Chapter LXIV: Playtime
As usual, two people step onto the stage. This time, however, it is Peach and Lobo Argost. Hello, everyone and welcome back to "Darkness Falls!" Sorry for the major delay in updating, but again, it's Peach's fault. Real life has been dreadfully insane.
Lobo smiles. It has, hasn't it? I myself have been busy with college and such, but still found time for this masterpiece.
Peach grins sheepishly. Everyone, this is Lobo, my new co-author. As you all may know by now, Ani is happily engrossed in the Axis Powers Hetalia fandom. She may pop up sometimes, and you will know when she does!
Lobo smiles again, waving. It's truly an honor to be the co-author. I've followed this series from the beginning. It's truly a work of art.
Peach blushes, not sure she'd call this series a masterpiece. Lobo, all I know is that I have had fun writing this fic series. I have been blessed by the people I've met.
Lobo continues, I've enjoyed reading it, and now here I am helping to produce it. I only hope that I can produce the same quality that the readers have come to expect.
Peach, still blushing, decides to move right along to the recap. I think you can. Now, then... Last time on Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Darkness Falls, the gang dealt with some unexpected yet somehow expected situations. Jaden and Alexis were caught by Tyson, resulting in a comical situation involving a woodpecker. They dueled and Alexis emerged victorious. The couple returned to their dorm where this time, things were not interrupted. On a less happy note, Annie took her pain out on Syrus, and afterward beat herself up over it. And so we come to the next chapter! As usual, we have to do a boring disclaimer...
Lobo clears his throat and sighs, staring down the lawyers. We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the characters therein. We also do not own the myriad of medical sites and texts that we drew various bits of knowledge from.
Peach laughs. If we did own the Yugi-verse, things clearly would be different. We'd also be rich.
Lobo joins in the laughter. That we would. Enjoy the latest chapter of Darkness Falls.
Authors' Note: We thank 15animefreak15 very much for her assistance with this chapter. Thanks, Ani!
Warning: Some sibling fluff, brotherly bonding and a nasty 24-hour virus. Thanks for your attention!
As the boys walked up the beach toward the grassy field, the youngest Rhodes brother got a competitive gleam in his eyes. "Hey, Twin Slacker! Don't tell me you're tired yet!" he shouted at Jesse.
"Not by a long shot!" Jesse yelled back, a grin on his face as he picked up the pace.
"I think that was a challenge," Axel commented drily as Jim, Adrian, and himself stopped in their tracks.
"Sure sounds like it," Jim answered. "Don't you think so, Shirley?"
Shirley, again strapped to Jim's back, growled softly. Had she been human, the saltwater croc would have been toe-to-toe with the youngest Rhodes saying, "Game on!"
"Well, I don't know about you fellas, but I accept his challenge!" Jim said, running after Chazz.
Aster, fortunately, had packed a soccer ball in his beach bag. "Hey, guys, how about a soccer game? I was the top goalie when I played in my pee-wee league," he stated casually.
"Dude, we don't have to be convinced at how freakin' wonderful you were at sports! We know!" Chazz complained as he sat down on the grass and pulled on a pair of sneakers from his beach bag.
Aster froze, remembering the Fofesca sisters that had stalked him briefly and how they bragged about their supposed abilities. His talents might be real, but he did not have to say exactly how great he was. "Good point."
Adrian, for his part, was glad for an additional game. "Echo, Sid, do you want to play too?"
Echo nodded with a slight smirk. "Sure, sounds like fun." In truth, she was eager to show off her formidable skills in front of the boys. When she had attended school, she had played on a team that had gone to the state championships.
"Yeah, big brother! I bet us three'll make a great team together!" Sid cheered, excitement in his eyes as he suppressed the urge to run circles around his companions. He was a bundle of energy like any little kid and would probably outlast the teenagers around him with ease.
"Sounds like it's decided!" Atticus whooped as they spread out on the field. He kicked the ball, shooting it to no one in particular. The ball whizzed across the field and as the little band had decided against goalies, Aster ran to intercept. He got his foot under the ball, lifted his body into the air and flipped over as if he was on an invisible dirt bike, pedaling hard. The ball sailed through the air to Echo. The tall woman followed it with her eyes and bounced it off her forehead toward Chazz.
She had hit the ball with such force that he had to duck out of the way. "Heads up, somebody!" Chazz shouted. The ball cut through the air toward Axel who almost seemed to pirouette as he extended his muscular dark leg. His foot came out like a striking cobra and launched the ball back toward Jim.
Jim brought his leg up and knocked the ball toward Adrian with the precision of a crocodile's bite. "Comin' at ya, mate!"
Adrian easily fielded the ball, stopping it with his foot. "Okay, little bro, here it comes!" he called as Sid looked up at him eagerly.
"Okay, big brother!" Sid called back, happy to be part of the game. The small boy ran up alongside his brother and Adrian passed him the ball gently. He knew his brother still had some trouble with his energy levels and didn't want to push. The grass, nevertheless, whizzed by them as they passed the ball between themselves. Other pairs of feet stopped, and several pairs of eyes just watched the brothers.
