Disclaimer: I thought I owned Dragon Knights but then my alarm clock woke me up to the harsh, cold reality that it belongs to Mineko Ohkami.
The story is about to get weirder thanks to an allegedly escaped psychopath and a mysterious concert goer. Not to mention a supernatural guy with a thing about eyebrows.Rath and Cesia also meet for the first time. There is much spiking of punch and stalking on the parts of Shian, Miyabi, and Hanakusuku. There is some strong language and Tintlet gets a little bit emotional. Anyways read on and have fun. And for the love of all that is good and holy REVIEW!
"Hey Rath, what are you doing here?" asked a bleary Kara as she opened the door.
"Is visiting people a crime now?" asked Rath defensively. He wasn't sure why he was here, except for the fact that he didn't want to go home right now. But he would rather die than tell Kara that. Besides Kara had a creepy way of knowing those things anyway.
"For you it generally is," responded Kara dryly, "But come on in. You can meet my cousin Zoma. Cesia's out right now but you'll probably meet her tonight anyway." Rath was sure he saw Kara smirk a little bit when she said that but decided to ignore it.
"Zoma, come meet a friend of mine," called Kara and a young boy with spiky purple hair and dazed gold eyes ambled into the entry way from the living room where Rath could hear the Final Fantasy theme playing.
"Rath, this is my cousin Zoma Youkai. Zoma, this is the son of a friend of mine, Rath Illuser. His parents are having that party tonight," said Kara off-handedly.
"Oh," said Zoma. Rath could tell he really didn't care. So could Kara, but before she could do anything her stomach growled loudly.
Rath looked at her blankly, "You just got up didn't you?"
"Yep, and now I'm going to go get lunch," she said as she trooped off toward the kitchen. Zoma and Rath stood staring at each other for a minute before Rath finally decided to break the silence, "Are you playing Final Fantasy?"
"Yeah. Do you play?" asked Zoma with more enthusiasm than he'd shown since Rath had first met him. Not that Rath was a brilliant ball of energy himself.
Rath smirked, "Of course I play."
"You are so cool!" cooed Zoma.
Oh great, another fan, thought Rath as he shuddered at the thought of Tintlet's crazed sister Miyabi. Those three girls made a hobby of stalking the older guys in the neighborhood.
Kara peeked out from the kitchen and smiled as she watched the three boys playing video games. Her stomach growled obstinately. Maybe I really should eat, she thought sheepishly.
"Kitchel, what are we doing?" asked Zoma.
"We are playing ding dong ditch," said Kitchel proudly.
"What's ding dong ditch?" asked Pyore nervously.
"Thatz will show you!" beamed Kitchel.
"What! Why? This was your stupid idea!" yelled Thatz.
"Well you came along. Besides I'm not going to do everything you lazy glutton. C'mon kiddies, we're going to hide in those bushes while Thatzy rings the doorbell," Kitchel instructed leading the kids away while Thatz remained in the stranger's driveway.
"She's such a bossy bitch," muttered Thatz as he walked up to the door and rang the bell, nothing happened. He tried again…and again.
"They're sleeping. Or maybe I should say they're passed out from drinking too much," said a vaguely mischievous voice from behind Thatz.
"Well that would explain it. Wait a second," Thatz turned around and came face to face with a girl he had never seen before in his life. She had short blonde hair with fiery orange streaks and blue eyes gleaming with mischief. Thatz suddenly felt uncomfortable and more than a little creeped out.
"Uh, do you live here or something?" he asked.
"Uh…sure. If that makes you feel better," she responded.
What's that supposed to mean? Wondered Thatz but what he said was, "It does."
"Okay then! Can I play?" she asked in an excited voice that seemed more appropriate for a young child.
"Uh, what?" asked Thatz.
"Are you slow?" asked the girl, "Ding dong ditch, that's obviously what you were up to."
