A/N: YAY!! I finished writing out the layout for this story! Now I know basically what will be in each chapter up until the very last chapter! Think you can last 15 chapters? ^_^ Don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that isn't mine to own.
Money Gained, Liona Lost
In Zephilia, Lina's head caught a small vial of purple liquid, which quickly bounced off into her hands. With a groan, Lina rubbed her forehead with one hand while holding the vial to the light with the other. Gourry looked up to see who had thrown it. Of course, it was Luna, still in her waitress uniform, and looking as disturbingly ghastly as always.
"Drink that."
Lina replied with distaste, "What /is/ it?"
"Don't ask, just Drink it."
"It's not going to knock me out like last time is it?"
"Why don't you drink it and find out?"
"When you say it like that, it makes me think that you don't know the effect either."
"Lina…I /said/ drink it. Or else…"
Gourry was dumb enough to ask, "Or else what?"
Luna smirked and replied, "Or else I'll find a keg of that liquid and /pour/ it down her throat."
Lina quickly opened the vial, plugged her nose, and drained it in one swallow. She made a sour face when the instantaneous taste got to her. Her lips were puckered with the lasting sour taste on her tongue and lips.
Mimicking a fish, Lina said with puckered lips, "That's sour!"
Though Lina couldn't see it, she guessed that Luna raised an eyebrow in amusement. "/Really/? Well, I suppose it was inevitable since I added lip mushrooms and some lemongrass to the Zephilian wine."
Gourry suddenly exclaimed, "Hey! I know that remedy! My grandma gave it to me once when I ate some wild mushrooms that made me really sick! It's supposed to keep your mouth puckered and stomach clenched until the sickness goes away, right?"
Considering his past spouts of knowledge that were next to none, Lina and Luna were rather impressed about his knowledge of the strange mixture.
Lina still threw a tantrum, even though it was ten times harder to speak, and she spoke in a squeaky voice. "How long is this sickness going to last then?!"
Luna shrugged as she turned to go back out. "Who knows. I've never seen a disease like this one, and I've seen a lot. Oh well. I've got to get back to work. See ya little sis."
With that, Luna walked off and left Gourry and Lina alone again. In the same high, squeaky voice, Lina demanded that Gourry get her something to wash down the sour taste- preferably freshly-processed milk from her friend at the dairy.
Before going, Gourry asked about half a dozen times if she was sure that she'd be okay alone. Lina nodded and furiously told him to go already. After Gourry had left, Lina sighed, and leaned back against her propped up pillows the Mazoku Candidate list and Liona on her mind. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realized what might be in store for Liona.
*Meanwhile….*
Liona ravenously ate dinner at a speed that would have made her parents proud. Blake was on the other end of the table, eating to his heart's content, all the meat within grabbing range. Val sat in the middle, rather disgusted with both of their table manners. Out of habit, Val ate an only slightly above average portion of the food. Suddenly, an earthshaking movement that rocked the house sounded with a large thud. Just as Blake and Val were finishing, Angelina came in from the Pikus' playarea, clapping the dust off her hands and a large, satisfied smile playing on her lips. Angelina readily washed her hands before settling down across from Val, and pouring herself a cup of tea. As everyone had finished eating by now, they were all looking at her for a possible explanation. Noticing this, Angelina looked up and asked sweetly, "What is it?"
The others glanced at each other before Blake self-elected himself to ask, "What are you so happy about and do you know what that large thud was earlier?"
Angelina laughed softly and leaned back in her chair. She took a sip from her ever-present cup of tea before she answered, "Oh that? Well, I volunteered to put the little Pikus to sleep. As you may already know, they are as unruly as spoiled spawn of mazoku, which, I believe, is exactly what they are." Before anyone could question this, Angelina continued to explain, "Pikus are a rare breed of rabbit-demons. They aren't very high level, but they're enough to be considered dangerous. Anyways, as I was saying, the Pikus did not want to willingly go to sleep. It turns out that Blake-san's yell was enough to wake them. They were jumping up all over the walls and across the carpet until I had to put my foot down. Or rather, my tail down, and that is what you heard. After that, I just hummed a bit of music as I tucked them into bed. They aren't so bad once you get used to them, really."
