15 Halcyon Days in Orario (4.5)
"Thanks for having me over, Lord Miach and Naaza. Sorry if I intruded on you this evening by popping in for this sudden visit."
"Nonsense, Michael-kun. It's always a pleasure to have you and Chi over."
The keyblade wielder and dream eater duo exited the warmth confines of the Blue Pharmacy household. Home to the god of healing, Miach and his only Child, the quiet and beautiful Chienthrope, Naaza.
"You're hospitality knows no bounds, Lord Miach." Chi gracefully bowed to the two denizens of the familia. "We must sincerely apologize for coming into your abode and asking you both about your past misfortunate…"
The blue haired deity placatingly raised his hand. "It's quite alright, Chi. To this day, I always pondered why the loss of one of my Children bothered me. Back then, it was almost natural to deal with losing them to the dungeon…" He looked to his side at Naaza's silver prosthetic limb but pulled his sight away once the Chienthrope self-consciously rolled her sleeve to hide it.
"In spite of my familia no longer bolstering numbers it once had, it puts my mind at ease that I can finally gather the closure I need with their death by providing what little assistance I can to your investigation." Miach bowed his head as Michael determinedly nodded.
"Your assistance truly contributed a lot, Lord Miach. Again, I truly thank you and Naaza for giving us your time."
"And we thank you for coming to us with this information in the first place, Michael-kun." Naaza quietly spoke with a smile as she and her God humbly bowed. "Not many would go to the lengths you are to investigate these dungeon related deaths. If there really is a connection with other familias who've experienced the same loss, then I'm relieved that this matter is in your hands." The Chienthrope eyes harden. "So please…"
"Once I've gotten all the evidence, I need to confirm everything, I'll let you all know." Michael's word brought relief to the woman, who appreciatively bowed her head.
"Thank you."
"No need to thank me, I'm just doing what anyone should have done." His grip on the portfolio containing the recorded date of the unfortunate "statistic" almost crumpled in his hand. "Besides, I should be the one thanking you-
"For this!"
"Ugh!"
His grin widened as he saw in the corner of his eye, his Chirithy trying to cover their face into their nubby little hands. Why the sudden reaction, well because in his free hand was the Blue Pharmacy's new plushy and adorable stuffed Chirithy! Apart from the size, the craftmanship of the doll was quite identical to the real Chi. Put the two together, and you'll have a hard time telling which one was the real dream eater – until you get hit with a witty remark by the one weirdly eyeballing you.
"…We were running low on materials to synthesize those potions that you taught us to make, so we searched for other ways to make up for the dip in profits – that is until you came over to restock our materials." Michael happily shrugged, he had heard from Karen the other day about it and wanted to drop off half the materials that he gathered for today.
A bit of a delay to create that gift for Lefiya wasn't going to hurt him, and he REALLY wanted to do as much as he can to support these good people, who've been kind to him and his goddess when they were just starting out. "So, after some brainstorming, I thought about the first feeling I had when I saw Chi and figured that others would undoubtedly want to have their own little Chi to snuggle."
"Flattery…will almost get you everywhere…" Chi didn't know how to feel about their likeness being made into a product. Should they feel joy that they're helping these two folks out by consenting to it or irritation that they're basically endorsing consumers who buy the plushie to go up to them and pull them into more of those annoying bear hugs.
"After our run in with Miss Hiryuute today, I'd appreciate if people felt less of what you did and exercised personal space…" Everyone laughed at the Chirithy's exasperation.
"It's truly one of your finest works, Naaza." Miach complimented the chienthrope and missed the way that she blushed at his generous smile.
"I-It was but the first of its kind, Miach-sama. I couldn't get enough yarn to match Chi's eyes and had to make do with some buttons that I found laying around. T-That's not even mentioning the lack of stuffing that I acquired, I wasn't able to perfectly replicate Chi's pouchy belly."
"P-Pouchy-mmrph! Hm?" Michael happily watched Naaza's adorable flustering while making certain that his little pal didn't kill the sweet moment.
"Even so, like with everything, your hard work and dedication clearly shows." The god delicately took her hands both warm with flesh and cold with silver into his own. "I'm truly blessed to still have such a wonderful Child such as you after everything that's happened."
"M-Miach-sama…" It was nice to see the calm woman that was Naaza Erisuis make such a smitten face. He and almost everyone could clearly see the affection that Naaza had for her god, save for Miach himself, who oblivious despite all the signs standing right in front of him.
Even Takemikazuchi of all people could see it whenever he came by to restock on potions for familia could see it. And every time the eastern God of War jokingly brought it up, Chi would always find themselves groaning, pot calling the kettle black.
