PART THREE - Dinner and cake

The pizza and cake was delivered in about half an hour, which led Ash to come up the stairs to invite her sister and Kratos down to eat. When she walked through the door, she found Ran in tears. Kratos sat next to her with an arm around her shoulders. They hadn't noticed she was there.

"I feel like it's my fault," Ran said through her hiccups. "Like I could have prevented it."

"There's no way to predict the future, and you know that as well as anyone else," Kratos reminded her quietly. "You couldn't have seen that accident. No one did."

"I mean if I chose to study at home, then I could have at least kept her company," she replied. "She turned out that way because she thought she was alone."

Kratos reached up and ruffled her hair. "I think it's all one big misunderstanding," he said. "You left to study because you were lonely, and it turns out she was lonely the entire time you were gone. Ran, listen to me. If the two of you want to heal, then I suggest you both spend some actual time together. None of this reading while she's talking to you. I know it's hard to focus on someone in the flesh, but I don't think you have much of a choice."

"I don't want her to go back to that when I go back in two weeks," Ran said.

"After all this, you still plan on going back to study?"

"I can't just quit."

Ash then stepped closer, catching their attention. "If you quit your dreams, I'll lose all respect for you," she said with a smile. "I envy your ability to always be so focused. No matter what you do, you always stay right there, in whatever you're doing. It's amazing."

"Even though I ignore you?" Ran asked.

"I don't care. You have dreams to chase and the raw talent for them," Ash declared. "I would want you to forsake that." Her words were genuine. "Now, come on, food's here."

Ran stood up and wiped her eyes. "Thank you, Kratos. It's been a long time since anyone held me for any reason," she said, offering to help him up. "If there's anything you need, I'll do what I can for you. It's the least I can do."

He took her hand, pulling himself up to stand. "Don't worry about me. We should go eat," he said, starting out. When he started to leave, he noticed that Ran was again at her desk. "Hey now, what's this?"

"I got an email. It's from Dad," she said, reading the message on screen. "Looks like he'll be at it another month." She got up, her face filled with disgust. "Not surprised in the least."

"You sound bitter," Kratos murmured.

Ran stomped on past him and Ash just whispered, "I ask you nicely. Don't bring Dad up. Just don't."

"There's plenty things she's hidden from everyone long enough that I've gotten out of her," he said, not trying to brag.

"Don't expect this to come as easily," Ash said, shaking her head. "There aren't many things in this world that actually piss her off by just mentioning them. Try to talk about Dad and you might get your nuts cut off."

"That serious?"

"Yes," she replied, turning around. "Like I said, we've got food. Let's go."

Ran's scowl had faded once she reached the bottom of the stairs. She went to the cabinets to get out plates for everyone while Ash and Kratos descended the stairs.

"I ordered one specifically for my sister because she's picky," Ash said. "The pepperoni and bacon is something not many people would actually eat."

"I'm not picky," Ran stated, carrying the plates over.

"Plates aren't very like you. Typically you just eat out of the box with your hands. Tell me you're not wanting to… be rude, are you?"

"I'm not in the mood, either."

"I'm sure Kratos would change that quickly."

It took one of Ran's signature death glares to finally get Ash to stop with her teasing. When Squall noticed, he said, "Don't change the way you do things just because we're here. We wouldn't want you to go out of your way for us."

"Why wouldn't we?" Ran asked, trying to force a smile. "I mean, it's been ages since we've had guests." She put the plates on the table and sat down, unable to get her father off her mind.

"That's true," Ash nodded in agreement. "Let's eat."

Three pizzas and one cake later, the group was stuffed to the brim. Ran hadn't said much to anyone, except seemingly having to teach Kratos exactly what a pizza was and how to eat it. Once she had and he devoured almost a half of one in a split second, they all seemed to lighten up a bit more.

"It's getting late," Ran said, yawning. "You guys don't have anywhere to stay, do you?"

"You pulled us from other worlds," Squall snipped at her. "What do you expect?"

"We should take responsibility for what we've done," Ash said. "I wasn't going to force you to sleep outside with such a big be… I mean, such a big house here with all this room. We do have a guest room with two beds, if you don't mind sharing a room."

"That will work just fine," Kratos replied. "There's no reason as to why it wouldn't."

Ran got up and collected the dishes. "That's good. Because I'm exhausted."

"No burning the midnight oil tonight?"

