Oh So Tricky

It was easier to hear at night, just as it always had been.

But this song was different.

Instead of a single, enticing call.

Ivy’s.

It was a chorus from others.

Beckoning.

Guiding.

So close, but still so far away.

With the inception of daybreak, Zero watched the girl stir from slumber to hover over him, her forehead pressing against his.

A farewell.

A greeting.

Her lips accepting his.

A tribute.

Eyes opening.

Crimson and violet.

Like the sun and the moon.

Her smile as she lowered herself to his chest, ear resting above his heart.

Two rhythms exactly the same.

“What did you hear?” Ivy asked, slumber already nipping at her heels to pull her back in.

One arm laid over her waist while his other hand ran through her amethyst waves. “There are three portals. I’m not sure how far, but the loudest one is to the west.”

She nodded, closing her eyes and allowing herself to drift back to sleep in the peace of the early dawn.

But that peace would be short lived.

A weight unlike any other pressed down on the girl, crushing her bones and forcing the oxygen from her lungs as her eyes snapped open, trying to find the source but only finding darkness.

Was this what death was like?

“Good morning, my darlings.” Ivy knew that pestiferous crooning. “How was your night?”

“Ren!” She gasped, trying to push the man from her to little avail. “Get off! You’re so heavy!”

“Well, that’s rude, Little One. I’m barely on you.”

The weight shifted slightly and the blanket that had been an accomplice in trapping her was pulled away so that Ivy could breathe and see again. The man now laid completely on the boy beside her, chest to chest, face to face, ocean eyes washing over ones of fire in adoration as his fingers combed through white tresses lovingly.

“What a long night that was,” Ren cooed, his hand tenderly stroking the boy’s cheek. “Did you miss me as much as I missed you?”

Zero stared at the man with little interest. “No.”

“You’re so sweet. Always playing hard to get. Just the way Papa likes it.” He kissed the devil’s forehead and turned to the fae with a grin. “Get up. Let’s go. We’ve got shit to do.” He laid a matching kiss on her forehead before pushing back and disappearing from the tent.

A sigh escaped the boy while he stared at the fabric above him. This was only the beginning of their journey, and even if he could hear the fae’s call, he couldn’t exactly measure the distance or estimate the amount days it would take to travel until they found the portal. The man had already made the first couple of days difficult enough. How much worse was he going to get? “Fuck,” he muttered, looking for any kind of temporary relief from the torment that was certain to come.

“Zero!” Ivy yelped in horror as he chuckled at her outburst. “Stop! You shouldn’t talk like that! It’s not funny!”

Zero sure thought it was.

All while Ivy wasn’t so sure she enjoyed this newly discovered way to tease her.

It felt a lot more like harassment.

And she knew exactly who he had learned it from.

The two culprits were waiting outside for them, Ren begrudgingly tying a knot in the back of the shirt that Sakura had changed into during his little rendezvous. The pair crawled from the tent and Ivy turned it back to her ribbon, tying it securely around her neck, preparing herself for what the day had in store.

But things were already looking up.

“Oh good!” the girl chirped. “You didn’t forget your sword this time.” What a relief it was to see that the man had managed to retrieve his sword before hunting them down considering he seemed to have problems remembering it as of late. It hadn’t been something on Ivy’s mind, and it would have been a real shame for them to proceed without it only to remember it later on.

“Yeah… well…” His eyes shifted towards the vixen next to him. “It’s easy when you have someone nagging at you.”

Sakura sighed, unsure of how any of this was her responsibility. And yet, here she was, being responsible. “Remember your shit, and I won’t need to nag.”

He flung his head back towards the sky, completely exasperated with being asked the impossible. “You don’t understand. It’s hard. I just got too comfortable being at home and dumping it at the door and not thinking about it. Now I’m expected to know where it’s at at all times. It’s too much, too soon. I need time to adjust. I’m not you, Sakura. I’m just a simple mountain boy. I can’t just jump back into this shit. I need to ease into it.”

The woman found no cares to give to the man’s pathetic plight as she grabbed her baldric and adjusted it across her chest before slinging her own weapon onto her back. “You know, you two could have gotten a room,” she spoke to the devil and fae, ignoring the whining behind her. “Just because I won that coin doesn’t mean you can’t spend it.” Her eyes narrowed slightly at Ivy, aware that she needed to draw the line before the girl got too far ahead of herself. “Within reason.”

