Delic: Lustful Desire
Alex: Playful Desire
Xander: Possessive Desire
Isaac: Innocent Desire
Michael: Passionate Desire
These five types of desires overwhelm my body causing it to become increasingly hot, for it to only be cooled by having each one performed. The lunch period is short, but it feels as if it went on for eternity as I consume each desire to extinguish the heat flowing through my blood. With each desire felt and completed, a feeling of fatigue makes a home in my mind as I drift off into a nice nap.
"She must be exhausted," Isaac comments as I lay on his lap to rest.
"After she finished with Xander, it was almost like the switch turned off," Alex adds as he lays down on the picnic blanket staring at the sky.
"Please, don't remind me," Xander pleads, huddling beside Delic. "I feel so ashamed for the things I did."
"We were making fun of Delic for falling into temptation, but wow, did you fall hard," Michael teases rolling around on the ground laughing. "I might have been hypnotized, but at least I had some self-control. You would have gone full throttle if Delic didn't punch you."
"Please stop." Xander hides his embarrassed face between his knees.
"Well, aside from all of that, at least it seems that Lady Viola is feeling better," Isaac chuckles looking down at me.
-Wasn't that exciting?!-
No! God, I'm so embarrassed! I don't even know if I can face them when I wake up...
-But at least you know where their heart lies. Each of them have a different kind of love for you. Are you willing to accept their love even though they are drastically different?-
O-of course, I am! I already knew that they all loved me. Why did you have to put me through all of this?
-Love means something different for everyone. How can you say that your type of love is the same as your partners? Your goal after all of this is to solidify your relationship with them, right? I put you through this so that you knew what you were getting yourself into. You are still young. The only type of love you know is familial love, so I found it necessary to show you what other kinds of love is out there.-
I mean... I had a feeling that all love is different. That doesn't matter to me, though. If you love someone, even if your love is different from the other, both parties will eventually find a middle ground where no one will get hurt too much. My love might hurt one of the guys, and their love might hurt me, but does that mean that we have to avoid each other in order to not get hurt? If you don't want to get hurt, then don't fall in love in the first place, right?
-Hm... you have a strange way of thinking, child. Well, I can't say anything since I am you, but as your deeper conscience, I will tell you one thing. I see past everyone's masks while the upper conscious only sees the mask. Although we work together to figure people out, the upper conscious will do a better job of convincing you that someone is a certain person since it can talk to you faster than I can. You have seen these boys' deeper desires. They may act a certain way with you now, but once you get closer, there's another side of them that will take over under the cover of night. I hope you are ready to accept them when it happens.-
"-ady? My Lady? It's time to wake up. Lunch will be over soon."
I open my eyes to find four guys sitting in front of me with anxious eyes. Looking up, I'm greeted by Isaac's warm smile.
"Good afternoon, Lady Viola. Are you feeling better?" Isaac asks as he helps me sit up.
"Ugh..." I grab my pounding head as the blood rushes down.
"Lady Viola, please drink this," Alex holds a water bottle that he opened.
I reach out to grab it when it slides right through my hand. "Ah, sorry. I didn't hold on tight enough." I lean over to grab a paper towel to dry my uniform only for Isaac to dry me off with his fire magic. "Thank you, Isaac."
"Let me help you." Alex gets a new water bottle and raises it up to my lips so that I can drink some before standing up.
"Is your body still hot?" Michael asks as he supports my body with his arm.
A loud gasp escapes my mouth, and I cover my face with my hands as I turn around remembering all of the things that I had done. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to make you all feel uncomfortable around me. I'm so sorry."
"What are you apologizing for?" Isaac asks, setting a hand on my shoulder. "We agreed to do this so that you can feel better."
"But you all must have felt so uncomfortable and bothered by it."
"Well, you're right on that," Xander answers as he walks over to me. "But that doesn't mean that we regret what we did."
"Viola," Delic calls out from behind me.
I slowly peek my head over my shoulder to see Delic standing as the other four guys are kneeling on the lightly frosted ground. When he sees that I have completely turned around, Delic joins the others and kneels as well.
"We are Viola Winter's personal aides," Delic starts.
"We are tasked with fulfilling the Young Lady's daily necessities," Alex adds.
"Whatever problems the Young Lady is going through involves the five of us regardless if it pertains to us or not," Xander states.
"If it will help the Young Lady, we will do everything in our power to ensure that it is done even if it will cost us our lives," Isaac comments.
"For we have agreed to aid and protect the woman who has saved us from our past," Michael finishes.
"The five of us here ask our master Viola Winter if she will grant us the greatest honor of becoming her husbands once the case of Black Snow is closed," the five of them ask as they each hold out a hand to me.
Speechless, I stand in front of the guys before me with wide eyes, gaping mouth, and reddening cheeks. Each one is truly sincere. Every word they said had meaning behind it. I couldn't possibly turn down such an offer when I feel the same way.
I take a few steps forward until I am just a foot away from each hand. Tears begin to leak out as I become overjoyed at the honest love being presented to me. I know that each of them has a different kind of love for me; however, the one similarity is that it is honest and pure.
"Of course, I will," I answer with eyes full of happy tears as I gather their hands in mine. I can't help but smile as each one of them jumps up and hugs me, swinging me around and laughing. It's been a while. It's been a long, long while. I have finally found a family that is perfectly flawed.
The lunch bell rings signifying that we have five minutes to return to class. Five minutes is all it takes, though, to find out the desires of a person.
"Where are Michael and Xander?" I ask as I head outside to start my daily rounds.
