Chapter 3: One more for the team

Alright, sorry for the wait, and thanks for being so patient! This is Naty here!

Alright, so Angel wrote most of this, I just corrected it, and did the work scene. And added an author's note. But this is all Angel's work, so I am not taking any credit for this, apart from the work scene. And of course, this totally epic A/N. Word. XD

"This is your uniform, apron and notepad. Don't lose any of them, because I'm not going to replace any of your stuff. Bring them Monday to Friday, since you'll be working here from 8am to 6pm." He explained, handing me the objects.

"We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, but we don't serve on holidays. Your main job will be as a waitress, but if needed, you might have to clean the kitchen and the tables. Now, any questions?"

I looked at the stuff he handed me and shook my head. "Good. Now, go to the bathroom, change, and we'll open up the restaurant soon."

"Y-Yes, boss!" I hurried to the bathrooms, not catching Chase's grin.

The atmosphere was loud and cheerful in the Brass Bar. Well, it wasn't much of a bar. Due to the preference of the villagers, and a lot of support, the bar had grown into a real restaurant.

The Brass Bar now also served breakfast and lunch in addition to dinner.

That was good for business- not so much for a busy waitress.

"Phew! Is it always this busy?" Angela asked, as she waited by the kitchen for the order of food Chase was preparing.

She heard a small chuckle, as Chase turned around, and placed a plate of food on the bar table.

"Nope. I made a 50% off special to celebrate the newest villager." He answered with a smirk.

'If it's to celebrate me, then why am I the one working?' Angela wondered.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Chase said impatiently, although he was still grinning mischievously. "I don't pay you to just sit around, you know!"

Angela frowned, but took the plate, and brought it over to table 6, like the small sticky note on the plate had instructed her to do.

She had already memorized the location of every table in the bar, which surprised her, because she normally didn't have a very good memory.

"Here you are, Mayor Hamilton!" she said with a cheerful smile, placing the plate in front of the man, and ripping off the post-it note. "Scrambled eggs, sausage, and fried breakfast potatoes, just like you ordered! I'll be back with toast in just a sec, okay?"

With that, she started to walk away, then remembered something that Chase had already given her crap for a few times before.

She spun on her heel, and walked back to the Mayor. "I'm sorry, but white bread, or wheat?" she asked.

The mayor smiled. "Wheat please. Irene says I need to lose a few pounds. Hahaha!" he said, with a small laugh.

"Alright, I'll be right back!" she then turned around, and made her way proudly back to the kitchen.

"Wheat toast, please!" she ordered.

Chase raised a brow. "I'm busy. Make it yourself."

"What? But I have to still tend to those other tables!" she whined.

Chase ignored her, and went back to cooking the meal. Angela sighed, and popped two pieces of toasts into the toaster.

While she waited, she decided to start a conversation. "Why is it that you decided to make a 50% off sale on my first day of work? Things are crazy!" she asked.

"I already answered that."

"Celebrating for a new villager isn't a good reason if the villager isn't participating."

"Well then." Chase turned and winked at her. "I guess it's because I said so!"

Angela turned away, and gritted her teeth. Somehow, it seemed he was doing this on purpose, to try and aggravate her. He seemed far too amused for her liking.

"I thought Maya and Kathy worked here anyways! Where are they?" Angela asked, a little sourly.

"They don't work here in the morning." Chase answered matter-of-factly. "Kathy only works at dinner and at night, and Maya just works at lunch. You're all by yourself in the mornings now!"

Angela frowned again. But something didn't seem right with that…

"Well then who worked in the mornings before me?" she asked, certain he wouldn't have a good answer to this.

"Kathy did." He said simply, with a small shrug of his shoulders. "I told her that since you were here now, she wouldn't have to work mornings."

"Well why do I have to work all three shifts?" Angela yelled out in frustration.

Chase stopped what he was doing, and looked up at her. "Are you arguing with your new boss? Are you trying to get yourself fired?"

Angela gritted her teeth, and started thinking of several ways she could use those kitchen knives other than cooking with them.

The toaster suddenly binged, and Angela put them on the small porcelain plate, making sure to include a small pack of margarine and strawberry jam with her.

"Fine."

I stormed out of the kitchen. I don't really think I was angry at him, just frustrated. He had a strange way of acting… it was almost annoying in a way. Why did he enjoy irritating me so much?

