บท 14: Another reunion
"*pant* Hi *pant*Eda*pant*sorry for being late." I said as I arrived in my witch form at the shack where Eda standing with an annoyed look on her face. "You better be sorry, you took a whole 2 hours to get here!" Eda said as I remembered how 2 hours ago I was still in the forest. 'Wait has she been waiting for me since she left the forest?' I thought as I looked at her confused. "Weren't you supposed to tell Raine I was coming?" I asked confused before a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "Well I would have but I wanted to see that Dorks surprise when I walk in with you," Eda said as I looked at her with a deadpanned face.
'Really Eda? Even if I was only 17 in my last life, I can tell that's pretty immature but I guess that's what you have to expect.' I thought before she noticed my face as she started to look annoyed. "Hey what's with that disappointed expression, I don't want to see that kind of reaction I would expect from my sister!" Eda said as I just walked towards the portal. "Hm, yeah your sister," I said sarcastically as I thought back to Eda's sister in the show that was part of the Emperor's coven which led to thoughts about the psychopath.
'Tsk, Belos that annoying piece of-' I thought with an annoyed expression as I walked through the portal ignoring whatever Eda was saying to me. "-kid you cannot talk to my sister ever!" Eda said as I focused back on her. "What were you saying? Sorry, I was a bit distracted." I said looking at her before she sighed. "I was just saying don't try to talk with your Aunt Lil- I mean my sister," Eda said as I grinned. "Oh, you don't want me talking to my deeeaaar Aunt Lilith, 'mom'?" I said causing an annoyed expression to appear on her face again. "Shut it brat, and how'd you know my sister's full first name?" Eda said suspiciously as I keep grinning.
'Well I mean it's not hard to guess that even if I didn't have my knowledge of canon.' I thought as I turned away. "Well because there's not a lot of names that start with L-I-L and because I was guessing, though thanks for confirming my guess though," I said as we walked closer to the edge of the forest that we were walking in. "Oh yeah, I guess I did give it away, haha!" Eda said as she grinned ruffling my hair. "Hey, stop messing with my hair," I said trying to push Eda's hand only to give up after realizing the difference in our strength.
"This is what you get for being cheeky, kid," Eda said with a smug expression as we walked out of the clearing to see the house close by. "Whatever," I said turning to Eda before I heard an unpleasant scream to my side where I turned to see Hootie who was rushing towards me with a smile. "Best friend, I missed you!" Hootie said as he rammed into my stomach knocking the air out of me. "*wheeze* H-*gasp*-hi Hootie." I said trying to catch my breath. "Hi Az, it's been so long since I saw you, what have you been doing?" Hootie said excitedly as I looked at him confused. 'Hasn't it only been a few weeks?' I thought before smiling. "I've been going to school and practicing magic, how about you?" I asked as Hootie's smile grew. "Oh my gosh, I've doing som much like chasing and looking at trees and chasing mice, did I mention chasing mice?" Hootie said as I only nodded.
"That's great, but is there any-" I said before I felt a wood staff push into my side. "Oof!" I said as I held my side before turning to Eda who looked annoyed. "This whole chat between Hootie and you is great and all but we have other things to do," Eda said before I remembered what we were originally here to do. "Sorry Hootie but I need to be somewhere else right now." I apologized as Hootie looked at me curiously. "Oh ok then, talk to you later!" Hootie said as his long body retracted into the door.
"Now that, that's done with, let's go inside," Eda said with a mildly annoyed look on her face. "Ok then," I said with a nervous smile on my face as we started to walk towards the house. 'What will Raine say after seeing me?' I thought before I remembered his reaction to me causing my nervousness to change, feeling tinges of a dark haze appear along with a newfound anxiety. 'Would he be happy when he saw me?' I thought as we got closer making my anxiety grow along with the dark haze. 'Would he scold me because I ran off alone at that party? Would he tell me to leave?' I thought as my anxiety turned into dread as we arrived at the door where everything around me was covered in a dark haze.
'I'm not even all that close to him, he might not even want to see me, so why am I-' I thought before I felt a hand on my head making turned behind me to see Eda smiling down at me. "Hey don't be nervous, that dork's been searching for you just as much as me," Eda said comfortingly as the dark haze surrounding me receded until it disappeared as quickly as it showed up. 'Eda's right, I'm just being paranoid.' I thought as I sighed in relief before I opened the door and heard yelling from the kitchen. "Eda, why are you game so late are you trying to annoy m-" Raine yelled as he exited the kitchen with an angry expression before he stopped as I looked down. 'Yep, he's definitely going to kick me out.' I thought as I felt someone punch my shoulder causing me to look up to see Raine smiling at me.
