A/n: ... ((sneaks in, and peers around)) Eh heh, hello! Long time no see... ((wave-wave, sweatdrop)) Sorry it's been so long, but, I've gotten caught up in a lot of things. Like, driver's ed - I started it yesterday. And then there's the fact that I got a major, major writer's block on everything I'm writing on...
Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own any of the FY characters, but I own Serap, Tyshawn, Lolinia, the evil girl, the Felinalk, some other things and characters, and I don't own Destiny, and some other characters that appear later.
"Hiya, Seraph, Destiny. What're you doing here?"
There was a tense, silent pause, as Kouji, the other bandits in the room, Lolinia, Tasuki, Chichiri, Taka, Miaka, and Yui looked between the boy on the floor, Destiny, and Serap. Des looked almost disgusted, Serap's expression was a mix between disbelief, relief, and extreme shock, and the boy's just plain looked like he had just done something wrong.
"Do you three know each other?" Miaka decided to break the silence, glancing between them. Her inquiry was just enough to break the tenseness, and Serap, who was still chibi, jumped up onto the table, popped normal, leaped off the table, sprinted to the boy, and tackled him. "I... I think that answers my question!" Miaka laughed slightly.
"Is it you! It can't be you! But it has to be you, it looks like you - but you're dead, it can't be you! But you know Des and my names, so you HAVE to be you!" Serap babbled, hugging the boy tightly, lying on top of him. It was really quite an odd sight, since they looked nearly identical. "You have to be... you have to be..." she whispered, looking up into his face, furrowing her eyebrows. "Please, tell me you are who I think you are."
"I... think I'm who you think I am, if who you're thinking of is your twin brother, Tyshawn." the boy replied, grinning up into her face, and upon his saying that, Serap's eyes widened.
"You are alive! I... I can't... believe it..." she tightened her hug, before letting go of him, sitting up, and crawling backwards off of him, forcing him to sit up as well. She examined his face critically, then his hair, then the rest of him. "Ty, I thought you were dead... Those guys, they took you and Starla..."
Ty nodded solemnly, with a shrug. "Well, Star and I thought we were gonna be dead, too. But, we were able to get through it alright..."
While the two were having their reunion, the group back at the table was watching in confusion. Taka turned to Destiny, a look of pure puzzlement present on his face. Des noticed this, and turned her head to him, sighing and crossing her arms. "What is it? You want to know about these two, or something? Well, if you do, you all better listen, 'cause I'm not gonna say it twice. I'm tired of explaining things about us to you dunderheads."
The others looked between each other, before separately looking back at Destiny and nodding their heads. "Okay, we're all listening, so please continue, you know." Chichiri said, and Des nodded back, wincing slightly at his speech habit.
"Alright then. It's kind of complicated, but I'll try to explain it so you will understand. First of all, don't repeat what I'm about to tell you, or I'm afraid I'll have to sick Sheilanis and Mauricette on you-"
"Who?" Miaka interrupted, looking confused, and in response, Destiny just half-smirked, chuckling evilly, to which Miaka backed slightly away from her, hiding halfway behind Taka, wondering if it was really a good thing to know who those two were.
"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you, and, besides, you'll probably find out soon enough." She stated, before her amused gaze turned harsh. "Now, if you don't mind, I will get back to the story. I'll tell you the short version, so I don't go too much into detail - that's her job. Serap, her twin brother, Tyshawn, whom you see in front of you, and their younger sister Starla's parents were killed when they were young and no one would take them in. They lived in the streets until a couple of thugs came across them, and were going to take them all back to their boss, but Serap fought too much - she's five minutes older than Ty, so she kinda thought of herself as her siblings' guardian, the idiot - and they nearly killed her, so they left her and took off with her brother and sister. Naturally, everyone thought them to be dead. Obviously, we were wrong, or else Ty wouldn't be here now." Des explained, motioning toward afore mentioned 'Ty', with a disgusted look on her face, as she mumbled to herself, "I wish he'd've just stayed dead..."
The others didn't say anything for a little while, somewhat surprised that much had happened to Serap - when she was a little girl, no less. "Wow. And you say that... that isn't detailed? So, that's not all? Poor Serap..." Yui said after a while, and Miaka nodded in agreement, now hugging Taka's arm and staring at Serap and Tyshawn, sniffling slightly.
