How did it come to this?: chapter.3 First time cooking
It was still late in the night, everyone was sound asleep and not even snoring could be heard...except for anyone who slept next door to Decus. In Richter's room, the small boy stirred in his sleep before he finally woke up from his dream, his nightmare. He quickly sat up in panic, his heart was pounding against his chest, his body trembled in a coat of sweat as he eyed his trembling hands.
Emil?" Richter sat up, snatching his glasses from the nightstand.
"The hell….What are these dreams?" The boy's voice was now much deeper with sharp crimson eyes. He held his forehead with his hand, hoping to ease the sharp pain of his headache while trying to clear his mind.
"...Was it another vision?" The man asked, narrowing his brows as he eyed the boy.
"Yeah...But why is it of you killing me when you've always been so...nice…" The boy grumbled, looking away with rosy cheeks.
"..." He truly hoped for the boy not to be Ratatosk...But something in his gut told him wrong, especially now. Normally the boy's voice and eyes only changed when they were in battle...but now it was happening outside of battle.
"Damn it, why am I here anyway!? I should be protecting Marta…" He growled, roughly tossing the blanket off himself.
"Emil, just get back to bed. We leave in the morning, then I can drop you off with Marta" Richter simply said.
"Good, cause I can't wait till I can leave this dump!" He crossed his arms.
"Sigh…" The man removed his glasses and lied back down...and honestly, he couldn't disagree with the boy, he didn't exactly like this place either.
"But I had a lot of fun today though" The sudden kind voice returned with bright green eyes.
"Did you? Just get back to bed." The man said, continuing to lay down with his eyes closed, hoping to sleep. Trying to figure the boy out would only give him a new headache, so he didn't bother trying to for now.
"Yeah I did, I really liked cooking for everyone, they all seemed so happy" He smiled brightly as he thought about how he even put a smile on Alice and Richter's faces.
"Decus was really thankful I made him and Alice such a nice dinner too" He flushed.
"..." He does remember that Decus and Alice are with the Vanguard right? We're trying to kill Marta and he's cooking us meals? Idiot...
"But I've mostly really enjoyed spending so much time with you, Richter-san…" The boy whispered before laying back down in bed, however with his elven ears, Richter blushed a bit at the boy's words and found himself wanting to agree with that statement...but continued to tell himself it was all a nightmare.
Once the sun had finally risen, Richter was the first to awaken and sat up...however, there was something very warm and heavy clinging to his waist. Richter looked down to see the boy clinging to the side of his shirt in his sleep with the most peaceful look on his face...But with a closer look, Richter's eyes widen in horror to the star-shaped birthmark under the boy's collarbone, recalling Aster mentioning having something like that.
"Nnh….Richter-san" The boy whispered in his sleep, snuggling his head against the man's waist.
"..." He narrowed his brows at the boy, as his cheeks began to heat up with embarrassment, ashamed that he found the boy to be….cute, forgetting the horror he felt a minute ago.
"...Emil, wake up." He said, raising his voice.
"Huh?" The boy quickly sat up and rubbed his eye. "Is it morning already?" He asked as he stretched his arms out, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Yes. Get ready, we're leaving." He said, getting up and placing his glasses back on, along with his coat, gloves, and shoes.
"Okay…" He got up with another stretch, wrapping his scarf back around his neck and slipping his shoes on.
"Let's go." He began to walk ahead, hearing the boy's footsteps follow, not too far behind him.
"So where are we going?" Emil asked since he didn't entirely know where Marta was to begin with anymore.
"Flanoir." He said.
"Is that where Marta is?" He asked.
"Yes." He simply replied.
"Why are they there? I thought we were headed for Izoold before…" He lowered his head a bit, wondering if maybe Marta and the other's had decided to leave him, considering they wouldn't even know where to look for him anyway...
"They got word that Lloyd Irving was headed there."
"Lloyd!?" Suddenly the boy's eyes turned red, damning that name.
"And they're most likely hoping to find the centurion's core in the temple of ice."
"Damn that bastard!" He growled. "He better not hurt Marta!"
"...Calm yourself." He sighed.