Aster, now standing next to Echo asked, "Do they do this a lot?"
"Mostly tennis, but only as much as Sid could do safely," Echo said somberly.
"He seems a lot better," the silver-blonde observed as Sid just managed to kick the ball past Jaden.
"Yeah, he's getting better, but he still has a ways to go before he gets a clean bill of health," she answered. Yet as the laughter of the little boy and the young man she loved rang through the air, Echo reflected that perhaps it was closer rather than further away.
Meanwhile, Sid passed the ball back to Adrian and the older boy's foot connected with the black-and-white sphere, stopping it solidly. "You okay, Sid?" he asked, smiling and sweating a little.
"I feel great, big brother!" Sid panted, hands on his little knees. Sweat was gathering behind his ears, making his fly-away brown hair go limp. The casual observer would not see it, but Adrian's practiced eye saw a slight tremor in the boy's body.
"Hey, let's slow down a little." Adrian casually kicked the ball at Atticus and walked his little brother off the field to sit under a huge oak.
Jaden raced in front of Atticus, though, and caught the ball. "Get me, Atticus!"
"Oh it's on, Jaden!" Atticus shouted back, chasing after his future brother-in-law.
The young men and women worked up a hard sweat until shadows began to lengthen across the island. "Man, that was good," Jaden said to Alexis as they walked to a drinking fountain. His usually fluffy hair was sticking to his head, and his t-shirt was clinging to his body.
"Yeah, it was fun," Alexis agreed before taking a long pull of water. She too was sweaty, but somehow had managed to only have one lock of hair stick to her forehead.
"You feeling okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I feel great," she answered, stretching her lean, muscular body. Truth to tell, she was a little bit sore from their earlier activities, but she still felt pretty good.
"Good. Maybe later, we can go out to the beach when it's all quiet and just look up at the stars..."
"I'd like that," she smiled.
He chuckled as a somewhat crazy idea came to him. "We could re-enact our first duel, but I don't think we should tie Sy up again..."
"Yeah, I don't think he'd like that," Alexis laughed, remembering that night almost three years before. "Annie wouldn't, either."
Jaden smiled, remembering the blue-headed figure returning to their dorm that night three years before. Syrus had been quietly triumphant, even as he had remained somewhat timid. The next morning, Jaden, Chumley and the rest of the boys in the group had discovered why. But now, the brown-haired male looked over at the main building with a sigh. "I hope they're okay."
Just then, a familiar small figure came jogging up from the direction of Obelisk Blue. "Hey, Sy!" Jaden grinned at the small boy in a white t-shirt and blue shorts, but the grin turned into a puzzled frown when he saw Annie was not tagging along.
"Hey, Jay." Sy greeted his best friend with a forced smile.
"You doing okay, bro?" the taller young man asked. Syrus answered in the affirmative, but Jaden was not fooled, seeing the shadow in his surrogate brother's eyes. "Sy... what's up?" he asked again.
"Annie and I had a fight," the blue-head sighed, still feeling awful.
Whatever the former Slifer had been expecting, it was not this. "Wait, what?" he yelped. He took a deep breath and spoke again. "What. The heck. Happened?"
The small, young man drew a frustrated breath, telling them what exactly had occurred. "….I got her calmed down, but…. Was I wrong to stay with her?" he asked uncertainly. He was not sure it had been the right course of action, but he could not shake the feeling that leaving her might have been catastrophic.
Jaden shivered at the image of Annie actually throwing a book or trying to hit Syrus. He felt Yubel's steadfast presence at that moment, knowing he needed her as much as he needed Alexis at his side. Both of them had great wisdom, and the former Slifer needed that wisdom to help his friend through this. "Sy, she's been through something that nobody should have to go through. And I can't tell you if it was the right thing to do or not, but you were there for her. But she seriously thought she was a husband beater?"
"Yeah," Syrus answered. "I know she isn't that way and I couldn't make her think she wasn't. She just had a bad thing happen…"
"Well, we all know she isn't like that. Where is she now?"
"In our room, sleeping."
"Can we check on her?"
"Y-Yeah."
When they headed to the room, they found the dark-haired, young woman lying in the bed where her beloved had left her. She was sound asleep against the pillows. The sleeping meds had done their job. "Lex, look," Jaden whispered softly.
"Yeah," Alexis whispered, finding it hard to believe Annie could have been so violent. And while Alexis could understand why Annie felt the way she did— what she had done technically fit the definition of domestic violence— she also knew the dark-haired girl's tendency to beat herself up over small matters. To the blonde former Obelisk's mind, her friend had blown this stuff way out of proportion.
"Alien Mother messed with her head…. but how could she think she's like a guy who beats his wife up?" Jaden wondered (Sy had headed to the bathroom).
