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Matt had exited as quickly as he had attended the brutality.

He stalked the halls quickly, moving to the Sensoriums, the only place in the world that would be safe from his wrath.

Locking the door, or so he thought, he strode into the room as it changed from stark white to a city.

Perfect.

"PERFECT SHI SHI HOKODAN!

The cityscape lit up with a giant dark blue mushroom cloud.

When it settled, Matt stood there, icy cold winds boiling off his body as he fired another depression wave into the city. And another. And another.

Blast after blast rocketed through the sky and slammed through buildings. Simulated people were vaporized instantly.

And holding up his hands to the sky, a enormous energy ball formed and rocketed upwards.

Roaring Lion Bullet. A attack filled on depression.

Well, Matt certainly had enough heavy chi to do this right now.

The ball came down, bathing the ruined landscape in a mushroom cloud.

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"Yep. That's about how I feel right now..." Irma said, noticing Matt's rampage.

Approaching her friend, she stopped and sighed. "You okay? ...okay, stupid question. You GOING to be okay?"

"Numb," replied Matt as he sunk to his knees, the cold air boiling off him as he reigned in his temper. "I knew... I knew this place wasn't fun and games. We're in the middle of a war. But..."

The young gentle man pulverized a chunk of masonary into dust within his fist. "I can't believe it tortured her like that. That's not a punishment. That's brutality. What's worse... I saw a kid in the crowd."

"I hope Will didn't see that," murmured Matt.

"Who knows how many kids saw that. God, Will... Hay Lin... I'm glad Taranee and Corny aren't here. It would be worse than a flash fry..." Irma said.

"Jeez... this... this is screwed up beyond belief..." She couldn't help but brush her hair back trying to make sense of everything.

Shifting position in the rubble, Matt cleared a space for Irma to sit with a sweep of his hand, never minding when glass scratched against his skin as he did so.

"I know. And what's worse, is that we're still on this damn ship." He struck the ground. "And who knows what kind of problems we'll face even without this ship... doing that."

He rubbed his forehead, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Irma... if you had a choice to go back into the pods willingly after seeing that... would you? Because I don't feel like I'm making a difference anymore."

"...honestly, Matt? I couldn't tell ya." Irma admitted. "One step forward, two steps back. We've made it this long, though, we... we can't give up. Not when everyone's counting on us."

She shook her head.

"...I can't give up. N-Not now. It's tempting but... I can't. I wouldn't be able to look anyone in the eye - the girls, Yan Lin, the Oracle... and I don't think you should give up either..."

Matt closed his eyes and exhaled, digesting Irma's words. "You're right," he said quietly. "If we gave up now... well, yeah. It's not good for anyone."

"Mom's in those pods somewhere, and Cornelia, Taranee, Orube... maybe even Cedric if he was pulled in before he heroically sacrificed himself for us." he chuckled at the man who had fallen in love with Taranee's former replacement.

"And others too. Nigel. Martin. Uriah..."

Irma was about to say something before she heard the name "Cedric" and "heroic sacrifice"

"...wait, Cedric? Performing a heroic sacrifice?" she said, incredulous.

"Surprised me too," said Matt. "It was near the end of the Book incident. We all got pulled into the nearly-completed book and Cedric fought to protect us, and Orube who he fell in love with."

He grinned at that, a little mirthlessly but amused. "Sometimes love is all powerful."

"And sometimes love can be a little gross..." Irma said, remembering that in her world, Cedric was in love with Miranda, a shapeshifter who's usual forms were a spider and a young girl.

"But, I don't blame you there... sometimes it can do strange things..."

"Yeah it really can," admitted Matt as he pulled his knees up with a sigh.

A long pause followed and Matt said, "Irma? Is it bad that... no, never mind."

He rest his arms on his legs. If anyone could tell him it was Irma or Hay Lin but... but how was he going to say anything that didn't make it sound like he was feeling swayed from his relationship with Will?

