PianZoe: coughs a very deep cough Ugh... cough I hate this stupid cough... I was barely outside for a few minutes... cough, cough
CiaHottie: That's what you get for not writing fast enough. smirk
PianZoe: scowls at Cia You want me to feel sick, just because I don't write very fast?! drinks really hot water, which soothes cough
CiaHottie: No. If you felt sick, you wouldn't write at all! snickers, then shakes head No, no, I don't want you to feel sick at all. Instead, I want you to... say the disclaimer.
PianZoe: Fine, fine... cough Neither CiaHottie nor I own Wild ARMs, Wild ARMs 2, or Wild ARMs 3 (or Wild ARMs Alter Code F, or The Fourth Detonator, or the anime, or the manga...). Well, we own a lot of the characters in this, though... oh! cough, cough, cough And I do own a copy of 1, 2, and 3! Does that count as owning them? I hope so, because I really want to...
CiaHottie: Good girl! pats PianZoe's head, like a dog's Here, have a treat. tosses a heal berry at PZ
PianZoe: Yay! Bark, bark. grabs heal berry and eats it, then... COUGH, COUGH That's not a heal berry!! long, loud cough
CiaHottie: smirk ... or is it? Dun, dun, dunnnnn...
.,.Xgaorwe.,.Wkwcwb.,.Dwwkubfa.,.Eyb.,.Quks.,.
Anthony, Georgia, Erica, and Kevin were in a group, out searching for Edan. Anthony was mostly just trying to calm his wife down, while Erica and Kevin searched every single place they passed. But he was nowhere to be found. Erica glanced at Kevin in worry, and gripped his arm. "Kev, what if... what if Jacqui got him? What if a monster found him? What if Jacqui found him!? My poor, helpless baby brother..." she bit her lip, closing her eyes, and let go of his arm. "Sorry. Sorry..." she muttered, and walked ahead, pretending to look behind a large rock - but really, trying to hide the fact that she was unsuccessfully holding back her tears.
Kevin stared at her back in sympathy, thinking that if he was in Erica's place, and Denae in Edan's... well, if Denae was eleven years younger than him, then he would be just as worried; but, what made it worse for Erica was the fact that she had barely just met her little brother, and now he was missing, most likely in great danger. Erica was now not only hunch over the rock, crying silent tears, but was instead trying to hold back her small sobs, unsuccessfully, and Kevin noticed this almost immediately. He furrowed his eyebrows, and walked towards the slouched figure of his best friend, murmuring her name in order to possibly comfort her.
"Erica... it's okay... we'll find him... he's fine, I'm sure... shh... please don't... don't cry..." he tried his best at comforting the younger girl, but just succeeded in making her sobs grow louder, making him roll his eyes upwards, and bite the inside of his cheek. 'Err... what now? Someone should make a manual on girl's, for us guys to know what to do, and when to do it, and how to do it. Like... Chapter 3: How to Comfort the Girl You Love When She's Sobbing Hysterically. Heh, heh... geh... Wait a minute... oops, er, I mean, change the Love in that to Like... heh... heh...I don't know if I love her or not...' he thought to himself, looking back down at Erica, to find that she had turned to him, and was no longer sobbing, but the tears still freely trickled down her face. He smiled at her, and wrapped his arms around her, patting her on the back, as she rested her head in the crook of his neck.
"Ke-Kevin..." Erica started, her voice cracking, but Kevin shushed her, and pulled her back away from him, and touched his forehead to her's, so they were staring into each other's eyes.
"I know you too well. Although, you could have changed, I know you haven't by the tone of your voice when you said my name. Don't apologize for breaking down. Everyone does it, it's not like I'll hate you now, just because you broke down because your baby brother is missing in a dangerous wilderness, right after you just barely meet up with your family again." he said, smacking her very lightly in the head, jokingly. "You really think I'm that mean? I'm hurt, I'm really hurt..." he pulled away dramatically, pretending to be literally hurt, which Erica thought silly, making her giggle.
