Fan Fiction ❯ Here And There Lives ❯ Juno's Life Change ( Chapter 1 )

***** This is a story that I came up with before I even got into anime. In the future chapters, if I even write them, it starts to get a Fushigi Yuugi feel to it and it freaks me out that I had an idea that was even close to that story line. (Nothing bad at FY, I loved the show when I first saw it and still like it.) Oh well, here goes nothing. Thanks for reading!! ^_^ (\/) cyancat

Here and There Live's

Juno hated the world at this point in his life. Scolded by his stepfather Ralph every time he came home, he felt that no one understood how hard it was for him to get along in the world. How his mother got along with him, he didn't know. Minutes ago, he had just been at home getting the rest of his things to take to his apartment. Then Ralph started to ramble on that he was a slacker and he was no good for any job. Juno hated it when he did that. It was intentional too. His stepfather had always hated him and tried every day to break him down somehow.

This time, he couldn't take his insults anymore. All he had been doing was looking around the house for an old keepsake that was his only reminder of his real father. Then he had to come blundering in, angry and reeking of alcohol, and then he had the guts to actually walk up to him and say the he was a 20 year old no good piece of worthless trash that should have been thrown out years ago and, Ralph added as he walked away, just like his loser father.

That did it. Juno didn't care what he said about himself, but when he spoke on people that he didn't even know, especially his father, Juno wouldn't let him get away with it. He tackled Ralph by leaping onto his back.

"You son-of-a-bitch! Don't you dare talk that way about my father!"

Ralph fell down to his knees from the sudden attack upon his back. He ungainly tried to reach back and pry off the angry Juno, who had locked himself onto his back by locking his left arm around his neck and was unmercifully beating his right fist into his stepfather's face.

"Get offa me, ya little piece of shit! Before I break yer face in!"

Juno didn't even try to get away from the blows that his stepfather tried to throw at him. He knew that his step-father's being drunk would hinder his coordination and would most likely tire him out before long. And he was right, as he felt the bulk of his stepfather slowly falter underneath him and fall to the floor. Juno quickly hopped up and away from the fallen figure of his stepfather incase he tried an attack from the ground. Ralph rolled on the floor onto his back and swung wildly in the air, trying to hit something that wasn't there. Juno stepped back and watched the man who was a sorry excuse for his stepfather much less a man. His mother came in at that moment. There was a huge thud and Juno's headed quickly snapped around to the direction the sound came from. His mother had dropped the grocery bags she had been carrying and was looking back and forth between the two men. Juno was standing in a defensive position above her husband, whom was kicking and swinging wildly in the air while cursing drunkenly.

"Juno? Ralph? What's going on in here?"

Juno relaxed as he looked as his mother and stepped back from his stepfather's intoxicated mass.

"Its all his fault! He insulted me and then he insulted Dad. I won't take this shit from him any longer! I'm leaving!"

Juno stormed out of the house without a second look at the shocked expression that his mother had on her face as he left. Now all that he was doing was just walking. Walking always seemed to calm him down no matter what. Driving was out of the question now, especially since he didn't have a car, but driving in Halberd was nearly a death sentence to anyone who didn't know how to handle the traffic and road rage. Anyway, he didn't want to drive with all this anger still seething through him. He had to get away somewhere, he didn't care where, but he had to as far away as possible as he could from…here.

Juno looked up from his concentration on the past subject. He saw a train station was ahead and headed towards it, deciding that it was the best thing that he could think of that could get him out of this town. Passing through the front doors, he noticed the clock on the wall displayed that the time was midnight. He realized that he had been walking for over four hours, no wonder he was so tired. Walking to the ticket booth, Juno pulled out all the money he had in his pockets. Not even bothering to look at the person behind the glass window, he dropped it onto the counter.

"I want a ticket."

The ticket master looked up from his paper. He adjusted his glasses and quietly moved over to the ticket window.

"Where to?"

"Anywhere, I don't care where I go," Juno said as he leaned his back up against the wall.

"You look like you've had a dreary night and all alone with no baggage? What's the rush to leave the city so fast?"

