The Ghost of Cozy Glow the Third Story

by SapphireRose87

11) The Brother and Sister Romance

{Betty}

"Good job, Betty!" Sawyer said.

Sawyer and I were in the training area. I had the first step of the Mirror Technique down. Sawyer seemed very excited at the progress I was making.

"It seems you've finally found a way to keep yourself calm," Sawyer said. "Does this have something to do with Norman, by chance?"

That statement broke my concentration and I fell on my butt. My face turned red as Sawyer lowered himself to the ground. He snickered and I could tell by the look on his face that he was trying so hard not to laugh.

I glared at him. "I'm not so sure if this is funny but okay."

"I hear Norman's been summoning you a lot lately?"

"I think he's lost his mind because he keeps challenging me to hand-to-hand combat and he knows he's not going to win. I either put him in a chokehold or send him flying into a wall to end the fight."

Sawyer snorted. "If you ask me, I think he wants to do another form of fighting, if you know what I mean."

I felt my face turn redder and shifted my gaze. "Yeah, no comment."

Sawyer cleared his throat, trying his best to keep his composure. "Okay, moving on, the next step to the Mirror Technique is to use your tracking abilities to see one second into the future."

I tilted my head. "Huh? How do you see one second into the future?"

"How do you think your tracking powers work?" Sawyer asked. "That's exactly what the Bubble of Silence is for. How do you think you can see with your eyes closed?"

"Huh, interesting."

"Tracking powers along with the Bubble of Silence takes focus and determination," explained Sawyer. "It's funny, although you didn't have the calm mind needed to learn the Mirror Technique, you have the determination and focus needed to develop your tracking powers. That takes being able to sit still enough to focus. However, there are people like your husband and your brother that can't sit still for a minute because they're always on the move."

I smiled. I knew what Sawyer said was true. When I find a challenge I don't rest until I complete it. "Wow, I didn't think of things that way."

"Now," said Sawyer, "we'll start with a calm mind thing and, this time, we'll add to that. We'll still be sitting the same way as before. Adding to that, you’ll use your powers to see one second into the future. When you see a move coming, copy it. This step will be very tricky for you because you won't be using the Bubble of Silence the way you normally use it."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Oh, and one more thing, you will need your wings to balance in the air and on the ground. That's what Mr. Giggles did when he was fighting you."

"But I thought he didn't have any powers!" I exclaimed.

"Remember that clown suit he wears?" Sawyer asked.

"Yes."

"He uses that to balance himself," said Sawyer, "because he does that, he's not fighting fair. So it only makes sense that you use your wings to balance yourself when fighting your opponent."

"Oh, I see."

"Now, let's get started."

I managed to copy the first ten moves that Sawyer did. After that, Sawyer landed a punch to my stomach and sent me crashing to the ground.

"Try again, Betty!" Sawyer commanded.

So that's what I did and Sawyer managed to make me crash at least three more times.

"Not bad, it's a start--not much, but it's a start," Sawyer said. "Of course, you'll need to practice by the next time I see you. You can use the arrow obstacle course to practice in the meantime. Once you complete being able to practice in the air, we'll start practicing on the ground. When you're practicing fighting on the ground, you can use any partner you want to practice with. Until I see you next time."

I got to my feet and Sawyer nodded, grabbed his robes, and left.

* * *

Dae and Norman came up to me after my training session. They both had smiles on their faces and I had no idea why.

"Why are you smiling at me?" I asked.

Norman spoke first. "See? I told you that you look great even when you fail!"

Dae snorted. I looked away, "No comment."

"How are you going to practice this next step?" Dae asked.

"The arrow obstacle course," I replied.

"What's that?" Norman asked.

"It's an obstacle course that only demons can use to train. It consists of arrows of all shapes and sizes being thrown at you. A lot of times, in order for a demon to use it, they have to use a special harness that attaches to a demon's powers," Dae explained. "Some demons don't really need the harness, like Betty. She doesn't need the harness because she can fly. If the Headcouncilman says she needs to use it to practice, then that's what she'll do."

"Knowing you, Betty, you're going overdue on the practice, aren't you?" Norman said.

I shrugged. "I guess so."

Dae smiled and looked at Norman. "I think you can help me keep Betty from overdoing it."

The look Dae started giving Norman and me made us both uncomfortable and I could tell Norman was getting ready to run.

"Okay then…" Norman said. Before he could run, Dae grabbed him by the shirt.

"Oh, no, you don't," said Dae, "you two have a habit of avoiding things that need to be done."

"Exactly what are we avoiding?" I asked.

"What I want to know is why haven't you two actually sat down and got to know each other besides hand-to-hand combat and kissing?" Dae said.

I didn't say anything. I didn't have an answer for him.

"Part of having a relationship is getting to know each other," Dae said. "I can hear your thoughts, and you two haven't been doing that yet."

"Oh," I said.

"You two should go get to know each other, and since Norman can't be away from his body for more than two days, I say you two go to the Land of the Living, and sit down and talk," Dae said. "If it leads to something else, that's up to you."

Norman smiled at me. "You know something, Betty, Dae's absolutely right."