Now, it is important to state that Thatz was not only creeped out by this girl but disturbed in every single way imaginable to the human mind and to several alien species. But he felt like refusing her request would be a bad idea. As bad as spilling salt and not throwing it over your shoulder, or reading Kitchel's diary and not using hydrochloric acid to erase your fingerprints, or possibly have your fingerprints surgically changed, or just getting it over with and entering the Witness Protection Program. To put it simply, Thatz was confused so he resorted to the ultimate fallback response.
"Er…"
"What the hell is taking you so long Thatz?" asked the voice of a certain angry girl with carnation pink hair.
"Er…"
But the strange girl was much quicker than Thatz.
"Can I play ding dong ditch with you guys?" she asked.
"Do you live here?" asked Kitchel.
"Sure! If that makes you feel better. I could just be robbing it if that's more up your alley."
"Okay…" said both Kitchel and Thatz, agreeing on one thing in their minds: this girl was weird.
"I know of the perfect house," she said in a taunting, sing song voice that neither of the prank-loving teenagers could resist.
"You're in," they both said at the same time and promptly glared at each other.
"Yay!" cheered the girl and did a little hyper dance.
"Um, what's your name?" asked Kitchel feeling that that information might be necessary to tell the police later.
"Oh, my name?" she asked vaguely surprised, "It's Nalani."
"All right then, Nalani! Let's go!" said Kitchel grabbing Thatz by the back of his shirt and dragging him along so they could collect the shrimps and be on their way.
Rath looked around his foster parents' living room boredly. He saw Kai-Stern at the punch bowl, probably spiking it. He saw Kara hit Kai-Stern over the head obviously reminding him to share. Alfeegi had probably surmised as much too because Rath saw him threading through the crowd wearing a look that would curdle vinegar. Hopefully they would notice in time. He did like them after all, sort of. Kitchel had disappeared about half an hour ago dragging Thatz with her. Ringleys, Zoma, Pyore, and Fiji had also disappeared. Rath could only hope that they were okay, especially Thatz he was too young to die. Gil was busy talking to Laamgarnas and Tetheus was talking…er…staring…er glaring (?) at Ruwalk and his wife who didn't seem to think anything was wrong. Rune was watching Delte chat with Tintlet while Hanakusuku practically hung off ofhis arm. Miyabi was probably lurking somewhere, watching his every move. Maybe he should arrange it so received one of Kai-Stern's spiked cups of punch. Silk and Shian were both trying to manuever towards Nohiro through the crowd while shooting death glares at each other.
Rath felt someone push him from behind. He managed to catch himself and spin around just in time to see a flash of gold and blue and a low uttered, "Damn!" If it hadn't been for that flash of gold and blue he would've thought it was Miyabi trying to hug him and then chickening out at the last moment. That happened surprisingly often.
Just as he began to relax someone pushed him again except much harder, he caught a glimpse of red but somehow felt certain his assailant wasn't Miyabi. He was ready to feel the impact from the carpeted white floor but instead he slammed into something solid. "Damn, twice in one night!" Rath cursed. "Excuse me," asked someone shrilly. Rath gulped and looked up straight into a pair of gold eyes.
"Oh sorry, I guess," he apologized grudgingly as he backed away.
"Gee, thanks. I can tell it was from the heart," said the girl he had bumped, well more like collapsed, into. He could get a better look at her now. She had long wavy black hair and red bangs. He didn't recognize her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Cesia Youkai," the girl responded somewhat haughtily. Rath couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "What?" she asked in a much more down to earth voice.
"You're Zoma's sister?"
"Yes."
"But he's so nice."
"Are you saying I'm not nice?" she asked dangerously.
"Er…I wouldn't know?" he offered hopefully.
"Exactly," said Cesia nodding her head slowly as if instructing a dumb child. Rath began to back away but hit the wall. She calls this nice? He thought.
"So what's your name?" she said with that dangerous edge still in her voice making that simple question a demand.
