So guess what?! I'm here with another chappie of this awesome story! I'm very sorry about the wait; if you want to know a few details as to what has been happening in my life currently, I have written a small note on my profile. Thank you so much for sticking with me! 2016 was a difficult year, but I'm looking forward to what comes next.
Disclaimer: Stop thinking those thoughts! They are unbecoming and unfit to be seen here! *Ahem*
A CHappy Ending Ch. 4
"I'm glad to have some sense of normalcy," Carla said solemnly in greeting to her mentee.
"Hello to you too Carla," Happy said in a slightly confused tone.
"You are probably wondering why there is a large male acting as my shadow, yes?" The white haired girl's answer was a nod.
"Good news; I have a bodyguard so that future would-be assailants will be discouraged," Carla scoffed. "His name is Pantherlily Redfox."
"Uh… nice to meet you… Mr. Redfox?" the boy squeezed out.
"Pantherlily will be just fine," said male calmly replied in a deep voice. "I will be accompanying Miss Carla for the foreseeable future. I hope that you aren't the person responsible for this situation."
"Uh, why?" Happy asked.
"Because I would have to use lethal force to subdue you. I will admit openly that I become a bit overzealous in a fight."
"Good to know!" Happy squeaked, utterly terrified of the brute in front of him.
"And on that thrilling note," Carla sarcastically commented, "I think it's high time for us to continue your lessons Happy."
"Aye!"
Happy's tutoring sessions went along these lines for the next few days; Pantherlily silently sitting in on Carla's spirited lessons while Happy fought the urge to look for a hole to crawl into.
"Happy, continue to work on these exercises while I go to powder my nose. I should return in a few minutes, so make sure you have some work done," Carla said, rising from her seat. The mentee nodded his head in acceptance of the task and turned back to his work.
"Hey Pantherlily?" Happy asked as soon as he heard the door snick shut.
"Yes Happy?"
"Can I please train under you so that I can learn self defense?"
"I suppose that wouldn't be a bad thing. Is there a particular reason for this request Happy?"
"U-uh… n-n-no… Why ever would you think something like that…?" Pantherlily stared down the sweating pupil.
"No particular reason," the guard replied with a cheshire cat smirk.
"Hey Pantherlily?" Happy asked hesitantly after a few minutes of complete silence.
"What is it boy?"
"Have you ever regretted becoming a guard?" The question threw the older male off guard.
Regaining his train of thought, Pantherlily replied, "I never have once regretted it. I have always had an innate calling to protect people. Seeing the comfort and security I can bring into a household truly makes my job worthwhile."
"Huh…" Happy said noncommittally as he stared at a spot on a wall for a few more moments before returning his gaze to Pantherlily. "When can we start?"
"We can start tomorrow morning; meet me at five in the morning sharp at the address I will provide you. Allow me to write it down for you." Pantherlily replied, scribbling down the information on a scrap of paper and sliding it towards his pupil to be. The bluenette nodded in thanks and pocketed the paper.
"Okay Happy, let's see how you have been doing on your math homework," Carla announced as she returned to the room, frowning when she saw the lack of progress on Happy's scratch paper.
"Miss Marvell, I asked Happy a personal question that took up most of the time you were absent. Please forgive me; I had to run a test on him." Pantherlily interjected before Carla could scold the boy. Happy flashed the guard a look of thankfulness and hurriedly turned towards his Calculus homework.
"Very well then," the white haired girl sighed, resigning herself once more to tutoring Happy. "I'll give you a few more minutes to make some progress. Please have something to actually show me this time."
"I'm home mother!" Carla called out as she opened the door that lead from the garage to the kitchen. The white haired girl didn't wait for a response as she made herself a small snack and went to her room. Setting down her bag on the floor and her snack on her desk, she sat in her desk chair and pulled out her journal.
"Getting to work already are we?" came a deep, amused tone from behind the girl, causing her to turn from her writing.
"I just figured that I should journal while the memory's fresh; that's what the counselor instructed me to do."
"Of course Miss Marvell. I suppose I'll leave you to your devices then; I'll be right outside if you have need of me." Pantherlily stated, walking through the doorway
"Thank you Lily, that will be all for now." Carla said and went back to writing her entry as she heard the door shut. She wrote for about 15 minutes before she sat back to take a break from her work.
Gazing off in a random direction, she noticed a bright yellow blob on her night stand. Focusing in on it revealed to be the small yellow bloom that Happy had given to her mother while she was still in the hospital.
"How did this get here?" the white haired girl murmured as she stepped closer to it to further examine the flower.
"Lily? Do you know how this daffodil found its way to my quarters?" She called out, hoping that her guard was still by the door.
"Are you talking about that small yellow flower on your night stand?"
"The very same."
"Your mother said that it was yours; something about your boyfriend giving it to you as a present?"
"Ooh that meddling woman," Carla grumbled before raising her voice again. "My boyfriend did not give this flower to me; Happy gave this bloom to my mother when she was still in the hospital."
"Since it isn't yours, should I remove the offending article Miss Marvell?"