"Jay, she's hard on herself. I've watched it for three years. She still felt bad after the incident with Sy because she felt she'd been hateful. I finally had to tell her to stop apologizing because it was getting on my nerves." Alexis managed a soft laugh at the past annoyances, which Jaden joined in with until the girl in the bed stirred. They became quiet again as she fell still once more.
"Yeah, she does that. Remember the time she got mad at me when she was… uh… in that time of the month? She's dead to the world, bro," Jaden said, adding the last as his friend returned to the bedroom. "She stirred a little bit, but she's out."
"I hope the fight was just a little bump," the bespectacled, young man whispered as Annie stirred and cried out once more. "Annie, I'm here…" He took her hand, sitting down beside her. She murmured his name and something that sounded strangely like supplication as she gripped the hand holding hers. "Shhh… It'll be okay, Annie. I'm not mad…" Her hand slackened, but rather than let it fall to the bed, he laid it down on the pillow.
When Sy stood once more, Jaden whispered, "Do you want to stay here? Lex and I can bring you dinner..."
"Sure. Thanks, Jay."
"No problem… I think we're having hot dogs over a bonfire..."
"All right."
Jaden and Alexis quietly left the room. "At least they'll be okay," he said.
"I hope so," she murmured, the sounds of their shoes making light thumps on the carpet and clicks on the common room's marble floors. They strode out into the evening and headed to a place close to the beach where some of the gang was setting up a bonfire.
"Ty-Ty, be careful with those logs," Rosa was saying in Spanish as she broke kindling with her bare hands.
"Not to worry, Spanish Rose," Tyson answered as he hefted a rather large log. "Remember, I'm dino-stroo-AH!" He lost his balance, the log twisting in his grip. It would have fallen, but two strong arms other than his own caught the log.
A pair of sparkling, brown eyes met his muddy green ones. "You were saying, Ty-Ty?" Rosa smirked.
"I… think I need some reinforcements," he chuckled. Together they pushed the large log into place.
The other teens and adults were helping as well, including Echo and Rachel. "I don't think I've ever built a bonfire, Echo," the Gecko matriarch stated, smiling as she twisted newsprint around some twigs.
"I did a few times at my training school," Echo reminded her mother with a slight smile. "Just watch what I do, Mom, and you'll be fine."
"Thanks, honey. I know we're going to enjoy tonight."
"Yeah, we will," Echo agreed as she positioned another log in the fire pit.
Once the logs were in place, the entire group added kindling. And then...
"BRO, DO NOT USE LIGHTER FLUID!" Chazz yelled.
"Why not?" Atticus asked, holding the huge bottle of said flammable liquid over the wood and paper.
Anger marks appeared over the youngest Rhodes' head. "Remember second year when my jacket caught fire?"
"Oh yeah." The elder Rhodes brother laughed and sweat-dropped at the memory of the bonfire nearly two years previously.
"All we need is Bastion out here, nervous about daring you to go panty raid Violet's room," Jaden grinned as he and Alexis sat together on a log.
"Now that was funny," Atticus chuckled, brown eyes lighting up with unsuppressed mirth. "He tripped all of Violet's booby traps!"
"And you guys all had to help me get that stuff off me!" Chazz howled. "Bastion, you..!" And then he remembered. "...Aren't here..."
"Nope, he's not here right now. Please leave a message after the beep," Atticus joked, but he stopped when he caught his brother's expression. "Bro, I'm sorry…. He's going to get out of there, remember?"
"Yeah…. I know you meant well, big bro."
The fire was soon roaring, and then Fonda, Don, and Belowski came down from the main building, bringing food with them. "Hey, dudes," the small, teen boy shouted with his soon-to-be parents. Behind them were Marcel, Blair, and Professor Bonaparte.
"Good evening, everyone," Bonaparte greeted cheerfully.
"Hey guys!" Atticus said excitedly.
"C'mon, Marcel," Blair said tightly, dragging her friend to a log seat. "We're going to roast hot dogs!"
"I have never done that, Blair," Marcel said, sitting down and twiddling his thumbs, eyes widening nervously.
"This is a perfect time to learn," she grumbled. "Don't you camp in France?"
"I guess it is a good time to learn how you Americans camp," Marcel answered, wondering what in the world he had done to make Blair mad. "In France, we camped in… I believe you call them mobile homes. Maman and Papa cooked as we normally do and our campsite was near a grocery store." She did not seem to be listening now, so he put his hot dog on a skewer without another word.
Jasmine brought a skewer to Atticus and sat next to him. "Mom thought I was nuts for staying here," she admitted, blushing lightly.
"Jasmine, what do you mean?"
"Well, I talked to her before she left after graduation. We haven't been dating that long but I reminded her that we've been friends for a while too and all of us needed to stick together. And I'm going to college, remember?"
"Yeah. Did she understand why you stayed?" he asked, watching
"Yeah, she understood... Doesn't stop her from wanting me to be home, though…"
Atticus's lips quirked upward. "Yeah… I know what that's like. When I came home two years ago, Mom was… reluctant to let me come back to the Academy. But she said at the end of summer that I had to go back and finish school, and watch out for my sister. The truth is, though, I think Lex looked out for me a lot more."