"Hey Az, good to finally see you." He said calmly as I looked at him surprised. "Y-you're happy," I said causing Raine to look at me confused. "Yes I am, is that a problem?" Raine asks as I realized what I said before I frantically shook my head. "No no no, it's actually a relief, I thought you would be angry and try to kick me out or something," I said smiling awkwardly as Raine looked at me with an unreadable expression before breaking into laughter. "Hahahaha, you thought I would kick you out for disappearing ?" Raine asked as I hesitantly nodded.
"Ha... no I wouldn't kick you out just because you did something stupid, after all, you're just a kid who's experiencing worse parts of life a little too quickly." He said with the same cheerful smile plastered onto his face. "O-oh yeah, I guess I am?" I said causing both Raine and Eda who was silent till now to laugh. "Hey, what's so funny!" I said annoyed as their laughter continued before Eda responded. "Because it's funny that a brat could forget that you're a brat, HAHAHA!" Eda said before she continued laughing as I could only sit there and wait until they stopped.
"Are you done?" I said annoyed as Eda and Raine seemed to calm down. "Y-*snicker*yes we are," Raine said as he jammed his elbow into Eda who was still laughing. "*cough*, yes we are," Eda said as she stood straight with a smile still on her face. "So seeing as how you showed up with Eda, I'm guessing you were living in the human world?" Raine said as I nodded. "Yeah, I was," I said with an expression that was a mix of boredom and annoyance. "That's interesting, so who did you stay with while you were there?" Raine asked as I tried to answer only for Eda to push me aside. "Pffft that's easy to answer, humans, Az told me himself!" Eda said as Raine looked at Eda annoyed before turning to me with a smile.
"And how was your stay with these humans?" Raine asked curiously as I smiled. "It was great, I may have not told you guys but I knew those people before I met you and Eda," I said without thinking causing a confused look to appear on their faces. "Wait what do you mean you "used to know them" Az?" Raine asked as I realized what I said before looking away from their gazes. 'Ugh did I really say that just now?!... Whatever they would have eventually found out anyways.' I thought as I sighed and raised my head to look at them. "So I um... used to live in the human world," I said nervously as Raine and Eda's eyes widened.
"Wait, you lived in the human world?!" Raine said surprised as Eda started laughing causing both of us to look at her. "Hahahaha, so that's why you looked like that in the forest!" Eda said causing Raine to become even more confused than he already did and me to remember our previous encounter when she took me from detention. "Az, what does Eda mean by that?" Raine asked as I sweated bullets. 'Damnit Eda, there's only so many things I can talk about in situations like this!' I thought, cursing Eda for her knack to cause trouble for people. "Well um, I was using... Illusion magic?" I said awkwardly as Eda's laughter became louder.
"HAHAHA, you think Raines going to fall for a lie like that!" Eda said as she continued laughing. "Yes Az, that lie wasn't very good but that's beside the point, now tell me what Eda's talking about," Raine said seriously as I sat there on the couch keeping eye contact with Raine for a few seconds before relenting. "Fine, I'll tell you, just... try not to be too weirded out?" I said as Raine nodded before I stepped back and transformed into my human form. "I can shape-shift," I stated seriously as Raine seemed to be frozen in place with even Eda looking at me with a look of astonishment. "Eda, why are you surprised, you've seen me like this!" I asked as Eda snapped out of her stupor.
"Ah, sorry it's just really weird to see you like that," Eda said as I groaned before I felt a hand on my shoulder, as I turned and saw him staring down at me with an unreadable expression. "Az, that was... so amazing! Can you change into other things or is that all?" Raine said as his expression shifted from unreadable to excited. "Uh, I have a third form but I don't usually use it since I got this ability the day I disappeared," I said filling Raine in on the circumstances of how I got this ability. "So wait does that mean you got it when you killed that creature?" Raine asked with a serious look as I nodded. "Yeah, it happened after its blood sprayed all over me," I answered as he kneeled in front of me and started to examine my body. "What are you doing?" I asked confused by his actions.
