A/N: Well, another day, another chapter. And it looks like we may be back in the realms of the insanely long... I had to cut stuff out again...Sigh...
Review Responses:
Willowind: Only half the city? Heh. Well, here's the update, enjoy it. (US KFC, indeed... (Snorts with laughter))
Dragonlady222: Hee hee... evil stalkers of DEATH! But you have to wonder, if that's the Unofficial fan club, whatever happened to the offical one? Heh heh heh...
Disclaimer: I own no more then I have in any of the other chapters...
So! In this chapter, we find something out about someone, another is still pretty confusing, one makes a promise, another is rescused.There's a swimming race and an odd pinic and... g'hey! One is owed an ice-cream!
Six: Curry Sauce
July
"Anna Mitsan?"
No response.
"Anna?"
Nothing.
"Anna!"
The girl in question jumped, suddenly straight up in her seat.
"Oh, yes sir, sorry…" she muttered sheepishly, resuming her blank staring a moment later, but this time at the ceiling rather then slumped over the desk.
"Woah…" Yugi said, from somewhere behind Téa. "She was totally zoned out, right?"
"Not even I'm that bad…" Joey conceded. "I wonder if something's up…"
"Now that I think about it…" Téa commented, head cupped in her hand. "She has seemed rather down these last few weeks…I'm kinda worried about her…"
"And Kaiba's looked even grumpier then usual." Tristan added.
"No," Téa shook her head, bangs whipping her cheeks. "No, that's not it… he seems more… sad. I wonder if something happened?"
"Maybe they broke up." Joey suggested, not sounding too unhappy about it.
"I wouldn't have thought so." Ryou chimed in. "She's been with him at lunch everyday, and they both disappear at the weekends, apparently. If anything, they've been spending more time together."
"Hmmph." Joey snorted. "Still, she should cheer up! School lets out on Friday! I wonder what's bugging her so much…"
"I bet she wouldn't tell us even if we asked." Téa sighed. "But there has to be something we can do to cheer her up…"
"Why don't we ask her to come with us?" Yugi suggested suddenly. "If you guys don't mind, that is…"
"That's a great idea!" Téa enthused. "Why would we mind?"
"Well, it's always just been us, and I didn't know if you'd want to include other people…"
"You included me." Ryou pointed out, leaning back in his seat. "So, for what it's worth, I don't mind."
"We mind about as much as you do, Yugi, and you obviously don't." Téa smiled. "It's a really nice idea!"
"Come on then!" Joey yelled, jumping up and getting a nasty look off his teacher who calmly asked him to keep it down. They headed across the room.
Azreal looked up in surprise as she was surrounded by her friends. Close up, she looked even worse, like she was worrying about something very important.
"Oh, hi guys." She said, falsely cheerful. Oh no…She thought. They're going to ask me what's wrong, but I'm can't tell them, Seto wouldn't want me to, but I don't want to lie to them… What am I supposed to say!
"Hey, we were wondering if you had anything planned for the first day of the holidays…" Yugi began. Azreal blinked in surprise. This hadn't been what she had been expecting…
"Um, not that I know of, unless my dad's thinking of something…Why?"
"Well, it's just that every year, on the first day of the summer-" Téa chimed in "Or the night we break up, whatever you want to call it- we all go to the beach together. It's really good fun! You should come!"
"I don't know…" Azreal began. Joey slammed a hand down on the desk.
"Do you really think we'll take no for an answer?" He demanded. "Come on, Azreal, it's Fun Time!"
"You'll have to up early, though…" Yugi warned. "We get the Night Bus at two am…"
"I'll ask." Azreal promised, smiling slightly. The bell for first period rang outside in the corridor and they headed off to their first lesson of the week. In Azreal's case, it was literature and also the only class that she didn't share with any of the others, so, at the moment, it suited her just fine. She just wanted to get out of there right then.
She growled mentally in frustration. What was with her? She berated herself for letting the cracks show. She knew her friends were worried about her. Hell, Azreal was worried about herself. And she was worried about Mokuba, and about Seto, and about what would happen when her musing powers could no longer hold up on their own… She really wanted to talk to someone, but who would understand? She had come close to telling Seto a dozen times, but he already had enough on his plate…
She rubbed her forehead in frustration. She'd have to deal with this one on her own. Not that there was much she could do about it. She had been doomed to die the moment she had moved down here, she didn't regret it for a second, but she should have known that this would happen. Not that anyone else knew. Surely her mother couldn't have known that she would die-
"Stop it." She told herself sternly.
