--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---
Chapter 10 - A Moment of Rest, Part 1 - The Morning After
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The wind swept across the broken face of a once vibrant planet, whipping between the ruins of once majestic towers. The sound of it echoed across the otherwise eerily silent landscape, as it picked up dust, much of which was once part of a greater whole, to begin the painstakingly slow process of eroding away the many scars of battle, some more recent than others.
Bodies littered the ground, some whole, and some not, the once inhabitants of the planet making up the most of them, but a good number of them were aliens, offworlders, the invaders that had destroyed the once beautiful cities, and equally beautiful countryside. A lesser number again was made up of offworlders of a single race, a race of warriors that laughed at Death; but Death, it seems, had the last laugh. And yet, in a wasteland where death and destruction reigned supreme, there was still one that dared defy its rule.
It started small, just a tiny shake of the dirt. If you didn't know where to look you'd miss it; maybe even then. Soon, it became more aggressive, more frantic, as the dirt, rocks and rubble began to shake. In a sudden burst of energy, a hand shot out from amongst the rubble. The hand was dirty, bloodied, and had obviously seen better days, but was alive none-the-less. Before too long it was joined by it's twin, it's condition no better than the first, and together they began the arduous task of pulling their shared body out from under the wreckage, piece by painful piece.
First came the head, as blood and filth encrusted as the hands, covered in bruises, scrapes, still-bleeding wounds, and other assorted damage; atop it a mass of once black hair, now almost more blood, sweat, and grime than actual hair. At this point the being, obviously male, paused, spending several moments filling his lungs with precious oxygen hither-to deprived from him. After catching his breath, and coughing up more blood and dirt, he continued.
Next came the torso, as broken as those that appeared before it, if not more so, the remains of once commanding armour clinging to his form. The shoulder pads had long since been broken off, the man's shoulders themselves being damaged at the same time. There were cracks in some places, holes in others, and in both cases, were it not for the dirt one would see the damage mirrored on the body beneath, most, if not all holes, burnt straight through the once royal blue body suit to the flesh under it.
After another moment spent gathering energy the lower body emerged, clad only in equal parts dirt, blood, and the tattered remains of the afore-mentioned royal blue body suit, and following it, the legs, each donning the broken remains of a boot over the foot. With a final monumental effort he flipped over onto his back, the last of his energy gathered thus far spent, and the man, the Saiyan known as Kaen, rested a moment more, free at last from his earthy would-be grave.
He picked himself up slowly, painfully; he couldn't afford to rest any longer. He looked around warily for anything even resembling a threat, but his vision was cloudy, he had lost a lot of blood, and without his scouter, either buried under the rubble he'd just crawled out of, or destroyed during the fight, he had no way of knowing where the dangers lay until it was too late; but none of that mattered now, all that mattered was that he was still alive. However, if he didn't move fast, he wouldn't be for much longer.
He took a single, shaky step, then another, and with a sharp hiss escaping his bleeding lips, he realised his left leg was fractured, or possibly broken; he didn't know how that fact escaped him until now, but he blamed his massive blood loss. That and his extensive head injuries. Shaking his head slightly, and quickly realising how bad an idea that had been as black spots began dancing in his swirling vision, he cleared his conscious mind of all thoughts outside of escape, step by bone-jarringly painful step.
While his conscious mind focused on movement, his subconscious, unbidden, started running through a list of his injuries. First, obviously, his left leg was either broken or fractured, but for now he couldn't tell whether it was his upper leg or lower; everywhere hurt, so trying to find a specific wound was pointless. Next, his ribs felt cracked, fractured or broken, and a couple of them were pressing against his lungs painfully, or maybe just one; again, it was hard to tell exactly.
Judging from the blood, and the massive headache, his skull was also damaged somewhere, but it retained it's structural integrity, so that could wait. He had too many lesions to even bother trying to count; the energy could be better spent elsewhere. As another sharp hiss of pain escaped him, this time as he tried to lean on something with his right arm, he realised that, it too, was either fractured or broken, and his mind reeled in wonder as he realised he had used it more than his left in his escape, though he had no idea how.
