What if Ichii and Zero didn't save Nina because Nina didn't swallow the pearl? What if a girl named Julie did? Let's find out.
I walked out of my favorite candy shop not wanting to wait to eat the candies I just bought.
"Why don't we go to that coffee shop and eat these candies." I said to my two friends walking beside me.
"Great idea." They both said. Then we all walked a short distance to the coffee shop. We ordered our drinks and then sat down at an outside table.
All of us reached inside for a candy. Suddenly we all felt something fall from the sky but couldn't find anything out of place.
"Did something just fall?!" I said while looking around.
"I thought something did but I don't see anything." My black haired friend said. We all looked at each other confused not knowing what had fallen if anything fell at all. But quickly dismissed it.
I reached in for another candy. The candy I picked up was pink and shiny.
"I didn't know they made these candies in pink?" I said confused.
"Maybe the candy shop is trying to get more business so they made them in pink." My red haired friend says.
"I guess." As I look at the candy it sparkles. It looks somewhat peculiar looking but it has to be candy so I plop it in my mouth. It doesn't taste much like the other candies. In fact it doesn't taste like anything at all.
As I try to eat the candy I was suddenly startled by a swarm of people somehow flying down from the sky right towards the coffee shop.
Everyone started running away from the building. All I could do was stand in shock as I closed my eyes waiting for the painful impact when suddenly...
"Defense magic!" Someone yelled. I was so startled the candy forcefully went down my throat.
I opened my eyes cautiously to see two boys one with brownish red hair and the other with blue hair. The brown haired one has made some sort of barrier that is deflecting the flying people away.
"Get her out of here Zero!" The brown haired one says. The blue haired boy I now assume is Zero picks me up bridal style and starts running.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Put me down!" I say as I struggle in his arms but his grasp just gets tighter.
"Shut up, we are saving you." Zero said giving me a glare.
His words hit like a hammer. He was saving me. Suddenly scared I wrapped my arms around his neck and closed my eyes. I was relieved that I was wearing shorts instead of a skirt.
...
When his body slowed to a walking pace and then to a complete stop I opened my eyes. We were by the docks with no one to be seen but us. Staying in his arms feels uncomfortable.
"Um...can you put me down now?" I say nicely. His face turns red as he stutters out…
"Oh..uh..yeah..sure." Zero said embarrassed. He put me down and was about to talk when a white car screeched to a stop right beside us. This made me jump.
"Sorry, you got pulled into this. I don't know why the examines would go after you though… Well anyway I'm Ichii and this is Zero."
…
…
I didn't know what to say. This is all to confusing.
…
Zero seemed to suddenly remember something as he turned to me.
"Have you seen a pink crystal pearl anywhere?" I have to think for a moment. I don't remember a pearl just that candy from earlier.
"Well, there is this candy I had but it didn't exactly taste like candy and it was pink." I mumbled to myself.
Zero ignored my response thinking nothing of it. He turned to Ichii.
"Check the finder." Ichii pulls out a plastic teddy bear with a light on it. When he points it at me the light starts flashing and the little machine says "Crystal pearl found" Over and over again.
Both boys look at the bear in shock. I start to back away slowly from them.
"You actually swallowed the pearl without even realizing it! Do you know how important that pearl is. Without it we can't become full sorcerers!" Zero yells this at me. I'm terrified by his temper. With every step he comes closer to me I move back. He looks as if he wants to strangle me.
Thank goodness Ichii stops Zero and calms him down. He looked like he actually would have hurt me just then.
"I'll call headquarters and find out what to do." Ichii steps off to the side and I can't hear anything he says. Zero looks at me with a displeased look. If only I would have stayed home today.
After a long moment of silence Ichii returns.
"The pearl can be removed from her body with special medicine...but it can't be ready till Christmas." Another displeased look on Zeros face appears.
"What are we supposed to do now Ichii?" Zero questions.
"It looks like we will have to protect this girl tell Christmas. Most of the examines would not care if they hurt a human and would do anything to get the pearl." Ichii's reaction to all of this is way different from Zeros.
"Are you serious!" Zero replied angrily.
"Yes, and you'll just have to except that."
"Fine." Zero grumbles.
At this point I really have no clue what's going on just that this pearl they want is inside me of all people. This day has been beyond weird. I guess it couldn't hurt to ask.
"Um...may I ask what exactly is going on and who are you."
"Well as you probably have noticed that's Zero and I'm Ichii. We are both sorcerers and have come here to take our final exam. At the end of the exam on Christmas whichever group has the pearl passes." Ichii says with stance.
"Ok, so you're like magical and stuff." I say unsure.
"Yes." This is all a bit much for me to process. I saw Ichii do magic so I know it's true. It's cool that there's magic out there but now I'm in serious danger. One fake candy just turned my life upside down.