He tossed the woman a wink and a thumbs up in full support. His own relationship with Hestia was a different case, but he would do everything in his power to support the woman vying attempts to pursue a romance with her God.
"So how much do you guys want for this wonderful piece of merchandising?" Michael asked and immediately Miach snapped his head around to give him a courteous smile.
"Consider it on the house, Michael-kun. We can't possibly ask for any more of your money. After all, you've done plenty to help us already." Ah, there goes Miach being so charitable like always. Another reason why Michael liked the god and had hoped that others would be as kind and generous as he was.
Unfortunately, that couldn't always be the case…
He noticed the conflicted look on Naaza's face. She too had no issue with giving him the doll for free but wouldn't mind some extra payment.
Michael cheekily grinned.
"I know." Michael dug his hand into his coat's pocket and pulled out one of three tiny pouches that grew to the size of a medium sized bag once he dispelled the Mini spell that was cast on it. As the jostling of coins caught the attention of two perked up dog ears, Michael chuckled and tossed the bag into the chienthrope's eager hands.
"I still want to pay for this work of art though."
"25,000 valis…?" Miach gaped after Naaza went about informing him after happily counting the amount.
"Yup until you guys start selling these Chirithy dolls in droves, I currently hold a one of kind masterpiece. I'd say that ups its current value, wouldn't you agree?"
Michael always carried around some of his personal savings. Heartless were destructive and the Guild couldn't always cover for the damages that they caused to other people's property, so he liked to have some valis on hand to help pay for reconstructing businesses and the homes of those poor souls.
This ought to help with the debt troubles, Michael thought in relief.
"M-Michael-kun, please… There's really no need to go this far." Michael's smile widened at the god's attempts at rejecting his generosity. "You've already done so much for us." The god really was as stubborn as he was kind. "25,000 valis for a single doll is a bit much…"
"But didn't you say that Naaza's hard work gave birth to something as amazing as this "single doll" thought, Lord Miach?"
"Y-Yes, but-!"
"So wouldn't you say that all the effort Naaza put into making this deserves more than any subpar payment, hm?"
"O-Of course but that isn't-!"
"Hehehe!" Michael chuckled at the easily teased God.
"Even so, we can't take that much from you, Michael-kun. We'll just settle with 500 valis. The price that we planned to give to the others once they're made."
Michael rubbed his chin in thought then nodded. "Hm, okay, that sounds fair. If it really makes you that uncomfortable to have all that money then I'll gladly take it off your hands, Lord Miach."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Miach turned to Naaza, who was hesitant to let go of the whole sum but wholeheartedly complied with her god's wishes. "We thank you for your understanding and magnanimity, Michael-kun."
"Don't mention it, Lord Mi-OH MY GOSH!" Everyone went on alert at the nineteen year old's scream as he pointed behind the God and Child duo. "Is that Shadow Heartless behind you guys? Look!"
Immediately Naaza rushed to stand in front of her deity as a shield to fend off the creature. But paused with Miach once they saw no sign of the malicious creature infesting their home.
"Michael-kun, where's the-? Huh, wait, Michael-kun!"
"Hahahahaha! Thanks for the doll you two!"
"W-Wait for me!"
It was the perfect distraction as the pair looked back to find that Michael was already running off into the distance with Chi struggling to keep up by his side. Michael knew how stubborn the pair could be when it came down to their debt. They wouldn't accept his offer of paying off their debt with all the income that he earned from the Guild and his Dungeon diving.
He assured them that the valis he would use to pay them would be easy to earn back and then some if he really poured in his time to traversing the deeper floors. But their stance on not receiving that form of help didn't change.
They wanted to settle their own debt themselves and wouldn't accept no less than purchases from the potions. Potions that were so watered down and subpar that adventurers thought twice about not purchasing from their shops unless they were desperate or really poor.
And so, he decided to help the two of them another way through teaching them the Art of Potion Synthetization. He did debate with Chi on whether he should go through with teaching the two this Moogle-borne art that was taught to him by the Master of his Union, but still went on with repaying the two kind souls for their continued support and friendship with his at the time destitute familia with Hestia.
Him getting this doll was the perfect way to give them a large sum of his valis without being immediately turned away. To overcome their stubborn kindness, he had to be clever.
Being kind in of itself can be a dangerous thing when used reckless among so many other facets of life.
…A lesson he had bitterly learned from the Unions who hoarded vast amounts of lux to stave off the impending darkness that kept invading the World.
'There that ought to have helped keep stable while they're busing synthesizing more potions.' He grinned.
"M-Michael, wait-!"
"Whoops!" Michael stopped running to look back at Chi, who stopped running too. In fact they were quite a ways away from him. "Sorry, Chi! I'll wait." He exclaimed.
