"Well, let's hope we stumble on the seventh one later, then," Matt said. "I imagine all of them together would give you a big boost in confidence!"

"Let's just hope it doesn't cause us any more problems than we already have," R.D. said, nodding. "I'm going to go put this away. Don't need to get it stolen."

Looks like R.D. completely missed that reference. Eh, he had amnesia. No wonder. "All right. We'll keep an eye out for any others." Matt turned around and trudged back to the water.

"So what is it?" Alasea said, looking up a bit more, her arm crossed over her breasts so as not to expose herself.

"Guido tripped over a Chaos Emerald out in the water," R.D. said absentmindedly, moving back to her side and allowing her to lay back down once more.

"Eh? One of them was here?" Alasea asked while looking over, surprised. R.D. nodded and handed the gemstone to her. She turned it in her hand, looking through it as it glinted. Ileyna was also sitting close by, staring at the gemstone. "Wow. Guess we were pretty lucky then."

"How many do you have now?" the younger girl asked as Alasea handed it back.

"Six. Ondal said that there were seven in existence... hopefully we'll find the last one soon," R.D. replied. "Maybe then we'll see why exactly he wanted me to find them in the first place."

"Guess so," agreed the teenage girl. "Now, R.D...."

"Hmm?"

She pointed a thumb back. "Can you finish up, please?" she said, giggling slightly when she heard him sigh.

Late afternoon gave way to beginning sunset. Matt was still playing in the water with Speedy, who had finally given Lucille a chance to hang out with the other girls. Helena didn't know where Guido had gone to. Maybe he was strolling along the shore like she was.

Helena stopped gently, sand wedging between her claws. Was R.D. nearby? She shot a quick, strafing glance across the area looking for him. It was getting easier to ignore the stares from the other beachgoers. It was a tradeoff - they thought she looked strange, and vice versa. The idea gave her some comfort.

Some ways down the beach, closer to their campsite, splashing could be heard as both R.D. and Alasea were coming out of the water, completely soaked. Both of them had diving goggles hanging around their necks. Both of them seemed to be talking, but from the distance, Helena couldn't hear what they were saying, even with her better hearing.

Alasea laughed at something R.D. said before saying something else, then turned and began making her way back to the camp. R.D. watched her go, keeping an eye on her as she pulled out the red ribbon holding her hair in place, letting it cascade down her back. His gaze remained on her for several moments before he suddenly shook his head and turned away, looking around for something.

Helena crossed past a family of dogs packing up for the day and approached R.D. as his head was turned away from her. "Hey," she said. "What're you looking for?"

R.D. turned as he heard Helena's voice call out. "Oh, hey," he greeted, lifting up a hand. "There you are. I was just looking around."

"Matt's out swimming with Speedy, in case you're wondering." Helena glanced out towards the ocean as well, thinking she'd spot him. When he didn't immediately show, she said, "I'm kinda hungry. You want to get some ice cream?"

R.D. looked at Helena for a moment. "Sure," he said. "You see a shop around?"

She pointed past him. "There's a group of booths past the dressing rooms. One of them should be selling ice cream."

"Alright," R.D. said, wiping water away from his brow with one arm. "Let's get going then."

They walked up the beach to the dressing rooms, which stood on a wooden platform flanked by stairs and covered by pyramid-shaped sections of roof. The platform stretched a good distance, and animals roamed around on it purchasing from the vendors. The ice cream vendor, appearing as a large bison-type creature with squinted eyes, nodded in recognition as the two walked up to his booth.

"Can I have two scoops of mint chocolate chip?" Helena asked. The bison grunted and slid back the glass panel in his display shelf, taking a cone to slap the scoops in.

"So how're you getting along?" R.D. asked, after ordering his own ice cream cone. It was fairly obvious between the two of them what he was asking about. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah," Helena said. The bison reached out with her cone and Helena gently wrapped both sets of claws around it like a precious, fragile vase. "I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm doing okay," R.D. said after a moment, looking down as if contemplating the cold snack he held in his damp hands. "Just trying to keep my mind off of things like Ileyna, Magister, and Re-Tuul."

All of them serious issues to contemplate, really. What with Ileyna possibly being forced to take the Omega Core, dealing with the monster he and Matt unwittingly unleashed, and being hunted by Re-Tuul, a demon out for his blood--and the only link he has to his forgotten past. The same monster that had already seriously hurt four people, two of them dear friends, just to get at him.

"After all, that's what this little vacation's about, right?"

"You needed a break more than the rest of us. What with everything that's happened." Helena bit into ice cream and the rim of her cone with a loud crunch. "Hold this for a minute, would you?"

"Sure," R.D. said, accepting it. "What're you going to... do...?"

What a fine time for his head to split open with pain. He winced as a low ringing in his ears began to rise up in pitch. "Agghhh..." He narrowed his eyes, trying to squeeze them shut, as the light from the setting sun did weird things to his mind as it shone behind Helena. Thanks to the weredragon's movement, it was like it was flickering.

Flicker.