"Yeah..." She glanced over at Zane, roasting his hot dog on a stick, sitting next to Yusuke. Atticus followed her gaze. "Hard to believe... He'll be a dad next year... Guess that makes you an uncle…"
"Kind of," he answered, mentally chuckling at the image of Zane changing diapers and pushing a sporty stroller. "I never expected him to be the first of us to have a kid."
"Yeah… I wonder who'll be next."
"No telling."
Aster Phoenix, for his part, sat staring into the fire as he cooked his food. His stomach twisted a little bit, something he attributed to having eaten more junk food than he usually did. The smell of the wood and the crackle of the flames reminded him of a nearly forgotten night when his father and himself sat at the beach roasting hot dogs, the smell of the ocean competing with the scent of wood flame and cooking meat. 'Wish you were here, Dad,' he thought again, a slight lump forming in his throat. But Aster would not cry.
Meanwhile, Jim roasted two hot dogs on his stick. "Kinda like campin' out with Dad in the bush, right, Shirley?" Jim asked his reptilian companion. Shirley growled lightly, remembering the smell of warm sausages over a campfire in Northern Australia. She stayed close to him, waiting for her share. "Here ya go, girl," Jim said, blowing on one hot dog to cool it a little. The crocodile took it as gently as a human child and butted her human companion with her snout, a gesture of thanks. He in turn petted her scaly skin.
The gang ate their fill and moved onto s'mores. At the same time, Jaden grabbed a take-out box Dorothy had provided and filled it with hot dogs in buns and a few fresh s'mores. "They'll like this," he muttered to himself as he packed.
The gang finished off their dinners and headed to their rooms with the exception of Jaden, who got food to a very tired Syrus. Aster Phoenix, meanwhile, was heading up the hill to Obelisk when the earlier feeling in his stomach became far stronger. 'Uh-oh,' he thought, running at top speed for the bathroom. He did not hear a concerned friend call after him; that is, he did not hear until he made it to the bathroom.
"Hey Aster, you okay?" Atticus called out, sticking his head into the bathroom. Aster did not answer, making it into the bathroom stall just in time. "Aster, you okay in there?" Atticus repeated, worried. Aster's answer was not in words, but it was a clear indicator he was not all right. "I'll stay right here!"
It took a long moment for Aster to clear out, but finally he did. "Oh, man," he groaned weakly as he stepped out of the stall. He felt as he had the first time he had gone skydiving, except it was as if a swarm of butterflies were struggling to fly out of his throat and intestines, unsuccessful and subsiding in his stomach. He also felt suddenly sweaty.
"Something you ate?" Atticus asked, helping him to the sink to clean up. A wave of dizziness overcame the silver-blonde duelist. He sank to one knee, groaning. "Should we get Fonda?" his brown-haired protector asked, his alarm evident.
"Just…. help me to my room... please?" Aster requested, hating this moment of weakness.
"Sure thing," Atticus conceded as he slipped one of Aster's arms over his shoulder.
Aster was not quite sure how it happened. One minute, he was walking and supported by Atticus; the next, Atticus was laying him down in his room. The big boy was saying something to him… what was it?
"Aster, I'm calling Fonda. Is that okay?" he asked.
Aster blinked, hot and sweaty. His mouth tasted terrible, so he must have thrown up again. "Huh?"
"Do you want me to call Fonda?"
Aster could not focus enough to answer. He must have drifted again, because the next thing he heard was Fonda's warm voice. "Atticus, thank goodness you called me…"
"What's wrong with him?" Aster heard it from what seemed like miles away. He felt her cool hand brush his cheek and something else poke into his ear, beep, and then that something was removed before he drifted off again.
Meanwhile, the nurse's brows knit together. Her patient's cheeks were flushed due to a high fever accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. He was very sleepy, but not truly lethargic. She quickly decided what needed to be done. "Well, he seems to have a 24-hour bug. I think he's a little dehydrated too… Did I see you boys having a soccer game earlier?"
"Yeah, we were. Is he going to be all right?"
She nodded. "I'll get an IV started for him, since he doesn't seem to be able to keep anything down."
"He needs an IV?" Atticus asked, now a bit more worried.
Fonda had said it calmly, but reflected not for the first time that underneath Atticus's playboy exterior was a very concerned older brother. "It's just to get his fluid levels back up. It's all right, Atticus. It'll be just for tonight."
"Okay." Atticus relaxed visibly at this, but still sat like a sentinel watching over his younger friend.
The nurse had wisely brought an IV in her bag and quickly set it up. Aster barely registered the prick of the needle, the coolness of something entering his veins before he drifted back into blissful unconsciousness. "Atticus," Fonda whispered, reading the 20-year-old's body language, "you don't want to leave, do you?"
"No. I want to make sure he's all right." His tone was firm, as was his gaze.
"I was going to stay in here with him, or have one of the male teachers…"
"It's fine. I'll stay." Obviously, nothing short of the Campus Disciplinary Squad would move the eldest Rhodes brother.