Erica shook her head, hiccuping once from the sobbing she had done, and the laughter, and pulled on Kevin's arm playfully. "Hey, you, that's not what I meant at all. Quit putting that invisible spear through your head..." she tugged on his arm again, harder this time, making him turn, and stumble into her, which caused her to loose her balance. "Whoa... whoa...! Whoa!" she waved her arms around to balance herself, but with Kevin's extra weight leaning on her upper half, it wasn't easy; and with a poof of dust, they fell to the ground, in a very bad looking position. Erica and Kevin both turned scarlet, and Erica used her elbows to prop herself up, as Kevin pushed with his arms so that he wouldn't be completely on top of her, but was still halfway on her, and staring down at her face.
They stared at one another's exceedingly red faces, until Kevin began to lower his head, slowly. Erica immediately realized what he was doing, and closed her eyes, raising her head slightly, her insides fluttering with nervousness, and excitement. Kevin closed his eyes as well, and just as their lips were about to connect, the clearing of a throat was heard, as well as a foot tapping. Their eyes snapped open, and Kevin jumped off Erica, his expression that of a deer caught in headlights.
There stood Anthony and Georgia - Anthony had his arms crossed over his chest, and was scowling at Kevin in a very threatening way, and Georgia was narrowing her eyes, switching her gaze from Kevin to Erica, her hands on her hips, and her foot was tapping. Kevin felt sweat forming on his head. "Uh... uh, er... It... I-I-it's not wh-what it looks like, Mr. and Mrs. Bernadette! Honest! I would never... we were... no, no... it's not... ack... don't kill me!" he exclaimed, clenching his eyes shut, and covering his head with his arms, his whole body shaking.
If they weren't in the situation they were in, Erica would have laughed, but seeing as how she and Kev were being accused of... doing stuff, she felt that it really would be better not to. She, instead, got to her feet, dusted herself off, and frowned at her parents. "Mom, Dad, I know you don't know me very well, but if you did you'd know that I'd never do anything like that, and you should know that Kevin would never... well... do something inappropriate to me! Well, at least, I think he wouldn't..." she mumbled the last part under her breath, so only Kevin could hear her, then whispered to him, "You wouldn't, right?" And to answer her question, he lowered his arms, and stared at her as if she wasn't very observant (PianZoe: Actually, his expression was more like 'WHAT!? ARE YOU THAT STUPID!? OF COURSE NOT!'). "Okay, thought so."
Georgia let her hands fall from her hips, stopped her foot from tapping any more, and closed her eyes, massaging her head with her right hand. "Yes, we know, Erica, but if it's not what it looked like, then what was it?" she asked, with a sigh, as she opened her eyes and looked right at her daughter, with a questioning look.
Erica sighed in frustration, and shook her head. "It was nothing, at all. I broke down because of Edan being missing, then tried to hide my tears by pretending to look behind this rock. Kevin noticed, though, and tried to comfort me, then I said something, and he pretended that it hurt him, and when I tried to get him to stop by pulling on his arm, we fell into that position!" she barked, her frown deepening, as she balled her hands into fists.
Georgia raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms, a disbelieving look on her face. "Oh really. Okay, then why did it look like you two were about to kiss?" she inquired, making Erica clench her teeth, and growl.
"Maybe because we were, Mom!!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot, and glaring.
Georgia gasped, her face changing from irritation to shock for a moment, then to shocked anger. "You were? Young lady, you are only fifteen!" she scolded, resulting in Erica screaming a closed mouth scream, and gripping at her hair.
"Moooom!! So what if I am fifteen!? Big stinkin' deal! It's not like I'm nine! And I am just as mature as any twenty year old, I've been told by several people! So I can kiss any guy I want to!" she snapped, as Georgia took several steps closer to her.
"You will not take that tone with me! I am your mother, so that means, if I tell you that you cannot kiss, you cannot. And yeah, you sound really mature to me." Georgia snapped sarcastically.
