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moonjump05
Author of 21 Stories |
Dart supposed it could always be worse.
He kept telling himself that, day after day. Shana told him too, a worried smile on her face as she rubbed his shoulders. The villagers of Seles told him as well, though Dart suspected that Shana had something to do with it - they must have been down to their last thread of sanity. Even Albert told him so, in that annoyingly kingly way of his, when he visited Bale just to get away.
He found himself jealous of Haschel and Kongol, practicing kata across the world, and of Miranda just halfway across the world. Even little Meru. But fate had decided for him to train the new Red Eyed Dragoon in case Endiness should ever have need of their power.
He regretted ever going to Donau.
The tabby cat hissed and jumped away, Chrys cursed and scrambled after it across the rooftop, surefooted on the slippery shingles. He cornered it only to have it jump away again and again, always just one step ahead of him.
The little bugger was fast, he thought while jumping over a short smoke stack, sneaking up didn't work and chasing isn't working either, what could he do to catch it?
And then realization hit him like a ton of bricks - that and a wall - rubbing his squashed nose, Chrysanthemum activated the Red Eyed Dragoon spirit.
Red light surrounded him, illuminating the rooftop in a rosy glow. He was lifted into the air, eyes closed and a serene expression on his pointed face. Slowly he began to turn, the red light coalescing around him as armor. Breastplate, greaves, and gauntlets formed red and spiky. Dozens of green orbs covered him from his headpiece down to his toes, and two diaphanous wings sprouted from his back.
Transformation complete, Chrys floated without effort on the tips of his pointed boots and searched for the troublesome tabby, of course by now the damn cat was three blocks away.
He shot off like a tiny red rocket, skimming over the squared off arches of roofs. The cat seemed to watch him come closer with wide eyed fascination, but since that is impossible it was merely terrified of the squashed nosed, pink haired, red spiky thing shooting at it and froze in terror.
This was unfortunate for Chrys, as he was expecting the thing to take off. Now he overcompensated on speed and slammed into the tabby at full velocity. With a yelp from one or both parties, they tumbled off the rooftop out of control.
"No," Dart answered the shopkeeper distractedly, if he didn't pick up enough Body Purifiers then Shana would give him an earful, "Is this all you have?" he asked while pointing to the nearly empty shelf.
The shopkeeper seemed shocked that he didn't want to make small talk, "Well, I can check in the back."
"Please do," Dart replied. How did he end up doing the shopping anyway? Oh yeah, she had gone to Bale to attend Emile's, he shuddered, Baby Shower. Who knew what horrors went on when multitudes of women gathered together?
Meanwhile...
"Oh, Albert! These blue booties are just adorable!" Emile cooed, holding the tiny socks to her ever expanding belly.
"Yes dearest," he answered with a smile, "They will go along perfectly with the blue and green outfit, the little blue bib, and the white and blue cap!"
"Don't forget the green mittens!" Emile leaned forward for a quick kiss, which Albert was happy to oblige.
"Awww"
A cold chill went down Dart's spine, but he dismissed it as the cooling weather.
"Here it is, sir," the shopkeeper returned carrying the tray of bottles, "Last one until the shipment next week."
"Great, I'll have- "
But he was cut off by the impeccable timing of the streetside stall's flimsy roof caving in. Coughing from dust and vapors of shattered potions, Dart stood up in the mess of the stall spotting the uninjured but stunned shopkeeper and pulling him to his feet.
"What happened?" the shopkeeper asked shakily.
"Meow."
"Meow? What kind of answer is that?"
"It wasn't me," Dart replied, starting to search the debris, "There must be a cat in here."
"But I don't get that shipment in until to- I mean, really?"
Dart raised an eyebrow, but decided that sometimes ignorance is preferable, "Just help me look."
Together, Dart and the unscrupulous shopkeeper lifted the largest piece of roof and something rolled out from underneath it, "You guys are the best," a tiny voice coughed out.
Tossing the roof to the side, Dart exclaimed, "Chrys?"
The very dusty Red Eyed Dragoon got up, "The one and only."
The distressed tabby he was holding replied with an equally distressed, "Meow."
At this the shopkeeper burst into tears, "Now what am I going to tell my wife? You can only use the 'But the moon fell!' or 'But all of Seles was attacked!' lines so many times before she gets suspicious!"
"Just how many times has this happened?" Dart asked, but the shopkeeper just latched onto the unsuspecting hero and started crying into his chest.
"It's not fair!" he wailed while Dart tried to pry him off, "At least it wasn't that runaway piano from the apartment upstairs this time."
"Bad luck man," Chrysanthemum consoled the shopkeeper while shaking his merry pink head sadly.
Dart finally pushed the shopkeeper off of him, "Luck had nothing to do with it - this is your fault!" he pointed an accusing finger at him, "It was you, in the shop, with the dragoon spirit!"