"Why does everyone I meet from other worlds have bad pasts? But... wait, do you, Destiny?" Miaka said, looking to Des, blinking her large eyes, before biting her lip, and looking away. "Oh, I'm sorry... I'm being nosy... it's none of my business." she stated, feeling quite abashed and somewhat irritated with herself for asking such a personal question. Destiny gave the Priestess a startled frown, but it was only there for a fleeting moment, and it was replaced by a smirk that related that she didn't mind.
"That's okay. I'm not gonna tell you one way or the other right now, but I might later, if I feel like it. But, Serap and my pasts are very complex and perplexing, so it's kind of hard to describe them. You understand what I mean?" Des stated, and Miaka blinked, tilting her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I... think so... yeah, I understand." she said, straightening her head, and nodding, a sweet smile planted on her face. Des shook her head slightly, rolling her eyes, before looking back over at Serap and Tyshawn, who were busily discussing everything that had happened while they were apart. Meanwhile, Chichiri was thinking about what Des had told them, watching the twins closely, and Tasuki was pondering Des' answer to Miaka's question, examining her intently, trying to be inconspicuous. Needless to say, he was failing miserably.
After a while, the twins were still deep in discussion. Miaka, Taka, and Yui had gotten bored and began to talk amongst themselves; Tasuki was still watching Destiny, Des was getting irritated at the fiery red head - and was about to blast his hair off - Chichiri was still watching Serap and Ty; Lolinia was trying to drag Kouji off to a private room; and the rest of the bandits had left, this whole situation just going right over the top of their heads.
Finally, Des lost her temper at the red head, snapping her head in his direction. "Would you please stop staring at me?" she hissed, and it actually sounded a bit like a feline hiss.
Tasuki jumped, startled when she had turned so abruptly. He didn't even realize she had noticed his staring; of course, he hadn't been being as inconspicuous as he could've, and she was very perceptive. "Uh.. um... wh' should I?" he asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her. Yeah, tha's a real good comeback, Tas. He thought to himself sarcastically.
With an exasperated sigh, Destiny stood up from the chair had been sitting in, and walked over towards the fiery-red haired bandit. She reached him, pulled a chair out from the table, and sat down in it facing him. She stared directly into his face, with a completely serious look. "Tasuki. My.. Friend," she found that calling him a friend was even harder than she had previously suspected, "there are several reasons why should not stare at me."
"Oh, ye'h? Name one." he challenged, with a smirk.
She sighed, and shook her head in a pitying way. "Tsk, tsk... I credited you for at least having a peanut in that head of your's." she remarked, looking straight into his face once more. "A. Because I can whip you any time, any where. I mean, I've killed you before, in case that bit of information has slithered out of that void in your head. B. When men stare at me, it pisses me off. C. ... Well, do I even really need a C? The others explained it just fine." she stated, in an overly sweet tone.
He could tell he was in trouble; with the tone she was using, and with what she had said, it made it painfully obvious. "Oh. Righ'. Weeell, 'm 'fraid I sh'ld be goin', I jus' 'membered somethin'! Yer jus' gonna have ta whip me some oth'r time, huh?" he grinned, and jumped up, running over towards Kouji. "Kouji! Buddy, I needa talk ta ya'!" he exclaimed, grabbing Kouji's arm, and then using his speed to run through the stronghold and get to a private room where they could talk.
"Ji-ji!" Lolinia called, as her love got pulled away from her. She ran after him, her arms outstretched in front of her.
Destiny raised an eyebrow as the three ran out, and rolled her eyes, before walking over to the twin, who were still chattering away to each other. She reached them, and knelt down, resting on arm on Serap's shoulder, and one on Ty's shoulder. Both stopped talking, and looked to her in confusion. "Hello... Ty." she uttered, trying to keep herself at least a little bit pleasant.
"Hey, long time no see, Des! It's good to see you!" he grinned, an almost perverted tone to his voice. It was just enough, to make Destiny punch him in the side of the face. "OW! Hey! What was that for, exactly? All I said was that it's good to see you again!" Ty exclaimed, grabbing his swelling, bleeding cheek. Serap smacked a hand to her forehead, and muttered something quickly to herself.
