Wicked Reincarnation

The night came and Zero fell asleep. But Lia was awake and sat in the living room with a cup of tea.

"You're not going to sleep? didn't I tell you to rest?" Yano's playful voice appeared and Lia instantly moved to the other side of the sofa, "Don't tell me what to do."

"Lia," Yano stood before Lia and rubbed her back. Lia's lips formed a thin line but she couldn't escape from him as he sat behind and then sneakily placed a kiss on her ear. Lia jolted up and the cup in her hand almost fell to the ground if it wasn't for Yano catching it and putting it on the table.

Lia glared at him before hissing, "Don't do that again!"

"Ok, ok," Yano coaxed her and Lia felt a slight sting hearing how he so easily complied to the request.

"Are you ok? If you feel down and want to cry, you can do that. My arms are here to comfort you."

Lia rolled her eyes. His sly remarks were the same as always.

Lia left Yano hanging and he awkwardly shifted around. His playful nature was usually able to brighten everyone around him… or infuriate them but in situations like these Yano knew it was a bit inappropriate but he hoped he could at least bring Lia to other thoughts. If he needed to sacrifice himself to fuel her anger and get her mind somewhere else, he didn't mind doing it.

"Why did you say we should stay for a day?" Lia finally spoke up and saved Yano from his worries.

"Because you need to rest."

"The other?" contemporary romance

Yano laughed lightly, tempted to pull her curled up form closer to him but didn't dare, "You can see through me so easily. This is only a sign that we are-"

"Stop with the cheesy lines."

"You think they are?"

Lia had pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. She turned her head away from Yano so he wouldn't see her quivering lips trying to form a smile.

"Because I have to wait to use the portal again."

"Portal?"

"Yes, we can teleport to Neverland. If we travel through the layers, we'll only expose ourselves."

"I see, so your skills have a cooldown too."

"Of course, I'm not that invincible but thanks for placing me so high," Yano's laugh irritated Lia.

"I wasn't!" Lia glared at Yano but then puffed her cheeks and let him off.

"Hey," Yano continued the conversation, "Tell me what happened since you left the Mortal World."

Yano only knew about certain things, not the whole story. Also, having someone to talk to was better than to leave everything bottled up.

"Tell me," Yano raised his hand to pinch her cheek when their eyes met. Lia's clear eyes were filled with darkness but Yano could clearly see that there was a tiny glint of hope desperately, tenaciously hanging on.

Yano's heart ached and he couldn't help but pull Lia into a hug. Lia struggled and wriggled but then gave up and succumbed to Yano's warm and soothing embrace.

"Tell me," Yano softly repeated.

"Didn't you see it already?" Lia's muffled remark brought a small smile to Yano's face, "I already told you, see what?"

Yano really didn't see the broadcast?

"Maria contacted me saying I should come back and when I arrived, I was stopped at the gate for a long while before I saw you leaping across the roofs. So I really didn't see anything."

Hesitatingly Lia recounted everything that has happened when she left the Mortal World.

The whole time, Yano's sneaky hand caressed Lia's head and back. Drawing patterns on her body and comforting her. Lia didn't know why but the feeling he always was able to make her feel better was reinforced.

"You did great," was the only thing Yano told her again. Then after a while, he spoke up, "I can imagine how angry and hurt you are but right now don't try to rush things or else it'll go wrong again. Trust me, ok? I'll help and lead you to the end. We'll prepare properly and then stop the Ghost King, ok?"

Lia didn't say anything, she only listened to Yano's comforting voice and words. Then slowly nodded. Maybe it was the best to trust Yano and do things his way. This time, without fail, Min had to be stopped.

"How are things in the Mortal World?" if Yano came back because of Maria, then it meant that the Mortal World wasn't as secure as she thought.

"It's fine, don't worry. I wouldn't be here if the others couldn't manage the situation," Yano coaxed her.

Lia didn't know if that was the truth or if he just lied to make her feel better, however, for now, she didn't mind, as bad as it sounded.

But what Lia wanted to know was, "Why are you helping me?"

Lia looked Yano straight in the eyes and Yano could see she wanted to know the truth and he would tell her the truth.

