Washed Away: a Macross 7 fanfic
By yutamiyu



DISCLAIMER: They're not mine. They belong to the Gods of Macross, whoever they 
might be.


Mylene argues with Basara...



I can't STAND being a member of Fire Bomber.

Not when our lead vocalist constantly shows up late, 
leaves early to go sing in battle, and, most
 importantly, puts me down.

As he is now.

"I worked hard to get this gig!" I exclaim at Basara,
 who is in some sort of funk. "We're struggling as it
 is! And we need higher paying gigs so Ray can pay off
 the repair bills from the rental ship that was destroyed!"

Basara, of course, doesn't appreciate me enough. He hates the gig.

I don't recall giving him a choice.

It's not like it's HIS band.

I agreed to this job on the marine resort ship 
Riviera, because of the salary. My mother, the mayor
 of the Macross 7 ship, was delighted that it was so
 close to the fleet. She also insisted that Gamlin go
 along as well, on his vacation.

Wonderful. I have to balance a potential fiance with a
 moody singer, and hide them from each other.

"Our music isn't for people who need a way to kill
 time," Basara quips, not bothering to look out the
 window at the beautiful scenery that lies out there.

Oh, right. He was talking. I probably should have 
listened.

I kick at his foot angrily and run ahead to find our
 rooms. I can't want to put my stuff down and go for a swim.

Ray chases me down and pulls me back. I whip around in anger. "What?"

"Our gig is in a half hour. You don't have time to run around."

I pout. Life can be really unfair sometimes.

We head for the banquet hall and unpack our equipment,
 tuning our instruments. Basara and I keep our distance from each other. I suddenly hear Veffidas
 beginning to seriously play her drums, and Ray
 joining in, and I realize that the concert has
 started.

Basara greets the audience, and starts to sing one of our more quickly paced songs.

...Not what I agreed to, but we'll see where it goes.
 Maybe he's just trying to get the crowd excited.

...Surely Ray told him about the details of the concert...right?

When the concert finally ends, I am mortified. Our
 playing was the exact opposite of what I had agreed to
 with the manager of the ship. I couldn't stop 
thinking about the bewildered expressions on the faces
 of the audience, and berated myself for not making sure that Basara knew the format of the performance.


Ray's not one to let things slip. Basara knew what the
 concert was about.

I angrily march into the band's room and find Basara 
sitting in a chair nonchalantly, his arms raised above
 his head and pillowing it, relaxing.

"You ruined it!" I scream

He doesn't even look at me. "What?"

I move to his other side in hopes that I can catch his
 gaze. It doesn't work; he still doesn't look at me.

"You ruined it!"

"It's the audience's fault if they weren't into it," he says simply.

"You're wrong!" I ball a fist. "I said we'd sing nice ballads when I agreed to take this gig!"

His eyes meet mine, and all I can read in them is confusion. "What's that about?"

"What do you mean, 'What's that about?' You went right
 into playing only fast songs!" As if he didn't know.
 He's playing with me, and I'm extremely pissed off.

"It's all right," he says, turning away from me again.

"It is not!" I yell.

"Ray," Basara says as an afterthought, turning towards
 our fellow band member. He instantly stops fiddling 
with his fishing pole. "You knew about this?"

"Yeah," Ray says, and turns the crank on his pole. He 
doesn't want to get involved in the conversation. 
Basara gives up on Ray and turns back to me.

"You kept playing all those fast songs," I say, 
bringing my voice down in an attempt to calm my anger.

"Shut up, already," he says, turning away from me. "I'll sing the songs I want."

Mr. High and Mighty has spoken. You heard it right
 here, Mylene; you have no authority over this band.
 You're just a back up singer and bass guitar player.
 You're not a person, you're merely an employee.

It's really hard to keep my temper around someone like Basara Nekki.

I put my hands on my hips. "Fire Bomber isn't just your band," I say harshly.

His eyes meet mine and I can see rage boiling in them. "Then whose is it?" he snaps.

I lean into his face. "It's all of us!" I keep staring
 into his eyes and watch as the fury subsides, to be
 replaced with...

...what?

He turns away from me quickly, and shuts his eyes. "It's your fault for getting a gig like this."

I have just hit rock bottom. That is the absolute last straw I will take from this odious person.

"YOU SELFISH, IRRESPONSIBLE, INCONSIDERATE JERK!" I scream. "Why don't you think of the band a little?!"

I see his body twitch slightly at my rantings and I 
realize that I have somehow broken through the 
defenses and gotten to him.

Ray places a hand on my head. I didn't even know he 
had gotten up from the couch. "Just let it go," he 
says calmly. "Let's go for a swim."

He leaves, and Veffidas follows him, silent as ever. I 
heave a sigh, and drop my head. "Look," I finally say, 
in a voice much calmer than the one I have been using 
recently, "it's not going to do us any good if all we 
can do is argue." 

He grunts in affirmation.

I'm trying. I really am. I can't help it if he's going 
to be a self-absorbed jerk about everything.

"I'm going out...are you coming?"

"I'm going to take a nap."

I nod. "Would you take care of Guvava for me?" I ask, 
and my little pet pops out from within the forest of my hair.

He rolls his eyes, and holds out his hands. "Give him to me."

I smile, and hand Guvava over to the singer. "Thanks!" 
I call out to him, smiling, and running out the door.

I run until I reach the shore, humming my song the 
entire way down. I run straight into the tide, and 
rejoice that I finally have time to myself; time to 
relax. I quickly dive into the water and come forth a 
completely different person. I backstroke through the 
water, delighting in the feel of the warm sunshine 
gracing the exposed part of my body.

I see a hulking figure on a rock nearby and know that 
it is Ray. I stop swimming and stand in shallow enough 
water so that he can see me, andd wave. He smiles, and 
waves back, and takes another sip from his can of 
beer. He casts his line into the water.

I hear clinking and look towards the shoreline. I see 
Veffidas banging away on some sort of metal tins that 
she has found, an amused audience surrounding her. I 
laugh. Even on vacation, Veffidas enjoys her work even more.

I see a waterskiing booth nearby Veffidas and decide 
to check it out. I am determined to enjoy myself. I 
will waterskii later on when I have had my fill of swimming.

I will forget about Basara.

That cold, insensitive jerk.

That caring jerk.

I shake my head and dive into the water once more, and 
reemerge on my back, simply floating and letting the tide take me where it will.

And sigh in relaxation as all my anger at Basara is 
washed away by the rolling waves.

~End~


AUTHOR'S NOTE: If this dialogue sounds familiar, that's because it is. It's taken directly from episode six. Aren't I terrible? ^_~

BY Yutamiyu