BXBX NOVEL Chapter 72: An Unreasonable Request.
"I thought the captains were strong, and I wanted to seek shelter under someone else and let the others do the fighting, but Morn turned out to be useless, there\'s no prince or king for me to try and seduce either, and Sol is strong but Ikaris would probably break my slull; I have to do it myself, these weaklings don\'t stand a chance against the demons, I have no choice but to risk my life here...
But I ended up being the weakest because of that complacent cowardly asshole... Fuck!"
"Are you okay?" Bruce tapped her shoulder, and she shrugged him off with a jolt of shock before she turned to him. "Usami?"
"Sorry," She smiled sheepishly and then turned to the others. "Say, Arla, if the creature\'s been dealt with we can move on now, right?"
"Aha!" Arla clapped her hands, and everyone started paying attention.
"Sound the horn to continue the march, Ikaris and Dina made a nice warm plateau for us to set camp next to, if we continue at a steady pace we will reach by sundown, and the barrier can be re-sealed within the hour." She nudged a short dwarven man next to her and the little man quickly took the large horn from his side and blew into it, and after him several more horns within the army went off.
"Ikaris," Dina approached her and Sol while everyone started getting ready to move out again. "Can we talk?"
"That is unusual." Ikaris stared at Dina surprised, but the mage kept her determined gaze. "Sure,"
"Sir, there was rumour that a new dish was recently discovered..." Sara approached Sol simultaneously, and he smiled and stepped away to allow the two privacy as the maid gestured that he follow her.
"What kind of dish exactly?"
"The chef said it came in the form of a dream, he called it ramen."
"...ramen..."
"Ramen..."
"RAMEN!"
The word echoed in Sol\'s head several times before he stopped walking and a tear fell down his cheek. "Why...?"
"Why, why... why is this happening to me?" He asked, looking to the skies. "Why have you followed me here, what did I ever do to deserve this, why must you torment me so?"
"Sir are you..." Sara stared at Sol shocked as he broke into tears and fell to his knees dramatically. "...okay?"
"My greatest enemy and the one foe to ever defeat me..." Sol wiped his eyes sobbing uncontrollably. "Why would you chase me all the way here, bastard?"
"Ramen?" Sara asked.
"Yes, ramen is very dangerous... very dangerous, Sara, I know it well, it is a deadly delicacy that only true masters can hope to enjoy, if you ever find yourself eating alone, never choose ramen, it will be the end of you!" Sol looked up at her as she approached him worried.
"What are you talking about?" She raised a brow.
"I\'m saying ramen can kill you, super easy, don\'t eat it, stay away from that devilish meal!" Sol clenched his fists. "It knots into your throat, holds your tongue with its powerful tentacles, blocks your airways and forces you to swallow your own tongue, killing you slowly and painfully, it is a food designed only for professionals!"
"Oh my goodness... I heard that many people have been enjoying it, though-"
"Ramen is a murderous ruthless dish with a mind of its own, you can\'t ever let your guard down, you\'ll die!" Sol stared at her seriously, standing and grabbing her shoulders. "Do you understand, Sara?"
"Y-yes sir!" The frightened maid nodded in his grasp.
"Good, instead, I\'ll go show them how to make fried chicken ...and pizza while I\'m at it, I\'ll never go near that demonic meal ever again, I swear it on my soul, let\'s treat this with haste before ramen takes another life!" Sol took Sara\'s arm and ran off towards the middle of the army where the chefs were.
"I\'m sorry,"
"Huh?"
"I said I\'m sorry," Dina slightly lowered her head to Ikaris after they had walked ahead of the army. "I\'ve hated you since I met you, because of Sol... You see, I liked him, no... I\'m...
I\'m in love with him, I have been for many years now, so I hated you who just showed up and stole him before I could ever confess how I felt, I saw that he cherished you, and I hated you for it..." She continued walking, and Ikaris after absorbing that walked alongside her.
"I know." Ikaris admitted, her usual superiority was very tamed as she tried to see eye to eye with Dina, going full circle to the the first order Sol had given her; to get along with them.
"You know?"
"Everybody who has eyes knows, Dina." Ikaris looked at her. "But to say I took him away from you, that is unfair, do you honestly believe our meeting was some kind of hookup?" She asked, and Dina lowered her gaze again. "I gave up everything I had, I gave up my entire world to be with him, I sacrificed all I had and owned and turned my back to it all just to be at his side, and he...
He lost everything because of me, I owe him more than just my life, I owe him my soul... You might have loved him from afar, but you still lived without him." Ikaris locked her hands before her and started playing with her thumbs as a sadness Dina had never seen her show overtook her. "I would die miserably without him by my side."
"Without Master, I have nothing more to offer to anyone, no friends, no family, my brothers and sisters are all gone, my people all died, master is the only thing keeping me away from being swallowed by perpetual darkness, I can\'t lose him, I can\'t give him up, even if it kills me I absolutely can\'t!"
"I can\'t stop loving him, even if he has you... even if you ask me to give up I definitely won\'t, I don\'t know if we feel the same, but I don\'t want to let go of these feelings either," Dina placed her hand on her chest, watching the confliction on Ikaris\'s face.
"I don\'t consider you my rival, I can\'t even compare to you, and I doubt he\'ll ever see me as anything more than another person from his past, but if I can just be closer to him, if I can just smile with him, that\'s all I need-"
"Have you lost your mind?" Ikaris was dumbfounded by what she was hearing.
"I can\'t be his woman, I can\'t even be his lover, he\'s never going to let go of you, I saw that when he held on to you when you had passed out, he loves you, I respect that, but please, try to understand, Sol has been everything to me ever since I was a child incapable of understanding my feelings, to now, an adult who is still as confused as I was back then, I just want the comfort of knowing I wasn\'t completely left behind, and..."
"And?" Ikaris was tethered by a small string of reason as she listened to Dina outside of everyone else\'s earshot.
"I have genuine respect for you, you lied about being a good leader, and you lied about caring only for him, you have stuck your hand out and saved not just me but many others as well... you\'re a good person, Ikaris, and I just... I want to be your friend-"
"Do you realise that eighty percent of betrayals come from supposed friendships?" Ikaris stared at her blankly, and Dina waved her hands defensively.
"Y-you... I\'ve already voiced my intent, I swear I have no ulterior motifs, I genuinely want to be friends with you!" She became flustered.
"Eris is kind and caring, more like a mother than anything else, or a reliable big sister, and Usami is still so detached from this world that she doesn\'t bat an eye in the face of the people around her dying, she is selfish and uncaring, Han is only interested in having sex with as many women as he possibly can while he\'s hero, and Bruce is just Bruce, but you\'re different..."
"What the hell are you even saying?"
"Please consider it!" Dina stopped walking and lowered her head again. "Aside from Arla I haven\'t been able to see eye to eye with anyone else aside from you, even if you are violent, you understand me. I get that feeling every time our eyes make four, so..." She stopped talking.
"Get up, you are embarrassing yourself." Ikaris reached out and pulled her from her crooked posture.
"Ikaris-"
"It\'s fine," Ikaris looked toward the evening sun as her cheeks slightly reddened.
"I have never had anyone ask to be my friend before, I grew up with many siblings who were afraid of even speaking to me; the youngest, and then by maturity, I was well and truly alone, ruling over others who only saw me as an idol of worship or a giver of wishes, Master first gave me the blessing of living my own life..." Ikaris looked at Dina as her face was captured in a smile illuminated by the sun.
"And you are the very first person in all my life to ask my hand in friendship."