Japanese Title: Trying To Destroy Relationships?! The Puzzle Broken And Pieced Together!
Translation: Torai Tame Horobosu Naka?! Sono Pazuru Kudakeru to Kirikumu!
By: Pro_V
Important A/N: I seem to be having major phone and internet problems here, as well as AIM problems, so next weeks 2 New Chapters may be back-chapters for the next week. I dunno yet, but just in case, I decided to let you know. *goes to rant at the internet and phone companies to fix it*
"This really stinks," Victor cracked his head on the dining room table, "How does he always manage to get the cute girls? This is just plain cruel! Where's my girlfriend?!"
He sat slamming his head on the table until something started choking him and he was hoisted out of his chair, "What're you doing putting moves on my girl, little bro?" Lance spat lowly, directly in his face, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Hehe, Lance…Hi there! How are you?" Victor whimpered innocently.
"Save it!" Lance dropped him down in his chair and leaned into his face, "If I ever catch you fooling around with any of the ladies in this house, I'll snap you in half and feed you to Draco. Has my point been made clear enough for that fogged-over brain of yours to understand?"
"As clear as a crystal windowpane," Victor gave a nervous smile.
"Good," he cracked him in the back of the head, "Go clean up your Holiday plants and get outta here. I don't want you to even think about Medira, Luri, Lisle, Mizu, Misty, Rachel, Beth, Yuu-Yuu, Sooney and especially not Eevy. If you even glance at any of them, they'll be pulling you out of the ground in each of the Four Corners. At the same time."
"Information assimilated! No problem, man!" he gave a whimpering salute and jumped out the door, "Sorry!"
"Stupid little maggot," Lance turned to face into the room, then hearing a laugh, "Pietro. Hi there."
"Hello, Dragon Master," Pietro sat with crossed arms and legs, "Having fun lecturing your brother?"
"Always a joy."
"I suppose you're going to tell me to stay away from your girl," he snickered lightly.
"Well, if I had to do that, you wouldn't be married, now would you?"
"You have no idea."
Lance turned to walk out, stopping in the doorway, "Oh, and Pietro. Stay away from my girl."
*^~^**^~^*
"Paige, my love," Pietro pulled her off to the side, "Important business. There's something you have to acquire for me out of a bedroom on the second floor. Think you can do that for me?"
"Uh huh," she was very quiet and listened intently to her orders on where to go, what to do, and what to steal.
"Now, be gone and do your job," he turned her around and slapped her backside, pushing her to the stairs.
Paige was not the type to speak too much, and that really didn't give anyone reason not to trust her. She'd married into the Rubeus family at nineteen to Pietro Padma Rubeus, who was twenty at the time. She was now twenty-one and you can do the math, ladies and gents. (19+x=21 so 20+x=y). She nonchalantly strolled down the hall, meeting the door she was told to enter, and walked right in. Everyone had been told to lock their doors, but it seemed this Elite member didn't mind if a certain set of family heirlooms was stolen. Paige snatched what she'd been told to steal, walked out, stuffed it in her pocket, closed the door, and kept on walking as if nothing ever happened.
*^~^**^~^*
"AHH!" a scream, too alto to have been one of the ladies, echoed through the entire Mansion.
It aroused everyone within earshot, which was basically every single person in the Mansion and about half a mile in every direction outside. They jumped and ran to the second floor, including Paige and Pietro. The bellowing Elite First was standing dead still in front of his dresser and screaming like a mad man. He stopped suddenly and spiraled around, staring into the people in his doorway as if he was dead.
"The-The b-b-b-b-box. My mother's box," he was absolutely paralyzed in utter depression, "My mother's jewelry box. My f-f-father's dog tags. They-They're gone!" he let out another scream.
"Calm down, Jason!" Eevy pleaded, "You're going to deafen us all! Are you sure you weren't looking at it somewhere else?"
"It never leaves my dresser. I haven't even really looked at it in two or three days. I think I'm gonna dissolve," he whimpered and fell over backwards onto the floor.
"Jason!" Medira shoved Paige and Pietro out of the way and slid to his side, "Get me a pillow, Eevy!"
Pietro grabbed Paige's wrist, "Leave them to tend to him. Come on," he pulled her down the hall with no one even noticing they left.
"Jason! Are you all right?" Medira shrieked, "Jason!"
"I really do think I'm gonna dissolve," Jason moaned.
"It's fine, Jason. We'll find your jewel case and your dog tags," Eevy stood up and shook her head, "That's strange," she thought, "Those things never leave his dresser. He refuses to move them. But if he didn't move them, where'd they go?"