Erica's jaw dropped, her eyebrows shot up, and then her face formed into a mix between anger and a pout, as she took a couple steps back from her Mom. "You know what, Mom? I'm beginning to wish I had just stayed with Jacqui." she said quietly, her voice slightly cracking, as she narrowed her eyes, and tightened her fists. "I hate you!" she hissed, turning sharply, and running off, fighting back tears.
Georgia called after her daughter, and began chasing her. Anthony thought this was the perfect chance for a talk with Kevin.
After watching his wife chase their daughter for a bit, he turned his gaze to his daughter's best friend, with slightly narrowed eyes, to see that the younger boy was trying desperately to find a direction to escape in, that he wouldn't be seen. "Stop right where you are." he commanded, and Kevin froze, his eyes fearfully wide, as he turned at looked at Erica's father. "What exactly did you think you were doing, lying on my daughter?" he hissed, threateningly.
Kevin desperately raked his mind for an answer. "Er... er... uh... ehr... I-I-I-I-I... I, I... we-we-we... nothing, I was... we were doing nothing, it's just like she said to Mrs. Bernadette!" he stuttered nervously, his eyes darting to Erica's still running form off in the distance. "She... she was sobbing... I wanted to comfort her... and... and-and-and we just... we just fell!"
Anthony took a couple strides towards Kevin, and grabbed the front of his shirt, glaring down at the wide-eyed youth. "If I ever, and I mean, ever catch you touching my daughter in an inappropriate way again, you can say goodbye to any chance of living past seventeen." he hissed threateningly, then roughly let go of Kevin's shirt, causing him to stumble backwards, tripping, and landing flat on his back, eyes still wide, staring at the sky as if he didn't realize that he was no longer being scolded.
Anthony blinked at the seventeen-year-old, with an odd expression. After a few minutes, he couldn't help but laugh at the terrified boy's expense. Not that Kevin noticed at all. Nope. He had, by now, fallen unconscious.
.,.Nywe.,.yht.,.Yhhy.,.
Razi sat on the porch of the Bernadette residence, staring forwards, sadly, obviously lost in thought. With a depressed sigh, he turned, leaning up against a pole, his legs bent up against his chest, and rested his head in his hands. Vedette and Denae had gone off to help Anthony, Georgia, Kevin, and Erica search for Edan, and had told him to stay there and watch the house. Even though he was the man, and they were the girls. They had gotten into a large fight about who would go to help, and it ended with the two girls practically shoving him back into the house.
And now he was sitting here, in a state of self-pity. Who am I kidding? I mean, how could I ever think I had a chance with Erica? It's obvious that she likes Kevin a lot more... I mean, she barely even acknowledges me... It was like that when we were younger, too... he thought, with another depressed sigh, and shook his head as he did so. It was always Erica and Kevin, Erica and Kevin... never Erica and Razi... She doesn't even seem to remember me... at all... She remembers Kevin... and Vedette and Denae and her parents... But, I can't blame her... I mean, who would want to remember me? Stupid ol' good-for-nothing Razi Caradine...
He was so absorbed in his thoughts, that he didn't hear a horse trot up to the house, or someone jump off the horse and walk over towards him. So, when the person squatted down next to him, and poked his head, it was natural that he jump a couple inches off the porch, make a surprised yelping noise, and jerk his head in the person direction. But, when he did, he had to back up a bit, because he found his face only an inch away from another's face. "Wha- Anna Lenial!?" he stuttered, once he saw all of the person's face.
Indeed, it was Miss Anna Lenial (better known as Anastasia Eleniak) who was squatting next to him, staring at him with a small half smile, and a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, it's me. I just came back to return your horse... and... well... to see if Erica was here... but I guess she's not, so, I better get going..." she said, before she started to stand up. Razi stood up as well, looking over at his horse.