Even several of the bones in his tail felt cracked, fractured or broken, as it hung limply behind him, and he realised all too clearly that if he didn't receive medical treatment before too long, Saiyan healing factor or no, he would die. For now, though, pain was more than welcome; it was his best friend. So long as he felt pain he was alive, and so long as his body hurt it could be saved.
Instinctually, he walked, or, more accurately, trudged, in the direction of the ships, knowing that they were his only chance, and hoping, praying, both that those who ambushed him hadn't destroyed them before the fight, and that their only survivor hadn't after. His logical mind told him his prayers weren't needed - if they'd destroyed them before they would have shown up on the scouters, and the other guy was just as worn out as he, and only had one arm to boot - but he continued to pray anyway, as he continued his painfully slow trek, fuelled by hope, willpower, and determination.
His heart soared as he saw that, indeed, his mind had been right, as he saw all ten pods still just as they'd left them, the most important being his own. In the week before deployment he had spent some time with his father finding out everything the ship could do, and he knew that it had medical equipment that could, at the very least, stabilise him until he could reach somewhere else.
He found himself praising every deity he'd ever heard of when he found his ship's remote still where he'd placed it, in his right boot, and still in perfectly working order at that. Wasting no time, he climbed into the ship with as much speed as he could muster, the chance that people could still be looking for him hitting him hard now that he was so close to escape. Deciding that leaving the planet was more important than having himself healed, so he set his ship to take off, but as a thought hit him, he stopped the ship in mid air.
If there were people looking for survivors, one of the first places they'd look would be the only means of escape, the ships, and if they found a ship missing they'd know instantly that someone survived. Opening the hatch of the now hovering ship, he leaned out a little, and gathered as much energy as he could into his unbroken left hand. Hoping, praying, that it was enough, and that it was on target, he launched it towards the remaining ships, letting out his held breath as he heard it's explosion trigger another, and another, until nine explosions had sounded after the first, signalling the destruction of the other ships.
He sat back inside the ship, although fell might be a more accurate word, closing the hatch as he did so, as his strength started leaving him. He knew that it wouldn't be long before he passed out, either from lack of energy, lack of blood, or simply excess amounts of pain; probably a combination of the three. With the last of his strength he set the ship to take off, trusting the autopilot to plot the course he lacked the strength to do, and beginning the ships medical machinery. And as the darkness took him into a deep slumber, one filled with dark, nightmarish images he'd rather forget, one final thought ran through his head.
'They will rue the day they crossed me. Mark my words, I will make them suffer!'
o-o-o
It was the dawning of a new day aboard the Icebreaker, although days are relative for those who travel through the vastness of space. Never the less, the new day dawned, and it's metaphoric rays shone on the sleeping Saiyan couple, whose night was just as, if not more, busy than their day, as they finally committed themselves to a ritual as old as the Saiyan race itself.
But while they slept, life went on throughout the rest of the ship, filled with an air of confidence. The fourth dragon ball had been recovered, and the destination of the fifth was already approaching. Not all was as it seemed however for the Nameks Flute and Viola. The pair, somewhat disturbed by the taunting yesterday, seemed to be going out of their way to avoid one another, at least for now. The male of the two, the ever stoic Flute, sat, presently, alone in the training room, several training drones circling his meditating form.
Elsewhere in the ship, in the room now destined to be occupied by two, the Saiyan Kaen awoke, taking a moment to relive the night before, and realising, from the weight against him, that it was not some wonderful dream. While, with her slumbering state, he may not have been able to hear her thoughts, he could still feel their connection; the bite mark on her shoulder, and the matching one on his, were other fairly big clues. After a moment spent basking in her presence he rose carefully, trying not to disturb her, and deciding to try and get in some training with his newly discovered form.
She shifted slightly in her sleep, finding his form missing, but she remained at rest, curling up in the warmth he left behind. Smiling for a moment at his bond-mate he got dressed and headed out, his destination the training room.
The room's current occupant remained where he was, deep in meditation, but with a sudden ki spike and a short cry the drones circling him were destroyed, exploding in mid air.
His female counterpart Viola, as she often did, was spending some time meditating on the holo deck, simulating forests and grassland, but the sudden ki spike she felt from Flute disturbed her meditation.
