Chapter 6.

The

Clashing

Of

Waves

Act I,

Act V

"It started on Thursday,
At seven or maybe eight;
You crashed into my world with a boom!

You came over as a guest,
I said I liked you and I confessed;
By ten o' clock I was making fun of you

You stayed for a while,
Then left with a smile.

But at least I made you happy,
You make me happy too.
It's kinda cheesy to say but . . .

You're everything I want . . .
When I'm with you all the hurting stops,
You're the hand that fits my glove;

And I'll never replace you
'Cause I'll never find love so true . . ."

"Everything I Want" – Steve Rushton

~X~

'Okay, Miss Blue, calm down. Calm down. Let's take a minute and get the facts straight before you start to panic; you are shirtless, on some island that you don't know about, you're have no idea if Vince is nearby or not and there are a couple of sharks outside this tent that you don't know either who look a whole lot alike . . .'

The girl felt her ears flick once, twice, then drop along with her mouth, her tail curling around her body like a cocoon, her tail fin forming a scrambled, tangled pattern.

Okay, clearly, trying to give herself good pep talk in what seemed to be a dire situation; was definitely not her strong suit.

She almost let out a shout of pain when she tried to straighten her back a little too quickly and sent a boulder-sized jolt of pain shooting through her; she stopped herself barely in the nick of time, slapping her hand over her mouth and biting down hard on the inside of her cheek, hoping that the men outside didn't hear her.

There she realized another horrible part to all this. Everything hurt everywhere.

It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, everything just hurt.

She couldn't do anything without pain splicing through her.

The inside of her neck felt like she had swallowed pin needles, her chest like she had been clubbed with blunt hard sticks, her insides like they swelled up far beyond their natural sizes, her head like someone had taken it and kicked it around like a ball. Her side hurt worst of all; if she squirmed even the tiniest bit, something that felt remarkably close to liquid fire tore through, making her want to scream out in agony with her already incredibly sore throat.

This was a nightmare. She had never felt pain like this before.

Not even when a berserk Vince had . . . No, this was totally beyond what had happened then.

Back then, that was an accident, but this . . . No, whoever did this had totally and intentionally tried to kill her.

But who had –

Howls –

Stomps –

Screams –

Teeth –

Her heart skipped in fright. She clutched her head at the brutal force of memories and shut her eyes tightly, briefly ignoring the spiking pain in her temple. She felt heat wash over her and pile on to the agony in her side.

Her side . . . The wound . . . Something had chased her in the woods . . . Something big . . . Something . . Scary . . .

But what? What was chasing her?

Nothing answered. Everything, save teeth – screaming – howling – running – falling to her death – Was covered in black. It was like the strings in her memory were cut and retied to other ruined strands, going nowhere and dripping down massive holes. In other words, she had nothing.

She let her hands fall into her lap. She blew air through her lips, frustrated. Great. Injured, clueless and, odds are, friendless. Now what was she going to do? That question in mind, she quietly reached out and lifted the curtain once again, this time by the corner and much more slowly than before.

Once she got enough light, she carefully peeked out in what she hoped was the most in-obvious way possible, watching the two sharks from earlier curiously; one was standing up with hands behind his head, his posture relaxed and impish. He went on about something about 'lazy turtles' and 'the inconsistency of fishing poles' with what she thought was a smile; the other sat on a log before him, his face tensed and aggravated as he held . . . Something in his lap that was currently being pulled, yanked and restrung by his hands with very little success. His own frustration was showing in his voice, ranting about 'stupid frikin' irony' and 'someone up there having it in for them' to which the first shark abruptly chortled at.

She raised an eyebrow at the sight. Hmm . . . Not quite the blood-thirsty sharks, she was expecting.

Still, though . . . If there's one thing that she's learned from traveling from Vince, it's one thing; nothing is ever as it seems.

