Title: Pieces of Blue - Chapter 10
By Ashley Delfín
Notes: I liked this chapter, lots. But there's a few things you should know:
1) "paffed" is when something fluffy hits something else. (It goes "paf")
2) Esper and Lancelot in this chapter are a sort of gift for kaie, who rocks. Hi, kaie!
3) Remember the forum!

---

Amis had gone along with Quinoa on various of her shopping sprees and survived. She had accompanied Amaranth while he searched for the perfect shirt for a date and her patience had not failed her. It had been on the brink that one time Matt took her along to choose a present for his girlfriend, but she had managed to keep herself from killing him. However, if she had to go into yet another shoe store so that Laura could try on every pair of women's shoes ever designed and then not buy any, she would have to take drastic measures. If forced, she was sure she could add a tazer feature to her cellphone in less than three minutes.

"No, this blue is too... ocean-ish," Laura said, and Amis wondered how is it that Laura didn't realize this before he asked to try on several sizes of the same shoes.

"Did you like the red ones better?" the salesgirl, whose mood was almost as good as Amis', asked.

"Not really," Laura said, taking off the shoes and putting on her own. "I'll have to think about it, we'll be back later."

"Okay," the salesgirl said, her face not really managing to show just how happy she was at seeing the two of them leave.

Amis stepped out and put on her cap again. Why couldn't they have gone to the mall? The downtown shopping district was nice and all, but it was way more enjoyable at night, when you did not have the sun shining down on you. She silently cursed Cee Cee for having to work at her parents' store when she should be helping her think of a way to murder Laura and not go to jail.

"Those shoes were so mundane," Laura said, looking at the pair they had on display in the window. Amis bit her tongue to avoid mentioning the fact that just half an hour ago she had referred to the same pair of shoes as "indescribably adorable".

"I don't really need shoes anyway, I have like twenty pairs at home," Laura said, sitting besides Amis. "It's just that trying on shoes has always been therapeutic for me. It's a girl thing, don't you think?"

"Don't think so. I usually just walk in and out of shoe stores. Amaranth is the one who ponders over buying a pair of shoes for an hour or so," Amis said. It took a lot of effort not to add that at least her brother thought about it while they did something else and then went back to the store. He also didn't make a habit out of torturing salespeople.

"Well, Amita, you should try it sometime," Laura said, not noticing Amis skin getting goose-bumps. "Amita" was a nickname Amis had always hated.

"Look, why don't we got some coffee or something? We should take a break from our shopping." Amis took care in not mentioning that in their five hours of "shopping" they had not bought one single item.

"Seems like a good idea," Laura said, standing up. "Right after I take a better look at those lovely pink slippers!"

Amis sighed and followed Laura into the next shoe store. She hoped that Amaranth was making himself useful back at the house. He, and the rest of the team for that matter, owed her big time for doing this, and she was considering to only accept a blood offering for her forgiveness.

---

Back at the house, Amaranth was in his room. He sat in his desk, several teddy bears looking in on what he was doing.

"I know you want me to use red string, but Laura said I should use the black," Amaranth explained to Cherry Chocolate, who was standing with arms crossed in front of him. The bear had obviously gone through some rough times. One of his eyes was a blue button, the other was bright pink, and several patches decorated his rich brown fur. His left shoulder was beginning to come apart, and Amaranth had offered to fix it, since he was remarkably good at sewing.

"But you do have red, on your back. I don't want Laura getting angry at me, she's difficult enough as it is," Amaranth said. The bear just turned around and sat down, obviously not content with Amaranth.

All that Amaranth could think was that he had judged too early when Cherry Chocolate had said he would help him and wasn't angry or anything. Unlike those that could not talk to teddy bears, he had to first ask the bear to go inert so as not to hurt it. This was proving to be quite a problem with Cherry Chocolate.

"Fine, I'll use the red, but if Laura gets angry at me I'm so not going to free your thought essence when she's forgotten you," Amaranth said. One of Amaranth's teddy bears paffed him on the leg, telling him that was not, at all, funny. That, however, seemed to please Cherry Chocolate, and immediately he fell on his side, inert. Amaranth quickly prepared the needle and thread and soon enough he had fixed Cherry Chocolate's shoulder. Once he had set the bear back on the desk, it stood up again. The other bears looked relieved and one of them even did a sort of gleeful jump.

"Do you like it?" Amaranth asked, and after a few seconds of closely examining the work, Cherry Chocolate nodded. "Great, so, now will you help me?"

