GASP! What is this! A chapter from my sleeve?! I did say weekly, and Monday sort of is the first day of the week though.

Chapter 12: You got a strong grip kid. That's your hair. A Nocturne of friendship.

As Cid was trying to remove the silver bolt of his prosthetic leg. He found it useless on trying to keep it with him. So, looking that no one was in his office he raised his pants and took his left leg from the binding that kept it together to the thigh. Honestly, the war had taken the most part of his left leg.

He saw the prosthetic and couldn't avoid thinking it was fun. The prosthetic leg wasn't given to him by the Demacian army, the army didn't even want to see him. No, the leg was a gift. A gift from a friend… he was wondering how…

"Yo! How you are doing oldie! Heard you are working here now… is that your leg?"

Cid tried to put the leg away but he decided against it. It is not like he could hide it under the desk, the fact was, she had seen his prosthetic leg, to him, it was the same as being naked.

"Hey! Knock first will you?... and yes, this is my leg"

Cid motioned to the leg on the table who had a silver bolt in it. Before Cid could ask anything Jinx simply approached the leg and taking the silver bolt, she removed it with a single tug.

"Wow… you have a rather strong grip…"

"Or you are just too weak Cid"

Ouch, that one hurt.

Cid was by no means weak, but he indeed had to admit his lack of physical prowess, he was simply a therapist, not really a mass of muscle like the Might of Demacia. But truly, Jinx was stronger than what her physique showed. The slender arms and pretty much her whole physique didn't show much strength, but Cid guessed she wasn't a champion by accident.

"Well, guessing by this trophy on your leg, Vayne was here right?"

Cid simply nodded, not like Jinx would do anything with the info. Jinx played with the silver bolt before trying to balance it in her fingers.

"Well, you sure got lucky, these things truly hurt when you get hit by them, but I guess that leg of yours can hold rather well… why do you even have a prosthetic leg? Did you blow yourself up for a rocket jump? Let me tell you it doesn't work as good as you think"

As Jinx seemed to be in thought Cid simply considered it wouldn't hurt for her to know.

"Not really, I lost in one of the many conflicts between Demacia and Noxus, I survived but well, the leg couldn't make the trip with me you know?"

Jinx nodded while closing the door of his office and letting herself fall on the couch, the serious and calculative face she had left the room as she was smiling like a madman.

"So… notice anything different?"

Truly Cid would have to be blind to not notice it, for starters she wasn't wearing her normal clothing, she was wearing an outfit that reminded him of the Ionian clothes in a bright red with golden features and her black boots. Her hair was dyed in black and her bangs had a green color in them. Plus, her braids were all tied in a red fabric.

"Sort of hard to not notice it, it looks good on you though. So, what brought the change?"

Jinx smirked looking at the silver bolt still spinning in her hand.

"Nothing really, wanted to try a fresh look, Champions use costumes all the time, it brings something new to the match you know?"

Cid nodded, he noticed she was trying to say something, but what he didn't knew. She showed the obvious signs she wanted to speak, but she used the spinning silver bolt to distract herself to avoid the subject.

"Hey, you know no one can listen to anything here so… what brought you here?"

She kept spinning the silver bolt but she seemed to focus on his leg. It was still on the table.

"Nothing really…Just wanted to chat you know? Some people here refuse to have a chat"

She sighed as she kept spinning the silver bolt. She seemed to be deep in thought before smiling again.

"And that's the part you come in! You got games, right?"

She pointed to the stuff behind him, the Institute staff had pretty much-brought everything from his office, and indeed he had some games.

"Feel like trying darts?"

Jinx smiled at the idea and Cid prepared the board in the wall after placing his leg back in place. While Cid was preparing the board Jinx was in thought, she loved to play marksmanship games, not that she wanted to brag, but she was the best marksman in the league no matter what the others said.

So, she thought maybe she could try to understand more of the therapist on the game. She could make small bets… but what did she wanted… of course!

"Hey Cid, let's make a deal, whoever wins a round can ask something to the other, and he must answer. What do you say?"

Cid considered it would be fun, plus, what could she ask about him?

Truth be told it had been a mistake. After the first round, Cid had noticed how good her aim was. Each had three shots, and she had always hit the bullseye. While he was close, the fact was that with two on the wall and one on the board, Jinx had pretty much destroyed him. Between giggles, she sat on the couch.

"Well, time to answer! What made you become a therapist? And no lies, you promised"

While in no moment had he promised such a thing, he would still answer, it wasn't hard to answer her.

"I wanted to help you know? When I survived the battle on the war, I took notice other soldiers just didn't have a way to speak with others… so I just spoke to them, and when I took notice I was deemed a therapist"

Jinx nodded before looking at him trying to see if he lied. Seemingly finding no indication of a lie she nodded again.

"Well, kind of a boring reason, but I guess that's expected of a goody two shoes"

As the started the second round Jinx decided to make the last shot with her eyes closed and even then, it hit dead in the center. Cid couldn't believe it as Jinx laughed.

"If the board is still there, I won't miss even if I close my eyes, don't try that skill shot though, we don't need a dart in your foot"

As she laughed after Cid failed dart, she composed herself and asked him something again hoping he would not lie.

"So… ever stole something Mr. nice guy?"

As Jinx giggled Cid took the chance to spoke openly.

"I once stole a uniform. I wanted to get into this event that was rather formal, so I stole the uniform and got into the event… they later took notice of who I was and they threw me out"

Jinx looked dumbfounded at him, she didn't expect he stole anything. Nor that they threw him out.

"Look at you, a thief with history, it doesn't look like people appreciated you back then"

Cid was used to keeping his life private. He had mastered how to avoid showing hints of how he felt, but maybe it was because he missed being able to speak openly and the fact people like Riven and Sona had made him open more. Because of that, a slip of his tongue escaped through.

