Vol. 13 - Chapter 3: “To see that smile, Once Again…”
Part 1 – El Dorado Mission
Rizu stayed behind to buy Uriel and Johanna some time. However, in front stands a powerful opponent; Alexandria the White Witch.
"Now then, I'm going to defeat you." Rizu charges at full speed towards Alexandria, Alexandria begins to freeze her surroundings, she extends her arms and begins to create large ice stakes heading towards Rizu's direction.
(BBBBBOOOOMMMM)
Rizu begins to dodge the attack with high speed, she uses her scythe and cuts some of the stakes, and Alexandria keeps creating ice pushing Rizu back.
"There is no end to this, I must think, and what can I do?" Rizu says as she keeps on dodging Alexandria's attack. Alexandria does not show any expression in her face, she releases a blizzard heading towards Rizu, Rizu smiles and says:
"THAT´S NOT GOING TO STOP ME!"
(BBBBOOOOMMMM)
The blizzard hits Rizu and a smoke screen covers the area, there is silence, Alexandria does not move from her spot. She looks around trying to see where Rizu was, suddenly, a red colored manna with a pinkish tone begins to rise at a distance.
" Rōsoku no honō" (Weasel Flame)
Rizu charges once again, Alexandria begins to create multiple ice stakes attacking Rizu; Rizu swings both of her scythes destroying the stakes at the same time. She smiles throws her scythe and ties Alexandria tightly, she is about to release her flames, however Alexandria releases a small amount of manna freezing the chain. The ice begins to extend heading towards Rizu, Rizu lets go of the chain before it freezes her.
(CCCRRAASSHHH)
The chain shatters into small pieces, a thin as snowflakes. Rizu lands in the ground, she breathes heavily, Rizu makes another scythe appears in her hand.
"You live up with your reputation and I bet you are just toying with me." Rizu says to Alexandria, Alexandria only stares at Rizu, Rizu chuckles:
"Well I don't mind at all because I already bought time for Uriel to escape."
"That is correct but I never had the intention to chase Uriel, the truth is I don't need his power because I am going to acquire and even more powerful gift." Aleister and Marjorie walk to Alexandria's side, a portal begins to open and they slowly begin to disappear, Aleister looks at Rizu and says:
"Make sure Uriel makes it to the city, I want him to take down my father."
-TCH- "That bastard, I can't stand him." Rizu thinks out loud, she begins to run towards Uriel's direction. In the altar of the church, there is a veil hanging in a destroyed cross and in the table two letters are written down: M &U.
Heading towards the twin cities, Trueno gallops at high speed, Johanna regains consciousness, drops of water begin to fall of the sky, rain falls with intensity, and Johanna looks up and begins to speak:
"Please, I know that your heart is broken and you feel betrayed but please, don't cry."
Johanna slowly put her hand on Uriel´s cheek; Uriel is crying feeling worthless and betrayed. Johanna begins to cough up blood, Uriel makes Trueno stop, Johanna looks at Uriel and says:
"Uriel, please put me down, I know that I am at my limit."
"You´re wrong, let me open up a portal, I will take you to the hospital, please bare with me." Uriel replies with a sorrowful tone, Johanna shakes her head with a smile:
"No please, the city is at war, plus, Alexandria hit many vital organs."
"Then I will cure you using manna." Uriel cries, Johanna smiles and replies:
"Save you strength, you will need it, right now, you are the only one who can save the Borderland from Darius."
"You´re wrong, I am not strong, I am very weak that I let Deborah, Alejandro and Samantha die, I couldn't protect you." Uriel cries out, Johanna with blood coming out of her wounds continues to speak in a low tone:
"You got it wrong, you are strong, you actually saved me from myself, and I am not being cliché, I must thank you. My time is approaching but I have one last request for you…"
Part 3 – Uriel´s first day of work
"AWWW MAANNNN, I´M LATE NOW DAMN!" Uriel thinks to himself as he passes by people who are walking slowly to cross the bridge.
