A/N: You know what, I'm in a good mood, and I'm sick of key signatures, so I emailed myself the next chapter to upload. =3
HOWEVER, what I'm even more sick of is trying to figure out scripting issues, so if that happens with this chapter, you're SOL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! But ya, all I had to do to fix that was re-do the document (which I had done several times.) BUUUUT I kept on forgetting to REPLACE THE FREAKING CHAPTERS. So there's my probably tenth facepalm moment today!
But I'm so happy! Celestial Wings has only been up for like an hour at most and it has like 20 views (give or take 10!) -squeals- I know it's hardly anything, and if I were an actual official author living off that salary, I'd be on the streets, but this is the first piece of writing I've done I'm actually and truly proud of, and that's the most people who have ever read my work! (Sad.. I know... My parents don't see anything I write in my spare time, so gimme a break!) IT'S A PERSONAL RECORD! #fangirlingformyself.
Sorry, I'm not usually so self-centered, I'm just REAL excited about this. ONE HOUR! ERMAGERD!
So yah, enough of my self devotion, I am going to go try to calm down. This'll be the last update for today for good, and probly this week too, unless Take Your Kid To Work Day is oh-so boring and I have enough time to write after I finish helping my mom with filing her files at her work. So yah, it's going to be a LOOOOOONG Wednesday this week..! But yah, enjoy, as I fangirl to myself and scream into my pillow. Gimme a break though, you gotta understand my excitement over this. In one way or the other.
It's been three months since the attack. Supposedly, it was only in the next couple days afterward that my mom had her next session with Aries, whom Leo promptly swapped places with Aries and demanded that Karen release him and Aries' contracts over to me. Though, of course, my mother refused. Leo claimed that he wasn't leaving our world until she agreed and forfeited the two keys over. I still haven't gotten them, even though she hasn't been able to eat for the entire duration. Recently though, she claimed she was fed up with Leo's stubbornness and took a job.
We haven't heard a word from her for a week. I know my mother doesn't deserve it, but I'm beginning to get worried. She isn't powerful enough to summon multiple spirits at once when she's at her strongest, let alone now.
"Please, Master... At least let me look around town." I begged Master Bob, though he shook his head.
"The Trimen would have my head if you went out alone again. Remember what happened last time?" I groaned. How could I forget?
I almost. Freaking. Died.
The doctor said I was lucky to get out with my life, what with how much blood I had lost. He said my body was ninety percent drained by the time the wound had been stitches together, though I didn't give much of a crap about that. That man left me half-blind and a massive scar running diagonally across my face. My dad almost went on a rampage, tearing the town apart building by building looking for a man that even came close to my description, which was pretty feeble. He found several suspects, but every one I turned down immediately after hearing their voice. There was no way I could forget it.
After that, I've never been able to step outside without dad or Eve right at my shoulder a minimum. Ren was almost always out on solo jobs nowadays, though I can't exactly blame him. After my attack, the entire Blue Pegasus guilds been acting strange around me, like if they didn't know whether or not to pity me. Quite frankly, I'm getting a bit fed up with it.
"Alex, hunny?" Master Bob asked.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, Master, just thinking... But ya, I'll stay here until one of them get back." I sighed, bored out of my mind.
"If you want something to do.." He started, but I cut him off.
"I've already washed the tables, wiped the counter, swept the floor, cleaned the windows, dusted the chandelier, organized the books in alphabetical order by author and publish date, heck, I even waxed the support beams." I said, pointing at the ceiling where the support beams shone and sparkled as they reflected light off the fresh coding of wax I rubbed on with my bare hands in an attempt to draw out the length of the activity.
"Oh..." Master Bob was dumbfounded. "Well, thank you Hun..."
"Not a problem, Master." I said in the now-daily routine.
"Do you want to read a book in the meantime..?" He asked. I groaned.
"Read all of them." It's actually surprising how used to an oddball when your stuck with them twenty-four/seven. Master Bob hardly affects me anymore. In a negative way... He's more like a... I don't want to say role-model, because he's not... He's anything but that unless the kid has noodles for brains... but there's not really another word to describe it.
"Oh..." He repeated. "Well, you could.. No, you did that already. Or... Did that last month... You could wash... That's actually off the checklist..." He said. I sighed.
"Thanks for trying, Master. There's just... Nothing for me here." I said sulkily. My heart felt like it was tearing apart when that realization hit me. Blue Pegasus is the only thing I know, where all my family and friends are. To be dead weight on the guild, it wasn't a happy feeling.
"Now hang on a minute, surely there's something..." He was cut off when Ren came running through the doors of the guild hall, followed by Eve and Hibiki. Almost immediately I brightened up. Eve stopped next to me, while Ren and Hibiki walked up to the Master, Ren holding an orange slip of paper. They were all out of breath.
"Job... Rumor... Letter... Karen... Died... Master..." Ren panted, his voice void of emotion, more-so then normal. My dads face was a rock shell for all I knew. My eyes widened in shock.
