"So do you want to come?" Riley asked Dakota as they walked through the village. Megan and Virgil were a little ways a head of them talking too. He was probably asking if she wanted to come with them. "Well I really do, but I won't go unless Megan goes." Dakota said. Riley nodded knowing how close the two of the siblings were.
"So if Megan says yes and you guys come, we'll need a ship." Riley said deep in thought. Dakota looked over at her and laughed. "Don't crush your brain, you hardly ever use it."
Riley punched him in the arm and sped up walking. Dakota ran beside her trying to keep up. Riley quickened again and tied her hair back with her red ribbon. They continued to do this until they passed Virgil and Megan and then Riley expanded her wings. She ran a few more feet before taking off.
"She has her own way of winning doesn't she?" Megan shouted. Her brother turned around towards her and nodded. Virgil had to agree, she didn't exactly play by anyone else's rules.
Riley soared up into the sky and glided on the air. She watched as the tiny village went by beneath her in wonder. She got crazy looks and little kids pointing up at her wildly. As she came closer to the ground she could hear a little boy shouting for his mother to look in the sky to see the flying girl. His mother didn't even bother to look up, but told him to stop eating so much sugar and brought him back inside.
She leaned towards the left, intending to head back to Virgil and the others, but decided against it. She felt as if someone was watching her up in the air, but it wasn't in wonderment like everyone else below. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. She thought.
She flew several times over the village, watching out for anyone who looked suspicious. Only when Riley was fairly sure that no one was following her she flew back to the others. They were currently sitting on a hill that overlooked the ocean.
Riley flew down and managed to stop a few feet in front of them. "So how does the island look?" Megan asked flicking at a bug on her arm. Riley untied her hair and wrapped the ribbon around her wrist while saying, "It was fine. Weird, but fine."
"If any one's weird here, it's you Riley." Dakota said plopping down in the grass next to Virgil and Megan. Riley followed his example and lay down next to them. The wind blew and tickled Riley's wings as she had them sprawled out in the grass. Butterflies and dragonflies buzzed all around them, probably not very happy that they were laying so close to their flowers.
After sitting still for what felt like forever to Riley she rolled over and kicked at Megan's feet. "What do you want Riley?" she asked annoyed.
"How can you stand it? I mean sitting still for so long. It's so boring!" she said rolling over all the way so that way she was on her stomach and all of her wings were getting some sun. Megan grunted and rolled over too. "Well sorry this isn't as exciting as your high flying adventures." she said sarcastically.
Riley flexed her wings up and down slightly so that the wind from them moved Dakota's hair. Dakota merely swatted his dark hair from his face. She continued to do this until he sat up and glared at Virgil.
"What did I do?" Virgil asked when Dakota sat up and whacked him on the head. "Don't lie sword-boy!" Dakota asked angrily. Virgil stood up and leaned over him, "I didn't do anything." he ground out. "I was trying to sleep until you hit me in the head."
Dakota stood up and poked him in the chest. "Well I would be sleeping too, had you not been annoying me!"
Megan and Riley watched as the two argued. "I think they're best friends." Megan told Riley dryly. Riley laughed and said, "Wow, I have the power to make people fight over completely nothing!"
She leaned back onto the ground and folded up her wings. "But seriously, this place is really pretty. You have a great view of the ocean and the sky!" she told her. Megan snorted again. "What is the matter with you? Are you a pig or something?"
She laughed at this and punched her in the arm. "No, it's just that it gets boring here. Real easily too." she said and sat up and looked at the ocean with Riley. "So do you want to come?" Riley asked. "Dakota won't go unless you go."
Megan snickered. "Yeah I didn't figure he would. And you know how much I would want to go with you."
"Would want?"
"You think we're ever going to get my dad to agree?"
Riley nodded her head eagerly. "He was a pirate when he was younger, so why wouldn't he want you and Dakota to be pirates?" Megan played with the ends of her hair and thought.