"No, it can stay," the girl sighed in defeat after a few moments of scrutiny of the daffodil. "I was just confused as to why it was here. Thank you very much Lily; I'm sorry to have bothered you."
"It is never a problem miss," the dark skinned man replied, trying very hard to keep the mirth out of his tone.
The rest of Carla's evening was more quiet. Her mother was well enough to go on a business trip so Shagotte was out and she had tried a time or two to message Sammy, but to no avail; apparently he was working late again at his internship. She had even messaged some of her female classmates that she sometimes worked on projects with but they were all busy doing their own homework or hanging out with their boyfriends.
"Well I'm glad to see that I'm not really on anyone's priority list," Carla huffed, trying not to allow her negative emotions to completely conquer her mood. "I guess it's about time for me to go to sleep anyways. Glancing at the clock on her night stand, she inwardly groaned when the device proudly displayed that it was only 8:30. "I suppose that I catching up on my sleep wouldn't harm much… right?"
The white haired beauty then made an executive decision to soak out the remainder of her evening before retiring and gathered her night clothes so she wouldn't have to trek back across her cold room naked after her bath. As she waited to the water to rise, she collected some of her scented candles and one of her novels that she hadn't finished yet to keep her occupied.
Sliding into the bath, Carla released the breath she didn't know she was holding. "I'm glad I can at least have this comfort…" The girl's thoughts aloud trailed off as she silently enjoyed the rest of her warm water. Deciding to prevent any possible pruning skin from an extra long soak, she hopped out and hurriedly dressed herself to ward off the instant chill that assaulted her body. After returning the candles and her book to their proper places, she settled under the warm covers of her bed. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better...
"This place is huge," Happy commented in amazement as he arrived in front of an enormous mansion at 4:55 the next morning. Any drowsiness he might have felt before was immediately washed away in the awe of this building.
"- to go?"
"Huh?" was Happy's eloquent response as the tail end of a sentence snapped him out of his reverie.
"I said, are you ready to go?" Forcing himself to turn towards the voice, the bluenette found Pantherlily standing to his side with arms crossed over his chest.
"Uh, yeah… Is this the Marvell household?"
"Yes. Follow me."
Five minutes and a small tour later, Happy found himself in the personal gym of the bodyguards' wing.
"This place is so huge…" the boy said as he took in his surroundings.
"A little bit too large in my personal opinion," the guard mumbled under his breath as he jumped up into the boxing ring. "If you would stop gaping your mouth like a cod and join me in the ring, we will start your training."
Happy shook his head. "Aye!" After crawling between the ring ropes onto the platform, the bluenette watched in growing anticipation as Pantherlily brought out two sets of boxing gloves.
"Have you ever boxed before?" Happy immediately shook his head. "I figured as much," Pantherlily grumbled before tossing his pupil a pair of the gloves. "Strap these on and I'm going to give you a crash course in how this is vaguely supposed to work. Do note that when practicing actual self defence, you will more than likely not come across an opponent who will attack at you cleanly. Today, I'm going to thoroughly assess your current skill as a fighter and then I will build a training regimen according to what needs to be worked on. Prepare yourself."
Despite the guard's warning, the poor bluenette didn't get much of a forewarning before the he was rushed by the hulking male.
"I… I'm not sure… I can… go on…" Happy panted after he peeled himself off the ring floor what seemed the nth time that morning.
"So this is the extent of your determination?" Pantherlily said as he stopped his lunge.
"I-I never said… that…" the boy wheezed trying to have the energy to look put off.
"No, you did," the larger male said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Your body language tells me that you want to learn how to defend yourself, but you do not have the discipline to keep on working. When you have assailant in real life, they will not hesitate to beat you while you're down. You must learn to keep going even when you feel like you could fall over at any moment. Do you understand?"
"I think so…" Happy squeezed out as he straightened his posture, once more putting up his glove covered fists.
"I'm going to lunge at you again. Show me your grit!" Pantherlily barked and sprang towards his student once more.
"Aye sir!" the bluenette cried as he made a lunge of his own to meet the dark skinned man.
And that's a wrap! I love Pantherlily! I think that he would make such a hilarious bodyguard. He seems to be very no nonsense and then he has all of these odd little quirks that always crack me up! Go Happy for pursuing his crush! Just in case someone wanted to know, a yellow daffodil symbolizes rebirth and new beginnings. I think it was very sweet of Happy to give Mrs. Marvell this gift because he meant it to be an encouragement for a speedy recovery. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!
Thank you so very much for your reviews Grimnack, Dragon Tamer, and k9defend! Hearing from you guys really helps me think about how I can make my content even better for my wonderful viewers!
I have a question for you all; should I expand upon the relationships in this story? I have a crap ton of character notes in my outline and bouncing around in my brain and I would love to use them. I'm just afraid that if I added all of my thoughts in, it would slow the story's pace down. Since this is a shorter story, do you think I should write a companion fiction to hash out "extra scenes" that don't exactly fit in for more background? Please let me know what you think and until next time my wonderful viewers, buh-bye! :D