Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Fire Emblem.
Enjoy!
A Help From a Stranger
"So you really killed him, huh?" The man asked as he sat back. The leather of his chair squeaked as it rubbed against the fabric of his clothing.
Marisa said nothing but stared with a cold look.
"That's... Pretty impressive. And he was your first kill?" He asked. She couldn't see the man's face, only the outline of his body and the chair he sat in in the darkness. The only light source in the room was the moonlight that shone through the apartment's window. Though she could not see his face, she could tell that he was excited and impressed at the least.
Marisa said nothing again. She took her hands out of her jacket's pockets to scratch an itch on her arm. When she made the fingernails to arm contact, it felt funny. She looked down. There was blood caked on her hand; on her palm, on her fingers, her wrist and underneath her nails.
"That's good. That's good. You have your father's killing instant and his style. ...Why don't you join us?" The man asked.
Marisa continued to stare at bloodied hand.
She had heard of people's habit of trembling with they did something bad.
Why didn't her hands tremble? She had committed a terrible sin, probably the worst of all the sins. But instead, her hands laid still in the moonlight.
She looked back up at the man. His legs were crossed on top of each other, the leg on top fidgeted side to side as he waited for her answer.
"Yeah." Marisa replied. "Just name the person and place."
"Excellent." The man said. "Come back here tomorrow. We'll get everything set up."
Marisa turned to leave. The moment she left the room to the moment she got home, a devilish grin laid on her face.
*Ring*Ring*
Marisa let out a groan as she slowly sat up.
Her back was all sore, and it hurted to move her left arm.
She used her right arm to reach over and grab her cell phone.
"Hello?" She said.
"Marisa," Gerik greeted. "Get down here. Immediately," and then he disconnected.
He sounded urgent and frantic.
She wondered what had happened.
So she quickly got out of bed, careful of not moving her left arm too much.
When she got the bathroom, she lifted her shirt down to see her shoulder and surely enough, there were different shades of purple spotted all along there.
Damn him.
She grabbed some herbal medical ointment and rubbed it all over her shoulder, wincing every time she touched there.
After Marisa quickly got dressed and ate breakfast, she drove her way over to Gerik's place.
Gerik had never sounded too frantic and serious before. Something terrible must have happened.
She parked her car in the driveway, there were several cars parked there and Marisa knew that the whole gang was inside. She opened the door to the mansion and stepped into the quiet place.
She walked into the living room, where everyone usually hung out, and there they were, hovered around the 50' flat screen TV that hung on the wall.
They all turned their heads to Marisa, an expression of surprise planted on their faces.
"Hi," she greeted, a bit confused at what was going on. It was them who usually greeted her first whenever she entered the room.
"Marisa..." Gerik said. Marisa walked to the crowd and stood beside Tethys and Neimi, who sat down on the arm of the armchair, while Tethys stood.
Their eyes were still on Marisa.
"Yes?" She responded to Gerik, but he looked like he was in some state of shock.
"...Just watch." He clicked a button on the remote control and a TV program appeared on screen.
"Hello! You are watching 'Magvel Entertainment', where we bring you the news and gossip of celebrities all around this great continent!" Said the host. She wore a small sexy tight black dress, with very high black stilettos, and her orange hair was stringed with big curls.
Marisa didn't watch too much TV, let alone entertainment shows. The only channel she ever watched was the news, to watch if her assassination missions made the news.
"Joshua Ladoe, King of the desert land, Jehanna, had recently arrived in Renais to conduct meetings and deals with Renais' entrepreneurs and businessmen."
The screen went to a shot of hundreds of screaming girls ranging from what looked like, the age of 10 - 20. Most of them were probably pre-teens. And they were at the airport.
"Ahhh! We love King Joshua!"
"He's soooo hot!"
"King Joshua! Marry me!"
Marisa arched an eyebrow up. She knew being King and all, he would have fangirls. She never knew they'd be this insane and crazed. It was a shame she would have to kill the man they worshiped.
