Chapter ten –really guys, you should go read a book instead of this s… evacuations of the bowels
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"It's MOOOrning and it's time MOOve- click." Manta Oyamada groaned and buried his face deeper into the pillow. Last night he had forgotten to turn off the alarm clock, probably because of the late homecoming by round the clock of four in the morning. And with all his power and energy drained after the previous battle, he'd just crashed down into his bed, probably dead asleep before his head hit the pillow. He glowered sourly at the cow shaped alarm clock with tired eyes. 'stupid piece of junk, why did I ever get such a silly looking alarm clock?' he muttered bitterly in his mind while flipping onto his back and started staring at the ceiling. The truth was that the purchase had been rather hasty while traveling in America, and it had been a special offer… oh well, at least it was working wasn't it? Thoughts about design might come in second hand… Manta closed his eyes and started half dozing.
Suddenly he opened his eyes and his nose started twitching ever so slightly. Bacon and eggs frying in a pan. The smell floated in the air, a rather pleasant smell actually. Manta got out of bed and started changing clothes. He chose a pair of saggy jeans that had been bought at a cheap second hand shop, they had been washed so many times so that they were well on the way to turning into white. Next was a green sweater that luckily didn't smell too funny, or at least he hoped so. Since both Faust and Manta was rather new in the area, they hadn't located any nearby Laundromat yet, resulting that the heap of dirty clothes was growing at a steady pace every day.
He exited for the kitchen but when he had reached his goal he stopped in the door way, watching a rather peculiar scene. Or at least one that he was sure that he hadn't seen before.
"Darling, I think you should turn the bacon now." Lilly's mother was hovering by the stove, watching the frying pan intently even thought she herself had no power to affect its position.
"Just a second mama." Lilly said while she poured out a cup of newly made coffee before she hurriedly put it on the table, in front of her father. "Thank you sweetheart," he said with a little nod before he returned his gaze to the newspaper that was lying wide open on the table and which he was currently reading. Meanwhile Lilly climbed up on a chair that stood by the stove, and started turning the bacon. Her mother was at her side and now and then gave her instructions such as; "that one needs turning, leave that be for a moment or two, that one's done." Mikkel was lying on top of the refrigerator, watching the scene with one sleepy eye.
It was indeed a very peculiar sight, however… there also was something else, it felt… Manta wasn't sure how to describe it, sort of warmth, like warmness in the chest… and yet… a small sorrow when he thought of that it was something he never had. A family, yet not just 'a family' but a caring and loving one, people that truly looked out for each other. The way it was supposed to look. The way it is supposed to look. A portion of bacon and egg had just been scraped up on a plate and Lilly was skipping to the table with it as she suddenly looked up and saw Manta standing in the doorway. She broke off with a huge smile.
"Morning Manta, slept well? I'm making eggs and bacon for breakfast, you want some?" The she stopped and her smile faded as she noticed Manta's expression. "Are you okay Manta?" Already a little worried frown started to take form in her otherwise rather even forehead.
"Why?" Manta smiled gently. "I'm okay." As a change of subject he added; "it's really a delicious scent, do you often cook food like this?" At this Lilly blushed.
"Well yeah, but mom's always there to help me and such." She grinned widely, still her face in a scarlet shade of pink. "But it tastes even better than it smells, come in, come in and have a plate! I can make toast I you like!"
"Lilly," Mikkel spoke from his resting place, "it is like you're inviting him to his own house."
"What, no way!"
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And from that on the days seemed to get a bit more cheerful, a week passed without getting any messages about the competition and Faust had thought that this was a great opportunity for Lilly to start her training in necromancy. 'Poor little thing' Manta had thought secretly at the announcement while Lilly nearly had bounced up and down with joy, eager to start her training. But of course it had anything but easy and joyful. That practicing necromancy was something was rather difficult and hard work was something that Lilly soon realized.
First of all you had to get your body into tip top shape so it would not suffer any greater damages when you started using mana in order to produce an oversoul. And in a way, you could say that was the easier part of the practice. Mental training was nothing for the impatient one, and even though Lilly was both willing and determined to master the art, Manta had occasionally found her poking at the bones as if that could awaken them to life and make them skip and jump.
"Close your eyes and try to empty your mind" Manta had said with a calm voice, "as if you're meditating." Perhaps it was cause of her young age, but any attempts that were made to revive the skeleton of Frankensteiny seemed to be destined to failure and at the most she would only sit still for half an hour, with her eyes closed and not uttering one word, before letting out a displeased grunt as she exclaimed; "Oh darn it, this is hopeless!"
Lilly wasn't the only one who had a hard time though, Manta also had to practice, possibly twice as hard and when he wasn't training he was most likely reading a book which Faust had given him. But then again, between the training and studies they did have their own time. Not much of course but still… compared to his earlier life… he'd never want to turn back to it.
He knew that if he'd ever fail there would be no threats of physical punishment or starvation or being locked into a dark room or… but perhaps what was even more important, this was his own choice. The decision had been entirely his own to make, so unlike the future that had been destined for him since birth.
Besides the studies and training they also had several chores, such as going shopping or washing their clothes at a Laundromat. But even though practice and chores took a lot of time of day, almost like some kind of magic, they'd end up with at least a few hours to themselves. During that time Manta taught Lilly some kanji, and in return he got cooking classes by Mary, Lilly's mother.
In a way, you could say that it was rather strange… that even though Manta had exceptionally good grades, he hardly knew how to make a decent meal. Surely he knew how a stove and a microwave worked, but that was about it. But then again, it might not have been all too strange, while living at his parents' residence, there had always been employed chefs that cooked the food, and if you were up late studying, you could simply call one of the many servants or maids to fix you some evening snacks if you felt like it. Manta had never, unless if during punishments, gotten to stay hungry for a longer period of time.
