*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Notes: Okay the little girl's name is officially Jade! Yeah and im
dumb and I already put her name as Jade in a couple spots, sorry people! I
feel so blessed that so many reviewed, I hope you guys enjoy this fic. Now
without further delay, chapter two to 'This Is Not Enough'!
~*~*~*~*~*~
Over a bowl of cereal during breakfast, Jade decided to pop the question once again. Hopefully she wouldn't get shot down like she did last night. Now that her Aunt Laura was there, Anthony would have no choice but to comply..she hoped.
"Anthony," Jade began in between mouthfuls of Caption Crunch cereal. "About last night."
"No." came the reply before the words even left her mouth.
Oh denied! Jade slammed her hands on the table and jumped up against the table, her bowl shaking. But her uncle went unfazed.
"But Anthony!"
Anthony spun his spoon through the left over milk, he never really liked milk although it did taste good in cereal but that was about it. He closed his eyes allowing the clink of the silverware to clear his thoughts.
"No, Jade. It's too dangerous."
"But Anthony!" she cried again. "But! But!"
Adventure kept whispering her name, telling her exactly where to go, how to get there, and what do to when she got there. Two words; 'Uncle' and 'Anthony': Two years ago, Aunty Laura made Anthony help with community as soon as he was better from his accident, (an event that blurred Jade's usually fantastic memory). So he worked with the police, caught a few bad guys, piloted zoids and was called a complete natural. Then as soon as the Recovery of the Ancient Zoidian Ruins or RAZR for short needed volunteers to help with the recovery of possible organiods (whatever those were). He worked at the ruins for crying out loud and he still refused to take her.
"But no, Jade," Anthony said patiently, eyes still closed. "A couple of the men already have died. I don't want you to die too; it's just too dangerous. There are signs of Sleepers somewhere in the facility and I don't want you to be killed by a Sleeper."
Jade's hazel eyes widened with excitement. Sleepers? She thought gleefully, sleepers were zoids and she adored zoids in all shapes and sizes.
"GAH! WAIT! I didn't say anything about Sleepers!" he waved his arms wildly but it was too late, the damage had been done.
Defeated, Anthony sighed and sunk in his chair. "It doesn't make a difference anyways," he sighed again. "you'll still find a way to sneak in."
"Now what's all this I hear about Sleepers?"
In walked a woman with long, black hair so deep a black that it shined blue and piercing blue eyes. She was tall and wore an amused expression. She pulled a seat in between Anthony and Jade and eyed their half full bowls of milk with disgust.
"Would it kill you two to finish the milk?" she hissed
They ignored her and seconds later shouted at her.
"Aunt Laura! Can I go to the ruins PLEASE?!?!"
"Laura! You can't be serious! She can't go the ruins! It's dangerous!!! She could get killed!"
"I will not! I'll be careful I promise!" Jade pleaded desperately
"Don't listen to her!"
Laura shoved both of them out of her face and back into their respective seats. Jade looked ready to leap out of her seat at a moment's notice while Anthony glowered. Ah, all this love was beginning to get to her.
"Now, what on Zi is going on?" Laura asked, looking from Jade to Anthony.
Anthony cleared his throat and shot Jade an dirty look, suddenly remembering he was the adult. Silly him. He knew that either way Jade was going to go to that cursed ruins; she'd find a way he knew she would. Jade never failed to amaze him, she was so bright and so intuitive it couldn't be described in other way than amazing. Well, her grades didn't amaze him actually she was doing quite poorly for she kept sneaking off after him whenever he went somewhere. Jade was so bright but she never used her brains in school.
"Jade wants to go to the ruins with me so she can have something to write about in her essay," Anthony explained, dully.
Jade pressed her stomach against the side of the table once again. "Can I PLEASE?!"
Her aunt shrugged. "I don't think it's that good of an idea, Jade. Your uncle is right, with rumors of Sleepers in the surrounding area the ruins aren't practically the safest place in the world you could be."
"Aw! This sucks!!" she slammed her spoon in her cereal and stormed out of the small kitchen.
Anthony sighed at her retreating figure and glanced over at the clock on the wall, it read 8:24 a.m. Wait a second 8:24..oh shit! He was supposed to be at the ruins at 8! Oh no, the old guy was going to have his head for being late for the fifth time that month.
"Ah my God! I'm late!!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Y'know Fi, I don't get why we just didn't park the bus in front of the ruins, that'd way we wouldn't have to make our way blindly to the ruins," Kay grumbled.
If it was one thing Kay did without trouble was talk, Fiona bet she couldn't shut up even if her life depended on it. It was basically a one sided conversation with the exception of a couple grunts on the blonde's part. And when Kay got really excited she talked at a million words an hour, making it extremely difficult to keep up with what the hell she was saying.
"Yeah yeah, just relax Kay, we'll get there," Fiona said.
Kay's eyes darted from the windshield of the tour bus to Fiona, now that she thought of it why didn't the blonde want a Gustav? A Gustav would have made things so much easier, it may be slow but at least it moved a comfortable pace. Then again it couldn't hold everyone as well as the bus could.
Just then a gray blur whooshed past them in the direction of the ruins, shaking the massive bus. Images suddenly flashed before Fiona eyes, frighteningly familiar scenes of her sad past: It was the night before her whole world was shattered.
~*Flashback*~
Fiona sat on her bed, her legs folded over one another, in her lap rested a notepad while in her hands was a book and clutched the back of a pen with her teeth. She'd been writing some songs, a spur of the moment thing. Something she did in private. When the door to her bedroom opened quietly, she'd nearly jumped out of her skin, revealing Van. His dark eyes shone with something mischievous.
"Hey Fiona," he smiled that boyish smile that would later on make her heart break.
"Hey." the pen started to slide down her chin, leaving a nice blue- zigzagged line.
Van laughed and sat down next to her, and pulled the pen out of her mouth. He pressed his lips against hers. He broke the kiss, licked his lips and laughed again.
"You taste like ink," he grinned, running his tongue over his lips. "Just the way I like it."
Fiona rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him. She touched the side of her mouth for her pen but had completely forgotten it was no longer there. She blinked and glanced around wildly for it. Van grinned to ear to ear like a Cheshire cat.
"Where-is my pen--?" she looked up and saw him twiddling the object in question in between his fingers just before placing it above his ear lob like an artist.
"Whatca writin'?" he snatched the notepad from her lap.
She gasped and automatically grabbed it back. "Van!"
He looked up at her innocently, batting his eyelashes. "What did I do?"
"You little thief! Would it kill you to at least ask for it?" Fiona clutched it against her bosom as if that fact alone could deter Van.
For one reason or another, Fiona was extremely protective of her notepad. In it was her inner most thoughts and desires, some things the world could get along better without knowing. Someone looking at it was like someone looking at her soul, and she wasn't ready to expose herself just yet. She'd like her dignity in tact, thank you very much.
Van folded his arms across his chest, closed his eyes and held his nose up. "Well excuse me for being curious about stuff the love of my life writes. My bad."
"Okay."
That apparently had not been the response he had in mind, for he opened his left eye and stared at her in disbelief. She returned the look with a glare of her own, and they spent minutes just in a staring contest to see who would crack up first. Finally, Van snorted and by doing so fell off the foot of the bed. Fiona burst out laughing.
~*End Flashback*~
Fiona laughed fondly at the memory; the look on Van's face was priceless. Life with Van was anything but boring; just when she'd thought she'd die of boredom Van'd fall flat on his face or burst out laughing for no reason whatever so ever. His laughter was so contagious that pretty soon everyone was laughing along with him. Ah, the good ole days.
"What's so funny?" Kay questioned.
More images pasted before her eyes, this time faster than before; it was at that precise moment when that first transmission from Van came in, when he shouted "Gramps! Scan the surrounding area for it!". No one knew what he was talking about; all Fiona knew was that the zoid who attacked Van on the obvious purpose for killing him had seceded. But why did she have this sinking feeling that he didn't, that Van was still alive? No. That was crazy talk, it had to be.
