Please note that the first three chapters have been edited. Chapter 1 has been edited the most, but I still put down at the end of each chapter that I edited it. I changed quite a bit of Chapter 1, so read the end notes on that one. Seriously, you'll want to.
Gig shook his head, trying to calm the laughter escaping him. "What's wrong, man cow? You look a little... shocked, for some reason. Heh heh." Levin's reaction did not fail to amuse Gig, apparently.
"Uh... Duh... I, ah... Tch..." Levin stood stiff in his place, nervous, completely unsure of what to say. Other than confusion, the thought of strangling Gig mixed into his mind.
Revya raised her brows. "Levin... Don't tell me you don't know Gig and I are getting married," she said casually, as if getting married to Gig wasn't an unusual thing at all, or that it didn't bother Levin in the least. How wrong one person can be...
Levin gulped sadly, and then sighed in defeat. "Uh... Yeah, yeah I knew."
"Then why the dramatic look of surprise then, hmm, man cow? Do you have something to, gee, I dunno, tell the kid here?" Gig's sarcastic smile seemed to be plastered on his face.
Revya looked up at Gig and asked, "Tell me what?" She looked back to Levin, curious. "Tell me what...?" Revya already had a feeling, but...
No other moment in his life did Levin want to destroy Gig. Not during the times he was forced to obey Gig as a World Eater. Not when Gig insulted him safely inside Revya. Not when he had every chance to kill Revya and Gig right there during their journey. Not really, but Levin wasn't exactly a happy camper.
Of course, he did his best to suppress this anger. After all, he couldn't just kill, or rather attempt to kill, Revya's fiancé right there in front of her, and Gig surely wouldn't go down easily if he fought with him. He would surely lose both ways: He'd disappoint Revya (Not like that could compare to when he betrayed her and everyone), and he'd risk the chance of losing his dignity and pride if he were to get his ass handed to him (Levin's sorry to admit to himself that Gig isn't some easy pushover that could be beaten in a snap). What other option than to tell the truth?
"I just wanted to tell you congratulations on your wedding, i-is all. Ha ha." The other option to the truth is called 'lying'. Levin scratched the back of his head, his face growing red. "A-And... I wanted to wish you happiness. Er, both of you." The truth behind the "both of you" part is questionable, but for sure, it was half true.
"Thanks, Levin," Revya said with genuine happiness, disregarding his odd behavior for the moment.
"Are you happy, Gig?" Levin asked, looking at him uninterested. His question seemed to imply more than one thing, so Gig simply addressed to one part of it.
"Eeeh, it could have been more amusing. But hell. It entertained me for a moment." Gig looked up to the sky, equally uninterested, ignoring Revya's questioning stare. A blue sky gradient to an orange, a pink. Gig snapped his head back. "Hey, hey, hey, we gotta get looking for that stupid Blue Feather," he said quickly, removing his arm off Revya's shoulder and making his way even higher up the mountain.
Revya smiled a little too widely. "That's right, the Blue Feather."
Gig turned back and looked down at Revya lazily. "Ha! Don't get cheeky, kid. You thought I'd forget about the Golden Hotpod, didn't you?" She did. "Like hell. Now get your ass in gear. Remember our deal?"
Levin knitted a brow. "Golden Hotpod?" He looked at Revya. "Deal?"
"We have reason to believe there's a Golden Hotpod around here," Revya said abashedly. "And Gig said he wouldn't help search for the Blue Feather unless we find the Golden Hotpod right after."
Seemingly for the first time, Levin looked at Gig like he was stupid. Gig narrowed his eyes. "What are you looking at?" To get looked down at by the man cow was unacceptable, of course.
"Golden Hotpod? Is that even real?"
"Okay, look," Gig said. "There's a lot of bullshit things in this world that seem far from true, am I right? Like Kanan being a man."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?!" Levin's jaw went agape.
"What? There's no way." Revya shook her head.
"Go ask Vitali himself. He was snooping around when we were in that creepy Thurist place. And lo and behold, charismatic draconess Kanan is a man. But that's beside the point!" Gig said. "Point is, no matter how crazy something sounds, there's a possibility it can be true!
"If Kanan's a dude, a Golden Hotpod exists. Yeah, let's go with that. Does that convince you, man cow?"