*^~^**^~^*
"Come on and sit," Medira pushed Jason to sit on her bed, "We'll find those things, Jason. Where, I don't exactly know, but we will."
"I know I left them there when I walked out this morning. I glanced at them. I just know it," he murmured.
"I believe you. Trust me, I do. But I still don't know where they could have gone. I'm sorry," she sat down to his right.
"Yeah. Thanks," he leaned and kissed her, pulling back slowly, "It's not your fault," he glanced off to the left, "…Or maybe it is. Medira! How could you?"
"What?" she looked at him blankly and turned to look where he was staring, "Oh God!"
There it was. His mother's jeweled case. Sitting on Medira's side table. Jason jumped up and snatched it from the table, opening it and seeing his father's tags. His jaw fell open and he scowled back at Medira. She was absolutely aghast. She sat, shaking her head slowly and making gagging noises.
"Medira, I don't believe you. How could you do this and act all innocent like that?" he stuffed it into his pocket and stared at her.
"I-I-I didn't. I swear, Jason! I didn't put it there! I didn't even know it was missing until you shouted like that! I promise!"
"Don't bother. I don't believe you. In any sense of the phrase," he stated flatly, "I just don't understand why you'd do this."
"I didn't! I swear upon everything there is to swear on, Jason! I didn't do it! I don't know how it got there and I wouldn't do such a thing anyway! I absolutely swear to you!"
He just stood and stared at her for a minute, "This is about Peter, isn't it?"
"No, I-"
"Then what? Why did you do this? Wait. Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it," he turned and walked out as stiff and straight as a board, "Consider this conversation and this relationship permanently terminated," he slammed the door shut behind him.
"But, I…I didn't do it," she murmured to the closed door and the air around her.
*^~^**^~^*
"Perfect," Pietro smiled wide, "This affection for family really plays along the brink of hatred. I love it! You were good, Paige. For a change."
"Thank you," she nodded once, still remaining nearly silent.
"Yes, well, the next one may not be so easy to pull off. We have to get everything set up perfectly. Let's go see what the two halves to our plan are up to before we try and start anything. Come."
They stood up and sauntered down the hall, looking for two specific people. One was out of the way; in a perfect position that the other could get into mischief without her knowing. They found the other in the absolute perfect predicament possible. Pietro snickered and stood in the doorway of the room with the tree, eyeing the Psychic Master sitting and reading right beside it. He stepped to the side of the door, pushing Paige behind him, and started rolling his index fingers around each other. A loop of heat flowed around his twisting fingers. He looked back at Paige with an evil grin and then back in the door. He took careful aim and tossed the loop into the room. It spun forward like a buzz saw and hit a certain decoration from the tree. The heat loop arced back, heading back towards them and hitting the decoration again on the way. Pietro reached and grabbed the ring, slapping it between his hands to extinguish it. He turned and grabbed Paige, running down to the end of the hall and into another of the rooms. There was a thump, clatter and smash as they ran with the Elite Third springing to his feet.
"Oh no! No, no, no!" Will jumped up and looked down at Luri's fallen angel, "Oh no. Damn. What do I do now?" he picked up the main angel and the snapped wing, "Oh no. She'll be heart broken."
"What's wrong, Wi-Will!" Luri burst at what she saw, "What'd you do?!" she ran and snatched it from his hand, "No! My angel!" she started crying and turned to scowl nastily at Will, "Will! How could you?!"
"I-I didn't do it! I was just sitting here reading!" he flailed, "I swear!"
"William Logos!" she sniffed, "Don't lie to me! You were the only one in here! Why did you do this? Are you some sick sort of jealous?"
"But I didn't do it!" he pleaded and shook his head wildly, "I didn't even touch the thing until I saw it hit the floor!"
"You didn't have to touch it to make it fall! You could just raise a hand from your chair and make it topple off! How could you?!"
"I was reading my book, Luri! I never moved my eyes from it! And I need my eyes to make something move!"
"I don't know you're not lying! Why would you even do such a thing? What kind of weird excuse are you going to use for this one?"
"I didn't-"
"Don't even tell me again! I have to go try and fix this now. Just-Just-Just-Just stay away!" she carted the angel with her and slammed out the door, "For good!"
"Luri…I didn't…do it."
*^~^**^~^*
"Well, we can safely see that it's her family that little Lurianna finds hardest to see hurt," Pietro snickered, "I thought this was a job, not a vacation," he started laughing wildly.
"Quiet!" Paige snapped.
"Excuse me?" he immediately stopped and glared evilly at her.