Come to think of it; they never did find that zoid who stole all the laughter from them. She was angry, the least they could do for his memory was catch and fry the guy responsible.
"I guess the saying is true then," Fiona muttered absently, "only the good die young."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Fiona smiled weakly at her. Words escaped her.
*Two hours thirty-five minutes and fifteen seconds later*
The Jeep they rented pulled up in front of a crumbling, vine infested, temple. It was massive with overgrown vines that fought the once limestone structure. From first glance Fiona knew it was a temple, but a temple for what? Where was Dr. D when you needed him? She mentally sighed.
They stepped out the Jeep, which was ironically parked next to the same jeep they'd seen earlier. Kay was quivering with excitement; finally she'd be able to see a temple of the Ancients. She glanced over at Fiona, who wore a worried expression, and wondered why she'd be upset. There was nothing wrong with that temple, at least from the outside.
"You know if RAZR got their sticky paws on this joint?" Kay asked as they walked through a gaping hole in the dusty, ancient wall.
"Dunno, most likely."
Inside, the air was thick and musty; light barely penetrated the thick walls thus making the inside dark. A good portion of the floor was overgrown with weeds; some of the bottom stones were pushed up on strange angles. As they walked, Fiona prayed that she would not remember anything. The last thing she needed was to remember something about her past and start talking aloud, God, she shuddered at the thought.
Fiona stopped in mid-stride and held her arm out to prevent Kay from going any further. "Do you hear that?" she whispered.
Kay strained her ears and after moments of maddening silence, the sound of voices met her ears. So the RAZR did get this place. Why was she not surprised?
"Yeah, voices," she whispered back, unhappily. So much for her trip through undiscovered ruins.
"No," the blonde said in a low voice. She'd recognize that voice from anywhere, Dr. D! "Dr. D, that old geezer is still alive!"
She trotted to the sound of the voices, while Kay sighed and followed her. Fiona peered over a corner to an illuminated room with many shadows on the ceiling. She recognized one in particular, sure enough it was none other than Dr. D. When the voices hushed down, Fiona decided this was her chance.
"Psst! Dr. D!" she whispered.
The old man's head snapped back as he looked over at a dark corner. "What? Who's there?"
"Dr. D!" He slowly walked towards the corner and peered into a passage way he'd never seen before. Suddenly a girl bounced up in front of him. She looked awfully familiar, only she had blonde hair that went barely over her shoulders. It took him a second to..
"Oh my God! Fiona!" Dr. D slapped his forehead. "Fiona! Is that you?!"
Fiona smiled and nodded. "Yup, it sure is. How are you, Dr. D?"
Dr. D looked her, total shock written over his wrinkled features. "Goodness Fiona, I still can't believe it's you!" he took her in his arms and squeezed her tight.
"Okay okay, Dr. D. This a little too much love," she said, laughing.
"Huh? Oh sorry," he released. "Good Lord, Fiona. What brings you here? Last I heard was that you were on tour. Moonbay's been keeping track, Irvine says she pays more attention to your fame than she does to him."
Fiona laughed and glanced at the room; there were three men, all of them busy dusting off pieces of what appeared to be remnants of tablets. Their faces were so serious as if the details they found on those remnants were going to save the world, to think, Fiona thought, she was once like them. Except she had gotten out more often.
"What are these boys working on?" she asked.
Dr. D cleared his throat and she whirled around. "Now Fiona, don't you want to introduce me to your friend here?"
Kay nodded slowly, her arms folded across her chest. Today her brown hair was done in a high ponytail, and her bangs tickled the sides of her ears.
Fiona blinked. "Er.. Okay, Dr. D that's Kay. Kay that's Dr. D."
"Hello," Kay nodded to the older man.
Once full introductions were done, Dr. D went on to tell them he had found an organiod capsule in a secret room just like Van had found Zeke and Fiona. He kept making comparisons from that day to this day, even going as far as asking Fiona what she remembered of that day when she had first laid eyes on the seventeen year old Van. She desperately wanted him to stop with the comparisons and go on with the facts, she was tired of all the pain, tired of all the loneliness, most of all she was tired of Van.
"Is it confirmed what color the organiod is?"
"Yes, interestingly enough it's red."
"Red?" Fiona blinked, fear slowly seized her heart. "Wasn't there only one Red organiod?"
Dr. D nodded. "Yes to the extent of our knowledge, it has a large resemblance to him. But I sincerely doubt it is him, nothing could have survived that. I know for a fact if that'd be the case, we'd have one very pissed Raven on our hands."
"Well, that would stop his killing sprees I suppose. Then again it would put this temple and the surrounding village in grave danger. According to Rudolph all of the attack bases designed especially to destroy the Genobreaker were in fact annihilated themselves. What I find odd, is that Raven just doesn't do what he normally does, destroy everything until he gets to what he wants," Fiona said thoughtfully.
Kay just stared at them as if they'd grown extra heads. "What the hell are they talking about?" she muttered.
"Beats me, but it sure sounds professional," a male voice said from beside her.
She saw a young man about twenty-one, maybe twenty years of age with jet- black hair that was spiked on the top and a ponytail in the back. He had a red line tattoo on the side of his cheek and gray eyes. He looked very confused.
"Um. hey gramps." he called out meekly.
Both Dr. D and Fiona turned to them, he looked shocked while she looked ready to pass out. The old man sighed as soon as he saw who it was. Just that Anthony Lee, a good kid but with a lousy memory and a knack for arriving late. He looked an awful lot like Van, and the old man had heard the reason for his crummy memory was because he was in a terrible accident and had lots of head trauma, over three years ago. At about the same time Van was attacked and killed, only now Dr. D was sure he never died.
"Oh it's just you, Lee. What's your excuse this time? Wait don't tell me, your Jeep wouldn't start like yesterday and last Thursday?"
Anthony Lee blushed, placed his hand behind his head, and laughed nervously. "Actually.my Jeep was just fine today. hehe, funny how that works ain't it?"
Silence consumed the ancient ruins, but was soon broken by a, "Ooh! What does this button do?"
"No! Little girl don't touch that you don't know what it'll do!"
A loud cracking sound was heard over in the room behind them, Anthony looked positively mortified.
Dr. D gasped and raced into the next room, the three of them on his heels.
"What the heck happened here?" he shouted, surveying the floor.
There was a little girl with medium length black hair or was it green? He couldn't tell in the damned light. In front of her was the red organiod, its metallic body covered in ooze. It was growling. Oh no, he thought, suddenly remembering that organiods were violent when they were first born.
"Jade!"
Anthony scooped the little girl in his arms just before the organiod slammed its spiked tail down. It growled and hissed, swiping it's tail menacingly.
"Oh my God, Jade are you okay? Did it hurt you?" Anthony was frantically checking her body for any wounds, and placed his palm on her forehead.
"Anthony," she swiped his hand off of her forehead, wrinkling her nose. "I'm fine. But what is it?"
They gazed over at the defensive organiod that had already attacked some guy who had tried to throw an electric net over it. It kept glancing over at Jade, occasionally meeting her eyes. The old guy kept shouting orders at everyone, saying stuff like 'this organiod must be stopped before it escapes and reeks havoc in the capital'
"Did you let that thing out?" Anthony asked but his niece's eyes were locked on the red organiod.
She nodded. "Yeah, something kept telling me to do it. So I did. I don't think it's bad, lemme show ya."
She jumped out of his arms before he had the chance to stop her and walked towards the organiod.
"Hey you! Leave them alone, it's me you want," Jade said with a smirk.
Fiona glanced over at Anthony, who looked shell-shocked, and was once again under attack by memories of her past. She saw Van lying face down in the ground as still as death. Then she saw Zeke standing in front of her in the shadow of the Deathsaurer, screams and cries of anguish filled the air.
"Oh no, oh no," she clutched her chest. It was happening again, her damn memories were coming back. Back at the worst possible moment, just her luck.