The two contemplated Kanan as a man, rather than thinking about the realism of the Golden Hotpod. "Uh... Sure..." Levin finally managed to say. At least he knew Gig's search for the rare vegetable was understandable with his hypothesis.
"Now, can we get to looking for the said treasure? I'm tired of this godforsaken place." Gig made his way up higher again with Revya following.
"H-Hey," Levin called out, catching their attentions. "I... I'll help you look for the Blue Feather, if you want."
"Golden Hotpod," Gig said. He wasn't planning on letting anyone forget about it.
"Yeah, whatever."
"You don't have to, Levin," Revya said, though, appreciating that he offered. At least, that's how it looked like from Gig's observation.
Levin ran up quickly until he was ahead and stopped. "Nah, it's fine. You two go look for the, uh, Golden Hotpod," he said with a tone that implied he still thought the Golden Hotpod was ridiculous. "... And I'll go look for the Blue Feather. If you find the hotpod, then you can look for the Blue Feather."
"If you insist." Revya was never the insistent type that would reject an offer "out of kindness". "Thanks, Levin."
He grinned as Gig's face turned sour. "Anything for you!" And he quickly ran off far ahead up the mountain, dust trailing behind. He was slightly visible high up as he stopped near the top of the mountain and began looking there.
"'Anything for you'..." Revya repeated.
"Don't tell me you don't get it," Gig said, his arms folded across his chest.
Revya looked back to him indifferently. "No, I get it. If we're thinking the same thing, at least."
"Are we both aware he's hot for you?" Gig smirked, walking back to Revya.
Revya looked at Gig uncomfortably a long while. "Do you have to say it like that?" She felt a little weird about the thought of Levin liking her that way. Still, she convinced herself that there was a possibility that wasn't true.
"It wouldn't be me if I said it any other way that's just not 'Gig'-like." Gig smiled brightly, but Revya said nothing. "Whatever, let's just look for that Golden Hotpod already. I'm losing patience here."
"Yeah, sure." Revya started up the walk, with Gig following.
"So what do you think is up with him?" Gig asked, idly kicking rocks he passed on the ground.
"What do you mean?"
"He's head over heels for you and he almost seems gung ho for our wedding. Those two options don't exactly coincide nicely," Gig glared at the sky, a slight irritation building inside of him.
"Head over heels?" Revya repeated, laughing a little. "I wouldn't say that..."
"Definitely head over heels," Gig assured.
"... It is kind of odd," Revya agreed, nodding.
"I say he's planning something," Gig said, upping his game for the search of the Golden Hotpod.
Revya looked over to him and frowned, but was entertained by Gig's much more engrossed search. "Levin wouldn't do that. I mean, sure, he's also Raksha, but..."
"That's all the reason to be suspicious of the bovine bastard," Gig said, pointing a finger to her. "Brand new hit novel, Sabotage, written by world-renowned author Levin slash Raksha slash Sister Loving Man Cow slash Dumbass World Eater. A great read! I laughed, I cried, I lost 15 pounds! I cannot recommend this book highly enough."
Revya examined the area around her, though not as thoroughly as Gig was. "He wouldn't go that far. Even if he did like me like that, it's just... Out of character."
"If he likes you?" Gig repeated, as if Levin's attraction to Revya was supposed to be obvious. Then again, maybe it should be. "Out of character?"
"Out of character for both Levin and Raksha," Revya said, shrugging her shoulders. "Don't you think so? I mean, Levin came across me as the type to not intervene if there was absolutely nothing you can do in this kind of situation. And Raksha never seemed like he'd use energy to ruin a romance for his own sake."
"I'm not solid on that out of character business, but either way, it's pretty apparent he's smitten with you, kid."
Revya was at a loss for words, or rather, she felt she couldn't say anymore. What more can you say about an unrequited love that included you as the object of affection? She noticed Gig's sour expression. "What's with the look?"
"Nothing!" he said, vexed.
Revya blinked, taken slightly aback. "Okay..."
A silence then fell between the two, and both decided not to waste time. They both searched for the Golden Hotpod, one searching more or less than the other.