Cherry Chocolate shook his head and turned his back towards Amaranth. "Why?" Amaranth asked.

The teddy bear pointed at Amaranth's door.

"You want what?"

---

A flash of ochre was seen crossing the hallway in the second floor of the Alegria Manor. In one of the guest rooms, a platypus awoke.

Lancelot felt something was about to happen, something random. He poked Leonard with his beak, trying to wake him up. Leonard, however, just threw a pillow on him and turned around. Lancelot could feel whatever-it-was coming closer. He poked Leonard again, this time harder. This got him thrown off the bed. The platypus, now annoyed, waddled up the bed and creatively used his tail to slap Leonard on the face.

"Ow, Lancelot what are you-" Leonard sat up, and was instantly thrown back into the bed by a very amiable person dressed in ochre pants and shirt who was now grinning widely at him.

"Hi," Esper said. "Do you like squirrels? Or do you think they are too conniving?"

Leonard was thoroughly confused.

"I think 'waffles' is a funny name for something you eat," Esper went on, apparently not expecting an answer from Leonard. "So's 'cilantro'." The boy rolled over and ended up sitting besides Leonard.

"Esperanto, right?" Leonard said, before Esper could go on. "Good morning."

The boy smiled, nodded, and pulled in an unsuspecting Lancelot for a hug.

"Where's Roberto?" Leonard asked, noticing the other bed in the room was empty.

"Cee Cee had to go home," Esper said, looking quite disappointed. "Robbie took her away."

"Right," Leonard said, deciding he should get dressed. He grabbed his watch from the bedside table and looked at the time.

"This can't be right," Leonard said. "It's half past noon?" He turned to look at Esper, who simply nodded at the same time he tied a baby blue ribbon around Lancelot's neck.

"Why didn't anybody wake me up?" Leonard asked, hurrying into the bathroom.

"Well, Cee Cee had to go polish crystal balls, Roberto drove, Quinoa went to church, so did Matt, and Amaranth is in his room talking to Laura's teddy bear while Amis distracts her with shoes and smoothies downtown," Esper answered, and then proceeded to pick up Lancelot in his arms and stood up. "Breakfast?"

"What about Mr. and Mrs. Alegria?" Leonard asked coming out of the bathroom. He had changed from the pajamas Matt had let him borrow (although why Matt had emergency pajamas in Amaranth's house was beyond him), and now was wearing the jeans and t-shirt he had been wearing the day before.

"His office, her garden, kitchen is unguarded!" Esper said, walking out of the room. Leonard followed him, making a mental note so that he would remember to ask Amaranth how did he managed to keep up a conversation with Esper without being totally confused.

"So, Amaranth's home?" Leonard asked.

Esper nodded. "The other day I dreamt a wombat was dancing on his head, which must mean the tutu design must be giving him a headache," he said as they walked down the stairs.

"Do you ever make sense?"

"Yes, but then the mermen come flirt with me."

---

"There's nothing wrong with the pants. The pants are perfectly okay," Amaranth said to Cherry Chocolate. The teddy bear was looking in the mirror at his new fireman outfit that Amaranth had made for him. Amaranth stood towering behind the bear, his arms crossed and his face showing just how frustrated he was.

"The jacket is almost done," Amaranth said, sitting back at the sewing machine. "I'll have to add the logo later, though."

Amaranth, Cherry Chocolate, and several of Amaranth's teddy bears were in Amaranth and Amis' study. The room had a few bookshelves and a lot of windows. It was right by Amaranth's and Amis' rooms. Although it was supposed to be a place for both of them to study, lately Amaranth had taken it over to work on designs for his portfolio. He had to get serious if he expected to be accepted into the Fashion Design Institute. Besides, Amis hardly used the room at all, since she had her computer and most of her books in her own room.

"The robe will take me a little while, but it'll be done today. You're going to have to wait on the tuxedo, though, I'm all out of black fabric. Here, try this on," Amaranth said as he handed the fireman jacket to Cherry Chocolate. The bear turned to look at him and many of the other bears put a paw to their mouth, as if to suppress laughter.

"I'm NOT a goth," Amaranth said. "I wear black most of the time because that's my uniform. And this," he said, pointing at his face, "is not makeup. I was born this way. Besides, even if I was a goth, that wouldn't have to mean I have a bunch of black fabric lying around in case a bear asks me for a tuxedo."

The bear crossed his arms.

