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Yes! We've surpassed the "I can't continue after chapter 3 syndrome!" Rejoice!
This chapterin particullar took a LOT of work so please enjoy ^^
This chapterin particullar took a LOT of work so please enjoy ^^ If two words can describe what happened next, those words would be ‘awkward’ & ‘silence’. After telling them everything, Samantha just lost her appetite and simply stared at the plate before her. Emily couldn’t help but sigh.
“Nick,” Emily called – breaking the silence. “Could you prepare something else?”
“Ah, there’s no need…” Samantha paused and noticed the untouched plate. “I like Salmon!”
For a few minutes, everything was silent again. No one dared to speak and only the clinking of silverware was heard. Zeke sank on the couch, letting it swallow him, and then snuggled next to Nick.
“Best friend warmth,” he muttered. “Is the best warmth in the world,” Nick simply smiled and snuggled closer. Emily looked at them thoughtfully. ‘They look like puppies on a pile’ she mused.
“So, Countess,” Emily turned to the girl. “Ever thought of calling your parents to let them know you’re safe?”
“I can’t.” Samantha stated
“Well why not? I’m sure they’re not in partnership with the kid-”
“They’re dead.”
“Oh,” Emily paused, creating another minute’s worth of awkward silence. “I’m sorry.”
Overhearing them, Nick shifted on the couch and propped his head. “If you reached us here by foot, then wherever they kept you is nearby. You can’t stay here.”
“Why not, you can’t just–”
“Luckily,” Nick stressed as he looked at Emily, having read her mind. “We’re going to Japan tomorrow for spring break.”
Emily gave a puff of breath. Nick just invaded her thoughts again, not that there’s wrong with that this time.
“Wait, wouldn’t we need one more ticket?”
“Don’t worry.” Zeke mumbled, stretching. “I’ve hit the jackpot from some rich person who bought my latest paintings.”
Emily raised an eyebrow, it was clear. Zeke decided to protect Samantha.
“So that’s why you’ve been lazing about.”
Smirking, Emily turned to face Samantha. “Now then, if there’s anything to cheer a sad little girl, its probably designer pieces from Milan. What do you think?”
Samantha’s eyes sparkled. “Do you have pieces from Valentino?”
“Yes! But that’s not all I’ve got.”
In that very moment their souls connected. The pair gleefully squealed as they pranced towards the stairs.
“Oh sure,” Zeke groaned as he flopped down on Nick’s lap. “Leave the guys to do the dirty work.”
Nick looked down on the lazy figure on his lap and smirked. “Shall we forge?”
“We can’t let her use her passport – she’ll be tracked down, so yeah. Contact Teddy, tell him it’s urgent.”
The next day, the group spent half the day preparing Samantha for their 14-hour journey. She didn’t fuss about the expertly forged passport, much to the boys’ relief.
‘Samantha Serge,’ she thought.
“I fostered kids last year; they all used my last name until they got adopted.” Nick said out of the blue, making Samantha jump.
“Keep the scary-mind-reading to a minimum, Nick!” Zeke reminded.
The minute their airport shuttle arrived, everyone hopped in instantly; everyone but Emily who continuously reminded the nanny on how to take care of Adele. After her umpteenth time of reminding, she finally decided to go.
With a wanted noble with them, the trip felt heavier than usual. Nick and Emily knew that calling the police – calling Kris, would have been the end of it. However, Zeke’s decision to protect the little girl made them think otherwise. After all, no one trusts the police nowadays.
14 hours later they arrived to Honshu – the northern mainland. Without wasting another minute for rest, they immediately transferred to a train bound for Akita. Hours later, the rural scenery graced the windows of the train – they’ve arrived to Akita at last.
As the train stopped, Samantha shifted in her sleep. They all decided to not wake her until they arrived to Nick’s family house.
Upon arriving, they woke up the little bundle sleeping in Nick’s arms. Towering trees behind tall bamboo fences greeted her as she opened her eyes. “I thought we were bound for Japan?” “This is Japan. We’re up North, in Akita.” Zeke replied. “You know the freezing cold mountain region with the top quality sake and hot springs.”
