"Sir, Meet Candy Bar"

Dreyza


User's Note: I think you can already see where this is going.

As I sat out on the bench in the street, I peeled apart the Twix wrapper, grabbed the (left?/right?) candy bar, and munched down on it.

I looked around as I crunched. Ylisstol was looking relatively sunny today (good thing Blu wasn't outside today). Birds soared lazily overhead. One of them dumped their crap on some poor sap's head. A group of Ylissean children were playing with a ball out on the side of the road, laughing and shouting to each other.

They never once payed any mind to the nobody with the modern clothes and the candy bar sitting on the bench.

Sometimes, I had to chuckle about being a Zero. Theoretically, as a Zero, you can dance in public like an utter dumbass, and no One will retain any short-term memory of that embarrassing event. Of course, it's all a bit…iffy. Back in Luxendarc, I'd run into folks who would actually remember seeing me and the other Wolves before. That said, those folks have also tried to kill us and our charges, but yeah.

In retrospect, on that day in Ylisstol, I should have seen it coming again.

…The event that usually precedes the AHHHH!-You're-THAT-guy! moment, I mean.

"Ermm… 'scuse me, ma'am?"

Surprised, I looked to my left.

Standing there was a guy in a light-brown cloak. The hood of said cloak was down, showing a mop of orange hair, a black headband, and a white stick (in retrospect, a lollipop?) sticking out of his mouth. His black eyes were stuck on my other Twix bar, as if it had him transfixed.

I looked between the local man and the candy bar. "Eh, yes?" I asked, right hand drifting slooooooowly to the bench, then my right knee. (Thank freak for knive holsters strapped to the leg.)

I'd only gotten to Objective Bench after the man answered, snapping out of some reverie. "Um, c-can I ask which bakery you bought that sweet from?"

Glancing at the uneaten bar still in my hand, I finished with the one in my mouth. "This? Oh, well…"

Ugh, what do I do? I decided to make something up.

"A man from Mars sold it to me."

I wanted to kill myself in the brain organ. Without fracturing anything.

Orange Hair cocks his head to a side, eyebrow raised. "Wait, I'm sorry—a man from Marth?"

Gods, what is it with similar-sounding words? "No, I said Mars. S at the end."

"Oh, uh, okay." I guess he was wondering, A guy from the Marth?

I slipped my hand from bench to knee, but I was somewhat doubting the chances that this guy was planning to shank a "bystander".

But…judging by the look on his face, I'd imagine the sweet item in my hand was far more interesting to him.

I held out my uneaten Twix bar. "Want it?"

Orange Hair's face lit up. "R-Really?! You're just gonna give it to me?"

"Yep. Now,"—and here I pulled the bar out of its wrapper—"catch."

He did. Then, he put it in his mouth, fumbled with something on his belt, and left some gold coins in my lap. "Fhanks!" he exclaimed.

And then he was gone. Kinda like a ninja.

…Well, I thought. Stuffing the wrapper into my pocket, I lean back on the bench.

I still don't let my hand off my knife until I get back to the garrison.


[ N/A ]


As soon as he'd finished eating the foreign confection of some description, Gaius the thief forgot about both 017-R "Dreyza" and the candy bar he just ate. It wouldn't be until the initial assassination attempt on Exalt Emmeryn, the next night, that Gaius would encounter—and remember—the Zero.


"Back in Luxendarc…" - Let us save the details of your first true mission for another time, shall we, Ashen Wolves? —Vaire

* I hear ya… —Dreyza

* No argument there. —Kyoku

* Meh. —Blu

"…man from Marth?" - We have records from [ REDACTED ] that the natives tend to confuse the word Mars with the name of their "Hero-King". The only One who wasn't confused between these words was Prince Marth himself. —Vaire

"Stuffing the wrapper into my pocket" - One of the Zeros multiple responsibilities includes: DO NOT LITTER WITH OTHERWORLDLY GARBAGE. Ever. —Vaire