Author's Notes; Shounen-Ai. Fluffy. Drama. Action. Who am I kidding..? I can't stop the fluff, primarily because not enough fluff is canon and also because of my strict sense of fair play..Any action or drama as well as tension has to have fluff to balance shit out..Otherwise, it feels lopsided..The action finally starts..It starts small and ends off on the entrance of Wily's army leading a charge..which will be detailed in the next and final chapter..Please enjoy. By the way, Djinn is the original word for genie..
X and Zero trained hard together through the week. The armies of the fellow sultans trained with Rock's army. The two princes had the older training room all to themselves, which soothed X's growing nervousness slightly. He wouldn't be judged by his brother or the other captains. Zero noticed X's nervousness and coaxed X as much as he possibly could.
On the day before they were to depart and cross the desert to Wily's crumbling kingdom, X wouldn't dare activate his armor, although his helmet was on. Zero reached for his sword, but stopped resting his hands on his hips, feeling X's unsettled emotions. 'What ails you, my love? Your emotional distress worries me.' Zero asked telepathically. X held his left arm and looked at the floor, keeping quiet. This meant Zero had to figure it out himself. 'Do you not trust me, X?' He asked. X shook his head, but Zero misinterpreted in the midst of his concern. 'Then...for what reason did you desire me as your suitor if you did not trust me?' Zero asked confused and a little hurt. X's eyes dialated in shock and looked at Zero before yanking Zero against him. "No! I trust you entirely, Zero. I am just...scared." Zero was surprised, but let his head relax into X's chest. 'So I see, but you have agreed to stay on my back. Have faith and trust me, my little X, I will protect you with every fiber and breath in my body.' Zero assured. This earned Zero a tight hug from X and Zero snuggled his chest before they began their training. 'A warrior's mind must be detached. Mind, body, technique. Stick and move. You have however taken the first step, which is always the hardest; Admitting you want to fight and pursued training. If you can hold yourself to that, then I know you can manage. I have faith in you, X. You will be just fine and I will be there with you every step of the way.' He coached and soothed as their blades intersected, neither aiming at a body part or even trying to hurt each other. 'I must warn you, though; You must be prepared to take a life, hence the importance of a clear mind. If Wily and Sigma were negotiable, it would not have come to this.' Zero advised as they continued. X nodded. "Yes, you are right. They have brought this upon themselves." He agreed, gaining more perspective from Zero's words. 'Exactly. That is my little X.' Zero grinned, proud of him.
Each of the armies retired to bed promptly after dinner, needing their rest before they had to move out before dawn. X and Zero relaxed in X's bath to help ward away their tension. X clung to Zero in the bath tightly and the blond held him close, rubbing his back to help keep him calm. Once they were out and dry and ready for bed, Zero soothed X to sleep with an Arabic lullaby and joined him in his sleep soon after he finished singing.
They were woken 6 hours later by Rock, telling them to start getting ready. Zero groaned awake reaching for his helmet on X's nightstand and putting it on before putting X's helmet on X's head gently. The brunette yawned deeply, reluctantly pushing himself up from Zero's body. "Morning, Zero." "Morning, X." Zero greeted back groggily as X activated his armor once he was off of Zero. The blond slowly sat up and stretched. "Are you ready, dearest?" X nodded at him. "The sooner it is over with, the better." Zero nodded in agreement, knowing X was trying not to let his persistent nervousness show. 'Everything will be alright, have faith.' He soothed telepathically. That earned him an encouraged smile from X. He returned the smile as he stood and activated his armor, taking X's hand as they left the room and headed for the barracks.
The barracks were barren, but the couple managed to see the armies loading wagons with supplies for the journey. Zero spotted a short-handed group of Doppler's soldiers and led X to their wagon. X got into the wagon and Zero stood just in front of the wagon, passing wooden crates to X, who then set them inside the wagon. When the group noticed them, they thanked X and Zero with grins. X grinned back. He always liked helping others. Zero grinned slightly too. Before coming to Light's kingdom, he didn't see much reason to help. There just weren't that many nice people and when it came to the homeless and needy, he felt sorry for them but never knew what to do. When it came to criminals, he struck swiftly, way too fast for any to notice him and it left Wily baffled by the time they were discovered in the dungeon. He felt he'd changed since coming to Light's kingdom. Helping others did feel nice.