Blake and Val were looking at her in disbelief, but Liona didn't think anything of it, simply because she knew Angelina had her own way of dealing with mazoku. She reached for some dessert and began chowing down on some chocolate cake.
Before long, Liona and Angelina washed the dishes, while Val and Blake were forced to dry and put away the dishes. Later, they quietly checked into the first three rooms upstairs, with Angelina and Liona sharing one and the boys having separate rooms. Somehow, they all sensed that it would be one /long/ week in the mansion.
Throughout the first day, they eased into their simple routine. First, wake up, wash up. Second, eat breakfast, feed the Pikus their breakfast. Third, assign who goes where; a boy-girl pair would go to the shop while the other two stayed at home. It seemed that because the Pikus only reacted kindly to girls, it was mandatory that at least one stay to care for them. Also, the guys felt it was their duty as guys to protect the girls, so they could never leave them in one place alone, or without guy protection. Fourth, the shop-pair would leave to tend to the shop; one behind the counter, the other to fix up anything that was amiss in the shop or help customers. Fifth, the home-pair would work together to do one or more of the following: house-cleaning, yard work, Piku care, shop visiting, grocery shopping, or to simply relax. Finally, at sunset, the shop-pair would return home for dinner and bed.
It turned out that the shop made the most profit when Val and Liona were in charge of it. With their practiced /negotiation/ skills, they were able to make amazing profits and buy efficient and or stylish products, all for the lowest possible money losses, which were easily covered by the profits. Also, it turned out that Angelina worked best at the house and with the Pikus. They had come to respect her, and believe it or not, even come to like her. She was also a phenomenal cook, and had exceptional cleaning talent. Either way, in a week's time, the old lady came back happier than ever, and paid them a good 10,000 gold pieces for their help. Also, the old lady would never know, but Liona kept the money that adults gave them at the slightest implication that they had no parents whatsoever and they depended on the shop to survive. Val noticed this on his first day working with her, but made no comment except, "Good job," when she returned with a nice 5-15 gold piece bit of charity every single time – and this was aside from the actual sales that had been made.
The next morning after they were paid (the old lady came home at night), Liona-tachi (Liona and company) left to once more travel on the forest path. As Liona skipped a little ways ahead, Val asked Angelina where they were going. Angelina replied Calcutta City, the home of the Dragon Cuisine. At that, Val stopped. Val verified, "Wait a minute. Isn't Calcutta on the west coast?"
When Angelina nodded, and before Val asked, Angelina interrupted him by whispering, "I know what you're thinking, and you're right, but just trust me and follow Liona's lead. She'll realize it eventually."
Val slowly nodded. He sighed. Liona was as hopeless as ever when it came to directions. She was going in the wrong direction and she didn't even know it.
Some time later, Liona stopped and looked at a tree directly to her right. She slowly wandered off the path and stroked the old tree trunk. When the others caught up to her, she was breathing in the scent of the flowers that were growing near the tree's base. She smiled softly and sighed as if she was in some sort of a reverie.
The others looked to the tree as well, and as a peaceful wind blew, they smiled as well.
Liona pointed up at a semi-high tree branch where a bird nest was nestled. "Look! Baby birds! Awww…poor things…they want their mommy!" They could here a distant chirping coming from the nest.
Angelina remarked softly, "I had almost forgotten; Liona-chan has played in the woods so long that her instincts are just as good as any animal that lives in the forest. She understands their needs as well."
Liona levitated up and sat on the tree branch next to the nest. She called down, "Let's stop here for the night!"
As the others looked around for a big enough clearing to set camp, Liona watched the young birds calling for their mother. It made her sad a little, thinking of /her/ mother, but decided to calm both the birds and herself by playing a song to represent their feelings.
