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Chapter 26: Morning of the Last Day
"Why are you crying, Mom?"
"…Don't you worry about that. Come here and sit by me." The small girl about at the age of eight hesitated, her hazel eyes soft and innocent. She stood in a brightly lit door way. You could hear murmuring from outside in the hall and an occasional voice over the loud speaker, the owner usually a pretty girl in a strange coat decorated with happy things like cartoon cats or doctor instruments.
Then slowly she approached the side of the bed, looking up at the older woman smiling reassuringly at her, holding her hand out. A machine pinged loudly in both their ears. She stared frightfully at the long tube strung across the woman's upper lip, sticking little openings into her nose.
After a moment the girl took it and climbed carefully onto the white sheets. When she was finally settled, for a heartbeat, hazel eyes just stared into hazel eyes. The older set was aged, the same color as the bark of an old oak. The younger looked more worried and scared.
"Shhhh…" The woman cooed gently to her child, squeezing the smaller version of her husband's hand with her own withering white hand, and looked at the girl's face. The smile on her was fragile, her face paper white and almost unreal. It was like staring into the face of a ghost.
"Did you do anything fun this week?" asked the woman. The girl shook her head no. The woman frowned. It was like watching glass shatter.
"Oh." A moment of silence passed, and then slowly the woman turned. Her brown hair swished, as if brushing the air away from her shoulders, as she reached toward the window sill. The girl looked over, watching gravely as the ghost like fingers clasped the green pot of the small maple tree with slight awe. Her Aunt had brought the tree in about three weeks ago. It had been a tiny seedling then, housed in a seven inch high pot. Now it was about the length of her forearm and growing strongly. The woman smiled at her expression.
"It's been going quite nicely, but I'll admit I was helping it along." The woman placed it gently on her lap, a look of relief flowing through her eyes. Her hands trembled slightly, but she forced a smile, before she noticed how her daughter was staring so closely at the plant. The smile morphed into a smirk.
"He's a chatter box isn't he?" The daughter looked up, startled, and then after a moment, nodded silently. The woman regarded the plant with a quick scan, like she was sizing it up.
"He'll be planted when this is all over…Tell me, Kaede, what does he say?" The girl, Kaede, looked up at her mother.
"…He says…it's faint…it always is." Kaede said, her voice choked slightly, her eyes starting to tear in frustration. The woman was quick to comfort her.
"It's alright, sweetheart. It'll come soon…I promise." She patted her daughter's hand. Still Kaede looked away, a look of defeat in her eyes.
"It will come." Ryelle said with a stronger voice. For a short while they were silent. Then the woman spoke again.
"I…want to talk to you. To tell you some things…" Kaede turned back toward her mother, giving her full attention.
"I have told your brother and sister some things, but only these words will remain with you. And only you. Do you understand?" The stern quality of her tone was enough to say with was very important. She was never this stern. Kaede nodded silently. Ryelle's face relaxed.
"Good…" She replied in a gentle voice, "Listen well, Kaede. I can only say this once." The woman paused, before staring straight into Kaede's eyes, as if piercing her soul.
"…There will be times in the future when you might be scared…do not fear, sweetheart, because you will never be alone. Your family will protect you, no matter what. And you must take care of them. You can be strong, but don't forget to be gentle or kind. Don't forget to love. Think before you do, and remember power must be handled carefully because for you, my daughter, it will be like a sprout. It will grow. If you use it lightly, you could hurt more than just your family. Do you understand, Kaede?" The girl froze, still caught in her mother's gaze before she nodded slowly. Ryelle's face softened.
"Well done, and now, I have a gift for you." Before Kaede could ask what kind of gift it was, Ryelle took her hand and made it flat before she shoved her fingers roughly into the soil of the potted plant. Dirt spilled silently onto the clean white blankets of the bed as she dove deeper, her eyes concentrating and serious.
Kaede started in fright and confusion as her mother's full arm was now submerged in a seven inch height container of soil and not coming out the bottom. It should have been physically impossible. Kaede tried not to wonder where the rest of her arm was. Ryelle didn't notice the uncertainty of her daughter, with her eyes pointed to the sky, as if too busy feeling around for something. After a second or two of this, something bright and strong flickered through her eyes. A steady look success filled her features as she pulled her arm fully from where ever it had been. Kaede was sure it had been somewhere, beyond that bottom of a pot.
Daughter watched silently as Ryelle put the plant back on the window sill with her clean hand while the other dirt caked hand held something tightly in its fist. Then she looked back to her Kaede.
"Are you ready, sweetheart?" Kaede nodded. Ryelle grinned.
"Open your hand." Gingerly, Kaede opened her hand and stretched it toward her mother. It shook slightly. Ryelle nodded to it once before swinging her clenched fist toward the small palm and dumped the contents of it.
A pile of soil sat squarely into the center of her hand, looking like a rounded black pyramid, when something radiant burned. A dark emerald green light suddenly penetrated the small cracks, the small openings the dirt left, and glowed like a firefly. Looking closer, Kaede saw it looked something like a round marble.