"Checking for anything that might have appeared," Raine said as I realized what he meant. "Wait, are you checking me for signs of illness or something?" I said as Raine finished checking me before he stood up. "Yes I was, and... it seems like I was overreacting because it feels like your body is stronger rather than weaker due to an illness like I thought it would be when you told me about the blood," Raine said as his face changed from serious to relieved. "Yeah it is, but-" I started to say before Eda interrupted. "Hey Raine, when is dinner going to be ready I'm hungry," Eda whined as Raine turned towards her.
"*sigh*, can't you wait until I'm done talking to Az?" Raine asked as Eda groaned. "Fine fine, I'll finish making dinner now," Raine said before he walked back to the kitchen where he was cooking, we waited around 20 minutes before Raine walked out from the kitchen. "Eda I'm finished cooking, the casserole is on the stove so-" Before Raine could finish talking Eda ran into the kitchen so fast she seemed like a blur.
"Why does she always... So, Az back to what we were talking about." Raine said as he rubbed his forehead in annoyance before turning to me as he smiled. "Actually I was thinking of focusing on something else," I said trying to direct the conversation to another topic. 'That ability is kind of a sensitive topic since it has to do with the Old man.' I thought as Raine nodded. "Oh wait, I actually had something to talk to you about now that you're back." Raine as I looked at him curious. "About what?" I said not being able to think of what he would need to talk to me about. "Well, I wanted to check your progress with your bard magic," Raine answered as I looked at him confused. "Uh, sure?" I said as a metaphorical question mark appeared above my head. "Great, then let's go outside," Raine said happily as we headed toward the back.
"So, how did you want to test my progress?" I asked as Raine brought multiple targets out. "I want you to hit these with all of your strength," Raine said as I nodded. "Ok, so I'll just start with..." I said before I tried to draw a spell circle only to see it flicker out as I remembered what happened in the forest. "Hey Az, what's taking you so long?" Raine yelled from his spot at the side of the targets. "S-sorry, but I don't think I can use magic," I said causing Raine to look at me confused as he walked over. "What do you mean you can't use magic, I saw you doing bard magic just fine a few weeks ago?" Raine asked as I hesitantly answered. "I think I may have overtaxed my body after fighting Eda," I said as Raine's face changed from confused to annoyed. "Excuse me for a second," Raine said as he rushed inside.
"What-" I said before I heard a shattering bowl and crying as I ran inside, concerned. "Hey, what's-!" I said before pausing as I witnessed Eda crying on the floor next to her food which was knocked over. "*overdramatic sob*, my food!" Eda cried before she turned to Raine with an annoyed face. "Why'd you do this Raine?!" Eda said angrily as Raine looked down at her with an intimidating gaze. "Because you attacked our son," Raine said seriously as Eda shrunk back when seeing his stare. 'Son?' I repeated in my head as I looked at Raine in surprise. "L-look I'm sorry about that but I had no control over myself since my curse took over," Eda said nervously as Raine's brow raised.
"Oh? And you couldn't have prevented that somehow?" Raine said calmly as Eda started to sweat bullets before turning away. "Maybe...?" Eda said as I felt the atmosphere become heavier as Raine knelt down to Eda. "And you didn't try to prevent it?" Raine asked intimidatingly as Eda turned towards him with her eyes looking down. "I-I forgot?" Eda said as she looked up with a nervous smile before Raine stood up and took a deep breath.
"AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO FIX YOUR MISTAKE?! That's it no more dinner for you tonight!" Raine said as he began to move towards the trash with the rest of the food before Eda looked down again. "I'M SORRY!" She said as I looked at all of this with a deadpan look as I returned to the backyard. "Seriously-" is all I heard before walking through the back door and arriving at the same spot I was standing in before laying down. 'I went in there for nothing.' I thought as I laid there for half an hour before footsteps broke me out of my stupor.
"Huh?" I said as I stood up to see Raine walking towards me with a Guitar in hand. "Hey Raine, what's the guitar for?" I asked as he sighed. "Well, it's something I wanted to give you after I checked your progress but since I can't do that thanks to a particular someone-" Raine said as I imagined Eda smiling obnoxiously. "-So I'll give it to you now, even if you can't use magic with it for now," Raine said as I paused there for a second processing what he said before my eyes widened. "Wait, you're giving me my own instrument?!" I said in surprise as Raine smiled and nodded. "This is... awesome! I can't wait to use bard magic with it when my magic comes back!" I said as Raine chuckled at my eagerness. 'Shiiiit, I'm being way too childish.' I thought as I felt embarrassed.
