(7/6/05)

A/N: Okay, I'm finally back and finally workin' on this thing again! Sorry about the lack of updates, but I got kinda grounded for three months then I came down with a serious case of writer's block, and... yeah. And I hear that isn't letting us post song-fics, so I'm gonna have to change the ending I had planned a little... I know how everything's gonna turn out, I just have problems getting there. They say the journey's half the fun, but that's also where all the pit-stops are if you get my drift, and I just strayed off course quite a bit.

Teek: They get the point already, just work on the dang fic!

Me: Gladly!

----Bobbi----

I didn't want to do it. They were so happy, finally, just being together. And I had to split them up again. It wasn't fair, dammit! All those two wanted was to be together, they didn't deserve any of what I was about to do to them, or what others would do to them once I was through. But all good things must come to an end eventually.

"I really don't want to do this," I muttered.

"Then I'll do it for you!" Teek snapped, making me jump. She had a bad habit of sneeking up on me when I least expected, or needed, it.

"Teek," I protested, "this isn't fair to them!"

"I don't remember life ever being fair, Twerp," Teek scolded for the thousandth time in as many minutes. "Or in case you haven't noticed, I'm one of the prime examples. And so's she. The Shadow will understand, even if Riku doesn't."

"But Teek--"

"Look, you and I both know that you'll be a lot more gentle about it with them than I will, so just get it over with already!"

I bit my lip, biting back tears at the same time. I had to remind myself that this was hard on Teek too. But that didn't mean she had to yell at me! Apparently some of my hurt showed through, because Teek sighed and closed her eyes.

"I didn't mean to yell at you, Twerp," she said as calmly as she could. "But you gotta get it over with! If you don't..." Teek left the sentance hanging. We both knew the rest of it. It had happened before, after all. Jhule had told Mizu what had happened, but she over-exaggerated a bit. The soul didn't cease to exist, it just went dormant again. Kind of like the "person" went to sleep for a long, long time. I sometimes call it "suspended animation." Teek calls it a right pain in the arse. She means she misses her old friends.

"I know, Teek," I whispered. Then I squeezed my eyes shut and growled. "Okay, okay, I'm going. I might as well get it over with..."

Coming as close to squaring my shoulders as someone of my weight can(I'm five foot one and 175 pounds), I walked over to Mizu and Riku, who were quietly snuggling under one of the trees. People got so out of character while residing in my head it was disturbing. We all knew damn good and well that Riku would never be seen snuggling anyone if he could help it.

"Hey guys," I said, walking up to them. They both cracked an eye open and looked at me. Riku smiled a little in greating, and Mizu sat up, echoeing his smile. Then she got sight of my face, and the grin immediately melted away.

"Bobbi, what's wrong?" she asked anxiously. I smiled sourly.

"That transparent, am I?" I asked. I didn't wait for an answer. "Guys, I gotta let you go." Mizu looked like she had been slapped in the face.

"What?" Riku asked for the both of them.

"I'm sorry, guys, but you gotta go," I repeated. "I can't tell you why, that would be catastrophic. At least for us..."

Mizu looked blank for a second, then her eyes lit in dawning comprehension.

"The whole soul-destruction thing?" she asked.

"Um, well," I said, "yeah... Yeah, that. I'm sorry, but I can't let that happen to you, Mizu."

"I get it, Twerp," Mizu said with a slight smile, then turned to smile at Riku. "Well, koishii, ready to face the harsh winds of reality?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," he replied after a minute of thought. "I've been getting a little restless lately."

"So I noticed," Mizu laughed. She looked me straight in the eye, then, a smile on her face. "Don't worry, Twerp, I knew this was coming. Besides, I have some unfinished business to attend to, friends to find, and memories to regain. I'm ready to go whenever you need to get rid of me."

"Thanks you guys," I said, letting out a sigh of relief. "I hate to get rid of you sooner than I absolutely have to, but we should probably make it today just to be on the safe side."

A/N: Okay, just one more chapter and I can move on to the next fic, which I've tweeked and toyed with at least eight times.

Mizu: What else is new, may I ask?

Me: Hmm... There might have been a few webcomic updates that I didn't check.

Teek: Or that didn't load.

Me: Yeah, that's always a possibility.