Chapter XLVI: Walk with the Clouds
Hello again, GX fans and fans of the Yugi-verse of Ani and Peach! We welcome you back and are sure you're surprised to see another quick update, but there's a good reason for that. Peach has finally figured out some time in her schedule to do it. Anyway, we're glad to have you all back and are honored you've stayed with us or are just joining us.
Last time, Jean-Louis and Marcel Bonaparte discovered that Marcel's mother, Antoinette, decided to give full custody of her only child to his father. So what awaits the gang now? Read on and see.
We don't own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. We wish we did. In fact, if it's owned by a particular company, we probably don't own it.
Another week passed and Duel Academy seemed to be returning to normal. The Geckos had made an announcement as to their true family status and fortunately, the academy afforded them privacy. The students studied and took their finals if they were able, but Bastion Misawa was not allowed to take his... "This isn't fair... I have to!" he groaned from his bed one morning. "I want to take my finals..."
Violet sweat-dropped, and was about to reply when she was interrupted. "Are you nuts?! You get to miss out on tests!!" Mary exclaimed, appearing and waving her arms dramatically. It had become apparent that Violet's once-evil side wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. And she just loved to spout out her own personal opinion on everything and anything.
Violet sighed. "Bastion, she has a point... I wish I could miss my finals!"
"But I want to show I've still got," he began, only to be cut off by his surrogate sister.
"Bastion, you're valedictorian, for heaven's sake!" Annie groaned, bringing him his medication. "You have proven yourself beyond a shadow of a doubt. You're one of the top duelists in this school and you're the smartest one here. And you've already got a job with the Eisenstein Foundation! Professor Eisenstein himself hand-picked you! You have proven yourself! So let yourself heal," she concluded.
Both the purple-haired girl and her spirit counterpart stared at Annie, simultaneously blinking. "Annie, wow... You're a lot better at this than I am," Violet muttered.
Mary gave the brunette a thumbs-up. "You're one hel-uh, I mean heck of a negotiator." They were still working on the language problem.
Annie grinned wickedly. "I'm a doctor... Well... I will be, and that means I have to speak my patients' language... And Bastion needs to know he's okay..."
"I still want to take my tests..."
"Bastion! You are passing with more than enough extra credit! Relax!" Annie growled sternly.
Violet wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Bastion, Annie's right. There'll be tons more tests in the future, okay? Missing a few won't hurt you."
"All right," he sighed tiredly in her arms. The medicine made him sleepy, and soon he had drifted off.
"He doesn't quit with that... And I thought I was bad," Annie murmured as he slept.
Violet kept her arms around him, looking down at his sleeping form. "He's always been obsessed with academics..."
"At least he's getting stronger," Annie smiled. "Rosa's gaining her weight back, Marcel seems a bit happier... Atticus and Chazz are healing wonderfully... This is working out..."
"We just have to wait a little longer... and then we can help Bastion with what's bothering him," Violet stated in relief, also smiling.
"Yeah..."
GXGXGXGXGXGXGX
All seemed to be improving. The next day, everyone took finals. And the day after... "I DID IT!" Jaden whooped, running into the infirmary to Bastion's cubicle. He held up an exam paper, his brown eyes dancing.
"Did what?" Bastion asked, sitting up.
"I PASSED WITH A B!!!" the Slifer crowed, bouncing around like an excited puppy. If Jaden could've bounced off the walls, he would have.
Alexis sweat-dropped, walking in after him. "Jaden, calm down. You're going to end up breaking something if you keep running around like this..."
"But babe, I PASSED!!" he whooped again... promptly tripping over a chair.
She face-palmed in response. "What did I just say?"
"I'm okay," he groaned, getting to his feet. "I don't think I broke anything..."
"Keep it up and you will," she countered seriously.
"See, Mary? I told you I could get an A without you cheating for me and telling me all the answers," Violet stated as she came into the room, Mary floating beside her.
The spirit scoffed. "I still say my method was safer. You'd definitely get an A no matter what."
"But it's cheating!" the purple-haired human girl countered swiftly.
"It is cheating, Mary, and you just can't do it," Chazz explained, also in the room. "Slacker doesn't use any of his duel spirits to help..."
"I could use Ami, but I'm not going to... And sadly, I wouldn't use Usagi," Annie sighed.