"No, that's not it! Come back!" Chi screamed.
Come back, what for? "Why?" He soon got his answer once Chi pointed behind him.
"Ah, Michael-kun! You're back!"
"O-Oh…"
Michael wilted as he found himself standing in the same spot in front of the Blue Pharmacy before he took off. Before Miach or Naaza could say anything, Michael wordlessly ran after Chi, who gave up with keeping up and hopped onto his shoulder while angrily smacking the side of his head.
"How did you get lost on a straight road!?"
"I wasn't lost! I was just lost in thought!"
"Lost in both mind and body!? Wow, I really can't believe how you can still surprise me after all these years!"
The Miach Familia of two could only smile as the bickering pair disappeared into the dark streets of Orario. The magic stone powered streetlights whirred to life as their illuminating light only accentuated the lunar glow of the crescent moon in the star scattered night sky. Eventually, Michael and Chi were able to join the main roads.
Even at night, the city of Orario truly never sleeps since there were still groups of people hanging about the place either window shopping, talking with their groups of friends, or generally getting from point A to B like they were. The current day was surely a busy one for Michael.
No rest for the weary, he thought. From teaching a class on Heartless to new adventurers (plus Tiona), to doing his rounds of patrol for Heartless, and avoiding the stubborn Werewolf that wanted to kick his ass during said patrol. Usually, you'd expect someone to be exasperated with all of this work, but Michael couldn't find it in himself to complain.
It felt good to be back from his brief work in the dungeon. Though Bete chasing him around was he could do without. Seriously, the guy was relentless, he chased him around the city for three hours before he was finally shaken off near the *GULP!* Pleasure District.
Michael shuddered at the memory. He was barely there for a minute. The moment his face showed up near the district's front gates, he was immediately swarmed by their "friendly" occupants. Before any of them could grab him, he immediately used Teleport spell to get away while leaving the pursuing Bete to take his place.
XXX (LINE BREAK) XXX
"Man, he is persistent today!" Michael panted as he hopped off a building's rooftop to randomly land in some random street.
"Phew, you know..." Chi drawled out on his shoulder. "Apart from his...troubling personality, I'd say that would be one of his defining traits."
"Sadly, that trait is put towards trying to beat me black and blue." Michael laughed as he just walked about and looked around. Actually, the more he thought about it this place does look familiar. There sure was an influx of male citizens and adventurers flocking towards a gate that's being guarded by...
Suddenly, the memory of a feathered hat wearing god leading his sorry self through the city dreadfully pulled up in the forefront of his mind...
"Oh, crap..." He gulped.
"Of all the rotten luck." Chi shook their heads at the heady sight before them. They found themselves standing in front of the Pleasure District. The one place that he never wanted to be around!
"O-Okay, maybe I lost track of where I was during the chase and ended up here by mistake."
"Yes, the chase. That's the reason why you ended up here. Nothing else." Chi sarcastically said while knowingly looking at him.
Ignoring the dream eater, Michael slowly began sneaking away before anyone could not-.
"FOUND YOU!"
"No..."
The sound of rapid footsteps came to an abrupt end as Bete appeared before the retreating pair from a nearby alleyway.
"I've been looking for your ass the whole day! Now I've got you right where I want you!"
"No...no...stop..." Michael quietly pleaded. The werewolf's shouting was already getting the attention of the crowd of pleasure seeking adventurers...and working girls beyond the gates. Even the Amazonian guards watched their interaction with growing interest.
"No where for you to run. We're finally going to settle this, you key swinging bastard!"
"O-Okay...Bete calm down, lets do this somewhere that isn't here." Seriously, he could already hear the hurried calls of the guards to the populace of working girls beyond the gates.
"No. I'm not falling for any of your shit, dick head. You're not weaseling your way out of this!" The Werewolf cracked his knuckles and viscously snarled at the panicking Keyblade Wielder. "We're settling things right here, right n-!"
"It's HIM!"
"Get him before he runs away~!"
'Uh-oh...' It was too late.
"What the hell!?" Bete gaped at the crowd of prostitute (mostly amazons), who tore through the poor crowd of males. It was a chaotic frenzy as their sole target lied ahead of them, next to the fetching werewolf bonus beside him. "Tch, should have known we were near this place. It just reeks of prostitutes from all that cheap ass perfume.
Blankly looking at Bete, then the mess of prostitutes coming right at him, then to an understanding Chi, who solemnly nodded in agreement with his unsaid intentions, Michael did the only thing he could in that moment.
"Vanish." In the blink of an eye, the young man and Chirithy vanished without a trace. Leaving Bete to gape at the sight (or rather lack of it), and angrily roar out to the heavens.