Fonda nodded. "All right, but I will check on you both in the night, okay? Or one of the doctors will."
"All right."
Aster came to, hearing a soft hum. The sour taste of vomit had dissipated, so he must not have… But who was humming? "H-hello?" he called out groggily.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" Atticus asked from his seat next to the bed.
The younger boy managed to prop himself up a little with effort. His face was flushed and his blue eyes shone with the brilliance of fever. "Kinda wobbly…. We're in my room?"
"Yeah. And be careful, Fonda put an IV in you."
The silver-blonde remembered the pin-prick and now felt cooler, despite the warmth of the fever. "Why do I have it?"
"Fonda said you have a 24-hour bug and that you're a little dehydrated. So it's getting your fluids up," Atticus explained.
Aster considered that and nodded. "I don't remember much about getting here or getting in my pajamas… Did you do that?
"Yeah, I did."
"Thanks, man..." Aster heard and felt the distinct sound of his stomach rumbling.
"Hungry?" Atticus asked. To his own surprise, Aster nodded. "What would you like?"
"Something pretty tame." Truth to tell, he would like something a bit rich, but he knew his stomach would not handle his favorite filet mignon.
"Coming right up." Atticus went to the room's kitchenette and returned with a fresh bowl of oatmeal. It was the instant kind which Aster generally avoided but kept in his room in case of an emergency.
He took a sniff and smiled a little at the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar. "Um... what time is it?" he queried, noticing the twinkling stars through his skylight window.
"About eleven o'clock."
"Eleven? How long was I out?"
"About 45 minutes."
"I kind of remember Fonda coming in here..."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah... did she come in here?"
"Yeah, she did," Atticus said. "I'll be watching you all night to make sure you're okay."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," Atticus said, smiling.
"Thanks, Atticus." The older boy helped him eat, and when Aster had his fill, he snuggled down in bed again. "You're good at this."
"When you have a little sister to look after, you get plenty of experience," Atticus reflected.
"And you have Chazz too..." Aster got a thoughtful expression on his face. "Did you help him when he had the flu in the winter?"
"Yeah, I did." Atticus said, remembering that week. It had felt like a month given what Chazz had been sick with, but well worth it to make sure he was okay.
"Well… thanks for helping me too. I hope I don't get sick in the night…" Aster's eyes were closing. It was so warm in the bed... and so soft…
"Anything for a friend. I'll be here all night," Atticus murmured; Aster was already fast asleep. "Sleep well."
At the same time Aster was racing to worship at the altar of the porcelain god, Bastion Misawa lay in his bed in the infirmary, eyes wide with terror. He had just heard a blood-curdling shriek, followed by a shout of triumph with exclamations about killing something. 'I do hope she's all right,' he thought, regretting that he could not charge in and rescue his beloved from whatever menace had attacked her in the shower.
"Dang freaking spiders! That sneak attack was a low blow! You don't make your move while a woman's taking her shower!" Violet's loud ranting could be heard before she even opened the door, stepping back into Bastion's room. She was clothed in her favorite, pink Watapon tank top, matching pants, and fuzzy, pink slippers. Her plum-colored hair was still wet and clung to her shoulders, newly washed body radiating the scent of blackberries and cocoa.
"Violet? Are... are you all right? I heard you screaming!" Bastion stated, still worried.
Violet paused, blinking in surprise at Bastion's sudden exclamation. "Eh? What? Of course I'm all right. Aside from nearly having a heart attack."
He blinked, and then laughed a little bit. "Sorry, love, I heard you screaming bloody murder in there, but couldn't get up. So… What happened?"
She blushed, smiling sheepishly as she sat on the edge of his bed. "Well, I, uh... I was washing my hair. And I glance over to the side, only to see this HUGE FREAKING SPIDER hanging there! Like, one inch from my FACE! I mean, wouldn't anyone scream in that situation? Sneaky little jerk..." She flailed slightly, then crossed her arms over her chest, grumbling.
"A spider?" He remembered an incident in the Obelisk dorm not long after they had moved into the suite when someone's pet tarantula had escaped its cage. Violet had been the one to find it. Miraculously, she had not killed or maimed the thing, but ran shrieking into the living room stark naked when Jaden, Alexis, Syrus, Annie and he had been in there studying. Now... "Darling, how big was it?"
Violet moved her hands so that there were a few feet between them. "It was HUGE!"
"Oh you are so exaggerating," Mary interrupted, appearing with a smirk. Violet pouted and lowered the distance to a foot. "Nope," the red-eyed spirit stated.
Her tangible counterpart dropped it to about five inches, but she received the shake of a head. Violet sighed and held out her thumb, pointing to the pad. "This big."
"There ya go. Now was that so hard?" Mary smirked
"Oh shut it."
Had Bastion not been in his bed, he would have fallen over. "What did it look like?" he asked, voice quite indicating he was not sure whether to laugh or do something else. What that something else was, he was not sure of.
