Entwined Destinies
By Solange MacLeod
A/N: I've stopped doing the Character Guide. If I kept it going, it'd start to confuse people, because some of the characters on it only appear for one chapter. If you're honestly confused, feel free to email me and ask what you need to. Other than that, just try and figure it out on your own, k? Thank you.
Well, folks, we're finally up to Chapter Five! -chorus of 'Hallelujahs' ring out- Geez, am I that bad? ...yes, I am. -sweatdrop- So yeah... enter the insanity!
Disclaimer: Riku, Kairi, and Sora DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Prudence is copyright to herself, not me. Big & Rich are copyright to themselves, Warner Bros., and a bunch of other people that doesn't include myself. Coran does not belong to me; he is copyright to Kewie. Zeke is copyright to himself and Krysta. Cider's Restaurant, Cider, and Ruzerei do not belong to me; all belong to my friend Ayame Yaku Ikuyu.
Claimer: Ongereol, Ryushiimon, Yukimon, Kebekol, Adrian, Suzumi, Nanashi, Nameless, Zander, Selene, Lancer, Umeka, and Solange are © to me, Solange MacLeod. You steal, you get sued. End of story.
Chapter Five
Leave Your Sanity at the Door
"QUIT SWITCHING THE GODDAMN STATIONS!" Suzumi's holler cut through the din of the minivan, which was currently occupied by Riku, Sora, Kairi, Solange, Suzumi, and Adrian; the last person listed pushed the power button on the stereo, cutting off the music completely. He glared at the girl in the rearview mirror, a silent request to sit down and shut up in his eyes, but he was rudely refused with a nice gesture of the middle finger. Muttering venomously, the (mostly) black-locked man turned his attention back to the road, and just in time—and had barely two seconds to swerve a huge, camouflage-painted Hummer not ten feet in front of him.
"JESUS CHRIST, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU MUTE ASSOLE!"
Suzumi's screech heralded the white van's passengers' survival, two of which weren't conscious to hear the victory yell (of sorts). Kairi lay limp beneath her seatbelt, white as a sheet with her mouth still partly open in shock. Riku and Sora weren't faring much better, but they did manage to avoid fainting; the brunette, however, had clambered into Riku's lap, wrapped his arms around the green-eyed one's neck, and didn't appear like he was going to let go for a good while. And yes, folks, Riku is blushing – although it's counteracted a bit by the paleness acquired from his initial panic. Solange looked strangely calm, despite the fact she was holding her hysterical yami back with no little effort. Everyone else had stayed at the house; a wise choice, if experience had anything to say about it.
After parking, the group clambered out of the van and into one of the mall's many parking lots.
"Well, folks, welcome to the mall. Wipe your feet before entering and leave your sanity at the door. Suzumi'll take care of it," Solange quipped, stretching her arms above her head. Riku, Kairi and Sora exchanged glances – would this place be like the girl's school? Shuddering, they shook their heads in unison. They sincerely hoped not...
"Holy shit, what's with the damn mob?" Suzumi asked in awe, gazing at the immense crowd that was gathered around the entrance to the shopping center.
"Looks like some kind of concert," Adrian answered, having to stand on his toes to see over the throng as their little group approached it. And even at the height of his six feet three inches, he still had trouble figuring out what was going on. Maybe it was the jumping, screeching fangirls. Solange's quizzical expression, growing more confused as they got closer, suddenly disappeared as an echoing voice sounded over the crowd.
"Brothers and sisters...
We are here for one reason, and one reason alone –
To share our love of music.
I present to you:
Country music without prejudice!" (Disclaimer: this phrase, from the song "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)" do not belong to me. Neither does the song.)
"Oh my living Bob..." Solange said in amazement, her eyes widening to the size of saucers and beginning to sparkle. "IT'S BIG & RICH!"
Squealing at a decibel level until now unknown to man, Solange rushed into the crowd, attempting to fight her way through the hordes of people. "Prudence, where are you when I need you! I can't believe you're missing this!" Rummaging through her bag, she nearly tripped as she finally fished out her camera. "There you are! Prue, here's to you!" A series of rapid clicks and flashes heralded the appearance of the girl's camera as she took pictures one after the other, only stopping to load more film.
