Roxie began to growl while she pushed on the trigger. " How do you know Cooro? That punk doesn't have any friends."
" That's not entirely true. I've known that little grouch since he first started to walk. Him and me share a very special bond together." Kanellos punching became more meek and mellow. Roxie thought she was exaggerating, but she saw a small pink heart floating from his pretty eyes. " You might even say I'm in love with him."
" Ack!" Roxie gawked and with her jaws dropping. " Hold on! I don't think I should be hearing this!"
" Sadly, the poor lad has been avoiding me. Once I made a boo-boo, they locked me up and kept him from me. But now I'm back and ready to get back for all those who kept him from me. That includes you, Ms. Roxie."
" He acts like we've met before. But I've never meet him in my life—wait…did he call himself Kanellos? Nana used to tell me about someone like him, but I thought she was just joking on me. But if this is true…then that means…"
Roxie stopped firing from her revolvers and rolled out of the way. But as she was rolling, Kanellos banged both his fists together and a giant purple circle of light illuminated out of it.
" Poison Bloom!"
Purple poison gas was released from Kanellos's purple circle and it sprayed towards Roxie. Roxie protected herself from breathing in the poisonous toxins by holding her breath. The poisonous smoke covered Roxie's body as Kanellos smirked.
" Cooro showed me how you were supposed to be Nana's strongest maid in their café. It looks like it wasn't just a rouse what they said about you. But I guess that doesn't matter now that you are dea-"
In the smoke, Kanellos could see the shadowy outline of Roxie's body. As the smoke cleared, Roxie was seen trembling, but she was alive and breathing through a small green cloth she stuffed in her breast and used it to stop herself from breathing in any smoke.
" I see. You truly are one of the strongest opponents I've ever faced. " Kanellos pulled out a rose behind his back, kneeled down, and presented it to Roxie while she still had her cloth against her mouth. " For you, my pretty."
" Enough with the roses, you boob!"
" Still have that temper I see. "Kanellos tossed his rose behind his back. " And here I was just trying to be polite to you with all your turmoil's."
" Turmoil's?"
" That's right. I could ask you about your friends, but maybe I should ask you about your parents? You, your parents, I wonder what aspect of your life I should be exploring."
" That's it!" Roxie raised both her revolvers up. Only one giant black circle illuminated out of her one revolver. As it was glowing, a pin came out of it. " Even if you are an annoying, obnoxious little cretin, your still Nana's little brother. Ergo, I won't kill you. But that doesn't mean I can't knock your ass out. Gun Magic: S Grenade"
A grenade popped out of Roxie's circle. Roxie grabbed the grenade and held it tightly in her arms. Roxie was pondering whether or not she should use her grenade, started squeezing it in her hands, and then smiled deviantly.
" This is the end of the road for you, bud." Roxie pulled on her grenades pin and then she held it back. " Take this!"
Roxie threw her grenade at Kanellos with great strength. But just when it was about to hit Kanellos, he banged his fists together and a giant green circle of light illuminated out in between them. " Wood Stump!"
A giant tree stump fired out from Kanellos's magic circle. The stump didn't get far away from Kanellos, but managed to make contact against Roxie's flying grenade—on contact it just dinged, fell, and rolled on the ground. Kanellos couldn't help but smirk seeing Roxie's futile efforts.
" I think you may've hit a dud, eh, my sweat tulip. In the end, there is only one person who manages to get far in this world, and that person is me—"
White smoke seeped out of Roxie's small grenade. The smoke was filled with anesthetic's and soporific's that made Kanellos want to sleep—if he fell asleep, something very bad would happen to himself.
" No…(yawning)Cooro…(yawning) I have to keep you inside of me. Cooro, I can't leave you. I still have so much I want to do with you."
" Don't be stupid, dimwit. You're not going to die. You're only going to fall asleep. By then I'll have you put under the proper authorities."
" No…" Kanellos started to cry a single tear drop from his eyes. " Cooro needs me. Cooro is always lonely. He never has anyone to talk to and is shunned by everyone. I-I just wanted to show my love to him."
" Well isn't that a delightful idea. But no matter what you say, you were just trying to steal a poor, annoying little boy. Maybe time sleeping will help you realize your own incompetence."
" No…"
The smoke became too fierce on Kanellos's body. Kanellos finally collapsed; glowing bright white around his body, then started sparkling around his body. When the light cleared, Cooro stood on the ground with his arms stretched out and snoring soundly.
" Sleep well, dark prince. You made my belly of adventure full with all your fighting. But there's still something I have to do." Roxie smiled deviantly once again. She pulled out a curved sword and grabbed Cooro's hair. " I think I'll shave your head just for the fun of it."
" Yeah, do it, old lady!" April laughed merrily behind Roxie. Roxie turned her head where April was standing and gawked seeing her—she was with her small dog Komatsu—she was dressed like a dog that looked like Komatsu. " Do it. Do it. Do it."
