Happy 4th of July, people. And I'm a real hermit because i'm staying inside writing stories rather than going out to watch fireworks. I don't advise it. Stories are about life and you can't write good stories unless you experience it.

But I'm just a fat-butt hypocrite, so don't listen to me. :P

Chapter 7: Friends and a Leap of Stupid Faith

(no really, for how little they planned it they should be dead)

The house was empty. Angie laid in Yami's closet, barely conscious, shivering under piles of quilts and feathers. Her pink lips had gone pale.

Yugi sat in the doorway, coaxing her with chicken noodle soup green with spinach. He had googled blood building foods and spinach had come up, along with red meats and a few other things, but he doubted Angie was anywhere in the mood or strength for steak.

"Come on, Angie. You have to build up your strength."

"What for?" she said, her voice quiet and weak.

"So you can get better." Yugi's hands tightened on the bowl. "We don't know if we can take you to the hospital if you need it, so, please…"

She looked at the bowl, then back at Yugi's pleading face. Shakily, using the walls for support, she brought herself up into a pseudo-sitting position and let Yugi place the bowl with a spoon on her hands, which spilled broth as she shivered. She looked down into it, as though looking for her fortune.

"He was always so concerned that I eat." she whispered.

Yugi leaned against the doorway and wrapped his arms around his legs.

"Who?"

But she didn't say, only shakily lifted the spoon to her mouth and sipped. She didn't comment on the taste.

Yami came in and sat down next to Yugi, acoustic guitar in hand. He rested the curved body against his legs.

"How is she?" he asked, plucking a few of the strings.

Angie took another sip of soup.

"Well, she's eating."

Yami raised an eyebrow at her trembling hand. He settled his fingers and did a few test cords before gently rolling into a song. She paused and looked at him with half-lidded eyes. She gave him a small smile and closed them, fingers wrapped about the bowl. Yugi felt his chest warm with satisfaction. It was the first smile they had seen since she had woken up and they had been worried about her. She only found out the only family member in her world was essentially using her and nearly killed her. Yugi gave his brother a thumbs up and Yami winked, then rolled into a familiar song.

The warm feeling went away as he read Yami's look.

"No." he whispered.

Yami frowned and looked at Angie pointedly. Yugi sighed. Why didn't Joey and Yami get it? But, if it helped her.

He started out soft, hoping to be heard and ignored at the same time.

"When does honesty begin?

And trust allowed to be born?

I'm stumbling on lies, sick with surprise,

and left wishing to just be alone.

Alas, I'm a selfish kid

waiting for a candy store to open.

Without a penny to spend, or a life to live in,

being lied to again and again.

I'm pretending love exists,

that there exists such a bliss,

Could it be I was born for nothing?

Is there anything better than this?

If this is what it comes to,

I'd rather be left in the dark.

Could it not matter, truth just to flatter

the fairytale lover in me.

But still I wait

listening…."

Yugi paused in the song and Yami went into the tinkling interlude in the song. Angie opened those evergreen eyes and looked into Yugi's, head cocked to the side, as though commanded by the song. Then he broke back into the chorus.

"I'm pretending love exists,

that there exists such a bliss.

Could it be I was born for nothing?

Is there anything better than this?

I'm pretending,

just pretending love exists,

that there exists such a bliss.

Is there anything better than this?

Anything?

Anything."

Angie had fallen asleep again, her bowl mostly empty. Yugi had never felt so charmed as he picked the bowl out of her lax hands and waited for Yami to stand up without bumping his guitar. Together they closed the closet door and tiptoed out of Yami's room.

As they closed Yami's door, their mother appeared, fire in her eyes and the phone in her hand.

The twins gulped.

"I take it by the looks on your faces you know who just called." she said, almost growled.

"Principle?" said Yugi weakly.

"His fault!" said Yami, pointing at Yugi, who flinched.

"What!?" cried Yugi. Yami was protective when it came to other people, but when mom came into the game, all the rules changed.

"According to the teacher you were the one who ran out first, Yami." she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Diarrhea?" he said weakly.

"Yugi too? For five and a half periods?"

"Well, you know, we do sort of eat the same food, and we are genetically identical-"

"No we're not." said Yugi. Yami kicked him and he winced. "Right, diarrhea. It was awful, mom, do you have any pepto bismol in the kitchen?"

