Author's Notes: Out of all the parts I've written for this fanfic this one has been the toughest. I know what I want to do a couples days from now in the story timeline but figuring out what do in the days leading up to it has been hard. In fact I kinda just let the characters talk amongst themselves for the most part in this part of the story. So if this feels a bit fillerish I'm sorry. It's just more male bonding. Hopefully I don't put any of you to sleep. I'll try to make the next part more interesting.

Just Waiting

Part Ten, Day Thirty-three – 57 Days to Go

By Relm

The restock trip to Valsteep had started up strange enough. A large burly swordsmen, a chimera and a monster. Now on the return trip it was a burly swordsmen, a monster, a cat, an elf, a demon and a lizard. The lizard wasn't much of a bother but even though technically there wasn't more people then what they started off with they were going through more food than they should have been. Even with all the extra food Luna packed they were starting to get low.

It had taken three days to get to Valsteep and it was going to take anywhere from 3-4 days to get back. Since they were already on their second day heading back it was more than likely it would take at least another day to get back.

So that left the boys with two options, ration the food or hunt, fish and forage for food. Well there was a third option, but Blitz didn't want to resort to that one. In fact Blitz wouldn't even let De Tanga suggest it. The moment De Tanga was going to offer to teleport them all back to Zelphilia Blitz shushed him. No Blitz was still being prideful and wanted to do things the hard way rather than resort to doing what is easiest.

They tried fishing but the only one who managed to catch fish was Milo and he wasn't about to share anything.

With Imp around he scared all the nearby animals in the forest worth hunting so that was out of the question too.

And searching for food might have been a good idea if they had someone who knew how to pick out good vegetation and fungus from the poisonous ones. Aside from things like apples and other tree fruit it wasn't easy to figure out what was safe to eat. And the trees baring fruit were few and far between. But even still a person couldn't live off just fruit. Or at least these guys couldn't.

So that left the boys with rationing their food. Which should have been fine since one of them didn't even need eat. But when you were travelling with an Inverse rationing food wasn't easy.

"C'mon can't I have a little more I'm starving!" Blitz whined as they continued walking after lunch.

"Blitz we have to save the food. So don't be a big pig." Devon chided Blitz as though he was scolding a little child.

"But I'm hungry!" Blitz whined some more.

"Have an apple." De Tanga threw Blitz one of the apples he got off one of the nearby trees.

"I want something more than an apple." Blitz grumbled as he munched on the apple. "A man needs meat and potatoes. Something with substance!"

"You wouldn't make a very good vegetarian." De Tanga said with a laugh.

"You're lucky you can feed off emotions, you don't need mortal food." Blitz grumbled some more.

"I can only feed if the emotions are ones I can feed on. With you guys so grumpy from hunger it's making for pretty sparse eating for me. If it weren't for Imp I'd be starving right now." De Tanga pointed to the happy-go-lucky demon that was happy even though he was happy as happy can be.

"Why is Imp so happy? He can't have been like that before he got pulled into being used a chimera part."

"It's me of course. My personality has rubbed off on him." Devon happily smiled.

"You're usually a bitter smartass." Blitz mused. "But then again Imp is kinda annoying so I guess he's exactly like you."

Devon glared at Blitz. "You're just grumpy because you're hungry. It's a wonder you even survived your last trip alone. You can't fish; you can't hunt and you can't tell the difference between a mushroom from a poisonous fungus."

"I can fish! It's just too noisy with all the people around me. And I can hunt but there's nothing here to hunt for at the moment. Again noise. And why would I need to know what mushrooms are safe to eat if I can fish and hunt?" Blitz barked back.

"And what were you hunting the last time when you came home injured? A bear?"

"I wasn't hunting the bear. It was hunting the deer that the bear was also hunting. The bear was collateral damage."

"So it was a bear! I knew it!" Devon exclaimed. "Does Faithe know you fought over some food with a bear?"

"No and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Yeah if she knew that she wouldn't let you out of the house for fear you challenge any creature that crossed your path. Like fight a dog for his bone." De Tanga joked.

"I said you could call me by my first name but I can take back that right." Blitz glared at De Tanga.

