The three continued to hold a conversation with Repede trotting next to Yuri as usual, his golden pipe bobbing up and down in his mouth. Flynn was on one side of Aria, keeping a close eye on her, while Yuri was on the other side. She felt a little different and uncomfortable since the only people she talked to through out life was her foster family. Not even her blood family communicated with her, not like she knew any of them or even knew that her family now was just a fill-in.
"Say, Flynn?" she suddenly called, earning all the attention. "You said my last name sounded familiar right..? Within the upper quarters?"
Flynn blinked and then nodded, waiting for the girl to keep talking.
"Who was it that had this surname? I must know."
Yuri and Flynn exchanged quick glances with each other, a sign that they both knew who exactly she was asking for. The thing that got her most curious was how Yuri seemed to know what she was going on and about with the knight next to her.
"... Alistaire and Gabrielle Winslet.." Flynn said slowly.
'Never heard of them before..' she muttered.
"Those two nobles have already passed," Yuri added nonchalantly.
"Have they..?" Aria asked, seemingly to have no reaction. "That's a shame. I should ask Mrs. Florence for more details. She seems to know a lot about me and my name.."
Flynn and Yuri remained silent and exchanged another look with each other. Flynn then smiled at Aria and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"What is it?" Aria asked.
"You are a very... honest person, you know that?" Flynn said.
"He meant to say sympathetically blunt," Yuri corrected.
"Shut up."
"Blunt in a rude way, sympathetic way, or whatever, I remain truthful to my words," the girl stated. "Unless you're crazy enough to want to listen to me blurt out lies or sound like I don't care."
Flynn smiled at her apologetically as Yuri looked away and smirked.
"Oooh, harsh... But the question is: Do you actually know how to lie?" Yuri asked jokingly.
"Yes, I do," she said casually, shutting up the two men. "I'm no longer innocent, so I can sin as much as I want to. And plus, I need to lie to deceive and get what I want you know."
The girl's reason to sin more than she already has made Yuri seemed completely fine with the idea since he was a sinner himself, but for Flynn it was the total opposite.
"No, I would rather have you clean up your act. You don't want to end up like this douche bag right here," the knight said, giving a light smack against Yuri's chest.
"Hey, I don't actually lie, you know? I have specific reason to do so when I need to anyways!" he suddenly said, pushing Flynn's arm away.
"That technically means you do lie..." Aria said awkwardly.
"Yeah, whatever damn it," he suddenly huffed.
'Give it up, kid! We know you are a part of that group of thieves working with the Cloaked Figure!' a knight accused. The group overheard as they got closer.
'I swear! I don't know who that person is!' a boy exclaimed frighteningly.
The group looked over to witness the commotion near them, finding two knights tugging at a child's collar forcefully. The boy was obviously scared and silently crying his eyes out as he struggled and kicked violently against their tight grip.
"We've seen you make contact with the person once before, so don't deny it!"
Aria stepped away from the men and Repede, feeling a bit at fault and angered by the false accusation. Flynn and Yuri tried pulling her back, but it was already a second too late.
'Hey, get back here!' Yuri hissed.
"What if he isn't lying?" the girl asked, earning their attention. "You did say 'once before,' but once means nothing."
"And who are you? Mind your own business, you brat, or we'll drag your ass to jail as well!" one of the knights stated.
"How rude," she replied nonchalantly, raising a brow. "Not like you have the right or power to do so."
"You worthless little bitch..!"
"Sir, please watch your language. A child is present here," Aria said with a smile, unfazed by the knight.
The man dropped the kid to the floor and earned a grunt when he landed on his bottom hard, making Aria frown. The girl knew what was coming next, getting ready to grab her sword; he was to draw his sword an strike her as fast as possible. Before Aria was able to draw her own weapon, Flynn was suddenly in between the two, blocking the strike with his sword and stopping the imperial knight from hitting the girl.
"L-Lieutenant Flynn!" the man stuttered.
"What do you think you were doing attacking a civilian for no reason?" he asked sternly.
"B-but Lieutenant-"
"No 'buts.' I see no wrong actions on her part for I have witnessed the entire scene. That child will be questioned by me, and don't dare causing trouble like that again. Clear?"
The knight looked like he was about to protest and until Flynn asked in a louder tone.
"Clear?"
"Yes sir..." he answered quickly.
The imperial knights immediately saluted to Flynn and scattered away from the young boy they were trying to pursue. Aria ran over to the crying boy and helped him up to his feet, dusting off his clothes and looking at the scratches and cuts he had on his body from struggling so much.
"It's alright now, don't you worry," Aria soothed, patting the child's head.
The teen then began to heal the wounds he had on his tiny frail body and sighed once she finished. The child just looked up and sniffle, quietly thanking the girl for helping him.
"Just avoid getting into trouble, but did you really meet the Cloaked Figure before?" she decided to ask.
"No, I didn't, Miss," he sniffed. "The person passes by me when they're running away from those people, but we've never talked before, not at all."
"As I expected of those knights," she said, sounding as if she was about to go kill someone. "Finding an excuse to do their so called job. Yeah, right.. Look, Flynn. No interrogations needed here, alright? Those idiots are just here to cause trouble."
The boy finally stopped crying and grabbed at Aria's hand, shaking in fear as he looked at the familiar face of Flynn and Yuri.
"Flynn, I really didn't do it!" the boy said.
"I don't suspect you to have done something against the rules, Kent, but orders from the upper class are orders I'll have to obey. Any proof?" the knight asked.
Aria frowned and pointed to herself.
"Am I enough?" she growled.
Flynn rose an eyebrow at this and shook his head 'no'.
"You could be lying. You even said yourself that you lie when you need to."
"And I can prove to you that I am not. We'll ask around and have you know that everything those knights accused are all falsely made."
A smirk seemingly played on Yuri's lips at this point as he leaned in closer to the girl and trapped her by the wall behind her. Kent followed her, still holding onto her tightly as the man drove her back into the wall. Aria's face heated up at how close the taller and older man's face was, no point for her to hide it. She frowned at the thought of him being a good looking man even if he seemed to be a prick and, of course, at Yuri himself.
"I'd like to see you try," he said, "But what if all their accusations were right? What would you have Flynn do to you, Aria?"
The girl began to grow nervous, her breath seemed to be uneven, her heart beating quickly in her chest, and her chest rising visibly from trying to get the air through her body.
"H-he can kill me for all I care or even lock me up. But seriously, I know they were accusing the boy without a single piece of evidence themselves," she said sternly.
"So you're willing to give up your life on something as petty as this?" Yuri asked, his smirk completely wiped of his face like the ocean washing away lost items on a beach. "How pathetic. It's best to just have him order you around or something like that than carelessly throw away your life. Just why else are you living for?"
The girl went quiet as the man pushed himself away from her and walked back to Flynn's side as if he was the knight's personal assistant and body guard. They may clash at times, but they made the perfect duo.
"He's right you know. Don't say that you'll throw away your life as easily as that. It's not even worth it to kill a person for a mere lie as that," Flynn told the girl with a frown.
"Then do whatever. Go ask around. I'm certain that the person passed by more than one child while they went on the run," she said before walking off with Kent.
"She's too alerted for her own good.." the knight commented.
"At least she isn't as naive as Estelle," Yuri countered, earning a small glare from his friend. "What? It's true."