"It is no doubt in anyone's mind that he is amongst the top ten on our list of hottest bachelors."
A picture of Joshua showed up on half of the screen. Marisa's fingers twitched at the sight of him. If only he stayed still like his picture on the TV, she would take the object nearest to her and whip it at his face.
"With the re-emergence this year, everyone is just excited to see this once rebellious Prince take on the role as a neatly poised King. Evidence of change was clearly seen from the young King from earlier interviews. Could it be from the help of a significant other, or who we like to call the future Queen of Jehana? This clip we're about to show you was captured by a spectator at Henry Earls building last night, where a business gala was held and where King Joshua attended."
The screen then showed the clip. Two familiar figured popped up on the screen.
It was Marisa and Joshua.
Whoever took the video looked like they were a good 10 feet away from them. The video was taken to show their sides, where Joshua had his arm around her. The video was held steadily, only shaking every few seconds, clearly evident of amateur work.
Marisa stared with her mouth hung slightly open.
Someone was recording them and she had no idea.
The video replayed the events that had taken place the night before. It showed them dancing and their lips moving and Joshua leaning in and back out. And then, their kiss, which the cameraperson thought was appropriate to zoom in.
"Ha…" Marisa muttered sheepishly as she glanced around the room at everyone's faces. They all had their mouths parted and their eyes wide opened. Only Rennac was grinning slyly.
Rennac shot up from the ground he was sitting on.
"Marisa likes it rough!" He shouted out then pointed to the screen. "Look at how she's pulling him in for some more." Strangely, he sounded happy at this.
"Yeah, you can see his tongue poking the insides of her cheek." Colm pointed out as he, too, stood up and pointed at her face on the screen.
"You guys are idiots." Marisa said with annoyance. Although, from the camera's point of view, it did look like she was reeling him in, because of how he kept throwing himself onto her when she pushed him away.
Before Rennac and Colm could answer to Marisa's insult, the screen shot back to the host.
"We caught up early this morning with Joshua as he attended a press conference at city hall and here was what he had to say."
"King Joshua! King Joshua!" Shouted the person behind the camera.
The camera person ran up to Joshua just as he was getting into a limo. Forde stood by in the background while Kyle hovered nearby, holding out an arm between Joshua and the paparazzi. A pair of huge dark sunglasses laid on their faces. Joshua spun around to face the camera person, with a smile on his face, showing his teeth.
"Hey," he greeted out as he waved a hand.
Five microphones shot out at the bottom of the screen as reporters shot questions at him.
"Who was that woman you kissed at the Henry Earls business gala last night?"
"Is she a girlfriend?"
"Do you plan on marrying her?"
"Who is she?"
"How did you meet her?"
Joshua chuckled as he waved his hands out to them.
"Uh..." He scratched the side of this head, his fedora moving up and down from the scratching.
I'm old-fashioned? He's the one wearing a dated out hat. Marisa thought grimly to herself.
"I met her a week ago," Joshua began.
Marisa held her breath. Was he going to tell everyone her real identity?
"Yeah, we got off to a rocky start, but uh, everything's alright now."
"So she's a girlfriend?"
Joshua shrugged.
"She's quite stubborn but, uh yeah… I like her!"
He shot out a smile one last time to the camera before he headed into the limo.
Gerik hit the paused button and everyone turned their eyes to Marisa.
He… Likes me? I'm stubborn? Who on Earth would call me his girlfriend?
She simply could not understand; what were his motives by feeding the media the totally untrue information?
"Marisa," Gerik said as he walked up to her, his arms were crossed. "Care to explain?"
"Yeah, that and why you suddenly disappeared last night?" Saleh joined in as he went to stand beside Gerik.
"Are you guys really together or something?" Gerik inquired.
Before Marisa could answer, Neimi began to sniffle behind her. What could she possibly be crying about at a time like this?
"*Sniff*sniff*. It's like... A tragic love story, kind of like a forbidden love. That's... So sweet. *sniff*"
"A forbide- What?" Marisa blurted out.
