Elaclea Electronic

Chapter Three: Doctor Ressius

(Hi, everyone! It's taken me a while to get to be able to update, but here I am! ; Anyway, here is the next chapter…And also, I even had to do some medical reading for this fic. Oo; First one I've had to do that for, but I don't mind, because I definitely want this to be good! lol…So, enjoy!)

My prediction was correct; my life was completely different now. It was definitely not a bad change, though. I truly did enjoy Dio's company, as odd as he was. We did not see Delphine for the rest of the day and we had not bothered to go to see the doctor yet either. Dio told me that we would go and see him soon because he (as in the doctor) was a very important person; more so than his sister.

As I laid down to sleep that night, I realized there were still questions I had that were unanswered. There was still plenty of time to find them out, of course.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of Dio's voice outside my door. As fast as I could, I got out of bed and dressed. Dio was banging on the door and singing some silly song of his own invention. I opened the door and was about to say good morning, but Dio ran toward me and gave me a tight embrace. "G'morning, Luciola!" he chimed happily.

Dio and I did not live in the palace at that time. Instead, the two of us lived in a small house that was behind the rose garden. The house was located right behind the wall I mentioned earlier. Already it was obvious that Delphine wanted Dio kept away from strangers at all times. I assumed that once we went to see the doctor, I would find out why.

"Good morning, sir." I said as he released me.

The young prince grinned and left my room. I followed him, as usual. "We're gonna go see Ressius today. You'll like him. He's much nicer than Delphine." As he said his sister's name, he made a disgusted face. I was glad that no guards were permitted in the house; otherwise, Dio would be in more trouble than he would know what to do with.

For some reason, I felt relieved that we were going to meet him. Perhaps it was because I would finally have my questions answered. Of course, there was the possibility that Ressius would not be willing to tell the truth. "I'm sure he is." I said as we exited the house. I opened the secret door in the wall that led to the garden and let Dio through first. I went through and closed the door behind me. The garden seemed much more impressive from this angle, especially with the palace in the distance. I could hardly take it all in. Not that I had any time to, for Dio was already several feet ahead of me. I hurried to catch up with him, for if I did not stay with him, I knew that I would get lost.

We reached the glass doors to the palace; Dio was being much quieter now. He did not want to attract any attention from guards that might be around. "I bet Ressius'll have a lot of stuff to tell you. Every time someone new shows up, he blabbers for hours and hours…and he doesn't let me hear any of it," he whispered and went into the palace. We walked to a door I had not noticed the day before. I began to think that the palace was much bigger than I had originally thought. It was not much of a surprise though; Guilders had a habit of trying to fool people into thinking the wrong thing upon first glance and later revealing their true colors.

The door led to a narrow corridor which was lined with six doors on each side. At the end of the corridor was a set of double doors. All in all, the corridor itself seemed somewhat foreboding. It was dimly lit by lights hanging down from the ceiling. A chill trickled down my spine as we walked to the end of the hall. Dio smiled at me and opened one of the double doors. I could hardly see what was inside because it was so dark.

"Ressius is expecting us." Dio said and strode through the doorway. How the doctor knew we were coming was beyond me; in the house we lived in, there was no way we could have communicated with people in the palace. My first thought was that perhaps certain Guilders had telepathic powers. However, I could not have been father from the truth; Dio actually went to see Ressius once a month for checkups. Looking back on this, I realize now how silly my first guess was.

Before I went in, I glanced over my shoulder, for I thought I heard someone in one of the other rooms. My thoughts were never confirmed though, because Dio came back out and pulled me into the room. It definitely resembled a doctor's clinic; the expansive room was extremely clean and smelled heavily of sterilizer. Off to the left were shelves upon shelves of medicines and examination tools. On the right side was an examination table. In the back of the room, was a door, which I assumed was where Ressius waited for us.

Dio ran over to the shelves. "Once I knocked all this stuff onto the floor and Ressius got really mad. I thought it was funny…" he informed me. I wondered how long ago that happened. With Dio, it could have been just days before I met him. He had random outbursts like that quite often.

The door in the back opened, and Doctor Ressius came out, a kind smile on his old face. At that time, Ressius was sixty-three and looked very healthy for his age. Like most of us, he wore white and black and had a small, vertical eye tattooed on his forehead. The strangest thing about him was that he had a fuzzy beard and a mustache. Facial hair was not something most men had in the Guild. This led me to believe that he had some foreign blood in him. His grandfather, I later discovered, was from Anatoray, which explained it.

Ressius gave me a scrutinizing look as he came closer. It was as if he was giving me some kind of examination already. "So, you're the new guy, eh?" he asked me. His voice was much deeper than a normal Guilder male's.

I nodded. "I am. My name is Luciola." My voice sounded like a child's in comparison to his. I certainly felt like one in his presence as well.

Dio had already grown bored with us. He was fiddling with a small lamp on the shelf. I watched him for a moment, but it seemed that he was not up to any mischief.

The doctor cleared his throat, which for some reason, got Dio's immediate attention. "Why don't you go in the other room, Dio? I have—"

"I know, I know," he imitated Ressius's voice, "'I have some things I must discuss with Luciola.'" With that, Dio went into the room that Ressius had just exited.

After the door closed, the doctor sighed. "He can be a handful sometimes, but he certainly is a wonderful boy…Much nicer than his sister." Ressius mused, his dark eyes staring off into the distance. Not a second later, he looked at me, his kindness replaced with a strange intensity.

It was so odd that both Dio and Ressius disliked the Maestro. Of course, I did not know that they actually had incredibly good reasons backing up their feelings.

"First of all, I'm sure that Dio has already told you that the Maestro is his older sister." Ressius began, "I know that was probably a huge shock to you. But you must be wondering why he has been kept from the public…Am I right?"

"You are, Doctor."

"The Maestro's mother, the late Maestro Deila, did not want the public knowing about Dio when she found out about his illnesses…You see, when Dio was only two years old, we ran tests on him because he was not developing at the correct speed. Our test results stated that Dio would never be fully capable, which he is not, and that his brain cannot stay focused on a single thing for very long. However, there is more," he explained.

It felt as though the bright room had suddenly become much darker.

(Whee! XD You'll find out more in the next chapter!