Magus awoke somewhat early the next morning, despite the fact that he had gotten only a few hours of very restless sleep. After trying, to no avail, to go back to sleep, he grumpily climbed out of bed, hesitating for a few moments to make sure he was awake enough to be able to walk. Once sure that he was indeed capable of doing so, he lazily made his way to the kitchen, not knowing what else he could do other than eat breakfast.
As he passed by the hall that contained Lucca's room, Magus heard a strange noise. It was impossible for him to tell what exactly the noise was due to the fact that it was echoing continuously off the stone walls of the castle, but whatever it was didn't sound pleasant. Allowing his ever-present scowl to deepen, Magus continued on his way to the kitchen, which wasn't very far from there, all the while thinking about the events of the previous night.
What in God's name was I thinking? I knew perfectly well what could happen…I even thought about it each time, and I still went through with it!
Entering the kitchen, Magus began to absently search for something edible, though in reality he had absolutely no appetite. Even when he had found something he thought he could stomach, he heard the same, but considerably louder, noise come from Lucca's direction, and his stomach did a flip-flop, causing him to retract his hand as though the item had burned him.
That noise is nauseating.
Turning, Magus began to walk slowly to the table at the other end of the room.
Hmph. Schala would get a kick out of this…knowing that her baby brother was about to be a father.
Upon thinking the last word, his legs began to feel weak, and he sank lifelessly into the closest chair. He stayed that way for an unknown amount of time, staring vacantly at the lacquered wood of the table in front of him. When he finally looked up, he discovered Lucca standing in the doorway. She had wild hair, was slightly green with a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, and was clutching her stomach. In addition to her less-than-vibrant appearance, she was also glaring at Magus with so much malice and venom, an army would have coward in fear had it been directed at them.
"I blame you…" This was all she said before walking, slightly hunched over, to the table where Magus was currently situated and slowly taking a seat, all the while fixing him with the same flesh eating glare.
At first, it seemed Magus was about to counter her statement and start up yet another argument about just who was to blame for whatever it was she was complaining about (he was still confused on the matter), but seemed to think better of it, settling for a roll of the eyes instead. However, this gesture did not go unnoticed, and Lucca was quick to arise to the challenge that was not meant to be given.
"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Magus," she snapped. "You forget just what kind of mood I'm in when I don't get a lot of sleep, and the fact that I haven't been able to do so for a while because I've been getting sick instead hasn't changed that."
Choosing to ignore her warning, Magus once again rolled his eyes, but was quick to say something before Lucca could snap at him again.
"If you came in here expecting me to make you breakfast, think again. I'm not your servant. You can make your own food."
Instead of receiving the enraged reply that he had expected, Lucca's only response to Magus' haughty remark was to give a sickening burp and to turn a rather interesting shade of green. A bit perplexed by this reaction, Magus could only stare at her with one eyebrow raised. When she finally did speak, she had moved her hand to cover her mouth, and seemed to be unwilling to open it very far even to speak, thus her speech was a bit muffled.
"Magus…do us both a favor, and don't mention food in any way, shape or form right now."
Magus' only reply was to grunt, after which the room fell into silence. This silence was short lived, however, because it was soon broken by a small 'mew' from under the table. Upon looking under the table to find the origin of the noise, Lucca discovered a small, purple cat with bright green eyes staring back at her.
"Alfador? When did you get him back? I thought he was still with that kid in 12,000 B.C."
"You mean to tell me," Magus said as Alfador jumped up onto Lucca's lap, purring loudly as she scratched his chin, " that you didn't notice I was carrying around a purple cat everywhere we went, or that you didn't see him in any of the rooms we shared? Hmph, even that airhead Marle noticed, and I was sure you were smarter than her."
"Hey! How was I supposed to notice? I was busy trying not to get killed when we were going somewhere, and when we were in a room, I was just a little distracted by what was going on! And just because Marle likes to shop, talk about boys, giggles when she misses something in a battle, and seems to enjoy pressing random buttons on machines that she knows nothing about and could very well blow everyone up, doesn't make her an airhead!" Lucca exclaimed in a sad attempt at defending her friend.
"So you're admitting she's smarter than you," Magus remarked, smirking when Lucca became angry again.
"No, I'm not. I was simply saying that my friend isn't as dumb as you think. Just because I say that doesn't mean that she's more intelligent than me." Her anger quickly melted away, however, when Alfador curled up and proceeded to go to sleep in her lap, purring ever louder. "I thought you said he didn't like anyone but you."