"Go pepto bismol!" said Yami with false cheeriness.

Mom gave them both a deadpan look. Yugi did his best not to look guilty. It was in the name of Angie they had to lie. If they told their mom they had ran out to kidnap their friend from her house because her evil godfather had sucked her blood...yeah, right, like she'd believe them. But they could always show her Angie themselves. Maybe she could help, make a home here for her. He and Yami could share a room and she could have one to herself. Maybe. He'd have to talk to Yami about it.

Meanwhile, his mom didn't look anywhere near open for surprises. She just looked mad.

"I don't know why you are lying to me," she said, fingers tight against her rib cages, "but I don't like that you think you can get away with it. You are both grounded from band practice."

They both whined at this.

"Moooom!"

"That's our career!"

"Can't you just make us clean the whole house or something?"

"Except your bathroom."

"Yeah, not your bathroom."

"No." she said solidly. "It's for the best anyways. Jim's been regretting giving you the garage."

"Hypocrite!" Yami exclaimed before Yugi could stop him.

"Excuse me?"

A new feeling of trouble came over Yugi that was a totally different kind of fear than that which their mother induced. Jim, goateed, broad shouldered, and beer bellied, had just walked out of the master bedroom behind them.

They didn't dare meet their mother's eyes, afraid of what they'd see there, and turned: Yugi with a sense of resignation and Yami doing a poor job of containing his glower.

Jim had that tight jaw that always came before his anger. His eyes had already started to pop.

"You boys should be grateful I'm even allowing you to have those instruments in the house when I need to get up at four in the morning for work."

"We're sorry."

"Be quiet, Yugi. I'm tired of your brother speaking up for your mouthiness. He just gets you both in trouble."

"You said we could have the garage." said Yami.

"I said if you built me a carport you could, but apparently I had to do it."

"You offered!"

"What was that, boy?"

Yugi cowed and tugged on Yami's sleeve. He tried to meet his brother's eyes, silently pleading for him to shut his mouth and just take it. Anything Yami would say would just make it all the worse and it was already hard enough for mother.

But he recognized the angry blaze in Yami's face. Curse his brother's temper. You think after five years with the man he would have learned.

"After we found those bodies in the junkyard trying to make your carport, you offered to build the carport yourself to make it up to mom!"

"Don't drag her into this." Yugi hissed.

"What was that!" boomed Jim, and Yugi looked at the floor.

"Nothing." he said meekly.

"It didn't sound like nothing. I won't have you whispering stuff about me while I'm right here!"

All the while their mother sank away from the hallway to some shadow in another part of the house. She always explained to Yugi that it was Jim's way of 'disciplining' them and she wanted him to feel like he could be a father to them, but it didn't make the feeling of abandonment any less.

"Leave him alone!" said Yami, stepping in front of Yugi, "he's just afraid you're going to drag our mother into this and start yelling at her too!"

"Enough of your sass! You boys need to learn some respect! I work all day long to give you a house and food on the table, and then you have the nerve to call me a hypocrite because I'm tired of you using my garage, that I pay for, to make your dirty, emo racket!"

"It isn't emo!" Yami shouted back. "It's not our fault you're tone deaf!"

"It is what I say it is, you ungrateful brat!"

Yugi inwardly groaned. There was no backing out of this now. Why couldn't Yami just keep his mouth shut!

Jim charged forward and grabbed Yami by the spiky hair. Then he grabbed Yugi's as well, who cried out in surprise and pain.

"Let go of him!" cried Yami.

"Oh no, I know you twins. What one says, the other thinks. You're the mouth, he's the brain, that's how it always is."

"You don't know anything!" spat Yami, hands at the roots of his hair. "And I know what you did to our mother the other night, and you should be grateful that I haven't thrown you out myself!"

Jim's hand left Yugi's hair and Yugi closed his eyes tight, not wanting to see what he knew was about to happen next.

The sound of flesh upon flesh filled the hall.

"You shut your ignorant mouth, boy! I'm done! You think you're being a friend by staying here? You think you're protecting someone? You aren't helping anyone! You're no one's friend! I waste my time and my food and my money on your disrespecting ass for what? Get your damn ass back in your room! I don't want to see your sorry, stupid face for the rest of the week, you hear me?"