While Zeke babbled about what he thought of Akita in a whole, Nick looked at the near-gray sky. “We better get in, it’ll snow soon.”
Emily and Samantha went ahead as Nick and Zeke took the luggage like real men. While Emily went ahead to unlock the house, Samantha lingered for a moment to look around.
‘This place is so magical.’ She thought.
Separating the house from the road was a small forest forming on steep hill with charming stone steps leading them down to a surfaced part of an underground stream. A raised patch of land acted as a bridge where beyond that was the old house.
Once they got all in, Zeke immediately ‘skipped’ for the kitchen and yelled “Sake! Sake! I must have some Sake!”
Emily shook her head in disbelief. “You’re honestly going to get liquored up at a time like this?”
Zeke cocked his head at the door. “A man deserves his rice-wine after carrying all your girly things!” He then quickly hid back into the kitchen as to evade any flying objects as a sign of Emily’s retort.
“He did carry twice the stuff I did.” Nick suddenly said, making Emily jump.
“Where’d you come from?” Emily asked defensively – trying to sound as less surprised as possible. “I thought you were a samurai, not a ninja!”
Nick suppressed a chuckle at the remark; Emily hated getting embarrassed. “Sorry. Why don’t you and the princess go upstairs and choose a room? Zeke and I will stay at mine.”
With a nod, Emily motioned Samantha to come with her up stairs. There, they each took a peek at each room, starting at the farthest in the hallway: the master bedroom. It was huge and had a perfect view on the stone stairs to the gate. It also had a strange, heavy feeling to it, like they were being watched.
“This was Nick’s parent’s room.”
‘No wonder they had the view. No sneaking out for their kids.’ Samantha thought.
The next room was smaller and more feminine.
“This was Nick’s sister’s room.” Emily muttered, in a more gloomy way. “She liked cherry blossoms.”
The room smelled familiar. It didn’t have that heavy feeling, but it definitely smelled like the perfume in the car she was put in. Realizing that, Samantha took small backward steps.
“I don’t like both rooms.” Samantha said drearily. “Can’t we stay with Nick and Zeke?”
Emily was puzzled. She was sure that the little girl would pick this room. “Are you sure?” The little girl nodded.
“All right, I’ll go ask them over dinner. Though I don’t think it’s proper for-”
“Dinner’s served, miladies!” Zeke called from downstairs.
Dinner at Nick’s house was a brand new experience for Samantha. It wasn’t grand – not that dinner at Zeke’s house yesterday was noble-worthy, but sitting on the floor never crossed her mind.
The plates were neatly placed on a ridiculously low table with its comforter-like table cloth draping on the floor. As she sat down, her feet immediately felt the cozy heat under the table in contrast to the freezing air. She had to admit, it wasn’t so bad.
The only strange thing now was that it was only Emily and her at the table.
Few minutes later, Nick and Zeke arrived but they didn’t head for the table right away. Instead they lit some candles and bowed at what seemed like jars of different sizes and shapes. Samantha turned to Emily to ask what was going on, but she too had closed her eyes, as if in prayer. Then Emily opened her eyes, smiled at her and the pair joined them at the table.
“They’re my family.” Nick said. “The tall jar’s my father, the fa-I mean curvaceous one’s my mother and the small one’s my sister.”
Realizing what it meant, Samantha was filled with dread. No wonder the master bedroom felt heavy. The occupants were dead.
Seeing the child turned pale, Emily patted her shoulder. “It’s okay; they’re not going to scare you.” She smiled warmly. “Now let’s eat. Don’t you just love freshly caught trout?”
“I like trout too.” And with that they began to eat.
Over dinner, Emily brought up Samantha’s request and they all agreed. It was safer to stay in one place. After dinner, Emily and Samantha went upstairs to get ready to sleep while the two cleaned up in the kitchen.
“If this keeps up,” Zeke started as he washed the plates. “I’d loose all my man-pride.”
“What man-pride?”
“Shut up.”
After finishing up the chores, they went up stairs with two bottles of sake and one ‘fancy tall glass’ – as Emily never drinks with anything else. When they got there Samantha was already asleep while Emily watched over her.
