Sorry, this update has taken me longer than the others because I've had a rather busy summer and because I finally updated my other fic that had been abandoned for eight months ^^U
WARNING: SMUT and SPOILERS of the game. Just in case someone hasn't finished it yet :)
"Not this time! I'm gonna kill her!"
"What?!"
"You mustn't...! There is no other way…No! He's broken the pact?!"
"Dezel!"
"Finally! Finally I can kill you! DIE!"
Dezel woke up exhaling a strangled gasp, the violence of his awakening making him end in a sitting position, and even if Zaveid was someone who usually fell into a really deep sleep that time he woke up immediately after detecting Dezel's anxiety.
"Oi, Dezel", Zaveid incorporated as well, "what's wrong?"
Dezel didn't answer, still trying to normalize his too accelerated breathing. He pressed a trembling hand against his chest and let out a relieved sigh when discovering that everything was fine. That nothing was piercing through him.
"Dezel"
The younger Wind Seraph jumped on the bed when feeling Zaveid's hand over his shoulder, the familiar contact making him come back to reality completely.
"Sorry, I…", Dezel gulped, using the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, "it was just a dream"
Zaveid sighed softly. He grabbed the back of Dezel's neck and leant forward to deposit a soft kiss on his temple.
"Yeah, but a bad one for the way you've almost caused me a heart-attack"
Zaveid ended the sentence with an exaggerated tone that caused Dezel to chuckle.
"I'm sorry", he repeated, trying to adopt a reassuring tone, "I'm fine now. Let's sleep again"
"Don't you want to tell me about it?"
Dezel averted his face, hesitating.
"It's a really weird dream"
Dezel felt Zaveid's smile in his next words.
"Dezel-chan, please, you don't want to know what a truly weird dream is. With how pervert I am I beat you for sure"
Dezel chuckled again nervously before talking,
"Okay, umh…", Dezel scratched the back of his head, trying to put in order his thoughts, "in the dream we were fighting against Symonne. She had created some kind of strange violet monster and was attacking us. Well, all of us but you"
"Oh, so I'm not important enough to appear in your dream"
Dezel smiled when hearing Zaveid's fake offended tone.
"Idiot", he simply said bumping his shoulder against Zaveid's, and for the way the older man chuckled softly Dezel knew that Zaveid had understood that with that insult he was saying: 'you know that's not true. You know you're the most important one'
"Sorry, keep talking", Zaveid apologized for the interruption kissing Dezel's shoulder softly, letting the younger Wind Seraph continue.
"Well, apparently in the dream Sorey and Rose had some kind of…power that allowed them to fuse with Edna, Mikleo, Lailah and me in order to fight, so Sorey did that with Edna and Mikleo to try to beat Symonne. However, I…", Dezel's hands turned into fists unconsciously, "I didn't want to beat her. I wanted to kill her. So I somehow fused with Rose against her will to attack Symonne directly. And then at that moment she…", Dezel gulped and continued, his voice trembling now, "…she made Lafarga's face appear from inside the monster, as if he had been swallowed by it. I got completely paralyzed and I wasn't able to move at all. And then Symonne attacked Rose and I while the rest was shouting and then we…"
Dezel's more and more confusing speech was interrupted when Zaveid enclosed an arm around his shoulders to pressed his own body tightly against him.
"It was a dream, Dezel. It was just a dream"
Dezel let out a deep breath and nodded, letting himself sink into Zaveid's warmth that always managed to put him at ease when nothing else worked, and as he was expecting the extremely bad sensation that the dream (or better said the nightmare) had left on him slowly began to vanish.
"I know that it doesn't have any sense at all", Dezel muttered, "but at that moment it looked incredibly real"
Zaveid kissed Dezel's temple again softly.
"I suppose that you have mixed all the emotions of these two days together with the fact that we are really close to face Hedalf and Symonne again"
"Yeah, I get that, but I would seriously prefer to dream things more normal than we fusing with Sorey and Rose.
Zaveid chuckled when hearing Dezel's irritated tone before shrugging.
"Well, there is also the possibility that what you've dreamt is some kind of alternative universe in which Sorey-chan and Rose-chan are powerful saviors"
Dezel snorted.
"Yeah, that's really probable", he said with irony, "and if they are the saviors what are we then?"