"Xander said that he wanted to meet with his squad today," Alex replies following beside me with a clipboard in hand. "Michael wanted to join him, so he went along as well."
"You're going to have to give me a more logical excuse than that, Alex," I respond, waving off the obvious lie. "Michael would never voluntarily join Xander for anything if it doesn't concern me. Those two are like water and oil. What's the real reason why they aren't here?"
Alex glances over at Isaac who stands on the other side of me. Isaac quickly shakes his head, causing Alex to release a long sigh. "I'm sorry, my Lady. They don't want me to tell you since they wanted it to be a surprise."
"A surprise? Well, at least that makes more sense than your previous answer." I hold out my hand as a sign to give me the clipboard. "If they want it to be a surprise, then so be it. I won't ask any further." I glance down at the clipboard when a gust of chilly wind blows by me. "It's getting a bit cold. Let's get this over with quickly."
Count the harvest: Check
Audit the stockroom for winter preparations: Check
Inspection of building for winter readiness: Check
Visit village to ensure winter readiness: Check
"Alex, how do dark elves fare in cold temperatures?" I ask as we head back to the main house.
"We don't particularly like the cold which is why we stayed near the Iron Woods that's next to the factories," Alex replies, rubbing his hands together. "The heat from the factories was enough to keep us comfortable throughout the winter."
"We should take the dark elves shopping for winter clothes," I comment as I make a small note on the clipboard. "The houses may be ready for winter, but they only have summer clothes. In order for their work to not be hindered during the winter, they need new clothes, especially the kids. I can't be having the children going to school with the wrong type of weather clothes."
"But, Lady Viola, that's over one hundred dark elves to buy clothes for," Isaac interjects as he covers his ears from the cold wind.
"Which is exactly why we will take them to the mall this weekend to buy clothes. I don't know everyone's sizes and each elf has a different taste in clothes." I step up to the door to open it and be welcomed by the warm air from inside. "The dark elves are my responsibility even though they can take care of themselves. They will buy what they can with the money that they have earned from working for me for the past three months. Anything else will be paid for by the Winter Family. I refuse to ignore my workers when they are in need of the basic necessities."
"Then, I will get a bus ready for Sunday morning," Alex responds as he shivers out the rest of the cold from his body. "I will inform everyone to be ready at 8 o'clock. Will that be an appropriate time?"
"8 o'clock is perfect," I state as I walk into my father's office. "I will have the members who are on scouting duty rotated throughout the day so that the city isn't completely unguarded while everyone is buying their things. Inform Xander of this whenever he returns. Michael, Isaac, and Delic will help with guiding the villagers around. I will make a more organized plan tomorrow morning so that we don't have a bunch of dark elves just exploring the mall without a plan."
"If I may ask, what are we doing in your father's office?" Alex questions from the doorway.
"I have to be prepared tomorrow for my meeting with Nakir and his father. I need to study the ins and outs of the Sky Council and what has been going on with the Sky District while my father was head of the family. If I'm going to defeat those two rotten angels along with the Sky Council, I want to do it completely and painfully. As Eshea's guard dog, I will have them pay for their wrongdoings as well as breaching the agreement they have with Eshea."
"As smart as that sounds, try not to overwork yourself, my Lady," Michael advises as he slips through the doorway.
"I'm assuming that you and Xander are finished with whatever you two were doing," I state without looking over.
"Yes, for now, we are finished. It got too cold, so we had to come back inside." Michael sets the tray of hot chocolate and cookies on the desk. "I appreciate the work you are putting in in order to clear my name, but it will make me sad if you tire yourself out from reading so much."
"I will be just fine. Reading is what I'm good at," I respond back as I take a seat at my father's desk.
"You know, it's kind of weird to keep calling it your father's office," Isaac mentions as he sits down on one of the guest chairs. "Isn't it technically your office now since the title of Head has passed on to you?"
I stare emptily at the binder titled 'The Sky District'. "Everything in here was researched, documented, and organized by my father after the previous Head passed down the title to him. I haven't done anything except read the information that my father has stored here. I don't deserve to call this office mine until I start filling it with information that I researched and documented myself."
Michael walks over to my side and takes the bind from my hands. "Well, after this incident is over, won't you have something to document yourself in this binder? The fall of the current Sky Council. The secrets and corruption that slithers in the background behind the noble angels that are supposed to be upholding truth and justice. Won't all of that be discovered by you, investigated by you, and documented by you? So when that happens, won't this office become yours since you added something to it?"
A fit of my laughter fills the office. "Technically that will be true. I guess a lot of things will become mine after all of this is over."
"For the best environment for studying, we shall let you be so that you can focus," Michael comments as he sets the binder down. "If you need us, just call for us. We will be getting dinner ready and preparing your room in the meantime."
Isaac and Alex reluctantly leave the office as Michael secretly pushes them out. As they turn the corner and are out of sight, the office becomes silent. Nothing to distract me except my thoughts. I lay my head down on the desk to rest for a moment.
"Dad, a lot of things have happened to me since our last meeting. Would you have approved of me marrying five guys if you were still here? Probably not. You would never have even let one guy marry your only baby girl. I really do love the five of them, and they love me back. At least you can rest assured that a potential heir will be born since I have plenty of resources to pull from." I quietly laugh to myself which quickly turns solemn.
"Black Snow is quickly making its move into the city. In order to eradicate them, I have to deal with the Sky District since they have slightly trained operatives in their hands. I have a large elephant on my plate, but like the saying goes, I just have to take it one bite at a time. I hope that you and mom will cheer me on as I take on my first large assignment as the Guard Dog of Eshea."