Good At Being Bad (Book #2)

EP.203|This Is Me

EP.203|This Is Me

࿇ ══━━━━✥◈✥━━━━══ ࿇

The clanking of metal bars echoed through the formerly silent prisoner hold. “Let me out of here! I told you I’m innocent!” the single prisoner yelled, “I didn't kill your precious trees!”
 
Short stubby orange feet, more like flippers, stomped down the stairs to reveal The Lorax. He was a small, orange creature. He has fluffy fur and what seems to be a pale yellow mustache.
 
“Dixie, The bears saw you cut down the tree!” The Lorax stated, approaching her cell. “No, no, no, what happened was that I was cutting the leaves! Leaves!” Dixie scolded.
 
“Still hurting my trees.” The Lorax shrugged. “And that meant you have to imprison me?!” Dixie rattled the chains on her wrist.
 
“Yeah, in this town, it’s a crime to hurt the trees.” The Lorax repeated. “I don't care! Look, just give me the bag of leaves back, I need them for my friend, she’s really-” Dixie noticed The Lorax wasn’t listening, “hello?”
 
The little bear whispered in The Lorax’s ear, “seriously? Ugh,” The Lorax took out a pair of keys, unlocking the cell and her handcuff, “your free to go, some guy bailed you out.”
 
Dixie growled and grabbed the bag of leaves, “thank you very much.” she marched upstairs to see the man who bailed her out, smirking at her.
 
Dixie turned towards  the chubby bear who escorted her upstairs, “I would like to go back to the jail cell.” Dixie requested.
 
“She’s kidding,” he laughed, “I’ll be taking her off your hands now.” he pushed her outside the building. Dixie stood firmly at the outside doorway. “Did my father send you, Guzman?” Dixie folded her arms over her chest.
 
“Yeah,” Guzman rubbed behind his neck sheepishly, “he says he’s gonna stop bailing you soon. I know you like being an adventurer but you’re gonna get seriously hurt one day!”
 
“Why do you care?” Dixie walked past him, bumping his shoulder, “you’re only doing this for the money.”
 
“At first I was Dixie,” he grabbed her wrist, “but I have grown to really appreciate you.”
 
“Appreciate me? For what? Not like I do anything special.” Dixie glared at him. Guzman got upon the white horse, pulling Dixie up with him. “Dixie, you’ve healed millions of people and thought thousands of kids Drini in the village.” Guzman ruffled her hair “someone like you is every bit special.”
 
Dixie looked into his blue eyes, “yo-you thi-think so?” she stuttered, surprising the both of them.
 
“Yeah, you’re special Dixie,” Guzman kissed her forehead, causing Dixie to blush severely. Dixie held onto Guzman’s waist, “are you gonna snitch on me to my father?”
 
“No, now why did you need those feathers?” Guzman asked, looking back at Dixie who rested her head on his back. “Didn't you say one of your animalistic buddies is really sick?”
 
“O-Oh! Yeah! You remembered?” Guzman was surprised, normally girls never listened to his animalistic stories because they didn't care. But Dixie...she cares… Guzman smiled at Dixie who was rambling about something. I’ve known her for over 15 years and never noticed her beauty…
 
“Cause you’re a dumbass.” his animalistic, Keyna, scolded. “Human woman keep their beauty hidden sometimes, to test the male human to see if they’re worthy enough.”
 
“Worthy?” Guzman questioned. “Yeah, to see if you notice little changes, it’ll start with her hair or the way she talks with you, or she’ll hold onto your hand more often than not, or she’ll call you by a cute pet nickname,” Kenya explained.
 
“Wait, so Kenya is your animalistic dad?” Ben’s eyes turned blue as Guzman’s turned yellow. “Kenya?!” “Zypher! Little bro!” Keya cheered.
 
“Little bro?” Dixie asked. “Yeah, Zypher is my little brother!” Keya shortly explained, hugging Zypher tightly. “Oh, my gods! You got Benji! Oooh! Is Alvarez here? I would love to catch up with your girlfri-”
 
“He-hey! Why don't we shut up! Ben doesn't know!” Zypher scolded quietly. “Oooh!” Kenya winked, “got it.”
 
The two animalistic gave back control, Guzman was fine but Ben was a little winded.
 
“Anyways, I’ll continue the story.” Dixie chuckled.
 
The horse came to a stop at a small community of animalistic. Guzman helped Dixie off the horse, she jumped down gracefully, her hair floating up a little like an angel.
 