"Oh leave him alone you grumpy guss. You're just being snappy because you food." Devon rolled his eyes at his cousin's husband.

"And since when do you defend him? When did you guys get to be such good chums?" Blitz narrowed his eyes at Devon.

"What about you? You're letting him call you by your first name. When did the two of you get to be such great pals? Oh I know it's when I was being chased by that angry mob and you two were chatting it up while having lunch!" Devon snapped back.

"Oh god here we go again whining about that stupid mob! You wouldn't shut up about it yesterday and you're going to go on about it today too? God you are so freaking sensitive."

"Sensitive? Gee I'd like to see how you'd like after you get abandoned by your family members in your time of need."

"You caused that problem and technically we're not family. I just married your cousin. So you're my wife's family."

De Tanga rolled his eyes at the exchange between Devon and Blitz. 'Mortals do get irritable when they are hungry.' "Blitz how about I-"

"I'm not having you teleporting us back to Zelphilia!" Blitz interrupted him.

"I wasn't going to suggest that. I was going to suggest I go back to Zelphilia get some food and come back."

Blitz seriously considered De Tanga's suggestion for a good while while they walked. In fact he pondered so hard that he didn't speak.

Devon actually wondered if Blitz had a stroke or something and couldn't stop staring at the large merchant/mercenary/swordsman.

"No." Blitz finally decided. Though it wasn't a definite strong 'no' either. It was extremely weak.

"Are you sure?" De Tanga prompted him.

"I already made my decision so quite asking me!" Blitz growled as loud as his stomach.

"Yeah if you ask too many times he'll cave in and crush his pride forever." Devon joked.

"Well we're going to have to do something; otherwise you guys might starve to death." De Tanga mused while thinking.

"How about we get Milo to fish for us? He seems to be lucky." Devon joked.

"If you want to fight to get the fish out of his hands then you're welcome to do it. But I've had enough of him scratching me. Honestly he wouldn't even let me eat my seafood chowder." De Tanga looked at the little kitten sitting on his shoulder. As if Milo looked back at De Tanga sticking his nose forward into De Tanga's face.

"Ohhh... seafood chowder..." Blitz groaned. "Seriously did you have to bring up food?"

"So is Valsteep the only nearby town? Or is there another one?" De Tanga wondered.

Blitz shook his head. "Nope. What are we going to do?"

"Well the only reason why Imp is here is because he doesn't like to be away from you Devon, right?"

Devon nodded his head. "That's right; the big guy doesn't like to be away from me."

"Okay then how about this, I go try and fish while Blitz you go and try and hunt. And you Devon stay right here with Imp so that he doesn't scare the animals and fish away." De Tanga suggested.

"Excuse me, so I have to just sit here while you two leave me? I don't think so!" Devon protested. "You're a monster; do you even know how to fish?"

De Tanga rolled his eyes. "It's always the same thing with you people! Just because I'm a monster doesn't mean I don't know how to mortal things right?"

"Have you ever fished before?" Blitz interjected.

"Well no! But that's the point!" De Tanga protested. "Fine do you have a better idea?"

"Here, you'll need this." Blitz handed De Tanga his fishing rod.

"Blitz?" De Tanga looked at the rod as though it was some ancient relic that possessed magical and mystical powers.

"Break the fishing rod and I kill you. But your idea isn't bad. Even if you can't catch any fish if I could just get one deer or wild boar we'd be good for a while. Better I do hunting than fishing. And having you trying to fish won't hurt anyone. Unless you break my rod then you'll be dead." Blitz got his bow and arrow ready testing the sharpness of the arrowheads.

"Thanks Blitz." De Tanga smiled feeling genuinely touched. As much as he had been leery about going on this trip initially De Tanga was actually very glad he had come. "Devon I need you to watch Milo."

"Why?" Devon looked at De Tanga as it he had grown another head.

"He gets very possessive over fish. I don't want him going after whatever fish I could catch." De Tanga lifted Milo off his shoulder and handed him to Devon.

Milo meowed angrily, disliking being moved when had had been sitting so comfortably.