* * *

We sat down at a table in the garden behind the Castle in Canterlot. As we talked to each other, we found that we had a lot in common. Especially when it came down to planning a strategy for things like fighting. Norman and Jasper played chess. Jasper had no idea Norman was using the games of chess to plan things. I played games of tic tac toe with myself to plan things.

Norman was curious because of the battles that were written in the history book about me. He wanted to know what the Dark Aura was. I explained it to him, and he seemed impressed by it.

"Huh," said Norman, "I never knew we had that much in common. I wish I had sat down and talked to you before, especially when we were younger."

I laughed. "Yeah, Dae and I did that a lot when we were dating, and we do it more now that we're married. I think it's nice that we're getting to know each other finally. To think it only took us like, what, over thirty years to do this?"

Norman grinned and gave me a flirtatious look.

"What?"

"You know, you've been giving me a look lately too, in case you're wondering," Norman stated.

I tilted my head. "I am?"

Normand nodded. "Uh-huh."

He went to reach over to kiss me, but he stopped himself. "I think we should go somewhere more private away from the possible chance of a news camera being around."

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked.

Norman grabbed my hand and the next thing I know we wound up in his bedroom.

We wound up sitting on his bed and, for some reason, I decided to take Norman's clothes off and he returned the favor. I climbed on top of him and he smiled at me. I'm going to pretend what happened next didn't happen. Nope, it didn't happen, I didn't sleep with my little brother.

* * *

{Dae}

"Has he lost his mind, again?" Robert asked.

While Betty and Norman had another sparring match, Robert, Jasper, and I watched them. I listened to Norman and Betty's thoughts and I knew they were in love with each other. Who knew that just sitting down and talking would lead to them having sex.

I chuckled. "I think Norman might've hit his head on something when he fell head over heels for Betty."

"So, I take it they finally got together?" Jasper asked.

I smirked. "Yup! They're together, all right!"

"How do you know?" Robert asked.

"I can hear their thoughts, duh!" I replied. "I finally got them to sit down and talk to each other, and that led to something else."

Robert snorted. "Wow."

"You can thank me for that," I said with a playful bow.

"Welp, at least you didn't have to make them do anything, unlike someone I know of, Robert," Jasper said with an annoyed tone to his voice.

"Okay, seriously?" Robert said. "What do I have to do to get you to stop teasing me about that?"

"You could apologize," Jasper growled.

"I thought I did that already!" Robert said.

"Uh, no," Jasper snapped, "you didn't!"

"Well it worked, didn't it?" Robert replied.

Jasper clenched his teeth and looked away, "Whatever."

I frowned. From Jasper's thoughts, I learned that Sunset and Robert locked him and Norman in a room until they confessed their love for each other. In my eyes, that wasn't the best way to handle that at all.

"You shouldn't have done that, Robert!" I snarled. "I think even if you apologize, Jasper still has license to tease you about it!"

"Okay, fine," Robert said.

Jasper smiled as Betty ended the fight by tripping Norman before he could make his next move. Betty helped Norman get to his feet. I rolled my eyes when I looked over at the bleachers to see the Royal Family Circus sitting there cheering and clapping.

As the Royal Family Circus started to leave the training area, Jasper, Robert, and I went up to Norman and Betty.

Norman smiled at Betty.

"What is it?" Betty asked.

"You haven't been sending me flying into a wall lately," Norman said.

Betty raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer it if I do that?"

"Nah, although I do wonder if you're not doing that because of what's been happening between us lately?" Norman asked.

As I watched the conversation take place, it looked like they weren't paying attention to me, Robert, and Jasper standing there.

Betty looked away."Maybe, or maybe not."

I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh at Betty's reaction to Norman.

Norman chuckled. "Yeah, uh-huh, sure it's not. You know you're not a very good liar, right?"

"Yeah, whatever," said Betty. "Now if the Royal Family Circus would stop turning up just to watch us fight, that would be great!"

"Huh?" Norman said.

I turned around as Betty pointed up at the bleachers where a few of the Royal Family still sat watching.

Norman chuckled. "I had that same problem when I was training as a General. Mostly when I was doing my Death Walker training. Actually, it happened when I was doing any type of training."

Betty and Norman rolled their eyes. I cleared my throat to get their attention.

"That wasn't a bad fight at all!" Robert cheered. "I still think you've lost your mind taking on a Legend."

"You know I can take on any opponent I want to," Norman said.

"Yeah," said Jasper, "I think you need to go to a therapist again."

"No thanks, I'm good," Norman said.

Robert rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever you say, Norman."

"At least Betty has more help keeping herself calm nowadays," I teased with a smirk.

I'm not saying a word, Betty thought.

That makes two of us, Norman added.

I think it's sweet that you two are talking to each other by thought now, I thought. Family dinner night might be more entertaining now. At least in thought.

Very funny, Dae! Betty responded.

I couldn't stop myself from teasing Betty and Norman about their relationship. Their reactions to it are hilarious.

You want to kiss her again, don't you, Norman? I asked him.

Yes, but not in front of everyone, Norman thought.

You do realize that right now, it's only me, Robert, and Jasper? The rest of the Royal Family Circus has cleared out, and we know about you two.

