Chapter 14

"Cure or Kill"


Gideon

After they left the orphanage

Gideon was sitting at the front of the carriage while the two maids were seating behind him. They were now far from the orphanage and only the small light from the lamp had given their figures a bit shape in the dark. His attention stuck on the road, but his ears were paying attention to the two maid's conversation.

"Diana, why are you taking your clothes off?" it was the red-haired lady who spoke with a confused tone, he heard while his eyes were on the two horses.

Gideon wants to turn around to confirm if it is true but he can't. He can't be distracted while on his reins.

" I f-feel so hot," Diana spoke in a weak voice.

"then just wait.." Anna's weary.

"I don't know. I feel dizzy, for goodness sake. What's happening to me?" Diana murmured. her voice was not that loud. she sounds so weird from the back and Gideon never expected that he would have strange passengers tonight. Then he heard a little thud at the back, he was a little startled because it was a bit loud.

"Hey, what's the fuzz there?" he asked the two while his eyes were on the road.

"Uhm, Diana's acting strange right now. Hey! Seriously, Diana, you want to get naked here?" Anna was flustered.

Gideon just stayed in his seat and didn't bother to look back. now he heard a little commotion at the back but he didn't budge from his seat. he heard some whispers between the two maids until Anna snarled at Diana with a low voice. he can't hear the both of them but he tried to listen.

"Diana!" Anna blurted out.

Gideon's brows turned up in curiosity as he thought that something was going on at the back. he wants to halt the wagon but he waited for a moment.

as long as it takes, he doesn't want to intervene with these ladies. the two ladies didn't even make a sound as moments passed by, and now Anna spoke with hesitation.

"Mr. Gideon, we need some help here." Anna quavered in concern... "Diana's acting so weird. She's having a fever, sweating all over." this time, Gideon stopped the wagon immediately and turned to the two girls. .

"Yeah, you're making so much fuzz at my back. It's a little annoying, for the old man, you know." he tried to be sound so neutral but he can't hide his annoyance. "what happened?"

"I can't stop her. She's acting so strange. She's not usually being like this." Anna blurted with a worried tone while Diana was lying on her lap. The hems of her dress were a little bit exposing her other thigh. It must have been warm inside the clothes she's wearing.

Gideon wants to look away while he stared at the exposed shoulders of Diana. she was lying on Anna's lap while her eyes were closed.q

Tch. . .how foolish.

Gideon huffs as he thought about what could be influencing Diana in this condition.

"I'll drop you to your destination. you need to soak her with water." Gideon dryly said as he turned away from them. he even shook his head.

he was completely careless tonight. someone else had also drunk the beverage that he brought to the orphanage.

"How do you even know that water would help?" Anna asked.

of course, she would ask.

"The tea that I made was not just an ordinary tea. she possibly drank it." Gideon replied and signaled the horses to stride. The wagon moved.

"You made? What do you even mean by that?" Anna was confused?

"The tea was not just a tea. It's mixed with a strong organic fluid that inflames the veins and muscles. It depends if she can stand the heat running through her body. Or she will barely survive." He tried to explain.

"What? A-are you saying that. . . ." then he smelled panic.

Gideon turned his feist around the ropes behind his knuckles to adjust the reins. He noticed that the lady gritted her teeth. He should be prepared. Gideon waited for her to fill that missing words and just focused on the dark path.

"you're trying to poison the Queen?!" Anna angrily shot him with that accusing tone.

Gideon shut his mouth and tightened his grip on the reins, forming a feist.

He refused to answer her. Piece of shit.

"Yahh!!" He cried and struck the ropes to command the horses to move the wagon faster than the previous speed. He was now not just annoyed but he's furious. His head started to feel hot as his muscles twitched like he wants to punch someone.

He hated to be falsely accused.

"Mr. Gideon. . . . " she paused. "answer me. What's happening to Diana?"

He ignored her. For a split second, he waited for more time and wanted to prolong the situation with this red-haired lady. She started something, so she must face the test.

"What would you do if it will kill her?" He replied in a low tone. Calculating everything...

"Yo- you, Mr. Gideon, have you served the tea to the Queen?" Anna once again spoke behind him. Now with a desperate tone. Begging and was like under his mercy.

Then he heard her breathing.

A sniffing sound from a wave of anger and he knew that Anna was now standing despite the movement of the wagon.

Gideon's senses activated, detecting that hostility. someone from his back will try to attack him as he remained silent AFter she asked him a question. He remained calm even though he let Anna think the wrong information about him.

"Answer me you damn old man. We're you trying to poison the Queen with your tea, and it just happened that Diana drank it?" Her voice was now different. From a simple ordinary maid into a female's steel voice.

Gideon who was not moved by Anna just stayed in his place. Then after a moment, he heard a sharp swish from leather that was like slicing the laters of the air.

Then he just moved his eyeballs from the sides and still didn't budge despite the incoming threat. He seemed desperate, shocked, and trauma.

"A-anna. . . stop. Why are you holding a knife? It's prohibited."

He heard.