Gig couldn't be irritated because Levin likes her. Right? And, in Revya's head, Levin liking her isn't for sure. Gig getting jealous alone would be out of character for him as well... Right? It seemed so obvious, yet, unreal at the same time. Everything did. It couldn't be what Revya thinks it is, Gig being... Jealous. Levin falling in love with her. Heck, even the very thought of marrying Gig seemed a joke itself, but it was happening, despite the unlikeliness of the situation. Even...
... her becoming a Master of Life.
That last thought hadn't even occurred to her since Virtuous had last brought it up. Pushing the thought out immediately, Revya tried concentrating on what she was supposed to be doing. But thinking of becoming immortal, the Master of Life... It was discomforting, and because of that, she couldn't bare to think of it beyond that. It was fine though. She had about a month to contemplate the whole Master of Life thing. But would that change anything?
The prolonged silence was somehow jarring. There's something about being alone with someone and not talking with to them that seems wrong, particularly with someone you're close to. Like it signals that common interest is lost, and drifting begins.
"Find anything?" Revya asked suddenly. Gig stood his place, staring off around a cliff corner, his back turned to Revya. "Gig?"
Gig suddenly bent over, holding onto the cliff corner with one hand as he reached over for something. Revya neared closer to him and noticed that the end of the ground ended right there. He was reaching over stories above the ground surrounding the mountain. Revya, acting upon instinct, ran up to Gig and wrapped her arms around his chest from his back and pulled him back.
Gig jerked back upon the sudden touch and clung tightly to the cliff. He looked back from his shoulder down to Revya. "What the hell are you doing, kid?!"
"More like what are you doing!" Revya exclaimed. "You could fall to your death here, Gig," She said, pointing down below to the forest.
Gig's attention was back to what was in front of him. "Kid, look!"
Revya looked over past his shoulder and saw a resting on a small ledge, that was just slightly farther than arms reach. Her eyes grew wide. "It's the Blue Feather!"
The two stood deafly still, quiet, and panicked as a slight wind passed over. Never moving their eyes from the Blue Feather, they held still. The Blue Feather barely budged, and the two relaxed.
Gig sighed and threw his head down. "Damn!" Gig glared at the feather. "Convenient, huh? The feather would end up smack dab on a ledge far from reach."
"Well, we got to get it somehow."
"Heh. No problem! I'll just jump over!" Gig said confidently.
"Don't fall over," Revya warned.
"What do you take me for, an idiot?" Gig said, slightly offended. "It's not even that far. Look how small the gap is. I can jump it."
"Anything can happen, Gig. Just be careful."
Gig looked back to Revya. "Yeah, yeah," He turned back. " Now if you don't mind..." he said, waiting for Revya.
"... What?"
"I know you're crazy about me and all," Gig said arrogantly. "But can we quit this touchy-feely crap?" He said with a shudder. "If you didn't know, I don't dig hugs. And now you know! Learning's greeeeeeeat!"
Revya didn't realized she hadn't let go of Gig, so she did so, although embarrassed. Thankfully for her, Gig quickly dismissed her gesture and prepared for the leap.
Gig put his hands to the floor in a running stance for comedic effect, of which made Revya laugh. "You're jumping, Gig, not running,"
"Yeah, well, I'm just taking all the safety precautions to overcome this perilous jump. I mean, I know how worried you get about me and all." Gig took a quick glance to her to show off a cocky grin and turned back. "Here goes!" Pushing off the ground hard, he sprinted forward from the edge, rocks scattering from his movements, and flew over the empty space below him. Oddly to Revya, everything seemed to slow as she watched him jump, as if this was somehow momentous. She studied his figure at that moment. She felt weird doing so, but she couldn't help it. She concentrated on his eyes, which seemed to be a brighter blue than she remembered.
Contrary to her, though, Gig felt it go by much too fast. He landed squarely on the opposite edge after the 'epic' jump.
Snapping herself out of her study, Revya dully clapped. "Oh, you're so amazing, Gig."
Turning his head, Gig smiled. "I'm just gonna ignore the sarcasm and say 'What'd you expect?'" he said enthusiastically, taking a bow.
"The crowd is going wild."
Gig waved his hand at her. "Now, now, calm yourselves while I get the stupid feather before somebody busts a gut applauding."
