Property of Goscinny and Uderzo

I'm not in a coma! I'm studying, enjoying my new pets and the weather, and most of all working! I have so little time to write that I decided to leave the next chapter until I have a weak off, the 20th of June. Because the anticipated moment of the story will be there, and I need more than half an hour before dinner of so to work on it. So in the meantime, this little chapter to let you know that the story is not really on hiatus. I will just need time to make the next chapters worth reading. I'll try to work on them, but I will not post before the 23th of so. Just so you know…

There had been little to discuss when they had returned to Vitalstatistix' hut a few days ago. A blind man could see it was no use to let Phyllis help defend the village with Manilla and Bonny. There was no trust between them and after the day before, even Asterix started to doubt if that could ever be repaired.

And the magic potion could not fight every trick in the dark sorcerer's book…..they had decided that when the moment came, Phyllis would attack with them, and Manilla had given up trying to make Phyllis refrain from using her dark powers. Asterix knew the old woman was afraid Phyllis was going to lose control, or at least lose her mind and he had to admit that it was not a far-fetched thought. When she had kept silent a few days ago, he wondered if she had changed her mind about her pupil, or if she simply felt they had nothing to lose….He didn't ask.

Manilla and Bonny had taken over the task of teaching the villagers how to defend themselves, while Phyllis launched illusions at them. Most of the time however, she assisted in battle practice, something they did everyday during their fish fights, but that was taken to a whole new level now.

Asterix stood about five meters from her. Her had taken the magic potion, and drawn his sword. He had hardly ever done so the past ten years, and only when he had no access to the potion. He had never, ever, faced a woman with it. But he could use everything in the coming battle, and it was best to get used to that. The sun was high above them, reflecting on the short blade as he turned his sword, and the powerful gleam forced Phyllis to break eye contact. He had noticed that it was harder for her to use her powers when she could not look at her target, much like it was harder to heal if she could not touch.

After he played this trick for the fifth time, Phyllis rolled her eyes. "Ok, it works! Now try something else!"

Asterix smirked: "I guess you could try to ask your enemy to switch tactics, but I doubt it will work."

The now familiar golden shine appeared in Phyllis eyes: "I can be persuasive."

Asterix merely flicked his sword and she cursed. Then she just leapt forward, drawing her own sword, hitting his and leaping back as he got ready.

It was weird to fight someone like her. He had not often fought for his life with a sword, but he had practiced a lot when he was younger, courtesy of his dad, who still remembered fighting without the magic potion.

Phyllis was different. After her first, frustrated strike which almost got him cut with his own blade, she started moving around him, evading his strikes by leaping aside rather than blocking. She did only now and then come close enough to strike herself. When they had first practiced, she had explained that she found it easier to fixate him when there was some distance between them. This had given him the idea to break her gaze. But his technique was less effective when he had to block her punches; he no longer had time to catch the sun on his blade.

They had not actually hit each other all morning. Asterix though that breaking the laws of courtesy once was enough no matter how much Phyllis was nagging him about it. "Good for us that Mesmeron knows nothing about courtesy and fair play; he could spare himself preparing an trained army. Just round op some helpless damsels, they would be more effective than the first legion of "Jules" himself."

Asterix fiercely hoped that she would never find out how close to the truth that was. Meanwhile, she returned his courtesy, not out of good manners, but because they could expect an attack any moment now. Many of the other villagers were watching them…anything to keep them occupied and not have their thoughts focus on the fear that inevitably loomed around the village. Perhaps it was what kept Phyllis and Asterix going for longer than was wise, until they had to catch their breath and rest. Doing nothing was harder than anything else.

Still, they needed to be careful. Being exhausted would not help when it came to an attack.

After half an hour, they rested in the shadows of a tree, looking at Getafix hut, that was illuminated with a pale blue light. Strange, foreign smells reached their noses. Asterix had been curious before, but he had lost his interest. With Bonny and Manilla around, Getafix did not need his assistance, and his questions even less. Phyllis avoided both woman like the plague outside the training moments, but she was also studying the faint light. When Bonny suddenly came out of the door, Phyllis looked away, fixing Asterix eyes as if she was going to talk to him. But she didn't. Bonny gave him a short look, and passed by them quickly. He knew she had tried to apologize, but Phyllis had fled from her each time she tried. When she had just arrived in the village, she had at least been able to talk about her former friend. But now….

"Can you really leave it this way Phyllis?" Asterix asked as soon as Bonny was gone?

She stared at the ground. "Leave what?"

"Can you go into another battle with Mesmeron without knowing what she thinks." He knew this was a very touchy subject, but his village safety was at stake. "Without knowing what she will do when thing get difficult? Do you even know what you are going to do?"

She looked at him, intensely. "I know what I'm going to do. It does not matter what she will do. Not anymore. Manilla will try to stay out of Mesmerons grasp until the end. Bonny will stick with her until the end. Since they are both in the village, it will be protected until the end."

"But….." Phyllis cut him off… "They might have involved your village, but you breaking the curse Mesmeron put on me and Goliath is what will make Mesmeron want to destroy you. Which makes keeping you safe my responsibility, not theirs. So I know what to do."

The sharpness in her voice indicated that this was not a subject to go further into. Even if it made him feel pampered, he knew there was no way to reason her out of this. He understood her to well to even try. But he knew this persuasion of her that she had to protect him first frustrated her. She would once more be torn between trying to protect and what she really wanted: vengeance. To stop Mesmeron forever in the most painful way possible….She did not have to tell him, he saw it in the way her eyes darkened from time to time when they were fighting…when she saw not him but the enemy he was impersonating at that moment.

There was no use arguing about it. He could not stay out of harm's way, no matter how much she wanted it. And she never asked. He would protect his village by fighting, and she would help him. There was no other possibility.

That night, when Manilla and Bonny had done their last tour of the village, memorizing every corner to be able to protect the entirety of the village, when everyone was back in his hut, Phyllis would retrace their steps to make the same mental map. Every day she stayed in the village with his village with its colorful inhabitants, it became less and less something she did for Asterix' sake. No matter how much she tried to prevent it, she was starting to care.