Star Gazer

Chapter 31 – Bounty Hunter Bean Part 4

It felt like it had been years since Bean had seen Cecilia, that she had almost forgotten what she looked like. Cecilia was taller than Bean by a few inches. She clocked in at about 5'8 inches tall. Cecilia had black hair wrapped in a bun and wore a long black dress with a long white top draped over the clothing. Her skin complexion looked like she hadn't been in the sun for months. Bean, of course, had always remembered Cecilia looking like a vampire. Bean helped Cecilia to her feet, and Cecilia dusted off the dirt from her dress. "Well, look at you, Bean," She eyed her leather armor. "It's a nice change of pace from what you usually wear."

"Oh, um, thanks, Cecil," Bean said, laughing awkwardly. "Uh, are you ok, by the way?"

"Yes, I am, thanks to you!" Cecilia replied in relief. "I appreciate the help Beanie."

"I'm glad to help!" Bean said proudly. "And I'm going to make sure to beat an apology out of Tavish for making you do some royal work that HE is supposed to be doing."

"Oh no, Beanie, no need to do that," She shook her head. "I'm helping Tavish out as much as I can. He is working hard, after all."

"Hard working," Bean repeated, doing quotations with her fingers. "Yeah, right…"

Elfo and Luci got off the horse and walked over to the two. Elfo first introduced himself. "HI! I'm Elfo!" He said, waving at her. Cecilia gasped. "Oh, this is the cute little Elf I've heard so much about!" She exclaimed with a smile on her face. Elfo let out an awkward laugh and replied, "Ok, easy on the cute and little thing, lady," Cecilia kneeled and began gently pinching Elfo's cheeks. "Yes, you are! You're such a cutie!" Elfo would start to laugh, "H-Hey! Stop it! Haha! Stop!" He chuckled. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" He suddenly shouted while shoving her hands away.

"Anyways, I'm Luci," He said as he shoved Elfo aside and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, cutie." He winked.

Cecilia stared at Luci for a moment before she replied. "Is…this the talking cat?" She asked Bean. Bean would nod and say, "Yeah, he's not allowed around the good furniture." She said. After Luci replied with snarking remarks about Bean, she grabbed the bounty- placed him on the back of the horse- and the group made their back to Dreamland. The group would arrive back in town, and Cecilia turned to Bean. "Thank you again, Bean," She said sincerely. "It's no problem," She replied. "I don't understand why you're doing all this for Tavish." She spoke in an upset tone. "Like, why are you letting him use you like this?"

"Bean, I'm only helping Tavish get closer to his goal. These relationships are essential for the kingdom of Dreamland," said Cecilia. "Tavish aims to do as much as possible when he becomes King. You know he's been working hard for a long time."

"Yeah…whatever…" Bean said bitterly as she turned away from her.

"Bean dear, you should try and support your brother," said Cecilia. "He's working hard to try and achieve goals, and it would be nice if you could-" Bean would cut Cecilia off, "Look, it was nice seeing you again, Cecilia, but I got a bounty to drop off," said Bean, turning around to look at her. "It was nice seeing you again, Cecilia." Bean, along with Elfo and Luci, hop back on the horse and ride off to the bounty center, leaving Cecilia to sigh and frown. Once Bean turned in the bounty to the center and received her earnings, the trio decided to head off to the secret spot and chill out with food. They would spend half of the day hanging out at the secret spot, talking about random things and making jokes about Zog. They would leave the secret spot when evening came around and head back into town. As they strolled down the dirt path, the trio ran into Pendergast and Mertz.

"Oh, Princess Tiabeanie, have you seen Koga at all?" Pendergast asked.

"Uh, no, isn't he in the castle with you guys?"

"Koga tried talking to the witch we brought to the castle to get information out of her. After he couldn't get anything out of her, he left off into the woods and never came back," Mertz explained.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine," said Bean waving him off. "He'll be back tonight, maybe or something."

"Well, if you run into Koga, tell him we're going to have another herculean beetle fight in barracks!" said Pendergast as he and Mertz walked off.

"Um, guys…" said Elfo looking up at Bean. "Do you think that Koga is ok?"

Bean would sigh and look down at Elfo."Elfo, it's Koga. Koga is damn near invincible. He'll be ok," She said as she and Luci began walking. But Elfo didn't move. "Koga might be strong, but that doesn't mean he can't die! What if something happened?"

