Here is chapter 37. I hope you all like it. (who am i talking to? No one reads this....)
I don't own Pokemon, ToS, FFVII, Fable, or Castlevainia: Judgement. But Isaac is mine.
I looked out to the white fishing yacht as it bobbed out on the sparkling blue water. I couldn't believe the owner used this to go marlin fishing. It looked way too nice for anything but show. Both Loy and Lloyd who were standing to the right of Regal were both gapping at the boat. At the moment, I was slightly irked with Loy. Sheena had given her some ninja sandals for me to wear and Loy had forgotten all about giving them to me until today. My toes strummed the sole of the shoes, now happy that they on longer had to bear walking on the rough ground, unprotected from the elements. My left hand traced down the grey fabric that clothed me to the katana called 'Silver wind' and wrapped around its sheath. I was also mad at Regal; partly from him yelling at me last night. His words still burn in my ears, like a fire that no one could put out.
"What were you thinking going off into the forest alone!?"
"Well I'm sorry, but I heard Shade calling for help so I went to help him."
"Do you know how many dangerous creatures live in those woods? You could have been killed!"
"I can take care of myself. It's not like I don't know how to fight or anything!"
"That doesn't change the fact that you are still exhausted for the time you've spent in jail."
"I'm fine Regal. It's a new moon tonight. Because of my pact with Alto I am much stronger while I am under the moon."
"That still doesn't mean that it is safe for you to run around while you are recovering from starvation. In fact, for the rest of the week, you are grounded."
"What?! You can't ground me. You're not my parent or guardian or anything!"
"No, I'm not. But for the time you are living with me I will expect you to follow any rule I lay down. Understood?"
I had stayed in my room all night, unable to sleep, playing 'Numb' by Linkin Park in my mind over and over again. Regal....Regal didn't understand. Because of my pact I was powerful. I could take on anything. Nothing could stop me if I so choose. Why with one swipe I could kill-
My eyes flashed open, my body shot up in bed. What was I thinking? Kill Regal? Never. Even though I was so mad at him, my heart still pined for his affection, for him to console me. I was such a sad case. I couldn't even get mad at Regal without craving his love at the end of it. I wanted to be with him so much. But he....
I started to get choked up, from being able to have him in my life the way I wanted. If he ever found out how much I loved him....That. That could spell the end of our current relationship. He. He would never be able to trust me the same way again. There would be nothing he could say to me that he wouldn't fear that I would take the wrong way. If Regal found out that I was in love with him.......rejection........was imminent.
Our argument last night....it was too painful hear Regal shout like that. I hated it when people should at me or even in my direction out of rage. Admittedly I thought that Regal was rather scary when he was mad or when he shouted. After last night, I didn't want to be on the wrong side of his anger ever again. I mentally shook off my depression. I didn't need to be down in dumps today. I refocused on the ship and with out the presence of mind, I said one sentence, out loud, that didn't do much to help Regal.
"So you uh...compensating for something here?" Oh devil! Did I say that out loud? Whoops! I could feel Regal glaring at me.
"What was that?" His eyes still continued to bore into me. I covered my head and turned away. "Quit it." I whined. "Just quit it with the eyes already. They burn!" By now Loy was laughing uncontrollably, holding her sides while hunched over, barely able to still stand. Lloyd was standing next to her and no clue what was so funny.
"What do you have to say?" Regal asked. I turned back around when I could feel the burn sensation ease.
"That....you are the last guy on the planet who has to worry about that type of stuff?" I guessed.
"That isn't quiet what I was asking for."
"Oh. That...I'm sorry." I said cheerfully, tilting my head to the side.
"Nice try but you're not getting off the hook that easily." Regal said as he walked onto his yacht.
"He resisted the face. No one can ever resist the face! Not even Mewtwo!" I slumped to my knees once I had entered my panic spiral.
"I can resist it only because Loy keeps trying to use it to get a raise." I looked over at my companion, who was in her green tunic, black leather pants and her long black jacket, rocking back and forth on her feet, whistling the tune of innocence.
"So it was you who made him numb to that technique." I said.
"Hey Stacy." Lloyd interrupted. "I didn't understand that remark you made about Regal. What does it mean?"
"If you don't know Lloyd, then don't ask."
"I'll tell you Lloyd!" Loy said as she slipped her arm around the swordsman's neck.
