Ep14: Love at Fifth Book

"Why did you bring us out here Mel?" Add asked as he snuck behind Melisa. He was the loudest out of the two, as his metal armor thumped along the ground and rustled around with each joint he bent. "Are we doing another bounty? A prank?" He kept inquiring curiously, brushing away stray branches that blocked his pat. "Just keep following, I needed to show you something," she said, taking them through a few more bushes before emerging behind the last one next to a lake. "There," she said, pointing to Lao walking in the distance. Tucked under his arm was a book that he took with him.

"I do not get it, it's just a book right?" Add said confused, scratching his head.

"No, keep watching."

"Alright, but I don't see anything happening..." Add stared at Lao walking along the Lake, getting bored rather quickly. "Melisa, this is wrong to spy on him…"

"Shh! Wait for it…." Add turned back to Lao, getting intrigued when Lao hopped off the path and slowed down. "Hmm?" He said to particularly no one as he spectated closely, seeing him sit down on a patch of grass and whistle. The water in front of him started to shift and bubble, and out pops a bunyip through the previously tranquil waterline!

"Is that like a pet or associate?" Add thought, this spectacle raising more questions than answers. He was on the edge of the bush now, watching as the bunyip slithered up to Lao, plopped her tush right down beside him, and gave him a long, wet kiss on the cheek. He fell back from the bush in disbelief, grasping at straws on what he had just witnessed. "But, he...dead...love…."

"And get this. He has been doing this for a while now. And we have never been told!"

"He didn't even react…" Add's world felt like it had just been altered tremendously. "Doesn't he usually shrug off affection? He just sat there...and smiled. What is going on?"

"Oh, don't I have a tale for you…."

(One explanation later...)

"So that's what happened," Add said while leaning against a tree. Melisa had taken a spot on a chopped down tree to explain everything. "So this bunyip...is like a second chance?"

"Yes, which is why I need your help. Actually no, I needed you to do everything. What if the bunyip dies? It would spell disaster for Lao…"

"I see your point. He might never learn to love again, for real this time."

"Love? It isn't that!" Melisa exclaimed. "What if he barricades himself in the house once more? Then we would have to wait for an entire week and…" she trailed off when she noticed the suit of armor staring at her, with a slight head shake of disappointment. "...and if he was stuck inside for an entire week he would be alone to deal with the fallout…"

Add nodded and peered back over the bushes. Lao was wrapping things up with the bunyip now, exchanging books and pecks on the cheek before continuing on his way past the lake. The bunyip was giddy with excitement, staring at the cover as she slipped back into the pond. "I hope that book has been waterproofed…"

"So Add, what are you going to do?" Melisa asked him.

"Don't you mean we?"

"No, I mean you. I, personally, do not care how he feels. If he isn't physically injured, then it is none of my concern. Also, I have no idea what I should do."

"Figures. Well first, we will need more people to watch over him. I'll go get Witty, and you get….um…"

"The slut of a commander?"

"Marilyn, yes." They both nodded and went their separate ways to gather others for their plan, agreeing to meet back up after dark, when Lao would have been sleeping in his room.

Lao went to bed oblivious to their plan, wishing Maggie a good night as he slipped under the covers. Maggie waited till his chest had stopped rising as high as it would when he was awake, then opened the door to the room. Add and Melisa was waiting outside for her, peering around her to check on him. "As you requested, he has fallen asleep. But why ask me to put him in a food coma?"

"We needed an extra hour to gather everyone. Follow us please," he said. The three of them went down the steps and outside of the castle to the garden, where everyone had been brought to wait. Witness and Geo were playing checkers, while Marylin was circled around the cadets. "Hear ye, hear ye," Melisa shouted to get everyone's attention, banging the hilt of her rapier on Add's armor. "Ignore the man beside me if he is hunched over. We have gathered her today on a very important topic that must be discussed. I presume we all know our good friend Lao?"