"Someone's coming," she still didn't say much.
"Oh," he looked over her shoulder, "Ooh. It's her. And she's alone," his smile spread right across his face, "You don't mind, do you, love?" he grabbed her elbows and kissed her shoulder.
She rolled her eyes, "No, Pietro," she shook her head twice.
"Good. I'll see you later," he pushed past her and trotted out into the hallway, "Hell-o there," he acquired a flirtatious smile.
"Hi," Eevy gave an annoyed smile and a nod, "What do you want?"
"There's a simple answer to that question," he grabbed her right hand with his left and pulled her a step closer, "I want you."
"Well, you're not getting me," she shook her head.
He ran his free index finger around her chin, "Maybe not right now," he pulled her another two steps forward, "but someday. Someday soon."
"I do not think so," she snapped their hands apart and stomped down the hall, "Just like Taylor. It's scary."
"I'll be waiting for you!" he called after her, "It'll be fun!"
"You'll be waiting a very long time," she opened the door to one of the rooms and backed in, jumping at arms around her waist.
"Don't worry. It's just me," Lance pulled her up from behind by the waist, "You were yelling at Pietro. Is he bothering you, Eevy? Please be honest."
She sighed and looked down and away, "Well…"
"He was, wasn't he? I'll kill 'em," he started to walk around her, but she stopped him.
"Don't worry about me," she smiled and pulled him back, "I can take care of myself. Trust me. He's not really bothering me. Just, kind of, pestering. You know. Just bugging me a little bit."
"If he's coming on to you, you'd better tell me."
"No," she stated flatly, "He was not. I promise you that," she didn't like lying, but feared what he'd do, "Now stop getting angry and kiss me."
Pietro stood outside the door and watched her stretch and him slouch to meet dead center. His eyes narrowed and flashed bright crimson-red. He growled a bit, then turned to nearly bursting in jealousy as they pulled apart. That smile. She was smiling wide from one kiss from Lance, and eternally enraged from one move from him. He turned around and stormed off to calm himself with Paige.
*^~^**^~^*
"I don't believe you, Medira! Leave me alone! I am not interested in some stupid excuse!" Jason shoved her out of the way and stomped past, "Go away!"
"Jason Peruwa! I did not do it! I swear, Jason! You have to believe me!" Medira ran up beside him and caught his arm, "I promise!"
"Why am I not taking you seriously?" he stared her dead in the eyes yet kept walking.
"I don't know, but I'm telling the truth! Believe me now, if never again! I wouldn't do such a thing to you!" he actually stopped walking, "I know how much those things mean to you! I would never, ever do anything to hurt you that way or any way!"
"Then what was Peter?"
"Peter was a way to protect you! You said you understood that! What happened with him was nothing! I swear to you, Jason! Please don't be angry with me for something I didn't even do!" she jumped in front of him and grabbed his shirt, "Please," her violet eyes spilled over, "Please believe me."
"But," he watched her eyes and clenched his teeth.
He looked off to the side and closed his eyes tightly, teeth still locked together and arms straight down to his sides. She squeezed his shirt tighter, now shaking she was holding so hard. He balled his fists at his sides and forced himself to reach and pry her hands off. Just as he was about to say something, he felt her grasp his hands tighter, possibly in fear he'd say no. He looked her dead in the eyes, seeing her red from crying.
He took a deep breath, "All right," he whispered and nodded, "I believe you."
"Thank you!" she pulled her hands away and tossed her arms around his waist, "Thank you so much! I swear I didn't do it and I'll never allow it to happen again! Even if I have to personally guard it!"
"He actually believes her?" Pietro puffed from around the corner, "This is going to be harder than I originally suspected."
*^~^**^~^*
"Oh…" Luri grumbled, "I hope I can fix this," she looked over the angel and its broken wing, "I don't believe it's broken."
"Neither do I."
"Get out!" she turned and raised a hand to him, "Get the hell out of here! Just get out of my room and my sight and my life!"
"I will not. I did not do this, Luri. I swear to you with every inch of my heart and soul," Will stared her dead in her ice blue eyes, "What reason would I have to do this?"
"Jealousy," cold mist filtered in and she kept her hand up.
"Jealousy of what? Your mother? Why would I be jealous of her?" he shrugged and stared at her, "If anything I should adore her for having such a wonderful daughter."
"Don't try to get on my good side!" she barked as a snowball started growing in her hand, "Leave me alone!"
"Stop. Put your hand down."
"Non voie!" she cracked with a hiss.