Liona played until the sun had begun to set, until the mother bird had come back. She smiled as the mother fed her babies worms, their supper. Liona's mind wandered and she wondered if her mother was feeling any better, and hoped that her song had reached her – and reach her it did. Sitting in her bed, having been forced to turn in extremely early, Lina dreamt of Liona, playing her tune, on a tree bough. As it seemed like a comforting message saying that Liona was fine and well, Lina's mind was put to ease.
Later that night, after dinner, Liona looked up to hear a wolf howl. She started at the sound, not because she was scared, but because she was sure that she had recognized it. In a flurry of hope, Liona dropped her cooked fish-on-a-stick, and ran off. Surprised, Val ran after her, telling Angelina and Blake to stay and watch camp; he'd be alright by himself.
Liona stopped at a cliff, only because the howling had stopped. Unconsciously, she leaned over her ear a little to try to hear the howling again. When Val suddenly called out her name behind her, she lost her balance and fell over. Val rushed to help her, ready to spread his wings if necessary, but just as Liona's head was disappearing over the ledge, her hand grabbed hold of his ankle. However, her grip was too loose, and her grip was released, in the process dropping her, and tripping Val. In a sad case of events, Val hit his head on a very dulled but pointed rock, and fell unconscious near the cliff. Angelina and Blake rushed over when they heard Liona's echoing shrieks that were stopped short not to long after it had begun. After Angelina revived Val, they all looked together in an attempt to find Liona. Their first place to look was obviously at the bottom of the cliff. Strangely enough, Liona wasn't where she should have landed. In fact, the grass wasn't matted down, revealing any impact from Liona's fall. So where was she? Angelina, Val, and Blake searched half the night for Liona with no luck whatsoever. Finally, Angelina suggested that they get some sleep, and look again when they were refreshed. They agreed even though they didn't know /each other/, but because their future depended on the well-being of Liona, all for separate goals.
Liona slowly woke up to birds chirping and a ray of sunlight right into her eyes. She groaned softly when she felt her back crick as she sat up. Gathering her strength, Liona stood up and stretched; several loud cracks were heard as she loosened up her tense muscles and joints. Liona stopped in her tracks when she heard a male voice "say", "(Are you alright now?)"
Liona looked around searching for the owner of the voice. She jumped slightly when she found a large wolf with a gray backside looking at her directly to her left. Slowly, she approached and moved her hands to pull the wolf's mouth open horizontally. The wolf allowed her to do so as he stood patiently. Liona broke into a huge smile at his non-reaction and pulled her hands around his neck to hug him.
"Santeri! I thought I heard your howling! Did you save me?"
As she leaned back, the wolf nodded rather seriously. When Liona heard more rustling, she took a better look around. She was in a deep natural cavern, and at the very end, behind her, was a mother wolf and two young wolves and four very young pups. The younger pups were currently having breakfast with their mother, as they had just woken up.
Liona greeted them warmly. "Lexine! Alex! Alek!" The two adolescent wolves and the mother looked up, as did the younger pups. They all ran towards her in a group hug/lick, even the pups that didn't know her licked her face. Liona's happy smile and giggles from the tickling licks, shined and echoed throughout the cavern.
"Liona!"
"Liona where are you?"
"Liona-chan! If you hear us, answer us!"
Angelina sighed. It was now a few hours past dawn, and they had been looking for an additional hour so far. Liona was nowhere to be seen. In an offhand manner, Angelina produced three identical, small meals from within her cloak and gave one to each of them. They had stopped to rest and eat - the campsite long since having been disbanded and packed up.
Blake wondered aloud, "Maybe someone else found her already and took her to a safe haven or something."
Val retorted, "Unless they were right under Liona when she fell over, we would have seen her imprint where she fell before they got to her. And we didn't see anything undisturbed except our own feet."
Angelina remarked, "Well, maybe Blake-san's on the right track. Although nobody has lived in these woods for the longest of times, maybe even a few centuries, the animals here are very in tune with nature, and know when something is out of place."
Blake asked, "What's wrong with these woods? Why don't people lived here for centuries?"
Angelina was about to say why, when Val shouted it abruptly. "The wolves!"
