Never Let You Go
Chapter 4: Second Chance
Tell my mother, tell my father, I've done the best I can
To make them realize this is my life, I hope they understand
I'm not angry, I'm just saying, sometimes goodbye is a second chance
Sometimes goodbye is a second chance.
- Shinedown, from the song 'Second Chance'
The next day dawned bright and clear, a perfect morning for some surfing.
That, Kaito decided, was just what he would do, and he spent nearly two hours that morning the riding the waves. Eventually, though, he got tired and decided to head back to his house to get some breakfast.
Holding his surfboard under his arm, he cut across the beach and headed across a road and back to his house. But he stepped back onto the sidewalk, he noticed in the few people milling about, was someone familiar….
No, that couldn't be right. He told himself. It wasn't possible.
Then the figure stopped for a red light, and Kaito got a better view.
And knew.
"Gaito!" Dropping his surfboard, he darted after the figure, who had silver hair and a long coat just like Gaito always wore. "Gaito!"
The Panthalassa pushed his way through the crowd, trying to catch up with the sea king, but it was no use.
Lucia would have sworn she'd seen Sara, and now he'd just seen Gaito.
"We can't both be going crazy." He alleged. "They're back. But how? And why?"
He mind full of questions he couldn't answer, Kaito turned and headed back the way he'd come, hoping no one had stolen his surfboard while he was gone.
Gaito watched as his brother walked away. Perhaps we will meet again, brother, but now is not the time. And with that, he continued on his way.
Sara was out taking a walk and enjoying the morning. Gaito had left and wouldn't be back until later that afternoon, and she was trying to figure out a few things she thought they might need.
She was so focused on her thoughts she failed to notice another girl, engrossed in her book, walking straight towards her. A minute later the two bumped into each other, and the book was knocked out of the other girl's hand, heading straight towards a puddle of water on the ground from last night's rain.
Without even thinking about what she was doing, Sara reached out and grabbed the book, stepping into the puddle of water as she did. She hastily pulled her foot out, tossed the book at the girl, and then used the hem of her dress to dry her foot off.
"I wasn't expecting you to do that." The girl said as she caught her book. "I'm sorry; I should have been watching where I was going."
"Don't worry about it." Sara said. She hadn't transformed; she must not have been wet long enough.
And that was just fine with her.
"But I feel so bad that you got wet and got your nice dress dirty. If you come with me, I can at least help you get your dress cleaned up." The girl continued.
Sara considered it. "Alright."
"Great." The girl smiled. "By the way, I'm Inari."
"Sara."
"Nice to meet you, Sara. Follow me. The shop I work at is just around the corner, and I can get your dress cleaned there."
"Lucia."
"Lucia."
"Huh? Where am I?" The Pink pearl princess wondered as she looked around at what appeared to be undersea plants and ocean fish. "What is this?
"Lucia."
"Who's there?" The mermaid asked.
Then she saw the glowing gold sphere with a little orange mermaid inside it.
"Are you the heiress to the orange pearl?" Lucia asked. But the gold sphere was gone as quickly as it came, leaving Lucia with more questions than answers.
"Lucia!! Wake up!!"
Lucia jerked awake to see Hanon and Caren standing next to her bed.
Caren crossed her arms over her chest. "If you're going to go to the train station with Kaito to meet his guests, you'd better hurry and get ready to go. You've got twenty minutes to get ready."
"Twenty minutes?!" In a flash, Lucia was out of bed and digging clothes out of her closet. "I'll be ready in ten."
From the very top of one of the castles in his tower, Michel watched the sunrise over the clouds. Somewhere inside the castle, Caos was making his plans for the first part of his attack.
"You seem so lonely. Why do you still stay here?"
"Because I have nowhere else to go." Michel replied, annoyed. The same voice from earlier was back. "Who are you?"
"I'm Seira. I'm an orange mermaid."
"What are you doing?" Michel demanded.
"Waiting to be born." Now there was a strange statement if the angel had ever heard one. "You play the flute very well." Seira said.
Michel didn't reply. After another moment the spirit Seira gave up and turned away. "I guess you want to be alone right now. That's okay, I'll come back later." With that she vanished, leaving the angel alone with his thoughts.
XXX
In a room in the castle, Caos was talking to his minions; tall, dark, faceless monsters.
"My children," Caos began, enjoying the whole situation a little too much. "Today, we make our first strike against the humans and through them against the one who locked us away, never see freedom again. Today your mission is simple. We are going to kidnap one simple human hybrid; but the power this hybrid has is great. It will be an asset to us in our plans!"
The creatures roared in response.
Caos smiled. "Now, let us begin."
While all this had been going on, Sara had followed Inari back to a dress shop.
"You work here?" Sara asked as she glanced at the rows and mannequins of designer dresses.
"Yep. My job is to sell people fancy dresses for special occasions. I do shoes and purses too." Inari replied. "Come on; we've got a dryer in the back room, and I can get your dress dried there."