Cooking was fun but hard, Manta reflected, he had dropped several omelets and pancakes on floor, before he'd gotten the hang of using a frying pan. He had also, rather often in fact, cut himself by mistake while preparing something, and on occasion earning himself a couple of burns, some of them had been rather nasty. Once or twice, he'd nearly created a fire. But luckily Lilly had been there and had put a lid on top of the frying pan, suffocating the flames.
(((An. That's actually what you are supposed to do it if something is starting to burn in a frying pan, suffocates the flames with a lid. Pouring water over it is both a dangerous and bad idea, in case of somebody didn't know …sorry for being a wise-beetch ;P)))
But in the end had the hard work paid off. Even if Manta was far from becoming a chef at a gourmet restaurant, there had been a remarkable improvement, one that had been praised by Lilly's mother and even kindly commented by Faust himself, as he had been served a supper that had been cooked by Manta.
*****…
'Today it will be pasta carbonara for dinner,' Lilly pondered as she walked to the supermarket. Mikkel was floating lazily beside her in his spirit ball form. Usually Manta would accompany her but last night Faust had given him at least a ton of books resulting that he didn't get much sleep that night. He was already small, bluish bags under his eyes due to the constant studies. Surely he claimed that he was all right but still Lilly felt a bit sorry for him and as he'd fallen asleep in the armchair, a thick book resting in his lap, she'd decided that she might just as well go with just Mikkel.
'and then I'll make chocolate parfait for desert!' Already in her mind she could see Manta eat parfait, a smile on his face and smiling at HER for making it. As her daydream vision of Manta looked up on her she felt a hot throb in her chest and her cheeks turning a bit rosier than usual. And she would have welcome this new feeling if it only wasn't for…
"You look happy, are you thinking about someone special?"
"What makes you think that." Lilly stated and looked away, her face was as red as a sunburned tomato.
"Oh nothing," the spirit said with a small grin, "just you staring off into the sunset dreamingly, with an absentminded smile on your lips and you sighting lightly and…"
"Cut it out! I was just looking at the pretty colors!"
"Whatever you say." Mikkel replied with an amused voice. They stayed silent and they both kept on walking (or at least one of them were walking) the setting sun made Lilly's shadow grow long and in a distance you could hear a bird.
Suddenly Lilly stopped.
"What is it?" Mikkel asked.
"..Nothing," it took a moment before Lilly replied, "I just… had this kinda feeling…" but the she shrugged her shoulders "it's probably nothing," and started walking again.
It looked as if a small child had painted the sky with its fingers. A very happy child, one could think, making the sky joyfully colored with hundreds of shades of red, pink, orange, yellow and violet, and then finishing the masterpiece by giving the sun a warm and glowing tint of gold. Even if it sounded a bit cliché, it was truly beautiful. Romantic even. Lilly was sure that if Manta had come with her he could have explained how the sky could turn into such a great display of colours, when it usually just stayed blue during the day when the sun was up.
"Isn't it a bit late, for a little girl like you to be outside walking all by yourself?" It was an unknown voice, but Lilly had not time to reflect upon it as strong claws seized an iron grip upon her and she saw how quickly her feet were leaving the ground. Within a moment she started to scream.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Then she glanced down, she was hanging at least a hundred meters above the ground, she felt her insides freeze. "No on second thought, please don't let me go!"
Mikkel just stared in horror as his mistress and companion was lifted high up in the air by a creature, no, MONSTER that he'd never seen anything lookalike to it. Its wings were beating heavily but had no trouble staying in the air. Upon its back there was a person who spoke up.
"Tell the young necromancer that if he ever wants to see his friend again he'll go to the park at midnight." The beast let out a roar before it flew higher up into the sky, disappearing behind the clouds.
The fox spirit briefly considered following after them but soon decided against it. Even if he would be able to find them, he would never be able to free Lilly and if he did, the monster might drop her into a certain death.
He blinked once, trying to get over the chock. Helpless, no, useless than ever. He was a failure as Lilly's friend and guardian. An utter and complete failure, an insult to all spiritual guardians around the world, he didn't even deserve to call himself that. He felt like his was going to cry.
Mikkel turned around and quickly made his way back to the hotel. He was travelling with the speed of mind.
Dun dun dun… cliffhanger, I do hate it but I'm already late with the promised update… -gets hit by a rock-
Ugh! It's way too late already and I'm way too tired to read it all through one more time. If you find any mistakes please forgive me then, gwah… I know this piece have probably taken much too long for all you guys but really, my life is just killing me. ((Hey! I could use that as a quote! XD))
That wakeup alarm clock was more or less inspired by a TV commercial I saw once, it was about ringtones and animations for cell phones, though I don't buy that sort of stuff, way too suspicions and not to mention expensive in the end. Besides my cell is probably too old for that anyway, its friggin six years old now! Still working though, and I'm happy as long as I can use it to phone and text people with it, OUTLOOKS IS NOT EVERYTHING KIDS! To have a functioning kidney is an important part of life, too!
Me Gawd, I just thought of something! ((… don't laugh, it's not a joke!)) I'm so sorry if you guys don't like the adding of so many oc:s! I'm really sorry, but everyone has a purpose in the story and I'll try my best to keep the quality as high as possible! I hope that no one is angry with me, feel free to dewatch the story or whatever you want, please don't flame me! I'll try to keep the characters so simple and not Mary-Sue-ish as possible. NO OCXcannon character! Yes, Lilly likes Manta but it just happened! They won't turn into a lovey dovey couple!
…my original characters have flaws… they're far from perfect… I'm sorry, I'm sorry! TTxTT