"You and me?", Dezel was about to rectify saying that he was referring to the rest of the Windriders when Zaveid spoke, "lovers, of course. I don't think that there exists a single universe in which I am able to love anyone but you"
Dezel gulped, feeling his heart stop momentarily. Damn bastard, how was he able to say those things as if it was nothing?
"Tsk, you and your cheesy lines…"
Zaveid smiled with amusement because despite Dezel's words the hard kiss that the younger Wind Seraph gave him was a clear evidence of how much he deeply liked those 'cheesy lines'.
"Hey, maybe I am now Zaveid 'of the Promise' but that doesn't mean that Zaveid 'the Ladykiller' has gone forever"
Dezel shook his head while smiling.
"Yeah, you don't say", Dezel said with a resigned tone entering the bed again and recovering his previous sleeping position, with his back turned towards Zaveid, "come on, Zaveid 'of the Promise' and ex-Ladykiller. We still have some hours until waking up so…"
Dezel's sentence ended with a surprised sigh when Zaveid deposited a soft kiss on the side of his neck, the contact so feathery that it was almost ticklish.
"Zaveid?", Dezel ventured when feeling the older Wind Seraph lie down again and his hard chest connecting with his back, "oi, what are you…?"
This time Dezel let out a gasp when Zaveid bit his shoulder, his stomach tightening involuntarily even if the action itself had been rather gentle.
"Obviously, giving you a good night kiss, Dezel-chan"
The way Zaveid's lips brushed Dezel's ear when speaking together with the sensual voice he was using caused Dezel to shiver against his will, his desire for going to sleep again being immediately replaced by another completely different one.
"Tsk, good night kiss my ass", Dezel snarled turning his head to the side to effectively capture Zaveid's lips in a passionate kiss that made the older man exhale a groan that went directly to Dezel's lower half, and even if Dezel had in mind to shut Zaveid up with that kiss to keep reproaching him for his teasing, when feeling Zaveid's tongue slipping inside his mouth his resolve evaporated, and Dezel could just get lost in the great feeling of Zaveid's lips moving so perfectly against his own. Damn, to hell with sleeping. He wasn't even tired to begin with.
"Dezel…"
Zaveid whispering hoarsely his name before sucking at his neck caused Dezel to reach back with his hand to grab the back of Zaveid's head, tangling his fingers in the older man long hair while gasping again, excited because of how needy Zaveid had sounded. He felt Zaveid's hands begin to ascend slowly through his front until reaching his chest, where they stopped to grab both of their nipples between forefinger and thumb.
Dezel automatically arched his body against Zaveid's fingers when this one began to rotate them. He whined when Zaveid pinched his sensitive buds, and that sexy noise caused Zaveid to grunt with arousal against Dezel's sensitive skin. Zaveid kissed Dezel again fiercely, their tongues joining again in a frenetic dance while beginning to reach down with the hand that wasn't working on Dezel's chest to bring his nipples to full hardness to begin to rub Dezel's crotch with a steady but firm pace.
Dezel groaned against Zaveid's mouth while beginning to buck his hips, silently craving more contact of Zaveid's warm hand around his now awakened member. Damn it, it was incredible how quickly he had adapted to be with Zaveid again. It was as if those years of separation hadn't been there at all and he had come back to be that seventeen years old teenager who hadn't ever minded to show how much he desired his boyfriend.
"Dezel…", the named one felt his member twitch in Zaveid's hand when hearing the want on Zaveid's low tone, "damn it…"
Dezel's heart skipped a beat when Zaveid settled both of his hands on his ass to begin to spread his buttocks. Dezel took a deep breath, getting prepared to the discomfort that he was surely going to feel when Zaveid began to press inside.
However, instead of doing that Zaveid simply aligned his own member (which was almost fully hard, Dezel noticed with a wave of arousal) between Dezel's buttocks. He settled then his hands on Dezel's member again to resume his ministrations before beginning to grind against the younger Wind Seraph.
Dezel bit his bottom lip, tensing with a mix of arousal and frustrating anticipation when Zaveid's hot and hard member began to slide between his buttocks over and over again, because feeling Zaveid's shaft so close to his entrance but without actually entering him was making him more and more impatient.
Damn it. He wanted more than that.
