Yaffa Part 4

"What is this place?"

Yaffa questioned stunned at what she was looking at. Down beneath the basement was a large metal door with a fifty-two combination lock.

"How long will this be?"

"Just be quiet, it takes a while to enter all the codes."

"What could be so important for someone to create something so tedious?"

"It will make sense once you see."

Just as Jimi finished, the hatch to the door opened. A wall of pressurized air shot out from beneath the framing as the door slowly pulled upward.

"Wow!"

"Cool huh."

"What is all this."

"It's ancient technology. Stuff people used a long time ago. I think Father said something like 'Arcade'. I believe that is what they're called."

"Holy crap there's so many, it just keeps going."

"Here."

Jimi handed Yaffa a purple plastic card with a large neon 'X' label on it.

"What's this."

"It helps you pay to play. You can't play without using the cards."

"Cool!"

"L. come on, I got one for you too."

"Alright."

"So what do you guys wanna play first?"

Yaffa was jumping up and down, running through the halls, and before the two boys could see the sight of her, she was gone.

"Dammit! Why is she acting like a damn monkey?"

Lull then tapped Jimi on the shoulder and gave a low whisper.

"What?!"

"I was just wondering if you're still upset about the shirt."

"Lull I'm not stupid. If she stays over, which she'll probably try to do, then I'm gonna ask elder sister what she wants to do about it."

"Really, how mature of you."

"Oh shut up, stop tryin' to be all smug."

Lull gave a soft laugh as he simply smiled softly.

"L. stop that, you're creepin' me out, man."

"Fine." Lull then shifted his face into an indifferent aloofness.

"It's really weird how you can just do that."

"With practice, it ain't too hard."

"Why would one practice... that?" Jimi gave a light pause, truly trying to think why anyone would practice that. 'Does Lull wanna be an actor when he grows up?'

Whilst Jimi went back to his consciousness, Lull began to look around, noticing hundreds of claw games. In one of them which seemed full and quite unused were a bunch of shirts. Many different colors and designs.

"Hey!"

"Ah what?" Knocking Jimi out of his thoughts, Lull yelled, "Look!"

Jimi quickly ran up, a panicked face took over him as he dashed to see if anything was wrong. Nothing was wrong.

"Haah... Haah... What the hell man, I thought that pink demon possibly attacked you, but instead your just looking at a damn claw machine. Wait a damn claw machine, when did we have claw machines?"

"I don't know, this place is huge, maybe some of the staff reorganized and we finally found them. The only lights are from the machines, so it makes sense why we haven't seen any out of the hundreds that are here."

"Ya I guess so... Lull don't..."

"Ya, we'll get your sis a new shirt, and these ones are way cooler too."

Most of the shirts inside the machine were rock and roll related, a few were of other genre music, but most followed into that rock to the heavy metal motif.

"Seriously."

"Ya, big sis has gotten bigger, just as we have. She kept it in a box rather than donating it. I remember she did wear it a lot huh? At least the times I've come over to visit, anytime she was at the house I would see her wearing it."

"Ya, but when she left for the academy she only wore her uniform or more traditional clothes."

"Even though Yaffa tucked it in, in a few years she'll probably fit in it, and Yaffa is a little smaller than me."

"So you want to give her just a gift?"

"No. We'll give her a gift. Gifts aren't just for birthdays or special gatherings."

"I guess your right."

"So don't be too upset. We'll also ask Yaffa if she wants to keep the shirt and if big sis will let her keep it. Like a small trade."

"What! Why are you giving her that shirt?"

"Well, why not? If big sis says it's okay, then I see no problem. Not just that, most of the money was from my hard work, and we're already going to give big sis an even better gift. Worst case, all we do is give her ten shirts instead of one."

"Huh." 'I can't believe. One, I've never seen L. talk for so long, two argue, and three calls eldest sister Theia big sis. I've kinda just been ignoring it. But well Lull seems to think it's fine. So I'll just take him up on the offer.' "Alright then, let's crane some shirts!"