"Stop what?" Someone asked, bewildered. Azreal looked up to see Kaho, who was also in her PSHE class, eying her in concern. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks."
To her relief, Kaho let the matter drop, and they continued in silence to class.
For a while, at least. When they entered a deserted corridor, Kaho suddenly stopped, and turned to face Azreal.
"You're worried." She said, smiling softly. "And not just that, you're confused. About who you are and why you came here, and uncertain about the future…Why your powers are fading so fast… what will happen when they go…"
Azreal looked at her in shock. "What? But… how…"
"So, I was right. You are Azreal Kiyoko after all!"
Suddenly, the ghostly shadows of wings appeared from Kaho's shoulders.
"Ssh…" She smiled, pressing a finger to her lips. "I used to live up in Somewhere… until I decided to try living down here. And I was just as doubtful as you are, though, I have to admit, my powers aren't going as fast as yours…" She looked at Azreal sideways. "There were some Muses that accepted you, you know. We knew your birth your fault, that your heart was in the right place, that you wanted to do well… I understood you then, and… well, I guess I understand you now. We both left our world behind, after all…"
Azreal regarded her. And suddenly, the over-whelming sensation of all the stress that had been piling up over the last few weeks, from the whole situation with Mokuba and Seto, and that horrible sinking feeling when she had realised her powers were going already; and the fact that she had found someone who might, just might, understand what she was going through, washed over her, and before she knew it, she was crying- bawling her guts out in the middle of a school corridor.
Calm as always, Kaho Bijou, the run-away Muse from Somewhere, took pity on the girl, and dragged her off to the sanctuary that was the Girls toilets.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
"I just don't understand it…" She sighed in frustration. "Creativity levels are at a record low, even though we've got Muses drafted out to every little tiny case we can find, and what's more worrying is that Nothing levels are rising… Up point-zero-zero-two-one of a percent since this time last year… I wonder what's going on… What do you make of it, Millie?" Rebecca turned to face her boss, who, to her surprise was putting on her coat. "Hey! Where are you going?"
"The shop." Millierie replied. "Do you want anything?"
"You're going Shopping…?" Rebecca echoed indcredously.
"Firstly, the situation is not going to get any worse if I nip out for ten minutes." Millierie answered easily. "Secondly, maintenance is handled by the City Council, so pass the findings onto them and let them deal with it. And Thirdly, I have tried many things in my life… Yoga, Zen, Alcohol, Rock and Roll… and none of them, not one, has helped half as much with problems as a good old bar of chocolate."
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
She heard the beep as the mobile was switched off, and knocked on the door.
"Come in…" Azreal called, and Ruby entered to find her sitting cross-legged on the bed in her pyjamas, mobile phone, in it's sheep fascia, cradled in her lap.
"Hi." Azreal said to her father's wife. "Were you waiting for me to finish on the phone?"
"No flies on you, then." Ruby sighed, sitting down next to her on the bed. "Don't worry, I couldn't hear what you were saying, just your voice."
"Mmm."
"You seem to be more cheerful tonight." Ruby persevered. "We've noticed that you haven't been yourself recently, your father and I… look, I know that you don't necessarily want to talk to us, and… I don't even know if I'd understand… I mean, I won't pretend I wasn't wierded out to find that my husband was already married to someone he had forgotten about who wasn't even human, but… I've never regretted your arrival, Anna. James just loves you, and… well, you've been a blessing to this house. I just wanted to tell you that." She stood up to leave, but then Anna spoke.
"Do you really mean that?" She asked. "You think that I… that I belong here? No matter what?"
"I couldn't tell you that." Ruby replied softly. "Is that what's bugging you?"
She shook her head slowly. "Not exactly… But don't worry! I talked to someone today… Nothing's changed, not really, but I feel better about it- like I can focus on more important things again."
"Good. I'm glad."
"Oh, I almost forgot! My friends want me to go to the beach with them on Saturday… Is that okay?"
"That's fine. Goodnight, Anna."
