Aliens are going to take over the world! Quick! Grab your device or computer, maybe both, some food and water then hide underground! Or is it inner ground? Huh…never thought about that. And while we ponder upon this we have been killed by the aliens. Nice job. I hope you're proud cause I am.

Anyway, welcome back my compadres! How have you been? I hope you are doing well because I am. Sort of.

I'm sure you're not here to hear me rambling on, let's start the story!

Chapter 17: Zero's Return

"So what did the letter say?" Kirche asks for the fifth time. Louise looks away unresponsive to the red head.

The group of teens have been riding on Sylphid for a while now. Kirche had began asking Louise what the letter said a few minutes ago. Louise refuses to answer her though.

"Come on! We helped you, so we should have the right to know! What do you say Guiche?" Kirche asks looking at Guiche.

He shrugs. "It would be nice to know."

"See!" Kirche exclaims. She turns her attention to Yuudai. "What about you my dear? Will you tell me?"

Yuudai gives her a blank stare. The stress is finally leaving his body and leaving a tired teenage boy. "I don't see the problem in telling Guiche, but you said when you first showed up that you weren't there to help." Yuudai replies looking up into the sky.

Kirche just sits there with a defeated look. "Why did I have to say that?" Kirche mutters. She quickly turns to Tabitha and starts to shake the girl reading a book. "Please convince them Tabitha!"

Unfortunately Guiche looses balance on the dragon falling off with a scream. Yuudai watches Guiche fall looking slightly amused. Guiche uses his levitate spell saving himself from hitting the ground, but there is no way he is going to catch up to them now. Yuudai waves at Guiche as they fly away.

'What was that dream about?' Louise asks herself subconsciously leaning against Yuudai inch by inch. 'Why would I ever dream of kissing him?'

Yuudai looks at Louise out the corner of his eye. He raises an eyebrow. He knows that she isn't aware of the fact she is pretty much cuddling him at this point. He shrugs. "Maybe she is scared of falling or something." He mutters.

'What do I do about it? If I try to do what I did before it will only cause more problems.' Louise thinks unsure of what to do.

Kirche looks at Louise and smirks. "What are you doing there Zero?" Kirche asks with a sly look on her face.

"What do you mean?" Louise questions bringing herself back to reality from her mind. She then catches sight of her holding her familiar. She starts to starter making incomprehensible words quickly letting go of him.

"Could you please quiet down Blank?" Yuudai asks looking her in the eye. "You're giving me a headache."

A tick mark grows in her forehead. "I'm giving you a headache, am I?" She asks irritably. "How about you join Guiche then?!" She then tries to push him, but he moves forward making her miss.

"I think that's quite an appealing idea." Yuudai replies acting as if he wasn't about to be pushed. "But then again you could too. Want to see who'll be pushed off first Blank?" He asks tiredly.

Louise's eye twitches. "J-just shut up and stay still!" She demands.

For some reason her saying that reminds him of when they first met. "Since I find you amusing, I'll stay still for a minute." He says flashing a tooth smile.

In the background Kirche sweat drops. "Why do I feel like the third wheel?" She asks herself. Tabitha just shrugs.

Louise widens her eyes moving closer to Yuudai. Yuudai sees an opening for a joke. "Hey I know I'm pretty amazing, but you don't have to kiss me." He says imitating what Guiche would have done.

She smirks when close enough and pushes Yuudai off the dragon catching him off guard. His ring glows a bit changing a few strands of his hair too light blue along with his eyes. He finally hits the ground landing on his feet causing a tiny crater to surround him. He sits down and starts to rub his feet as the power up fades along with the glow from the ring.

"Ouch. That really hurt." He says to himself.

"I see you fell too?" Guiche asks walking over to him.

"Unfortunately. I really didn't want to walk, but I guess I don't have a choice." Yuudai says.

"How are your legs not broken from that fall?" Guiche questions while Yuudai stands up ready to go.

"My wind power up and I guess my body has strengthened quite a bit since arriving and fighting so many idiots." Yuudai replies. "On the bright side I still have Viscount's bag of gold coins from the bar."

Guiche's eyes widen. "Seriously?!"