"Ahh, quite so. It's like in those movies, where the assassin falls in love with their target. Quite a taboo in the business, I never thought it would actually happen," Tethys commented as she flicked her shawl over her shoulder.
"It didn't happen," Marisa began, but was interrupted by Cormag.
"Wait a minute. Is that why we lost communication with you all the sudden? So you could spend time with him?"
"No," Marisa answered, but they continued to ignore her and throw assumptions and questions at her.
"What? I don't understand… How did this all begin? Is this why you didn't kill him?" Gerik asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Or maybe she met him when she was supposed to kill him but they… 'hit it up'," Saleh awkwardly ended. Like Gerik and his bad jokes, Saleh would sometimes like to use the younger kids' slangs which did not work for him.
"Aw, so she's protecting him," Tethys cooed.
"When she disappeared last night… She probably headed out to do some... 'business meeting' with him," Rennac said holding in a laugh as Colm snickered.
She had reached her breaking point. "Shut up. All of you," She demanded.
Though she said it in her usual mono tone voice, the others knew she meant it.
They quieted down so Marisa could properly explain herself.
She sighed heavily. Moment of truth.
"I'm not involved with him in any way. He just… I don't know how to explain it."
"Strangers with benefits?" Rennac inquired smugly.
It was in her natural instinct to shoot a deathly glare at him. Sometimes he can say the craziest things that get others around him boiled to the bone.
Ignoring what he had said, she continued. "He didn't report me to the authorities."
"That's strange… Why wouldn't he?" Gerik questioned.
"I'd like to know that as well. Apparently he has a past with assassins. There's just no full evidence of it. Well, I didn't expect him to show up last night because somebody," Marisa shot a glare at Saleh.
He shifted his body weight uncomfortably from one foot to another.
"Somebody forgot to put it in the files. He knew I was wired so he de-bugged me so he could ask me questions."
"And how did he de-bug you?" Saleh asked.
"Hm..." She thought of how to blatantly say 'he used his tongue'.
"No way." Rennac gasped, a smile seeping onto his face. "He... And that...? I see now," he now grinned.
"What? What?" Colm asked, clueless to Rennac' realization.
It took only a second for the rest of the group to register it.
"Aurgh." Gerik groaned as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. His eyes were closed as he frowned.
Saleh avoided his gaze at Marisa, looking at the ground.
Rennac and Colm were both sneering and snickering, while Neimi wiped away tears that were still falling from her eyes. Tethys had a slight look of disgust on her face.
Knoll stood at the back, still staring gapingly at Marisa and Cormag only shook his head in a disapproval manner at her.
"Okay, so what questions did he ask when you were… de-bugged?" Saleh asked.
"Not much." Marisa shrugged.
"Does he know your true identity? And where you work?" Gerik asked as she sprang his head up.
"No." Marisa said. Although, the only piece of information she did leak out to Joshua was that she worked for a non-Governmental organization of assassins.
Biting the bottom of her lip grimly, she responded quietly, "he knows we're a privately owned company."
"WHAT?" Gerik nearly shouted. "Y'know, there's not a lot of private assassin groups out here. There's only a matter of time before the police tracks us down. Do you know what happens when we're tracked down? we're gonna be put in jail for a LONG time. And not just us, everyone that's afflicted with this company."
Gerik's panic attack seemed to have little effect on the others. They all still stood staring at Marisa, Rennac and Colm were still giggling at what they had seen on the television screen.
Marisa scratched behind her ear. "Calm down," she said, trying to use a calming tone. "He said he wouldn't report me and let me go."
"But how can you trust him? I mean, why wouldn't he report you? You tried to kill the dang guy," Gerik said.
She shrugged. "I don't know."
That very question pondered her mind from the first time he let her go.
"I'll go kill him... tonight," Marisa hesitantly said. She really didn't want to do anything today but rest her sore body, but she knew it was the only way to calm Gerik down.
"Tonight? Okay... But I think you should bring at least 2 or 3 people with you," Gerik said. "That guy out-smarted you twice already."
