DISCLAIMER: Don't own Mountain Dew. Don't own Baten Kaitos. Which means I don't own Kalas. (cries)
A/n: in the last chapter, when I made the comment about how spirits don't have to sleep or go to school, that was one of Astarael's thoughts. Basically, she was missing being a spirit. Sorry if this confused some people…
Chapter 1: Movement and Anger Management
Astarael stared at the toaster, waiting for her breakfast, while trying to tune out her mother's latest lecture.
"…room! There must be a year's worth of dust on your bookshelf! It's disgraceful! I…"
"Uh-huh," Astarael muttered. Who cared about how clean her room was? It was HER bedroom. HER sanctuary. And as far as she was concerned, her mother had no right to tell her what to do with it.
One place… just ONE place in this whole fucking house that is mine and that no one can enter. Is that too much to ask for? Is it? Aren't there enough rooms in this place without violating the two that belong to me?
It wasn't even seven o'clock yet, and her mother was starting to try her last nerve. NO ONE should do that before nine o'clock, or at LEAST until after she'd had her second Mountain Dew.
"…get home, I want you to dust, young lady! Are you listening to me, Astra?"
"Yes, Mother," Astarael replied automatically. Astra was her childhood nickname; only her friends were allowed to call her Astarael. Because names had power…
As if this old bat needs ANOTHER hold over me! The nerve of her, lecturing me so early in the morning! What happened to, 'Good morning, Astra?" or, 'Did you sleep well, Astra?' Would it KILL this woman to lay off the nagging? Just for a little while? I just have to remember, I'm gonna be eighteen in March… eighteen in march… real driver's license in March… legal adult in March… free in March…
"So, what are you going to do when you come home?"
"I am going to dust my room, practice my piano for an hour, and do my homework, Mother." The older woman scowled, as if disappointed Astarael had remembered everything. However, she started in on a long-winded speech on the importance of listening as the toast finally popped, and she snagged it and started covering it in strawberry jam. She'd buy herself a real breakfast from the school cafeteria.
"Is that all you're going to have for breakfast?"
"Yes," Astarael snapped.
"That's not enough for you to eat," she stated. "You can't eat nothing but toast. Breakfast is an important meal. You need something from at least three of the five food groups. Get yourself some bananas."
"Mom, I need to be leaving in five minutes. And you need to start making my lunch."
"Astra…"
Munch, munch, munch. Tuning out now…
"I can't believe it! You missed the bus! AGAIN!" her mother shrieked, smacking the steering wheel.
"You know, if you had started making my lunch when I got downstairs…"
"Don't you give me any lip, young lady!" snarled the older woman. "This is YOUR fault…"
No. It's not.
"Ever since the accident, you've been acting stranger and stranger! Are you sure you don't want your medicine adjusted?"
"Mother, haven't we had this conversation before?" Astarael asked, struggling to keep her voice level. "You know how I hate it when every time I have an emotional or behavioral problem, you immediately jump to the medication. I am a person. I will not be treated like a machine." Besides, I haven't taken any of that crap since I woke up. It might interfere with my magic.
"So snappish since she came back to us…" The woman driving muttered. "She used to be such a biddable child. Now she's just as fresh as Azil…"
"I can still hear you, Mother. Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Astarael growled. Hellfire. Lingering Time. Demons of Darkness… but I can't destroy her, can I? Because she's my mother…
Damn my morals. Damn them!
"Yes, just as snappish as Azil, without the redeeming grades…"
Did she just… No, I did not hear that. Even she does not compare us to each other negatively. At least, not in our hearing. She did not say that horrible thing. My ears are clearly malfunctioning.
Her honey-yellow eyes burned, but she did not cry. In the back of her mind, she could hear an echo of Kalas's voice…
"I don't need you anymore. Go back to your own world… leave me be…"
You could really tell it was a Monday. She hadn't walked into the cursed building, and the day was already sucking…
I am a statue. I am Melodia. Cold. Unfeeling. Heartless. I do not care about what she is saying. She means less than dirt to me. Her words are smoke. I am a statue that has blue, brown-tipped hair and yellow eyes. I do not cry. I will NEVER cry for her.