"Don't worry, I'll just do this…", Zaveid reassured, misinterpreting Dezel's tension, "I know that you aren't completely recovered so…"
"In"
Dezel could clearly picture the way Zaveid's eyes had snapped opened,
"What?"
Dezel blushed. Well, he certainly couldn't blame Zaveid for having asked with such a confused tone because he hadn't explained himself too well. So, even if he knew that he was going to die from embarrassment when remembering his own words later, he decided to be more direct because at that moment he just wanted to feel Zaveid inside so damn much that he would gladly regret his bluntness when everything finished.
"Put it in"
Dezel heard Zaveid gulp behind him.
"You sure?"
Dezel snorted and kissed Zaveid at the same time that he grinded his ass back, demandingly. He felt the older man's member twitching against his ass, making evident how damn much Zaveid wanted it as well despite being giving Dezel the opportunity to reconsider.
"It's your fault that I'm like this right now", Dezel pressed Zaveid's hand more against his erected member to give more emphasis to his words, "so you better take responsibility"
Dezel knew that he had chosen the correct words when Zaveid exhaled a low grunt before attacking his mouth in such a breathtaking kiss than when they separated Dezel had to gasp for air.
"Gladly", Zaveid practically purred in Dezel's ear before spreading his ass once again to this time begin to sink into him.
Dezel's grip on Zaveid's hair tightened while moaning wantonly when feeling Zaveid's member slowly filling him, and even if he felt a little discomfort during the penetration process the fullness that invaded him when Zaveid was settled fully inside was really worth it.
"God, Dezel…", Zaveid groaned against Dezel's shoulder, initiating a calm pace when seeing that Dezel had immediately begun to push back against him, trying to feel him deeper, "...you feel really good inside…"
Dezel shivered when hearing those heated words before kissing Zaveid again, open-mouthed and messily because he couldn't help to moan every time that he felt his insides burning pleasantly when Zaveid's thick member thrust in and out him with a faster and faster pace.
"Z-Zaveid…", Dezel exhaled one of the times that Zaveid let go his mouth to attack the side of his neck again, making the younger Wind Seraph shiver, "please, go..."
"Sorry, too fast?", Zaveid said immediately with certain concern, "damn, sorry, I'll try to control myself mor…"
Dezel shut up Zaveid with another needy kiss, making sure to grab Zaveid's bottom lip briefly before releasing it since he knew perfectly the effect that that action caused on the older Wind Seraph.
"Harder", he breathed against Zaveid's half-opened mouth, and he was about to smirk when feeling Zaveid shiver powerfully.
"Damn it, Dezel…", Zaveid growled, grabbing the back of Dezel's knee to force him to raise it a little, "…you turn me on too much…"
This time Dezel moaned loudly and arched his body when Zaveid complied by pounding into him with vigor, the new angle causing Zaveid's member to ram against his prostrate non-stop making Dezel feel a wave of sharp heat traversing by his whole body.
"Ah…there…", Dezel exhaled in delight, "…oh yes...Zaveid yes…!", "
Dezel began to meet Zaveid's thrusts with force while keeping exhaling Zaveid's name like a mantra, encouraging the older man to keep that frenetic but awesome rhythm, secretly enjoying the way Zaveid's powerful chest rubbed against his back with every desperate movements of their more and more sweated bodies. Damn, he would die before admitting it aloud but feeling Zaveid's muscular body pressing against him with such violent passion had always turned him on to no extent.
Dezel whined when Zaveid nipped his jaw while using the hand that wasn't sustaining his leg to begin to pump his member again with long and powerful strokes, the double stimulation together with Zaveid's heated moans whispered just in his ear making him feel his orgasm approaching incredibly faster.
"Dezel…", the named one felt like melting when Zaveid grabbed his earlobe with his teeth, licking it with languid movements that clearly contrasted with the rough rhythm he was using to fuck him, and that caused Dezel to feel even aroused than he thought possible, "…damn it, I'm close…"
"Me too…", Dezel breathed out, settling the hand that wasn't grabbing Zaveid's hair over his member, replacing Zaveid's one and allowing the older Wind Seraph to use his now free hand to rub his erected nipples again, "…ngh…damn, Zaveid, I'm…"
"I know", Zaveid exhaled with a breathless tone. He pinched Dezel's nipple while picking up even more speed, the sound of his hips connecting with Dezel's ass and the bed creaking for their passionate movements mixing with both of their hurried groans, "…can I come inside again?"