"Hey, it's not my fault I can't figure out tests!" Usagi groaned, tossing her blonde pigtails.
Rei, the raven-haired red-clad Guardian of Mars appeared, smirking. "Tests aren't the only thing you seem to have problems figuring out, Usagi," she teased.
"At least I figured out getting a guy, keeping him and getting married to him!" the leader of the Scouts countered furiously, her very nose twitching as she moved close to her second-in-command.
"I can get a guy if I want to!!" Rei shouted, embarrassed.
"Yeah, but you don't act like you want him around!" Usagi shot back, referring to a guy Rei knew. Amara, the Guardian of Uranus appeared and smacked them both in the back of the head. She had short blonde hair, dark eyes and looked rather like Joey Wheeler, except for the fact that she wore a sailor suit and dark boots.
Rei yelped in pain and held the back of her head, glaring at Amara. "Hey! What was that for?!"
"What do you think? You're both acting like morons... Geez, Usagi, and you're supposed to be the princess?!"
"Yeah, and you're supposed to treat me with respect!" the Moon Princess complained.
Annie sighed. "This is how it always goes..."
"I know what you mean. My aliens fight sometimes too," Violet agreed. "And it's not always verbal."
"Oh, yeah, the explosions... I thought that was just the video game you borrowed from Jaden," Annie grinned sheepishly, remembering nights she'd heard Violet's deck… exploding?!
"Michael Bay's Explosions?" Jaden asked. Said video game had become his favorite in his junior year.
Violet nodded. "Those explosions were the aliens, all right. They DO have advanced weapons, after all."
Everyone, monster, spirit and human laughed. "At least they've kept the peace recently," Bastion sighed. "Syrus, how did you do?"
Syrus grinned. "I managed to get a B..."
"Managed? Sy, you had a B+ in a few of your finals," Annie said proudly.
He blushed lightly. "I'm just glad I got a B."
GXGXGXGXGXGXGXGX
The next day, Miss Fontaine examined Bastion thoroughly. "Well, Bastion, it looks like you still are fighting off something, but it's not enough to hold you in the infirmary. Your fever's down enough I think I can let you go back to your dorm. Violet, think you can handle getting him back to Obelisk?" she asked with a smile.
Violet grinned. "Of course, Miss Fontaine! Ready to get out of here, Bastion-baby?"
"You bet, darling... I think I'd like to take a shower later," he sighed. "I've liked the sponge baths but... a shower would be refreshing..."
"All right! Miss Fontaine, can he walk?" she asked.
The nurse took a deep breath, knowing that this could easily become a battle of will. "Once he's in the dorm, he can walk around your room, but I'd rather he go to the dorm in a wheelchair. Bastion, do not argue! You're still a bit weak and you're not the only one in a chair." After Rosa had made it back to the dorms, the nurse had made the Spanish girl stay in a wheelchair when going to classes and when out with Tyson and the rest of the gang.
"Don't worry, Bastion. You always pushed me around; now I get to push you around!" Violet added encouragingly, smiling.
"Oh, all right," Bastion sighed.
"So, are we still on for cloud gazing, guys?" Adrian wondered.
"Sounds good to me. Now that finals are over, there's nothing else to really do," Alexis replied.
"We could use the downtime," Axel sighed.
"I'll get..." Adrian began and then...
"Oh, hi, guys!" Rachel greeted the big group of kids cheerfully, coming into the infirmary. Echo and Sid were with her. "We're ready..."
"Adrian! Are we really going cloud watching like we used to?" Sid asked excitedly, giving his brother a broad grin. For brothers they were, even if they were not siblings legally.
"Yeah, we are, squirt, and everybody's coming!" the older boy grinned back, lifting up his little brother. "Well, Bastion's still not feeling good, but we'll have him do it when he's stronger..."
"I'll stay with Bastion. You guys have fun," Violet said, draping her arms around her fiance's neck.
And so the groups went their separate ways. "I'm just glad to be out of the infirmary finally," Bastion admitted as he and Violet went along the path that led to Obelisk Blue.
"Now you know how I felt all those times. It's great to get some fresh air," Violet replied, grinning.
"Yeah...Hmmm... it smells nice out here," he smiled as they passed a grassy area.