"No, I think I'll do better if I actually get some sleep," she said, taking them over to the sink. "You guys can do what you want. I need to go and rest… and Ash, it's your turn this time."

"That's fine with me," Ash said as she shrugged. "No big deal. I think I'll be up there to join you very soon. I can't shake off this yawning fit."

Kratos stood up. "Squall and I will do the dishes then. You two go on and get some rest."

"That's too kind of you," Ash said, shaking her head. "I insist I do them."

Squall walked up to her and pointed up the stairs. "Bed. Now."

Ash couldn't help but think, What I wouldn't give.

Kratos took the sponge out of Ran's hand directly. His strong but gentle hands pushed her away from the sink and toward the stairs, "No. Go on."

I'm sure you'd make the greatest plushie to snuggle with, Ran thought, blushing. Those hands could do anything they wanted to me, and I wouldn't resist.

When he stopped to look at her face, he said, "Is there anything you'd like to say to me, Ran?"

"Just… thank you," she flashed a smile before going up the stairs. "The guest room is the one right across from ours. You need us, we'll be close by."

Ash nodded. Just not close enough, she thought. "I should do the same. Thank you, guys. I'll head up, too."

Both girls went to their room and closed the door, making sure neither of the guys followed them up. They secured the door so they only way anyone could get in is if one let them in from their side before addressing the situation.

"So, who said they don't need men?" Ash pondered aloud. "That look on your face is priceless."

Ran went over to her walk-in closet to change into her pajamas. "Oh hush," she said, pulling off her skirt.

"What would you like to do to the tall, calm, redhead? C'mon, you can tell me," her sister teased. "A little making out, maybe a little going down, maybe little spread the legs?"

"Don't say those things," Ran said, shaking her head. "Now I'll never be able to sleep."

Ash laughed, letting her whole body shake with it. "That's the best line I've heard from you in ages," she added. By the time Ran had pulled on her typical tank top and sweatpants, she said, "Oh, no, that's not impressive night gear. Don't you have anything a bit more-"

"We locked the door, remember?"

"You should put on that little purple nighty of yours. That's pretty sexy, and it shows off your flair in an elegant color," Ash suggested. "You know you want to."

"The last time I did what you suggested, I was landed with a really hot guy that was everything I ever dreamed of," Ran said.

"Have I ever steered you wrong, big sister?"

"That time you told me to put the tin-foil wrapped sandwich in the microwave."

"Okay, since we were ten years old?"

"Renting that romance movie about the vampires," Ran said, wanting to retch.

"That wasn't too bad," Ash said, blowing her off. "My point is that when it counts, I've not been that bad of an advisor. Put on the nighty. You'll thank me later."

"I don't see the point in bothering when we locked the door."

"Just listen to me and put the damn thing on. Please. I'll leave you alone when you do."

Ran grumbled as she walked back into her walk-in closet and pulled a box from the very top part of her shelf. She opened it to find the lilac nighty set, complete with matching boy shorts panties. "Why do I even have this?" she asked herself, begrudgingly pulling off her normal pajamas. "I never bought this thing."

"Gag present, remember? You turned 22," Ash replied. "That year you got a game and that nice looking nighty set. You played the hell out of the game, but that just sat in your closet until now."

Ran put it on, as ordered, feeling so strange in it. She looked at herself in the mirror and said, "This is so not me." When she walked out of the closet, her sister whistled at her.

"That's so innocently cute it's unbearable. Now I know Kratos can't resist if he sees you in that." Ash giggled. "You in such an innocent light purple color, a spring pastel. Oh, yes. It really is you."

The older sister just plopped herself in her covers, wrapping herself in her big blankets, trying to forget she'd even put the stupid nighty on. "You said you'd leave me alone if I put it on," Ran said. "So leave me alone."

Ash just went into her closet, where she had a perfect seductive outfit in black waiting. Once she had changed, she went to the door to unlock it, and put herself to bed.

Four dishes was probably the easiest after dinner cleanup in the history of cleaning anything, so the guys were thinking about the situation before they were going to lay themselves down for the night.

"This world is very different," Kratos started, once he had the dishes dried. "From anything I've ever seen."

"I've noticed. A lot of it looks similar to the world I'm from," Squall explained carefully. "But the food is pretty much the exact same. I mean, what world do you have to be from to not know what meat, cheese, and veggies baked onto a bread crust is?"