"Because I want to protect the Mortal World, no… it's my duty, especially you. I want to protect you," Yano's words felt like a charm around Lia. Once again, Lia didn't know if Yano meant what he said.

His playful words were always too charming to hear, but this time Lia gave him the benefit of doubt because she wanted to hear it.

However, she also felt weird around him and pushed Yano away, "Leave me alone."

Yano was perplexed. Everything went well, so what did he do wrong? What about his words made Lia so cold towards him again?

"Did I say something wrong?" was it because Yano first talked about the Mortal World and then her?

Did Lia think he placed the Mortal World higher than her? It wasn't true! Seeing how flabbergasted Yano was, Lia felt a bit bad and said, "I'm just tired. Don't read too much into my words."

Yano's expression softened, "Ok, I'll carry you to bed."

Lia's face blanked, "No, thank you. I can do it on my own."

"No, no, you're tired. You can fall asleep in my arms first."

This guy! He really left no opportunity ungo.

"You should rest too," Lia wanted to keep him away from her. They've hugged for a long time now.

"You're worried about me! Don't worry! I'm fine!" Yano was also able to twist the words to his liking. This guy. Seriously.

"Stay away. You've touched me for long enough."

"Not enough."

Lia was really about to slap him when suddenly strange noises reached her ears. Lia and Yano looked at each other.

Yano held his finger to his lips and moved to the window. Lia stayed in place and waited for Yano to either confirm or deny their suspicions.

However, Yano lingered at the window for longer than Lia thought he would. Lia was ready to charge into her room to wake Zero up if Yano gave the signal.

She watched his broad back before he suddenly turned around and shouted, "Run! Run out! I'll grab Zero!"

Lia was dazed for a second but then quickly ran to the door. Out of her eye corners, she saw Yano heading to her room.

Just when Lia leapt out of the door, a large explosion sounded behind her.

"No!" Lia flew a few metres away from the blast and coughed. Her body was sore and a few bones broke but regardless of that Lia quickly looked back to her house.

It was shrouded in smoke but Lia could see the outline of various figures approaching it. The soldiers. They were already able to catch up? Didn't Yano say they were safe? Where were Yano and Zero? Did they make it out?

Lia's ears rang and her head spun. She laid in the grass and the soldiers couldn't detect her so easily but Lia still tried to crawl towards her house. Yano and Zero couldn't die from the explosion because the grenade didn't have Min's power, so they should be fine but if they're caught by the soldiers-

"No," Lia desperately held back her tears. She couldn't lose them too. No, no, no! Never! Why couldn't things just go her way for once? Why did this have to turn out this way? Why? It couldn't end like this.

Lia wanted to stand up but her body was tattered and needed to heal. Bitterly Lia hammered on the ground. The loud shouts of the soldiers appeared, "Check everything! They could've gone too far! Spread out!"

Helplessly Lia laid on the ground when something touched her then a reassuring voice whispered, "Are you crying for me? My future wife should know I'm not that weak."

Lia looked up to see Yano with a sleeping Zero on his back. Relief spread through Lia's body. Zero was able to sleep through all of that. That was the fruit of all his time spent in the prison with roaring prisoners.

"C'mon let's go. Things got a bit messed up," Yano pulled Lia up. Lia focused on healing her body while trying to follow Yano. She couldn't be a burden here.

"The portal's not ready yet. We need to find a place to hide until then."

Yano has also not calculated the soldiers would suddenly appear, especially not trying to bomb them. Yano has casted an illusion on this place, so how were the soldiers still able to find them?

Yano was clueless about this development. However, this showed how badly the Ghost King wanted Lia. Yano had to prevent this.

"Lia, are you ok?" Yano whispered seeing how Lia struggled to follow. Meanwhile, the solders were drawing closer.

"I'm fine, just find a place," Lia also knew how dire the situation was. If they were caught here, it was over.

"Should I wake Zero up?"

"No, let him sleep."

Zero was probably too exhausted seeing how he kept sleeping so soundly.

"I'm sorry, your house-"

"It's ok, it's probably better this way," Lia threw a last look at her destroyed house that kept so many memories only for her having to relinquish them forever.

But it might be for the better, really. Because this put an end to the past and opened a new possible future for Lia. Only when the past was forgotten, overcome, could a person embrace the future.

done.co