I don't own Skies of Arcadia.
A/N: Sorry it took me forever to update...Stuff got in the way…Just a reminder: Lake=Aika's mom, Raven=Aika's Dad, Rain=Vyse's mom, and Dyne=Vyse's Dad.
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Lake waved goodbye and good riddance to her parents as they sailed off to only the moon's knew where. Now that they were gone, it was time to put her plans to work and her victim, luckily, was walking by with a bucket to get some water from the well.
"Hey," Lake said as she sat at the edge of the well. She swung her legs in a little arc hoping to look a bit seductive.
Raven just stared at her as if she lost all of her brain cells. "What's wrong with you?"
Lake immediately lost sight of her plans and a frown appeared on her face. "I was just trying to be nice, you dolt. If you can't even appreciate that--"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Raven said in his usually chipper voice as he held up his hands in a defeated manner. "I appreciate it. But, when you and nice happen to coincide, I start to worry about my health." He turned from her and tied a rope onto the pales handle and lowered it slightly so that he could fill the pale.
As he worked on his task, a feeling of guilt started to wash over him. He had been a jerk to her for the past few days…well, more like years…of her life. After a moment of silent reflection, Raven said, "Look, Lake, I'm sorry about this morn--" When Raven looked up, he found her to have disappeared. "I guess she didn't want an apology," he murmured. "It probably meant she liked being tormented."
Lake watched from a safe distance. She would have to try something else if she wanted him to get to him to come with her to Shrine Island. Frowning, she turned and ran stiffly into Rain's chest.
"Why do you have that 'I'm going to get him' look in your eyes?" Rain asked as she finished tying her handkerchief over her long brown hair. She was wearing her usual blue skirt, purple shirt, and white apron.
"Because I am, Rain. You heard what he did to me this morning!"
"Of course I did. Everyone did." Rain reached into a basket and started hanging laundry. Since her mother had died, Rain usually took care of her household and of the towns children while everyone was off pirating away. Even though she was really young, most people would have thought that the stress would get to her, but for as long as Lake knew Rain, Rain always had a smile on her face and an undying strength that Lake marveled at. She also had the ability to read Lake like a book. "Your plan's going to fail," she said after a moment.
Lake picked up a towel and helped Rain hang it on the line. She watched it flutter against the wind, pondering Rain's words. Finally a grin took over Lake's face as she glanced at Rain. "No, it won't."
"What do you mea--" Rain halted when she spotted the wolfish look in Lake's eyes. "No, I'm not going to be a part of this. Remember last time? I ended up seeing parts of Dyne that I never wanted to!"
Lake laughed at the memory. It was great times, stealing his clothes after convincing him that they were going skinny dipping. Unfortunately, as Dyne was chasing her, she had panicked, thrown the clothes into Rain's arms and hid. Rain stood there as Dyne ran up to her, his cheeks (you choose which ones) were a scarlet color as were Rain's.
"Don't worry, it's nothing like that! I just wanted you to convince him to go to Shrine Island. You could ditch his carcass there when you drop him off." Before Rain could reply, Lake whimpered slightly. "Please?"
"Damn it, Lake," Rain threw some more clothes on the line and hiked up her skirt. "Fine, but you owe me your soul."
"Consider it done."
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"It's a trap," Dyne stated while Raven was combing his hair for the thirtieth time. He watched the ministrations for no more than three seconds until he felt ill. It was amazing how much product could be smothered into the blonde tresses of Raven's hair. "You know it's a trap, don't you?"
"What do you mean? Rain would never do something like lying to me." He brought the brush up to his temple and tried to make his hair look windblown. "She's so sweet and innocent!" He stared at Dyne in the mirror and saw the horror in the other man's eyes. "What?"
"No she isn't! She was the one that spiked your liqua with the bug eggs, last year after you made a pass at her!"
"I don't remember it like that. I remember her loving hands filling my juice with her love bugs," Raven replied as he twirled a finger through one strand of his hair. He finally set down his comb and gave himself a thumbs up in the mirror. "Besides, you just don't want me to go to Shrine Island with her because you want to go alone with her yourself."
Dyne was at a loss for words. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. "Whatever, man. Just know, you're getting what you deserve."
Raven patted Dyne on the shoulder as he strode past him. "I hope so, man."
Dyne shook his head and laughed slightly. Sometimes Raven was blind when it came to the realms of love…
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Shrine Island was pretty much self explanatory. It was an island with a shrine on it. How old the shrine was, no one really knew. It had been there since before Rain could remember, and had a lot of secrets about it.
Lake knew the island like the back of her hand. She would usually go there to hide out or just fight random monsters so she could level up. However, Lake never traveled to the bottom of the shrine for her reasons alone. She always claimed that she never felt right going past a certain level and many had called her chicken. She never cared.
Rain docked her ship and made like she was going to fix up some loose ends. Raven grinned as he stepped off the boat and onto the land. He felt exhilarated at finally being alone with the hot little Rain. However, as his foot hit land, he felt a swoosh of air from behind. When he turned around, his "hot little Rain" was gone and flying back to Pirate Island.
"Damn you, Dyne, you were right," Raven muttered to himself as he stuck his hands into his pockets and began walking to the shrine. "Might as well get this over with then. I mean, what's Lake going to do to get me?"
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Lake sat in a cramped space for nearly an hour. She had fallen asleep several times, each time waking with a sore neck and a slight curse. "Where's the dolt," she muttered for the umpteenth time to no one. She peeked through a hole in the wall and stared outside. She saw footprints on the ground, larger than her own, indicating that he had come. She followed them with her eyes and found that it disappeared a long distance away from the entrance of the shrine.
Worried? her inner voice asked.
No, she answered back.
Liar.
Lake was on her feet and running through the halls of the Shrine quickly. She had to see where the heck Raven was before her conscience started to eat away at her. She was at the entrance and running out the door when she stumbled on something.
"What the…"
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