When all the wagons were loaded with supplies and soldiers, Zero took one last look around. "Are we forgetting anything?" X sat on the edge of the wagon. "There is one thing. What about our own supplies?" Zero smirked at him. "Leave that to me." He said before turning and heading for the fountain just outside the palace. X watched him go curiously. Zero opened four compartments on his armor; One on each arm and one on each leg. They all had one of Wily's canteens from their arrival. He washed all of them out before filling them with clean water. "What about food, dear? It is a two day trip." X asked. 'I have had military rations in the past. They were gross. I would rather you not have to endure two days of that. I can make food for us.' Zero spoke telepathically as he filled the first two canteens. X smiled a little, getting a funny thought. "You are like a djinn to me, my love." Zero turned towards him with a chuckle. 'A Djinn's body is made of smoke, mine is of flesh and blood. Theirs are also heavily decorated and mine is not. I only see one sliver of common ground and that is in their line to their masters; Your wish is my command.' He smiled before filling the other two canteens. 'Alas, I am doing far more than any djinn would do for their masters. I am faithful to my master and a djinn will only do as the master asks.' X blushed brightly. "You have done much more than I have asked of you..." He said bashfully. Zero smirked and nodded, putting the canteens back in the compartments of his armor. Rock soon called for all of the wagons and soldiers to move out. Zero promptly came to X, turning his back and moving his hair for him. X climbed onto Zero's back, holding onto his chest and hips tightly as Zero rose into the air high above the soldiers and wagons, following them.
Several stops were made to allow the soldiers water to prevent them from passing out as they travelled on the hot sands of the desert. Zero stopped and offered X water as they did. When the armies stopped at dusk to allow food and rest, Zero flew ahead a little further and found an oasis. He gently touched down and sat down before the water. X crawled off, shivering as the desert grew cold at night. He crawled around to Zero's right and into his lap. Zero held him close, carressing his face carefully, observing him and sending his warmth to him. He shifted X against him, covering them with his wings to insulate them and conjured a bowl of warm soup. X snuggled him appreciatively with a smile as Zero began to feed him, taking bites eagerly. Zero delighted in babying X like this. Once X was finished, he sent away the dirty dishes by magic and conjured some more food. He knew X was still hungry and shared his food with him contently. The smell of their food attracted a weary traveler. The traveller seemed to be an old lost fortune teller, carrying his crystal ball on a soft cushion. "Excuse me, boys, I wish not to be a burden but can you spare some food?" Zero looked to X curiously. X nodded with a grin, which made Zero duplicate the amount of food laid out. The traveler seemed pleasantly surprised. "A magician, are you?" "No, he is a Nephilim." X answered. "An otherworldly being then. Hmm, it is truly an honour to be in the presence of one." The traveler said as he bowed in respect and began to eat. "Are you lost?" X asked. The traveler nodded. "I am afraid so. I lost my way home to my desert village in a sandstorm. You have been kind enough to give me food. Will you permit me to give you a fortune reading?" Zero was intrigued. He'd heard of these, but never seen or experienced it before. X sensed that and nodded. "Very well." Once they were all done eating, the traveler consulted his crystal ball. Zero and X listened carefully. "Trouble lies ahead. One who desires the nephilim remains and will become an obstacle for you to overcome. Enemies lie in wait for you at the kingdom infested with crooks as does their leader and his hencemen. Nephilim, if your partner harbors true love, you will defeat the one who desires you, setting you free, and he will help you pave the way for peace and unity. If not, your endeavors will fail, all of them, and you shall have to flee to the ends of the earth with a broken heart to safety." This sent both of them in deep thought. Zero knew who was meant by the fortune teller. Iris, of course. He hated the idea of fleeing though. X felt a little pressured and hurt. He loved Zero so much though, he didn't want to let Zero go. He mentally prepared himself to get rid of Iris for Zero as Zero quietly cleaned up. X crawled back onto Zero's back and helped the lost fortune teller home. Once that was done, they returned to the oasis and got comfortable. X crawled off Zero's back and crawled to his front, snuggling his chest. Zero's wings enclosed around them, keeping them warm as they fell asleep slowly with heavy minds.
