"Quit your whining will ya, Kat?!"
Didn't she understand that following 2 incredibly fine guys took lots of concentration? On top of that, I was positive I had seen their faces before and I was busily racking my brain trying to remember. The one with the blonde hair looked more familiar than the other with the braid.
"If you want to quit, go ahead and catch a ride home because I'm staying and you still can't drive by yourself."
Kat was not pleased that I had brought up that fact. She narrowed her eyes at me, but allowed me to drag her into the nearest store because the cuties had turned around.
"Are they still following us Quatre?"I said as we turned back around.
He casually glanced over his shoulder,"Yeah. So what do you plan to do about it?" He stopped in front of a mirror to get a better look at them. I stopped to look too, they were pretending to look at something. I ignored his quesion because I didn't know.
"Does that tall one still look familiar to you Q-man?"
"She sure does Duo. I just can't place her though. It's annoying..." He squinted in concentration.
"What's annoying, them or your memory?" I asked him.
He chuckled."Just my memory. They're interesting. How long do you think they followed us before we caught onto them?"
I shrugged. Just for kicks though, I turned around and looked straight into the tall one's eyes. She looked calmly back into mine until I turned back around. It made me shiver, nobody had ever done that, not even Hilde... I shook off thoughts of her. It made me depressed.
Quatre nudged me and said,"Hungry?"
I smiled and said,"Always".
I couldn't stop shaking. Kat was worried.
"What?" she asked.
"There's something in his eyes...", I shook myself one last time, refused it could be happening to me again, and smiled,"You're right, they're probably on to us. Let's get something to eat shall we?"
We moved on to the food court, got our food, and sat down.
I was happily looking around when I caught a familiar pair of green eyes, and nearly choked on a French Fry. So did the green eyed guy. I drank some Coke, swallowed the fry and attacked Quatre.
"Holy crap! I thought I recognized you Quatre Winner!"
"Serena! Where have you been? I haven't seen you in years! You've grown so much, I didn't recognize you."
"So have you Quatre. I thought you were still out and about flying those damn Gundams."
Quatre and I hugged. Kat was obviously extremely lost.
"What the hell is going on Quatre? You know I hate being left out."
"Duo",Quatre smiled at me and the guy with the braid,"this is my favorite",I gave him a look,"er... only neice. She is the only daughter of my late next-oldest sister and her late husband. We think of each other as cousins though because we're so close in age."
Braid-guy turned to me and smiled,"So you must be 17 too."
I nodded,"My name is Serena Thompson", I offered my hand.
He shook it and I said,"This is my friend Kat", he shook her hand too.
I asked,"And you?"
"Duo Maxwell, I'm also 17." Then he looked into my eyes, and I recognized what was in his.
I was stunned. I didn't know Quatre was an uncle at 17, and I most certainly didn't know that his neice was the girl with the eyes... Speaking of her eyes, I thought to myself, I'd better get a closer look. They were a dark violet, almost black. They gave me the willies, but they were strangely beautiful. Almost like they had seen and their owner had been through intense pain and sadness, things I was no stranger to. Her eyes glazed over.
I saw madness and depression, pain and destruction, and chaos and death. I silently screamed, because I saw a black spirit in his eyes, a gundam. I recoiled in intense, silent pain. My head throbbed and my stomach roiled. I gripped Quatre's hand and buried my head on his shoulder so I wouldn't have to see those eyes. He looked at me in alarm. His face changed to caring expression when he understood.
"We'll be right back",he said to Kat and Duo.
We left the food court and sat down on a bench. I was relieved to get away from - him. Quatre held me firmly by the shoulders and shook me gently. His face was serious.
"What did you See Serena?"
I gagged. I fought for control of my mind so I could answer him. It wasn't working.
"Serena, what did you See?" Quatre's voice was firm and commanding.
I concentrated on it and managed to say,"What is wrong with him? Quatre, who is he?"
"Who? Duo?"
I gagged again.
"Good answer. Well, he was pilot, like me, during the war. Pilot of the Gundam", I shivered,"Deathscythe as I recall. Is that what you saw?"