"Fiona!" Dr. D cried out. "Are you remembering something?"
Kay stared at her.
"Yes, Zeke! Zeke knew all along, oh dear God, Zeke knew. It was Zeke's idea to go into the temple to escape the Deathsaurer; he wanted to protect me from the death and destruction going on in our village. He said the safest place for me was in his birthplace, that the farther we were from the Zoid Eve the better. There were too many Ancient Zoidians for the Deathsaurer to choose just one. "
She shut her eyes, allowing herself to fall victim to the memories. She heard laughter and sobs in the seas of her memory. " I see Hiltz. He is laughing at the people who are dying and crying. He says he knows a friend to Ambient, who is in a village not to far from here, and that she's probably crying her heart out. But he won't let her die. No, she's far too valuable to him. Reese. Her name is Reese." Fiona said, her voice monotonous.
Dr. D gasped, he had no idea Hiltz was at Fiona's village. Nor did he know that he and Reese were already planning their attack on the future. He glanced over at Kay, who looked confused and doubted that Fiona had ever told her about her life as an Ancient Zoidian.
"Van.Van!" Fiona whirled around to him, her hair whipping her face. "He is danger! They're going to kill him, this time right in front of me."
"But Fiona, Van is.." his voice trailed off. "is.no longer with us. No one is going to kill him."
"He is in danger." Her voice had not returned to it's normal pitch. It was still in a monotone, her eyes dull.
Meanwhile Jade extended her hand slowly towards the strange dragon's nose, she tried to remind herself that it was just like a giant dog..a giant dog that could kill her and eat her up for supper. Yes, a giant dog. It hissed at her and raised it's tail for another attack. Jade jumped back just in time, the spikes only tearing the front part of her blue shirt.
"This guy means business," she muttered, surveying the damage.
She lifted her head up and smirked. "Very well then."
Anthony struggled to keep track of what the old man and that blonde chick were talking about while at the same time, make sure that possessed creature didn't kill his niece with one fatal swipe of his tail. Something in the back of his mind kept telling him to turn around; finally he gave in and whirled around to see a wall with a depiction of a girl who looked similar to the blonde girl in front of him.
"And now you know."
He scowled and narrowed his eyes. "Now I know what?"
All he heard was muffled laughter, like someone was laughing at him. A woman with a silky voice. But why? Her voice sounded so familiar, the same sensation he got when he first met Dr. D, what on Zi was happening to him? He felt like he was running into someone he'd met in a past life or something. Anthony continued to stare at the picture, occasionally glancing back at the familiar girl. There was something about it, something he was missing that was so obvious, like it was under his nose. He wanted to ask her if she knew him but thought better of it. Then the voice said, "So you still refuse to open your eyes? Now you will see." At that he shut his eyes tightly. He vaguely felt something tugging at his pant leg.
He suddenly understand what the words meant for he saw; a small girl with blonde hair in a messy ponytail, she had pale porcelain skin and sunset eyes that looked so sincere, her mouth was moving but no sound came out. Anthony heard his own voice say, "Fiona! Fiona! Are you okay?" to his horror the girl nodded and glanced over her shoulder at blue Shield Liger. She smiled at him and soon they were running to the zoid but shots appeared in front of them, a woman with brown hair done in braids and a man with brown spiky hair appeared in front of them. They too moved their mouths but no sound came out, their faces were blurred. All he could see was that girl, he could see her so clearly. Clearer than he had even seen anything before.
More annoying tugging on his leg, his eyes snapped open to see Jade cock her head to one side.
"You okay?" Jade asked.
Anthony nodded slowly, his surroundings coming back into focus. "Fine. I dunno what happened to me, I must've spaced out or something."
"I'll say. You must have nearly passed out of complete fear!" she grinned.
He arched an eyebrow and lifted his head to see no evil red organiod, only that silvery fluid flooding the ground. There was the girl, whom he assumed was named Fiona; she stood up and wiped dust off of her blue jeans. Their eyes met briefly.
"Say Jade.where's that thing?" Anthony asked slowly.
Jade flashed him one of the most mischievous smiles he'd ever seen and he knew instantly it was not good. "Ta daa!"
She waved her arms in front of her and the red organiod leaped triumphantly in front of her, striking a series of poses. The organiod roared and bounced back in its place behind it's master. Anthony stared wide-eyed at them.
"What the heck?!?!" he fell backwards.
Just five minutes ago that thing wanted to kill her now it was getting it's vogue on with her? What was wrong with this picture? Shock deprived the young man of words, he could only gape at them in a mixture of shock and horror, mostly horror though.
"Anthony?" Jade loomed over her uncle's fallen figure in confusion. She'd thought he'd be thrilled, then again this was her uncle Anthony she was talking about. Her over protective uncle, who didn't allow her to get a skull tattoo or join a traveling circus and also protected her with his life.
Dr. D walked over to them, mulling over what Fiona had revealed to him about her people. Apparently, the red organiod had chosen the little girl for it's master it would be impossible to make it change it's mind now. Man, that Lee sure reminded him of Van, but he would not reveal to Fiona what he had discovered about him. Lee was a man without a past; no written records, no drivers license. Legally, he'd just came into existence three years ago. The question was, did Dr. D want to make the young warrior remember his past and then have a totally different view on life, he would never be the same Van or did he want to leave things the way they were?
*&*&*&*&*&*&*&
No, she decided, she wasn't losing her mind. Van was alive and she would not rest until she found him even if it was the last thing she ever did. She knew he'd do the same for her and then some. Her concert could wait, her love life and sanity were much more important. Her fans would understand..then again she had five days until her concert. Who knows, maybe she could find Van before then.
Her visions were never wrong, but they could be prevented. How could she possible prevent Van from being killed if she didn't even know where he was? She didn't know but she'd soon find out. After that fiasco in the ruins with the red organiod, which disturbingly enough was Ambient, Fiona and Kay had gone back to the capital for rehearsal.
She stared at the microphone in her hand and wondered what would have happened if Van was never attacked, would she still be here as a star? She didn't know and the thoughts were painful. No, she'd still be in the Guardian Force catching bad guys. Even if Van was still alive, she could never go back to the way she was. Why did fate have to be so cruel, it was not fair.
"On three you guys," Fiona said slowly, taking in deep breaths.
Unanimous murmurs of approval sounded from different areas of the large stage. Fiona looked out at the thousands of rows; they extended in a mile in the back and then rounded into a circular stadium. This promised to be her biggest show yet. All of the tickets were sold out in the first two hours. She was huge, but in the massive stadium she felt tiny.
She closed her eyes. "One..two.three."
Perfectly sequenced third techno third rock third hip hop music played from behind her, the beat was slow and calm.
"The stranger sang a theme from someone else's dream. The leaves begin to fall and no one spoke at all. But I can't seem recall when you came along. Ingénue.
Ingénue. I just don't what to do
. The tree line avenue begins to fade from view. Drowning past regrets in tea and cigarettes. But I can't seem to forget, when you came along. Ingénue.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do. Do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do. Do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do. Hold it, hold it!" Fiona made a times out sign with her hands and let out an aggravated sigh.
"What is it, Fi?" Evan asked in annoyance. His tone echoing what everyone else was thinking.
But Fiona didn't hear him, she stared briefly at the mic. That damned thing, she thought angrily, she shouldn't be there singing that song she should be finding Van. She growled, flung the mic on the ground, hopped off the stage and ran out of the stadium as fast as she could.
She didn't know how fast she was running but didn't care either. Just as she raced through the glass doors she knocked smack dap into someone's rock hard chest, sending both of them on the ground. She struggled to get up but a pair of strong arms kept her locked in place.
"Let me go," she said in what she thought was a fierce tone.
"Fiona? Is that you?"
She looked up at the face of none other than Irvine; he looked exactly the same as he did before, he still wore that same old eye patch and the overalls, but his ring finger donned a golden band. Sure enough he really was getting married, wow, Fiona didn't know why all of a sudden she was impressed. Apart of her wished that ring was on someone else's finger..
