Chapter 236 - Return To Ishgar {14} Journey Towards The Council [3]

Inside the little stone house, the two panthers slept soundly. One of them had the three kids sleeping against it, Amell had throughout the night inspected the kids and what he found was quite interesting. The one that looked to be the eldest among them was a girl and she was the one that was also the most interesting of the three. Inside her dwelled a devil. Amell very quickly found out that she was a user of powerful lost magic.

He looked at her and smiled, 'Take Over magic, been a very long time since I even heard about it. I wonder how she came in possession of it. From their situation, I will guess she came upon it by accident.' The girl had small appearance similarities with the demon soul inhabiting her, but due to the dried up tears on her face, Amell made a guess that she wasn't quite happy with that, so during the night, he used his magic power to lock the devil behind a seal so her outer appearance returned to normal.

'It might be nothing, but I hope this helps to calm your hearts.' He could imagine what these kids had gone through. So young and an unwilling bearer of a powerful devil soul, it was not his first time seeing kids get thrown away and lost in the world.

The kids started to slowly wake up and the youngest looking among them, another girl turned in her sleep and said, "So soft" as she squeezed the fur of the panther. This action made Amell laugh. The innocent nature that she showed made it that much more tragic what they were going through.

The eldest one slowly opened her eyes and looked around. After a few seconds when her brain caught up to what her eyes were seeing, she rose up in a panic. Her movement stirred the other two and they also woke up. "M-Mira, where are we?" The youngest girl asked while rubbing her eyes tiredly and yawned.

"AHH!" The middle child which was a boy woke up, met gaze with the panther they were sleeping on and he jumped back in fright. He fell on the ground with his head smashing into the ground first.

"Elfman, get back here! Lisanna, behind me!" The eldest girl named Mira had stood up and was beckoning for her siblings to run over to her. They did as she said and ran and stood behind her back.

"You are most certainly a brave little one. Placing your sibling's lives before your own, that is very honourable." Amell said while still sitting down. He was taller than all of them even though he was sitting down. Mira looked at the two panthers that had woken up, then she looked at the large stranger sitting by the door.

"Who are you!?" Mira asked in a hissing tone. She raised one of her arms and took a battle stance. Her younger brother, Elfman watched his sister, but he noticed something even she didn't. "Mira, your arm! It's normal again!" He yelled loudly after seeing her arm back to normal.

"Mira took her eyes off Amell and looked at her arm, and just like her brother said, signs of her being a monster was no longer there. "What happened?" She asked herself, and then looked at Elfman,

"I don't know, Mira!" He answered innocently, but his tone was very cheerful now that his sister was no longer a demon.

"Do you seek answers?" Amell caught their attention again. By looking at his smile, Mira could pretty easily deduce that he is the reason she no longer had a demonic arm.

"Who are you, old man?" Mira's tone was unfriendly and hostile. She might not have demon powers anymore, but that was not gonna stop her from protecting her siblings.

"A very old traveller, my name is Portgas D Amell. Now, how about you introduce yourself."

"No, I don't trust you!" Mira said she looked at the door then at Amell again, "Let us go!" Her tone didn't allow any backtalk.

"I would not recommend that, little one. Last night these two cats were close to eating you three after you collapsed on the side of the road. This is a dangerous road for kids to walk on."

"Y-You saved us?" Mira started hesitating in her speech. She looked at the panthers. "D-Did you tame them?"

Amell nodded at her. He looked at one of the panthers and it started walking towards him. It lied down next to him and allowed him to pet its fur. "They are as dangerous as housecat when I am around. But if I go away, the rest of the beasts in this forest will all fight over who gets to eat you first." Amell's words might have been a little too harsh as Elfman and Lisanna started crying.

"Mira, that is your name, correct?"

"M-Mirajane, now what of it?" She hid Lisanna behind her back and embraced Elfman.

"I have a suggestion for you. How about you travel with me for a while? I will protect you three, and give you food. What do you say?" He raised his hand and waved his finger and his cloak flew over to him.

"How did you do that?" Lisanna peeked out from behind her sister with a curious expression on her face.

"Magic, wanna learn?"

"Yes!" Lisanna's mood turned cheerful and she was about to run over to Amell, but Mira grabbed her arm and held her in place.

"How did you remove this?" Mira looked at her arm then at Amell.

"This old man has some secrets of his own. Maybe if we get to know each other a little better, I might trust you with that secret." Amell showed her a teasing smile and he continued petting the panther.

"Is it gone forever?"

"Do you want it to be?" His tone turned serious.

"Of course! I don't wanna be a demon!" Mira yelled, and her siblings felt her pain even though they didn't carry what she did inside.

"Mirajane, you are no demon. You are human, as are your siblings. There is nothing demonic about you, believe me, I have seen demons and you are not one of them." Amell meant every word he said, and Mira didn't feel like he was lying either. She couldn't explain the strange comforting feeling he gave her.

"O-Okay, if you promise to protect Lisanna and Elfman and remove this curse from me, we will go with you." Mira said and Elfman squeezed her hand tighter, "Mira," he said in a low tone. She stroked his cheek and smiled at him kindly. "Don't worry Elfman, I will protect you both forever!" She vowed in her heart to make sure they would be safe for the rest of their lives.

"I promise to protect all of you until my last breath," He bowed jokingly and his tone was cheerful. "Although, Mira, consider holding onto that demon. It is a powerful weapon and should you master it, you could protect your siblings with it."

"I will protect them, not some demon!" Her tone went back to hostile again. Unconsciously her magic power started leaking and the panthers together with her siblings got a chill rising in their bodies.

"Calm down," Amell sent a small blast of his magic power to cancel hers."We will need to eat something before heading out. You three I guess are starving." Amell nodded towards the panthers and they ran out of the house and disappeared into the forest. "Food will be arriving shortly, so sit tight." He smiled at them, and his smile was the one that Sylvia fell in love with and made Robin feel safe. And the smile worked on them as well, they started to calm down when they saw his calming and kind expression.

"Mister, are you a wizard? My mom said wizards are super powerful!" Elfman started opening up and talking about wizards. Amell being a wizard sure changed his cautious nature into explosive excitement.

"I am an old retired wizard that no one pays any attention to anymore." He laughed and summoned a small flame to his hand. "But I do have some tricks left up my sleeve." He blew the flame out and winked at Elfman.

"wow! Mira, did you see that he made fire!" His excitement was already hitting the roof. Not much seemed to be needed to impress Elfman and Lisanna since they both watched his magic tricks with much excitement.

"I saw," Mira on the other hand just watched on with caution.

A few more minutes went by as they sat in silence. Soon two black shadows came running into the house again. In the panther's mouths was a small animal with white beautiful fur. Amell stood up and looked at the kids with a smile, "Look away for a second, will you." Lisanna and Elfman did as told and Amell started preparing the animals.

Another few minutes went by and soon the entire room was filled with the sweet aroma of cooked meat. Elfman started salivating and Lisanna's eyes had transformed into two pieces of meat.

"Okay, foods ready." Amell handed all three of them one piece each, though they were big pieces of meat. He threw the rest to his two new cat companions. They devoured it quickly, and Amell smiled as he saw Mira's face light up in happiness for a second. She went back to a neutral expression as soon as she caught a glimpse of Amell's gaze on her.

"No need to hurry, we have all the time of the world." Amell sat down and leaned in against the wall again. He observed the siblings and thought, 'I swear I recognize their names from somewhere.' but after many minutes of coming up empty, he stopped thinking about it.

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End