"I want to talk to Krued." I croaked with clenched fists and a red face. En just nodded.
I must've stood there like an idiot for a good minute or two before En finally decided to get off his butt. With a loud sigh, he took my legs and pushed himself off the ground; throwing me over his shoulder with a sloppy fireman lift as he headed down the hall and down the stairs. I must've collided painfully against his back at least three times before I was able to climb my way to his other shoulder and relax.
But like the five-year old trapped in an adult body he was, he thought it would be funny to add a bit of bounce to his step as he started his journey down the stairs.
The result? Well... for starters, I lost the position I tried so hard to obtain on his shoulder in favor of constantly putting my arms in front of my face so I don't smash my nose against the curve of his back. He also managed to give me a sort of stomach ache when we finally left the inn. I was groaning painfully by the time we were heading down the Crocasian streets.
"You suck balls," I muttered and slumped against his shoulder, knowing that there was only flat ground before us. I heard En snot, adjusting his grip on my feet before I was able to slide off of him.
I've known En ever since I was a kid knocking on my distant aunt's door- he was my aunt's neighbor's son. The first time we met, he was trying to make cream puffs and had let me be the taste tester as our guardians went off to gossip. Long story short, En had managed to feed me the grossest thing ever known to man and I had to stay in bed for the next three days following that fateful encounter. Fortunately for him, he had magic fingers; and so he returned to my aunt's doorstep the day I finally got better and gave me a sort of peace treaty gift- a little crown with numerous flowers and leaves weaved into it. Honestly, I loved it so much that I wore it the whole day.
Sadly, whether the dumbass knew it or not- the leaves he weaved into the crown were actually poison ivy and I still have no idea how he wasn't even the slightest bit affected by it; and so triggered the start of our beautiful friendship.
If that was even the right way to describe our relationship...
maybe what I meant to say was how that was the start of a new pair of frenemies. Now, don't get me wrong- it's not like we hated each other; he just got on my nerves and I got on his. Ours were a somewhat violent friendship where heart to hearts mainly enlisted the face being used as a dummy. A few years back, it would always be us who would start the sort of mock playground brawls in the guild; I remember how we'd take forever convincing our guild mates to take our side whilst standing on tables.
My friendship with En was completely different compared to how I was with Sting...
"What? You need your beauty sleep already, princess?" En joked nonchalantly as he patted my back twice like one would pet a pet.
"No. but you do," I retorted quickly, and made a face to the back of his head. I could practically just see the way he rolled his eyes once he heard the tone.
I sighed and turned my attention back to our surroundings; it was probably around three in the morning now in the flower capital. Being so close to En kept me from catching the chilly breeze with his body heat but I don't think I could feel anymore comfortable about any other fact than the very idea that we were possibly the only ones awake and wandering around town at this time.
The games were going to resume at the regular time in just about a few hours too- typically you'd think everyone who would be participating to be asleep by now. But I was still wide awake and so was En. I think. But knowing us, we'd probably wind up sleeping in a trashcan or something before we'd even be able to approach Auguston.
"Emily took it pretty bad when we finally found you," En blurted out randomly as he rounded a corner, "and Krued told me that you were donating organs or something before you came to Crocas."
"... I was?" I couldn't help but twitch as all the information began to sink in. It made sense for Emily to be worried about me but for freaking Auguston Krued to make a cover up story for me rather than telling the truth to En? I didn't know whether to be thankful or smash my head against something for the poor gullible kid.
"Yeah and your surgeon was sort of shit, so that's why you have that giant stitch," he sighed and I could only gap at this guy's stupidity, "but I guess you lost too much blood to remember that."
Listening to him laugh after that little statement had to be the most painful thing I had ever had to go through. I mean En could so stupid sometimes that it physically hurt me to watch or listen. Now was one of those times and I honestly couldn't believe how much he didn't even change in the slightest.
"Which would explain why you're like a sheet of paper now, huh?!"
"... what?"
"I mean before you were like Superman. Nothing could hurt you!" Oh fuck.
Lilian Evan Orelohr was an S class mage model, wasn't she?
I completely forgot- there was a reason why she was S Class. Heck, she- I was practically a brick wall back then. Nothing but me could bother or hurt me- not other people, not other things, not gossip, not fights. The only thing that could've taken me down was my own mind, my own thoughts, me.