"Tch, you're not the boss of me!" He growled.
The man came to a halt, forcing the boy to stop as well. He turned to face the blond with the most annoyed and furious face. He didn't care if Emil was Ratatosk or not, so he better damn well listen or he would beat the shit out of him and drag him back to Marta.
The boy's eyes widen for a moment. "Tch..You don't scare me!" He glared.
"...Stop throwing a tantrum and walk." He said coldly, continuing to walk ahead.
"S-Shut up!" He argued back before he continued to follow.
As the two walked, the boy's eyes returned to green, leaving him feeling faint. Richter let the boy rest a minute before continuing to walk. Once the two finally exited the base and entered a forest. Richter came to a halt once again and turned to face the boy.
"Do you have any monsters that we could ride?" Richter asked, hoping they wouldn't have to walk all the way to Flanoir.
"Yeah, Podsol can carry us" Emil smiled brightly. "Come out boy!" The boy called. The Phinx summoned itself from the boys monster pocket and happily screeched, stretching its wings out. Emil smiled at the monster, giving it lots of loving pets and treats made just for them.
"...Good, this will make the walk there much quicker." He leaped onto the Phinx, who seemed delighted to have the man need his help.
"But won't we eventually need to cross the water?" Emil asked, climbing onto his monster and sitting in front of the man. "Aqua will handle that part." He said.
"Just leave it to me" Aqua appeared, smiling brightly.
"Thanks, Aqua" Emil returned a smile.
"Heehee" She giggled. "Oh, Emil. You seem to handle your monster's really well" The centurion took notice, sensing the boy's monster's gratitude for him.
"Y-You think? Well, I do try my best to care for all of them, after all...they're all my friends!" He smiled brightly with flushed cheeks.
"..." Richter oddly seemed to like this about Emil...or maybe because Aster loved monsters too. It was a foolish kindness but it was also something he did admire about the two of them...but this also worried him as well, considering Aster had actually gotten himself into trouble because of that kindness.
Podsol rode the two through the forest. The two didn't seem to have much to talk about and whenever it was something about Richter, the man didn't always have much to say, whereas Emil was like an open book, willing to tell Richter anything. However, there was one thing Emil couldn't stop thinking about while they rode his Phinx...it was the feeling of Richter hitting hit slightly from behind while they rode on the monster. It was a very bumpy ride.
"Richter-san...I really want to know more about you…" The boy lowered his head, wishing he would open up to him more, trying to keep his mind off of the embarrassing contact with the man.
"..."
"..." Emil gave up, it was pointless and he didn't want to make the man angry.
Richter sighed "I spent most of my days in Sayback." He explained.
Sayback?" The boy lifted his head in surprise and from interest, looking over his shoulder to eye the man behind him.
"I was always...researching meaningless things for them…."
"For them…?"
Richter sighed once more. "...Emil, haven't you noticed that I use magic?"
"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" The boy thought for a moment, confused by the man's words.
"Emil, Only elves and Half-elves can use magic." Richter huffed.
The boy gasped. "Y-Your a half-elf?"
"Yes." He sighed, realizing just how naive the boy was at times.
"Wow...I had no idea...B-But that doesn't mean anything! You could be anything and I still wouldn't think differently of you Richter-san, because to me you'll always be Richter-san now matter what!" The boy flushed, clutching his chest tightly as his words were spoken from the heart.
"...How can you say that...?" He whispered, turning his gaze away from the boy. Richter could almost see the stars in the boy's eyes but he couldn't understand why the boy was so attached to him, despite him being so cold to the boy and seeking Marta's death...
Damn this world...!
The two finally came to a stop. As the need for food called when Emil and Richter's bellies crumbled with hunger and should a battle arise, it would be best to be in good condition if they didn't want to lose, much less get eaten for dinner. So a stop for food was made.
"So what should I make for us?" The boy asked.
"I'll cook for us, so go get the firewood," Richter said, kneeling down to set up their camp.
"R-Really? O-okay" The boy took off. His cheeks flushed brightly as the thought of being able to taste Richter's food made him happy and really nervous. He could picture Richter's strong and warm hands carefully slicing each ingredient and offering the food to Emil with a handsome smile. At this thought, Emil practically stumbled in his tracks.
