ii. misunderstandings
He was on a solo mission to protect a politician. Easy, he had first thought. The man was a politician, yes, but he wasn't very important. Whatever enemies he have, Lyon could deal easily. The last person he ever expected to face was the dark-haired woman he had met a month ago at the Guild Masters' regular meeting.
He does not expect her to lunge straight for the man he was supposed to protect.
"Minerva Orland," she introduced herself when he deflected her blow.
"Why are you attacking him?" he demanded. He gestured for the cowering man to flee. Minerva leaped forward to intercept the man, but found her way blocked by a huge ice tiger that growled at her.
She flicked her wrist lazily, and the tiger vanished. "Your magic will not work on me. Move aside, Lyon Vastia."
His answer was an ice serpent that ripped apart the room they were in and nearly took her head off.
"My mission is to protect that man." he told her, even when she shattered the serpent effortlessly. It was hard not to feel envious of such power. "Your mission, apparently, is to harm my client."
"Not harm him," she denied. "I am not a Dark Mage, after all. My mission was to retrieve some important documents from your client. It seems that we have a conflict in our missions."
He frowned, trying to hide his unease from her. His client had not said anything about any documents.
His brief distraction costed him when he found himself pinned to the ground, a bubble of magic encompassing his body. The bubble sucked at his own magic, slowly draining his reserves.
"Do not hate me, Lyon Vastia," she said, raising a brow. "But I have no intention of failing my mission."
This was the second time she had called his name. His skin prickled every time she said his name. He does not like the feeling.
"So do I." he retorted. Minerva looked up in surprise as the entire building trembled. The geyser suddenly burst out of the marble flooring and tore through the ceiling.
Minerva jumped to the side as the chandelier dropped and shattered at the spot where she was standing a second ago. The bubble disappeared with a soft pop and Lyon slumped in relief.
But his relief was not for long as more loose fragments of the ceiling continued falling around them. His ice geyser had been created out of sheer desperation and anger and it had exploded out of his control.
He forced himself to sit up, grimacing as a block of plaster narrowly missed his head. Minerva was nowhere to be found and he was glad that at least his client had evacuated.
He grimaced when the terrible sound of breaking cracked loudly above him. He glanced upwards, only to see the entire ceiling falling towards him.
Just as he shut his eyes, he felt someone slammed into him, hugging him so tightly that he nearly couldn't breathe. Then there's a nauseating sensation that felt like his body was squashed and thrown into a box, before he hit soft ground.
He coughed, blinking sharply against the sunlight. Green eyes peered back at him.
"...Minerva?" he asked, gripping his pounding head.
He sat up, looking around. Trees surrounded them, accompanied by the soft twitters of birds in the air.
"Did you... save me?" he turned his attention back to the woman crouched beside him.
Her smile was vulpine as she stood up and absently brushed at her skirt. "Father will not be happy if he finds out I caused a Mage's death."
Once again, he watched her left without saying anything.
It was only after he returned back to his guild, guilty and embarrassed for failing the mission, that he realized that he hadn't told Minerva his name at all.