Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.

I'm going to mainly be focusing on this fanfic for a little while because I'm out of ideas on my other one, so I should be updating this one more frequently until the end of it.

I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.

Enjoy!

Chise sat on the brick wall, doing her best to block out her flashbacks-and Ruth, who was trying to get to her more desperately than before, for whatever reason.

Why can't they just leave me alone? Chise wondered, pulling her cloak around her more tightly. Everything's starting to get more tense around here.

She sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. "I just wish that Lilac would come back and get me out of this situation."

"Well, that can be arranged."

Chise gapsed, standing up and spinning around to see…

"Cartaphil-I-I mean, Joseph," Chise said, tensing up-should she try to contact Ruth or Elias and warn them? No, she would deal with this on her own. "Why are you here? You'd better not be here to take back the dragon!"

"Oh, far from it!" Joseph said, sounding strangely happy. "Don't worry-that dragon will remain untouched by me-at least, it will if you stay to talk to me."

"What do you want?" Chise asked.

"Just a second ago, you mentioned Lilac-I assume that you mean Promise?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, why?" Chise asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The stories say that she can do anything you want as long as you promise her something in return-isn't that true?" Joseph asked.

Oh, yeah, he mentioned wanting to live a painless life, Chise remembered. And the thing is...it's the same thing I want, too, deep down-isn't it?

"Are you trying to ask her to take the pain away?" Chise asked.

"To some extent," Joseph said. "But at least we're on the same page at the moment, are we not?"

"I guess we are," Chise said. "But what do you mean 'to some extent'?"

"Eternal life is such a pain," Joseph said. "I've been cursed to live forever...and you've been cursed to die, have you not?"

"What are you saying?" Chise asked.

"What if there was a way to cancel out our curses?" Joseph asked. "I've been searching for an answer for over two thousand years, but it wasn't until I brought the dragon to the auction house that I learned of Lilac."

"That was you?!" Chise asked angrily. "How could you do such a thing?! Is the other dragon still alive?!"

A small smile played at Joseph's lips. "Oh, I have no intention to kill either-however, if an accident were to happen, as they always do…"

"If you dare touch another scale on either one-" Chise started.

"And this is where we make a deal!" Joseph interrupted happily.

"What do you mean?" Chise demanded.

"Well, easy!" Joseph said. "You want to continue to live, and you want me to release the dragon. I want to die...and I want to find Lilac, or Promise, as her true name is. Now, I'm afraid that I can't do that on my own-that former familiar is surprisingly impossible to find, although there's a rumor I heard that someone that's made a deal with her has the ability to call upon her." His smile grew. "If you can do that for me, we can cancel out both our curses, and I'll release the dragon hatchling." He held out a hand to her. "So? Are you willing to make this deal? Or would you rather not call upon her...and die yourself?"

Chise paused, thinking.

I want to live...I want to forget the pain...I...I want…

Chise opened her mouth to reply just as they heard shouting in the distance.

"I think she's this way!"

"I'm certain that she is."

Chise turned in that direction. Ruth...and Elias.

Joseph looked as well. "Well, then, I guess that we had best be leaving-unless you would rather not make the deal? You have a few seconds, because otherwise I have to get out of here."

"I'll help you," Chise said.

Joseph smiled. "Oh?"

"I promise-me summoning her, and you releasing the dragons," Chise said, then took his hand just as Elias and Ruth came running in their direction.

"Chise!" Elias said, then stopped. "Cartaphilus?"

Chise looked at the two of them, and in their eyes, she saw worry and fear...but was it completely because of Joseph?

"Chise, come here," Elias said.

Chise, come here. Another short flashback went through her head-those words had been said to her multiple times over the years, and even if she didn't mean to, she flinched away a little-but it did not go unnoticed by Elias and Ruth-or Joseph, who took out a teleportation device, and the two disappeared.

"CHISE!"

Dun dun dun! Perfect spot for a chapter break, right? And now things are about to get interesting…

I'm going to be focusing on this fanfic for a little while, so updating should be more frequent-then again, I never know how it's going to go with my brain.

Anyway, until next time!

Lunetheart out.