A/N-
Dark Ninja-- well, Jason made the curse-thingy pretty much permanent in ch11, so yeah. And fanfiction has been messing up like that lately. Drives me crazy!
Mouse-- yep, Jocelyn has a match to Lizzy's. Good memory! And I've developed a liking for gypsy-dude, so I think I'll let him hang around, for the time being anyways.
" 'Ey."
Gabriel turned his head slightly and without much interest to the boy. He was no boy, well over eighteen, but he had childish, sparkling eyes. He was short, and had unruly dark-brow curly hair. Gabriel had heard that he was a juggler.
"You mute, then?"
Gabriel narrowed his eyes and ignored him.
" 'Ey, there, I ain't tryin' to upset you." The juggler leaned casually against the bars of Gabriel's cage and looked out of the tent. A storm was brewing. "If you don' wanna talk, that suits me fine." He paused, then "It looks like it'll rain."
Gabriel shrugged absently and focused on the locket, turning it over in his hands, the chain following it like some kind of absurd tail.
"Nice necklace you got there."
Gabriel closed his hand over it and slipped it into his pocket. A few other people had offered a bargain for it, suspecting the locket to be gold. Gabriel had ignored them all; he certainly had no use for money. Not in his position.
"Don' worry, I ain't gonna steal it. Migh' wanna keep an eye on her, though." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing out a girl in breeches and a colorful shawl. "That'd be Callie, the fortune teller. Quickest pickpocket I've seen, and I've seen a lot. Feisty girl, she is." He pointed to a ragged scar that ran along his jaw. "Did that to me with a shard of glass. Forget why, though. Might've been an argument. I'm Jack, by the way." He held out his hand through the bars.
Gabriel stared at him, distantly wondering if he was poking fun at his predicament. He highly doubted Jack would be so cheery if he were the one in the cage, and if the girl he loved had died.
Jack withdrew his hand. "Alright-y, then. Not feeling friendly are we, erm…you don' happen to have a name, do you?"
Gabriel stared at him a moment then looked off blankly into the distance. He found himself remembering when Elizabeth had first arrived at the castle.
"What's you name?"
"Oh…my name…I-I think it was…Gabriel. Yes, my name is Gabriel."
"Oh. Au revoir, then, Gabriel."
Gabriel shoved the memory out of his mind. All he needed was to break down in front of all those people…in a cage, to make matters worse.
The cage was perhaps ten feet-by-ten feet, the ceiling just high enough that he could stand. The floor had straw for him to sit on.
"Ain't gonna say it, are you? Ah, well, doesn' matter none to me." Jack's eyes, a light brown, looked at a bulge in Gabriel's shirt. "Whatcha got there?"
Gabriel pulled out the small harp. Miraculously, it was un-harmed from the last few days, give or take a few minor scratches.
"Ah, a little harp, is it? Can I see it?" Gabriel tossed the harp through the bars without looking at the juggler. It was unlikely he would ever get the chance to play it without people gawking, so what use was it?
Jack turned it over in his hands. "A nice instrument, that it is," he commented. "You play?"
He shook his head.
"Then why'd you have it in the first place?"
Gabriel shrugged. Why was this boy bothering him? Did it amuse him, perhaps? Would he boast to his friends, afterwards, that he had talked to the monster?
Jack slid it back through the bars. "Well, I'd best be goin' now. Don' wear your voice out by talkin', here?" he joked, then walked off.
The fortune-teller girl, Callie, wandered up to the cage after he was gone. "That idiot bothering you?"
Gabriel shook his head, but Callie pressed on. "Pay no mind to him, none at all. A waste of thinking, it is. He's always talking someone's ear off. Annoyed me so that one day I picked up a bit of broken bottle and sliced him, just like that."
Gabriel glanced at her briefly, then looked away. Now another person was talking to him. Why won't they just ignore me?
"Hm. This would fetch a pretty fair price, if you were to sell it. Some of those rich folk might even pay up to three hundred francs." Gabriel snapped his head around to see what she was talking about, and saw Elizabeth's necklace dangling from her hand. He hadn't even felt it leave his pocket!
"You will give that back, right now," he growled, his resolve not to talk dissolving. His voice was harsher than usual from a day or so of not being used, and lack of water.
Callie's eyes, a deep black, narrowed dangerously. "Are you giving me orders?"
"Yes, Madame, I am. Give that back."
"What if I were to say 'no'?" She swung the necklace back and forth tauntingly.
"Give it back!" he repeated. He had stood up and moved to the side of the cage, where she was, in less time than she could blink.
"Oy, Callie! Stoopin' down to torture now, are you? Whatever happened to the quick deaths you used to dish out?" Jack had re-appeared, flashing his teeth in a broad grin.
"Maybe I am. What is it to you, Jack-o'-lantern?"
"Nothin' to me, something' to our newest addition here." He nodded his head towards Gabriel. "Mayhap you should give 'im that back, afore he decides to come after it himself."
