Notes: I've left this fic for ages, and I want to get back to it again.
This is the sequence I've always wanted to write. A conversation entirely of music. However, it also requires easily the longest disclaimer in songfic history. So here goes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Knock Three Times, the poem about Dragon Wings, Walk On, Missing You, Jubilee, Castles in the Sky, Beautiful Day, Brother My Brother, The Darkest Night, I am your Enemy, or Beyblades. They belong to I don't know, I don't know, Anne Mc Caffery, U2, I don't know, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ian Van Dahl, U2, Blessed Union of Souls, Anne Mc Caffery, t.A.T.u. and I don't know. Happy now?
Warning: There is a yuri warning for this chapter. And I am not talking about the demolition boy. You have been warned.
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It was late. Michael was exhausted from training. He got his own room. Eddy and Steve shared a room next door and Emily had a room beyond that. Judy had a room on Michael's other side. Michael was just about to go to bed when he heard something hit the windowsill. It sounded something like a baseball hitting the sill.
Then Michael heard it.
"Tie a yellow ribbon
Around the batting-t
It's been eleven years
Do you still
remember me?
If I don't see a ribbon
Around the batting-T
I'll turn around
I'll leave town
Just forget about me."
Michael jumped straight up in the air. "NATARI!" He cried, rushing to the window.
There was Natari, dressed from head to toe in a Micky Mantle baseball uniform. A baseball bat was slung lazily over her shoulder. She held the offending ball in her other hand. Michael opened the window. Natari looked up at him expectantly.
Michael realized what she was doing. A conversation held with music.
"Knock three times,
On the drainpipe to talk to me
Twice on the brick
If you need to go."
Natari nodded.
"Oh tongue give sound to joy and sing
Of hope and promise on Dragoon's wings."
She was worried about the championships. Michael realized that if the Blade Breakers defeated the Demolition Boys, that Voltaire would be arrested for what he had done and the children of the abbey would be free to return to their former homes. Then, if that was true, all of Natari's hopes rested on Tyson and Dragoon, and all of his hopes too.
"Oh no, be strong
Walk on, walk on
What you've got
They can't deny it
Can't sell it
Or buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight.
I know it aches and your
Heart it breaks, and you can only take so muchWalk on."
Natari shook her head. Her voice, when she replied, was worried, shaky. She didn't believe in herself. Natari had always been the shyer of the two of them.
"It's been too long and I'm lost without you
What am I gonna do
Said I been needing you
Wanting you."
Michael smiled warmly down at his sister.
"I can tell by the way you're standing
With your eyes filling with tears
That it's habit alone
Keeps you turning for home
Even though your home is right here
Where the brother who loves you is waiting
And I'll wait just as long as need be
When we look back and say
Those were challenging days
But now we're a family."
Natari responded to his assurance with a slow smile.
"Oh tell me why
Do we build castles in the sky
Oh tell me why
All the castles way up high
Please tell me why
Do we build castles in the sky
Oh tell me why
All the castles way up high."
Michael responded with a shrug and sang.
"It's a beautiful day
Sky falls you feel like- It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away."
Natari nodded, taking a deep breath and straightening up. She tapped her baseball twice on the brick wall of the hotel and sang.
"I can try, brother my brother."
Michael knew that song too. As a parting phrase he sang…
"The darkest night must end in dawn
The sun dispel the dreamers fear
When shall my soul's bleak hopeless pain
Find solace in it's darkening weyr?"
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There was a knock on Emily's door late that night. "Come in." Mariah turned the door knob and entered. "Hi Em… I hope I'm not intruding."
Em, that was what Mariah called her sometimes. "Not at all." Emily sat up in bed. She patted a space beside her. "By all means, join me." She flushed at a possible interpretation of that comment.
Mariah sat by her side. "I'm worried." She sighed, leaning back against the pile of pillows. This bed was really too big for one person, Emily thought. "About… well… about what's been going on. I can't help but think that Voltaire wanted Kai to leave the abbey like he did, after Dark Dranzer I mean."