"Oh yeah... I forgot you had my horse... I couldn't have gone anyway..." he said to himself, making Anna turn her head back towards him, and raise her eyebrow at him again, this time in question. He noticed her do so out of the corner of his eye, and hung his head slightly, scratching the back of it. "Well, Mr. Bernadette, Mrs. Bernadette, Erica, and Kevin went to look for Erica's little brother, Edan, because he went to look for Erica when she got kidnaped after you tried to kidnap her... and Vedette and Denae went to go help them, and I wanted to go too, but they put me in charge of looking after the house..." he growled, glared off in the direction they rode in. Anna just chuckled, and shook her head.
"And if I could sneak up on you like that, I think they made the wrong choice in having you watch the house." she snickered, which, in reply, Razi sighed, flopped back down where he had been sitting, his head buried in his arms that were resting on his bent knees. Anna looked down at him in slight worry; had she said something wrong? She sat back down next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey... you okay?"
He sighed again, and replied, in an irritated voce, "No."
She furrowed her brow, and pushed his shoulder lightly. "Well? Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"No." he retorted once again.
She scowled at him, taking her hand from his shoulder, and crossed her arms. "Oh come on. It's better to tell someone."
He just shook his head, and she rolled her eyes at this. He was acting too childishly in her opinion. "No... It's stupid anyway... just like me..." he muttered, turning his head in the opposite direction of Anna. She humphed, and whopped him over the head, thinking, Well, at least he told me something... Razi's head shot up after she had whopped him, whipping around in her direction, and he had a glare on his face. "What was that for!?"
She snorted, and rolled her eyes. "Well, it's for saying you're stupid. You're not stupid."
He stared at her for a moment with a slightly shocked look on his face, before shaking his head, and laying it back down on his arms. "You're crazy... you don't even know me... how do you know I'm not stupid? For all you know, I could be a complete dunce..."
She shrugged, and wrapped her arms around her own bent legs. "Well, I just don't think you are. You just don't seem all that stupid to me." she stated simply, turning her head look out over the horizon. "Why do you say you're stupid, anyway?"
He sighed again, and then brought his head back up, staring in the same direction she was. "Well... just about everything I do makes me feel stupid... people are always calling me things like 'idiot', 'dolt', 'imbecile', 'dullard', and much more... And they have my entire life..."
Anna glanced over at him, with sympathy on her face, then scooted slightly closer, as a cold breeze blew past - it was getting late. She knew she should be leaving now, to search for Erica before it got dark. But she felt as if she couldn't leave. She didn't really want to, either. She was tired of searching, and it wouldn't hurt her one bit if she sat here and listened to the boy's problem.
"And... well... I never really... took what they called me seriously before now... I mean, I don't care what other people think of me... except for Erica... I didn't care what she thought. Ever since she was about... nine I've had this thing for her... but so did Kevin. We were always competing for her... and when she went missing, we were competing about who would find her first and then we'd argue about how when we did, she wouldn't fall for the other one. Now that we've found her... it's obvious... and, actually, it was obvious before she went missing too... she's always preferred Kevin to me... she doesn't even know I exist now... how could I have been so stupid to think she would fall for me, the idiot, the ugly one, the klutzy oaf?" he said with bitterness towards himself, and fell backwards, to lay on his back, and stare up at the ceiling-type-thing, with his arms resting across his stomach.
Anna rolled her eyes heavenward, and fell back as well, glancing over at him, and resting her head on her arms. "You're not an idiot, you're not ugly, and you're not a klutzy oaf." she snapped at him, to which he replied by turning his head in her direction, and raising an eyebrow at her. "Well, okay, I kinda have to admit, you are kinda clumsy from what I saw, but ugly and stupid? No way. Actually, you're kinda handsome." she smiled at him, to which he just blushed slightly, and turned his head, to look up at the ceiling thing again. She chuckled at his reaction, turned her head to look upwards again, and they stayed that way for a while, just lying next to each other, and staring upwards.