She giggled, stopping so that they could breathe in the nice smells of nature. The grassy area was beside the crest of a hill where they now stood. The dorm could be seen a good ways off. "It does smell nice. I love spring and summer." Bastion breathed as deeply as he could... and then coughed slightly. Violet frowned and placed a hand on his back, lowering so that they were at eye level. "Bastion? Are you okay?"
He looked up at her, smiling slightly. "Must've inhaled some pollen or something... My throat may be a bit dry, darling, too... I'm all right..."
She frowned slightly, but decided he was probably right. "Well, I just got a wicked idea for how we can get you in that shower faster!"
Bastion's face flushed. "Oh?" he asked, having a good idea of where this was going.
"Yup! Just hang on!" Violet pushed forward so that they were on the very edge of the hilltop, a wild grin on her face.
Mary appeared. "Please don't tell me you're going to-"
"BONZAI!!!" Violet shouted, hopping onto the back of the wheelchair as it rolled forward.
"-do… that..." Mary finished as they zoomed past, blinking. "Never mind."
"Violet! WHOA!" Bastion yelled as they sped down the hill toward the dorm.
Several students dived out of the way of the couple on and in the wheelchair, and Doctor Vellian Crowler yelped, "OH NO!!" as he dove aside, blonde ponytail getting messed up in the process. "I should have known after three years," he sighed.
"Sorry, Dr. C!!" Violet called over her shoulder, grinning sheepishly. The speed they had gathered gave them just enough distance to stop a few inches from the doors. She hopped off the back of the wheelchair and pumped a fist into the air. "ALL RIGHT!! That was totally wicked!"
Bastion smiled sheepishly. His face was pale, but he was happy. "That was wicked, love! Now... Shall we get to the room?"
"Good idea! I don't want to know if we accidentally ran anyone over." Violet replied, sweat-dropping and quickly pushing him inside.
When they got into the room, Bastion looked around, smiling as he took a few steps. "It's good to be home..."
Violet smiled, staying by him just in case he needed support. "That's what I felt like when I came back here."
He let her help him to the couch where he sat down. "Do I smell... disinfectant?" The room had, in fact, been cleaned a lot in the past week and a half.
She sobered a bit and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, uh... remember when Annie had to get stitches...?"
Bastion nodded solemnly, knowing what had happened to his surrogate sister. "Yes, darling... I remember when I woke up and she had the stitches in her cheek and the ice bag on her lip..."
Violet sighed, remembering all that had occurred. "That was when Mary attacked her... in here... There was a lot of blood..." There had been blood splattered on the wall, soaked into the carpet, and smeared on the counter, sink, and doorknob.
"It was when you came back to the dorm to get our things, wasn't it?" he asked, looking at her.
She nodded, gaze turning to the ground. "I really should have been more careful..."
Bastion beckoned her to sit down with him. "Darling," he said, taking her into his arms, "you couldn't have known... please stop blaming yourself... Remember that Mary is a friend now, and that Annie was all right."
Violet leaned into him, as always calmed and reassured by his embrace. She let her eyes slip closed. "I know, Bastion..."
"Annie wasn't terribly hurt... and she knew it wasn't your fault..."
"I know that, too... I guess it's like how you've felt about me..." Of course she was referring to how he couldn't get over feeling that he had failed her.
Bastion rocked her a little in his arms. "I can't protect you every second... I wish I could..."
"But you can't... And that's okay. Because you can when it counts... You made sure Mike wouldn't hurt me again... You rescued me from Taniya... And you even saved me in the World of Darkness," Violet murmured, hoping to convince him.
"And you... stopped Mary from hurting Annie..."
"I did..." She opened her eyes so that her green ones could meet his gray ones. "We both need to accept those things, Bastion..."
"Somehow... some way," he agreed, coughing a little bit again. It was a little scratchy, but could easily be explained as irritation.
She frowned. "Do you want me to get you something for that?"
"Just a glass of water, darling," he answered, smiling a bit.
She grinned. "Okay!"
Violet stood and went to go get him some water, and while she was gone Mary appeared beside him. "So, how long are you gonna keep lying to her just to make her happy?" she asked, not looking at him.
Bastion looked up at the spirit version of his fiancee. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to look innocent and utterly failing.