“Oh, I know. We just wanted to stay outside.” The recollection suddenly hit Ivy, and she hurried to Zero’s bag and pulled out the white dress, holding it like a trophy in front of her. “Look what I got back!”

“Hm!” The demon forced a painful looking smile. “Yeah, you did. How much did that set us back?”

Ivy beamed, so proud of herself. “Only one gold! But it really was more like twenty silver since you made thirty off of it to begin with.”

“Ehhh… great.” Sakura breathed deeply, trying to slow the spinning in her head as the numbers collided and she tried to figure out just how much all the clothes she owned cost. She wasn’t quite sure on exact numbers, but she was positive it wasn’t even close to fifteen silver.

She should have held on tighter to that coin bag.

“That’s my girl!” Ren bellowed as he nabbed the dress and stuffed it in his bag for safe keeping before smoothing the girl’s hair as her face brightened with the praise. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down. You’re the best. Just perfect in every way.”

The fox shook her head to empty the mess that had piled up within. There was no point in overthinking it now. What was done was done, and there was no going back. Besides, the girl really did have the purest of intentions in getting the dress back, and the woman couldn’t be upset over that. It was better to move on to things that were more controllable. “So, what’s our plan here?” She turned to the devil. “How are we gonna find Summerland?”

This was all new to Zero, having never been accustomed to making decisions for anyone other than himself. He had always followed along behind Ren, and then later on Sakura, each one with a definite plan or location in place. He’d been asked plenty of times his opinion, and whether or not he wanted to go somewhere or do something. He had even made requests or suggestions. But he had never been responsible for guiding the way.

If there was ever a time to do it, now was probably it.

“We’ll go west,” Zero told her.

“West?”

He nodded. “I’m pretty sure that’s where the closest portal is. I’ll be able to hear it better the closer we get.”

“Alright.” Sakura spun on her heels in the direction indicated and marched forward. “West we go. Come along children and peasant, your almighty alpha queen will lead the way.”

Zero and Ivy followed, but the angel wasn’t going to take the woman’s declaration without complaint.

“The fuck you mean alpha?!” Ren barked, quickly catching up and glaring at the demon in all her insolence. How dare she claim what was rightfully his? “I’m alpha king and you damn well know it! You can be a queen, but that’s all you get.”

“Is that right?” She looked over her shoulder at the fae and devil. “Do you recall who won the tournament yesterday?”

“You did,” Ivy chirped.

“Uh huh. Okay. And who did I defeat?”

“Ren.” She giggled, still so pleased that their plan had been successful.

Sakura pursed her lips and bobbed her head lightly, considering all the information at hand. “So, that would mean that if Ren was alpha, and I defeated him in a tournament, then by rite of passage, I would be alpha.”

“That sounds about right to me. What do you think?” The girl looked up at the boy who simply nodded his agreement.

“Well, there you have it.” The woman faced forward, smug and walking a little taller. “I’m alpha now.”

“Bullshit,” Ren growled. “That’s not what you said last night.”

She gazed skeptically at him, a sly curve to her lips. “Oh really? That’s strange. I don’t remember any of that. Do you, by chance, have any witnesses who can collaborate on this ridiculously sad, little claim of yours?”

“Yeah. A whole inn’s worth, I’m sure.”

“Interesting.” Sakura searched her surroundings, unable to find what she was looking for. “Where are they? Because I have two witnesses here, and I’m sure we can find many more back in town who can concur to my victory.”

It was in that moment that the man learned that the whispers of the night couldn’t silence the noise of the day. That it didn’t matter what words may have passed from her lips to his ears as he claimed what was rightfully his if she was just going to lie about it after the fact. And with no one to witness the vixen conceding, her lie was as good as truth.

She was a clever one.

Manipulative as hell.

Everything he could ever ask for and more.

Ren looked around at the smug expressions on each of his companions’ faces and another realization hit him.

He had been set up.

The woman’s victory hadn’t been hers alone. It had been a quiet collaboration with the devil and fae, and now they were all reveling in his failure.

The man faced forward, a pleased grin spreading over his lips.

They had only just started, and already their journey to Summerland had exceeded his expectations.

He couldn’t wait to see where they would go from here.