"Okay, but how do you play this again?"

"Are you serious?"

***

"I request you step back."

"I'm sorry but I can't do that. The protection and taking of the princess are under my care at the moment."

"I see, well I will not draw anymore more hostiles as long as you stay put, until young master and his friends are finished playing."

'Ha, what the hell is she saying? Playing, why would Yaffa ever play, especially with boys? Well, she is a bit of a rough girl, but she wouldn't play with some stupid, spoiled, and rich brats.'

"I see. Fine, I'll stand put."

"..." 'She's probably going to contact one of the higher-ups, possibly that woman. If she calls the head, then this could become quite troublesome.'

[Godmother, can you read me]

[Yes Tania, have you finally gotten Yaffa]

[Umm, well not yet. It seems I've run into a problem. I've encountered Mildred, and she's guarding the 'captors']

[Captors?]

[Well from what I saw and gathered, it looks like she went with two individuals, one being the youngest of the Xyken family. I don't know who the other one is though]

[Alright. Head back]

[What?!]

[Yes. You'll die if you fight her. If you get past her, you'll most likely have to harm the child. Yaffa is crafty, she'll probably use one of them as a shield. That could be a problem. Once you arrive back, give me the coordinates and stay put for the rest of the night. This boring party is almost over, so I'll be taking most of the family members back to one of the villas. Staying there, we'll then in the morning get Yaffa]

[Understood. So you think the young miss will stay the night here?]

[Most certainly]

[Alright well I'll head straight back immediately]

"Have you finished your talk?"

Tania opened her eyes, and with a brief sigh, she turned to the broken window and jumped out of it swiftly darting through the forestry towards the center of the estate.

"Well then. Shall I clean up?"

***

After forty-seven tries, both Lull and Jimi accumulated twelve t-shirts, mainly ten for Theia and two for each of them.

"Nice. Lull we... hah, did it."

"Really, how the heck is pressing a button and moving a claw so exhausting."

"Seriously, my head hurts and I feel like just going to sleep."

"YOOOO!"

"Ack!" Jimi's eyes popped up, jumping back like a frog, hitting his head against a machine behind him.

Above him was Yaffa standing with a sachel of prizes. Looking full of energy she hopped down landing in front of the two boys who were sitting in exhaustion.

"Why do you guys look like you've been battling it out for hours, we haven't even been here for that long."

"Whatever... I'm tired, Lull you tired too huh? I'm gonna ask Mildred to lay out some mattresses upstairs. Yaffa... Ugh, can't believe I have to ask." Jimi then took a quick look at Lull. Lull simply responded with a slight nod. 'This jackass.' Coughing slightly Jimi prepared his throat.

"Would you like to stay over tonight?"

"What?! You not planning anything, are you?" Her face had a look of pity and disgust, like looking at a mutt with no home, but still too gross to take with her.

"Shit! Stop looking at me like that, it wasn't my damn idea. You were probably going to anyway, so don't act like it's some type of demonic decision!"

"So it was you then?" Looking at Lull with eyes of burning irritant.

"Well, the banquet is most likely over. Or at least coming to an end. Considering you are the only child that was at the party from the other side, it must mean you are somewhat important. Yet they never came to look for you. This place is big, but it ain't 'that' big. Also as Jimi said, you were already thinking of at least hiding here even without the approval of anyone on the premise. So rather than staring with a look of disdain and disgust, you can politely say thank you and we can all go to bed."

Yaffa just looked at him blankly, her eyes were wide and open, and her jaw looked like it was about to drop. Turning towards Jimi she asked, "Did he eat something funny, what the hell happened when I was gone?!"

"Don't ask me, he's just being like that."

"What the...?"

"Well, shall we all get going then?"

Jimi got up, brushed himself off lightly, and picked up the shirts, taking six and then throwing another six to Lull. The two then began to start walking.

"Wait!"

"Ugh, what now?"

"Are neither of you gonna ask about my crazy prize hall?"