With a short command more drones were released, as the gravity remained at an even 50 times galactic standard. Regardless, he still levitated above the ground, his cloak, feeling the pull of gravity, hanging straight behind him, and dragging slightly on the floor. Flute himself did not seem to be disturbed greatly by the effects of the gravity; his ki remained higher than normal after the spike, although not as high as the spike had been, and his meditation continued.
With a short, "Don't mind me," Kaen, also feeling the spike as he approached, entered the training room and headed off towards the back. Flute, for his part did not. In fact, his response was so under-whelming, his meditative state not wavering an iota, one had to wonder whether he had noticed the entrance at all.
Pi, in the mean time, finally stirred from her slumber, and she woke up with a yawn and a stretch. Wrapping her tail around her waist as she felt the cool air against her skin, she hugged herself a little, smiling as she thought of Kaen's arms around her. After a moment spent remembering the night before she arose, getting dressed and heading out.
After a few minutes warm up, Kaen began using the kata he had long since memorized. He knew them so well that his mind could wander as his body moved on automatic, and he used the motions to focus his mind upon trying to use his new form; basically through, for lack of a better word, the Saiyan form of meditation.
Finished with her own meditation, Viola headed off towards the training room, in search of the others, while elsewhere in the ship Pi, exiting Kaen's room - their now-shared room - headed off with the same destination in mind.
With another quick shout, and the accompanying ki spike, Flute once again destroyed the circling drones by sheer force of his will alone, and once again, when the spike faded, his power level stabilised higher than it was before.
With no more than an impressed whistle Kaen, not even facing the levitating Namek, continued his own training, but was having no luck with his current technique.
Pi, from her position in the halls, noticed the spike in ki, also noticing it was Flute's, thought, knowing Kaen would hear her, "He seems tense for some reason." Her thoughts were filled with mirth of their taunting.
Hearing her voice in his mind he smiled, before responding in kind, "That he does. Maybe he's finally starting to realise, and it bothers him."
"Or he might aim it at you, because you started it," she retorted, with an innocent jab at his pride.
He just shrugged, both physically and mentally, before replying, "Good, I could use a workout."
Hearing this she began laughing, both out loud and through their bond, and almost didn't notice Viola down the hall in front of her.
The green skinned female stopped in her walk as she heard Pi laughing, a confused look on her face as she asked, "What's so funny?"
"Kaen," Pi replied simply, a smirk on her face
The confused look deepening, Viola looked around a moment before saying, "Huh? But he's not here."
The girl, now a woman, smiled as she took Viola's arm and lead her towards the mess hall, replying, "I can hear his thoughts now."
Breaking his meditation, Flute looked at Kaen, saying, "You seem to be using a form of telepathy."
With a smirk on his face, Kaen said, "You noticed huh?"
"A little. I wasn't listening in, I just noted it," was Flute's answer.
Without stopping, he replied, "It's one of the effects of the bond Pi and I formed last night. We can now hear each other's thoughts, and communicate telepathically, as well as a few other things."
"...Because we bonded last night," Pi finished as she, with Viola in tow, entered the cafeteria.
With a confused look, that also hinted at the curiosity she felt, Viola asked, "What do you mean 'bond'?"
Pi blushed a little at explaining the process before they bonded.
"Bond?" Flute asked simply. His calm face did nothing to hide the curiosity in his voice.
With a semi-evil smirk on his face, Kaen stopped his workout, turning to address Flute directly as he said, "Well my green friend, it's time for you to hear a few facts of life..."
Managing to build up the courage, Pi explained, "Um, we bonded, its a Saiyan way of marking your mate for life done when you first...make love..."
Viola found herself blushing a little as well. She may not have known much about this, but she had heard that term used before. She remained silent, however.
"Facts of life?" This time, not even his face hid his confusion.
The smirk widened as Kaen continued, "Yes, I doubt you'd know them, having been lead to believe you were asexual and all, but the simplest explanation for the bond is a Saiyan ritual, if you will, of marking your life mate, usually done whilst first mating."
Pi shook her head a little, saying, "Uh, by making love I mean... ahem mating." She held an absent look to try and fend off her embarrassment, but was failing, and miserably at that.
Viola's curiosity came back as Pi trailed off, but her own embarrassment kept her from making any verbal remarks, simply compelling her to continue with hand gestures and body language.
