Barbecue Head

…

After some conversation, Marco and Scias bids Pio goodbye. Not to leave her behind, but to let her recover back to full health. Her current state is not a hundred percent fine. Especially this day is the time when she regained consciousness. The nurse reentered Pio's room. She kindly asked Marco and Scias to leave for the moment, because further medication will be done soon to Pio.

Scias leaves the room first with Marco behind. Before stepping out, Marco waves hand to Pio.

"Well then, we'll be going for now. Take care, Pio. We're waiting for you."

Pio replies with her own hand waving, smiling with her childish nature and nods cutely. "Hm! Pio will return soon! Please wait for me!"

Marco grins and gives a thumb up to her and walks away.

The nurse walks closer to Pio, in a soft voice she states her enviousness.

"You're so lucky, eh, Miss Pio?"

"Hm?" Pio puts her finger beneath her lips, not understanding. "Lucky?" she wondered.

"Yeah," the nurse affirmed while preparing a medicine. "Having someone that treasures you is really something, don't you think? A kindhearted person and those who're waiting for you just like a real family, I envy you, Miss Pio."

Hearing those words made Pio thinks of her previous daily life in Alidia before meeting Marco. "Mister Marco… Miss Nina… Aily… Mister Tall Man… they are all kind towards Pio."

She raises both hands in front of her. A thin smile emerges from her tiny lips. "It feels warm and comfortable when near them. Pio likes them. Pio loves them."

The nurse smiles when hearing her story. "You've been through a lot, don't you? You're lucky to meet him."

Pio laughs freely and excitedly tells her story of how she met Marco and his friends like an enthusiastic child. The nurse chuckles together with her, complimenting her achievements and everything that had happened to her with wholesome and warm words.

But… Pio's powers suddenly activates out of her control.

"T-This again…"

She stares deeply at the nurse for several seconds as her powers reel information about her. Without Pio realizing it, her mouth was slightly opened.

"Miss Pio, is there something wrong?" the nurse kindly asked. A short pause befalls between the two.

"Miss… are you… saddened?" Pio slowly asked her.

The nurse's eyes flashed for a moment. Her mouth went agape for a while. Her lips twitched, itching to cover back what has been unveiled by the kid in front of her. But… she could not do it.

"…Yes," she answered shortly. Her face melts into a grim one. She could not stare back at Pio. Her eyes are looking down to floor. Her hands hold each other, caressing unintentionally.

"You and I have similar stories… but we do not share the same fate. Years had gone through, yet nobody discovered me and lent me a hand. I wandered through the corners of the world, searching for someone that would welcome me. I've no family. I've no friends. My background was the reason why I was in that state."

The nurse hindered her lips from talking more, letting a brief silence swells into the room. After a while, she grows a relieved sincere smile. And after that, she begins to speak again, but in a lower tone.

"…Until I found this village, where the people were so different it made me thought I'm in another world. Because of it, I decided to settle in this village for the rest of my life.

You're lucky to be found by someone like Mister Marco so soon. Unlike me…"

"That's not true!" Pio denied. "Pio hasn't yet reunited with sister for so long! Pio wanted to see her again… Pio wanted to find her, but Pio was unable to. But you Miss, you already found and welcomed by that 'someone' you were looking for!"

"Who was that 'someone', if I may ask?" the nurse asked gently.

"That 'someone' is not a particular person, though…" Pio replied cutely. "But, with you living in this village. Everyone accepted you, right? That means everyone welcomed you here!"

Hearing such words from a mere kid makes her eyes teary. The nurse didn't realize it at all. It was never a living being that she after all this time. It was a welcoming environment. A place that she could call home and this village IS her home. She was shrouded all this time. But after realizing it finally, the burden that weighed her shoulders begins to wear off.

"I… I see. It appears I was… blind all this time."

"Hng?" Pio begins to sound confused again. "Blind? Miss, you can't see things?" she asked.

"N-No need to think about it, thank you, Miss Pio," the nurse thanked.

"Pio don't really get it, but yeah!" Pio changed into a bright smile. "You're welcome!"

The nurse wiped her tears off with her handkerchief. "Very well, then… I guess I can work much better now. Now, now, Miss Pio, please stay calm okay?"

"Eh?"

The nurse reveals a syringe in her hand that has been prepared beforehand. She walks closer to her. The tapping of her shoes on the floor as she grows nearer to Pio made the little girl scared.

Pio notices a reflection from the tip of the needle.

"H-Hweh? W-What is that… scary… thing?"

"Oh, don't you worry. It's just a *sob* little injection. No need to worry, Miss Pio, it's just like a tiny ant bite."

Pio pulls her blanket and wraps herself around it. "Your way of saying that is unassuring, Missy! I don't want to! I don't want to! That's scary!"

"Don't worry, it doesn't *sob* at all!"

"Noooooooooooooooo!!!"

…

..

.

Midway through the hallway of the infirmary house, Marco heard the scream.

"Hey, Scias? Did you hear a scream?"

"Huh…" Scias proceeds to look around him. "Nope, I don't hear a thing. Must be your imagination," he stated with a flat face.

"Oh. Okay, then." Marco shrugged off and leaves through the doorway along with Scias.

Just when they walked out, they come across the dragonians, Ognist and Taizun who were just about to enter the building.