"Have a good day, sweetie!" her mother exclaimed happily, smiling at her,
"You too," Astarael muttered, snatching up her purse and her backpack and all but fleeing from the green minivan. Hypocritical bitch, she snarled inside her head. But am I talking about her, or myself?
Need a monster attack today. Need to kill something else already. The monster earlier that morning had once been a dog, corrupted by whatever evil she had brought back with her, not really a real challenge. The strange thing was, the dark presence felt like Malpercio's taint. But that was impossible, Malpercio was dead.
Wasn't it?
Stupid. I already have a detention for skipping out of the last code C. If anything, I really need the monsters to lay off a bit and leave me alone in school. And Malpercio is FINALLY dead. I wouldn't have been permitted to return home if it wasn't. I just want to see Kalas and the others again. It's not happening. I'm stuck with my mediocre life, whether I want to be or not…
She still wanted to kill something, though. Fighting was the only way she could keep her pent-up frustrations from bubbling over and causing her to lash out with her tongue… or worse, her actions (like that time she had used her magic-enhanced strength to hurl that dodge ball at that poor freshman. He HAD been trying to snap her bra strap when they had been lined up to pair off, but that was no real excuse for giving him a concussion.)
"Shit," she hissed. If she hurried, she could use the money she had stolen out of the coin jar at home to buy herself a bottle of Mountain Dew Code red and something to eat before the bell rang for first period. Not that it really mattered if she was late, first period was study hall. But still…
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
First bell. She WAS going to be late. And she was developing a true loathing of anything that made a beeping noise...
"Oh well," she sighed. Food and caffeine were more important than punctuality anyway.
"…method, which is important for the dissection of…"
Nod.
Start.
"…which we shall be covering for our…"
Nod.
Start.
"…row, and I expect you…."
Hellfire, I can't fall asleep in biology! We're dissecting the frogs today! Think unhappy thoughts… think about Melodia… Demon undead bitch, I don't understand why everyone forgave her, she corrupted Kalas, he never would have betrayed me if it weren't for her, and we never would have met Xelha, and…
Okay, awake now.
"So today, since the shipment of frogs is late, we will simply be going over your homework."
Astarael stared at the teacher blankly. Homework? They'd had homework? He hadn't….
Wait. Yes, he had. Right at the end of class on Friday. And she had started it, then blown the rest off to go and patrol for monsters. She had found a rather big nest too, between getting rid of the monsters and magically removing the blood from her clothes and hair, she had barely had enough strength to get home. And I had horrible nightmares when I did fall asleep. Nightmares about Cor Hydrae. But I can't tell my teacher that, can I? I can imagine how that conversation would go… "I'm sorry Mr. Hal; I didn't finish my homework because I was busy killing rabid monsters and keeping people like you safe…" Yeah, that would go beautifully, and then I would be thrown in jail for my vigilante work… and M. Hal doesn't believe in half credit… crap. Crap. Crap. Shit…
"Miss Sanders, do you have the assignment?"
"No, Sir…" she replied meekly, biting her lip as she went over her class average. Was she failing Biology?
Yes. Yes she was. And very badly, too. She needed to start actually DOING her homework… what had gotten into her? Before the accident she had been erratic with her homework, but never THIS bad…
God, what is WRONG with me? She wailed. But He was silent as usual. If she hadn't been in class, she would have flipped him the finger.
Kalas sat up with a start. He'd had a nightmare about the Ursa Lava Caves. Again.
I'm never going to talk to her again. Even when she was here, I could barely see her. So why am I still thinking about Astarael? Why do I get the feeling she's in danger?
"Kalas?" Xehla murmured, stirring next to him in the bed. "What's wrong, Kalas?"
"Nothing," He replied, stroking her blonde hair lovingly. "Go back to sleep."
"k… g'night," she muttered, nuzzling against him.