Bean groaned. "Look, Elfo, there's nothing to worry about; I'm irritated and sober, and I need a drink!"

Elfo frowned. "What kind of friends are you? Koga could be getting tortured or worse! We need to go look for him!"

"Yeah, my feet are pointed this way, so it's a no-go for me," said Luci.

"UGH! I can't believe you guys!" said Elfo. "Fine! I'll go look for Koga myself!" He shouts as he turns around and storms off. Bean and Luci looked at each other, shrugged, and continued to the bar.

"Stupid Jerks!" Elfo muttered. "What kind of friend doesn't worry about another? Ugh! I don't understand them sometime!" As Elfo walked down the dirt path for a few moments, something caught his eye. On the right, he saw peppermint candy embedded into the ground. But it wasn't only peppermint candy but also gumdrops sticking out of the land. "Oh wow!" He said excitedly as he knelt and took a bite out of the gumdrop. Elfo would begin taking a bite out of each gumdrop he saw while not noticing that he was walking down the peppermint path. As Elfo took one last bite out of a gumdrop, he stepped forward straight into a door. "OW!" He yelped as he rubbed his face. "What did I walk into-Oh wow!" He said in awe as he stood right in front of a gingerbread house. "Ohoho, don't mind if I do!" He said as he leaped, grabbed hold of the windowless door and began licking the candy cane frames. Elfo would lick away at the tasty candy cane frame till he screamed and fell back onto the ground. Two round blond-haired people were eyeing him through the front door. One had short blond hair and was wearing a tethered green shirt that was too small for him since it showed his chubby stomach. The other had blond pig tails and wore a green dress with black buttons.

"Looks like we have a candy cane licker!" said The Short Blond haired man named Hansel, grinning at his sister Gretel.

Gretel would giggle and open the gingerbread window door. "Come in little green Elf! The candy canes taste much better. Less bird droppings."

"Oh, thank you, who are you two?" The curious Elf asked.

"He's Hansel."

"Und, she's Gretel!"

Elfo rubs his chin. "So Gretel and Hansel?"

"Nein, Hansel And Gretel!" Hansel shouted. "Now, please come in. Schenll!"

Elfo flinches at Hansel's last word and hurries inside the gingerbread house. Once Elfo was situated, he sat in the living room with Hansel. Elfo looked around the living room and stared at all the candy-themed decorations. Everything ranged between candy-cane tables, gummy shelves, and even the gingerbread sofa he was sitting on. All of this reminded him of his home back at the elm. That was somewhat of a turn-off considering he left his home searching for new experiences.

Nonetheless, Elfo loved eating the candy that Gretel was serving, but despite all of this…something was off. Elfo couldn't put his finger on it, but something didn't feel right to him. That's when Elfo caught a whiff of a putrid smell.

"BLEH!" Elfo cringed as he covered his nose. "Oh my god, what's that smell?"

"Hansel!" Gretel said as she batted her eyes at him.

"What? It's not me!" Hansel said defensively.

Elfo was confused. He should be smelling candy, icing, and other sweet things. So why on earth was he smelling something so horrible? It didn't make any sense. As Elfo's eyes began to wander in search of some answers to his questions, he began to notice certain spots in the room were damaged. It looked like the two siblings tried fixing it, but they had done it so poorly. Then, Elfo saw something on the breaded walls. It looked…just like sword marks.

"Um…did something happen in here?" Elfo asked.

"What do you mean?" Gretel asked.

"Well…some of the stuff in here looks-"

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Hansel said, cutting Elfo off. "Gretel und I just had a bit of a fight, is all!"

"Oh, I see-wait…" Elfo placed down the candies he was eating and walked over to the corner of the room. Leaning next to a breaded bookcase…was Koga's sword. "T-This is my friend's sword…"

"What?" said Gretel confused.

"This sword! It belongs to my friend Koga!" Elfo said, turning around to them. But then…Elfo's eyes were beginning to weigh, and all his energy left his body. "W-Why am I so tired? I…" He yawned, getting so tired that he couldn't even stand.

"Oh, sweetheart, you look so sleepy!" said Gretel as she walked over to him and picked him up. "Come on…let's get you somewhere nice and cozy…."

"B-But…K-Koga…"

"Oh, don't worry, little Elf…you'll be joining him soon…"