I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter, as this was written while I had (and still have) to deal with a b^*$# of a headache. But I really wanted to get this out to you guys, especially when I got all those wonderful reviews.
So there is a BIG THANKS in order for: Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja, April Marciano, YuujouKami, xxtoushirou, anna the viking XD, and TheKawaiiStar21!
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Chapter 10 Life Lessons
An extra (except it's at the beginning instead of the end!): Quick look at how Lily's beginning training with her flames went…
First Lesson: With Daemon
Daemon smiled creepily (in Lily's opinion). "I want you to summon a dead corpse with your mist flames."
Lily blinked. Then blinked again. Then laughed. "Do what with a what? How about you start with the basics."
Daemon frowned. "Didn't G already teach you the basics?"
"No. He was teaching me how to use a handgun." Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I mean, I already know the mechanics of the whole flame summoning thing and how it's supposed to work. But applying the actual concept to a real life situation is way different. You have to remember that I'm not used to this whole life energy can do amazing, and frankly impossible, things."
"But you summoned three flames when you came here," the indigo colored hair man reasoned.
Lily shook her head at the man. "That was completely unintentional. There's no way for me to duplicate what happened at that exact moment."
Daemon sighed dramatically. "Fine. Then first off, tell me what you know."
"Well, it's a dying will flame. And to summon it you're supposed to have a strong resolution, correct?"
Daemon nodded.
"And the stronger the resolution, the flame will have a stronger and higher purity."
Daemon sweat dropped. That last one he didn't know, but he doubted the others knew that either.
"But there's the first problem. I don't have resolve for…anything," Lily said uncaringly despite the gravity of her words.
"You don't have ambition for anything?" Daemon clarified. "No loved one to protect, or perhaps someone to avenge, or revenge you desire."
"Nope, nadda, zip."
"So what is it exactly that you want to gain in life?" The melon haired man asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He had never met someone with such a lack of…life.
"I want to live life for as long as possible doing things that I enjoy, then die either peacefully in my sleep or laughing," the raven haired girl replied aloofly.
Daemon placed his chin between his thumb and index finger, tapping his cheek thoughtfully. "Then, what if I were to kill you right now?"
Lily finally broke her emotionless mask and frowned. "That isn't in my plan."
The blue haired man smirked and summoned his scythe. "Your resolve is to stay alive. So now I'm going to test how far you are willing to take it."
The girl stared at the other in shock, fear slowly creeping into her heart. "You don't really mean…?"
Daemon smiled sinisterly. "If you want to live, then it would be in your best interest to call out your flame."
Lily took a step back, but before she could run, she was surrounded by the man's mist flames. It was now like she was standing amongst floating rocks, thousands of feet up in the air. She walked over to the edge of the platform she was on and looked down. While she knew that this was an illusion, it still felt incredibly real.
Abruptly the edge started to crumble away. Lily jumped back, but upon further inspection, the platform was breaking apart everywhere and slowly working its way in.
"Find my resolve to live, huh?" Lily muttered with an irritated click of the tongue. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try to focus despite the sound of her impending doom.
'It may not be very honorable, but my resolve right now rests in my wish to live. There's no one I wish to protect and no one that I want to seek my revenge on. So my life is what I'll have to make do with.'
Lily's stomach gave a jolt when the ground beneath her gave away and she started to fall, but she forced herself to focus. Right now she needed to call out her mist flame if she wanted to live.
'I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die!' Lily snapped open her eyes. Only a thin coating of mist flame covered her right hand, but hopefully that was just enough. She pulled back her fist, praying that she would be able to make contact with something and get her out of the mist guardian's illusion. She then swung forward with all her might, slamming her fist right into some sort of wall. The barrier she hit cracked and broke apart a little. With a few more hits, there was a hole big enough for Lily to crawl through.
The moment she was out, she collapsed onto the ground and heaved a big breath. "That…was a pain…"
Daemon clapped his hands. "Congratulations, you only spent about three hours in there."
"Three hours!" Lily exclaimed. It felt more like five minutes to her.
The blue haired man nodded. "Even with your lack of ambition, I only expected you to be stuck in there for at least one, maybe two hours. But the strength of your flame was even more pathetic than I had predicted."