Patting her cheeks, she started to look around for her shirt. It had to be here somewhere, right? She spotted it, rumpled in a pile just a couple inches from her pillow, picked it up and looked it over briefly before frowning. Oh, perfect.

Her blue and light green top was ruined to say the least; the zipper tag had been broken, the actual zipper itself halting midway between the area of the solar plexus and the stomach. Her face flushed momentarily at the idea of her chest being out in the open. The right side now a huge, tattered gaping hole ringed by what was no doubt her blood.

She furrowed her eyebrows at the dark ring. Just how much had she been hurt . . .?

She decided not to think too much on that last part. Ignorance is bliss, after all. She put on the top; albeit she did it at a procrastinating painfully slow pace, her wound protesting in discomfort to her movements and making her wince and bit her lip to avoid crying out. She attempted to pull up the remaining part of the zipper, only to growl when it stuck in place just below her chest. Wonderful. Now, she looked like an idiot.

Oh, well. She'd have to worry about that later. Right now . . .

She glanced over, seeing a small bowl full of water and a few rags. A familiar hilt rested just below it until she picked it up and swiftly unsheathed it. The blade of her knife glinted in a soft brightness from the small trail of light that leaked through the curtain.

She had to acquaint herself with her new hosts.

~X~

Tuff let out a sound of impatience as he pulled at one string of the intricate mess in his lap, instantly tightening a large complicated knot, further making an even bigger and even more ridiculous puzzle than before, and also ensnaring one of his fingers. He tried pulling at it with his free hand . . . Then shaking his hand . . . And then just shaking his whole arm in a desperate effort to get his finger back. After a moment or so of this, he glared at the wad of strings and sticks. No luck.

Riley watched this with a twitching smile. His cheeks were puffed out from a discernible effort to not laugh at his twin's misfortune. Tuff saw this as he glanced up at him and frowned sourly. "Well, I'm happy to see that one of us is having a good laugh about this."

A snort escaped from Riley's mouth before bringing a hand up and saying/chuckling, "Oh, c'mon, Tuff, you gotta admit that this is kind of funny."

"How is this funny?" Tuff said, annoyed while continuing to pull at random strings.

Riley took in a breath to force back his giggles before he said, "Well, for one thing, you were so dependent on that stupid thing to help us catch lunch earlier, when in actuality it did zip for its handler, namely you," Tuff rolled his eyes when Riley pointed at him. "And afterwards, you totally forgot all about it until I brought it up and got it back after the said turtle from earlier after it, clearly, made a giant loogie out of it. Which brings us back to now with you getting yourself stuck with a wad of spit and string and me, saying, "I told you we should've just gone fishing by hand"." He then held up and shook his hands in Tuff's now irritated face to prove his point.

Tuff pushed his hands away. "You and I both know that if we did that, you would've taken the fish, assuming that you hadn't had scared all of them off with your wild thrashing," Riley frowned this time at the blunt statement. "And just eaten it whole, bones and all. So, not only would've just effectively choked yourself but also gotten a bad case of indigestion and most likely food poisoning. All of that as an end result, me having to find food for me and you while you lie in bed all day with a sore stomach and a fever, complaining about I being right and you being a bonehead!" He stood up to look Riley in the eye, who reeled back each time Tuff leaned in during his speech.

Riley feigned a hurt look at Tuff. "You know, Tuff, that hurts. That really hurts. Your trust in me around delicious fish is horrifying." He declared in mock shock, suddenly pressing a hand to his forehead in dramatic distress.

Tuff put a hand to his hip, unamused. "Says the Shark-man who ate an entire plate of fish pie by himself in one sitting."

Riley dropped the act at that, saying, "Hey, in my defense, you said you weren't even hungry."

