Beware! This fic has mood swings! I'm serious, man! LISTEN TO ME, IT'S ALL IN THE MIX.
Oh yes, and in case you didn't know, I'm crazy. (giggles)
"C'mon, just try it!"
"No."
"Please!"
"No."
"Colette..."
"No!"
Sheena sighed, sitting next to the girl who was currently being very intent on refusing everything she said.
"I don't want to!" she pouted, flapping her wings irritably. "I mean, with these, it won't fit!"
"Sure it will," Sheena patted the girl's arm. "We had it modified. C'mon."
Colette hesitated, picking up the swimsuit. "I don't know..."
"Just think of the look on Lloyd's face!" Sheena shook her friend reassuringly. "Imagine: you're walking down the beach, looking radiant..."
"...Yeah?"
"And Lloyd gets a nosebleed!"
The angel flushed a bright red and turned away. "I don't know," she put the swimsuit down hastily and hid in the bedsheets.
"Colette!" Sheena groaned, trying to get the angel out of her hiding spot. "If you don't go outside, Raine's going to yell at you for being cooped up all day!"
"No."
Sheena sighed. Back to where they started.
"Don't you want to go to the beach?" Sheena spoke to the lump, tickling her.
Colette froze. "Uh...yeah, yes I do. Just not today..."
"You silly puppy, we're not going to be here tomorrow," Sheena fished the girl out of the covers.
Colette blew a raspberry at the older woman and crossed her arms, pouting.
"Okay, fine. You win."
Colette stood in front of the elevator, trying to decide whether or not she should turn back.
Oh well. She was all suited up, anyway. Might as well.
The elevator sidled down, giving her way too much time to think about all the things that could go wrong.
She paced it nervously, deciding that, yeah, she should go back and spend the day in bed.
She was about to press the button to go back to her floor when the doors opened and she was dragged away by Sheena.
"Geez, what took you so long?" the older woman asked, looking back at her.
The angel gulped and said nothing. Just as a precaution, she pressed her wings to her sides.
"Something wrong?"
"Nothing!" Colette said hastily, making her way toward the beach.
Alright, take a deep breath. Just an afternoon. No one will notice. No one...will notice.
Colette tried to calm down, stop shaking, but it wouldn't stop.
Oh, goddess. Please - just one day...
She realized she was already at the beach.
Damn.
"Colette!" Lloyd beamed, tacklehugging her. "I was afraid you wouldn't come!"
If only I hadn't...
"We're burying Regal in the sand, you wanna join in?"
"Okay," she managed, smiling. He took it for a real one, gladly.
"Hey! We're coming along too!" Lloyd yelled, receiving a small wave from a few of their friends in reply. Well, Regal couldn't wave, since he was too busy being buried.
That's when she noticed it was completely silent. His voice carried through the still air too well.
Lloyd began to make his way toward the burying party, turning back when Colette didn't follow him.
"Colette...?"
"Lloyd," she began, eyes glued to the sand, "I think I'd better get back inside..."
"Why?" he asked, taking one of her hands. "You just got out here..."
"I'm sorry, Lloyd, but...please, let me go," Colette shook her head, keeping her eyes down.
He blinked, opening his mouth a few times to say something.
"Why?" he finally said.
"Haven't you noticed?" she breathed, trying to clamp her wings closer to her body in hopes that they would disappear.
Lloyd looked at her with concern, not willing to admit he didn't get it quite yet. "What's wrong?"
Colette sighed, looking up. She tried to say something, but choked.
By now the rest of the people on the beach were murmuring and pointing.
Pull yourself together. It's not that hard...
"It's...these," Colette snapped her wings open.
Oooh, she wished she hadn't done that. Now everything was silent again. She didn't know whether the whispering or absolutely nothing was worse. Why did she have to put up such a display?
"Look at them! They frighten people! And it doesn't matter where I am...Sylverant, Tethe'alla...they're...they're..."
She paused, Lloyd had drawn her to his chest. She sighed, glad for it, because she was afraid of going any further.
"So...please, have a good time for me," she whispered, pulling away from him. He let her go reluctantly, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"Take care, alright?"
"I'm sorry, Lloyd...I will."
"Eeeiych! I'm covered in sand!" Genis spat, wiping himself off.
"Regal has it the worst," Lloyd pointed with a thumb. "I mean, he got buried and all."
"I'm going to go take a shower," Sheena picked off a bit of seaweed, wishing she had a dry towel.
"Good idea," Lloyd agreed, waiting for an elevator.
Sheena boarded hers, pushing the button for her floor, eager to get cleaned up.
"Sheena!"
"Ack!" she yelped, jamming the open button, peeking out to answer whatever-it-was. "What?"
"Could you check on Colette?" Lloyd asked. "I want to know if she's alright."
"Oh, sure, would have done that anyway," Sheena laughed, seeing Lloyd's sincere face. "You two make such a cute couple."
Lloyd scratched the back of his head, hiding in his elevator.
"Colette, you in there?" Sheena knocked on the door of the room they were sharing.
