Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Oceans Apart ❯ All too evident ( Chapter 2 )

Ahh… whoever is reading this, I hope you're liking it, and if so, TELL ME! sniff sniff I didn't get a lot of attention as a child, so give it to me now, ne?

Italics - flashbacks

Oceans Apart

-Chapter Two-

After thoroughly trouncing his opposition in that swimming match -match, hah!- Rayne padded slowly towards the showers, needing to get this itchy chlorine film off his skin. Shaking his head slightly at all his adoring fans, who couldn't even get his name right, he managed to avoid all the other reporters and got to the safety of the locker room.

Once inside, he grabbed his mesh toiletries bag and towel and walked to the shower stalls. Walking into one, he closed the curtain behind him and hung the bag from the showerhead. Peeling off his Speedo he turned on the water, he let it run on is foot until it was the right temperature then he stood under the spray. Letting the water pour over his head, cleansing him physically and spiritually, Rayne closed his eyes and began to think.

Why should they care if I stop swimming? I never swam for them; I didn't swim to get glory or fame, for country or myself. I swam so he could find me, I know he's out there… but… I just can't remember…

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A younger Rayne quietly snuck into his room softly shutting his door and flicking on the lights, he turned to see his foster mom sitting on his bed.

"Rayne Fields, do you know what time it is?"

Rayne rubbed his left arm and looked at the floor guiltily, and mumbled, "I dunno…"

"It is `I do not know', and you do know that it is past your curfew. You are supposed to be in before sundown. And look at you! You are all wet, you will catch your death of cold!"

Rayne looked up with a guilty look plaster across his face. "I'm sorry, but I was playing with my friends…"

"You were swimming with your friends? Down by the pool?"

Rayne shook his head, causing his foster mom to frown. "You were swimming down by the pier?" When Rayne nodded his head, the woman sighed out. "Rayne, it is dangerous to be down there by yourself and especially when it is dark out. A lot of bad people do bad things down there. Why cannot you and your friends swim at the pool?"

Rayne shrugged and looked up at his mum. "They don't like coming out of the ocean…"

His foster mom frowned slightly, trying to understand. "So, your friends are sea animals, like fish?"

Rayne shrugged. He didn't like lying to his mum, but he couldn't tell the truth that they did have fish tails, but only when swimming. When in their city, they walked around. But, he had already tried telling his mum that, and she didn't believe him.

Sighing, his mum rubbed his hair, "Well, maybe if we enrolled you in the swimming club, you will be able to make some friends there? Does that sound like a good idea?"

Rayne shrugged again. He didn't see what was wrong with the friends he already had, they were more like him that the other children were. But, he didn't want to disappoint his mum, either.

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Later that week, Rayne was standing next to his mum on the pool deck, as she was talking to the swimming instructor.

"… how well can he swim…"

"… swims rather often down by the pier…"

Rayne looked around, bored. Why couldn't he swim with the other kids in the pool? Why did he have to stand here with this man and his mum talking about stupid stuff? Either you can swim or you can't. And he can swim. Turning his head, he crinkled his nose at the smell of the chlorine. The salty smell of the ocean was better.

"Rayne!"

Startled, he glanced up at hid mum, "Yes?"

"Why don't you show the nice man how well you can swim?"

Nodding his head, Rayne padded to the edge of the pool but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Careful, little man. The water is pretty deep here."

Rayne looked up at the man, "I prefer it that way."

Walking out from under the man's grasp, Rayne stopped at the pool's edge. With his hand at his sides, Rayne bounced to the tips of his toes then jumped up and out. When he was airborne, he arced in midair like a dolphin and pulling his arms forward, dove down into the water and swam a deviation of the butterfly. After reaching one end of the pool, he twisted around and pushed off the wall with his feet, propelling himself forwards and swam back, again using a deviation of the butterfly.

When he reached the wall where the man and his mum were standing, he pulled himself out of the pool and looked up at the speechless adults. After a long pause of stunned silence, the man knelt down to Rayne's height and put a hand on his shoulder. Looking him in the eye he asked, "Rayne, do you know what the Olympics are?"

Rayne shook his head no. "Well, it's a competition where the best athletes in the world compete against each other. And one of the events happen to include swimming."

"Are you saying that Rayne has the potential to become an Olympic athlete?"

Without looking away from Rayne, the man nodded. "The kid swam that well on natural talent alone. In a couple of years ad with training, he will be ready to take on the world, and win."

"Win what?"

