Guilty x Creatures Ch. 44

Neither Fiona nor Kianna said anything as they listened to Anton speak.

"When you heard me speaking to Leopold last night, you came to the realization that we were talking about you." stated Anton "And then, without even trying to verify anything with me, you jumped to the conclusion that you would be sold to him."

"Okay, now hold on just a second! Don't try to make it sound like I was the one overreacting here by jumping to conclusions! It's not like I didn't have plenty of reasons to think that you wouldn't happily sell me off! As if you haven't talked about doing just that, over and over and over again! No! I had every damn reason to think that you were gonna do it! And Hell, even now! I still think you would!" exclaimed Fiona as she suddenly rose from her seat, marched closer to Anton and started shouting into his face "Do you really think I don't know how much you hate me!? C'mon! I'm not stupid! No matter what you might think! I'm not! I know damn well that if it wasn't for Kianna, I'd already be a goner! I! Know! This!"

Anton remained completely silent and still as he listened to the shouting dark elf.

"I know, that you don't like me. Okay! I get it! I do!...And I know, that you think that I'm worthless and selfish and a waste of time....I know, that you think I'm stupid. Or stubborn! Or whatever the fuck you wanna call it!...It doesn't matter. The point is, I know, what you think of me." stated Fiona as she eased herself back and took a step away from him "I'm not "your little dark elf" and I never will be! I'm just someone you have to deal with... Someone that you know is super valuable too. Which I'm sure is annoying to think about, since you know you're sitting on a goldmine... I'm just someone you can play teacher with while you make me more... Wait... Oh fuck! That's it! Isn't it!? That's your, your plan! It all make sense now! That's what you're doing! You don't care! You never cared! You're only doing this to, to... Make me even more valuable..."

Anton tightened his hold on Kianna as he felt her stiffen against him and watched as a look of horror spread across Fiona's face.

Taking another step back, Fiona quickly turned around and faced away from Anton as her ears lowered themselves and drooped in a sorrowful manner.

"It all makes sense now... I should have known... No, I did know. I know you well enough to know... When you say you're gonna do something, even if it sounds crazy! You do mean it..." she said as she shook her head "Hell, you just proved that by fucking waterboarding us... You evil psycho..."

Clearly exhausted, and starting to shiver again, Fiona let her shoulders slump as she stared forward at nothing.

"So now I know... I know... That it's only a matter of time..." sighed Fiona "You were just going to wait for me to fuck up again, weren't you? That's all you needed. Any excuse... And then, poof... I'm gone... Well now you don't need to wait... Now you don't need to hide it..."

Anton was still for several long moments as he stared at Fiona.

"...How could I have made so many mistakes in such a short amount of time." he whispered as his expression became sympathetic "Listen to me, Fiona, I-."

"Stop! Just save it!" said Fiona around an exasperated sigh "I don't want to hear it! I don't care any-!"

"No! This is wrong! It's not what you think. None of it!" claimed Anton as he shook his head "I was wrong! From the very beginning I've done nothing but make mistakes with you. And I see that now. This, all of this... How you feel, and what you think of me....Fiona, I never wanted to make you feel this way. I swear!"

Although she wouldn't actually look back at him, Fiona tilted her head to the side to indicate she was listening.

"My intention has always been to make you see the faults in your decisions, Fiona. The errors in your ways. And that's it, I don't have any other goal beyond that. And I never have. I was doing this because I wanted you to see the damage that you were inflicting upon your own life. And then convince you to change. Better yourself, and strive to rise above these poor traits....I wanted you to want to improve yourself. That's all I wanted." said Anton as he bowed his head "...But I let myself lose my patience with you. Time and again. And I became too blunt. Too hard. Too cold... I have told you the truth with everything I ever said to you....But then I left you to dwell on that truth, and suffer under the weight of it... I was so quick to point out all of your negative aspects. And yet, I never even thought about how important it was for you to hear the positive one's as well. You know that I think you're stubborn, selfish and rash. But not once have I ever said anything about all the good qualities that I see in you, or how special I think you really are. We've spoken at length about your compulsive behavior, but not once about your drive to succeed, your unwillingness to surrender to defeat, or the fearlessness that you can maintain even when you're facing impossible odds....I may have led you to believe that these were all negative qualities, Fiona. But again, that was due to a lack of patience on my part. I've had to face these elements of your personality myself, head on, and it hasn't been easy. You may think that I can't stand you, Fiona. But the reality is quite different... You impress me, Fiona. And you have always impressed me."