Guzman stared in awe. “Something wrong Guzman?” Dixie held his hand, moving strands of his hair back, “so fluffy~”
 
“It’s starting~” Keyna smirked. “Shut up!” Guzman mentally scolded. Kenya chuckled as she noticed Guzman’s eyes locked on Dixie’s movements.
 
“Guzman,” Dixie caught his attention, “hello? Where is this Axel dude?”
 
“Oh yeah!” Guzman blinked a few times, coming back to reality “uh, Axel’s over here.”
 
Guzman leads her towards a small house, knocking on the door before entering. “Axel!” Guzman called out, him and Dixie walking deeper into the house and entering the living room to see the sick animalistic on the couch.
 
“Hey! Guzman nice,” a hard couch interrupted him, “to see you again.”
 
“What happened to you, Axel?” Guzman sat beside him. “Why don't ya tell him? Axel?” Sabrina glared at him, walking into the living room with a bowl of soup, “tell me how you stupidly ran into Pulwhite flowers to fight off Argyles.”
 
“A field of Pulwhite?! What’s wrong with you! Those things are poisonous to animalistic!” Guzman slapped him upside the head. Axel growled, “don't you think I know that?!”
 
“Then why would you run into a field of Pulwhites?” Dixie sighed, shaking her head.
 
“Axel wasn’t very bright was he?” Ben chuckled. “He actually did have a good reason for running into that field of Pulwhite.” Dixie smiled.
 
Axel waited till Sabrina went back into the kitchen before explaining, “it happened earlier this week, Sabrina and I went out hunting and afterward, we were playing hide and seek for fun but when I went to look for Sabrina she was fighting off Argyles.”
 
“However, her attacks didn't work on them because Argyles are immune to all attacks other then Animalia.” Axel continued, “when I saw what was happening I ran into and started attacking the Argyles. Everything else became unimportant unless it was saving Sabrina. I didn't care if I got sick because of the Pulwhites, as long as she was unharmed it didn't matter.”
 
“Axel,” Dixie brought out the bag of tree leaves, which had the texture of wool, kneeing beside him “have you ever considered that Sabrina is your mate?”
 
“Consider?” Axel scoffed, “I always knew she was my mate from the moment I saw her.”
 
Dixie giggled, “does she know?”
 
“Nah, I’m too much of a wimp to say anything,” Axel coughed roughly, “shit…”
 
“You wouldn't be having this problem if you just let me handle the situation,” Sabrina muttered, puffing up cheeks. “Ey, Tusandere,” Axel smirked up at her, knowing she hated it when he called her that, “stop pouting, as cute as it is on you, you can't hold your breath forever.”
 
Sabrina released the air, looking away from Axel, “sh-shut up! I-I-I do-don't need to lis-listen to yo-you!”
 
“Then why are you still here if you don't care about me?” Axel smirked slyly. “I-It’s no-not like I car-care about you! Don't get the wrong idea!” Sabrina blushed, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
 
“Sabrina and Axel sound a lot like CJ and Carlos.” Ben noticed, nodding slightly.
 
“After your mother healed Axel, we headed back to Tregoron.” Guzman narrated.
 
Guzman and Dixie walked back into the village of Tergoron, laughing and smiling. “Thank you for healing, Axel.” Guzman felt Dixie’s arms wrap around his waist. “You’re welcome, Guzman.” Dixie smiled, jumping on his back.
 
“I’d do anything for you, Guzman,” Dixie whispered lovingly. Guzman blushed, “i-is that s-so…”
 
“Yep,” Dixie laid her head on his shoulder. “Can you take me home, I’m tired…” Dixie yawned.
 
“Sure thing,” Guzman smiled, the scent of peppermint trickling across his senses. “Where is that coming from?”
 
“Her you dumbass!” Kenya scolded. “Seriously?” Guzman smelled Dixie, the smell of peppermint exciting his entire body “damn…” Guzman sighed in delight.
 
He climbed up to her window, opening it as he placed Dixie on the bed. “Goodnight, Dixie.” he kissed her lips softly before walking away.
 
Before he could reach the door, Dixie caught his wrist, “don't leave…”
 
“Why? I have to go home.” Guzman chuckled. Dixie sighed, pulling him down to the bead, pinning him to it. “You are really dense, but your cute so it evens it out.” Dixie winked. “What? Oh…Oh!” Guzman’s eyes widened when she felt Dixie’s lips on his, “shhh~ no talking Guzman, you’re hotter when you’re silent.”
 
Dixie kissed his lips again, “tonight, you’re all mine~”
 
“After that night, I and your mother began dating and 4 years later, you and Ben were born.”
 
