I was asked if I was going to do another chapter at the dinner, and this one worked! So let's go and find out how Aguma and Klaus' battle went on, shall we? Consider this to follow directly from the beginning of Chapter 24.

(Sorry for the delay. FF went down a little before I was ready to post, and it was very late/early by British time so I didn't have the energy to stay awake and wait for an undetermined length of time for the server to come back – I have lectures to go to, after all. Hence the (effectively) double post today!)

Day 27

With Lives and Hands Entwined

(Madoka/Aleksei)

As pleased as she was to see Dynamis, Madoka had other things on her mind than the Guardian of Mist Mountain. "Aleksei, you said you had your new visualisation program with you?" she asked, turning to him. "Could you show me?"

He smiled at her, and one of the butterflies in her stomach fluttered gently. "Sure," he said. "Come with me. Lera, I'll be back in a minute – hold my drink for me?"

The pink haired girl looked momentarily surprised, but reached out to take the proffered glass. "I'm sorry," Madoka started to say, realising that she would be abandoning Lera with Dynamis, whom she was not sure had ever been introduced to Lera, but the other girl just waved her away.

"Go on," she said. "I know Aleksei's dying to show you that update he came up with."

Madoka gave her a sheepish grin and then darted after Aleksei, who was heading for the cloakroom .

"It's just in my coat pocket," he explained. "I wasn't sure if you were going to remember it..."

She stared at him – well, at the back of his head, as he was still walking in front of her. "Of course I remembered. You told me about it the first time we met."

The second she had said it, she felt a bolt of dread run through her. What on earth was he going to think of her, that she remembered a throw-away comment from more than two years ago?

"Oh, I did, didn't I?"

She blinked. What? Okay, that was a little strange.

"Sorry, I'd forgotten," he continued as he led her into the much quieter cloakroom. "Anyway, it should help streamline the visualisation on your computer so that you can find all the inner damage much more quickly." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small memory stick. "Here. Just post it back to me or something when you're done."

She smiled at him, trying not to let her face give away how happy she was to be able to talk to him again. "Oh, it's fine. I've got my computer with me – I can transfer the files now and set it all up when I get home." She turned the memory stick over in her fingers. "I can't thank you enough for this, Aleksei. You get to do such amazing things. I'm just in awe of all the stuff you know.

To her surprise, Aleksei smiled and ducked his head, apparently unable to meet her eyes. "Thank you," he said. "But I'm the one in awe of your talent. You do wonderful work with all those beys. I could never do it. Oh, I can launch and I can run calculations, but knowing when to fix something with resin and when to fix it with a screw? I'd never manage it. I think you're amazing."

She didn't quite know what to say to that, so she just looked away, fighting a blush. She had to stay professional here. He was her friend, that was all.

BOOM!

"What was that?"

Both Madoka and Aleksei ran for the window that looked out on the gardens of the large house where the dinner was being held. To their astonishment, two figures stood out there, their stances instantly recognisable.

"Is that... are people beybattling out there?" Aleksei asked, confusion echoing in his voice.

"You'd think Gingka and Kyouya could manage one week without a battle," Madoka replied grumpily. "I told them they had to stay away for at least that long because I didn't want to – hang on, that's not Gingka."

It wasn't. Both of the figures were far more heavy-set than the owner of Pegasus, and a closer look quickly identified them as Aguma and Klaus.

"What on earth are they up to?" Madoka wondered aloud, though it was quite obvious that the two were halfway through a fairly intense battle.

"We should go and find out," Aleksei muttered, already heading for the door. Bemused (but also rather a-mused) Madoka followed him.

The two had barely opened the main doors when:

"Kronos!"

"Capricorn!"

With instincts honed by months watching Kyouya and Gingka battle, Madoka threw her arms up in front of her face, shielding it from the storm that raged in front of her. Aleksei was less lucky.

It was clear that Aguma and Klaus had been battling for some time, judging by the deep ruts in the ground where the beys had driven into the earth in their attacks. Scythe Kronos and Grand Capricorn spun steadily between their owners, neither one clearly at an advantage.

"Scythe Kronos is a Stamina type," Madoka said automatically. "In a drawn out battle, he'd have the advantage."

"But Grand Capricorn has both strong defence and attack power, and incredible spin speed," Aleksei continued. Madoka was impressed. She hadn't realised that Aleksei was that good at recognising bey-types from sight, and in the dark, at that.

"Yes," she said. "But Scythe Kronos is still very dangerous. Remember, Aguma is the Legendary Blader of Saturn, and he's a member of Beylin Fist. They've been training for years."

"True..." Aleksei moved a step closer to her very suddenly as Grand Capricorn suddenly shuddered and the enormous goat that was its constellation's form sprang up from the centre of the bey. "I'll never get over the way they do – what's that?"