Marisa let out a sigh. The mention of her failure was utterly a disappointing reminder.
"Not me." Neimi said. Marisa turned to look at her. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were red and puffy. "I've got an important mid-term tomorrow that I have to study for. Sorry Marisa." She shot a weak smile up at her.
Marisa nodded.
Dang it. Marisa was hoping the sniper would go. Their past missions together always turned out more successful than when Marisa was anyone else.
"Sorry Mar, that goes the same to me. My English professor said if I don't get my grade up to at least a 'D', I'll get kicked outta his class." Colm lazily shrugged.
"Knoll and I got some teacher's conference we have to go to." Saleh said, a bit of guilt hindering in his tone.
"I skipped my shift last night, I can't do it again." Cormag replied.
"And I have to attend Ewan's teacher/parent's conference." Tethys sighed.
That left only Rennac.
Gerik looked his eyes back and forth between Marisa and Rennac. "Great. I trust you guys will get it done? For sure this time?" Gerik asked as he pointed a finger to both of them.
Rennac walked over and put a hand on top of Marisa's head. "Yeap. You can count on us!" Rennac said as he held a thumb oup.
"Get your hand off of me." Marisa grumbled, and Rennac quickly did so.
"I'm sorry I can't monitor you guys tonight... But here." Saleh picked up a folder and handed it to Marisa. "Sources tell me that Joshua had recently purchase a house here. He's not moving here, I don't think, more like Summer home or something."
Strange. It was fall, and weren't most Summer homes in places that were enjoyable? Truth be told, Renais was not all that exciting. Somewhere by the sea, like Frelia or Rausten would be more enjoyable.
"But anyways," Saleh continued. "He's going to be there tonight. I am a hundred percent positive this time."
If he was a hundred percent positive, that was all she needed to know.
"*Yawn*. This guy's place isn't that much bigger than mine. He's a King right? Why couldn't he invest in a bigger place?" Rennac asked.
"Quiet. I think I heard something." Marisa said. She raised the binoculars to her eyes to peer into the dark home. A light instantly turned on from one of the many windows.
"There he is." Rennac said as he held his own pair of binocular to his eyes. "Yeesh. He can't invest in a haircut as well? He looks like a woman from behind!"
Marisa rolled her eyes.
This was part of the reason Marisa did not like going on missions with Rennac.
"You stay here. I'll go in." She said.
"You're going to go in by yourself? What if he outsmarts you again?"
"He won't." Marisa gritted the words through her teeth angrily as she quickly raised the binoculars up to her eyes to peer into the home.
"Uh…" Sensing her anger, Rennac shut his mouth.
The good thing about Joshua's new home was that its backyard was a forest. It was a perfect opportunity to hide in the trees and blend in within the darkness.
"If I don't come out in say, 15 minutes, come get me." Marisa ordered.
"So you're really going to go in by yourself... All right then. Fifteen minutes it is." Rennac kicked his legs up to rest on the tree branch, and leaned back against the tree, with his arms behind his head.
Even if she had not told him she would go in by herself, Rennac would have still let her do all the work. It was expected from the slacker.
If her last two attempts hadn't ended disastrous, she would have brought Rennac along but now her mission felt personal.
The last time any mission became personal to her was her… Very first one.
Thinks he can escape me, can he? Well, Today is your last day, you… Ass! She thought bitterly.
It was only a couple of hours since that entertainment show blasted her's and Joshua's kiss to the world and already someone had recognized her when she went to do some grocery shopping.
"Aren't you... That King's girlfriend?"
"Oh my god, she is!"
"It's that slut who took away our King Joshie."
She hated being center of attention, small crowds and big crowds. Now she was the controversy in all of Renais, and possibly all of Magvel. Would this mean she would have to go into hiding forever? It was a good thing her identity was so low key; what would have happened if the paparazzi happened to find her on the streets? What would she do, what would she say?