"'Night, Ruby. Thanks…"
"Is she okay?" Doug asked instantly as Ruby re-entered their room.
"She's on the mend." Ruby shrugged. "She's going to the beach on Saturday with her friends, and I think she only skipped class because she was talking to someone about it all…"
"Oh, thank goodness." Doug sighed. "I was worried when I got that call from the school… I didn't think she'd ever start to pull herself out of this rut she seems to be in…"
"You should have more faith in her." Ruby snorted. "She's far too impatient to stay down for long. She'll work her way out of it. You have one heck of a daughter, Doug."
"I do."
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Azreal stretched tiredly, leaning against the wall lazily, and only half listening to those around her in the queue for PSHE class talk about what they were doing the next day to kick start their summer holidays. Well, she already knew what she was doing, and she was looking forward to it no end.
Suddenly, she saw Seto wandering down the corridor, coming from the direction of the office. This was not unusual, he was always getting calls at reception since the head master had still not relented on the mobile. It was more the look on his face that worried her.
Slipping away from Yugi, Ryou, and Téa, she caught up with him, and the two ducked round a corner to a small alcove containing only the door to a store cupboard.
"Tell me." She said simply, heart in mouth. Seto had not wasted any time since the visit from the social workers to become his brother's official guardian, but it was still taking a painfully long time.
"Tomorrow." Seto said. "That's it. When they give the nod or shake to me getting my brother back. And if they say no…" His eyes glittered dangerously. "I cannot promise I'll go about everything as legally as I have been."
"Yes," Azreal replied hurriedly. "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, okay?" They stood in silence for a minute. She scrutinised Seto. She didn't think he had slept at all- even less then usual- since this entire affair began. And she just knew it was tearing him up inside. "You've been through Hell, haven't you, this past month?"
Seto didn't reply. He didn't need to. The past month had been humiliating and tiresome. He had had to endure back ground checks, and psychological analysis, and had to prove that he was able to look after his brother…
"Well, Mokuba's had it worse." He shrugged. "He's all smiles when we visit him, but as long as he's stuck in that damn Children's Home, it'll all be an act."
"Seto…" She replied uncertainly. "Not all places are as bad as the one you went to, you know… But you're right. Don't worry, Mokuba will be home before you know it. A real home, I mean, not a one with a capital letter."
"Hmm."
"I'll leave my phone on." She promised. "Call me when you know…"
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Two AM the next morning, and the NightBus Station was full, mainly weary commuters to central Tokyo. Everyone was tired, frustrated and subdued.
Except one group of teenagers and a dog, who were cheerful enough. Dressed in shorts or three quarter length trousers, they were all armed with small bags, purses, wallets, and anything else you'd expect a bunch of kids to have for a day out. One boy was attracting quite a few looks- not just because of his fame and hair, and famed hair,- but also because of the large bin liner, almost bigger then him, that he was dragging behind him.
"Okay!" Azreal yelled finally. "I dread to ask, but I have to! Yugi, what's in the bag?"
"Grandpa found it in the attic when he was looking for an antique chess set for a collector." Yugi grinned happily. "It's an inflatable rubber boat! And Grandpa says he and all his brothers and sisters used to go out in it, so it means we'll all fit- and now we can go sailing on the ocean!"
"The ocean…" Azreal echoed. "We're going to the ocean…"
"That's right!" Joey cheered. "And here's the bus!"
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
More than four hours, countless stops, and many complaints about the dinghy's oars later, the only travellers left on the bus climbed off, yawning and stretching stiff legs.
Téa consulted a sign that carried useful information about tides and daylight hours, and Azreal craned her neck for a glance at the ocean, but to no avail. The Bus had parked in a small indent, with miles and miles of country hedgerow, bountiful cliff vegetation stretching on and on up and down the cliff. However, to Azreal's surprise, they did not head down, but up.
"We're late!" Téa yelled. "Hurry guys! If we don't, we'll miss it!" She started running up the cliff, graceful on her strong, dancer's legs.
"Miss what?" Azreal asked, bewildered, as the others followed her.
"Unless you hurry, you won't find out!" Tristan replied mysteriously, taking pity on Yugi and hefting the bin liner off his smaller friend. "Just come on already!"
Azreal would never forget that run.