Revya chuckled to herself. This was quite... different to her, the way she and him were now acting around each other. And in such a short time, no less. Maybe she should add that to her list of things that feel unreal. Or maybe this is just temporary time of peace with Gig and nothing to even think about. From the looks of it, this is as peaceful as it gets, and another time like this seems unlikely. Oh, well.
"T-There it is!" A voice rang out suddenly from behind Revya. "I-I found it! I found it! Hey, come here!"
The pair turned to the sound of the voice, which came from a young, rather unadorned sepp boy with an enormous bag upon his back. His face was lit with excitement as he looked pass Gig and Revya to the Blue Feather.
Gig snorted, annoyed with the boy's claim of finding 'it', which would apparently be the Blue Feather. Gliding and jumping over the jagged rocks in his way from the Blue Feather, he reached down and quickly grabbed the feather, stuffing it in his pocket before something stupid should happen (And he fully expects something extremely stupid to happen).
"Uh..." Revya said to herself.
Another voice responded to the sepp boy, a girl. "Really?! The Blue Feather?" The girl rounded the cliff wall to the small corner of the mountain where they all stood. She paralleled the sepp boy in expression and dullness in looks, though, she was more on the chubby side, her cheeks noticeably round. She froze her face upon seeing the red head, former Master of Death, and no Blue Feather.
Everything grew uncomfortably quiet and awkward. The Sepp boy had to double take before realizing Revya and Gig were even there (Taking the Blue Feather, of course). Gig jumped back over the ledge, this time without the dramatics, back to Revya's side as both pairs stared at the other. The atmosphere gradually became hot and sticky, despite the sun already having past its highest point in the sky. The sun was already setting.
"Weeeeeell," Gig said, stretching his arms high. "Guess we should be headin' back to the ol' dusty trail. Come on, kid."
"H-Hey, wait a minute!" the Sepp boy protested. "You can't just up and leave with the Blue Feather like that!"
"I do believe we're up and leaving with the Blue Feather!" Gig grabbed Revya's wrist and made a mad dash past the the two.
As Gig darted around the corner, down the mountain, Revya struggled to keep her running pace with Gig and found herself being mostly dragged along. "Brilliant planning, o' wise one!"
"Hey, either I kill them or we make a run for it with the loot. Which do you prefer?"
Revya thought a moment, widening her strides as they passed familiar rocks and formations along the mountain. She jokingly said, "Peaceful negotiations?"
"Ah ha ha ha! Did you say peaceful negotiations? Nice one. But seriously, this is how I roll!" Gig stopped along a downward edge that was not too far from the ground. His ears perked slightly at the sound of voices and footsteps.
"Hey, hey, hey! You're – We're not seriously going to jump, are we?!" Revya jerked her arm away from Gig, but he held on tight to her wrist.
He shrugged, but his face showed elation. "Oh, just trust me." Gig pulled, or rather jumped, them both off the edge, holding on firmly to her arm.
Unlike when Gig had jumped earlier, time didn't feel like it changed, yet it felt like forever before reaching the ground.
Gig, having lost his grip on Revya, fell through masses of leaves and landed hard on an elongated branch. Revya wasn't as fortunate, falling through smaller branches that snapped as she fell on them, landing herself on the ground.
Revya pulled her self up slowly with a groan. "Are... Are you kidding me...?"
Gig made his way down the tree, peeking at down at Revya when he settled on a lower branch. "Are you dead yet?"
"Why don't you go ask the Master of Death? Oh, wait..."
"Oh good. You survived the the treacherous fall of Mt. Yuga. Congratulations. You get an achievement. 50 points!" Gig dropped down the branch to the ground. He reached a hand out to Revya.
"What a stupid thing to do! Jump off a mountain? Stupid stunts are rather unlike you, Gig..." She reached out for his hand when he moved his hand away, leaving her falling forward to the ground.
"Ah ha ha ha ha!"
"H-hey! That's not funny!" Revya pushed herself up with her hands. "Jerk."
"Ah ha ha ha ha... Oh... Ha...Y-you gotta admit, that was pretty of funny. Pfft... Ha ha ha ha!"
Despite her annoyance, Revya was laughing about it herself. "S-shut up, Gig!"
Gig laughed louder as he wrapped and arm around her shoulders. "Ha ha ha ha! Aw, you know I'm just playing. I still can't believe... Ha ha ha!"