"What the-? Again!? Stop running away, you cow-aaaaaaaaaagh!" Bete didn't have the time to continue searching for the scent since he was overcome by the stampeding Amazons and dragged this way and that way by them. "Urgh! Get your damn hands off of me ya damn harpies...shit! The scent, you're shitty perfume's getting in the way!"
Watching all of this from the rooftop that he fled to, Michael sympathetically watched the scene. Usually, he would never leave a friend (well, maybe he was the only one, who saw themselves as friends) like that, but he figured that Bete could handle it.
"He is a Level 6 after all." Chi furthered his point.
Plus, now he won't have to deal with any interruptions during his patrols for heartless.
"Just hope that this doesn't burn any more bridges with him." Michael sadly sighed.
"I KNOW YOU'RE AROUND HERE, BASTARD! ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOUR DEAD!" The werewolf viscously exclaimed before getting engulfed into the crowd of overeager amazons.
"Y-Yeah, you don't have to worry about that since they've all been burned by this point." Chi sweatdropped.
Clapping his hands, Michael gave Bete one last sorrowful prayer before leaving the poor werewolf to his fate.
XXX (LINE BREAK) XXX
He felt bad for doing what he did, but memories of a traitorous Messenger God resurfaced and made his fight or flight response kick in. He's sure that Bete would forgive him…hopefully.
'Still, what was up with that place? Am I on some top priority list or something?' He thought wondering why 90% of those working girls were Amazons. Like the one from earlier today.
He sighed, hopefully nothing's going on in that place? He didn't know why but that district always rubbed him (no, not like that, get your minds out of the gutter!) the wrong way. There's a faint scent of darkness around there, and he has tried investigating, but he'd always end interrupted by the district's many (scary) workers and the trail of darkness tended to be too faint to truly find the source. Above quickly dealing with the Heartless problem there in his patrols or guild requests before dipping out, he hasn't really gotten much of an impression of the place beyond it being a mystery.
After that fiasco, he got caught up with patrolling for Heartless for the rest of the day. Near the end, a pack of Shadows that he had slayed were conveniently near the Blue Pharmacy, so he had Chi paid their friends a visit to give them the news of their return.
"It sure was nice seeing them again." Chi spoke up.
Michael nodded. "Yeah. They seem to be doing just fine." He smiled at the plush Chirithy. "It's probably too late to consider visiting Lord Takemikazuchi and his familia." He wondered aloud as Chi shrugged and nodded.
"Probably."
"Maybe they'll stop by the Café later."
"Again, probably. Yet, I think it may take a while before that happens."
"Hm, why not?" Michael asked.
"Because of the discount that we kept giving them."
"R-Right…" He remembered now, whatever amount of valis they were taken in return for full course meals no matter how meager the pay was. No one from the Hestia Familia could possibly turn away anyone starving especially their friends, who still had to send vast amounts of their dungeon and Jagamarukun stand earnings to their Shrine friends back home. "Still, I didn't think they would all bow like that."
He sweatdropped at the memory of seeing all six of them in the seiza position. No matter how many times he told them to get up, they refused.
"Well after giving them so many ridiculous discounts for great meals made from off world recipes, they felt a sudden need to repay the "debt" otherwise they'd be moochers." Chi lightly laughed with Michael.
It had to be a custom of their Far East culture since they vehemently declared to pay them back the full price for all of their collective meals since then. There wasn't really a set price to begin with, so Michael came up with a price that wasn't too high to bankrupt them nor was it too low to arouse their suspicion for a higher price expectancy.
So, he told them they owed 75,000 valis. Their familia averaged around half that much in the dungeon before sending half of those earnings to their Shrine. He didn't see a reason to give them a deadline and his Goddess promised to hand wave the whole thing whenever they changed their mind, but like the Miach Familia, Takemikazuchi and his lot were stubborn.
"Probably didn't help that you gave them those grimoires that day."
"What? It was a gift in celebration for Ouka and Chigusa finally reaching the second step. We were going to sell them after doing that job for the Old Man and Fels anyways. Besides, it made them-."
"Happy?" Chi finished for him with some humor, and he grinned.
"Bingo."
"It also made it impossible for them to deny paying us back." Chi reminded.
"It sure did…" Michael tiredly groaned and took one look at the semi-crumpled portfolio in disappointment. Spotting this Chi poked his leg and prodded.
"You still…processing this?"
"Yeah…" Michael hoarsely rubbed his hand through his hair. "It's just…" He opened the folder and grimaced at the details. "I understand that Orario…this world's not a nice place from past experiences. Definitely not as nice as back then when everything was one and whole…" He sadly trailed off. "But how could someone do this to another person and live with themselves only to do it again? I just can't wrap my head around it sometimes."