"From what Ran told me herself, she wanted someone from a world like mine," Kratos said, a little distant. "She spent so much time imagining other worlds, she wanted someone from a world like that."

"That's one hell of a fetish."

"I thought the exact same thing."

Squall looked around the room, then picked up the empty boxes to put them on top of the trash can. "I'm not sure why I fit the qualities that Ash asked for, but I'm sure we'll find out at some point."

Kratos found himself gazing out the window until he noticed that the sky had become unusually dark on an otherwise clear night. "Something isn't right," he thought to himself. "Do you feel that?"

"No, but I do smell something," Squall said, opening the front door to get a good look outside. He scanned the area. He took a few more steps onto the porch, where he could see it in the distance. Smoke. "Did we pass any other houses on our way here?"

"Not that I remember," Kratos said. "That's…"

"We'd better go get the girls. This isn't going to be pretty."

They rushed through the living room and up the stairs. Kratos knocked on the door. "Excuse me, girls, but there's something we need to talk to you about!" he said loudly. No one answered.

Squall didn't even bother knocking. He opened the door to find them both asleep. "I thought so," he said. "All right, girls, wake up. There's an emergency."

Ran just mumbled, "Dad, piss off" without waking up.

Ash didn't even move.

Kratos walked over to Ran's bed and poked her. He'd been a bodyguard before on his previous world, and it seemed to take over him. "Princess, you need to wake up now. The more time you spend asleep, the less time we have to get you to safety," he said, instantly remembering his knighthood adventures of his youth. "Princess Salina!"

"Salina?" Squall asked.

Kratos shook his head. "Damn it. She was the Princess I protected in my home world. They're both just as stubborn," he answered. When he realized he wasn't going to get her to wake up, he pulled off the covers to see her light purple nighty. He tried to not think about it, but he picked her up. "I don't have much choice," he said. "Forgive me."

Squall could have kicked Ash upside her head and she wouldn't have budged. But when he kneeled down to whisper in her ear, her eyes opened instantly.

"You little devil," she said seductively. "I knew it was the night thing to do."

"Hardly. Get some real clothes on." Squall snapped. "There's a forest fire outside and it's coming this way."

"What?" Ash asked, running to her closet. "What's wrong with Ran?"

"I tried to wake her up," Kratos said, "but she just told her dad to piss off."

Ash just nudged her sister. "Hey, sis. There's a sale down at the local game shop. I hear it's buy one RPG get two free."

Ran jumped out of Kratos' arms and looked around. "Really? We have to go right now!"

Kratos found himself face palming. "One track mind… no, Ran, listen. There's a forest fire outside and it's on it's way here. Pack what you can. We can't save the house."

"Oh hell," Ran said, heading to her desk.

Squall sat in the driver's seat of Ash's car with it running, while the other three carried bags from the house to put in the trunk. The fire had gotten very close, so he had to move the car once. "Come ON!" he shouted. "You can't take everything!"

Ran looked back at the massive collection of games she'd managed to amass during her life, unable to take the entire glory case with her. "Some of these things I'll never find again. One of these games is worth a thousand dollars on it's own," she said, her eyes tearing up. "I can take my handheld collection with me, but… this hurts." She reached into the cabinet and grabbed a few choice titles. "I'll miss all of you."

"Besides," Ash said behind her, "You'll make better games than those anyway."

Kratos just snatched her up and away from the case before she drove him nuts. "I know you love your games, but you could die."

"What is life without my games?"

The three of them made their way out of the house, to see the fire had all ready gotten their father's small workshop in the back. If it reached Ran's bike, the explosion would induce injuries, if not be fatal.

When Ash climbed into the passenger side front seat of her car, she glared at Squall. "Once we're no longer in a dangerous situation, I'm taking my driver's seat, thanks," she said.

Kratos slid into the backseat with Ran in his arms, then put her down in the seat. She put what she was carrying onto the floorboard for now, and the two buckled themselves in. "Go," Kratos said. "Get the hell out of here."

Squall threw the car into reverse, turning it as quickly as he could manage. Once he shifted it into drive, he hammered the gas, leaving the fire to finally reach Ran's favorite motorcycle behind them. It exploded loudly, and when Ran looked back she saw half of their house on fire. "We got what was important, but…" she said sadly.

"What's your plan for emergencies like this?" Squall asked Ash.