I had such a high pain tolerance that for a while, my nickname was actually Superman. I remember this one time En had even introduced me as the man of steel to a random member of the Custody Enforcement Unit.
"Right," I laughed nervously as I tried to change the topic. If I was really going to lose my magic when my scar closes, even pretending to be the S Class mage I used to be was out of the question. I couldn't even do up a proper thought projection the way I am now! They were so going to suspect something was up... "why does Auguston always take the night shifts? He should be sleeping like any other normal person would."
"But Krued isn't normal, is he?" He chuckled and we both fell into another awkward silence.
Auguston was a workaholic. If it wasn't obvious already- a little while before I disappeared from my first guild; he was promoted to acting lieutenant-general as the current lieutenant-general had retired. We were all extremely young then, so it wasn't even remotely possible for him to actually be promoted to such a position. But from what I hear lately, the moment he turns twenty-six next year, he'd be promoted to head of defense or something akin to that as he was one of the youngest full-on-country-against-country-war veterans in Fiore and had accomplished more for this country than any other general could even hope to negotiate.
At least he took his side job pretty seriously; when he was on duty, it was all business. Just like that time I encountered him while wandering around the Domus Flau a few days ago...
Wow that was only a few days ago...
How could things possibly happen that-
"Oi! Auguston!" My thoughts were cut short when En suddenly let out a loud squeal, not noticing how it was so high that his voice cracked a great deal before he broke into a sprint towards the knight mage.
I was promptly dropped onto the ground when the archer finally approached him while panting, "you need to consider a diet, holy shit. You've gotten fat, Lilian."
Nonetheless, En wasn't going to father any children by the time I was able to actually move and not be treated like a vegetable.
Krued kneeled down beside me curiously, as he stared at En's quivering body with no more than a small smile, "shouldn't you be resting?"
"I need to talk to you," I said with as much of a straight face I could muster if not for the fact I couldn't feel my everything after that stunt En just pulled.
The acting lieutenant-general only looked at me with a face full of pity before sticking a hand in his uniform, pulling out his black ripped up shirt. He was blushing a brilliant shade of red as he turned his head away and said, "you need to wear something or you'll get a cold."
Yeah, like your ripped up shirt would make a difference, I couldn't help but think as I accepted the shirt anyways and slipped it over my sports bra. At least I was covering up, somewhat. I probably looked like a punk now and Auguston was going to arrest me for smashing old lady Fifi's garden gnomes.
"Thanks," I said awkwardly as he turned back to me and tried to help me up. En was starting to whimper in pain now but Auguston didn't seem to acknowledge his presence. Which I couldn't blame him- helping a wet noodle was pretty hard. I kept slipping out of his grip like a bar of soap the moment he loosened his grip on my wrists. Finally he gave up and threw me over his shoulder just like what En had done except doing it the proper way and started to walk towards the castle. Leaving En by the gates and me panicking over his shoulder,
"Wait. Wait! Krued, why are we going inside?!" I shrieked as my whole body got consumed by another bout of pain, "I just want to talk to you! I thought you're not supposed to leave your post!"
Auguston however didn't answer me until much later when he magically managed to obtain a wheelchair of which he dumped me into and fetched a servant, "I'm not leaving my post. I'm coming back to it anyways; you however, have a long delayed appointment with your sister."
If I still had full accessibility to my body parts, I would've jumped back onto Auguston and sped off into the night, "sister? That brat wants to- no that's not important! It's you I want to talk to right now!"
"You know fully well that I don't have all the answers," he said bitterly as he walked away, leaving me with the servant. I felt like crying then,
"What about earlier?!" I shrieked at his retreating back, "Auguston- what were you talking about!?"
The only reply I got was Auguston stopping dead in his tracks, giving me a bitter look before the manservant wheeled me away.
"bye." He whispered and left, closing the grand doors of the castle behind him.
"How nice of you to finally join us, sister." The manservant dumped me at the center of the guest room before excusing himself, ignoring the visual pleading and glares I shot at him as he practically ran away from Azalia.
"Couldn't have it any other way..." I muttered under my breath grimly as I watched her tug at her golden skirts and walked towards me.
I never had a good relationship with my little sister- she was the type of person that always manage to piss me off by just breathing and I knew she didn't like me either.