"It's not that funny! Ha ha... Gig!" She couldn't stop laughing. For whatever reason, she found the jumping-off-the-mountain-stunt and her falling to the ground (in both instances) forgivable.
Gig and Revya's laughing calmed when the same sepp boy from just moments ago came into view, struggling to carry the heavy girl on his back. "We... Okay... Okay, we... Okay... We... We got you!" The girl quickly jumped off his back, putting her hands on her bright red cheeks, smiling excitedly. The sepp boy fell to his knees, holding his back while breathing in as much air as his body would allow.
"Oh, what the french toast!" Gig exclaimed. "You sepps are freaks! How can you run down a mountain so fast with a heavy load?! Man, jumping off the mountain was a total waste!"
"A waste indeed..." Revya agreed, recalling her rather annoying fall.
Gig blankly glanced at the girl, and looked back to Revya. "... What's chubby blushing about?" He asked, pointing to said chubby girl.
Revya raised her eyebrows. "Uh, Gig, I think..."
"All right, all right, all right! Hand over the Blue Feather!" The boy quickly got on his feet and held his hand out. "We've been traveling all over the continent, from the around the Nereid Palace, all the way to the creepy Thurist place, and every place in between, in search of that Blue Feather!"
"A pathetic waste of effort to end in failure. Always good for a laugh. So, here I go. Ah ha ha ha ha ha!"
"How can you mock us like that?" The boy furiously messed his hair with both hands. "We've been searching forever, far and wide for that Blue Feather!"
"Wow. You must really suck if you've been looking for this Blue Feather 'forever', and we've been looking for it, like, what... a couple hours? Best part is we already found it. What a slap to the face, huh?"
The boy shot his hand out again. "Look, whatever! Just give me the Blue Feather or... Or..." The boy looked at Revya. "Or I'll kill your girlfriend!" Revya raised and eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"Ha! That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day. Go ahead and try."
Running towards Revya, a short knife in hand, Revya grabbed the boy's wrist before he could reach in and attack. Revya chuckled and took the knife from his hands, throwing it far behind her. "You need to try a little harder than that. Sorry."
The girl finally spoke out, "Vince, stop this!" She ran forward and pulled him back as Revya let go of his wrist. "It's fair as fair. They found it first, so let's just go back home..."
"What?! But we've been looking for this feather for years! We searched all over the continent! Long before anybody even realized it existed! This isn't fair!" Vince said.
"We weren't sure of its existence ourselves until we saw that blue bird a month ago!"
"I don't care about that! How can you just give up like that and act like the time and effort we spent searching was no big deal, Morven?! Especially when the Blue Feather is right there!"
Morven didn't respond, seemingly contemplating what he said.
"We're not giving you the Blue Feather," Gig said.
"What do you need it for?!" Vince shot out.
"What do you need it for?!"
"I asked first!"
"Well, I have the feather." Gig took the feather out of his pocket and dangled it in the air. Vince dashed for it while Gig raised it out of reach from the sepp. "Gotta work for it! Gotta work for it!"
Vince, jump after jump, could not reach the feather. "You jerk!"
Revya interrupted, "Okay, Gig, I think you can stop."
"Ha ha! But this is so hilarious! Funnier than when you fell earlier!" Gig moved in circles around Vince while he still jumped for the feather.
Sighing, Revya turned to Morven. "I think I'll ask you. Why do you need the..." She stopped when she noticed how intently Morven was looking at Gig, having the same look on her face as she had earlier. Feeling annoyed, she snapped a few times in front of Morven's face. "Excuse me? Morven, was it?"
"What, what, what? Oh, yeah, hi. Yeah, my name's Morven." She shook her head.
"Hi. Um, I'm Revya and my companion over there is Gig." Gig's laughter could be heard in the background along with Vince's grunts.
"Gig, huh... Oh! Um, nice to meet you, Revya. My brother, er, companion over there is Vince."
"Nice to meet you both." Revya studied Gig and Vince for a moment then turned back to Morven. "Look, I'll get straight to it. Would you like to tell me why you need the Blue Feather? I mean, I understand you went through a lot of trouble just to find it, but we need it ourselves."
