Mazaròl Lions : Chapter 31 "Meaningful Talk"

The whole time Elio tells them, still there is no one interrupting him, but the expression on their faces slowly changes, hearing who and what caused the accident. “That son of a b-” Howl is the first one breaking in, no longer can hold on to her anger, but Sapphire stops her right away. “No, no, no, please..” Sapphire says worriedly and puts her hand covering Howl’s mouth before letting out those bad words “Please hold it together, okay? We don’t want this to happen again, right?” trying to calm down Howl and bring her into a warm embrace. Howl’s emotion keeps kicking in, the anger slowly turns into regret as tears start forming on her eyes then rolling down. Howl’s face is drawn with disbelievement she is one of the reasons why they got into that position because she fell into their trap. “I should have known…” She whimpers with her cracked voice. While Spec who is beside her also can’t believe that they were just puppets back then and guilt starts crawling in him as well. “Why don’t you tell us any of it..?” He manages to say and looks at Elio with a mixture of disappointment, guilt, and upset as well. Elio, who is getting that look and face, immediately throws his face away from him, the insecurity is still there, not wanting to expose himself too much to them yet. Seeing Elio’s reaction, Spec can only share another look of confusion then looks back at his side, looking at Howl who is still crying hugging herself while Sapphire is trying to comfort her as well. “I’m sorry, Sapphire… It’s my fault.” She says with a voice full of guilt and regret as if everything happened because of her not knowing about the Lion’s intention. “Please don’t say that.” Sapphire says and pulls away from her just to wipe her tears away “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? No one is placed to be their fault.” “But I should have known that!” Howl says, raising her voice out of frustration and continuing crying. There ain’t no way that Spec’s chest is not aching seeing Howl crying like this so his instinct automatically orders him to place his hand behind her back and gently pets it. “No one else notices it besides Tanzanite who is facing it alone, cub.” Sapphire replies with her most comforting voice to her, the one she used for Elio as well. “But I should have noticed the time when I stepped inside the room! All of a sudden when I was in the middle helping them, all of the lights turned off!” Howl says and finally looks directly into Sapphire’s eyes. Out of nowhere Howl suddenly mentions what happened to her inside the storage room which makes Sapphire and Elio realize they haven’t heard anything from her, about the storage room. Even though obviously everything that happened last night was planned by the Lion, they at least know how their works and what they have prepared previously. The best source of knowledge is from failures and experiences anyway. Sapphire glances at Elio who actually gets the same idea as hers since they just make the same expression on their face. “Howl.” Sapphire calls her and kneels down in front of her “If you said that, wouldn't it be the same as if you’re putting a blame on Tanzanite as well? Since you are the only one who is facing it?” “No! Of course not! After hearing it, there is no way that it is his fault!” Howl quickly remarks on what she just said previously. “Correct. Then that goes the same for you. No one in here needs to hold those burdens of guilt alone.” Sapphire replies and cups Howl’s face, once again wiping away the remaining tears. Just like how it effectively works on Elio, it seems like it goes the same for Howl as she slowly stops sniffling and the tears also stop dropping from her eyes. “But-” Howl wants to put another defense because of her guilt but Sapphire cuts her right away, not letting her say a word that could only attack her. “Nope! No more buts and I don’t want to hear anything that comes out from your guilt. Understand?” Sapphire quickly speaks up and shuts Howl with her finger. Howl’s eyes still colored with her guilt while looking at her but slowly, she nods her head in agreement, trying to swipes away those thoughts and burden feelings. Getting an agreement from Howl, makes Sapphire shoot her another warm smile and welcomes her back into her embrace. “There you go.” Sapphire says while hugging Howl and slowly petting her back “Thank you for trusting us.” Sapphire’s choice of words are always just on point that could make anyone weak after hearing it as Howl can slowly wrap her hands around her as well, returning the warm hug which eventually affects the atmosphere of this balcony as well. Spec, who is sitting beside her, also can feel the warmth spreading around them of how welcoming it is as he slowly draws back his hand away from Howl’s back and makes eye contact with Elio. Just like how usual it is, Elio only nods his head as a reply to their look of each other meaning he is okay with them. In response, Spec, as someone who is not talkative as well, still decides to at least say something to Elio because of his harsh action this morning in the healthcare room. “I shouldn’t have done that to you this morning.” Spec says and reaches his arm out to give Elio’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, gesture of apology. “I’m sorry.” The word ‘sorry’ is actually something rare for Elio to receive from people, which means that one word is enough for Elio. Not being rude, being framed, getting slammed, mocked by the others, are the things that Elio gets frequently which makes him get used to it, except the way Heliodor did to him though, that one is on another level. But at this moment, especially today from that sunset, Elio gets a kick inside of him of wanting to know more about people around him, starting from this circle that he called a ‘family.’ “It’s alright.” Two words come out from Elio but it’s enough to tell of how hard Elio is trying right now and probably something that no one ever expected before. “Wait.” Sapphire butts in out of nowhere even though she is in the middle of comforting Howl as she is loosening a bit of her embrace. “Why are you apologizing, Spec? Didn’t I tell you guys no one is in the blame position?” Based on her voice, Sapphire seems a bit, totally just a tiny bit, upset and her eyebrow raises in confusion when she is looking at Spec and Elio. “Ahh.. about that.” Spec nervously says and glances at Elio but Elio doesn’t want to get dragged into the situation as he quickly looks away from him. “About what?” Sapphire speaks up again, running out of patience waiting even though it’s only less than 5 seconds. “Maybe.. I can say that I’m actually the first one who saw Elio this morning..? Spec slowly starts off and totally looks like a panicked kid who needs to tell his parents the reason for being called to the teacher’s room. “Mhm.” Sapphire totally pulls away from her embrace with Howl and crosses her arms. “Continue?” Howl, who already gets enough comfort, also gets curious about what happened between those two so she ignores the remaining tears that make her eyes sparkling. Before continuing once again, Spec looks back at Elio for a second then somewhere else, avoiding making eye contact with the other two in front of them. “Islammedhim.” Spec says quickly and scratches the back of his neck, hoping none of them hear it. “You s- what? I didn’t-” Sapphire replies with a total confusion on her face, doesn’t get anything from what Spec just said. “He slammed him.” Howl cuts her and tells Sapphire of what she just heard from that quick answer which causes both Spec and Sapphire to look at her. The two of them have disbelief in what she just did but the difference is that one of them is amazed by her sharp ears while the other one is surprised by Spec's action toward Elio. “Spec?!” Sapphire says and immediately looks back at him while stomping get closer to him as Spec automatically stands up and quickly steps away from her. “Wait, wait! I’ll ex-” too late because Sapphire is fast enough to reach her hand to grab his ear and pull it “Ow! Ow! Oww!!” “You did what, huh?! Why would you do that?!” Sapphire yells and scolds him while dragging him by the ear back to his seat. “I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!” Spec says panickedly, apologizing for his dear life. Seeing this scenery like how a mom scolds her child, makes the atmosphere more lively as Howl can’t help it but giggling on her side while Elio forms a tiny smile on his face. Once they get back to their seat, finally Sapphire lets go of her grip on his ear. “There. Now you have learned your lesson.” She says and walks back to her seat. “Yes, ma’am. I’m truly sorry.” Spec says and bows at her with both of his hands on his laps, showing off how polite it is. Sapphire looks back at Howl only to find that her face is now brighter than before which means she just brought this family back together. “Nice to see you back like this again.” Sapphire says with a smile on her face and strokes Howl’s hair. Howl can only smile back toward Sapphire with a slight pink blush on her cheeks, thankfully it’s just like what Sapphire is looking for so she takes this as a chance to ask her to tell them of what happened last night in the storage room. “But I still have a serious question right now.” She continues and glances over at Elio for a second “What happened last night? In the storage room.” Hearing Sapphire’s question, the guilt starts crawling up inside Howl but she knows that it’s not the right time to get controlled by her emotion again. It also takes the other two, Elio and Spec, attention right away as Spec makes a face that he is also curious of what the lions did to her, especially wanting to make them repay as well. With that kept in mind, Howl takes a deep breath, preparing herself to give them the details of what they need. “At first I thought nothing could go wrong other than giving a hand for lions which seems a bit odd since a tiger could never be asked for that in nature, right?” Howl briefly explains by using an illustration that all of them understand it right away. “Totally normal since we were robbing and taking the whole things in the storage as they also worked there. Completely fine, nothing suspicious until all of the lights turned off suddenly.” Howl continues and from here her voice is starting to shake a bit. “What’s your first intrusive thought when this happens?” Sapphire cuts in to ask her question of looking more detail. “Search for them. I remembered that they already had a flashlight on their back so I thought at that time, innocently, this is just one of their plans to get out.” Howl answers and her expression changes quickly once she realizes how insensitive she is. “You’re not completely wrong though.” Spec buts in, noticing how her face suddenly changes and trying to cheer her up. “It is one of their plans.” Sapphire says firmly with irritation as well, emphasizing that what everyone is thinking right now is true. Howl once again lets out a sigh of frustration and puts her hands covering her face, obviously still thinking and blaming herself. “I’m sorry…” She murmurs underneath her breath and the sounds muffled from her hands yet still audible. “Please don’t be sorry and keep blaming yourself, Howl.” Sapphire says and squeezes her shoulder in order to comfort her. “I also didn’t realize about their plan.” Elio speaks up when they are in complete silence which catches their attention in a second. Don’t know if those words come out consciously or not but neither of them matter since the voice Elio used just now is totally different as he also still blames himself for everything that happened. “Even though I always had the suspicion of working with them since the beginning, yet I still can’t figure out all of their plans.” Elio continues and scratches the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with any of them. Seeing Elio, who never puts an emotion on his