It took me a while to get this finished. We're back to school, and you know how it gets. Anyways, I'm going to try to update once a week, though I'm not making any promises. I should be done in about four or five more chapters, so stay tuned, the end draws ever nearer (insert evil cackle). Um, okay then. Enjoy^_^
"Go to Hell, Auron," I grumbled, knowing automatically who was poking me awake.
"Hell?" Auron wondered aloud.
"Never mind. Just go away."
Auron didn't say anything. He just sat there looking at me.
"Fine, I'm getting up."
"That was easy."
"Screw you."
I stumbled to my feet, looking around the room. Ana and Tidus were both asleep, and Tidus was snoring deafeningly. I kicked him in the side. "If you're not careful, you're going to blow off the roof."
Tidus continued to sleep.
I kicked him again, just for good measure, then checked my watch. Nine o'clock. "How long've you been up, Auron?"
"Not long. Yesterday was a little much."
"So the 'man' does get tired, huh?"
"I suppose."
Lulu and Rikku were already sitting at the table when we got down, drinking OJ and eating cereal. "Well, look who overslept," Lulu taunted. Enter Ana through the door behind us.
"That's not fair, I was tired!" she protested. I laughed. We got our own breakfast of Poptarts ready, and joined Lulu and Rikku at the table.
"Imagine," said Ana, "if all villains did what Seymour did yesterday. Like, can't you so picture Darth Vader ringing the doorbell of the Millennium Falcon all like (insert heavy breathing), guys, you are so dead the next time I see you. Or Gollum. Sméagol will be taking the precious tomorrow. Please stand by. Oh, and Sméagol will have his evil personality, so get ready."
"What he did just didn't make sense," sighed Lulu. "Why would he warn us, and take away some of his edge."
"Because, he can't do it in the middle of a crowed neighborhood," Auron said, a note of "duh" in his voice.
"And why not?" I asked. "He didn't mind doing it in front of all the Guado."
"It must be something about his power. He needs a power source, and he's trying to lure us into an area he knows has one."
"But what?" Lulu wondered.
"And where?" added Rikku, who seemed quite sleepy and a good deal less hyper than usual.
"That is our quest," Said Auron.
*********
Marcus sighed. "Your practice is at the high school, right?"
"Yeah."
"No, it's in Florida." Guess which one was me and which was Robbie.
"You're in a lovely mood," Ana said.
"I sure am. I'm always in a lovely mood. Screw you."
"How could I ever forget you're always in a lovely mood?"
"Maybe 'cause I'm being a bitch."
"Sounds about right."
"I'd insult you," said Marcus, "but you're doing a pretty good job of that yourself."
"Shut up!" I snarled. "I need caffeine."
"Now you know how I feel," Robbie said. I raised my eyebrows.
"Sheesh, I'll treat you if you'll just get out of this mood," yelped Marcus.
"I feel better already," I replied, and actually was considerably more pleasant the rest of the car ride. When we got to the high school, Marcus, true to his word, sprung for a soda and gave it to me. I was even more pleasant after that.
"Hey," said Hannah. "How's the flute solo thingie in the LOTR medley coming?"
"I had it almost perfect, but I haven't practiced since they showed up."
"Well, you'd better get on it, the concert's Saturday night."
"What!" I shouted, accidentally giving Hannah a face-full of Mountain Dew. It actually looked very funny. "Oh my God, come look at yourself in the mirror!" I guffawed, leading her by the wrist into the bathroom. She cracked up as well, and it only struck me how disgusting the entire situation was when Ana came in and pretended to puke in one of the toilet stalls. However, this only caused me to laugh harder, and harder yet when Ana, egged on by our laugher, took her barfing act a little too far, lost her balance and ended up with her face in the toilet. Now that was disgusting! Enter a very frightened looking Yuna.
"Um, someone named Allen is looking for you and Hannah, Rebecca," she murmured. "He wants to practice the flute trio, or something like that."
"Uh, just a second," I stuttered, helping Hannah and Ana paper tower their faces. When they were as dry as possible, Hannah and I met Allen in an empty classroom to practice. We sat on tables and used the blackboard as our music stand. Before we started I asked, "What do you mean the competition's on Saturday?"
"It was moved up because of a thunder storm watch. It's supposed to be a big one. My mom said she heard your families were coming back early."
"They didn't tell me that!" But, then again, every time they called I had said, "Hi Guys. I'm alive. Sitter's sleeping. Gotta go practice, bye," and slammed down the phone before they could get a word in, so this was understandable. On the other hand, it wasn't my fault the cast of Final Fantasy X decided to drop in on me. On the other hand…wait, I was sounding like Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof. That was not good, as I do not view him as a role model. Sam did, though. He liked his shimmying. Sam is the weirdest person I will ever know.
Because all this was running through my mind, I made more than a few mistakes. "Sorry guys, can we start over? I kind of zoned.
"I was hoping you'd zoned, that sucked," Hannah remarked.
"I love you too, Hannah," I muttered sarcastically.
"One, two, three," Allen counted off. This time I concentrated, and made very few mistakes.
"That was good," Allen said, his trademark odd smile proudly worn across his face.
"Hey, guys." Yuna and Ana entered the classroom. "We've got to go, band is starting."
"Yay," said Allen, actually meaning it, but not jumping or shouting or anything. Yuna glanced at him, then sort of examined him, her eyes scanning up and down. Maybe she wanted Allen as her summoner? He was kind of, well, weird, and I wasn't sure exactly what to think of it. I shook it off quickly, and put away my flute in a hurry. Together, we headed toward the band room.