Callie grudgingly tossed the necklace to Gabriel, who caught it and put it back into his pocket. "Don't make your belongings so easy to steal in the first place. Next time I'll auction it off." She left the tent.
Gabriel sat down again.
Jack, still grinning, resumed leaning against the cage again. "What, no word of thanks?"
"You hardly deserve any gratitude whatsoever," Gabriel replied coolly. "Perhaps I'll thank you for leaving me alone, but that is all."
"So you talk now, do you?"
To mock him, Gabriel kept his mouth shut and gave no response.
Jack shrugged an followed Callie's suit, leaving the tent only Gabriel occupied. When they had moved him into the cage, he had glimpsed the words that were painted onto the yellow-and-red striped fabric. In black paint was clearly written "Le Humain Monstre".
Take a look in the mirror, sometimes, he thought bitterly. I'm not the only human monster. I may look repulsive, but at least I do not throw people into cages for the sake of money and amusement.
Gabriel slipped his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the heart-shaped locket. A part of his mind knew that his heart was becoming cold and hard again. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, if it meant it wouldn't ache anymore.
It was a day later. At the same time Gabriel was asking for her locket back, Elizabeth sat on a bench, a book she had brought with her open in her lap. The dress she wore consisted of a black skirt and dull brown top. There were still bags under her eyes, but she felt a little bit better. She had slept until past noon and eaten a big lunch. Her gigantic appetite had returned. That was a good sign, wasn't it?
She was so focused with her book that she barely noticed when someone else sat down on the opposite end of the bench, and didn't draw her gaze away from the pages. Books were safe; you could loose yourself in books. You could forget everything that was happening and go into another world, where there was always a once apon a time and a happily ever after.
"Interesting book, Mademoiselle?"
Elizabeth flicked her blue eyes briefly to the other person. To her shock, it was the same gypsy. He wore a pair or blue breeches, yellow ankle-high boots, and a sleeveless yellow shirt that was half-covered by a indigo shawl. The vibrant colors made him stand out boldly form the fashionably-dressed but drabber-colored Parisians.
"Yes," she said shortly, then looked back at the book, Her concentration, she knew, was ruined; once someone interrupted her, it would take her a while to get back to the fictional world. She felt a stab of annoyance; if it were Gabriel interrupting her, she would smile at him and maybe give him a playful nudge in the ribs, but in the end ask him if he'd like to read with her.
A small drop of water darkened out a word, and she rubbed at it angrily, smearing the word. What was it? "the"? "tea"? "tithe"? The ink made a small black smear.
"It's probably not any of my business, but you've been looking awfully upset the past day." She looked at him again, and the gypsy looked honestly concerned. He had large grey eyes and under the bell-trimmed scarf, his hair was wavy and auburn. He didn't look as if he was mocking her…
"I guess I would be. A person I loved very much just got killed the day before yesterday," she told him coldly. She struggled to keep from crying. Not for the first time in the last three days.
"My sincere apologies, Mademoiselle. I had one of my best friends murdered, so I can sympathize."
Hearing the gypsy say it in such a matter-of-fact voice shocked her slightly, but if he noticed, he hid it well. "Oh. Sorry."
"Oh, no, it's quite alright; it was over a year ago." He paused politely, then smiled. "I don't believe I've caught your name, Mademoiselle."
"I'm afraid, Mademoiselle, that I have never caught your name."
"Oh…it's Elizabeth. My friends call me Liz."
"My pleasure to meet you, Mademoiselle Elizabeth. I believe I have caused you enough revulsion for the time being. I will leave now."
She shook her head, drawing a confused look from the gypsy. "Elizabeth," she muttered.
"I'm Robin." He held out his hand and she shook it, drawing her hand back after a second. She noticed a deep scar in the shape of a cross on his left hand, the same type of stylized cross you would see on a church (minus a dead man, of course).
He noticed her noticing it, and smiled wryly. "You steal just one candle, and those priests are all over you," he explained.
Stealing candles from churches? Why would somebody want to do a thing like that? You could just buy your own for a few francs. "Looks painful."
"I was drunk enough that if it did, I didn't notice," he confessed in good humor.
Hmm…he got drunk and tried to nick a candle from some church. I don't think he's as well-to-do as you first thought. He seems nice enough, though. Maybe he'll go away and leave me be if I talk to him. Maybe I should go into depth on the subject of Fay, That would bore any man out of their mind.
Not Gabriel, she thought automatically, then there were the little needles, poking at her eyeballs again.
Oh, joy.
Elizabeth struggled to think of something totally and utterly dull, when Alison walked up to the bench. "Bonjour, Liz!" she said with false cheer, obviously thinking that Liz was going to dissolve into tears where she sat.
And that actually isn't very far from the truth.
Kal stood behind her, looking blankly ahead. "Bonjour, Allie, Kal."
"Who's your frien-" Allie asked, then her yes widened in disbelief. "Robin?"
Next to Elizabeth, Robin was having a similar reaction. "Allie?"