Mary glanced at him. "You know what I mean. You're nowhere near getting over your darkness, are you? You're even falling deeper into it..."
Bastion held her gaze. "I'm… not sure... I'm feeling a bit better now that she is..."
Mary frowned. "But you're not okay." She sighed and looked away again. "I won't say anything. That's your responsibility, not mine..."
Mary then disappeared as Violet returned with the glass of water. "Here you go, Bastion-baby!"
"Thank you, love," Bastion said, taking the glass of water and sipping it slowly. The tickle in his throat calmed down.
Violet sat back down beside him, smiling. "So, did you want that shower now?"
He nodded. "That actually sounds nice..."
Her smile became a grin. "Well then, let's go get you changed! Unless you wanted to take a shower in your clothes."
"Good point... Oh, that shower sounds wonderful..."
"Do you want me to stay in the bathroom with you, in case you need something?"
He didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling a bit weak. "Yes, that would probably be a good idea, love," he allowed.
She stood and held out her hands. "Then let's go get you undressed." He let her take him to the bedroom and then to their bathroom where she proceeded to strip him. Bastion hadn't gained much weight back from when he'd been trapped in the World of Darkness, so his body still looked thinner and less muscular than it had. By now Violet had gained most of her weight back, though she was still a pound or two lighter than before. "All right, Bastion. You go ahead and get in, and if you need anything just tell me. I'll be right here."
"Okay," he answered, stepping into the shower. He let the water beat down on him for a long time. Violet sat on the toilet seat, leaning back and letting her mind wander. It was times like these she was glad for her active imagination. And then Bastion began to scrub his body. Despite his gaunt appearance, he still had a very decent body. 'This feels so good,' he thought, reveling in the feeling of the water and soap against his skin.
The smell of the body wash he always used tickled her nose, pulling her out of her daydreaming with a smile. "Enjoying your first shower in forever, Bastion-baby?"
"Yes... very much so," he answered, eyes closed in bliss.
"Well don't forget to wash your hair," she replied, smirking.
He took the bottle of his favorite shampoo and did as she reminded him. "Better?" he asked as he finished up.
She laughed. "We'll see when you get out here. The shower curtain is kind of blocking my view, if you'll remember."
He slowly stepped out from behind the curtain and turned around slowly to let her look at him. "Well?"
She blushed, clearing her throat and looking away. "Uh... you look, well..." Her already red face darkened; it had been a while since she'd seen this much of him.
Bastion realized. "Oh, darling... I'm sorry..." And he self-consciously grabbed a towel, wrapping it around himself.
Violet sweat-dropped. "It's.. okay, really. It's just, well... been a while, you know?"
"I understand..." He coughed a little bit again. "Perhaps... I should get my pajamas on..."
She nodded and stood. "Come on... I hope that cough isn't a sign you've caught a cold..."
"If I have, that just means I need rest," he said with a smile.
GXGXGXGXGXGXGX
As Bastion and Violet were heading to the dorms, the rest of the gang headed for a nice spot to go cloud watching. "Haven't done this in a long time," Jaden grinned at Jesse. "You ever done that, Jess?"
Jesse grinned back. "Course I have, Jay! We did it all the time back home. Didn't do it much at North Academy, though. Not too many clouds up there..."
"Not to mention freezing," Chazz remarked. "Here it's warm... but nothing beats Domino Park..."
Syrus nodded in agreement. "Zane and I, when we were really young and before he left for training, would go there to play and then cloud watch together."
Axel looked up in the sky. "My dad and I went cloud watching, too... Even when he was training me... Jim... you ever been cloud watching?"
Jim looked up at the fluffy white clouds dotting the sky and shrugged. "Can't say that I have, mate. Shirley and I, we prefer the ground. Especially after the one time we left it." He was referring to their impromptu dive off the cliff.
Adrian grinned. "Well, I'm glad we'll get you into it, then...Think of it as looking at water..."
"At water?" Jim inquired. Shirley growled in a tone that was just as questioning.
"Yeah... Like it's the ocean with a lot of white foam on it," the redheaded boy grinned.
"Well, all right. I guess I'll give it a try."