They just stared at each other in shock, studying the minor differences. Irvine was like family to her, he was like the big strong brother she never had. Oh dear, she thought, I must look like a wreck.
Fiona looked different than she did in her music video; her hair was an inch above her shoulders while in the video her hair was down to her back. But she still was just as pretty and still as innocent. Unsurprisingly she wasn't wearing her pink uniform he had once been accustomed to seeing day after boring day, instead she was dressed in black sweatpants and a pink tank top. Wait a sec.. He'd know those pants anywhere, those where Van's. Irvine remembered, Moonbay had bought them for Van when he had complained about having no clean sleeping pants.
She clasped her chest. "Irvine."
"Hey you! Let go of Fi right now!" the sound of running feet ruined the reunion. Fiona knew who it was who spoke, Kay.
"You've grown up quite a bit," Irvine smiled faintly.
The look on his face made Fiona's heart break; she couldn't begin to imagine all the pain she had caused them. It was so selfish of her to leave right after they'd already lost Van.
"Oh, Irvine. I'm so sorry," Fiona wrapped her arms around his chest; silent tears fell down her cheeks and stained his overalls. "I'm so sorry for all the pain I've caused. I'm so so sorry."
"It's okay, Fiona, it's okay. C'mon what do you say we ditch these groupies and get some coffee."
Fiona met his eyes and nodded. "Let's."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So I hear you've been very busy lately, how's life in the public eye?"
"You've got no privacy, if you want to go down to Starbucks you have to wear a hat and sunglasses and dress like a bum. You honestly have no life."
"That's why I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do such a thing. I mean it's like selling your life just for some money."
Fiona giggled, it was faint but it was a start. "Oh and you wouldn't do anything for money?" her sunset eyes flashed up at his brown ones, they glittered with amusement. "If that's the case then you must have really changed."
Irvine shrugged and tilted his wrist, a habit he learned from Moonbay. He honestly in his opinion spent too much time with her, but hey that's what one does when he's engaged. "Of course I wouldn't do anything for money, are you crazy?"
She laughed and glanced down at her coffee mug. "It's been a long time, hasn't it," she said in a low voice.
"Yeah I suppose so. Times change and people do too."
"You haven't changed a bit."
Irvine frowned; Moonbay should have been here by now, where the hell was she? "I can't say the same for you, Ms. Platinum record."
But that did the exact opposite it was supposed to do, it obviously disturbed her. Maybe he was wrong about her; maybe she hadn't gotten over Van. Irvine doubted any of them had, they just learned to live without him.
"Sometimes I wonder where I would be right now if it didn't happen.if he didn't.. leave us. Would I still be in the Guardian Force fighting the same enemy I've been fighting since I was 17? Or would I be here.where I am today." her voice trailed off.
"Ah Irvine there you are! Ya bum!"
All heads turned to see a tall, slender, brunette with her hair high in range of braids. She was dressed in her usual attire, the brown gipsy shirt and the skirt with the cowboy boots. As much as she would have loved to go shopping her paycheck just wouldn't permit.
"Moonbay!" Irvine and Fiona called in unison.
The brunette in question stopped dead in her tracks; her eyes traveled from her handsome fiancé to a young girl with shoulder length blonde hair with sunset eyes. She placed her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp.
"Fiona?!"
Fiona smiled and nodded, her golden locks bounced. "Hiya Moonbay, long time no see!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back to school shopping, joy, the lazy days of summer were numbered and unfortunately that number wasn't very big. Backpacks, pencils, pens, notebooks, the whole works. The saddest days of the year was when little kids had to get ready for school and kiss their freedom goodbye until next year. Whoever said winter was saddest time of the year was half right; winter was sad because one had to go to school and endure the harsh conditions and that was about it. No one ever gave the ending days of summer a second thought.
Tried as he might, Anthony just couldn't seem to cheer his niece up. They were strolling on the sidewalk looking for some place to buy more school utensils for her prison secession, Ambient at the rear staring in awe at the man made wonders around him.
Jade sighed, her hands on the back of her head. "Are you sure I can't just show up on the first day of school and then never show up again?"
"No Jade, it doesn't work that way. Trust me you want an education so you can have a good job," Anthony replied patiently. His niece's mood was beginning to get to him. "Cheer up. If you want, I'll see if can pull some strings so you can ride in a zoid."
Jade just inhaled deeply; nothing not even zoids could cheer her up now. She was sunk, depressed, not in the mood. Maybe she should get some of those happy pills..
Ambient cocked his head to one side and blinked at his young master, she was thinking about happy pills? What were those? As an organiod, Ambient could read Jade's thoughts and communicate to her telepathically. But like a child with a new toy, Jade was steadily learning about all the talents and gifts her newest friend possessed, whether she knew it or not.
"Yeah happy pills, I saw them in a commercial on TV once," she said, dully.
The organiod growled and nodded even though he didn't understand what she was talking about.
"Happy pills?" Anthony arched a dark eyebrow. She was only seven years old for crying out loud! Too young to be think about antidepressant pills! "You mean antidepressant pills?"
Jade shrugged and looked into the window of a little boutique with a pink frilly head on display. Inside was all sorts of feminine jewelry dressed with diamonds and pearls, in shades of pink. She mentally cringed, too much feminity for her liking. When she grew up, Jade was going to be a famous archaeologist /adventurer/ zoid pilot. And with Ambient by her side, she would be unstoppable. She was going to be the best of the best.
"I guesso, I dunno." Another depressed sigh.
Anthony really hated it when she was like this, but knew she would bounce back soon enough.
They passed another window, this time the window of a small café called "Mimi's Café'". The moment the little girl laid eyes on the word 'Café' her stomach growled reminding her she hadn't eaten since 8 in the morning and it was almost 4. Frowning, Jade jealously eyed everyone's sandwiches until she came across a familiar face.
Jade held her out to her side as if stopping traffic, her hazel eyes locked on target. "Anthony look!" she pointed to a blonde sitting a booth with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Jade it's not polite to point-" Anthony followed her gaze and his eyes fell upon that girl, Fiona, he could hear that voice in his head again. It was that girl in his dreams, she was calling him. But she wasn't calling him, she was calling someone else. Van. That was his name.
He shut his eyes; he could see the girl again the same girl that had haunted his dreams for as long as he could remember, each time he learned something new about her. Her sunset eyes were laughing and she was pulling at his arm until she somehow fell into his arms. She'd close her eyes then open one and watch him with amusement. Her name was Fiona.
That other girl, the singer, her name was also Fiona.
"Anthony, ya okay? Your spacing out again," Jade pointed out.
Anthony's eyes fluttered open and he smiled faintly. "Your right, I gotta really stop doing that."
"I'll say," those big hazel eyes darted to and fro from the café. He'd know that look in them from anywhere; she was hungry.
"Okay, okay. You win, Jade, we'll take five and get a bite to eat.." His voice trailed off.
Great, he thought, now Ambient was staring at that café. What was that thing some old guy said about great minds? Oh yeah, great minds think a like. Could organiods eat? He had no idea.
Ambient's tail twitched endlessly, his dark eyes locked on the girl that had his little master so captivated.
Anthony cleared his throat and leaned towards the little girl. "Say uh, Jade, can those things eat?" he said in a hushed tone as if he didn't want Ambient to hear.
The organiod glanced over at them and then returned his attention back to blonde woman.
Jade shrugged, "Beats me. Yo Ambient," Ambient snapped up at the sound of his name and looked curiously at her. "Can you eat?"
He blinked and after a minute of thoughtfulness shook his head.
"There you have it. Organiods cannot eat."
Little did they know, the woman in the window wasn't the only one being watched. From the shadows of a dark corner in setting sun, a dark figure watched his quarries movements just like a tiger stalked it's pray.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Author's Note: Well that's chapter two. What do ya'll think? Is it good? Is it worthy of another chapter? Tell me okay? I really want to know what you think, my loyal friends. ^^ R & R ya hear?
