Author's Note: Hey guys...It's been like, what? Almost a year since I've last posted? A lot of you probably won't see this as I'm a failure of an author at updating and a lot of you have already quit on this story...OTL. But thank you to all the people who had commented, favorited, or followed since the last chapter. All the notification goes to my email, which I end up seeing them and it makes me have butterflies in my stomach (I see you returning commenters ;3 Much love 3)~ I hope you continue to support me, even with my sporadic updates. You know it's bad when the author has to reread their own story just to remember details in their plot...OTL Haha. I hope you enjoy and let me know how it is in the comments. A little more Tyki and Allen interaction and a bit less depressing Allen. See you next year? LOL (I hope this is not the case.)
Days after being the last vision, I was left in my room to my own accord again. Lavi was busy in the library again researching about anything that might help him come to understand the Noahs more, and finding out about the mysterious 14th Noah. Sitting on the bed, I reached into my coat to grab the leather bound book again. On the front of it, it had engraved lettering on it as I traced over it. It spelled Neah Campbell. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. What was I thinking? What was the point of taking and hiding this damn book if I can't even read it? And how are my visions related to this? If all my vision was in this Neah person's perspective, then the other shadowed person must be Mana then...? All this was so confusing for me to comprehend. Why me of all people to be chosen to come here? Why me that's getting all these visions? As I was sitting on the edge of the bed hovering over my knees with the book in hand, a person bust through my door with a bang. It caused me to flinch as the door ricochet back against the wall behind it. My hand automatically gripped my blade, but a familiar cologne wafted to my nose as I relaxed back to my original position.
"What is it, Master Mikk?," I politely asked, even though he was the one to intrude into my room without any prior notice.
"Listen to me, shounen. You. Me. We're going to the festival in town today. I need to go see some people and I need you to come with me." This made me turn toward him and furrow my brows at him.
"Ha? Why do I need to go with you? If you don't remember, my job is to guard Master Lavi, not go on a wild goose chase around town for your entertainment, Master Mikk." He smirked at my statement, which irritated me even more.
"Not to worry. I've already asked your 'keeper' to have you for today," he stated proudly. I sighed and shook my head at him.
"Have you even thought about the possibility of the public reacting to you being out in the open? And some unknown person hanging around their 'God' like it's nothing?" He simply laughed at my worries.
"You worry too much, shounen. I already have this figured out. This isn't my first outing. I have a disguise for when I go out to meet my friends on the outside. Being in this home gets stuffy after a while of being put on a pedestal all the time, you know?" My mouth twitched as my irritation increased. I shouldn't have been riled up by his obvious bait, but he seems to know how to get on my last nerves. I imagine myself kicking him off that high horse of his and giving a piece of my mind.
"Oh my bad, Master Mikk. I should have thought about your struggles. How thoughtless of me. How horrible it is to be stuck in a place with no care in the world of whether you have a shelter nor food on your table." He was quiet for a few seconds and I silently wondered if I went too far with this familiarity. One of the disadvantages of not being able to see. A person's expression can show a lot as the eyes of people is the window to their soul.
"Was that just sarcasm?" I sighed once more as he missed my point completely. He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my room to a completely different area of the mansion. He began throwing clothes at me and pushed me towards a door, I'm guessing is a bathroom or a closet of some sort. " Get dressed, shounen. Like you said, shouldn't attract unnecessary attention while we are out. 'Like they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do'." I facepalmed my face as I wonder how I got into this mess.
As I quietly exited the door I came in, I was rubbing my right arm at the lack of sleeve this outfit contain. I was glad that the left sleeve was still intact, so it wasn't that hard to hide the deformities underneath, but the material of the shirt was quite light and weightless, which made me feel vulnerable. My usual attire is much heavier and thicker than what I'm currently wearing in order to protect myself in any situation I may get myself in. The collar of the shirt was high enough to cover most of my markings that had recently spread and the pants was a basic pair of loosely fit pants. I heard a whistle and I turned toward the corner it came from.
"Wow, shounen. You actually look like your age now. A regular teenager out to have fun instead of a middle-aged man who hasn't cracked a smile in years. Not like you have now, but this is a major improvement." I rolled my eyes underneath at his over dramatic statement. "Now, while we are at trying to blend in, let's get to the point of the formality in your speech. While we are out, don't call me Master anything. Just consider me like any other person you might encounter in the open. Oh, and try to talk like any regular teenager would. Tone it down with the formality a couple of notches would be good."