"…" Chi quietly pondered over their response. "I don't know and to be honest, I'm glad that neither of us do. That darkness that this culprit has in his heart, has been present in so many other people's as well. The same way a vain Queen disguised herself as a hag to feed an innocent maiden a poisoned apple without batting an eye. There are just some people, who can be even more heartless than the Heartless themselves."
Michael sadly sighed as he looked at the report belonging to a fifteen year old human female before shutting it. Death always walked with Keyblade Wielders no matter their age. Being the constant beacon for Heartless to pounce on you was the main cause of it.
It still didn't make it easier to stomach the occasional disappearances of those from his Union, especially the Beginning Keyblade Wielders, whose age range was around twelve years old.
The war only worsened things by having them and the younglings of all groups participate and well…
As he's the only one that's still around, you can tell what happened.
"I get it…" Michael bitterly clicked his tongue. "I just wished that some people could be decent and kind sometimes…" His investigation still needed a bit concrete evidence. The Old Man won't give any Guild approval and it didn't matter if he's good friends with the Ganesha Familia's captain, they can't act against another Familia without a solid good reason.
He tiredly sighed. If he were just a new visitor to this world, he would simply barge into the place, put down the bad guys, and bring peace to those who've lost loved ones and were tormented because of them. And that's discrediting the fact that he'd somehow know as much as he did now by some miracle.
But he's not. He's decided to lay his roots in this world and live among them despite virtually being an outsider to the world's natural laws and order. That meant, he'll have to play things smart and be cautious. Just because he can take on two Level 2s and a whole legion of Level 1s doesn't mean the problem will be instantly fixed.
It would lead to a mess, and he needed to contain his culprit before he could confront the next culprit, and even that's before finally getting that confirmed connection to the familia that's hunting his underground friends, who desperately wanted to see the sun.
He wants to do everything right and make every one of these people pay the consequences for their heinous deeds. Unlike them, the Heartless have an excuse for their untampered and cruel nature. They were mindless monsters simply following the primordial will of Darkness itself.
He hasn't even reached a third of the collected case files that he requested from Fels and his friend as each one was as worse as the last. So many deaths happened and weren't addressed until now because "whatever happened in the dungeon was fair game unless you got caught". Well, too bad for the poor souls, he's not going to look the other way.
From the culprit to their very God, who condoned/allowed for all of this death to happen. When he finally meets that deity face to face, he promises that their chat won't be pleasant. At. All.
To brighten his mood, he remembered being pulled over by Rose after his lecture and getting that black pack. That at least put a smile onto his face as he couldn't wait to give it to Bell along with the "nice" message in it.
It was sure to cheer the boy up especially after the hard work he's sure to have been put through today.
"Hm?" Noticing the familiar aroma of food and alcohol in the air, Michael quickened his pace with unquestionably keeping in stride beside him. He cursed his luck for somehow winding up on the road home in the same path as the Hostess of Fertility. He didn't want cause anyone trouble and as he judged earlier tod-.
*Glaaaaare!*
Right now. She was probably working there right now since the glares that he got from the tower were mild compared to the usual scalding, contemptuous daggers that were shot his way from that opulent room at the top of Babel.
It was his old habit of checking in on the proprietress and her waitresses kicking in that made him unaware of his surroundings.
'Better mosey on out of here before anyone notices me.'
Though a part of him wanted to sneak a peek and see if Ryuu was doing fine, he knew better than to just show up out of the blue with everyone there.
"Everyone" being the tavern's working patrons, the celebrating Loki familia, and-
*GACHA!* *GACHA!*
"AYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
"B-Bell?"
*THUD!*
Michael did not expect to find his newest apprentice zip out the establishment's front doors and crash into his arms.
"I-I'm so sorry! But I gotta-!" The boy was panicking, trying to frantically pull away from Michael's grip on his shoulders. His entire face was red, he was covered in bandages and bruises, and he just came out of the last place that Michael expected him to be.
What exactly was going on?
"Bell, calm down." The boy couldn't escape from his grip as he futilely swung himself back and forth for the chance to break free and run away.
"B-B-But-!" The boy paused once he realized that his name was addressed and looked to finally acknowledge who he exactly bumped into. "M-Master and Chi? What are you two doing here?"
"We were just heading back home after paying Lord Miach and Naaza a visit and found ourselves using this route." Michael raised an eyebrow at the boy. "But I believe I should be asking why you're he-."
*GACHA!* *GACHA!*
"Bell, wai-!"
Once his eyes met with a pair of grey orbs, he got his answer.
XXX (LINE BREAK) XXX
What started as a tense confrontation for seeking answers devolved into a feverous argument of high emotions.