All there was to our father's name was a handsome sum of jewels and a small village and the land leading up to its mountain- we weren't royal, we were just a family hailing from noble origins. So it never mattered who would inherit what since it was quite obvious we were both going to be married off anyways- but when I revealed I was a magic user to our parents, the current Lord Orelohr was quick to disown his eldest daughter and erase her from the records. I became the ghost child of the manor we lived in. A legend among the servants who gossiped in the kitchen about the girl who wandered the halls.
So I left, leaving Azalia with all the responsibilities just like she always wanted. And no one chased after me until our grandmother thought it would be funny to tamper with the blood of the only other magic user in the family.
"You know when I heard someone was sneaking around the halls during the games my husband worked so hard to organize, I was pretty suspicious... "her blue eyes twinkled with a mischievous glint as she stopped in front of me, dropping her skirts and not caring if some of the fabric pooled over my toes."so I had Auguston investigate."
"You sick bastard," I glared at her as she smirked condescendingly down at me. Of course she would take advantage of how seriously he would take his job. He was a pretty good actor too if he was able to keep me from suspecting her and direct my anger at him instead...
"So when I discovered the same girl was a reserve member," she let a loud haunting laugh as she walked away and I had to crane my neck just to keep her in my range of sight, "for Sabertooth nonetheless? I thought the irony was just astonishing."
"You guys kept tabs on me," I concluded as she halted and smiled.
I was pretty insignificant when I lived in the castle, our parents never spent any extra time on me like they had with Azalia. I was raised to rule over the village my father owned; my time was mostly spent by myself with the tutors and ministers that would aid me when it was time for me take over the role of the old mayor. I was taught how to handle the family business to support the village during times of financial crises. The grip our parents had on their perfectly normal daughter Azalia however, was far more lax and so she was free to do as she pleased, even if that wasn't what she wanted. The village didn't even matter much to them anyways, they just wanted someone to stay there to make sure the townspeople didn't rebel against them. I just happened to be that someone.
"Of course, we did." She scoffed and headed to the small table where a maid had come in fleetingly to set up some tea and snacks. I watched her pull a small vial from her pocket and dump it in one cup silently as she turned back to me, "well I did."
My muscles tensed at the sight as I struggled to get up from the wheelchair only to be pushed back down by a red-faced Azalia who looked a little too eager. Like she was expecting something to happen or I wasn't going along to her plan or something.
"What do you want," I tested my fingers and tried to get the feeling back into my wrist as she stayed planted in her spot, her arms still outstretched, "because frankly. I don't want to see more of you."
She blinked, as if what I just said didn't actually make it through her ears; she didn't budge until I kicked her in the shin and she retreated so fast that I just had to laugh at the pitiful sight. Azalia only glared at me from behind her blond bangs.
"That day..." she said finally after a long moment of silence before trailing off uncertainly; her tone reminded me of one a mother would use to convince her kid not to buy a toy. Like she was tired of me already, "you wanted some answers, didn't you?"
I didn't know whether she generally was willing to give me the answers or she was just playing me as she wheeled me over to the small table. If she was expecting me to let my guard down for even a second, she was going to get the biggest newsflash of her life- even if I still couldn't feel most of my body parts.
"I'm not your guinea pig, Azalia." I started as she poured a cup of tea for me, "I am not going to play your game."
Azalia just laughed at my response and shoved the cup closer towards me, "it's a muscle restoration syrup. Wouldn't do me any good if I poisoned you anyways."
I stared blankly at her and then to the cup of tea she poured for me, frowning as I slowly lifted it to my lips and only after I set it back down did Azalia finally crack and start laughing like the crazy maniac she was. Her shrill bouts of laughter pierced my ears painfully as she put a hand over her eyes oh so dramatically.
"Honey, you're the one guinea pigging herself." She said in between giggles and didn't even flinch when I heaved myself out of the wheelchair and grabbed fistfuls of fabric that decorated her collar.
"Don't fuck with me," I growled and all she did was smirk an even wider smirk at the pissed off expression on my face. The fact that the syrup had magically managed to restore full mobility in my body in just five seconds flat didn't even faze me at first until the realization sank in that she was actually right.