The sun had not yet fully risen, the cold light of dawn just beginning to light up the sky. The footpath itself was overgrown and packed in, even darker as the trees provided shade. She could not see the others through dense foliage, but she could hear their ragged breathing, and could feel the adrenaline coursing through her as she ran up and up…
Suddenly, she burst out onto a small rocky ledge at the top of the cliff, the sparse plants here a sharp contrast to the semi-jungle behind them. The outcrop sloped down gently, a sand dune down to the beach, just a thin line of sand crawling from the ocean at this time of the day.
But it was the ocean itself that made them even more breathless then the run.
The sun was just rising, early-morning mist still clinging determinedly to the crests of the waves, which still glittered in the sunlight, the reflection of the awakening sun spreading over the entire horizon.
Azreal stood and gaped in silent awe.
"And this," Téa said quietly. "Is part of the reason we come here so early. The other part is that the beach'll be packed later on…"
"It's…" Azreal tried, but no adequate words would come.
"I take it you've never seen a sunrise on the sea before?" Tristan asked, laughing at her expression.
"I've never seen the ocean before, full stop." Azreal replied, not noticing their mouths falling open. "I mean, I've seen pictures and films and things, but it's not just what you see and hear… You can smell it and feel it on your skin and taste the salt in your mouth… I knew it was big, but it's… so big. Like it goes on forever. And it moves. Almost like it's alive…" She snapped out of her dream-like trance, enthralled by the body of water, when she saw their faces.
"What?" She asked.
"You've never been to the beach?" Joey screeched in disbelief.
"I grew up on a floating city. You don't get many beaches in floating cities. Or snow. Or any other weather for that matter." She pointed out. "They had a lake up in Wherever once, but they couldn't make the water move like that. And sand was too expensive to import, so they used fake stuff. It gave you the most terrible rashes on your feet. Opal and Garnet and Ruby still have the scars. By the time I got there, though, they had given up and concreted over the lot. And only the best Muses got jobs on the coast, so… Up till now, the biggest body of water I'd ever seen was the weir by the Night Market."
"You really haven't been to the beach?" Téa had to ask. Surely, Azreal had to be pulling her leg…
"So you've never built a sandcastle?"
"Or swum in the sea?"
"Or been surfing? Or body-boarding?"
"Or played cricket in the sand?"
They all looked at him.
"What?" Ryou said defensively. "That's what's people do on the beaches in England! You couldn't go a metre without bumping into some family playing cricket! Balls flying everywhere… It was all a terrible mess." (A/N: This is true. I have sustained more then one cricket-induced bruise. Not that I'm that into cricket myself, I don't get it- I just want to win the Ashes. But the nation as a whole seems to have gone cricket mad recently. I mean, take the London Bombs. When Big Brother did not tell the seven locked in the House right away, there was a national outcry. But at the Aston cricket ground, half way through a match, the audience and the players didn't hear anything about it until the game was over… four hours later. And everyone thought that this was perfectly acceptable, even thought they hadn't with Big Brother. It's crazy…)
"Right." Joey dismissed. "So, anyway, I think we should make this day one of Azreal's best!" The others echoed agreement enthusiastically.
"We are going to show you one very fun day." Tristan insisted.
"I actually quite envy you, never being to the sea before." Téa said suddenly.
"Huh?" Azreal blinked. "But I've missed out on such a lot."
"Yes…" Téa nodded. "But it must be nice to experience all these things… The sea, and snow, and everything… for the first time, but being old enough to really appreciate them."
"I guess…" Azreal replied. She hadn't thought about it like that before.
"Well, let's get down there and appreciate it already!" Joey yelled, and to Azreal's surprise, he ran straight to the edge of the cliff, and staggered down the sand dune, Tristan right behind him.
After a second, Yugi began the dizzying run down the slope to, and Téa really began despairing.
"Oh, guys!" She called "Don't! You'll break your necks!" She looked desperately at Ryou and Azreal.
"Well…" Ryou shrugged. "We do this every year and no-one's broken anything yet…" With that, he ran off to, laughing and stumbling, Cassie keeping her balance much better beside him.
"They must be mad…" Téa muttered in annoyance.
"Yep." Azreal agreed.
"…You're going to run down that hill, aren't you?"
