Thank you all for reading my stories and especially those of you who take the time to review. I'm glad you all enjoy my pieces from the light, cheerful ones to the darker "love blooms on the battlefield" pieces. Lina, to answer your statement, you are correct. It would be dangerous depending on the angle of the wound, depth of the wound, wound location, et cetera. However, neither Mai nor Joey in these stories represents the most logical people.
I sat down on the couch and popped myself a soda, chugging it in all one breath. Serenity wrinkled her nose with disgust as I slammed the can down. I wasn't trying to upset her or anything, I was just really happy that I could barely contain myself. My father had been arrested, and I never had to deal with him or his abuse, and best of all, Serenity wouldn't have to deal with it either. Sure, it had been a whole month since I'd gone to live with my mother and Serenity, but I still sad a sense of euphoric elation whenever I went home.
It was, without a doubt, the second greatest thing that ever happened. Yeah, my meeting Yugi ranked up there too, I had been able to change and make my life better for everyone. That was third, or maybe fourth. It was hard to rank them: No longer living with my father, my meeting Yugi, saving Serenity's sight, they were all pretty high up on the list.
Mai.
Mai. She was really important to me too. I would have never thought that my meeting her would have been so important, at least initially. As our feelings and relationship bloomed, we had become so close, if not publicly. I think I was the only person she told about her fear, her fear of being alone, and she'd been there for me time and time again, when I was about to lose any chance of saving Serenity, when I was brainwashed by Marik, and more.
But now, I couldn't find her. She had disappeared recently; she had only mentioned to Tristan that she didn't want to be the cause of any problems between my mother and me. Yeah, my mother wasn't too hot about Mai and me. I asked her what her fucking problem was, and she said something about Mai being a slut and other shit that I didn't care about. Mai wasn't a slut, she just had the goods, and she showed it off. Nothing wrong with that, in fact, Mai was even tasteful about what she showed and what she didn't. God, Mom approved of Tristan and Serenity being together, and those two, though I like 'em more them anything, were a hell of a lot more pernicious then me and Mai.
"Hey, Joey, can I ask you something?" Serenity said. The two of us were spending the night at Tristan's, and the two of them sat on the couch, both of them with looks of worry on their faces.
"Hey, no need to be all formal, just ask." I said with a laugh. Ever since Mai left, I tried to curb my frowns by laughing. I laughed so much that I don't think my laughing meant anything to me anymore.
"You've…been talking your sleep." Serenity said.
"Yeah, ever since Mai left. Are you alright?" Tristan asked. They were my rocks in this time. I had initially tried to be alone in my sorrow, but they wouldn't have any of it. Mai had tried to fight alone, and she had been hurt. They weren't going to let me suffer through that.
"I…I don't think I have control over that." I said.
"You want to see her again." Serenity said not as a question.
"More then anything."
"We don't know about Mai. When she comes is when she comes." Tristan said. I would have never admitted that that statement was true, but it was. It was Mai's choice if she wanted to see me again, I couldn't go out and find her, I had no clue where to look.
"Please, Joey, try to smile. I mean really smile. She'll come back, and when she does I don't think she wants to see you frowning." Serenity said.
"Yeah." I said. "Thanks. Let's go to sleep."
God, Tristan's parents must've liked the desert or something, they always kept the house stuffy and hot. It was really hard to fall asleep, even after taking off my shirt. Eventually, my tossing and turning had found me a cool spot, and I was able to slip into sleep. I didn't dream a lot, even after Mai had left. I don't understand where those two got the thing that I was talking in my sleep.
I saw her, in the distance. That beautiful woman loomed ahead of me in the distance. I called out to her, desperate to get her to look my way. But she wouldn't turn around. I was catching up to her though. She was wearing the last thing I remember her wearing, a white halter top and a dark purple mini-skirt. God, this was so real, I could see the buttons on her shirt, the light reflecting the leather.
"Mai, Mai!" I called. But then she vanished.