Annie was smiling as she walked and began to sing. It was a song she'd grown up hearing on mp3 and in the movie, "Cars," called "Life is a Highway."And then she caught Jesse's eye. Jesse grinned again, and sang along with Annie. His Southern accent made it sound close to the original. Annie sang along with him pretty well when they came to the chorus. And when the song came to the line about two people coming to an understanding, the brunette girl grabbed her fiance and sang it to him. Syrus blushed a little, but smiled and took her hand. By the time the song was finished, the group had reached the spot.
"My goodness," Rachel Gecko smiled as they arrived at the grassy area near the Slifer dorms, "you kids are so musical!"
"Ya sing when ya feel good and happy, Rachel," Jesse replied cheerfully.
"I know that... and you two seemed to do really well... Jesse, you sounded very close to the lead for Rascal Flatts..."
"It's the accent," Jaden grinned.
Jesse rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It is. I get compared to country singers like that a lot..."
"At least you can sing," Axel sighed. He could sing okay, but he knew he wasn't great.
"Hey, anyone can sing," Jesse countered.
"Except for my brother," Alexis stated, brows furrowing. Everyone looked at Atticus. And everyone who had heard him sing sweat-dropped.
Atticus scoffed and pouted, crossing his arms over his chest in an indignant fashion. "I can sing! And I'll prove it-"
"DON'T!!" yelled those who had heard him before.
"Bro... uh," Chazz said, not wanting to hurt his brother, but at the same token wanting to be honest with him, "you... need training..."
Atticus looked obviously offended, and everyone expected denial to come out of his mouth. So they were shocked when his head dropped and he quite clearly sweat-dropped; one could practically see the tiny, blue "bad vibe" symbols used in manga and anime surrounding him. "I know..."
"Bro... oh dang it," Chazz groaned. "We didn't mean to make you feel bad..."
Alexis sighed and patted her older brother on the back. "If you get some training, I'm sure you're singing could become... tolerable," she tried, smiling sheepishly.
Atticus looked at his two siblings like a child who had just been promised a puppy. "You guys really think so? I love singing!"
"Yeah, Atticus... I think you might have potential," Annie said thoughtfully, remembering the instances she'd heard him sing. "You just need to figure out your pitch and tone... Your breathing seems okay..."
"Pitch and tone??" Atticus asked, confused.
Annie sighed patiently. "This is going to take a while. Atticus, do you ever sing along with the radio?"
"Of course!" Atticus answered eagerly.
"Yes, unfortunately," Alexis answered at the same instance, Atticus sweat-dropping and Alexis rolling her eyes.
"Do you notice if you sound different than the radio voice?" Annie asked curiously.
"Yeah. But they're supposed to sound different, right?" the would-be singing idol asked.
"Well," Annie explained, "if you're singing with the radio, you should try to sing the same notes."
"There are notes?!" he responded, bewildered.
Alexis sighed. "He never had a singing lesson in his life, Annie..."
"Okay... Atticus... you're going to need music lessons... Do you have sheet music for your ukulele?" Annie asked.
"Yeah, but... I don't use it too much," he answered.
"Well, we'll start with that." And so Annie began the painstaking process of explaining how singing has notes just like musical instruments.
"Are you serious??" Atticus asked halfway through, shocked. He'd had no idea.
She nodded. "Yeah. Think of your voice as a musical instrument."
"Ooh.... okay!" he stated, comprehending.
"So when you're learning to play that instrument, you need to use it properly..." And so Annie patiently explained the basics of singing to Atticus.
Meanwhile, the group began to find places on the ground to stretch out. "Echo... remember when we did this when you were little before Adrian came and when Dad was out of town?" Rachel asked.
Echo nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I remember... You'd make me take time out to relax and go cloud gazing in the backyard..."
"That was one of the times I adored being a mother.... I still do," she smiled.
"It's been a long time since all four of us went cloud-watching," Echo stated, sighing.
"Yeah," Adrian smiled, getting comfortable next to her. "This is nice... What do you think, Sid?"
"I think I see a bunny!" the little boy answered, grinning and pointing at a cloud.
"Hmmm... I think I see... a fish!" Rachel added.
"Well, I know I see a train," Echo stated, smiling.
Jaden, stretched out between Alexis and Jesse, grinned. "I see a Winged Kuriboh, Yubel, Yugi's hair... Tyson's hair... A dinosaur... Sagi, the dark clown..."
