A/N: hey everyone!!! Oh my god I am soooo sorry it took me a long time to update this chapter!!! First of all, the other day, my stupidity decided to come alive and I accidentally—out of my brain dead will—I deleted what I've already started!!! Damn after that I went bezerk and started messing with the recycle bin trying to restore that friggin' file!! But to no avail… I 'm stuck making another one… *sigh*… Well, at least I have the computer to myself!!! These past weeks everyone seemed to be using it!!! And I can't squeeze in myself to finish this chapter… oh well… at least I'm here right?!! Okay then… Let's get it on!!!
Thanks by the way to phred doesn't like you (ahii sorry about the whole female/male confusion… hehe… whoah… all right then… I'll write… good thing my writer's block is gone… thanks to the all mighty person who invented poetry!!!), IsAdOrAlUvSdA'It'MaN (whoah that was long… anyway…. Thank you sooo much for taking all that time just to review my story… haha… all right 'bout that whole chicken wing thing…. just don't let that Britney Spears near me… eww… and the gym socks? Please no… I have knack for hygiene thank you very much… hehe…. By the way this chick is one of my inspirations because they're the one who actually persuades me to write!!! The all mighty cow lord wants to thank you from the bottom of his mooing heart… ^_^… by the way… are you a Filipino??! I saw it in your profile… la lang… ^_^), Glinier Mayer (whose sharp eye for mistakes I admire… I hope I had that sooo my papers in school won't have that many errors and just make the grade much MORE lower… well… at least school is over though… I can get that off my mind…but nevertheless…. Thank you very much!!!), ~TheLordAndMaster~ (those ideas are interesting… hmm… I like the one where Victor picks a fight with Duncan… can I use that?!! And the Olaf being associates with Victor… hmm… I'm starting to get some ideas… and the Klaus/Isadora thing? I'll try to insert some of their pairing… and more will be revealed when I in turn make a story about them!!!), magicsprite (hmm… you're right… it's chapter 16and they still haven't kissed!! I'm really sorry… I just can't get an idea on how and when they'll kiss!!! Do you guys have any idea how?!! I already thought of one but it kinda sucked… I'd like to know what you think… thanks by the way!!), badlee (hehe… you know your review kinda reminded me about the Undertaker… whoah… freaky huh???), Hermione Baudelaire (nice to hear from you again!!! You're pretty fast on that chapter-updating thing… I envy you sooo much… I wish I was like that… and I'm sorry I haven't review these days… like I said I wasn't able to use the computer… but I promise I'll try to read them very soon!!!!), ProtoBlues (well to be honest I'm not that good at making any titles at all… I know quite annoying for me… but I have a knack of using the first few words that appear on my mind… but now this chapter's title is a bit…well…off my standards so I was shocked when I was able to think of it… oh well…. as long as you like the story… thanks!!!), BlackCherry667 (don't worry!!! They'll be kissing soon!!!), Coffee Luv and MORT (me too… I don't know why I kept on making Victor appear… *sigh*…), Gerlox, Togona (flip!!!), roxysista (oh gad not hilary duff please… her songs tend to haunt me every night… *shudder*…) and lily (heheh don't get yourself get hurt over there!!! Hihi!) for reviewing chapter 16… you guys are the best!!! How I wish you won't disappear!!!!!!!! (^_^)
By the way, in this chapter someone we had loved to hate will suddenly have a change of heart… that's why the chapter title sounds kinda fishy… you guess who that is… And you know… the formatting kinda sucks these days at ff.net… the whole suspense thing kinda disappears… oh why!!!!!!!!!! Please be good now!!!!
Disclaimer: A Series of Unfortunate Events was never mine… but those two, Victor and Isadora, they still belong to me… oh how I wish they'd stop trying to enter my story thoughts…. Aaarrggghhh!!!!
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Chapter 17: In the Presence of an Avenger
Duncan pushed open the double doors angrily. He stepped out to the lawn and stomped off, heading over the Orphan Shack. He walked over the back of it and stepped up to the old oak tree beside it. When he and Isadora were still staying there, he would always sit under it whenever he felt miserable about life.
He sat down and leaned over the tree's trunk. He gave out a sigh of exasperation and clenched his fist.
How dare he even talk to her again after all that he's done…Duncan thought. He pounded his fist beside him and cursed under his breath. He closed his eyes. Why was this happening? Why did he suddenly feel that surge of jealousy when he saw Violet talking to Victor? Did the two just made up?
Duncan could hear the distant cry of a singing bird. The rustling of the leaves got louder as the wind got stronger at his side. He suddenly heard the door creak open and the soft crunching of grass as someone walked over the lawn.
"Duncan!!!" he suddenly heard. The soft familiar voice reached his thoughts and immediately realized it was Violet looking for him. He quickly pulled his knees up and tried to cower behind the oak tree as silently as he could.
The crunching of the grass came closer as Violet walked over to where Duncan was.
