Chapter 10 : Morning
"...Is this supposed to be some sort of trick?" questioned Anton as he cocked an eyebrow "Or a joke of some kind? Because I..."
Anton stopped short as he looked up at the suddenly miserable looking dark elves and found them both huddled together with their ears laid back submissively.
"...Wait? What's going on?" he asked as he unfolded one of his arms and indicated Mica "What is she talking about?"
"I'm talking about you! You ass! And how you said you were going to sell this elf to my Dad!" seethed Mica as she pointed back at Fiona "You even said you would make him a good deal! You sick fuck! But I won't let you do it! You come anywhere near her and I'll kill you!"
Staring down at the brazen little kiochi who was apparently ready to fight for her, Fiona's eyes went wide as a grateful tightness began to form in her chest.
"...Okay, this is definitely some kind of trick." mumbled Anton as he turned to the dark elves "Girls, I don't know what Mica has told you, but I have never even once spoken to her Father about selling either one of you. This is just complete nonsense."
"...What? But, yes you did!" started Kianna as her voice began to crack "You did, when you were talking to Leopold last night!"
"You said you were working with dark elves." whimpered Fiona as light tears began to form in her eyes "And you said that one was coming along great, and that one wasn't... And then you started talking about me. About how I was young and, inexperienced. And then you told Leopold that a dark elf would be expensive. But that you would make him a good deal..."
Going still for a moment, realization slowly formed on Anton's face as he looked from one dark elf to the other.
"Oh!" he said as he slowly began to nod his head "That's what your all talking about! No, no no no! This has been a complete misunderstanding! That's not what we were talking about at all! That had nothing to do with selling you, Fiona!"
"...What do you mean?" asked both of the dark elves in unison as they looked at each other in confusion.
"What were you talking about then!?" demanded Mica "Because that sure as Hell sounded like you were talking about selling her!"
"Your parents." said Anton as he indicated Mica "Have a client that is married to a nekomata, or a werecat of some kind. And this cat is apparently being quite the tom lately. So Leopold wanted to know if he could rent or hire my dark elf on this clients behalf, and have her step in and scare this cat straight via some "behavior-modification" training. That's what we were talking about. We never even once discussed him actually buying Fiona. Not that I would ever sell a homicidal brat like Fiona to him anyways. I could never do something like that to a friend after all."
The dark elves and shinoccubus remained completely still and silent for several moments as they all stared at Anton.
"Oh, thank the Gods!" exclaimed Fiona as she hunched in on herself.
"I knew it!" cried Kianna as she clutched her relieved looking sister around the shoulders "I knew it! I knew you would never sell her! I knew it! I knew it!"
"Hold on. Is this why you've been acting so weird lately?" asked Anton as he pointed at Fiona "You really thought I was going to sell you?"
"Yes!" cried Fiona "And oh Gods! I almost puked so many times! 'Oh look at me! I'm little miss happy, happy slave girl! Master! Master! Right away, Master!' Bah! Argh! My stomach was turning the whole fucking time! And I could barely even stand myself!"
"It was so creepy and gross!" declared Kianna as she nuzzled their cheeks together "And it'll be so good to have you back to normal!"
"...Agreed. That was actually very unsettling." nodded Anton "This is still unfortunate though. Considering at this point, I doubt things are going to work out for you, Fiona..."
"Wha? What do you mean?" questioned Fiona as her ears pointed themselves straight upwards in nervousness "What's not gonna work out for me!?"
"This opportunity." said Anton "I know how important it is to you that you become better at being a dark elf. And this would have been a good chance for you to get some real world experience in. Unfortunately, like I said, it's just not going to work out. And I am really sorry about that."
"Oh. Right. No, that's okay..." said Fiona as she shook her head "Don't worry about it. I mean, it sucks. But it's whatever. I'm not upset about it."
"Hm. Well I appreciate the good attitude." nodded Anton "And I promise, we will find you more opportunities like this one. We'll just have to keep our eyes open for them."
"...Right. Okay!" grinned Fiona as she joyfully pressed her shoulder into the hold her sister still had on her "Yeah! That sounds good!"
"You're still a heartless bastard!" declared Mica as she kept her knife pointed at Anton's face "And I'm still not letting you anywhere near these elves!"
Narrowing his eyes, Anton was quiet for a moment as he seemed to be assessing the shinoccubus.
"Right... So where is this really coming from, Mica?" he asked as he began to thoughtfully rub his chin "Because you can't actually expect me to believe you're truly trying to protect the dark elves without some other motive being at play here..."
"I don't give a crap what you believe!" snapped Mica "I already told you that!"
"...Mm hm. So, you're saying that when you attacked me just now, you weren't out for revenge with that? You only did that to protect the dark elves?" asked Anton as he folded his arms back over his chest "The very same dark elves that have been torturing you, and openly threatening your life... You gave up on a chance to escape, and you stayed to protect them. With no ulterior motives whatsoever. You realize how difficult that is to believe, right?"
"Motherfucker!" growled Mica "Yes! That's what happened! I stayed because I knew you'd be pissed at them if I was gone!"
"...I see....Well isn't that interesting." mumbled Anton as he cocked in eyebrow in obvious disbelief "You knew I was going to punish them, so you stayed to try and protect them. That's very nice of you."
"Fuck you!" snapped Mica through her clenched jaw.
Fiona had become stoic as she stared down at Mica. After a few moments of watching her argue, she smirked at the frustrated kiochi before closing her eyes, sighing through her nose and turning to face Anton.
"Master!" she called as she looked him in the eyes "You know how to fight, right?"
Taken aback, Anton blinked as he, Mica and Kianna all turned to her unison.
"Excuse me?" said Anton as his face scrunched up in surprise "I, why? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, that you know how to fight! Like when you fought with Mica last night." said Fiona as she looked back down at the kiochi "You knew what you were doing. And you knew, that she didn't know what she was doing... Right?"