Dezel moaned through gritted teeth when hearing Zaveid's petition and began to stroke his member faster. Damn it, maybe at the end Zaveid wasn't going to be wrong when joking that he liked dirty talk.
"Yeah…", Dezel turned his head to the side to let Zaveid plunge his tongue inside his mouth in a deep kiss, allowing that hot wet muscle ravage his cavity as it pleased, "…yeah, do it…"
Zaveid groaned into the kiss, and when feeling the way Zaveid's member throbbed inside him Dezel couldn't hold back any longer and came against his hand, quivering powerfully.
The twitching of his inner walls when coming pushed Zaveid's to his limit as well. With a low growl he reached his climax, biting the juncture between Dezel's neck and shoulder while emptying inside a worn out Dezel who was still struggling to recover his breath.
After several seconds of breathing heavily in an attempt to recover their normal heartbeat, Zaveid nudged with his nose the back of Dezel's neck, causing the younger Wind Seraph to turn his face towards Zaveid lazily in order to accept Zaveid's languid kiss.
"It seems that at the ended you didn't need the whole night to recover, Dezel-chan"
Dezel let out a tired laugh, his breathing still labored and his mind a little fuzzy in a post-orgasmic daze.
"I'll tell you tomorrow when I can't get up from the bed", Dezel replied back, causing Zaveid to laugh while grabbing some tissues from the nightstand to clean themselves.
"Well, this time it hasn't been my fault", Dezel could hear Zaveid's satisfied smirk on his tone, "after all it hasn't been me the one who has decided to go all the way"
Dezel snorted.
"Please, do you really want me to believe that you haven't begun to tease me on purpose?"
"That's nothing new, Dezel-chan, I'm always teasing you. Or could it be…", Dezel's breath hitched when Zaveid's chest connected with his back again, "…that it still arouses you to feel my body like this?"
Dezel blushed furiously when Zaveid grinded just once to make his built pectorals rub against his sweated back. Damn intuitive bastard.
"T-That's not it, it's just…"
"Mmm, so for that reason you didn't allow me to cuddle you from behind before getting together…"
"ZAVEID…!"
Dezel tried to hit his laughing boyfriend but his movements were still a little clumsy, so Zaveid was able to avoid his lame attempt of punching and attack his mouth again in a deep kiss that made Dezel let out an involuntary moan.
"I love you"
Dezel gulped. Damn it, he hadn't changed one beat. His heart kept getting crazy whenever he heard Zaveid said that with such sincerity.
"What you loved is to tease me", Dezel replied, and for the way he felt Zaveid smiling against his lips he knew that Zaveid remembered that sentence. It was the one he always used whenever Zaveid declared his love for him after teasing him.
"Yeah, that as well", Zaveid said happily, kissing Dezel briefly again, "and now get prepared, Dezel-chan. We are going for the third round"
"Hah?!", Dezel exclamation turned into a soft gasp when Zaveid began to nibble at his neck again, "o-oi, are you planning to kill me from exhaustion?"
"Come on, Dezel-chan, three rounds in a night isn't that much. We've managed to reach the sixth round in the past"
"That was just one night, and at that moment we were younger and horny as hell after having spent a month unable to do anything besides training"
"Mmm… Okay, then if for waiting ONE month we had SIX rounds of wild sex in one night, for being waiting five years that are SIXTY months that means…"
"It doesn't work that way, idiot", Dezel exclaimed, but he spoke between laughs because of the ridiculousness of Zaveid's logic so his apparent exasperation lost part of its effect.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. Despite my stamina three hundred and sixty rounds are too much to handle", Zaveid admitted with such a fake serious tone that Dezel laughed again.
"Yeah, they are, so I'm afraid that we'll have to do those three hundred and sixty rounds during more than one night"
Zaveid chuckled when hearing Dezel's ironic tone.
"Very well, Dezel-chan, but you can be sure that I'm going to keep the count so…", Zaveid crawled over Dezel and approached his face to him so much that the younger Wind Seraph could feel Zaveid's lips brushing against his when speaking, "…you still owe me three hundred and fifty eight rounds"
Dezel snorted but there was a smile on his face when talking.