"Riley, that's not the point –"

"Hey, you're the one who can't take a joke –"

"I can too! But don't change the subject –"

"I'm not changing it, I just –"

"Riley, we're being chased off by islands all over the archipelago on a daily basis –"

"Look, I know you've had it up to here but you need to relax –"

"–Constant womanizing and flirting and sudden marriage proposals to random women, your incapability to –"

"–I mean, seriously, Tuff, would it kill you just to take a breather every once in a while? It's not like every single island we come to have an angry mob just waiting for us –"

"– Me always having to try and explain ourselves to the natives while you go gallivanting off –"

"– Don't need to be so hung strung all the time –"

"Uhm, excuse me?"

"– With no thought to what I think about it, whatsoever –"

"– I'm just trying to have a little fun –"

"Excuse me?"

"– You have no idea what kind of pressure I'm under sometimes –"

"– You're always playing the Pout-Fish –"

"Excuse me!?"

"– I just try to keep us from turning to fish bait –"

"– Hey, don't look at me that way –"

Their conversation was cut off when the tip of knife then made itself known by tapping Riley's shoulder from behind him.

Riley and Tuff blinked at this briefly before turning their heads.

Their eyes widened at the now dressed, now non-feverish and now scowling blue-skinned, blonde-haired girl, now holding a blanket protectively over her shoulders with one hand and baring her small knife right towards Riley's face threateningly with the other. Her tail was raised high behind her and baring a pipe-like, blotchy pattern, almost glowing and both brothers swore they almost saw little crackles of electricity coming off it.

Tuff and Riley looked at each other. Strange girl behind them? Baring a knife and a possibly lethal tail? Not looking at all happy? Oh, boy.

Riley immediately went to action; He spun around, turning on the charm with his most award-winning smile. "Well, good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty! Nice to see you're finally up! I hope you slept well –" The tip of her knife suddenly poked him right at the tip of his nose, Riley's smile instantly fell and he looked at the knife with wide, wary eyes. "- Allllright then, I'll take that as a "No"."

The girl didn't immediately respond. She looked at the both of them, before her own eyes grew big when she did a double-take at their faces. " . . . . Huh." She cocked her head a little, one ear going down while the other stayed up in a way that the both of them couldn't help but find adorable. "Identical twin sharks . . . That's a new one . . ." She said more to herself than them.

Regardless, Tuff couldn't help the perplexed blink he gave her. "We beg your pardon?"

The girl jumped a little in place, both her ears flying up with her surprise. She clearly didn't notice that she had said what she had out-loud but that didn't deter her from pushing her knife further into Riley's nose, making him gulp before she begun, "Never-mind! Alright, you two! I want answers and I want them right here and right now! Who are you and where am I?"

"Uhh, any order you want those questions?" Riley grinned in an effort to put her at ease, never taking his eyes off the knife.

"Yes, NOW!" The girl pushed on, the knife making Riley's nose push backwards, exposing his nostrils.

Riley's eyes grew wider at the sharp tip edging into his skin. "Whoa, okay, okay, take it easy, it's okay," He took half a step back to decrease the pressure between the knife and his nose as he spoke. "It's okay, I promise, my brother here and I aren't going to hurt you. You don't have to be scared. Although, I have to admit," The girl raised an eyebrow at him when he started to lean in closer to her with a sly smile and a suave tone. "You do look rather cute when you're scared, but not nearly as beautiful when you're angry. Not that I'm too surprised with those cute little fins on your ears –"

The girl was only thrown off by his flirting for only a second. The next second, her mouth twisted into a deep frown and this time held the knife towards the apple of his throat, cutting him off and making him go wide-eyed once again and hold his hands up in defense. "Don't you try and distract me! I'm serious here!" She snapped, her orange eyes bright with anger. "What Island is this?"

Riley felt himself growing nervous from her hard glance but still readily answered her question, "Uh, Pound Island?"

Her own eyes grew wide with her tail, now a sporadic drain of blue and white, coming around to her front by some unconscious will. "Pound Island? But . . . B-but just . . ." She finally lowered her knife and clutched at her shoulders, forgetting about the knife which edge went just near her ear, her expression stating utter confusion. "J-just yesterday, I was . . . I thought we were at Blue Island!"