As Val said this, Angelina too, understood. Val continued for the confused Blake, but his voice was rapidly quickening, "The wolves here are very territorial, but these days, only two clans live here. Once when Liona and I were two, our parents and their friends were escorting us back to the mainland…and Liona got lost in a forest just like this."
"What happened?"
"We found her three days later sleeping among a wolf pack in a cave."
Angelina inserted, "What if-?"
Val nodded. "Liona ran off both times because she heard a series of wolf howls. I didn't think anything of it before, but I think it's certain now – Liona's gone back to visit her old friends."
Angelina nodded in response, but Blake was as confused as ever. "Wait a minute. Do you mean to say that Liona made friends with /wolves/ and they're the reason we can't find her?"
Rather edgy from lack of sleep, Val stood up and hissed, "That's exactly what I'm saying. Come on. I think I still remember where that cave was; let's hope they haven't changed homes yet."
As they fast-walked with Val in the lead, Angelina remarked, "I want to find Liona, probably even more than you do, but just think: It's been 14 years and this patch of forest area is approximately 15 square kilometers. Do you honestly think that the same wolf pack is going to be in the same exact place?"
There was a brief pause of silence. Val quietly answered, "No, but I'm hoping to find a clue there at least."
Blake watched the two of them through the corner of his eye as he walked alongside Angelina.
"You're going on your hunt today? Can I come? I want to pay you back for all your help."
Santeri, the head male, nodded his head. He then barked for Alek to stay and protect his mother (Alec's) and his brothers (the young pups), while Alex went hunting with them. Like a proud protector of the family, Alek agreed without hesitation. Mid-morning, Santeri, Liona, and Alex set out in search of dinner. Liona would have offered to give them some food that she had brought, but she knew wolves always preferred fresh meat more.
They walked a fairly long distance, until Santeri abruptly stopped. With a twitch of his left ear, he gestured for them to follow him quietly. Before long, they were only a few feet away from a herd of deer. However, the herd had already heard them and was ready to sprint. Santeri suddenly leaped over the bush and started going for a young stag. Upon seeing his father's target, Alex ran after him. Liona saw which one they wanted and took out her whip, while still in the bushes. After whispering a short spell, Liona flung out the blue whip and carefully watched as she maneuvered it to create a semi-large box around the prey, using trees as turning posts. Incidentally, this had caught three of them, including the young stag. One was unable to stop before he ran into the whip, and was shocked into unconsciousness. Seeing this, the other turned and decided to try to jump over the whip on the other side. Liona saw this and decided to fireball that one before it got out. With only the stag left, the rest of the herd having deserted him, the two experienced wolves brought down their dinner with two, three quick bites. Once the stag was dead, Liona let her whip disperse, and she put the handle back in her custom-made holster.
Liona walked over to them. They looked at the two that Liona had stunned, and separated to finish them off, lest they recover and run. Afterwards, compliments were exchanged and Liona informed that that they could have two of the three deer. They happily obliged, and with Liona's help, managed to bring all three back to the cave.
About 2000 feet west of Liona's current location, the search party stopped at a vacant cave. Bending down to go into the small opening, Val led the way into the cave. They noted a pad of soft grass, dried and withered from lack of use. Val growled softly in frustration. In an attempt to calm him down, Angelina reassured, "She's around here somewhere. Don't worry; we'll find her soon enough."
Without saying anything back, Val silently stormed back out of the small cave.
Liona stayed the night with the wolves that night, and it wasn't until late afternoon the next day when Blake found her by chance. He had poked his head into the cave, and was immediately met with a mouthful of bared teeth, that belonged to a young wolf – Alek. Liona was currently taking a nap with the pups and the mother, so she didn't here him. Alek bit his leg as Blake turned to run away. With the wolf clinging on tightly, Blake ran off, concentrating all of his energy that wasn't already into running away, into keeping his yelling to a minimum. About halfway to where Val and Angelina were, the wolf's nose twitched as it caught their scent in the air. With a yelp, Alek released his hold and ran off back to the cave.