It had been quite a while since either one had spoken at all, and they each thought the other one had fallen asleep. So, Anna decided to tell what she thought was the sleeping Razi her story. He told her his story, so, she thought that she owed him - she thought of this as more of a practice for when she really would tell him. "Razi... my name... it's... it's not really Anna Lenial... It's really Anastasia Eleniak... and... I'm not really twenty-one... actually, I don't think I told you that I was, but, anyway... I'm really only nineteen... yeah... same age as you... I lied about my name and age because I ran away from home when I was fifteen, and wanted to forget everything about my mother... she had lied to me about my father... said that he got hit by a train, and that his name was... well, I don't remember... but, somehow I found out that my father was really alive... and so I left my lying mother to find my father, to see if he was still alive... and I've found him... that's part of the reason I came back here... he's... Mr. Bernadette..."
"WHAT?!" she heard Razi shout beside her, and look over to him, to see him sitting up and staring down at her with an extremely shocked expression. "You gotta be joking!" he exclaimed, and she just shook her head, looking at him in slight confusion - she thought he had been asleep? He had really been awake!? "You're not?! That means... that means... you're Erica's half sister?! Erica's older half-sister!? You don't look a thing like Mr. Bernadette! Man, you learn something new everyday! How can you be Erica's older half-sister?! I mean, you are just as pretty as her - maybe even prettier - but... still! She has an older half-sister!?" he exclaimed, putting a hand to his head, and scratching it in extreme confusion.
Anna laughed slightly, and sat up, patting him on the head. "I think we've established the fact that I am, indeed, her older half-sister." as she continued to pat him on the head, suddenly something he said registered in her head, causing her to stop patting him on the head, and to stared at him strangely. "Did you say that... you think I'm... prettier than Erica?" she questioned, narrowing one eye at him.
His eyes widened, his face flushed slightly, and his eyes darted around as he tried to recall what he said. Oh, no, I did, didn't I? Shoot!... Well, it is sorta the truth, but still... stupid, stupid, stupid... his mind barked at him as he remembered that he had, in fact, told her that he thought she was prettier than the girl he had had a crush on for seven years. "Er... yes..." he said, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.
After he had said it, Anna crossed her arms, and smirked at him. "You think I'm beautiful?"
"Um... yes..." he said uneasily, trying to look anywhere but at her.
She leaned a bit closer to him, and she could tell he noticed by how the blush on his face deepened slightly. "Aw, you're so sweet... have you thought that since you first laid eyes on me?"
"Maybe..."
"Yes or no?"
"Yeee... no."
"No?" she questioned disbelievingly, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well, okay, yeah, sorta..."
She leaned closer to him again, the smirk growing into a grin. "You think I'm really beautiful? Do you think I have a nice personality? Am I bothering you? Did you like hanging out with me tonight? Was I much of a bother? Do you like me? Am I annoying you? Do you want me to shut up?"
"Yeah, yes, no, yeah, no, yeah, no, not really..." he replied to all of the questions, still trying to avoid looking at her, which was increasingly hard with how she kept getting closer, and closer, and closer... Geez, she's practically sitting on me! This thought made his face get brighter red.
"Oh, is that so..." she giggled (actually, it was more of a mix between an amused chuckle and a snicker, not really a giggle), scooting a bit closer, so that their hips were touching, and leaned against him, turning his face to her, so they could look each other in the eyes. As she did so, his face deepened about five shades, but she acted as if she didn't notice, and instead, just jumped forward a bit, planting a quick kiss on his lips, causing him to stare down at her with extremely wide eyes. "That was my thank you for all those compliments."
He continued to stare down at her for a few more minutes, then shook his head slightly to snap out of it, and attempted to reply. "Welcome...!" he squeaked out, to which he shook his head again, and cleared his throat. "Uh, I mean, you're welcome..." he stuttered, his voice pretty muchly back to normal.
She laughed again, and wrapped her arms around him, nestling her head against his chest, her eyes closed. "Hm... you're comfy..." she purred, petting his back as she did so. Razi was surprised his face hadn't exploded from all the blood rushing to it, yet. He slowly, and hesitantly slipped his arms around her, timidly patting her back.