"I won't forget but right now we should really sleep. I promise you that tomorrow morning we'll reduce that number again. After all…", Dezel felt brave enough to borrow some of Zaveid's shameless attitude and enclosed his arms around the older man's neck while speaking with a tone that he considered acceptably sensual, "…we'll have the whole day for ourselves"
For the way Zaveid inhaled sharply Dezel deduced that his attempt of being seductive had worked.
"Okay, to hell with waiting, I want my third round now", Dezel let out an undignified gasp when Zaveid enclosed his arms around him tightly and sucked at his now oversensitive neck again, "And my fourth. And my fifth…"
"Zaveid!"
Again, since Dezel was laughing nonstop while Zaveid tried to 'force him' to have his third, fourth and fifth round all together, his apparent exasperated shout sounded way more happy than it should.
In fact just before finally falling asleep in Zaveid's arms Dezel couldn't help to think once again how damn much he had missed Zaveid. And, although again he wasn't going to admit it, how damn much he was looking for the next day.
Dezel slowly woke up some hours later when someone began to knock at the door. He first ignored the noises, deducing that it was someone of the inn that planned to clean the room and that he would stop knocking when seeing that there was no response.
However, he was surprised when another two louder knocks sounded before hearing a familiar voice coming from the outside. Obviously, Zaveid hadn't woken up yet and the only thing that he did was to grunt in his sleep.
"Dezel? Zaveid? Are you guys decent?"
It didn't take Dezel too much to answer. After all even if he couldn't check the exact look that he presented, he remembered Zaveid's mouth leaving marks in several parts of his body so he preferred not to give Rose more reasons to laugh at him. After all he was pretty sure that she was going to do it anyway when hearing the answer.
"No, we aren't"
But Rose didn't laugh. In fact, when answering her tone was uncharacteristically serious.
"Okay, then can you get dressed and join us at the dining room the soonest you can? Everyone is there already"
Dezel frowned, not paying attention to the way the whole bed shook when Zaveid changed position to keep sleeping with his powerful back turned to Dezel.
"Is something wrong, Rose?"
Well, at least the fact that the girl answered immediately made Dezel's momentary alert go away.
"Don't worry, nothing is wrong with any of us, it's just that there is something that the Windriders has to discuss. Regarding our schedule"
"Okay, we'll be there in five minutes", Dezel said, biting back a groan of discomfort when incorporating and his back protested.
"Five minutes? Wow, you're going to have to be really fast if you want to intimate before joining us…"
"Rose!"
Dezel heard Rose chuckle before hearing her fast steps, indicating him that the girl had left the door. Well, if she was able to make jokes the thing that they had to discuss couldn't be so bad…
No, thinking about it better the fact that Rose made jokes wasn't any indications. After all, she was very similar to Zaveid in that aspect and sometimes she used her sense of humor to hide important matters as well, so they better go quickly to see what the hell had happened.
"Oi, Zaveid, get up", Dezel said, shaking Zaveid's back unceremoniously because he knew from experience how hard it was to wake his boyfriend up.
Zaveid grunted lazily, ignoring completely the way Dezel was practically shaking his whole body by them in a useless attempt to make him react.
"Damn sleepyhead", Dezel said with an exasperated tone, and after being about to push Zaveid out of the bed (it wasn't the first time that he used that technique to wake him up) he decided to use another technique that always proved to be effective, and whose first step consisted on push Zaveid's back against the mattress again.
"Dezel?", Zaveid muttered, beginning to wake up slowly when feeling Dezl crawl over him, "what are you…?"
Without letting Zaveid complete the sleepy sentence Dezel kissed Zaveid senseless, causing the older man's eyes to go wide, completely awakened.
"You awake? Good", Dezel said while Zaveid was still trying to regain some air, "because we have to join the rest in five minutes so…"
Dezel exhaled a cry when Zaveid made them roll to make his back finish against the mattress again. Dezel was about to protest but at that moment Zaveid decided to kiss him again with intensity while pining both of his hands on either side of his head. Okay, this was the inconvenient of waking Zaveid like that: most part of the times they ended having another round.