Yuudai pulls the bag shaking it a little proving the coins are still there. "Quite a bit too." Yuudai says taking out a handful. He hands it to Guiche.

Guiche stares at Yuudai's hand. "You're giving this to me?"

"Of course. You came on this journey with us most of the way, so I feel like you deserve something." Yuudai replies.

Guiche gingerly puts the gold coin away where the rest of his coins are. "Thanks. You're not too bad familiar."

"You're not too bad yourself blondy." Yuudai tells him. The two proceed to walk to the academy from there.

Later

It has been a whole day since they had returned. Sadly, Yuudai feels something has changed. Louise has been acting…nice! He can't understand why. He has tried to think of reasons, but couldn't figure out any good ideas.

"I'll think about it later." Yuudai mutters getting ready to find Siesta to help wash Louise's clothes.

Louise rubs her eyes. "Leave it there. I'll do it myself." She orders shocking her familiar. Yuudai backs away from Louise. "What are you doing?"

"Who are you?! Blank would never offer to do her own laundry!" Yuudai exclaims.

Louise gets a bit angry. "I'm talking about washing my face!"

Yuudai immediately calms down. "I never did that in the first place." He reminds her deadpanning.

Louise scratches her head. "Oh yeah. I forgot. I wonder why that is?" She replies.

"Because you shouldn't be completely dependent on me." Yuudai explains easily.

"Or because he's lazy." Derflinger comments.

"Shut it rusty!" He tells the sword with a light glare.

"Call me rusty again and I'll rat you out on much more!" Derflinger retorts.

Yuudai rolls his eyes. "Anyway, do you still want me to do your laundry?"

Louise just shakes her head. "I will do them myself later."

Yuudai studies his master very intensely. "Strange." He then shrugs. "Oh well. Less work I guess. Thank you."

"N-no need to thank me." She stutters.

"Well I'm going to step out the door and let you get dressed." He says walking outside to wait. He assumed she'd yell, but since she isn't complaining there's no sense in stopping.

A few minutes later the two are in the dining hall. Yuudai is serving the tables to see where the best hiding spot is to take food from. He doesn't care that it is wrong since most of the nobels seem to think he is nothing more than a pet. Too bad that there isn't any place they aren't guarding with their legs.

"I guess they have learned." Yuudai mutters. He lets out a sigh. "That sucks."

"Hey Yuudai." Louise says earning his attention. "Sit in the chair next to me." She orders.

Yuudai narrows his eyes. "You're not going to pull it out from under me this time are you?"

She blushes. "N-no!"

"Don't you dare sit in my chair!" A chubby blond noble boy exclaims before Yuudai could sit down.

Yuudai turns to the boy, Malicorne, with a doll expression. "What was that snob?" He asks. "Last I checked, nobody has ever been able to order me around other than Blank." Yuudai grabs the collar of Malicorne's shirt. He then pulls him close to his own face. "What makes you think you can order me around?"

By that point, Malicorne is sweating beyond normal. He is fearing for his life. After all, Malicorne knows he had defeated Guiche, Fouquet and finished a mission of some kind that is very very dangerous. Not to mention he heard a rumour that the guy was impaled and still is alive and functioning perfectly. That isn't something he wants to screw around with.

'Why did I think ordering him around was a good idea?!' Malicorne exclaims in his head.

Yuudai lets go him then sits down in the chair. "I don't have the energy to deal with you right now. Just grab another chair or something."

"Y-yes s-sir!" The blond stutters. The boy then runs off.

Yuudai looks at the food in front of him forming a smile. "I've missed you so much." He says to the food.

Louise knows that she has at least some feelings for the teen, but she can't help roll her eyes. "Don't talk to your food. Try to pretend you are human for once." Louise tells him.

"Never!" He exclaims ready to start chowing down on the food as soon as their prayer is over.

Later

"I want to stay out here though." Yuudai whines. Him and Louise are outside the classroom of hers. A huge crowd is surrounding Kirche and Tabitha pestering them for information on what happened. Apparently their absence was a big deal.

"If you don't then no lunch and dinner." Louise simply states.

"Fine. This is going to suck." Yuudai mutters.