"Rath Illuser," said Rath boredly. Now it was Cesia's turn for her eyebrow to shoot up.
"But Zoma made it sound as if you were intelligent," she said in surprise. Rath bit back a reply. Unfortunately he bit a little too hard and his tongue burst into a bleeding mess.
"Are you okay?" asked Cesia when she saw his eyes bulge.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Rath spewing blood as he talked.
"You know that saying bite your tongue. They don't mean it literally," said Cesia, "Here, come with me." Rath was then indignantly led to his own kitchen.
Cesia ran some hot water into one of the hundreds of plastic cups Raseleane had stacked on the kitchen counter for the party. "Drink this," commanded Cesia. Rath begrudgingly did as he was told. The pain lessened.
"Drink this too," said Cesia handing him a cup of punch. Rath immediately pushed it back at her. She shot him a look that dripped with smug joy at having to treat him like a baby, "Oh, come on. It'll take away the taste of the blood," she cooed at him in the worst baby voice he had ever heard. And he had lived with Raseleane for most of his life. Even Lykouleon was known to indulge in baby voices from time to time.
Just to wipe that look off her face Rath went against all his acquired fifteen years worth of better judgement and knocked back the punch in one gulp.
Kara entered the room, her actions no doubt governed by some god's sick sense of humor (oh how right he is…well more like demigod…). "Oh, I see you've met Rath," said Kara to Cesia her words barely even slurred despite that she had just knocked back three spiked punches in a row and was about to knock back a fourth. Before Cesia could say anything Rath collapsed and drooled, "And given him alcohol," finished Kara. She gulped down the cup of punch in her hand before calling out the kitchen doorway, "Kai-Stern, come here, Rath drank some of the special punch. Again…"
"This has happened before?" asked a shocked Cesia as Kai-Stern walked into the kitchen and sighed as he saw Rath on the floor, still drooling and giggling a little bit.
"Yeah, but last time it was Kai-Stern's fault," said Kara conversationally.
"Well at least that taught us how low his tolerance is. I see ten years hasn't changed that," said Kai-Stern in an equally conversational voice.
"You gave a five year-old alcohol?" asked Cesia even more shocked, if that was possible.
"Only a sip," said Kai-Stern guiltily. Kara snorted.
"Well at least last time he wasn't bleeding!" insisted Kai-Stern. Kara shrugged.
"Well what do we do?" asked a frazzled Cesia as panic set in.
"You are going to help us carry him up the stairs," said Kara matter-of-factly.
Cesia swore she could hear someone giggling as she, Kara, and Kai-Stern dragged Rath up the stairs. Luckily the party guests didn't seem to notice, except for Tetheus who cracked a rare smile for about a millisecond before going back to staring…er glaring at Ruwalk and Cernozura who were talking about the funniest thing Pyore did the other day. He felt compelled to tell them about the funniest thing Shyrendora did the other day….
"SHYDEMAN! WE'RE SITTING HERE!"
"OH SURE! SINCE WHEN DO YOU READ 'DORA!"
Lim rubbed her ears, praying to God they wouldn't start bleeding. "Now I know why you wanted me to come," she said to Fedelta, "but you could've warned me…"
Fedelta shrugged.
"Do you plan on talking at all?" she asked.
Fedelta made a non-committal gesture between a head nod and another shrug.
"THAT'S A 'U'!" shrieked Shyrendora.
"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ROW U!" shrieked Shydeman back.
"WELL THEN WHY DOES IT SAY THAT HERE!"
"MOVE YOUR FINGER!"
"What?"
"Just do it,"
"Oh, that's a 'B'…"
"Exactly! So therefore our seats are right there."
"NO THEY'RE NOT!"
"Umm yes they are," said Lim looking at the seat numbers. Fedelta grabbed her elbow, "Just sit," he commanded tiredly.
Lim jerked her elbow back and elbowed him in the gut, "Don't touch me."