'I'm 17 and acting like this, ugh!' I thought as I ruffled my hair. "Hey, there's no need to be embarrassed, every kid your age acts like this, it would be weird if you weren't excited," Raine said as I mentally deadpanned. 'No, a 7-year-old should act like that, I'm 17-.' I thought before remembering what age my body was. "Yeah, I guess it would," I said smiling as Raine nodded. "It's actually kind of funny since you try to act mature for your age." Raine as he chuckled. "Haha, yeah I do, don't I?" I said as I smiled tensely with annoyance.
"So, on the subject of your guitar and your lack of... magic right now, I was thinking that we focus on other parts of your abilities like your physical ones for now," Raine said awkwardly as my expression became thoughtful. 'I mean that would help since I've been focusing mostly on magic ever since I crossed over here but...' I thought as I focused back on Raine. "That's fine and all but I'm kind of staying in the human world right now, so there won't be as much time for me to train since I can only train for a few hours a day now," I said leaving Raine unbothered.
"Well, I talked to Eda about that and we accepted that you won't be here as often as when you lived here, so we decided to spend time training you in the human world!" Raine enthusiastically as my mind felt like a loading screen on a computer from the 80s. "What?" I said as Raine seemed to think of something else. "Oh, and I just thought of something," Raine said as I stood there still listening and processing what he was saying. "Go on?" I said as Raine nodded.
"I also plan on teaching you how to use that guitar, since you'll be using it in the future," Raine said as I only nodded before I finished processing everything he said to me. "Ok, so you plan to help me improve myself athletically since I can't use magic and you're also going to teach me how to play this guitar?" I said pointing at the guitar in my hand. "Well, yes to the second part and no to the first," Raine responded as I looked at him, still confused.
"So who's going to train me physically?" I ask before I heard footsteps behind Raine as Eda appeared behind Raine. "I'll be doing that brat!" Eda said as she pointed a thumb to herself before unintentionally pushing Raine off balance. 'Wait, why Ed- oh wait wasn't she a huge sports person when she was young, so I guess she would be a good choice.' I said looking at her thoughtfully.
"Hey what's that look for, I'll have you know I was my grudgby teams' star player," Eda said annoyed before I saw Raine push her away. "Yes, as Eda said Az, she'll be training you to make up for her mistake," Raine said as Eda stood back up. "I said I was sorry!" Eda said before Raine turned to her. "Sorry doesn't cut it, that's why you're making up for it by training him," Raine said as I sighed before noticing an orange hue enveloping the land around us. 'It's already sunset huh?' I thought before realizing what that meant.
"Oh shoot it's sunset, I promised to be back before then!" I yelled out, drawing the attention of both Eda and Raine. "Hey Az, what's wrong?" Raine asked before I turned to them. "I have to go, I promised the people I'm living with I would be back by now!" I said slightly panicked as I ran up to Eda. "Come on Eda, I have to get back now!" I said as Eda was caught off-guard. "Whoa kid we still have some stuff to talk about and-" Eda said before she suddenly went silent as an evil smirk rose on her face. "How about this, I'll take you back now if you help me with my business?" Eda whispered to me as I looked at her annoyed.
"Why should I-" I said before Eda covered my mouth with her hand. "Shhh, you want to get back quick don't you?" Eda said as I rolled my eyes. "Fine, whatever just open the portal," I said as Eda smirked and laughed triumphantly before I turned to Raine. "Well, it's been good seeing you Raine (not Eda) but I need to get back before the person looking after me gets worried," I said as Eda opened the portal to the human world.
"Well, that's my cue, see you tomorrow!" I said with a nervous smile as I ran through the portal before arriving back in the human world as I ran back to the house. 'Ugh, Camila's going to kill me!' I thought before I arrived at the back door of the house as the sun finally disappeared into the horizon.
"Hey, I'm back!" I said as I walked into the house, hearing nothing but silence in response. 'That's weird are they out?' I thought until I heard something from deeper in the house. 'Is that... crying?' I thought as ran towards the noise in concern as I turned the corner to the family room to see..."Luz?"
_________________________________________
Hey guys, I'm sorry to say this but I haven't been in the best mind space to write with my schedule being filled up, so I'm going to take a little time off.
I should be back around the end of this month when I'm done dealing with everything and I hope that you'll continue reading this when I get back.
Hope to see you guys then!
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง