Forgiveness Hurts (Jack)

Charles hadn't seen Jack after the incident and he would have probably avoided the Red Ranger for good hadn't he received an odd message from Jack earlier that day from his building manager. Apparently, he wanted to meet Charles in the Featherman shack back in Zela Academy. And it was something important.

In any case, Charles decided to please the ranger fanatic despite not having much will to go anywhere, so he got ready and made his way over to the school island. He arrived in front of the shack soon after, with the sun slowly fading away in the distance, as it was already late.

He knocked at the door and entered...

Jack sat quietly in his shack... Sense the... incident... he hadn't really done much. At first it felt like a dream.. a dream that he would wake up from. But that very first day, when he sat at lunch and Nilo didn't come to sit with him... he knew what had happened was far to real... he had failed. He had failed the one person he promised to never give up on. He said he would protect everyone... that they would all come out of this alive. That after they would all go grab a bite and have a good time... But... What happened after the battle... it was a blur... Jack... Jack didn't remember much until the next day, and even then all he remembered was...crying. It wasn’t until two days later that he could finally bring himself to leave his room and go to class... Wait... was that today?... Yeah... yeah that was today... He left in the middle of lunch to wonder the city....

In that wondering... something dawned on him... Charles.... he... he knew... he knew what happened...Through means he didn't quite remember he knew... He needed to see Charels... Jack walked to his apartment building and left a note with his door man...

Sense then. Jack had been sitting in his shed... Staring down at the Black Ranger Helmet. Nilo only ever wore it once... but... he couldn't help feel... it was a part of Nilo...

"I'm sorry..." Jack finally said to the mask,"... I'm so sorry... I... I didn't mean to... to get you... Damn it!" Jack shouted as he brought his fist into the table the helmet sat on. He felt a crack.. whether it came from the table or his hand... he didn't care.," Nilo.... You said... You said we would do this together.... as a team!... But you lied to me! You lied! Just like everyone else! Just like my father! Just like those god damned 'Rangers' on TV!... They told me I could be a hero... That I could change the world. heh... well guess what. I did! I made world that doesn’t have you in it!" Jack's tears flowed freely, his words only interrupted by his sobs"I'm no hero... how can I save the world... If I can't even save one of the most important people in it... Nilo.... Please come back!...PLEASE!... I can't do this without you.... I... I just can't!" Slowly Jack reached out and grabbed the helmet and brought it close to his chest."D-Do you r-remember when you j-joined the rangers? It... It was just you and  m-me back then. You t-told me not to give up on my dream... That... N-No matter what anyone said... I could be a hero... That you.... you... You..." The next words out of his mouth were more of a scream then anything else...

"You believed in me!" Jack erupted into a fit of tears and cries. There he would lay for the next few hours. Silently crying to himself as he clutched the Black Ranger Helmet... until he heard a knock at his door. He stood, dried his tears and shouted "It's open," Jack would set the Helmet on the table and keep his back turned as Charles walked in.

"... Charles... I know what happened... Don't ask how... But I do... Now, before you run off, I have a request. I've done some thinking and... " Jack would slowly walk to where he kept his Bokens, he would grab two. He tossed one to Charles and kept the other."Fight me..."

Charles stopped the moment he entered. His hand swayed loosely, still holding the doorknob as his eyes gazed upon Jack. Immediately, something about Jack struck the android as unusual. Firstly, his voice, which gave off what Charles could discern were clear signs of mental unrest. Secondly, the way Jack stood in the middle of the room and under the dim light of the evening sun made him appear broken. Thirdly, the Red Ranger was standing near a black helmet... Nilo's helmet.

"..."

And finally, the way Jack desperately walked over and picked up his wooden swords... It was mechanical, dead. Charles' hand slipped off the doorknob and he caught the wooden sword Jack threw at him. Doubts began arising in his head as Jack continued;  Jack has found out Charles was the one who murdered Nilo... It was only logical that one of the other Rangers would've told him that already. Besides, why else would he approach Charles in such a manner, demanding a fight of all things?

He spoke silently, weighing the sword in his hand - there was always a chance Jack would come bursting at him. He did not intend to fight him, but he also wasn't going to just stand around for Jack to beat him up. Best case scenario, he would need to only parry Jack's assaults. "Do you... hate me?"

Jack's grip on his boken tightened. He felt his knuckles grow white and his fingers strain against the wood. His eyes zeroed in on Charles. Why.... Why why why why why why WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!? With a shout of sorrow and rage Jack brought his boken into the rack it had been resting in reducing the old self into a pile of broken wood and fallen knickknacks.

