Chapter 3: "Surprise"

"Sky, will you please just tell me where we're going?" Bloom asked her husband for what seemed to him the millionth time in just ten minutes or so in the car.

"Bloom, calm down with the questions, we're here anyway." Sky said to her as he parked behind Riven next to the sidewalk.

"Okay, this is it!" Riven exclaimed as the couple got out of their car.

"This is what?" Bloom asked them until she turned and looked at where they were at. "Sky" She turned back around and faced him. "Why are we at a diner?!"

Riven walked towards Sky at this point. "You didn't tell her, did you?"

"Tell me what?! I wanna know some answers!" Bloom yelled, starting to get very frustrated with the both of them, mainly Sky though.

"No, I did not, Riven. I wanted to make it a surprise. So…" Sky turned to Bloom. "Um, surprise!" He said with a smile and laugh.

"Surprise? Surprise?! Sky, we're at a diner for heaven's sake! What kind of surprise is at a diner?!"

"Well let's just say that we might know someone who works here…"

"Oh, don't worry! We know someone here alright!" Riven assured.

"Then, who is it?! Tell me!" Bloom yelled at the both of them.

As soon as Bloom yelled that, the door to the diner flung open. To their surprise, Maria was standing in the opening of the door.

"Ya know, you people are really loud and all of us in here would love to eat without hearing all of you yell at each other out here! If you came to eat at the diner, the food is served in here!" She yelled, sort of with her eyes closed and didn't open them until she was done speaking. "And now I'm going back inside!" She exclaimed while she turned around and walked fast back into the diner.

"Was that…Was that Musa?!" Bloom asked the two guys who were still staring at the doorway, still shocked by her yelling. They had been yelled at already too many times today it seemed like.

Sky was the one to speak first. "I'm guessing that that was Maria, Riven?"

"Yes, that's her." Riven said in his own little kind of dreamy voice.

"Aww! He's still in love with her! I could write a book on him and her. Except, can we go inside now?!" Bloom asked Sky who was still standing next to her.

"Yes, we can. Riven! Snap out of it, buddy! We need to go inside if we're gonna see her again today!" Sky shouted at Riven and waved his hand in front of his face.

Riven pushed Sky's hand away from his face and walked to the front door and opened it. "Okay, okay! Come on! Let's go!" He said as Bloom and Sky did as he told them to do. The couple was in amazement when they stepped through the door. They couldn't believe it. "This is the place where Musa works." Bloom said in a whisper to herself.

Bloom started to walk towards a table near the front while Sky and Riven were looking at stuff on the walls, even though Riven had already seen the place before. Except this time for Riven, he saw things that he hadn't noticed before, such as a picture of everyone that worked there and Bob, a seating chart for the waitresses/waiters, an award…Wait. A seating chart! Riven looked at it over and looked at where Bloom was heading towards. He noticed that she was getting ready to sit down at a table that was NOT one of "Maria's" tables. He quickly grabbed Sky and whispered to him, "Dude, stop her!"

"Why?!"

"Just stop her! That's not one of Musa's tables!" After Riven told Sky the perfectly good reason, he went over to Bloom quickly just as Riven told him to do and dragged her back to where he was standing.

"Okay, I got her! Now, where do we sit?" Sky said to Riven, who was still looking at the chart.

"We'll sit right here!" Riven pointed to a table that was across from the front windows and was sort of near the little stage. They all sat down at the booth and started carrying on a random conversation, hoping, just hoping that "Maria" would come around soon to their table. Yet, she was watching them all.

"Why, my table?! Why?!" Maria said to herself. "I bet he looked at the seating chart!"

"Who looked at the seating chart?" Todd asked, popping out of no where.

"No one that you know of, Todd!" She said, trying not to scream at him.

"Well I could know who you're talking about, you never know! Is it a he or she? Also, why are you here in the kitchen when you're supposed to be working at your tables?!" Todd asked, getting curious.

"Actually, you probably don't know him and that's none of your business!" She said while walking out of the kitchen and starting to move into the open area where all of the tables were.

"So, it's a he. What's his name?" He asked as he followed her out of the kitchen.

