Okay, okay, so I know that I've been a slacker on updating Eye of the Storm 2: Black Storm, but the writer's block for that story is killing me and it's now November, which means... NaNoWriMo has started. SO, this is this year's NaNo project, which I am working on while trying to sort through a few loopholes with EOTS2. This story is the sequel to Rearrangement: More Than it Seems, and if you have not read that story, you need to do so before reading this one, otherwise you'll get major spoilers. If you have already read Rearrengement, then enjoy and please review!

"Gingka…"

Gingka's eyes snapped open and he looked around, gasping at his surroundings. He was trapped, once more, inside the Arrangement System, with his friends hovering over him trying to get him out. However, nothing seemed to be quite working, as they grew more and more frantic, an ominous orange glow behind them growing ever brighter and closer, heat seeping through the canopy of the Arrangement System and making it hard to breathe.

"Just get out of here!" Gingka exclaimed, nearly able to see the flames threatening to burn everyone alive. He did not want to see anyone else die, much less a second time, he thought frantically as his gaze swept over them all; Madoka, his father, Zero, and many others who were becoming barely discernible through the flames.

"Gingka!" Madoka shouted out, and suddenly Gingka noticed that none of them were actually speaking, their forms twisting into nightmarish forms.

"Nightmare. It's a nightmare all over again." Gingka thought, willing himself to stay calm even as Pegasus leapt in his mind, tearing at the reins and struggling to lash out at the perceived danger.

"Wake up you big idiot!" a splash of ice cold water across his face finally jolted Gingka out of the nightmare he had managed to trap himself in as he yelped and sat bolt upright in bed, water soaking his hair and shirt.

"Goodness, stop worrying us in the middle of the night like that!" Madoka was already scolding him, wagging a finger in his face sternly as she rested her other hand, and the empty cup, on her hip.

"... Thanks." Gingka muttered, running his fingers through his hair and shivering slightly from both the memory of his recent nightmare and the ice that had fallen into his lap as he sat up.

"I got a towel already this time." Zero's sleepy voice said as the younger blader wandered in, nearly running into the doorway before tossing a towel into Gingka's face.

Gingka chuckled softly and stood, playfully flinging ice at Madoka and Zero. "Sorry to wake you.. Again."

"The Arrangement System again?" Madoka guessed.

Gingka nodded. "Been months but it still likes to poke its head into my nightmares." he sighed.

Madoka reached up and put her hands on his shoulders comfortingly. "But we defeated it, don't forget." She assured.

"I know." Gingka chuckled, then sighed. "I just hope that it's the end of our problems."

"Knowing the world, it won't be." Zero grumbled. "It's fun overcoming things and all, but can't the world just stay calm for, I dunno, a few years?"

Gingka chuckled. "It did. And then you got strong enough to beat the challenges and it picked right back up where it left off."

Zero stuck his tongue out at this. "Stupid world. Can't you just take the next one down for me?"

Gingka rolled his eyes. "Have you forgotten that I wasn't able to help the last couple of times because my bey was part of the problem?"

"Yeah you gotta keep a closer eye on it." Zero teased. "The wild horse is behaving just like it should without you to rein it in."

Gingka mock-pouted at this. "Hey, not my fault Pegasus likes a good fight." he protested.

Zero merely grinned. "If you want to fight me you just gotta ask instead of pulling all the crazy stuff."

"Oh, as if that were my fault!" Gingka exclaimed. "You wanna go?"

"Guys…" Madoka tried to break into the heating conversation.

"I'll take you anytime!" Zero exclaimed, blue eyes burning intensely as his hands moved to where his gear sat. Why he had it on over his pajamas, Madoka could never understand.

Gingka smirked and Pegasus was suddenly in his hand, as if he had summoned it there from wherever it had been resting. "Stadium's just down the street unless you'd prefer the open air."

"Guys!" Madoka exclaimed in exasperation, finally getting the attention of the two bladers.

"Is something wrong, Madoka?" Gingka asked, raising an eyebrow and looking clueless.

"It's two in the morning! You can't have a battle right now, it would wake everyone in the city up!" Madoka exclaimed, putting both hands on her hips and her face in Gingka's sternly.

"... Oh. Right." Zero yawned, suddenly remembering how tired he was.

Gingka paused and looked pouty for a moment, although the mischief in his eyes betrayed his thoughts all too well to Madoka, or so she thought.

"And if you think I'm letting you sneak out to do it anyway-" She began, but Gingka cut her off with a swift kiss to the cheek.

"Relax, Madoka. I'm not THAT crazy." Gingka said as he swung himself back into bed and stretched with a contented sigh. "But Zero, tomorrow, first thing, you and me."

"You're on." Zero yawned, already half asleep again.

Madoka snapped out of her momentary surprise and chuckled softly, grabbing the top edge of Gingka's blanket and pulling it over his head. "Go back to sleep, Gingka."

"Yes ma'am." Gingka made a mock bow without bothering to remove the blanket from his head, causing a rather comical scene.