"Get on with the reason, Commander Add woke me up near midnight for this!" Jacob said back, unamused with bags under his eyes.

"Quiet wolf boy I have the podium. Now, it turns out that he has found another possible wife, but we need to make sure it doesn't turn out like the other one…"

"You can just say Seian, I think we can all respect her name," Witness said.

"Raise your hand before talking!" Melisa yelled. The dragon sighed and raised it, making sure he didn't hit a ceiling on accident.

"Yes?"

"Why can't we just allow him to do what he feels is right?"

"I agree," Elizabeth chimed in. "Mother always said that true love will find a way through everything."

"Plus, this takes away from all our schedules Melisa," Geo added. "I am meeting with a client, I can't afford to reschedule."

"Oh, you won't have to go with us, Geo. For you see, me and Addianus…"

"She didn't help on the plan."

"Addianus came up with a wonderful idea. All we need you to do is to get the ball rolling."

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Geo tapped the armrest throne impatiently as he waited for Lao to come up to him. It was a stupid idea, he repeated inside his head. He was glad that Add had taken his schedule into account, but even then it was so bizarre. He had been asked, nil, instructed to be in his female form for this plan. He crossed and recrossed his feminine legs in frustration, sometimes getting up to see if Lao was rounding the corner on the spiral staircase. Finally, on one of his checks, he heard his footsteps and flew back to the chair to act natural. "Lao, welcome," Geo said, acting as naturally as he could.

"My king, er queen, you look like you went to work out," he noted, seeing beads of sweat on his queen's face. "Haven't you scheduled a meeting?"

"It is nice you are concerned, but trust me, I will be fine. However, did you know you have vacation days?"

"No, I didn't think I would need any with the time I have between missions," he responded.

"Well, I am giving you a day to do whatever you wish. Usually you would hover around in case needed, but this is purely a day for yourself, and whoever you wish to spend it with." She said, winking. "In fact, I know a nice place you can go to camp out…"

"Actually, I could go and visit my family. I can go spend time with them and-"

"No." Geo said, her voice bouncing around Lao's head as the omnibus' eyes started glowing. "You will go camp at the nice spot."

"I will go, camp at the nice spot…" Lao repeated, being put under her spell.

"And you will take your crush with you,"

"And I will take my crush with me….ugh, my head…" Geo's eyes stopped glowing once the hypnosis had set. "Oh my dear, did you make sure to drink any water today?"

"I think so, the same thing happened when I got this blue symbol on my wri-"

"Sounds like a personal problem. Now go on! Have you fun with yourself and whoever, if you may choose." Lao nodded and went back down the steps, leaving Geo to get up and peer around his chair. "Di, you can get up now." The lilim hopped out from around the chair, making herself comfortable in Geo's throne. "Much better! You know, you should really have someone dust behind there, it gets on my clothing. Also, you could have come up with something way better than a 'personal problem'."

"How long are you going to go on with him? I don't particularly like the subjects faction being toyed with."

"I promised you when you caught me that I would ensure his safety. Now then, do you have the footage of him and Maggie?" Geo snapped his fingers, a camcorder dropping in Di's lap. "Wonderful! Now for my end. I heard your next monarchy has a particular affinity for felines. I would advise bringing a chirema with you." She continued on with her intel as she powered on the camcorder, watching the hallway camera footage of Lao and his maid running around. "It's better than I could have ever imagined Geo. Giving your target a loyal maid was a good investment. I knew an incubus like you could keep a secret."

"Omnibus. Do you know when you will be finished with him?"

"Most likely when I have brought this story to sixty thousand words. What's a good shonen without a pinch of conflict and a few backstories?" She said, getting up with the camcorder and going back behind the chair. "Do visit Melko's establishment again at some point, we all do feel it when our favorite demon lord is gone."

"And as for you?"

"Me? I will keep doing what I do best, obviously." With that, she disappeared, leaving a thin wisp of her being to fade away like steam behind him. Geo pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, settling back into his throne and looking up at the ceiling of her throne room. "Cats, aye…."

