Another update for the day! Dylas has anger issues this time!

Wishes, Dreams, and Memories

Chapter 21 – Anger Issues

It was a regular morning for Dylas, except that it was almost noon rather than morning. The blue-haired Guardian kicked himself out of bed, only to find that his body was sore all over. He sat back down on his bed and held his knees, but found that both of his hands were bandaged. He might have took burning hot plates from Porcoline before the chubby chef could devour the dish on many occasions, but not as bad as requiring his hands to be bandaged.

Dylas began to unwrap the bandages, finding his scars on both of his palms, "W-What… happened…?"

"Hey there, bud. Sleepin' like a log did ya?"

"Huh?" Dylas looked around for the source of the voice, but he was alone in his room, "Who are you? Show yourself!"

"No can do, bud," The voice replied within Dylas' head, "Ya can't see me when yer awake. That's just how it works, bud."

"Uh…" Dylas looked down at his scarred hands, "At least tell me why I'm injured like this."

"Whoa, that was pretty wild, bud!" The voice rang in Dylas' head suddenly, surprising the Guardian, "Yer like a horse out of cage, bud! Now that was a sight to see!"

"H-Hey, I'm not a horse!" Dylas stood up angrily from his bed and began frantically searching his room, "Come on, enough jokes! Just come out already, damn it!"

"Chill down, bud," The voice's calming effort was completely ignored as Dylas opened up the window and began looking around.

"Ugh…" Dylas pulled his head from poking out the window while holding it out in pain, "My head hurts…"

"Yer gonna get used to it, bud," The voice responded as Dylas leaned on the wall, "Just go get ready, horsie buddy. Yer so-called prized costumers ain't gonna take empty dishes from the fat guy!"

"Whatever," Dylas sighed in annoyance before he fixed his bandages and got dressed.

As soon as Dylas poked his head into the restaurant, he could see so many eyes staring straight at him. Margaret, who was playing the piano, stopped as well when she noticed the customers' behavior. The Guardian looked around the room, which had started to get crowded as it was almost lunch time, and saw the terrified looks coming from the customers.

The customers who noticed him looking quickly turned their attention away and towards something else. Margaret left her seat from the piano and approached him, but stopped when she saw the loose bandages wrapping Dylas' hands, "D-Dylas, let me fix those for you."

"Huh?" Dylas looked at the bandages before the elven girl grabbed it, "Wait, no, it's fine!"

"No, it isn't," Margaret kept on fixing the bandages and let it go once it was tight enough to secure his wound, "There, all finished."

"Um…" Dylas looked back at the fixed bandages before letting out one of his rare smiles, "Thanks, Margaret."

"No problem," Margaret's smile turned into worry, "Shouldn't you be resting today? Nancy said that you might reopen your wounds if you hold hot dishes all day."

"Nah, it's fine," Dylas walked past Margaret and headed for the counter, "Porcoline, what's the next order?"

"Oh, Dylas!" Porcoline noticed the Guardian's presence by the counter as he carried a plate on each hand, "Here's the grilled lobster and stew for table two."

Dylas saw that as soon as Porcoline was about to hand him the dishes, he pulled them back and was about to put them in his mouth. Dylas quickly pulled the dishes off Porcoline's hand before the dish disappeared from their sight, "Not so fast."

"Moi needed to make sure that the dishes are seasoned correctly…" Porcoline looked at Dylas with a pleading look, but his tricks never worked against the Guardian.

Dylas let out an angry sigh, "I'm taking these to the costumers."

Dylas went to the table and gave the customers their orders, despite the terror they might have felt when he came into their table. Dylas looked for a moment as they were eating and saw a little girl holding a silver wolf doll while looking at him with teary eyes. He forced out a smile, which made the girl cry instead.

"Mommy, I'm scared!" The girl cried out before the mother hugged her to comfort her.

'It's not my fault!' Dylas thought angrily as he looked at the girl's mother, whose look told him not to scare her any longer. Dylas raised a fist, "I'm not-"

"Dylas!" Margaret's call had stopped him from hitting the table with his fist, "If you're going to destroy another table today, I'll have Porco cut down your paycheck again."

Dylas let out an angry growl before throwing his fist back down, "Fine, I'm sorry!"

Margaret let out a relieved sigh before the chubby chef came out from the kitchen, "Meggy, do you have a moment?"

"Oh, Porco!" Margaret let out a smile as she nodded, "Sure, what is it?"

Porcoline turned his attention to Dylas, who had just stumbled against chair and kicked it angrily in return, "Don't you think Dylas is acting strange lately?"

Margaret turned her attention to Dylas as well, who was taking a customer's order, "He's a little bit… explodey, isn't he?"

"Yes, he even started a fight here last night," Porcoline agreed with a nod.

Margaret recalled the events of the previous night in the restaurant and laughed sheepishly, "That was quite an unusual fight… on all fours…"

"Man, this place is as packed as always!" The voice of a familiar dwarf turned the attention of the two towards the door before Margaret approached him as the new customer.

"Welcome! You can take the empty seat near the counter if that's fine with you," Margaret pointed her hand towards the empty seat in front of the counter.

"Sure, I'll take that spot," Doug gave her a thumbs up before approached the empty seat.

Just as he pulled the chair to sit, Dylas passed by while carrying some empty plates and the chair bumped into his leg. Dylas turned to see his red-headed rival in front of him and glared at him, "Get out of the way, shrimp."

"Hey, what's your problem?" Doug talked back in annoyance as he pushed the chair out of the way, "It was just an accident!"

"You're in the way, bastard!" Dylas growled angrily, "Move it!"

"This is my seat! Is this how you're going to treat your customers, horse-face?" Doug stood in his place, making Dylas angrier.

"That's it!" Dylas threw away the plates with the sound of them breaking become the attention of the whole restaurant.

Dylas pushed Doug hard against the table, before pushing the table away so that Doug fell and landed on the floor on his back. Their hands were locked in each other as they pushed one another, completely ignoring the fact that the whole restaurant was watching. Porcoline, who was watching the whole scene, quickly ran into the kitchen and out while holding two back scratchers in his hands.

Dylas had pinned Doug on the ground and hit him a few times, letting out his rage take control of him. Porcoline had snuck in behind them and raised one of his back scratchers as he looked at the person he was targeting with a frown, "Forgive moi, Dylas…"

A single, hard smack was enough and Dylas' vision went black.

"Well, well, quite a show that ya put out there, bud!"

Dylas still heard the voice, but his vision only changed from pure black into pure white. There wasn't a single person within the sight he had.

"Feel good now, aren't ya? Things can get really interesting if ya can get more power… Nah, I think I'll give it to ya for free!"

"No…" Dylas replied weakly, "I… I just hurt Doug… didn't I?"

"Heh, such a softie! Ya can feel that rage building inside, can't ya?"

"Well, I think…" Dylas let out a sad sigh, "But I can't get angry like that… I remember… I've hit Porcoline a few times last night and the whole restaurant turned into a brawling bar after a customer suddenly cancelled a finished order…"

"If ya wanna be like that, then how about this. Ya let the rage out outside of those oh-so-precious people of yers by rampaging in the ruins? Tomorrow night, just ya and me, bud! Ya don't wanna miss it, 'cause it's gonna be super effective!"

"So I can feel better… if I just go to the ruins tomorrow night?" Dylas asked in uncertainty.

"Ya got it, bud! Sleep tight now, bud! Tomorrow's gonna be a blast!"