"Here you are, Mayor Hamilton! Enjoy your meal!" I said sweetly, as I placed the plate of toast in front of him.

"Thank you very much!" Hamilton answered, his mouth half full.

I tried not to cringe as a few pieces of scrambled egg fell out of his mouth. Where did he learn his manners?

"You're welcome!" I answered with the same sweet smile instead.

I took my notepad out of my black apron Chase gave me, and looked for another table to wait on.

Gill was sitting impatiently waiting at table 3, the table in the corner. I walked up to him.

"Hello, can I take your order?" I asked, pen ready.

Gill raised a brow, and rolled his eyes. "It took you long enough."

I raised a brow. "Well, sorry, but there are other tables to wait to beside yours." I glanced at the mayor, still stuffing himself with eggs. "Like your dad."

I wonder why he wasn't sitting with the mayor instead of being alone.

Gill glanced at his dad, then sat back in his chair. "Well? Aren't you going to ask for my order?"

This guy… would really like to see Chase's kitchen knives, wouldn't he?

"Alright, so what's your order?" I asked.

"Hmm, let's see…" he murmured, as he grabbed the menu from the table. Wait, he hasn't chosen what he wanted yet? "I guess I'll take sunny side-up eggs, with bacon. Oh, and with tomato juice too."

I wrote that down on my notepad. "Alright, I'll be right back!" I said in fake-cheeriness.

"Yo, Angela!" I heard Luke yell from his table, which he shared with Bo and Dale. "Got any more mayonnaise? We ran out!"

I sighed, and spun around towards the kitchen again. I ripped out the note and clipped it onto a wire that hung horizontally over my head.

"You have another order, Chase. And Luke needs more mayonnaise." Chase didn't even look at me, but threw a bottle of mayonnaise over his shoulder to me.

Surprisingly, I managed to catch it.

I spun out and waited to a few more tables. God, things were really hectic today. Stupid Chase and his stupid sale… It's not a tailor shop! Restaurants shouldn't have sales!

I speed walked over to an impatient-looking Gill with another sweet, yet now strained smile. "Your meal should be here any minute, Gill!"

Normally, this would ease customers, I had realized. "Whatever." Gill yawned.

This guy irritated me so much! I spun back towards the kitchen.

"Gill's being an ass. Is his stuff almost done?" I asked.

"It's been done for about 2 minutes." Chase said, gesturing to a plate of food on the counter.

"Right…" I said, feeling stupid. "Sorry."

I rushed out, carrying the food, only to notice that Gill was standing, and putting on his coat. "W-Where are you going?" I called out to him.

Gill rolled his eyes, and sighed. "I have other things to do, you know. Your service just isn't fast enough."

He grimaced at the plate I was holding. "And frankly, that doesn't quite suit my… tastes…" he added.

My rage grew.

I threw the plate to the ground, and it shattered into pieces, food flying.

I couldn't control my senses anymore. My mind didn't seem to connect to my body anymore. My actions were no longer mine, but someone else's. All I seemed to be directed by was the white hot rage.

I pounded my fist at the table. I wanted to scream.

This other person's feelings were too much to bear. The confusion, the sadness, the anger… especially the anger.

I knelt down, and covered my ears, squeezing my eyes shut.

And when I re-opened them, everything was clear again.

The people in the bar were staring at me, wide-eyed. There was a huge mess before me. Chase came out of the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.

I ran out of the bar, hiding the tears threatening to fall.

Angela walked until she reached the Goddess spring, where her legs gave out. She stared at the water, trying to sort her thoughts.

"Why did I sudden walk away? It's not like I did anything wrong...my hand just dropped the plate. But why?" She sighed and looked at the lake. She heard a noise behind her and her head turned. It was Candace, looking a bit timid as usual. She steeped towards Angela, looking at her. "Hi Candace. Is something wrong?"

"H-Hi Angela...I was j-just out for a walk when a v-voice called me. I-I followed it here, and I saw you." Angela's ear perked up when she heard Candace talk about the voice.

"A voice? A woman's voice, right?" Candace nodded, and Angela had an idea. "Well, Candace, did you have weird dream or event happen lately?"

"Well...W-When I woke up this m-morning, I-I felt very c-c-cold." Her hand reached out and touched Angela's hand. Angela's hand felt the coldness and how numb Candace's hand felt.

