And here we are, back for Chapter 4! Your beloved author (that's me) probably took 20 kg thanks to Halloween candies, but she feels no regret, and wishes you to enjoy life, and more importantly to enjoy candy! If you could enjoy this chapter as well, that would be even better.
Learning wasn't as easy as Vanitas had thought it'd be. When it came to fighting, he would always master everything really quickly. But those letters – he kept mixing them up, why would they all look so similar?
He tried not to feel insulted when Aqua had brought children books to teach him. As if to soothe his anger, she assured him that Ven had needed books even simpler – and it was pretty effective, his pride was calmed down.
Also, the fact that he could come only once or twice a week did not help. They couldn't meet past sunset, for there was not enough light to read past that, and not too often, because she had to train and he couldn't be gone too often without his old Master questioning him. He couldn't even keep the book, afraid the old man would find it, so Aqua kept it safely.
But he was getting better. He could read most of the letters if they were in upper-case, and some words too. Aqua was also teaching him how to write and he could now write his own name. Even when he was not with her, he practised by tracing letters on the ground, or by trying to read words he'd see on other worlds. But it was slow, and frustrating, and that day, he left out a sight as he threw the book away.
"That's stupid. Let's face it, I'm too old for that. It's too late."
Aqua let a giggle out. "You're not going to like it, but you remind me of Terra." She was right, he did not like it. "Always so impatient. But you made so much progress, and I mean it! Look!"
She wrote down something on her notepad, and showed him. He cursed between his teeth at how neat her handwriting was, while his own was shaky and messy. He read every letter in his head, trying to form the words.
"Well... Done. Well done? Seriously?"
"Last week, you couldn't read it, and now you do. I'm proud of you, Vanitas. You might not notice how much better you have become, but I do."
She pulled out some food from her basket – this time, it was a strawberry pie.
"Let's make a deal. If you can write down cake on this notepad, I'll let you have a slice. If you fail three times, I'll eat all of it in front of you."
He squinted at the challenge. "You wouldn't eat it all. You'd get fat."
"Magic is really calorie-consuming, you know. And I wouldn't mind getting fat for a strawberry pie, that's my favourite! Oh, I'm looking forward to eat it down the very last slice..." She licked her lips, almost already drooling at the pie. He knew that was just provocation, and that she probably would share anyway. But he fell for it, his pride hurt. Taking the pen and the notepad, he wrote his first try. Cake was a short word, how hard could it be?
"Let me see? K-A-K? Nope! However, the last two letters are good, good job! You need to change the first one, and add another at the end."
He thought deeply about what could be the first letter. When he glanced at Aqua, she was already eating a strawberry. It made him furious and he hurried to his second try.
"Q-A-K-E? That was a good guess! Indeed, the E was missing. Remember how I told you that without an E at the end of a word, the pronunciation changes. However, the first letter is still off. The Q is rarely used without a U behind it. Just like in my name. A-Q-U-A. Last try. Do your best!"
He pretended not to see she was already cutting him a slice. He wanted to get it right. He wanted to. He tried to remember the book they were using. To remember a word with the K sound. Then, suddenly, he remembered the picture of the cat. He remembered the word was short and easy to write. What was the first letter like again...?
"Here! My last try! I'm sure I'm right now!"
Aqua looked at the notepad and clapped her hands. "Correct! Here is your prize! Oh, but perhaps I should eat it, though? I'm really hungry, you know..."
She pretended to take the plate away, but Vanitas leaped on her, stealing the precious slice of pie. She was laughing and soon enough he was too, as they both sat and enjoyed the sweetness of the pie.
When he left her, his head full of new letters and his mouth full of leftover pie, he did not notice the shadow behind the trees.
If only he had.
DUN-DUN-DUUUUN! First cliffhanger! That's basically when I gave up on pretending those were drabbles. This is NOT drabble.
Hopefully Aqua is actually a better teacher than how I'm describing her. But I am a terrible teacher myself.
Next chapter to come out soon :D (perhaps even sooner if you leave a review! Is that blackmailing? Yes, it's probably blackmailing. But I'm the author. I am free. If I want Aqua to step on a mineturtle because I had no review I might as well. I'm evil.).
EDIT : A huge thanks to Taliax for correcting me about the pie/cake. In France, we tend to call everything a cake, I guess? We just love cakes too much XD. As always, thank you so much~*