A/N: Eh….It's been awhile since I've updated this one. Sorry, my computer's been giving me a MAJOR migraine lately, and school's been throwing projects left and right at me (Speaking of which I have yet to get started on my latest adv lang. Arts project…@.@;; for adv. Lang arts, they sure don't do many writings….damn damn damn damn damn damn…)…..anyways, I plan on making this chapter longer than usual as a sign of SORRY!! Enjoy, and please, R&R!!
"This is bad…very bad! I can't believe someone kidnapped Riddel…. now of all times, they had to pick now!!" Glenn groaned to Norris as he buried his head in his hands, "Dario and Lord Viper are worried sick, and Karsh is exceptionally moody right now, and I can only imagine the pandemonium the news has caused with the townspeople in El Nido!" Norris shot Glenn a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry I can't do anything…other than sit and watch, but," he let out a low withdrawn sigh, "the people of El Nido believe me to be the one took her, and, Lord Viper believes it best for me not to help…..does he suspect me of kidnapping Riddel?" Norris asked. Glenn shook his head; his hands still holding his head and effectively making his brownish-greenish spiky locks of hair even messier than usual.
"No, he just wishes to keep things as controlled and peaceful as possible….." finally, Glenn looked up and gave Norris a weak smile, "Funny," he murmured, "Lord Viper said the same thing to me as well." He lowered his head again, this time in shame,
"Honestly…..I'm just saying that to convince myself that Lord Viper thinks that." He let out a small bitter laugh, "I am such a failure……I wonder what father would think of me. I am nothing but a mere shadow to Dario…..and now it seems they think I am untrustworthy, don't they, Norris?" the blond ex-porre officer shook his head in a negative reply, and sympathy for his friend.
"No, they do not think that, I'm sure what you said is true……and…he's probably trying to keep people from trying to question you about Dario's condition….that's all." He meekly tried to comfort him. Glenn said nothing and simply stared at the closed gates of the manor…. Things were taking a turn for the worse…. and that's never good….. Obviously.
"…. Pirates?!……ehh…HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" Minako hysterically laughed, "That's a good one, brat! I mean, you can't be serious……we already can't move…and pirates?! Yeah right…." Everyone stopped staring at the increasingly closer pirate ship, and looked at Minako worriedly. Minako in turn, just continued to giggle, lost in her own little world.
"First I get stuck floating here…..then the pirates show up…now" he gestured to the giggling Minako, "this…" he glared at the senshi, "You guys are nothing but bad luck!" he accused with a glare.
"What?! US?! How do we know it's not you who's causing this current string of bad luck?! This kind of stuff has never happened to us before!" Rei snapped.
"…Eh…actually it has, Rei." Ami pointed out. Van arched his eyebrow curiously at the group.
"It has?" then, a smug smirk appeared on his face, "See? It All your guys' fault! S'not my fault at all!!"
"…That's one big ship….. what do pirates normally do to people?" Makato nervously asked, trying to change the subject.
"Didn't I already tell you?" Van shrewdly asked, "They either torture you, take you in for slaves, steal all your stuff and feed you to the sharks, or challenge you to a battle for your freedom….or…something really cruel and mean like that." He grimly explained, "but I guess it could be worse." Van half heartedly said as he waited for the pirate ship to capture them and take them in as slaves.
"Huh?" Minako unintelligently said as she stopped her mad giggling, "and how could it be worse?" the purple haired artist shrugged.
"Well, it could've been a Porre ship. If it was a Porre army ship, we'd be in even deeper shit right now." The senshi didn't even bother to look surprised by his language, "First off, if it was a Porre ship, we'd be taken in as prisoners' of war and interrogated so they could find some kind of information on El Nido." He casually explained. They gawked at him in disbelief.
"But-but….. they wouldn't interrogate you!" Makato sputtered. Van looked at Makato with a puzzled look.
"…. Why wouldn't they?" he asked.
"Well…I mean…you're just a kid! A kid! What good would a kid do for some army information?!" she demanded.
"Well, who said they'd just take me for interrogation? They'd probably realize this, so, they'd take me for ransom reasons, and if Lord Viper, or my family doesn't pay up, I dye, that simple, so you see? Pirates are a bit better than Porre."
"Well, that's just great……ha ha ha HA!! We're all gonna' die in this place! Either that, or become slaves!! Whooo! The grand choices we have!!" she resumed her frantic giggling as the pirate ship got even close. Now, it seemed like a matter of minutes before it reached them. None of them had any doubts, the ship had spotted them, and it was coming to get them……
"Serge, where did you get that swallow?" Radius asked after a few minutes of silence as they trekked the rocky path of Fossil Valley. Serge and Kid glanced at each other uneasily, both unsure of how to tell Radius of the truth…in a convincing non-farfetched way. Finally, Serge stopped walking and faced the ex-deva.
"Well…. you see…." He muttered, unsure of how to put it, "Um…. Ok, Radius….. you were an ex-deva, and best friend with the legendary Deva Garai." Radius' eyes widened in surprise as he heard Serge, "And….. you were the one who killed Garai, after you became possessed by the legendary sword, Masamune." The elder's face-hardened as he regarded Serge with a glance that held so much
"And how….do you know that, Serge?" he carefully asked as he too stopped walking.