She looked from one to the other. "You know each other?"
"Yes, we-" Robin stopped in mid-sentence, the surprise and happiness on his face instantly being replaced by hate. He jumped off the bench, bells on his scarf jingling as his hands balled into fists. "You!"
Kal looked in the direction of Robin's voice. "Oh. Still alive, Sparrow?" he asked in a bored, disinterested voice.
Allie grimaced and moved in front of Kal as Robin took a step forward. "It's ROBIN!" he hissed under his breath. "You filthy little murderer!"
"Robin, sparrow, same difference," Kal said as he pretended to examine his nails. "Both worthless little birds, no matter how you look at them." He was wearing a thick tanned leather vest, and now Allie had stepped to the side and was pulling at it.
"Leave it, Kal, let's go," she was whispering.
"Oh, defending that honor-less killer now, are you?" Robin accused, but stayed where he was. Elizabeth noted that his warm grey eyes were now burning with rage.
"He is not honor-less!" Allie snapped.
"So you're not denying what he did?"
"Drop it already, Robin! Kal did not kill Jake!" As she said the last part, a red flush climbed across her face.
"Liar! Why are you defending that bastard?"
"What does it matter to you, Sparrow?" Kal smirked. His eyes, though illusioned to match, glittered inhumanly. "Maybe she fond of me. Hell, for all you know, we could be married. How would that suit you?" As he said this, he put an arm around Allie's shoulders, still smiling cruelly.
"I'll wipe that smirk off of your face, bastard!" Robin spat, then stalked off down the street, blue gold-edged shawl fluttering behind him like wings.
Allie sighed in relief, then looked up at Kal. "Why did you have to go and provoke him Why?"
"It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, Princess," he drawled, then removed his arm from her shoulders and took Robin's place on the bench. "How you faring today, Liz?"
"A little better," she answered. Allie sat down between them, looking quite exasperated. "Care to explain what just happened?"
"I was in a relationship with Robin a little more than a year ago. It was actually going fairly well, then ended abruptly when Kal-" she glared at him pointedly. "-just had to go and murder his best friend."
Kal shrugged. "His fault, not mine." As an explanation, he added "The little sparrow's friend was drunk, and almost slit her throat."
"You didn't have to kill him!"
"We've been over this before, Princess. I refuse to try and reason with you any further."
Allie crossed her arms angrily, then continued. "Anyways, after that, we broke off, and Kal and I left that town. Kal left as a fugitive, I might add."
Elizabeth smiled in spite of her self. It wasn't funny, not really, but it was just the way the two of them argued.
Kal shrugged again. "It's in the past."
"Not if Robin calls the authorities on you!"
"That sparrow's gotten in so much trouble for thieving that I doubt they'll listen to him. The stupid bird'll probably just come after me himself with his daggers. He throws daggers with decent accuracy," he explained to Elizabeth.
"So absolutely no reason to be worried." Allie said sarcastically.
Kal acted serious. "None whatsoever.
"And if he shows up in the thirteenth?"
"I won't be there, and I'd deeply appreciate it if you'd not discuss that date in public."
Allie rolled her eyes, almost drawing a laugh from Elizabeth. Allie must've saw it, because she brightened and got up, drawing Elizabeth to her feet as well. "Come on. The café. My treat."
Elizabeth folded the corner of the page she was on and followed Allie down the street.
It wouldn't kill her to stop reading for an hour or so.
Jessica leaned leisurely against the side of the building, watching Kalendrakk and the Princess as the sat outside the café with the other girl…Elizabeth, her name was.
Her wings were retracted inside her back, giving her the appearance of a human. She still drew looks from the odd passer-by; the fact that she wore breeches and knee-high boots instead of a skirt and shoes was bound to draw attention. Not that she cared. Jessica had always thought of wearing skirts and dresses as foolish and impractical. They prevented you from running, always dragging at any stray branch, and were cumbersome to ride in, if you weren't planning on riding side-saddle.
Her sleeveless rawhide shirt also gained a look or two. This was, after all, Paris: no-one wore skins here. It was all cotton and velvet and silk.
She focused her attention on Kalendrakk, sending him a mental message. You. Child. Come here.
Kalendrakk said something to the girls and then stood up, walking over to where Jessica was in the shade.
"What to you want?" he snapped rudely at her. "If it has to do with the Princess--"
"Why, as a matter of fact, it does. I was just checking to make sure you will be far, far away from Paris, come the thirteenth. I still have high hopes that the girl will come to her senses, and it would be a shame if you killed her."
"Don't worry, I will be. Far, far away from Paris…and close, close to the mountains."
Jessica sneered. By the mountains, he meant, of course, the ones the eagle demons inhabited. Her home. "Stay in your territory, crow. There's plenty more poison just waiting to be used on you."
"I'm sure there is." He said those as words of parting and went back to the café.
I really should have killed him when I had the chance, Jessica grumbled to herself, and then went on her way.