" Eiiiiiiiiiii! What are you doing wearing that thing, you little brat?"
XXX
Cooro was in the cortex of his mind and was being consoled by the mysterious, dog eared man Kanellos. Cooro rested his head against Kanellos's lap as the pointy eared man stroked his hair—would look strange for most people, but Cooro didn't really care.
" I don't know who you are," Cooro said while Kanellos continued stroking his hair.
" I know things might be confusing too you now, Cooro, but everything shall be explained all in due time. Right now you are lost, confused, angry, depressed, etcetera, etcetera. But I'm here to help you through them."
" Your face. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." Cooro grabbed Kanellos's ears as he gently squeezed them. " These ears…it's like living in a déjà vu—"
" Please, Cooro, save your breath." Kanellos hugged Cooro even tighter. Cooro was timid from closure, his cheeks became tinted red, mumbled, and then closed his eyes as she brushed his face against Kanellos's chest. " I'll always be here to protect you whenever I am needed. But I need you too—" Kanellos raised one of his fingers that was glowing and touched it on Cooro's forehead. " Relax."
Cooro didn't know what to think. Kanellos's arms were indeed warm, but they wrapped around him like a constrictor. Just as Cooro was being sucked in by Kanellos's beautiful, strong hands—feeling cold in his bones—Cooro felt something that felt like tears drip on his face.
" This water. It feels so warm. I feel like it's from someone I know." Cooro's mind faced a paradox where a leakage of water dripped down above Cooro's head. " Is this Canary's tears. Anzu's? Roxie's? Or could it be—"A faint image of Cooro's sister Nana appeared above. Nana was weeping tears from her eyes while she was mewling from her mouth. " Nana!"
XXX
" Cooro! Cooro! COORO!"
They were all trying to help Cooro out—Nana, Canary, Anzu, Roxie, Chibi who was perched on Roxie's right shoulder, and even April and her small dog Komatsu—they were standing beside him in a bed inside a hospital ward. The first thing Cooro saw when he opened his eyes was the mewling, grieving sight of Nana.
" You can't be dead yet, Cooro, you just can't be!" Nana cried while she had her arms pressed on Cooro's bed. " You always told me there was many things you wanted to accomplish. I tease you, I ordered you around, and I avoided you. But your my only brother! I love you, Cooro! Like a brother I loved you!"
" Na…na?" Cooro stuttered as his bones were too mangled for him to do anything else. " Nana, is that you?"
" Cooro!" Nana shouted while she shed her tears and held Cooro's cold hands. " I'm here for you, Cooro! It's all my fault your like this. I had debts, I needed to go to Anisi to pay for the mortgage on our house, but I never wanted you to get involved. I promise I'll never leave you in harm's way ever again, Cooro. And I promise I'll let you do whatever you want if you survive this!"
" Nana…-"
" Ugh!" Roxie scowled while she sat beside Cooro and was enduring the talk Nana was having with Cooro. " Quit the waterworks. It's not like the brat's dying of cancer or something."
" How can you be so insensitive, Roxie?" Canary asked while she too was crying.
" I'm just speaking for all of us. Hospital bills aren't free you know. At this rate we'll be in debt forever."
" And that's where I come on," the giggling sound of April said. Everyone turned around to see April and gawked—she was wearing a snowflake costume and so was her dog Komatsu. " Everyone knows after summer there comes winter. Hooray."
April slammed her fist on Komatsu's back. Komatsu gurgled after being hit, then a small treasure chest popped out of his mouth. Nana, Canary, Anzu, Roxie, and even Cooro all gawked seeing the small dog Komatsu pop the chest out.
" How was he able to do that—never mind. I don't really want to know."
April opened the treasure chest. Inside was dozens of jewel bills stacked together. Nana, Canary, Anzu and Roxie were all silent staring at the money stacked together; Cooro didn't understand why they were so into money; he never had a 100 jewel ($10 US dollars) in his life.
" Y-you're really going to give us all that, kid?" Roxie stuttered seeing the chest of jewels.
" Of course. I make plenty of money working at Fairy Tail. I won't even miss it."
" Thank you, kid. This money is really going to—"
Roxie tried grabbing one wad of jewels from the chest, but April slammed the top down before Roxie could lay a finger on her money.
"Na-ah. I never said I was giving it to you for free." April smiled deviantly as she shaked her chest. " First you have to give me something of equal value."
" Okay, what do you want, kid? You can eat at our café every day for free. We can get you a cat. Wouldn't you want to own both a cat and a dog?"
" Nope. I've already made my decision." April walked, but couldn't run with her snowflake costume weighing her down, over to Cooro's bedside and she hugged his face. His face was squished under her chest. " I want your brother Cooro here to become a member of Fairy Tail."