Fiona was still for a moment before tilting her head further back.

"And you just expect me to believe all this!?" she snapped as her ears twitched "You start saying all this shit out of nowhere, and I'm just supposed to take it as the Gods honest truth!? Are you serious!?"

"No. Of course not. I know that you feel you can't trust me. And I understand why. It's all my fault, I created this situation myself. Through my own poor decisions and actions." said Anton as he shook his head "I will fix this though. I promise you that!...I don't expect you to take any of this at nothing but face value. No. In fact, I don't expect you to believe anything I'm saying at all. I know I'm not going to convince you of anything with my words alone. So instead, I will show you that I'm telling you the truth. I promise you, Fiona. I will work hard to make sure that in the future you will know that you can trust me. That you can come to me without fear or hesitation and that you will always be able to get the truth from me....I'm really not your enemy, Fiona. And I never wanted to be your enemy."

Despite her still obvious misgivings, Fiona couldn't help but to turn her head even further and actually stare back at Anton with one of her large, bright, ruby-colored eyes.

"...I've been tough on you. Far tougher than I may have needed to be. And I've made the mistake of comparing you to your sister when you're both so vastly different from each other. Now I know the way I treat Kianna is a far cry from how I've treated you. But again, you are different people. And just because I treat each of you in your own way doesn't mean that you aren't just as important to me. You are, both of you are." said Anton as he stared into Fiona's eye and gave Kianna a squeeze "And I've failed to make sure that you knew that... Which was wrong on my part... It's my fault that you don't even know, that you have no idea... When I saw you, both of you, just lying there... You have no idea how painful that sight was for me, how much it hurt... I know, that it hasn't been very long that we've known each other. But even so... The thought of losing you, either of you... It scares me. It truly does... And now, just as bad, the realization that you don't even know how much I've come to care for you, and what you've both come to mean to me... I don't know how I could be so blind to my own mistakes like this! But I was... I was wrong. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. And I swear, I will fix this. I will make things better between us... And I just hope, that at some point, you'll be able to forgive me..."

As Anton finished speaking and went quiet, Fiona's eye tightened into a glare. And with a huff, she turned around to fully face him.

"You seriously expect me to forgive you!? Are you insane!? After everything you've done to me, and all the shit you've put me through! You think I'd ever forgive you!? Hell, no!" exclaimed Fiona as she pointed her ears straight back and balled her hands into fists "I have been living in a nightmare ever since I met you! You are the absolute, worst thing that has ever happened to me! You've done nothing but make me miserable this whole time! You've tortured me! Humiliated me! Fucking froze me! Then you threaten to sell me, pull out my teeth and even make me eat soap! Like some, little kid!...You treat me like shit! And then, not only do you expect me to just forgive you for all that! But you want me to trust you!? After all of that shit! Are you crazy!?...I! Hate! You! And I always will!...I will always, hate you! Always!...Always....Fucking, always..."

Anton did nothing but bow his head as he listened to Fiona berate him.

As her voice trailed off into nothing, Fiona continued to take heavy breaths through her clenched teeth.

The room remained quiet for several long moments before the dark elf spoke again.

"...We're you actually serious?...With what you just said? Did you really mean it?" she asked in a soft hushed tone "Or were you just talking out your ass!?"

Blinking, Anton looked up to find her staring right back at him.

"...I was truthful with everything I've said. All of it." he replied.

Fiona's eyes tightened as she looked away from him.

"Right, sure..." mumbled the dark elf "Like you're not just going to say whatever you think you need to! I'm not falling for your bullshit!"