"Hate you?.... Do I... hate you?... I don't know... Just... tell me... do you feel remorse.... Are you even capable of it?..." Jack took a shaky step towards Charles and took up a kendo stance,"And while you're at it... tell me...," With a shout Jack lunged forward and took a basic overhead swig at Charles. The attack would be of poor form and easy to block.," WHY CAN'T I BRING MYSELF TO BLAME YOU!

Taken by surprise by Jack's actions and words, Charles could barely dodge his assault. Jack was seriously angry about this... angry enough to say what he had said... "You..." Charles thrust himself forward below the sword Jack was swinging to avoid the hit. He landed on his left foot and swung himself fiercly, turning back towards Jack. His leader's words rung inside his head, hurting more than a hit from a boken ever could... and proning him to swing his own sword straight towards Jack's... "Despicable...!" Charles stopped the sword inches away from Jack's right ear. Was he really going to smash... The android's jaw dropped as he stared at his weapon. Yes, he was going to strike Jack for saying those words, he was going to crack the Red Ranger's ear wide open.

But he stopped. And dropped the boken onto the floor, falling on his knees beside it. "I..." His voice stuttered. "..." He leaned against his hands, spreading the fingers as wide as he could as he stared down at them...

Jack felt an odd sense of contentment seeing his attack avoided so easily. Time... time seemed to slow as he watched Charles dodge his, frankly, pitiful attack. Jack marveled at how easily and gracefully Charles pivoted on his feet, at how cold and calculated his movements were. None of them wasted, each served it's purpose and nothing more. Charles.... was a machine... no matter how human he looked, no matter how much he wanted to think other wise... Charles was a machine...

He didn't feel remorse for Nilo... and from the look of that on coming boken, wouldn't feel remorse for him....

wait.... Jack's eyes widened as Charles lay on the floor... Wh-What is this? Why did he stop?... He was about to end him. Charles.... he seemed to be... devastated by Jack's words... But... But... Then... "You do... Don't you...." Jack fell to his knees still clutching his boken"You feel remorse..."

Jack sat there for a moment just watching Charles.

"I'm sorry.... Charles.... I'm...." Slowly he reached out and grabbed Charles's head and pulled him close into a hug. "I don't.... I don't hate you.... You're the best friend I have... I..." Jack sobbed slightly as he began to cry once more"It's me... It's my fault....I'm the one that dragged him into this.... I dragged you into this... I... I'm sorry..." Unless he pulled away Jack would cry into Charles's hair for a while.

Charles couldn't bring himself to move or speak, as Jack embraced him. It came as a surprise to the android, the way how Jack's behaviour was unstable... They were both hurt by this the same, weren't they? It wasn't just him who must have felt this way, there were also Jack and Kazuya and even Blaez (probably).

"..." Feeling a little bit unsure, he moved away from Jack after those hour-long few moments he let him weep into his hair and sat on the floor several feet away from his friend. "I'm sorry... as well..." He finally spoke up, glancing away at the remains of the rack Jack had shattered in his fit of rage. He was still shaken by the mere thought of what he could've done hadn't he stopped his swing in that crucial moment... and he just had to say he was sorry; both for that and for causing Jack so much pain.

There really wasn't much else the android could do at the time, but he hoped the apology would prove enough for now.

Jack couldn't help but feel oddly relieved by Charels's apology... He didn't know why but it just helped. Slowly he rose to his feet and slowly walked to the broken rack and began to pick it up. The task was mindless and exactly what he needed right now to keep him occupied and not dwelling on the matter at hand.

Once the wood shards and various miscellaneous objects were cleaned or put away, his eyes once again found the black helmet on the table "Nilo once told me..." his tears long sense run out "That he... he didn't want to be a burden.... that the one thing he didn't want to be was a bother... He didn't want people to worry or care about him... because he didn't want to trouble him..." Jack shifted his eyes to Charels an forced himself to smile softly "If... if he saw us now..." Jack choked back his renewed tears and forced his normal care free voice,"If he saw us now he'd hate himself for making us so sad..."

Jack made his way to Charles and held his hound out to the fallen android"I don't blame you... You are not responsible for this... not in the slightest..." If Charles took his hand Jack would help him up and say "But just because I don't blame you... dosn't mean we're done with our fight... I... I need to figth you... It's the only way men like me can communicate our feelings..."

Charles silently listened to what Jack had to say, looking up at the ranger from below. He didn't know Nilo was feeling like that... In the end... Nilo really wouldn't have been glad if they kept moaning like this, would he? It would've pained him to see them lose whatever it was they had only because of his death. He silently accepted Jack's hand when he offered it and got up.