Yugi felt himself roughly shoved.

"And open your eyes! Stop acting like some sissy, Yugi, and act like a man for once. What are you, gay?"

Yugi opened his eyes quickly and made his way to his room, not too quickly and not slow, for if he did it would only anger Jim more. He locked his door, took a great shuddering breath, and tried not to think.

Breathe, he told himself, just focus on breathing. Block it out. Block it out.

Numbly, and almost dream like, he went to his keyboard, slipped on his headphones that were almost always plugged in, and set his fingers on the keys.

Breathe, just play. Focus on the music. Don't think about him. Don't think about the words or the sound. Seventeen is almost to eighteen, it's almost over, then you can live your life however you want.

But he found himself staring at the black and white keys, a lit with a buzzing mind and insides that felt raw.

Mother must have wanted to discuss Jim's 'parenting methods,' because only a few minutes later the thunder started from the master bedroom, making his ears throb.

He felt his phone vibrate.

Come to my room.

Yugi's chest ached more than ever as he became humiliated at the thought of Angie listening in on all this. Unlocking his door and checking to make sure the coast was clear, he closed his door quickly behind him and dived down the hall to his brothers.

Yami also made sure to lock the door behind him as Yugi dived in. Angie sat slumped against the closet door frame, wings limp beneath the quilt and eyelids purple with fatigue.

"What's going on?" she asked, so quiet Yugi had to strain underneath the noise to hear her.

"We're leaving." said Yami.

Yugi froze mid-way to sitting in front of Angie. He looked hard at his brother, whose mouth was thin and eyes wilder than ever.

"Leaving?" he asked faintly.

"I've already texted Joey. He's all go for it."

"Of course he is! That was his idea from the start!"

"Well we have Angie now, Yugi, so if we're ever going to do it, better do it now."

"Huh?" Angie blinked up owlishly at them. "What do I have to do with this?"

"But what about school?" asked Yugi. "What if we don't make it, we'll become homeless! No one wants to hire high school dropouts."

"But we won't fail, Yugi." His twin grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly. "I'm never kidding when I say I believe in you and that you need to get over this stupid self-esteem issue you have. Joey believes in you too!"

"When did this become all about me?"

Yami broke into a devilish smirk. "Because Joey and me know we're good enough."

Yugi shook his brother off, scrambling for any excuse to ease the panic inside him. "But, mom, who will take care of her?"

"We're not taking care of her here as it is," said Yami harshly, "she won't let us. Maybe if we leave it might wake her up."

"You know Jim's not right, Yami."

"As long as mother let's him be like that...he is. I'm not helping anyone by staying here."

Yugi bowed his head, hands clenched. He suddenly felt ashamed for hoping Yami would shut up. His brother should never have to be afraid to speak his mind in his own home. He had always treated Joey's jokes about leaving school and starting their band as just that, jokes, because he couldn't imagine surviving on his own without a high school diploma. But now that Yami was taking it seriously, he started to. He could always come back and get his G.E.D. But he couldn't think that way if he was going to do this. He had to try believing that they could do this.

Because any thought of asking his mother if Angie could stay there had left his mind. He wasn't going to bring Angie into a miserable pit like this after leaving her own nightmare. If anything, they had to leave for her sake. He couldn't let anything happen to her.

She was looking up at him, confused.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Away." Yami said. "We're going to start our music career."

"Can I come?" she asked meekly, looking suddenly afraid as though they'd say no.

Yugi chuckled. "Of course, silly. We were going to take you with us anyways. Weren't you listening?"

"It's hard to focus." she said.

"Well, listen this time." said Yami, and he crouched down in front her, meeting her eyes. "We didn't help you just to plop you out onto the street. We're your friends now, Angie, and you're never going to be hurt again if we can help it."

She stared back at him, heavy lids widening, pale lips parting ever so slightly. Yugi sat next to her as well, putting a hand on her arm.

"Besides, you wanted to hear us play, didn't you?" he said.

Her eyes grew ultra bright. The next thing they knew she had burst into tears.

"Why?" she sobbed. "Why are you doing this? You hardly know me and I'm a freak! You don't have to protect me, I'm in this because of my own stupid choices."