"Hey, it's not what you think -"
"Alright! You really did get him!" a small boy came into the ruined shop, stepping over the shopkeeper in the fetal position, "Mr. Percival Winston Pierce XXXIII!" he grabbed the tabby in a death grip, the cat struggling to escape the vice like hold.
Chrys crossed his arms over his chest, "I was just doing heroic stuff like helping this innocent kid get his pet back!"
Said kid tapped Chrys on the shoulder, "Here are those naughty pictures you wanted. Thanks for helping!" he smiled before heading out of the stall.
Dart was ready to explode, like a volcano, "Innocent?"
Chrys hid the pictures behind his ridiculously large wings, "I can explain..."
"Really?" Dart asked, hands on hips like a scolding mother, "I think I know what happened. You offer to catch a cat in exchange for naughty pictures, use the dragoon spirit recklessly to catch said cat, and crash into... um..."
"My name's Fred," the shopkeeper sobbed.
"Crash into Fred's shop, completely destroying it. Sound right?"
"You're forgetting a very important part," Chrys answered.
This peaked Dart's curiosity, "What could I possibly have forgotten?"
The Minitos smiled cheekily and shot up into the sky, calling after him, "The part where I run away!"
He supposed he shouldn't be worried, he had saved the world after all. Nothing could possibly be as difficult as that. The difficulties and losses they faced together only strengthening them. Well, the unsurmountable odds they conquered were nothing compared to a visit to a counselor.
Shana had suggested it, concerned about the sanity of her husband and the safety of Seles and its citizens, especially Chrys. So she had asked, with that sweet smile he couldn't resist, if he would go with Chrys to speak to a counselor.
So here he was, sitting on an uncomfortable sofa in an office of the new Seles Community Center. The office was strangely silent compared to the rest of the building, filled with only the sounds of the overheard ceiling fan, and the sad faces of small animals peering from inspirational posters.
"It's a nice office," Chrys said, smiling sweetly.
Dart glared.
"But what's up with all these small furry animals? Do humans have some kind of complex or something? I mean, you'd never see things like that in a Minitos building," he blabbed, "Of course you'd see a lot, and I mean a lot, of flowers, and everything is a lot shorter too. Humans have the most uncomfortable furniture, I need a ladder just to get up on it and once I'm there all I want to do is get back down. Hey, do you think they have one of those electroshock things? Maybe they should try it on Haschel!"
No one else gets roped into anything as ridiculous as this, Dart thought, staring down the Minitos with a level two glare.
Meanwhile...
"I am so relieved we went to see the psychic, Albert," Emile said from her spot on his arm, "Now all are fears are put to rest, it will most definitely be a boy!"
The King of Serdio patted his wife's hand as they walked through the castle, "Yes, dearest, but were all the other questions really necessary? I mean, 'Will ruffled lace be fashionable this year?'"
"One can never be too sure about these things," she replied sagely.
Dart sighed, running a hand through his spiky blond hair, wanting to be anywhere else.
But his wishing was interrupted by a polite voice from the doorway, "Mr. Feld? Mr. Blossom?"
Dart turned an incredulous eye towards the Minitos, "Your full name is Chrysanthemum Blossom? Are your cousins named Rose Bush and Daisy Flower?"
"No," Chrys scoffed, "Those are ridiculous names."
The heavy set woman in the doorway broke the stunned silence, "My name is Phoebe Marlin,' she said while walking across the room and sitting down briskly, "But please, just call me Phoebe."
Her reddish brown hair was pulled back on her head into a clip, loose bangs framing her round face. The tunic she wore was rather loose but impeccable, not a stray wrinkle or speck of lint to be seen. Dart sat up straighter, "Um, I'm Dart and this is Chrysanthemum."
The Minitos shot him a glare, but turned back to the counselor all smiles, "You can call me Chrys, Luscious," he said while eying her appreciatively.
He... was hitting on... the counselor... Dart despaired, ready to sink into a hole and never be seen again, why?
She didn't seemed to notice or care, "I am so very pleased to meet both of you," she smiled, "I have... heard quite a bit about both of you from Shana, but perhaps Chrys would like to explain things from his point of view first?"
"Sure thing, sweet thing," Chrys said, waggling his eyebrows, "It all stems from Dart's deep seeded jealousy of me-"
"What?"
"- From my obviously superior mind and mastery of the dragoon spirit. Plus, he has daddy issues," he mock whispered.
Phoebe nodded, writing on her clipboard, "Now how do you feel about this, Dart?"
"He's just making that up!" Dart shouted, "Don't believe him!"
"And he is in denial," Chrys continued.
"He's lying!"
Chrys shook his fist, "Now don't go projecting onto me!"
Phoebe nodded, writing some more on her clipboard, "It is alright to feel insecure sometimes, Dart, but we can't go around blaming others."