*SMASH!* *SMAASH!* *SMAAAAAAASH!*
Not even the boaz desperately smashing away at the erected hexagonal barrier outside the opulent room…
"Agh…guagh…!"
…nor the pained cries and whimpers of the limp cat person on the marble tiled floor ground, who was the catalyst for starting this downward spiral.
The lost Keyblade Wielder was deeply hurt by the blatant lies and deceptions that he's been forced to face as he confronted his "friend", someone, who conveniently wore the mask of his "friend" at their leisure while they secretly schemed and wronged the lives of his loved ones and innocents just for "him". His initial cold confrontation broke down into righteous anger and sadness, the same way her beautifully calm and in-control front crumbled and gave way to desperate self-entitlement and longing.
Both were sides were irrevocably hurt that day as the strong bond of friendship that once linked their Hearts rotted away and was barely hanging on by a thread once he uttered a series of words so cutting that it made the woman, who garnered his ire, to curse her innate skill to gleam the truth and lies from the tongues of man itself.
"Ugh...I can't believe this...Did you honestly believe after all of this that I would ever fall in love with someone like you? Never."
XXX (LINE BREAK) XXX
'Now this makes sense about why she's not up there glaring at me with the same fire she had yesterday.'
The cool night temperature of Orario felt like it dropped below zero as the young keyblade wielder met face to face with Syr Flova. Bell, who was still frazzled by whatever happened earlier calmed down to notice this and worriedly look between the two. Once those doors slammed from Bell's exit and were pushed open once again by her, the waitress's worried front hardened into the most frigid expression imaginable.
The same could also be said for Michael, and to Bell's shock surprise, Chi as well.
"…"
"…"
That second of silence felt like an eternity before Michael finally decided to break it.
"Syr."
"Michael-kun."
Michael sighed as he noticed Bell shuddering at their blasé greeting. Neither hid the fair bit of edge in their tone. He didn't even bother to check the link of their meager bond, too embittered by the events of last year to even feel out the emotions that ran rampart in her heart.
All he needed to know was that her sights were now officially on the poor flustered boy, who sent them questioning looks. The kid really looked like he had something on his mind to ask…
"Get your ass back here, I'm not done with you y-!"
But the words died on his lips once a very recognizable growl ripped through the air as the gray-haired waitress, who kept her cold eyes trained on him, stepped to the side to allow one of their customers through.
One werewolf, who still carried so much rage in his heart once their eyes also fell upon him.
"Yeuck! What's that smell…" Chi covered their nose in disgust. The heavy stench of perfume pervaded the air and its source, the growling werewolf that was baring his claws and staggering their way at him with so much bloodlust.
"You…!"
Oh, he was pissed. Looks like those working girls at the pleasure district gave him a lot of trouble after all, hehehe…urh…
"H-Hey, Bete…" Sensing their master's distress, his keyblade materialized in his free hand as he pulled Bell (that was shivering in his boots) back with him away from the encroaching murderous werewolf. "You know…"
He flinched at sickening cracks of the man's balled fists. Not that his words would ever persuade the werewolf from ever engaging him through violence, but Michael could tell a lost cause when he sees it. Those amber eyes of his were pinpricks with body tensed and primed to pounce with the slightest twitch of a muscle.
Michael and Chi tossed each other a single look and a nod. They both knew how this was going to end, so the young man still did his best to be friendly with Bete despite it ending up ringing hollow in the Level 6's head. "You actually smell pretty…nice?"
Chi facepalmed as he cringed. Those were not the words that the werewolf, who fought off the grabby prostitutes of the Pleasure District wanted to hear!
"DIIIIIIIIIIIE!"
"Congratulations on your return back-!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"
*SMAAAAASH!*
Three seconds. That's all the time needed for him to drag the screaming Bell and the exasperated Chi into the portal he made with his keyblade while narrowly dodging the devastating arrow kick intended for his head. But in that last second, his eyes briefly met with the eerily silent waitress, who stood to the side and watched.
Their eyes conveyed different messages before he disappeared.
His eyes conveyed a grave warning to her.
While the silver glint in hers conveyed a challenge.
And just like that, things somehow got more troublesome while he was away.
As Michael and his pals vanished into the ether of his portal, Bete having been left with no outlet to take his frustration and revenge out on let a series of colorful words too profane for the innocent ears of children and young maidens. Eventually his little fit did blow over when he got sick of repeating the same curse word on loop.
"Hold on! You're only get that mad when *GASP!*. That means Michael's here, right? Did he change his mind? Were you able to catch that kid?" Came the rapid-fire questions of Tiona Hiryuute, who excitedly rushed out of the tavern with the intrigued Ais Wallenstein by her side.
