A Royal Winter Chapter Ten
Sheesh... I should work on 'Viper or Mammon?' more often, I'm so behind in that one.
- But I'm addicted to my own story!
I'm thinking of doing a trilogy after this. Like?
Anyway, Squ-chan's birthday is next week, I'm pretty sure, so I'll do a XS fanfic for him, probably. X) *checks planner* Yeah, that's on the thirteenth.
HEY!
Did anyone see Lussu-neechan in ending fifteen. (i think it was fifteen at least) He was kind of scary...
ALRIGHT! Writing begins...
ready...
set...
Fran: WRITE!
Me: Hai~!
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A week later...
"Fran, come on, you aren't that weak!"
"I'm trying!"
"I'm dead, I can't do much, you have to PUSH!"
"Again, I'm doing the best I can!"
"Well, push harder than the best you can!"
"Jerk!"
"Don't care!"
"Ah, it's going!"
"Get in! Hurry!"
Fran barely made it into the small boat, closely followed by Mammon. The two sighed with relief as the small craft began to make way down the river. Fran looked up at the phantom. "Thanks," he said gratefully, "No way I could've done that on my own."
"Probably not," agreed Mammon. "How's your wrist feeling?"
"It's healing," Fran said, "It should be back to normal in a couple more weeks maybe..."
"Alright. Can you cast a flame yet?"
Fran looked at the rings on his hands and pictured a flame. Nothing. "Nope," Fran sighed, lowering his hand.
"Man, you must be really low on energy then...," the older illusionist breathed, "It's a bummer too, I rather liked to see Mink hopping around."
"Yeah, he was just all over the place. Much like his master."
"He sure was," agreed Mammon, leaning on the back of the boat. "But it can't be helped if you aren't getting enough rest. In fact, why don't you take a nap? I can manage to control this thing for a bit."
"Thanks," Fran said before lying on his side, tucking his knees close to his chest due to the narrow space their craft had provided.
Mammon watched as the younger boy drifted into sleep, and frowned slightly. 'He's in pretty bad shape. I can't even tell if that's leftover fish on his chin or if he's growing a beard!' he thought to himself. After a pause, he thought, 'No, it's probably fish. He's a very messy eater for someone his age.'
The former Mist guardian noticed the wooden craft straying a bit too close to the snowy banks and maneuvered it a bit to the right so that it was in the dead center of the river again. 'This might not last the whole way, but it should get us pretty far,' he told himself, before squinting off to his right. Sure enough, he could see the train tracks in the distance. 'If we sink halfway through we'll have about nineteen kilometers left. Hn... Fran made it about twelve in the short time he was out here, we should be able to manage. However...'
The Arcobaleno looked at the bag of fish that they had. It would definently weigh them down a bit. 'Well... as we travel, we'll eat, it'll get lighter. I suppose I shouldn't criticize the fish when I myself am pretty heavy for a phantom. When was the last time I stepped on a scale...? Wait, does this matter? I don't need to watch my weight- I'm dead!'
He shook it off and looked back at Fran. The teal-haired Mist guardian was already fast asleep. 'Has he been up at night without me knowing?' Mammon wondered, 'he fell asleep so easily.'
'Could it be because no one's there next to him? Even though he didn't have Bel before he got so exhausted, he did have Mink whenever he fell asleep. Perhaps he's really lonely out here? I mean, of course I haven't slept beside him, that would be too much for me- and probably him too- to handle. But still, I wonder if he's missing Bel?'
The dead Arcobaleno looked out at the woods. 'Hey, it would be nice if spring came sometime. How long is winter again? Oh, I don't care. I'm just tired of all this white. Reminds me of those Millefiore and the Gesso family- or White spell, as they are now- uniforms.'
Mammon thought back to his life, to how much fun it used to go on assignments with Bel- so long as the prince didn't go all 'Prince the Ripper' and rip everything in sight to shreds.
Bel had been very nonchalant when he was younger, didn't care about anyone, anything, just wanted to have fun. Whoops, shouldn't have worded it that way. The point was that Mammon had enjoyed his time with Bel greatly. And he was sure Bel liked it too.
"S...npa...," Fran murmured in his sleep. Mammon sighed and gently patted the kouhai's shoulder.
"You'll be home soon, Fran."
His blue eye slowly opened, and he was disappointed to find that he was still inside the Vendicere water tank. 'It hasn't even been that long, and yet, I'm soooo bored,' he thought bitterly. He soon, however, came up with a plan.
'So Byakuran's messing with us? I really would like to try messing with him.'
And so began the possessing of Leonardo Lippi.
(A/N: We're a bit into NYL now!)
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"Fran," said Mammon, gently shaking the smaller boy.
"Nnn... five more minutes... and turn on the heater... it's cold..."
"Fran!" Mammon repeated, now pinching the Mist guardian's cheek. Fran woke up slowly, looking rather irritated right from the beginning. He glared at the older phantom that had woken him.
"I was dreaming about senpai," he protested.
"Sorry, just thought I should tell you we were going to stop here and get something together before it's nighttime," the ghost told him.
"Meh," Fran muttered.
"Don't 'meh' me, get up!" Mammon complained, before forcing the smaller boy into a sitting position. "... Stupid frog," he growled.
"Stupid dead-guy," Fran retorted, before assisting the Arcobaleno in tethering the boat to a low tree branch with the same illusionary rope Fran had initially used for his cast. After a while, they'd tied up the boat and were working together to try and get a hole dug.
"Ugh, Mink is so much better at this," Mammon protested, scraping snow away from what was currently just a dent. Fran tried his best, using his good hand to push more snow out.
"Can't you create an illusionary shovel like you did yesterday?" the young illusionist asked.
"I don't have limitless energy," Mammon pointed out, "I'm weaker than yesterday."