Yami and Yugi glanced at one another. The fire in Yami's died as he softened and they both smiled.

"I guess there's just something about meeting a demon in an alleyway," said Yami.

"And being saved by an angel," said Yugi, "that just makes friends."

She cried harder, but she beamed at them, as though she had just woken up to find out it was Christmas and Santa had brought her exactly what she wanted and more.

"You guys are so weird."

"And this coming from the girl with wings."

Together they waited out the yelling match for when their mom would once more come knocking on her door, crying, and they softly told her that they were okay and that they'd do as Jim said. If they were to leave, they couldn't tell her. They were only 17, after all, and even though being 18 was less than a year away, the world was still within legal rights to drag them back. Not to mention that if she knew of Angie, Cain could charge them with kidnapping...could he? Could seventeen year olds be charged with kidnapping?

"Who cares," said Yami, "we'll be long gone before anyone pieces it together. And you know what the best part is? If they try to track my car down, grey 1998 hondas are probably the most common car in the galaxy!"

"What about Chewbacca?"

"I'm not the only Star Wars fan out there, you know."

As they talked, Angie drifted off to sleep in the closet, swathed in a nest of quilts and boy clothes, still with a smile on her face.

! #$%^&*(^%$#

Night came and Marik was limping more than ever. Hungry, starving even, he had holed up in his perfectly clean basement apartment and glowered at the door.

Whoever was knocking on the other side he didn't want to greet.

At first he thought if he just ignored them they'd go away, but everyone who could have known the boys who lived here knew they were dead, and everyone else on the street knew this apartment was empty. Most humans weren't keen on living where a murder had been committed. But whoever it was kept knocking, and at last they spoke.

"I know you're in there, Marik."

He hissed. He knew that voice. That voice was the reason he was in this state in the first place. Rotten bully. "Go away."

"You're lucky I'm being polite, Marik. I'll keep being so if you let me in."

"What do you want?"

"To...make a deal."

Malik snorted. "You tear a chunk out of my leg so I can't hunt, you track me down to my home, and now you want to make a deal? I already told you everything I know about your stupid pet bird, what more could you want?"

"Do you remember her smell?"

"Of course I do!" he paused. "Why?"

"Last time: Let. Me. In."

Marik hesitated. Either way the bigger and more powerful daemon would get it. The best thing he could do was keep him in a good a mood as possible. Pride stinging, he limped towards the door like some whimpering dog. He hated it. "You touch me and I'll kill you."

"Sure you will."

He opened the door. The tall, dark skinned man filled the doorway. One can tell the power a daemon is able to glen by the color of it's skin. Power is defined by the amount of pure blood you are able to ingest, and seeing as the man had that virgin cherubim in his grasp for ten years, keeping her alive to off of...it wasn't surprising. You didn't get blood much purer than that.

Marik, on the other hand, had skin the color of a tan.

Thus, he fought not to cower. His heavily bandaged calf protested as he straightened himself and folded his arms tight over his chest.

"Why do you need me, oh great one?" said Marik.

The larger daemon closed the door behind him and took off his illusionary coat, another impressive show of power. There were only so many of those in the world.

He looked down at Marik unsmiling. "When you've drank as much cherubic blood as I have, your sense of smell dulls. Not to mention you have one of the strongest sense of smells I've found in our kind." Cain looked around at his apartment pointedly, "as your meticulousness shows. You'd make a good bloodhound."

Marik said nothing, though he snarled. He couldn't remember the last time he had met a daemon powerful enough to demean him so without the slightest hint of fear. It rubbed him wrong in places he didn't know existed.

"I need you to track her down."

"Your pet bird?"

Cain nodded. Marik snorted.

"What's in it for me?"

"Your life, you flightless bastard."

"What kind of deal is that!" Marik cried before he could stop himself. He had been alone for far too long.

Like a switch Cain came at him, heavy with power, but undeniable. He found himself with those black hands tight about his throat, claws scraping bits of paint and drywall onto his sanitized cement floor. Lights popped in front of his eyes.

He gagged for air, fangs scraping fruitlessly at the air.

"I think it's a fairly good deal myself." said Cain. "And you are to find her before the morning. The cherubim that cut you down know she's around."

He dropped Marik and he slumped against the wall, coughing.