"The heat will crawl to her veins and her muscles, that's the reason why she wanted to take off her clothes. She needs immediate water to somehow stop the pressure of the heat because if not, the heat might damage her organs. There's only one way to relieve that situation when you found yourself under the heat.--" He tried to explain but Anna's desperate words came and cut him through.

"Why would you serve a drink like that? We're you having a death wish?"

Gideon once again went shut his mouth. Filling the air with silence. He hated hearing threats.

Once again in his life, ever since that damn filthy day, he despised and avoided threats to live longer. But now, it was like hearing the same warning from an old troop.

Then he heard the sky growling, gleaming grey clouds were now sending tiny flashes as the wagon runs on rocky ground.

What has he done to deserve this?

"Because tonight is the perfect night to cure suffering." He replied while his eyes were on the sky. No stars were shining back at them.

There will be no stars to hear what he wanted to rewrite.

"Cure? Or kill?" Anna asked.

Gideon hardly heard her defying question.

He despised this kind of attitude. And later on, his muscles twitched again, and heard a step on the wooden floor of the wagon. Like a snap beaming at the canals of his ears.

He doesn't want to face trouble, all he wants is to find peace and just watch the world falls into a flat land --

Oh, dear. I think too much.

He doesn't want to screw that dream.

Without a warning, he immediately halted the horses, and without looking where and what he was stepping at, he leaped out of the wagon, gliding to the air.

At the same time, his eyes glanced at the place where he was previously seated, he saw a knife thrust through the air just as where it would plunge into his heart if he didn't leap out from the wagon.

He leaped for his fucking damn life, once again.

The red-haired lady's raging eyes were looking at him, gritting her teeth while her hands were holding those knives expertly just like a trained and skillful fighter as she always was.

Gideon landed on the ground, balancing his knees like a spring as he adjusted his body to maintain his posture.

But his hat flew say from a different direction. It revealed his undercut hair grey hair...

It's been so long since he did that stunt. Thank God, he didn't rust all his skills away.

The wagon stopped without the driver, and he saw Anna was standing at the driver's seat pointing a knife at him.

Tch...

Her face was serious with that well-leveled manifestation. Her hair was ponytailed and the rest of its ends were resting at the front of her chest.

She easily changed, revealing that deathly cold eyes.

She loved his bouquet of lavender, just like any. But at this very right moment, she looks deadly as a sharp weapon. That young lady who was very polite to him has now vanished.

Who would have known this scene would happen? He didn't mean to alarm these ladies, but for goodness sake.

They were damn fools.

"You're an intruder. State your clan and your district." She said in a raging accent.

"You should know that before you rode my wagon, young lady." He replied mirroring her tone.

Then he noticed her eyes widened.

"Shit. I miscalculated you." She snarled while her arm leveled to her cheeks, pointing the tip of the knife to his direction with that dangerous eyes.

"Trust me, you never calculated the situation from the start. Because you don't even know what that damn thing means.." He reached for his beard and tried to put them back under his chin. Some of them were sticking at the tip of his nose and it was itchy.

"Really? Stop fiddling with my thoughts." She snarled. She is positioned in an open body. "Or I won't try to hold back and cut open your throat."

As Gideon tried to stand in decent and well-controlled emotions, he tried to meditate his anger while starring at the defensive maid who was threatening him.

"Well, feel free to dot it. Because you got me a wrong soldier. I hate it when I am clouded with my anger, I don't see people as people. I only see them as a piece of meat to slice in half." He replied as he tapped his shoulders to remove some dust. "So don't push me."

"Oh, is that a threat? Do you even know who are you dealing with?." Anna leaped as well and landed just across him.

As Gideon tries to observe her, he can't stand it anymore and busted to laughter as the young lady composed herself in an attack mode.

He laughed like crazy as the sky sent a thunder above them.

"What so funny?"

Gideon still felt ticklish in the thought that this kid was acting like a joke in front of him.

She's such a fool and way too dumb.

"You know kid, at some point, you made me wonder why would you fit as an undercover soldier in this kind of work." He laughed.

"Oh really? The Monarchy is not way too dumb to just pick a plain maiden staff as the Queen's subordinates. You think that we're that damn useless, do you?" Anna walk sidesteps, and Gideon mirrored her also.

They were facing each other while making a form of a circle as a sign that they were about to have hand-to-hand combat.

"Yeah, unfortunately, I know how everything works at that kind of position, kid. So don't act cocky like you were dealing with a newbie here." Gideon just sneered.

"You don't know a thing," Anna replied.

As they were preparing to attack each other, the sky rumbled in a thud and it started pouring.

"Try me. I can spoil a little information you know." He challenged her. "Come on. Hit me with the knife." He murmured and pointed his cheek.

When he said that, Anna moved and strikes at him, she was fast as she used her elbow to hit his nose but as weak as she can be, Gideon didn't feel anything.

One point for her, but the sad part was that it meant nothing to him.

He stepped backward and tried to defend himself, he just want to avoid her knife and don't want to go for some offense.

