The scent of roses surrounded him, as well as a sense of iciness. Cold... So cold...
I prefer warmth, he thought, his upper lips curling slightly. A slight snarl escaped his lips as his short ears twitched in memory of what used to be. Warmth... from running, hunting... what? Oh, right, innocent trespassers. How stupid the humans were in those days.
How stupid they ended up being.
Warmth from hunting, sex, and wine. Oh, there would never be too much wine.
How ironic that he couldn't drink it now.
But the roses...
They were always nice.
It was surprising. Even during a war like this...
Even how they felt toward each other when they were in their first forms, given to them by the Ruby Lord...
Oh, how they hated each other. Of course, not much had changed since the Lord of Nightmares had remade the world. Though, even through all that...
It was strange how they became lovers.
Nice to know things can change so much.
And now the icy rose beckoned to him, the ironic amber of his hair shining warmly in the lamp light. He stepped into his embrace, allowing the rose to caress him, kiss him...
"It's nicely ironic that the first ones to awaken were not the ones that L-sama wanted, ne?" the voice whispered softly as his lips swept down his neck.
He let out a barking laugh. "Nicely ironic, since my General/Priest was suppose to awaken first."
"The others... they have started to awaken?"
His lover's hand tugged on his hair, allowing the strands to fall around his face, and he looked up into the warm eyes, his own icy black reflecting the warmth that his coloring wouldn't. Both of them smiled, one cold, the other wolfish.
"Hai. And none of the other Pilots know what they are in for."
"But Liena!"
"No 'buts', Valia," the redhead said sternly. "We're going home. You have school in the morning." She turned to Quatre and Trowa. "I'm sorry. But we really do have to leave."
Quatre blinked, then smiled. "That's fine... Lina-san."
Liena nearly toppled over. "Shit," she said sourly. "That one was a surprise. What was going on out here?"
Valia squealed happily. "We met the Knight of Cepheed! She was so cool!"
At that, the girl really did fall over. "Sis...?" she muttered. "You met my sister?"
Trowa blinked. He remembered most about Valgaav and Valteria, but the Knight being Lina's sister...?
"I remember that one," Quatre muttered sourly. "I still can't believe I used your fear of her against you that one time."
"Which time?" Liena shot back, pulling herself up into a standing position. "Let's see... to get me to save the world, to stop the..."
The blond raised his hands. "I get the idea, Liena-san."
Liena sighed, looking up at the apartment building. Then, she smiled. "Valia, you can see Duo and Heero later, alright? But we both have school tomorrow, and I haven't even started studying for my physics exam."
Quatre winced slightly, and Trowa closed his eyes. "What school do you go to, anyway?" the Arabian Pilot wanted to know.
"The same as you guys." She made a face. "The only person I have a class with is that black haired guy... the Chinese."
Trowa just stared at her. "And there haven't been any explosions?"
Liena raised a crimson eyebrow. "I have Lit with him. Even though I want to Fireball his ass, I can't. He's teacher's pet." Her hands twitched slightly.
Quatre followed his lover's example. "I would have thought you would Fireball Wufei anyway, regardless of the cost."
She rolled her ruby eyes. "I'm close. Oh, L-sama, I'm close." Liena tugged on the young dragon's arm. "C'mon, Valia. Let's go." The girl smiled at Quatre and Trowa. "It was rather nice talking to you, though."
"Wait, Liena."
The redhead looked down at her young charge. "What is it, Valia?"
Valia shifted from foot to foot, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "Is it alright if... well... I live with Quatre and Trowa from now on?"
All three teens snapped their gaping jaws closed with an audible snap. "I knew it..." Liena whispered. "It's time..." The girl looked up at the two boys in front of her. "If it's alright with you two...? She... Valia should be with her true parents, even if they aren't in this life."