I start to back away from the two boys. Can I really trust them. My mind's all jumbled up, I can't handle this. Out of nowhere I suddenly turn around and start running. I can hear Ichii and Zero yell "wait!" but I don't stop.
I'm running from them in the docks until suddenly a gigantic owl comes flying towards me. On top of the owl is a black haired girl in a purple dress and a boy with blond hair wearing a brown suit.
I stop, wanting to keep running but to scared to. Ichii and Zero catch up to me and look at the bird. The girl in the purple dress jumps off the owl and gets close to me. Ichii and Zero immediately get in front of me.
"Forte I think this girl has the pearl." She giggles.
"Yes, San she does." He says with a smirk.
"What makes you think this girl has the pearl?" Zero asks sternly.
"Of course she does the finder says so and you two seem keen on protecting her." Forte yells.
"She definitely has the pearl, now let's take it." San says with an innocent look on her face.
I was highly disturbed by her look. What does she mean take it. How would they do that. Zero and Ichii get closer to me and without thinking I grab both of their sleeves. It all happens so fast.
"Step Cat!" The girl tells.
Zero picks me up again bridal style. We're moving fast. I take a glance behind us. There is a giant cat that is cute but is trying to get us. The cat keeps getting closer. One of its feet knocks Zero and me to the ground. Zero falls on top of me. I face plant into the ground with him on top of me. The pain going through my body is everywhere there is not one part of me that doesn't hurt.
Ichii is quick to make a barrier around us. Zero gets up and looks at me as I groan in pain. I slowly start to stand and Zero helps me. I have teary eyes. Zero seems to have no words. He seems he wants to say something but can't. I pull my attention from Zero when Ichii yells...
"Zura take them and get out of here!" This green floating sea horse comes out of nowhere and gets big.
"Yes Zura, Zura." It says.
Zero holds me with one arm securely around me while the other holds the tail of the sea horse. We start to go up and I can feel my legs leave the ground. I start freaking out.
"Oh my God, oh my god, oh my god!" I can't help but look down. I really don't want to but I have no choice but to hold onto him. My arms are wrapped around him tightly.
"It's ok I'm not going to drop you, just look at me." He says in a soothing voice. My focus then moved to him. His smile melts my fear but as soon as my fear is disappeared I can feel all my pain again. My arms loosen. But I quickly tighten them again. I push my face into his chest as we fly over the city. I feel safe for only seconds. When I hear the owl my fear returns. The owl knocks us once then twice and then a third. I felt his grasp on me fade as I fall from his arms.
"Julie!" He yells as I fall.
"You lied." Is all I could think to say. I didn't say it very loud but he heard it.
The ground was still far away so I know that when I hit something there is only one other thing it could be. Never the less it still hurt. As my eyes forced shut I could make out two blurry figures.
When I come too I'm in an abandoned factory. My arms and legs are tied. My body still hurts. It's dark but I can tell that my ankle is cut and is covered in dried blood. I try to sit up but it's too difficult. I lay there on my side not able to move.
"Ha ha, this is why humans are so pathetic." Forte comes into my line of site and glares down at me. But his attention turns to his left.
"San stop eating cake and get over here!" The girl gets up with a sour look on her face and walks over.
"So are we going to keep her till Christmas?" San asks Forte.
"I don't want to but what other choice do we have?"
"Why can't we just take it? There's nothing in the rules that say we can't hurt humans." San says with a smile on her face. I get as close to the wall behind me as much as I can. There gonna kill me aren't they.
"That's true." Forte takes out a flute and starts to play. I see a snake coming towards me. It's tail wraps around my ankles and pulls me towards it. The snake wraps all around my body getting tighter. I can feel my breath getting hard. I can't struggle my arms and legs are still tied. I can't do anything. My vision blurs. My body aches. My lungs stop. I use the last bit of air I can get.
"Ichii, Zero help me please!" I scream these words as loud as I can.
I hear an explosion behind me. A blue orb flies past me into San and Forte. The snake disappears and I'm back on my side. I gasp for breath as lay on the floor. My vision is still blurry and my hair is in my face. But even though I can't really see I know that it has to be Ichii and Zero here to save me. I hear running footsteps as they get closer. They untie the ropes around my wrists and ankles. When I look down I realize that I have rope burn and it's pretty bad. There's bloody rings left from where the ropes were.
"Julie, I'm sorry we should have gotten here sooner." Ichii says with a sad expression as he looks down at me. What he see's is not pretty. I'm still grasping for breath and I have cuts on a few places of my body and now rope burns.
"But you still got here...if you didn't I would have been dead." I say this shakingly. Now I'm sitting up looking down at my hands. I have pain coming from all over my body and I'm not sure if I can stand. We all just sit there until…
"Did you think a little blast like that would take us out!" Forte yells while getting up from the ground.
"It's mean how you underestimated us." San says with a pouty face.