"No one wants the Deserter near them"

Jinx looked at him before lightly punching him. Though what deemed light felt rather hard for Cid who tried not to rub his arm. And failed miserably.

"Well, I want the Deserter near me! You are fun company, though you really suck at darts"

As if to make her point come across she threw the dart after spinning a couple of times. She got the center again.

"Bullseye! Now you try, if you can even get it near the bullseye I will answer a question you got"

Cid decided to just toss the dart away without looking and asked her.

"Really? You will answer my question? Any question?"

"Yeah, though, you already lost your question"

She giggled as Cid noticed he had gotten the middle of the board.

"No way! I wasted an opportunity to ask you something!"

Giggles took over Jinx as she let herself fall on the small couch looking at Cid disbelief on the fact he had gotten a dart in the center. Truly, for Jinx the therapist was too much fun, she couldn't really get why people would call him names or throw him out of places, it wasn't like he was a threat, he could barely walk with the prosthesis, she couldn't imagine him fighting.

"Can't get why people would avoid you. You are just a soldier who survived"

Jinx couldn't see Cid face as he was taking the darts away from the board, but Cid had a smile on his face. He felt thankful for those words.

"Yeah, me either"

Before he could say anything else he felt Jinx arms hugging him. He was about to laugh at the gesture until she started to really put strength on the hug making him lose air before she tossed him on the couch.

"Wow, you are really light! I was curious if you were heavy, but you are probably around my weight"

Cid composed himself trying to get his glasses on place. Jinx took them away from him while observing them for a moment before placing them on his eyes with care.

"No wonder you suck at darts, you can barely see without those"

Jinx was weird to Cid. She could be serious, she could be laughing, she could be thinking something and acting without much thought, she could be rough and careful at the same time. The girl was pretty much a free explosion growing all the time showing her emotions.

"You can be crazy at times you know?"

She smiled before lightly tapping over his head with one of her braids.

"Look! Mistletoe!"

Cid looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. She was expectant of his reaction, and if her maniacal smile was a sign of anything was that she was rather happy with his current reaction.

"That's your hair"

Jinx laughed manically for a second. Before poking at his glasses.

"What do you know? You can barely see"

She kissed his cheek fast while running away with his glasses, all while laughing in her unique way, that Cid couldn't avoid thinking just proved how free she was. Sadly she didn't understand the meaning of personal space.

"Hey! Bring those back!"

Jinx kept laughing while running faster than Cid. She screamed before taking on a corner. They had been running for a while and it seemed she had deemed this the best moment to lose him.

"I will give them back later! Don't get lost on your way back!"

Cid took a moment before understanding. Without his glasses, every door looked about the same all the hallways looked the same too.

"Oh… guess I'm a bit lost"

Cid tried to move around looking at the doors and the hallways, but honestly, he didn't know the path back, Jinx had made him run around and he forgot to took notice of the path. Before he could complain he felt a light tap on his shoulder and looked at the owner of the hand. Without his glasses, he couldn't really see clearly, but he could make the outline of the person, and the blue-haired maiden was easily identified.

"Sona?"

The figure seemed to nod, but sadly Cid couldn't identify the gestures of her hands.

"Sorry… Jinx took my glasses so I can't really see…"

Sona took a moment to think about a solution. Cid without glasses was quite funny to see. He walked slowly and seemed to put much effort into trying to identify where he was. He took his hand and motioned with a small tug to just follow her.

"Thanks. I owe you one"

She was about to signal him to forget it, but she remembered he wouldn't be able to see.

Not that she could blame him, it was already getting dark and the institute while the hallways would be lighted, wouldn't really help him to find his way back. Even less without his glasses, Sona was thinking on something and decided that she could maybe enjoy the chance of being the one to help Cid.

As Cid walked behind Sona he couldn't avoid feeling her hand. Her hand while soft on the palm was strong, and her fingers had the obvious signs of the constant touch of the strings. The hands of a musician. If anything, this was proof of how much effort Sona placed into music.

Cid noticed Sona opened a door and for a moment he thought he was back in his office. But when he took a better view of the outline, he noticed it didn't look anything like his office. Sona guided his steps to a chair and make him sit.

He let himself fall on the chair, it was better than trying to move around without being able to really see.

He took on the outline of Sona as she now was holding her instrument. She wrote something it seemed as she approached a note to him. It simply read.

"Listen"

Cid nodded at Sona note and just let himself listen.

She started playing, a different sort of melody of what he was used to listening from her. It was the soft melody, yet full of moments in which it had more energy, the more he listened to the music, the more he could picture what she was making.

A changing sky and stars suddenly popping out of nowhere the darker the sky became. Yet in no moment was it a bad thing, as the stars illuminated the sky and the moon became present he could see the outline of the path around him. Darkness wasn't scary when surrounded by the stars and the moon shining.

Yet it was if the music itself spoke and asked, was the stars the one who made the Moon shine? Or was it the moon who brought light to the stars? In the end, both decorate the night sky, bringing light in their own way.

Cid couldn't take notice of when he fell asleep on the chair to the relaxing sounds of the starry sky Sona had created with her music. She smiled looking at his sleeping face. He was relaxed. Sona didn't know why, but her piece did have the intended purpose. Darkness was scary, but it didn't feel so bad when she looked at the stars through her window.

She closed the door of her study and let Cid inside. She locked the door to her own room, she doubted Cid would try something, but it was better to be safe, she was a maiden after all. She found herself smiling at the silly idea that she had made a sleepover, though the other member of so-called sleepover was in a different room.

"Sweet dreams Cid…"

Truly, darkness wasn't so scary.

CUT! Well, I would dare say we got a nice start on this week, don't we? Hope you are all doing well!