Everyone was up and moving promptly the next morning. Wily's palace was in the distance. Zero flew above them, nonchalant about seeing his old home kingdom. X gulped gently seeing the enemy kingdom, still nervous and squeezing Zero's body as he flew. Zero wrapped his arms around X's as he flew, sighing and stopping once the city walls were close. "It is too quiet...Something is wrong. Screams and shouts are frequent here..." He said descending to the ground. Once he was low enough, Iris swiftly ran out and jumped him from the front. Zero couldn't look up in time and was pushed to the sand, knocking X clean off his back, nearly into the soldiers. He laid there face down in the sand as Iris tried to advance on Zero. "Oh darling, how I have missed you." She said, pinning him into the ground. Zero grunted and struggled against her. She had his legs pinned with her knees. 'X, please...' Zero called telepathically as he struggled. Rock went to X and hoisted him up. "Hey, your boyfriend is in big trouble. You are about to lose him to this wench." "Why are you struggling and why will you not talk to me?" Iris shook Zero in slight annoyance. No way to treat a love interest, let alone a prince and future sultan. X shook his head a little and Rock let him go, seeing that he was conscious. X growled and activated his blade, charging towards them. Iris screamed and leapt away when X landed, slamming into the city wall. The armor-clad brunette took slow steps towards her, pointing his blade at her neck. She wimpered in fear. "Leave...him...alone. He is mine." "No, he is mine. I saw him first." Iris snarled. "Zero wants nothing to do with the likes of you!" X said angrily, moving his blade closer to her throat. "You have constantly harrassed him on a daily basis. You are trying to make an important decision for him when he clearly does not want it. Zero has a mind of his own too. Let him choose." He tried to negotiate. Iris nodded carefully as X lowered his blade. X moved aside and they both waited on Zero. The blond slowly rose to his feet, having heard everything and started towards them. It looked like he was about to take X into his arms, but Iris quickly bumped X aside, knocking him back into the sand face first. Zero growled, halting the movement of his arms and shoved Iris to the ground. Iris yelped as she fell. "Zero?" "Does your brain not work or is it nonexistant? Can you not see that I have no interest in you at all? I never held interest in you or anyone in this kingdom. You enrage me as much as my father does, if not, worse. I completely detest you and your desperate harrassing ways." Zero said nonchalantly before turning towards X. Iris was in enough denial to think Zero was just playing hard to get and got up, walking towards him. Zero stopped himself mid-turn, having a feeling she would, and punched her square in the forehead, hard enough to give her a concussion. She was knocked to the ground, unconscious. He knew he wasn't supposed to hit a woman, but she had earned it and much more in his mind. Murmurs and gossips of both approval and concern travelled through the crowd of soldiers. Zero didn't pay it much mind and sat down before X, lifting him from the sand and into his lap, gently brushing the sand from his face. X's eyes opened when he did. "Zero...who were you going to pick?" X asked. "You, of course. I taught Iris a lesson when she cheated." Zero assurred, snuggling him before gesturing his head to the knocked out Iris. X was both surprised and amused at the sight. "You do know you are not supposed to hit a girl, right?" Zero nodded. "I know, but she earned it and far more." "I have to agree there." X chuckled. The moment was broken by Wily's approaching troops, Sigma and Vile leading a full on charge. The joined armies behind X and Zero readied themselves and yelled as they all charged towards Wily's forces. "Get on my back and keep your sword ready. We have rats to kill." Zero told X, standing up and setting X to his feet. X stood and crawled on Zero's back, holding onto Zero's chest lens with his left arm and gently gripping his sides with his legs, keeping his sword out and away from Zero as Zero took flight into the already fighting crowd of clashing armies.