The following morning was no better than the first. Fay had been up all night speaking about their latest adventure. He'd found the fireworks display immensely interesting and went on for hours about it. Syaoran was surprised both Kurogane and Keric hadn't murdered him. And, as soon as the men met up with Lex and Sakura, Fay started up again with twice the vigor.
At Keric's pained and murderous expression, Lex burst out laughing. "Has he been doing this all night?" she asked as Fay threw up his hands to emphasize a firework he had particularly liked. Keric only nodded. Kurogane had left shortly after the girls arrived and stood far from the others.
Instead of taking them to the cafeteria like yesterday, Lex had opted to stay in the main room so they could talk about their plans. While most of the group stayed huddled near the main entrance to the warehouse, Kurogane had stayed near the entrance to Keric's room, which stood several yards away. He could hear their discussion, so he figured he'd be fine staying so far away. But Lex decided to bother him anyway.
"Don't be loner, you'll die young," she said in a matter-of-fact way.
Kurogane glared down at her and said, "I have to right to stand where I wish." Lex glared back, but there was just enough mocking humor in her eyes for Kurogane to realize she didn't care where he stood, and that she was trying to squeeze some humor out of him. She wasn't successful.
"Anyway!" Lex said suddenly to regain everyone's attention, "Here's what we need to do." She explained how Lizzie wasn't actually in New York City. She was in Orlando, Florida and they would need to 'borrow' a plane to get down there. "Have you guys ever been on a plane?" she asked Syaoran.
The boy thought about the vehicles he'd driven in Piffle World, and the train they'd taken in LeCourt. Based on Lex's description, he told they'd been on planes before. She smiled, but Keric was confused.
"Wait, I thought you said they're from Europe. 'Course they been on planes before," he said.
Without a moment's pause Lex replied with a perfect lie, "They sailed here 'cause they lived on the coast of Denmark anyway. Flyin' would've been a hassle, and Sakura likes sailin', right?" The girl looked confused, but soon realized what Lex meant and nodded. Keric was convinced, but he let it drop.
"Okay then, let's get going. Jackie found a plane last night," Lex announced.
"Wait," Kurogane said, "is the same Jackie from last night going to fly a plane?" Lex looked up at him and laughed awkwardly.
"Um…yeah. He's really the only pilot we have. Well, I can fly helicopters, but those won't get us to Florida," Lex replied.
Fay found the perfect opportunity to tease Kurogane and said, "What's the matter, Kirgy, afraid of heights?" The taller man turned and glared at the shorter. Fay's smile didn't fade, but he did run to hide behind Lex, causing her to complain, "Why me?"
"Wait," Lex started, catching on to Fay's joke, "Are you afraid of heights?" she finished in a mocking tone. Kurogane snapped, "No!" and everyone except for him and Keric burst out laughing.
Keric simply chuckled and told Kurogane he'd have to get used to this. Once Lex had finally stopped laughing, she instructed the others to follow her. She was heading for an old runway a few blocks from the warehouse. It was small and had a hanger that could only hold three small planes, but it was more than efficient for the jet Jackie flew and Lex's small helicopter.
Along the way, Ash and Manny had rejoined the group. They met Jackie already standing by his plane with the engine running. He took a step towards Lex when he saw her, but he wobbled terribly and nearly fell.
"He's completely drunk!" Kurogane snapped.
"Yup!" Lex replied with a smile, "Now get in, Lizzie hates waiting." Grumbling, Kurogane followed everyone into plane. Lift off was a bit shaky, but once the plane was in the air, Jackie flew fast and steady. Still, Kurogane sat rigid gripping his armrest so tightly his knuckles were white. Lex found this amazingly hilarious, and even got Ashley to join with her and Fay in teasing him. "Afraid of heights, afraid of heights!" the child chanted while running up and down the aisle. After about twenty minutes, Kurogane was up and trying to murder the three of them.
While this was happening, Syaoran and Sakura were sitting near the back of the plane, and Manny and Keric picked the front. The boys would have moved closer, but the kids had seemed like they wanted a bit of privacy.
They wouldn't have minded the company, but Mokona wanted to move about and Lex still insisted on her staying hidden. With the distraction and distance, Mokona could sit in Syaoran's lap without worry.