"KENNY, I LOVE YOU!" one girl screeched, jumping up and down, as the rest ignored her. Solange took some more pictures, not paying any attention to the fangirls around. Riku and Sora were staring, completely nonplussed, at the whole scene, while Adrian, sighing, rubbed his forehead tiredly.
"I should have known it'd turn out like this... Suzumi, if you so much as think about—Suzumi? ...Suzumi?
"SUZUMI! GET DOWN FROM THERE NOW! RIGHT NOW!"
The girl, orange eyes wild with insanity and excitement, teetered above the crowd on one of the huge structures that held the lights. Not hearing or heeding Adrian's (and soon Solange's) shouts, she fiddled with a cord that held a particularly big light that just happened to be dangling over the lead singer of the band, Big Kenny's, head.
"Oh no you don't," Solange muttered, yanking a Coke bottle out of a random person's hand and throwing it up towards her yami. Luckily, it hit its mark and the stripe-haired sixteen-year-old was thrown off balance. Screeching as she wavered and fell off the structure towards the ground, she just managed to catch herself and land, avoiding any serious injury, but with plenty of death threats and curses. Shaking her head to clear it as she got on her knees, she was only knocked down again as someone with reddish hair stomped over her, apparently having no regard for her physical well-being.
"SON OF A MOTHERFU—"
"And who might you be, hm?"
Suzumi's head whipped up to stare at the man who had suddenly appeared above her. Clad in black jeans and a blue, long-sleeved T-shirt with a lopsided gaudy sombrero hat on his head, his long brown hair was tied at the nape of his neck in a ponytail. His green eyes quizzical but amused, he repeated, "Who might you be?"
"Up your ass! WHERE'D THAT PUSSY GO! I'M GOING TO BEAT HIS PANSY FACE IN!"
"The one who ran over you?"
"...Yeah, that one! WHERE'D HE GO!"
The long-haired man nodded toward the northeast side of the stage, where an auburn-headed man was swaggering around, occasionally taking a swig from a dark brown bottle in his hand. "Over there." Suzumi's already slit pupils thinned further at the sight of the familiar male.
"Coran Tiernay, today is the day you die," she hissed, not noticing the security guards (finally) taking notice of her presence on stage. The long-haired man, meanwhile, was waving at Solange, who was in the process of shouldering her way up on the stage.
"Hey... babe."
"Hello, Zeke. And my name is Solange," the girl said with a sigh, running past the vampire towards her yami, who slipped through the girl's grasp and made a beeline for Coran, shrieking something that sounded like, 'I'll kill you!', but one can't be sure.
Apparently not noticing (or minding) the girl on stage, Big Kenny, backed up by his bandmate Rich, began to sing one line.
"Go, cowboy, go cowboy, go..."
Solange stared, disbelieving, at the other side of the stage as Coran began to unbutton his shirt. "Oh my good word," she muttered, covering her face with her hands as Suzumi pointed and burst into hysterical laughter.
"What a damn loser!" she crowed, waving her pointer finger at the man frantically. "Fucking drunk loser! Oh my God, this is priceless! Talk about blackmail material! WHERE'S THAT CAMERA!"
"Nowhere that you have access to," Solange muttered as she grabbed her yami and ran off stage, Coran finally finishing unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it in the air.
"Go cowboy, go cowboy, go!"
"I am so sorry about that," Solange said apologetically, bowing her head. The five sat around a table at Cider's Restaurant – they had deserted the mall immediately after the Big & Rich concert. As Adrian said, there was no telling what Suzumi might do if she was there a second longer.
Silence was Sora and Riku's only response – or lack thereof.
"Gomen nasai!" Solange repeated, but more ashamedly this time. "I promise it won't happen again! I'm so sorry I let that—I shouldn't have—"
"Shh!" Sora interrupted her, shaking his head, holding up his hands in a 'calm down' gesture, giving a nervous smile. "It was beyond your control. I didn't enjoy it, I'll admit that, but it's not your fault... and get your head off the table, okay? Riku? You're not mad, are you?"
The fifteen-year-old merely shrugged, leaning back on the bench and closing his eyes. "I'm fine."