"It was your tone of voice, dear Ty. It sounded much too suggestive." Des said, and decided that kneeling next to Ty was much too close for her comfort. She stood, and took a couple steps back. "Come on, you two, lets go eat or something. Plus, you're confusing the hell out of the others; if they're even bothering to watch and listen anymore." she stated, turning around and walking back over to the table, sitting down in her previous chair.
Serap watched Des walked away, then turned back to Ty, looking at the area that was swelling and bleeding. "Here, let me help." she said, reaching a hand out, and gently touching it. She muttered a few quick words of an unknown language, and as she did, the wound was touched by a gentle mist, that closed up the cut, and made the swelling go down. "There! Now, I have to introduce you to everyone else." she chirped, and hopped to her feet, grabbing her brother's hand, dragging him up and over towards the table.
She pushed him into a chair, and then pulled a chair out for herself, flopping into it, with a large grin spread across her face. "Okay, everyone, this is my twin brother, T-"
"Tyshawn Crescent."
"TY! I was introducing you!" Serap groaned, glaring at her twin, hoping that no one noticed the difference in their surnames. Miaka and Yui didn't notice, because they hadn't bothered to remember Serap's last name, since she didn't want to be called by her first name. But, Taka and Chichiri did notice.
"His surname is Crescent? But, I thought your's was Pottain?" Taka inquired, looking to Serap, then to Tyshawn. Ty blinked at that, and looked over to his twin sister with a questioning glance. She gave him a 'thanks-a-lot' look, and he sweatdropped, before looking over to Taka again.
"Yeah, well... our Mom's maiden name was Pottain, and our's Dad last name was Crescent, and there was this tradition like thing in our family that gave the females their Mom's surname and the males their Dad's surname. I mean, that's also how Destiny is! Her Dad's surname was Rhymeless, and her Mom's was Lorelei. But what does she go by? Destiny Lorelei!" Tyshawn explained, with a grin.
Taka, Chichiri, Miaka, and Yui were confused, but the world that the others came from was definitely strange, so it didn't really surprise them. Plus, there were some families in the Universe of the Four Gods and on Earth that did that, too; they just had never met any of them before. "Oh, I see... that makes more sense, now, y'know." Chichiri said, with a nod of his head. He thought about the other options, if that hadn't been the case; Serap could have been lying about her name, Tyshawn could have been lying about his name, Serap could have been married... No, no, she probably wouldn't have been married, she would have mentioned something about it, y'know! He thought to himself, mentally shaking his head.
"Well, anyway, now that's cleared up... Ty, this is Chichiri, Taka Sukunami, Miaka Sukunami, Yui Hongo, Ta..." Serap paused in her introductions, when her gaze landed on Tasuki's empty seat. She glanced around, then over to Destiny, with a frown. "Where did Tasuki and Kouji go?" she asked, motioning at their empty seats. "They were here when Ty got here!"
"Thing 1 had to talk to thing 2. And thing 3 followed after her dear Gigi." Destiny explained, leaning back in her chair, with her arms crossed over her chest. Serap nodded her head slowly, then looked to Ty, smiling in slight embarrassment.
"There are three others, Tasuki, Kouji, and Lolinia. Tasuki's one of our teammates - remember how I told you we're here to stop that evil from our world and we teamed up with people from here? - Kouji's his best friend, and Lolinia is Kouji's girlfriend from our world, that... well... she's really annoying. That's all I'm gonna say." Serap told Ty, and he nodded his head in understanding.
"Well, I can't wait to meet them." he stated, and looked to the empty table with a scowl. "Hey, why isn't there food on the table?" He looked back up at Serap, and she raised an eyebrow at him. "... What?"
"Hehe. Nothing, I was just wondering about that abrupt change of subject. You're probably hungry, though, huh?" she asked, and Ty nodded vigorously at her, his eyes widening.
"I'm hungry, too!" Miaka added in, to which she got a simultaneous reply from Yui and Taka about how she's always hungry. She grinned sheepishly, and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "I know. I just... have been even hungrier lately?"