A vein popped on Lily's temple, but she couldn't exactly argue with the pompous man. "Don't remind me," she grumbled irritatedly.
"So you're going to have to work on strengthening your flame before we can work on any illusions."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Lily asked, pushing herself into a sitting position.
"I have no idea." Daemon shrugged unhelpfully.
Another vein popped on Lily's temple.
"Anyways, let me know when you're finally strong enough to start working on something." Daemon waved and left, leaving the girl gaping at the man behind.
Second Lesson: With Alaude
"Oof!" Lily grunted, getting knocked back (hard) and landing on the ground for the umpteenth time since they started. 'Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain,' chanted through her head as she fought to stay conscious.
"Hey, if I play dead, would you be willing to take a break?" She called out to the beige haired man.
"Up."
She huffed. "Yeah, I thought so." She fought to stand up to go yet another brutal round with the former inspector. She caught the fist that was about to knock her down before she had fully stood.
Alaude smirked. That was only the second blow she had managed to stop since they had started, but it was an improvement. "That's enough. Have you finished with the work I gave you?"
Lily groaned. "I take it back. You can go ahead and kick me around, just don't give me another stack of paperwork. Why do you guys have so many freaking employees? I think my brain is about to burst from all the information and the number of freakin' names I've had to memorize."
Alaude fought another smirk. "There's a series of codes you need to memorize in case I need to tell you something during a conference or event that I don't want anyone else to know. There is also a series of files I want you to organize as well."
Lily's eye started twitching. "I'm getting' the feeling that I'm your guys' new scapegoat to unload a bunch of your work onto."
Alaude didn't bother answering, instead choosing to head back inside.
Lily sighed and pressed a hand over her eyes. "I can already feel that headache coming on."
Lesson Three: With Asari
"We're going to work on meditating and controlling our flow of energy."
"Wait, wait, wait." Lily held up a hand to stop the man. "So no paperwork?"
Asari smiled in amusement. "No paperwork."
"And no beating me up, right?"
The rain guardian chuckled. "No fighting. I think Alaude and Daemon has done enough damage for a whole month."
Lily clasped her hands, like in prayer, with watery/sparkly eyes and a grateful smile. "I change my mind. You're my favorite guardian! If I was the touchy-feely type, I would've totally hugged you right now."
Asari laughed gently. "Alright, let's start with breathing…"
Continuation of story, but also several weeks later…
If looks could kill, then the 'innocent' mountain of papers would have combusted and turned into a smoldering pile of ash several minutes ago. Sadly for Lily, her simple little fantasy did not come to pass, and the evil pieces of paperwork continued to stand as they were, waiting to be processed. She sighed and started to attack the large pile.
'Where the hell is that blond idiot?' She questioned herself after a while. She paused and looked around the office, almost as if she was hoping that he'd hop out from some hiding place and start helping her with the ridiculous pile. It was amazing how many files could surmount in the 1800's, considering that there were fewer things to categorize or to take into consideration in Lily's professional opinion.
The raven haired girl heaved another sigh when no blond popped into view to assist her with the monstrosity of a workload, and dove back into the pile. If she worked diligently enough, then perhaps she would finish in time to catch something to eat before that meeting she was being forced to attend.
Several hours later, Lily was massaging her hand and grumbling as she made her way to the front lounge, where Primo was meeting with some other mafia family she couldn't remember the name of from Spain in about ten minutes. Meaning, no lunch for who knows how long. She was definitely going to have her retribution for all of this. But for now she would focus on the task at hand.
Lily brushed out the crinkles in her white dress shirt and black slacks. Nina had apparently transported her work clothes as well, and Lily figured that she should appear a little more formal and presentable for these sorts of things. And since dresses were completely out, she figured that Primo should be pleased with this much. It was only right that she was formal as well for these meetings, as it would be rude to the guests otherwise. Though, that didn't stop her from sticking her hair into a messy (but fashionable) bun.
"Right on time," Giotto called softly from behind, having just arrived with G from wherever. "I never considered it before, but a suit works very well for both genders. I'm glad you have something other than your casual attire to wear for these meetings, especially since you won't wear any dresses."
Lily narrowed her. "You're trying to distract me, aren't you?"
"Not if it isn't working," the blond replied playfully.
G raised an eyebrow at the two. "Distract you from what?"
