Chapter 5

"Here, Kolulu."

Kolulu looked up to see a blond-color haired doll handed to her. The doll had on a red dress, black buttons for eyes, and a salmon-colored semi-circle cloth sewed to its face to resemble its smiling mouth. She smiled as she took the doll. "Really? I can have it?"

"Yes. This way, you won't be lonely while I'm at school."

Kolulu's smile grew and her face flushed a light pink as she hugged the doll. "Thank you! I love her!"

"What will you call her?"

Kolulu titled her head and looked to the side, pondering on a name for her new toy. Her eyes widened not long afterwards. "Tina! Her name will be Tina!"

"Kolulu?"

"Yes?"

"Kolulu?"

"…yes?"

"Kolulu..."

Her vision was blurry at first, but there was enough sunlight for her to see her surroundings rather quickly. She was lying on her back and heard smooth running water alongside the smell of foliage and soil, all reminding her of where she was. Her head felt a bit heavy, but she managed to slightly turn it to stare at a pair of royal purple eyes looking down at her.

"Zeno?"

"Good. You're conscious."

She spoke slowly. "What happened?"

Zeno looked upstream towards the waterfall that was at least a mile away. "You fell and hit your head."

She slowly turned her head again to measure the pain. Albeit reluctantly, she internally thanked the fact that she was a demon since demon's had a high pain tolerance and healed quickly. She never relished in the fact of what she was, nor did she embrace it, but in situations such as this, she was at least a bit grateful for it because it tied to her survival.

She managed to sit up on the grass and recalled them jumping from the top of the waterfall. She remembered the creature that was chasing them. "Wait! Where-?"

"I'm sure Zatch and Tia are safe." Zeno interrupted. "It shouldn't take them too long to get here."

"No, I mean, the thing that was chasing us."

"Ah. That. It seems it can't swim very well. If drifted downstream, and once the water became shallow enough, it jumped to the other side of the river and walked off. It should be out of our hands as long as we don't use any lightning."

"So, you didn't…kill it?"

Zeno narrowed his eyes at her, as if to tell her that killing it was something he should have done a long time ago, but didn't thanks to a certain someone. "No. Besides, if I didn't treat you as a priority due to your injury, Zatch would have made a fuss."

"Really? Does he care about me that much?"

"Apparently."

Kolulu turned away and wondered if her ambitions to Zatch had anything to do with his actions, as if he owed her something in return for giving him the aspiration of being a kind king. She suddenly shivered from a slight draft and sneezed. Her skin was dry, but her hair and clothes were damp and sticking to her. "Oh, I don't have a change of clothes."

Zeno stared at her for a moment and didn't take action until she sneezed again. "What a pain," he said, and took off his mantle to hand it to her. "Here."

Kolulu looked up at him, shocked at first to find him wearing clothes underneath. He was wearing a white tank top meant for boys his age and white shorts to match. After that brief shock, she was surprised that he was even giving her his clothes to begin with. She appreciated the kind gesture, but was confused considering who the kindness was coming from.

"You wear clothes underneath." It wasn't a question. She just stated it matter-of-factly.

"Of course," he said, slightly irritated.

"Zatch doesn't."

A slight disturbance tugged at Zeno on how Kolulu knew that, but he didn't ask. "That's because I'm sensible, unlike him."

"Makes sense." She looked at the mantle again when he pushed it closer to her. She looked back at him. "Are you sure?"

"Take it before I change my mind!" He snapped.

She yelped and snatched it from his hand. "Th-thank you!"

Zeno stood back a bit as Kolulu got up and turned her back towards him. She started undoing the pink string at her chest. She fumbled with the top button of her dress, but stopped and turned to Zeno to see him staring at her. "Um…what are you doing?"

He paused before answering. "What kind of question is that?"

"Uh…I'm about to change?"

"I'm aware. Carry on."

She blinked twice, and he blinked back before she asked, "Can I have some privacy?"

There was another pause before Zeno spoke. "Fine, but don't come crying to me if something attacks you." Zeno turned his back towards her, but that didn't satisfy Kolulu.

"I mean, like, can you move somewhere else where you can't see me?"

"What difference will that make? It's not like you have anything to show anyway."

Zeno did a sharp turn and caught an object in his hand. He opened his palm to find a small stone. He looked from the stone to Kolulu. "Did you just try and throw this at me?"

Her face was flushed and one of her arms was outstretched towards him, indicating that she was the culprit, while her other hand held up the top of her dress. "Just go away!"