"We need to get somewhere with a phone. We'll call Dad or Mom," she said quietly. "Luckily, Ralph and Jeffery will be in school for a while, so they won't need to come home this split second."

"I grabbed all the cash that was there, as well as our bank cards and ID," Ran added. "We won't starve or not have an option for a place to sleep. For the night, we can go to a hotel to contact one of them."

"Yeah," Ash agreed.

They drove back into the city where they all had met, looking for a place to stay the night. When they found the only hotel with a vacancy sign, Squall pulled in and Ash went to talk to the attendant. "Two rooms, please," she asked, flashing a credit card. "Preferably with two beds apiece."

"We only have one room," the attendant said. "You can take it or leave it."

"I don't have much of a choice," Ash shrugged. "I'll take it."

"It's very full because of the forest fires. All the now homeless people have fled to the hotels in the inner city, so things have become desperate for a lot of people," the attendant explained. "This drought has been very bad this year. Fires have sparked out of nowhere."

"I'll have to do a rain dance," Ash laughed. "Thanks."

The attendant handed her a key. "It's on the other side of the building. You're lucky it's on the bottom floor. Of course. Best wishes to you and your family."

"Oh, thank you."

Ash came out of the office and went back to the car. "They didn't even have two rooms open. Everyone's got the same idea we do. I had to get the only room they had."

"Then we'll take what we can get," Squall said. "Like staying at an inn."

"I hear you there," Kratos said with a nod. "I remember that too well."

Ran had curled up in her seat before they even arrived there, clutching a plush toy of a red striped dog in her sleep. Kratos started to pull her in, but Ash just shook her head at him. "Let her be for the moment. She doesn't typically let herself drop her defenses so quickly. She has a lot on her mind, obviously. Fluffy is very special to her. She only gets like that when something bothers her."

"Fluffy?" Kratos asked.

"I think it's from her real mom," Ash said. "Let's pull this car around and unload. I'm ready to pass out from everything that's happened lately."

Squall drove the car to the other side of the hotel, and they spotted the number easily. Once they had it, they found a place to park, and did their best to unload the most important things they had into the room. Kratos managed to wake Ran for her to barely walk on her own, where she let herself plop on a bed and return to sleeping. Which led to the next problem. There were only two beds.

Now isn't this awkward, Ash thought. "How do you want to do this?"

"I will stand guard," Kratos said, sitting down in a chair so that he could watch the door.

"It's not like we're in mortal danger or anything," Ash said, "You don't need to be so defensive."

"…some habits are hard to break," Kratos said with a smile. "I was a bodyguard, if you remember."

Squall dug out some blankets from the bags. "I'll sleep on the floor. Take the other bed."

You're more than welcome to share my bed, she thought, sitting on the empty bed. Then she picked up the phone, got out her wallet, and started dialing numbers. "Mom? Mom! Is that you?"

"Of course it is," her mother said sourly, "Who else would accept your call at two in the morning?"

"Mom, the house is gone. It totally burned down," Ash said into the phone.

"Where are you now?"

"A hotel in town. I got the last room available. There are forest fires everywhere and lots of people are homeless," Ash explained. "We got all the papers and stuff from your room."

"Good, good. How is your sister?"

"She passed out. She's got Fluffy."

"She must have got Dad's message."

"Yeah, she wasn't very happy about it, either."

Her mother cleared her throat before saying, "Dad's… not going to have anything else to do with us. He didn't give a reason, he left everything to us, he just… he's not coming back."

"No," Ash said, "That's… but what about…"

"Don't worry about him, Ashley. As long as the two of you are all right, that's what matters. Ralph and Jeffery will probably stay at school during the break coming up," her mother said kindly. "I know this hit Randi pretty hard, but we're here for her."

"You damn right!"

"Now, do you guys have a place to stay other than the hotel?"

"Not yet."

"It might be time for the two of you to go out on your own, now that I think about it."

Ash grunted as she said, "The only money Ran gets is for her scholarship for school. I don't have anything. I don't think we could strike out on our own yet."

"I'll give you some to help you get started. Take what you've got and get a small place for now. You two will be fine," her mother said. "Is there anything else before I go back to bed?"

"Ran has herself a boyfriend."

Kratos turned beet red as he heard that, and eventually he went to normal as he drifted to sleep while sitting in the chair. I guess that would be about right, he thought, even though it hasn't really been said.