"...Fiona, I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about right now. But whatever it is that I said, it wasn't a trick." said Anton as he watched the emotions dance about in the dark elf's eyes "I have no reason to try to trick you. I do, legitimately want you to trust me. I don't know what it is that you're referring to, but whatever it was that I said, it was the truth. And I'll swear to that."

Moving slowly, Fiona brought her eyes back up and locked them to his.

"...So then you really think that I'm, impressive?" she asked softly.

"Yes." answered Anton immediately.

"...Fucking bullshit!" growled Fiona through her clenched teeth "You're just saying what you think I want to hear! That's all this is!"

"No. You know that's not true..." mumbled Kianna as she rubbed her closed eyes with Anton's shirt "You know he's not scared of you. And that he doesn't need to lie to you. So if he said it, he means it."

Surprised by her sudden speech, both Anton and Fiona looked to Kianna in unison and watched her as she sighed and lazily rested her head back down against Anton's shoulder.

Grinning at her, Anton chuckled quietly as he reached up and laid his left hand atop her head. As he shifted his gaze back to Fiona, he stopped short in surprise at the sight of her.

Turmoil was plastered across Fiona's face as she stared at her sister.

"He doesn't though!...He's lying!" grumbled the dark elf as she looked away and frantically blinked away a sheen of moisture that was quickly forming across her eyes.

Anton remained silent as he watched Fiona's eyes dart about as she seemed to be searching the room for nothing in particular.

As her gaze finally landed back on him she scowled and glared at him with a hateful rage in her eyes.

"You! You have to swear! You have to swear to me that you're telling the truth!" she snarled as her eyes began to glow with a bright red light "Okay! You have to swear to me! I want to hear you say it!"

"...Alright." said Anton "I swear to you, Fiona. That I will tell you the truth."

Hesitating, Fiona let her eyes fall to the floor as she began to tremble.

"Do, do you!...Am, am I, really important to you?" she said as she suddenly sobbed.

Taken aback, Anton went still for a moment as the shivering dark elf continued.

"...Well!? Am I?...Do you really care about me?" whimpered Fiona as she wrapped her arms around herself and clamped her eyes shut as heavy tears rolled down her cheeks"Were you serious? Do you really think that I'm... That I'm special!?"

Without a word, Anton shifted both himself and Kianna into motion.

Looking up to see him moving towards her, Fiona laid her ears down submissively as she bowed her head. She remained completely still as Anton's right arm was wrapped around her and she was scooped up into a tight embrace.

"I hate you!" wailed Fiona as she was tucked in next to her sister and held against Anton's chest "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

"I know..." whispered Anton as he hugged her as tightly as he could.

"...I, hate you!" sobbed Fiona as she laid her head against his shoulder and cried into the crook of his neck "I hate you!...I hate you so much!"

"I know..." soothed Anton as he rubbed her back in an effort to comfort her "I know you do..."

Growling in frustration, Fiona hesitated for a long moment before wrapping her arm around him and frantically gripping his shirt behind his back.

"Why!?" she wailed as held on to him "Why did you say that!?...Why did you say it!?"

"Because it's true..." whispered Anton as he tightened his arms around both of the dark elves and held them all together "I'm sorry, but it's true..."

Fiona wailed again before falling into a fit of sobs.

For some time the three of them stood together this way before finally Fiona began to speak again.

"I hate you. I really do. I hate you so much..." she whimpered as she tightened her grip on the portion of shirt she had in her hand.

"I know..." nodded Anton as he began to rub her back again.

"...I don't wanna go." sobbed Fiona "I wanna stay here..."

"Good. Because you're not going anywhere..." soothed Anton.

"...I hate you!" mumbled Fiona.

"I know..." said Anton.

"...I'm not your dark elf!" grumbled Fiona.

"Yes you are..." smiled Anton as he gave her another squeeze "You're my stubborn, disobedient, mouthy little brat of a dark elf... And you're going to stay that way..."

Pointing her ears straight back, Fiona grumbled in rage as she forcefully pressed her forehead against Anton's shoulder.

"Argh! I hate you so much!" she growled before taking a deep frustrated breath.

"Yes, I know..." nodded Anton as he continued to smile softly and hold his two dark elves.