"Tch. Have it your way!" Zeno walked behind a nearby bush that was right in front of the riverside and was out of Kolulu's view.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Zeno sat crisscrossed by the riverside and was tossing the stone in the air, overseeing the river. He recalled the past few moments and started murmuring to himself. "Foolish girl, telling me what to do." He threw the stone in the river and it skipped over the water a few times before sinking into the river. "She doesn't know who she's dealing with. If she weren't one of Zatch's friends, she would be tasting my lightning right about now." He grinned at the thought and chuckled, hands sparking with excitement, but the thought was short-lived when he thought of Zatch's tear-stricken face when he tried to defend Kolulu before she ran off and fell into the river.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and folded his arms. "Ah, whatever. She's not even cute."

"Okay! I'm ready! You can come back now!"

Zeno turned his head towards Kolulu's voice. He came out from behind the bush and looked at Kolulu as she asked, "Well, what do you think?"

His mantle fit her perfectly. The white emphasized the pink in her hair, eyes, and rosy cheeks with the pastel blue brooch and amethyst being a nice contrast to the rest of her features as all the pink she wore before seemed distracting and off-putting. Her shoes were removed and lying in the grass next to her. Her hair was still a bit wet, which made it fall a little longer than usual.

Kolulu spoke again when she didn't get an answer from him. "Zeno, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said almost immediately and gestured towards her pile of wet clothes on the ground. "You should hang those up somewhere to dry, and lie down to air out your hair to dry faster."

She nodded. "Okay."

Zeno decided to take it upon himself to jump on one of the trees and take a vine from it. He jumped down and tied the vine between the bases of two trees and motioned for Kolulu to hang her clothes on the vine while she rested. After doing so, she laid on the grass and closed her eyes, hair splayed around her head.

Zeno was sitting next to her and gazing at the sky behind the glass ceiling, remembering that they were in an enclosed space. Despite them being inside a large structure, there was still a slight breeze. Instead of questioning why there was a breeze when they were inside, he laid on his back next to Kolulu and closed his eyes, enjoying the quietness for a while.

After some time, he broke the silence. "By the way, I have a question."

Kolulu cracked one eye open and looked at him. "Hm?"

"Who's Tina?"

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Zatch was on his hands and knees panting after he pulled himself to shore. He looked downstream towards the rushing waterfall and murmured Kolulu's name before ramming his fist into the ground in frustration. After a while, he looked up at Tia who was standing still and staring at the middle of the river, still shocked at the events that just occurred.

"Tia!" Zatch grabbed her shoulders and lightly shook her. "Tia, are you okay?"

Her eyes met Zatch's and she finally spoke, albeit softly. "Zatch?"

Zatch smiled and hugged her. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

She started blushing as she was taken aback by the sudden embrace from Zatch. Before she could return the hug, her thoughts returned to reality and she started strangling him. "You've got some explaining to do!"

When she released him, he fell to the ground and rubbed his neck, eyes full of tears. "What?"

"What's going on with Kolulu? Tell me!"

Zatch recalled their earlier conversation and stood. He patted the dirt off his mantle and took a deep breath. "Okay. Remember back when Kiyo and I saved you and Megumi when we first met in the human world?"

"Yeah? You mentioned how you met this girl named Kolulu and that she was forced to fight. At first, I thought it was weird the way you said that because you sounded like you didn't know her, but after finding out that Zeno took your memories, it made sense. Of course, you wouldn't know her back then."

Zatch stayed quiet as she talked. He looked at Tia while she was pacing back and forth.

She continued. "Now that I think about it, you never told me how she was forced to fight. In a sense, not giving us the choice to fight is a way of forcing us to fight, right? I thought you were talking about how she was picked for the battle like the rest the us with no way out of it."

Zatch shifted his gaze for a moment. "Not exactly." He looked back at her. "Sure, it's true that she couldn't say no after she was chosen."

Tia thought of how she knew Kolulu since they were in pre-school. Kolulu always had a sweet disposition and never entertained the thought of fighting. She wondered why she was even picked at all for the battle despite the selection being at random, but Tia was starting to have some hesitation about the selection process. One hundred seemed to be a small number compared to all the children in Makai, and the fact that quite a few kids she personally knew were chosen for the battle, it was starting to sound like anything but a mere coincidence.

Zatch continued. He explained in depth the battle between him and Kolulu and how she had a spell that made her transform to be more battle-hungry and bloodthirsty. Zatch unwillingly burned Kolulu's book at her request since she didn't want to cause any further harm on her book owner or anyone else who had nothing to do with the battle.

Tia looked at the ground and focused her gaze on her shoes. "I had no idea she had that kind of spell. She never told me."

"I don't think she knew until the battles started. They gave her another personality, so that she will be able to fight."

"I never knew she was given another personality in order to fight. How horrible!" Her gaze returned to Zatch. "Were there others like that?"

"I'm not sure, but she was the one who gave me a reason to fight. She means a lot to me."

Tia was silent for a time. She didn't have a reply. She couldn't compete with Kolulu who always put others before herself. Kolulu had a bottomless pit of unconditional love, and Tia didn't understand why or how someone like that was given an alternate personality to kill. An image of Zeno came to Tia's mind for some reason. At first, Tia didn't understand why he came to mind, but soon figured it out once she recalled his last conversation with him.