"Well then, rest for a while, I feel a bit energized, let me handle it for a while," Fran suggested, a warm smile on his face despite the cold. Mammon considered for a bit.
"Alright. But wake me up the second you need help," he said, before walking a couple few feet away and lying his cloak on the ground before curling up on top of it.
"Alright," Fran agreed. He watched the older illusionist's expression slowly soften as he drifted into sleep, and soon returned to trying to dig out their next cave. He clawed fistfuls of snow away at a time with his good hand, knowing perfectly well that any animal could dig much faster than this.
CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
Fran felt a shiver go up his spine when he heard the footsteps, and looked across the river. He was stunned to see a fully-grown bear on the other side, looking at him with cold, soulless, black eyes. He gulped as the bear got closer to the river's edge and held his breath. It stopped at the water and crouched down, then began to drink the water calmly, as though it could care less about other beings. After it had had its drink, it looked back up at Fran as though silently saying 'What a wierdo' before lumbering back into the forest behind it. Fran sighed with relief and got back to digging.
A while later, Fran noticed the light starting to change, and leaned over to Mammon. "Hey," he said, poking the other's cheek in a not-so-gentle manner. Mammon whined in complaint and tried to bat the younger boy away.
"Six more hours...," he growled.
"Nope. I got up when you woke me, so you should get up when I wake you up."
"Nnng, damned Belphagor logic being used against me," the illusionist mumbled. "I'm pretty sure senpai would be more like 'I'm a prince, and I say get up, so since I'm a prince, and you are not, you shall get up,' something like that," Fran said, poking the phantom once more.
Mammon sat up and tiredly rubbed his indigo eyes before glaring at Fran. "I was dreaming about Belphagor!"
"So was I!" countered Fran, before calming, "Alright, the sun's setting, we need to get moving on this cave." The former Arcobaleno instantly put his cloak back on and cast an illusionary shovel. "Thank you," Fran breathed as he stepped over to the foot-deep hole and began to shovel snow out of the way.
"Anything happen while I was gone- uhm... I mean, asleep?" Mammon asked.
"I saw a bear," Fran deadpanned.
"Hm? And it didn't try to eat you?"
"Nope. It just stared at me- like this." To prove his point, Fran made his usual expression, but had his eyes widened into a stare, and began to just look creepily at the phantom. Mammon soon realized what he was doing and looked back at him. He winced and whacked the kouhai's hat with his illusionary shovel.
"Kero!" Fran yelped in suprise at the move.
There was an pause, before Mammon asked awkwardly, "Did you just... ribbit at me?"
Fran blushed and looked away, before beginning to draw circles in the snow. "Uhh... no?"
Mammon huh'd and got back to digging. 'Bel's gotten himself pretty deep into that brat's mind,' Mammon thought as he shoveled more snow.
It wasn't too long before they had a burrow dug out once again. Mammon sat back on his cloak again and sighed. "I officially hate nature."
"That's not very nice," Fran commented, before moving over to the illusionist and sitting next to him. "Hey," he said after a moment of silence.
"What?" asked Mammon, clearly very tired.
"Do you want to sleep in the cave tonight?" Fran asked. Mammon looked at him, incredulous.
"Na- I... wh... can't... uh... I mean... uhm...," he stuttered, expression still showing evident disbelief.
"No, no, sorry, bad suggestion," Fran agreed, "I just thought you might want to sleep somewhere comfortable..."
"Well, is there enough room for us both in there?" the illusionist asked quietly.
Fran shrugged and crawled into the cave to look. After a bit of thought, he shouted out at Mammon, "Yeah, you should be able to stay in here without getting within a foot of me."
"Well...," Mammon hummed as he slid himself into the burrow as well. The two just stayed silent, looking into each other's eyes, and soon, Fran felt just how comfortable they were with each other. "Are you sure you'd be alright with this...?" the phantom asked.
"I trust you," Fran replied, his voice a mere whisper.
"... You're so stupid," sighed Mammon.
"I guess so," Fran agreed. There was another small silence, in which they looked out the entrance to their cave and saw that it was nightfall already. "Well... good... night...," Fran murmured.
"Good night," Mammon returned.
And the two fell asleep with a peaceful aura about them.
-End Chapter
Aww~! Yeah, I decided to make this chapter nice and cute. The little interruption was Mukuro if you didn't already know. Anyways, don't worry, 'cause there is NO WAY I'm going to let Fran and Mammon get together, no worries~! Ah, I plan to not give anything about Bel away from this point on, so sorry, it's up to your imaginations!
Fran: I hate imagining.
Me: Fran, you're supposed to be the cute, cheery character!
Fran: Whatever.
Hibari: REVIEW OR-
Mukuro: I'll return from the other side of the cycle... kufufufufufu.
Me: Mukuro!
Hibari: :( Don't cut me off like that.
Mukuro: *creepy smile* Sorry, Kyouya.
Byakuran: Leo-chan is getting possessed? This can only mean...
Me: Yes, Byakuran, I'm planning on giving away some of the anime storyline, which means you will be in it.
Byakuran: :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D-
Me: Byakuran, please calm down.
Byakuran: ... :D Hibari: REVIEW OR BE ATTACKED BY THE MAN WHO RETURNED FROM HELL!
Skull: That's me!
Hibari: No... I was talking about Mukuro.
Mukuro: Kufufu~. *glares at Skull while smiling creepily*
Skull: G-gulp! *runs*
Bel: THE PRINCE WANTS YOU ALL TO REVIEW!
Me: Alright, these author's notes are long enough, guys, calm down.
Mammon: I want you to review too!
Me: Mammon!
Mammon: ...sorry...
Me: *groan* *notices other people looking at expectantly. Alright. Fine. Please Review!