Tuff, who had been watching his brother in emotions from annoyance to worry, stepped out from behind Riley and said, "You mean that tiny, little island off the coast? You must've had an outdated map when you went there because that island's been abandoned for years. It's easy to think Pound Island and Blue Island are one and the same because they used to be connected. It might still be but no one's really said anything about it."

She put a hand over her mouth, turning somewhat pale like before. Tuff saw this and immediately came over to her, his tone fearing that she was about to pass out again as he said, "But, don't- Don't worry, you're safe here! Whatever attacked you isn't going to hurt you as long as we're here to protect you."

The girl, almost like she had turned deaf at his reassurances, shook her head fearfully despite the on-going headache in her head and whirled around to face him. "No, you don't understand!" Tuff blinked at the force of fear in her voice. "It's not me I'm worried about! I have to get going! I need to –" She twisted around only to stop dead and bend over hissing in pain, her knife dropping to the ground and the now free hand flying to her side.

Tuff almost slapped himself. Her side! She was still injured! He came closer to her and put a careful hand on her back and holding the other in front of her, being ready to catch her if she fell forward. "Hey! Hey, take it easy!" He admonished her gently. "You're still pretty injured and you just woke up from a fever. You need to be careful or those stitches in your side will open up and you'll bleed out like crazy again."

Cassie's ears perked up at his words. What?

"Riley! Be careful! She's bleeding out like crazy!" A voice then rang out in her head.

A familiar voice. A voice that sounded a lot similar to . . .

She looked up. Slowly but surely, she locked eyes with the Shark-man before her who stared down at her in confusion and worry.

As she looked at him closely, something began to itch inside of her mind. What was it? "You . . ."

It came to her. It was a voice. The only good thing about all that pain she had gone through, all the darkness, all that fear was the voice that had brought her back.

His voice.

". . . You're it, aren't you?" She mumbled to Tuff, slowly straightening back up but never taking her eyes away from him.

Tuff, now completely lost, blinked at her again. "Uhm, I'm sorry?"

"The voice." She stated, not noticing how odd and distant her voice sounded as she went on. "You're the one who said I was "bleeding like crazy" . . . And when everything went dark, you brought me back to life. You told me to "just breathe". . . Didn't you?"

Tuff's breath hitched. His heart sped up a little at the memory; her still and dying from lack of oxygen as he madly gave everything he could to save her. He had hoped that some part of her would hear him as he practically screamed at her to live. He still felt the pain from waiting and fear of her never waking up.

Obviously, she did, but he hadn't quite known what else she had heard from him and Riley before that. She heard even more than he had originally thought, despite the dark cloud of sickness she was under. He couldn't help but think of how remarkable that was.

Now here she was, in front of him, alive and breathing, just like he had begged her to do, asking him if he was the one responsible for saving her.

He did what any man did when confronted like that; he instantly grew a bashful red on his cheeks, took his hands off her quickly but respectively and held them in front of him in protest as he nervously chuckled. "Oh, it was nothing, really! I just did what anyone else would've done in that situation! I mean, if it were anyone else, we would've done the same! Not that we wanted you to be someone else– I mean, we're happy it's you and not someone else– No wait, I mean –!" At this point he was just point blank rambling, growing redder by the minute and, when she finally noticed it, his thick accent making it harder and harder for either the girl or even Riley to understand him.

The girl watched him and couldn't help but smile at him. Despite her earlier notions of how she thought he and his brother were dangerous, like most people would if they shared their experiences with Were-Sharks, she found his sudden air of shyness kind of cute.

As such, she figured she'd help him by raising a hand and pressing her fingertips to his mouth, stopping him flat and freezing him mid-sentence. He blinked at her, surprised by her actions but keeping silent. Taking this as a good sign, she then added with a small smile. "So . . . I think it's safe to say that you were the one who kept watch over me while I was unconscious and sick, right?"