"Tch!" Shoving his hands into his pockets, the werewolf stomped his way back to the bar. "First of all, fuck you." That earned a pensive glare from the Amazon. "Secondly, the bastard was here and took off running with that stupid brat instead of sticking around to fight me like a man!" He growled to the night sky hoping his taunting roars would somehow reach the fleeing Keyblade Wielder wherever he ended up.
"Shoot. That just means you chased him off." She angrily pouted at the man. "Like usual, you managed to ruin everything, you stupid wolf!"
"Shut it, skinny woman!" With a huff, he strode past the two girls, doing his best (and failing) to ignore the raspberry Tiona was blowing at him as Ais just stare off down the road. The golden-haired beauty wore the faintest of frowns while recalling the source of that boy's distress for darting off the way that he did: her.
"And here I thought I'd gotten lucky." In a huff, Tiona kicked at the ground. "But that's fine…I'll just see him again tomorrow, b-but it would have been really great if I-we could have celebrated together with him… Bummer about that kid though…Hm, Ais, are you okay?" She noticed the Sword Princess looking off into the distance.
"Yes…?"
"You were staring off into space there. Wondering about that white haired boy?"
"…" Ais quietly nodded.
"If he really was swept away with him, then he really must be a new member of Michael's familia. He sure looked like a rookie, but did he really severe the arm of a Minotaur like you and Bete said?" Tiona asked, while the others, who were told of the spectacle with a healthy dose of skepticism, most immediately changed their tune once they heard of the familia that the mysterious boy belonged to.
Hearing the news of a Level 1 facing and harming a Minotaur would have been absurd to hear from anyone but the renowned Sword Princess's mouth. Plus, the begrudging word of their arrogant resident werewolf was enough to solidify the credibility of what bore testament on the fifth floor.
Ais resolutely nodded.
Though finding out that he was in the same familia as her through them unfortunately meeting again wasn't what she expected. Since their little "interaction" especially with the vexing way it ended, had left Ais particularly irritated the rest of yesterday.
She wouldn't even put up with Loki's shenanigans as the goddess was swiftly uppercut when she tried to pull her into an "innocent" loving hug with more ferocity than normal.
Everyone wondered why she was upset but didn't venture any further when she wouldn't give a clear-cut answer beyond saying "Stupid" something, she mumbled the name so low that no one could tell who she was talking about.
Save for the ever-wise High Elf, who seemed amused by the Sword Princess's plight even while enduring the girl's childish pummeling. Just the sight of the usually expressionless Sword Princess pouting while looking so flustered was enough to satisfy everyone in the Loki familia.
"Man, then I really did strike out today, and its all thanks to that stupid wolf for being so pushy!" Tiona had to admit that she was excited that the kid just so happened to be in the same bar as them, but she couldn't get behind the way that Bete got his attention.
Unlike the Level 6 bastard, she wouldn't have dragged him to their table by the back of his collar. The energetic amazon would have given him the decency of at least greeting (without waiting for his response) and drag him to their table by the arm. It was only polite after all (for amazon standards at least).
"I heard that you bitch!"
"I'm glad you did, jerk!"
Tiona shouted back to the interior of the tavern.
"Bete, pace yourself. You'll intoxicate yourself from the rate your drinking." The elegant voice of a High Elf warned.
"Shut it ya Old Hag! I'll drink as much I want!" Bete growled.
"Woohoo! That's the way, Bete! Don't ya worry about a thing, Mama, let the kiddos cut loose~!" Hollered the voice belonging to a mischievous goddess.
"Loki for the last time. Stop. Calling me. That."
"Aye, just let the lad drink himself under. No point in talking him out of drinking seeing as he's already on his fifth cup of ale." Sighed the gruff voice of a Dwarf.
"Here, say aaah~, Captain!" Cooed a lovestruck Amazon.
"T-Thanks, Tione…" said the weary voice of a pallum.
"You sure do have it rough, Captain…" The generic voice of a young man sympathized.
Hearing the lively chatter of their comrades, Tiona urged Ais to come back in and join them. The blonde girl took a while to respond but did eventually cease her occupied gaze in the distance to follow the energetic amazon back in before something on the floor caught her eye.
So, she plucked it up and gave it a mesmerizing gaze. "This is…"
"Ais, come on!" Tiona waved over the girl near the door but wasn't alone as a timid Lefiya peeked her head out from behind the frame. The young elf's eyes searching the outside of the tavern for something.
"I-I heard something. W-Was it, Michael-san? Was he here?"
"He was but like usual Bete ruined everything by chasing him off." Tiona rolled her eyes as Lefiya's anticipated expression fell with her pointed ears.
"O-Oh…" Disappointment present in her listing tone and Tiona couldn't have the poor girl look so dour.
