Clear Skies

Chapter 19: Sisterhood

"Do you hear that?"

In the car riding alongside me, Luna and Leo shared questioning stares. My words must not have gone unheard, then. I could hardly hear my own voice over the music.

Leo said, "Uhh, y'mean the engines?"

The rumbles of the vehicles were buried beneath the notes. I scanned the area. Devack's sign, the Monkey, was drawn against the storm clouds over flat, empty wasteland scorched by the Zero Reverse. Cusillu's tower lay on the west side of the B. A. D. area. The east held trash dumps hauled from New Domino City, where I'd first seen my partner's sign.

The tower Devack would be protecting was the only bump on the horizon past a dip in the landscape and a half-broken building. It was impossible, then, for the music to be as loud as it was for how far away those structures were.

"C'mon," I said. "This isn't time for a prank! Are you blasting the music into my helmet somehow?"

"We really don't know what you're talking about." Luna's brows knit. "There's no music. Trudge only has a police radio in here."

"Pretty lame if you ask me," Leo grumbled. He and Trudge started into a yelling match.

Luna kept her eyes on me. "What do you hear, Rain?"

Closing my eyes allowed better focus on the gentle tones. They were loud as my own thoughts. What instrument was that? In my mind's eye, the delicate balance between pressure and friction of taut strings waged their wars. I leaned up a little and opened my eyes halfway. "It's a violin."

"I don't hear anything like that."

I tried to make eye contact with Luna. Fuzzy lights sprinkled among the air whizzed past in a blur. The tiny spheres reminded me of fireflies on a summer night if they shone white rather than green.

My toes curled into soft grass. I blinked. I was standing underneath a brilliant blue sky. The serenity of the atmosphere left me closing my eyes and abandoning all worries.

No; this couldn't be right. I was on my duel runner. What would happen if I wasn't there for Luna? My heart thumped against my chest, and my fingers found their grip on my handlebars again. I shook my head and made sure I felt the air whip my long locks.

It made zero sense. One second I was here and the last I was standing in a grassy field? The melody kept playing in my ears, too. I felt split in two - like I existed in two places at once.

"Rain, look!" I could see Luna this time. A see-through Kuribon cuddled in her arms. She said, "The Spirits are calling me. That must've been it! A Spirit is telling you it's time like how Kuribon is here to take me to the other side!"

What made her think so? Last time, the Crimson Dragon sent me to the Spirit World. It must've been happening again. I didn't have a connection to Spirits like she did. There were my Blue-Eyes White Dragons, but they weren't gentle and serene like that place.

The violin's song grew louder and louder, reaching its crescendo. The enchanting song came to an abrupt halt. Then I heard it, a sound soft as the breeze in the dreamlike world: an exhale.

A voice even softer: "You're here?"

I glanced to the car. Luna disappeared in a grand pillar of light. Trudge slammed on the brakes while Leo screamed about the Spirit World. He started into yet another argument with Trudge.

"Yoohoo. Why are you staring off into space? Are you dreaming awake again, Rain? Ha. It's fine. I oft face the same affliction."

Her voice, the way her tender and caring words tickled my eardrums - she had to be right next to me. The area was empty besides the car with Leo and Trudge and the distant tower. I said, "Who's there?"