"Wasn't it like this with granny Iris too?" She raised an eyebrow and yet again gave that same condescending look. I struggled not to throw her against a wall as she continued to coo at my mistakes mockingly, "didn't you feel sorry for your old nursemaid that you offered to help? Poor naive little you didn't know where that took you!"
"Shut up."
"Project Orelohr? Don't make me laugh- it was a voluntary thing for you at first wasn't it? Until you figured that she was a bit wonky and you noticed that the doctors had slowly began to restrict you, huh?" She let out a loud haunting laugh unintentionally or maybe purposely making my blood pressure raise significantly.
"Shut up."
"Cutting your magic half? More like replacing it with a whole new 'container'. That pink headed girl would've been so disappointed in you. That super model from a few years back too. "
"Shut the hell up," I finally snapped and slammed her against a wall, my hands still wrapped around her collar, "Then what was the point of going through that emergency 'surgery', huh? I would've happily stayed dead, ok?! I would've stayed dead way back when if I knew this was going to happen!"
Noble as she was, she didn't even flinch as I turned more and more red-faced. Instead she just let out another long string of laughter and continued to provoke me.
"Don't pleasure yourself," she said, her eyes glinting like she knew how each and every word that spilled from her mouth was like poison to my ears, "you and I both know how terrified you are of death."
I chose not to answer this time as she matched my glare and waltzed back to the table after I dropped my hands, signaling for me to take a seat as well. No words were being exchanged as we refused to take our eyes away from the other, the staring contest was destroyed however when my little sister sighed and took a sip of tea, "you should be grateful that I changed you back. Wasn't this what you wanted?"
"But not like this!" I growled through clenched teeth, stretching each syllable angrily while I stomped towards her like a mad drunkard.
"You're not denying it." She smiled and set down her teacup, lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on the finger bridge she made.
Azalia was only a year younger than me, and the she-devil could've passed as my doppelganger if one didn't know any better. The only difference between the two of us however, was that her face had sharpened and matured after years in a stressful environment. Making her look like she was the older one.
Not like I thought it mattered anyways, she was still the devil's spawn.
Slowly, what she just said and all her actions up to this part started adding up and I was starting to work out just what her motive was.
"You want me to do something..." I said slowly, realization dawning in my eyes as I pointed an accusing finger at her in disbelief. "You're not just doing this randomly you actually want me to help you."
I watched as she started losing her cocky rich girl façade. Bull's eye.
"Not only did your husband screw up by allowing a dark guild join the Games," I watched as her face contoured and quickly continued before she had a chance to cut me off, "but you screwed up too! And now you're expecting me to fix it."
She had a nasty look on her face now as she took another sip of tea. I was leaning against the table with a victorious smirk when it finally looked like she wasn't going to have me beheaded, "so says the screw up."
"so says the screw up." I repeated with a more happier tone and smiled.
It was true- I was a screw up. My whole life I've lived as a screw up. I was born out of wedlock, I ran away from the first family that ever came to love me, I lived as an abomination for five years, and now I'm back to being a plain screw up. She couldn't have put it any other way.
We fell into another silence as we both tried to pool up a few words we wanted to say to each other. And it wasn't long until I realized I had nothing I wanted or needed to say to her that I didn't let out already.
She did though.
"You know if I didn't step in, you would've died." Her head was down, fingering the small plate that her cup was on delicately. Spinning it this way and that as my eyes bored into her head. Losing my magic, I knew. But dying? Sure, I did get stabbed through plenty of times and what not but I've been through worst and lived. So what made her think-
"Like dragon lacrimas- adding animal DNA into the crystals are a really rare case. The research of it is also very underground; so whether or not they knew that to surgically insert a lacrima in a human body was as similar as giving a person a new lung is unknown, the effects are the same." She had her head in her hands now, massaging her head like this was physically exhausting her. I could only stand there shocked as she tried to explain to me her reasons. "You getting sick suddenly with no other forewarning was your body finally starting to reject the lacrima. Our bodies were never compatible with lacrima insertion in the first place. It was getting bloated with your magic, and you can tell me differently about how you hardly fed it any in the last while but I had people do the research for me, ok.
