Midnight Reverie
The veil of night was the most beloved companion of dangerous plans and it was never picky about sides. Whether it was about an affair, a robbery or just a simple meeting, night was happy to help everyone with its darkness. Depending on the situation it could be the greatest friend or the worst enemy. For the trio sneaking through the streets of Armoroad's noble's quarters the moonless sky was a godsend because in order to realize their plans they needed to stay silent and most importantly, unseen.
But even so, they were really careful about choosing their victim. After all, most of their nobles were aware that they were being targeted for their money and some of them even went as far to keep small little pets around their house. The day before their action, their arbalest, Lilya took a tour around the district and after several hours of wandering she's found the perfect estate at the edge of the city. It was big enough to hold the possibility of valuable treasures, or so she thought.
Actually, the reason why the unusual trio of a monk, a pirate and an arbalest decided that robbing someone was the best was quite simple. They ran out of money and their situation finally reached the point where they couldn't even afford to visit the maze or sail the seas on a rented vessel.
"Are you sure there is no one here?" Treize raised an eyebrow, turning to the blonde girl. They finally arrived to the mansion, but as they climbed over the metal fences a strange feeling greeted him. The pirate looked around with a confused look, but saw no one except his dear companions.
"Oi, Treize, you ought to know that I, Lilya, don't make mistakes like that. If I say the house is empty as our wallet, then that's is the absolute truth."
"And I don't doubt that… Yet…"
Norene, the tall monk girl nodded. "Something is odd."
The air was stall around them. Not even a gentle breeze got past the labyrinth of bushes and houses, which was quite unusual for a city situated next to the sea. Only Lilya was unaffected by the phenomenon, but then again, for her, this only meant that her arrows would certainly hit her target.
"Well, we can always just wait here for the sun to rise, but where is the fun in that?" she asked, her voice was louder than it should've been so she earned reproachful stares from her friends.
"Why did I even bring you along?" Treize asked himself under his breath. He had nothing against Lilya, but the girl was anything but quiet. "Alright, let's just get in."
However, inside the mansion they had to realize that their fears weren't unreal. The trio first noticed this, when they saw the broken frame of the front door. Someone's must've pried it open before them. Then, they heard someone rummaging upstairs, opening and closing doors as they searched through the rooms.
"Rather unnatural in the middle of the night," Norene noted.
"Lilya, are you sure that no one is home?" Treize turned to the arbalest who was fidgeting with the ceramic animals on the shelves.
"Aye, hundred percent sure. The family went to visit their trade office on the southern sea," she explained, silently hiding a blue ceramic fish statue in her pocket.
Then what was that?, Treize wanted to ask her, but instead he took the stairs upstairs, hand resting on the hilt of his rapier. Like a cat, he carefully observed the source of the noise and quickly hid behind a drawer when he heard footsteps from the end of the hall. It wasn't different than hiding from monsters. Even in the darkness, he'd clearly seen that the attire of these guests were anything but princely. The two of them opened the doors, as if they were searching for something. He'd seen something with a metallic gleam and the cogs instantly started turning in his brain.
These guys meant trouble. Things were about to turn ugly.
"Have you found the brat?"
Treize's attention was piqued. What kind of brat? The family was away.
He leant closer to the edge of the drawer, hoping that he could take up more information crumbles from the conversation.
"He should be somewhere on this floor. Look, of we can't get rid of him tonight the boss will get our heads off."
The other probably shrugged, his voice was confident, "That's the boss for you. He's just worried about not getting paid by Mr. Fancypants."
"He should know that nobles are like this. After all, they didn't even want blood on their hands when something doesn't go their way. Like now, they don't want the kid to risk their business in the future, they should've easily poison him or use the usual tale about wandering into the forest."
"Well, we still have to drop the body in the maze, so that's not far away from the truth."
Treize could feel cold sweat trickling down his spine. Coincidence or not, they had to help the poor guy somehow, even if they were there for a completely different reason. He wasn't planning on watching someone die few rooms away from them especially if he had a horse in that race. Furthermore, if they are caught red handed in stealing, the assassins can easily taint their name with murder. None of them intended to spend the rest of their life rotting away in the stone prison beneath the town.
The last thought came without warning, almost as if he tried to camouflage his selfless thought.
The pirate waved towards his companions, who in the meantime joined him, hiding on the stairs.
"What should we do?" Norene asked him in a barely audible voice.
"We need to help," he told them almost instinctively, then added "Somehow."
He wished he knew the perfect answerer, but reality was harsher than the fictional image his companions created over the years. Treize rarely had any instant solutions. Most of them were created along with his actions, taking their final form before he carried out his plan.
"I say, whack them until they see stars dancing in front of their eyes" Lilya was sitting behind Norene, clutching her crossbow. Her life seemed to resolve around the sole goal of hurting those who had the ability to cause them harm. However Treize's mind was running circles around a plan. A plan to help the noble, while getting some treasures on their way out.