"Because, mate, you told us!" Kid answered. Radius regarded the two teenagers before him with a stoic expression on his face, not daring to show any emotion in front of them right now.
"Serge, Kid, I believe I have endured this….little game long enough. Now tell me, how did you find out about my….past? Who told you? And….what really makes you think Riddel is in trouble?" The elderly man calmly asked the two.
"We told you, old man!" Kid stubbornly insisted, "It was you! You told us on your own free will!! Honestly, you just can't remember because some goddess person thing cranked up her magic and got his those memories, mate!"
"It's true…." Serge quietly supported as he noticed Radius' look of disbelief and impatience.
"You two…stop lying! This game is no longer funny! Now then, tell me the truth, both of you!" he demanded. Kid pursed her lips together and put her hands on her hips as a sign of exasperation.
"You deaf?! We've told ya' the truth, bloody geezer…" she muttered under her breath. (I've never figured out if she has an English accent, or Australian…^^;;)
"Please listen to us, Radius. I know it sounds corny…and farfetched, but it's true! Honest! You told us….. we fought, side by side against Garai, who was possessed by the angry spirit of the sword, Masamune, just as Dario once was as well. But we managed to stop him as well!" Serge pleaded with the old man, "Just wait until we get to Termina, or Viper Manor. I just….I got this feeling…this uncanny feeling…that somehow… everything will be explained…everything will come together! Please, wait until then!" Radius continued to look at the two with an unreadable expression on his face, until, his tense should slumped and he sighed in defeat.
"Alright you two….. but you have to explain everything to me, understand?" he asked. The two eagerly nodded, relieved that Radius wasn't going to head back to Arni. They continued their tireless trek through the canyon while Radius glance back at the two, "The only reason I'm going along with this, is because you two have yet to do anything that would make me think you two untrustworthy, "his expression darkened while Serge and Kid grimaced a bit from the cold stare they were getting from him, "Do not make it so that you have lost my trust, both of you." He warned, silently giving them a message of "If this is all a joke, you had best fess up now, or forever hold your peace…" The two grimly nodded, there eyes trained on Radius. The group stood there in thick tension, before Radius finally gave them a small smile, "Then let us continue, and we get to Termina, you two have some explaining to do…"
"Dario? Dario?! What's happened?! Why are you doing this, weren't you happy?
What…what did I do wrong…to make you hate me so much?!" Riddel demanded from her pitiful position, her hands chained to the wall, her body slumped against the cold stone floor, her eyes looking up pleadingly at Dario. The deva simply offered her a smirk and breathed,
"Who said you did anything wrong? I'm just doing it because I feel like it, Riddel-chan" he mockingly sneered at her.
"Da-kun!" a voice whined, "your annoying brother is looking for you!!" Dario glanced back to see the familiar face of Nacrissa.
"Alright, I leave her to you, Nac-chan.." he murmured as he left the cold clammy room. Nacrissa looked over at the hunched form of Riddel, before grinning. She loved it when her "Da-kun" left the weaklings with her!
"Lord Viper, we've searched all of Termina, and have questioned all the citizens, we have not yet found Lady Riddel!" one of the dragoons reported as her bowed to his lord. Viper sighed, a low mournful sound, as he silently dismissed the soldier with a wave of his hand.
"Alright, thank you.." he muttered, Viper watched as the soldier gave him one last apologetic bow before leaving, when a thought rammed itself into his "must do" mental list, "Oh, before you leave, could you find Sir Karsh and the ex-porre soldier, Norris? I need to speak with them." The soldier quickly nodded before running out, intent on carrying out his orders.
"Dario, there you are! Can I….. speak with you….?" Glenn nervously asked as he spotted Dario coming out of his room. With a calm, almost cold, look in his eyes, Dario nodded, signifying it was ok. The two brothers silently entered Dario's room, and Glenn slumped into the bed, staring at the bed, refusing to meet Dario's face, still not quite sure just how to word what he was wondering.
"Well…. with the disappearance of….Riddel…and Norris coming here…well…I mean….Dario, do people think I did it? Or that Norris did it? Do they not…trust us?" Glenn asked as he peered up, through the gap between his messy blond, almost light green bangs.
"….Not that I know of, brother." The Deva calmly answered. Glenn couldn't help but partly flinch at the stoicness in Dario's voice, since when did he stop referring to Glenn by "brother"? Did that mean it was true…they, including his won brother, didn't trust him? Didn't trust him so much….that Dario would lie in his face…does he hate him now…? Glenn quickly shook these thoughts out of his head. Angsting over the possible, and most likely to him, truth didn't help anyone. He would take it all in stride, and when Riddel is found, safe and sound, everything will be fine……be the same again…it wouldn't end any other way….in Glenn's eyes…it couldn't end in any other way…..
A/N: And I end it with some Glenn angst. ^^;; As I said before, sorry for taking so long in updating, this chapter seemed a bit…tricky to write for some reason. Oh well, I'm gonna' finish this story, if it's the last thing I do! (And hopefully it won't be!) Please R&R!