A/N: Thank you once again for the reviews, they make writing this so much more fun ^^
~Chapter 4~
'Well, that wasn't so bad.' Lei thought to herself as she was making her way back to NetCity.
As she expected, the rumors were highly exaggerating about Bass; Yes, he was extremely rude and hard to talk to, but not impossible, really, all it took is communication.
Suddenly, his expression after MegaMan's message popped in her mind, causing her expression to turn somewhat sad.
'I guess people are just too scared to actually try.. Such a shame.' She concluded to herself.
Lei then realized that she had actually completed her mission, and that she was basically free from any other jobs for the whole week.
She stopped right in her place, threw her arms in the air and spun a few times while floating up. "YAAYY!" She called to the strange-colored sky above her, and proceeded to dance to an imaginary beat.
She was so busy celebrating, that she didn't notice she was being watched.
"I take it your trip was a success, Lei the delivery girl?" A familiar calm voice asked.
The female Navi stopped goofing around all at once, and turned around to the source of it, until she met with the dark-skinned Navi's brown eyes.
"Serenade!" She called to him, surprised.
He had his usual amused expression.
Lei floated closer to him, "Yeah, no problems at all!" She said proudly, while smiling.
"I see, that's good." He said.
Her expression suddenly turned confused.
"But what are you doing here, Serenade?" She asked, her blue eyes filled with interest.
This was already the second time that Lei got to meet the ruler of the UnderNet in just one day. Was her luck simply incredible? Or was there a special reason for him to come find her twice in a row? She couldn't be more anxious to know his reason.
"Well," He began saying, "I wanted to check up on you; see if everything's alright." He smiled.
Lei's eyes widened at his words. She then put her hands on her waist and grinned, as her expression turned confident.
"I'm always alright." She declared and winked up at the tall Navi floating in front of her.
Serenade chuckled.
"Yes, I can already tell the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet will have to put much more effort in order for you to be scared of him." He said, smiling kindly.
Even though Serenade had meant that as a complement, Lei couldn't help but feel guilty for some reason. She put her hands back down at each side of her body, as she kept quiet for a few moments.
Then, her expression turned sad.
"I don't think people should be afraid at all," She said, lowering her gaze to her feet, "I mean, all it took for him to cooperate was to understand what he needed to do," Bass' expression shot through her mind once again, causing her to bite her lower lip.
She raised her gaze back to the tall Navi, "I'm sure that if people were more open minded and just gave him a chance instead of relying on those silly rumors.. Really, all it takes is communication. Maybe the next time we meet will go even more smoothly."
Serenade kept silent as he simply looked at her with an unreadable expression. Lei could only feel impatient about his long silence, but she also realized that the ruler of the UnderNet was probably the wrong person to dump her worries and opinions on.
To her relief, he opened his mouth.
"I feel like you have good will," He started, "But there are things which you don't know, and are better not getting into, Lei." His expression was serious and a bit sad. "Bass' behavior to you was abnormal, that does not mean that other Navis would receive the same treatment, and that does not mean that even you will receive the same treatment in the future" He explained as he noticed Lei was listening to him with her full attention, "Also, I'm afraid you are forgetting the most important part – Bass is most certainly content with being alone." With that, Serenade was finished, and he watched her closely.
Lei knew she didn't know anything, but that was what also made her even more curious to find out. She could also never agree with Serenade's last statement;
She couldn't in a million years, believe anybody could ever be content with loneliness.
Bass' expression popped, once again.
Her brow furrowed.
'Nobody who could make that expression over someone else asking for their well being, could be happy alone.' She thought to herself, as she opened her mouth-
"I'm sorry Serenade, but I can't agree to that." She said, her eyes serious, "I want to know. I'm not afraid of the things that I lack in knowledge, I'm curious about them." Her expression turned determined as she continued, "And I also can't agree with you about him preferring solitude, nobody is better alone, that's just sad."
Serenade's dark eyes widened at her words, and her simply looked at her with a stunned expression.
Lei held his gaze for the longest time.
Neither of them spoke.
Then, the ruler of the UnderNet suddenly closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh.
"I see that no matter what I say, I simply cannot persuade you to back down from this, can I?" He asked, opening his eyes at her and smiling softly with a defeated look, "Maybe you're the one." His expression suddenly turned interested as he raised his hand to grab his own chin.
Lei only stared at him with a puzzled expression, confused at his last words.
"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to find answers from his expression, but with no luck.
Serenade chuckled, "We shall see." He said, amused.