"No, that would endanger someone."
"Are you worried?" he felt a hand on his shoulder. Even if Norene knew the answer her words brought him out of the endless line of thoughts.
"Yea. It's stupid, I know," he murmured. "But since life presented us this chance, we might as well use it. That would make us more than regular burglars."
"Ahw, something tells me Tritzy-mitzy feels bad about taking the belongings of some rich moneybag. But never fear, Tritzy, we do this for the greater good. They have enough money already." Lilya chirped in. Her sense of reality had always been fairly off, but even now, Treize found something oddly calming in her words even if the arbalist's theory was far away from the actual truth.
"Lilya, I think Treize is…" Norene started, but quickly changed her mind. Explaining would take away too much time. "Wait, never mind. Let's just whack them."
Norene swung her fist in the air, mimicking a hit.
"No, no, you gotta be more aggressive and go out with a BAMM!" Lilya told her as quietly as she could.
"Girls! Girls, stop! Could you just—"
In that moment something fell near them and shattered on the floor. Treize looked in the direction of the sound, worry clouding over his eyes. Before he knew he darted toward it, leaving behind the girls. The house was still dark, with no light to guide his way. However, all of the doors were closed expect for one.
'That must be it,' he thought and by the time he'd reached the room, his sword was already in his hand.
He stood there for a second, as if he was waiting for something to happen. A loud thud echoed in the room. Something was thrown again.
"How should we kill him?" one of them asked. That was the sign he was waiting for.
"Don't you even dare to touch him!" his voice echoed against the ceiling. It was fierce to the point he could've used it as a weapon. Treize glanced at the men who were taken aback by the sudden intrusion. It appeared that the noise from earlier came from the noble who had his arms tied together. The blonde was lying on the floor, casting a terrified glance at Treize. He could barely lift his head up, because one of the hoodlums had his foot in the boy's back, but the confusion, fear and relief shining in his eyes were visible even in the darkness. He didn't question why Treize appeared in front of him.
"Whoa!" the one with red hair laughed. "No one told me that the brat had a sleepover today. My bad."
"You didn't get an invitation for obvious reasons," a smirk spread over Treize's lips. "Barbarians like you should just stay in the slums of Armoroad!"
The taunt worked, because the man who didn't had his leg on the boy leapt toward Treize when he finally snapped. However, he was too slow. Before his fist could've met with the pirate's face, the youth ducked and quickly stepped away.
Everything happened within a moment. Treize stepped away from danger, but the man couldn't stop and the momentum took him straight toward a fist. He'd stumbled back with an unholy groan, then landed on the floor. The impact was strong enough to make his mouth and nose bleed.
"You'll spit some of your teeth the next time you dare to raise hand against the cap't," she scoffed, raising her fist in a threatening manner. The man didn't say a thing. He stood up in complete silence, glaring at the dark haired girl. If this would have been a battle between some robber and a defenceless towngirl, Treize would've probably ended up stepping between the two. But before he could warn the bad guy, Norene's fist held another meeting, this time making sure that he leaves two or three teeth as the man ungracefully met the floor again.
Treize almost clapped at the sight. No matter how many times he'd seen Norene's martial art skills he kept being amazed by them. In the end, he managed to stop himself, focusing attention on the second person.
"I give you five seconds to let go of him," Treize raised his sword, pointing it toward the man. "And believe me, it will be worse than losing your teeth. Much worse."
An evil smile appeared on his face as he took a step forward. But who wouldn't enjoy bringing fear into the heart of an assassin?
"What did you say? Leaving the boy in the maze? Yeah, that sounds good," he nodded as if agreeing with the man. "We will tie you two up and leave in an abandoned corner of the dungeon. Wasn't that your original plan? For a scum like you, the 1st floor would be enough."
"Wouldn't that be murder, though?" Lilya asked him, swinging her crossbow over her shoulder. But then, a she flashed a quick smile. "Oh, but killing someone because they wanted to kill is like some kind of early punishment, right?"
The man's eyes widened, he took a step back in fear. These kids were not normal. However, his single mistake freed the noble. It was a momentary relief, because now the trio could act as they pleased without worrying about the spine or other bones of the boy. Norene immediately leapt forward to deliver a kick to the attacker's right side, while Treize used the hole in his defence to drag the blonde away from the man.
"Don't move," he ordered, before pushing his sword between the blonde's body and the ropes and pulled it up.
"You should've just cut the end of the rope," he huffed, sitting up. Great, he was only saved and Treize already got the first scolding from the prince in distress.
"Indeed, but I wouldn't look as heroic as now."
It's not like he joined the fight for a minute. Norene and Lilya had everything under control, And the pirate wouldn't risk getting in the way of the girls' fight even if his life depended on it. He'd seen them handling bigger monsters than burglars.