"Yep."
And with that, she went- but she grabbed Téa's arm half way to the edge. The two lost their balance about 3 metres down, because Azreal was going faster, but Téa was trying to slow down, and they ending up rolling all the way down in an odd kind of multicoloured bundle.
Eventually, they came to a halt and untangled themselves. But whilst Téa was staggering up indignantly, Azreal was laughing hysterically, trying to get the sand out of her hair.
"Not funny." Téa reprimanded the others, who had thought the undignified roll down the hill was the funniest thing they'd seen in a long time. But she was unable to keep her lips twisting into a smile, which she tried, and failed, to get rid of. Soon she was laughing to.
"I love the beach!" Azreal giggled, jumping up.
"We haven't even done anything yet…" Yugi said, laughing at her excitement.
"Then let's do something!" Azreal yelled. "It's the summer holidays! Let's enjoy them!"
"Let's go swimming, before the sea gets busy later, or the waves get bigger- it's really calm right now." Téa suggested, pulling off her t-shirt to reveal the swimming costume underneath. The guys were all doing similar things, and it was a moment later when they realised that Azreal was not.
"What's wrong?" Téa asked. "Didn't you bring a costume?"
"I did…" Azreal replied sheepishly. "I'm just not wearing it…" She pulled the rainbow-striped item out of her bag.
"There's some toilets up there." Téa pointed part way up the proper beach access ramp. "You can get changed in there."
Azreal nodded, and began to run across the sand. "Don't bother waiting!" She called "I'll be there in a minute!"
They didn't need telling twice. Those that remained ran down to the shoreline and into the ocean.
Unfortunately, it was very cold.
"Ahh!" Joey yelped. "It's been under the sun for millions of years! You would have thought it would have warmed up by now!"
The only people who seemed unaffected by the cold were Cassie, who was splashing around quite happily at their feet, and Ryou, who was out up to his waist and was laughing at them, shivering in their ankle-deep shallows.
"How can you do that!" Tristan demanded. "Just walk into water that cold?"
Ryou just shrugged, not mentioning the fact that he had always taken holidays to Scotland, learning to swim in the ocean it shared with Iceland. Then he went a little further out, bent over, and swam.
"See?" Téa called, teeth chattering as she waded out up to her waist to. "You guys are just wimps…"
"Wimps!" Joey demanded, running out to where she was and splashing her for all he was worth. Téa squealed.
Joey smirked, continuing to splash her. But then, the oddest thing happened. He felt a light tug on his legs. But before he could investigate, the tug was harder and he was forced under the water.
He surfaced, spluttering and chocking. He looked around frantically for his attacker. He knew there were Giant Squid around here, but he thought they would be further away from the shallows…
A minute later, Ryou surfaced next to him, breathing in deeply and laughing. Apparently, he found swimming under water in the sea no problem, because when Joey came after him with a lust for blood, he disappeared again, and the attack hit someone else…
They were all warm after that.
Téa swum her way, graceful as ever, through the waves, but she had no patience for it, and eventually she went back to where Joey, Tristan and Yugi were hanging around up to their waists (Or chests. Yugi was rather short.)
"…surprises me." Yugi finished.
"What does?" Téa asked, joining them.
"Ryou." Yugi replied, nodding to where, about ten metres away, he was swimming back and forth, easily keeping himself straight against the current. "I mean, given his record in PE…"
"What Yugi means is, if swimming was on the curriculum, maybe Ryou wouldn't flunk PE every year." Tristan explained.
"Well…"
"It looks like he's got competition." Joey said suddenly, looking a little way up the beach to where Azreal had re-joined them and was splashing her way towards Ryou. He stopped, and, being as it was too deep to set down in, both were treading water. They spoke briefly, and then, suddenly, they turned around and swam back until they were level with the outcrop they had stood on that morning.
"Looks like they're going to race." Tristan said, and the suspicion was confirmed a moment later when Azreal called over to them that they were having a race over to where the cliff curled a little way into the bay, rocks tumbling off it, which was a popular spot for people wanting to climb rocks. First one to touch the largest rock won- and got a free ice cream off the losers. Téa and Joey both joined the line up, Tristan offered to start it, and Yugi sploshed through the shallows and scrambled up the rocks to where there ending point was, to judge who won.