Flute was caught off guard. He had heard of much in his time of travelling, but little on the subject at hand; the Namek method of reproduction was simple, you would create an egg and wait for it to hatch, nothing more. This was very new to him. "Mating?"
Smirk still intact, if not increasing again, Kaen slowly walked in Flute's direction, delaying the inevitable as long as possible to allow Flute's mind to create it's own images, before explaining. "Yes, mating. It goes by many names, sex being the most widely used, but mating is the Saiyan term. For Saiyans, it's an act usually only ever carried out between life mates, but it's often more frivolous for other races." The smirk widened still, looking extremely evil, as he leaned down and added, "Now then, here's what it involves..." His voice dropped to a whisper as he explained everything in great detail.
Pi, not having the nerve to speak it out loud, whispered the details into Viola's ear.
Flute's jaw dropped, and he cried out, his voice loud enough to be heard for a fair distance around the training room, "I put my what?"
Viola's face looked equally embarrassed and pale as she exclaimed, "In where?"
Pi suppressed what amusement she had at Viola's embarrassment, although she could feel Kaen's amusement only growing at her own. She responded to Viola, making mention of her own first experience and what it entailed, and then continued to explain what the significance of the bite mark on her shoulder, as well as what it allowed her and Kaen to do.
Kaen just continued to smirk at Flute; he felt no need to be embarrassed by what happened, hell, he was proud of it. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, for the Namek at least, Kaen replied, "Trust me, it's a lot more fun that it sounds hearing it from someone else."
A great deal of sweat now on Flute's brow, he coughed a little and gave a short, neutral, response; "I see."
The obvious effort put in to assure the neutrality was enough to cause Kaen to burst into laughter, no longer able to suppress his amusement even as much as he had.
Viola just sat there, blushing like mad, and unable to say a word because of it.
Pi could only blush in sympathy with her. It was a little more than she had ever expected to another being, especially so soon after having experienced it herself.
Deciding training could wait, Kaen headed out, his destination the cafeteria, laughing all the while at the Nameks embarrassment, however well he thought he hid it. Flute, his mouth feeling like cotton, left the room also, trailing after Kaen, but in no hurry to catch up, lest the conversation prior be struck up again.
Arriving in the cafeteria, and instantly noticing Pi's presence, Kaen walked up and gave her a quick kiss, before throwing his coat over the back of one of the chairs and heading off into the kitchen, saying to no one in particular, "I need a drink..."
Pi giggled at this and followed after; the chat with Viola made her forget that she wanted to cook Kaen's breakfast, now lunch, herself, so she left to get him out of the kitchen. After grabbing a bottle from one of the many large fridges, he just smiled at her and allowed himself to be herded out.
Flute entered in that short moment after Pi had left, and a moment of awkward silence ensued as both Flute and Viola looked at each other with guarded thoughts, embarrassment clearly on her face, but it's cause not given away by her gaze alone. The moment didn't last long, however, as within seconds Kaen was forcibly ejected from the kitchen, laughing amusedly and saying, "Alright, I'm going, I'm going."
After smirking for a moment as he looked between the two, Kaen sat down at his previously chosen chair, setting the bottle on the table and saying, in a clearly amused voice, "What's the matter you two? You seem a little embarrassed."
Disregarding the comment, Flute sat down at the table, a few seats down from Viola, and contented himself with glaring at Kaen silently, who, in turn, just smirked back, also silently.
After a few moments of awkward silence the quiet was broken once more, this time by the entrance of Kat, in search of food herself. Picking up on the mood almost instantly, her face took on a worried look as she turned to Kaen, the most likely to answer her, and asked, "What's going on? What's wrong?"
Still smirking in Flute's direction, Kaen just replied, "Not much."
Breaking away from the stare down, Flute called over one of the service robots, ordering his standard drink of water, but otherwise remained silent.
Shrugging her shoulders, Kat caught the order droid before it could leave and made her own order, consisting of a quick meal and a drink of cola, both Neko style. Noticing the bottle in front of Kaen for the first time, she asked, "What's that you've got?"
