Vanitas never thought it'd come a day when he would be running through the maze of the catacombs. Again.
It was a rather quiet day for the chasseurs, the capital of the country of lumières welcomed a period of peace after sentencing the serial killers. The trials were all done in the dark, of course. Without rampant vampires to hunt, the protectors of the city went about with their own activities. Those who were off-duty went above ground to explore the beauty of Paris while the working team busied themselves with training and cleaning.
Vanitas wasn't supposed to spend his day hiding from a certain man.
Since he was assigned kitchen duty - his cooking praised by many in his team - he had gotten up early to bake croissants. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he stayed in his usual seat munching on one of his pastries waiting for the team to arrive. He noticed that his comrades, even those who have a tendency to sleep past breakfast, would appear on time as long as he was in charge of the meals. Olivier has joked about it the other day, as it appeared that his subordinates started calling it a 'Vanitas day', where they would be guaranteed delicious food. What he didn't know was the existence of an 'Olivier day', where the team would disappear altogether.
It happened when the cafeteria was about half-full.
"Vanitas!" He recognised that voice in a heartbeat and fled, abandoning his lukewarm coffee.
Vanitas has managed to avoid him for so long. He was busy gathering his new team, getting used to his new weapon, preparing for the launch of the sixth division of the chasseurs that he hadn't bothered Vanitas for a weak. Vanitas figured the day would come, that he would corner him for information on 'Charlatan' which Olivier must have informed his vice-captain about.
It wasn't because Vanitas didn't trust him. He did, to an extent, as much as he trusted Olivier.
He was simply... bad at communicating with that type of person.
"Where did he go? I'm sure I just saw him there!" His pursuer reached the now empty chair, confused by his disappearance. "Vanitas—?"
Vanitas sprinted for the safety of his chambers.
He swore, that man who had no sense of orientation, must have some sort of build-in compass to locate him. No matter where Vanitas ran, he has always managed to catch up and claimed it to be God's guidance.
Retreating back to his room would be like sitting ducks. Vanitas made a turn from his usual route, heading for places he was less likely to visit. Eventually he took refuge in a chamber displaying skeleton collections from their seniors, betting on his luck.
"What a bizarre place for morning prayers."
Vanitas jumped at Roland's voice, who was able to track him down after all.
"I heard from Olivier." Closing the door behind him, Roland no longer wore his easy-going smile he was used to show in front of others. "About your encounter with this… ah, girl?"
"And? What do you have to say?" After making a show of sighing loudly, Vanitas leaned against the exhibits crossing his arms.
"Oh, nothing in particular! I was hoping to hear something other than captain duty. Those were giving me a headache, you know." Just like that, Roland switched back to his babbling self, bombarding Vanitas with things he had absolutely no interest in. "Can you imagine the amount of additional work they gave me? Between filing applications for my teammates and attending meetings, I can't do anything else!"
The smartest man wouldn't brag around. Roland might appear unreliable and clumsy, but it was exactly the image he wanted others to have of him. Gano and his man must be keeping a close eye on him, gathering scraps of information that could drag Roland down. His hands were tied, that was what he was trying to convey. Vanitas hated it when they had to speak like this, needing to guess and piece things together from a seemingly casual conversation. He hadn't expected Roland to unearth anything new, seeing as he was newly promoted and granted access only to the same documents Olivier could read. He had, however, hoped that he would catch wind of something, rumours, whispers, gossips which might give him a new lead.
"So, Vanitas, would you like to join the sixth division?"
"What?"
He didn't see that coming.
From the day he was taken under the chasseurs' wing, he has been a part of Olivier's division, something he thought was never going to change. He couldn't bear working under the lunatics in cahoots with Moreau, nor a problematic child who couldn't even control his own emotions. Although he was once offered the position of a paladin, he was more than reluctant to put on that pet collar. Now that Roland was – for better or for worse – promoted to Jasper, there would finally be one more tolerable person in the organisation.
Was Roland tolerable?
No, not really.
Moving to Roland's team would be like declaring alliances, inviting the extremists to stay on their tails. They would be watching Roland closely, convinced he was up to mutiny or something.
They would have their eyes on Roland, instead of Olivier.
Was Roland tolerable?
No, Vanitas didn't think he could stand listening to him spreading God's love more than he already had to. He didn't think he could stand seeing his stupid face every morning when he reports to duty. He didn't think he could stand going on a mission with a captain as reckless as him.
Maybe not the last one, as he couldn't proclaim to be a role model in that field.
"Very well," Vanitas scoffed, mainly to himself. Roland must have foreseen his answer before asking. "I will join your team and call you captain."