Quatre shook his head. "No, I don't mind. It's just... Liena-san, what about you? You... have been living with her for a while, right?" At her nod, he continued, "I... wouldn't feel right, breaking the two of you apart. No," he said as Liena drew in a breath to speak, "I see how you treat her. She's like your younger sister or... even own daughter. This," Quatre touched his chest, "tells me that you don't like this idea. That... you love her like family."
Liena shook her head, breathing slightly faster. "I... I do. In this life... before I knew my real self, I... was an only child. And before... I wasn't close to my family. I do love her like family. Sh-she's like the child I would have had..." A tear started down her face, and was soon joined by its friends. "That I would have had... if... if Zel and I had..."
Valia hugged the redhead, speaking soothing words. "I'm sorry, Liena," she whispered. "I... didn't mean to..."
"No." Liena brushed away her tears. "Th-this is how it should be. Mom warned me about this, and I knew anyway. You... should be with them. I-I'll get the papers together. Just..." Her voice faded to a faint whisper. "Just promise me that we'll still be in touch..."
Quatre and Trowa nodded, and Valia vocalized her assent, "I promise... Liena-mama."
The redhead smiled sadly. "Thank you... let's go, Vali-chan. You... I... We need our rest." She took Valia's small hand, and led her away from the apartment to where they could catch the bus to where they lived.
She called me... Liena-mama, the girl thought as she waited for the bus. She...
"Liena-mama, don't cry."
She put a hand to her cheeks, and realized new tears were moistening her face. "It... it's nothing," Liena said, bravely smiling.
The young girl put her hands to her hips. "I don't think so, Liena-mama. You've been worried ever since you left the Ma... Duo and Heero's place. What's wrong? Is something wrong with either of them?"
"Sorta. Hell, I don't know!" Liena exploded. "Something's wrong with Duo, I could see it in his skin color. He's sick, and I think that may be because of what happened last night. If that's the case, I'm going to have to have a long talk with both Mom and Heero."
"What happened last night?" Valia asked in a very unchild-like tone of voice.
"He remembered. About the fact he was Xellos. And... he teleported out. I don't know if that hurt him, but it might have..."
"Well, that explains why you would have to talk to L-sama, but why Heero?" Valia responded sternly.
Liena opened her mouth, then closed it without a sound. She tried again, "Duo... They..." Why can't I say it?
"They had sex, didn't they?"
The redhead raised a copper eyebrow. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
Valia smiled wildly. "The fact you couldn't say it. It's still hard to believe they're in love, isn't it?"
"How the hell do you know about sex, anyway?!"
Valia gave her guardian a Look. "I hate to say it, but you weren't the only one talking to her mother during the time it took for us to be reborn. You're afraid that somehow, Heero hurt Duo during sex. I think that's ungrounded worries, since you said that Duo was remembering he was Xellos, and implying he was acting like him. Unless he wanted it, which I doubt, it would be Heero who would be hurting from sex, not Duo."
The bus pulled up in front of them, and Liena dug out the proper change for both of them. "You're way too smart for your own good," she muttered as she paid for the fare and took a seat.
"I know."
"Alright, you stole that smile from me," Liena complained, watching a familiar smile creep across the young dragon's face.
"I know, Liena-mama."
She rolled her ruby eyes, and settled back in her seat, watching the scenery pass by. She is growing up. She... knows it. Liena looked down at her lap, and realized her hands were trembling slightly. It's too early... I don't want to lose her now... I don't want to lose my last close friend and family...
"Liena-mama, it's our stop," Valia's voice cut into her thoughts.
Liena looked up, and realized she was right. "Thank you, Valia." She stepped off the bus, nodding to the driver as he wished her a good night. "I'm sorry, Vali-chan. I'm just... a little thrown by the events today."
"I know." Valia solemnly followed her to their apartment. "I'm going to straight to bed, alright? I don't need to do any studying, and I wouldn't want to disturb you."
Liena cursed slightly as she found her keys and forced the rusty lock on their door to move. "Thank you," she grunted as she twisted the knob and used her shoulder to help her open the door. She did the usual check of the apartment after locking the door again, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. "I'll probably be up all night, so don't be surprised if I'm really cranky in the morning, alright?"