After a moment of stillness, he began to chuckle as he felt Kianna begin to slowly move as she tried to covertly slip herself in between him and Fiona.

"What are you doing!?" snapped Fiona as she planted her shoulder against Kianna's and pushed back against her "Knock it off!"

The two dark elves immediately began to shove against each other as they both fought for space.

"C'mon now, Kianna... Don't be jealous." laughed Anton as he leaned forward and kissed her on top of her head "You know you're special to me too! My sweet little dark elf..."

Both of the dark elves went still as Anton wrapped his arms back around them and hugged them to his chest.

"Oh, my sweet, special, stubborn little dark elves..." rumbled Anton as he squeezed them both as tightly as he could.

"Okay! We get it! We get it!" complained Fiona as the air was forced from her crushed torso "Let, go!"

Anton chuckled as the two dark elves kept their faces hidden against his chest and continued to grip his shirt, even as he loosened his hold on them. After a moment of stillness they both began to fidget a bit before recommencing to lightly shove each other.

"You're the stubborn one." mumbled Kianna as she roughly pressed her shoulder against her sister's.

"Shut up!" snapped Fiona as she pushed back against her.

"No, you both are!" laughed Anton as he planted his hands on their heads and gently smoothed out their hair "Now c'mon, we need to get things back on track and get you all warmed up again....Also, it seems that our kiochi prisoner is trying to escape on us, and we should probably stop her."

Moving in unison, the two dark elves both glanced over their shoulders as they followed Anton's gaze.

Suddenly finding herself under their scrutiny, Mica paused in mid-motion as she scowled up at the now frowning dark elves. Although she had been making her way towards the exit for some time now, the kiochi's condition had prevented her from being able to lift herself up off the floor or move with any real kind of speed. And as such, even after all this time, she had only been able to drag herself a little over halfway across the large room.

"Humph. Yeah, she's not going anywhere..." mumbled Kianna as she laid her head back down on Anton's shoulder "She still can't even barely move..."

"Just toss her dumbass in the tub for now." grumbled Fiona as she followed her sister's lead and rested her head back against Anton's other shoulder "She's still frozen so she won't be able to climb out of there."

"That's actually a good idea..." yawned Kianna as she closed her eyes and settled into a light doze "We should just do that..."

"...Right, okay?...Don't you two actually want to get warmed up?" asked Anton.

"...Eh, we're fine." said the two dark elves as they glanced at each other.

"Hm, I see. Well, I'm afraid I'm still going to have to insist that we get moving..." grinned Anton.

"Ugh, but it's warm right here..." grumbled Fiona "Why do you always have to ruin everything..."

"Hm... Tell you what. If you girls get moving, then I'll let you two handle getting Mica ready. While I get the bath going." offered Anton "How does that sound?"

"...What do you mean by getting her ready?" asked Fiona.

"Well, she can't really move to well right now. And she's about to take a bath." explained Anton "So I'd imagine she would appreciate some "help" with getting undressed..."

Their eyes locking in realization, the two dark elves both looked at each other for a moment before turning their heads in unison and staring down at the still shivering shinoccubus.

"I'd also imagine that the condition she's in, has not only made her all but helpless..." said Anton as he gave Mica a sly looking half smile "But also about as, pinchable, as she'll ever be..."

"W-w-w-wait! Wh-wh-wh-what!?" cried Mica as she watched the two dark elves eyes widen in excitement "N-n-no! St-st-stay th-the f-f-f-fuck! Ah-ah-ah-way f-f-from m-m-m-me!"

"Why don't you girls go find out if my theory is correct or not..." smiled Anton as he gave each of the dark elves a gentle nudge to get them moving "And please, do remember to be as thorough as possible with your tests..."

"Oh, yes! We will be!" exclaimed the dark elves as they smiled wickedly and began to advance on the hapless kiochi.

Panicking now, Mica turned away from them and began to frantically scramble forward as best she could as she attempted to escape through the open doorway.

Moments later the stillness of the afternoon was completely shattered by shrill, angry sounding protests and loud, gleeful laughter.