"What makes you think that?" Asked Emily. She hadn't thought of it that way.
"Well, a lot of things. But I think that he wanted Kai to get us out of the way so that nothing stood between him and the Blade Breakers." Mariah sighed, looking up at the ceiling from where she lay. "But I have the most awful feeling, that he hasn't even begun to show his cards. And look at the condition all of our teams are in. We don't have our bit beasts anymore. We'd be toast."
"Yeah." Mariah had a point. "I think you might be right. But there really isn't much we can do." Emily began mentally reviewing everything she'd heard about the abbey and her encounters with the Demolition Boys, Voltaire and Boris.
Then she realized that Mariah had come for more than confirmation of a theory. Mariah was too emotional for that. Emily realized that Mariah had come for reassurance. So she wrapped her arms around Mariah's waist. Emily leaned in to kiss her gently on the forehead. "Hold me." Mariah whispered softly.
"I will." Emily said tenderly. Mariah brought a warm feeling to the pit of her stomach.
Mariah paused, looking up at Emily in surprise.
Emily reached into her for strength and pulled Mariah into a long, delicate kiss. Mariah stiffened, and Emily was waiting for rejection. But Mariah slowly leaned into the kiss. Emily ran her tongue along Mariah's lips, begging entry. Mariah opened her mouth for Emily and the littlest All Star explored it.
They separated briefly for air, before Emily delicately pushed Mariah backwards on the bed. "Mariah." She sighed, taking in a long, deep whiff of Mariah's scent, roses. Emily slipped her hands up under Mariah's nightshirt, caressing her body. Mariah's breath hitched as Emily's searching fingers hit a nerve.
"Hmm…" Mariah asked breathily.
"Should we be doing this?" Emily asked softly.
"I want you Em… I have for so long." Mariah said softly.
"That's good enough for me then." Emily said softly as she ran kisses up Mariah's neck. Mariah shivered, letting out a noise akin to a cat's purr.
"Take me Emily." Mariah murmured in pleasure.
Emily smiled, preparing to do just that.
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Silva, Voltaire's capable wife, was fitting Diana for the padded leather armor she used as opposed to her brother Robert's preference for metal. Never mind that in old days, leather armor was worn by disgraced knights. Leather you could dance in. Leather you could sing in, although it would be rather hot under the lights on a stage. Leather you could move around in once it was properly conditioned. Metal? As they say in rap culture, "Oh HELL no."
Nyassa was sitting by. "So Voltaire expects us to see battle hmm?"
"Apparantly." Diana said as she held her arms up for Silva's strip measure.
"Well." Silva said as she took down the length of Diana's arms. "I did my best to protect you girls from my husband. But it can't be helped now. Every blader has to fight at some time in their career. But I've prepared you the best way that I can. And when Voltaire implement's his next phase of the plans he's got for you, you'll be very busy. Sing for me Diana?"
"My pleasure madam Silva." Said Diana.
"Smoke of the cigars
Oldbouquet
24 hours a day I am watching TV
The balcony is open wide
And telephone doesn't ring
Cannot breathe without you
And I am telling to myself
It just happened
I am your enemy now
What crime have I done?
It just happened
I am your enemy now
I won't ask for forgiveness."
Natari paused at the door to lend her voice, tears streaming from her eyes.
"City doesn't sleep
Time stops.
Now, who are you playing with
Day or year
Was announced boycott for me
I cannot understand how to live now
You cannot forgive me It just happenedI am your enemy now
What crime have I done
It just happened
I am your enemy now
I won't ask for forgiveness."
"Oh dear." Silva remarked. "Natari you look as though you've seen a ghost."
"Michael." Natari sobbed. "He's here. And when the time comes, if the Breakers don't win. I'll have to fight him. I'll have to fight my own BROTHER!" She sobbed, slamming the door shut behind her as she walked into the room.