'Mom... Can't be... Dead...' I thought to myself, my mind running a mile a minute. I felt Eve's hand slide into my own, and instinctively closed my fingers around his for support, my eyes stinging with tears. Witch or not, you only get one mom and dad, and it's not like a kid can choose what their parents are like. I shook my head, pretending like it wasn't true at least for a second. Like just for a second, Karen would walk through the guild doors and be the perfect mom I've always wanted her to be.
I wanted to laugh at myself.
Karen's gone, and you should be thankful, I wanted to say to myself.
But everything was caught in a lump in my throat. The only thing I could do was cry.
Before the others saw the tears I turned away from Eve, walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Hibiki demanded.
"To the ruins. I'm going to see Leo, and nothing you say will stop me." I snapped. "You can't baby me forever, dad. Today I'm thirteen years old, and yes, I was attacked once, but how am I ever supposed to learn how to protect myself if I'm not allowed to step foot outside without one of you as a bodyguard? One day there will be a time when I'm attacked, and not you guys nor Leo will be able to help me. And when that day comes, I want to be able to fight, so I don't die!" I ranted, and when none of them argued, I pressed to my advantage.
"I almost died once, yes. I'll accept that you want to protect me from now on because of that. I was given another chance for a reason. I don't want that chance to be wasted on maid duties! I'm not hopeless just because I have one shitty eye! No offense." I added the last part to Master Bob who shrugged, not wanting to get in the way of an all to clearly pissed-off teenage girl. Without another word, I turned and stormed out of the guild hall, slamming the door behind me and breaking into a run towards the western ruins.
With the door shut and confident I wasn't being followed, I let my good eye waterfall with tears. When I got to the outskirts of town, I stopped and slumped against a tree, falling to the ground. I just sat there for a bit, bawling all the water out of my body. I cried for my mom, I cried for my dad, I cried for Blue Pegasus, I cried for the other Trimen, I cried for Leo and Aries, but most of all I cried for myself. I cried the tears I haven't been able to cry all my life, about everything that's happened. Ever since I was little, my body has refused to let tears fall, and today it was all finally allowed to come out.
"That was some speech, Hun." I heard Master Bob's voice right next to me and I jumped five feet out of my skin.
"GAAAAHHHH! How long have you been there!" I yelled. He raised an eyebrow at me, and I stopped, wiping my eye. "Uuuhhh, sorry Master... You just startled me is all." I apologized quickly.
"Oh no, you have every right to yell, Alex. Though, just out of curiosity after what happened in the guild hall, what would you have done had I been one of the Trimen?" He asked, his eyes sparkling mischievously.
"That would depend... If you were Ren, I'd have beaten you to a pulp, if you were my dad, I'd have given you another speech, then beaten you to a pulp, if you were Eve, I'd give you another speech, possibly hug you until your guts exploded, and possibly afterward beaten you to a pulp. And they would've deserved the beating, because I think I made my point that I don't want to see them." I cracked my knuckles, as if to prove I could have if I tried. The Master chuckled lowly. I blinked at him. "What? I did!"
"No, I just found several things in that speech interesting. For one, you forgot a Trimen. Two, why hug Eve?" He asked. My body had a mixed reaction of blushing and shivering.
"Ichiya creeps me out, so if HE showed up, I would've screamed, beaten him to a pulp, then turned and ran off giddily into the sunset laughing hysterically and started a life of crime because I went insane. As to Eve..." I trailed off, my cheeks burning. The Master let out another chuckle.
"No need to answer that one, Hun... I've had my suspicions since the attack." He said. I looked at him like he grew a third eye.
"Since the attack? Why?" I asked.
"Ohhh dear, your dad and Ren didn't tell you?" He asked, grinning.
"Noo... What happened?"
"A certain blond wizard may have refused to leave your side the entire time you were out." I'm not sure what to think about where this was going. "He even refused to change his clothes after he found you. Covered in blood, the doctor practically banished him from the room until he came back with fresh clothes on. Even then, Ren had to drag him to get changed."
My face was beet red, I just knew it. Eve... I had no idea he stayed there the entire time. "Your dad gave him a mouthful, too. Said you were to young. Eve had a couple retorts to that himself." I grinned, picturing the two of them having the same conversation me and my dad had the night. I wanted to laugh at the image, but I still had some pent-up anger at the three of them that held it down.
"Eve... Did he really stay there those two weeks? I mean, I was in and out the entire time. I think I only woke up alone once or twice, but still..."
"Enough of this chatter, Hun. You ran outside and broke your fathers biggest recent rule with a mission in mind." I giggled at his sudden seriousness, though I couldn't help but feel excited. I hadn't been able to see Leo since the attack, even though he's been there the entire time.
"Let's go then!" I cheered, half walking half sprinting towards the ruins I could see on the next hill over.