Tuff brought his hands down, keeping one up to brush his right bangs away from his face before sliding it down to rub the back of his neck, looking away from her and clearing his throat. "I, uhm, I may've, erm, dropped in every now and again." He responded, modest.

At this, Riley then chimed in, "Hah! Are you kidding?" To the girl, he stated, "After we found a doctor to get that side of yours checked out, he hardly left your side for a minute! I've never seen him looked so worried over one girl before!"

That remark was immediately countered by Tuff's still reddened glare as he spun his head around to look at him, "I was not that worried!"

"Tuff, you hardly got up unless I told you to get some sleep, eat or even use the bathroom!" Riley pointed out with a smug smile, enjoying the reaction his teasing gave him. "I'd say that's pretty worried."

Tuff then begun to rant at Riley who only chuckled at him, "Riley, I swear -!"

"Thank you." The girl said promptly, drawing both their attention. When they looked at her, the girl's face held no more hostility, instead was painted into one of true sincerity and her tail had taken on a peaceful curly pattern as it went up behind her. Her bright eyes were smiling as well as she added, "For what you did for me. If it hadn't been for you and your brother, I wouldn't be here at all. So, thank you again . . . For everything."

Tuff, who was barely one to expect receiving compliments as much from pretty girls like the one before him, felt a tiny bit of a smile touch his mouth. ". . . Y-You're welcome, for what's it worth."

The girl smiled in return, shifting the blanket on her shoulders the tiniest bit and looking up at the both of them. Tuff then winced, beginning to recall how much that dumb name was annoying him three days ago. He really wished that he knew her –

The proverbial light-bulb went off in his head then. Duh!

Tuff cleared his throat again, his voice coming out more casually. "Uh, actually," The girl's ears perked up, one up and one down again. "I was wondering . . . If you really do want to thank us, maybe you could start by helping us out with a few things."

The girl's eagerness showed a bit as she asked with a little cock of her head to the other side, "Oh! Of course. Uhm, what do you need help with?"

"Well, for starters," Tuff shrugged simply before smiling kindly. "We'd settle for your name. No offense, but if we both keep calling you "The girl" I think I'm going to lose it."

The girl started a bit at that but then she closed her eyes, giving a short laugh that Tuff ultimately found cute. "Of course." She looked up at him again and said politely. "My name's Cassie. Cassie Matsyendra."

Beautiful. That was the only word that came to Tuff's mind. Tuff gave a short laugh himself before saying warmly, "Well, then, "Cassie" . . ." He let that name sink into his mind. Once that was done, he looked at the gi– At Cassie as happily as he dared to let show. ". . . It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Tuff Luck."

Riley then decided to pounce on him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and nearly cutting off the air from his windpipe. Tuff grunted at him as Riley then declared brightly to Cassie, "And I'm the more awesome and more attractive twin brother, Riley Luck! Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Cassie!"

Cassie, no longer weirded out by Riley's flirting despite the very short time of actually knowing him, giggled a little at him and the annoyed eye roll Tuff gave him. "Pleasure's all mine, I think."

When she quickly bent over to retrieve her fallen knife, she looked back over at Tuff with a bemused smile. "Now, that I know who's who here; Tuff, would you like my help in getting that . . . That whatever that is off your finger?"

Tuff gave a small noise of confusion then held up the hand she was looking at; he felt his face burning up hotly at the unsolvable mess that was once a perfectly good fishing wire that still held onto his appendage with the grip of python. Oh . . . Right.

Unable to think of a good retort, he simply chuckled weakly while rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Yes, please."

He ignored Riley who snickered at him from his shoulder.

ME: Lol, poor Tuff, so much for the smooth approach. XD

Whew! Wow, I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to get this in so early today! Lately, I'm trying to beat the clock before it hits midnight. But nevermind, here it is!

Until next time, please read and enjoy!