Nick and Emily shared a bottle while Zeke chugged one on his own. His tolerance was higher than a hundred-year old hillbilly anyways.
In that moment of just quietly drinking with your friends with on a chilly night, everything felt all right. It was so quiet and peaceful.
“Nick,” Zeke mumbled, already half asleep. “I love you, man.”
Emily and Nick looked at each other and chuckled. “That was some strong stuff.” Emily remarked. `
“It was a full-matured one.”
After having the liquor warmed them up, they all decided to go to sleep.
Two hours into their sleep however, Zeke crawled out of bed for the third time with all his will. Being drunk made him pee like a pregnant sea monkey. However, on his third trip to the bathroom, he saw a shadow shift in the hallway.
‘It’s probably the alcohol,’ he thought, but the sudden familiar scent woke him up.
The shadow began to move again and chased after it into Nick’s sister’s room.
There he cornered it by the desk and as it tries to escape, he swung his arm in its way and caught it. “Let me go!” it protested as it struggled out of his grip.
“Duhno who you are, but you’re trespassing.”
Hearing him, the figure stopped struggling and raised its head as if it recognized his voice. Then it turned and revealed a beautiful, pale, yet scarred face.
Zeke gapped at the sight before him. “…Nana?”
OMG I finished it in one day!
I do believe I promised the re-appearance of 'the corner' in this issue but I didn't make it haha! I'll try to get it back next time :D oh, and didja know?
I'm working on a comic! If you have time, do read it and tell me what you think:
http://wolfbrother.smackjeeves.com
Thank you and See you guys soon!
-Zen
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13 Comment(s) posted so far
On May 14, 2011 orlov wrote:
On May 15, 2011 katiekatgurl1992 wrote:
Love all the shots to go with the story, wonderful job
On May 15, 2011 Yukosan wrote:
oh my gosh...
Zen, you have seriously outdone yourself so much here!! 
I can't begin to describe how great that was...! The writing, the screenshots... every single one was done so, so, SO well. Every. Single. Screenshot. There is SO much depth to them. How on earth do you do that!? There are also so many funny little details here and there. Each of your chapters are a treat.
On May 15, 2011 Desu Baloney wrote:
Zeke...lend me your mind-reading skillage. Please. I will give you all the sake in the world, all my pocky and a HUGE hug if you tell me! D: But, awesome chapter, by the way. XD I loved the screenshots, and the characters are super epic, and my favorite word is zenodochieonology.
On May 15, 2011 Majuchan wrote:
youre so dedicated in this work.. I'm your fan! xoxo =3
On May 15, 2011 CloudwalkerNZ wrote:
Love your story and the CCs you used in the pictures
On May 15, 2011 fredbrenny wrote:
Every single picture shows great detail, lots of work and an imaginative mind! It must have talken HOURS to get it all just right. My kinda girl!
I love Sam's outfit... too cute! The guys should go easy on the booze... 
It is intruiging Zen! Thanks!
On May 15, 2011 fabrizioammollo wrote:
Great shot! The story in very enjoyable and the screenshots are great!
On May 16, 2011 Mangio wrote:
Yay Zeke has surpassed the 'chapter 3 syndrome'
Your writing and screenshots are simply amazing.. words cannot describe how beautiful and wonderful it is 
I hope Adele is being well looked after! What is Nana doing here.. intruding in the middle of the night? Hmmm.. 
Can't wait for more. Glad they were able to forge a passport for Samantha 
Isn't it wonderful, Zeke, showing your appreciation and kindness for Samantha. He really is 'the perfect men'
On May 16, 2011 spladoum wrote:
An intriguing, and lushly decorated, chapter. I wonder if Samantha will be able to cast aside her training as a Countess and just enjoy being a young girl on a very unique adventure.
On May 16, 2011 jk1997 wrote:
I like the storyline of it
Very Intresting
On May 21, 2011 joxanth wrote:
Great story, intricate characters.
More please! 
On Sep 9, 2011 evi wrote:
Brilliant!