Popping the cap off, he replied, "Oosquai, true Saiyan alcohol. I haven't had any of this for a long time. Not many places have it; there's enough alcohol in a single glass to kill most races in the galaxy outright, but there's not enough in the entire bottle to get a single Saiyan drunk." He finished his statement by taking a swig from the bottle.
Flute just shook his head as the robot returned with his and Kat's order, placing a drink in front of him, but if he were paying attention he would've noticed the robot confused the orders, giving him Kat's cola, and her his water.
Still looking at Kaen with her usual curious expression, Kat asked, "What's it taste like?" She also failed to notice the drink mix up, only noticing that her order had arrived.
Placing the bottle back on the table he replied, "Like drinking liquid fire."
From the kitchen Pi called out, "Actually, I was told it tastes a lot like grapes when it's been warmed!"
He just snorted, calling back, "Try drinking a dozen or more and see if you still say the same." She just stuck her tongue out at him through their bond.
Flute just shook his head again at the exchange before taking a swig from his own glass, but as soon as he did he started coughing as he realised that what he'd just swallowed wasn't water; it was fizzy and cold, sweeter than any water he'd drunk before, and the bubbles caused the over all shock he wore as he asked, "What is this?"
Kat was the first to look, and as she saw what he had she looked down at the drink she had before exclaiming, "Hey, that robot mixed up the drinks. Stupid thing gave you the one I ordered."
Taking a moment to examine what he'd just drank, Flute noticed that it was an unnatural dark, similar to tainted water. He didn't no what to think, but the drink certainly started to make his stomach feel warm, and from what he could tell there was no ill effect, at least not yet.
Viola, silent and lost in thought until now, turned to Flute and asked, "Can I try some?"
He paused before passing her the glass. "Drink it slowly," was all he could say, the sensation was hard to gauge.
Pi returned from the kitchen bearing a small meal, more of a snack really, for Kaen and herself. Setting it down, she gave him a kiss on the cheek before grabbing his drink and taking a swig with a wink. He just swatted at her playfully and growled a half hearted, "Get your own," although it was obvious he really didn't mind sharing with her.
Looking between the Nameks for a moment, a confused look on her face, Kat asked, "What's up? You guys are acting like you've never even seen soft drink before."
Viola took a hesitant sip of the drink, not sure what to expect, but quite pleased with the taste as she mused, "Hmm, not bad..."
Flute looked at Kat for a second before replying somewhat quietly, "Our race only drink water, it's all we need to consume..."
Interrupting, Kat exclaimed, "You only drink water? That can't be very filling..."
Looking up from her meal, Pi called out, "That's what I said."
After waiting for their conversation to die down, Flute continued, "This soft drink of yours is odd to say the least, not entirely unpleasant, but I was caught unaware of it."
Nodding a bit, Kat replied, "Well it's basically just water with extra stuff in it to make it taste better." Saying this, she got up to order herself another drink, rather annoyed at having to do so.
He nodded, more to himself than anything, before turning back to Viola as if asking for the glass again. She answered his silent question by handing it back to him, her hand brushing his as she did so, but she failed to realise until after the fact. Flute, however, did notice, but he made no reaction other than a quick glance in her direction, instead turning his attention back to the glass in his hand, and the contents therein.
Pi giggled a little to herself as she took another drink from the bottle, while Kaen just had an amused smirk and a rueful shake of his head for the Nameks behaviour. Taking the bottle back and having another drink himself, Kaen commented to no one in particular, "Whoever built this thing obviously had Saiyans in mind. There's enough of this back there to get the entirety of Vegeta-Sei drunk and keep them that way for a month or more.
"I'd have thought the proximity of the training room to the cafeteria was more than enough of a hint," called a voice from the doorway, Frost's voice.
With no more than a shrug Kaen replied, "Touché. Don't 'spose you know who built it?"
Frost paused a moment in thought, before saying, "I don't remember the name, but I'll check into it for you." The Aisu was more than happy to keep Kaen placated after what happened on the last planet, when they went to retrieve the fourth dragon ball.
Avery walked in without a word to anyone, just ordering his usual from the robot, which also included hard alcohol, before sitting down far enough away from the others to make it clear he didn't want company, but close enough to hear any conversations.