"Irma..." said Matt slowly. "When's the last time you saw Will? I mean, from the de-GlaDoSing."

"That's... a good question..." Irma said, worrying. "I haven't seen her in awhile. I'm kinda worried myself... but, she's here, she's okay. She has to be!"

"I know," said Matt, burying his face in his hands. "I worry night and day where she is. But all I get the feeling is that if GlaDoS did take her again, she wouldn't be in our minds but our hearts."

He groaned into his hands and ran them down his cheeks. "Irma... don't tell Hay Lin but..."

He bit his lip. "I think I may have feelings for someone else. ... other than Will. I'm sorry I shouldn't be talking about this in times of stress but... god."

And he buried his face in his hands. "How is my life so screwed up right now?"

The sound you just heard?

Is Irma's jaw hitting the ground in shock.

Matt? Falling for someone other than Will? Now, granted it's probably stress or something but...

Excuse her, Matt, let her brain start back up.

With the metaphoric porcelain shattering noise, Matt groaned as he fell over, dragging his hands down his face. "It sounds crazy I know," he said, picking up a shattered piece of glass as it transformed into candy glass and he bit into it with a crunching noise of solid sugar.

"The thing is," he said in between bites of candied masonry and building supplies, "Remember when Will was gone for like 6 months? I found myself inadvertently getting close to Katara. we were just friends but something changed recently."

CRUNCH. Matt bit into candied brick. "My life's pretty screwed up huh?"

And here came someone who was just as torn about what she'd seen, who, watching now, hated seeing someone she cared so much about everyone else, working his feelings out this way. Not that she didn't understand: only a few weeks ago she'd done the same with Sokka leaving. Right now, no matter what awkwardness had been there, Katara wanted to stop Matt from doing this and to erase what she had just witnessed in her head. She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know," she said. Not a lot of complex words there, nothing that really needed more than that. Her eyes alone spoke volumes.

Exhausted and spent, Matt sat there as he felt Katara's hand on his shoulder. When he did speak, his voice was raspy and hoarse, as if he was trying not to cry. "Tell me something Katara... how can we be champions of life... after what we've seen?"

"... I don't know why it stings seeing that. Somehow I thought I could handle it. But listening to that agonized scream..." His hand closed around a chunk of faux masonry and it was pulverized immediately.

"It's completely natural that you feel that way," Katara said. "I don't see how anyone can look at what just happened and say that was anything remotely resembling good. Stacy has alienated a lot of us today, that is something we never rerally thought we'd see."

She cleared her throat. "But WE are champions of life, and that isn't something we're going change because of what Stacy's done. We don't have a choice to be here, that's true, but we do choose how we conduct ourselves. I'm not going to let what's done poison who I am and what I stand for."

She took a breath. It still WAS hard to get the screams out of her head, but she knew there was no turning back from what she'd seen.

"Yeah," sighed Matt, rubbing his face. "I guess it just feels like when things get better they get automatically worse."

"Should get my head examined for even deciding to see that, but at least now we know what it entails." With a groan, Matt shifted his position on the ground. "Any suggestions on what we should do in the interim?"

"I already expected that, to be honest," Katara admitted. "I actually even talked to Kaylee about that a few days ago. It's not really like us to stay quiet for long."

Not that she thought the Steve turning into a monster thing was quiet.

"I don't agree," Katara said, even if she was still trembling. "We need to see everything and know what it is so we have an idea what to tell the people that are feeling conflicted about this. If you're looking for something to tell them though? We're going to get through this. The Ohm are still out there, and even if Stacy were to launch an attack against us, we would take her down too. If we can't trust the ship, we can at least trust each other. The ship is vicious, not us."

Edited 2010-11-12 18:42 (UTC)

Matt was silent for a moment, and then he smiled at Katara, some of that old smile making its way into his expression; that warm, sad if happy smile that he was so used to giving. "You're right," he said. "What kind of Council head would I be if I sat around feeling upset or angry? They chose me for the head because of my cool head."