"I'm really sorry Natari-chan." Nyassa stood up. "You think I like having to fight Kai, my clone, my other half? He's probably just as upset about it as I am."
"And for all my drama, I do not enjoy the prospect of battle with my otooto." Diana's rich alto voice commented.
"You can put your arms down now pop tart." Silva said with a smile. "Ooh I can't wait to get started on this armor." She walked over to Natari and turned her chin upwards to meet her eyes. "It can't be helped Natari. The best thing, and I think the only thing that you can do about now is to hope. Don't ever lose that hope, it's your most endearing trait. Don't ever let the light of hope go out, because when you do, you lose more than your life. You lose your soul." She pulled Natari to her in a hug. "Be careful, take care of yourself. Things will get better. I promise." She pulled back. "Now, all three of you, to bed."
Not that Natari could have slept that night. Michael's words hung in her head. "Oh no, be strong. Walk on, walk on… stay safe tonight." And Silva's, "Don't ever let the light of hope go out, because when you do, you lose more than your life. You lose your soul." But Natari couldn't sleep. It hurt too much.
"I love you too much brother." Natari whispered into the night. "Now that you're here… I don't want to fight. The worst thing to happen would be for us to fight each other. Yet a battle seems inevitable. My only hope is that Dragoon is every bit as strong as Tyson boasts he is." She pulled a little picture out from under her pillow. It showed her, Michael, and her father. Their mother, the one who had eventually betrayed her, had taken the picture, so she wasn't in it. She sat up in bed, gave the picture a kiss and whispered, "I love you." Before putting the picture under her pillow.
Still she couldn't sleep. Natari pulled out Ender's Game, a novel that was very popular here in the abbey. But the war against the buggers of Ender's nightmares only reminded her of her own war, one that seemed all too inevitable. Music didn't help, the song was "Who Needs Sleep," by the Barenaked Ladies. "Who need's sleep?" Natari muttered, tossing and turning. "Well I'm never gonna get it." She sighed, sitting up. There was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's Diana." Diana Jurgan, her teammate and best friend, was also Robert's older sister. "I brought chamomile tea."
"Come in." Natari sighed, closing Ender. She had been at the part where Ender was beating the crap out of Bonzo Madrid's army.
Diana sat down on the edge of the bed, setting the tea tray on a table. She brought over warm cups of tea for each of them. "I thought you could use some tea, considering that Michael's back in town. You seemed really upset at the fitting today."
"I am upset. I wanted to see my brother so bad. But if Voltaire's plans go through, the only place I'll see him is on the battlefield." Natari sighed, taking a sip of tea. "Now I know how the Civil War families felt, you know, who one brother would support the Union and the other supported the Confederacy."
"Yeah, it sucks sometimes. Think of it this way. Nyassa, Carola, and I are all in the same boat you are, maybe not a twin, but a relative certainly." Diana pointed out. "I'd have to fight Robert. Nyassa might end up taking Dranzer from Kai. Carola's a Saint Shield, and they're the enemies of the Abbey. We all have to fight our relatives at some point if Voltaire wins."
"So what do we do?" Natari asked.
"Voltaire may have command of our physical selves, but as long as we keep on loving our brothers/cousins/friends and each other there's no way that he's won. So keep the faith, Tyson and Dragoon will win someday, and when they do we'll all be free. So pray for them tonight okay? They'll need it considering how tough Tala is."
Natari nodded. "Okay, I'll try." She finished off the last of her cup of tea, and at last found sleep coming on. "I think I'm almost asleep now. Thanks for the tea."
"No problem." Diana flushed slightly, then she leaned forward and kissed Natari on the cheek. "Be strong." She whispered. Then she scooped up the tea tray and was gone.
Natari lay back in her bed and whispered. "I will keep the faith. Brother I won't forget you, EVER, I promise." Then she fell asleep.