"What did you just say?" Alice queried, eyes not moving from the cake.
"We were asked to deliver the cake before the wedding began that's why we were in such a hurry," said Gregg.
"But what about all the people Pepi dispatched around the city?! What about the missing people?!" Richard said confused.
"I don't know about any missing people but I do know the boss had people around town because he believes his rival had moved to River Pot and would try to ruin the happiest day of his life," Gregg explained.
"Gah!" Richard exclaimed before punching the truck's door. Alice quietly led Gregg away from the truck.
'Is this a good time to say I told you so?'
[Go for it!]
"I did say the disappearances are the work of a demon," Hunter pointed out.
"It cannot be because Lilith sealed off all passageways from Hel!" Richard exclaimed. "There's no way a lesser demon would make it to Nym'Roal!"
"Why are you so hellbent on making Lilith this powerful being whose spell cannot be broken or bypassed," Hunter said calmly. "You're not Lilith and you sure as hell wasn't even alive when the travel ban was imposed ... Why?"
Alice places her on Hunter's shoulders and gestures for the dark-haired boy to stop. The teal green-eyed boy sighed and backed off.
Richard turns to Alice. "Get the car and drive the cake to the venue. Give Pepi my apologies for ruining his day." He turned to the others. "You and you," he pointed to Yui and Petra. "Take those guys to a hospital and meet back at the villa," he ordered.
Alice turned to Hunter. "Come with me," she said.
Hunter quietly followed Alice to where her car was parked. He said nothing to her as they both got into the vehicle and the blonde started driving to the wedding venue with Alice occasionally turning to look at Hunter's face.
"You're contemplating it, aren't you?" said Alice, finally breaking the silence.
"What?"
"Alex told me you wanted to join the Guardians. I'm guessing what happened back there has you second-thinking," she explained.
Hunter shakes his head. "It's not up to me. The Bureau decides what organization I join."
Alice nods. "Richard isn't always like that, you know," said the blonde woman.
"Yeah, but I don't understand why he is reluctant to accept that a pure demon is responsible for all this," said Hunter.
"I don't know what actually happened but I do know it's a touchy subject for the whole Lewis family ... The original Lewis family. They act happy and try to lift the moods of those around them - Richard and Alex especially - but something terrible happened to them but they smile so others won't worry. Even I don't know what that is," said Alice.
"You knew didn't you?" She asked. "Back on the yacht, you knew Pepi was getting married, it's why you thought of ... that explanation," she added.
"I had some doubts," said Hunter. "But that was the only reason I could think of to explain why we were there."
"No need to dwell on it, everything turned out great in the end," she said. "I can't believe we almost ruined someone's wedding."
"First time?"
"Now there's a story I'd love to hear," said the blonde sprite.
"It's too long of a story, maybe some other time."
"There's at least thirty minutes before we get to the wedding. We've got time!" She exclaimed.
"Fine," Hunter sighed. The dark-haired sprite smiled as he began to narrate his story. "I don't know if you know this already but I grew up in an orphanage with my best friends Jacob and Kate," said Hunter.
"Oh? How come they're not here in River Pot with us? Are they not sprites?" Alice asked.
"They are both non-mystics and Kate got adopted by a family that moved to the South with her. We haven't heard about her since," he stated.
"What about Jacob?"
"We stay in touch. Anyway, there was this girl, Osilda, who was also in the orphanage but was a bit older than me whom I might have had a teeny crush on," said Hunter.
Alice raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, I had a huge crush on her. Satisfied?"
"Not yet. How did that happen?"
"How I got a crush on her? I don't know," he shrugged. "These things just happen I believe," he said.
"No, there has to be a reason. You can't just have a crush on her for no reason, especially at such a young age."
"Hm. The oldest memory I have of her was one where Jacob and I were playing hide and seek. We started just before noon and I couldn't find him well into the afternoon. So I sat on a bench they had in the back of the building and cried and cried."
"Aw."
"Anyways, as I sat there, someone's shadow cast over me and I looked up from where I was slowly. 'Jacob?' I sniffed but then her face became clearer the more I stared through my teary eyes."
"What did she look like?"
"She had long reddish brown hair and teal-green eyes," he said.
"The same as yours?"
"Yup. She was also taller than I was back then. I think I would be taller than her now," he stated.
"What? Your ego cannot bear the thought of a lady being taller than you are?"
"Nothing like that, I'm just saying is all. 'You're not Jacob,' I said. 'Yeah,' she whispered before sitting on the bench next to me. 'I don't think I've seen you before,' she said. 'Are you new here?' She asked. I didn't respond, not because I didn't want to but because I genuinely had no idea. I think she took my silence as an affirmative as she nodded in response. 'This place isn't so bad, you know. It's almost similar to being outside. There are others just like you who would love to be your friend, there's delicious food every day, there's a fairground and let's not forget about sweet Sundays,' she said."
