User blog:Carol of the bells/Days of Ruin --- Zen's exile, part 28

Days of Ruin --- Zen's exile, part 28
Yeah, I didn't post as much as I wanted to today...In fact, I barely got this one out > <

"I do not understand," Zen grunted in frustration as she looked around the area, "The gate was here, until a moment ago." Zen and company had been pursuing a gate--particularly the gate she had sensed in the volcano. Tillith had notified her about a nearby gate, and she quickly rushed to it, only for it to disappear just before she arrived. This had been going on for three days. Determined to completely apologize to her units, she had also allowed them to roam freely the entire time. However, this seemed to add to her frustration, as they would often bicker with each other.

"Do we honestly have to get this guy?" Lancia huffed, "We couldn't get him at the volcano, and now he's just leading us on. What's so special about this one unit, anyway?"

Zeln scoffed. "You're just worried again that Zen is replacing you."

"Hey! We already established that I am irreplacable."

A menacing aura grew from Selena as she forced a smile. "Now, now," She chided, "Don't be so childish, you two."

"And you shouldn't be such a micro-manager," Lira countered, "What are you, their mother?"

"I'd like to think so."

"Hey," Sergio barked at them, "The more you argue, the harder it is on Zen."

Mifune rolled his eyes. "There you go again, babying Zen. Why don't you lay off, for once?"

"Don't start, Mifune," Aem quickly intervened.

Above all the arguing, Zen and Tillith were conferring with each other. "Maybe he doesn't like you," She guessed.

Zen was un-amused. "This has never happened before. Lira told me that before I summoned her, she was in a state of unconciousness. If that is the case, how is this unit able to move it's gate?"

The goddess shrugged. "Maybe it's a special case. Or maybe it's just different for every unit."

The summoner stiffened as she sensed said gate just a distance away. "There it is again..."

"Are you going to go after it?"

She paused for a moment. "Perhaps I'll stay here and wait to see what happens...At this point, I'm willing to try anything."

"Checkmate," Kaine muttered, moving his bishop across from Riku's only remaining piece, his king.

Riku grasped his head and wailed in defeat. "You only won because you got to go first!"

"...you're the one who went first..."

The older brother continued his rant before stopping suddenly as Ko walked by their room without acknowledging them. They watched as he walked down the hall. Ko was stoic and intimidating, but rarely in a bad mood. This time, he seemed very irritable. And the two younger brothers didn't even dare to breath around him while he was in this state.

"He's been like this ever since he got back from hunting Zen..." Riku muttered when it was safe. "We even had to come back home to convince him we weren't trying to get Zen back."

Kaine nodded. "I'm not sure how long Haku and Ritz's excuse will last. There aren't many monsters in the region they're looking for Zen in."

"We'll just have to hope for the best--and wait."



"Say," Haku asked a nearby villager, "You haven't seen a girl around here have you?"

The old man chuckled. "Well, that depends. There are plenty of girls around here, but not all of them are pretty. Which kind are you looking for?"

"Brunette, blue eyes, a little over five feet."

He thought a moment before answering, "No one around here like that...only blondes. A couple of red heads, maybe brunettes, but none with blue eyes. Only the blondes." A crooked smile made its way onto his wrinkled face. "You lookin' for your sister or somethin', missy?"

Haku's eye twitched at the gender-misidentification. "I'm not a--"

"Well, see ya later!" The old man laughed, hobbling away.

Haku turned to his snickering brother and glared at him. "I don't want to hear it."



So Riku and Kaine had to go back home so that Ko would think that Zen isn't coming back anytime soon.

Complicated, huh?

Thanks for reading~