'This girl...' He thought to himself, as he reached his hand out to her and patted the top of her helmet, only confusing the female Navi further.
"I have to leave now, Lei, I trust we'll meet again soon." And with that, he vanished into a strong light.
"Ah! Wait!" Lei cried, but it was all too fast, and he was already gone.
She didn't even manage to get an answer out of him.
'Man! I wish he'd stop randomly disappearing like that.' she thought to herself, letting out a small sigh and still staring at where he was just floating.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a beeping coming out from a pocket on the strap of her bag.
Lei quickly raised her hand to it and pulled out a little black device, then used her finger to flip a tiny switch.
The beeping stopped, and Dean's face suddenly appeared on the screen.
"Lei, what's up?" He asked. His voice was a bit cut, probably due to the bad reception.
The female Navi smiled.
"Hi Dean! I'm good, just finished my delivery and on my way back, how about you?" She said and smiled widely.
Dean took a moment to process what she had just said.
"What? Finished? You mean you already met Bass and gave him the letter?" He asked, his expression stunned.
"Yup!" Lei confirmed, holding two fingers in the shape of 'V' at him, "And I even have his response with me!"
The male Navi was absolutely shocked at what he was hearing; while everyone thought she would get hurt or worse, Lei actually completed her mission without a scratch and got a response from the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet on her first try?
"Wow, that's incredible, I'm so glad you didn't get hurt!" He said, still surprised.
But Lei really didn't get what the big deal was all about and why everyone were so scared for her.
She was simply a messenger - She found Bass, delivered him his message, got his signature for the company's confirmation, and now she was on her way back, safe and sound.
It wasn't at all like what everyone made it sound like it would be.
"I simply did my job and delivered him his message, why would he hurt me?" She asked, honestly trying to understand the fuss.
Dean blinked at her question.
"I've heard he killed other Navis for much less! You got lucky." He said, his brown eyes wide.
"Well, I guess rumors can be wrong, then." She smiled and winked at him.
"Pfft, right.. " The male Navi chuckled at her words, "Anyway, so what are you planning to do now? You've got the whole week to yourself, next delivery arrangement meeting is not until next Monday, and since you've already completed your punishment, I'm sure the boss wouldn't drop the rest of this delivery on you again." He said.
Lei had forgotten all about the fact that this delivery was given to her as a form of punishment, and was a one-time thing to teach her to stop spacing out while at work, which means that a different messenger Navi was most likely to receive the duty of delivering Bass' response to MegaMan in next week's arrangement.
She swallowed hard.
'I guess that's only logical..' She thought to herself, 'I mean, my job here is done, there's no reason for me to continue this..' But she couldn't help but feel somewhat.. sad.
She remembered Bass asking her if she'll again be the one to deliver him MegaMan's response.
Her expression turned determined as she was suddenly filled with new motivation-
Lei decided she was going to ask the boss to continue with this delivery.
'After all, I started it – whatever you start you must finish!' She agreed with her own reasoning.
She blinked.
How on earth was she going to tell Dean about her new decision? He was so worried for her doing this one delivery, could she really make him worry for her like that again if MegaMan would choose to respond for the second time?
"Lei?" Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his voice, "What's the matter? Got Lost in thought again?" He smiled his honest smile at her, which only made her feel slightly more guilty.
"Oh, sorry," She laughed nervously, "Haven't really thought about it yet." She lied.
Lei felt bad about it, but she figured it was for the best – for the time being, she will keep this as a secret from Dean.
"Alright well, I'm almost at NetCity now so I'll call you when I get there! I got so much to tell you, you wouldn't believe!" She said with excitement.
"Oh? I hope it's about you fighting Bass and kicking his ass, only that would explain how you survived!" He joked.
Lei laughed, "Not quite." She quickly dismissed and stuck her tongue out at him, "Well, bye for now!" She waved him goodbye as she closed the conversation, returned the small device into its pocket and continued moving.
She picked up the pace and began flying faster, not having any idea about another party that had been watching her this whole time.
A/N: Kind of a short chapter, next one will be longer ;)
Serenade returns to try and be the responsible adult, but unfortunately for him, Lei is bad with listening to people.
Also, who was that mysterious stalker? We shall wait and see.
Please keep the reviews coming, tell me what you like/dislike about my story/characters and I'll be more than happy to take it into consideration.
*Ghost501 - Thanks! That's interesting that Lei reminds you of Mako, I guess they both got the cheerful happy-go-lucky attitude gong on, yet in my mind Lei is less spazzy than her. she's on duty after all! ;)