"You know what? I'm hungry, too. I think we're all hungry." Des stated, and stood up, glancing around, before having her gaze land on of the bandits that lay on the floor, passed out. She walked over to him, and kicked him in the side hard enough to jerk him awake. "Do you know where the kitchen is?" she asked him, and he blinked up at her, before giving her pretty detailed directions for him being drunk. "Thank you." She then turned, and walked towards the door, to take his directions. He watched her for a moment, before grinning, and standing up, following after her.
"Uh... oh..." Serap said to herself, with a gulp, looking around at everyone else. "Methinks that bandit is going to be killed..." she said, looking back towards the door. "If that grin on his face had anything to do with his intentions."
Meanwhile, as most of this was happening, Tasuki ran to the leader's room, and tossed Kouji in, slamming the door and locking it. Kouji stumbled over to the bed, then turned around and sat down on it, looking over at his best friend in confusion, wondering why he was acting so strange. Normally when he had to speak to him, Tasuki would lead him to a room, and then he would just go into the room and they'd talk. He was never dragged to the room, tossed in, and locked in.
"Okay, Genrou, wha's wrong?" he asked, as Tasuki glanced around, and then pointed towards the open window. He ran over to it, and slammed it closed, looking around once more for any ways for someone to hear inside the room. Kouji was becoming nervous by the way his best friend was acting, and reached up, scratching the back of his head. "Um.. Gen, wha's goin' on?"
"Oh, nuttin', Kouji!" Tasuki clarified, pulling a chair up in front of blue older bandit, and sitting down on it, giving him a serious look. "Okay, now, onta business. I saw th' look yeh had on yer face when th' 'Linia girl kep' drapin' herself all ov'r ya'. Ya' don' really like 'er, do ya'?" he asked, and Kouji jerked backwards a little, a startled expression spreading over his features.
"Wha'... no, 'f course I like 'er! Sh's my girlfrien', why wouldn' I like 'er?" he exclaimed, and Tasuki quickly clamped his hand over Kouji's mouth, shushing him.
"Dun' be so loud! Sh' followed us!" he hissed, glanced towards the door. "Which's why I took us ta' THIS room, 'f course! I's th' closes' thin' to soun'proof the stronghold has." He glanced towards the door once more, then took his hand off of Kouji's mouth, motioning for him to be quieter this time.
"... Why shouldn' I like Lola?" Kouji asked, crossing his arms and glaring at Tasuki. The red head didn't answer, but just continued to give Kouji a blank look. After a moment, the blue haired bandit sighed, and hung his head slightly. "Was I really tha' obvious?"
"Well, ta' me ya' were, bu' I have known ya' for years, an' yer my bes' friend. I dun' thin' anyone else noticed." Tasuki stated, with a frown, and reached forward, grabbing his best friend by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. "Bu' why are ya' goin' out wit' someone you dun' even like! 'Specially when sh's an annoyin' li'l... GAH. Too annoyin' for words!"
"Sh's threat'nin' me." Kouji said, grabbing Tasuki's arms, and glaring right back into his best friend's widening eyes.
"A... wom'n's threat'nin' ya'? Buddy! Wha's wrong wit' ya'? Ya' shou' jus' kick 'er out! Or, better yet, I will!" Tasuki exclaimed, and tried to pull away, but Kouji held onto his arms tightly, not letting him get away.
"Don' do it, Genrou. Sh's vicious. An' she has frien's that are jus' as vicious. If I try ta' kick her out, or tell anyone... sh's gonna sick 'em on me. An' I've met 'em. They gave me a demonstration." he whispered, almost fearfully. Tasuki looked down at his best friend in shock, and sat back down.
"Kouji.. Why didn' ya' tell me abou' this sooner?" he asked, and his friend just shook his head, giving him an exasperated look.
"I tol' you arready. Sh's vicious, and her FRIEN'S are vicious."
"We've gotta get rid of her..."
As he said that, he heard the door slam open. The two bandits jumped, and looked around quickly, to see the one they had just been speaking of, standing in the doorway, her arms crossed, and a sugary sweet smile on her face. "I hear you've been talking about me and my friends, Ji-ji. I thought I told you it was impolite to talk about people behind their backs?" she snapped, her voice losing it's normal sweetness, as she walked in, closing the door behind her gently.
"... Uh oh."