When Blake dragged himself to the dragon pair, blood was dripping down his leg, and there was a series of holes where the teeth drilled passed his clothing. Upon noticing the blood, Angelina quickly rushed over, and without saying a word, moved her hands over the wound, and healed it. Blake winced as he felt the wound patch up, but didn't pull away.
Val slowly stood up and walked over to them. For a reason he couldn't exactly put his finger on, Val despised Blake with hatred akin to his previous hate of dragons and mazoku. With this feeling seeping into his words, Val asked, "Find anything?"
As Angelina finished and stood up, Blake nodded. He thanked Angelina before continuing with his information. "I think I found that wolf pack you were talking about. I spotted a cave a ways back and poked my head in to see if there was anything there."
"And?"
"And…this wolf bares his teeth inches from my face and then bites my leg. Next thing I knew, I was running here, but some yards back, it suddenly let go with a yelp and ran back towards the cave."
Angelina let out a short and small laugh. The two males turned to her with questioning looks. Angelina deliberately ignored this and looked off to the distance as she spoke just as softly. "I promised. Liona-chan. I'd rather die than break the promises that I made. No matter what it takes, I /will/ see you home, safe and sound."
Abruptly, Angelina snapped out of her daze and headed in the direction that Blake had pointed at moments before, signaling for them to follow. With a sigh and a shrug, the two tiredly trailed after her.
With almost no assistance, Angelina found the cave in question. Clearing her throat, Angelina magically knocked on the open cave entrance. Immediately, a pair of wolves appeared at the opening, teeth bared, ears pressed back, and hair/fur standing out. The pair snarled and growled, obviously wanting the intruders to leave. When Liona's friends made no move to leave, Alex leaned back, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
Angelina offered a hand in peace. "We mean you no harm; we just came to see if Liona could come back with us. We've been looking for her for a long time, and I swear that we'll leave as soon as she's back with us. Keeping his eyes on the three "visitors", Alex appeared to bark something to Alek. Disgruntled, but uncomplaining, the other wolf turned tail and ran back into the cave. The trio waited uneasily under Alex's fixed leer and never-ending snarl.
Before long, a sleepy Liona came into the light, with the other wolf by her side. Liona rubbed her eye tiredly, as she became accustomed to light again. When she finally made out the form of Angelina, Val, and Blake, she broke into a smile and a run and hugged them all at the same time. This single action, relaxed everyone's nerves, Alex's included. Angelina hugged Liona back; Val ruffled her hair in a caring-big-brother sort-of-way; and Blake awkwardly patted her shoulder. Alex and Alek stood by the entrance, watching this transition from afar.
Finally, Liona broke contact and turned to the wolves. Going in between them, she hugged them both at the same time. She whispered to them, "I'll come back in the future – I promise, k? So stay good and take care of your Ma and Pa and little siblings – the both of you."
Backing away, Liona told them, "Tell everybody 'bye' for me, k? I'll see you all later!"
The two dogs barked happily and wagged their tails in response.
Liona waved farewell before turning to her friends. She had a genki smile on her face, and the same child-like innocence as always. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
The others nodded and as Liona took the lead again, they headed south. They would soon reach the Southern border of Saillune.
Mazolina let out a hollow laugh that echoed throughout the spacious room. Before her meditating form was a hovering hexagonal mirror, cut evenly into two pieces, for the time being. The top showed what Lina was doing at the moment – lying in bed, finishing lunch with Gourry at her side. The bottom showed what Liona was doing at that exact same moment – setting out after having spent time with her wolf friends.
Half to herself, and half to the image portraying Liona, Mazolina remarked quietly, "Consider them your friends for now, dear Liona. Keep on trusting them; come to depend on them. It'll just make it all the more devastating when I finally decide to act. Come Liona… Your time is near…"
A/N: BWAHAHAHAHAHA….ha…….ha. okay, I have no idea why I laughed just now. If you deem this a story/chapter worthy enough for you to have read this far, please let me know by reviewing! It only takes a minute max! Come on, I want to know what you think. Anything is acceptable as long as it's the truth! Please Review!