As per usual, I don't own anything, I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy!
56- Arriving in Style
"Lina, do you hear that?"
It wasn't late, but Lina had unfortunately had a difficult time with the twins that afternoon. Enrico had accidentally bitten down too hard on one of the toys and cut his gums, which meant an inconsolable baby for the rest of the evening, even with a healing spell or two from his mother. Luke only cried because Enrico was crying, that was obvious, but two babies crying was exponentially more frustrating than one baby crying, no matter what the reason. All Lina wanted now was to sleep as much as she could before a cranky baby woke her up for some other reason.
"…what is it?"
"There's something tapping on the window." Gourry pulled himself out of bed and walked over to investigate. When he opened the window, a fluttering of birds' wings caught both him and Lina off-guard, and he ducked instinctively. The dove, however, landed on the nightstand next to the bed and stared at the two expectantly.
"That's one of Amelia's carrier doves." Lina observed. "I don't think she's ever sent one here before. She must have trained it without us knowing."
Gourry untied the note from around the bird's foot, and it hopped over to the bed and made itself comfortable on his pillow.
"It must be urgent, if she's sending birds." he suggested. "It says something about… a monster attack… but I don't really understand what some of these words mean-"
"What?! Let me see!" Lina jumped up and grabbed the note from him.
"Hey! I wasn't finished looking at tha-"
"It's Zel's shorthand. Magical beast attack in Seyruun City. None killed, a few injured, many buildings damaged or destroyed. Filia's group already here. Please come as soon as possible."
"Magical beast? You mean like the ones Mazoku can summon?" Gourry asked curiously. "What would one of those be doing in Seyruun?"
"I have no idea. I can't imagine…" Lina murmured. "Maybe it was Xellos, but I don't see him as the type to go for senseless property damage."
"We didn't see him as the kidnapping type either." Gourry pointed out.
Lina was silent for a moment.
"…that's true." she sighed. She took the paper and turned it over to the blank side, scrawling out a message with the nearest pen she could find. 'Be there soon' was the entirety of her message, but she assumed it would suffice.
"Do you think he's comfortable in there? Looks kinda cramped to me."
When Pestis had volunteered to stay on egg watch with Filia and Enrique, he hadn't realized that it would be an all-night affair. The idea of watching an Ancient Dragon egg hatch was one that initially seemed exciting. Spending ten or fifteen minutes watching a majestic creature emerge from an egg that size would be an incredible experience.
Right?
Wrong.
So far it had been four hours, and the tiny creature had only managed to make a few large cracks. There was a big hole in the side of the egg, and the dragon's tiny body could be seen curled up within it. It wasn't majestic in any sense- in fact, it looked more like a writhing mass of skin and waterlogged feathers, its sides heaving with every breath. There was a peeping sound that kept coming from the egg, as if the poor thing was crying for help, but so far Filia hadn't touched it. Pestis was about ready to fall asleep. He couldn't figure out how Filia and Enrique were so interested in this.
"Usually Ancient Dragon mothers helped their chicks hatch… but I'm scared to do anything." Filia finally admitted. "I don't want to hurt him."
"Is there anything I can do?" Enrique asked eagerly.
Filia smiled at his enthusiasm. "Just keep encouraging him. I'm sure that, if he hears our voices, it'll encourage him to work harder."
Enrique took the advice to heart and even made up his own cheer over the next hour. Filia finally became brave enough to reach out and pull back a piece of the eggshell that seemed to be stubborn and in the way.
By the time the grandfather clock struck two-o'clock in the morning, the tiny dragon's head finally emerged from the egg. Pestis was asleep by this point, but was woken up by Filia and Enrique's ooh-ing and ah-ing… along with the dragon's loud cries.
"Huhwha? Wha's going on?" Pestis groaned, pulling his head up from the desk. He caught sight of the Ancient Dragon at once, but it was not how he remembered Ancient Dragons looking. They were powerful, impressive creatures. This thing was a droopy little ball of feathers that could barely even hold its head up.
Still, Filia seemed to think it was the most incredible thing in the world. She fawned over it, helping it to break free from the last bits of its egg and then picked it up. The chick was about as large as a medium-sized dog, but that didn't stop Filia from cradling it in her arms and rocking it gently back and forth. Its chirps had grown into full-on screeches, and Pestis had to cover his ears.
"Is it hungry or scared or what?" he called.