For most of the flight, she'd actually been staring out the window. "Yoko took me on a plane like this once," she exclaimed happily remembering the trip with glee, "the black Mokona didn't like it much, he doesn't like heights. Mokona was really happy though! Being up so high is so much fun!" She jumped a few times then returned to the window. Between Mokona's outburst and Kurogane's torture, Sakura couldn't help but fall into a fit of laughter. Syaoran smiled at her and chuckled a bit.
He looked around the plane at everyone on board. He wasn't sure what to think of Manny, but Lex and Keric seemed trustworthy. He was happy they'd arrived in a relatively safe world, for Sakura's sake most of all. The only problem was not knowing anything about Sakura's feather here.
Almost as soon as he thought that, Syaoran remembered Mokana's ability to sense the feathers. He mentally slapped himself for not remembering this sooner, but then thought Mokona usually was the first to mention the feather's presence. Usually, she would mention whether or not she could sense a feather before someone asked.
"Hey, Mokona," the boy asked, "Have you felt the feather since we arrived here?" Mokona turned from the window and looked down. She appeared very confused and somewhat sad.
"Oh, Mokona is so sorry, Syao! We've been so busy Mokona forgot. I…think I can, but it's really, really faint. And it feels like we're getting father and father away," she explained. Sakura told Mokona to cheer up, and she assured her they would find the feather. Syaoran nodded and turned to the window.
He desperately hoped Lex's friend would be able to help them. When Lex had been explaining where they had to go, she showed him a map of the country she lived in. He'd seen other maps as well, though, in Keric's bedroom. It seemed that this world might have been on of the largest they'd ever entered. He was becoming increasingly certain it would be impossible to find Sakura's feather without help.
He continued to brood over this for the duration of the flight. Two hours in, everyone had grown tired of teasing Kurogane and had taken seats. Ash had claimed the seat next to Manny. The brothers were clearly very close despite their conflicting characters. Not five minutes after the younger brother had claimed his seat he was asleep in the elder's lap.
Lex threw a blanket over both of them and chose the seat next to Keric's. She preferred sitting by the window, but he refused to move. She punched him playfully, but let the matter drop. She pulled out a notebook stuffed with stray paper from a large shoulder bag that also contained a laptop and several more overstuffed notebooks. In the book she removed, she began writing furiously about half way through the book.
Fay had run to the back to sit near the kids. Simply for the sake of avoiding him, Kurogane moved to sit near Lex and Keric. On the way, he caught a glimpse of Lex's journal and saw that most of what she wrote was numbers and symbols different from the ones he'd seen on signs around New York. Pure curiosity overcame him and he asked what she was writing.
"This?" she asked holding out the journal, "I like to write down everything I do and whatever I need to do. I'm probably the most forgetful kid I know, so having this helps a whole hell of a lot."
"That's what she says," Keric interjected. "Only she can understand that mess. God knows it's probably just her master list of insults." He chuckled mockingly as Lex punched him again, harder this time.
"I write it this way cause everything I'm doing goes in this. If that bastard Rhino got this, he'd know absolutely everything about us," she returned.
"Then just don't write it and save us all the trouble of wondering what you're doing!" Keric said back. Lex just stuck her tongue out and turned back to Kurogane.
"All I do is swap some letters with numbers or symbols. It's crazy simple, but no one's been able to decode it yet…Y'know, sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots," she finished with a giggle. Keric rolled his eyes and walked past her to sit by Manny. "Fine then, leave!" she called still laughing.
"Do you to do that a lot?" Kurogane asked tentatively. Lex nodded happily then returned to her journal. He turned away as well and moved to sit near the window. He smiled to himself as he watched the clouds drift by. At least we'll have fun here, he thought.
Soon after he sat down, the plane touched down on an empty but beautiful beach. The sun was high and glared off the white sand, but a pleasant breeze rolled in over the crashing turquoise waves that helped to keep the air cool and the humidity bearable. Seagulls had been flying over the sands hoping to find food, but every one had disappeared when the roaring of the engines grew to close. By the time the plane landed, the beach was completely deserted by both people and animals.