There was a faint acknowledging meep sound. Sheena skedaddled in, itching to hop in the shower.
"Colette?"
She was nowhere to be seen.
"Colette?" she repeated, hoping the angel would respond and give her a clue to her whereabouts.
The meep sound came from the balcony, sounding weaker than before.
"What's wrong?" Sheena dashed there, finding the door to it blocked. Taking a few steps back, she rammed into it, managing to shift it open a bit.
The meep sound became a sort of indignant grumble now.
"Where are you?" Sheena poked her hand along the open crack, feeling about. She grabbed something soft, not knowing what it was.
"Shee," Colette squeaked softly.
"What did I catch?" Sheena tried to identify it, wishing the glass on the door wasn't glazed as much so she'd be able to see her a lot better.
"Hand," Colette answered, her voice weak. It held on to hers feebly, wet and warm in a way she didn't like remembering. Pulling her hand back, she saw it was lightly covered in Colette's blood. Sheena fleetingly thought of the time when Crimson plagued the group, always managing to leave plenty of blood along the way, rafting down a scarlet river, laughing and having a hell of a good time.
"You're in front of the door, right? Can you move out of the way?" Sheena asked.
"N...no," Colette sighed.
Sheena pushed the door further, managing to get a look at the angel. What the...
"Colette! What happened?" she demanded, scrambling. The angel lay on the floor, her wings torn and battered...
Colette didn't answer, but she twitched, a bad sign, but not one of the worst.
"Nnggh!" the older woman grunted, managing to clear the door. "I gotcha," she said gently, picking the girl up. The feathers from her wings had been savagely ripped out, and they were so...so red...
"Shee," Colette sighed, trembling.
"No talkie," Sheena got up, "you're going to get patched up before Lloyd throws a cow."
"Moo," Colette giggled.
"I said no talkie," Sheena tapped her nose to punish her, running down the hall. "Save your energy."
Sheena half ran, half slipped over the overly-shined floors, nearly colliding with a pillar, a few people (who gave them weird looks) and a flowering plant that looked as if someone had sic'ed a cat on it.
"I'm scared," Colette's head plopped onto her friend's shoulder and her hand searched for something to grip.
"You're going to be alright!" Sheena snapped, trying to hide her own fear. "Just...hang on!"
At the end of that sentence, Sheena slipped on a cloth a careless janitor had left and ran into Raine.
"Watch where - oh my god," she gaped at Colette's wings.
"Mmmhh," Colette's wings twitched, shaking with lives of their own.
"Quickly," Raine gestured for Sheena to follow, disappearing into her room. She followed wordlessly.
"Do you know what happened?" Raine asked, smoothing off her bed.
"Nope," Sheena shook her head, placing the wounded one on it.
"It doesn't matter," Raine rubbed her temples, trying to shoo away her daily migraine. "Colette, how are you feeling?"
There was no answer. Colette didn't even budge.
"That's not good," Sheena tickled the angel, trying to prompt a reaction.
"We'll just have to work fast," Raine stretched out one of her wings. "A lot of her feathers are gone...could you go get the white bag from the first aid kit? And the scissors?"
"Sure thing," Sheena shrugged, wanting to be useful.
"Put it here," Raine said, but didn't indicate anywhere, so Sheena put it somewhere where it would be handy. "Wow. All the primaries ruined or gone...I don't have enough replacements to repair all this." Shaking her head, she carefully snipped some down away from a wound, dabbing at it with a cotton ball.
"We could use a pillow...?" Sheena suggested weakly. "Wait no, it might not be the right kind, right?"
"Not to mention vandalism costs," Raine grabbed a handful of feathers from the bag, "goodness knows we've had enough of all that with the Crimson mess."
"It's okay if her wings don't have all their feathers, right?" Sheena played with some string hanging out from one of the famous Altamira pillows, which were so fancy you had to think twice about using them.
"Won't be in flying condition, but she'll be in big trouble if she tries to fly with these," Raine waved a bit of healing energy on the area she was fussing about earlier, "It'll be fine in a week or so."
"Okay," Sheena said softly. She had the terrible urge to wash her hands, to get rid of the shaking and blood on them. But she didn't want to leave her friend either, so she stayed.
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah. A lot," Colette flapped her wings gingerly.
"Don't flap them for a while, I've just pinned a bunch of feathers in, they might fall out. Wait 'til the glue dries," Raine wiped her hands on a towel. "Or else I'll have to do it again and right now, my fingers are stuck together."
"Really?" Colette's eyes widened, finding something small to fuss about after all that mess.
"Ta-da," Raine said lamely, holding up her left hand, on which the thumb, index, and middle fingers had fused together. The two other ladies gasped.
"Oh no! Raine's crippled," Sheena snorted.
"Yes, and it's all your fault," Raine flopped it down, pinching Colette's arm.
"I'm sorry," Colette bowed her head, trying to stifle a giggle. Sheena did the same, chewing on a corner of a blanket. (It works)
"Anyway!" Raine got up suddenly, picking up her deck brush. "You two - out!"