"I still don't understand you." He tilted his head at Jack, almost curiously. Maybe he would've felt easier if Jack were to hate him for what he had done... This way, everything just confused him even further and the blame was still present, laying rooted deep in his heart. Was fighting really the answer? What if Jack was right and this would make them feel better? This moment of mutual, uncontained hatred they would share through the short fight could be what their uneased minds needed. He nooded and reached for the wooden sword on the floor, pointing it at Jack. "I will not hold back." He had an unreadable expression on his frowned, determined face.

Jack nodded, his determined smile finally returning as he took up his broken. He felt... at ease... for the first time in a very long time. The room melted away as he took his stance. He took a deep breath in and then let it go, calming himself fully"I wouldn't ask you to..I want you to come at me for real... If you don't I'll never understand your feelings... and you'll never understand mine."

Jack stood motionless for a moment, letting the world come back into focus. Chales killed Nilo. That was a fact. It happened, there is no way to deny or refute that fact. Whether he meant to or not was irrelevant. No matter how much he told himself that Charles was innocent, in the back of his mind he knew otherwise. This tore Jack apart, it confused and infuriated him... He knew there was only one way to settle the storm in his soul.

In a moment Jack had gone from his ready stance to charging within striking range, he held his blade down and to the left of his body and was ready to strike at a moments notice.

Anticipating Jack's strike fom the left side, Charles raised his sword, bent his back and positioned it behind them in an attempt to parry it. If he managed to do it, he would fall forwards, spinning on his heel and taking a strong swipe directly towards the middle of Jack back, several inches beneath his shoulder height.

If, however, Jack managed to pull of a different strike, Charles would take it and fall back, trying to maintain his balance as he rushed in and jumped over Jack's extended boken, landing behind the red ranger and swiping his sword the same way as in the first scenario.

He didn't think much, he just went with the flow, regardless if it was going to hurt Jack or not. Besides, they agreed to fight seriously, so he was going to do just that.

Strength:

Jack smirked inwardly. While this was Not quite the reaction he was expecting he could still work with it. He had expected Charles to take his gambit and attempt a strike putting himself off balance, however it seemed he was better at this then Jack would have thought. Still, his next move would remain unchanged. Jack would plant his right foot a good two feet from Charles strongly then kick off with his left sending him pivoting round, during the spin Jack would raise his blade from his lower left to his upper right. Now facing Charles's right side Jack would deliver a quick pommel strike to the back of Charles's neck, opting out of the much more powerful but longer to execute slash that would have given Charles's ample time to react to the attack. This was a difficult maneuver but with his training Jack would be able to pull it off rather easily.

From this point, if Charles fell forward he would pivot to be behind him, if Charles remained standing Jack would jump back to attempt to avoid a counter strike.

Struck by surprise when seeing Jack's precise moves, Charles lost control over the situation, leaving himself wide open for Jack's slashing strike. The boken struck him in the back of his neck with an unnerving noise and almost knocked Charles off balance. Luckily, he was able to recover his footing thanks to his skillful feetwork and was back in action withing moments. He turned to face Jack again, tightly gripping his own sword with both hands stretched out in front of him. He forgot all about the strike the back of his neck suffered only seconds ago by then.

But Jack was good, way better than he had anticipated. I mean, who would have thought the Red Ranger would've had such serious sword skills? For some reason, though, it just made him more excited and feisty for the fight. "You are good." He mumbled as he stared at Jack, excpecting him to strike first.

Jack spun on his heels and took a defensive stance. He eyed Charles... that last hit made him feel... Refreshed... At peace... For the first time sense that day, he smiled... A genuine smile that didn't hurt to do. One that made him feel like things may not end here, however now was not the times for sentiment. Now he had to focus on this fight or he would lose. Charles has been much stronger with his blade then Jack would have thought. This may be a true challenge.

"Thank you.... So are you... But are you good enough to beat me!?" Jack roared as he charged again. Jack held his blade right in front of him this time. A much more offensive stance.

"Of course." Charles said as he spun once again, aiming to clash his sword the right at what he anticipated would be the trajectory of Jack's sword. This manouver would've allowed him to slide his boken across Jack's, ultimately striking the middle of his thigh. Charles would immediately follow this assault by doing another piruette around Jack's left shoulder and attempting to strike the back of his neck as he did to him.

If Jack was explosive, he just had to try and be even more explosive in order to beat him.