Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
-Semisonic
Closing Time


Fordo wandered down the stairs a few hours later, searching for the kitchen. Dinner wasn't for fifteen minutes yet, but he still hadn't found time to locate a source of provision. It was not what one would call "quiet", seeing as he could clearly hear the laughter of a little girl coming from outside and random noises similar to beeps or boiling water. Yet, a sort of tranquility surfed throughout the atmosphere that he had never experienced, a quiet sort of peace and calm that displayed to him how he could still "participate" and find his zen. He treasured this peace, swimming in its grace and wonder and, for once, feeling safe.

A pleasant aroma of fried rice flew to his nostrils, mixing intimately with the dusty scent of the building. He followed it to find the source. Hiroko stood at the kitchen stove, fiddiling with a mound of browning rice, herbs and bits of shrimp. The oven top was littered with other pots of equally inticing vitals: chicken dipped in red-brown sauce, onions and asparagus sautéing, cream sauce containing what appeared to be wontons. A quiet hum floated from somewhere within her and floated about the bubbling of the pots on the stove. She pulled out a set of wooden chopsticks from her back pocket and sampled the rice she worked so diligently on.

"How is it?" Fordo was leaning against the doorframe, watching her work. He saw the way she turned, almost in slow-motion, and fully beheld him. Flour spattered about her left cheek and the chopsticks balanced upright in her left hand. A smile played across her face.

"Quite good, actually." She turned back to her concoctions. "I'm surprised. Would you like to try some?" Fordo gaped at the chopsticks she offered him: the same that she had used. He stood upright again and walked to her, taking the instruments from her hand and ignoring the trembling in his chest. With the sticks, he grasped a small populace of rice and shrimp and brought it to his mouth, his hand held under to collect any stray bits. It was soft and slightly moist, yet pleasant to his tongue. He chewed thoughtfully. Hiroko watched him nervously. "Well?"

Fordo nodded. "'S good." Hiroko grinned. "Quite good."

The kitchen door opened somewhat loudly, making the pair jump. A boy about Fordo's age with black, square glasses and messy brown hair trotted in, speaking a mile a minute. "Oko, you would not believe the kind of security on their databases! Jebus! I've seen less getting into Yankee mil'try bases. And all the passwords are the same except with bizarre little quirks that change them slightly. And never come back!" The fridge opened and this boy's slight form bent over it. "I mean, seriously, how many people really want in the Uracil Centre anyway? It's not EuroDisney or anything. Who went shopping last? Oh, wicked! Pineapple!" He mushed through the icebox, retrieving a soda can. "It's not difficult or anything, I've had much, much worse. But, crickey, it's tedious. Whoever 'e's got writing his security programme is either a ruddy genius or fallen completely off their rocker, I swear to Gates. Naturally, there's an incredibly thin line betwixt genius and insanity, as cliché as that is, but most things are. How else would blokes like Shagstar ever manage to feed-" He had turned around, drink in hand, and come face-to-face with a complete and total stranger. "'Ello, Gov'nah," he said curiously before shifting his gaze to Hiroko. "Neko, love. You didn't tell me we 'ad comp'ny."

"Oh, yeah." She shook off his lengthy monologue. "Sorry. Uh, Fordo, this is Guiness Schroeder, our technical junkie. Giz, this is Fordo Summers."

"Hello, Guiness." They shook hands.

"So this is the incredible Herr Summers we keep hearing about, eh?"

"I...I guess."

"Pleasure's all mine, monsieur."

"Thank you."

"Guiness's been working on the Uracilian database for two days now. He's trying to delete your information."

"That's very kind of you."

Guiness waved this comment away. "Don't worry 'bout it. That's me job." He gulped his soda. "'Sides, I 'aven't done it yet."

"Why don't you just worm the whole database?" questioned Hiroko. "That'd shut down the entire system."

His face played in mock horror. "My dear, that hasn't any style." He headed out the door, offering a parting, secretive wink."

*

The clock in Basil's office chimed six o' clock and, as if on cue, a great multitude headed towards the kitchen. Hiroko set the final dish onto the table and looked over her handiwork prior to her guests' entrance. Mika, as always, was the first to enter: her blonde braids dancing about her face. From her back grew a pair of iridescent wings; similar in structure and pattern to those of a butterfly, but stronger, scale-less and more suited to her particular needs. Guiness followed her, slowly stripping himself of the knitted beanie he so often wore to let his shaggy brown curls fly freely in the air. Following him was an older girl with dark skin and secretive eyes that Fordo, content on the counter as he was, did not yet know. They clustered together like family about the table; talking, laughing, roughing Guiness's hair. He watched them close, exploring the gentle ease and openess they had with one another. There were no secrets here, but that didn't matter. They knew them all-ready anyway.