The orange mermaid followed the girl into the back room, where there was indeed a washer and dryer set.
"You can change out of your dress over there." Inari pointed out a changing screen and got Sara a robe.
"Thank you, I will take care of your dress now." The girl said the girl said a moment later as Sara came out and handed over her dress. She took the dress over to the sink and began to rinse the mud stain off the hem.
"So what are these back here for?" Sara asked as she noticed a rack dresses. She reached over to feel the material of a dress done in black, orange, and yellow.
"Some of them are new that have yet to be put out, and some of them have to go over to the discount rack." Inari explained. She wrung as much water as she could out of the dress, then tossed it into the dryer. She added a bit of fabric softener and set the dryer to small load. "That will be done in about twenty minutes." She announced, then asked, "So, are you new in town?"
"In a manner of speaking. I've been here before, but I think I'm here to stay this time." Sara replied.
"It's a nice place to live, even if weird things do happen sometimes. Storms the just appear out of the blue, and couple of weeks ago we had some kind of giant castle appear in the middle of the sea. Now, that was strange." Inari moved over to the rack of dresses and began to sort them out. "But everything seems to have gotten better, so who knows. Maybe it was just an illusion."
"Maybe," Sara agreed, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable.
"So, what were you going to do before we bumped into each other?" Inari asked, unaware of Sara's discomfort.
"I was going to look at some paint; it's peeling in the kitchen and I can't stand it. And I was going to see if I could learn how to cook." Sara replied, glad for the change in subject.
"Oh, you should wait until I get off work. I can help you with the cooking part. I love to cook." Inari said as she moved some of the dresses to a different rack. The new ones would be put up for sale next week. "It's a half day so I get off at noon today. Anyway, I'll be right back, I've got to move theses dresses to the discount rack.
Sara reached over and took the same black and orange dress she'd looked at earlier off the rack. "This is a discount?"
"Yep. We've had it here for six months and we couldn't sell it." Inari confirmed.
Sara held it up. It looked about her size. "How much is it?"
"13590 yen." Inari replied. "It used to be 25110."
"Can I try it on?"
"Sure, if you want too. I'll go take these other dresses to the discount rack, and if you want you can come out to the dressing room and look at the dress in the full length mirrors." Inari pulled the rolling rack out to the front room, and Sara ducked back behind the screen and tried it on. It fit perfectly.
She headed out to the front room. Over in one corner of the building were a couple of dressing rooms and the full-length mirrors. She studied how the dress looked on her.
"That dress looks perfect on you." Inari said in awe.
"I do like it."
Sensing hesitation, Inari said, "You could put in on layaway if you want."
"And that is…?"
"When you pay for it little by little instead of all at once."
The mermaid considered it. She did still have some money left over from her street performance the other day. What would Gaito think if she decided to buy a dress? What would Gaito think if he saw the dress? O rmore importantly, her in the dress?
Sara made up her mind. "Can you put this dress away for me? I'll be back with a down payment tomorrow."
A long whistle blast informed everyone that the train was entering the station. Lucia suddenly felt extremely nervous, wondering who these friends of Kaito's parents were.
Kaito was out on the platform, and Hanon and Caren were sitting with Lucia in the waiting room. Both were flipping through magazines.
"Come on guys, we'd better go out there with Kaito. We are here to meet his guests." Lucia said as she stood up.
"Alright." Hanon said as she put her magazine down and stood up. Caren followed suit, and the three of them headed for the platform. None of them knew that hiding around the train station were Caos' minions and that hiding in a tree just across from the station was Caos himself.
"Well, it looks as if the dear girl has finally made it here." Caos observed. "I can't wait to give her the kind of welcome she deserves." With a flick of the wrist and quick flash of light, he quickly cast in illusion over himself.
One that looked exactly like Michel.
"Of course, impersonating people is the best part of the job." Caos said with a smile. "And so it begins."
Back on the platform, Lucia watched as people filed off the train, collecting belongs and heading into the building. She looked at Kaito but he was looking at the train, which only meant that whoever he was looking for hadn't gotten off yet.
The train was nearly empty before she saw a wide grin come over Kaito's face.
"Rihito!" He waved his arms to try and get the older man's attention. "Over here."
Rihito smiled and headed towards Kaito, followed by a younger girl and an older man. "Kaito, it's good to see you again." Rihito said. "I was so sorry to hear about your parents. It was a tragic loss to the world of music."
Kaito nodded. Rihito went on. "I'd like you to meet my younger sister Michal, and my manager, Makabe-san."
"Nice to meet you, Michal-chan, Makabe-san." Kaito said. He grabbed Lucia's hand and pulled her over to him. "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Lucia, and her friends Hanon and Caren." He pointed out the other two mermaids. "They helped me get everything ready when I knew you were coming."
"It's nice to meet you, Lucia-chan, Hanon-chan, Caren-san." Rihito said.