'That', as it turned out, was Kronos. The skeletal figure loomed over the garden, its gigantic scythe sweeping back over its shoulder in a manner that might have been described as "casual" by anyone who didn't know just how dangerous the ancient God of Time could be with his favoured weapon.

Aguma opened his mouth to order an attack, but Klaus got there just before him. "Claw of the Storm, Third!"

But even as the massive red goat gathered its strength to charge at the towering figure of Kronos, Madoka saw Aguma's eyes flash to red. "Special Move! Great Ring Of Destruction!"

In the confined space of the garden, the ring of whirling winds was devastating. Klaus' eyes went very wide as he battled to hold his ground against the oncoming storm, only to slip backwards inch by inch, foot by foot until with a sharp bang, his blade rocketed out of the area and smashed into the wall.

Aguma held up a hand and Scythe Kronos darted back to it. "There," he said. "I think that settles it."

"Except that now we have to go and tell them," Klaus replied. Madoka frowned.

"I have absolutely no idea what they're talking about," she began, and then stopped. In the silence she stood there, almost speechless, her heart pounding against her ribs as Klaus retrieved his blade and the two young men walked back inside shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Aleksei," she said finally, softly. "Um... why are you holding my hand?"

The boy jumped and let go of her hand like it was a poisonous snake. "Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry, Madoka, I didn't realise, I -"

"I wasn't complaining," she said, and then realised that yes those words had just been spoken aloud.

Aleksei stared at her. "You... you don't mind?" he asked incredulously. "But..."

For a breathless moment, they stood facing each other in silence. Then Aleksei said, so softly that his words were nearly carried away by the wind "Madoka, I just wanted to say... I know now isn;t really the best time, but... I... I really like you."

How her mouth didn't fall open in abject astonishment she would never know. As it was, she only just managed to screw up all her courage and admit, hoarse-voiced and shivering slightly: "I... I think I like you too." At his expression, she quickly reconsidered. "I know I like you. I like you a lot."

He had never looked more handsome to her than when he smiled at that moment, and she fell in love with him all over again. "Oh," was all that he said. But he did take her hand again and twined his fingers through hers, apparently fascinated by it.

"We... we should go back to the hall," she said hesitantly after a long silence. "The Director will want to give the end-of-evening speech soon."

"Yes," he agreed, but it seemed to be fairly absent-minded. "I... yes."

Something was a little bit off about his expression, and Madoka was immediately concerned. "What is it, Aleksei?"

He pointed across the lawn to where a pair of figures were seated on the edge of the pond, completely absorbed in the other. "Is that...?"

Madoka looked, then smiled broadly. "Hyoma and Hikaru? Yes. It was a bit of a surprise to us too."

"Oh. Okay." His hand momentarily tightened in hers. "Do you think they'll be surprised about... I mean... um... about – er, us?"

She shrugged, suddenly realising that she was blushing. "Maybe?"

"No, we won't be surprised at all," said Tsubasa from behind her. "We've known since the train."

Madoka didn't quite manage to let go of Aleksei's hand as she spun around, heart hammering at the sudden intrusion, and so he stumbled into her, forcing him to grab her around the shoulders so that he didn't fall. Tsubasa was clearly hiding a smile as he looked down at the two who were now apparently clinging to each other in terror.

"You've known since the train?" Madoka spluttered. Tsubasa laughed.

"It was more than a little obvious, even to me – and I was distracted at the time. Now get back inside – the Director's waiting to do one last speech and then we can all go to bed." He rolled his eyes, though it was barely visible in the dark, and raised his voice. "Hikaru! Hyoma! If you're not back in the hall in thirty seconds I'll tell the Director where you are."

"Sorry!" came the shout from over by the pond. "Coming!"

"Let's go," Aleksei suggested, taking her hand properly again.

In the hall, Lera and Dynamis were deep in conversation. Closer to the door, a very smug-looking Aguma and Klaus were watching a blue-haired girl in a pale yellow summer dress and a red-haired boy in a brown cloak lean close to each other, apparently not realising that they were maintaining eye-contact for a little longer than was typically considered normal. Madoka couldn't help smiling.

Perhaps this was a commemorative dinner for an event which, whilst they succeeded, had caused an incredible amount of damage to the rest of the world, damage that was nowhere near fixed. Perhaps it would do nothing but remind them that, now the WBBA had given so much money to help with the rebuilding, there would be no high-level tournaments for years. Perhaps it would just bring back bad memories only just buried.

But it was also a place for new friendships to begin, for old loves to find each other, for new loves to slowly begin to grow.

She twisted her fingers in between Aleksei's, and smiled when he looked at her. Yes, everything was going to be just fine.