Several hours later, the group had split up after having a small celebration over the team's victory against Estrangalan. Madison and Vida returned home and rigorously began completing chores around the house, Chip decided to spend some time with Clare and Tsubasa at Rootcore, and Nick once again took Xander's generous offer to stay over at his house.
Nick sighed; he missed his crummy old apartment with all of his little academy plaques and his crappy TV and police scanner and his blankets and all the other things that reminded him of life outside of Briarwood. He lied face down on the couch in the study, bored out of his mind.
"I miss civilization." Nick mumbled into a pillow. He then looked up, and wearily searched the room for various things. After finding a vase, a mirror, and a large box, Nick placed them all on top of a desk that sat near the couch. "Here we go…" A beam of red light surged forwards, combining all of the items together to make a makeshift TV.
"Alrighty!" Nick grinned as he transformed his wand into a remote control and hit the power button.
The first channel to pop up was the science fiction network, Cthulhu Nation. On the screen stood a terrified guy in a grey and blue uniform who was screaming as a giant man-walrus chased him down the hallway and into a corner before ripping his throat out. The camera then panned and followed the crazy abomination up a flight of stairs where it ran into a super tan woman dressed somewhat like Lara Croft. The two stared at each other wordlessly for a moment, then the beast uttered one sentence of mangled English. "Can I see your beaver?"
Nick blinked, then changed the channel.
An advertisement for a show on the Anime Channel came up; two men, running insanely down a street and hiding behind a wall.
"Damn those armor-wearing sexy vampires!"
"What did they call themselves…? Shishiranger? Tenma? Kirin? Houhouranger?" The other guy asked. Just as the second man finished his sentence, a Japanese woman with straight golden brown hair wearing a pink jacket popped up from behind a bush. "Did someone call me?"
Click.
Two men sitting at a breakfast table. An older man with a balding head of black hair stared at the younger man with a full head of orange hair as the younger nearly inhaled a bowl of cereal.
"So, are you sleeping with my daughter?" The older man asked, causing the younger male to do a spit take across the table and begin to choke.
"I, uh, need to go to the bathroom." The younger male said, dashing into the bathroom nearby.
Click.
The Comedy Channel. A girl dressed up in a butterfly costume idly hopped across the screen, while a girl dressed up like a snowflake and a guy dressed up like a brown leaf watched her run. Suddenly, the girl started screaming and pointing up at the sky.
"IT'S THE BUTTERFLY OF DOOM!" She screamed.
"Mothra?" The guy next to her screamed.
"NO! WORSE!"
"Ashton Kutcher?"
"WORSE STILL!"
"Um…George?"
"LOOK!" She turned his head to view the incoming butterfly that was smaller than either of their palms. The guy then screamed in a high-pitched tone.
"OH MY GOD, MAKE IT GO AWAY!"
The two braced for 'impact' and waited a few moments, but the butterfly seemed to leave. They opened their eyes to find that the girl in the butterfly costume had caught their adversary and was now putting him in a jar.
"DAMMIT JANET, I LOVE YOU!" The guy screamed, giving the girl a bear hug.
"You have saved all of humanity!" The snowflake girl replied joyously.
"Guys, chill out. It's just a butterfly…" The girl replied flatly.
"HAIL THE CRAB OVERLORDS!" A voice from the background shouted.
"Oh boy…" The snowflake girl commented.
Click.
A man in a heavy black leather overcoat, light blue eyes, medium-length dirty blonde hair, and wire-framed lenses sat in a booth at a diner, eyeing the plate of ketchup-slathered hash browns before looking over at the Eggs Benedict with the extra order of butter-drenched toast and the tall glass of orange juice on the side.
"I swear, if I were to walk into this diner and catch myself eating this, I wouldn't hesitate to berate my poor eating habits…but then again, I'd be too stunned to see myself in a place other than in my own body to be paying attention. Ah hell, fuck my diet." He commented, taking off his gloves and grabbing a piece of toast.
The diner door opened, revealing a man in a ski mask and a laser pistol drawn. The man in the black coat sighed as he bit down on his toast, wiped his hands on the napkin, and drew out a pistol of his own, only his wasn't loaded with laser ammunition.
"Give me all the mo-" Bang. The robber cried out in pain as blood spattered from the bullet wound to the thigh that dropped him. The man in the black coat hadn't even turned around to see where he was shooting. He quickly devoured the piece without the use of his hands, wiped his mouth clean, took a swing of orange juice, then whipped out his Patrol Badge faster than anybody else could react.
"Don't worry everybody, I'm an officer of the law." He said.
"Finally, something I can really get into." Nick said happily, turning the volume up.
"Boy, did you pick the wrong diner to rob this morning." He taunted as he walked closer.
"You shot me! You shot me with a real bullet!"
"Oh, go cry to the Carding Department about it. You do the crime, you take the punishment." He handcuffed the would-be robber and stood the guy up. "Okay, who here is from the Academy?" A young male in the back of the diner raised his hand. "Okay kid, c'mere."
The young man came rushing up to greet the man in black. "Yes, Commander, sir?"
"Who're you?"
"Cadet Mike Richards, D Squad."
"Alright, D Squaddie. Take this perp back to headquarters, and I'll pay you back for the meal you're missing."
"Yes, Commander, sir." Cadet Richards gave the Commander a salute of sorts before grabbing the man by the handcuffs and walking him out.
