads to the courtyard." He opened the sliding mirror door and lead her inside. "I think the original owners of the place used this as a Zen rock garden. Personally I think it makes a great workout area." He pointed out the various equipment that was stored away on the corners. "Now, It's time for the second floor."

 

Jordan lead her through another door and back to the living room. Once there, he lead her up the stairs and to the second story of the mansion.

 

He pointed to the door just to the left of the landing that was covered by a Vegeta poster. "That, would be Morgan's room. I try to avoid going in there if I can." They walked down the hall paused in front of another door. "This is a Guest room. There's another one right next to it."

 

They turned the corner and continued down the hall, past the second Guest room and stopped at another door. "This would be my parent's bedroom. Of course, the only one who actually sleeps in there is Mom." They turned the corner and walked to the end of the hall. "This is the library." Jordan opened the large door and gestured for Ami to go in.

 

At first, Ami thought she had walked into an actual Library. There were rows and rows of books. Jordan stayed by the door, but let her walk around looking at the shelves.

 

After about twenty minutes though, he went after her. "You can come back and look at all the pretty books later. For now, I think we should finish the tour."

 

He led her out of the Library and all the way back to the stairs. "No one but my sister has been up here."

 

He lead her up the stairs and down a relatively short hallway. There was only one other door and Jordan explained to her that it was just a storage room for junk.

 

He finally showed her the door to his room. "This is it. My room is in there and it's off limits to everyone."

 

He lead her back to the stairs. Along the way, Ami thought of something. "What about the rest of this floor?"

 

Jordan shrugged. "Wasted space I guess. There aren't any more rooms up here."

 

They went down the stairs and stopped at the second story landing.

 

Jordan gestured down the hallway. "If you want you can go back to the library. Considering how late it is you might as well stay for dinner. Would you care for anything in particular?"

 

Ami shook her head. "Sorry, but I really should get home. Actually, I think I stayed here longer than I thought I would."

 

Jordan shrugged. "Alright. I'll bring an extra sandwich for you tomorrow if you meet me up on the roof."

 

Ami nodded her head. "Deal."

 

Jordan lead her down the stairs, and to the front door. "If you want, I can give you a ride home."

 

Ami shook her head as she headed out the door with her things. "No thank you. I'll walk. My Apartment isn't that far from here."

 

"Suit yourself."

 

Jordan closed the door behind her and headed for the kitchen. The only thing on his mind now, was what to cook for dinner.

* * *