[0- Introduction]
OK, this is the first Trigun fic I've really attempted. The main character, as you might have guessed, is Legato Bluesummers. It's mostly a delve into his past, a look at the development of that psychic sociopath we all know and love. It starts with him being nine years old. I added the character of Allegro because Yasuhiro Nightow has said himself that he thinks Legato might have had a younger sister(source: Make a Little Lightbulb in Your Soul- ), and I decided that it might make things a little interesting to give him someone to develop with- I think she works well. Anyway, I don't own Trigun or any of its characters, and original characters and events are my copyrights so don't rip 'em off. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it...
If you want to contact me, I can be e-mailed at bluesummers@trigun.com. My main
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name is Vash60BillionMan. My ICQ number is 39072552. Thanks...
[1- Allegro]
"Legato! Brother Legato!"
Legato's ears pricked up even before he heard the voice call to him from across the town square. Somehow, he'd known it was coming... And when it did come, it was carried over on a familiar voice, female and very young... The voice of Allegro, his younger sister.
Allegro ran up behind him, as he sat on a bench facing towards the city's end, staring at the sunset with that same old expression of his. When she was within four feet of him, Legato immediately brushed his blue hair out of his eyes, rose, and spun to face her. Legato always had a way of doing that, Allegro had noticed, and it felt strange. There was definitely something different about her brother. There was no way Legato was the same as the other boys his age. A slight chill ran down her spine as he traced the contours of her seven-year-old face with his cold, golden eyes.
Legato regarded his younger sister. "What is it, Allegro?" A thin smile protruded from his lips, but his general demeanor, as well as those haunting eyes, made it very difficult for him to appear kind or loving. It was something that Allegro, as his younger sister, had come to get used to.
"M..Mom wanted me to tell you-"
"Dinner's ready?" Legato finished Allegro's sentence. He knew what she was going to say before she'd even started, really. He'd known dinner was ready from the second it had finished cooking... Allegro nodded. "OK, then, let's go home." He stood and walked off after his sister to the small house his family owned.
Legato Bluesummers, aged nine years old, was certainly not like the others his age. He had talents, hidden talents, abilities that he and only he knew of- for now. And those talents would have an impact on him, he could feel it even now. But how, that was what he didn't know...
[2- Parents]
Legato and Allegro walked into the door of the Bluesummers house to be greeted by the last remnants of their mother's food. Dishes had been piled in the sink, and nothing was left on the table. Mother was seated in a chair in the next room with an angry look on her face, and father was laid out in a drunken stupor on the couch.
"Where the hell have you kids been?!" Mrs. Bluesummers shouted. "Allegro, I just told you to go get your brother, and-"
"I'm sorry, mom! It took me a while to find Legato.... I went as fast as I could, but I-"
Allegro was interrupted by a slap in the face. "Don't talk back to me! No dinner tonight for either of you. Or tomorrow either! Come straight home after school. From now on, we're locking you in your rooms so you won't do this again."
Legato cleared his throat and began to speak. "Mom, it was my fault. Don't punish Allegro for it."
"Don't try and defend her, Legato. You're both in a lot of trouble," mother said. "Your father and I have been worried sick about you both."
Yeah, right, Legato thought. He could see through that. "Mom... you're angry and Dad is drunk. You haven't been worried sick about anyone." He cast a glance at his half-conscious father, beginning to pick himself up off the floor.
"Legato! How dare you talk like that?" Well, mom, it's quite simple. I tell the truth about things... "Honey..." she said to the inebriated man staggering to his feet. "Legato needs some discipline." Mr. Bluesummers said nothing, but instead fumbled with his belt buckle and pulled it out of the loops. With a series of loud snaps, the metal buckle and leather of the belt bit at Legato's skin repeatedly. Legato cringed in pain but never once retaliated.
"Stop it!" shouted Allegro, jumping in front of her brother and taking a few lashes herself.
Legato was shocked. Why was she doing that? The fool! He shoved her out of the way of the belt before it hit again. He had gotten her away from father's belt, but mother would have punishment in line for her for interfering. She could expect to go without dinner until further notice... And with these parents, who knew how long that would be. Sometimes Legato... hated it. That was the only word he'd have for it. He hated it.
When it finally ended, mother tired of chewing them out and father passing out again in another drunken haze, Legato's skin burned. It felt like these welts would take at least a week, Legato thought. Allegro's face was red from her punishment. "Come on," he said to his sister, "let's get on to bed in case they get back on it..."