"Um... thanks..." he stuttered, and as he did so, Anna's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at his face, before slowly pulling away, and turning away from him, hanging her head.
"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable... I better go now..." she murmured, as she stood up, her arms around herself, and began walking in the direction she had come from. Razi stared at her back with a kind of confused, disappointed expression on his face, before he furrowed his eyebrows, stood up, and ran up behind her, grabbing her arm.
"No, Anastasia, don't go. Why are you leaving? Was it something I did? If it is, I'm sorry... please stay? If you go now, I'll end up drowning in self-pity..." he stated, and she turned her head back to look at him. She stared at him for a minute, before she shook her head, and proceeded to try to pull her arm away from him, but he held her arm in a firm grip.
"No, I can't stay! Please, let go, I must go... If I stay any longer... It just... wouldn't be a good idea... Razi, let go!" she cried out, trying with all her might to pull away from him. But, he held as tight to her as he could, and finally, Anna gave up, falling against him, and beating a fist against his shoulder. "I can't stay! I just can't! If I do, who knows what might happen? I've already reminded myself of my horrible mother... and... if I started to act like her... I would regret it deeply... you probably would too... I can't... must... leave..." she began to cry slightly, wrapping her arms around him, as he did similar. "Then we'll have a mistake, just like me... me, the mistake..."
Geez, she's kinda over-dramatic, huh...? Well, I can kinda see why she thinks of herself as a mistake, but she's not... Razi thought, looking at the girl in sympathy. "You're not a mistake... and we would not make a mistake. I think the most we'd do is talk, Anna... we don't know each other that well..."
Anna just growled, and shook her head violently. "But my mom and Mr. Bernadette had just barely met when they made me! Mom thought he was cute, and she didn't even ever want children! To her I was a mistake! And probably to Mr. Bernadette, too, if he even knows!" she barked at him, crying harder now.
All of this just because she reminded herself of her mother... He inwardly sighed, as he rubbed the hiccuping redhead's back, trying to comfort her. "Anna... Anna! You are no mistake, you hear me!? You are the most... er... un-mistaky-est person I've ever met!" he stated clearly, mentally smacking himself for not knowing enough words.
Anna chuckled lightly, hiccuping afterward, at his choice of words. "Un-mistaky-est? Heheh... th-thank you, Razi... now I feel kinda special, for you to make up a word for me..." she teased, ending with a hiccup, and sniffled, wiping the tears off her face with the back of her hand. She then yawned, trying to hide it, but Razi noticed, and began to lead her back to the house. "But..." she started to protest, but Razi shushed her, and shook his head.
"Ah, ah, ah. You're going to spend the night here. How about in Erica's old room?"
"Okay... can you... erm..." she trailed off, and shook her head. "Nah, never mind."
He looked at her curiously. "What?"
"Well... I was wondering if you'd... um... stay with me until I fall asleep... I mean, to talk and stuff..."
He smiled at her, and nodded his head. "Okay."
.,.BeyhWua.,.LeyRuddea.,.Hudac.,.
PianZoe: Wow, it's done! It's actually... kinda good, I kinda like it... it sure is an emotional chapter... humor, drama, humor, drama, humorous romance, dramatic romance, romance... sighs romantically
CiaHottie: Uhh.. Yeah.. What she said. points at PianZoe, chuckling unneasily.
PianZoe: Nyeh. Anyway, well, that's chapter eleven! Hope you enjoyed it. Chapter twelve probably will be out in a month since I'm writing the rest of this fic... I'll try to be quick, though...
CiaHottie: pulls out her whip You better be quick... Muahaha...
PianZoe: laughs nervously, backing away Heh... heh... proceeds to run like a cat being chased by a dog out of the room
CiaHottie: smirks evilly
PianZoe: from other room Once again, sorry that the chapter was late!