Dart stared at her, "You don't believe that... that..."
"Him," Phoebe corrected with a smile, "We are all human beings."
"I'm a Minitos."
"...That bastard!" Dart finally finished.
"Don't bring my mother into this."
"But my father is fair game, right?" Dart asked, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling.
"Now Dart," Phoebe said softly, "We can't expect to become better persons until we confront ourselves."
"What?"
"Let us in to help you," she touched his arm, "We want to help."
"Yeah, Dart," Chrys said cheekily, "We can't help unless you let us in."
"How about I pound your face in?"
"Now, Dart," Phoebe admonished, "Violence never solved anything."
"Sure it did!" the heroic Dart exclaimed, "How else do you think we saved the world, by having heartfelt conversations with the Virage?"
"Is that what you need, Dart? Someone to talk to?"
"What the HELL do you think you were doing?" Dart's voice came from the other room, "Lies upon lies!"
"I was just getting on her good side," Chrys countered, "Not that she had a bad side, though, she looked damn fine. A little heavier, but that just means more cushion for the push-"
"-Don't you even finish that sentence!"
"C'mon," Chrys said exasperated, "Don't even try to say you didn't look at Shana and think- um, hi Shana," he stuttered as she entered the room.
Dart put an arm around his wife, "And think what, Chrys?" he asked dangerously.
Chrys paled, "N-Nothing! I'm going to... um... take out the trash!"
"They picked it up yesterday- oh why even bother," Dart started to call after him, but Chrys was a quick one and disappeared out of view.
Shana turned towards her husband, a questioning expression on her face.
"Don't even ask," Dart sighed, sitting down heavily into the sofa, "It was a circus best forgotten."
Sitting down, Shana grasped his hand and he smiled faintly at her, "Alright, alright," he conceded, "First, Chrys started telling lies about me which the counselor, Phoebe, for some reason believed. Then she talked about me needing to open up and how violence didn't solve anything. Then we did a roleplay where I was Chrys and he was me and we had to act as each other. Then Chrys suggested electroshock therapy and it almost seemed like she was going to listen, but our time ran out. Something to look forward to next time, right?"
Shana listened silently, knowing Dart just needed to get it off his chest. He flopped back on the sofa, running his hands over his face, "I don't know if I can go back."
Shaking her head, Shana opened her mouth to speak, but Dart cut her off with a finger to the lips, "I know though, that you think I should," he stated, "So I'll try it out for you."
She thanked him with a kiss.
Chrys slumped on the ground, "Is it really necessary to shout out the attack?" he asked, while wiping his sweaty brow.
Dart walked over, "It helps to focus your mind."
"I think it's just an excuse to hear me say, 'Petal Torture.'"
Inwardly smiling, Dart replied, "It suits your personality."
Struggling upright, the Red Eyed Dragoon wielder laughed, "Ha ha, now where are those freaky mouse things?"
As Chrys searched the underbrush, Dart leaned against a nearby tree and closed his eyes. The breeze was pleasant and the soft sounds of birds and the distant waterfall relaxing. It was a good idea to come to the forest to train, he patted himself on the back, this way Chrys could just kill off everything purple and green and he didn't have to lift a finger.
"Oh my GOD! What is that!"
Yes, he didn't have to do a single thing.
"It's-It's horrible! How does something like that even breathe, much less exist?"
Dart exhaled in relief, letting the sun warm his face.
"No! It's coming after me!"
Our hero's reverie was interrupted by Chrys hurriedly running over and behind him. Dart whooshed out air, "What?" he asked breathlessly.
Chrys trembled behind him, "Look!"
Dart's gaze followed his pointing finger, "There's nothing there."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Are you really sure?"
"Yes," Dart sighed, "Do I have to check under the bed and in the closet too?"
"You don't think it's going to follow me home, do you?" Chrys eyed him with giant green eyes.
"It was that way?" Dart asked, gesturing to the general direction Chrys pointed to.
"Yes."
Dart activated the Divine Dragoon spirit, "Watch this," sometimes wanton destruction did solve your problems, "Divine Dragon Cannon! Uuuuuuuaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
The beam powered up, energy gathering in his hands ready to speed forward, destroying everything in its path. He was ready to launch when someone came out of the foliage, "Dart? Chrysanthemum?" Phoebe asked, "I came to check up on you two."
Shit! Dart thought, there wasn't enough time to cancel or move. The beam shot forward, "Watch out!" he yelled.
It's going to hit, it's going to hit...
Phoebe kept walking forward and merely leaned to the side as the beam passed her, gouging out the ground and ripping out the trees for several miles towards the horizon, "Shana said you two would be here, so I came to talk to you."
Dart stared at her, mouth moving but unable to speak. Perhaps, Chrys' eloquent words summed it up, "Whoa..."