"Okay…" Tristan said, glancing up to check that Yugi was ready. "After Three, then, on my mark. One…"
Azreal dug a foot into the floor to give herself a better start.
"Two…"
Joey leant forward, concentrating on his goal.
"Three…"
Ryou tensed up, ready to go.
"GO!" Tristan yelled.
Téa kicked her legs up, splashing the others and gaining a head start.
"You cheat!" Azreal yelled, catching up with her easily. Joey, the tallest of them all, was the furthest out, just half a metre behind the others, who were pretty much in a straight line, Ryou, Azreal, and Téa.
It stayed this close for all of three seconds, before Joey caught up with Téa and the two struggled to over take each other.
Not that it mattered. Azreal and Ryou had already pulled away.
Yugi shaded his eyes against the sun. There was no clear winner yet. This would be a close one.
Everyone was so absorbed in the race that none of them noticed Cassie, who had been swimming around happily enough on her own. But now, she was beginning to wonder where everyone was. Eventually, she caught sight of Yugi, standing on a rock. And as no-one else was around, she began to splash over to him, tail wagging happily.
They had nearly reached the end, just centimetres away, arms outstretched to touch the rock.
"And the winner is…" Yugi began. "Cassie?" The dog in question scrambled up onto the rock, barking, a split second before Azreal's and Ryou's fingers splayed against the rock. It would have been too close to call anyway.
The looked at him in incredulity as they scrambled up onto the rocks, and the others came and joined them.
"The dog's the winner?" Azreal asked. "Did she even know she was racing?"
"She was the first one here." Yugi insisted firmly. "So she's the winner."
"Fine…" Azreal laughed, offering a hand to Ryou. "A good race, anyway."
"Yes." Ryou agreed, shaking her hand. Unfortunately for him, her other hand was still wet, and she flicked it at him.
Cassie thought this was a good idea and began to shake water all over them until they were all even wetter.
And so began the second water fight of the day.
"Hey," Azreal said suddenly, about half way through. "Does the ice cream rule still stand?"
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
By the time they all flopped onto the beach, exhausted and soaked, it was starting to fill up, and they were getting hungry.
"I think we should get Lunch." Joey declared. "Or," He amended, looking at his watch. "Brunch. Geez, we've been here ages and it's only just coming up to midday…"
"I agree," Azreal chimed in, cold now she was out of the water and wrapping herself up in her rainbow-striped beach towel. "I'm hungry!"
"Azreal…" Yugi asked, looking at the towel. "Do you own anything that isn't stripy?"
She considered. "Yeah. The stuff with sheep on it."
"Hello, Lunch!" Joey insisted. "We need some people to stay here to look after the stuff, so I'll go into the town and buy us something!"
He ran off, and they watched.
"Do we really trust him in getting our lunch…?" Téa asked aloud.
"I'll go." Azreal offered, pulling a T-shirt on over her costume and slipping sandals back onto her feet. "I want to take a look at the town anyway. Hey, Joey, wait up!"
And she ran off to.
"This could be disastrous." Ryou noted a moment later.
The others nodded in agreement.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Azreal needn't have worried about feeling out of place, walking around in just a swim suit and a T-shirt. Most people were just in swimming gear as they made their way along the shops on the front. Still, at least the actual buying and paying would be easy. They had all put an equal amount of money into a special 'Food Fund', so now they would all pay a fair share, and any change would be split up between them. They reached the small Co-Op on one of the back roads, and stopped to confer.
"What should we get?" Azreal asked him. "I fancy some dipper stuff…"
"Dips?" Joey wrinkled his nose. "Nah, they'd get full of sand. Let's just get some crisps or something…"
Azreal appeared not to have heard as she enthusiastically split the money, and the shop between them, sending him in one direction as she went the other.
Ryou's prediction was about to come true.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
When Joey emerged from the shop a few moments later, Azreal was already there, clinging a carrier bag and messing with her phone.
"Something up?" He asked, holding a bag himself.
"No…" She sighed. "I was just checking that I hadn't missed any calls while we were in the water. Nothing."
"You're better off without phone calls from him anyway." Joey snorted.
