Home Sweet Home

XV.

Just like everyone else, I could not bring myself to move. Everyone was dying to know whose book was on fire, but everyone was also terrified to know whether it was their own. I looked to Brago, spotting the worry in his eyes. Zatch didn't look so much worried as he did eager.

No one was moving toward the bushes. Why was no one going over there! This was definitely not good for my blood pressure.

I was seconds away from screaming when Zatch and Kiyo finally ran over. I then realized…I didn't want to know. I began wishing that neither of the books were thrown into the air and attacked. Why did they throw their books in the air in the first place? It was a stupid move, in my opinion.

"Brago…" I started, feeling tears in my eyes. He turned toward me. It looked as though he wished the same thing as I. We both knew we only had a fifty percent chance of staying with each other. I didn't like the other half against us.

"Oh, my gosh!" Zatch yelled loudly in surprise. His voice didn't leave any hints of whose book was gone.

Brago and I waited side by side, waiting for him to tell us the facts. I bit my lower lip, the tears clouding my vision. I blinked them away, involuntarily resting my hand on Brago's shoulder. He didn't seem to notice.

He only yelled, "What's the result already!"

As Kiyo began moving for some reason, Zatch hopped up on a fallen tree and smiled widely at us. I reacted immediately, assuming he was smiling due to his victory.

"No…" my voice wavered, my legs giving out beneath me. I fell to my knees beside Brago. This couldn't be possible…I lost my only two friends in the whole world in a period of two days. Terrible things have happened to me throughout my life…but this was an all time low.

My chest heaved. I wanted to cry so badly, but I did so much crying in the past week it seemed, I had no tears left inside me. Even so, I felt a single tear slip from my right eye. It trickled down my cheek, sliding to my jaw.

"Umm…guys?" Zatch yelled, but I didn't look up. I didn't want to hear him apologize or congratulate us on a good fight. The fact was, we lost, they won. I wish he would just go away.

That's when a thought flashed through my mind. Wait…if one of the books got burned…wouldn't one of them at least begin disappearing? It never took this long before…

Finally, I lifted my head, both Brago and I looking across the distance.

Zatch laughed, rubbing the back of his head, "Uh…the books did land over here, right? 'Cause…" he looked around before glancing back at us, "Kiyo and I can't find them."

I let out a breath so large and so fast, my ribs ached. It felt like they punctured my heart. I stood up on shaky legs, my eyes wide as they stared at Brago. They didn't find the books yet? They didn't know whose book caught fire? That means…

A smile slowly began to pull at my lips. It may have only looked like one of the books was on fire due to all the commotion of attacks flying around. We didn't win…but we didn't lose.

Brago had been taken by surprise also. He slowly turned my way. Before he could comment, I threw myself on him. My excitement and happiness were so awesome, it just couldn't be contained. I laughed loudly when he fell backward, my body landing smack on top of his.

"Sherry! What are you doing!" He screamed. I'm sure he was glaring at me, but I was too busy snuggling my face into his neck.

"You're still here…we didn't lose…you're still here," I kept repeating, hugging him closely to me. At that moment, I didn't exactly know who I was. I knew it wasn't like me to release my exuberance as such…and it definitely wasn't like me to cry silent tears of happiness. I always believed tears were against me.

He sighed lowly and grabbed my hips. I was foolish to believe he might have been about to hug me back. Instead, he only used my hips to give him support of pushing me off of him. I grunted when my side hit the ground beside him.

"You get too emotional," he commented while standing up. He began walking toward Zatch and Kiyo, no doubt to help find the books. I stayed seated for another minute, continuing to smile as I watched him. Though he wasn't showing it as openly as I, I knew he was just as enthused to still be around.

I continued to wait for one of them to find the books, but became impatient when none of them were having any luck. How hard was it to find two books? I finally stood up to help them. We all saw them land. They couldn't have gotten very far.

"Where the hell are they!" Brago suddenly yelled. I could tell he was getting more agitated by the second. He growled and looked quicker, going from spot to spot. I went slowly, however, checking every little spot that the books could have possible fallen into.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Kiyo said suddenly. The other three of us gave him our attention. "Well, though it seems a little unlikely, what if both of the books got it?"

"Don't say that, Kiyo!" Zatch screamed, his eyes huge.

"I don't think that's right…" I muttered, catching Kiyo's eyes.

He got what I meant, "I suppose you're right. If they both, in fact, did burn, neither Zatch nor Brago would still be here."

"Unless…" Brago broke in, his eyes staring off into space.

Zatch jumped in front of him right away, "I know what you're thinking! This could be all a figment of our imagination! We really disappeared, but we're in so much denial that--."

"Would you shut up? That's not what I'm talking about." Brago reprimanded. He began to look around again, though it wasn't at the ground, so he wasn't searching for the books.

"What's going on, Brago?" I asked lightly, careful not to set him off.

While still looking, he spoke, "I remember right before us mamodo's were sent to this world. The king spoke to us, telling us of the rules and such. Near the end of his speech, he mentioned that the last mamodo standing would not automatically be sent back to the mamodo world. He would come here."

My eyes scanned to the others, "But…"

"You mean I'm finally going to meet the Mamodo King!" Zatch asked animatedly. He began searching the area like Brago, "King! King, where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Brago grumbled, his eyes glowing a bright red at Zatch, "I doubt that'll make him appear!"

"I see the battle for the new Mamodo King has come to a close," a deep voice announced. We all turned around to see a tall man. Or, mamodo, I should say. It was obvious he was one, due to the shape and color of his eyes. There was no doubt he was the king, for he was clad with a golden robe around his shoulders, complete with a golden crown.

All four of us stared at him in awe. The great power in him fascinated even humans such as myself and Kiyo. It was amazing how, although he was not my king, I had the urge to bow down to him.

Zatch began hopping from foot to foot, clasping his hands together, "This is so exciting!"

The Mamodo King opened his mouth to speak but held his tongue when Kiyo spoke first, "So, umm…who won? There's two mamodo's here…they couldn't have both won…could they?" He pressed a finger to his temple in thought.

The king looked surprised for a moment before he smirked, "You mean to tell me you don't know?"

All four of us shook our heads. An amused twinkle entered into the older mamodo's eye. "Well, this certainly is a problem. How can there be a new king if I don't know which one of you to put in my place?"

I had a weird feeling that he knew exactly who won. I just couldn't imagine him being this calm if he didn't. Besides, what kind of king would he be if he didn't know?

The others didn't seem to catch on to his little game. We were all silent, before Zatch broke out with, "I won!"

"What!" Brago yelled, turning to face the smaller mamodo, "I don't think it's wise to sound so sure of yourself! You'll only end up being humiliated in the end."

Zatch put up a fight as well, "Oh, so you're saying you won?"

"Mm, I guess you're not totally stupid."

"Hey!" Zatch turned to face Kiyo, his eyes narrowed angrily, "Kiyo, help me out here! We won, didn't we? I'm the new Mamodo King!"

I was surprised when I didn't hear any response. Glancing toward Kiyo, I saw the deeply saddened look in his eyes. I raised an eyebrow, curious to know what he was thinking. Maybe he was just sad that either way, Zatch was going back to the mamodo world.

My eyes widened. That's right! I looked back to Brago. Even if he did win…he would be leaving me forever. Not wanting anyone to look at me in this tense moment, I turned away from them all and hid my face in my hands.

Before I could even begin to feel sorry for myself, Kiyo spoke what was on his mind, "Sorry, Zatch…but we made a deal to always play fair. I'm not going to lie. I believe Brago and Sherry won."

I lifted my head and shot my eyes toward Kiyo. No way…

"Ah! Kiyo, how can you say that! What makes you so sure!" Zatch bawled, his eyes becoming wiggly with tears.

Kiyo sighed, "Think about it, Zatch. During the last few moments, they attacked our book first. We attacked second. And even though it's slightly possible Brago burned his own book, and then we also burned our own, it doesn't seem likely. Remember? Brago had a perfect view and shot at our book. About time we attacked, it was too hard to see exactly where we were aiming. Apparently, we were lucky and burned their book…after they burned ours."

As what Kiyo said sunk into all our brains, the Mamodo King chuckled in amusement, "You're a smart one, aren't you? Very good memory."

"So that means I'm right?" Kiyo asked.

Smirking, the king nodded once, "Indeed."

Zatch jumped in the air, waving his arms around, "That means…"

"I won," Brago finished. I was shocked when the first thing he did was look directly at me. Our eyes connected and I could tell that the full realization was yet to sink in.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to bawl my eyes out until they were so red and sore, they numbed the worse pain. I wanted to go back to that bridge and let the railing slip through my fingers. I wanted that icy cold river to finally take my life and end this extreme pain my soul no longer wanted to endure.

Instead…I smiled. I smiled to congratulate Brago, for his dream had finally come true. This was the moment he had been waiting for this whole time. He could finally rule the mamodo world like he wanted.

I held my smile even while Brago walked toward me. He was actually going to give me a proper goodbye? How sweet…

He stopped when he reached me. Though I continued to smile, it seemed as though we was able to look right through my façade and see what I was really feeling. I wanted to throw my arms around him one last time, but…just like all the romance novels said…I knew I wouldn't be able to let go.

I gasped when I felt him take my hand. He turned around to face the now previous Mamodo King. I stared down at our hands, a couple fingers entwined with each others. My heart began beating wildly as my mind skipped ahead of what this action could possibly mean.

"I'm taking her with me," Brago said. I looked up quickly. The king, along with Kiyo and Zatch, looked just as bewildered as I did.

"Brago…are you sure about this?" the king asked.

I saw Brago nod his head, "I'm the king now and this is what I want."

As the ex-king tried to figure out why Brago was saying this, I leaned closer to him, "Brago…you don't have to do this."

He didn't turn around to face me. He continued to stare straight ahead. He spoke his next words with finality, "I know."

"So be it," he finally said, shrugging slightly, "After all, I have no say in what is allowed and what is not anymore. If you want to bring this human back to the mamodo world to live with you, I cannot argue against your wishes."

It seemed Zatch couldn't take staying quiet any longer, "Hey! What about me! If I lost, why am I still here?"

Turning to the Lightening Mamodo, the retired king grinned, "Why, you shouldn't consider this a loss. You have gained an important job, also. You will become Brago's right hand man. You will accompany him in battle when need be and help him in other times of need. Also, if something should ever happen to him, you would take his place as king."

Zatch seemed to like this runner up deal, for his smile grew so large it covered his whole face, "That sounds like so much fun!"

I smiled once again. Zatch and Kiyo went on to say their goodbyes while Brago continued to hold my hand. Strange, I thought. I always imagined their king to be evil and feel hatred to all those weaker than himself. He did send them all over here to battle after all. But as I looked at what was their king, I thought that maybe he had only good intentions in sending them to the human world. He wanted to see who was the strongest and deserved to become king…and work with a human partner to maybe get in touch with their emotions.

So what if it wasn't exactly true. It was simply how he portrayed himself. And it didn't really matter anyway. Brago was the new king. I looked back down at our hands. I knew I wouldn't regret going with him. My butler could inherit the mansion and all my money. It didn't matter; money never did buy me happiness.

The mamodo world didn't look too different from the human world, but I couldn't help but feel much more at ease. There was lush green grass, tall strong trees, and beautiful flowers for what seemed like miles. The young mamodo's played with each other without a care in the world, while the older mamodo's looked up in wonder.

The king's castle became Brago's. It was magnificent, something I only imagined to see in storybooks. He informed me I would be living in the castle with him.

Brago, Zatch, Kanei (the king), and myself all stood on the highest balcony of the castle, looking down at all the mamodo's that gathered to witness the crowning of the new king.

Once Kanei put the crown on Brago's head and the robe around his shoulders, the golden colors transformed into a midnight black to claim Brago as its new owner. All the mamodo's on the ground cheered loudly, the voices and screams echoing all the way up to us.

I was standing a few feet behind the three mamodo's, but Brago turned around to face me. We stared at each other for a few moments, taking in everything that was happening.

Finally, he smirked, telling me that finally, everything was the way it should be. I smiled back, the wind blowing suddenly. My hair flew all over my head while Brago's dark robe blew to the side. The sight made him look darkly mystical. He turned back around to stare down at all his followers.

Reaching a hand up, I pushed strands of my hair behind my ear. Instead of looking down, I looked up at the sapphire sky. Time could only tell if Brago and my relationship will continue to grow. He saved me from a life of misery by welcoming a whole new world to me. It was yet to be known whether I would be accepted here and if I could call it home. But for now, I believe my place is beside Brago.

And wherever that is, is home sweet home.

Well…that's it! The End! Now for some final words…

I'm sorry to all of you who thought maybe I made the king…not what they imagined. It just seems like every anime I see that deals with demon rulers, they're not really that bad at all. Also, there are a lot of nice mamodo's in the show, so there's no reason the king can't be. That's just how I portrayed how he might be.

And I hope the ending wasn't too corny. Heh…also, I was thinking of making an Epilogue. Mostly because…it would be fair to Brago if I give him as many chapters as Sherry, lol. What do you guys think? Should I add it or just end it like this? Up to you.

So I now want to thank everyone for reading! I really appreciate all the nice reviews. It's what had me updating the way I did.

Enula