"Why before morning?" Marik croaked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Don't you know? Cherubims are creatures of light. They don't fly at night like the fearful children they are."

Marik frowned. He remembered the other girl distinctly flying away from him in the night, but Cain had insisted she couldn't fly, so he hadn't bothered correcting him. Why would he care if he got his pet bird just so he could get more powerful and lord over Marik even more? Though he hated this pretty birdie, he hated Cain more.

Leg trembling, injured wing aching, Marik forced himself to stick out his wrists to the other, the daemon's sign of subservience. The wrists were one of the easiest places to bleed one out, slowly and painfully.

"Do you mind filling up my truck then?" he tried not to snarl.

"Why? When you'd be much more useful from the air."

Marik winced. There was nothing more humiliating for a daemon than to be flown by another. It implied weakness, dependence, helplessness. Besides the fact, one glance at the other daemon's massive wings, which he couldn't see how they fit in his apartment, told him that the other would at least be able to carry him, easily.

"Fine." he spat.

Those birds were going to die for sure. He'd tie them down and eat them alive, bite by bite, for the humiliation they continued to heap on him.

#$%&^*^%$# !#$%^

At midnight, when the twins were sure their parents would be oblivious (their step father snored like a foghorn and their mother wore ear plugs because of it), they pulled out the bags they had packed in the evening and their instruments and walked out to the honda. Yami popped the trunk and they stuffed their luggage in. The electric guitar speaker was tricky, but a twist and turn and it was in.

"Joey's going to have a trick of a time finding space for his drums." said Yugi as he blew on his chilled fingers. The spring nights still held a bite of leftover winter.

"He'll live."

They went back in to help Angie, who had managed to dress herself in a pair of Yami's pants, but still had Yami's shirt on backwards. Her old nightgown sat neatly folded in front of her and her face was scarlet.

"Um…" she fidgeted. "None of your shirts were built for wings."

As what she said sank in, both Yami and Yugi blushed. They stood awkwardly there for a minute before Yugi coughed.

"Shouldn't be too big of a problem. I'll cut the shirt from the bottom and you can slip it over and we can safety pin it closed."

She smiled unevenly. "I was thinking something like that."

Once they found some safety pins in the bathroom cupboard they turned, hands stuffed into their pockets to keep their fingers from fidgeting. Both brothers felt distinctly hot in the neck. They had made it a thing not to delve too deeply on the subject of the appearance of the female body, due to personal reasons and also because of their fear of become walking dicks (not to mention it was just plain pain to look at a sexy girl you couldn't have and they had enough misery in their lives), but that didn't stop them from wondering.

After a minute Yami's shirt was thrown over Yugi's head and into his hands. It smelt distinctly un-Yami-ish and he almost stuffed it in his face to detect the scent. Something sweet. Something distinctly girly.

"Crap, get some scissors, Yugi." said Yami, nose pink.

"You get scissors!"

"Oh, please," and a pair of scissors was hung over their shoulders. They stared at it, trying not to follow the arm.

"Uh, thanks." said Yugi.

Yami, since it was his shirt, found the seams and made the cuts..

"Why couldn't you just cut it?" he asked as he did so. "You must have had to modify tons of shirts. I don't even know how far to cut."

"I've never worn somebody elses clothes," she said, "and I don't know if I could cut up somebody else's shirt like that when I've gotten so few clothes in my life. You know, some people in Africa go naked."

The twins rolled their eyes and threw back the shirt. After she slipped it on they turned and worked together on the floor to pin the cut fabric together beneath her wings, which quivered as her worn back muscles strained. Once finished and topped with a blanket they each put an arm under her shoulders and helped her out to the car.

"Um, Yami?" said Angie as they helped her into the back seat, quilt and all.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have a shotgun? No, scratch that, how'd you get a shotgun? I thought teenagers couldn't buy guns, let alone legally conceal them in their trunk."

Yami smirked and Yugi sighed.

"I'm getting in before you keep us stuck here all night." said Yugi, walking to the passenger side and sliding in.

Yami scowled. "What?"

"I can just feel a lecture coming on, that's all. Guns this, guns that, it's 2nd amendment right for all citizens to own guns, yada yada."

"Not to mention Jim's an asshole."