Violet pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. She was likely about to give an exaggerated, horrifying description of the eight-legged beast, but Mary interrupted again. "It was just a normal, black spider. There wasn't even anything especially freaky about it."
Violet told Bastion this and he sighed, chuckling. "So it wasn't like... Charlie?"
"Charlie..?" She blinked in confusion.
"Sally Aso's tarantula." Bastion had gotten to know the tarantula after the escape so he could capture it, if need be.
Violet grimaced, tensing at the memory. "Ew... No, not as bad as that awful thing, thank God! I wouldn't have been able to kill it myself!"
"So you did kill it?" The last time there had been a spider in the shower, she had insisted he kill it. Quite vocally.
She sighed. "Well, I knew you had to stay in bed, so I either had to kill it myself or deal with soapy hair. I just grabbed the sprayer and drowned the thing."
"Hmmm... Violet the Spider Slayer… I like the sound of that," he smiled as she climbed into bed with him.
She giggled, but made a face at the idea. "Nah... I'd never purposefully hunt spiders... eech."
"Oh, but you'd look so wicked wearing slinky black cargo pants and carrying a spider-destroying bazooka." He said this perfectly deadpan.
For a few moments, she could only stare at him. Then, she grinned and burst out laughing, holding her sides as she snuggled into him. "O-oh wow, Bastion, that..."
"And then if we could sell the idea to a cable show or an Internet channel, we could easily make a mint," he continued, still looking quite serious. "Just imagine it! 'Violet Haverbrook-Misawa, Spider Slayer!'"
By this point, she had her face buried in his chest as she laughed, tears of mirth springing to her eyes. "B-Bastion! G-God, stop, I can't breathe...!"
And now, he started laughing as well. "I'm sorry, Violet, I couldn't resist! I just had that image in my head!"
She sighed, taking deep breaths as she wiped the tears away. "Is that the stuff that always goes on in your head?"
Bastion had to wipe his face as well. "Oh, no... Most of the time, as you know, my thoughts are dreadfully boring. But when I'm with you, I am infected with random thoughts. It's invigorating..."
Violet grinned mischievously, wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, they can't be that boring, Bastion-baby! Though I'm glad I rub off on you so much!"
"Well…. My thoughts have become far more interesting since we met," he said, kissing her softly. She hummed, pressing back to deepen the kiss as she pushed against his body with her own. Bastion put his arms around her lovingly and deepened the kiss slowly. It had been a long time since they had been somewhat alone. Vying for a better position, Violet rolled so that she was straddling him, though she kept her body an inch or so above his own so as not to weigh it down. He was still recovering, after all.
He rubbed her back over the cloth of her top, opening his lips to her. She clutched at his shoulder, green eyes slipping closed as she drew in a deep breath through her nose. She let her tongue slip inside the now open mouth, poking and prodding at his own while simultaneously curling her fingers into his dark hair. They enjoyed the quiet, gentle moment, but then Bastion abruptly broke the kiss, suddenly needing air. "S-sorry," he panted, regaining his breath.
Violet smiled, sliding her hand down from his hair to rest on his cheek. "It's okay. You're still recovering."
"Could we snuggle a bit?" he requested, a bit frustrated that he could not give her more.
She grinned, rolling back to his side but keeping her arms around him. "I was about to ask you the same thing."
"Good… Then we shall."
Unbeknownst to the couple, Hiro and Katai Misawa had come back from a quiet, late dinner together in one of the classrooms in time to hear the last of the younger couple's exchange. "He's on the mend, Hiro," Katai whispered to her husband as they crept back to their private cubicle.
"He is, Katai," Hiro whispered back with a soft smile. "He'll be up and about soon. And then we can watch his future unfold. And perhaps the next time the group has a cookout, he and Violet can join them. Not the same as when we went camping that last summer before he started here, but it'll still be fun."
"Yeah. It'll never be like it was, Hiro. But someday, it'll be us, Bastion, Violet and their family around the campfire."
"Remember the time he rigged up the multiple roasting stick?" Hiro laughed. "He cooked our dinner and then made so much dessert!"
"Yeah, we had so many s'mores and so much roasted fruit. He ate himself sick… 'Mummy, remind me never to do that again. I know s'mores are unhealthy,'" Katai laughed. At the time, it had not been remotely funny that her seven-year-old son had overeaten and had serious gastric complaints. In retrospect, however, the memory was strangely precious. "Well, shall we get into bed?" she asked after a little more reminiscing.
"Yes, love. We cannot be sleep-deprived in the next few days. Scout will be rather peeved at us both, and you haven't been on the receiving end of one of her lectures in the ER!"
As Atticus stood guard over Aster Phoenix, Atticus's little brother padded around the Obelisk dorm. Tonight, Chazz had planned to have a sleepover with his brother, but Atticus had just called to let him know it was not going to happen. "Bro, are you sure you can't come back tonight?" Chazz had asked.
"Yeah. I'm sure, Chazz," Atticus had soothed. "I have to make sure Aster is okay, but we can do it tomorrow night."