Magus frowned, obviously displeased. "He doesn't."
"Then how do you explain this?" She asked while stroking Alfador's silky fur.
"You smell like me," he said matter-of-factly, though with a hint of annoyance.
"How 'bout that kid then? Alfador seemed to like him well enough."
Crossing his arms and turning away huffily, Magus said, "It was a matter of survival. The kid offered him food when he was starving, and he took it."
This time, Lucca rolled her eyes, smiling slightly at the fact that Magus was capable of caring for something, if him getting jealous over Alfador was any indication.
Maybe this kid of ours won't turn out so messed up after all.
However, her smile quickly turned into a frown as a thought suddenly struck her, and she looked sidelong at Magus.
"How'd you get him away from that kid, Magus?" she asked, voice full of suspicion.
Without looking at her, he answered without a moments hesitation.
"Alfador's mine. That snot nosed brat didn't deserve him, so I took him."
"Why am I not surprised?" she mumbled, her previous thoughts effectively going right out the window.
There was another long silence, though this time Alfador's loud purring made it that much more maddening. Deciding she couldn't take it anymore, Lucca gathered the cat in her arms and stood abruptly from where she was sitting.
"Where are you going," Magus asked just as she was about to exit the room.
"I'm getting tired of sitting in an awkward silence with you, so I thought I'd take a look around. After all, if I'm going to be living here, I should probably figure out where everything is."
"You're going to get lost," he said, more to himself than anyone, though Lucca still heard him.
"I will not!" she called back. "If I found my way through the first one, I can find my way through this one!"
However, several hours and many rooms later, Magus' prediction proved true. She had absolutely no idea where she was, and had been trying to find her way back for a very long time.
A while ago, she had begun to feel hungry, and upon turning around, she discovered everything looked the same. To make things worse, after turning down a corridor that she thought would lead her back to the kitchen, she happened upon an invisible warp, which sent her to an entirely different part of the castle. When she tried to go back, all it did was send her to yet another part of the castle, neither of which were where she wanted to be.
She had hoped that Alfador could lead her back, but once she set him on the floor, he immediately took off, chasing a mouse. It was mid afternoon by the time she saw the cat again. Apparently, chasing mice had become boring, as he was now napping on top of a large bed.
"Hmph! A lot of help you were," she snapped at the cat.
Suddenly, Lucca began to feel very tired, and ended up taking a seat next to Alfador as a result of not having the strength to stand any longer. Having nothing better to do, she began petting Alfador again, this time talking to him as well.
"Your master is a strange one. You'd think he would at least try to be happy, but it doesn't seem like he wants to do that. I mean, look at his house! I'm surprised he doesn't get lost in here! And why is it so big, anyway? He's the only one who lives here, he doesn't need this much space."
After yawning and stretching exuberantly, Alfador made his way over to Lucca, and plopped onto her lap. She resumed petting him, staring absently at the wall, his purring making her smile slightly.
"Well, that's Magus for you. I guess he's just not meant to be understood in any aspect." Sighing, she looked down at the tiny bundle of fur in her lap.
"So, what do you think about all this? Lucca the Great and Lord Magus, two of history's most unsociable people, adding to the world's population. Together, no less! I guess we'll see if you like the new addition to your life as much as you seem to like me. Not that I believe you're all that unsociable," she added, scratching behind his ears. "But if you only like me because I smell like Magus, you'll probably love his kid.
"Where is Magus, anyway? Shouldn't he have come looking for me by now? It's been an awful long time." Sighing again, she continued, in a slightly choked voice and eyes brimming with tears, "Figures…I'm supposed to be the smart one and I go and get myself into this mess. I was so sure that no one would ever want me, I gave it away to the first person who actually did!" A tear fell onto the top of Alfador's head, causing him to twitch his ears in annoyance. "And look where it got me!" She started crying openly then, picking Alfador up and holding him tightly against her.
"I was supposed to save myself for some one I loved and who loved me back, and instead the guy I choose couldn't care less if I die! I'll probably be wandering around this stupid castle until I starve to death! It's not like he would actually care, that would just be killing two birds with one stone. He wouldn't have to worry about it anymore…he could just go back to doing whatever it was he was doing before I showed up."
She cried for an unknown amount of time, burying her face into Alfador's warm, soft fur, soaking it through. Alfador took it quite well, not trying to escape her grasp once, even licking her face with a scratchy tongue, which, under normal circumstances, would have made her giggle.