"I see you've got all your bags already." Kaito said, noticing all the bags Makabe-san was holding. "I've arranged for a taxi."
"Maestro, I'll take the bags out there then." Makabe said, then moved into the train station.
Then when was when Caos decided to drop in.
The platform was deserted, no one was around except the Amagis, Kaito and the mermaids. And then Caos's minions dropped to the platform around them, followed by Caos who was still disguised as Michel."
"Good morning." Caos said with a wicked smile. "I'm here to claim a very important source of power, the pure heart of a half-Panthalassa." He gave Michal a cruel smile.
"Who are you?" Rihito demanded. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"
"I want her." Caos idly pointed at Michal and ignored the rest of the questions. "And I'm going to take her."
His Dark Guards moved to grab Michal.
"Like we're actually gonna let you do that." Caren taunted. "Purple Pearl Voice!"
"Pink Pearl Voice!"
"Aquamarine Pearl Voice!"
Rihito watched in amazement as the three girls transformed. Just what the heck was going on around here?
"Pichi Pichi Voice live start!" The mermaids began their song.
"The rainbow wind, blows at the far off coast. Before dawn there was a melody I heard. It's a very nostalgic song.
"The birds that fly, towards the eastern sky, now escape, to the treasure island using this shortcut.
"Where the paradise of the seven seas lies, after the night of the storm; another life is born only to pass love along.
"Even if a day comes when everyone journeys away from here,
"As long as we have the melody of the seven countries, I'll never forget!"
"Love Shower Pitch! Would You Like an encore?" The mermaids offered.
Caos threw his head back and laughed. "Yes. Yes I would like an encore. If you need me, I'll be performing a kidnapping while you sing all the worthless songs you want. Get her!" He ordered his guards.
They hurried to comply.
"Leave her alone!" Kaito ordered, the glowing sigil on his head sending out a wave of powerful energy.
It knocked Caos back, but wasn't enough to stop him. "You're good, Prince," He spat out the title as though it was an insult. "But even you need to get better." A moment later he was gone, and Michal was gone with him.
"Michal!!" Rihito looked around frantically. "Michal! Where are you?"
"Don't bother." Kaito said bitterely. "She's gone."
"Who kidnapped her?" Rihito demanded. He glanced at the mermaids. "How did they transform? And what is that thing on your forehead?"
Kaito sighed. It was gonna be a long morning.
"What a day." Caren sighed. After dropping Rihito off at Kaito's house and explaining everything except the fact the girls were mermaids, they had left Rihito worrying around his music and come out to the beach to relax.
"That must be that Caos guy I dreamed about." Lucia said. "I hope he doesn't hurt Michal."
"Looks like the next battle is on." Hanon said.
"I hope Coco and Rina and Noel get back soon." Caren replied.
There was a rumble of thunder, and a cloud overhead started to sprinkle rain down on them.
"Oh no we're gonna get wet!" Lucia wailed. There were still people out on the beach, even though most of them were starting to pack up.
"Follow me; I know where we can go." Kaito grabbed his surfboard. "There's a deserted house up the beach, we can stay there until the rain blows over."
The three mermaids followed him up the beach until they came to the house. If they had been paying attention they may have noticed that the house didn't look so deserted anymore, the outside had a new coat of paint and a broken window had been repaired.
But they didn't notice, and simply burst in through the front door.
Inside, they found Gaito sitting at a table in the kitchen, and Sara about to put a bowl of rice on said table. Both of them turned to see who had burst in through their front door.
And there was dead silence.
T.A.R.N.S.: Bwa ha! Cliffhanger!!! I apoligize for the delay in getting this written and posted. It took some time, I cut out the whole 'explain everything to Rihito' thing and it still ran on for eight pages in MS Word.
Lots of things happened here. We had that nasty cliffhanger right there at the end. I didn't know Sara was going to put a down payment on that dress, or, even see it, for that matter. Inari is going to be a minor character and I'm sure she'll show up again. I wasn't expecting Caos to impersonate Michel, either. Huh. We got all sorts of things here I never expected to happen.
If things seem to be moving slowly, just bear with me, okay? This is going to be a long term story (especially because I only write fanfics on Saturday and have normal life the rest of the week.) This chapter here took like two weeks to get done. Also, if the yen thing is wrong... it's not my fault. I used to Google to tell me the exchange rates and then I had to use a calculator to figure it out. So I guess that does make it my fault, but still. Just roll with it. I think in dollars, not yen. -.-
Anyway, on to more important things. The song prompt for this chapter (am I allowed to use song lyrics as prompts? I know songfics aren't allowed, how about prompts?) Is Second Chance by Shinedown. This time I'm kind of refering to how Gaito and Sara said their goodbye, and then they got a second chance, so thier goodbye was thier second chance. Or something like that. I see no one could guess which band does the song Never Let You Go. It's done by Third Eye Blind.
Well, I think that's everything. I think. I forgot everything else was going to say, so I'll just call it quits for now. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapters, and please review this one!