"Wow, you really are cold!" Candace nodded a bit. "Well...I could tell you to concentrate on bring your body to a warmer temperature."

"Really? W-Will it r-really work?"

"Only one way for sure. Give it a try." Angela pulled Candace down a bit, making her sit down next to her.

Candace began to calm her breathing, and slowly closed her eyes. After a few minutes, without warning, small flakes of snow started falling from the sky.

"Candace...?"

As she kept concentrating, more and more flakes began to fall around the two covering the ground gently with a small layer of snow. Cold winds blew by, and quickly froze over the lake.

"She controls...Ice? Snow?" Angela noticed that Candace had opened her eyes, and stood up in surprise. She looked at the snow.

"Wow..." She was flabbergasted, backing away slowly from the sight of the flakes that were now slowly melting. Without realizing it, she backed into the spring, the ice below her melting just as quickly as the snow.

A small shriek was heard as the ice melted completely, and she fell into the spring.

"Candace!" Angela jumped after her, into the deep pond in which stayed the Goddess.

She seemed to be struggling, but not getting anywhere closer to the surface, and was obviously losing strength.

Angela tried to pull her out of the deep water, but noticed her skirt was caught under a rock.

'Hopefully Candace won't mind it if she has one skirt less…' she thought, as she ripped the skirt to pull her out.

I began to run out of air, and my eyes were threatening to close. I… can't give up… both our lives depend on this…!

In a final effort, a vine wrapped both me and Candace and pulled us out of the water. Reaching air, we both took deep breaths, gasping for air. We came out of the pond soaking wet.

After a few minutes of heavy panting, I propped myself up on one shoulder. "Candace, you okay?" I asked.

"Y-Yes, Angela. T-Thank you for s-saving me." We smiled and the Goddess appeared in front of Candace, in the spring we had just nearly drowned in.

Candace gasped. "W-Who are y-you?"

"Ah, good to see you, Harvest Goddess." I sat down, shivering slightly from the water. A small puddle started around me and I became slightly mad.

"Good to see you, Angela. I was expecting you, Candace, but I didn't expect you to fall into the spring." Candace looked slightly confused. "I have called you, Candace, to ask a favor of you."

"W-What i-is i-it G-Goddess?" Candace was shivering more than me, but I think she stumbled more than usual because of shock.

"Can you befriend Angela and aid me? I take control of the land, but Ig- I mean, the Harvest God...he's trying to destroy the land and the people. Please, I ask of your assistance. Will you help me out?"

"S-Sure, if Angela's doing it t-too." I smiled, happy that we had Candace with us.

"Candace, this will be fun! And sorry about your skirt...You were kinda stuck."

"T-That's okay. I-I needed to fix this skirt, a-anyway."

"Alright! Let's practice together, 'kay, Candace?" She nodded and we began to chat about powers, while the Harvest Goddess watched over us with great interest.

Two dark figures watched the two girls practice, Sephia looking towards their direction. However, they paid to heed to her glare.

"Oh, Sephia, you'll never be able to defeat me." Ignis grinned, taking in the battle.

"Angela seems to have little knowledge or strength with her powers. Her main weakness appears to be stress." The other figure said, his outline unclear and covered by the dark.

"Oh really? Then Sephia's team is at quite a disadvantage. After all, if I'm not mistaken, we might have another person on our team. A fire starter, I believe."

"So fire and ice. Her team will still be at a disadvantage, with how few people it has."

"True. But...we can make the odds worse." The God grinned widely. "Which is what I'll need you for."

"What would you like me to do?" The other figure scoffed a bit. "Kill Angela before she gets powerful?"

"No. But, I do want to take the bells. You just have to lead the Goddess away. It should be easy for someone like you, especially your power."

"Without the bells, the Goddess' team will not have a power boost. I see what you mean." The other figure began to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the work, unlike you." He scoffed and walked away, leaving the God to watch the two girls sparing.

"I will see you later..." The God grinned.

"Chase."

Hoorah! So again, thank you all for being so patient.

I (Naty17) will try to update Cry me a River and maybe also RaNdOm drabbles soon too! I'm sorry for neglecting. Also, I hope you'll all check out my forum "The Writer's Block" (if you want, I can PM you the link), or vote for the poll on my profile, or both, even!

Well, this has been Naty and Angel. Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated!