Feb 02 2007: Author's Nonsense: Managed to get a little back into writing my story so another update - yay!

End of Chapter 20:

"You think I had some sort of horrible life Lenneth? That's why you pity me?" Lezard leaned back, finished with his meal but still nursing the wine glass that he'd received. "Do you want to know of my past? What lead Lezard Valeth down this path that you consider so unclean?"

Lenneth paused and nodded a little, pausing her own meal mostly so she could listen to what he had to say…

Chapter 21: Nothing to Pity

The wizard considered for a while as to what exactly to say - he'd never really bothered to consider his youth or his family very much, the thoughts were a waste of time more often than not for the necromancer.

"My family was of no real grand stature of any kind, neither were they poor though. My father was a clothing merchant and my mother a seamstress for the nobles…we were about as middle-class as families came I suppose. My older sister married off my tenth year and I didn't really see her much…she still lives near Flenceburg last I bothered to check, with a couple kids of her own." He leaned back as he started the story, smiling gently at the full attention he was receiving from Lenneth - that didn't include her tossing things at him or yelling at him.

"At any rate, I was discovered to have a nearly unnatural attunement to magic from a young age and even then I used it to get what I wanted…nothing grand at the time really; I would take candy or control the family dog. I started attending tutelage and classes involving the gifts I was born with from an early age…eventually moving on to the college there in my hometown." He paused to take a sip of the white wine and push his glasses up his nose.

"That was when I decided that normal magic was too boring for me. I didn't take up black magic for any other reason than it was something more challenging than anything else that the rest of the professors could offer me. You might not understand the idea; it's torturous to sit through hours of time listening to people go over things that are now completely basic for you. There was nothing left at that place that wasn't already in my grasp when I finally delved completely into the forbidden magic and was lucky enough with some of the money I made from odd and end jobs to come across a small collection of tomes that lead me to the knowledge that eventually made me able to create the philosophers stone."

His smile faded slightly at the way she was staring at him and taking each word in, listening as if she was searching for an answer he couldn't honestly give her. She wanted to hear that his life had been horrible…that there was some sort of abusive justification for what he had done with his life.

"The details leading to my creation of the stone wouldn't be overly fascinating to go back over really…months of research and gathering the correct components. Once I'd made the stone I spent at least a year garnering information from it…a pity that it didn't give me all the information and I was indeed forced to ask for it. A rather annoying detail but I always managed and with it in my grasp my plans shifted to greater designs….until I saw you."

He let out a sigh, eyes half-lidded as he remembered seeing his lady love for the first time…smiling again and looking back toward her before he kept going.

"You my sweet goddess changed everything…I'd never known the exquisite pangs of love before I laid my eyes on your divine form. At first I didn't know what to do and I had little to say - you were a first time for many things in my life - you melted my black heart the moment you floated down from heaven that day on your platinum wings. All my other plans suddenly meant nothing…I had to know you…to have you feel for me as I did for you…to have you near me, in my arms, in my life in a greater way than you were as it was."

He had a slightly more manic sparkle back to his amethyst orbs, she figured the table was the only reason he hadn't grabbed her hands and pulled himself closer to her.

"All of my plans paused and were replaced with anything that would bring me closer to you, to bring you into my life and make you mine. When Hrist displaced your soul…" his face took a darker note, eyes narrowing a little as his jaw set slightly. "…well let me say I didn't mind freezing her soul in time a bit ago. I wanted to kill her for causing you any form of harm…but I knew we needed her to bring you your body back…then I hadn't expected the reaction from the way I'd made the homunculus or how I would end up making you something more powerful than I would have a chance to be near."

Lenneth frowned a bit but nodded some, still listening.

"That's when I decided to go back in time and re-write some things as I needed them." He smirked at her disapproval despite himself, it still amused him to see her so honorable in face of his actions. "You all defeating me was a bit of a set-back but nothing I didn't obviously have alternate plans for. I have a nasty habit of coming up with many extra contingencies when I plan after the original problem when your homunculus ended up betraying what I meant to do."

"You are just a vile person then…" she observed, not wanting to hear things she already knew. "Nothing bad has ever really happened to you…you have no real reason to be this way other than saying you were born like it. You are horrible."

"Valkyrie…" Lezard drew her eyes back to him with a softness in tone despite his deep voice. "I didn't mean to disappoint you but it shouldn't change anything. I am this person and regardless of what got me here - I love you. I could have just as easily lied to you but I didn't want to be dishonest with you…I'm not sure why."

"Lezard…" she stared back at him, uncertain of what to say given all the various ideas she'd had in regards to his past and the reality she was suddenly faced with.

He got up and walked around to her, settling a hand near her face as he so often taken to doing in regards to her. "Lenneth…do not dwell so much on this. You already thought I was a vile creature long before you learned it - as I said, it changes nothing. Did you want me to have some past that gave me reason for your pity?"

"Well…yes." she frowned some as she looked up at him. "When are we leaving here? Is it safe yet?"

He laughed as she changed the subject, delight on his face at her silent acceptance of his suggestion and that she spoke of them in the term 'we'. "Well. We can leave anytime now…which might be a good idea for us to go soon with the way Melody has gotten more jealous. I don't want to have to hurt the girl so deeply I can't take it back or accidentally kill her if she does anything else to harm you. I figured we could return after dinner but it's up to you my muse."

"I'd like to go ahead soon then…" she agreed. "Do you need to settle the bill first?"

"Yes…" Lezard accented motioning about the room. "Would you mind packing what few things we brought and when I return we can go back to my tower."

She nodded wordlessly, still distracted by all the new things she'd learned about the necromancer.

"Soon then." he said and left her missing the slight warmth from the proximity he held his hand over her face.

Lezard was still light-hearted about the fact that he knew that Lenneth was wanting to know more about him, her disappointment would pass and the eventual goal was all that mattered. He laughed to himself aloud as he entered the main room and pulled up his pouch to pay his debt to the older woman running the store, paying well over what was needed with all the extra small things he usually requested from her. Ignoring the stare he was getting from his fan girl cleaning one of the tables, if only Lenneth would gaze at him like that!

She started toward him as if to finally approach him as to what she felt and he shook his head at her, not wanting to get annoyed by the horse nonsense days before and the fact that the girl ran off made her grandmother sigh a little.

"Forgive Melody Mr. Valeth." her voice cracked naturally from her age. "She's young and headstrong about the things she thinks she wants."

"Nothing wrong with that." Lezard motioned it off, he wasn't particularly insulted by the fact that the girl had such a crush on him and instead just nodded and headed back toward his room. "Thank you again, until next time ma'am."

The older woman waved and Lezard took the steps two or three at a time as he went - happy to rush back to his dearest siren as he went, nearly slamming into his blonde fan girl outside the door he and Lenneth were sharing.

"Melody…" he frowned some and took a step down so he wasn't hovering over her. "…I've asked you before to leave my lady alone. What are you up too now?"

"I don't know…" she shook her head a little, tears on her cheeks. "I just…why do you want her if she doesn't want you?"

"I love her." Lezard said it as if it was the only explanation that was needed. "And she does want me too, she just hasn't figured it out herself yet. You have a lot of potential, don't waste it chasing me."

He moved around her and into his room, shutting the door in her face and ignoring it as she rushed away again in still tears from his rejection. He headed back into their room and found his lady looking at all the flowers he'd arranged for her again, making a mental note to do the same for her room at his estate sometime soon.

"Are you ready?" he asked his lady, holding out a hand.

"Yes…" Lenneth agreed and took his hand gently, him holding her more fiercely than she did him.

"Your eyes." he reminded her to close them as he started chanting the spell that would take them back to his tower…she felt the wind churn up around her and the loss of gravity before she stumbled a bit upon it's sudden return.

She opened her eyes with several blinks and he'd caught her in his arms as was becoming habit when the two teleported anywhere. He didn't pursue her as readily as the other times however and helped settle her back on her feet - which made her smile a little.

They were back in her clean room, the open door leading off to the less immaculate tower and the lighting different enough to show that they had indeed gone some ways across the world in that instant.

"About time you got back Lezard." Mystina snapped at them, moving into the room and waggling a finger at the wizard with annoyance. "You asshole…you didn't tell me there would be people attacking your tower while you were gone. I had to kill a small army of undead a few days ago and you just don't even come and tell me what's going on? You are as much of an ass as ever!"

"Hey Lenneth," she added with a wave and a lighter tone before turning her glare back on Lezard.

A small red fur ball squirmed around in a small pouch on her belt and a little head poked it's way out tiredly, a baby fox looking at the other two before letting a growl out toward Lezard.

"Aw…he's so cute." Lenneth observed, glancing to Lezard. "Is that…?"

"Yes, the one I named Loki and gave to Misty." Lezard grinned at the creature when it growled at him. "In return for watching over the tower…you got paid Misty so stop complaining."

"Impossible as usual." Mystina rolled her eyes. "This little thing I had to stop feeding for a few days before it would listen…now we have some sort of agreement…but it's not worth what I had to go through. What the hell happened to you anyway…something is different."

"I knew I could leave it to you to notice Misty." Lezard grinned, usually fine with gloating. "I was a little busy killing Hel and taking over Nifelheim so you'll have to get over the fact that you had to take on a few zombies."

That left Mystina staring in surprise of his claim, though she didn't argue it, apparently she was more aware of something that Lenneth had missed. Then she finally just responded with her usual bluster. "Next time you leave me to take on an army at least leave me decent enough food that I'm not starving while I'm protecting your home."

"I'll keep it in mind Misty." Lezard chuckled some. "If you both will excuse me, I have things to check on."

He left then without permission from either, motioning to summon a small table full of fresh food for the two absently as he went to see how his other defenses had worked. The food at least had Mystina lingering in the room as she walked right over to start picking up various things.

"So 'ow whas yer tip?' She asked with a mouthful of bread, still half chewing and far too hungry to care about appearances for the time being, pulling a cork from a bottle of wine.

"It was nice…" Lenneth admitted as she moved over to pick up a grape and then offer the small fox a piece of meat, grinning at it as it sniffed at the offer before eating it up and licking her fingers. It made her giggle before she returned her attention to the sorceress.

"Better time than I had then." she snorted and washed the bread down with a drink of the wine. "He hasn't been feeling you up too much has he?"

That made color come to her face and the Valkyrie coughed a little and shook her head. "No…he got a little carried away once or twice but he stopped."

Mystina grinned at her, taking a bite of cheese. "So you liked it?"

"I didn't say that!" Lenneth protested weakly, she wasn't sure of what she wanted anymore. "Do I really seem that hopeless?"

Mystina considered and held up a finger so she could finish this time before answering.

"I think that Lezard has a way of growing on people that he's around for a long enough period. He might be a complete prick sometimes and he might be a bit of a pervert…well quite a few times…but the guy isn't ugly and he can be completely charming when he wants to be." She nodded some to herself. "Much as we argue, I guess I'm the closest thing to a friend he has. He at least gave me some food finally."

"It doesn't bother you that he's like that?" Lenneth questioned, watching her tear through the food as if she truly was famished.

"I know he's like that…" she shrugged and smirked. "I do it to myself, we sort of use each other I guess…but I've told you all this before. I'm surprised to see you actually warming up to him…but then I shouldn't be too shocked…he seems to always manage to get what he wants."

"He doesn't have me." Lenneth argued a little weakly again, frowning and taking a slice of bread to butter while she considered just what she needed to do. "You have it easy Mystina…he doesn't want to keep you like some doll."

"We all have problems." the green-haired girl shrugged some. "I think if you do like him then you should just tell him and save us all the trouble he gives whenever he's having a tantrum cause you can't make up your mind."

The observation was fairly innocent, Mystina continuing to eat while Lenneth blushed again and glanced toward the door where Lezard had disappeared, nodding a little bit to the advice. At least she'd be possibly helping others if she talked to him about her unsure feelings? Not being sure of just what she should say she headed out of the room to seek out the wizard, leaving a slightly confused Mystina to shrug and pull more of the dishes closer to her to keep eating…

End Chapter

Mmm, this chapter seems a little weak somehow to me…I just don't really like it but it's taking the story where I want it to be for the moment. Next chapter will be hard to write though because I'll have to figure out just what Lenneth is going to say to Lezard…heh poor Mystina - she's always so hungry!

-Aura

To my reviewers:

LotornoMiko - Lezard has some issues of his own atm that kept him from boasting too much…his mind is busy with several plans of his own. He might have played a bit of peeping tom with her yeah - he is a pervert after all…of course she didn't notice (or say anything if she did heh). I liked my simple back-story for him.

Lezard Valeth - Hope you liked the past - thought it was very befitting for him really. He did it cause he was bored with everyone else - what better reason to take up necromancy! All of the characters are aware of both timelines because of the end of VP: 2 but Lenneth and Lezard are the only ones that really know what's going on from both.