Dixie heaved for air, holding the two newborn babies in her arms, “congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Pendragon, what shall you name the babies?” the nurse asked, holding the clipboard with the twins’ information on it.
 
“For this one,” Dixie smiled down at the chestnut, almost hazel, haired boy, “Benjamin NorthStar Pendragon.”
 
“And for this one,” she giggled at the other baby, he had dark black hair and beautiful green eyes, “I’ll name him Lucifer Archangel Pendragon.”
 
“Wonderful choice, miss.” The nurse wrote down the names, Dixie kissed Guzman softly. “Never thought we’d have twins...crazy huh?”
 
“Not really, Kenya always knew we would have more than one child, never thought she meant twins.” Guzman chuckled.
 
Dixie held Lucifer and Ben in her arms, watching as the two slept soundly, “my beautiful princes...I’ll never leave your side.”
 
“So Pendragon is my real last name? And my middle name is NorthStar?” Ben leaned back in his chair, “wow…”
 
“Ben we can stop for right now, we don't have to keep going-”
 
“No, I wanna hear the story of my childhood, what happened next?” Ben asked eagerly.
 
After their birth, Ben and Lucifer grew up to be adorable children.
 
Dixie and Guzman watched in amazement as the 17-month-old Ben walked, more like waddled, towards them. “There you go, Benji! Walk towards mommy and daddy.” Dixie cheered.
 
“Mama!” Ben cheered, his eyes gleaming with happiness that he didn't notice the ball he tipped over. “Benji? Benji are you okay?” Guzman asked softly, Ben lifted up his head, revealing the bump on his forehead.
 
The toddler burst into tears. Dixie and Guzman tried to reach Ben to comfort him but Lucifer beat him to the punch.
 
“No cry Benji…” Lucifer helped him up, wrapping his tiny arms around Ben, he waddled towards the stuffed lion with a crown. “Mister Lion!” Lucifer waved the lion in Ben’s face, Ben reached out for the lion, holding it in his arms with a delightful smile “I love mister lion~”
 
“Lucifer’s always took care of you, and you took care of him.” Dixie chuckled, remember another found time.
 
“Mom! We’ll be okay.” The 4-year-old Ben reminded her, trying to escape his parents’ kisses and hugs. “Are you sure? We can stay here for a little while?” Guzman’s voice contained worry.
 
“Dad, me and Benji will be fine! Don't you and mommy want some alone time?” Lucifer tilted his head. “Well yes but we still can stay. What if you get hurt during beast care? I know they’re just some small animals but you could get hurt.” Dixie began to worry.
 
“Benji is really good with animals, we’ll be okay.” Lucifer smiled, hugging Guzman and Dixie. “And I can punch and bullies that mess with Benji.” Lucifer punched the air.
 
Dixie began to tear up, “o-okay...g-go makes friends…” Dixie looked up “I’ll be okay!”
 
Ben and Lucifer entered the classroom, smiling at their friends.
 
“My babies are leaving me!” Dixie sobbed into Guzman’s shoulder. “There there...I know…” Guzman soothed, looking at the corner of his eyes to see Lucifer and Ben coming back.
 
The two tackled Dixie in a big hug, “we’ll never leave you, Mama!”
 
Dixie smiled softly, hugging the two of them, “alright, go to school. I’ll be back at 2 to pick you up.”
 
Ben and Lucifer laughed as the entered the classroom again. “You two must be Lucifer and Ben.” the teacher smiled. Ben gulped and hid behind Lucifer, “oh there’s no need to be shy.” the teacher grabbed Lucifer and Ben’s hand, leading them to the back table.
 
“Ben, lucifer, this is Carlos, Zeref, Jasper, and Hunter.” the teacher introduced, leaving the 6 be as she went back to teaching.
 
Hunter gave Ben an analyzing look, Ben started shaking and whimpering under his gaze. Lucifer growled at him, making Hunter back off “he’s good, it doesn’t know about the smaller one though.” Hunter propped his feet up on the table.
 
Ben slumped down in his chair, jumping up when he felt someone sniffing his hair “I like this one! He’s small like me and he’s animalistic, and something else but I don't know.” the boy cheered, a goofy smile on his lips.
 
“You’re animalistic too?!” Ben eye’s widened, turning into a small lion as Carlos turned into a small wolf, chasing each other around.
 
Without noticing, Ben knocked into a pair of hard legs. He looked up to see a terrifying tallboy.
 
“What are you starring at, short stack,” he growled at Ben. “Back off Raymond, he’s new.” Jasper defend. “Good, so he can learn the hierarchy.” he picked up Ben, pinning him to the wall. “At this school, I’m boss, got it?” Raymond wrapped his hands around his neck.
 