"Now…back to my breakfast." He grinned happily as he sat back down in his booth. The rest of the diner remained silent, which unnerved the young Commander. He stood back up. "You can all go back to eating now, everything's fine. Thank you." It was then that everything returned to normal, and the Commander sat back down. "Finally, I can eat…"
From outside the study's window Nai and Mae watched Nick enjoying the show.
"Interesting…" Nai said.
"Indeed." Mae replied.
"Why is he alone?"
"A…lone…?" Mae whimpered. She then began to cry.
"Oh, I'm sorry Mae!" Nai said, pulling out a hankie.
"That word…that word makes me sad!" Mae replied, taking the hankie and wiping her eyes with it.
"I forgot…I haven't used it in so long…"
"You know that word makes me cry!"
"I said I was sorry…"
"It's okay…" Mae blew her nose into the hankie, then handed it back to Nai.
"You keep it." Nai replied.
"You." Mae mimicked. Nai dropped it on the ground in the bush.
"I'm bored. Let's go follow the other Magicians."
"Others!" Mae said cheerily. The duo then ran off a bit before taking to the skies.
They landed at Madison and Vida's home, where the girls were outside tending to the massive garden in their backyard. Madison had her Water Light spell on, and everything glowed a beautiful blueish hue. Vida carefully arranged a row of rocks around a small pond, while Madison gently pruned a rosebush.
"They are together…" Mae happily said as they settled in a tree nearby.
"They are sisters…sisters stay close…"
"Not all of them do…" Mae replied sadly, tearing up again.
"Aw! You have me, Mae!" Nai said, pulling her other half into a warm embrace.
"But…you're all I have…"
"I will not leave ever ever. You are my favorite person."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
"You're my favorite person too, Nai!"
"Should we go watch some others, Mae?"
"We will watch them for eternity!" Mae cheerfully replied as they once again flew off.
They flew towards Rootcore and found Tsubasa and Chip down nearby, both running about as hippogryphs.
"Oh, the eggie hatched!" Mae cheerfully said.
"How wonderful. It is alive." Nai replied.
"Baby eggie birdie!" Mae said, kicking about in the air.
"He looks happy down there, the Wind Scout does."
"He's happy to be with the baby eggie birdie!"
"He isn't alone anymore."
"That word…"
"He's not, though!"
Mae continued to whimper, even with Nai's reassurance.
"We have Morrigan, silly…"
"But Morrigan…Morrigan likes to leave us…"
"I know…but it is better than nothing…"
"They all leave like the wind…" Mae said solemnly.
"Charlie!" Clare called out. Chip looked up and transformed back to his normal self before Clare reached him.
"Yeah?" Chip asked.
"I'm sorry…are you two busy?"
"I was just gonna teach him how to take off…why? What do you need of me?"
"I was gonna say that dinner's ready…"
"Oh, dinner! I'm starved!" Chip replied. "C'mon, Tsubasa! Dinnertime!"
"He gave the baby eggie birdie my name!"
Clare smiled as Chip walked inside with Tsubasa. "Finally, a man who likes my cooking…" She then scurried inside.
"We missed one!" Nai said.
"Not Midori no Mahoutsukai!" Mae shouted. "He touched my pai-pais!"
"He won't touch you this time, I promise."
"Okay." They both then flew back towards Xander's house.
They circled around the house, looking for Xander. They didn't see any sign of life until a book went flying out onto the terrace followed by a loud growl they recognized as coming from Xander.
"Uh oh…" Mae said, flying down to the roof. Nai followed her. They watched as Xander, who was wearing a long cloak with a hood, walked out onto the balcony.
"A hood…?" Nai said, confused. Mae just shrugged.
"How stupid could I possibly be? I screw every damn thing I do up!" He shouted.
"I wonder what he did…" Nai whispered.
"He must be ashamed; why else would he hide himself?" Mae whispered back. "It's too warm for that heavy black cloak…"
"Why can't I get this right?" Xander whined, flipping through the pages again. It was a wonder how he was doing so, since the sleeves completely engulfed his hands. In fact, the whole cloak itself looked two sizes too big.
"Of all the nights we've watched him…this night has been the most intriguing…" Nai whispered.
"Why is he so afraid…? I can smell his fear from here…" Mae replied.
"He always has his head in those books…so why would he get anything wrong…?" Nai replied.
"Maybe he just needs a hug." Mae replied. "I could use one."
"Aw…" Nai hugged her other half tightly once more, making the curly haired lolita vampire smile in delight.
"Augh!" Xander growled. "I give up! Majiine." A green light burst out from underneath the cloak, and Xander proceeded to go back inside.
Skrit. Skrit. Skrit. Skrit. Xander's shoes scuffed across the balcony, leaving huge dragging marks.
"I didn't know shoes made a grinding sound…" Nai said.
"I thought they scuffed happily across marble…"
Nai and Mae sighed. After a moment, Mae spoke up.
"Can we come back tomorrow?"
"That's our job, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah…" Mae replied.
Nai sighed.
"What're you thinking about, Nai-chan?"
"The place with the children…"
"All the little sad children?" Mae asked.
"All of the ones who were alone…I wonder how they are."
"I miss the one with the red blankie. Master and I liked him best."
"Master liked him so so much…" Nai added for emphasis.
"I wonder how he is…"
"I wonder if he's still out there alone…"
"Alone…the saddest word I know…" Mae said, shedding silent tears.
"They are not all alone…" Nai said.
"They will always have somebody, right?"
"Like you and me."
"Yes…like you and me…" Mae wiped away her tears and smiled.