Peace OUT!!
~*Mi ChElLe*~
Over a bowl of cereal during breakfast, Jade decided to pop the question once again. Hopefully she wouldn't get shot down like she did last night. Now that her Aunt Laura was there, Anthony would have no choice but to comply..she hoped.
"Anthony," Jade began in between mouthfuls of Caption Crunch cereal. "About last night."
"No." came the reply before the words even left her mouth.
Oh denied! Jade slammed her hands on the table and jumped up against the table, her bowl shaking. But her uncle went unfazed.
"But Anthony!"
Anthony spun his spoon through the left over milk, he never really liked milk although it did taste good in cereal but that was about it. He closed his eyes allowing the clink of the silverware to clear his thoughts.
"No, Jade. It's too dangerous."
"But Anthony!" she cried again. "But! But!"
Adventure kept whispering her name, telling her exactly where to go, how to get there, and what do to when she got there. Two words; 'Uncle' and 'Anthony': Two years ago, Aunty Laura made Anthony help with community as soon as he was better from his accident, (an event that blurred Jade's usually fantastic memory). So he worked with the police, caught a few bad guys, piloted zoids and was called a complete natural. Then as soon as the Recovery of the Ancient Zoidian Ruins or RAZR for short needed volunteers to help with the recovery of possible organiods (whatever those were). He worked at the ruins for crying out loud and he still refused to take her.
"But no, Jade," Anthony said patiently, eyes still closed. "A couple of the men already have died. I don't want you to die too; it's just too dangerous. There are signs of Sleepers somewhere in the facility and I don't want you to be killed by a Sleeper."
Jade's hazel eyes widened with excitement. Sleepers? She thought gleefully, sleepers were zoids and she adored zoids in all shapes and sizes.
"GAH! WAIT! I didn't say anything about Sleepers!" he waved his arms wildly but it was too late, the damage had been done.
Defeated, Anthony sighed and sunk in his chair. "It doesn't make a difference anyways," he sighed again. "you'll still find a way to sneak in."
"Now what's all this I hear about Sleepers?"
In walked a woman with long, black hair so deep a black that it shined blue and piercing blue eyes. She was tall and wore an amused expression. She pulled a seat in between Anthony and Jade and eyed their half full bowls of milk with disgust.
"Would it kill you two to finish the milk?" she hissed
They ignored her and seconds later shouted at her.
"Aunt Laura! Can I go to the ruins PLEASE?!?!"
"Laura! You can't be serious! She can't go the ruins! It's dangerous!!! She could get killed!"
"I will not! I'll be careful I promise!" Jade pleaded desperately
"Don't listen to her!"
Laura shoved both of them out of her face and back into their respective seats. Jade looked ready to leap out of her seat at a moment's notice while Anthony glowered. Ah, all this love was beginning to get to her.
"Now, what on Zi is going on?" Laura asked, looking from Jade to Anthony.
Anthony cleared his throat and shot Jade an dirty look, suddenly remembering he was the adult. Silly him. He knew that either way Jade was going to go to that cursed ruins; she'd find a way he knew she would. Jade never failed to amaze him, she was so bright and so intuitive it couldn't be described in other way than amazing. Well, her grades didn't amaze him actually she was doing quite poorly for she kept sneaking off after him whenever he went somewhere. Jade was so bright but she never used her brains in school.
"Jade wants to go to the ruins with me so she can have something to write about in her essay," Anthony explained, dully.
Jade pressed her stomach against the side of the table once again. "Can I PLEASE?!"
Her aunt shrugged. "I don't think it's that good of an idea, Jade. Your uncle is right, with rumors of Sleepers in the surrounding area the ruins aren't practically the safest place in the world you could be."
"Aw! This sucks!!" she slammed her spoon in her cereal and stormed out of the small kitchen.
Anthony sighed at her retreating figure and glanced over at the clock on the wall, it read 8:24 a.m. Wait a second 8:24..oh shit! He was supposed to be at the ruins at 8! Oh no, the old guy was going to have his head for being late for the fifth time that month.
"Ah my God! I'm late!!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Y'know Fi, I don't get why we just didn't park the bus in front of the ruins, that'd way we wouldn't have to make our way blindly to the ruins," Kay grumbled.
If it was one thing Kay did without trouble was talk, Fiona bet she couldn't shut up even if her life depended on it. It was basically a one sided conversation with the exception of a couple grunts on the blonde's part. And when Kay got really excited she talked at a million words an hour, making it extremely difficult to keep up with what the hell she was saying.
"Yeah yeah, just relax Kay, we'll get there," Fiona said.
Kay's eyes darted from the windshield of the tour bus to Fiona, now that she thought of it why didn't the blonde want a Gustav? A Gustav would have made things so much easier, it may be slow but at least it moved a comfortable pace. Then again it couldn't hold everyone as well as the bus could.
Just then a gray blur whooshed past them in the direction of the ruins, shaking the massive bus. Images suddenly flashed before Fiona eyes, frighteningly familiar scenes of her sad past: It was the night before her whole world was shattered.
~*Flashback*~
Fiona sat on her bed, her legs folded over one another, in her lap rested a notepad while in her hands was a book and clutched the back of a pen with her teeth. She'd been writing some songs, a spur of the moment thing. Something she did in private. When the door to her bedroom opened quietly, she'd nearly jumped out of her skin, revealing Van. His dark eyes shone with something mischievous.
"Hey Fiona," he smiled that boyish smile that would later on make her heart break.
"Hey." the pen started to slide down her chin, leaving a nice blue- zigzagged line.
Van laughed and sat down next to her, and pulled the pen out of her mouth. He pressed his lips against hers. He broke the kiss, licked his lips and laughed again.
"You taste like ink," he grinned, running his tongue over his lips. "Just the way I like it."
Fiona rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him. She touched the side of her mouth for her pen but had completely forgotten it was no longer there. She blinked and glanced around wildly for it. Van grinned to ear to ear like a Cheshire cat.
"Where-is my pen--?" she looked up and saw him twiddling the object in question in between his fingers just before placing it above his ear lob like an artist.
"Whatca writin'?" he snatched the notepad from her lap.
She gasped and automatically grabbed it back. "Van!"
He looked up at her innocently, batting his eyelashes. "What did I do?"
"You little thief! Would it kill you to at least ask for it?" Fiona clutched it against her bosom as if that fact alone could deter Van.
For one reason or another, Fiona was extremely protective of her notepad. In it was her inner most thoughts and desires, some things the world could get along better without knowing. Someone looking at it was like someone looking at her soul, and she wasn't ready to expose herself just yet. She'd like her dignity in tact, thank you very much.
Van folded his arms across his chest, closed his eyes and held his nose up. "Well excuse me for being curious about stuff the love of my life writes. My bad."
"Okay."
That apparently had not been the response he had in mind, for he opened his left eye and stared at her in disbelief. She returned the look with a glare of her own, and they spent minutes just in a staring contest to see who would crack up first. Finally, Van snorted and by doing so fell off the foot of the bed. Fiona burst out laughing.
~*End Flashback*~
Fiona laughed fondly at the memory; the look on Van's face was priceless. Life with Van was anything but boring; just when she'd thought she'd die of boredom Van'd fall flat on his face or burst out laughing for no reason whatever so ever. His laughter was so contagious that pretty soon everyone was laughing along with him. Ah, the good ole days.
"What's so funny?" Kay questioned.
More images pasted before her eyes, this time faster than before; it was at that precise moment when that first transmission from Van came in, when he shouted "Gramps! Scan the surrounding area for it!". No one knew what he was talking about; all Fiona knew was that the zoid who attacked Van on the obvious purpose for killing him had seceded. But why did she have this sinking feeling that he didn't, that Van was still alive? No. That was crazy talk, it had to be.
Come to think of it; they never did find that zoid who stole all the laughter from them. She was angry, the least they could do for his memory was catch and fry the guy responsible.