"Don't go speaking French on me! Don't yell at me unless I can understand you!" he grabbed her freezing hand and pushed it down, despite the pain of the frost, "I didn't do it, Lurianna. I swear to you. I would never break something that would break your heart."
"You have no proof it wasn't you," she looked away and saw his hand turning red.
"Why would I hurt you, Luri? I would never. After everything that's happened recently, you actually believe I'd do this? What did I tell you the other day?"
"That you'd always care," she muttered.
"Then why are you telling me I did this?" he held up the broken wing, "Why would I do this if I was to love you forever and a day? Destroy one of the things you love most?"
He wasn't even showing any sign of the frigid pain searing his hand. He just sat and spoke as if nothing was happening. She stared at his reddening hand and then back into his eyes. The dark and light greens were tying themselves together. That was something she knew only happened when he was either very mad or very upset. He was probably a bit of both at the moment. She calmed the icy fury roaring from her hand and pried it away from him, throwing her arms around his neck.
"I am so sorry!" she hugged him as tight as she could, "Je s'excuser. Je aimer tu."
"If I had any idea what you just said, I'd return it," he choked as she hugged him.
"I said," she leaned away and sniffed, "Je s'excuser; I apologize. Je aimer tu; I love you."
"Oh. Well, how do you say too as in also?"
"Trop. Why?" she cocked her head.
"OK. Je aimer tu trop."
"Thank you!" she pulled him into another hug, "Thank you!"
"OK, OK! Let me have some air!" he heaved in as she let go, "Now, let's see what we can do about fixing this and finding out what happened."
"This is really getting hard," Pietro huffed, "These people really care for each other. What should I try next…"
*^~^**^~^*
"It's only a little over a week to Christmas!" Rachel bubbled, "I just can't wait!"
"It's Christmas Eve I'm waiting for," Lance gave a grin from the side of the room.
"Yes, I'm sure you are," Eevy rolled her eyes, "How do you guys usually shop for the Holidays?"
"Any way we want," Jason shrugged, "Online is usually the way. It means we don't have to exit the building, which means we don't have to worry about mobs of fans."
"But there are some things you just can't get online. That means we do, sometimes, have to go out," Luri frowned.
"Sometimes we can't get it in the City either. That requires going out into Nanka or Hokubu and sometimes into Kanto and Johto," Lance slouched.
"And some stuff you can't even get there. Some stuff you have to go all the way to the Orange Archipelago for," Will added.
"Well, that stinks," Mizu wilted, "That really stinks."
"So what do we do then?" Sooney sat twisting a strand of her hair around her finger, "Imagine we bought stuff?"
"They seem to be worried about the upcoming Holiday," Pietro leaned against the outside of the door as the group kept on talking, "Christmas. Yeah, I used to believe in that stuff. Then I grew up."
"I do," Paige whispered nervously from beside him.
"You must be joking," he turned and shook his head at her, "No Rubeus believes in any part of Christmas other than the getting part."
"But I do," she contradicted again.
"Shut up," he pushed her to the wall, "No Rubeus is even allowed to believe in such Holidays and flimflam. Don't speak another word about it," he held her there with a slight growl, "Not one word."
"Not one," she whimpered as he un-tucked her shirt.
"Promise me," he kissed the base of her neck.
"Promise," she looked away.
"Good," he turned her to the side and pushed her down the hall, "Get going. I'll be there after I do a little bit of shopping for emotions."
Paige watched the floor and kept walking, muttering, "Sanctimonious asshole," as she walked; amazing how she can say so much when saying so little, ne?
*^~^**^~^*
"What to get for Eevy," Medira muttered as she scrolled down the page, "All the good stuff is too expensive."
"Money doesn't matter in Elite life. Learn and remember that, Medira," Jason leaned over her shoulder, "We can get as much as we want and spend as much as we want. We don't pay for it. If you want to get her that, get her that."
"Are you sure about that?" she looked overly nervous.
"I'm sure. Trust me! I've spent more than that on myself!"
"What about this stuff? I could get this stuff too?"
"Just stop asking and get it!"
"Whatever," she paused and glanced over her shoulder at him, "What do you want?"
"Well," he stood back and crossed his arms, "Being part of the Elite 4 doesn't really give you much to want, you know? You get everything you could want just by asking for it."
"You mean there's nothing you want? Nothing at all?"
"I could go for a few light music CDs, some candles, a drink and a certain someone in my room afterwards."
She gave a smile and laughed once, "I should have seen that coming," she shook her head.
"Yes, you should have," he nodded twice and snickered, "So, are you going to get me what I want?"
"Maybe. You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? Eevy's making Lance wait, so you can too."
