"Magus!"
Frog's footsteps were echoing throughout the castle as he searched, the banging of doors all but shaking the walls as he threw them violently open.
Lucca, meanwhile, was on the verge of panic.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no ,no, NO!"
Magus, on the other hand, couldn't decide if he should be amused or annoyed by her distress, and so just watched as she frantically scurried about the room. However, his indecision was quickly resolved as Lucca turned to him and yelled for all she was worth.
"This is all you're fault!"
Anger beat both options.
"And just what, might I ask, am I at fault for this time?" he ground out, trying very hard to keep himself from throttling her. He was getting rather tired of being blamed for everything.
"What do you think!?" she snapped. "Was I panicking before or after Frog showed up!?"
After closing his eyes and taking a deep, calming breath, while trying to think only of pleasant things, after all, killing her would still mean dragging her out of his home, he managed to speak in an even tone, though his face was becoming slightly red from effort.
"I did not know that the frog would show up today. I never do. He just comes and goes as he pleases. So, tell me, Lucca; How is his being here my fault?"
Seemingly at a loss -she was never one to deny logic- Lucca stumbled over her words for a moment, before exclaiming, "It just is!" After doing so, she turned away, never seeing Magus' eye begin to twitch or the dark electricity crackling at the tips of his fingers.
She did, however, notice that Frog's footsteps were getting louder.
"How is he finding his way around so easily!? Why isn't he getting lost!? Oh, what am going to do? I can't let him see me here! I've got to…got to…" Putting a hand to her forehead after pausing for a moment, she swayed in her spot before finishing. "…sit down."
Magus quirked an eyebrow at her, wondering why she so suddenly stop her ranting in favor of falling back onto the bed.
After a moment of silence in which Lucca seemed to be trying to regain her composure, Frog's voice rang out once again.
"Tis no use hiding, Magus! I shall find thee, and when I do, I shall avenge all that have been wronged at thy hand!"
Lucca's head snapped up, alarmed.
"He sounds like he's just down the hall!" At this, another door was thrown open, and it was indeed much closer than before. "Magus, you have to do something!"
"Hmph…and why should I?"
"Because I can't let him see me! I can't let him know!"
"Let the frog see you. Why is it so horrible that he knows, anyway?" Magus, though not even he realized it, was slightly hurt. Was she ashamed of him?
"Because I don't want to lose his respect! Frog may be one of my closest friends but I know his morals. He would think less of me if I laid down with any man unmarried, but the fact that I laid down with you only makes matters worse." There was another loud bang as a door slammed into the wall behind it. "He might still act like my friend, but it won't ever be the same. He'll always think of me as Cyrus' killer's whore. I don't ever want him to think of me like that." Another door was thrown open, this time right next to them. She looked up at him, eyes shinning with more tears. He saw how desperate she truly was, how much she feared what Frog would think of her. "Please, Magus," she said, not bothering to hide the pleading tone of her voice.
With a loud grunt, Magus turned toward the door, stomping a little as though to show her that he was only doing this to shut her up. He caught it just as it was beginning to swing open, and just before it revealed Lucca to the person on the other side.
"So, thou hast decided to show thyself, Magus? Or mayhap thou wast attempting to flee?"
Giving only a growl in response, Magus tried to push Frog back into the hallway and away from Lucca, but, seeing that he was still holding the door firmly and not allowing Frog to see further into the room, the knight became suspicious.
"What art thee hiding, Magus?" he asked , narrowing his eyes and pushing slightly on the door.
"I have nothing to hide from you, Frog," Magus responded, pushing back harder than necessary and almost smashing Frog's fingers between the door and the frame.
Frog was not convinced so easily.
"Thine guardianship of the door suggests otherwise. If thou truly hast nothing to hide, then why art thou not allowing the door to open?"
Not bothering to give a response, grunt or otherwise, Magus pushed Frog rather harshly out into the hall, knocking him flat on his rear. Not hesitating even a moment, Magus quickly slipped out the door and slammed it shut behind him.
Lucca took this as a good opportunity to spring off the bed and quickly lock the door to prevent any further risk of discovery. However, the sudden exertion caused her earlier dizziness to return, and with it, a wave of nausea.
Uh-oh…
Nervously glancing at the door, she slid to the floor in an effort to both steady herself and to try to settle her increasingly churning stomach.
Frog, meanwhile, was trying to regain his lost dignity.
"Thou art acting most odd for one with nothing to hide," Frog stated, dusting himself off and straightening his cloak.
Magus replied only with a cold stare before walking back toward the warp. Frog cast the door one last curious glance before following the wizard. As far as he knew, people with something to hide didn't usually leave the room in which they were hiding it unguarded.
However, just as Frog was about to walk into the portal, which Magus seemed unwilling to go through first, the very same noise that had been echoing throughout the halls that morning was heard again, only now that it was closer, Magus could recognize it as vomiting. This, of course, did not help with Frog's suspicions.
"What wast that?" Turning around and looking directly at the room in which Lucca was in, Frog seemed about to head back that way until a leather clad hand made sure that he went through the warp hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground on the other side. The owner of that hand was soon to follow, that same hand making odd, twitchy movements.