"Okay, so the black lipstick and nail polish don't help, but I just use them because it looks cool," Amaranth said. "Most of my wardrobe is colorful. It just happens to be dark colors because they look good on me." He pointed at his current outfit, which was a pair of dark violet jeans and a dark green T-shirt. "Now, will you tell me what you saw the night of the robbery?"

The bear took off the jacket and inspected it.

"The seams are fine. And I care because we think whoever robbed your house wasn't human."

Cherry Chocolate turned to look at him, the rest of the bears seemed a bit more interested.

"Yes, well, we figured they were monsters. What we want to know is how they got in."

The bear looked around, his gaze landing on the other teddy bears in the room.

"My bears live with me, Amis, and have met Esper. You'd have to really make an effort to make them think you're insane," Amaranth said, his mouth twitching despite his efforts to remain serious.

The bear looked at his paws and then back at Amaranth.

"They just appeared in Laura's room? But wouldn't you have felt them when they walked in?" Amaranth asked.

The bear nodded, then turned to see the mirror behind him.

"Sorry, I know it's hard protecting your owner," Amaranth said, kneeling down. "But, then they just left her room?"

The bear gave a light nod and sat down. The room was silent for a while, Amaranth just staring at Cherry Chocolate's back. After a minute or so, Amaranth nodded and stood up.

"They ran into her room and disappeared again," Amaranth muttered. "Nobody noticed them come in, not even you."

Cherry Chocolate turned to see him.

"So you did feel them when they ran back in? Why didn't you wake Laura up?"

Cherry Chocolate stood up and waved his arms.

"They walked right past her? And she didn't see anything when you woke her up..."

Amaranth was silent for a moment. Cherry Chocolate sat down, shaking, so the a couple of Amaranth's bears went and sat by him. Amaranth looked at Cherry Chocolate one more time and then walked out of the room, heading straight for his room and kneeling by his bed. He turned to look at his teddy bears, which were all looking at him, took a deep breath and looked under the bed.

Empty, if not for a couple of shoe boxes he had put there.

"Amaranth?"

Amaranth looked up and saw Leonard holding Lancelot in his arms. He could hear Esper humming something on the couch. He could've also sworn that Lancelot looked annoyed. Although if he was the one wearing the ridiculously big blue bow on his neck, he would be annoyed as well.

"You lost something?" Leonard asked.

"No, I was just- I mean, yes, I did, I lost-"

"A monster!" Esper said, entering the room and instantly leaping on the bed.

Amaranth blushed.

"You lost a monster?"

"No," Amaranth said, standing up. "I was sort of looking for one, I guess, but I didn't lose it in the first place."

"A toy, you mean?" Leonard asked, stepping into the room. "Do you need help looking?"

"Living beings are not toys," Esper said, looking very stern.

"And yet you had no problem playing dress-up with Lancelot," Leonard said, half-smiling at Esper.

Esper just shrugged and then hid under the covers, making sounds like a train. Although it could have also been the sound of a warthog with a bad cold.

"You afraid of monsters under the bed?" Leonard asked, looking back at Amaranth.

"Nah," Amaranth said, smiling. He was still blushing, but at least he was now able to talk to Leonard in coherent sentences. "I never really did believe in those. The closet, however, is a whole other story."

"That's the problem with monsters, they can come from anywhere," Leonard said, letting Lancelot down on a chair.

"But first," Esper said, appearing from under the covers and hugging Amaranth's waist. "They must get out of your head. Your HEAD. HEAD! BED! TED! Where's Ted?"

"Study room," Amaranth said. Esper instantly ran out of the room.

"Who's Ted?" Leonard asked.

"One of my teddy bears," Amaranth explained. This brought Leonard's attention to the shelves behind the younger boy, which had to have at least fifty teddy bears. Leonard stepped a bit closer to look at them.

"You collect them?"

"Sort of," Amaranth said. "It's complicated."

"And you have more?"

"Like five or seven more," Amaranth explained, not sure of what Leonard would think of it. He was also thankful for the fact his bears knew to stand still when he had visitors.

"That's cute," Leonard said, turning around to face Amaranth.

"Not as cute as you think," Amaranth said, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, you're cuter than I though at first," Leonard said, stepping closer to Amaranth.

"What do you mean?" Amaranth said, smiling nervously.

Leonard however, did not respond, he just inched his face closer to Amaranth's. Amaranth closed his eyes and then Esper walked into the room.

"LIVE!" the boy said as he threw all of the nine teddy bears that had been in the study at Amaranth and Leonard. "LIVE!"