The three of them were walking back from the forest, the setting sun turning the trees into shadowy giants, "It's not a problem," Dart said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "Sorry for almost blasting you."
"That was a very interesting suit of armor you have," she said thoughtfully, "It made you so very tall!"
"Yeah..." Dart looked behind him at Chrys, the Minitos was staring intently in front of him, almost entranced. What was he...?
"Although it looks so plain," she continued, "Perhaps if you used accessories to liven it up, a few well placed bracelets or a scarf would do it, I think."
"That would be great," Dart said distracted. He slowed his pace down ever so slightly and whispered into Chrys' ear, "What are you doing?"
"Look..." he said, a goofy smile and dreamy eyes on his face, "It's wonderful..."
Dart turned his head, from the vantage point of a Minitos- he grabbed Chrys' arm and pushed him forward, "Stop staring!" he hissed, "What kind of-"
"-But it's so nice... up and down and up and down..."
"You're walking ahead of us."
"You're mean," Chrys sulked, "I'm just appreciating her assets."
"What are you two doing back there?" Phoebe asked teasingly, "Whispering? Now I feel left out."
Dart gaped at her while Chrys slid out of his grasp, "Nothing, Luscious. Now let's get you back home," he suggested and slipped an arm on the small of her back, no small feat for someone nearly half her height.
"You are so gentlemanly, Chrys," she stated, "If only there were more men like you."
"I'm one of a kind."
But this was too much.
"Oh, Chrys, what a nice room you have. The color scheme is especially pleasing to the eye."
"It'd look even better with you on the bed."
"But perhaps a better organization, I have seen some wicker baskets that would go well in here."
"Sure, we can put all my clothes in it."
"And this bin is a mess, perhaps you should hire a maid."
"I have this maid outfit-"
"-Alright," Dart got up from the sofa, "This has gone on far enough."
Shana followed behind his rampage. Inviting Phoebe to dinner had seemed harmless, but perhaps Dart should have known better. Now they were interrupting a conversation that Shana said was important.
Was a nice quiet evening just too much to ask for?
"Hello Dart, Shana," Phoebe greeted from her seat on Chrys' bed.
"Um... hi," Chrys squeaked from his reclined position, head on Phoebe's lap.
"Having a good time?" Dart asked dangerously while glaring at Chrys.
The Minitos gulped, but Phoebe answered, "Oh yes, a splendid time."
"Really?" Dart was surprised, "With him?"
"Certainly," she smiled, "But perhaps if I could possibly have something to drink?"
Dart raised an eyebrow, "Of course, how could you not offer your guest refreshments, Chrys?" he offered an arm to both Phoebe and Shana, "I would be happy to help you."
"Thank you, such a nice husband you have Shana," she stood and walked out with them, leaving Chrys scrambling behind.
And here they were, making small talk in the front room. Of course, small talk was much easier when you and your companions were nursing your fourth bottle of wine, "And naturally Albert had no idea just what kind of place he wanted us to spend the night," Dart narrated for his captive audience, "After Haschel explained- with plenty of graphic thrusting- we left and he never mentioned it again."
"How embarrassing for the young man," Phoebe said sadly to Shana, "Perhaps he was very sheltered as a child."
"Well he is-" Dart started but was cut off by a motion from Shana, "Um, never mind..." he trailed off, gulping down the rest of his glass of wine.
Chrys sighed, bored, "I have to pee," he announced unnecessarily while heading towards the bathroom.
"Yes, putting off bodily functions like urination is not good for your bladder," Phoebe said matter of fact, "I read that in a magazine," she told the worried looking Shana.
"Yeah..." Dart searched for something to say.
"What a nice mantelpiece you have," the counselor said, getting up and walking to the fireplace, "Although it is a bit dusty," she commented while running a finger along the top accidentally knocking off the wooden box holding the Red Eyed, Divine, and Black Burst Dragoon spirits.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Phoebe said, kneeling down to pick up the orbs.
"It's fine," Dart said, helping, "They're pretty much indestructible."
"Yes, and so pretty too, just look at this one glowing."
That caught Dart's attention, "What?"
"This black one is glowing," she stated, holding the orb in her hand and looking at him confused, "Now how do you get it to do that?"
And that wasn't all, the Divine spirit he held was glowing faintly too, and once Chrys came back the Red Eyed spirit she held would erupt into a bright red light. Well, Dart supposed, it could be worse.
"Hey Shana," Chrys said, coming back from the bathroom and holding something in his hand, "Did you tell Dart that you're pregnant?"
Finally the door opened, a pleased looking doctor came out to shake his hand, "Congratulations, my liege, twin girls!"
AN: Well, here is the decidedly late chapter two. There will probably be one more chapter and everyone will make an appearance. As always, thanks for reading!
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