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Before leaving himself open to relax, Lao went around to others to see if they needed help on anything. However, Marylin had taken the cadets on a diplomacy trip, and Melisa and Add were no where to be found. Maggie watched him pace back and forth from the roof, sneaking back in through the window of his room when he went inside through a door. "Find his stuff, find his things," she repeated to herself as she went around the room, hiding anything that could remotely keep him from seeing the bunyip. Family-related items, his weapons, everything but a spare blue cloak that was imbued with a fresh scent of morning dew on grass. She had all but cleared and rearraged the room by the time Lao had got there, pretending to iron the clock with her arm blade. "Maggie, you're rubbing a sharp object on my clothes," he pointed out as he came inside the room.

"It is a new technique that I am trying," she answered with the same monotone voice. "It is how I made my maid dress."

"Uhhh…" his eyes shifted toward her sleeves, which were still in tatters. "Uh huh. May I wear that today? I am going...somewhere." Maggie was about to ask if he was going to meet with the bunyip, but she caught herself with her arm before the words came out of her mouth. "Maggie, your arm blade is in your mouth," Lao told her, the mantis moving her arm away to see blood dripping from her lips. "Oh, well...I must tend to this. Enjoy your trip," she said. Bowing and excusing herself to go find a medical person.

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Melisa watched from the shadows as Lao exited the castle, stopping to take a map with him before continuing on. She tailed him closely, hopping quietly from tree to tree as she watched over him. She had to stop before the lake, taking her seat next to the tree while Lao did her usual greeting with the bunyip. Except….

"So Issia, it turns out that my day has been completely cleared," Lao told her cheerfully as they hugged.

"Does that mean we can finally read underwater?"

"Better, we can go to a camping site," he said excitedly, showing her the map of the campsite. "I was told it had everything to make our day more interesting."

"That sounds nice. A good change of pace from your lake time. So we would have all day to ourselves?" Issia asked. "I have never had you for more than a while at a time you know."

"Yep. I even brought the rest of the books I could find in my cadet's satchel." Lao patted the bag he held. "Someone had dropped it off for me, and I decided to bring some. I don't think Elizabeth would mind…"

"Look at Lao, stealing from his students, you dog," the bunyip said while playfully punching him. "You didn't have to do all that for me."

"Well, I did. Bunyips can travel on land, right?"

"Of course, I am still a snake gal. My coat will just get a bit dirty." She slipped her tail out of the edge of the lake fully, circling around Lao with her wet body. "See, perfectly fine."

"Fair enough." Lao unraveled himself from the bunyip and started walking off, with Issia walking off with him. Melisa's head poked above the waterline as they walked off. "So her name is Issia...funny name. Don't you think Add?" She lifted a coughing knight out of the lake, with water leaking out from the inside of the body. "I can't swim in this you know. All my clothes are wet…" he complained, followed by another cough of water. "Ah shrug it off, we need to make sure Issia doesn't kill herself. Did you send your husband to the campsite?" He coughed a couple more times before answering. "Yes, but can you please take me out?"

"Fine fine, but I'm not carrying your metal ass once you are out," she conceded, swimming out towards the shore. Melisa and a struggling Add continued to tail Lao and Issia to the campsite, with both pairs finding nothing but a cliff that overlooked a beautiful view, and four logs that surrounded a campfire currently put it. "That is it?" Melisa whispered. "It just looks like a pile of wood that someone called a campsite!" Issia had the opposite reaction, slithering over to the very edge to bask in the beauty. "Everything seems so beautiful!"

"Is this code red?" Add asked Melisa, seeing how close her body was from falling over the edge while she gazed at everything. "I don't know exactly if Witness is under the cliff…"

"We will just have to trust in him for now…" Melisa said, wanting to keep their location a secret. Witness wanted the same, digging his tail and nails into the rock face. He had free soloed down the cliff when he had heard them, and were now looking up at the end of a bunyip tail while she peered around. Each shift of his body causing tiny pebbles to fall down the heights. It made his heart beat faster looking down, even if he could escape easily with the wings on his back. "Lao, come join me on this view!" Lao chuckled and wet beside her, sitting down with his feet dangling over the cliff face. "This is really dangerous now," Add commented. "I hope my husband is there to keep them safe..."