"Hungry, I think." Filia replied, stroking the dragon's head. "Would you and Enrique go into the kitchen and get some meat- any kind of meat will do- and puree it? Ancient Dragon mothers generally fed their young pieces of meat that they'd already chewed and partially digested.
"Ew." Pestis wrinkled his nose, but Enrique showed no such disdain.
"We'll go do that right away!"
They hurried, not wanting to wake up anyone with their rummaging in the kitchen, but also not wanting to keep the baby dragon waiting so long that it would wake anyone with its loud cries.
"Will this chicken work?" Enrique pulled a container out of the icebox. "It's already ground, so it wouldn't be difficult to pulverize. What should we use- a meat grinder, or…?"
"That'll be fine." Pestis took the meat and began working with it while Enrique watched. He wasn't afraid that the boy would hurt himself, but he was drowsy and needed something to do. "Enrique, is it just me, or is that dragon not as impressive as I thought it would be?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean… maybe it's because I've actually seen adult Ancient Dragons before, and so I know what a powerful creature it's going to grow into, but…"
"I think it's cute." Enrique admitted.
"Good for you. You've heard about Ancient Dragons before, haven't you?"
"Just a little… from Lorelei…"
"Lorelei?" Pestis perked up. "Oh, you mean Xellos' assistant, right? I don't know much about her, to be honest. Isn't she…?"
"She was Zara's girlfriend. Supposedly."
"Supposedly?"
"W-well…" Enrique didn't have to avert his eyes- Pestis wasn't looking at him anyway- but he instinctively looked down at the floor. "…she's been flirting with me a lot."
"With you?"
"Yeah. I know."
"Why haven't you said anything to her about Zara? Does she know that you and he are…?"
Enrique shrugged. "I didn't know who she was until she introduced herself the other night, and she left before I could say anything else."
"Gee, harsh."
"I know."
There was a brief silence as Pestis poured the mixture into a jar to take back to Filia. "Next time she appears, you should ask her."
"I'm not sure I trust her."
"Why?"
"She doesn't act serious around me. Even when she says serious things, she…" Enrique shook his head. "…I mean, she does say serious things, but I don't know if she's lying, or…"
"So, what you're saying is, you're afraid to ask her because you don't think she'll be honest with you."
"And I won't know whether she's lying or telling the truth."
"You think she'd lie to you?" Pestis inquired curiously.
"Well, I know she knows that I… er…"
"That you what? That you like her?" Pestis elbowed him.
"I… I… don't…" Enrique turned his head away. "Just because I think she's cute and funny doesn't mean anything."
"Oh, so you admit that you find her cute and funny?"
"W-well-"
The two had finally reached the room where Filia was waiting for them, and passed on the food to her. "How's he doing?" Pestis asked.
"Oh, wonderful!" she exclaimed. "He looks perfect. A healthy Ancient Dragon male, about sixty centimetres from nose to tail, seven kilograms, an average size for a newly hatched chick."
"Perfect. Here's your, uh, meat." Pestis handed her the jar. "It was some ground chicken that we found in the kitchen. I hope no one will miss it."
"If they do, we'll buy some more." Enrique shrugged. "How much do baby dragons eat?"
"For the first six months of his life, he'll eat roughly his own weight every day and double in size every two weeks until he is fully grown."
"…how big is a fully grown Ancient Dragon?"
"Oh, they're enormous." Pestis replied. "Truly formidable creatures!"
"Are we gonna keep him inside?"
"Oh, no. There's not enough room inside any of these buildings to contain a full size Ancient Dragon."
"Ancient Dragons can begin manifesting human forms at around three weeks old. As long as he stays in his human form, he'll keep a manageable size." Filia had set the chick back down in his basket, and he had burrowed into the blankets.
"If you'll excuse me," Pestis began, standing up and heading toward the door, "I'm going to get at least a few hours of sleep tonight. Enrique, would you like to come with me?"
"No thanks." Enrique shook his head. "I want to stay with the baby dragon-"
"Val. His name is Val."
"-I want to stay with Val and Miss Filia."
Pestis shrugged. "Suit yourself."
"So… is this the magical beast that ravaged the town of Seyruun and left a whole neighbourhood in shambles?"
"Really, Miss Lina. That is a serious matter."
Filia crossed her arms in frustration, but she didn't try to get Lina away from Val. The sorceress was fascinated with the chick, and the he seemed to return the favour. He sniffed her hand and then licked it once as a sign that he trusted her.