"Oh thanks Loy!" I chose that moment to follow Regal onto the boat.
"So this is how you plan to ground me. Hmm. Maybe if I really mess up next time I could spend the whole day at the amusement park."
"You are not here because of your punishment. You're here so that I can keep and eye on and so that you are not in Altamira when the King comes looking for you."
"That's actually a good plan, aside from me being grounded."
The sound of feet thumping up the gain plank echoed through the air as Regal and I turned to see what was going on, when Lloyd jumped on to the deck pointed his finger at me and started shouting "How could you say something like that to Regal?!"
"Yeah." Loy said in agreement. "I though you were like religious or something." She added, jokingly.
"Oh come on you guys. You know that I didn't mean it. Questioning Regal's masculinity is pointless. And Loy, please show me the commandment that says 'thou shall not maketh snide comments towards thine friends.'" I said in my most 'God-like' voice.
"Okay, you have a point there."
"But what surprised me is that Stacy would even say something like that." Regal said.
"Trust me, where I come from, you could that same sentence with a lot more profanity than what I use. And odds are that children who are younger than me would probably come up with something worse. I'm a saint compared to everyone else."
"Really?" Regal was skeptic of this information.
"Oh yeah totally. 'Childhood innocence' isn't heavily exercised these days....."
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this."
"When I first gave you the offer you agreed right away. How is that 'talking you into it'?"
"I just had no idea that I would be on stakeout inside the wine cellar of his yacht."
"You want your mother to live, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Well if you don't keep an eye on her from here, you'll never be born."
"You're right. I have to make sure that my mother survives. I'm sorry."
"It is only natural that you would be anxious. Dealing with past events is always the hardest."
"My parents are so going to kill me when they find out that I have been working with you."
"Your mother trusts me. I'm sure that you will be fine."
"I don't know. You've only seen my mom on her good days. She can be scary if you cross her."
"How could you say something like that to Regal?!" Lloyd's voice echoed down the stairs when the two men were speaking, in the deepest part of the ship, the wine cellar. The oldest man, looking to be about twenty-five, looked up the stairs. The hero of this world is still rather childish. The monocle that he wore over his right eye flashed from the light as his white hair fell in front of his left eye. His white, western 19th century earth style suit did little to help him blend into the shadows, while he younger accomplice, a nineteen year-old boy with short blue hair that with bangs that fell short of covering his eyes, was much more concealed in his black dress pants and jacket, with a white collared shirt underneath that could be seen from under his jacket that never buttoned up. A long sword was at his left side with a gold hilt bearing a light blue crystal on the center of it.
"I don't even want to know what she said to him."
"The Keaton is most certainly an interesting person."
"Don't you get any ideas Aeon. Mom has to marry Dad. Otherwise you will no longer have your spunky side kick around. And let's face it, how many more humans do you know of who have a knowledge of both Earth and this world, a perfect understanding of the human body, someone who is familiar with the arte that I know AND someone with connections to members of the after life like me."
"You do drive a good point, but I am not interested in your mother that way."
"Oh, she'll be heart broken if you tell her that." The blue haired teen mocked.
"The Keaton is merely a fascinating person to keep watch over. How many other people would have handled everything life has thrown at them as well as she has?"
"Not many, but she has always been detached from reality. Maybe that has something to do with it."
"It is time for me to go. I leave the Keaton in your hands, Isaac."
"Alright. I'll do my best." Aeon turn the large 13 hour clock her carried with him sideways. The hour and minute hand grew in size and shot out either sides of the clock. Aeon then planted the minute hand into the ground and a time vortex opened.
"I will see you again, in time." Aeon said as he walked away.
Mom was right to warn me about his time puns. He can't go five minute with out using at lest two of them.
As Isaac grumbled to himself the ship lurched forward with a jerk, knocking poor Isaac onto the ground. Isaac sat up and held his crushed nose between his hands while mouthing the words 'ow, ow, ow, ow.'
