If you asked Zero why he had a large bandage over his erium lamp, he would tell you he got injured during a battle against a strong, ferocious, deadly monster. Yup, that's it.
It definitely wasn't because he offended Chiara. And he definitely didn't get the bandage over his erium lamp because Chiara decided to ram into him full speed just to prove a point.
Luckily, ultras heal real quick. But for him not quick enough if he had to keep the bandage on for the rest of the day.
To avoid anymore questions about his forehead, Zero confined himself to the private training room hoping to pass the time and away from prying eyes. Emphasis on the word private.
He kicked and punched holographic targets that appeared around him until he spun around to strike another one. It disappeared into digitized particles and revealed none other than Chiara who was standing a few feet away.
She waved awkwardly when Zero finally noticed her presence.
"How long have you been there?"
"I've been here for a while now... You looked so focused I didn't want to bother you so I thought I'd come by later but then I got distracted seeing you do really cool moves like that sooo...." her babbling ended with an awkward laugh at the end.
"Oh? So you were amazed by my awesome moves then?" He says as he runs his thumb across the corner of his mouth and walks over to her.
"Yeah something like that... listen, I need to tell you something..." she starts off. Her tone has him on edge. There's a seriousness from it that she's never used before. He noted how she was fidgeting her hands as she nervously stole glances at him . Could it be-
He mentally slapped himself for that idea. How could he think that?
"I'm sorry!" she blurted out. Zero was startled by her out-of-nowhere apology.
"Wha- what are you apologizing for?"
"You know," she motioned at her forehead while staring at his, "this". Zero subconsciously brought a hand to his bandaged forehead and figured out what she was talking about. To be honest, he wasn't really mad at her or anything. He might be embarrassed if people found out he got hurt because he angered the purple ultra over something stupid. But she had a point though she expressed it in a little violent way.
"This? Don't worry about it, it'll be gone by the end of the day." he assured her while patting her head. Chiara slowly brought her hand up to his that was patting her head.
"Really?...You're not mad?..." she sounded meek yet so surprised and hopeful.
"Really."
Suddenly, another pain struck her head. Then she saw a scene play before her.
"I did all that I could to drive him off!" a silver haired girl defended herself. The air in the ship felt tense as the two magic users were sizing each other up.
"Guys, I think we should take a moment to-" the hero sporting a black t-shirt with a signature red S tried to reason but was abruptly cut off.
"Well not good enough if the mission was still a fail!"
"It was trap and you know it. We all know it! Besides, if you just worked with me we wouldn't have been so busy with witch boy and we would've been able to go help the rest of the team. But nooo, you just had to throw yourself in there and refused my help!"
"Oh please,I fought Klarion more times that you can count. What makes you think you could do better?" the sorceress shot back.
"I don't think I could do better. But together we had a fighting chance. A chance you threw away!"
"This is a real dangerous threat. It's not something that prissy fairy school could ever prepare you for."
"What the-", the silver haired girl was offended, she thought back to all the threats Alfea managed to overcome and how the fairies there fought hard and valiantly to protect their beloved school and everything in the magic dimension. Klarion could never come close to the evil forces they faced. How dare she-"You have no right to say that! The fairies of Alfea are strong if not stronger than your sorry a-"
"Alright alright, cut it out guys. We all had a long day, we'll talk about this when we get back to the cave." the argument ended instantly at the order of their team leader. His exhaustion was clear even behind his domino mask. Then he glanced at the silver haired fairy, she didn't like the look he was giving her nor what he was about to say.
"And you really need to learn how to work with your teammates. Something like this can't happen again."
She wanted to protest yet she schooled her features and lowered her head. But she clenched her fist out of view of everyone in frustration at the ridiculousness of it all. All of a sudden she heard a familiar voice echo around her.
"Hey..."
"Hey..."
"HEY!"
Chiara jerked at the sudden shouting in her ear. She looked up to see Zero standing right in front of her. His face was close to hers as he bent his knees a little to match her eye level while both hands were gripping her shoulders.
"Oh umm...sorry about that..." she mumbled. She tried to step away but his strong grip wouldn't let her.
"What do you have to be sorry for? What happened?" He questioned her.
"It's just... sometimes I get really bad headaches and it leads to... visions?" she said like it was a question so unsure of herself.
"Could it be your memories?" at his suggestion she looked away and hugged herself. Her body language betraying just how troubled she felt.
"I...I don't know..."
"I don't think I want to know..."
They fell into a heavy silence. Unknowingly they didn't move an inch from their position of Zero standing really close and towering over her. From a certain angle Chiara's head that was facing the side made it look like she was leaning against him in a warm embrace. An angle that was positioned right towards the entrance of the training room. If any ultra walked in they would certainly misunderstand.
And misunderstand they did.
"*Gasp* Kyaaaaaa!!!"
"Ultra shock! Master! Chiara!"
If Zero thought Chiara slamming into him hurt, then her pushing him away hard would've broken a few bruises and sent him flying if he wasn't as strong as he is.
Instantly they turned to the two intruding ultras. Z continued to look at them in shock while Grigio looked like she was buzzing in excitement. Oh dear.
"What're you two doing here?" Zero questioned with Chiara standing right beside him. They clearly didn't realize the misunderstanding that it would lead to.
"Weeeelll, I was looking for Chiara who Orb said was looking for Zero,"
"And I was looking for master but then I ran into Grigio who said that she was looking for Chiara who was looking for master and then we asked Mebius who said that master was in the private training room," Z continued.
"And we figured you might be here too since you were looking for Zero." Grigio added.
"Oh ok, sooo why are you looking for us?" the purple ultra asked.
"I wanted to ask master abou-mffp" Z was cut off when Grigio began dragging him away by the arm while covering his mouth.
"No important reason! We're sorry for intruding on you two!" Grigio said cheerfully. A bit too cheerfully.
"Intrud-" then it dawned on her. Zero seemed to come to the same conclusion.
"Wait! It's not-"
"Byeeeee!" and with that Grigio left with Z in tow.
Chiara and Zero were left dumbfounded. By the time they snapped out of it to chase after them, Grigio and Z had already disappeared.
"They think that you and I..."
"Yup" They both looked at each other.
"It can't be that bad right?"
"Right."
"We'll just correct them later." Chiara added. Another silence followed before Zero said,
"Wanna spar?"
"Sure!" she happily agreed.
They would soon find out just how much they underestimated the situation. And Grigio and Z's mouths.