"Hey, do you hear rustling?" Melisa asked, turning toward the noise. She had rotated just enough to take an arrow to the head, brushing apart her blond short hair as blood started to leak out of her forehead. "Fucking-"

"Melisa, are you alright!?" Add said, getting between her and where the arrow came from to block any more than came her way. She winced in pain as she pulled it out and put her finger over the wound, not lifting it off until it had healed back closed. "Great, what now…" More rustling came from around them as a group of bandits emerged, pointing blades and crossbows at the two.

"Well lookie here! Four stragglers have come to our spot fellas! Don't you all read?"

"Read what fuckface? The only thing I'm reading is my signature that I'm carving into your back." The crowd chuckled at her, finding her insults amusing. The leader was padded to oblivion with fur pelts and was the only one of them to have two crossbows at the ready instead of one. "Ha! The only word you'll be seeing for the rest of your days is 'pig' written across your boobs, right after we kidnap your boyfriend right there, amirite chaps?" The crowd chuckled again, elbowing and jesting with each other.

"Find then. Why don't I fight you then sword on crossbow? Add, you fight the rest," Melisa said as she drew her rapier, deflecting another arrow that was coming towards her ear. "It's not like you can move in that furry suit of yours."

"I am willing to wager that! You heard her chaps, tie up the armored lad for me. I'm going to put my new dhampir slave here in place!" The leader proudly proclaimed as she and Melisa went in search of a clearing. With the two gone, the group's attention was entirely on Add, once again left for dry. "Wait, what?"

"Get him!" went one of the men as two rushed to grab him by each side. Add tucked and punched on, then quickly pushed off the second before taking evasive action. His yelling for help could be heard from the campsite, where Lao and Issia were busy getting the campfire going. Issia dropped her wood as she turned towards the yell, turning towards Lao to see if he noticed. "Lao, I think someone needs help…"

"They are most likely being chased by game. They will be fine," Lao said dissmissively, continuing to hit two stones together until their sparks caught onto the firewood. "We have light!"

"Woooo…." Issia cheered, watching the flame burn as the sun began to dip down the horizon. "Great timing as well. I could never light a fire like that."

"What do you mean, it just takes a bit of practice."

"Are you saying you would teach me?" Issia asked, battering her eyes for emphasis.

"Of course I can teach you, it is easy! Watch…" Lao went around Issias back, reaching his hands around to grab hers while he leaned over her. "Ohoho, frisky."

"Only in your dream. Now then, you just have to hit it a particular way to get a spark. The rocks are already broken and given jagged and smooth edges for us to use, so now we are going to strike it, like wiping your hands together to get the dust off after chopping wood."

"But with rocks?"

"Mmmm." He moved her hand smaller rock above the larger rock and ran the smaller rock hand down as fast as he could, catching the thin jagged edge of the larger rock.

"Hey, I saw sparks!"

"Yeah, now try it without my hands like how I did it." Lao moved back to her side, watching as she got the rocks into position. "Alright Lao, I will do it on one, two…"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The faint scream from the forest startled Issia, causing her to drop the rocks and her task. "Lao, I really think he is in trouble."

"Or she. What a scream…." Lao said, unaware that it was his very Sir Add that had made the high pitched shrill. Add seemed out of gas by the time he had reached the very beginning of where he started to run, panting in his armor as the crowd chasing him had circled back around. "This idiot thought he could outrun us in armor!" One person said, taking out a frayed rope. "End of the line for you, boyfriend."

"One, gasp, I'm not her boyfriend, and, gasp, two, I would not recommend stepping further."