"Excuse me for a moment, I think something fell over below deck." Isaac moved himself into a corner of the room before holding up his hands the Tiger hand sign. Silencing Arte, disappear. The arte that Isaac had use force chakra to flow through whole body, making it invisible to the naked eye. Isaac remained crouched on the floor, waiting for Regal to come down stairs, see that everything was alright, then go away. All of the practice Isaac had, learning how to use his body's chakra to make his movements and his breath silent was all going to come down to this. The boy could hear the large boots of the Duke coming down the stairs. Each one signaling that he was that much closer to the stowaway. Isaac didn't want to think about how painful it would be to be caught on the wrong end of an attack from this man. Isaac's eyes rolled up toward that tall masculine figure that was now in the doorway of the cellar. Holy cripe. Twenty years from now he's going to be in his fifties all he will have to show for it is the odd grey hair. Did the Lezareno Company create the fountain of youth or something?! Wait, that's a good thing. That means I won't go bald anytime soon. But holy cripe, he looks way bigger than I remember. Oh, wait. I'm sitting on the floor. That's why. You are so smrt Isaac. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. Hehe. No. Don't laugh. You'll get caught. Focus.
Some how Isaac was able to hold himself steady until Regal left the room. The boy undid the arte and leaned against the wall. That was close. Man, I have to stop thinking of all the crazy stuff mom says or sings while I'm no a mission. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. Hehehe. I love that song. No. Bad Isaac. You have to find the trap door and hide under it until the day after tomorrow. Now where is it? Isaac silently crawled around the small room until he found the small door in the floor and crawled in. Just like he thought. It lead to the only space between the floor of the bottom deck and the haul of the ship. Isaac rested his hands on the floor. It was cool to the touch from being out on the water for so long. The young adult laid back on the floor and let the rocking of the boat send him off to sleep.
"So what fell over?" I asked when Regal resurfaced.
"It's odd. I know I heard something fall over but everything was in its place. It is very peculiar."
"Maybe you were just hearing things?" Loy suggested.
"No. I heard it too." I argued. "Maybe it's a ghost!" Loy pulled out a paper fan and smacked me on the head with it.
"No. I bet it was the sound of Stacy's mind finally snapping, like the thin and brittle twig it is."
"Hey I'm not the only one at the loony bar here."
"Well it sure seems like it."
"Why are we friends again?" I said as I let out a sigh. "Know what? Don't answer. I have to check over the documents that Mewtwo gave me." I pulled some paper out of my pocket. I was still grieving over the loss of all my stuff that the King took. This was just so unfair. I looked closely at the numbers Mewtwo had written down. I owed Bernie about 25,600 for all that stuff I got from him. I owed Sheena 5,000 for all clothes she gave me and for letting me stay in Mizuho. And it was then that I came to the last name on the list. The person I owed the most amount of money too. Regal. And I owed him. 1,000,000 gald. I figure I'd be hitting to one mill mark between all the food, doctor's visits, staying at the hotel, staying at his house, for all the times I've had to drag him away from Altamira for some reason or another and for all the times he saved my life. I was going to be paying Regal back for the rest of my life....What if he is like Kyoya? Forcing me to pay back everything with no mercy like a heartless tax collector.
"WAH!? EIGHT MILLION YEN?!" I shouted, trying to cheer myself up. I don't know why, but that quote of Haruhi Fujioka always make me feel better. "How many thousands is that? How many thousands are in a million?" I continued, moving my fingers to look like I was frantically trying to do math inside my head.
"What was that?" Regal asked.
"Nothing. Just me being a goofball." I called back. Both Regal and Lloyd were inside control room (I have no clue what else to call it) making sure we didn't crash. Well isn't that a pleasant though. Regal was standing behind Lloyd as he steered, making sure the adolescent didn't get us all killed. Oh look! Another pleasant thought! I was going to have to spend my whole life repaying Regal. There was no way in the afterlife I could pay all of this. Just Sheena and Bernie would keep my wallet empty for awhile. But the debt I had to Regal...It was hopeless. If I ever got married to the guy, everyone would think it was only so that I could pay off my debt with my body. Now I was getting really depressed. This was just getting stupid. But I had to pay it off. That was the type of person I was. I have to think of something. I guess when I can get away from Altamira and the safe house is built I will have to instigate my 'Strife Plan'. But...if I had a body double...Then I could have my 'Strife Plan' going while my 'Scarlet Robe Plan' is running as well. Loy...I wonder....
Yes, yes. Short chapter I know. It's just that school is coming for me and I need to spend the last days of my summer well. In other words I need to finnish another year on harvest moon before School starts and I should finsih my 'evil file' on Fable soon too.
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