The Pagemasters Vol 2 Chapter 23
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Author: Literataku
Chapter 23:
Things That I’m Losing
I tilted my head slightly, a question mark over my head as she spoke.
“What was I like in the ‘early days?’”
She sighed and turned her head to the side, laying against my chest while we continued to lean against the side of the inn. Even if we weren’t doing anything, in particular, I hoped nobody was going to come looking for us.
“When we met the first time you were a bit arrogant, conceited. Felt like you had to be in control of everything. Kind of a skirt chaser, like a kid who found out he can get any candy he wanted. I don’t know what you had been through before then. You didn’t talk about it. Eventually, you got bored of trying to have every girl you met after you realized that every time we started over no one remembered or changed except for me. I remembered, I learned and understood what we had been going through over and over.
“We were all we had that was real. And when you spend so much time with each other it seemed only natural that as we worked together we would also… become more.”
She blushed a little and turned her face into my chest. I looked down at her and gave her back a slight rub across her shoulders.
“So I’m guessing we?”
She nodded into my chest and spoke into my clothes, making it hard to catch her words.
“Yes, a few times. Though each time we restart everything, I get my umm… that back.”
She stopped and buried her face even deeper into my chest, I could feel the heat from her breath and her cheeks. Some hidden part of me wanted to tease her, it was rather cute seeing her acting like this. I sighed stopping myself from doing anything else while stroking her hair softly.
“So what should we do about the soul display magic thing?”
She stiffened and looked back up, her cheeks still slightly red-tinged though fading as her expression darkened.
“I have a feeling that Clarion-san might know what we’ve been doing. And if he sees it, that’ll only confirm his suspicions. But…”
She took a deep breath looking into my eyes with tears forming in the corners of hers.
“Maybe it could also show why or how you lost your memories. I’m not sure which one I’m more afraid of right now. This or them.”
I sighed slightly, wondering if I could look forward and steal some kind of hints, My mind starting to drift that way before she put a hand on my chest and pressed me back into the wall. Shaking her head at me.
“Don’t. Please. When you do that I’ve been getting pulled along with you, and right now the only thing we’ll see is… that monster.”
I paused, looking down at her as she gazed up with fearful teary eyes.
“How many times?”
“More than you want to hear, less than you fear. When we failed, I joined you before he could… again. That’s why we stopped trying to handle him before we got stronger. Waiting until we could completely overwhelm him with real power and magic.”
I nodded my head slightly, after what I saw, I could understand and felt even more worried that we were getting in over our heads with this situation. Could one more person make a difference in this situation? Everything changed so perhaps he wouldn’t be the monster we faced. Oh, who am I kidding? That was exactly how the guy is written.
“I don’t think Master wants to throw our lives away. If he thinks we won’t stand a chance he’ll get us out of there.”
She remained quiet, unmoving as she kept her face buried in my chest, the silence stretching out to the point that it was starting to get awkward. The wood and dirt were starting to irritate my back after being pressed up against it so long. She sniffed and pulled away slowly, looking up at me with resignation in her tear reddened eyes.
“We’ll see… I’m just getting so tired of-”
“Quoi? Playing the act of secret lovers?”
We turned to see Allouise walking around the corner, her movements and face looking like someone who had caught a pair of teenagers making out someplace they shouldn’t be. Huh, I guess we are that aren’t we?
I saw something flash in her eyes as she looked at how close together we were, perhaps disappointment? But they slowly filled with resolve, and I was getting a little worried about what she was deciding to do. I was either going to need to shut her down or hope she can’t chase after us when we get out of this kingdom.
Violet sent the other woman a glare between drying her eyes with one hand, the other tightening around me possessively. Ooph that’s getting a little strong there… I might be closer to hero strength and durability but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to feel that.
“Nothing secret about it.” She retorted and suddenly moved up to kiss me. I wasn’t prepared for the move and had turned my head away, shifting back the two of us collided spectacularly as her forehead bashed against mine.