Frost sat at a table between Avery and the others, ordering a meal and some wine, and the robots worked speedily to fulfil the orders. Frost's meal was brought first, as per their programming, followed by Avery, and finally the Nameks got their new order of the sweet drink Kat had inadvertently introduced them to.
Noticing Frost's order, Kaen snorted mildly and said, "Wine? Lightweight."
In response, Frost shot Kaen a small glare, about as harsh a glare as he dared, as he replied, "This is Arctizan wine I'll have you know."
The Saiyan male just raised an eyebrow, a semi-impressed look on his face as he said, "Really? That's okay then."
Frost wore a small smile as he ate his meal with the dignity befitting his status.
Kaen chuckled quietly to himself at the sheer pomposity the Aisu gave off when doing something as simple as eating, but just chalked it up to him being what he was and said nothing.
Viola just drank her drink quietly, unsure of how to deal with everything, having little to no social skills to speak of, but starting to care less the more she drank. Flute drank his drink as well, and he seemed to become more reserved than usual, but he now, for some reason, had more than enough nerve to look at Viola properly, rather than stealing a few odd glances.
With a curious look, Kat glanced at the bottle and asked Kaen, "Can I try some of that?" She may have been asking Pi, but the end result would've been the same.
Kaen's response was a curt "No" at the same time as Frost answered "You're too young" for them.
She started pouting, whining, "Aww, how come?"
Frost shook his head, replying, "The last thing I need is a drunk Neko in a ship filled with shiny, lighted buttons."
Kaen hid an amused smile behind his bottle while Pi stifled her own giggles with her hand. Flute laughed quietly to himself, and Viola giggled rather loudly, at least for her, until she heard herself and cut off abruptly with a look that seemed to say 'Was that me?' Even Avery gave a sharp bark of a laugh at the look on her face.
She pouted a little longer before realising that the sympathy vote wasn't going to work. Sulking to herself, and muttering, "You're no fun..." before stalking off to her room.
Flute finished his glass, ordering another right away. He felt a little light-headed, and if anything quite warm indeed; a curious feeling to say the least, and one Viola seemed to share.
From his seat, Avery called out, "Don't press any buttons while you're out there!" to Kat as she left, but she just gave him the finger and kept walking, speeding up a bit to make sure they didn't see the tears in her eyes.
Frost just shook his head a little at the exchange and continued his meal in silence.
Finishing his meal, Kaen just ordered himself and Pi several more bottles. Smirking a little, a blush crept across Pi's cheeks as she whispered, "I don't think I can drink that much..."
Kaen just smirked back, replying just as softly, "You'll never know if you don't try."
She just shook her head before leaning against him and resting on his chest, happy enough just to be near her mate. He put an arm around her, pulling her closer, and with another amused look he shared the memory of the first time he drank through their bond.
The shock their position didn't allow him to see on her face was evident both in her voice and through their bond as she said, "They made you drink that much?"
He shrugged, a gesture that she could feel instead of see, as he replied, "They said it was something Korin told them to do. Guess they figured it was as good a time as any. I think they were gonna do some other things as well, coz I heard one of the guys saying, 'We can't do that. He's got a girl back home, and she has a temper.'"
With that their drinks arrived, and they switched to their bond to continue their conversation.
By this point, Flute was feeling quite strange. Now on to his fourth glass of soft drink he was feeling slightly disoriented, and... Well, he couldn't describe it to himself. If he were anyone else he would've said he was drunk, but as it was he had no inkling of his condition in the slightest.
Viola found herself giggling to herself for no reason whatsoever, only to stop, try and think of why she was giggling, and start again because she couldn't work out why she started in the first place.
Breaking the routine, Flute spoke telepathically to Viola, "I don't think this drink is sitting well with me. I don't feel ill, but certainly odd..."
Still giggling, Viola responded in kind, "I dunno, I feel really good. I haven't felt this good in years."
For some reason, he couldn't work out what, he didn't seem to be able to stop drinking the soft drink, despite what it might or might not be doing to him. On top of that he started to chuckle a little with Viola, as if the two shared a silent joke between them that neither could think of.
Without realising what she was doing she began staring at him for minutes on end, her face flushing a bit as her giggles continued before she'd look away, only to repeat the cycle. For his part Flute returned her gaze, but other than the small lines of mirth on his face he showed no outward reaction.