I nodded."The smell of blood and death, the visions of violent war and insanity and the screams of the innocent as they die in pain. I don't like him, he frightens me."
Quatre laughed,"Why?"
I felt much better as the sharp, painful edge of the Sight faded from my mind. Quatre always had that effect on me. I thought for a moment and said, truthfully,"I don't know."
Quatre looked like he was thinking hard, so I let him. He snapped out of it shortly and said,"I know just the thing - this mall has a karaoke place."
He looked at me hopefully. I laughed and squeezed his hand,"Good idea. Let's get Kat and Duo."
I couldn't believe what I was doing, and yet, it was fun. We were singing karaoke, and we had been for at least 2 hours. Kat refused to sing so she picked or suggested songs to do. I had done one solo. Quatre had done 2 solos, 3 duets with Serena and a couple of boy band numbers with me. Serena was the queen of karaoke. She had done 4 solos (one request for each of us), had a hand in almost all aforementioned things (backup and such) and had even goaded Kat into a duet with her. During Serena's and Kat's duet, Quatre asked,"Will you do a duet with Serena? Your voices would really complement each other's."
I thought it would be fun so I nodded. Kat chose a song I was totally unprepared for, "Breathe" by Faith Hill, mine and Hilde's song, before we broke up that is.
I went with it anyway. The music started and I listened to Serena's clear voice as she started the first verse.
I can feel the magic floating in the air /
Being with you gets me that way /
I watch the sunlight dance across your face and I've /
Never been this swept away
All my thoughts just seem to settle on the breeze /
When I'm lying wrapped up in your arms /
The whole world just fades away the only thing I hear /
Is the beating of your heart
I joined her on the refrain. Our voices mixed together in perfect harmony. I smiled, Quatre knew what he was talking about.
'Cause I can feel you breathe /
Just washin' over me /
And suddenly I'm melting into you /
There's nothing left to prove /
Baby all we need is just to be /
Caught up in the touch /
Slow and steady rush /
Baby isn't that the way that love's supposed to be? /
I can feel you breathe /
Just breathe
I took the second verse.
In a way I know my heart is waking up /
As all the walls come tumbling down /
Closer than I've ever felt before /
And I know and you know /
There's no need for words right now
I should have been unhappy that I wasn't with Hilde anymore, that I was alone, yet again. I wasn't. I was happy for the first time in a long time, but I was confused too. Maybe it was her, I realized as I heard Serena's voice join mine again.
'Cause I can feel you breathe /
Washin' over me /
And suddenly I'm melting into you /
There's nothing left to prove /
Baby all we need is just to be /
Caught up in the touch /
The slow and steady rush /
Baby isn't that the way that love's supposed to be? /
I can feel you breathe /
Just breathe/
Caught up in the touch /
The slow and steady rush /
Baby isn't that the way that love's supposed to be? /
I can feel you breathe /
Just breathe/
We both sang the last part softly.
I can feel the magic floating in the air /
Being with you gets me that way
Kat was talking to me, but I wasn't listening. I motioned for her to shut-up.
Quatre pulled me to the side and asked,"Are you still scared of him?"
I grinned as I realized what he had done and said,"You conniving little munchkin. No, I'm not afraid of him",I sighed as I remembered what I had seen with the Sight,"just what made him this way."
As was his habit, Quatre lifted his hands to heaven as I made known this last revelation.
"Ohhh, heaven help us. You and your Sight,"he said smiling and gave me a hug.
"Speaking of The Sight, Quatre, there is one more thing I should tell you before the memory gets blocked - something bad is going to happen, the Sight showed me a bit... It has to do with the peace... I think it's going to end... I don't know for sure, just be prepared. OK?"I hugged him back, trying to look like I was only telling him about the weather. I hugged him, trying not to look at his face.
He gave me a phone number and explained,"This is my phone number, some other people live with me, but I should usually be there. Call me if you need anything."
He gave me one last hug, then turned and left with Duo.