"'What's a sweet Sunday?' I asked. 'You don't know?!" She asked surprised while I just shook my head. 'We're given all types of sweets every Sunday,' she said. I frowned a bit. 'Today is Sunday,' I said. 'I didn't get any sweet.' 'You have to find the room of sweets first,' she said. "How do I find it?' I asked eagerly. 'Unfortunately, I can't tell you. Don't be discouraged, here's what I can do for you,' she continued. 'Until you find the room, let's meet here every Sunday by this time so I can give you some of the sweets I get. What do you say?' I nod and she stuffed her hand in her pocket and handed me some wrapped sweets."
"Aww, that's so cute!" said Alice.
"Yeah, she was bigging the place up because that orphanage sucked."
"What? No room of sweets for little Hunter?"
"None whatsoever. What's up with that?!"
Alice laughs.
"When I found out she loved cookies, I started hanging out in the kitchen to learn how to bake. I once baked her a cake with cream and she ate it all in front of me. I was so happy she ate it and baked her cake every Sunday only to find out later from someone else that she hated eating cake with cream or chocolate over it."
"Oh my God!" Alice exclaimed.
"Yeah, we are a love story for the ages I tells you." Alice laughs again.
"When I started seeing ghosts, she was the first person I told --"
"That's huge! That's like the highest form of affection a sprite can show someone," said Alice.
"Telling someone about your powers? Who was the first person you told about your powers?" He asked.
"My mom."
"I don't know why I thought about something else. Anyway, she also told me her secret, turns out she too had powers."
"What order was she?" Alice asked.
"Uh ... Neither of us knew at the time but she showed me some cool stuff back then. Now, I'd guess she is a fiend," said Hunter.
"Oh?"
"There was this program they had in the orphanage where only those considered gifted were provided with tutors and Osilda was like a genius compared to the rest of us. The reason I bring that up is because Osilda was later adopted by this couple who only saw her as their ticket out of whatever situation they were in."
"That's horrible! Did they know she had powers?"
"I doubt it. They took advantage of her brilliance mostly. They lived not too far from the orphanage so Jacob, Kate, and I used to sneak out to go see her. She'd always tell us she's fine but I could tell that was a lie."
"That's sad ..."
"Hold that thought. On her 19th birthday, we found out she was getting married."
"Goodness."
"Yeah, the couple's efforts of flaunting her like a trophy paid off when some billionaire heir got engaged to her."
"Wow. Did you ever meet the guy?"
"Yeah, I don't remember his name though."
'I do. It was Elon.'
[Stupid Elon!]
"He was like if Joe was a million times worse. He once came to the house while Osilda and I were watching some TV show. He tried belittling me but when that didn't work, he just went crazy."
Alice laughs. "Did you ever ask her out before that?"
"Not officially, no. But we both knew we were into each other and went on several 'dates' and everyone we knew knew that we liked each other. One day, we were alone and she broke down and told me about everything. She hated everything that was happening and did not want to get married to the brat. I tried to convince her to report her adoptive parents or just leave everything behind but she couldn't bring herself to. She admitted her feelings for me and yeah ..."
"Do I want to know what happened next?"
"Depends."
Alice laughs. "Got it."
"And then it was the day of the wedding."
"Oh boy."
"Her adoptive parents hated me and so did her fiancé. It was not said but it was a given I wasn't invited to the wedding."
"But you went anyway?"
"But I went anyway! First thing I did? Stole the cake which was like three times the size of this one in the back."
"No way!"
"Yeah. Had Jacob take the cake to the orphanage for some good lunch for everybody there! The plan was to swap the cake for some cookies but we were broke so that wasn't feasible. Next, I asked the pianist to play the 'Death Note' theme, she always talked about how she thought it would be amazing if an anime theme was played during her wedding plus she really hated the classical stuff ... Loved the 'Marriage of Figaro' though."
"I can't believe it."
"You can't believe someone likes a bubbling overture?"
"No, silly! I meant you doing all that."
"Heh. She disappeared for a while so I sneaked to the back to see what was up."
"Did you meet her?"
"I did. She told me about the missing cake and how the heir and his family were scrambling to get a new one just as big. She also heard the anime theme song and thanked me a lot for trying my best to make the day great for her, she just knew all that was my doing. So she kissed me on the cheeks and we said goodbye to each other."
"That's so cute ... and sad that she got married to someone else in the end."
"When did I say that?"
"... What?"
"When did I say they got married?"
"Don't tell me ..."
"She never walked the aisle. That conversation in the back was the last time I saw her."
"Wow!"
Alice pulls over. "Why have we stopped?"
"Because we're here," she said unbuckling the seatbelt. "Now come on you wedding crasher, let's go save a wedding!"
-------