"Okay," Chazz found himself saying. 'Great, just great,' he thought after hanging up, a frown forming on his face. Then another thought came to him. 'Why am I acting like this? I'm eighteen and I should be okay to deal with minor crap like this.' He shook himself and decided to go for a little walk. His slipper-encased feet made soft thumps that echoed around the nearly empty dormitory. So intent was he on his aimless course that the youngest Rhodes did not see a large, feminine figure until he bumped into her. "Uff! Mom?"
"Honey, it's almost midnight. What are you doing up?" Scout asked. She had just come in from taking a walk after dinner. Chazz told her quickly what had happened. "….so he's taking care of Aster?" she asked.
"Yeah, but... I don't know," he stated, frowning. His stomach twisted and his mind whirled.
"Well... why don't we go check on him?" she suggested, brown eyes soft. Her mother's intuition told her that something was definitely up with her youngest child.
"Okay..."
Together, they headed down to Aster's bedroom. "Atticus?" Scout called softly, having knocked softly at the door.
Inside the room, Atticus's eyes were drooping and his head was lolling down to his chest. But at the knock, his head flew up. "Who is it?" he called back only loud enough to be heard.
"It's Mom and Chazz," she called back. "May we come in?"
"It's unlocked," was the response.
Together, Scout and Chazz tiptoed into the room. "Hi, sweetie," the mother greeted her eldest child gently.
"Hi, Mom," Atticus murmured from his post. Chazz impulsively moved to hug his brother and the elder Rhodes hugged back, somehow understanding.
"How's he doing?" Scout asked, automatically checking the sleeping silver-blonde boy. Atticus told her what Fonda had told him and how Aster had been peaceful since falling asleep about an hour before. "He'll be all right," the pediatric surgeon smiled when she concluded her brief examination.
"That's good," Atticus breathed, relieved.
"Darla mentioned how lonely he was last summer. I've noticed how it is with him too. When he's with you kids, it's like he's somewhere else some of the time."
"Yeah, it's been hard on him since he hasn't really had family around," Atticus said, "But now he has all of us to be there for him."
"And… it's nice to understand him," Chazz observed, almost to himself. The young man who had once pulled away from everyone to protect himself had seen something of himself in Aster Phoenix.
"Yeah. Hard to believe he's had to go through so much just by looking at him," Atticus said.
Scout remembered and nodded. "Atticus, would you mind a little company, sweetheart?"
"You sure, Mom?" Atticus asked. He could see shadows under her eyes, testament to the hours she had been spending in the infirmary helping out. Though the danger had passed, she still stayed on, keeping the other doctors and Fonda from exhausting themselves. "I wouldn't mind you guys being here if you want to be, but I don't want you getting worn out to help me.…"
"Atty, it's all right. Let us help you."
"Yeah, bro. Heck, you've helped me," Chazz asserted as he noticed his brother was still clad in his shorts and Hawaiian shirt. "Atticus, do you want your pajamas?"
"Sure. I probably won't sleep, but I don't want to sit in this all night," the older brother laughed.
"Okay..." Chazz raced down the hall and out to his dorm where Atticus had been keeping him company.
Meanwhile, Scout did not hide a prideful smile from her son. "Atty... My big, strong, young man. I am so proud of you right now."
"Aw, mom, it's no big deal," Atticus said with his trademark, sheepish grin.
"Honey, it's just..." With tears of joy in her eyes, she pulled him into a tight hug, which he returned. When he had returned two years before, his mother had hugged him for no other reason than that he was home and safe. He had learned to accept those sudden hugs. It took a moment for the mother of three to compose herself and what she said next confirmed his suspicions as to why she hugged him. "I got you back… I know I said it two years ago when you came home, but... It was like you were back from the dead…"
He smiled softly as he hugged a bit tighter. He remembered those dark days as he had returned to himself in the infirmary. He remembered his sister's voice guiding him back from that dark place he had been. And then the sight of her and her fighting spirit had given him strength to live again. He remembered his mother and father overjoyed the night he had called them, reassuring them this was not a joke and he was coming home.
Scout finally pulled back. "I'm sorry, sweetie… There are still days I think about the possibility that I might not have seen you become the man I see in front of me..."
"Well, you did."
Chazz returned a moment later, and Atticus got his pajamas on. "Honey, I can stay up," their mother offered.
"You sure, Mom?" Atticus asked.
"If you need to sleep, Atty…"
"I'm fine, really," Atticus said around a yawn. His brother was already making a bed on the floor.
"Sweetie... Why don't you take a rest with your brother? I'll be all right. And I can wake you if you're needed," Scout suggested.
"Okay." Atticus conceded the point reluctantly but made a bed next to his brother. Scout settled down at the bedside and then began to sing softly. It was an old Beach Boys song that she had sung when Atticus and Alexis were very little. Chazz had never heard the song as a lullaby, but his mother's soothing tones made it one. Almost unconsciously, he reached out and took his brother's hand. Atticus squeezed back as both boys slowly drifted off to sleep. The two had not slept like this as small children, and yet it felt as natural to them as if it had always been. Their mother sat in the soft chair next to the big bed, on duty for all three boys in her care.