"Oh, am I dreaming?" I bitched. I hated dreams like this. I heard Mai chuckle behind me.
"Oh, you damn dream." I cursed. "Quit tempting me."
"I'll tempt you with my fist!" Mai's voice sounded behind me. I didn't care if it was a dream now, that was so Mai. I turned around, and there she was, beautiful as always. She looked a little different then last I remember. She had gotten her hair cut, and her lipstick was a different color.
"You've been keeping busy?" She asked.
"I don't live with my dad anymore." I said.
"Always a good thing. The bastard dead?"
"No, arrested."
"Good enough." Mai said. "God, is that what you wear when you sleep?" She joked.
"No, I usually wear a T-shirt and those flannel pants you got me. It's just really hot tonight, that shirt made me bake in my sweat with it on." I was trying to wax pleasantries with her. God, was I still dreaming. Please say I wasn't dreaming.
"You mean Tristan's beach-climate loving parents." She joked. I nodded.
"What have you been up to." I asked. When I asked this, Mai seemed to sadden a little.
"I'm…I'm not at liberty to say. Don't worry about it." She said.
"Please."
"I can't." She responded.
"I…" Tears started welling in my eyes. "I've missed you so much, more then you can imagine. It's hard to live without you."
"I've got to be cruel to be kind. I wouldn't be me otherwise." She tried to act tough, like always. I was still crying.
"Stop crying, you know I'll be back." She said reassuringly. "I didn't teach you to act all weepy and pathetic, you know."
"Not around you. I can't help but be an idiot who can't think around you."
"I know, but I'm still telling you to quit it. I don't know when I'll see you again."
"Mai, please, don't go!" I shouted. "I don't care what's going on, we could take on the world if we have too. Fuck them and what they want, I've never forgotten about you!" I was shouting. Then I hugged her.
"This is a dream, Joey." Mai said sadly, with her wrapped up in my arms.
"I know. I don't think we could do this in the real world. You're a lot stronger then me." I said, pressing her to my chest.
"Yeah." She admitted. "I'd never let you be touching me like this. Not unless I made the first move. I'd never be acting like a naïve girl on prom night." She said, wrapping her hands around my back.
"I don't care if this is a dream. If we can't do things like this in the real world, then I want to stay here as long as I can." I said softly, pressing her head to my shoulder.
"Joey." She said softly. After we kept the embrace for a long moment, she broke our hug, and then wiped my right eye.
"I told you…to quit crying." She said.
"Mai…" I said, moving in to kiss her. Her velvety lips inching close. I shut my eyes again, tentatively calling her name and moving in closer.
"Mai. Mai. Please…Mai." I said, suddenly jolting up. I was sitting up on Tristan's couch; a blanket wrapped around the lower half of my body. Serenity was right; I had been talking in my sleep.
"Joey?" I heard Serenity's voice from the kitchen.
"Huh, Serenity?" I said. Serenity, wearing a loose nightgown, came in with a glass of water in her hand. Tristan, shirtless and wearing the dorky pajama pants Serenity picked out for him for his birthday as a joke, followed her.
"I was…" I started.
"I know, man. You want her so badly she's haunting your dreams. Try to get some sleep." He said, leading Serenity off into her room. His momma was pretty big on us staying in separate rooms, so I knew nothing was happening. I reached up to my face to wipe my eye, and found that although my left eye had been damp with tears, my right eye was completely dry.
"She…wiped away my tears." Was she really influencing me like that. I tried to go back to sleep, hopefully the dream would still be there. But I got nothing. Nothing else happening the entire night. When I woke up the next morning, the earliest, I was really depressed, that night had been perfect, and it was one night that would always live in my mind, yet I'd never experience it again.
"Please…please." I said to my troubled subconscious. I had no clue what made dreams happen, something about your eyes moving, I heard Serenity say. But that was something that was triggered by more then my eyes.
"Please…give me…the rest of the dream."