Chokers
Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer: Magi does not belong to me.
Warnings:
Slavery (sort of), foul language, romantic relationships between males (though not for quite some time or maybe not at all), potential OOC, blood, gore, death…please tell me if there's something I forgot…
Morgiana stamped the final paper with a satisfying 'thud', and pushed it aside with a little sigh of gratification, a sense of fulfillment bubbling up inside of her as she looked at the fruits of her hard work. That lasted until she spied the tens of little dents that her enthusiastic stamping had left on the wooden floor. Her expression fell like a stone.
She surreptitiously nudged at the carpet with her foot, mostly covering the indentations in the wood. Hopefully, no one would notice; or if they did they would brush it off as a trick of the light. It was only cosmetic anyways, it wasn't like someone could trip over them.
On the other side of the room, Myron's foot caught on the carpet as she was about to make a dive for Roh-roh, and she tripped and fell face first into the ground. A second later, she was up again, splintering the floor with the force she used to kick off.
"…"
Once again, Morgiana didn't know why she had been worried at all.
Stacking the completed paperwork in a neat pile, she carried it over to Mu, who thanked her gratefully, directing her to put it with the rest of the paperwork he had already finished. When she returned to ask if he needed any more help, he shook his head and said, "Masrur and I have split the rest between us, and I already gave all the stamping work to you, so we're fine. Go ahead and take some time off."
Morgiana nodded silently in acknowledgement, but didn't bow. (She didn't bow for anyone anymore, not even Alibaba.)
With no work to do, she quietly moved over towards where Hakuryuu and Hakuei were sitting, perched on the edge of the bed. Hakuryuu was spluttering and waving his hands about wildly for some reason, and she focused her hearing on whatever Hakuei was saying, a little curious.
"…and you looked at that poor ambassador and stared at him for almost a minute without," Hakuei giggled. "Then right after that you pointed at him and said, "Okaa-chan!". You almost caused a diplomatic incident, you know! And there was that time with Koumei too, you called him 'Onee-chan'!"
"No, no, please no," Hakuryuu whimpered frantically, trying to cover her mouth only to be fended off easily by his smiling sister. "Stop it, stop it, everyone can hear you!"
"Hakuryuu-san must have been a very cute child," Morgiana interjected from over Hakuryuu's shoulder, having gotten closer and closer as the beautiful Kou princess continued her story about Hakuryuu's childhood. The scarred prince froze up like a statue, until he creakily turned his head with an expression of dawning horror to see Morgiana smiling slightly as she looked down at him.
"Y-you-" He choked on his own words, before trying again. "Y-y-you were listening to that?!"
"Uh-huh," she nodded calmly, making an affirmative noise. Hakuryuu looked like he couldn't decide whether to go pale or light up with a fiery blush, and he ended up flopping backwards on the bed and grabbing a pillow to cover his blotchy face.
Vaguely, he heard Hakuei starting on another story with what sounded suspiciously like undertones of glee in her voice. Hakuryuu moaned in utter humiliation and covered his ears as well, trying to block out the world and hopefully save himself from further embarrassment.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Alibaba walked into the somewhat crowded room, ignoring the commonplace sight of the brawling Fanalis Corps and instead surveying the other residents of the room.
Morgiana looked like she was deeply immersed in a conversation with Hakuei, both of them smiling as the older girl animatedly described something with accompanying hand gestures. Sprawled on the bed was Hakuryuu, who for all intents and purposes looked like he was attempting to suffocate himself with a pillow.
Alibaba paused at that last bit, a little alarmed, but seeing as Morgiana was near him, he'd probably be fine no matter what happened. A little further off was Kouen, staring out of the window, or probably more likely spaced out.
And finally, standing uncertainly between the two groups was Kougyoku, looking too skittish to approach either group and wringing her hands nervously. Alibaba took a faltering step forwards, stopped, and continued towards the young woman more steadily.
"Um…Hello," he greeted when she didn't appear to notice his approach. She jumped and spun to face him in alarm.
"E-eh? Oh, Alibaba-chan!" Her anxious expression transforming into a beaming smile, she took hold of Alibaba's hands in welcome.
"How have you been? Is Sinbad treating you well?" Alibaba asked, a little worried. She didn't appear to be very stressed or hurt in any way, so it was most likely fine, but it never hurt to check.
Kougyoku sighed.
"I woke up to see him without his clothes again…only this time it was worse because I woke Kouen-nii-sama up." Her face was reddening at the very memory.
"W-wait, again? I thought he might've learned from the last time he did that…"
"Well…at least I wasn't sleeping in the same bed as he was!" She tried to be positive.
They both paused and stared at each other, not quite believing they were having this sort of ridiculous conversation, and then let out undignified snorts of laughter.
"Ah…well…how about you, Alibaba-chan?" Kougyoku asked, her expression curious as she tugged at his arm, pulling him to sit next to her on the carpeted floor and drawing her knees comfortably up to her chest. Alibaba easily slid down the wall to sit cross-legged next to her.