"Yeah," she nodded as she followed him up the stairs that led to their respective bedrooms.
In her room, Allegro laid down on her old bed, almost too small for her even as only a girl of seven. This all made her so sad. These were their parents, but they were horrible to each other, to her and Legato, to everyone. Especially her brother. He was so good; He made almost perfect marks in school and always stayed out of trouble. This was a broken family.
The Bluesummers children would almost have been any parent's dream. But their family life was closer to a nightmare...
Meanwhile, in his room, Legato lay looking straight up, eyes open and fixed in a gaze looking up into nothingness. He felt a darkness touch into him, feel his inner being, as he had sometimes on nights before.
Forlornly, he sent thoughts out into the darkness. Thoughts of his differences, his talents. The people he knew, and his family. A few ponderances on life and death. Mostly death, though. It just seemed to fascinate Legato more. Where did people go? How did death feel? What was it like to be, and then suddenly not to be? Questions sent out into the darkness...
Legato's mind refocused again, this time to his parents. If they had woken up again, they were probably talking about him now. He knew the disgust of a overworked mother. He knew the loathing of a father who was a slave to the bottle, twice arrested for child abuse charges by other, earlier wives. Ones with more sense.. This couldn't be the way to do things, he thought. He turned his thoughts to Allegro, his sister... Peace and serenity there. She was so... pure. He supposed it was wonderful... None of the complications and evil that others loved oh so much.
There was only one thing which seemed as wonderful as that to Legato. Only one thing that could match the calm of innocent slumber. Little Legato's mind turned back to questioning darkness about death until he drifted off to sleep himself...
[3- School]
All of the children were in their places in the classroom, seated and waiting for class to begin. The teacher hadn't entered the room yet, and monotony among the students was beginning to rise.
A wadded paper ball sailed through the air and gently bounced off of Legato's forehead. Right as it happened, Legato snapped up quickly and turned to stare directly at the boy who had thrown it... Jom Gerson. Locking his eyes straight into Jom's, the blue-haired boy said nothing.
"What's'a matter, freak-boy?" Gerson taunted. "Got nothing to say?"
"Yeah, why don't you just sit there quiet like always, Blue-dumbers?" added another, sitting behind Gerson. Rick Harlen, probably Jom's only real friend, Legato noted. The others followed Jom, but really didn't like him. Legato could see it. Rick tossed a paper ball. "Sissy!"
"'Gato's a wussy!" came still another. This was, sadly, nothing new to Legato. It happened every day. He'd mostly learned to cope. Before long, nearly every kid in the third grade was chanting "Freak-boy, freak-boy." Some shot spitballs and tossed paper airplanes. Legato simply turned back to his desk, remaining seated and as calm as he could muster. He wouldn't let himself fly off the handle. "Freak-boy, freak-boy, freak-"
The chanting stopped when Legato immediately stood up. What was this, they thought, could that loser actually do something about it?
The door opened and Ms. Thurston, the third grade teacher, walked in. Legato took his seat, and the other children calmed down as she began taking the roll. "Atkins."
"Here."
"OK, Atkins present. Bailey."
"Here."
"Bailey present. Bluesummers." Silence. "...Bluesummers?"
[Here.] The word didn't escape Legato's lips so that all may hear it, but somehow the teacher got it. A quizzical look crossed her face, then she shrugged it off and went back to the roll.
"Bluesummers present. Davidson..." After roll had ended, class began as usual. Notes to take, problems to solve, and a science quiz at the end of the day. Just as always, Legato aced it all. School ended at 3:00 sharp, like always, and every student rushed to leave the room. Every student except Legato. Ms. Thurston had asked to see him after class. "Legato," she said when the last student was gone, "I just want to tell you you're doing a great job, and-"
...And if other students are giving you a hard time, just come to me, yeah yeah... "-if other students are giving you a hard time, just come to me."
Legato nodded, but he didn't smile. That was the one thing Ms. Thurston didn't like about Legato- he was a fine child, but he always had such an air of isolation from everything. "Thank you, Ms. Thurston," he said as he got his books and left the room. Thurston had given him similar talks since the first week of school. It got to the point that Legato didn't even need his talents to know what she would say.
[4- Taunts]
Legato walked out of the school building that day and traveled across the schoolyard past his classmates and other students, as always. Something different caught his eye this time- a group of students, many third graders like himself, in a crowd. He'd be led to believe someone was in the middle of the crowd, getting the full force of a verbal assault; possibly even a physical one.