Uriel acquired high speed when "CharroNergo" passed down his powers to him. He also gained great reflexes. His 5 senses increased as well and his strength developed through hard training. Uriel uses his speed to run pass the people without them even noticing him. Uriel arrives to the gates that mark the boundary between Rio Grande City and Sun City. In the gates there were two officers asking for documents with a short line, and one of them asks Uriel for his documents.
"Can I please see your passport sir." The officer asks Uriel as he searches for his documents, but he does not find them in his bag. The officer asks Uriel to step out of the line. Uriel keeps searching and suddenly he receives a message in his smart phone from his mother where it says:
"Hijo, just to let you know that once again your documents are in the bed. Please come back for them, your brother and sister already left to school and everyone else is busy so hurry up or you´ll be late in your first day."
Uriel makes an angry face, stretches a little bit his legs and begins to run, suddenly there is a huge dust cloud and people begin to panic because they do not know that it was Uriel running across the bridge avoiding people once again. He looks at his clock and he realizes that he only has one hour before his shift starts.
"I need to pick up the pace" Uriel increases his speed to get in time blowing everything away from his path.
"Well hello there, you are the new substitute teacher that my husband recommended right?" Ms. Jameson (Olivia) greets Uriel with a sarcastic smile. Uriel who is breathing heavily greets with a smile:
"Yes ma am, my name is Uriel Di Fiore and I am honor to work here."
"You know that you arrived late, right, your class began 2 hours ago, I have my assistant principal covering you now, care to explain." Ms. Jameson says with a fake smile, Uriel chuckle while he scratches his head apologizing:
"I´m sorry, I got lost in the path of life."
"So you are a comedic as well, now then, I will forgive you just this once. Now get off my site, and don't ever repeat that." Ms. Jameson says with a serious tone, Uriel with a nervous tone vows and replies:
"I´m sorry, it won't happen again."
Uriel begins to leave but before he leaves Ms. Jameson says; "One more thing, welcome to the school."
Uriel nervously nods with a smile. In the hallway, Johanna was hanging some flyers with the help of a secretary; the secretary looks down and says:
"Can you hurry up; I don't like looking at you revealing underwear."
"Aww come on, just one more flyer, and if you want I can lend you a pair." Johanna replies laughing, the secretary blushes and says "Shut up and finish already."
Suddenly Johanna slips from the stair and begins to fall, the secretary begins to scream:
"JJJOOOOOHHHAANNNNAAA"
(BBBOOOOOMMMMM)
"Are you alright?" Johanna hears a voice; she doesn't feel pain and slowly opens her eyes. Her eyes begin to shine as she sees the smile of a young man, the young man catch her the moment she was falling.
"Johanna are you alright?" The secretary asks as she stands next to them. Johanna comes to her senses and stands up, she tries to act normal and with a seductive voice she replies:
"Yes, I am alright thank you."
The young man stands up, he swipes the dust of his clothes and looks up. The secretary blushes and begins to think:
"Oh my, what a cute boy."
Uriel puts a sincere smile causing Johanna to blush, "Thank goodness, I arrive just in time to catch you." The young man says with a sincere tone, Johanna smiles and replies:
"Well now, I have my own knight in shining armor, what is your name?"
"My name is Uriel Di Fiore, I am the new substitute teacher, and don't worry, if you ever need me, I will be you knight."
"Fufufu, well I will keep that in mine, anyway, thank you for saving me." Johanna kisses Uriel in the cheek causing him to blush, she begins to walk away with the secretary as she says:
"Nice meeting you Uriel Di Fiore. I am your sexy nurse Johanna Gomez."
Part 4 – Near the River
Johanna with blood coming out of her wounds continues to speak in a low tone:
"You got it wrong, you are strong, you actually saved me from myself, and I am not being cliché, I must thank you. My time is approaching but I have one last request for you…"
"Tell me anything you want, if you want I can give my…" Johanna puts her finger in Uriel's lips,-SSHHHH- "I only want one thing from you; I want to see your smile, once again…" Johanna makes a sincere smile; Uriel begins to cry once more as he feels he is losing her. Johanna continues to speak:
"Listen Uriel, I am sorry that I tricked you, but the truth is that I never put anything on your mother's heart, it was all a scheme to get you to come with me in this adventure."