"Do you always have to be like Eevy?"
"Yeah. It's a woman thing."
"Oh, so it's a woman thing. That makes so much more sense now," he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"You wouldn't understand even if you tried."
"Thank you. So, what do you want, little miss curiosity?"
"You know," she started and turned around in the chair, "I probably want about the same thing you do."
"That's a scary thought," he stood her up and pulled her closer, "Want to celebrate Christmas a little early this year then?"
"No," she laid her index finger on his mouth and pushed him back, "No early presents."
"Cruel," he pouted.
"Yep!" she started laughing as she went back to the computer.
*^~^**^~^*
"What are you up to?" Will walked up behind Luri and looked around her shoulder.
"Looking through the fliers and things. Trying to decide what to get you and everybody else," she flipped the page and looked back at him, "What do you want?"
"An excuse as to why my ear is pierced and I have an accent?" he snickered and swung his legs over the back of the chair to slam down next to her, "Seriously; I don't know."
"That's no help," she slouched.
"With all this high living, none of us really have wants anymore. All we want is owned the second we want it."
"I already got what I wanted. I got my Christmas tree and my angel is fixed. Thank you for helping me fix it, by the way."
"Yeah. So…What are we going to do then?"
"I haven't the foggiest clue whatsoever," she started laughing, "Maybe just sit around and go doy."
"How about…" he seemed as if to search the air for an answer, "How about we go out for dinner? Just you and me. What do you say?"
"Sounds good to me," she smirked.
"And then afterwards," he acquired a grin and leaned over her, "We might, say, spend some quality time together. Alone. Just the two of us."
"William. You back off right now or I'll hurt you," she snickered and pushed him away, "We'll see what happens after dinner, but what are we going to do about everyone else? Like you said, there are just so many things we can get that we don't already have."
"Oh, I don't know," he sighed, "We'll think of something."
"I bet. We always do."
*^~^**^~^*
"Running out of choices," Lance grumbled, "This is too hard. Maybe I should hire somebody to do my Christmas shopping for me."
"Now where's the fun in that?" Eevy laughed from behind him, "Then you wouldn't have the joy of teasing the recipient of the gift as you know what it is and they don't."
"Not if they told me what they were buying," he said pointedly.
"Whatever," she shrugged, "Still awaiting December twenty-fourth?" she leaned over his shoulder and threw her arms around his neck.
"With much anticipation," he pulled her right hand up and kissed it, "What do you want?"
"There is actually one thing I really do want. Something you can't really buy in all actuality."
"Well, what would that be?" he put his head back to look at her.
"I'd die for a trip away. Just to get away from the League City for a few short days. A week would be great, but I'd take as few as two days. I'd go absolutely anywhere."
"So, basically you want a vacation from life?" he snickered.
"No, I want a vacation from this house. Do you realize we haven't left this City, or even this house, in nearly a month? It's constricting us! I want to get out! I want to go to Johto or Kanto! Maybe even the Orange Archipelago. I've always wanted to see the Orange Islands!"
"You've never seen the Orange Islands?" his eyes nearly hit the floor, "They're beautiful this time of year. No snow, but who really wants to shovel it? No cold, but the less clothes I see you in, the better," he paused at the look she shot, "I'm kidding! So, I'll set something up."
"Would you really?" she smiled wide.
"Well, why not?"
"Thank you!" she hugged him in an accidental chokehold, "I can't even imagine it! Really I can't!" she let him breathe and stepped away beaming, "Wow! Just me, the sun and the beaches! Talk about a Christmas to remember! I grew up with too much snow! I need sun!"
"Just you, the sun and the beaches?" he scowled, "Well, what about me?"
"Oh, yeah, you too," she waved her hand at him, "Wow. All that sun!"
"Hey!" he jumped and picked her up, "You're not leaving me behind! I'm going too!"
"Well, of course you're going! And so is everyone else!"
His huge smile melted immediately, "Everyone?" his shoulders drooped and he dropped her, "I thought it'd be just you and me."
"No, silly! We'll leave the twenty-sixth and stay until after the New Year! Oh, this is gonna be great!"
"Everyone?" he kept whimpering as she cheered, "Oh," he moaned and sighed at the floor, "I still like the twenty-fourth better."
The Next Chronicle:
More Than One Plan
Notes
Heh...The only A/N I really had was the one I just put up at the top...o_O But looky! The Orange Archipelago! Whee! Heh...Well, that's all for now, so...Bye! ~_~*
*^~^*Pro_V*^~^*
-=O~Her Pokemon~O=-