Finding You Can Change: Chapter 02
Chikorita-Trainer1
T
Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell!
"It's nice to see you, Boy of the Red Book," Sherry said with a smile. She curtseyed respectfully.
"Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha-ha!" cackled Zatch as he launched himself at the woman.
"Oof!" cried Sherry as she was impacted by the mamodo. "You've gotten bigger!"
"Well, it HAS been a year," said Zatch. "How are you?"
"Um, I'm just happy to be here," said Sherry. "So, tell me what's been bothering Brago."
"Well, it's like I said in my letter. All he wants to do is fight and destroy things," said Zatch. "Anyway, follow me. I'll show you to your room."
Sherry followed behind Zatch as he walked out of the throne room and down a long hallway. As they walked, Sherry noticed portrait after portrait of mamodo and their bookkeepers. First Hosokawa and Reycom, then Hyde and Eido, Kanchome and Folgore, and so on and so on.
"You've really honored all the participants in the last contest," said Sherry, observantly.
"Yeah, everyone fought so hard and made such good friends, I thought they deserved recognition."
It wasn't until they got to the very end of the hall that Sherry saw a picture of her and Brago. Neither of them were smiling in the painting, but that was how she and Brago were: dead serious about their ambitions.
"This way," said Zatch, as he ran up a flight of stairs. Sherry followed him.
Down another marble hallway were a series of pristine, white double-doors, and Zatch turned into one, and opened the door.
"This can be your room while you're staying here," said the young king. Sherry stepped inside.
The room was enormous. Nothing she wasn't accustomed to, but it was still nice. On the right side of the room was a dresser and an armoire, a writing desk and chair, and a modesty screen. On the left side of the room was a bed, a fireplace, a couch and chair placed around a small table, and a balcony.
"Oh, Zatch, it's beautiful!" Sherry gushed. "This is so generous of you."
"Not at all! You're my honored guest!" said Zatch. "Anyway, why don't you unpack and I'll send someone to fetch you for dinner in about half an hour?"
"Oh, I didn't bring any luggage," said Sherry. And indeed, she was standing without any bags or suitcases.
"You didn't bring anything?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Well, I decided to come on the spur of the moment," said Sherry. "I wasn't really thinking about what I might need to bring."
"Why?" asked Zatch, a king but still a curious child.
"Um, I don't really want to talk about it," said Sherry. "This is fine."
"Well, I can have the royal tailor make lots of clothes for you!" Zatch suggested cheerfully.
"Thank you, Zatch. But I'd like it if you could tell me what you expect me to do with Brago."
Zatch sighed and closed the door to the room. Sherry sat down on the bed and Zatch stood in front of her, his face sobering.
"He's so violent," he said softly. "I'm still scared of him. All he wants to do is destroy. It's like that's all he knows. He's like a wild animal. He went to school for a few months when I first established the education system. At first, he'd just keep to himself and read, but then he started claiming that Zofis was giving him dirty looks or something. He'd pick fights with Zofis and stuff, and then he got suspended. And then he stopped showing up to school altogether, claiming that school was useless and that there was nothing he could learn there that he could use in real life. And then he started getting brought to the castle for crimes he'd committed, and I just don't know what to do! You're the only one he listened to! You must be able to help him see that violence and anger is not a way of life!"
Sherry just sat there and took it all in. She was silent for a minute. She thought of all the arguments she and Brago had had when they were partners. How he threatened Albert, so she threatened suicide. How when he pushed her, she pushed back. How when he demanded something of her, she did not just bend to his will. It's true, eventually, he had bent to her will. He obeyed her. She knew he did it out of his own self-interest, but she also knew he was different from when she'd first met him. Which meant he WAS capable of CHANGE.
Standing up, Sherry closed her eyes, took a breath, and said
"Bring him to me."
Down in the dungeon, Brago was done raging for the moment, and was brooding. He sat with his back against the wall, one leg propped up with his elbow resting on the knee, the other leg flat on the floor. His eyes were narrowed and looking down, and his breathing had returned to normal; not the fuming, huffy inhales and exhales of a bull at a rodeo.