"That has nothing to do with it. That's your paranoia."

A light flicked on inside the house. All three teens nearly screamed.

"Freak, that's what you get for talking so much!" said Yugi. "Hurry!"

Yami jumped into his car and revved out of the driveway so fast he almost hit the trashcan. A figure started to open the door right as they sped down the road. Yugi made frantic squeaking noises that could have passed for screaming as he stared behind him.

"Oh man, oh crud, oh shit-why did you have to talk so freaking loud, Yami?"

"Me? You were talking too!"

"They're going to call the cops on us, I swear it, and we still need to fill up and get Joey!" Yugi's eyes widened. "You did remember to bring your card, didn't you?"

"Yep. Kinda important to have money."

Yugi let out a breath of relief. "That's a relief."

Angie leaned forward, leaning her chin on Yugi's seat. "If you had needed money you should have told me before this whole fiasco. I've got a stash of allowance under my bed."

"That demon gave you money?" said Yami.

"Oh yeah. Gave me a means to buy paints and music and stuff, and he couldn't keep me entertained all the time."

"You were annoying, weren't you?"

"I guess so. So why do you have a gun?"

"It's my right, no matter what those idiots in congress think" said Yami with a sniff, "and I got it from Aunt Nora."

Yugi chuckled. "Aw, Aunt Nora. Secretary to the NRA."

"The National Rifle Association?"

"Yep."

"Wow." said Angie.

"And mildly obsessive. She's where Yami got his doctrine." said Yugi.

"It's not doctrine, Yugi! Gall, don't you care about your God given rights?"

"Red neck down, man, red neck down."

"And I'm just not going to say anything about the legality of that." said Angie.

Joey was waiting for them at the Seven Eleven, cases of drums around his feet and a duffle bag over his shoulder. It was interesting to note that Copperback was only a few streets over and hobos were eyeing Joey from behind, as though wondering if he was worth trying to mug. The Seven Eleven itself had bars over it's windows and doors.

"Quick, man, our parents woke up as we were leaving." said Yami.

"Some secret agents you are." said Joey, lifting a set of drums towards the open trunk. "Damn, didn't leave much room for me did you? Can't I throw these in the back seat?"

"Sorry. Someone's already back there."

Joey nearly dropped a precious drum. "Excuse me?"

"You know that girl Yugi's in love with?"

"Oh my gosh, Yami, what is your problem!" said Yugi the open front window in exasperation.

Joey blinked. "No way."

"Yes way." said Yami, smirking.

"Sweet for Yugi and all, but, how the hell-"

"Explain to you on the way. Just get your drums in."

"Why didn't you explain already?"

"You'll understand once we tell you. Now hurry, cops, hello!"

"Does your mom or Jim happen to know your license plate number?" asked Angie sleepily from the back seat, tucking the last of her feathers in her blanket and yawning.

"I don't think so. Mom's preoccupied and I don't think Jim's looked at this ugly thing twice."

Much cursing and yelling from Joey later, the drums were in without a hair of room left in the trunk and they were on their way, with Joey sitting awkwardly next to a mostly asleep Angie.

"Huh, I always knew her hair was dyed." he said. "No offense."

"None taken." she mumbled sleepily.

The freeway lights flickered over them, painting them with varying shades of yellow, dark, and orange. Chewbacca swayed with each turn on the rearview mirror, face hidden by furr and night.

"Okay, before you explain why she's here," Angie peaked open a sleepy eye at Joey's finger pointing at her, then closed it again, "where are we going first?"

"Where we originally planned," said Yami happily, "wherever we freaking want."

"What! We don't even have a plan?" cried Yugi, making Angie flinch awake.

"Calm down, Yug," said Joey. "We'll go to the cities, play on the streets, play wherever we can, get heard, get tips."

Yugi smacked his hand over his face. "God, help us, for we're going to try and live off of tips."

"Have a little faith, Yugi," said his brother, "I've got five thousand in savings. Once we're away from this town, we'll take it out and drive to the next big city."

"We're so dead." said Yugi.

"Agreed," said Angie suddenly, her handing snapping out to point into the sky, right where the patchy roof material sagged and the windshield begun. They all leaned over, squinting.

"What is that?" asked Joey. "A lumpy bat?"

"Shit." said the twins.