"I guess the saying is true then," Fiona muttered absently, "only the good die young."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Fiona smiled weakly at her. Words escaped her.
*Two hours thirty-five minutes and fifteen seconds later*
The Jeep they rented pulled up in front of a crumbling, vine infested, temple. It was massive with overgrown vines that fought the once limestone structure. From first glance Fiona knew it was a temple, but a temple for what? Where was Dr. D when you needed him? She mentally sighed.
They stepped out the Jeep, which was ironically parked next to the same jeep they'd seen earlier. Kay was quivering with excitement; finally she'd be able to see a temple of the Ancients. She glanced over at Fiona, who wore a worried expression, and wondered why she'd be upset. There was nothing wrong with that temple, at least from the outside.
"You know if RAZR got their sticky paws on this joint?" Kay asked as they walked through a gaping hole in the dusty, ancient wall.
"Dunno, most likely."
Inside, the air was thick and musty; light barely penetrated the thick walls thus making the inside dark. A good portion of the floor was overgrown with weeds; some of the bottom stones were pushed up on strange angles. As they walked, Fiona prayed that she would not remember anything. The last thing she needed was to remember something about her past and start talking aloud, God, she shuddered at the thought.
Fiona stopped in mid-stride and held her arm out to prevent Kay from going any further. "Do you hear that?" she whispered.
Kay strained her ears and after moments of maddening silence, the sound of voices met her ears. So the RAZR did get this place. Why was she not surprised?
"Yeah, voices," she whispered back, unhappily. So much for her trip through undiscovered ruins.
"No," the blonde said in a low voice. She'd recognize that voice from anywhere, Dr. D! "Dr. D, that old geezer is still alive!"
She trotted to the sound of the voices, while Kay sighed and followed her. Fiona peered over a corner to an illuminated room with many shadows on the ceiling. She recognized one in particular, sure enough it was none other than Dr. D. When the voices hushed down, Fiona decided this was her chance.
"Psst! Dr. D!" she whispered.
The old man's head snapped back as he looked over at a dark corner. "What? Who's there?"
"Dr. D!" He slowly walked towards the corner and peered into a passage way he'd never seen before. Suddenly a girl bounced up in front of him. She looked awfully familiar, only she had blonde hair that went barely over her shoulders. It took him a second to..
"Oh my God! Fiona!" Dr. D slapped his forehead. "Fiona! Is that you?!"
Fiona smiled and nodded. "Yup, it sure is. How are you, Dr. D?"
Dr. D looked her, total shock written over his wrinkled features. "Goodness Fiona, I still can't believe it's you!" he took her in his arms and squeezed her tight.
"Okay okay, Dr. D. This a little too much love," she said, laughing.
"Huh? Oh sorry," he released. "Good Lord, Fiona. What brings you here? Last I heard was that you were on tour. Moonbay's been keeping track, Irvine says she pays more attention to your fame than she does to him."
Fiona laughed and glanced at the room; there were three men, all of them busy dusting off pieces of what appeared to be remnants of tablets. Their faces were so serious as if the details they found on those remnants were going to save the world, to think, Fiona thought, she was once like them. Except she had gotten out more often.
"What are these boys working on?" she asked.
Dr. D cleared his throat and she whirled around. "Now Fiona, don't you want to introduce me to your friend here?"
Kay nodded slowly, her arms folded across her chest. Today her brown hair was done in a high ponytail, and her bangs tickled the sides of her ears.
Fiona blinked. "Er.. Okay, Dr. D that's Kay. Kay that's Dr. D."
"Hello," Kay nodded to the older man.
Once full introductions were done, Dr. D went on to tell them he had found an organiod capsule in a secret room just like Van had found Zeke and Fiona. He kept making comparisons from that day to this day, even going as far as asking Fiona what she remembered of that day when she had first laid eyes on the seventeen year old Van. She desperately wanted him to stop with the comparisons and go on with the facts, she was tired of all the pain, tired of all the loneliness, most of all she was tired of Van.
"Is it confirmed what color the organiod is?"
"Yes, interestingly enough it's red."
"Red?" Fiona blinked, fear slowly seized her heart. "Wasn't there only one Red organiod?"
Dr. D nodded. "Yes to the extent of our knowledge, it has a large resemblance to him. But I sincerely doubt it is him, nothing could have survived that. I know for a fact if that'd be the case, we'd have one very pissed Raven on our hands."
"Well, that would stop his killing sprees I suppose. Then again it would put this temple and the surrounding village in grave danger. According to Rudolph all of the attack bases designed especially to destroy the Genobreaker were in fact annihilated themselves. What I find odd, is that Raven just doesn't do what he normally does, destroy everything until he gets to what he wants," Fiona said thoughtfully.
Kay just stared at them as if they'd grown extra heads. "What the hell are they talking about?" she muttered.
"Beats me, but it sure sounds professional," a male voice said from beside her.
She saw a young man about twenty-one, maybe twenty years of age with jet- black hair that was spiked on the top and a ponytail in the back. He had a red line tattoo on the side of his cheek and gray eyes. He looked very confused.
"Um. hey gramps." he called out meekly.
Both Dr. D and Fiona turned to them, he looked shocked while she looked ready to pass out. The old man sighed as soon as he saw who it was. Just that Anthony Lee, a good kid but with a lousy memory and a knack for arriving late. He looked an awful lot like Van, and the old man had heard the reason for his crummy memory was because he was in a terrible accident and had lots of head trauma, over three years ago. At about the same time Van was attacked and killed, only now Dr. D was sure he never died.
"Oh it's just you, Lee. What's your excuse this time? Wait don't tell me, your Jeep wouldn't start like yesterday and last Thursday?"
Anthony Lee blushed, placed his hand behind his head, and laughed nervously. "Actually.my Jeep was just fine today. hehe, funny how that works ain't it?"
Silence consumed the ancient ruins, but was soon broken by a, "Ooh! What does this button do?"
"No! Little girl don't touch that you don't know what it'll do!"
A loud cracking sound was heard over in the room behind them, Anthony looked positively mortified.
Dr. D gasped and raced into the next room, the three of them on his heels.
"What the heck happened here?" he shouted, surveying the floor.
There was a little girl with medium length black hair or was it green? He couldn't tell in the damned light. In front of her was the red organiod, its metallic body covered in ooze. It was growling. Oh no, he thought, suddenly remembering that organiods were violent when they were first born.
"Jade!"
Anthony scooped the little girl in his arms just before the organiod slammed its spiked tail down. It growled and hissed, swiping it's tail menacingly.
"Oh my God, Jade are you okay? Did it hurt you?" Anthony was frantically checking her body for any wounds, and placed his palm on her forehead.
"Anthony," she swiped his hand off of her forehead, wrinkling her nose. "I'm fine. But what is it?"
They gazed over at the defensive organiod that had already attacked some guy who had tried to throw an electric net over it. It kept glancing over at Jade, occasionally meeting her eyes. The old guy kept shouting orders at everyone, saying stuff like 'this organiod must be stopped before it escapes and reeks havoc in the capital'
"Did you let that thing out?" Anthony asked but his niece's eyes were locked on the red organiod.
She nodded. "Yeah, something kept telling me to do it. So I did. I don't think it's bad, lemme show ya."
She jumped out of his arms before he had the chance to stop her and walked towards the organiod.
"Hey you! Leave them alone, it's me you want," Jade said with a smirk.
Fiona glanced over at Anthony, who looked shell-shocked, and was once again under attack by memories of her past. She saw Van lying face down in the ground as still as death. Then she saw Zeke standing in front of her in the shadow of the Deathsaurer, screams and cries of anguish filled the air.
"Oh no, oh no," she clutched her chest. It was happening again, her damn memories were coming back. Back at the worst possible moment, just her luck.
"Fiona!" Dr. D cried out. "Are you remembering something?"
Kay stared at her.