Frost glanced up at the pair, but, as he'd never really seen Nameks interacting before he thought nothing of it. Turning back, his eyes locked with Avery's, and the two shared a comrade-ish look, raising their glasses in a silent toast, before they both returned to their drink and their thoughts.
Noticing the noise, Kaen looked up at the Nameks for a moment before saying through their bond, "Hey, check those two out. If I didn't know better I'd swear they were drunk."
She nodded a little, replying, "Well, they only ever drink water... The sugar, and caffeine, could be affecting them."
Smiling a little to himself, he said, "Sure seems that way. Maybe this will help them loosen up a little."
"Don't be mean." She reinforced her statement by hitting him playfully on the arm.
Frost, feeling he'd had more than enough, stood and quietly sauntered away, to do whatever it was he did in a normal day.
Fending her off equally as playfully, Kaen replied, "Oh come on, you know there's something between them, but they're both too stubborn and naive to do anything about it."
She smiled before responding, "I know, but they need to come to it in their own time, like we did."
Avery, following Frost's lead, just finished his drink and walked off, without so much as a glance for anyone.
Pi watched Avery leave, and her gaze landed on the bottles of alcohol before them. She smirked almost sinfully as she looked back at Kaen. Feigning innocence, something he didn't do very well, he just raised an eyebrow and said, "Yes?"
She just reached up and started whispering an idea she had into his ear. By the time she was finished he wore a smirk that mirrored hers. He just nodded his head once before standing up, lifting her with his left arm, grabbing four of the bottles with right, a fifth, an open one, with his tail, and offering it to Pi as he carried everything, her included, off to their room, with Pi giggling all the while.
Flute watched the pair leave, saying after a moment, 'It seems that we are alone...'
Viola, still giggling, failed to notice them leave until he'd pointed it out, saying, 'Hey, so we are.'
His mood seemed to fall into remorse at the word 'alone', and he stared at the glass in his hand before saying, in a voice just above a whisper, 'The road to redemption is long...'
Looking a little confused, she replied, 'Huh? What do you mean redemption?'
'I...' he began, 'I miss the clear skies of Namek. The cool breeze along the plains, and the trees...' His musings fell silent again at the mention of 'trees'.
She smiled a little, saying, 'I think I understand. I miss my home too, but I don't regret having had to leave. And I know there's more you're not saying, but you don't have to if you don't want to.'
He allowed himself a brief smile, replying, 'Thank you,' and placing his hand on hers.
She placed her other hand on top, failing to realise the intimacy of the gesture, before finishing her thought with, 'I'm always here if you need to talk.'
'I appreciate it greatly.' It was over before he realised that he had acted purely on impulse; he'd taken up Viola's hand and kissed the back of it softly, before letting their hands fall slowly back to the table. This time she did realise, and began blushing slightly, but made no effort to change the situation, or any other reaction; Flute himself just looked down at their clasped hands, saying nothing as he thought over why he'd done that.
Just as the silence was starting to turn awkward, Viola broke it by bursting out into another fit of giggles before saying, 'No one back home would believe me if I told them anything about what I've seen so far, the people I've met, any of it.'
He smiled back at her, replying, 'If they want proof they can always ask me.' His gesture held little value at that point, but he made it all the same.
Giggling again, she said, 'Well, even seeing you would prove at least half of them wrong.'
'And bringing you to Namek would cause many a head to turn.' He replied with a smirk.
Managing to get her giggles under control, she said, 'Well, I should think so. I'm quite good looking if I do say so myself.' Even moments after the words left her lips she couldn't work out where they came from, or why she said them, or even why she felt that way, but she felt too good to argue the point much, even just in her own mind.
Flute seemed that he wasn't one to argue either as he said, 'If any were to say that there existed something more beautiful than you, I wouldn't want to know about it.'
She smiled again, using one hand to stroke his face as she whispered, 'You're not so bad there yourself.' Her blush returned the second the words left her lips, but she didn't pull her hand away. His hand took hold of the one against his face, and with no more warning than that he drew her close, pressing his lips to hers.
End Chapter 10
To be continued...