Uriel with tears in his eyes smiles and shakes his head; "You silly woman, I already knew that since two days after we left."
"How did you know? Did I give myself away?" Johanna with a surprised tone asks Uriel. "My brother is a genius, he analyzed my mother and he did not find anything, I knew that you lied, but still, I wanted to go into this incredible adventure." Uriel replies, Johanna smiles and continues to speak:
"I was a great adventure right? We actually cross the country; I really enjoy spending time with you."
"Listen Johanna, I never answered your question, that truth is that I don't hate, I fact I love…" Johanna interrupts Uriel my kissing him in the mouth one more time, Uriel with a shocking expression changes it into sorrow as he closes his eyes filled tears. Johanna's strength runs out and let's go, she begins to slowly close her eyes as she says:
"Thank you Uriel, my time with you has finished, I love you…"
Johanna sees Uriel with his sincere smile, just like when they met the first time, she begins to think:
"That's it, that's the smile I wanted to see for a long time, thank you Uriel, I hope I can see you again, one day…"
Uriel cries as he holds Johanna's body, he feels sorrow and pain in his heart. A figure stands behind him and says:
'Its hard right, to see a person you love die in your arms."
Rizu says with tears coming from her eyes as well, Uriel stands up and makes his horse go away with a gentle touch, he wipes the tears of his eyes and turns to see Rizu. Rizu is shocked to see that Uriel's eyes changed colored as his pupils now have inverted black triangles with red color filling the rest of the pupil. Uriel with a serious tone says:
"This is no time to cry, Johanna wanted me to stop Darius, and that is what I am about to do."
Red aura begins to emerge from Uriel's body; Uriel extends his right arm and begins to chant:
"aperta, ad ostium momentum, quo me tibi, ut me ad locum cupio. Porta ratio" (open, door of the dimension, I order thee, take me to the place I desire. Dimension Door)
A small magic circle begins to form in Uriel´s palm; his gloves slowly begin to change into a red color. The circle expands and a dimensional portal begins to open as wind blows harder. At the other side of the portal, buildings and mountains can be seen, Rizu gets close to see and screams:
"WOW, THAT´S THE BORDERLAND!"
"That´s right, let´s go" Uriel carries Rizu in his arms, Rizu struggles of embarrassment as she screams:
"HEY, WHATARE YOU DOING, YOU PERVERT!"
"Stop struggling, I am the only one capable of passing, but if you are with me, we can pass now let´s hurry." Uriel charges with Rizu and they pass the portal. Wind blows causing Johanna to let go of a small empty container she had in her hand.
(PPPPUUUMMM)
Wind blows hard at the top of a building located in Rio Grande City, Uriel crosses with Rizu. Uriel puts an embarrassed Rizu down; he begins to walk slowly as he sees the cities. "It feels as if I was gone for years." Uriel says with a nostalgic feeling, Rizu walks to his side and asks:
"Hey, why didn't you bury Johanna´s body?"
"It wasn't necessary, the water level was rising and eventually it would drag her in the current, besides Johanna wouldn't have wanted me to bury her. She was more of a free spirit." Uriel lowers his head and makes a fist, suddenly, at the North West region,
Massive light begins to shine. The same happens in the east side and in the center of the cities, explosions and screaming is heard throughout the cities. Uriel notices something happening on the south east, he begins to think:
"Valerie"
"Rizu, please head to the east, that is where the massive amount of manna is coming, that is the Ministry of San Juan." Uriel points at the location, Rizu with an angry expression begins to scream:
"HEY, WHO MADE YOU MY BOSS? I AM DOING WHAT I WANT."
"Please, I beg you, that are where my family is, I need to do something first and I need you help." Uriel vows his head, Rizu sighs with her eyes close and replies:
"Alright, but I will only buy you some time, because I have to see Raions Senpai."
Rizu charges straight to the Ministry, Uriel begins to run to the southeast side of the city, he heads to the abandoned storage house thinking:
"Please wait for me, Valerie."