He laughed as he rubbed his hands through his hair, spilling powdered brick everywhere. "Look at me, throwing a tantrum like a little kid." And with a gesture, swept the entire world away as the pair would find themselves sitting in the side of a cafe in the middle of France with the Eiffel Tower looming overhead majestically.

Getting up and holding out a chair for Katara, he said, "Have a seat. We'll talk in relative comfort."

A waiter came up and inquired in French to which Matt replied smoothly, and the impeccable waiter bowed to return later with an order. "Sorry, France is on my mind," admitted Matt.

Somewhere a kids voice rang out, "I just thought, you, her, alone in the city of love..." and the noise of a metaphoric head explosion rang out.

Katara sighed. "I'm not saying you don't have a genuine reason to be upset. I kinda feel like burying my head in bed and not coming out after that. But I'm a leader of the Outsiders, and these guys will be looking at our reactions. I have to let them know that I'll be there for them, that'll try and help them out. I know you'll do the same."

She has that much confidence in him, so she knew he would pull through. A moment later, their scenery changed, and she found herself in a pleasant yet unfamiliar place, with different clothes: she know wore an elegant blue sundress and a beret. Loking confused (and even more so by the language Matt spoke) she turned to him and whispered, "Where are we?"

She was, by the way, trying hard to keep the excitement out of her voice.

"Paris France," said Matt with a light grin. "It's one of the oldest cities on Earth. See? That's the Eiffel Tower, a monument built during their major hay day. People from all around the world come here for vacations, tourism and just to absorb the culture."

He rubbed his head. "Its uh, also known as the City of Love but uh yeah..." He blushed and ducked his head as the waiter came back with two dishes and a miniature blowtorch which he ignited, and started to play across the dessert on the table.

"Creme Brule," explained Matt as the blow torch darkened the layer of sugar on the dessert. "It's a dessert with a layer of sugar that is darkened across the top."

"I can see why," Katara said, straightening her beret. Honestly, thsi wasn't at all what she'd been expecting: she had thought that Matt would have given more resistance, not that this was a bad thing (well, it was in a way, but she would forget about that). She had felt pretty scraed after what she'd seen, but now, being here, she could feel a calm come over her. Matt had been one of her closest friends on the ship, and he did have a world way about him.

She blushed too at the mention of love, but was distracted by the man who burned the top of their dessert. She was about to protest when Matt explained how this dish was prepared, and then stared, wondering how something burned could still taste good.

"I'm curious," she said, cutting a piece. "This place is beautiful, and I love the tower, but why here?"

Katara was naive...kind of.

Leaving a pair of dishes with a golden crisp layer of sugar atop it, Matt picked up his spoon while thinking about the question. "When I was touring with Karmilla, we went to Paris and sat in this cafe together while in our down time. She said I should bring a friend here, and show them the view."

"I thought about Will that time," admitted Matt. "But... lately, I've been thinking about you, as a friend or I dunno... just feels weird kinda. I've never gotten a chance to thank you properly for everything, keeping an eye on Will for me, being a good friend, listening to music and just having fun. So this is my way to tell you thank you, by showing you one of the most beautiful places in the world."

He was fumbling for words, but at least it was true and honest in a way.

Katara smiled. "Well if that's the case, I owe you my thanks. It's a beautiful place: you couldn't have picked a better one. I usually prefer the cold, but there's something about this place: its warm, very inviting. I can't get enough of it! What is this drink we're having?"

And funny she should say that: at the next thing Matt said she spilled the drink down her front, shrieking as she dabbed herself with a napkin, then taking out her water to heal said burns.

"It was nothing," she said, reddening a little. "Will had a kind of light around her, something that made her happy. I liked being around her, you know? Then she would tell me about you, and I started to understand. You made her really happy, you gave her strength. Now that I've met you, I understand why. It's like...you know the way to a girl's heart, with no gimmicks or tricks. You're just you."

She grinned. "And to tell you the truth, I always liked listening to your music."

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