"But remember, he's rooting for ya and still giving you his best wishes, so chin up we'll get another chance to see him!" She made that infectious smile of hers that managed to find its way on Lefiya's face as well. "Ah, but remember, he didn't mean it like a confession. Just his best wishes, not anything more than that, okay?"
The elf's smile strained. "I-I understand…"
Ever since this morning, the amazon had kept hammering that part of her conversation with Michael in each time she brought it up. What followed the amazon's successful attempts at cheering her up was followed with the rather blunt denial of any stray thoughts of a confession.
'W-Well, Tiona-san is an amazon too, I suppose…' Lefiya thought, recalling the current predicament their familia captain was caught in with the happy go lucky amazon's mature older sibling lovingly trying to hand feed him the entire shank of a lamb with a fork.
As Lefiya followed the amazon back inside, Ais was left on her own to gaze at the object in her hands. Completely unaware that someone else was nearby keenly observing her presence.
"Syr?"
"Hm?" The waitress roused herself back to look at her friend with a smile.
"Are you okay?" The elf frowned, obviously hearing the commotion.
"Y-Yeah…" She did her best to put on a smile, but it didn't seem to convince her beloved friend, who should be resting after taking another one of her "days off".
The elf's frown deepened. "I don't know what compelled that boy to run off like that." Syr deftly looked at Ais unbeknownst to the Sword Princess and her friend. "But I apologize if tonight didn't go the way that you wanted it to."
"No, it's okay. I still enjoyed myself…though it did make me a little sad to see him leave like that, but I'm sure, he'll be back soon." Syr giggled while the elf knowingly nodded.
The Hostess of Fertility doesn't tolerate a lot of things and dine, and dashers were one of them.
If you ended up being the poor chump to somehow pull that off with three Level 4 waitresses around, then good job you can brag and say that you survived Phase One.
As for the Phase Two don't expect that you managed to get away Scott free because by then she'll have already gotten to you.
When Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
Not even you.
"Looks like I'm going to have to beg Mama for the rest of the night…" She'd have to if she wanted a chance to continue seeing the poor boy in one piece.
"For his survival that should only be natural. If he doesn't grasp the lengths that you'll go to ensure that then don't hesitate to tell me. I'll be sure to remind him..." Syr giggled.
"Thanks, Ryuu, but that won't be necessary. Hey, next time, why don't you try introducing yourself to each other?"
The elf hesitantly looked to the side. "I don't believe that would lend aid to your cause, Syr. My interference should be at a minimum at best."
"Hm…you sure? I'm sure that the two of you would be such great friends…" Syr tilted her head as her smile looked a little too satisfied with the elf's reluctance to interact with the boy.
Despite the friendly suggestion, the elf guiltily felt as though she was being tested.
"I-I'm certain."
"Really? That's too bad, but it wouldn't hurt to just to introduce each other, right?"
The elf hesitantly sighed. "If you believe that will best help you, then I'll consider it."
"So considerate! Thank you, Ryuu, you're the best!" As she scooped up the elf's hand into her own, the gray-haired waitress couldn't suppress the mirth that she felt from watching how flustered her friend got. It was nice to have such a supportive and loyal friend like Ryuu around to help out.
Especially when said friend knew what boundaries, they're not allowed to cross.
"Syr! Ryuu! Get back in here!" Roared "Mama", who wasn't exactly pleased that a customer just ran off without paying for his meals.
Begrudgingly complying to their boss, both waitresses returned to hectic main interior of the restaurant. However, the restaurant's "Golden Girl" Syr shot the still Sword Princess one more indecipherable glance before returning to work.
'…Did…Did I scare him away?' Ais worriedly thought to herself, getting lost with staring into the cute blue buttoned eyes of the object in her hands.
So wound up in her worries, she doesn't even catch the approaching black booted steps slowly coming up from behind her. All it took was the weight of someone's hand on her head to rouse her attention.
Now, if this were any other stranger on the street (or Loki), she would have immediately retaliated. But the warmth this hand brought to her was unconsciously welcomed. It resurfaced old memories of her early days as an adventurer in Orario.
Delightful fays that dampened the raging black flames in her heart that pushed her to Level Up in but a single year. Like the backs of those two men (and recently that boy), there was another, who's kind soul impacted her and the dark insatiable need within herself to gain more power.
"Looks like my gut was right to come see you guys." She pouted as the hand tousled her hair. "Here I come to congratulate you lot and I see that you've got such a long face on ya." Her childish annoyance subsides as she turns around to give the tall grinning man behind her a genuine smile from his presence.
"Well, you know that I can't have that! So c'mon, spill your guts out to your, Uncle Zacky!"