"Oh I forgot, you like that girly-boy Rune," mumbled Fedelta snidely.
"WHAT? How did you know about that?" she asked in horror. Fedelta shrugged. But before Lim could beat him to a pulp, Shydeman and Shyrendora appeared.
"Why didn't you wait for us before you found the seats?" sniffed Shyrendora as she flipped her perfectly brushed white hair over her shoulder. Fedelta shrugged. Shyrendora's nostrils flared. Just when I never thought it possible, we have something in common… thought Lim as she watched the exchange.
"Whatever," said Shydeman dismissively, "Just as long as I get to sit next to Fedelta. And as far away from you as possible," he added with a pointed glare at his twin sister.
"Fine, Lim-chan and I will sit together," said Shyrendora to Lim's horror. She now had to sit between the shrieking banchee of the suburbs and the voiceless wonder. "Lim will like that, won't you Lim?" said Fedelta with a sickening smirk.
She forced a smile on her face, "Yes…that will be…peachy…" She knew he was doing this on purpose!
Kitchel, Ringleys, Zoma, Thatz, Fiji, and Pyore stared up at the large house in wonder. They didn't know places like this were built in dumpy suburbs like their's. Everyone was at a loss for words, except for Fiji.
"Wow…" said the little girl blankly as she continued to stare against her will.
"I know isn't it fucking huge!" exclaimed Nalani clapping her hands like a little kid. Kitchel whacked her over the head, "There are children here dumbass!" hissed Kitchel. Nalani glanced over at the minors accompanying them who were staring at her with big, innocent eyes. "I mean…apples," she said before muttering under her breath, "Now I remember why I've never liked kids. Never could take a joke. Worse than Hitler…"
"What was that?" asked Kitchel. "Oh, nothing," answered Nalani with a wave of her hand, "I wasn't muttering about things I shouldn't know under my breath! Yes we we were! No we weren't!"
Everyone stared, just stared as the blonde proceeded to whap herself across the head and punch herself in the stomach.
"She's got a weak left," muttered Ringleys unwisely. The crazy girl turned her "weak" left on him.
"Maybe not," he choked out. "Ringleys! Are you okay?" exclaimed a panicked Pyore.
"Oh shit…I mean oops! Oops!" said guess-who (Nalani for our slower readers…)
"Where did you escape from? Did it by any chance have padded white walls? Possibly straightjackets and shots?" asked Thatz nudging Fiji and Ringleys behind his back.
"How did you know?" exclaimed Nalani, "Well I didn't really escape, my friends broke me out. And my assistant…er…I mean my friend still keeps my meds with him at all times!"
"If he has them how do they do you any good?" asked Thatz flatly before thinking better of it, "Wait, don't answer that."
"Focus people!" yelled Kitchel her eyes still on the big house, "Are we here to play ding dong ditch or not! Don't be a baby Thatz! Go up and ring the bell!"
"I'll go too!" said Nalani as she dragged Thatz up to the doorway by the back of his shirt. He seemed very used to it. When they got to the door, Thatz rang the doorbell. Yet again, nobody answered.
"I thought you said there were people here," he said accusatorily to Nalani.
"Just wait," she hummed adopting a zen finger pose. Thatz shrugged and copied her.
Footsteps were heard behind the doorway. Thatz was now very relaxed and didn't run like he was supposed to. Neither did Nalani. "Apples," cursed Kitchel from behind a tree. "Shit!" swore Fiji. Kitchel stared at her and Pyore fainted.
"Shit means apples right?" Fiji asked Kitchel.
Kitchel thought for a moment before answering, "Yes, yes it does. In French,"
"Oh, okay!"
Meanwhile a figure with a black nylon pulled over his face and a bulging plastic garbage bag in his hand.
"Uh, hello?" he asked.
"What are we supposed to do now?" a panicked Thatz asked Nalani, but she was gone.
