Chapter the Fourth
"This peace is almost unnerving," Chihaya muttered. She tapped her finger on her waterbed and allowed it to freeze, then drew in a deep breath and drove her finger deep into the ice, slowly unfreezing it. Dark Makoto had taught her how to unfreeze the bed, and Chihaya found she had been doing it wrong all along. She had been concentrating too hard, had been too stressed out, though the trick was to relax all the muscles in your body and think only of the cool, flowing nature of the water within the ice. Chihaya wondered how she hadn't managed to do it even though Makoto, who always seemed so uptight, could.
"Maybe, but it's nice," Iori protested. She sighed. "I'm bored, though. Conversing with the others is nice and all, but we're running out of topics."
"I never thought I would be so frustrated by doing nothing," Chihaya admitted. "Still, you are doing an excellent job as the Grand Mage."
"I'm aware~"
"That reminds me. Have you seen the Grand Witch lately?"
Iori blinked. "We had a debate over the intercom the other day, but she hasn't been back to her room since the day she left."
"Odd..." Chihaya sighed. "What is left for her back in that old place?"
"I can only assume..." Iori suddenly gasped and jumped to her feet. "Chihaya, do we know for sure what happened to the Shadow Warlock?!"
"No. He just suddenly disappeared from the cell one day. The handcuffs were missing, he was missing, Dark Makoto was...missing..." Now it was Chihaya's turn to gasp. "You don't think Dark Makoto set him free, do you...?!"
"It's the only logical explanation! She must have freed him and brought him back to Turiavita with her!" Iori groaned and flopped on the bed beside Chihaya. "And just when we were in peaceful times, too..."
"But he vanished over a month ago, and there's been no negative activity from that tower. Turiavita was disbanded. Why would Makoto bring him back and then just...keep him there? As a decoration?"
"That might not be far off." Iori slowly sat up. "Think about it. Why was Karasu invented in the first place?"
"To...keep Dark Chihaya company." Chihaya sat against the wall. Iori leaned against it beside her. "Then, do you think all Makoto wanted was some company? But, she has us now."
"That may be it, or..." Iori paused. The pair thought for a moment; then Iori suddenly started to laugh. "Oh, wow...there's no way..."
"What?" Chihaya demanded.
"She's got it bad, huh?" Iori looked over at Chihaya. "She's in love with him. That's the only possible explanation."
Chihaya's jaw dropped. "You're kidding...!" she gasped.
"Why else would she go through all the trouble of breaking him out of jail, only to hoard him all to herself up in that tower? The Mondenkind wizards didn't breathe a word about it. They still aren't allowed in the Turiavita section of the tower, which means they probably don't know, so she's probably got him up there just to keep her company..."
"He's, like...forty! And she's only sixteen! That's just...wrong!"
"Hey, chronologically speaking he's only around ten and she's about eleven. They haven't really existed for that long."
"...wow, that's true."
Iori laughed again. "Oh, wow, this is priceless...! She's really in love with him, isn't she!"
"That would explain why she hasn't attacked..."
"She's got him on a leash. Maybe he likes her too."
"But he was created for Dark Chihaya! I would have thought he'd remain loyal to her! I mean...don't you remember the look in his eyes when she died? I figured he'd be too busy greiving over her to make a move, but...if you are right, then..."
Iori fell off the bed laughing. "This is great!" she cried. "Who would have thought our greatest enemies had weaknesses for that one guy all along? We should have just taken him hostage from the beginning!"
"...why didn't I think of that two years ago?!" Chihaya whined. "I'm an idiot!"
"Why didn't anyone think of that?! We could have stopped this war before it started!" Iori squealed, still caught up in her rampage of guffawing. "Holy...I'm never going to get over this! I mean, what's so appealing about him?"
"Well, for one, he is the only remaining male wizard."
"There's Ryo."
"...oh yeah, I forgot he was a boy for a second there."
"Beyond that, I don't understand why she'd pick him."
"Admittedly, he is kinda attractive."
"For an old dude, yeah."
"You're the one who pointed out he's technically only ten."
"Still!" Iori sighed happily. "Wow, I haven't had this much fun in ages! To think Dark Makoto is really in love with Karasu-"
"Hold on, WHAT?!"
Iori blinked, thought for a moment, then looked up at the corner of the room where a camera with a microphone was mounted on the walls. That was where the voice had come from, which meant...
Dark Makoto was listening.
Iori allowed this to sink in for a moment before she burst out laughing again. "Chihaya...Chihaya, tell her what's going on!" she urged. "I can't...talk...laughing...too hard...!"
Chihaya giggled. "We know you freed the Shadow Warlock. And we know why, too," she called in the direction of the camera. "To think you would actually fall for him-"
"Fall in love~" Iori teased. She could almost feel Dark Makoto blushing.
"You two actually believe I'm in love with that guy?" the Grand Witch sighed. "Yes, I set him free. But I did it to get help maintaining the Turiavita wing of the tower, nothing more."
"Oh, please! You expect us to believe that's the only reason you went through all this trouble?" Iori scoffed. "Relax, he loves you too. That's why he hasn't attacked us yet. He values your opinion too much."