How did I ever get into his predicament? It's all that… Bastard's fault. Couldn't have died the first go round…
Marisa began to trek across the yard. She pulled the black ski mask over her head and stuffed her long pink hair into it. She reached back to pull out the .22 gold revolver with a silencer attached she had with her.
Guns weren't her style; she preferred knives and daggers. But because one of her usual dagger was kept with Joshua, she had resorted to it.
The house had many windows, the room that was lit up that Joshua was in a few minutes ago was on the second level. Marisa took out one of the dagger she had with her and jimmy one of the windows open. When it opened, she climbed into the dark room.
Because Joshua had just recently moved into the house, the room was empty. Slowly and silently, Marisa moved to the door, opening it to reveal the dark hallway.
She heard a thump above her and froze. The thump was followed by a shuffling of footsteps.
He was upstairs.
Although the house didn't look too big on the outside, its inside complex was complicated to navigate through but surely, Marisa found the stairs that led upstairs. As she made her way up the stairs, she found a faint glow of blue from one of the rooms upstairs.
When she got to the room, she discovered the blue glow was from a television that was on. Its volume was low as it played a commercial. The screen faced the doorway and there was a leather couch in front of the television. On the couch was a figure.
She'd recognize that old-fashioned hat on that head anywhere. It was definitely him and he had no clue she was behind him.
Finally. She thought as she walked closer and closer until she was a meter away.
She aimed the silencer at the head and pulled on the trigger. The gun made a soft 'pew' sound as the bullet left the barrel. The figure fell over but as it did, it made a loud hissing sound.
What the-? Marisa peered over the couch, hoping to see a dead body but instead, it was a deflated blow up doll.
She stared in confusion at the doll. The doll was body lengthed, had a bra and panties painted on the area it should have, blonde hair painted on it as well and a very suggestive 'o' shaped hole where the mouth was. The hat was slumped over on the couch next to the doll.
"What the..." Said a voice. Marisa quickly turned around at the doorway.
A wet and naked Joshua stood there with a towel wrapped around his bottom half.
Underneath her mask, Marisa could feel her face burning up as she stared at him, unconsciously eyeing his fine physique.
What am I doing? She shook her head and quickly raised the fire arm.
"Ah!" Yelped Joshua as he ran out the doorway and down the hall.
Marisa ran after him, she caught a glimpse of his crimson red hair trailing behind him as he entered the second room on the right.
When she got inside the room she quickly closed the door behind him. If she couldn't see him, he couldn't see her.
Using her left hand, she felt along the wall as she took small steps into the dark room, in her right hand was her pistol. She tried to listen to any sounds that could indicate where Joshua was hiding, but the room was silent. She took off her ski mask in hope that maybe she could see in the dark better.
Her fingers landed on something on the wall. It was a light switch. She hesitated to turn it on, in fear that he might strike before she could.
But she did anyways.
As soon as she did, something was wrapped around her neck tightly. She tried to grab hold of whatever it was, but a force pushed her up against the wall and then onto the floor. Her pistol had fallen out of her hand. Her body was already sore and fragile, so thrashing around hurted. A lot.
She was pinned to the ground with her face to the marble floor, her arms gripped tightly by Joshua's hands behind her back. Near her lower back region sat Joshua, happily holder her down. She tried to push him off, but because her whole upper body was sore, it only hurted when she moved underneath him.
"Why won't you die?" Marisa groaned aggregately.
"Oh, you again." Joshua said.
Marisa peered up at him through the corner of her eyes as the side of her face was matted to the floor. His face was made into a smile as he peered down at her. His hair was matted wet against his head, the bruise on his left jaw was still visible and she could actually see his other eye. From how she was positioned, she could see his face and his naked chest.
"Hey, have you seen the news yet? You're an instant celebrity now." He grinned down at her.
"Yeah. Thanks a lot." Marisa thanked sarcastically.
"What? You don't sound too happy being my girlfriend. A lot of girls would kill to be where you are now. Ha, no pun intended." He laughed to himself.
"Why? Why did you have say all that? You could've just said I was nobody." She glared up at him.