"Zaveid…", Dezel managed to exhale when Zaveid stopped the mind-blowing kiss that had caused Dezel's lower half twitch involuntarily, "Zaveid, wait…"
"Sorry, Dezel…", the younger Wind Seraph bit his bottom lip not to gasp when Zaveid reached down to circle his tongue over one of his nipples, "it's your fault for having waken me up so temptingly…"
"Zaveid…", Dezel arched his body automatically while moaning when Zaveid roughly bit his sensitive bud. Damn it, he had to stop Zaveid now if he didn't want to end having sex again. He knew how weak he was when Zaveid began to use his mouth like that, "Zaveid, seriously, stop. We have to join the rest now"
When hearing Dezel's tone getting serious Zaveid immediately stopped his actions, thing that Dezel thanked but at the same time regretted, because damn if his body wasn't desiring Zaveid's awesome tongue traveling even lower.
"Yeah, I've heard you, but what's the rush?"
Dezel shrugged while incorporating.
"I don't know yet but it seems that's something related to our schedule that we have to discuss urgently"
Zaveid hummed to himself while Dezel stood up from the bed with certain difficulty to begin to get dressed. Damn it, he should have deduced that after five years of completely lack of sex it would have been cleverer to take things with more calm. But well, the harm was done. And certainly it was a harm that Dezel wouldn't mind to pay too much.
"Okay, let's see what's all that about", Zaveid said while standing up from the bed as well, "…but before that…"
Dezel gasped in surprise when suddenly Zaveid enclosed his arms around his waist and kissed him long and sensual, causing heat to settle in his stomach whenever that Zaveid kissed him like that.
"Good morning, Dezel-chan. I hope that you don't hit me like the last time"
Dezel chuckled, understanding that Zaveid was referring to that morning in which Zaveid, still half-asleep, had kissed him when they weren't together yet.
"You deserved it that time", he simply said, kissing Zaveid briefly before pushing softly the man away, "and now let's go with the rest before Rose came back to drag us"
Zaveid laughed while finally beginning to put his pants on.
"Yeah, I can perfectly imagine her doing that"
A couple of minutes later both Wind Seraph entered the dining room where the rest was waiting, and Dezel immediately knew that something not precisely good had happened when he and Zaveid approached the group and absolutely no one made any joking comment about Zaveid and him. Damn it, this was one of those moments in which he missed his lost eyesight, because it would be easier to measure the gravity of the situation while seeing the rest's expression.
"Okay, shoot, what's happened?"
There was a brief silence in which everyone seemed to agree on who was going to speak. At the end it was Edna.
"Sergei has just sent us a note saying that the date of the final competition has just been changed. Instead of in two months, it is in just one"
Dezel felt his heart stop momentarily while Zaveid tensed next to him.
"What?", he said, expecting to have heard wrong.
"Sergei-san hasn't given us many details", Lailah explained, trying to use a calm tone despite her frustration was rather obvious, "but according to him it's really probable that after last night show the Cardinal got in touch with the ones in charge of the competition and…convinced them to change the date"
"Damn it", Zaveid cursed through gritted teeth, "it seems that that bastard knows that we are close and wants us out of the way even before the competition"
"Yeah", Rose said, her usually cheery tone sounding down now, "I mean, we all knew that the Cardinal was allied with Hedalf. But I didn't know that she would be able to do something like this"
Dezel didn't say anything. He was still assimilating the news.
One month.
They had one month to travel to Ladylake, who was at the opposite side of where they were at that moment and that required practically a month of traveling, and to be able to improve their tightrope show during that time to have any opportunity to beat Hedalf.
Damn it, Dezel thought with anger. Damn it, just when everything seemed to be going perfectly something came up that tried to ruin it. It was not fair.
"It's impossible", Mikleo muttered with a disheartened tone, "it's impossible, there is no way that in a month I am good enough with my show to have any possibility to beat the Calamity Circus"
"I can't believe that I agree with Mikleo on being pessimistic", Sorey said with a sad smile, "but I think as well that my show is really poor to be able to compete"
"And don't forget the animals", Edna said, her usual imperturbable tone colored with a hint of defeat, "besides training, we have to take more animal with us. We had planned to capture them during the first month to be able to train them in the second one but now…"
Edna ended the sentence with a sigh, and after a brief pause it was Lailah's turn to speak.
"I really don't want to suggest this but…", Lailah gulped, "…but maybe we should consider not to participate in the competition"
When hearing Lailah's proposal Dezel expected an immediate rejection coming from Zaveid, but to his stupor it didn't come. The older man just let out a deep sigh, and Dezel felt his heart sinking when hearing Zaveid speak with a resignation that didn't suit him at all.