"I know, I know…" Lina sighed, shaking her head. "Gourry and I passed through the eastern district on our way here just so that we could survey the damages. It looked like an ordinary heat beast… but the damage was extensive." Currently it was only Lina and Filia in the room. Gourry and Zara had taken the twins to go meet up with the others halfway. According to the palace guards, they were in the library doing research on magical beasts.
"There was a Mazoku barrier around it. It was such that it took my holy magic to break."
"Really?" Lina breathed. "That seems like overkill, if you ask me. Who would create a low level magical beast and then protect it with a high-level barrier?"
"Whoever it was, they were probably seeking attention for some reason." Zelgadis entered the room and Lina jumped up to greet him.
"Is everyone alright? Your note said that there were some injuries."
"Amelia sprained her ankle rescuing a little girl from one of the burning houses."
It wasn't good news, but Lina couldn't help smiling. "That's our warrior of Justice, alright."
Zelgadis didn't respond. Filia stood up, leaving Val curled up in his basket, and approached Zelgadis as well. "Where is everyone else?"
"They stayed in the library. It's larger, so it fits our group better. I came to get you two."
"Three." Lina pointed out, motioning to Val.
"Yes, of course. How could I have forgotten?"
The group followed the hallway around to the other side of the palace where the library was.
"Do you have any ideas as to who was responsible for the attack?" Lina asked. "Are you thinking Xellos, or…?"
"I highly doubt it was Xellos." Filia replied. "I can't imagine what he would want with property damage."
"It was likely an attack to get our attention, and Xellos already has that." Zelgadis agreed.
"So we're thinking Azarel?"
Zelgadis nodded. "We have reason to believe that Azarel was in Seyruun City less than a week ago, and we're trying to get Pestis to help track them."
"I thought Pestis said he didn't know Azarel's data."
"That was a lie."
Lina cursed under her breath. "Why is he so obsessed with protecting Azarel? Does he think they're going to change?"
"I think so."
"That's absolutely absurd."
"I know it is, but he won't see reason."
Filia cleared her throat. "Sometimes it's difficult to let go of preconceptions made by previous relationships. I know that I had a hard time accepting Xellos as a kidnapper and an attacker."
"Well, that makes sense. You and Xellos totally had thing going." Lina reasoned.
"We still do." Filia spat. "I'm just trying to find a way to get through to him."
There was a pause.
"See? Don't I sound like Professor Nisery talking about Azarel?"
"Yes, but…" Lina bit her lip. "…we all heard what Xellos said to you. You have a good reason to believe that he has decent intentions deep down- even if we don't quite believe it."
"Who's to say that Azarel didn't say those things to Professor Nisery at some time?"
Lina and Zelgadis were quiet again. They glanced at one another, but didn't speak.
After a moment, Zelgadis cleared his throat. "Even so, Xellos was honest with you about his intentions for Luke. Azarel has never displayed that form of honesty."
"Wait, what did Xellos want with Luke?" Lina turned her head abruptly.
"Xellos thought that Luke might be a host for the Demon King… b-but he's not!" Filia added the second part after seeing Lina's horrified reaction.
"So that's why Xellos dumped him almost right after kidnapping him. Luke wasn't what he wanted." Lina gritted her teeth in frustration. "The nerve… thinking my son was a host for Shabranigdo… my son…"
"He had reason to." Filia tried to calm her. "Apparently he and Beastmaster have been studying hosts for years, and they found that identical twins have a much higher rate of acting as hosts."
"But our twins are not identical." Lina pouted. "He should've done his homework before carting the poor boy off like that. I'm sure Luke was terrified."
"I didn't say that Xellos was right to do that. I said that he had a reason. He didn't just do it to blame Azarel."
"But that was one of his objectives." Zelgadis added.
"So, what now? Are we back chasing Azarel? I don't like this going back-and-forth."
The group had finally reached the door to the library, and Zelgadis opened it. However, just as he opened it from the outside, someone had been reaching to open it from the inside and nearly fell over.
"Hey! Whoa! Watch out!" Zelgadis caught her quickly.
"Sorry." Amelia apologized with a smile.
"Where are you going?"
"To find you."
"I'm sorry. We were having a discussion in the hallway."
Lyos waved at them. "If you're discussing something important, let us be a part of it. This is our fight too."
Zelgadis nodded in reply.