Frog, once again dusting himself off, was becoming a bit flustered, and so when Magus had moved out of the way, he immediately tried to go back through the warp, thinking it best not to give the testy man in front of him any warning and thus a chance to knock him back onto the floor. However, the portal was no longer there. Now absolutely sure that Magus was keeping something from him, Frog turned to him, meeting his glare with one of his own.
"I will ask again, Magus. What art thou attempting to hide!?"
Magus, who had had a bad morning to begin with, was reaching the end of his oh-so-short patience.
"What I do, Frog," he began, spitting out the swordsman's name as though it were the vilest thing to have ever been spoken, "is none of your concern. What goes on in this castle is none of your concern. You have no right to simply barge in here, expecting me to tell you what may very well be for only me to know. I'm getting rather tired of it, and the next time you come here in such a manner, I swear I won't think twice about removing your pathetic existence from my sight permanently, past alliances or not."
A momentary look of hurt flitted across Frog's face. He knew that he and Magus were not close enough to actually be called friends, probably never would be, but he still never thought that the wizard would actually throw whatever bond they did have to the side. The look of hurt was soon replaced by one of hardened anger.
"Do not think that thee can continue to hide whatever thee art hiding," he hissed, looking Magus straight in the eye, "for I hath been in this castle many a time without thee knowing, and hath therefore come to know it as well as thyself. I will discover what it is that thee art hoping to keep from me, and whatever heinous deed it may be, I shalt deliver unto thee a proper punishment." Then, voicing some of the betrayal he felt, added, "I thought that mayhap thou had changed, had actually begun to redeem thyself and cast aside thy old ways. I see now that I wast a fool to believe so."
With that, he spun on his heel and stormed out of the castle.
------------------------------------------
When Magus returned to the room in which he had left Lucca, and after more or less melting the doorknob off upon discovering it locked, he found her laying down on the bed, seemingly asleep.
Not wanting to leave her alone and have her wake up thinking she was still lost, he quietly walked over to the chair that sat facing the bed, sitting down softly so as not to wake her. He stared at her for a while, secretly admiring the way the small amount of sunshine creeping in through the blinds to rest on her sleeping form made it appear as though she were glowing with a heavenly light.
He would often times watch her like this in the mornings after one of their trysts, sometimes even giving her a gentle kiss as she slept, not wanting to wake her but still wanting to touch her once more. Almost as if assuring himself that she were truly there. Even now, he couldn't help but feel an urge to do so.
"What are you staring at?"
Now no longer lost in thought, Magus realized that Lucca was looking back at him, obviously a bit disturbed over the fact that he had been watching her so closely.
"…Nothing," he replied gruffly, looking away.
"Sure didn't look like nothing," she sighed, rolling onto her back to face the ceiling. Then, scrunching up her nose in disgust, "It stinks in here."
"After what you left behind the door I would expect it to."
"I wasn't going anywhere near that window again. Once was enough for one day, thank you very much. I feel better now, though, so I would like to go somewhere a little closer to the ground, if you don't mind."
Getting up, she walked over to the door, ready to do just that. However, seeing that Magus was still sitting in his chair, she stopped, crossed her arms over her chest, wincing a little as she pushed down a bit too hard, and sighed.
"You know, the fact that I'm lost in this stupid castle of yours hasn't changed."
"You're not going anywhere until that mess is cleaned up," he replied, still not looking at her.
Sighing again, she wasn't in the mood to lose her temper, she said, "I can't clean it up unless I know where I'm going, or where everything is, for that matter. In order to do that, I would need a little help from a certain grouchy wizard."
Deciding that no response would be the best response, the aforementioned "grouchy wizard" got up out of his chair, brushing past her and out into the hall.
After giving the melted doorknob a curious look, she hurried to catch up to him. Before walking through the warp, which Magus had replaced earlier, Lucca stopped, gently grasping Magus' arm to make him do the same.
When she spoke, it was with a kind of uncertainty, almost shy.
"Listen…about earlier…you know…when Frog was here?" Slowly, Magus nodded his head, clearly becoming impatient. "Well…I…just wanted to say…thank you. That really meant a lot to me."
Giving him a small smile, Lucca slipped through the portal, leaving Magus to grunt to himself before following her.
A/N: Yeah, I know…short chapter…But, hey!! I've got the beginning of the next one planned out, so I may just update sooner than usual…probably not, but I can dream. And I actually don't think I did too terribly bad with Frog's accent. Oh, and you can blame many things for me missing my goal of having this done over a week ago. Blackouts are one of them…one lasted for four days, more or less. Another is Stephen King. His books just kept calling to me!! I couldn't help it!! And last, but definitely not least, is something I'm doing as I write this…TRAFFIC SCHOOL!! I got a ticket for going over a double yellow line, so I'm stuck doing that. I swear that cop had a stick up his a-uh…let's just say a very unpleasant place. Even the judge laughed at the stupidity of the ticket!! Anyway, I'd better get back to that. The sooner I do the sooner it's done. So…enjoy!! And don't forget to review. You know ya want to!!