"Yes, Zeke! Zeke knew all along, oh dear God, Zeke knew. It was Zeke's idea to go into the temple to escape the Deathsaurer; he wanted to protect me from the death and destruction going on in our village. He said the safest place for me was in his birthplace, that the farther we were from the Zoid Eve the better. There were too many Ancient Zoidians for the Deathsaurer to choose just one. "
She shut her eyes, allowing herself to fall victim to the memories. She heard laughter and sobs in the seas of her memory. " I see Hiltz. He is laughing at the people who are dying and crying. He says he knows a friend to Ambient, who is in a village not to far from here, and that she's probably crying her heart out. But he won't let her die. No, she's far too valuable to him. Reese. Her name is Reese." Fiona said, her voice monotonous.
Dr. D gasped, he had no idea Hiltz was at Fiona's village. Nor did he know that he and Reese were already planning their attack on the future. He glanced over at Kay, who looked confused and doubted that Fiona had ever told her about her life as an Ancient Zoidian.
"Van.Van!" Fiona whirled around to him, her hair whipping her face. "He is danger! They're going to kill him, this time right in front of me."
"But Fiona, Van is.." his voice trailed off. "is.no longer with us. No one is going to kill him."
"He is in danger." Her voice had not returned to it's normal pitch. It was still in a monotone, her eyes dull.
Meanwhile Jade extended her hand slowly towards the strange dragon's nose, she tried to remind herself that it was just like a giant dog..a giant dog that could kill her and eat her up for supper. Yes, a giant dog. It hissed at her and raised it's tail for another attack. Jade jumped back just in time, the spikes only tearing the front part of her blue shirt.
"This guy means business," she muttered, surveying the damage.
She lifted her head up and smirked. "Very well then."
Anthony struggled to keep track of what the old man and that blonde chick were talking about while at the same time, make sure that possessed creature didn't kill his niece with one fatal swipe of his tail. Something in the back of his mind kept telling him to turn around; finally he gave in and whirled around to see a wall with a depiction of a girl who looked similar to the blonde girl in front of him.
"And now you know."
He scowled and narrowed his eyes. "Now I know what?"
All he heard was muffled laughter, like someone was laughing at him. A woman with a silky voice. But why? Her voice sounded so familiar, the same sensation he got when he first met Dr. D, what on Zi was happening to him? He felt like he was running into someone he'd met in a past life or something. Anthony continued to stare at the picture, occasionally glancing back at the familiar girl. There was something about it, something he was missing that was so obvious, like it was under his nose. He wanted to ask her if she knew him but thought better of it. Then the voice said, "So you still refuse to open your eyes? Now you will see." At that he shut his eyes tightly. He vaguely felt something tugging at his pant leg.
He suddenly understand what the words meant for he saw; a small girl with blonde hair in a messy ponytail, she had pale porcelain skin and sunset eyes that looked so sincere, her mouth was moving but no sound came out. Anthony heard his own voice say, "Fiona! Fiona! Are you okay?" to his horror the girl nodded and glanced over her shoulder at blue Shield Liger. She smiled at him and soon they were running to the zoid but shots appeared in front of them, a woman with brown hair done in braids and a man with brown spiky hair appeared in front of them. They too moved their mouths but no sound came out, their faces were blurred. All he could see was that girl, he could see her so clearly. Clearer than he had even seen anything before.
More annoying tugging on his leg, his eyes snapped open to see Jade cock her head to one side.
"You okay?" Jade asked.
Anthony nodded slowly, his surroundings coming back into focus. "Fine. I dunno what happened to me, I must've spaced out or something."
"I'll say. You must have nearly passed out of complete fear!" she grinned.
He arched an eyebrow and lifted his head to see no evil red organiod, only that silvery fluid flooding the ground. There was the girl, whom he assumed was named Fiona; she stood up and wiped dust off of her blue jeans. Their eyes met briefly.
"Say Jade.where's that thing?" Anthony asked slowly.
Jade flashed him one of the most mischievous smiles he'd ever seen and he knew instantly it was not good. "Ta daa!"
She waved her arms in front of her and the red organiod leaped triumphantly in front of her, striking a series of poses. The organiod roared and bounced back in its place behind it's master. Anthony stared wide-eyed at them.
"What the heck?!?!" he fell backwards.
Just five minutes ago that thing wanted to kill her now it was getting it's vogue on with her? What was wrong with this picture? Shock deprived the young man of words, he could only gape at them in a mixture of shock and horror, mostly horror though.
"Anthony?" Jade loomed over her uncle's fallen figure in confusion. She'd thought he'd be thrilled, then again this was her uncle Anthony she was talking about. Her over protective uncle, who didn't allow her to get a skull tattoo or join a traveling circus and also protected her with his life.
Dr. D walked over to them, mulling over what Fiona had revealed to him about her people. Apparently, the red organiod had chosen the little girl for it's master it would be impossible to make it change it's mind now. Man, that Lee sure reminded him of Van, but he would not reveal to Fiona what he had discovered about him. Lee was a man without a past; no written records, no drivers license. Legally, he'd just came into existence three years ago. The question was, did Dr. D want to make the young warrior remember his past and then have a totally different view on life, he would never be the same Van or did he want to leave things the way they were?
*&*&*&*&*&*&*&
No, she decided, she wasn't losing her mind. Van was alive and she would not rest until she found him even if it was the last thing she ever did. She knew he'd do the same for her and then some. Her concert could wait, her love life and sanity were much more important. Her fans would understand..then again she had five days until her concert. Who knows, maybe she could find Van before then.
Her visions were never wrong, but they could be prevented. How could she possible prevent Van from being killed if she didn't even know where he was? She didn't know but she'd soon find out. After that fiasco in the ruins with the red organiod, which disturbingly enough was Ambient, Fiona and Kay had gone back to the capital for rehearsal.
She stared at the microphone in her hand and wondered what would have happened if Van was never attacked, would she still be here as a star? She didn't know and the thoughts were painful. No, she'd still be in the Guardian Force catching bad guys. Even if Van was still alive, she could never go back to the way she was. Why did fate have to be so cruel, it was not fair.
"On three you guys," Fiona said slowly, taking in deep breaths.
Unanimous murmurs of approval sounded from different areas of the large stage. Fiona looked out at the thousands of rows; they extended in a mile in the back and then rounded into a circular stadium. This promised to be her biggest show yet. All of the tickets were sold out in the first two hours. She was huge, but in the massive stadium she felt tiny.
She closed her eyes. "One..two.three."
Perfectly sequenced third techno third rock third hip hop music played from behind her, the beat was slow and calm.
"The stranger sang a theme from someone else's dream. The leaves begin to fall and no one spoke at all. But I can't seem recall when you came along. Ingénue.
Ingénue. I just don't what to do
. The tree line avenue begins to fade from view. Drowning past regrets in tea and cigarettes. But I can't seem to forget, when you came along. Ingénue.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do. Do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do.
Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do. Do do do do do do do do do ingénue. Do do do do do do do do do do do I just don't know what to do. Hold it, hold it!" Fiona made a times out sign with her hands and let out an aggravated sigh.
"What is it, Fi?" Evan asked in annoyance. His tone echoing what everyone else was thinking.
But Fiona didn't hear him, she stared briefly at the mic. That damned thing, she thought angrily, she shouldn't be there singing that song she should be finding Van. She growled, flung the mic on the ground, hopped off the stage and ran out of the stadium as fast as she could.
She didn't know how fast she was running but didn't care either. Just as she raced through the glass doors she knocked smack dap into someone's rock hard chest, sending both of them on the ground. She struggled to get up but a pair of strong arms kept her locked in place.
"Let me go," she said in what she thought was a fierce tone.
"Fiona? Is that you?"
She looked up at the face of none other than Irvine; he looked exactly the same as he did before, he still wore that same old eye patch and the overalls, but his ring finger donned a golden band. Sure enough he really was getting married, wow, Fiona didn't know why all of a sudden she was impressed. Apart of her wished that ring was on someone else's finger..