He must know something, but if he gets close to Kolulu who's just trying to make friends with him…

An image of Maruss suddenly came to mind and she jolted at the thought. Zatch noticed her reaction and asked if she was really okay.

I can't let something like that happen to Kolulu!

"Tia?"

"Zatch, we have to hurry and find them! This time, I'm seriously worried. I don't know what Zeno was talking about earlier, but it sounds like he knows things that we don't. I don't want Kolulu to get hurt."

Zatch lowered his brows and nodded at her. "Right. He has some explaining to do too." He turned towards the waterfall. "And I'm sure you can sort out your fears if you just talked with Zeno."

"Talk with him? No way!"

Zatch swiftly turned to Tia with a solemn look. "I need to talk to him too. There's something I need to ask him regarding Kolulu."

Tia saw the look on his face and turned away. She was ashamed to face him, knowing that she denied his request to talk to the only sibling he loved.

"But don't worry! I'm sure it'll all turn out well in the end if we all just sort things out with each other," Zatch said happily and grabbed her hand. "C'mon, they're not too far away. We can walk there."

"Wait, Zatch!" Tia tried to stop him, but Zatch was already tugging at her hand and they eventually started walking together. Tia looked down at their hands and her face felt warm. "W-why are you holding my hand?"

"This way, we won't be separated," he said as his smile grew wider.

Her face went from warm to hot when she saw him smile again. She looked back down at their hands. "I…thank you, Zatch."

"No problem!"

"Zatch?"

"Yeah?"

"I…I really like how positive you are all the time, and you know exactly how to stay calm. I know you miss Kiyo, but you stay strong. I admire that about you. I…I really like you for that."

"Well, I really like your fiery spirit, Tia, and how you don't easily give up. I really like you for that."

Tia lightly squeezed Zatch's hand. "Thanks, Zatch. I'm glad we're friends."

"Me, too! I hope we can stay friends forever!"

Tia started to giggle to herself. She didn't know why she added that last statement regarding their friendship, but the fact that Zatch said he liked her, even if it wasn't in a romantic way, was enough for now. Zatch soon joined in her giggling as they both continued to walk towards their friends, holding hands along the way.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Do you think they'll be here soon?"

Zeno sat up, stretched, and looked down at Kolulu. "You're impatient."

"Huh? No. I was just wondering. I hope they're okay."

Zeno looked upstream before speaking. "I'll go take a look."

Zeno jumped on a nearby tree and leaped from branch to branch until he was at the top, overseeing the canopy. He scanned the area only to see the treetops, but that didn't bother him so much since he was able to sense Zatch's presence easily.

"Do you see them?"

Zeno looked down the tree when he faintly heard Kolulu calling up to him and answered back, "Look upstream! They're only about half a mile away!"

There was a pause, a long one too. It surprisingly got Zeno worried until Kolulu answered back with an "Okay!" He sighed and started making his way down the tree, but stopped at the sound of Kolulu's scream.

He sped down the tree. "Kolulu! What's wrong?"

When he landed, Kolulu was on the ground and looking up at their familiar canine friend. Its jaws were open and its drool was dripping in front of Kolulu's feet.

"You again?" Zeno growled.

Kolulu turned towards Zeno when she heard him and ran up to hide behind him, grabbing his shoulders. "Zeno!"

How did it find us? He thought. His eyes soon widened when he remembered himself waiting for Kolulu to change her clothes, and his hands sparked a bit when he fantasized about shocking her. "Shit."

The beast lunged at them, and Zeno habitually threw one of his arms up to shield himself with his mantle, but when he saw that his arm was bare, he looked back at Kolulu who was still wearing his mantle. "Double shit!"

Zeno managed to grab Kolulu by the waist and back out of the way, but not without the beast scraping his arm with one of its teeth.

Zeno skidded to a halt. Damn, I forgot I didn't have my mantle. No matter. I can still fight without it.

Kolulu wriggled out of Zeno's grip. "I'll go get help!"

"I don't need help. You just go and hide until Zatch gets here."

Kolulu looked at Zeno's arm and saw blood running down it and dripping on the ground. She clutched the ends of the mantle. "Then, I'll help you."

"I said I don't need help!"

The beast roared and lunged at Zeno again. Zeno jumped and kicked it towards the water, then jumped onto its hindquarters, facing its tail. He pulled on the base of its tail to bring the metal tip towards him while looking at Kolulu. "Why are you still here? Go!"

Kolulu gripped the sides of the mantle even more when she saw the beast snap its jaws at Zeno to try and stop him from grabbing the tip of its tail. Zeno had to let go of the tail to hold the creature's jaws open with his hands. Kolulu bit her lip and shivered before turning on her heels and running away, repeating to herself the directions Zeno said earlier.