The weapon strikes again as Anna twisted her body to make a blow again, but Gideon dodged it by moving his throat and chest backward.

He grinned as small droplets of rain started to pour.

"Are you kidding me?" He murmured as Anna screamed and tried to kick him, but as fast as she can be, Gideon still made it in time and caught her thigh, Anna's eyes went wide. "Gotcha." Like a reaper he used to be, he snarled at the helpless woman.

And he saw the terrified emotion in her expression and one move, Gideon turned around dragging her body, and threw it effortlessly towards the sides of the wagon.

The maid flew there like a sack of dirt, hitting her head at the wooden sides of the vehicle.

Her body fall slumped but still conscious, she feel the pain for a minute and then glanced at her again with that hard look on her face.

"You are a disappointment." Gideon threw the words to the maid and he know sure that he saw Anna winced from where she was resting.

Gideon now went close to Anna, two steps away from her. He saw that she was aching in pain and blood poured on her forehead. The rain was pouring and was making the ground filthy.

He now lifted his left hand and revealed the knife that Anna was using as a weapon. He didn't find it hard to seize it from her.

"If I poisoned the Queen right now, the right thing to do was to push me away from the wagon, and you should have taken my place and stride back to the orphanage to tend the Queen. But you did not. You chose to attack me and wasted your strength. So if you think I'm an intruder, then it's too late for you to save Her Majesty." He explained. "But good thing, I wasn't planning anything to harm the dear kid."

Anna's breathing was dumbfounded by Gideon's words.

"Why would I turn around, when the Scouts are there? Forgot about that?" She snarled.

"That would be unreasonable. As a guard, your priority is the Queen. So if this is a test for you as an undercover, well, to tell you frankly. . . you failed." He calmly explained

"Who are you to measure my abilities? If you know anything, then spill it." Anna

Gideon froze. She means that she wants to. know his real identity.

"Oh, you think I still don't know a thing? Okay. I'll give you clues kid. I know where you came from." He teased her again with a rough laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Anna replied. They were now soaking wet because the rain fell hard this time with big bits of raindrops.

"Oh. I see." Now Gideon bent his knee to level his face to the girl. "I forgot that your appointment in the Queen's premises was classified. You'll be beheaded once they knew that you're an ex-member of Kenny Ackerman's Anti Personnel Squad." He playfully placed his palm at the side of his lips to make it look like he's whispering a secret at Anna.

Anna gasped and cracked from her steely posture. Moved by what he said.

Gideon once again smirked.

"Come on, Old man. Quit intimidating my colleague and move the damn wagon."

Gideon heard someone speak from the wagon. Anna's mood switched and she shuffled to stand only to meet Diana's half-face peeking on the wooden side of the wagon.

She's conscious now.

"Diana!" Anna cried and hugged the other lady on the wagon.

The three of them were soaked in rain. And Gideon can still detect the distant stare of Diana's eyes on him while the other lady hugged her.

As expected, she has the same look as Anna's expression.

Hard, serious, and calculating gaze.

So she was listening.

"She started it. I'm not gonna lie, but she exposed herself too soon. You should have chosen your partner very wisely." Gideon placed his hands on his hips. "Because Kenny's not gonna rose from his grave to slice your necks." He huskily continued and made an ugly face form on his face. .

But Diana seemed to be not disturbed. As they broke apart, She remained his cold eyes on him.

"Hop on Anna. There's no need to be threatened by this old bastard." Diana was now seating on the wagon. Recovered from the tea that Gideon made. She was ignoring his slight hostile words. Unlike Anna, Diana was calm and well-mannered.

Anna immediately just gave Gideon a glaring face. "So you knew this man?" Anna asked as she went up to the wagon again. Gideon strides towards the front seat while the knife was still in his hand.

"Seal your mouth, Anna. Or I'll report you for blowing your cover." Diana seriously said.

Anna went silent as the wagon started to move.

"At least, you tell me who the man was, so I knew who am I dealing with," Anna murmured.

"you don't wish to know. So shut the fuck up." Diana distantly snarled on her, well, that was familiar.

Behind the smiling and polite expressions they were wearing in front of the kids and to Historia, they were these unforgiving souls who hunts for humans with Kenny the reaper.

The two of them were ex-member of Kenny Ackerman's Military Police Anti Personel Squad.

Pulled out from the squad to be appointed for future use, so they didn't join Kenny while they were hunting the Scout Regiment.

It was known that their movement was wiped out under the chapel when Rod Reiss transformed into a pure, huge titan.

These two undercover agents were closely at the foot of the Queen without her awareness. But their motives were different.

And Gideon never expected that this moment would occur. The heat between the said movement still made his blood boil.

But he doesn't want to spoil his reputation with that dirty name.

"The rain helped. Zo you guys don't need a damn antidote." Gideon murmured.

"Yeah. Stop pretending that it's harmful. You've been deceiving us so much." Diana tirelessly spout.

"Hold on bitches. You're going to ride a damn fucking wagon with your ex-Captain."

Gideon murmured as he glared sideways.

Then he heard Anna growling behind him.

"Shit."