She was about to look up to her mother questioningly when a eerie tingling sensation bursted into her palm and suddenly like a raging green fire, minus the heat, traveled down her arm. She tried to drop it, but her fingers curled around it protectively. She sucked in a large amount of breath suddenly as it that green tingling spread over her like a cool ocean. Plunging her deep as if past water and deep, deep into the warmness of the earth.
And for a brief moment, she saw the light of an oak tree shinning at her.
Kaede blinked. It was gone.
Slightly shaken, Kaede looked up at her mother but instead of finding her sitting up, Ryelle was instead lying back with sweat covering her brow. Suddenly now, her hazel eyes were not as bright.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. Your hands will know what to do…"
Then suddenly the memory was shattered, blowing apart like a thousand glass shards as TombRobber opened his eyes to the sound of sirens. Loud, irritating sirens. Head pounding sirens. Slowly he sat up on the bed, not having time to wonder how he had gotten here when the worst possible pain attacked the center of his brain. In agony, he gripped his head and closed his eyes tight against the throbbing.
Someone yelled. He heard shuffling from the other rooms. The sirens were roaring. Oh the pain they were creating was horrible…
Angrily, yet weakly, he rose from the bed and stumbled toward the door, keeping his eyes closed and bracing his poor head to the insane amount of noise. Gritting his teeth he opened the door and nearly slammed it shut again from the increase of noise. Oh his poor head… Pissed he screamed at the top of his lungs over the din.
"WILL SOMEONE SHUT THAT FUCKING SIREN OFF?"
Yami sighed tiredly at the bellow occurring up stairs and looked quietly at Kaiba standing next to him, clearly just as tired and angry. They were both still in pajamas and letting the cold in while the idiot police man standing in front of them yelled at his younger partner, a rookie, to shut the damn sirens off.
After about ten minutes of yelling, the sirens finally went off and the rookie in the front seat seemed to be trying to hide from all of their gaze in embarrassment. They all ignored him.
"Sorry about that." The man answered gruffly. Yami and Kaiba said nothing. Kaiba stared at him with an expression that basically said, 'This better be good.'
"Um, you are Seto Kaiba, correct?"
"Yes."
"Is your son currently here?" Puzzled by the question Yami glanced at Javas standing in the back ground. The boy sunk out of view.
"Yes, why?" Kaiba asked in a growl. The police man adjusted his collar nervously.
"Ah, well…your son has been charged with disturbing the peace and-"
"Who in the hell is makin' so much noise?" Joey asked sleepily as he came to the door, looking over Yami's head as he scratched his own tiredly. Kaiba seemed a bit disturbed by the motions, almost haunted. Joey was too tired to notice. There was a brief silence. In that time the police man went from nervous to suddenly very furious.
"YOU!" Joey looked sharply at him and sighed.
"Oh no, not you again."
"You've been charged with leaving the scene of a crime-"
"Crime? What crime? I was only speeding."
"Speeding is an offense! You risk not only your life and the lives of other people!"
"It was an emergency. You didn't expect me to hang around all day while you tried to get the better of me…"
"How dare you-"
"Will the two of you shut up!" Kaiba interrupted agitatedly, silencing the strange argument, "What does any of this have to do with my son?" The cop straightened a bit and coughed.
"Well, sir, your son was caught disturbing traffic and creating a scene on a public street, many citizens have complained that he-"
"Javas!" Yami watched the boy flinch somewhere behind him in the corner of his eye. The teen's uneasy voice wafted over to them.
"Y-yes?"
"Could you come here a minute, please?" Kaiba's voice was dangerously low. The urge to back away from him was nipping even at Yami. The officer and Joey where still glaring at each other when Javas pushed to the front of the crowd, very nervous. He stared at his shoes.
"Javas?" He flinched at his father's voice.
"Yes?"
"Is it true what this man is saying?"
"…yes." Javas said sadly. The man in the doorway smiled smugly. Kaiba put an arm around the boy's shoulders and looked up at the man standing in the doorway.
"Have any of them pressed charges?" He asked quietly. The officer blinked.
"Ah, no, but-"
"Then why are you wasting my time?" He retorted treacherously, glaring down at the man. The smile instantly faded from his face.
"Well, we-"
"Is this some plot to get my boy in trouble? It is, isn't it!"
"Well, no-"
"You know I could sue you for that, don't you? Do you think you'd survive after that, do you?" The man, with an expression that looked almost weak now, and was hastily backing away.
"No, Mister Kaiba. I'm sorry to disturb you- FRANK! START THE CAR! I apologize for your inconvenience…" He kept backing up until he was half way to his cruiser, to which he turned so quickly it was almost blurred and jogged to it. When he was getting in the driver door, Joey yelled angrily.
"Yeah! Not so tough now, are yea?" The cop glared at him.
"Shut up, Wheeler." Kaiba growled furiously, still glaring at the cop as he drove away pretty fast. When he was out of sight, Kaiba turned and pulling the astonished looking Javas away from the open door walked into the house. Kaiba spoke rather calmly.
"Please don't tell your mother, I don't like her to worry…"
"…Yes, Dad."
"And never do that again."
"Okay."
Yami, still a bit confused, shut the door, wondering what all that had been about as Joey started yelling, telling Kaiba not to tell him to shut up. Soon he was too busy trying to keep Joey away from the CEO due to dog comment. Something's never really change…
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