"Well, because he was older than us when he became a pirate."
"He would have become one younger if he'd had the chance to, I bet." Riley said.
Dakota rolled over and even further away from Virgil. "I don't think it matters when he became and or would have become a pirate. I think what matters most is if we want to be pirates." He said.
"So are you coming or not?" Virgil asked.
"That depends, are you going Megan?" he asked.
Megan flopped back down on the ground. "Why is everyone asking me? Why am I the main chooser here?" she asked irritably. Riley sat up and smiled. "Fine then. You won't be the main chooser. I will." Riley said.
Virgil looked over at her. She wasn't going to give them a choice? Surely she wouldn't just chose for them, and expect them to go along, did she? She must be… no is insane!
She stood up and shoved her hair out of her eyes, before looking over her shoulder at the ocean. "Do you like adventure?" Riley asked. "Do you love the thrill it gives you? Do you love the ocean? The life out at sea?" Riley questioned, but there was something in the way she asked it that she already knew the answers.
"Yes. To all of them." Dakota said while Megan nodded in agreement.
"Then I see no reason why not to go out to sea. I mean you seem like you love the sea enough, and if you're half of what you were when we were younger, than you still adore adventure." Riley said. "So you're coming."
Dakota sat up looking at Riley like it was the first time he had ever seen her. "You really want us to come with you?" he asked owlishly. His hair stuck up in odd angles from where he had lain on the ground and his already larger green eyes looked three times as big as usual.
"Duh, would I have decided that if I wouldn't have wanted you to come?" Riley asked as she spun on her heels to look down over the cliff. There were rocks at the bottom of it, sharp rocks. If someone fell down there they'd never survive it. The tide washed up against and over the rocks, slowly weathering them.
Dakota smirked, although he knew that Riley couldn't see him. "Yes, captain." He said mockingly. Megan laughed when Riley turned around and gave him a weird look that just screamed, 'what the heck?'
"So you guys are coming with us," Riley said, "but that only solves one problem. We need a ship, too."
Megan nodded and her blonde hair fell all over her face. "We could of course give you our ship, seeing as how we're going to be traveling with you. But only on one condition," she added when Riley's face had brightened, causing it to fall again, "you have the tell our dad."
She nodded her head. "Fine then what are we waiting for?" Riley barely even waited for then to stand up before she was running full speed, and taking off back towards the mansion. "Wait up for us you idiot!" Megan called after her. She knew that she probably couldn't hear her; the wind was most likely too strong up there.
"Idiot?" Virgil murmured under his breath. "I think that nickname fits her very well."
Riley landed perfectly on the front porch of the mansion. She was glad that the feeling of being watched was finally gone. While it was true that she only felt at home on the sea or in the sky, today it just felt like a bad day to fly.
They better back up off me, Riley thought. Not only was she tired of carrying Virgil, she was tired of being chased. Hopefully they would leave her alone now. They knew how strong she could be when she had eaten.
Riley didn't even knock at the door before she opened it. Instead she just walked right in and down the hall. While they had been breaking in she had seen a library there, and if she remembered right, Kaya liked to read.
If Usopp himself wasn't there, maybe she knew where he was.
Riley pushed the door to the library open. It was heavy and felt like it hadn't been used in forever. Faintly she wondered if the door next to it was any better.
There were books lined all over the walls. So many that in some places they doubled, one in front of the other. The room smelt of leather and dust, making Riley sneeze. She sneezed so hard that it knocked her down.
"Hello, Riley." Kaya said from the other side of the room, sitting on a window sill. "Is there something you need?"
Riley had been so confident before, but now looking at Kaya she almost said nothing. "I need to find Usopp. Is he around?" She asked, shifting from side to side.
Kaya nodded and smiled. "He's out down by the water. Said something about ships and you guys." Kaya told her before giving her some directions.
