"WEED-SAN!" Zelda yelled to the priest down the corridor.
He scowled, "Weed? Is that what you're calling me now?"
When she reached him, she smiled and nodded, "Yes!"
Father Leon, also known as Dandelion, sighed and put an hand against his head in annoyance. Long, wavy, brown hair stopped around his mid-back. His face needed a shave, and his features were locked into a permanent grimace.
"Well, what did you stop me for?" he responded gruffly.
She smiled and pulled out a small red bag from her pocket. "Here! I baked these this morning! They're cookies!"
Leon hesitated. Everyone in the AX, save for Tres, learned from the beginning how awful her cooking was. It could be just as dangerous as taking a swig of cyanide. It was a fifty percent chance of getting poisoned and a one hundred percent chance of making you want to spit it back out. Slowly he reached inside the pouch. The 'cookie' was little more than a charred oval-ish stick.
"Look, it's a fish!" She smiled and pointed out the wobbly, hard-to-see shape.
"Oh…" Knowing that he'd regret it, he shoved it quickly into his mouth. He clutched his throat and made a strange choking noise. He coughed it back up and threw it in the grass.
"What's wrong?" Zelda asked innocently.
Dandelion's eyes grew large as he searched for a plausible answer. "Uh… I think I'm allergic to something in your formula…"
"Oh, I'm sorry," she placed a sad little hand on his arm.
Guilt weighed a bit heavily on his conscious as he waved it off. "It's fine. Don't worry. It was still uh… good, though. But, I uh, had better get going. I'm going to see the Professor."
She brightened up, "I'll go with you! I wanted to give him a cookie too!"
He muttered to himself as they continued to walk down the corridor, "Heh, can't wait to see that."
The Professor was standing in the garden, talking to Sister Kate. The hologram woman disappeared upon their arrival. William Walter Wordsworth turned to greet them. He had a pipe in his mouth, his short dark hair glinting in the sun.
His laughing dark eyes smiled, "What can I do for the two of you today?"
"I baked some cookies today and I wanted to give one to you!" He paused and Zelda noticed. "What is it? They're good!! Weed-san said they were good and a priest isn't suppose to lie!"
The Professor arched his eyebrows at his friend. "That's right, a priest isn't suppose to lie!"
He more or less whispered that comment at Leon but the baker heard it anyway. "That's right!" She handed him an evil cookie.
William inspected the black, crunchy fish with two fingers. "It… looks so good…"
Just then, Lynde's voice echoed over the hedge walls, calling her name. Leon took that time to whisper harshly, "A priest isn't suppose to lie!"
"Well, I'm human," he chucked her creation over a gazebo.
Zelda turned back to the other AX members, "I had better go, Lynde-san is calling me. I'm glad you enjoyed the cookies!"
Professor turned serious. "You know, it would be best if you didn't spend anymore time with that young man."
"What?"
Dandelion finished saying what his friend wasn't, "He doesn't seem to like you for your mind. If you have to have a mindless follower that fauns over everything that you do, they might as well like you for your personality!"
"But… Lynde-san is a nice friend…" she tried to defend him. She wasn't getting use to his overflowing compliments but he was kind. The last few weeks in Rome he had been visiting her everyday. He would bring her gifts sometimes, or his undying love- as he called it. There were a few times he tried to kiss her but somehow, someway, Tres was always right behind them.
"Sure… to you. But that boy obviously wants to be more than friends."
She shook her head, blushing, "I- I… have to go." Turning on her heel, she lost her balance and landed in the soft, slightly damp dirt.
"Are you alright?" The Professor leaned over.
"I'm fine, thank you."
The men watched her trip two more times before she stumbled away, face on fire. Leon sighed and rubbed his head, "She's a nice girl. She trips on air and she can't cook…"
"…But she's still sweet." William finished. After a moment he remarked, "I hope that young man doesn't hurt her in anyway."
"If he does he'll be in a lot of pain."
"Why?"
"Because he'll find an angry priest who likes to fight."
"Father Leon, Father William." Tres strode up behind them. "Where is Sister Zelda?"
"Eh, Gunslinger! You just missed her! She's gone to meet that Lynde guy at the front gate," Leon answered.
---
Zelda thought about what Weed had said as she continued to make her way among the bushes. She didn't like to think that Lynde was truly interested in her. She didn't like it for two reasons: One, she couldn't imagine someone liking her. That notion was impossible to come to terms with. And two, if they were real, she couldn't return those feelings… because she already had given them away.
Tres' rusty brown eyes loomed over that last thought. Unconsciously, she jerked her body. Her foot twisted and she tumbled into the wall of twigs and leaves to her left. "Ah! I'm so clumsy!" She exhaled before untangling herself from the hedge. To her surprise, and pain, her hair had caught on a branch. Yanking and tugging in earnest, she came free.
"Ah!" The force of her actions pushed her back, but instead of hitting the ground she crashed into someone else behind her.
"Sister Zelda?" Silver haired Abel peered down at her.
"Abel-san! Thank you for catching me!" She smiled and straightened up. "Oh! I have a cookie I want to give you! I made it myself!"
"Oh?! A cookie! Yum! I haven't eaten anything solid in a long time…" his azure eyes glistened and his upturned mouth watered. She passed him one of the burnt cookies, which he gladly snapped up. He swallowed it quickly and then stared sorrowfully at his empty hand. "That was really good Zelda-san."
She smiled and tossed the garnet bag to him, "Here, I don't think anyone else is going to have any and I know you need to eat."
"Thank you Zelda-san!" He cried happily and dug into the pouch. He stuffed them into his mouth, handful by handful, munching away in wonderful bliss.
"Abel-san? Can I ask you something?" She cocked her head slightly. He nodded, mouth full. "In Paris, Tres-san and I had followed some vampires suspected in the disappearances of those people. And.. the building blew up. I saw him get thrown back into the falling warehouse. I saw him! But the next thing I knew I was in my hotel room and he was fine!"
He answered while crumbs fell down his shirt. "Tres' body must have been intact in the wreckage. He has a self-recovery system that brings him back if anything should happen to him."
"Oh." She stored this information away for later use.
Abel searched the inside of the bag for more but it appeared to be empty. He turned it upside down and shook it. One lone, half of a disgusting cookie landed in the grass. "No!" He whimpered and dived for it.
The stinging on Zelda's face intensified. When she had gotten stuck in the hedge earlier, branches had clipped her face. One of the more painful ones opened up and a small trail of blood streamed down her cheek.
From behind, someone pressed a white handkerchief against her cheek, wiping off the blood. She looked over her shoulder to see Tres. "Ah! Tres-san!" Her already red face colored another shade darker.
"Catherina-sama requests our attendance."
Zelda asked, "Why?"
"We're being sent on a mission," he answered. "Sister Kate has found the vampires who caused the deaths of the people in Paris."