"Will you stop being so Goddamn antisocial!" Suzumi shrieked, slamming her hands down on the table and leaning forward toward the silver-haired boy. She immediately resumed her previous position, though, upon catching her hikari's glance. Sora blinked; it seemed to him that Solange must be incredibly... what was the word?... influential if she could control someone like Suzumi with just one look – and not even a intimidating one.
"Shiny," Solange muttered, gazing at Riku's silvery white hair with sparkly eyes, Sora sweatdropping. If he had any thoughts previously about Solange being cool or mysterious, they were gone now.
"Shinyshinyshiny," Solange reiterated energetically, bobbing up and down in her chair. "SHINYYYYYY!"
Riku and Sora pulled back at the squeal, the former more so. He was seriously beginning to doubt the girl's self-control... this doubt advanced to utterly unbelieving as the blonde leapt over the table and onto his bench, effectively glomping him (as she called it) and burying her nose and mouth in his hair.
"Shiny hair... muahaha, shiny."
"Two fetishes in one... just your luck," Adrian said, calmly peeling his friend off the Destiny Islander. "Don't take it personally." And, although his words were directed at Riku, his eyes strayed to Sora at the last sentence.
The brunette blinked, shrugging. "It's okay..."
"Fetishes?" Riku asked, one eyebrow raising; Kairi and Sora blinked.
"She has a fascination with shiny things and hair. So, if you have shiny hair, you're screwed," Adrian replied bluntly, turning to the waitress – and blinked. Their server had shoulder-length, deep crimson, black-tipped hair, and dark brown eyes. Was that
"Selene?" Solange asked, looking up from her menu. "I didn't know you were working today!"
"You guys are my last group." The siren-human said in her soft Southern-belle accent, grinning playfully. "You doing okay, cutie?" she asked Sora suddenly, smiling at him flirtatiously. Adrian and Solange knew the siren well enough to know that she wasn't serious, but Riku and Kairi didn't – they jerked up straight in their seats and glared at the woman. Kairi opened her mouth to say something, but was cut short by another, male voice.
"'Cutie?'" A man at least nine feet tall came up behind Selene, his gaze suspicious in a playful, suave way. He wore nothing but for very short shorts and a tube-top like shirt that started below his armpits and ended just above his ribs; an inch of fishnet material was attached to the bottom hem of the top and the top and bottom of his shorts. The rest of his body – arms, stomach, back, and legs – was covered in chains. His hair, which hung to the bottom of his shoulderblades, was multicolored; it was mostly black, but he had blue locks edging his temples, and it grew green along the bottom of his neck. His long bangs obscured one of his deep red eyes whilst the other took in the group seated at the table below him.
"Ruzerei?" Solange said, blinking, as her muse turned, her chocolate-colored eyes lighting up like twin Christmas trees.
"Ru! Hi, baby!" the siren squealed, immediately dropping her pad of paper and pen to glomp her boyfriend. Adrian rolled his eyes and turned his stare to the wall, while Sora and Riku stared at the new person's clothes with unabashed incredulity.
"What kind of respectable, sane human being wears that?" Riku muttered, mostly to himself, stopping his glaring contest with Kairi to eye the chains that crisscrossed over Ruzerei's stomach.
"He's a robot, you stupidass," Suzumi scoffed, throwing her straw at the boy's head.
"And if you're expecting sanity, you've come to the wrong place," the android added, appearing to ignore the way his girlfriend was literally hanging on him.
"Since when do you work at this sadass pisshole of a restaurant, whore?" Suzumi inquired of Selene, stretching herself out and putting her feet up on the table.
"Since I gave birth. Gotta get a job so I can support the little one!"
"You're a new mommy!" Kairi squealed. "Congratulations!"
"I'm surprised they haven't fired you yet," Suzumi observed, then closed her eyes and yawned, choosing to block out her surroundings.
The beaming siren, who had paid no attention to that comment, chirped, "Besides, Cider lets me wear this uniform!" Swiveling around to show off her outfit, which appeared to be a pink, gothic-style maid's uniform with black accents, she bowed once and then straightened up, turning to her boyfriend and smiling up at him (unaware that he had been looking up her abnormally puffy and short dress). "My shift is done when they finish eating. Can you take me home?" she begged through pouting lips and long eyelashes, looking up at Ruzerei. A smirk-like smile stretched his mouth, and he glanced down at his girlfriend with a misleadingly lazy smile.