"Yeah, I could've." She felt something being tied around her hands, followed by a soft grunt from Joshua.
She was quickly spun around then sat upright. Her arms were still held behind her back and when she tried to move, she was held back. Taking a glance behind her, she saw a rope tied numerous times around her wrist and the other end tied to protruding pipe coming out from the ground and into the ceiling.
Tugging by her wrists a few time, she guessed how tightly she was bounded. Only to be able to move her arms so much as a centimetre, she quickly gave up.
"But I didn't." Joshua stated obvious as she stood up to sit in front of her.
From what Marisa could clearly see, he wore nothing but the towel. Clothed, he didn't look all to fit to have a single muscle, which was very misleading compared to when he was unclothed. His chest was quite firm and hard, the same could be said about his biceps. His abs were nicely formed seemed and look flexed even when Joshua didn't seem to be flexing them. He had a fine physique that fitted nicely with his rugged yet soft face. It was no wonder why he was so popular amongst the women.
That spoken, he sat crossed legged on the floor. If he stretched his legs any further, she could peer right up his unspoken region.
She quickly shifted her eyes elsewhere, feeling a rush of blood rise up to her face. She decided to take the time to scan the room they were in. Evident from the shower, sink and bathtub, they were in bathroom. A very large one at that.
"Up for a little Q&A?" Joshua asked.
"Questions and answers?" Marisa asked back.
"Yeah, you seemed to have a lot of questions last time. As so do I."
How long has it been? Ten minutes? If I could preoccupy him some time, Rennac could come…
With Joshua's back to the open bathroom door, it was a perfect opportunity for Rennac to strike.
"Okay." Marisa agreed. "But I ask first."
"Nah, I'll ask first." Joshua said.
"But yesterday…"
"Yesterday," Joshua carefully enounced. "Yesterday I said I'll tell you what you wanted to know if I got to know you better."
"No. You said that if our relationship deepened." Maria corrected.
"Heh." He scoffed. "What relationship?" He smirked as he leaned back on the support of his arms, stretching the towel out that covered very little of his skin.
Marisa's eyes searched the ceiling, trying to avert her gaze.
He started at her flustered self and then grinned profusely. "What, am I bothering you?"
"No." She spoke softly, a deep blush beginning to form across her cheeks as she continued to stare the ceiling.
"Really?" He further questioned as he scooted closer to her.
A question like that was evidently asked to tease her.
He inched closer until their toes nearly touched.
"So, question one. How long have you been doing this?" He asked.
"Unless it's me asking the questions, I'm not saying anything." Marisa started firmly.
"Fine. Then I guess we'll just sit here. I'm not doing anything tonight. I was supposed to but somebody had to go destroy my fun tonight." He sighed in a disappointedly mocking manner. He looked down at his feet for a second before he peered up at tied assassin with a raised eyebrow.
"Unless you have other suggestions as to what other fun I should do?"
"Here's one; why don't you go whine to someone who cares?" Marisa said coldly as she glared at him.
"Re-ow." Joshua mewed. "You're really feisty. How about saving some of that energy to answer me?"
"Over my dead body." She blurted out.
"Careful now. Something like that shouldn't be taken too lightly." Joshua said as he reached over to take Marisa's fallen weapon that was lying on the floor.
She eyed Joshua carefully as he examined the gun. "Why don't you just kill me now?" From previous experience, he did not seem willingly to do just that. Which brought Marisa to ask herself another question.
What exactly does he want with me?
"Because." Joshua stated as he took out the bullets from the gun and laid each component on either side from him.
"I think you can be helped."
"Helped?" Marisa repeated. "I don't need help."
"Oh, because someone who kills for a living is clearly sane." Joshua said with sarcasm.
Marisa scoffed. "I don't need help." She repeated herself again.
"If we're repeating ourselves here, I might as well repeat my question: how long have you been doing this for?" He asked with his head cocked to the side.
Her answer to his question was nothing but a cold stare. Her eyes were fixated on his ruby eyes, which were lifted into a half smile suited to the man's freely attitude. A contrast to the assassin's standoff behaviour she was portraying.