The two just looked at her with droopy eyes, then turning without saying anything they began to just keep on walking without a word.

'Now your gonna ignore me! They really have a death wish!'

Jimi and Lull were in front as Yaffa held in the back lugging her enormous amount of random things in one of the specialty bags she had won. They all just kept walking to a bright exit sign. As they were moving through, a jolt snapped at Yaffa's neck, then swiftly looking around, she saw it.

'Holy shit! An artifact. And a high-quality one at that. I can't believe it, how the hell is something like that in a place like here.' Yaffa began to look through the glass as she kept watch of everything around her, then tried to slide her card...

"Hey."

"AiKKE! My GOD, you scared me. I feel like my chest is going to rip open." 'How in the, I couldn't even sense his presence, well I was distracted. Anyway...'

"What are you doing, Jimi is already at the door. We kind of wanna go to bed, so unless you want to be trapped in here I recommend you hurry up and come with us."

"Ya but..."

"But what?" Lull's tone became more monotone, sharper and deep, like the very bottoms of the darkest waters.

"Well, ya see..."

"Spit it out."

"I want that whistle! Okay!"

"A whistle?"

"It's not a normal whistle."

"Is it now?"

"Yes!"

"Fine. Step back."

"Huh, what are you going to do to win it fo..." Just before she could finish a loud bang cascaded across the air.

Lull's left fist smashed through the machine, glass shards and torn metal scraped against his flesh as he quickly tore out the 'Pink Whistle' inside.

'What the fuck! He just, he... I... What do I even say? What am I even supposed to think.'

"Here."

Lull handed Yaffa the whistle, its pink sheen glistened with the chaotic lighting of the machines around. The flickering luminescence of the destroyed machine faded up and down across Yaffa's face. She then grabbed the whistle slowly as Lull's blood slipped off of it.

'This definitely wasn't the way I wanted it, but that's okay I suppose.'

She looked up at Lull from her hands clasping the whistle, the small chain connected to it dangling between her fingers.

Lull's face was dark and emotionless, like a dead fish, plain and cold. His speech was like a dry metallic robot.

"Let's go."

Before she could realize Lull had grabbed her wrist tightly with his bloodied hand, running frantically. The loud blaring alarms sang as the beating rhythm of the swooping red lights spun.

"Shit! What the hell were you two doing!"

Jimi was standing by the entrance as he yelled, swinging his hands madly. His voice could not be heard, as the two were running as fast as they could, soon down the hall they dashed down, bullets hailed. Zig-zagging between lanes the bullets could only graze Lull's flesh. Anytime a bullet came near Yaffa he would throw over a limb or two taking a hit without question. Yaffa's mind was in a complete panic not able to process what was going on.

Soon the two reached Jimi as giant spikes came crashing down at rapidly high intervolves. Lightly puncturing Lull a few times, in the moment of the last few incredibly quick and sharp blades that rained before. Lull glided beneath the floor, skidding across as he grabbed Yaffa pulling him over his shoulder and with the momentum chucking her past Jimi's face through the entryway.

Lull pushed with all his might digging from his heels to his toes, stretching his arm out as Jimi stretched his. The two quickly snatched each other's hand as Lull dislocated and ragged left arm slapped his side, both boys dropping past the line of the door.

Lull began to heavily pant as he was filled with holes seeping with blood. His left arm was completely mangled. Rolling off of Jimi's chest he slapped his back against the ground as Yaffa jumped up in a panic.

"What, are you two..." Yaffa knew not what to say, looking as if tears were gonna pour down her face, with an undulating panic she quickly passed out.

"Lull... oww. Shit, your crazy, you're seriously crazy." Trying to roll over to look at Lull seemed impossible, it seemed that Jimi's back had given out. And just as his consciousness began to fade, Mildred was in his vision, then everything darkened steadily.

***

In the morning with a bright light of naturality, Lull pulled himself up from his bed. Sitting straight he looked out the window with dreary pain.

'Everything hurts.'