"We should take care of this meeting first, no?" The sky guardian cut in casually before the other could answer.
Lily fumed silently, but followed the other two inside. She put up a polite smile and reached forward to shake the other Don's hand, greeting him on the behalf of the Vongola sky and storm guardians. They then jumped right into business, discussing the different exports like cocoa beans, mining goods, olives, etc. They argued gently about prices and space for their products on the port, as well as the issue of smuggling in their areas of operation. Lily explained the tactical setup she and Primo had come to an agreement to and was able to persuade the Spanish Don for the most part. She discussed with Giotto and G when necessary, but was able to handle the dealings for the most part.
"Thank you for coming all this way yourself to take care of this," Lily said gratefully when they had finished.
"It was no problem at all!" The Spanish Don said jovially. "But I must say that I'm surprised that Vongola Primo here, chose a woman to help him with his business dealings, though I mean you no offense. You have proved to be quite the valuable member."
Lily shook her head. "It's quite alright. I already know my standing in society thanks to my gender. But thank you for your praise." An idea popped into the girl's head and she smiled. "You seem like a fun loving man. Do you mind helping me with a little prank?"
"Oh?" The Don's eyes sparkled mischievously. "And who would the victim of this prank would this be? And why would they deserve it?"
"This idiot," Lily jabbed her thumb at the blond don seated next to her discreetly, "left me to deal with all of his paperwork this morning, and I'm looking for a little payback."
"Do tell!" The Spanish Don urged the girl.
"I was thinking that we could pretend to get into an argument about something. Primo will think that the business dealings have gone sour and he'll start to panic. What do you think?"
The Don stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Simple, but effective. Let's do it!"
The raven haired girl nodded. "Would you like to start off? We don't actually have to say anything insulting to each other. We just have to sound angry."
"Then you can pretend that I've just called you an incompetent woman," the Don said with a condescending smirk.
Lily narrowed her eyes at the man and replied in a threatening tone, "I hope I don't burst out laughing too soon. I really want to savor this."
The two continued and pretty soon they were yelling at each other. The Don slammed his hands on the table and stood up, pointing at the girl and yelling at her. Lily stood up as well and yelled something back.
"Lily calm down!" G called out, trying to pull her away, but she wouldn't budge and kept on yelling at the older man.
"What's going on here?" Giotto asked the girl urgently. "Did he insult you? What has caused you to become so upset?"
But neither broke away from their argument.
"This isn't good," the blond muttered.
"What could have ticked them off so much?" G growled.
The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"(Spanish) Sorry, sorry. Their expressions were just too funny." Lily clutched her stomach, a cramp forming from laughing so hard.
But the Spanish don waved her apology away, laughing heartily as well. "We broke our little charade at the same time. Though," he broke into another round of chuckles when he caught sight of the bewildered expression of the Vongola boss and guardian, "you should probably tell them what just happened."
"Let me escort you out first, just in case one of them decides to blow their top." Lily smiled and offered her hand again. "It was a pleasure meeting you sir. I look forward to future visits."
"Yes, you must come by sometime! We have a little ball coming up in a little over half a year's time. May I expect you?"
"Perhaps, I really wouldn't know until I can find out from Primo what's going on exactly."
"Well, I'll put you down until further notice! Good day, Miss Lily." The don bowed in a fluid, but extravagant, flourish of motion and left.
Lily waved with a giggled and watched the man leave. She looked over her shoulder at the two men left behind with a smirk. "Everything went well. That argument was just an act."
G groaned and rubbed his temple. "And why would you do that?"
"Payback for that one ditching me with all that paperwork," the raven girl replied bluntly, pointing at the offender.
The blond chuckled. "I thought so. I may not be fluent, but the bits I caught sounded very out of place for a heated argument."
"Well you could have told me that," G grumbled. He sighed when all he received was an unapologetic chuckle.
"So how is your training going?" The blond asked, redirecting the conversation.
Lily pouted in her head a bit. She had almost been hoping to see the red head at least punch the blond idiot a little. But as the sky guardian's question caught up to her, she frowned. "Not so good. My lack of resolve is making it difficult for me to advance very far. I've only managed light illusions, though I can successfully hide myself. But I can't create anything solid and they're all easily seen through."
"How about regular combat?" Primo asked.