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Violet scratched her head and looked around. Since it was awfully quite outside, she could hear anything from her place. A soft sound of movement echoed through the stillness of the atmosphere. She craned her neck side wards, looking directly at the dark corners of the old oak tree beside the Orphan Shack. As if it was a bionic impulse, a shadow appeared, leaning at the tree.
Violet shook her head and walked over to it. She peered over behind the tree and sighed.
There sitting beneath all that darkness, was Duncan.
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"Hey Duncan…There you are…"
Duncan gave out an exhale of disbelief. Violet gave out a sigh once more and crouched over beside him.
"What are you doing here?" she asked trying to make their eyes meet. But Duncan had a glint of irritation shining in his eyes.
"Uh, are you mad?" Violet asked once more. Duncan was still not talking. "Oh, you can't stay mad at me c'mon."
Duncan finally looked at her. But he had that glaring expression that makes someone immediately realize the reason behind that stare.
"Don't tell me you're mad because you saw Victor talking to me." Violet said. She exhaled deeply and sat down. "Let me guess, you think we're back together? What makes you think of that?"
"Pfftt…" Duncan let out softly.
"I hate his guts remember?" Violet said placing her hand on top of his arm. "Well, actually his whole self as a human being but you get the point."
Duncan could feel the anger inside fade away as guilt took its place. Why was he so stupid to think of Violet like that? And that bad part was, why did he jump to conclusion? He could feel his fist open. He raised it up quickly and slapped his forehead.
"Hey go easy on that…" Violet said reaching over to his other arm. Duncan looked at her and smiled faintly. "So-sorry bout that…I couldn't control what I felt… I just didn't want you to get hurt like last time…" he muttered, bowing over his head. "Well! Good thing is I won't let that moron do it again. He'd have to answer to my fist next time." Violet replied smiling. Duncan laughed and shook his head.
"Okay then, since everything's cleared up…want to go back now? I'm already feeling that hunger swelling up." Violet added. Duncan nodded and picked himself up. He then took Violet's hand and helped her up. She gave a small bow and giggled. The two then stepped up to the light…
…only to be greeted by Isabella…
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"Hey…" Isabella suddenly said as Duncan and Violet stopped at their tracks at the sight of a current adversary. "Thought you guys would be here…"
"What do you want?" Duncan said as he had snapped out of his surprised trance.
"Uh, well nothing actually…I just want to apolo—" "Have you been listening to us all that time???" Violet cut her off.
"No!" Isabella quickly said. "I just arrived. I heard something from behind the Orphan Shack when I was looking around for you guys. Coincidentally, it was the two of you."
Duncan and Violet eyed her suspiciously. "Okay then… I don't want to make this worse so I'll clear everything up…" Isabella mumbled.
She gave a deep sigh.
"I'm really sorry for what me and Victor had done to you. We didn't really mean to do it. It's just…" Isabella paused. Violet looked at her intently while Duncan stood impatiently behind her.
"Well…as a kid… uhm… I know how it feels to be… an orphan…"
The impatient look on Duncan's face and the naïve expression on Violet's soon disappeared after hearing the sudden confession.
"Oh so that's why you wanted the Baudelaire's fortune!" Duncan said. Violet and Isabella looked at him in shock. "Uh, well, I kinda heard them weeks ago talking about that. Sort of accidentally eavesdropped. You get that…" he added.
"Why didn't you tell me then?" Violet asked crossing her arms against her chest.
"Well I tried but Victor kept on cutting me off."
"Oh really…"
"Oh now stop…" Isabella said stopping Duncan from blaring back. "Let's just clear this up…"
Violet sighed.
"Well, as long as you're really sincere…"
"I am…"
"How about Victor? Is he ready to give in?" Duncan suddenly asked. Violet nudged him at the side.
"I don't know… He's kinda acting suspicious these days…" Isabella said shrugging.
"Huh? Why?" Violet asked.
"Well…I heard him muttering about some guy named 'Olaf '… I don't know…"
The two froze.
"Wha-what?" Violet asked with a tone of alarm in her voice.
"Why? Do you guys know him?" Isabella asked.
"He's…" Duncan started but suddenly his voice was gone.
"This is bizarre… this…this is not right…" Violet said shaking her head. She quickly looked up to Isabella. "We have to clear this. C'mon Isabella you're coming with us."
"Why what's—" but she was cut short when Violet quickly took her hand and pulled her with her.
"We have to call the others…" Violet mumbled.
This is bad…Really bad…
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A/N: oh my god finally!!!! It's all done!!! God… sorry if it was a bit short… this chapter is kinda boring… so you guys are better off skipping it… but you won't know what will happen next… *sigh*… well to be honest it only took me a day to finish this!!! A better achievement at that matter… good to be back… hehe… and by next week chapter 18 will follow!!! Haha I'm getting excited!!! My fic is getting some plot once more… you'll never guess what's going to happen… well you can try but nonetheless… hope you liked it… don't forget to review all right??? Okay then!!! Toodles all!!! (^_^)