Last to enter was Basil. He had changed clothes for dinner, which seemed rather odd to Fordo when considering the surroundings. It was obvious that formalities were of little to no importance to the rest of this clan, so why should he care? Yet no one else seemed to consider this at all, so Fordobit his tongue, swallowed his questions and sat down.

For a few minutes everyone was silent. Mika sat in her little corner: eyes closed, body rocking back and forth, whispering unknown, foreign words. The dark-skinned girl also sat with her eyes closed, her hands clasped before her. Basil watched the ceiling; Guiness looked longingly at the plate before him; Hiroko sat unmoving in humble uncertainty and politeness. Fordo, knowing not what else to do, offered up a quick prayer to Illúvatar before grasping the pendant about his throat and kissing it quickly. He tucked it back under his shirt just as the strange girl crossed herself and Mika sat up straight, smiling.

,,Ist gut!"

No sooner were these words uttered then the group plunged into the cornucopia of delicious delight before them. Between bites they spoke with one another in rapid, playful tones. Fordo was introduced to the entire group who welcomed him with open arms. The girl he didn't know was called Sissely who liked American music and anything Hellenic. She'd grown up in Westmarch, unlike many of the others, and knew the territory quite well. Guiness was often referred to as "Gizmo" or sometimes just "Giz". When questioned about this, Guiness replied simply, "what do you think?"

Fordo found it quite fascinating that a group so tightly knit could be so welcoming to an outsider. They didn't throw out inside jokes he would never understand or leave him out of their fast-paced discussions. They seemed actually delighted that he was there and asked him about his family and Eastbank and his beliefs. there weren't any touchy subjects or hurt feelings at his responses. This was just a group of people, each open to one another, each independant from all the others; bringing out an incredible diversity so different, yet so similar one didn't notice it at all.

As they neared the end of dinner, Basil stood at his place at the head of the table. All around him, the group grew quiet and focused their attentions upon him. "I know it is not customary to discuss business at the table, but in light of recent occurances, I believe there is a need.

"Fordo has come to us directly from the Uracilians, as we all know. I am not going to lecture you veterans on playing nice and sharing so you can stop rolling your eyes, hiroko." She smiled in reply. "However, he is also uninformed about many things because of his time in the Centre and now is as good a time as any to inform him about them." Basil turned his attentions to Fordo. "What do you know about the the C.U.P.?"

Fordo bit his lip. "I know that you founded it, Basil, and what the acronym means. And i know that it's a safe-haven for kids and you're trying to take it internationally."

"And what do you know about the Uracilians?"

"They're scientists or...researchers or something. And they're not friends but...I don't know why. Something about them isn't right."

"They are a research facility, Fordo. And you are one of their rats." Basil began to pace around the table, watching how Fordo's eyebrows furrowed in anger and confusion. "You see, Chrisend Moscoe studied psychology and medical sciences; a very intelligent and well-off young man. However, he did not use his talents for the best of purposes. Not only was he well-off, he was also very religious."

"What's that got to do with enything?" inquired Fordo.

"It's not that he was devout," Guiness intergected. "It's what he's devout to." Confusion etched deeper into Fordo's face.

"In the particular denomination that Dr. Moscoe belonged to," began Basil, "Conformity to society is deeply emphasised. As it so happens, the society they appreciate happens to be that of the upper and middle class Anglo-Saxon Christian. Persons of out calliber are not..well-received."

"You mean people like us? People who can do weird stuff?"

"That's not exactly the term I would have brought to use, but yes."

"Basil doesn't have any varied abilities, though." Sissely stated matter-of-factly. "They don't like him 'cause he isn't white."

"I prefer to believe they dislike me because I assist all of you, Sissely," retorted Basil with a glimmer in his eyes.

"Yeah, Ely." added Guiness, "'Ow else is he explainin' why they keep givin' me the mickey?"

"Well, everyone gives you the mickey!" she stated icily. "It's 'cause you're easy."

"Never thought I'd 'ear you say that." He winked slyly before sipping from a yellow can, causing Sissely's cheeks to pink. She looked down and away quickly.

A pair of bright blue eyes flicked between the pair. ,,Ich bin verwirt..."