"Uh, kid? Who are you talking to?" asked the robber.
Thatz stared at him for a moment before saying, "God. Yes, God. I am from the Church of Latter Day Saints…"
"Umm…I'm a Catholic!" exclaimed the robber before slamming the door in Thatz's face.
"That always gets them," Thatz grinned to himself.
"Nice save," said a woman's voice from behind him. Thatz turned and came face to face with Kitchel. He hadn't recognized her voice because there was some amount of awe in it.
"Thanks," said Thatz sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. It had gotten really hot all of a sudden.
"Where'd Nalani go to?" asked Kitchel.
"I don't know. Wasn't she with you?" asked Thatz.
"No," frowned Kitchel.
"She must have gone home. It is pretty late," reasoned Zoma.
"Yeah, I guess," said Kitchel but she didn't sound very convinced. Thatz didn't feel convinced either. But then he took a look at Ringleys's black and blue cheek. "We better go back to Rath's house and ice his face."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Kitchel.
"Kenta! Why did you summon me?" whined Nalani at a tall guy with glasses and neatly brushed brown hair streaked with fluorescent yellow. He really hated his hair, sometimes it reflected off his glasses.
"What's that in your eyebrows?" he asked distractedly.
"I don't know, grass or something! Aeronwy is right, your fixation with eyebrows is unhealthy! Anyway, you didn't answer my question at all!" cried a frustrated trickster.
"It's time for your medicine," he informed the trickster flatly.
"So what? I'll have you know that you-ooh, pretty butterflies…wait…I hate butterflies…die!" said a violently woozy Nalani.
"Time to up her dosage again," muttered Kenta to himself.
"Cesia, Kitchel and the boys are back. It's time we headed home," said Kara from the doorway.
"Oh, okay," said Cesia dispiritedly from where she sat at Rath's desk. She glanced at the drooling, muttering, drunken boy. She felt guilty. This absurdity was all her fault. She began brushing off her skirt before shooting a look at Kara.
"You're not driving are you?" she asked mistrustfully.
"I'm drunk not stupid," said Kara, "Ringleys will drive!"
Cesia shot her a horrified look.
"I'm kidding. You really think I'd do that? We'll walk like they did in the old days. You know back in the 1800s or whenever. I'll just get my car tomorrow when I'm done puking," she said dismissively as she headed downstairs.
Cesia took one last look at Rath Illuser before leaving.
"Where are we going now?" Lim asked Fedelta. The two were following Shydeman and Shyrendora out of the concert hall through a rundown parking lot and an open field to a makeshift stage.
"It's sort of like a place where younger bands play after the main concert. It's pretty cool," said Fedelta with the most expression Lim had ever heard him use when he wasn't annoying her. It sort of shocked her into silence for the rest of the walk to the stage. Too bad there was nothing that could shock Shydeman and Shyrendora into silence. They argued the whole way there about nothing in particular and continued until the band started. Then, thankfully, they were silent.
The band wasn't though. Chords ripped through the night air. Voices rose and fell intermingling with the music itself. The crowd cheered them on raucously during some songs, more quietly during others. Lim Kaana could feel the beat pulsing through her body. She felt the inexplicable need to get closer to the stage. Foolishly she gave in to it.
Tintlet sighed wearily as she unlocked the door to her house while forced to listen to the insipid chatter of her three younger sisters in the background.
Miyabi insisted that Rath couldn't stop staring at her and when she gave him the silent treatment he got so depressed and lovesick he drained his sorrows in the spiked punch. Her story ended with a hiccup that made Tintlet wonder if Miyabi hadn't had a little too much of the stuff to drown out her sorrows that Rath had ended up talking to Cesia and as usual not noticed her as anything but an annoyance.
Shian was equally delusional as she insisted that Nohiro had practically convinced his undying love to her and totally ignored Silk. Poor Nohiro, thought Tintlet with a vague smile. He had tried so hard to be nice to both girls. Eventually he had ended up using Rune as a human shield.
