Life and Soul Reunited

by CypherCA

Chapter 14 at last. After the Macbeth final, term paper, open house. *is thwaped with Magic Bubble Wand*

BlizzardBlaze:: *holding MBW* Finish the intro and get to the fic!

*rubs head* Fine. Oh, that’s BlizzardBlaze. I’d like to thank her for helping me when I get writer’s block. Okay, on to the fic.

Chapter 14: First Day in a New House

Richard woke up, stretched, and suddenly panicked when he didn’t recognize the room he was in. Then, he saw his brother in the bed next to him and the events of the previous day flooded his mind. He looked at the alarm clock and hurried out of bed. <I must’ve been tired to sleep till 5:30.> He quickly put on his clothes from the day before and crept downstairs, trying not to wake anybody. As he stepped outside, he ran right into Sage, knocking them both down on the wooden patio.

“What the hell-” Sage yelled.

“Keep it down Sage!” Rich retorted quietly but sternly, “Do you want to wake the others?” He got up, brushed himself off, and offered a hand to Sage, who knocked it away.

“What’re you doing up?” Sage demanded quietly while picking himself up.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Rich responded.

“I live here. You don’t. Answer the question.” Sage ordered and Rich sighed.

“I usually practice at five, but I slept in. So, now I have to practice longer to make up for lost time.” Sage’s mood lightened a bit at the word ‘practice’.

“Mind if I join you? I like to practice early too.” <Maybe this kid won’t be so bad after all.> Rich bit his lower lip.

“Um, you can come, but I really prefer to practice by myself.”

“How about I just watch for a while. Maybe we can practice together after you warm up.” Rich shrugged and headed towards the field with Sage on his heels. When they were about fifty feet from the house, Rich stopped and started stretching his diaphragm. Sage frowned. <He’ll get cramps if he just stretches those muscles. Something’s going on...> Rich stopped the exercising and took a deep breath as Sage finally realized what Rich was practicing.

“His going in the army
Is the best thing he can do,
Now you’re free to start to do,
What you wanted to.”

Disgusted with himself and Richard, Sage turned and headed back to the house.

“Morning everybody.” Rich said as he walked into the kitchen. Everyone looked at him. “What?”

“Where were you?” Mia asked. Rich gave a questioning glance at Sage, who decided that his breakfast deserved more attention than Rich.

“Well, you could’ve asked Sage where I was, right Sage?” Sage ignored him. “Anyway, I didn’t want to wake you, so I went out to the field to practice.” Rich suddenly noticed a certain someone absent from the table. “Where’s Ro?”

“Still sleeping.” Everyone said simultaneously.

“Still? Do you want me to wake him up?”

“You can give it a shot, sure.” Ryo said. Rich turned and went upstairs. Kento shook his head.

“That was cruel Ryo.”

“As long as I don’t have to do it, I don’t really care.” Ryo answered before continuing with breakfast.

Rich walked up the stairs to Rowen’s and his room. <I wonder why Ro is still sleeping. He can’t be that hard to wake up.> Rich opened the door and saw feet and blue hair. The rest was hidden under sheets and a large quilt. <I wonder where the alarm clock went.> As Rich got nearer to his sleeping brother, he saw the alarm clock, or more accurately, its remains. <I don’t think that’s a good sign.> Rich thought about how to wake up his brother. First he tried calling his name, rubbing his back, everything that his mom used to get him up. <Guess I’d better try my other methods.> A mischievous smile spread across his face. He first pulled Rowen so he was at the edge of the bed facing away from the door, then tucked the quilt in, and got on the door side of the bed, opened the door, came back, and leaned over his brother.......

Everyone looked up when they heard a scream, then looked again as they heard Rowen scream even louder, then looked at Rich, who had just run through the door and sat at the table, acting as if he’d been there all morning. After about five minutes, a very ticked off Rowen came through the door.

“I want to know who did that to me and I want to know NOW!!” Everyone, including Rich, stared innocently at him. When no one answered, Rowen threw up his hands in disgust and muttered some choice words under his breath as he headed for the shower. When they heard the shower running, Cale asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“Richard, what did you do to him?” Rich smiled innocently and went back to his breakfast. When he was done and rinsing his plate in the sink, he finally answered.