"May I continue?" questioned Dr. Basil patiently. Everyone refocused to the topic at hand except for Mika who was still trying to understand Guiness's statement. "The belief structure instilled in Dr. Moscoe has brought him to the conclusion that those who do not follow their rather stringent rules have one of three options. They can convert, confess their wrong-doings and place themselves into the hands of his god, they can be put to use as slaves or underlings to the righteous, or they can be terminated. Now it is incredibly difficult to get a free-thinking and liberal individual to devote to something as conservative and radical as his so-called religion. So Chrisend turned to the second option-"

"-Creating the Uracil Centre to collect information about his enemies," finished Fordo.

"Precisely. You, Fordo Summers, were a focus of his studies because of your defiant nature, the worries of your parents and your own willingness to care for their fear. He believed, wrongfully, that you would remain at the facility in order to ease their troubled minds, complying to his wishes for their well-being. However, his plan failed, as he should have expected. Narturally he did the entire time."

"So now he wants to kill me?"

"It ain't so bad, chap." Guiness threw a friendly hand on his shoulder. "He wants the same for all o' us!"

"Actually, Guiness," stated Basil calmly, "He doesn't." Guiness looked puzzled and the whole table grew especially quiet.

"What do you mean?" questioned Hiroko.

Basil was growing slightly awkward, but retained all possible composure. "Through his research, Dr. Moscoe has discovered that Fordo is not as easy as he could be. He cannot kill this boy."

"Why not?" asked Guiness fiercely.

"I'm immortal," Fordo replied quickly.

"Oh."

"So what's he going to do?" inquired Sissely. Out of the corner of his peripheral vision, Fordo caught the shifting of Hiroko's body that comes only when one knows a bit of crucial knowledge only given to a select group.

Basil looked around at his family with steady, quietly fearful eyes. He pulled out his chair and sat down. "He's going to strike at that parts of Fordo that can die."

Fordo's eyes grew tight together. "You mean-?" began Sissely. Basil nodded silently.

Mika looked as scared as Fordo felt. ,,Seine Eltern?"

"No." It was almost inaudible. Hiroko turned at him and gazed worriedly as his eyes grew so swid and fearful. "No." He said the word almost as though speaking to her. "I won't-" Fordo pushed himself up from the table, reaching the front door before anyone could blink. He pulled his jacket from the coat rack and threw it upon himself as he dashed down the steps, through the screen door and out.

"Comrade!" Guiness called, but received as reply only the banging of the screen door. Up jumped Hiroko, running out the door without even a sweater. She padded down the drive after him, catching up quickly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I have to get to Mum and Dad before that bastard does."

"Alone?"

"Look, Hiroko." He slowed to speak with her directly but avoided her eyes. "You've all been really great and I appreciate what you've done for me, really. But this doesn't concern you." He began to go again.

"Doesn't concern us?!" She chased after him. "Mr. Summers, this concerns me a hell of a lot more than you seem to realise."

"I've got to do this!"

"Yes, but no one goes off on their own. Not anythin' dangerous. Not on their first day."

"Stop followin' me!"

"Not in your dreams."

"Why not?! This en't anythin' 'avin' to do with you! Moscoe's killin' my parents, not yours."

"It doesn't matter!"

"Yes it does!"

She got in front of him, putting out both hands and pushing him backwards. "Will you stop being such a bloody prick and just listen?!?" This was taken slightly aback by Fordo and he stopped to listen. "Firstly, Moscoe 'asn't had enough time to get a hold of you parents so there's no reason to be worryin' now. Secondly, Basil brought you here to prepare you for fendin' off Moscoe and savin' the universe or whatever the hell you want to call it. You aren't going anywhere until you're properly trained. And thirdly, we've adopted you into our family and that means we stay together and help each other no matter what." She paused to take in a series of ragged, infuriated and deep breaths. He watched her curiously, cocking his head slightly to the side. "That also means it's your turn to do the dishes and I've done them three nights this week and, dammit, I'm not doing 'em again!"

For a moment, they both stood silently, Fordo staring at her in utter confusion and Hiroko glaring back at him in defiance. Then, from deep within him came an incredible laughter, forcing him to the ground, clutching his diaphram.

"What the bloody hell is with you?" There was an edge to her voice that only made him laugh more.

"You." he managed. His laughter subsided after a time to a slight chuckle and he wiped the water from his eyes. "Oh...God." Slowly, he rose from the asphalt and stood straight.

"So?" He turned toward her smiling, still amused. "You staying?" She seemed annoyed but in a mocking way.

"I reckon."

"Good." And with that, they turned to the lighted windows of Home, and walked back.
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New chapter. Bask in it. Sorry it took so long and is so crappy. I wrote it in the car... *furtive glance*

Kirily Wood