Madoka chuckled and guided Zero back to his room before going back to her repair desk with a sigh. Despite it having been a few months since the enormous incident with Spiral Force, she still worried about Gingka's mental state. She knew him well enough to know that it probably still bothered him much more than he let on. After all, it was typical Gingka to not talk about things that bothered him until he reached a breaking point. The nightmares he kept having frequently were an indicator that it was probably always in the back of his mind. He had spoken very little about what had happened in his own mind while he was under the influence of whatever Ziggurat had done to him, but Madoka knew that her own death had somehow been involved. Gingka had never said how she was killed in the subconscious world he had been trapped in while forced to fight them, but she suspected it was not pretty. Not like death ever was in the first place, after all.

The brunette sighed as she sat down, eyeing the ring sparkling on her hand with a content smile.

"He acts like an idiot, but he's not as much of one as he seems, is he?" She sighed to herself, polishing the gem against her shirt before examining it again, tilting her hand slightly and enjoying the sparkle that resulted.

"Oi. Mechanic girl." A voice startled her out of her trance and she looked around in alarm, but saw no one.

"Who's there?!" Madoka exclaimed, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Not important." the voice scoffed, as if reluctant to be talking to her at all. "Best watch your back though. Another threat's coming."

"... And you know this how? Who are you?" Madoka asked, locating the source of the sound: her computer's speakers.

"Like I said. Not important. Best warn Hagane and the others as soon as possible."

"Now hang on a minute!" Madoka exclaimed, hacker instincts kicking in as she tried to figure out how this person was talking to her and more importantly, who and where they were. "Don't you have any details? The last thing we need here is to be more paranoid about things."

The voice snorted. "Paranoid? You're the only one I remember being like that, mechanic girl."

Madoka gained a tick mark. "And just exactly what is that supposed to mean?!"

"Madoka? Who are you talking to?" Gingka's voice came from the top of the stairs.

Madoka turned and opened her mouth to reply.

"I'll be going now." The voice said before cutting out abruptly as Gingka came down the stairs, rubbing a towel on his still-wet hair.

"I wish I knew." Madoka sighed, deciding not to tell Gingka what she had been told until she got more proof. "Some weird prank caller or something."

"... At two in the morning?" Gingka raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

Madoka cast around frantically for an explanation before rolling her eyes, standing, and putting one hand on her hip, sticking her other finger in Gingka's face and wagging it between his eyes. "As if you're one to talk when you and Masamune prank called your dad at this same time during the World Championships!" She exclaimed.

"... Point." Gingka caved, looking sheepish and gently pushing her hand out of his face. "Now why aren't you in bed? I know you like to stay up late getting work done but it's still not good for your health."

"I still have three beys to fix." Madoka whined in protest.

"You can fix them tomorrow." Gingka rolled his eyes and gave her a serious look.

"But the bladers will want them first thing tomorrow!"

"They'll have to wait."

"As if you yourself ever accepted that excuse!"

"... I'm not THAT impatient."

"Oh-ho! You think so, eh? Need I remind you of the time just after we first met, when Kenta's bey got stolen and you just HAD to go right then instead of waiting for Pegasus' repairs to be complete."

"Sagittario was at stake there, you can't blame me for that one."

"Or the time right after you found Galaxy Pegasus, when I could barely work five minutes without you hanging over my shoulder asking if it was finished yet. You even tried to grab it off the desk and go battle with it when I wasn't looking."

"... Masamune was stalking me!"

"Or right after your bey transformed and you nearly blew up that island with Kyoya. You were insisting on a rematch with him the next day even though I told you Pegasus wasn't ready!"

"You were taking extra time examining all of its features instead of just fixing it!"

"Or the time it nearly broke during the battle with Nemesis and you took it before it was finished because you couldn't wait, and your following battle against Kyoya shattered it." Madoka said pointedly.

Gingka faltered at this. "... Okay, fine, you have a point." He sighed. "But can't you just get Maru to help you early in the morning? You can make other bladers wait."

"I couldn't make you wait." Madoka rolled her eyes.

Gingka smirked. "Because you can't resist me." he said pointedly, nodding to the engagement ring on her finger.

Madoka's mouth dropped open and she crossed her arms sternly. "You sure have nerve, Gingka Hagane!" She exclaimed snippily.

Gingka laughed and waved her off. "You can't deny that one."

"Okay, so you're right. Your point-hey!" Madoka exclaimed as Gingka bent down and swept her off her feet, carrying her up the stairs.

"You're going to bed, now. And then I'm going back to bed." Gingka said, carrying her to her room and setting her at the door carefully, nudging her inside. "Don't make me sleep right here outside your door to make sure you don't sneak back downstairs."

Madoka rolled her eyes. "Fine, you win this round. I'll sleep."

Gingka grinned, eyes gleaming with nearly the same triumph they held when he won a bey battle. "Good. I expect to see you sleeping in your bed and NOT at your desk in the morning." He said, turning and heading back to his own room.

Madoka rolled her eyes and chuckled in amusement. "Goodnight, Gingka." She said before going into her room and shutting the door behind her.