As the night wore on, the bulk of the small band at Duel Academy Central slept. However, in one room in the boys' dorm wing, a tall figure with dark hair tossed and turned. He sat up, hair tousled, and decided to get up and see what walking might do. Zane Truesdale had a lot on his mind this night. Jackie's image was foremost in his mind along with the accompanying hopes and fears for the future. And he thought of his brother, a man despite his outward appearance. He thought of his friends and all they had fought for and won in the past three years. What would the future hold for all of them, he wondered as his feet padded against the carpet.
He wandered down the hall past a room that had a new sign on it: "Yusuke's Room: The Awesome Helper is BACK!" 'Atticus… how did you talk Yusuke into putting that up?'Zane wondered, a wry smile coming to his lips. Yusuke would never put up that sort of sign himself. 'Or did Atticus put that up without you knowing?' That also was a possibility, Zane mused, as Atticus had tried to get him to wear a Hawaiian shirt in their first year. That had not gone well. Yet now, the dark-haired, young man smiled and shook his head as he passed Atticus's room on the way over to the girls' dorms.
He headed down the hall and smelled some unidentifiable sweet fragrance, likely the remnant of some girl's spilled perfume bottle. He opened the door that was typically accessible by password or teacher request during the school year and crossed into the girls' dorm. The odor became stronger as he passed one door, but it quickly faded as he moved away. He passed another room and he drew closer to his destination. A combination of pleasant smells hit his nostrils; that of flowers, cookies, sandalwood and spice. He had arrived at his brother's residence.
The white door, freshly painted, was left ajar. Someone had left the door open to keep the air circulating on the warm day. Without hesitating, the tall Truesdale tiptoed into the suite. As usual, the sitting area and kitchenette was neat as a pin. Stealthily, he tiptoed back to the room that held his younger brother and future sister-in-law. Their bedroom door was also open and Zane peeked in on them. Syrus was wrapped around his fiancée and they looked like two children napping after playtime. However, the blue spaghetti straps on Annie's shoulders belied the image as the couple lay illuminated in the moonlight.
Zane turned to leave the room, but then Syrus stirred and sat up, eyes wide open. Zane froze, hoping it was one of those times his little brother said some sort of nonsense and fell back to sleep. But instead, the blue-head rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses, careful not to jostle his love awake. "Zane? What are you doing in here?" he whispered.
"I was just checking on you," the older Truesdale whispered back as his brother slipped out of bed. "I couldn't sleep so I took a walk and checked on you two. Is she feeling better?"
"Yeah. Fonda gave her some pills. She's been asleep for a while," Syrus answered as they padded into the living room. "She'll probably be okay in the morning…"
The older boy breathed a relieved sigh. "Good... Just keep her from beating herself up, will you, Sy?"
"Got it, Zane." And then Syrus noticed his brother's eyes. "Bro.… is something wrong? You usually don't have trouble sleeping…"
Zane sighed again, wishing that his brother was, for a moment, the timid boy he had been. It was not because Zane wanted his brother to be that way again, but because Syrus at least would not have pressed for information. So, he sighed and admitted, "Sy, I've got a lot on my mind..."
"Want to talk about it? Zane, you don't have to keep it to yourself," Syrus pointed out.
"It's just... Sy... I'm worried," Zane admitted, a nervous tremor in his voice.
"About Jackie?"
They sat down on the couch together and Zane nodded. "Yeah, I'm worried about her… Our baby… Sy, I worry about providing for them."
"I'm sure you'll be a great father." Syrus put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "And I know you'll be a good provider. And besides, Jackie'll have a job after the baby's old enough, right?" Zane nodded; Jackie was a brilliant artist. "So you'll both provide for my niece or nephew."
"Don't you wonder how you'll be?" the older Truesdale countered softly.
"Zane, I'm not going to be a perfect dad, but I am going to be a good one."
It was a rare moment when the two young men were in a reversal of roles. Zane doubted himself and Sy was the strong one again. "How do you know?"
"I learned from Dad," Syrus answered confidently.
"Good..." They talked for a few minutes more and then Zane realized something else. He was actually getting tired. "Thanks, Sy, for talking me through this. I think I need to get back to bed."
"No problem, big bro. I'd better get back to Annie," Syrus said, standing.
"Okay. Call me if you need me."
"I will. You too," Syrus said. He saw his brother to the suite door and tiptoed back to bed. Annie had remained in position and so it was easy for him to slip back into her arms. He drifted back to sleep easily. Meanwhile, Zane paced back down the hall, past the room with the sweet-smelling perfume. He went back past Atticus's room and past Yusuke's and finally made it to his own room. He surprised himself by falling asleep almost immediately.
We hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, everyone. We thank all of you for continuing to read and review! We're not going anywhere and we will finish this series for all of you who have loved it from the beginning! Thank you so much and see you next time!