Then came bursting through the door were Yaffa and Jimi, both feeling as if they sensed it. They were right.

"L. you're awake!" Jimi darted for the bed as he hugged Lull. Lull squeezed out a low wheeze.

Spoken softly he said, "Jimi, this hurts."

"Oh shit, sorry."

"It's fine. Yaffa stop standing there. Visitors don't just stand."

Jimi turned to look with a deep scowl as Yaffa still seemed to have a panicked look of fright from nights prior.

"S-sorry." She spoke meekly.

"I know what you said, but I couldn't hear you."

"Do you really..."

"Bitch! You better, this whole thing wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you!"

"Jimi relax, I was the one who smashed the machine."

"Huh."

"Oh, you didn't know? Hmm, I guess the machine was a bit far from the entrance. Well, I destroyed it out of my own volition, really speaking Yaffa has nothing to be sorry for other than greed."

"Well if you say so. But you still wouldn't have broken it if it wasn't for what she wanted."

"Relax. Yaffa come here."

She then staggered over as if expecting to be scolded by her parent.

"Do you have it?"

"Have what? Oh, uh ya, here."

She then pulled out a shiny pink whistle with a rosy chain.

"So this is the thing you wanted I couldn't get a good look last night... Hmm did I say something wrong?"

"Well you've been out for about three nights, so I wouldn't call it last night."

"Okay. Well doesn't matter much. Here Yaffa you can have it back, it's pretty, so it suits you quite well."

"Uh, t-thanks."

"You're welcome."

Lull then looked around and asked.

"So did anything else happen?"

"I got scolded to high heaven, I'm grounded and my black card is on hold. Other than that, I gave the shirts that were a mess to a dry cleaner and then gave them to Theia. She enjoyed them, at least I think she did. She went off on an expedition yesterday. Oh and here, I've been holding onto it till you woke up."

"Oh ya the shirt."

"You said you liked the revolver one, so here ya go."

The revolver shirt was simple and clean, a black shorter-sleeved t-shirt with a semi-large picture of a white revolver. Above it says 'Nobody wins' and below it was, 'but I!' and on the back was a large reflective '7'. Lull liked it, particularly because it was simple and soft, and reminded him of a quote he read once.

Yaffa only looked at them, no real reaction taken, though a slight confusion was adherent to her eyes.

'That shirt is weirdly like him and not like him. So odd.'

"Trying to think what else, oh ya, Theia was glad to, ugh, I just remembered what she said. Well anyway, Yaffa got the shirt."

"Oh really, congratulations Yaffa."

"Um, it's not much to celebrate."

"Not much to celebrate, do you not know how awesome my sister truly is? Or are you just that dumb not to realize?"

'I'll admit she's strong, definitely for her age, even Godmother admitted it. Though that's kind of it, nothing more nothing less.'

"I know how awesome she is, I'm just speaking purely on the shirt, and it's not like I don't like it."

"Well whatever, just stay away from my family."

"What? Why should I?"

"I'm not gonna explain it to you." 'Because they're already thinking as a consequence of my actions that I'll have to marry your insane ass. I'd rather die by my sister's hands than ever commit such evils. Though I'm not gonna tell her that.'

"Well that's good, but what about you, Yaffa?"

"Ah w-well, just the usual, a slap behind the ears sorta thing." 'Well if they call intense training and physical torture activities as a slap behind the ears, then I guess I'm not lying.'

"This is good, this is good. I had fun. Though I wish not to run for my life ever again. Jimi I'll head out after I eat something, so help me up."

"Alright."

Jimi stood up taking Lull's arm and wrapping it over his shoulder. Lull limped gently out of the bed as the two headed to the door.

"Well, it was good seeing and meeting you Yaffa. When the year of school starts, we may see one another more often."

"Lull stop talking and pick up your feet, you're heavier than I thought!"

"Ah, my bad."

"Hurry!"

"Okay..."

Their voices faded down the hall, Yaffa gazing at the empty openness around her.

"Ya."

Spoken inaudibly.