"We'll take that girl no matter what. We will get the pearl and become sorcerers." Forte starts to play his flute once again and this time flames come straight toward us and keep coming. Ichii thinks fast and forms a barrier in front of us but it doesn't keep all the heat away. I can feel the heat of the flames on my body and soon what's left of the building fills up with smoke. The smoke is starting to go into my lungs and I have trouble breathing again. My body automatically screams from the pain of the heat but those screams are barely heard as I'm running out of breath. Zero looks back at me with a terrified face.
"Ichii she can't take much more of this!"
"Well then use your magic and finish this!" Zero sends something blue again towards San and Forte…
"Destruction Magic!" He yells.
This time the whole building gets blown away. As soon as Zero uses his magic he picks me up and he runs out of the factory with Ichii following. We get to Ichii's white car and I'm laying in Zeros lap. Thats the last thing I remember before falling unconscious.
I can feel something holding me. Where am I? As I force open my eyes I see Zero. But the weird thing is I'm pretty sure we're in my house.
"Where are we?" I say groaning in pain.
"We just got to your house." Ichii replies.
"How did you know where I live and how did you get in?"
"We found your wallet and your address was written in it and we found your keys in your pocket." Ichii explains.
Seems they did a little snooping while I was unconscious. My body hurts so much. How am I going to explain this to my parents when they get back from there business trip. Today has by far been the worst day of my life. I try to get out of Zero's arms but it hurts to much and I gasp with pain.
"Julie you can't move much now your to hurt you need to rest." Zero exclaims worriedly.
"But before we do anything else we need to clean those cuts, where is your bathroom." Ichii says while looking at me with worried eyes.
"Second door to the right upstairs." Zero slowly and carefully walks up the stairs behind Ichii and goes into the bathroom. Zero sets me down on the floor while Ichii searches for something. Peroxide. Ichii finds what he is looking for. He pours some peroxide onto a cloth.
"This will probably sting." He says.
He takes the cloth and pushes it onto my ankle and it stings alright. I wince at the pain and almost fall on my back but Zero holds me into a sitting position. I just close my eyes and wait for the pain to stop. After he is done cleaning my wound he bandages it. I would say a whole layer of skin was ripped off the front of my ankle. He moves onto the rest of my wounds and more pain comes but they are both there to comfort me.
"It's ok I'm almost done." Ichii says causing me to relax. When Ichii is done I have bandages on my ankles as well as my arms and wrists. He puts everything away as I just sit there.
"I'll need to clean and change your bandages again later"
"OK." I then stupidly try to stand up and fail. As soon as I'm on two feet I immediately fall back down to the ground. Thankfully Zero caught me right before I could hit the floor.
"What did I say about not moving!" Zero says. He looks at me and he makes me feel guilty for trying to move.
"Sorry."
Zero picks me up and brings me to my room and lays me down on my bed. He covers me with the blankets.
"Just get some rest and don't get out of bed without help." He gives me a stern glare. I am suddenly overcome with sleep but before I can drift off into dream land I hear…
"We're so sorry we let this happen."
I wake up the next morning and my body hurts like hell. When I turn my head to look at my clock it's eleven. Well at least it's summer break. I sit up but it hurts even more than laying down. I sit on the side of my bed. I slowly try to get up but my legs start shaking rapidly and I fall back down on the bed. I lay down and groan in pain.
I can't get myself to move for five minutes.
As I muster up all my strength I try to get up again. I am more successful this time but I stumble into the wall. Thud! My closet door opens and Ichii and Zero come running out.
"Why are you out of bed Julie?!" They both ask worried.
"Why were you in my closet?!" I shot back.
Ichii came and put his arm around my waist to steady me. This surprised me and made me blush. I started to fall out of his arms when he just caught me again. He lifted me up and sat me on my bed.
"We'll answer your question first. As you can see we made ourselves a room in your closet. We made your closet bigger with magic. But don't worry we put your clothes in the closet down the hall." Ichii explained.
"But why do you need to stay here?"
"Because this is the best way to protect you twenty four seven!" Zero says with his voice raised.
"Oh" I am annoyed with them staying here but I know that they are right.
"Now why were you out of bed when we told you not to get up without help?" Ichii questioned.
"I just thought that maybe I could get by myself but it didn't work out so well."
"Fine just don't push yourself too much." Ichii says.
My stomach grumbled and that embarrassed me. Ichii then walked back into my closet only to come out again moments later holding a bowl of soup. He handed me the steaming bowl.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Ichii and I looked at each other for a long moment until Zero went…
"Ah hem"
I turned to my soup and started eating it. The warm liquid felt good on my dry throat. I was parched and this is exactly what I needed. Ichii and Zero sat and watched me eat.
I spent the rest of my summer break at home. My wounds healed. But what I can't get over is the invasion of my privacy. I'm getting tired of Ichii and Zero. Don't get me wrong they are great guys just I don't need to see them every second of everyday. I wonder what will happen when school starts.