Twenty minutes later (she had to walk instead of fly) she was down by the water looking at a ship. It was beautiful. It was what Riley would call 'fancy shmancy.' The wood was a golden brown and the figure head was a elephant head. It wasn't anything like Thousand Sunny. Instead it was small like the Going Merry and didn't have the red ring type thing around where the figure head attached.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" Riley shouted and swooped down towards Usopp. He jumped back slightly, in surprise. "Would you not do that?" He asked with a hint of irritation. "You're just like your dad." he mumbled.
"No I'm not. I'm like me, Riley." she said pointing to herself. Before Usopp had a chance to argue she was back on the topic of the ship. "It's beautiful." she breathed.
"Yeah, she is." he said a tied a rope around the dock. Slowly he stood up and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "What's its name?" Riley asked.
He leaned back on his heels and looked up at the ship. "It doesn't have one. Yet."
"So what are you going to name it?" she asked, jumping up in the air and flying over to it and running her hand over it. "I'm not naming it. You guys are." he said.
Her wings faltered and she had to grab onto the railing of the ship to stop herself from falling. "What?! What do you mean?" she asked trying to look at him over her shoulder without letting go.
"What I mean is that I know what they have chosen. I knew that they would want to go out to sea someday, so I made sure that we would have a ship, just for you guys' crew." Usopp said. He didn't seem angry or anything so Riley was confused.
"But aren't you mad that they are leaving? Sad even?" She questioned and flapped her wings several times, with no use. "Ugh! My wings are so tired!" she sighed before pulling herself over the railing and landing very ungracefully on the other side.
Usopp stifled a laugh as she tried to stand up but just ended up falling over.
"No, I'm not mad at them. I am sad though. I really wished that they could have waited a few years before going out to sea. But," he said seeing Riley glaring, or trying to glare at him. "I'm happy that if they're going now, that they're going with you. You probably have your father's good luck."
Riley nodded her head. She dropped it down onto the deck and stared up at the sky. "So then. I guess that we'll be going soon. And we need to name it too."
"You don't stay on one subject for too long, do you?" He asked her.
When she didn't reply, he realized she had fallen asleep. The wind blew her hair around and her feathers ruffled.
"Just like your father." Usopp said before turning around to go and find the others to tell them that they could go.
Hi this is Kaley, one of the inspirations for Megan!
Hi, I'm Misty! Another inspiration for Megan.
Kaley: Now are you wondering why we are bringing you this chapter this week?
Misty: Well you see, there's been an accident.
Kaley: Sam's (the author of this story) brother has been in an accident.
Misty: Yeah, after the football game Friday she rode home with us.
Kaley: Now anyone who knows Sam or her brother knows that they love football!!!
Misty: Yeah and apparently so do drunks……
Kaley: Sam's brother was driving home from the ball game, and a drunk driver swerved into his lane and had a head on collision.
Misty: Me, Sam, and Kaley had been at my house watching One Piece and FullMetal Alchemist DVDs that Sam got for her b-day (it's next month but her aunt never remembers that)
Kaley: When we got a call from the emergency room.
Misty: Her parents are out of town so she's either staying with me or Kaley.
Kaley: Her brother broke his neck and is in a coma and Sam wouldn't stop crying.
Misty: All she could think about was her brother, Alex.
Kaley: This chapter was mostly written in the intensive care unit or the waiting room.
Misty: She had promised one of her fans to try to update every Friday, but since her brother plays football and we play in the band at football games that probably won't happen.
Kaley: We are here to ask you if you will be so kind as to excuse late updates, and pray for Al (alex).
Misty: Kaley, remember Sam told us not to put the word 'pray' because it could offend some people.
Kaley: My bad…. Anyways Sam told us to type this chapter up (she had it wrote down on paper in the ICU) and post it on here for her.
Misty: She also has a shout out for her brother, hoping he'll wake up.
Go on youtube and type
"Again" - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OP 1 (FULL English Fandub)
and it's the first one!