"Hai, Liena-mama," Valia replied as she closed the door to their room.
The apartment was small, just a living room, tiny kitchen, one bedroom and bath, but to them, it was as close to home as they were going to get for the time being. Liena thought about that as she fixed herself what would be to anyone else a meal, to herself a snack, and plopped herself down on the couch. Home... how will "home" feel once Valia's gone? I could always ask neechan if I could move in with her. Demo... we aren't exactly close. We never were... She shook her head, and immersed herself into the physics book in front of her.
An indefinite time later, she closed her book, and rolled her neck, listening to the pops with a small amount of relief. Done. Liena looked over to the clock, and smiled. Gee, and it's not even 2:00. Record, even for me.
The girl gathered up the remains of her rather large snack, and dumped the plates in the sink, and the rest in the trash. Then, she veered to the bathroom, both needing to take care of some much needed business and take a nice, refreshing shower.
After nearly tripping over the remains of her last shower (I really need to remember to put the towel back on the rack), and using the toilet, Liena shucked off her clothing and turned the shower on, adjusting the temperature to a nice, skin reddening heat.
She called me Liena-mama, she thought as she stood under the hot stream of water, then reached for the shampoo, massaging the liquid into suds in her hair. That... that's the first time she's ever called me that. Gods, do I really have to let her go so soon?
The familiar smell of lavender comforted her as she rinsed the suds out of her hair, and applied a nice amount of conditioner to her red mane. I need to stop dwelling on this, or I'll wake up in the morning with a headache.
Her shower finished, and she dried herself off, dropped the towel back on the floor, and picked up her clothing to dump into the dirty clothes pile. Clothed now only in air, she walked back to the bathroom, and picked up the towel to keep the hair out of her face. She pulled on a nightgown, and wrapped her hair up, then wearily stumbled back to the living room, putting her school supplies away.
Liena found herself humming, then singing softly. "Here we go! go! Hashiri tsudzukeru dare ni mo tomerare wa shinai mirai no jibun e to give a reason for life..."
Her song was interrupted by the sound of a gun shot, followed closely by glass shattering as a bullet whizzed by her, barely missing her, and lodged in the wall behind her. She could almost hear Valia starting awake, and diving under the bed. Liena flattened herself against the floor, and started crawling toward their phone. Her hands reached up, and grabbed it, pulling it down so she could see it. Swiftly, she started punching in 911, then stopped, hung up, and restarted, dialing up Duo and Heero's apartment.
"Hello?" Duo's voice rang out, slightly tired.
"I'm so glad I got a hold of you," she said breathlessly. "There's some maniac outside and he's..."
"Whoa! Wait a min, who... Oh. Hi, Liena. Sorry, what's going on?"
"You and Heero get your asses over here, now!" she ordered. "There's someone outside with a gun, and he just fired into my apartment." Liena rattled off directions to her place, and ended with, "I'm sorry to do this to you at what, two in the morning, but I think having the two of you over here would be better and faster than any OZ police."
"I hear you. I think as soon as I tell Heero what this is about, I'll be over there without knowing what the hell happened." Duo yawned, and said, "It's alright, Liena. We'll be over as soon as possible. Try not to make yourself into a target, and don't blow the creep away with magic. I'd like to know who sent the guy after you myself."
"Thank you, Duo," she said warmly, then hung up. Her hands shook as she put the phone on the floor, and tried to stay out of sight.
"Damn it, this had to happen now, didn't it..."
The song Liena's singing is the Slayers NEXT opening song, Give a Reason. The song is excellent, so if you haven't heard it yet, shame on you. The translation goes something like this:
Here we go! go! Keep on running! No one will be able to stop us. I want to give a reason for life to my future self.
I think it fit there, plus I really like the song. But I like all the Slayers openings and endings. ::shrug::
Chapter 15 | Story Index | Fanfiction