"Just give me a ticket, old man. My problems are not any of your business. Got it?"

"Okay there, son. I just wonder sometimes about young people these days."

The ticket master scooped up the money Juno had dropped, counted it and then clicked out a ticket and slid it toward Juno.

"This is good for the train on Platform 10. It leaves in 5 minutes, so you had better get going if you want to make it on time."

"Thanks man," Juno said as he walked away and grabbed the ticket.

The ticket master reached out and touched Juno on the arm as he started to leave. Juno turned around and scowled at him as he flung his arm away from the reach of the ticket master

"What is it, old man?"

"Hey kid, be careful out there. You don't know what you'll find or who you'll meet. Just know that only you can change your fate."

Juno just turned around and started to walk away. He then stopped and turned back to face the window to confront the old man.

"What are you talking abo…."

What has used to be an open window with an old man perched behind it was now a dark and gloomy window with a closed sign in front of it.

"What the…"

Juno looked at the window and wondered what the old man had meant and where the heck he was! He was just there a second ago, wasn't he? He quickly walked off to the train awaiting him on Platform 10. This was getting to be too weird for him. He started walking until he was running as fast as he could. Maybe if he could get to the train fast enough, all his troubles would be gone behind him and he wouldn't have to worry anymore.

The train was just starting to leave as Juno hopped up to the step on the train. The train conductor looked at him surprised to have another passenger so late and as he took his ticket he told Juno that since there were not many passengers on the train, he could find a seat wherever he liked. As Juno walked through the cars, he noticed that the conductor was right. Only four people sat in the front car, actually three sat, one was sleeping lengthwise and taking up two seats. He found a seat in the back and sat down with his back against the window and propped his feet up on the seat next to him. He reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out a photo and leaned back, staring intently at the photo.

"Why Dad? Why did you leave? Where did you go?"

The photo he held was tattered and worn, but the figures could still be seen. A man in his late twenties was kneeling down in what seemed to be a park. He was tan and his brown hair was messed up. Upon his left knee was a young boy about the age of seven who was the perfect likeness of him. Both were smiling at the person taking the picture. The boy held in his hands a trophy and his eyes gleamed with joy. The man too seemed to be caught up in the moment, as he seemed to be filled with pride.

"Thirteen years ago you left us and you left me. No note, no nothing. You just left us one day and never came back. Why did you have to do that to us?"

Juno sighed and put the photo back in his wallet.

"Like it could answer back."

He closed his eyes and listened to the train as it speeded along the track. The train made a rhythmic click-click-click as it hurried along its way and slowly Juno's head dropped down as he fell sound asleep.

The train sped along and then slowly came to a stop at a station. The four passengers in the car got up and disembarked the train. All that remained was Juno, alone in the back sound asleep. The train started back up and gathered speed once again. The train went farther and farther into the night. Soon after the train's horn blaring woke Juno from his sleep. He looked out the window and wondered where he was. Everything looked unfamiliar to him. The train blared its horn again and began to slow down until it stopped at a small train station. The place looked broken down and abandoned.

"Last stop. Everybody off," blared a bland voice from the speakers.

"Where the hell am I? This doesn't look like Halberd."

He slowly stepped off the train and looked around.

"Where did that old geezer send me? Some kind of slum?"

A haze slowly appeared around the station and seemed to envelop the train as it left the station and vanished inside the fog.

"Now this is getting to be too weird. Maybe if I find a phone I can call for a taxi or something, maybe even call mom and have her come and get me."

The floorboards creaked loudly as he walked across the station. He walked down the broken steps, avoiding the steps that obviously would fall to dust if stepped on. A street appeared to be not far from the so-called train station and Juno figured that it was better than nothing. As he stepped to the curb, he looked to see a car, anticipating that one would turn around the corner any second. Juno sat down and waited on the curb. Someone had to drive through this part of town, didn't they? After what seemed like hours, Juno finally figured that no one would be coming along soon. He stood up and dusted himself off while looking around for a certain direction to walk. For some reason something in him told him to go right. He couldn't explain it, but it was like a force of some kind pulling at him to walk to it. Following his inside direction, he headed to the right and into what seemed to be a group of broken down old buildings that might have been apartment housing, now they were just frames of their former selves.