"Hey, guys!" Mrs. Archer said, checking our names off on her role sheet. "Well, I think that's everybody! We're starting with "In the Mood", then we're doing the "Imperial March", LOTR medley, and finishing up with "A Little Help from my Friends!" Mrs. Archer, being a band teacher, always spoke very loudly and enthusiastically. I headed back to the bells for "In the Mood". "This is our opening guys, so we've got to make it nice and strong!" She tapped her baton on the music stand in front of her. "One, two, three."
"In the Mood" was probably our most difficult piece after Lord of the Rings. For this, it sounded pretty good, but it wasn't perfect, and definitely not competition ready. There were numerous errors in the trumpet section (the funniest of which involved a boy named Kristian accidentally hitting the spit valve, and spraying the girl in front of him) and I wasn't doing perfectly on the bells either. Ana asked how she was doing on bass, and I had to tell her that, quite honestly, I had been too worried about myself to notice anything but the hugest mistakes. Mrs. Archer had to stop us numerous times, and she seemed pretty glum by the end of the song. "We only have four more days and one more practice, so I expect that to be perfect by Thursday. Come on guys, you can do this! We can win this thing! You just have to practice." Robbie and I exchanged guilty looks. "I've heard the other bands, and we have the most challenging music, and the best musicians! You guys can make this perfect!" She sighed, but then quickly smiled, "Okay, you guys wanted this one so badly, so show me what you can do!" Playing the "Imperial March" was sort of a joke Hannah, Ana, our friends Dave and Shane, and I had come up with when Mrs. Archer consulted us on the music. It was "recommended" that your band played one march. We decided we were sick of the military stuff, and wanted to do Darth Vader's theme instead. Finally, Mrs. Archer agreed but made us swear to have it perfect.
She was not disappointed. The dangerous sounding music reminded me of Seymour walking up to our front porch, and seemed appropriate for my shadowy mood, so I did very well on the snare drum, making no mistakes. The plain white drumhead stared up at me, teasing me to get intimidated and miss a beat, which was so easy to do in a march with such a fast tempo. Because of my mood, this only made me hit it harder, louder, and with more feeling. I felt so confident. This is what I did. I didn't wield a sword, or cast magic. I made music. I managed to carry this feeling into the Lord of the Rings Medley, in which I switched to flute. The music flowed from it like a gentle waterfall, not matching Hannah and Allen as usual, but leading this time. No mistakes. A Little Help from my Friends (a Beatles song, for those of you without culture) shook me out of my deep concentration, as it was an easy, fun little piece that Mrs. Archer said would help us go out with a bang.
Yuna came up on the stage after Mrs. Archer told us we could pack up. I was still grinning from the last song as I cleaned and packed up my flute and drumsticks. "That was beautiful," she said. Ana and Robbie came up behind her.
"Thank you," said Allen with a smile, as he cleaned the outside of his flute. "Old faithful never lets me down, do ya?" he said, speaking to the flute. I raised my eyebrows, but I was used to Allen's weirdness, so I just snapped my flute closed and got up.
"Allen," started Yuna. This time my eyebrows went up and stayed up. I silently poled the others, and saw identical looks of surprise on their faces as Yuna explained our situation to Allen. It was now his turn to raise his eyebrows.
"You want me to summon? I don't know if I can…"
"I wouldn't have chosen you if I didn't think you could do it." She said.
"So, Allen, I guess I'll see you at my house tomorrow at eight," I said tentatively.
"Sure," he replied, still looking a little uncertain.
"Here, check this out." I took out my flute and played the hymn of the fayth on it. I spent almost a day working out all the notes perfectly. My parents agreed that I had no life, and threatened to kick me out of the house if I played it one more time. Turned out they weren't kidding. I spent the night at my Grandpa's house.
"You can play the hymn?" Yuna gushed, sounding pleased. "Oh, it's so beautiful!" I taught Allen how to play while he was waiting for his Dad. Marcus picked us up shortly after Allen left.
"So, did you get a summoner?" He asked Yuna.
"Yes," she responded with a smile.
"Do I know her?"
"Him, and no," Ana informed him. The rest of the ride was more or less silent, albeit Robbie falling asleep and beginning to snore. Marcus had to put a plastic bag under his mouth to keep the drool off of his seats.
"Well, bye then," said Marcus as he pulled into our driveway.
"Bye," I said back. "Thanks for the lift."
"Yes, thank you!" Yuna said quickly
We headed inside. Kimahri, Tidus, and Rikku were watching Star Wars, and the Imperial March was playing, which made me smile. "John Williams is a genius," I said, settling down next to them. "Worship him." Rikku hopped up and did a Yevon bow at the TV. "Erm, I didn't mean that literally."
"I thought he was Darth Vader," said Tidus, pointing at Vader on the screen.
"Forget it. What's everyone else doing?"
"Auron is doing something in your room, and Lulu and Wakka are both upstairs reading."
"That's cool."
"Hey, is that John Williams?" said Rikku enthusiastically, pointing as Yoda hobbled around his kitchen.
************
I found out after dinner what Auron had been doing. As we were about to get into bed, he said, "Rebecca, I have something to show you," he pulled a long, broad sword out from under my bed, "I've been working on this all day. It can pierce through the armor of the toughest fiends, and it's both large and light, so you should have no trouble wielding it. I also gave it a little bit of magic, so it should give you strength when you need it." He smiled.
"S.O.S. curaga? I didn't even know that existed!" I was shocked, because I'd never heard of it in the game, and remember, I have no life, so I thought I knew every item ability and customization option in the game.
"It's never been done before," he said with a half smile. "Lulu helped me invent it."
"I wish I had this when I was battling Je…um, the last boss. Then I wouldn't have needed all those extra aeons!"
Auron's smile went full blown. "Wield it well, I'm glad you like it. Now get some sleep. With me as your teacher, you're going to need it."