"Ask me again when I can finally go a day without my sides colored purple," Lily replied sarcastically.
"What about your progress with firing a hand gun?" G asked.
"Ooh!" Lily perked up. "I shot the middle of the target yesterday!"
G smiled, pleased that she had finally made some progress. "Alright, now let's try for doing that repeatedly."
The raven haired girl broke out into another round of laughter. "You're asking for a small miracle."
"With that sort of attitude, of course you're not going to make any progress," the storm guardian gripped, leading the way out of the room.
Lily nodded. "I know. But pessimism is a great way to lower people's expectations, so that when I finally reached them, then they'll be more surprised."
Giotto laughed lightly. "I'll meet you guys in the dining room. I have some files to put away."
The two nodded and continued on their way. They conversed about the technical difficulties of Lily's weapon trainings as well as her issues with the mist and cloud guardians. But before they could reach the dining room, they were assaulted by Elena. Well, Lily was anyways.
"Lily dear! I have a few dresses I want you to try!" Elena exclaimed excitedly as she headed down the hall toward the duo.
Faster than they eye could blink, Lily took off out of sight.
"Ah! Where'd she go?" The blond woman asked curiously.
"She doesn't like dresses very much it appears," G informed the woman.
"That's no good. What about that ball the Vongola is hosting three months from now?" Elena looked at the other man in concern.
"We may have to hog tie her and force her into something?" The red head shrugged. "The difficult part is trying to find her. I get the feeling that she can hide pretty well."
"Nufufufu, do you really think so?" Daemon appeared in a shroud of mist, carrying a very unhappy Lily over his shoulder.
"Nooooooooo!" Lily shouted, hitting her fists against the man's back in quick succession. "Unhand me you brute! I refuse to dawn one of those self-deprecating torture devices ever again! No fair! No fair! No fair!"
The trio sweat dropped.
"Self-deprecating torture device?" G asked, unsure if he really wanted an answer.
"Yes! They were created to make woman more helpless since dresses are either too freakin' heavy to fight in or just plain inconvenient! They also make them so tight that you can barely breath and they're always itchy! I hate 'em!" Lily shouted, though her voice was a little strained from the lack of air getting into her system due to the shoulder in her stomach. The girl stopped fighting with a huff, completely exhausted.
"Do I want to know what's going on?" The four of the five looked around to see their male blond companion observing them.
Lily, who didn't have the energy to look up, raised her arm and pointed down at the man carrying her. "All his fault."
Daemon sniffed indignantly and set the girl back on the ground.
"So what exactly happened here?" Giotto asked.
"Well, I wanted Lily to try on a few dresses, but it seems that she's quite adamant against them," Elena told the man with an apologetic smile.
G sighed. "But I have to agree with her on this one. The Vongola are hosting a ball and we can't exactly have her walking around as she is."
"Then don't," Lily said stiffly. "I dislike balls and dances of all kinds. I would prefer to hide out in my room until it's over."
"For three days?" Daemon raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Even if you had your meals delivered to you, the other guests would still surely find out."
Lily shrugged. "Then tell them I'm ill and I'm not capable of getting out of bed or leaving my room."
"Well, perhaps you could create an illusion that you're wearing a dress instead," Primo suggested.
Daemon shook his head and waved his hand in front of him. "That's no good. This girl's abilities are way too weak. Even a monkey could see through them."
A vein popped on Lily's head. "Hey, you should be a little more careful. I've progressed a good deal with my new anti-dying will flames technique. Don't make me go all kick-ass on you."
"You won't have too if I take care of him first," Elena said with a light glare toward the mist guardian.
Lily smirked a little and stuck her tongue childishly at the man.
"If that is the case," Giotto cut in before another argument could ensue. "Then it'll be up to you to bring her up to snuff by time that event rolls around."
Both parties groaned.
"And I'm making this an order for both of you," Primo said seriously.
"Nufufufu, very well Primo," Daemon assented.
"'Tis a bother, but I shall acquiesce your request to the best of my capability," Lily agreed with a nod of her head.
"But what of her training with Alaude and Asari?" Elena asked curiously.
"…Shall I start counting my blessings now?" The younger girl asked sarcastically, already counting on her demise.
We are moving closer to the first big baddie, yay!...Well not for Lily, as you'll soon find out.
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