"I can't believe this. They, like, totally demoted us or something!"
"No, Feliks, they didn't. We just got reassigned. I thought you would be happy for a change of pace?"
"But if I'm doing work I want it to at least have a point."
Lili glanced up when she heard voices approaching. Their voices shattered the deafening silence and echoed throughout the stone building. After nearly an hour alone with her thoughts, she was almost relieved. However, the uncertainty of people coming made her remain in her corner, her knees to her chest.
Two knights came into view. "I'm sure there is one. The prisoner must be very impor—" The brunette one stopped as soon as he saw the girl inside the cell. The other paused as well, his eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Um, Toris… are you sure this is the right place?" Feliks asked.
"Yes…but…" Toris trailed off, walking up to the bars. "This can't be right…"
Lili looked away from their curious stares. Toris' face softened and he crouched down in front of the cell. "Excuse me? Are you alright?" he gently asked.
Feliks leaned down and grabbed onto Toris' shoulder tightly in alarm.
"Toris! Be careful. She could totally be, like, a serial killer or something!"
He rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that." He straightened, his gaze glancing around at the rest of the empty chambers as he thought over the situation.
Feliks, although reassured by the other's statement, kept a calculating eye on the girl. "Well, something is totally up."
"Yes." Toris agreed. "I don't think she's in here because she needs to be caged up."
"…so she's here for protection." Although the blonde typically left all of the boring thinking to Toris, that certainly did not mean he wasn't capable with coming up with his own conclusions. That was one thing many did not realize; Feliks didn't bother to thoroughly think about things simply because he found it unnecessarily bothersome most of the time.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this was another of the advisor's ideas." Toris stated.
"I've never liked the guy. Not. One. Bit. He acts like he's the king himself half the time."
Toris didn't comment—knights weren't exactly supposed to speak badly of those who worked closely with the king—but he secretly agreed. He looked down to address the prisoner again.
"Anyway…are you alright?" he repeated. "Are you hungry or thirsty?"
Feliks crossed his arms. "We're not supposed to do that, you know."
"I know, but…she's so young. About Raivis' age, and if he were in a cell I know I would want someone to help him too."
Feliks nodded, any remark he may have had dying on his tongue. Toris cared deeply for his two brothers, and while he personally couldn't understand the sentiment being an only son, he knew enough to respect it.
Lili finally looked over at them, slightly calmed by the warm smile on the brunette's face. She glanced over their attire, further confirming their status as knights. While they both wore bronze chest plates and carried swords on their belts, Toris had segmented metal plates down his arms whereas Feliks wore thick brown leather sleeves. Toris also kept his hair tied back in a short ponytail, although quite a few of the strands weren't quite long enough, forming bangs that framed his face. Feliks allowed his silky blond hair to remain loose.
"I'm Toris," he introduced, and then gestured to the other, "and this is Feliks."
She hesitated before responding. "...my name is Lili."
"It's nice to meet you, Lili." He said, reassured that he was earning a response.
"Um, I don't think she can say that, since she's kind of in a cell and all." Feliks pointed out. "So, like, why are you in here anyway?"
Lili bit her lip. She had no doubt that it had something to do with Vash, and even though she still wasn't sure what to think of him, she wasn't comfortable with just giving him up. After what he did to help her she could never even thinking of aiding someone in harming him. Even if he was a mercenary…
She quickly tried to push the thoughts of her brother aside, knowing that only more doubts would arise, and shrugged her shoulder in response.
Toris and Felix seemed to accept it and moved to either sides of the cell. They lapsed into a low conversation which Lili could barely hear from her position. At first glance it appeared that they weren't worried about anyone entering the small building, but the quick glances they sent toward the door every now and then proved otherwise.
Lili straightened out her legs and moved over toward the middle of the chamber in order to hear them better. While the subjects of their discussions ranged radically and strangely sometimes—apparently Felix wished he could dye his horse's mane –it was much better than the complete silence from before.
"This whole mercenary business is so stupid." Feliks commented after a while. "I mean yeah, they're bad guys, but it's not like they've done anything too personal to the country. We can't get them all anyway."
"Well, we're not supposed to kill all of them. "
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah. I'm sure there's some sort of reason."
"Not that I can see." Feliks disagreed.
Lili silently listened, hoping that they would change the topic again. She didn't want to hear about this, not right now.
Toris sighed. "Me either…but you know, I don't think they're actually all that bad."
"What are you talking about? They kill people and stuff!" Feliks countered.
"So do we. Honestly, I'm surprised people don't hate us just as much."
"…I wish people wouldn't do things that force us to end them." Feliks admitted, his usual carefree tone dissolving into one of quiet sorrow for a moment. His voice swiftly lightened in an attempt to sound cheery, but the force needed to do so did not go unnoticed. "But hey, we're good at it. That's why we're not lumped into a group with the rest of the knights."
A few seconds of silence passed between them before Toris spoke.
"I still remember the look Raivis gave me when I first received my sword. At first he was happy that I would be one of the noble protectors of the country…then he realized what it really meant. It meant that I would have to hurt people, and worse. He looked scared, almost as if he thought that I might hurt him too." Toris morosely recalled.
Felix reached over and placed a comforting hand on Toris' shoulder. "You don't need to worry about that. He got over it, right? He seems happy whenever he sees you now."
"I know. I guess he understood after a little while that I didn't actually enjoy having to kill. Still…"
"You're being such a downer, Toris!" Feliks commented, interrupting the other. "We have to guard here for who knows how long, and I am not going to let us be depressed the entire time. Got that?"
After initially blinking in surprise at the disruption, Toris accepted the words with a grateful nod.
Once again they started up another conversation, this time about a considerably brighter topic, but Lili tuned them out. Toris' memory sounded extremely similar to what happened to her, but apparently Raivis had overcome the dark fact. Could she do that too?
Yes, Vash was a mercenary. Yes, he had killed, not to mention committed other crimes. But that didn't mean that he would turn on her. He had tried to save her, and he certainly did not get any money for that. Even if it was a little scary to think that he could easily harm her at any time, if she tried she could learn to trust that he wouldn't. Maybe…maybe she could even convince him to stop altogether?
Lili glanced toward the bars before standing and quietly walking over to the back wall. She glided her hand over the smooth stone wall, feeling for imperfections. While she honestly doubted that she would find a way to escape so easily, her resolution encouraged her to try and find a way out.
Outside of the chamber, Feliks paused his conversation for just a moment to catch Toris' gaze and swiftly look over to the cell in the corner of his eye. Toris shrugged slightly but otherwise made no comment; as far as he was concerned, it would be impossible for her to escape, no matter how hard she tried.
I hope you enjoy and please review!