"Oh, good day, Sir Scias, Sir Marco," Ognist greeted first.

"Good to see you," Taizun greeted as well.

"Oh, hey there, big guy," Marco greeted back in a friendly tone.

"Nice to see you two, I suppose…" Scias remarked.

"I suppose you've just checked on Miss Pio, right?" Ognist asked. "She fought really hard back then, I worried she might not make it."

"Oh, don'tcha worry, she's looking fine. She has risen. She can even eat like a monster!"

Silence.

"Marco, if you said that in front of her, she will be very mad, you know?" Scias quickly told his buddy.

"Oh… ohohohohow, right… I-I shouldn't say that. Good thing's she's still in there. Ahahaha~" said Marco while scratching the back of his head.

Meanwhile, back inside the infirmary house…

"Aaatchoo!" Pio sneezed.

"Oh, my, did you catch a cold, Miss Pio?" the nurse asked while coming to her with a fabric.

"Nng…!" she shook her head, denying. She pouts shortly afterwards. Her eyelids are still wet from being teary before. On her upper elbow, there is cotton covering her skin.

"Oh, please don't be mad because I inoculated you. It's for your health."

Pio remained pouting.

Back to Marco and the others, Ognist breaks the silence by conveying his intention at the infirmary.

"Ahem! Uh… this is awkward, um… anyway! We're here to visit our friend," he said gently.

"Oh, you mean Zeugen?" Marco asked.

Ognist nods, "Correct."

"I see. But wait, few days ago, he was still in his dragon form, right?"

Ognist crosses his hands and speaks, "Indeed. How troublesome it was for us to carry him all the way back here. But after giving him some needed potions, he could finally return back to human form. Happy end for us," Ognist ended with a big smile.

"Huh?" Marco cringed. "Dragonians can't return to human form without a help of a certain item?"

"It only applies to Zeugen, though. If we dragonians have low mana energy left and sustaining deadly injury, we could still use the remaining mana energy to return back to human form. But for Zeugen, he could not. I have yet to discover what's causing it, even though we've been together for over fifteen years."

"Some… dragonians w-were not born with powerful magic affinity. Mostly, dragonians can change form with little effort and efficiently use magic. But I suppose, Zeugen was not so efficient in using magic…" Scias disclosed his thought.

"You're quite knowledgeable, aren't you?" Ognist complimented. "I'm impressed."

"It's nothing to be really impressed of, though…" Scias replied in a resigned voice.

Taizun adds into the conversation with a grunting voice, "How stupid it was for him to fell unconscious moreover in a terrible injury. He kept forgetting he could not return back to human form in that state! Barbecue head and I had told him million times and he still won't take care of his well-being. His recklessness might be that one thing that will send him to hell one day!"

Taizun almost roared in fury in lamenting his friend. But he quickly pulled himself back to recover his composure.

"Ahem! Well… it was impossible to tell an 'airhead' like him. But 'barbecue head' and I will not stop reminding him. He's our comrade, after all."

"I s-see…" Marco said in a held back voice. But something bothers him. He then asks the dragonians about something in a casual tone.

"Say… why did you call Sir Ognist by 'barbecue head'? I mean, he does not smell like one, nor he looks like one. So why?" Marco wondered.

"Oh, that?" Taizun's eyelid twitched for a bit. "Pff… good thing you asked," he chuckled, barely able to hold his laugh. His face is no longer stiff and serious.

"You see, it all happened two years ago, during a thanksgiving day in Sacran. It was evening and we're all having fun eating barbecue. Until Ognist tripped over a rock and had his face landed right onto the grill full of barbecue sticks. Since he had resistance to heat, he did not sustain any injury, but man… if you would look at his face that time, you'll be dead laughing. His entire face was full of grilled meat and some sticks stuck onto his hair, yet his face was still okay."

Taizun then covers his mouth with his arms, preventing his laugh from being heard out loud. Marco grinned and nearly laughed, but he managed to hold them with some effort. He turned his face against a wall to hide his laugh.

"Hey…" Ognist nudged, implying his colleague to stop.

"Ahh… Because of that, Medica and I called him the title 'barbecue head' ever since. Pff… huahahaha! Such good old days… ah… remembering it makes me want to laugh my ass off, hahaha,"

Taizun, who rarely showed any emotions actually laughed that time. It amazes Marco that he can change like that, as if he's listening to a completely different person.

Ognist shakes his head in a slow motion, "Haah…" he sighed long. "Because of that, my reputation was slightly broken, you know? Everyone was so nice and chivalrous to me, but ever since then, they sometimes laugh when I walk near them," he complained. Meanwhile, Taizun is still laughing with his head facing the other way.

"What a long-lasting treatment, huh?" said Marco.

"That's enough giggling for one day. Let's get going, Taizun," Ognist stated.

"Pff… hee-hee… okay, okay…" Taizun nodded and followed his senior.

"Do you people want to see him too?" Ognist asked casually. It appears he did not bare any sign of angriness or disappointment after being made fun of.

Marco reminisces something about the steam dragon. "That time… why did he transformed almost instantly and prevented those demons from hitting me?" he wondered in his thoughts. "I can only find out by asking him directly."

After convincing himself, Marco agrees to come along. "Sure do. I have something to say to him."