Yeah, but there's still a possibility that there are news cameras around, Norman said. Why do you think Betty's fight with Mr. Giggles was all over the news the day after it happened?

Oh, I see.

That's when Betty decided to end this awkward conversation. "While this is fun and all, there's something I need to take care of, so later!"

I chortled as I saw Betty leave as fast as she could.

* * *

{Betty}

I finally got a chance to practice on the arrow obstacle course. I smiled, remembering the two things that keep me calm: my husband, Dae, and my relationship with my little brother, Norman.

After setting the obstacle course on easy, I went to the starting lane. When the lights changed from red to green, I did a running jump up into the air and sat cross-legged flying.

I used the Bubble of Silence to sense where the arrows were coming from. He broke my concentration when I saw him. The bug of a brother-in-law, Max, hanging off the ceiling like a bat. Five arrows hit me, two in my left shoulder and the rest in the chest. I used my powers to turn off the obstacle course and then pulled the arrows out of me.

It was a painful process, but I was too pissed off at Max to focus on the pain.

"What are you doing here, Bug?" I snapped.

"Bug?" Max smiled. "Is that what you're calling me now?"

"I think I asked you a question!" I snarled. "What are you doing here?"

"What?" Max responded. "Can't a guy admire his favorite ruler up close?"

"Far away, yes," I snapped as I glared at him, "up close, not unless I say you can!"

Max stepped towards me and I flew back, glaring at him. A warning sign that I might retaliate. As I prepared to knee Max in the chest, Norman stepped in and blocked Max's view of me.

"I think she said no!" Norman growled.

"Well, if it isn't the Queen of Hell's new boyfriend!" Max smirked. "I heard you're her brother, too. I'm the King of Hell's older brother, so if she can get into bed with you, I don't see why she can't get into bed with me."

"Okay, that's it!" I said. "I said no and if you don't leave me alone…"

"Don't worry, Betty," said Norman, "I got it!"

Max went towards me again and he made the mistake of getting in Norman's range of fire. Norman kneed Max in the chest, sending him flying backward.

"What was that for?" Max growled.

"Really, Max!" I heard Dae roar.

"I wasn't going to do anything!" Max pointed at Norman. "And then this guy kneed me in the chest!"

"He did it with good reason too!" Dae roared. "Come near my wife like that again, and I'll put you out of commission so bad you'll have to go to the Church of Satan for weeks to recover! You got that?"

Max scoffed and then left sulking like he normally does when I say no to him.

After Max left, Norman examined me and looked relieved when he saw I was okay. I laughed, and he gave me a confused look. "Why is me being concerned about you so funny?"

"How many times do I have to tell you there are no hospitals in Hell?" I said.

Norman laughed when he realized I was right.

"Thanks for kneeing Max in the chest for me," I said. "I was getting ready to do it myself. He got off easy with you doing it."

Dae cracked up. "I agree with Betty on that one. She would put him out of commission right then and there."

"Why am I not surprised?" Norman said. "You did take on six hundred of your own soldiers and didn't even break a sweat! I'm going to assume you were going easy on me during our sparring matches. Am I right?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, it takes self-control so I don't accidentally kill the ruler of Equestria. When I send you flying into a wall, that's not even at my full strength. So yeah, I did. Now, if only I could kill Mr. Giggles, that would be great!"

"I've been doing some more research on Mr. Giggles myself, but nothing's turned up," Dae said. "It's a shame I can't knee that stupid Alicorn, Twilight, in the chest like you, Norman just did to Max."

I smiled. "Let me guess, she's flirting with you again? Because she's still doing it with me, and it's annoying!"

"Hey, I explained to her why I won't marry her," said Dae, "I don't know if it got through her thick skull, though."

"To think, I almost killed myself to save her," Norman growled.

"You were just doing your job, that's all," I said. "As I said before, she was an idiot before I died, and she still is now. I would think if she wants to get the guys that she likes, she should let him come to her. If he doesn't like her, then she should take it in stride and move on. I had that trouble myself in school. The guy I liked didn't like me, so I took a hint and moved on. It was the ones that I didn't like that didn’t know how to take a hint."

"Wow," said Norman, "I knew you had trouble with the boys in school, but I didn't think you had that much trouble! I had trouble with that, too. I had someone kill themself."

"Oh." I looked away. I had no idea how to respond.

"It's okay, guys," said Norman, "it's all in the past now."

I nodded. "Okay."

Norman smiled, and after he kissed me, he looked at Dae and kissed him. Dae backed away from Norman in shock, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"Okay, what was that for?" Dae asked.

"That's a thank you gift for letting me be with Betty," Norman said.

I looked at Dae to see him racking his brain to remember if he heard anything in Norman's thoughts about this. Dae smiled, and he seemed like he remembered something. "Oh yeah, that's right! You were thinking about doing something like that. I didn't think you were actually going to do it. Just don't do it again."

Norman chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't. I don't think of you that way. If I did, you would've heard it in my thoughts."

I snorted when Dae started to leave quickly because Norman surprised him. I heard in Dae's thoughts that he hoped that Norman wouldn't do that again.