But in Tintlet's opinion, the most delusional was Hanakusuku who swore that Rune wouldn't let go of her hand all evening and how sweet that was of him. Tintlet repressed the urge to snort. She had seen that one first hand. Hanakusuku had glomped onto Rune's arm early in the evening and had withstood even Ringleys and Fiji trying to bodily wrench her off so she could go play with them.
Before Hanakusuku could begin telling her fairy tale all over again, Tintlet cut in, "I'm going to bed girls. Don't stay up too late."
"Okay," they chorused and went back to repeating their stories over and over again egged on by the shrieks and giggles of the other two girls.
Tintlet wearily climbed the stairs and turned on the light in her room, closing her door behind her. It proved to be a weak barrier against the voices of her sisters, especially Shian. She walked to her dresser and couldn't help but smile when her eyes fell on the picture of Rune taped to the edge of her mirror. Her smile faded a little bit when she saw the nearby picture of Lim Kaana. It was from their freshman year, the year she found out that Lim liked Rune too. She always felt guilty for the feelings of rivalry she felt towards her oldest friend, except for Rune and Delte she had known Lim Kaana the longest of any of her friends.
Lim had been pretty withdrawn lately. And the way she looked at Rune, Tintlet could tell that she had given up. She felt glad and that made her feel like a terrible person. I'm sorry Lim, she said in her head as she crawled into bed, but I just can't help it.
Lim Kaana seethed. She was partly angry at herself for getting so lost in the music and losing track of Fedelta and the others. The other half of her was angry at them for forgetting her. She was so blinded by her anger she collided with someone else and their heads cracked together.
"Ouch…" moaned Lim, "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she quickly added as an apology to the person she had bumped into.
"No problem, I'll just jump into a river and ice my head later," said the girl she had bumped into. Lim looked her over. She was wearing a black t-shirt that said in colorful writing, 'You're not the brightest crayon in the box, are you?' on it and black jeans with a bright red grommet belt. She had black hair held back in a ponytail and a strand of dyed red hair hung freely to one side of her face, a matching one was pulled back with the rest of her hair in her ponytail. The striking thing about her were her eyes. They were blue and filled with swirling emotions which were semi-dormant right now.
"Are you okay?" asked the girl.
"I'm fine," said Lim lamely.
"Yo, Lim! Where are you?" yelled a familiar high pitched voice. Shyrendora broke threw the crowd moments later, "Glad I found you. We're heading home. Fedelta and Shydeman are starting the car. Who is that?" ended Shyrendora in a question.
"Oh this is…" Lim realized she hadn't asked for a name.
The other girl quickly surveyed the situation quickly before saying, "Aeronwy," and shaking Shyrendora's hand.
"Shyrendora Black," said Shyrendora haughtily making Lim want to slap her.
"Well don't let me keep you. You obviously have better things to do," she said sardonically, "Sorry for bumping into you, Lim Kaana."
"Same to you," shouted Lim back as Shyrendora pulled her away.
"Hurry up Lim. I wouldn't put it past those two to leave without us," chattered Shyrendora.
"Me too," said Lim darkly thinking of that apathetic, smug, odd, totally infuriating redheaded menace Fedelta.
"That girl was kind of creepy. She had this like aura around her. Did you see her eyes?" shivered Shyrendora.
Lim was surprised by Shyrendora's comment, she had noticed the girl's eyes. But they had inspired an odd curiousity in her rather than fear, actually they were vaguely comforting. However in the past few hours she had learned to always humor Shyrendora giving her bipolar temperment and how her screaming was vaguely reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard, only worse.
"Whatever you say, Shyrendora," said Lim counting down the time until she would be home in her Aunt Reema's house.
Well, that was a pretty long chapter. In the next chapter expect the arrival of Kharl the Magnificent!
Now please review if you liked!
See ya later!