The two of us ricocheting off each other and grabbing our respective heads in pain. My cheeks reddening as the Dark Queen took some enjoyment seeing our pain laughing with amusement. She turned around and gave a flippant wave of her hand.
“The Red one secured a pair of rooms for us. But one of them only has one bed. I’m sure your friend will enjoy sharing a room with him tonight, Maitre. The bird also wants you both upstairs as quickly as possible.”
She didn’t wait for a response, which was probably good for her survival as I could see the steam rising off of Violet’s hair. She turned around and looked at me, giving me a start and making me back up slightly.
“What did you do with her?” Her voice was inquisitive and without anger, despite the looks that I was getting from her.
“Nothing. I fainted last night and she carried me to her bed until I could recover. But I couldn’t move at all, so she and I shared the bed to sleep. We didn’t do anything. But she might be projecting onto me because I’m the only other guy she knows and trusts, Time travel may be involved, and her unrequited love had a baby with her rival and was murdered in front of her this morning.”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, I could feel myself starting to sweat even though I told the truth it wasn’t exactly everything. I don’t think she needed to know I had seen her half-naked for the majority of last night, nor that she had cuddled up behind me in her sleep. A sleep that Violet and I had been holding each other in our own dreams.
“Time travel?”
I scratched my cheek and felt my face getting red.
“I’m not completely sure but I think I may have/will be turning(ed) her into the Dark Fairy Queen. That’s why she calls me ‘Maitre’.”
Violet shook her head with a groan, rubbing her temples as she looked at me. “Well, at least we can possibly say you live past what is coming up at. Maybe we actually win then. You wouldn’t go back in time to make her the Dark Queen if Sleeping Beauty wasn’t going to happen. Unless we bring her along to try again somewhere else. Or you go back anyway just to keep this timeline consistent even if the rest of us get killed. Ugh! This is why we agreed no time travel shenanigans.”
I chuckled nervously. “Sorry. I forgot.”
She paused for a moment, an odd look on her face before planting her forehead into the middle of her palm. “Oh. My. Word. Blue!”
She lunged at me as I took off and ran around the corner. Barely dodging her grasping fingers and heading for the Inn’s entrance. My heart still feeling a bit guilty though-
“Get back here and take responsibility!”
Her voice was trying hard not to laugh as she gave chase, charging around the corner right behind me. Deciding on the spur of the moment, I kept running down past the entrance and heading further into the village. Maybe it was hormones and testosterone running high but it was somewhat exhilarating. It wasn’t like we had to do more serious things right away, and we both needed something to take our minds off what had happened.
The villagers giving strange looks as a young, teenage couple flashed by laughing with each other and running all over the village. The girl giving chase and shouting words that would lead to a lot of rumors that would mortify both of us later during that night when we overhear a couple of drunks talking about us loudly.
But that would have to wait for later. Once both of us had tired out from our run across the village, we walked back toward the inn with genuine smiles for the first time in a long while. She settled herself wrapped around my arm with a quiet sigh. I could feel her softness pressed against me and for the moment I felt like I had earned it a little bit this time.
Stepping inside, we saw Red standing close by with his arms slightly crossed and looking at us. His expression was hard to read though I almost felt like a kid that got caught by his girlfriend’s older brother. Of course, if I likened him to that then-
“Ehem.”
-Master would be her father. And he was certainly giving a look and stance that, even from Red’s shoulder, was actually kind of intimidating. Maybe I shouldn’t think in this direction. Like ever again. It’s way too dangerous and… Why the hell does that worry me anyway? We’re both adults! Just in younger bodies and going through all the fun of having the hormones of high schoolers all over again.
“Are you two going to cooperate?”
I could feel Violet stiffen slightly as he asked. It was my turn to take charge this time. I nodded and stood up a bit straighter. This was possibly a way to get answers for a lot of things. Maybe figure out what had happened to me in that last attempt.
“Yes. I’ll let you look at my soul.”
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