"I told you you'd get lost."
Lucca jumped at the sudden voice, nearly throwing Alfador across the room. She looked to the door, where Magus was leaning casually against the frame, a wicked smirk playing on his lips.
"Go away," she said warily, a slight quaver in her voice despite her greatest efforts to stop it. "You are the last person I want to see right now." This, however, was far from the truth. She actually felt immensely relieved to see him, but she was not going to admit it to him.
"Oh, really?" he asked, striding into the room. "You've been lost for hours, and you're going to turn away the only person who can lead you back? That doesn't seem very wise, now does it?"
"Like you care."
"Of course I care," he remarked. "I said last night that I didn't want to have to drag your body out of my castle if you died of pneumonia. I don't want to have to do it if you die of starvation either, though you would be lighter."
Lucca's heart, which had been momentarily lifted from it's depression, crashed down again, and when it went down, her temper went up.
"You jerk!" she screamed before lunging herself at Magus and flinging a startled Alfador across the room. She tried to strike him, but he moved easily out of the way. She tried again, and still failed, causing Magus to laugh at her feeble attempts. On her third try, she actually managed to hit him square in the jaw.
Though obviously unhurt, he became angry, and, getting behind her, he grabbed both her wrists and held them securely, wrapping his other arm around her to keep her from thrashing.
"Lucca! Calm down! If I knew you were going to act like this I would have left you up here."
Seeing she was trapped, Lucca stopped trying to squirm free, and instead started to cry again. A bit surprised by this sudden change, Magus loosened his grip on Lucca.
"You just don't get it!" she said, though, once again, Magus was having trouble understanding what she was saying. Wrenching herself from his grasp, she went over to the window. She had decided she needed fresh air, so she pulled open the shutters, which were still closed from the previous night's storm, and immediately regretted doing so.
Not only was it still raining, but apparently the warps were replacements for stairs, because, though the view to most people would seem beautiful, Lucca could only notice that the room was very, very high up.
Just barely keeping herself from fainting, Lucca fell back onto the bed she had been sitting on a few moments before. Trying not to seem fazed, she continued.
"My whole life has just come to a crashing halt, and you don't care! My parents hate me, my friends would probably hate me if they knew, and you, the man that I gave myself to, the man that should love me, the father of my first, and probably last child, hates me. I'm freaked out, my nerves are on end, and all you can do is make it worse!" She was unable to continue beyond that, because she was overcome by a wave of tears, and could therefore barely breath, let alone talk.
Magus, while trying to ignore the slight pangs of guilt and pity in the back of his mind, stood silent for a moment, trying to think of what he should do. Though the thought of going over to her and holding her in his arms while gently wiping the tears from her cheeks and assuring her that it would be okay did indeed cross his mind, he quickly smashed it to bits, wondering what it was about this young girl that always made that thought dance across his mind whenever she was upset.
After a few more moments of silent reflection, Magus decided to speak.
"Lucca-"
However, just as it seemed Magus would do something nice for a change, the sound of the castle's front doors being thrown forcefully open filled the entire castle, and made several birds in the nearby trees fly by the window as they took to the sky in an effort to escape whatever it was that had disturbed them.
"Magus, you cur! Where art thou! Show thyself at once!"
Magus and Lucca both jumped at the sudden outburst.
"Oh no…" Lucca began, obviously worried. She did not need this right now. Magus had a similar, if more crude reaction.
"Damn that frog!"
A/N: Could it be?? I have no homework!! It's a miracle!! (Looks to the heavens) Thank you!! Thank you!! Ahem…anyway…hope you enjoyed this chapter. I actually wasn't planning on having Alfador in this story at all, but he insisted, and how can I refuse a cute little kitty!? I made myself feel bad for Lucca though…Oh well…I've already said I'm kinda angsty…And I have to thank a friend of mine for typing in that swear word…as dumb as it may sound…I don't cuss in any way, shape, or form…so…yeah…If ever you see a swear word in any of my fics, you can bet your bums that I had someone type that for me. Anyway…the next chapter is probably going to be hard for me, because I have to write for Frog, who just has to talk in Old English. Curse you Square!! Oh, and in case any of you are wondering why Magus is already showing signs of falling for Lucca, just keep in mind that they have already been together…intimately…so obviously something was already going for these two. Anyway…I've babbled long enough…remember to review!! Praise, flames, I don't care, as long as I get a review!!