"Oh." Morven turned back to Gig and Vince's direction and blushed. Revya assumed she was looking at Gig. "Um, it's kind of silly, but here goes. You see, my parents used to be very interested in framing related myths, like the Harvest Sprites, the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest God. Crazy, right?"
Indeed. But Revya's seen a lot of things that equaled those mythical fantasies in strangeness. That day was strange itself.
Morven continued, "Well, our parents were happier believing in those things. Even in hard times, they were always happy. They just lost faith completely when my father's farm ultimately failed. All the animals got sick and died, no crops would grow from the land. My mother even left my father. This is where the Blue Feather comes in, though. You see, those myths of the Harvest Sprites and Goddess often involved the legend of the Blue Feather."
"Did you figure that maybe your parents would be happy again if they had a Blue Feather?" Revya asked.
"That's right!" Morven said brightly. "The Blue Feather is the only real physical evidence of those myths, so even if they went their whole life without meeting a sprite, goddess or god, I'm sure they'd be happy forever just having that Blue Feather."
Revya didn't know what to do. Using the Blue Feather simply to remain happy for a lifetime seemed more noble than using it to buy out a wedding. But Diness did have a reason for needing that Blue Feather, too. "Gig! And you, Vince! Come here, we're gonna work something out."
"You must not want the Blue Feather that badly! Work for it! It's right here! Years of searching right here in my hand! Come on, I bet you can almost taste it!" Gig was now running around the area from Vince.
Vince shouted, "May the God of Death smite you!"
"Oh, how I think irony would rather smite you!"
"Get away, get away, GET AWAY!" Odie's voice echoed through the area as he came running through the trees. "Revya! Revya! Oh, hell, Gig! SAVE ME!" An abnormally large phynx with bubbles foaming out its mouth revealed itself from the trees Odie came out of. It snarled ferociously, having marked his sights on Odie. "T-Take this!!" Holding out his staff, bolts of lightning shot at the phynx, sending back into a tree. The phynx, despite the damage inflicted on him, got back on its feet closed in slowly on Odie. "T-This isn't natural!"
Levin's voice then rang through the air, "Whooooooooooo!!" Coming to view from the sky, Levin had jumped from the a high ledge on the mountain, using the force of the fall to slam his hooves into the phynx. The phynx succumbed to pain and made no attempt to get up. "Sluggo, you're here too?"
"Oh, praise heaven!! Thank you, thank you... Levin?! How did you...?"
"Eeeh... It's not important." Levin assured.
Gig stopped, still keeping the feather from reach, when he saw Levin holding something yellow and rather large in his arms. "What the hell do you have there, yokel?"
"Who're you callin' a yokel?! And what do you have there?"
"Holy shit, don't tell me that's the flippin' Golden Hotpod?! Give it here, dirtbag!"
Vince looked up at Levin standing on the phynx. "Sir, can you help me get that Blue Feather from that jerk?!"
"You guys got the Blue Feather?! Awesome! Then we're good to go!"
"Hey, did you even listen to me?!"
Gig walked over to Levin, stepping on the phynx without a care, and held his hand out. "Give me the Golden Hotpod."
Levin flipped him off. "Hell, no. I found it."
"You redneck!! Hand it over before you share a grave with this phynx!"
Vince messed with his hair again. "Is anyone gonna listen to me?!"
Odie examined the unconscious phynx. "Fascinating... I wonder what caused this phynx to grow to such an enormous size..."
Revya and Morven watched as Vince talked to himself in frustration, Odie examined the phynx, and Gig and Levin bickered.
Revya sighed, and said, "Geez, um, do you mind waiting a little while I take care of..." Revya caught Morven admiring Gig again. Actually, she thought Morven may have been looking at Levin, too.
Morven blushed and sighed happily. "Oh, wow... They're both so cool..."
"I guess this is where we cue victory music..." Revya mumbled to herself.
Give me a critique, and I'll more than likely update this edited. To think, all this time I've been reluctant to work on this because I felt disorganized about previous chapters. I also needed to completely refresh on what was happening in the story.
For some reason, I feel the ending is rushed, even though I worked fairly hard on it... To be honest, I actually wanted to write more, but I thought this chapter would get too long.
If I jacked up the ending... you'll understand, right? You've been waiting for an update forever, so this should be good for now, right?