"Fine... but you'll owe me."
"I'll pay you back double," the crimson-haired one grinned in return, reaching up to run her fingers lightly down the other's face – only able to reach because of her boots' huge heels.
"Triple?" Ruzerei attempted to barter with his lover, eyebrows raising seductively.
"Not unless you're very, very g—"
"CHRIST ALMIGHTY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Suzumi screeched, rudely interrupting the conversation, banging her fist on the table and upsetting a vase of flowers. "ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE OUR ORDERS OR NOT!"
"...What would ya'll like?"
A hour and a half later...
"Great. It's fucking raining, now! You two are bad luck, dammit!" Suzumi rounded on Riku and Sora, her florescent eyes furious. She opened her mouth – presumably to yell another accusation – but stopped, shrieking in shocked pain as Adrian whapped her on the head with his fist.
"Shut up and relax. I'll get the minivan and drive it up here." Not waiting for an answer, the man darted out from the covered pavilion the group was standing under not five meters from Cider's Restaurant, sprinting through the seven o'clock near-darkness and pelting raindrops for the vehicle. Solange's yami watched him go, the part of her face discernible from behind her damp yellow-and-red hair almost longing. However, the expression was quickly erased, traded for a scowl aimed at Kairi, who had been looking at her.
"You got a problem, you skinny-ass little bitch!"
"N-no..." Kairi answered, not-so-subtly backing away.
"Then get the hell away from me and don't talk to me again!" the yami spat, giving the artificially-haired girl the middle finger as she turned away, huffing, to squint through the sheets of rain. The revving of an engine met her ears, but cut itself off not a second later. The sound began again, but died with a final sputter. After about a minute, in which Solange, Riku, Sora, and Kairi blinked too many times to count, Adrian emerged from the pouring rain to halt with two umbrellas in hand, breathing heavily, in front of the group.
"It – the van - won't start."
"What?" Kairi asked, blinking, and then jumped as Suzumi started yelling.
"WHAT THE HELL! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO IT, ASSWIPE!"
"Shut your mouth," the black-haired male hissed back, anger giving his normally calm voice a needle-sharp edge. Suzumi jerked involuntarily, her pupils contracting in what looked like fear, but Sora could sense another emotion emanating from the dark side of Solange. After giving Adrian the bird with both hands, the yami spoke again.
"So, how are we going to get home now, Sherlock? Got a plan?" Suzumi asked.
"You might want to keep digging, Watson," Adrian muttered, then addressed the people around the striped-haired girl. "I'm going to stay here and call a tow truck. As for the rest of you—" here he brandished the two umbrellas "—you can walk home with these. The house isn't too far from here." Suzumi balked, and opened her mouth to protest, but Solange glanced at her, silencing any words the darker one would have spoken.
"I'm staying with Adrian," Solange said, moving to stand next to said man. "Suzumi, you know the way. Lead them home, and no detours. Or funny business." Adrian looked at the younger one, disbelieving.
"You trust her to listen?"
"No," she answered, brutally honest. "I do, however, have faith in our guests' ability to keep her in line if needed." This earned an amused grin from Riku, half a humored smirk from Sora, a clueless stare from Kairi, and much yelling from Suzumi, who didn't appreciate being talked about as if she wasn't there.
"Right!" Solange said, her voice brisk, clapping her hands. "Here." She distributed the umbrellas, handing one to Kairi and the other to Sora, then pulled out her cell phone and gave it to Adrian. "Y'all can pair up and share the umbrellas. If you want. Onward, soldiers!" she ordered – in a way – and pointed east, toward the house. After a series of reactions to the statement, the four started off. Suzumi, predictably, walked ahead, half leading and half avoiding the newcomers. Kairi struggled to keep up with the yami's rapid pace, and Sora and Riku straggled behind, the latter only partly beneath the navy umbrella his brunette friend was holding.
As the four eventually vanished from Solange's sight, she turned to Adrian, looking half serious, but more so hopeful in a fangirlish way.
"Do you think...?"
"We'll have to see when we get home," he shrugged, flipping open the cell phone and dialing.
What they would see remained to be seen.
A/N: Finally. It's done. –heaves a sigh- Here ya go, HP. Hope you enjoyed. –gnaws onthe loyal reader-