“Simple. I just yelled ‘fire’ in his ear after making sure he would be tangled up in his sheets and quilt after he fell off the bed.” Rich turned to the stunned faces. “Let’s just say that working and being an actor has taught me to get people up creatively.” He left the kitchen after thanking Cye for breakfast. Dais broke the silence.

“That is one smart, dangerous, kid.” The others just nodded and continued to eat breakfast; making silent vows to never oversleep, ever.

Rich sat down with Mia, Kayura, and the Book. Rowen, Sage, and Cye had gone to get some of Rich’s stuff from his apartment and the others were outside practicing on their own.

“So, how come you can read this?” Mia asked. “Not even the Ancient’s Staff can decipher it.”

“Well, have you ever heard of Riven?” Both of the girls shook their heads no. “Myst?” Again, both didn’t know. Richard sighed. “Let’s just say the company that made those games also created the D’ni language. Rediscovered? They didn’t say so except in their little introduction, but it was fiction anyway. That’s why I was and still am kinda skeptical about this book.”

“Oh. Well, just translate it please.” Rich sighed again, turned to the page that had the picture, and started reading the caption out loud with Mia recording everything he said.

“Ro, how come you never told me about Rich?” Sage asked Rowen quietly. “I mean, all those years you talked about your pen-pal, why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Cye politely tuned out the conversation to let the two friends have privacy.

“Well, I just.....I didn’t......I had my reasons Sage. And I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, but-”

“Is this the place?” Cye suddenly interrupted, pointing to the apartment building.

“That’s it.” Rowen pulled into the underground garage and used the permit Rich had given him, though he had no idea how Rich had got it, since he couldn’t drive yet. They went up to Rich’s apartment and both Sage and Cye stared at how big the place was. “Okay. Cye, get the CD’s and tapes from this list,” he handed Cye a list, “they’re in that cabinet over there. Sage, in the library, go and get these books.” He handed Sage a list of titles. “I’ll be in his bedroom getting clothes, toiletries, and such.” They all went to do their separate chores

Richard rubbed his eyes and looked at the ceiling. “Mia, Kayura, we’ve been doing this for six hours. Can I please take a nice, long, break?” They had gone through only about a quarter of the book. So far, it was more like a set of rules than a book describing an ancient legend.

“Fine. We’ll work on it again tomorrow.” Mia said without looking up from her laptop. Rich got up and went to the kitchen to finally get some lunch.

<They didn’t even stop for lunch. It’s three in the afternoon. Even when I’m on a roll, I stop to eat. How can they not be starving.> He heard a car pull up as he was putting the finishing touches on his cheese sandwich. <That must be Ro and the others with my stuff.> He picked up his late lunch and headed for the front door. <Maybe I can get some sparing with Ro in before sundown.> He watched Sage, Cye, and Rowen carry his bags up to the room he and Rowen shared. “Thanks guys.” Sage again ignored him, Cye and Rowen smiled. Rich smiled back and continued eating his lunch.

“Well, that’s all from my suitcase.” Cye said and turned to his two companions. “Mind if I go start dinner?”

“Go right ahead,” Rowen replied. Cye left and Rowen closed the door behind him before turning to Sage. “Alright, why are you giving my brother the cold shoulder?” Sage visibly tensed and turned to Rowen. “Well?”

“I’m still upset that I lost to him, okay?” Rowen looked hard at his best friend before shaking his head.

“There’s more. What is it?” Sage remained silent. “Are you still upset that I didn’t tell you about Rich soo-”

“YES!” sage screamed. Rowen waited a moment, to make sure no one was coming in, before continuing.

“Sage, don’t tell anyone, especially Rich, but I didn’t say anything about Rich or Mom because of.......Dad. You know how he got after Mom left.” Sage knew, all too well. He knew about the alcohol, the beatings, the neglect, everything. He remembered every single time Rowen slept at his house because he was afraid to go home. He remembered lying to doctors about where all the bruises on Rowen’s back had come from. He remembered every little detail about Rowen’s abused childhood, and the answer suddenly clicked in his head.

“You didn’t tell me because you wanted to protect Rich from your Dad, didn’t you?” Rowen nodded his head solemnly. Sage turned from Rowen to the window, and looked at the evening sky, thinking about this revelation. Then, Rich burst into the room.

“Look alive guys. Dynasty soldiers are headed here and I don’t think they’re coming for Cye’s cooking.” All three boys ran outside in sub-armor and joined Ryo and Cye in fighting the army of empty armors on their lawn.