===

"Come on, you're so slow!" the girl said, a hint of a laugh in her voice as she skipped ahead of him. He frowned a bit as he watched, her red hair bouncing a bit with each skip.

"I'm going fast enough," he said, sounding a bit indignant. "I swear, Mesia, you're always rushing through everything."

Mesia spun about, grinning at him while sand on the beach they were at was kicked up a bit. "Yeah, so?" she said, looking at him with bright blue eyes. "I just want to have fun! I need to. You're no fun at all."

"Hey! I can have plenty of fun!"

"Nooo, you can't!" the redhead giggled, spinning about again. She looked at him over her almost bare shoulder and stuck out her tongue at him.

The two quickly made their way over to an ice cream stand, where a rotund-looking man with a thick black mustache served them up some ice cream at Mesia's order. While they stepped away, each with their own ice cream cone, Mesia perked up as she saw a couple of girls she knew walking across the beach, talking amiably about something. As per her energetic self, the girl whipped around suddenly, whipping her hair around, as she held her cone out to him. "Hold this for a minute, would you?"

"Why?" he asked as he accepted it from her. The girl turned and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Hey, girls! Over here!" she shouted before waving her hands wildly over her head as the two girls looked her way. She turned back around and took her ice cream back from him, smiling in thanks. "Looks like my friends are here! You gonna come with?"

"Er..." Well, the other girls were pretty cute, but they were also Mesia's friends. That could spell all sorts of disaster. Quickly, he gave the redhead a quick once-over. She was clad in a black bikini, with wide frills running along the curve of the top's cups, and large bows hanging between her breasts and from each hip. Confused, the girl gave him an inquisitive look at his own disapproving gaze.

"I should go with you to keep you out of trouble," he said. "What with the way you're dressed."

"This is fine!" she said, grinning. "Come on, its just a bikini. And its hardly my worst."

Okay, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what she meant by that statement. "Still, I don't want all these guys drooling all over you. Who knows what they could do."

"Oh, they won't do anything," she said, turning back around and smiling at him.

"What makes you say that?" he said, following after her, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"I know you'll protect me!" she exclaimed, the movement of her body causing the sun's light almost to flicker around him. "Isn't that what a big brother's for?"

Flicker.

===

R.D.'s eyes shot open, the vision ending abruptly as he stumbled back a bit, only regaining his balance at the last moment.

Edited by RisingDragon on January 28, 2010 at 2:07:48.

"H-Hey, what's wrong?" Helena asked. She laid a claw on R.D.'s shoulder. "You okay?"

R.D. shook his head violently, trying to dispel the nausea suddenly clawing up through him. He took a step backwards, slipping away from Helena's claw. He couldn't really see her, with his eyes so out of focus. His mind was still reeling, replaying the memory that had cut through so suddenly.

Brother? Big brother?!

He closed his eyes as his skull pounded with a growing headache.

So... Mesia... she's my...!

He grunted in pain, squeezing his eyes shut before breathing deeply, letting it all out in a ragged breath.

"I think so... now," he finally said. He almost kicked himself for the lie.

R.D. must have seen something powerful...did the ice cream trigger one of his memories? Matt told her he was an amnesiac, but it never came up until now. "What happened to you?" Helena asked. "Tell me."

R.D. shook his head--slowly, so as not to aggravate the headache he'd developed. God, this was just like taking the Hartnetts to Africa, when he had used Chaos Control. "I'm fine. We'll talk about it later."

If he was going to talk about it all, he'd might as well tell everyone so he didn't have to tell it a second time.

"You sure you want any ice cream?" Helena said. "We could sit down if you want."

"Yeah... Yeah," he said, stronger the second time. "That'd be okay with me." He quickly handed back Helena's ice cream cone and massaged his forehead with the now-free hand. "Let's go find somewhere to sit."

"Hold on, I gotta pay." She struggled with the button to her little purse - hard to do with one claw. Looking back up, she found the stern, quiet expression the bison wore. "Sorry for all the trouble," she said, reflexively flashing a nervous smile.

"It's fine," the bison grunted. "Just as long as I get my monies." Finally Helena discovered one of the white bills Polly had given her and slipped it out. "Much appreciated. And be sure to tell everyone my ice cream doesn't actually give you headaches."

"I will. Thanks!" Closing her purse, Helena looked down the boardwalk, spotting an empty bench. "There's a good spot. Come on." She led him towards the bench, claw on his shoulder in case he slipped again.

R.D. sat down on the bench, a bit heavily than he would have liked. His head still hurt, and knowing his luck, aspirin wouldn't work on him this time as well.

Maybe Matt was right about him. He really needed to loosen up and unwind a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Helena asked, sitting next to him. Her claw draped over his hand. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"Really, Helena, I'm fine," he assured her. "Its just not easy getting a lost memory back."

"Well, if you're sure," Helena said. "I guess I'm lucky I never had to go through that, huh?"

"Yes, you are," R.D. said. "I've only had one moment like this beforehand and it made me come pretty close to overshooting with Chaos Control."

Boy, the Hartnetts weren't thrilled with that, were they? "Its not the most pleasant experience."