Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 19

First unedited chapter

"So...does this look like their house to you?" Fai inspected the building in front of him and Cade. "Because I'm sure it wasn't as loud as..." The redhead winced as another sudden smash of wood and metal on glass. "This."

Cade looked inside the brightly lit windows of the building. "Yeah...I'm sure they don't own a bar." The blond flinched away from the window as another cup splattered its contents on the glass. He grimaced in disgust, "Ugh, did we make a wrong turn or something...?"

Fai shrugged, "Probably. Should we retrace our steps or whatever?"

"No," Cade resisted the urge to slap the redhead, "that would take too long. It's already pretty late; lets just ask for directions inside."

"But..." Fai tilted his head, "don't people in big cities not know everyone? What if no one knows who we're talking about?"

Cade growled, "Shut it, idiot. We can do nothing but hope for the best."

Fai hummed, "Yeah, I guess so...and besides, it might be fun to visit a city bar. Never been in one of those before!"

"Just--just shut up and behave, please." Cade ran a hand through his messy blond hair. "Anyway, let's hope at least one person knows where Dalgon and Silvia's house is..." The blond took in a deep breath, then opened the doors to The Clockwork Dragon.

A sudden burst of sound knocked the two boys back a bit in a flinch, the doors swinging shut behind them. Well, too late to go back now...

Fai leaned down a bit--definitely not because he was slightly intimidated--and whispered to Cade, "Uh...who should we start with...?"

Cade cast his 'magical' detail-finding eyes across the room, not turning his head. He saw that some of the customers were giving the two of them strange looks; "We should...probably find a seat or something."

"Pfft," Fai snorted, "are we even old enough to be here?"

"...No idea." Cade led the redhead to a (luckily) empty small table in the front corner of the bar and settled themselves there.

"So..." Fai scratched the back of his neck, "what do we do?"

Cade ran a hand through his hair again, "We should just ask people and hope they understand us...this area has a different language, remember?"

"Oh..." Fai quietly laughed. "Right. So...I'll take the back while you get the front?"

"Fine by me," the blond replied, standing up from his seat. "Just...act mature. Please."

Fai waved him off, but otherwise agreed to the command. "Fine, fine. Jeez. I'll wait here until you're done."

Cade laughed nervously. "Heh, yeah." He turned to face the other people in the bar. "Yep..." He let out a shaky sigh, then lept into the fray.

After about an hour of asking, arguing, apologizing, and many other words that start with 'a', Cade finally came back to the small table Fai was occupying.

"Well?" The redhead flicked his eyes over Cade: the blond was clearly exhausted; his hair was even more tousled than before, and there were some parts of his clothes where another person had grabbed that were slightly torn. He also had a small cut on the side of his hand where a drunk man had suddenly swung around a broken beer bottle.

"What the heck do you think, idiot?!" Cade sounded completely done with everyone. "I haven't even talked to the other half of this stupid bar and I look like I just came from hell!"

Fai snickered, covering his mouth with his hand. "I'm sorry, but you look hilarious."

"Shut it!" Cade shoved a finger in Fai's face. "You try dealing with this!" The blond motioned to the others in the bar. He sighed heavily, then flopped into the chair opposite of the redhead. "Just...go." Cade waved a tired arm in the direction of the main bar.