"Maybe you are right, Lailah-chan. I don't like this decision one bit but maybe it's the best. After all, nothing is forcing us to participate right now, so we could just wait to have another chance"
"Yes, that's it", Rose's tone sounded forcedly animated, "I mean, I'm sure that there will be more competitions to show how awesome we are"
"Yes, we can focus for now in getting better", Mikleo commented in the same fake tone than Rose.
"And like that we'll be surely prepared for the next time", Sorey added.
"Well, we've just waited five years to give Hedalf and Symonne what they deserve", Edna concluded, "I suppose that to wait a little more it's not that bad"
A heavy silence fell. And then, before Dezel could even think about what he was doing, a single word escaped from his lips.
"No"
Everyone turned to look at him with surprise.
"What?", Lailah asked, confused.
Dezel gulped. He didn't even know why he had said that. After all, all the things that the rest had mentioned were completely right. The time until the competition was too short so it was really unlikely that they managed to improve their performances to give an awesome show. And it was true as well that they weren't forced to participate in the competition. They had imposed themselves that goal but they could simply wait for a more suitable chance, for a more suitable moment. For a moment which was less impossible.
But, even if all that was true, Dezel didn't want that. During the last five years, he had got too used to think that everything was impossibly. Like Lailah, Rose and him being able to keep the circus afloat; like being able to recruit more members; like being able to do the tightrope show; like being able to see Zaveid again; like being able to have a minimum chance against Hedalf and his Calamity Circus.
During the last years, he had got used not to have hope, not to expect anything to avoid getting hurt. But he had got tired of it. He didn't want to think like that anymore, and definitely he didn't want to give up. And that change of thinking had been possible thanks to the rest. Thanks to Rose and Lailah who had been there with him keeping the circus alive even when things couldn't go worse. Thanks to Mikleo and Sorey who had joined the Windriders despite the circus had lost all its previous glory. Thanks to Edna who had decided to come back with them and had studied non-stop in order to cure the animals. Thanks to Zaveid who had managed to save him once again by making him overpass his own fears, by believing in him when he himself didn't do it anymore.
Thanks to everyone, he had found hope again. Hope to become a proper circus once again, the circus that Lafarga had created and that had always been their home, so there was no way that he was going to give up without at least trying. Besides, there was nothing impossible. Zaveid had taught him that just the previous day, when making him do the tightrope show, so now it was his turn to push everyone forward. The same way every of them had done with him during all his life.
"We aren't going to wait", Dezel got surprised of how firm and convinced his own voice sounded, "we've worked really hard to enter this competition so we aren't going to retire before even participating"
"But we have no time!", Rose exclaimed, "the journey itself is going to last almost a month so we won't have time to train!"
"No, we'll have if we travel at night by taking turns, like we used to do with Lafarga when we weren't famous enough"
Everyone interchanged surprised glances. Everyone but Zaveid, who was looking at Dezel with his eyes opened wide in astonishment and a smile about to appear on his lips.
"But even if we can gain time by doing that we still have to hunt and to train the animals", Rose protested again, although her tone sounded less defeated than the last time she had spoken.
"We just have to make sure to hunt them the first days so we have time to train them"
"But what about my show?", Mikleo said with an hesitant tone, "I still have a lot to do to be able to train aquatic animals completely, and my show with Edna isn't perfect yet…"
"No, it isn't, but you have managed to train acceptably a couple of wild Lakehorses in just a day, so I think that it's pretty safe to assume that you'll be able to master it. We'll just have to make sure to prepare one of the caravans so you can train the animals while traveling. I think that we have enough money to buy another one. And about you and Edna training, since you don't need as much space as the rest of us you can also train while traveling"
Everyone gulped, still with hesitation but the previous dark mood had reduced considerably. In fact, it was a pity that Dezel couldn't see the way Zaveid was looking at him while talking because he would have blushed for sure.
"And what about the tightrope show?", Lailah asked carefully, "because the installation that you need to train is rather difficult to assemble so…"
"It won't be needed to install anything. We just need to put a rope between two of our caravans and I can train like that"
"What?! You plan to train while we are traveling?!", Rose exclaimed in such a high pitched voice that Sorey couldn't help to let out a chuckle, and hearing that after such a serious conversation was like a boost of spirit to everyone.