"Mmm…well actually, I teach swordsmanship to the fresh recruits joining the alliance," his face stretched in a broad grin. "When I was younger, I remember my teacher nearly killing me with all the training we did, but it's actually surprisingly fun when you aren't on the receiving end of all that work."
"I didn't know you were a person that liked hurting people, Alibaba-chan," The crimson-haired princess pursed her lips and looked away. The former prince of Balbadd yelped in alarm, waving his hands frantically in denial until finally Kougyoku gave in to her laughter. "I was only joking, I know, I know."
"Aaah, you scared me there," Alibaba sighed in relief, then looked up with a content smile on his face. "But honestly, seeing my students improve gives me this really proud feeling in my chest. It's like…"
He searched for appropriate words to express what he felt, only for Kougyoku to shake her head and smile as she tried to complete his thought, "Like when you…"
She paused. "Ah. I can't describe it either."
.0.0.0
Kouha looked on in amusement as Judal purred like a particularly large cat, nudging his head against Aladdin's hands and leaning blissfully into his touch as the younger magi meticulously combed his hair out, taking care not to pull at his scalp.
He himself was working on plaiting Aladdin's hair back into it's customary narrow braid, although he found himself getting a little sidetracked sometimes and twining it into more complex arrangements.
The 'Guaranteed Solution' which had turned out to be just olive oil appeared to have actually worked, contrary to their earlier expectations of it. The frizz in Judal's hair had abated to little more than a slight wave, which he didn't appear to care all that much about (although that might have been Aladdin's magic hands talking).
As Aladdin started working on actually weave Judal's hair back into a more uniform looking braid, his lively expression dimmed and he settled into a comfortable pattern, using the familiar, repetitive motions of his hands to keep himself calm.
"In the meeting, we got news as to what the chokers do," he started seriously, his expression unsmiling. Kouha's hands paused momentarily in the midst of a tiny braid before he started again, keeping silent as he waited for the magi to continue. Judal's previously relaxed shoulders tensed once more, his slouched back straightening and stiffening.
"They drain your magoi; that's the reason you can't use your vessels or spells, or even magoi manipulation," Aladdin explained solemnly, half-wincing when Kouha's fingers, which were entwined in his hair, jerked slightly and snapped his entire head back. The redhead let out a little noise of contrition but didn't apologize, obviously waiting for Aladdin to continue. "The magoi it drains from you is used to increase aggression of the people around you; we think it's because they were hoping to cause infighting amongst us."
Kouha blinked in realization; Judal remained tense and silent.
"But… That didn't work, did it?" the prince questioned unsurely, eyebrows raised. Aladdin sighed deeply and sadly. "No way, it did?"
"It didn't cause too much trouble with the nobles and people in important stations, but the soldiers are regularly getting into fights in the mess hall, and the Fanalis are causing untold amounts of property damage," he finally confided, looking both amused and resigned. "They aren't fighting, but just little bursts of uncontrolled emotion can cause a lot of damage when you're as strong as they are. They can't just punch a wall and feel better; they'd bring the palace down around our ears. The current damage count is fifty-seven doors, a multitude of craters in the floors and seven demolished walls."
"Eeh?! No way, we just got those doors refurbished!"
"I have complete confidence," Aladdin smiled brightly, tying off the end of Judal's braid, "That all those doors will need to be replaced by the end of the week."
Kouha groaned dramatically in mock despair, almost finished with Aladdin's braid as well, and working faster now that he saw Aladdin was done already.
"Back to more pressing topics," the magi stated. "The bad thing about those chokers for you is that they make you highly vulnerable to magical suggestion. It's been agreed upon that the only way they can trust you all to run free is after they've given you a magical suggestion that keeps you from harming us."
The tie on Aladdin's braid snapped into place with a loud cracking noise that expressed Kouha's feelings on the matter very accurately.
Aladdin forged onwards, determined to get through this last spurt.
"I'm supposed to bring you to the medical room so they can do that as soon as possible, so… that's tomorrow."
There was dead silence in the little room.
Aladdin cringed.
.0.0.0
That night, Alibaba said his goodbyes to Kougyoku as she left with Sinbad, and then waved to Mu and the Fanalis Corps as they filed out of the considerably more damaged room.
They were sleeping on the same bed again tonight, the shipment of cloth having come in late. Hakuei's eyes were already closed, and Morgiana had Hakuryuu aquedately trapped, although at this point he wasn't actually struggling much anymore. Quietly, Alibaba slid under the covers and fell asleep quickly enough.
Quickly enough that he didn't hear Hakuryuu whisper to the sleeping Fanalis, "If I was a cute child, then Morgiana-dono must have been the most beautiful, perfect child in her generation."
In the darkness of the room, Hakuryuu didn't see her crimson flush. He did feel it when she hugged him just that little bit tighter though.
A/N:
There were so many things to write about in this chapter, there were a lot of POV switches. Sorry if that got a little bit confusing… but yay, a treat for you guys. Almost 2000 words, plus HakuMor and AliKou teasers haha.
FireLark