"Hey, look, we got freak-boy's little sis over here!" came a voice from the mass. Jom Gerson's, of course. Which would mean that in middle of the taunting crowd would be... Allegro. Legato changed course over towards the group. "Hey little girl, we won't hurtcha!" "Are you weird like him?" "Is he always like that?" "I bet he's retarded! Freak-boy's retarded, isn't he?! He never talks! I bet he can't even talk!" He could hear the voices more distinctly as he drew nearer, and now he could see his young sister in the middle, being harassed and tormented. Because of him.
Allegro was crying. Students from every grade in the town's elementary school were piled in around her to get a look at a relative of freak-boy's. "Come on!" shouted Harlen, "Say something, little girlie! Or are you just like yer blue-haired weirdo brother?"
"Aw, look, Rick, we all made her cry!" interjected Gerson. "Oh, boo hoo! You're almost as fun to pick on as your brother, you know that? A whole family of Blue-dumbers!"
"Yeah, I bet their parents are like this too! At the dinner table, I bet they jus' sit there, Dad and freak-boy staring at little sis while she cries, and mom crying in from the kitchen asking who wants seconds!"
"Crybaby, crybaby! You must come from a long line of sissies like Lig-ah-toe!" This last voice dragged Legato's name out until it sounded silly.
From behind the group, Legato's anger still built up. If it showed at all, it was through his golden eyes, cold as ice. He opened his mouth. "That's enough," he said aloud. Everyone became silent; it wasn't every day that freak-boy spoke. They'd get to mock him as well, they thought. "Allegro, come on." He tilted his head to gesture to his sister. She got up and wiped her eyes, trying to smile at her brother for helping her out of this for the time being.
She'd gone about two steps when Jom Gerson stepped out in front of her with his harm extended and his palm outwards. "Where you goin?! We ain't done yet!" He brought his arm down to slap Allegro across the face-
Jom's arm never reached her. As it neared her left cheek, it stopped jerkily and a snapping sound was heard. His wrist twisted around in a manner it wasn't intended to. Jom Gerson collapsed to the ground, wailing in pain and clutching at his broken arm. The others backed off and began to leave, one by one. Allegro shook herself together and ran to Legato, who put his arm around her. He was about as openly kind as she'd ever seen him- not very feeling, but she liked to think that the thought was there. She loved her brother, despite his cold exterior. As she looked into his eyes, she caught him looking intently down upon his hands. Had he done something? What was wrong? He didn't seem to know. Brother Legato's beautiful eyes looked at the wounded kid, holding an expression she'd never seen before. Brother Legato looked surprised, and a little worried about something far away and distant...
The last of the crowd to leave was Rick Harlen. He stared at Legato for a few seconds, then shouted as he backed away, "I know this is your fault, weirdo! I don't know how you did it but I know you did it! Freak!" Harlen then turned and ran, and Legato walked with his sister back to the Bluesummers residence.
"Did you hear about your classmate Jom, Legato?" Dad asked that night. "He broke his arm. They say it's a compound fracture, and broken in four places. I bet that's no fun, right boy?"
"No, dad," Legato said somberly. "I bet it's not fun at all." Funny how father tried to be personable when he wasn't drunk to high heaven...
"That's just terrible," Allegro said half-heartedly.
[5- Fight]
The punch came out of nowhere and knocked Legato in the temple. School had just ended, and it had been three days since the incident with Gerson. Legato had been heading to Allegro's class to pick her up, but as the force of a ten-year-old's punch met the side of his head, it seemed he'd been assigned a new schedule.
"Legato Blue-dumbers," said the boy who'd thrown the punch- Rick Harlen, "I know you did that to Jom, I just know it."
"There's no need for you to tell me that again," Legato replied coldly. He didn't stop to show any hinting of pain in the head- Power perceived is power achieved, he thought. "You've told me you think I did it before."
Harlen was angered further by Legato's attitude. He made sounds of aggravation, and a small crowd began to form, mostly others of Legato's tormentors, ready to watch the spectacle they knew was coming; Freak-boy was about to get the beating of his life for what he mysteriously did to Jom. None of them knew how the weird kid had done it, but to their young logic it made perfect sense: Jom tries to hit the freak's sister, but his arm gets mysteriously dislodged and shattered. The injury was as freaky as their favorite victim. To them, there was no further need for proof.