Before the engines had even stopped, Lex was running from the plane towards the water. A waved crashed into her and she screamed with laughter. By the time she finally got back to the plane, her legs were completely covered in sand and her long, copper hair was straggly and wet with salt water. "Sakura, you have to try this!" she cried and dragged the girl towards the waters. At first she was a bit apprehensious, but then Sakura realized she loved the feel of the water rushing past her, taking the heat with it.
Fay decided he felt left out so he ran after the girls. As he ran by Syaoran, Mokona jumped from one shirt to the next without being seen, "Like a ninja…Like Kuro-ku!" she would later say, to join the others in the water. Ash started jumping up and down asking Manny if he could go in the water too. Manny simply nodded and the boy ran after Fay.
Keric shook his head, but smiled. He pulled off his shirt and threw it at Manny, "Might as well," Keric said. Manny stood looking grim as always and stayed near the plane. Someone had to stay and make sure the still drunk Jackie stayed far from the waves. He might be able to drive and fly, but swimming was completely out of his ability even when he was sober.
"You want to go, too," Kurogane asked Syaoran.
"Not really. I never really like beaches much."
"Suit yourself," Kurogane replied while he took his own shirt off and gave it to the kid. The younger look entirely surprised as the older walked down to the water. However, one the surprise faded, he did feel a little left out, but he just didn't want to go in the water. He knew he could swim just fine, but he didn't like the waves crashing against him or the currents running around his legs. He always felt like he would drift out to sea. He vaguely worried that Sakura would have trouble, but both Kurogane and Fay were with her, and Syaoran felt confident Lex would make sure she was safe.
Unfortunately, Lex was very preoccupied. She saw Keric run shirtless for the water and immediately decided she would completely ignore him and focus on Sakura and Fay, and Mokona who still, miraculously, hadn't been noticed. However, when she looked up to see Kurogane pluck Ash out of a particularly deep part of the beach, her attention was completely consumed.
She watched his muscles ripple as he carried the child to shallower waters, and when he turned around to find her staring her cheeks flushed bright red. In a shoddy attempt to hide this, she turned to Fay and ran her hands through the water to splash a wave onto him. "Keric! Don't splash people!" she snapped, her voice unusually high in embarrassment.
"I didn't do anything!" Keric snapped back splashing Lex as he did. Lex screamed again and splashed him back. Soon Ash joined in and then everyone was going at it. Back on shore, Manny chuckled softly. Syaoran looked up at him in confusion.
"It's been far too long since Lex and Keric have been this happy," he explained. Syaoran had to agree that both looked extremely happy. As he thought about it, the five of them almost seemed like siblings. Manny was the stern older brother, Lex and Keric were forever bickering but extremely close twins, and Ash was the youngest brother that always tried to act as old as possible.
The sun was still high in the sky when Lex insisted on returning. She stated she was about to die of starvation to which Ash and Fay immediately agreed. Shyly, Sakura also said she was feeling hungry.
"Okay, since Sakura's hungry too that settles it!" Lex announced, "We'll get lunch then find Lizzie." Sakura flushed at being the center of attention, and because she felt Lex had based her decision entirely of off her. Lex laughed and encouraged her to be more outgoing. Sakura chuckled a bit, which greatly pleased Lex.
But of course, someone had no ruin the mood, "Hey, Lex, where exactly are we going to eat?" Manny asked. "You know we don't have the money to go to any restaurant."
"Hey, don't doubt me. I got it covered," Lex replied. She lead the group out of the beach, along with Jackie who left the plane on the beach, and they all went into a small bar close to the beach.
The place was a bit musty, but air conditioners were running so it was a great relief from the burning sun. Inside the lights were dim and the music loud, exactly how Lex liked it. She sauntered in and went straight for the bar. The bartender was a young, African American girl with a mess of frizzy dark hair and bee-stung lips painted bright green. She had matching eye shadow and fingerless gloves that ended just above her shoulders. She was wearing a button-down blouse but underneath she obviously had a florescent tank-top. Along both wrists over the gloves were multi-colored glow bracelets. Throughout her messy hair she had strung bright, neon beads.
As soon as she got close, Lex cried, "Lizzie!"
(Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read this! I posted a poll about this story so please vote! It is extremely vital, seriously life or death, that someone answers. Mostly entirely because I have absolutely no idea what to do…are zombies to cliche?)