Alexis chuckled. "Jaden, slow down... Hm... oh! I see a tutu."
"I see Ruby!" Jesse exclaimed, grinning happily. Ruby Carbuncle appeared and cuddled next to her master.
"Jim, what do you see?" Axel asked.
"Well, they just look like clouds to me, mate," Jim admitted, Shirley by his side.
"You don't see patterns?" Axel persisted.
"Patterns?" the Australian teen asked, looking over at his friend.
Axel pointed up at one particular cloud. "Yeah, like shapes or something. See that one cloud that has a trail behind it? I think it looks like Shirley!" he said, patting the large crocodile on the snout.
Jim looked at his reptilian friend, then up at the cloud Axel was pointing at. He squinted, trying to see it. "I… I think I do see Shirley..." He didn't really and Axel could tell.
"Just relax... try and let go of that part of you that says they're just clouds. Heck, I'm used to thinking in terms of what these clouds mean for weather patterns so I know where to hide if I have to," Axel explained, knowing what it was like to think of strategy and not use your imagination regarding nature.
"Er.. all right..." Jim tried to forget the fact they were clouds, and tried to picture them as shapes. "That... does sort of look like Shirley..."
"How about that one?" Axel asked, pointing to a cloud that looked square on the bottom and puffy on the top.
"It looks like a muffin," Jim answered, seeming to finally get it.
"Yeah... or one of Mom's popovers," the African-American grinned. "There's no wrong answer to this."
"Oh, great," Chazz groaned from his spot by his brother.
"What, bro?" Atticus asked, glancing over at him.
"I see... the Ojamas," the younger boy sighed.
"It's 'cause you love us, boss!" Ojama Yellow smiled, appearing with his brothers. Chazz sighed, but for once, didn't correct the yellow creature.
Atty grinned and pointed at a formation that stuck out all over the place. "Well, that one kinda look like your hair, Chazz!"
"And that one looks like the collar on your Partridge Family outfit!" Chazz grinned, pointing at another cloud.
Atticus turned to stare at his little brother. "Uh... who?!"
Nearly everyone in the group was looking at Chazz in the same confused way. "Annie? Little help?" he asked.
She sighed, mentally regretting that she'd won about 100 school TV trivia games in the past three years. "It was a fictional TV family that became famous singers and it was a really popular in the 1970s. One of the stars ended up on one of those washed-up celebrity reality shows on HBO..."
"Chazz, then how did you know about them?" Atticus asked, confused.
"I watched one of those networks that airs really old TV shows when I was little... I didn't just watch inappropriate anime, you know..."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! So I accidentally stumbled across some of those as a kid; doesn't everyone??"
"Geez, I'm just saying that I didn't watch everything those two idiots that raised me made me watch or didn't care if I watched!"
"Oh. Uh... I thought you were making another jab at me there, bro," Atticus mumbled, chagrined.
Chazz groaned, sitting up. "No, big bro... I wasn't," he answered in a somewhat quiet voice.
Atticus sat up as well and put an arm around him. "It's okay, little bro..."
Chazz gingerly hugged back, being careful of his brother's still-sensitive body. "I'm sorry..."
"Like I said, it's all right. Don't worry about it," the older brother soothed.
As the brothers patched things up, Blair pointed up at the sky. "I see a toy soldier like what's in your dad's deck..."
Marcel smiled beside her. "I see it! And look, that kind of looks like your Maiden in Love's dress," he replied, pointing.
"And I see... a baguette," Professor Bonaparte added, holding his son's hand. He had, in the past couple of days, since Antoinette had announced that she wanted to give her husband full custody, been working to keep Marcel feeling happy.
Marcel's smile broadened a bit. "And I see the cheese to go with it, Papa."
"Brie or Swiss?" the father asked, chuckling.
"Swiss! See? It even has the holes!" Marcel answered, pointing.
Mindy and Jasmine too looked up at the clouds. "What do you see, Mindy?"
"Hmmm... I see Red Archery Girl! What about you?"
"Cyber Harpy!" And so, the group continued to watch the clouds, enjoying a long moment of peace.
Well, we actually had a chapter with some good, non-romantic fluff. We hope you enjoyed it! Anyway, next time, please join us for "Patience." Until next time, then, please read, review and stay tuned! Thank you very much!