His ears perked up when he heard the door open, but he didn't look up. He knew it was Zatch by his smell.
"It's your lucky day," Zatch said calmly.
"Is it?" Brago answered with sarcasm.
"Yes. I'm releasing you from the dungeon."
"Gee, what a wonderful gesture," Brago answered, still not looking up.
"You will, however, still be confined to this castle," said Zatch. "You will live here, eat here, sleep here. You will not be permitted to ever leave the castle grounds. Not until I believe you have been fully rehabilitated to reenter society."
"Is that what you're calling it now?" asked Brago, finally turning his head to look at his king. "'Society'? Is that what you've turned our world into?"
"Yes, Brago! We live in a society, now! We have laws and rules, and if you want to exist in this world, you'll have to obey them!"
"In that case, maybe you should just kill me. It'd be better than existing in this bullshit world you've created."
Zatch sighed. "Brago, you may not like it, but you're my friend. And you're unhappy. And when my friends are unhappy, so am I."
Brago shook his head and chuckled with contempt.
"I don't want you to be miserable. I want you to find some happiness. So I'm allowing you limited freedom. And while you are being afforded this freedom, you are going to learn how to be a good, nonviolent person, who cares about other people and doesn't want to hurt them all the time."
"Like I said, kill me now."
Zatch huffed. He knew he would have to try a different tactic. Extending mercy to Brago wasn't going to work. Brago viewed kindness as weakness, and he didn't respect weakness. If Zatch wanted Brago's respect and obedience, he was going to have to demand it.
"Brago, I am your king!" Zatch bellowed. "Like it or not, I have proven myself stronger than you! That's why I am the Mamodo King! If you were really as strong as you think you are, you would be king right now, but you're not! I order you to leave this dungeon and follow me to your new living quarters, and to meet your new teacher!"
"Teacher?" Brago muttered under his breath. Indifferent façade or not, Brago did actually want out of this dungeon, so he stood up when Zatch unlocked the door. He put his hands in the pockets of his purpleish-black gauchos, and silently followed his king up out of the dungeon.
"And what is this teacher going to impress upon me?" Brago asked, sarcastic as ever, mocking the very notion that he had something to learn.
"How to be a normal, healthy person, who doesn't hate everything. How to enjoy life and appreciate people. If you expect to live in MY kingdom, you're going to have to learn to follow the rules."
Being authoritarian seems to be working. That's what he respects. I can't ask him nicely, I have to order him around. That's what gets results, thought Zatch. It wasn't easy for him to be bold and domineering, but he trusted in himself.
When they reached Sherry's room, Zatch put his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder at Brago.
"Brago, I'd like you to meet your teacher." And he opened the door.
Brago stepped into the room and his eyes widened. Before him, in her white dress and boots, stood his former bookkeeper, Sherry Belmont.
"Sherry," he said in disbelief. Zatch knew their reunion was going to be personal, so he shut the door and left.
"Hello, Brago," said Sherry.
"How?" asked the mamodo.
"Zatch summoned me. Said you were out of control and needed some guidance."
There was silence between them for a moment. They just stared at each other.
"You're taller," Sherry noticed. "It's been a year, after all."
Brago still stood, wide-eyed, staring.
"It's nice to see you, again, my friend," said Sherry, formally. She stepped towards the mamodo, but Brago growled and backed away. "What?"
"You shouldn't be here," he muttered, turning away.
"Why not?"
"You don't belong here, Sherry," Brago answered, still refusing to face her.
"I am here on the wishes of the king, I do, too, belong here," Sherry stated. "Why don't you turn and face me like a man, Brago?"
That got a rise out of him. The dark mamodo turned around in anger and lunged towards the blonde.
"YOU—" he snarled, pulling his fist back, almost ready to punch her. He suddenly stopped himself and lowered his arm. This was exactly his problem; he knew that.
"Just like the last time we were together, I have something you want. You can only get what you want through me. Do you understand, Brago?"
He nodded.
"Good. Let's sit down and talk," Sherry gestured to the sitting area of her bedroom. The mamodo relented and followed her.
END OF CHAPTER 02
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