Zatch Bell Fan Fiction ❯ The Scent ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
The Scent

A Konjiki No Gash Bell (Zatch Bell) fan fiction

No copyright infringement is intended, I do not own these characters. I do own this fic!

This story deals with mature, adult themes. But since there are no graphic images I will rate accordingly. Proceed with caution!

The Scent

Humans are weak and cowardly creatures and I hate them. Well, most of them are weak cowards, the few exeptions only prove the rule. Very few have shown themselves worthy of respect.

But generally there is nothing I like about the species. I detest their ridiculous obsessions, their annoying habits and their pitiful culture. Their very appearance repulses me.

For I am a mamodo and I am not prey to the weaknesses that afflict humankind. I am the strongest of my people and one day I will rule them all.

And yet through circumstances beyond my control I am forced to team up with a member of the species I hate. My partner in battle is a human, and a girl at that. It took me some time to get used to the fact that I, the great Brago whose very name inspires fear had to depend on help from such an unlikely source.

Over time I've made peace with this peculiar situation. The girl and I have become a team that is a force to be reckoned with. Whatever her inheirant faults are she does her best to honor her vow to help me achieve victory. She cannot help being human and I cannot blame her for being born into a weak people. She does the most with what she has and I make the best use of her.

But there is one thing that I cannot forgive her and that is her smell. It is all around her and me, all pervading and it assaults my finely tuned senses day and night. I hate it because it muddles my thinking and clouds my judgement. When I detect that unique essence coming from her my focus dims and my mind is overrun by images I am ashamed to fully contemplate. For her scent is intoxicating and it arouses me to the depth of my being.

When we first met her scent was masked by artificial aromas which had no effect on me. It was only later that I came to notice the true fragrance wafting off her body like an invisible mist. I don't think she's aware of what she is doing, nor of the effect it has on me. I've done my best to disguise my reaction, but it's becoming harder to ignore the call of the scent.

And that is because the meaning of her smell has changed. It used to be sharp and bitter, tainted by her anger and hatred of mamodos. One of my kind took away the friend she loves and she's hated all mamodos since.
After a battle her scent would tell of her exhaustion and pain, but also of the exhilaration of victory - a heady mixture which I love to inhale.

But lately her perfume has changed even more and developed an undertone I was surprised to find. Desire. The message is clear in the air and I long to find the exact source of the sweetness pouring forth from her.

Why does she desire me now? There is no doubt that she does, even if she gives no outside signal other than the thick musk which makes my blood boil. I am not of her kind and there is a chasm as wide as the universe between us - we cannot bridge it.
Is it desperation borne of loneliness? Has she found something in me that is lacking in her own species? I will never know and I've promised myself to never find out. Some things are better left unknown.

I must never follow my baser instincts to make her mine, to satisfy the burning desire her smell wakes in me. We are of two worlds and our time together is limited. We both know and accept this. There is no room for compromise.

If I were to win the last battle and become king I'd leave this realm and not look back. At least that is what I tell myself, for I need to believe that this world has no hold on me. I do not belong here, and nothing of this mortal plane belongs to me.

I do not understand why things have changed between us. I have remained the same, my basic nature has not been affected by the time spent in the human's world. And yet ...I cannot deny that sometimes my own thoughts and actions will surprise me. There have been rare occasions when my behaviour would strike an outside observer as kind. Maybe being with her has changed me after all. I do not know for sure and this uncertainty angers me.

And so we remain side by side day after day. I try to arrange it so that we are outdoors for most of the time. In enclosed spaces her scent becomes overwhelming and I fear one day I may not be able to reject the invitation in the air.

But I am not weak and I will not waver. I am a mamodo and the wants and needs of others mean nothing to me. I will remain pure to my purpose and steadfast to my calling, no matter how the scent urges me on. I will be strong.