"The lacrima placed in you was starting to shrink- that was what would make you think that way and it had slowly began to adapt to your lifestyle and drained you of your magic small quantities at a time until it began affecting your nervous system. With all the battles you've been involved in as a reserve member, the lacrima started sucking in more magic thinking itself as a defense mechanism when it really was just a parasite. The more magic it sucked in, the smaller it grew until it was finally going to implode in itself. If I didn't get it removed, then you would've died of internal bleeding that night. "
She didn't even let all the information sink in when she continued, "Iris was a great help of getting this information, of course. Seems like prison did wonders to that wacko. It was getting those two dragon slayers away from you for just a moment that was a problem. Good thing you had friends that were willing to do anything just to see you again, huh? My plan just went swimmingly when you acted just like how I predicted you would. But poor you doesn't want anything to do with any one of them anymore now, do you?"
"It was you." I said in bewilderment. She was telling me too many things, answering so much questions that I couldn't even catch up anymore. So I decided to work out the easiest one, "you were that 'mysterious' tip."
All she did was nod like it wasn't that grand of an action like I made it out to be. I breathed a heavy sigh as I pulled out a chair and let everything sink down.
So I was sick- running a fever during the games. Rogue's magic potion had fixed that. But I was running on empty- or so I thought when really all I was feeling the space the lacrima had used to fill. It was bloated on my magic and was going to blow... or...
I think I was going to have a head ache...
It felt like such a long time since I last thought about just how I ended up being Lily Harvard.
And I really didn't want to be reminded of the pain and terror I let myself go through.
"What do you want me to do then," I said quickly, mentally shaking my head of the memories. If I was going to have a mental break down, I was going to have it by myself. Without worrying of how Azalia would use it to her advantage. "What did you want me to clean up this time."
"The village," she said, matching her gaze with mine. "It seems a group of mountain thieves had ransacked the village the other day and have taken over the mine."
"So? Just get your darling Arcadios to send his troops over there."
"My husband is too preoccupied with other things at the moment," she said ominously and averted her eyes like there was more to her words than she hinted. She quickly picked herself back up and looked me straight in the eyes and smiled wickedly, "besides you can stay in the spare guest room here in the palace. Don't want to impose on your friends for any longer, do you?"
"Why can't mother and father handle it then?" I asked unconvinced and crossed my arms. Discarding that bit about her husband; there really wasn't a reason for her to be enlisting my help. Unless it was something extremely serious. She let out a loud sigh,
"You don't understand," Azalia groaned into her hands, "I'm giving you the village. I can't handle it- I have too many other obligations. Mom and dad can't handle it- they're senile old coots. You're the only one who can go over there and sort everything out. It's not like I'm sending you off right away. I'll get a medic to help you recover with your magic, ok? You'll just need some time to readjust. The operation would probably take all morning. I already got it scheduled for you. Just please take it."
Wow, Azalia. Desperate. That's new.
And so was me, speechless over this new personality of my younger sister.
Almost a decade away from home can really change a person...
"You've always wanted to be who you were before right?" She continued, "but Lily was dragging you down. Sabertooth was dragging-"
"Sting was not dragging me down!" I interrupted quickly and then slapped a hand over my mouth when I realized I had heard her wrong. A Cheshire grin crossed Azalia's lips.
"If you hadn't been trying so hard to be noticed, then you could have been the same mage you were before." She said smoothly, "if you didn't fall as deep as you are now."
"I'm not in love with Sting Eucliffe," I said dangerously under my breath and ran a hand over my hair. My blond hair.
Sting liked my pink hair...
"Keep telling yourself that," she smirked and then suddenly it all dropped and she was back to being serious, "I'll give you until tomorrow afternoon to decide. I'll go get the medic and we can get the operation started..."
Then she left so quickly she toppled over her cup and spilled tea all over her skirts. Azalia didn't even stop to wipe it off though, she just continued on to the door and into the hallway. Her heels clicking down the hall the further she went, leaving me all by myself in the room.
I groaned and placed my head into hands.
She was right, I've always wanted to go back to how I used to be. I wanted to go back to being the S Class model mage I was.
There was a time that I had accepted Lily though, a small moment that I felt like maybe everything was alright and maybe I overestimated my feelings too often. A moment when instead of wanting both attention and the past- I shifted my desires to just getting Sting to notice me as a girl and not as a sister.
But that was then and this was now.
I can't just go back and change things no matter how many times I wished on a star.
I sucked in a deep breath as I deflated in my chair and closed my eyes.
How did I let this all happen so fast...?