"Listen up, freak-boy, 'cause I'm about to teach you something." Harlen did an amusing rendition of someone trying to look tough, Legato thought. He saw a scared, stupid, inferiority-complexed child beneath all of this... Who was apparently about to teach him something. Legato's thin lips formed a dark, dispassionate smile. Looked like the 'class' that Harlen was going to be teaching was physical education. "And you better learn it. We don't like you, Blue-dumbers."
"Yeah!" "You tell that freak, Rick!" "Give it to him! Beat him to a pulp!" "Yeah! Yeah! Let's see you spill some of his weird blood! I bet it's blue, just like his hair!" "Let him try to show his face after you've smashed it in!" The individual voices didn't matter. These peers all thought with the same dumb, violent, eager mind.
Harlen cracked his knuckles, or attempted to. He sneered at Legato. "I'm gonna kill you, retard." With that, he brought his hand around and landed another punch, this one catching Legato just below the ribcage. A kick to the shin. A few more punches.
Legato didn't strike back. "What's the matter?! You can't talk and now you can't even hit?! Too wussy?" Another punch. "Come on, you think you're big for whatever it was you did the other day- Fight me! Come on! Freak-boy!" Harlen swung his leg forward to execute a kick to Legato's groin- but the kick didn't land. When what had happened registered in his mind, he realized he was being held by the ankle by freak-boy.
Legato sighed and spoke softly. "Who's the wuss now?" He flicked his hand up, tossing the leg with it, and Harlen fell to the ground. He just watched the older boy on the ground, looking up in shock. Power perceived... What did this boy fear? Legato was in control now. He saw the opportunity to get the upper hand, and walked up to the boy, still floored. "You're afraid," he said in his softest voice. "You're afraid that I'll do to you what you think I did to Jom... You're even afraid I'll kill you." Harlen was trembling. Power perceived... "Do you want me to kill you?"
"N... no! D... don't kill me... B-Bluesummers... Don't...!" Rick Harlen's words were frenzied and came out terrified. He flinched in fear as he saw Legato's hand reach down to him... Then he realized the intent behind it and grabbed the hand. Legato pulled to boy up, but didn't let go then.
Legato kept his hold on the older boy's hand. Then, all of a sudden, he twisted Harlen's arm behind him. He could feel the scream welling in the throat of his assailant- then released it just as suddenly. The appropriate amount of fear was instilled. Power achieved. Rushing to restore his foundation, Harlen turned back on Legato. "Don't think you've won, Blue-dumbers!" he had to hold up his reputation; The crowd was growing fast. "I'm still gonna kill you! Freak! Bring it on! Freak! Freak!" Soon enough, the whole crowd was shouting that word in unison.. That word...
The darkness Legato felt on so many nights crept up now, for the first time in the daylight. For the first time ever, he could feel the hate he harbored for these antagonists. He didn't want to just pretend they weren't there, to shut them out, anymore. He backed up to face Rick. If it was a fight that he wanted...
"Brother Legato!" Allegro came running up, pushing through the group to get to Legato. "Brother Legato, let's go... I don't think you should be here now, and-" She was cut off by a hard blow from Harlen. She hit the dusty ground hard, face down.
"Get outta here, shrimp!" Harlen shouted at the seven-year-old girl. "Don't interrupt a fight!" Legato's eyes froze upon the body of Allegro, whimpering on the ground in pain. Angered, he looked up again, straight through Rick Harlen's head. There was nothing human about his fixed, dispassionate glare. This was the angriest Legato had ever been. He felt more hate than he had ever known towards these people.
He would be teaching the lesson today. He focused on all of his hate... and gave it a scapegoat. Rick Harlen, you'll know something new today.
Rick's eyes widened. He doubled over. "Wh... what's going on.. what's wrong with me... AAAUGH!" He screamed and coughed. "Bl... Bluesummers... you..." A cracking sound, and Rick Harlen fell to the ground, blacked out. An onlooker bent down to see if Rick was all right. He set two fingers by the neck...
"No pulse," the boy said. "R... Rick's dead..."
Legato snapped to full realization. Before him was the body of Rick Harlen, mangled and twisted, dead. Legato had done it. He felt the darkness well in him, and it touched him. The power of death was intoxicating...
Legato bent down to help Allegro up. He held her with his left arm around her shoulder as the sirens sounded and police arrived, dispersing the crowd.