"Oh, get over yourself!" Azreal yelled angrily. "I know none of you like him, and he doesn't like you guys, and I don't expect you to! But at least the others have accepted that I like him, and they don't keep up this grudge against him! Why can't you!"
"He's a jerk!" Joey yelled back, flaring up. "I don't care what you think, he's up to something! He could never like anyone except himself!"
"You're wrong! What about Mokuba?"
"Huh. I bet he just needs someone to take over his precious company. You don't realise it yet, but Kaiba never does anything for anyone unless there's something in it for him."
Her eyes flashed angrily. "Then you better start paying him to run your bloody website, hadn't you!"
"What…?" Joey asked, blinking.
"He's your forum master." Azreal said slowly. "He didn't know it was yours when he started, but he's the 'Webby' you love so much. So shut your criticizing mouth."
He gawped at her. She glared back.
Suddenly, the phone in her hand started to ring, and she jumped out of her skin, stamping back down on Joey's foot. Ignoring his yells, and not removing her foot, she answered it.
"Seto?" She asked, excited.
"Ouch…" Joey moaned, pulling his foot out from under hers. "That really hurt! I think you broke my foot…"
"Is that Wheeler?" Seto asked, frowning.
"Yes." Azreal replied, through gritted teeth. "But don't worry. He's in pain." She stamped on his other foot in an attempt to get him to shut up. "So, tell me, what happened?"
Seto did not answer.
"Seto…?"
He sighed. And she knew.
"Seto," She said desperately. "Listen to me. Don't do anything stupid, okay? I'll be back tonight and we can-"
"He's coming home tomorrow." Seto interrupted happily, laughing.
"Oh…" Azreal growled at the windup, but she was too happy to be angry. "Really? I mean, really, really? And it's all official?"
"Yes!"
"Wai! Seto, that's awesome!" She yelled, causing her to receive some odd looks from passer-bys. In sheer jubilation, Azreal hugged the nearest person. Which, unfortunately for Joey, was him.
Catching herself, Azreal let go, looking embarrassed. Stupid instant reactions… She turned away.
"See?" She demanded triumphantly. "I told you it would all come right in the end!"
Joey watched in utter bewilderment. One moment she'd been yelling and breaking his feet, the next she was hugging him and laughing and the picture of happiness. And what's more, he had no idea what she was happy about. Evidently, Kaiba had had some good news.
But was it really Kaiba who ran his website…?
He watched as Azreal talked. She sure seemed happy for him, whatever it was that had happened. And, now that he thought about it, Kaiba had been a little friendlier to everyone since Azreal had turned up…
So, what if, what if a-very-big if, Seto actually did like the girl? And what if she actually liked him for more then just the eye-candy? Azreal was a friend of his, and if she was happy with this guy, even if he was the biggest jerk in the world…
She had hung up, looking elated, but a little wary of him, more so when he opened his mouth to speak.
"Fine." He sighed. "Maybe I could lay off you a bit. But I still don't like the guy! And if he gives me the slightest reason, I won't hesitate to punch him, even if you do like him! So you'd better warn him that if he wants to keep things as they are, he'd better be on his best behaviour! And-" He said, almost as an after thought. "If he does anything to upset you, he'll have me to answer to!"
"Thanks, Joey…" Azreal laughed, not mentioning the fact that the day Joey got one over on Seto would be the day when soup came ready sliced in a loaf.
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"So, what did you get?" Téa asked when the two explorers returned.
"Quavers," Azreal replied, pulling out some multi-packs.
"Curry Sauce." Joey said at the same time.
They looked at each other in dismay.
"We're eating… Quavers and Curry Sauce?" Tristan echoed in disbelief.
"You said to get crisps!" Azreal said accusingly to Joey.
"Well, you said to get dips!" He shot back.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted Joey…" Téa sighed, half-teasing.
"This was not my fault!" Joey yelled.
"Hey," Azreal interrupted. "This is actually pretty nice…" She dunked another of the cheese crisps into the curry sauce.
"I can't believe you're eating that…" Ryou said, nose wrinkled.
"Try one!" Azreal insisted devilishly. "Come on, don't wimp out on me…"
He did. And was pleasantly surprised.
From then on, from that simple mistake, came the tradition to eat Quavers and Curry Sauce on the first day of the summer holidays.