The man smiled at Rayne. "Medals, prestige, fame…"

"So, if I go to the Olympics and win, I'll become famous?"

"Yes."

"And people will see me?"

"If you win, people will see nothing else. It will be all over the television, newspapers, everything."

Rayne thought for a few seconds then nodded his head. If he became famous all over everything, then his brother would have to see him. And then, his brother would come get him and they could be a family again.

"So, do you want to do it?"

Rayne nodded his head again, "I want to win."

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Shutting off the water, Rayne sighed. He won every match in two consecutive sets of Olympic games; once when he was thirteen and again when he was seventeen, but it was all for nothing. He believed that if he became famous in the world of swimming, that his brother would see him and want to become a family again. But nine years later, he was still alone and with nothing to show for it.

His brother never saw him and never came to get him. If only he could remember what he looked like, what his name was. After the second Olympics, with no results, he decided to find his brother himself and hired professional help. But with the minimal information he provided, the outlook was grim. Without his brother's name, there was nothing that they could do; there are just too many people. But if he cannot even remember his own name, how could he remember the name of his brother? If only he could remember.

Dressing in his briefs and jeans, Rayne walked to the bathroom and plugged in his blow dryer. Brushing out his long expanse of hair, he turned on the dryer and started to dry it; looking at his reflection in the mirror, he remembered a similar event from two years ago.

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Rayne was brushing out his hair and drying it with the blow dryer. The one thing he hated about long hair was how long it took to dry, but having short hair, to him at least, just seemed weird.

Over the noise of the blow dryer, Rayne heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw his trainer's reflection in the mirror, and waited.

"So, is it true?"

Rayne and his reflection raised one eyebrow, prompting his trainer to be more precise in his questioning.

"Are you quitting swimming? After all of our work, you are going to throw it all away?"

"Our work? Unless I am mistaken, that was me swimming in that pool today."

"You know what I mean. We both worked hard to get you to where you are today! And now that you are at the peak of you career, you're throwing it all away! Other swimmers would kill to be where you are!"

"Kill? Isn't that a little melodramatic? And if I'm not here, wouldn't it be easier for them to be here themselves?"

"You're missing the point!"

"Really? Then tell me, what is your point?"

At the silence, Rayne smirked slightly. Like so many others he has met over the years, this man had no point. He was simply living his life vicariously through the swimmers he has trained, and not very well at that.

"Think of all the people you will be disappointing!"

Rayne looked the man's reflection in the eye. "I didn't set out to become a role model. I don't care at all about all the things my fame was brought. I only wanted one thing, and after seven years, I haven't gotten it. It is time for a new approach."

"Your brother? Rayne, don't you think that maybe he has seen you and doesn't want to be with you?"

Rayne slammed down his hairbrush in anger. In a deadly and dangerously soft voice he asked back, "And maybe he hasn't seen me at all? Even with my fame, I am only famous in the swimming world. Only for a few brief moments every four years, do I become famous to the world, and that fame is still known only to those interested in swimming. This," Rayne rose his arms indicating where he was, "has failed. Becoming a famous swimmer has not worked. It is now time to find something else. Something that will draw the attention of my brother."

The reflection sneered at him. "Really, and what are you going to do? All you know is swimming!"

Smirking at the reflection Rayne replied, "Precisely."

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Looking back up at the mirror, the phantom reflection of his former swimming coach was gone. The only face staring back at him was a mirrored version of him. Rayne tilted his head, and then smiled. Who knew how profitable swimming could be, especially when you were swimming towards ancient and forgotten relics. People paid good money for those powerful treasures there days, and it will be that money that will attract his brother. His dream told him so.

Pulling the hairbrush one last time through his hair, Rayne walked back to the lockers. Pulling on his shirt, he then grabbed a baseball cap and twisted his hair up under it. No need to reveal his identity to all his adoring fans. Glancing down at his watch and noting what time it was, he grabbed his bad and jogged out of the locker room. Mustn't be late to meet his new clients, it would be rude and people tend to frown upon that. Word must get out that Rayne Fields; Relic Hunter was the only man for the job. And with him being the Sebastian coupled with his ability to Ghost, that fact was all too evident.

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H'okay, that chapter was pretty short (especially when compared to Apotheosisshameless plug) but this seemed like a good stopping point. If not, with all the actiony goodness of the next scene, it would have ran far too long. I'm trying to keep the chapters short (by my standards) because this story is not going to turn into one of my usual and far too common epics, but is going to be relatively short and sweet. Soo… yeah… the fun is really going to start in the next chapters!