"Words of someone that is going to be captured." The man with the rope started advancing on Add with all the smugness in the world, not noticing the lines he had walked into. He only had time for one confused look down before his world was turned upside down, yanked upright by string into a tree. The rest of the men panicked and looked around, not wanting to be caught in any more traps. "I told you all, you wouldn't want to step forward. Nor backward. Actually, any direction is really dangerous right now. Why else would I circle around here several times?"

"Whatever, they still have the crossbows!" Yelled the man hanging by his leg, as several arrow launchers were trained onto the knight. "Yes they do, but like I said, you probably shouldn't have moved…." On Add's cue, a large weight had landed behind the group. The air suddenly became chilly as a deep growl emanated from the beast, reverberating through the chests of everyone there. "I hope you don't mind if I add a person to our skrimish. He is the beast that I am a boyfriend to. I'm sure you all will like him, I know I do~"

Another scream, this time of a group came from the area in the background. "Lao, there are more people now…"

"More people to hunt a hog?" Lao said dismissively again. "Come on, let's keep practicing the wooden way. So, do you think you have the technique down?"

"Y-yes…." Issia took a thin peace and a flat-ish piece of wood, placing the flat piece down on the ground and the thin piece between her palms. "Now rub away!" Lao said, Issia rapidly spun the thin piece back and forth until a wisp of smoke started to form.

"Arrg!" Went a random sound. Lao and Issia both turned towards it, seeing a limping follow with animal pelts and a crossbow trained at the two. Issia shrieked and coiled around him, burying her face into his neck. "You two….you summoned the dragon didn't you?" His hoarse voice asked. "I barely escaped with my life! But...I can at least take yours with me!" Lao looked at the sticks grabbing one it in his hands and holding it up towards him. "What, you think a measly wood can stop an arrow?"

"No, but a wooden piece on fire can," Lao said, holding the piece in the campfire and throwing iit in the crossbow wielder's face. He shrieked and fell to the ground, clutching himself and rolling as all the fur pelts on him kept the fire from going out. He could feel Issia start to cry on his shoulder as the man slowly died in front of them, making an awkward silence between the two while the moon and stars started filling the night sky. "Hey Issia, it's uhh...the first star in the sky," he said in an attempt to dissolve the sudden tension. "Do you...wanna make a wish?"

"I wish to go home…" she said through sobs, Lao nodding. Without a word he, as best he could, stood up without removing her from his back. They both need to leave anyway before the stench of a burning body kicked in.

As if by chance, another body went flying through the fire as soon as the couple was out of the vicinity. It was the clan leader, now filled with rapier holes and pelts soaked with blood as he also fell victim to death by flames. Melisa rolled out after him, fully grown into her vampire form. "And that is what you get for tearing my fucking cape you…..damnit, I can't think of an insult." She sighed and sheathed away her rapier, walking back where she came to find Add and Witness. "Enjoy sucking your own cock in hell I guess."

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It was a quiet and lonely walk to take Issia back home for Lao, but the compensation of her fur softly coiled around his skin and feeling her chest rise and fall was good enough. Occasional owl howls and crickets brought ambiance to a cloudless night while he walked. He thought about how for the most part, camping with her in fact went quite well. At least up until that random lunatic…

Once at their grassy patch in front of the lake, Lao waded into the water, slowly unraveling the bunyip coils from his body until she was all spread out and floating on top of the lake. Wet or dry, her face still shined brightly to him, and put a nice smile on his face. "Hello Lao," he heard Melisa call to him as she jogged by. "I heard that you two idiots went camping beside a cliff. Are you trying to kill her as well?"

"Wha- I wasn't trying to kill her, and how did you know that?"

"Geo told me. Anyways is she alive or am I going to have to see you sulk around for another fortnight?"

"She is very much alive very much, thank you very much!"

"Ah, good then. Well, don't fuck her too hard," Melisa said. Jogging past him on her way to the castle. She cracked a smile as genuine as Lao's, only this time because it was a mission accomplished.