face, somehow the other two start to notice it when it is just a slight change. Howl and Spec look at each other at the same time, probably both of them get surprised by what he is doing right now. In fact, hearing how different Elio’s voice is when he admits his own mistakes, seeing his expression changes, and also the gestures he is making, are the things that they think could never happen. “My preparation is not enough to handle them. Thinking I can finally surpass them, handling everything as smoothly as always yet I let my guard down.” Eio continues, his face is getting darkened. tightening his fist, closing his eyes tightly. The atmosphere changes drastically by each of Elio’s words that got deeper as well, knowing how upset he is. No, it’s already beyond that, It’s overwhelming which makes the others feel how intense his outrage is. Howl and Spec freeze up on their seats, seeing the overflowing emotion from Elio even though it clearly can be seen that he is still holding it. Meanwhile Sapphire keeps her eyes on him, the other two don’t notice how she is looking at him now, her eyes are full with anticipation as if she is getting ready for what Elio is going to say later. Once Elio opens his eyes slowly, the outrage suddenly disappears and the only thing that is clearly drawn on it, sorrowful. “You guys are right.” He sighs before continues after quite seconds of pause “I should be the one to put on the-” “No.” Sapphire quickly cuts him and stands up from her seat before Elio can finish his sentence, this is what Sapphire is waiting for, the burdened feeling of making a mistake. Elio snaps out from her sudden action and jolts by the close distance that Sapphire just made, which is holding his face close facing hers, forcing him to look directly into her eyes. “That is not in our dictionary or agenda for today.” She says firmly with a very serious tone that almost sounds like she is mad with Elio. “No one is going to be blamed. None of these are anyone’s fault. No one is making a mistake. No one is going to get through this alone. We are one, glued with each other. We are a family, got it?” Sapphire continues and the last words sound more demanding than the others. Meanwhile Elio just stays there, not saying a word, letting his face get hold like a golden retriever that is getting scolded by the owner. “Say yes if you understand?” Sapphire says with a smile on her face and changes her voice into a cute one yet still demanding. “Yes.” Elio says almost a little bit too fast which sounds like he is scared of getting scolded once again. Witnessing their actions with each other after the bomb that Elio landed on his emotions, the other can’t help but think how cute they are. “Pft.” Howl chuckles at first then both of them burst into laughter at the same time which draws Elio’s and Sapphire’s attention right away. “What?” Sapphire chuckles as well, knowing exactly what they are laughing at but pretending not to “What’s so funny?” “Nothing… it’s just you guys are so cute!” Howl says and tries to stop her laugh. “That’s not the best part, isn’t it?” Spec says teasingly. “Oh. You guys must have noticed Tanzanite’s face, right?” Sapphire says and glances behind her back to only find Elio’s red shaped ears. The embarrassment kicks in really hard that makes Elio wanting to lay down beside where Aquamarine is. Not wanting him to explode, Sapphire holds the urge to tell the others about his ears but covering him is never an option as she sits back on her seat, letting the other two have a moment to loosen up the previous atmosphere. Another laughter comes from them as they probably notice how red Elio’s ears are and Sapphire can’t help it but smiles toward them then looks up into the sky. She looks there as if she is searching for something up there, there is a spark of small wishful thinking hope in her eyes which make them glaze by the lights. Taking a deep breath with her eyes closed and letting it out slowly with her eyes open as well, no more burdens on hers. Now is the time. She thinks and takes a sip from her coffee that is no longer warm because of their long, the longest, conversation ever had. “Oh my gosh… aw!” Howl says and suddenly hisses while she is leaning back on her chair, probably because her wounds are still not totally recovered. “That’s what you get after making fun of someone.” Spec teases her but still gives her pats on her shoulder. Glancing over at Howl’s seat who is now pressing her stomach in pain, there is still guilt on Elio’s that is completely can be seen. Even though Sapphire already scolded him, the urge of apologizing to her is still there but before he can do that, Sapphire speaks up first. “Alright everyone.” She says and puts back her fork on her plate but what makes everyone look at her straight away is because of her tone of voice. The serious one as if she is going to discuss some more of it and wanting to tell them something. There is another moment of silence where only the night breezes around them as they are waiting for Sapphire to continue. Based on how it looks, Sapphire seems to be preparing herself, arranging her words of what she is going to say, and finally after taking another deep breath, her eyes meet with each one of them. “I should have done it sooner because Adam already asked me this a long time ago.” She starts off and her hands are fidgeting, totally showing how nervous she is. “This might make some- sorry, all of you uncomfortable but I still have to do this since I also already made a promise with him.” She continues and looks down on her hands, her words around us becoming more formal than before. “I’m not hoping or forcing anyone in here to follow or do the same thing as mine, understand?” She says and takes her eyes back to meet them as they give her an instant couragement with a nod, consent to continue. Even so, the nerve still gets into her as she takes another deep breath before dropping the package. “I’m Sofia Dolce and it’s a pleasure to meet you guys.”