I sighed as this got more and more complicated as he continued on. He was basically telling me to undo everything that has been drilled in me by the order and act 'normal'. What is normal at this point? How do I become something normal when I've ever experience the life in the order? Is normal just the way you talk? Or is it the way a person perceives one another and see normality? From what I can tell, I look the opposite of normal. My body has scars and markings that a normal person at my age would have never experienced. And age...what is my age? I've lost count of how long I've even been alive in this world. I've only known that I was taken in by the order when I was fairly young. Counting the years of experimentations would have driven even the sanest person mad. From what Tyki said, I would be around the teens. That didn't seem too far off if I had to guess how old I was. Maybe 16 or 17 years of age? Maybe appearing even older than that with the many years in the order as I'm a bit leaner than many kids my age. As I thought about the different aspects for me to portray the 'normal' that he was looking for, it got even more and more confusing as, even I, do not know myself that well. The only person I had as a reference to normal would be the general that had trained me in the order. Marian Cross. I shuddered at the name as it reminded me of all the things he made me do to even to get to the point that I am now. But I always thought of him as childish and crude in personality. Would that be considered normal? I would guess it is as it seemed to be the only point of reference I had.
"You gotta be kidding me, Mikk. What the fuck are we even doing going into the bloody town for anyway?" He simply laughed while he got up from where he sat and patted my shoulder.
"Wow, you're so cruel to me, shounen...Referring me to only my last name? How very impersonal of you. My poor shounen is already cursing like a sailor. Where have the manners I taught him before went?" I slapped his hand off of my shoulder, stopping him from condescending me.
"You haven't taught me anything...Get your hands off." He laughed once more at my actions.
"Oh! You forgot to take off your blindfold," he voiced out, causing me to flinch slightly. The blindfold was something I wore constantly to hide the scars on my eye. It was also the mark of the black lamb in the order. The lamb that defies the order once and was punished. But it was certainly not normal for a person to wear a black blindfold in public. I had felt something coming closer and closer towards my face before I quickly grab at it. It was his wrist.
"What are you doing?," I asked defensively once more.
"Calm down, shounen. I'm simply taking it off for you since you forgot to. You can't really go out wearing that. People tend to talk about things they don't understand nor see." I contemplated this before I released his wrist and nodded for him to continue. Once it was off, I could see the light hitting me from behind my eyelid. As I slowly opened my eyes, I winced at the light hitting it. I was considered legally blind, as Sheril stated. For me, I could still make out shapes and sizes, but everything was blurry and foggy for me. I could make out a silhouette of a person in front of me. I couldn't make out the color that well as all the color blurred against each other, but I could tell that it was mostly dark. "Wow...this is the first time I got to look at your eyes closely...They're beautiful. Like a silvery unrefined diamonds."
"Was that suppose to be an insult or compliment, Mikk?" He uncrouched and laughed loudly.
"Why, it was a compliment, shounen. I'm simply a gentleman and wouldn't say such crude insult."
"You do realize I'm a male right? Isn't compliments meant for females?"
"Now that's where you're mistaken. Humans are selfish creatures, female or male. They seek attention and praise. Meaning both sexes can receive compliments."
"I see...But why say unrefined? Doesn't that have a negative connotation to it?"
"Unrefined is not bad, especially for diamonds as it is the beauty underneath that matters. But usually yes, if used in another context, it can have a negative meaning to it. But your eyes doesn't have that shine to it like many people do. I'm guessing it's because of your condition. It's like you can see, but probably not clearly enough to tell things apart. Am I right?" I nodded. I didn't know that's what it looked like and it was the first time anyone had described what it looked like to me. It certainly didn't look like that when I was younger. I touched my stomach lightly. What is this feeling? It's like something was irritating it from the inside with a feather. I didn't like this feeling. It felt like I was vulnerable. I dismissed such feeling quickly and turn my attention back toward Tyki. From what I could tell as he walked away from me, he was a good half a feet taller than me and was lean, yet had a larger frame than I. I frowned as I thought he would have the upper advantage if he and I ever fought, but size doesn't mean everything. But it does mean that it would be harder to put him down one day...
"So, Mikk...What about you? What is your infamous disguise you were boasting about this whole time?"
"Wait and see, shounen," he voiced out in an irritating, matter of tone. I tilted my head in questioning.
"That's a bit impossible for me...," I annoyingly replied.