"Well… You don't look all that old. You're experienced, I can tell that. So you started at a pretty young age, didn't you?" He inferred.
"And you seem very hostile. 'Course, anyone who kills for a living is bound to be like that. But no…" He waddled a finger at her. "Did you have a bad childhood?"
Marisa continued to stay quiet as she tilted her chin slightly upwards to stand dominance on her ground to not say anything.
"Grew up with one parent? No parents? Neglected? Abused?" He listed as a fingernail lightly tapped the floor. He took her silence as a sign to continue.
"Or maybe you were taken in by some cult… Where they raised you up to be a killer." Joshua said slowly.
"Who do you think you are? A psychologist? Are you trying to 'read' me?" Marisa spoke after scoffing at his ridiculous guess.
He merely shrugged.
"Well, you can keep on talking, but I won't say anything."
The two only stared intensely at each other in silence. Dark magenta eyes against rubies, fighting for dominance and control over each other.
The longer they stared, the longer the tension grew.
Gulping down a small amount of saliva down her dry throat, Marisa tried her best to show no fear against the pair of eyes that stared her down.
"Well then…" Joshua finally broke out after he glided his tongue against his top lip. "I'll tell you little bit about my childhood."
Marisa blinked. Had she won that staring contest? Whatever it may be, so long as he preoccupied the time by talking about himself, it wound give more time for Rennac to make his grand entrance.
"Where to begin…?" He asked, mostly to himself as he crossed her arms over his chest. "Oh. Well, tell me what you think the life of a young prince with the bountiful of the world at his fingers would be like."
He shifted the conversation over to her, as much to her dislike. The raised eyebrows on his face showed he was waiting for an answer. His eyes though, read he wanted an answer as they stared fixatedly and firmly onto her. They were different from before. He was… Perhaps more serious.
"Perfect." She breathed out as she returned his gaze.
"Hm." He grunted as he looked down, his chin nearly touching his bare chest. "Nothing's perfect." He airily said.
"And my life before was far from perfect. In fact it's at the opposite end of spectrum, maybe even further back." He raised his head again, flicking his head to the side to shift his semi-dry hair out of his face.
He looked off to the side as he continued to speak. "I... Have no memories of my dad. I mean, I don't remember spending any time with him at all. I knew I had a dad, he was just never there. The only face time I had with him was when I was watching him on the television screen giving out his speeches. To make up for his absence, my mom was always there for me."
His tone wasn't as different from before; kept lightly and the half-jokingly manner as before. But Marisa focused on his face more carefully. His eyes weren't fully open as before, but half lidded. He stared at the ground and avoided her gaze. His lips wasn't shaped up in its usual grin, but pouted in a distinguishable manner of a frown.
She didn't know the man too well, heck, she only met him three times in the span of over a week. If there's anything she had learned from Tethys, the master of deceiving, is not fall for someone's emotion so quickly, no matter how convincing it looked.
"Then father died. I was 5 at the time. And who was left to look over the country? Mother." He paused to take a breath. "Every night she used to read me a bedtime story, give me a peck on the forehead then tuck me in. When she took on as leader, every night turned to once a week… Then once a month… Once every six months… With mother gone, who was left to be there for me?" He trailed on.
"I had a better relationship with the maids. And there was a different one every week. The majority didn't want to do anything with me so I was mainly left to play on my own." He reached up to quickly scratch the side of his nose and then went back to his posture of crossing his arms over his chest.
"It wasn't perfect at all." He breathed as he turned his gaze to Marisa.
At bit startled at their eyes connecting once again, she blinked.
"Oh." She whispered, unsure of what to say. She hadn't expected for his childhood to be like that; she expected a happy child playing in their vast green lawned backyards with their high tech toys. At least, that's how she always pictured high classed kids played.
After having their eyes connected for a few seconds, Joshua's gaze fell to the floor, not particularly staring at one spot.