"...he does, huh..."
"Aha! I knew it! I knew you liked him!"
"D...don't be ridiculous."
"She hesitated! You heard that, right, Chihaya?! She so likes him!"
"You're being stupid again," Makoto warned.
Chihaya started to laugh too. "Don't worry about it, Dark Makoto," she cooed. "If you deny it, then you'll never get what you really want~."
"What I really want is for you two to shut up and stop insisting stupid things. Besides, he's twenty-something years older than me. That's kind of disgusting, in case you didn't know."
"Actually, techically speaking, chronologically you two are only ten and eleven years old."
"...wait, really?"
"Yeah! You haven't existed that long. That Dark Chihaya used a machine to amplify her age! Didn't you know that?"
"...I was born with memories of a very early childhood, so I guess it never occured to me-"
"Whoa, whoa. Wait. Wait a second." Iori waved her hands at the camera. "You're telling me you didn't know you're just a dark copy created when I was four about eleven years ago? You know, I'll be fifteen soon."
"I knew I was a copy, but I didn't know I was so...young. ...don't tell me how old you are, you know I don't care."
"You're both young. Karasu was created after Chihaya and you, so chronologically he's younger than you."
There was silence.
"...back to you being in love~ with Karasu~"
"I-I'm not in love with him! I don't even LIKE him!"
"The stuttering says otherwise~"
"It's not wrong to be in love, Makoto~"
"I'm telling you, I'm not in love."
"What's this about being in love?" Karasu's voice echoed.
"Nothing," Dark Makoto's voice insisted. "I'm dropping the intercom, you two."
"Karasu, you're just in time! We were just talking about how totally in love with you Dark Makoto is!" Iori called out. Chihaya held a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.
"They're morons," Makoto objected.
"Oh? You are, are you?" Karasu half-purred. "If that's the case, then..."
"W-wait a second, what are you doing...?!"
The voices over the intercom suddenly stopped and were replaced with muffled screeches of disbelief and the occasional noise of enjoyment. Iori and Chihaya exchanged a look, then burst out laughing again.
"Congratulations~" Iori chirped.
"Having fun, you two?" Chihaya laughed.
A loud grunt, a few words of "what the heck is wrong with you, you pervert?!", and then a loud slapping noise sounded through the microphone.
"You two...you two are morons!" Dark Makoto screeched, sounding very unnerved. "I'm dropping the intercom!"
"Aw, come on~," Iori whined. "I know you enjoyed that, since...you know, you're in love and all~."
"I'm not in love!"
"You're not?" Karasu teased. "That's upsetting. I thought I'd really scored this time."
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?!"
"Makoto, hang on a second!" Chihaya called
Makoto groaned. "What do you want?"
"Look...I trust you completely, to be honest. I have no reason to believe you'll turn against us. But that partner of yours-"
"Your boyfriend~" Iori cut in.
"...Minase, I will freeze that snarky little mouth of yours right off."
Chihaya shot her what was meant to be a glare, but wound up more of a "cut it out, I have to talk to her, you crazy loser" look. "Anyways," she continued, "I'm concerned about what will happen if you don't take control over him-"
"In all areas, mind you," Iori interrupted, smirking evilly. "Nihihi~"
"Minase...!" Iori heard the blush in Makoto's voice.
Chihaya stifled a light blush of her own and jabbed Iori in the side with her elbow. "Just...keep him on a leash, alright?"
"A very tight leash, preferably one that chains him right next to you all day, so you can make out without interruptions~"
"Minase...!"
"Minase-san, stop it already!" Chihaya squealed, trying not to laugh.
"You're cute when you blush, you know," Karasu's voice added.
"I will kill you all."
Chihaya let out a happy sigh. "That is all."
"Good. If you're quite done, Minase," Makoto sighed, sounding annoyed.
Iori laughed a bit more before finally calming down. "I can't help it! It's all so priceless!" she cried.
"For the last time, I'm not in love with him! As for you," the Grand Witch continued, presumably speaking to Karasu now, "if you ever kiss me again, I will slice your head off and burn it in a pot of boiling lava. Do you understand?"
"Where will you get the lava from, the burning passion for me hidden deep in your soul?"
"How about the depths of hell, you bastard."
"...fair enough."
Iori started to laugh again. Chihaya cleared her throat.
"Goodbye, and good riddance."
"Farewell, Grand Witch!" Chihaya shouted, hoping to be heard before the line went dead. She looked at Iori. "Well, I don't know about you, but my boredom has been cured."
"Who knew Dark Makoto could be so entertaining...?" Iori muttered, finally calming down from her laugh attack.
"Yeah..." Chihaya blinked. "...well, goodnight."
"Goodnight, Chihaya."
(Random A/N: For the record, those two make a hilarious couple. Partially because they're both horribly evil. ...OK, Makoto's not evil ANYMORE, but she was for a while there.
Don't worry about ships, you guys. I have everything all figured out. You'll see. Oh, and for the record, I apologize for any typos. I don't have spell check anymore and I don't re-read my chapters before posting them because that's spell check's job.)