"You be a good boy Milo." De Tanga patted his cat on the head.

Milo playfully pawed at De Tanga's hand before the monster went off towards the river.

"Just so you know I'm not happy with this." Devon grumbled as he sat himself down on a stump.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and start a fire." Blitz said mockingly as he sprinted off into the forest while waving.

Imp and waved back before sitting himself down next to Devon sporting a big smile.

"Oh shut up." Devon muttered glared at Imp. "Why are you so happy for?"

Imp didn't answer Devon he just smiled happily.

With obvious annoyance Devon gathered together wood to use for firewood. Once he got it all in a pile he used a small fire spell to get the fire going. Once he sat back down Milo jumped onto his lap and looked up him curiosity. "When did it come to this? I'm a highly skill sorcerer who is extremely charming and handsome. So why am I babysitting a demon, a cat and a lizard?" Devon grumbled asking the lizard and the cat.

Dragon didn't respond he just curled up into a tighter ball in Devon's pocket as he slept.

Milo on the other hand didn't find Devon all the interesting and decided that exploring would be more fun. So he hopped off the former chimera's lap and ran off into the woods.

"Milo come back here!" Devon commanded. "I'm not going to go look for you so you may as well come back here. You're not my cat so I don't care if you get lost."

If Milo did hear and understand what Devon said then he chose not to acknowledge it.

"Why should I go after a stupid cat for?" Devon muttered under his breath. "And it's not just a stupid cat, it's Luna's monster boy toy's cat." Even though he said this kept looking back and forth between the fire and where Milo went. "Damnit! Just so you know Milo I'm not coming after you because you're cute. It's because I'm sure Luna would kill me if I did something to upset De Tanga. Because for whatever reason she actually likes the guy." Devon got up and headed toward where Milo went. He wanted to tell Imp to stay near the fire but he knew that Imp was going to follow him anyway.

The direction that Milo headed off to wasn't a path fit for a person. In fact it wasn't a path at all. The woods were very dense and Devon had to duck under low hanging branches and move bushes out of his way.

"Seriously Milo couldn't you have gone some place easier to get to?" Devon yelled out in frustration.

Behind Devon the sound of inhuman whimpering caught the former chimera's attention.

Devon looked behind him and saw that Imp had gotten himself tangled a couple of the tree branches. They were snagged on his fur and he couldn't get himself free. Had Devon not been so irritated at that moment he might have found the situation comical.

Devon just shook his head. "Imp I'm sorry I'll be back and get you out."

Imp just whimpered louder the farther away Devon got.

"Milo come back you're making Imp very upset. That's not a very nice kitty." Devon called out to Milo even though he knew that Milo wasn't going to understand or care. He looked back at Imp one more time as he walked forward and tripped on a tree root. "OW! Damnit!" Devon fell forward on his face getting it full of dirt.

"Meow?"

Devon looked up and there was Milo looking at him with a sidewise glance. "Couldn't you have showed up before I tripped?"

Milo didn't answer he just picked up something with his mouth and hopped his way back to the fire climbing over Devon.

Devon let out a sigh as he got up and dusted the dirt from his face and clothes.

...

When Devon got back to the fire he found Milo sitting looking ever so innocent with his prize on the ground before him.

"What is that?" Devon went to pick up the furry mass in front of the cat.

Milo let out a big hiss and tried to claw at Devon.

Devon snatched his hand back. "Why are you being so snippy?" Devon looked around at the large mass and realized it was a rabbit. And quite a large one at that. "How in the world did you hunt something down that is bigger than you?"

"Meow?"

"If you want me to cook that I'm going to have to take it." Devon reached for the dead rabbit and Milo clawed at him once more. "Seriously I'm not going to take your food from you. Though that rabbit does look tasty." As Devon went to grab the rabbit from Milo the rabbit sprung back to life and looked at him. "GWAAAAAAH!" Devon screamed and dropped the rabbit.

The rabbit though frightened and not dead hopped off with as much speed as it could.

"Unless that was a zombie bunny it wasn't dead after all." Devon mused while he tried to calm his racing heart.

Milo hissed at Devon obvious not happy that Devon lost his lunch.