She didn't know why but she felt slightly remorseful for him. Whether his story was true or not, the particular story was just terrible. To revisit terrible memories was always saddening, one she should know.
She let out a small sigh. In some aspect, his past was similar to her, and since he was as so kind to share his story, she would just have to bite back a bit of her pride and tell her story.
"My mom passed away when I was an infant." She spoke, clearing her voice before she did. She felt Joshua's eyes rise up to her as she looked off to the side.
"My dad raised me on his own. He was… an assassin." She drew in a long breath. "He raised me to defend my own. Every day we trained. I would wake up, train, go to school, go home, train and then sleep. Even in my sleep I was still training."
Joshua raised a curious eyebrow to her last statement. She did not need to look at him to see his curiosity, so she further explained.
"He would place a dull sword at my side to keep me from moving around." She leaned forward as far as her restraints took her. "I thought I was good, I worked hard but he never seemed to be happy at me. He never said I was good. He never said I was bad either. And then he was murdered."
She looked back at Joshua and found he had his head cocked to the side, his neck protruding out as if he was listening deeply.
"Oh." He responded, not deliberately copying her previous response.
They sat in silence seemingly remembering their past. It took only a minute for Marisa to change her thoughts to her current situation.
Before I was… Angry, but now I'm… Sad?
She was amazed at how her emotions had changed in the duration of three sentences or so. Of course, it would be expected for she have never spoken her past out loud before.
"Not to ruin the mood we have here…" Joshua began. "But do you want to make a bet?"
Marisa only blinked twice. To make a bet at a time like this… What could he possibly want to bet on?
"On what?" She questioned.
"Name a date."
The first thing on her mind was the King's deadline for his execution. With no other particular dates that struck out to her, she responded, "the end of this month."
"The end of this month? So that's… Two weeks from now. Okay, if by that date I haven't changed your mind on this… If I haven't made you walk away from this life… Considering I'd still be your target, you can kill me."
Marisa furrowed her eyebrows together to register what he had just said.
"I won't hold back. No struggles and no tricks." He continued.
"You're… Making a bet on your life?" She asked.
"And yours." He corrected.
"I want to leave my life the way it is." Marisa retorted.
"Oh, because killing people is so much fun!" He exclaimed with sarcasm.
Before she opened her mouth, Joshua continued.
"Just hear me out: you really have nothing to lose. It's me that's risking my life here." He assured.
True. He was either overly confident or just plain stupid. "… And what happens to you if I do… Change?" She asked slowly.
"I stay alive. And I'll be out of your life forever." He smiled satisfyingly to both his and Marisa's pleasure.
There was just one more question she had in mind pertaining to the bet.
"But…Why?"
Joshua moved his lips upwards, forming into a smirk. "Because I only help those who have a chance of getting out."
A chance. A chance of escaping the malevolent lifestyle she led. A chance to leave the past behind and start towards a real future, one where she doesn't prowls around at night stalking victims. It all sounded promising but to believe she had the slightest chance at this was the same as believing that Rennac did not have at least one STI. Or at least that's what Marisa sought out to think.
Me?
As promising as it sounded, it was also clouded with doubt and falsity. Marisa could never picture herself doing anything but her current job. What would she do, where would she go? Any change, big or small, was always a hassle. Not to mention terrifying.
No… I prefer my life to stay the way it is.
She wasn't going to change, not at all. She didn't want to change and she was certain she won't at all. Perhaps if humoured him and took the wager, she will be able to finally assassinate him as it had been proven difficult on her previous attempts. And what better to do it right on the deadline?
After taking a moment to think to herself, she gazed up at the man waiting for an answer. She looked into his eyes; relaxed, but lain open in a glassy stare and eyebrows scrunched up into a furrow. It was as if his face was begging her to accept the bet.
"Because I only help those who have a chance of getting out."
A chance…
Me?
For someone to say she has a chance, as much doubt rose from it, it still brought a small speck of hope that maybe, maybe she did after all.
Thank you for reading. Hope you've enjoyed it and don't forget to review! 8)