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They had been the first ones on the beach, and it appeared that they would be the last ones left on it. The sun was setting now, and they were back in the sea again, but this time, in a boat. It was a bit of a squash, but Yugi didn't take up much room, so they managed it.
It was a pity none of them had rowed a boat before, but Téa and Tristan figured it out eventually, taking it in turns to row. They sat in companionable silence, having had a more normal dinner then they had had lunch, and no-one was saying much. It had been a long day, and they were all fairly close to dropping off.
"This is it…" Azreal said suddenly. But her voice was odd, and far away, they all looked at her. "The ocean… Muses evolved on Earth to, you know. And all life came from the ocean… but it was different then. Back then, there was no difference between Man and Muse, there wasn't Man or Muse, they were one and the same… and if the origins are together…"
She was leaned dramatically forward, but before anyone could even react to this odd speech, she had fallen overboard.
"I can't see her!" Téa screamed, abandoning the oar in favour of leaning over the side of the large dinghy . Yugi pulled her back before the sudden imbalance of weight caused the boat to capsize, his eyes scanning the sea.
And then, he saw her.
"Look…" He murmured.
Some distance away from the boat, illuminated in the setting sun, they could just see the faint, shimmering outline of a muse, wings held aloft, out of the water, droplets clinging to the faintest suggestion if feathers, glimmering in the light. And it wasn't just her wings. Water clung all over her body, and that was why they could see her. A figure made up completely of droplets of water.
On the wind came the faintest hints of music.
"She's singing…" Téa realised. And it was true. The song was in a language none of them knew, a melody none of them had heard… and it seemed to encompass all the hopes and despairs of the world. It stopped as abruptly as it had started, Azreal suddenly becoming human again, and, snapped out of it, Tristan grabbed the oars, and they headed over to where she remained motionless except for the necessary means to tread water.
"Heh." She laughed sheepishly, as they helped her back on board.
And no more was said on the subject.
There's something about the ocean… She thought. Maybe… maybe it doesn't matter that I'm losing my powers. Because I'm here now, and maybe… I should never- Muses shouldn't- have left…
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Mokuba was in the Naughty Room.
Again.
Not that he cared. Apart from the patronising name, he had nothing against the Naughty Room. It was comfy and quiet, and they couldn't force him to 'think about what he'd done'. It was somewhere quiet, and away from the other children. The only downside was, that, if, as usual, Seto and Anna came to see him, he would probably not be allowed. It did kinda worry him that he hadn't heard from them at all yesterday. Every other Saturday, they had come to see him…
The door creaked open slowly, shaking him from his morbid thoughts. Two small faces looked in worriedly, before entering the room and closing the door quietly behind them.
"What are you two doing here?" Mokuba asked, surprised. "You know you're not supposed to come and talk to me, right?"
"You missed tea." The little girl, Sarah, squeaked. "We brought you food." She forced two, rather crumbled biscuits into his hand.
"Uh…thanks…" Mokuba replied. "Now, you better go, or they won't take you to the sea side tomorrow." He hoped they wouldn't let him go. Mokuba would prefer to be holed up in the home on his own then on the beach with the others.
"We wanted to say thanks." The boy, Alan, Sarah's older brother said. "You got in trouble because of us… You got into a fight because of us…"
"It wasn't your fault!" Mokuba insisted. "Don't you dare think it was your fault. It was their fault, for picking on younger kids! Besides-" He winked. "I'm only in trouble because I won…"
Suddenly, the dog swung open again with much more force. But, instead of the care worker he expected to see, demanding to know what Sarah and Alan were doing in there, and asking if he was ready to apologise.
But it wasn't a care worker. Standing in the doorway was his older brother, and Azreal, looking pleased with themselves.
There was silence for a moment.
"Pack your bags, Mokuba." Seto said. "We're going home."
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A/N: Whee, go Mokuba! Defender of the weak and innocent! Can take on guys, plural, and come off better! And now, predictably, he's going home! If you're wondering why he was suprised to see them in the doorway, I expect he suspected they'd end up tunneling up through the floor or something. :D It's a shame, though, because Cassie didn't get her ice-cream...
Join me next chapter, which sees in Téa's birthday, exactly what's up with Az,a devious plot, and some unlikely team-work...
This can't be good...
Till then, goodbye!