They just stared at each other in shock, studying the minor differences. Irvine was like family to her, he was like the big strong brother she never had. Oh dear, she thought, I must look like a wreck.
Fiona looked different than she did in her music video; her hair was an inch above her shoulders while in the video her hair was down to her back. But she still was just as pretty and still as innocent. Unsurprisingly she wasn't wearing her pink uniform he had once been accustomed to seeing day after boring day, instead she was dressed in black sweatpants and a pink tank top. Wait a sec.. He'd know those pants anywhere, those where Van's. Irvine remembered, Moonbay had bought them for Van when he had complained about having no clean sleeping pants.
She clasped her chest. "Irvine."
"Hey you! Let go of Fi right now!" the sound of running feet ruined the reunion. Fiona knew who it was who spoke, Kay.
"You've grown up quite a bit," Irvine smiled faintly.
The look on his face made Fiona's heart break; she couldn't begin to imagine all the pain she had caused them. It was so selfish of her to leave right after they'd already lost Van.
"Oh, Irvine. I'm so sorry," Fiona wrapped her arms around his chest; silent tears fell down her cheeks and stained his overalls. "I'm so sorry for all the pain I've caused. I'm so so sorry."
"It's okay, Fiona, it's okay. C'mon what do you say we ditch these groupies and get some coffee."
Fiona met his eyes and nodded. "Let's."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So I hear you've been very busy lately, how's life in the public eye?"
"You've got no privacy, if you want to go down to Starbucks you have to wear a hat and sunglasses and dress like a bum. You honestly have no life."
"That's why I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do such a thing. I mean it's like selling your life just for some money."
Fiona giggled, it was faint but it was a start. "Oh and you wouldn't do anything for money?" her sunset eyes flashed up at his brown ones, they glittered with amusement. "If that's the case then you must have really changed."
Irvine shrugged and tilted his wrist, a habit he learned from Moonbay. He honestly in his opinion spent too much time with her, but hey that's what one does when he's engaged. "Of course I wouldn't do anything for money, are you crazy?"
She laughed and glanced down at her coffee mug. "It's been a long time, hasn't it," she said in a low voice.
"Yeah I suppose so. Times change and people do too."
"You haven't changed a bit."
Irvine frowned; Moonbay should have been here by now, where the hell was she? "I can't say the same for you, Ms. Platinum record."
But that did the exact opposite it was supposed to do, it obviously disturbed her. Maybe he was wrong about her; maybe she hadn't gotten over Van. Irvine doubted any of them had, they just learned to live without him.
"Sometimes I wonder where I would be right now if it didn't happen.if he didn't.. leave us. Would I still be in the Guardian Force fighting the same enemy I've been fighting since I was 17? Or would I be here.where I am today." her voice trailed off.
"Ah Irvine there you are! Ya bum!"
All heads turned to see a tall, slender, brunette with her hair high in range of braids. She was dressed in her usual attire, the brown gipsy shirt and the skirt with the cowboy boots. As much as she would have loved to go shopping her paycheck just wouldn't permit.
"Moonbay!" Irvine and Fiona called in unison.
The brunette in question stopped dead in her tracks; her eyes traveled from her handsome fiancé to a young girl with shoulder length blonde hair with sunset eyes. She placed her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp.
"Fiona?!"
Fiona smiled and nodded, her golden locks bounced. "Hiya Moonbay, long time no see!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back to school shopping, joy, the lazy days of summer were numbered and unfortunately that number wasn't very big. Backpacks, pencils, pens, notebooks, the whole works. The saddest days of the year was when little kids had to get ready for school and kiss their freedom goodbye until next year. Whoever said winter was saddest time of the year was half right; winter was sad because one had to go to school and endure the harsh conditions and that was about it. No one ever gave the ending days of summer a second thought.
Tried as he might, Anthony just couldn't seem to cheer his niece up. They were strolling on the sidewalk looking for some place to buy more school utensils for her prison secession, Ambient at the rear staring in awe at the man made wonders around him.
Jade sighed, her hands on the back of her head. "Are you sure I can't just show up on the first day of school and then never show up again?"
"No Jade, it doesn't work that way. Trust me you want an education so you can have a good job," Anthony replied patiently. His niece's mood was beginning to get to him. "Cheer up. If you want, I'll see if can pull some strings so you can ride in a zoid."
Jade just inhaled deeply; nothing not even zoids could cheer her up now. She was sunk, depressed, not in the mood. Maybe she should get some of those happy pills..
Ambient cocked his head to one side and blinked at his young master, she was thinking about happy pills? What were those? As an organiod, Ambient could read Jade's thoughts and communicate to her telepathically. But like a child with a new toy, Jade was steadily learning about all the talents and gifts her newest friend possessed, whether she knew it or not.
"Yeah happy pills, I saw them in a commercial on TV once," she said, dully.
The organiod growled and nodded even though he didn't understand what she was talking about.
"Happy pills?" Anthony arched a dark eyebrow. She was only seven years old for crying out loud! Too young to be think about antidepressant pills! "You mean antidepressant pills?"
Jade shrugged and looked into the window of a little boutique with a pink frilly head on display. Inside was all sorts of feminine jewelry dressed with diamonds and pearls, in shades of pink. She mentally cringed, too much feminity for her liking. When she grew up, Jade was going to be a famous archaeologist /adventurer/ zoid pilot. And with Ambient by her side, she would be unstoppable. She was going to be the best of the best.
"I guesso, I dunno." Another depressed sigh.
Anthony really hated it when she was like this, but knew she would bounce back soon enough.
They passed another window, this time the window of a small café called "Mimi's Café'". The moment the little girl laid eyes on the word 'Café' her stomach growled reminding her she hadn't eaten since 8 in the morning and it was almost 4. Frowning, Jade jealously eyed everyone's sandwiches until she came across a familiar face.
Jade held her out to her side as if stopping traffic, her hazel eyes locked on target. "Anthony look!" she pointed to a blonde sitting a booth with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Jade it's not polite to point-" Anthony followed her gaze and his eyes fell upon that girl, Fiona, he could hear that voice in his head again. It was that girl in his dreams, she was calling him. But she wasn't calling him, she was calling someone else. Van. That was his name.
He shut his eyes; he could see the girl again the same girl that had haunted his dreams for as long as he could remember, each time he learned something new about her. Her sunset eyes were laughing and she was pulling at his arm until she somehow fell into his arms. She'd close her eyes then open one and watch him with amusement. Her name was Fiona.
That other girl, the singer, her name was also Fiona.
"Anthony, ya okay? Your spacing out again," Jade pointed out.
Anthony's eyes fluttered open and he smiled faintly. "Your right, I gotta really stop doing that."
"I'll say," those big hazel eyes darted to and fro from the café. He'd know that look in them from anywhere; she was hungry.
"Okay, okay. You win, Jade, we'll take five and get a bite to eat.." His voice trailed off.
Great, he thought, now Ambient was staring at that café. What was that thing some old guy said about great minds? Oh yeah, great minds think a like. Could organiods eat? He had no idea.
Ambient's tail twitched endlessly, his dark eyes locked on the girl that had his little master so captivated.
Anthony cleared his throat and leaned towards the little girl. "Say uh, Jade, can those things eat?" he said in a hushed tone as if he didn't want Ambient to hear.
The organiod glanced over at them and then returned his attention back to blonde woman.
Jade shrugged, "Beats me. Yo Ambient," Ambient snapped up at the sound of his name and looked curiously at her. "Can you eat?"
He blinked and after a minute of thoughtfulness shook his head.
"There you have it. Organiods cannot eat."
Little did they know, the woman in the window wasn't the only one being watched. From the shadows of a dark corner in setting sun, a dark figure watched his quarries movements just like a tiger stalked it's pray.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Author's Note: Well that's chapter two. What do ya'll think? Is it good? Is it worthy of another chapter? Tell me okay? I really want to know what you think, my loyal friends. ^^ R & R ya hear?
Peace OUT!!
~*Mi ChElLe*~