"Aqua...Podsol" The Phinx perked up from his laying position "Follow Emil and keep him safe."
"Yes, sir Richter-sama! Come on Podsol" She smiled and swam through the air, following after the boy, along with the Phinx beside her.
The boy walked around through the forest, hoping to find some sticks laying around with the help of his Slime mold Chullos and his Gunna Gaia, when he suddenly heard the sound of large paws patting across the ground. When he turned his head to hear where they were coming from, he noticed Podsol and Aqua headed towards him and greeted them with a smiled, though he was confused as to why they were here.
"Aqua, JPodsol, What are you doing here?" Emil questioned with a slight tilt of his head.
"Richter-sama said to come keep you safe" She explained. with a smile, finding it cute how much Richter cared for the boy.
"R-Really?" He flushed a bit. Richter really was kind to him.
"Yeah, I guess after what happened on your way to Izoold, he doesn't trust you with collecting firewood by yourself" She giggled.
"B-Bastard, I can handle myself!" The boy's tone suddenly changed, growling with red eyes, his cheeks flushed red to match.
"Ratatosk-sama…?" The centurion whispered.
"I'll show him! I can collect sticks just fine!"
When they finally returned after about three hours or so, the boy came back covered in scratches with parts of his clothing burned or ripped off. The centurion and the three other monsters seemed to be in the same condition. All of them seemed out of breath as well, collapsing to the ground.
"Emil, Aqua! What happened?" The man asked, standing up from the camp.
"We….We got the firewood" The red-eyed boy huffed, grinning as he was dragging a pile of sticks that were wrapped in a used cloth.
"..." How in the world does one come back looking like that just from collecting firewood?
"Richter-sama, we ended up fighting a pack of grizzlies! I thought we were goners" The Centurion whined, floating up to the half-elf.
"Shut up! We were fine because I can handle myself and I even brought plenty of firewood for your stupid master!" The boy growled.
"But it's not worth dying over!!" Richter argued, finding the boy's actions naive, as well as selfish considering he got Aqua and the monsters hurt over it.
"Tch...!" The boy growled, turning away with his arms crossed. Richter sighed, rubbing the center of his brows, trying to cease his knew headache from getting any worse.
"Here, just take them!" the boy threw the sticks in front of Richter's feet. "You should thank me! I didn't have to get those stupid sticks ya'know" He said, continuing to glare and growl at the man with that rude tone.
"I'll thank you when you don't risk you and Aqua's life for mere sticks." Richter scolded.
"Fine! I didn't need thanks from you anyway, you stupid half-elf!" The boy roared before stomping off.
"...Thank you anyway." He sighed, hoping to ease the boy's temper.
The boy flushed, embarrassed by the man's gratitude and looked away as he hadn't actually expected him to really thank him. "Y-Yeah well..."
"..." Richter kneeled down and started adding the collected sticks together before casting a simple fire spell
It wasn't long before the food was ready, and the boy's eyes had returned to their kind emerald eyes again But thanks to Richter knowing First aid, Emil teaching his monsters first aid, all their injuries were healed up in no time.
"Here." Richter handed the wooden bowl to the boy. It looked to be a beef stew and smelled really good and looked really good too.
"Thanks for the meal" Emil smiled, taking a bite of his beloved Richter's food, when suddenly The boy froze, dropping the bowl to the ground.
"..." The man sighed.
"...I think I...see the light. Mom is that you...?" The boy smiled with tears, falling over as he could feel death's grip pulling him to the other side.
"I was afraid of this...I've never cooked before." He sighed, lowering his head a bit with a cross of his arms.
"Richter-sama...did you perhaps want to do something nice for Emil?" The centurion asked as she floated closer to the man.
"..." He pushed his glasses, trying to hide the pink coloring his cheeks. Aqua giggled. It was nice to see her master having fun again after so long of pain and suffering without Aster, she was finally seeing Richter cook, smile and even blush with Emil around...It gave her hope.
She giggled, looking back at the boy who lied dead on the floor with his Gunna licking his face.