"Half a mile upstream, half a mile upstream…"

She heard the sounds of combat and trees falling behind her. She didn't look back; she didn't want to. She only wanted to hear the sound of her own voice telling her where to go. Her heart was beating fast from both the running and the fear, and she started to tear up at the thought of Zeno getting hurt in the process without his mantle to protect him.

Why did I take his mantle? Zeno, please be okay. Please be okay. Please-

Her eyes were starting to burn from crying, forcing her to run with her eyes shut. She stopped when she ran into something; it was too soft to be a tree, but too hard to be any sort of large plant in the vicinity. Even though she couldn't see, her mind was put at ease when her ears picked up a familiar voice.

"Kolulu! What's the matter? Why are you crying?"

"Zatch!" Kolulu tried to talk through her crying. "Zeno is…Zeno is…"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down and breathe," Zatch said as he gently grabbed her shoulders.

Tia's voice was heard next. "We ran as soon as we saw the trees fall and we…" There was a pause from Tia, and Kolulu could sense the disapproval dripping from Tia's voice. "What are you wearing?"

Kolulu didn't want to talk between gasps and cries. She rubbed her eyes and pointed behind her when another tree fell. Zatch looked from the falling tree to Kolulu. "I understand." He slowly motioned Kolulu towards Tia. "Tia, can you stay with her? I'll go on ahead."

Before Tia could reply, Zatch flew off in the direction of the combat.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Zatch landed in a clearing right in front of the beast. He stared at it before asking, "Why won't you leave us alone?"

The creature snapped its head at Zatch and swiped its paw at him, but it was blocked by a kick from Zeno. Zeno flipped back and skidded to a halt next to Zatch. "Where's Kolulu?"

Zatch didn't take his eyes off the creature. "She's with Tia."

"And where is she?"

"She's with Kolulu."

Zeno had to restrain himself from smacking Zatch. "This isn't the time for jokes."

"I'm not joking!" Zatch turned to Zeno.

The beast stomped at an attempt to shake the ground. The trees around it rattled with their leaves falling, but the rumbling had no effect on Zatch and Zeno as they continued their bickering.

"Where are they physically?" Zeno asked, annoyed.

"Back there."

"Back where?"

Zatch pointed towards the waterfall. "Somewhere there!"

Zeno grumbled, wondering why he was arguing with Zatch over something so petty when he could have just tracked Kolulu's presence.

The beast opened its jaws and lunged at both boys, but as soon as Zatch and Zeno moved out of the way, Zeno jumped behind it and kicked the back of its head, forcing its snout to be buried in the dirt.

Zeno landed beside Zatch. "Tch. At least Kolulu's safe."

Zatch suddenly changed his tone of voice and said in a teasing manner, "Boy, looks like someone cares about Kolulu, huh?"

As if he didn't get enough of Tia's strangling today, Zatch received a smack to the head from Zeno. "You dumb nut! She's wearing my mantle! Don't misunderstand!"

Zatch rubbed the top of his head, but his tone stayed the same. "Oh, I understand completely!"

Zeno gave Zatch a threatening glare, and used every fiber of his being to not send sparks to his shaking fists.

"You just want to be her friend, don't you?"

For some reason, Zeno's face relaxed a bit. He only had seconds to register Zatch's question since his attention went back to the beast after it yanked it snout from the ground and howled. Zeno only took a moment to glance back at Zatch before turning his back towards him. "I don't intend to make friends."

"Then why did you give her your mantle? Why did you save her back there? Why are you fighting the way she wants you to? Why did you come into the greenhouse to begin with? Why-?"

Zatch was interrupted when Zeno grabbed his brooch and brought him close to his face, their noses practically touching each other. "Shut up. It's not like I want to do those things. She's important to you, isn't she?"

"Yeah. She inspired me to become a kind king."

Zeno quickly turned around to punch the creature in the snout as he sensed it was approaching him from behind. It was pushed back and landed in the shallow river, panting. Zeno turned back to Zatch. "Yeah, yeah, you told me that story a million times. I know who she is." Zeno's grimace suddenly turned into a sadistic grin. "But I know more about her than you do."

Zatch's eyes widened. "What?"

Zeno suddenly held up his arm, to block an attack from behind. The attack was weak, but it was enough to reopen his wound from earlier. He recognized the amount of power behind the attack and grumbled. "Took you long enough to get here."

Tia and Kolulu were both several feet away from them. In her arms, Kolulu held her clothes that were hanging on the vine earlier. They were dirty from the scuffle, but dry nonetheless. She had on a look of fear and concern while Tia appeared to be angry.

"We heard what you just said, Zeno," Tia said, arms outstretched, indicating that she was the one who just casted a spell at him. "Talk. Now!"