"Well, gotta use your chance then, Mr. Hero, before the kid's bubble bursts," Lilya gently elbowed him in the side, winking twice, before she bent down and started dragging down one of their victim. She was rather fast and two minutes later the trio already heard the soft thumps when the unconscious man's head hit the stairs. Norene followed her soon after dragging the second person.
It looked as surreal as the closing of a stage act, where the actors suddenly left the scene with the exception that the stage was now someone's bedroom.
It took the noble by surprise too, since he just sat there on the ground, ropes still hanging on his shoulders. The blonde looked lost, almost like he was still trying to understand the events what took place in his bedroom. But only until Treize pulled him up by his arms.
"You got yourself into quite the problem there," he told the blonde and patted his back, giving him a friendly smile. "Is everything alright, Princeling?"
"That's a strange question coming from a thief." the blonde chuckled, "But I guess, thanks to you I didn't end up in the labyrinth tonight. You have my thanks."
"Sadly, I had little to no role in saving you." He wished he had, though. Letting the girls do the dirty part of the work for him probably ruined any positive first impression he could've given the boy. "Shouldn't you be scared of us, by the way? You know, adventurers coming here to steal away your jewellery and stuff."
To this the boy just laughed. "What tells you that I'm not scared of you?"
"Ah, first of all, you are looking in my eyes. Also your posture speaks of confidence. After what happened any normal people would be on the floor crying, yet you're barely even shaking."
"That's really faltering, but truth to be told, I'm quite shaken from the events I'm just good at hiding it."
"What gives?" Treize flopped down on the boy's bed. He couldn't help, but started to get curious about this whole fiasco.
"You know, they weren't the first ones who tried to drag me away. So on the flip side; I don't really have any reaction ready for these events anymore. Sure I feel dread and adrenaline rushed through my veins when I'm in grave danger, but once it's gone, I feel nothing."
"Sorry."
"Nah. You shouldn't be. It happens to the best of us."
Becoming numb to events like this. Surely, the boy must've had some kind of serious brain problems.
Treize couldn't help but chuckle at the noble's response "You shouldn't take this so lightly or do you want to be kidnapped so badly?"
"I wouldn't really mind if it was you." Then how own words hit him, making him blush from embarrassment. "What I meant to say is, you look like a person who wouldn't bring harm on me, and your friends seemed fun too. So... you understand where this is going, right?"
"Absolutely. Want me to visit another time, then?"
"Only if it's not too much trouble. I appreciate good company, even if it doesn't look like it." And then there was that smile. Treize didn't know what to make of it at first, but seeing how happy the noble was, simply from having the chance to talk someone made it impossible to refuse.
He took pity on the kid.
"Then it's settled. I'm going to drop by tomorrow," he leaned toward the blonde, gently bumping into him with his shoulder. "But first I want you to give me something. You know, a pirate can't just walk away empty handed. It's against buccaneer codex."
The boy froze for a moment, but quickly regained control over his emotions, "And what would that be?"
"No need to think of anything special. One of your earrings would do just fine."
"Oh… Wait! Are you sure? I mean, I'm pretty sure that there are more valuable things around here and there must've been a reason for you to be here."
"Not gonna lie, we kinda wanted to steal this and that and my mates probably took something on their way out, but it's not really my priority after what happened today. So what I want is not something to sell, but something to keep as a memento."
"Like my earring," the noble muttered in an amused tone, raising his fingers towards one of his blue earrings.
"Yep. And in exchange, I'll visit you to keep you company. The earring will be my reminder whenever I look into the mirror," the boy grinned, like a promise like this was an everyday occurrence "So l'll think, 'Right, I have a friend to visit' and come rushing to you."
Then the blonde smiled. The promise was so childish, yet deep down he choose to believe in it and wished that just this once life would be kind to him and grant a simple wish. Someone to talk to.
Before Treize could continue, the boy pushed one of his sapphire blue earring into his palm.
"My name is Emil, by the way."
"Treize, member of the Kocielby guild. It's nothing to be proud of, but I like the sound of it."
"Is it small?"
"The smallest of all!" he chuckled. "Only five members and myself, so I can introduce them to you with no problem if you're interested."
"You bet I am!" he beamed.
It was a strange turn of events. The noble who was always locked away in his own mansion was suddenly attacked by the outside world. Without hesitation said world started pulling him towards something bigger and brighter he'd ever imagined.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
And it's done! I really don't know what my purpose was with this one-shot. Maybe, I just really wanted to show off my team from the game… Nevertheless I hope you liked this short story about the locked prince and the poor pirate and their friends. My poor gladiator couldn't even show up…
Also Lilya has a rather sane brother named Larz. Since the only way I could obtain the game was to buy an used copy, I decided to keep one character from the previous' owners save file so that's how Larz is the youngest-oldest member of my team.
Reviews are always welcomed!