“I-I-I-..” Ben stammered. He saw the dark presence behind Raymond. “Hands off my brother!” Lucifer threw Raymond across the classroom, his eyes blood red.
 
Lucifer helped Ben up, “you alright Benji?” Ben nodded and hugged Lucifer, “you gotta stop standing up for me…” Ben pouted. “That’s my job, I’m the older brother, it’s my job to protect you.”
 
“You’re older by 10 seconds!”
 
“That was beautiful, where’d it all go so wrong?” Ben questioned. Dixie teared up “the night of the raid.”
 
Fire and screamed painted the once peaceful town of Tregoron red. Dixie and Guzman ran with the 10-year-old Ben and Lucifer in their arms.
 
“Mamma! What’s happening?” Ben cried, trying to wrap his head around all the horror happening around him. “Tregorn getting raided,” Guzman answered, running faster as jaguar ears and a tail made of yellow magi appeared on his head and backside.
 
His eyes turned eyes as he roared, breaking the falling debris that almost landed on him.
 
“Was that Animalia?” Ben asked, stopping Dixie’s narration. “Yep, by that time, I mastered Animalia,” Guzman smirked.
 
Guzman held Lucifer close, trying to shield him from the horror around him. “Shhh...it’s okay...just keep your eyes closed.” Guzman soothed. Lucifer nodded, clutching the back of Guzman’s shirt.
 
Dixie noticed the symbol on the horses that carried the enemies. “Hero Isles…” her eyes grew dark, “she was right, it’s all happening so fast!” Dixie cried, her speed slowing down.
 
Guzman’s eyes widened, noticing the enemy behind Dixie, protective mode kicking in, he passed Lucifer to Dixie “RUN!” Guzman transformed into his jaguar, yellow energy surrounding him.
 
“Alright, let’s dance,” Guzman smirked, watching as the enemies surrounded him. Some moved, allowing a regal horse and his rider. “I’ve heard a lot about you Guzman,” Adam Beastly hopped down from his steed.
 
“I heard about you too,” Guzman circled around him, “you’ve been going around islands to find the grail.” 
 
“Yep, and you’re gonna be a good little jungle cat and tell me where the grail is.”
 
“I’d rather die than tell you!” Guzman barked. Claws began to grow on Adam “that could be arranged.”
 
Dixie frantically looked around for the safe house. Imagine her surprise when she actually found it, she raced inside the secluded cabin in the deep forest, locking the door and moving the dresser in front of the door.
 
Dixie frantically rummaged through her satchel bag, bringing out the grail. “What’s that?” Ben asked innocently. “The Holy Grail,” Dixie replied, closing the blinds. “Mom, is everything okay? You look scared.” Lucifer began to worry.
 
Dixie sighed and crouched down in front of Ben and Lucifer, “boys, there are a lot of bad people in this world, the people who are attacking the island are a good example, and when bad people want something as powerful as the Gail, they’ll do whatever it takes to get it, even if it hurts other people.”
 
“But why would they hurt other people?” Ben was confused, he never understood things like this. “Because they believe that there’s no way to reason with someone except fighting.” Dixie shook her head in disgrace.
 
“So they’re hurting us because of the grail?” Lucifer’s eyes saddened. “Sadly, yes,” Dixie stared into her sons’ eyes, biting her lip as they looked into her eyes, searching for the answer as to why all this chaos was happening.
 
Dixie could never provide them that answer. She knew why it was happening, but explaining the troubles of the world to two 10-year-olds was something she couldn't do.
 
Dixie rubbed her hands on their cheeks, “I pray you don't remember this night, boys.”
 
Ben and Lucifer broke down in tears, hugging Dixie tightly, “mom! I’m scared.” Ben cried as Dixie picked up the two boys, putting them on the couch.
 
Ben leaned on her shoulder why Lucifer laid his head on her lap. “Lucifer, Ben, I promise you, no matter what happens, I’ll protect you two,” Dixie promised.
 
She could tell the boys were still scared, “let’s try to sleep.”
 
Lucifer and Ben shook their head, “I-I-I can't, they’re too many screams outside…” Ben sniffled, Lucifer stayed quiet but nodded in agreement.
 
“Benji, Lucy,” Dixie began, Lucifer chuckled slightly, he always secretly enjoyed his mother’s nicknames for him, even if he was a little weird, “just close your eyes.”
 
As much as Lucifer tried to fight it, he yawned, he was tired, it was only 2 am when the fire started. Ben’s eyes slowly began to droop when he heard his mother singing.