"Esper, what are you- oh, gods," Amaranth said, seeing that Cherry Chocolate was standing up, dusting his fireman outfit. He grabbed the teddy bear before Esper could and held it behind his back. While Leonard could handle his teddy bear collection, Amaranth wasn't sure sure he would take walking teddy bears that well.

"They are not moving!" Esper said, shaking a teddy bear. "They... they are..."

"Inanimate?" Leonard asked.

Esper took a bear and walked over to Amaranth, who was having a hard time holding Cherry Chocolate in his hands. The little bear was squirming.

"Please, stop that," Amaranth said to Cherry Chocolate, although it had seemed he was talking to Esper. The boy was trying to make Amaranth's teddy bear move by almost hitting Amaranth in the head with said teddy bear.

"IT MOVES!" Esper said, taking Cherry Chocolate from Amaranth's hands.

"Esper, give that back!" Amaranth practically tackled Esper.

"Unfair! Gingerbread makes me weak and you know it," Esper yelled back, keeping Cherry Chocolate from Amaranth's reach.

"Esper, if you don't give-" Amaranth didn't finish the sentence he sat back and held his head.

"The bear must be taken AWAY!" Esper said, running out of the room.

"Amaranth, you ok?" Leonard said, kneeling besides the boy.

"Yeah," Amaranth said. "I just got a headache all of a sudden."

"You want some aspirin or something?"

"No, I'm okay," Amaranth said, smiling. He stood up, and although he did need a little of Leonard's help, he felt okay once he was standing up.

"What?" Leonard asked, looking down.

"I said, I'm okay," Amaranth said, following Leonard's gaze. He saw Lancelot, standing below them waiting to be picked up.

"Yeah, sorry," Leonard said, picking up the platypus. Both of them were silent for a while.

"Damn, I've got to go home," Leonard said, looking at his watch. Lancelot looked angrily at him.

"I do!" Leonard said to the platypus, then he turned to look at Amaranth and looked sheepish.

"Whatever, I talk to animals all the time," Amaranth said.

"Heh, yeah, I still feel silly, though."

"Amis says that you should only worry when they start talking back."

Leonard laughed. "Good one, I'll go get my car."

"I'll walk you to the garage," Amaranth said, walking to the door.

"Sure," Leonard said, smiling. "And, hey, maybe we could go out sometime. You know, hang out."

Amaranth nodded.

"Great, then we can talk and stuff without being interrupted."

Amaranth laughed. "Yeah, Esper's timing is impeccable."

"Well, at least he didn't say something else about his fabulous blue friend," Leonard said and rolled his eyes.

---

A couple of hours later, Amis entered the study room. Once she was in she saw Amaranth standing behind Laura's teddy bear, who was trying on a rich purple robe in front of the mirror.

"That's a cute robe. Why don't I get one?" she asked.

"You don't have important information to hand to the team," Amaranth said, turning to see her. "How was shopping?"

"Awful," Amis said. "No wonder Cherry here didn't mind skipping out on it."

The teddy bear scratched his head.

"He says he's sorry. He should've warned you," Amaranth said. "Where's Laura, anyway?"

"She's downstairs with mom and dad. I offered to run up to get Cherry," Amis said. "Where's Esper and Leonard?"

"Leonard left a few hours ago. Esper's parents came to pick him up not too long ago," Amaranth answered. "Did you go to Cee Cee's while you were downtown?"

"Yup, and if I ever bring Laura back into her store she'll personally beat you up for allowing me to be friends with her in the first place," Amis said, smiling.

"Why me? Why can't her rage be directed to someone else? I really should get her a boyfriend for that," Amaranth said as he put away Cherry's new clothes in a box and handed it to Amis.

"I don't think a boy that can resist Cee Cee's strength exists just yet," Amis said, taking the box, the bear, and walking out. "Maybe we should ask one of wrestling team guys."

"Don't bother," Amaranth said. "I once suggested that to one of them and he just cringed due to the memory of his last match with her."

"Yeah, but that guy called Cee Cee 'girly'. You can't do that and get away without some pain."

Amaranth laughed, a little.

"You okay, Amaranto?" Amis asked.

"Yeah, my head's a bit fuzzy though. Cherry Chocolate accidentally thought-tortured me," Amaranth said. Cherry Chocolate looked down.

"How does that happen?"

"Well, he was aiming for Esper, but I was in the room," Amaranth explained. "So it hit me too."

"I'll get some sweets for you while I'm downstairs," Amis said. "That's as long as mom hasn't changed the hiding spot, of course."