"It's not such a bad idea", Edna intervened then, "besides, like that he would be able to train his balance even more"
"B-But Dezel-san, what will happen if you fall while training and you end hurt?!"
"That won't happen. After all", Dezel settled a hand over Zaveid's shoulder, "I'm sure that Zaveid 'of the Promise' is awesome enough not to fall so he would be always be there to catch me, right?"
Zaveid let out a surprised laugh.
"Of course I will", he said, and Dezel felt relief invading him when Zaveid spoke with his usual nonchalant tone. Yeah, that was the way he had to sound.
"Then…", Rose said after a short pause, "… are we going to do this?"
Edna surprised everyone by clicking her tongue loudlyb
"Tsk, of course we are. If Dezel the 'Ultimate Pessimistic' thinks that we are able to do it then there is no way that I'm going to say no"
"Oi, 'Queen of the Tsundere', you are no one to talk!"
Dezel's offended reply caused everyone to begin to laugh, and that was the last blow to erase definitely the oppressive mood that had settled.
"Hey, maybe you should think about changing your names. They are really cool", Rose suggested then, her usual teasing tone was back at full force.
"Ha ha ha", Dezel answered simply, but there was a hint of a smile on his face when hearing Rose's animated chuckle.
"Well, if we are going to participate I'll make sure to master the training of the animals in just one week", Mikleo stated, and it was the first time that the boy spoke with no doubt at all.
"And I'm going to train so much as well that Rose 'the Rose' won't be able to beat me with her daggers so easily", Sorey said, throwing a 'threatening glance' towards Rose that caused the girl to smile at him with superiority.
"Sorry, Lailah-chan", Zaveid said then, his extremely satisfied tone contrasting with his apology, "but it seems that your proposal hasn't been accepted at the end"
Lailah chuckled.
"Yes, what a pity", she said with such happiness that everyone chuckled again.
"It's decided then!", Rose exclaimed raising her glass, "our next stop is Ladylake to kick Hedalf's ass once and for all!"
Everyone shouted a loud 'Yeah!' while raising their glasses as well, and when everyone began to laugh after seeing Mikleo begin to cough because of the strength of the liquor that Rose had just served him, Dezel felt Zaveid leaning towards him to whisper just in his ear.
"You know? You have been hot as hell when speaking with such determination to convince us"
Dezel snorted despite his cheeks had reddened a little when realizing that Zaveid wasn't joking.
"Thanks, but the next time that you suggest to abandon before even trying I'll kick your ass for acting so out of character, idiot"
Zaveid chuckled a little embarrassingly.
"Sorry for that. But since this time I wasn't sure that we were able to make it I didn't want to give you all hopes to destroy it later"
Dezel snorted.
"Well, thanks to certain someone that always insisted on not to give up I don't care about that as much as I did before, so I'm afraid that this month of training is going to be even crazier than the ones we used to have when beginning in the circus"
Zaveid let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Damn, and just when you began to be interested in sex again…ouch!"
"Idiot, don't speak so loud!"
"Oh, that's right, at the end we haven't had time to ask: how has your second first night been?!"
"Tsk, I bet that you haven't allowed anyone in the inn to sleep"
"Well, now that Edna-san mentions it it's true that I've seen several people with bags under their eyes"
"Hey, just out of curiosity, the beds of this inn creak too much? Because the bed in our caravan is really noisy so…"
"S-SOREY!"
Dezel let out a patient sigh while the rest laughed again after a completely red Mikleo tried to hit a rather laughing Sorey.
However, when feeling Zaveid place an arm affectionately around his shoulders with the clear intention of kissing his cheek he made sure to turn his face to Zaveid's side to divert the trajectory of the kiss and capture the older Wind Seraph's mouth in a rather intense kiss.
Because against his will, Dezel was discovering that the more time it passed, the less he could pretend to be annoyed when being around that bunch of crazy people. Although of course he would keep giving his best to try it. Just for the sake of his character.
Hope you have enjoyed the chapter :) I estimate that the next update will be in a month and half approximately, since I'm going to be updating my ongoing fics alternatively.
As always, comments will be greatly appreciated ^^