'He is right. This is going to suck.' Louise thinks walking in as well as the now arriving Guiche.

The crowd all moan as they can't get answers from the tight lipped girls. Yuudai smiles a small bit in approval. As if sensing them, the crowd surround Guiche. The crowd starts to bombard him with questions.

"You want to know the secrets I know?" Guiche asks feeling as if his personality must be as huge as his ego. "Ahaha, such troubled little rabbits!"

Louise pushes through the crowd followed by Yuudai. She smacks the back of Guiche's head angrily. "What do you think you're doing?! If you tell them the Princess will dislike you!" She tells Guiche.

At the mention of the Princess the crowd grows more curious. However, once Guiche heard that he grows silent. The crowd start to flood Louise with questions.

"Louise! What actually happened?"

"Nothing. Osmond simply asked us to go to the Princess for something. Nothing more. Nothing less." She lies. Kirche smiles mysteriously while Guiche nods. Tabitha continues to read.

"It's probably nothing important anyway."

"Yeah. This is Louise The Zero we are talking about. I couldn't imagine what great feat she could accomplish without even being able to use magic. Catching Fouquet was simply a fluke. She just got lucky that her familiar was able to beat her." Montmorency states irritably.

This irritates Yuudai. After all, his journey is never over. That means he will always protect Louise. Especially if they use him to insult her. Montmorency walks by him, but he sticks a leg out in front of her making her trip.

"Last I checked, only people who've done great things meet Henrietta. What have you done that deserves more attention?" Yuudai asks in a cold voice.

At the mention of the mention of the name of the Princess the class pay more attention to them. "How dare a commoner like you trip me and talk to a noble like that?!" She exclaims getting up.

"Sounds like you haven't done a single thing thing except run your mouth. Now shut up and go to your seat." Yuudai continues glaring at her.

"Control your familiar Zero!" Montmorency tells Louise.

"He has a point." Louise states agreeing with her familiar. Montmorency storms off angrily.

Everyone sits down as Mr. Colbert walks in placing a strange object on his desk. It seems that Colbert had been a bit fearful, but as soon as he gets ready to speak there isn't fear in his eyes at all. He loves his class since it gives him the chance to teach and give his own opinion on some things.

Yuudai lays his head on his arms deciding to take a quick nap. He figures that since this class isn't going to do him any good he can sleep. He quickly falls asleep. Alas, nice things always seem to last a short amount of time.

A while later an explosion errupts from the front of the room causing Yuudai to be thrown back from the force somehow not being hit by the flames. Yuudai lands on his feet in a crouch already pulling out his sword causing his hand to glow. His gun doesn't appear since the fire never touched him and a shock wave isn't purely magic unless the magic was intended that way.

Yuudai quickly scans the room seeing Louise covered in soot. Her uniform is scorched for sure. That is his only worry now. He blurs in front of Louise shocking the few students who actually saw that. Others didn't see since their clothes are on fire. He lays his free hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright Blank?" He asks worried for his master. He'd even go as far as to say his friend. Not out loud though.

"The machine was weak." Louise states in a quivering voice.

A large amount of water puts out the flames all of a sudden. "Such a weak fire. Was it even necessary since you're such a great mage?" Montmorency says sarcastically.

Yuudai blurs over in front of the girl. The girl steps back not expecting him to be there so quickly. "You're seriously pissing me off." He growls scaring her. Her eyes spot the sword and glowing hand frightening her more. "Let's see how good of a mage. I challenge you to a duel. Right when we get outside." He challenges.

"Yuudai." Louise calls out sounding depressed. "Let's go." Yuudai glares once more then sheathes his sword following Louise out the door.

End

That's a nice spot to end. So how did you like that? Pretty interesting, am I right? No? Well I tried. That's all I've got to say.

Sorry if Yuudai seems like a jerk, but his personality and him being productive of Louise now means he won't be nice to anyone insulting her. Just letting you all know since I know there will be those who think he is a huge jerk. I promise he isn't. He simply is going through character development. And stuff. Think of it as puberty I guess.

I don't think I have much else to say, so thanks for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting and have a great day/night/morning!