Colette and Sheena tumbled out, dodging Raine's blows. Colette squealed happily, bounding ahead.
"Sheena..." Raine gestured to the summoner so the little angel wouldn't notice, "if you find anything out..."
"Right!" Sheena nodded, catching up to Colette. "You seem awful cheerful after all that gore!"
"Ah..." Colette looked at her feet, which shuffled along to her room. "Yeah, I guess..."
"What happened, anyway?" Sheena pulled the door closed, sitting on a bed. The younger one did the same, sighing. She didn't speak for a while, and when she did it was in a small voice.
"Was wandering around on the roof," she began slowly, fiddling with a button on her shirt. "A few kids noticed my wings. They asked if they were real..."
Sheena nodded, nudging her to continue. "And...?"
"They didn't believe me when I said yes, so they pulled at them," Colette nibbled at her sleeve. "It got worse from there. A few others joined in, and I ended up hurting one of them. I...I knocked them down. I didn't mean to, but he got really hurt..." she closed her hands, hiding them from sight. "And then...and then they beat me up."
Sheena sighed, grumbling. "And you didn't fight back?"
"Didn't want to hurt anyone else," Colette said meekly.
"Well, you don't have to anymore," Sheena hugged her, patting her back.
"Cuz we're going to make the world a better place," Colette nuzzled her friend.
"Yeah," Sheena sighed.
"Sorry for dragging you into this," she sighed, letting go and tumbling on her bed.
"It's okay," Sheena waved it off, "but you'll be really sorry if you keep me up, so no squeaky noises!"
"Nighty night," Colette squeaked, sticking her tongue out.
"Just go to sleep, daft nitwit!" Sheena laughed, slipping into some sleeping clothes.
"Night night," Colette giggled, going on for the sake of annoying her buddy.
"Don't make me bust out with the ninja techniques on you!" Sheena threatened good-naturedly, turning around.
Colette stuck her head out of her sheets to look at whatever crazy thing her pal would do, too busy laughing to continue.
"Mizuho secret technique!" Sheena posed, getting into a summoning position. Colette gasped for dramatic effect. "Slithering Snake tickle!" she poofed behind the girl, grabbing her.
"Eeeei!" Colette squealed, having trouble breathing (she was having such a good time, you know).
"Like, dude(dood)!" Zelos poked his head in, a nightcap covering his eyes comically. "Go to sleep!"
"Help me," Colette managed, trying to push her assailant off.
"Uhhh," Zelos tried to lift the nightcap by swishing his head around, but it didn't work. Giving up, he glomped the nearest body, which was Sheena's. Although, his aim could have been a bit better, if ya know what I'm talking about...
There was a tense silence, and everything was completely still.
"Heh eh...who did I get?" Zelos laughed nervously, for the sake of breaking the silence.
"Uuuuu..."
"Sheena, it's okay!" Colette tried to look behind her.
"Oh no," Zelos said softly, trying to run away. Valiant effort by our redhead Chosen, but the rug stopped him. Boo on Madame Carpet. (Yes, it is Madame Carpet...however, if it was a rug, it would be Monsieur Rug!)
"Uuuuuaaaaugh!" Sheena screamed, bristling and hugging herself. "You...insensitive..."
"Oh snap," Zelos covered his head with his arms. "Farewell, life. Always wanted to go down because of an accident..."
"Vengeance!" Sheena noshed on his head, fuzzing it up and making sure he wouldn't have a good hair day for a while.
"Oh god! Oh god!" Zelos sobbed, batting at the air. "Not the hair!"
"Stop, please!" Colette worried, clambering on the ninja to try and distract her, "he's right, we all need to go to sleep."
Sheena huffed angrily, drooling on Zelos' head for good measure. "Mlah." (Lilo and Stitch!)
Zelos shook his head, whining softly. "Please don't do that!"
"Boojieblah," Sheena slobbered.
"Stop it," Colette laughed, undoing Sheena's inescapable headlock (for the victim). "Let him go."
"Thank you to whoever invented mercy!" Zelos scampered away.
"Ptoo," Sheena spat, wiping her face. "Oh god, his hair tastes really...like...bizarre."
"Maybe it's all the shampoo," Colette suggested.
"Ew."
"But would you rather it be all greasy?"
"Ew!"
"I'd take shampoo rather than grease, wouldn't you?" Colette threw off a blanket, deciding she didn't want three layers.
"Yeah," Sheena scratched an itch on the side of her head. "Well, I'm turning the light off now."
"Oh no," Colette wriggled, giggling.
"Yes, and it will be dark and scary and a monster will eat you!" Sheena loomed over her, casting a shadow.
"Eeek! Well, night, then."
"Yeah."
This was started...get ready for this...June 16. Yeap. I'm slow! Chapter two, at that rate, will be completed sometime by Easter next year! AREN'T YOU HAPPY? I KNOW I AM WHEEEE.
Don't bother me, man, I'm havin' a Twix withdrawl.