She turned around to face him. "You really ask too many questions, Todd! Also, why are you out of the kitchen when you're the cook and food's cookin'?" She told him, getting really aggravated. Todd just glared at her and turned around and went back into the kitchen. 'Why does he have to get on my nerves all the time?' She thought to herself. 'Oh well. I can't scream. At least, not now. I need to worry about the people at my table.' She sighed and started walking again. 'This could get weird…' She thought as she saw them all watching her walk towards them with awkward smiles on their faces. Once she got to the table, she first said her usual diner greeting: "Hi, I'm Maria. I'll be your waitress this afternoon. Does anyone want something to drink or maybe anything to eat right now?"

Except before any of them could even order anything, they were interrupted by a strong, deep voice. "Maria, I need you to do something for me really quick."

"Yes, Bob, I'm in the middle of doing something for you right now. Ya know, serving your customers?!" She replied in a smart-mouthed tone, yet she was trying to keep her voice normal and regular.

"Alright, I'll serve my customers while you do what I want you to do, sound good?"

"Okay, okay, fine…What is it that you want me to do so badly for you?" As soon as she said that, he went over to her and whispered something in her ear. Riven, Bloom, and Sky all tried to hear what he was whispering in her ear but didn't really succeed at the task.

"I had feeling you were going to ask me to do that today." The black-haired waitress said as she walked through the back door next to the kitchen and bar area.

'I wonder what she was asked to do…I guess it's just a work thing…' Riven had thought to himself while she left.

"Well since Maria is going to be working on something else right now, I'll take care of you all. Also, I'm very interested of how a king and queen are both in my diner at this moment." Bob mentioned to them.

"I just knew someone would say something like that to us today." Sky said, while Bloom and he laughed a little.

"So, may I ask what brought you here to my diner?"

"Oh, we're just here to catch up with an old friend of ours." Bloom answered. 'A very great, wonderful, and old friend, who has been lost and found.' Riven added in his mind that made him smile. Bloom had seen Riven smile and knew that he was thinking about something. Someone. Someone who she knew that Riven deeply cares about.

"I see. Hey, isn't your name…Um…Oh, what is it? I should know this. Let me think…River…Riven…Riven, that's it! It is Riven, right?!"

"Yes, it is, but how did you know?" Riven asked, not understanding how this man could possibly know his name. He didn't become famous, did he? I mean, sure, he's the boyfriend of the Princess of the Harmonic Nebula, but no one would note that he was to the public or anything, not even when she first went missing.

"I know your name from my nephew, Thomas Miller. He goes to Red Fountain, and every once and awhile when I hear from him, he'll mention you and how hard your class is."

Riven smirked at the last part that he said. "Yes, I know who you're talking about. Tom is trying his best in my class, just so you know, though."

"I feel so sorry for the students who have to take his classes…They must be in pain everyday. Those tortured pre-heroes…They probably want to die just to get out of his torture." Sky said, while all of them laughed.

"Oh, yeah, sure, you're really taking their orders, Bob!" They heard Maria say when she walked right next to Bob. Bloom, Sky, and Riven noticed that she had changed clothes. She was no longer in her uniform, but in clothes that you would probably exercise in. She wore a pair of black comfortable sweatpants, a loose, long-sleeved crimson red shirt with both sleeves off of her shoulders, a black tank top that you could see her wearing underneath her shirt, and a pair of what looked like cream-colored ballet shoes. She still had her shoulder-length black hair in a clip, making it look like she sort of had a short ponytail.

"Maria, even after having you work for me these years, I still have not figured out how you get ready so fast." Bob said to his employee standing next to him.

"Ah, yes, it amazes me as well. Except have you even thought that maybe, just maybe I use MAGIC?" She exclaimed, making her visitors burst out in laughter.

"Okay, smart one, you still haven't said why you're here."

"I'm here, because I work for you, Bobarino." She said, getting a glare from her boss and a laugh from the others. "Except I also came here to ask you if you wanted me to get the others ready so, do you want me to?"

"Yes, please do so." Bob said as she walked off. "Also, I told you never to call me that again!" He yelled, while you could hear a laugh from her not far away.

Not long after that, you could also hear her voice yelling, "Okay, everyone, you know what day it is! Get ready! Hurry!" Then you could hear lots of footsteps leaving the kitchen and seating area. This left Bloom, Sky, and Riven more confused than ever.

"You've definitely never seen anything like this before, have you?" Bob asked them. The three shook their heads. "Well, I guess you're all in for a surprise then." He said while smiling.

'Tell me about it…' Bloom thought and sighed.