As Juno walked along the road, something caught his eye. It was a sign, but the sign was clean and looked brand new. It stood out like a sore thumb in the midst of the shambles around him. As he got closer, he saw that the sign pointed to the left and stated 'City Park.'

"A park? Out here? Just why is everything getting so weird all of a sudden? And why the…"

Juno stopped midsentence as heard something that was unexpected. It was laughing he heard, children's laughing and it came from the direction that the sign pointed towards, the park. He quickly turned and headed in the direction that he heard the laugh come from. He had to see where it had come from. He quickly came up to a huge iron gate that was locked shut by a padlock and chains, but there was enough room to squeeze between the gates. Juno quickly slid through the opening and looked around, trying to find where the laughing he had heard came from.

"Hello? Is there someone here?"

The laughing began again and seemed to move about ahead of him.

"Hey, who's there? Stop will ya!"

Juno followed the laughing and he felt like it was making him chase it all over the place. He thought he saw something move ahead of him and sprinted ahead quickly, trying to catch whatever it was. He came through an entrance way and Juno had to actually make sure he was really seeing what was ahead of him, by pinching himself. What was ahead of him was something that he would have never have suspected. It was surprisingly a children's soccer game. There was a huge lush field of grass and the sun was shining brightly. There were trees and life that had not been there, but a second ago. There were people all over and there were stands full of people supposedly watching the game. He heard the laughing that he had heard before behind him and turned around to see a bunch of kids playing together, kicking a ball between them.

"What the? Where did all of this come from? And in a place like this?"

He turned to a girl that was part of the bunch of kids behind him and tried to get her attention, hoping to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Hey, hey girl. You there! Can't you hear me?"

He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but where his hand should have landed, it went right through her like she was nothing but an image. Juno just stopped and stared at his hand.

"What…what just happened? My hand went right through her like I was a ghost or something! Th…th...this can't be happening! This isn't normal!"

Juno turned around and tried again with a man that stood in front of him, but just like before he grabbed nothing but air and went right through the man's body. Again and again he tried, hoping that someone would be real, someone would actually hear him somehow. He walked into the middle of the field, where the kid's soccer game was supposedly happening. Kids ran right through him, not even noticing when they passed through him. He just stood there and watched the people around him, speechless. He had no idea what was happening and had no idea what to do. He looked to the left to see the supposed kids make a goal that made the stands erupt in activity. Nearly all the parents stood cheering for the kids and routing them on.

As he looked at the people, he saw something that had to be his imagination, it had to because what he saw was not and could not be real. Then suddenly the people were gone, the kids, the parents, they were all gone. Just like that they were gone with not even a puff of smoke or something. One second they were there and the next, they weren't. The stands were still there, but they were just as broken down and old as the park that surrounded him. What had used to be a green and lush field of grass was now a weedy brown unkept mass of something that might have been grass in another life. The clear and sunny day that had been shining so brightly, was now the dank and dark night that seemed to envelop everything in sight.

"What…how..how did that happen? Where'd they go? Where'd they go?"

Juno ran forward to where he had been previously staring intently, hoping to find them still there somehow. Running into the disheveled stands, Juno climbed to the spot where he had seen them last. There sat on the seat board was a thin book, covered in dirt and debris. He looked at the book where it sat and slowly swept off the book and looked at the name on the cover. The name that was printed on the book was 'Here and There Live's.' The authors name was rubbed out and it seemed almost intentional that he didn't learn who wrote it.

"Here and There Lives? What does a book have to do with anything? What's going on?"

Juno just sat down and looked into the darkness that was around him. He closed his eyes and remembered perfectly what he had seen but a minute ago. He wondered what everything meant and what was going to happen next, because he still could not believe the picture that he had embedded in his mind. The figures he had seen in the stands were his mother and father.