" WHAAAAAAAATTTTT?!" Nana, Canary, Anzu, and Roxie all yelled in unison while their eyes were white and their jaws dropped.
" Tee-hee. I saw how he was in the base. The way he fought, how he could conjure up magic, even the way he acted was Fairy Tail material."
" Hey, how could you have seen him, brat?" Roxie retorted. " I saw you. You were on the ground with your tail between your legs unconscious."
" Who, me? I wasn't sleeping. I felt nauseous for a second, but that all passed when Komatsu showed up to comfort me." April banged her chest. As she did, the clattering sound of metal was heard. " I'm made entirely out of metal. I'm immune to illnesses, viruses, diseases, etcetera, etcetera."
" You're a robot?" Anzu gasped.
" Nope. It's only half of my body that's made of metal. The rest is made of all the essential human anatomy."
" Either way, I'm not letting you make my brother one of your drunken, crazy employees." Nana pushed April away from Cooro's chest and hugged him by his bedside. Cooro started to squirm as his face was in his sisters' chest. "My brother is going to become a doctor, or a lawyer, or an accountant, and that's it.
" Gege, ouy swwwuishing ee ( Nana, your squishing me)," Cooro mumbled while his face was in his sisters chest.
" Fine, then I'll just take my jewels and leave—"
" Now now, hang on, Nana, let's not get hasty." Roxie interrupted trying to get the chest of jewels away from April. " This may be a good experience for young Coco."
" Cooro."
" Whatever. You've always been complaining that he doesn't do enough extracurricular activities and needs to get more exercise. Maybe this could be his activity."
" It's a place that reeks of booze and is filled with lunatics who go on idiotic jobs just for the sake of profit. How could I ever allow my brother to go th—"
" ALL OF YOU, SHUT UP!" Cooro yelled, his face beet red, and veins popping out his head. The sound of Cooro's yelling hushed Nana, Roxie, and April up. April quickly changed her attire to a flower petal—moving in a blink of an eye—she thought the flower would calm everyone down. " I'm going to Fairy Tail!"
" WHAAAAATTTTT!" Nana, Canary, Anzu and Roxie yelled in unison. April shouted " yeah" and clapped her hands together.
" Y-you can't be serious about this, Cooro," Nana stuttered. " Being a member of Fairy Tail is a deathtrap. Not many people survive being members, and all those that live to be in their sixties will go insane. Are you sure you can take that kind of affixation, Cooro?"
" Not like I really have a choice. If me becoming a member of Fairy Tail will help our family pay off their debts then so be it. Just let me get out of this bed—ack!"
Cooro was still in no condition to be walking. Cooro tried standing on his hind legs and being able to walk, but he only fell down from the pain in his ligaments and tibia. No sooner did he fall however did Nana run to his aid.
" You're in no condition to be going to be leaving this hospital. You need to sit down and rest."
" I'm tired of resting!" Cooro pushed Nana away and achingly crawled out of his hospital bed. " I'm tired of being treated like your little boy. I want to make something of my life!" Cooro crawled out of his bed and crawled towards where April was standing. But he stopped halfway between April and his hospital bed. Cooro couldn't hide his anguish—leaving home, leaving his school, leaving his sister—tears dripped from Cooro's eyes from his grief. " I love you too, Nana. You're my sister, and I would do anything to help you."
" Cooro, I—"
" I'm tired of being scared all the time. I want to explore. I want to discover. Just once I want to see myself in the mirror and see myself smiling." Cooro crawled over to April. There was nothing Nana could do. April's dog Komatsu jumped on Cooro's back and started glowing bright blue. Cooro, too everyone's surprised, smiled while Komatsu was glowing. " Heh. When I return, Nana, I promise you I will be smiling for real."
FLASH!
Cooro, April and April's dog Komatsu disappeared in a small yet brilliant flash of blue light. Nana, Canary, Anzu and Roxie squinted their eyes from the intensified light flashing in their eyes.
Canary was the first one to stop squinting her eyes, said, " So Cooro is really gone?"
Roxie was the second one to stop squinting her eyes, said, " The little brat's finally gone." Roxie looked back at the spot Cooro and April were standing on. On the spot, Roxie noticed an open chest with stacks of jewel bills, smiled deviantly. " Looks like the brat actually did something with his life. He gave all of us money."
Anzu was the third one to stop squinting her eyes, said, " Do you think Cooro will ever find a girlfriend in Fairy Tail."
" Pfffffffft! No! We all know how the brat is with the ladies. Only gals who're completely brain dead would go out with him."
Nana, the last one to stop squinting her eyes, said, " Cooro." Nana had to close her eyes—not because her eyes were still squinty, but because she had a lot of sadness she needed to repress—and when she repressed them, Nana smiled. " Be safe, little brother."