Hello again, everyone! Another update! The story's coming to an end, only a few more chapters ahead. It has been fun, isn't it? I hope you all stick with me until the end. Anyway, onwards to the 12th chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 12 – the final hindrance of Lumina
"So Gray, this is where you and your grandfather live?" Jack asked, looking at the local blacksmith shop.
"Yes, I'll go tell him that you need his presence." Gray answered, as they went in the house. He knocked on his grandfather's door,
"Grandfather, my friends are here to see you. They want to ask you something."
"Let them come in."
Gray went in first, then ushered the others to come in, his grandfather then asked,
"So, what have you come to see me for? Is there some jewellery to make?"
"No, please pardon me asking, but you are a Saibara, right?" Cliff asked.
"Yes, I am."
"I see. Actually, I want to ask you about the history of the Regisons and the Alexanders." Cliff enquired.
"How did you know of that secret?" asked Mr. Saibara, in surprise.
"I'm an Alexander, and our friend, who currently is under strict protection by her father, is a Regison. We want to find out the history of our families' ties, why they broke off their ties, and try to fix our relationships." answered Cliff, seriously.
"I would tell it to you, but you must bring your other friend first. It is best that the both of you know of it." Mr. Saibara said.
"Bur she's under the protection of her father, so it'll be hard for her to come." Chelsea said.
"That doesn't matter. Once you and the girl come, I will tell you about your families' history." Mr. Saibara said, in a huff.
"I understand. I'll try and bring her here somehow." Cliff answered.
"Then I will be waiting." he answered, hen the others left the room. "So, they finally arrived. The ones you were waiting for, grandfather." he murmured in a tone, which Gray didn't seem to hear.
Back outside, the others turned to Cliff, Jack asked,
"Cliff, you're seriously not trying to go there tonight, right?"
"Of course, I am. The faster I bring her here, the quicker we will be able to fix our families' relationship." He answered.
"But, the place might be teeming with guards, since her father found out that you've been visiting her." Chelsea said, in consideration.
"Yeah, what if they catch you again?" Mary said.
"Don't worry; I'll do my best to keep out of sight." Cliff answered.
"Just don't be reckless and just rush in." said Vaughn, "You always do seem to rush things, whenever Claire's concerned." He added.
The others laughed as Cliff blushed and retorted his act. Unbeknown to them, Lumina heard their whole conversation and decided to play the final card.
-That night, Regison mansion-
Claire is in her room, as expected. She looked outside her balcony window and sighed,
"Wonder, how the others are doing." she said to herself.
She looked around the garden, some of the guards are still in their respective positions, but some seemed to have gone somewhere.
"That's strange. I wonder if father decided to loosen the security… Nah, father would never do that. Maybe, they went for short break?"
She decided to head back to her books, right now, as she's confined to her room all the time. She decided to write stories to busy herself, when she's not studying or dazing out thinking of her fiends. After a while of silence, she heard some noised outside her balcony door. She decided to investigate, and so she went out. Then she was greeted by someone whom she thought she'd never meet again.
"Cliff? How-? When-? What-?", she couldn't decide which question she should ask.
"Calm down, I'm here to tell you some good news." He said,
"Good news?"
"Yes, we found the Saibara, and it seems he knows our families' history. He's willing to tell us, but we both have to be there."
"Even me?"
"Yes, that's why I've come to break you out of here."
"But Cliff, what is father-"
"Don't worry, it won't be long. We go there, listen to his story, and we'll come back here. No one will know you're missing for a while. Trust me." He said, as he held out a hand to her.
Claire thought of the consequences, but convinced herself that it's for their families. So she decided to break out for a while, and go with Cliff. She was about to take his hand when they heard the door open.
"See uncle Regison? He came again to take your daughter again, like last time." Lumina said, as she pointed towards the two.
"You! How dare you come back here! I thought I told you to never set your foot here ever again! Get out! Guards, throw this boy out! And make sure he never enter this place again!" he shouted.
The guards came and forcefully pulled Cliff apart from Claire. Claire tried to run after them, but was stopped by her father.
"Father, he-!"
Claire was stopped mid sentence when she was slapped by her father. Tears flowed down her face as she felt the stinging pain her father inflicted on her cheeks. Cliff saw Claire hurt, and tried to break free of their clutches and run to her aid, but he wasn't strong enough. He could only watch the hurt Claire as he was pulled out of the mansion door, all the way to the gates, where they literally threw him out. One of the guards said,
"You better not come back here. You're lucky for the second time, but you won't be so luck the third time. Now go!"
Cliff glared at them, then at the mansion, and then he went away.
Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Claire was in her room, with Lumina. Her father told Lumina to keep an eye out on Claire, whether Claire liked it or not.
"Now, don't be so sad Claire. You won't have to be alone in this room anymore, I'm going to take care of you." Lumina snickered.
Claire just looked at Lumina, eyes filled with tears and sadness. Then she sighed as she covered herself under the blankets.
-The next day-
"What? You got caught again? We told you to be careful!" Chelsea exclaimed, "But it's not surprising, she's under tight security."
"Cliff, was Lumina behind this again?" Skye asked. Cliff nodded.
"That girl never quits, does she?" Jill remarked.
"But what should we do now? They won't be able to fix their family ties at this rate." Mary said.
"Hey, we'll think of something! Right Cilff?"
Cliff remained silent the whole time, the others noticed and tried to cheer him up.
"Cliff, don't get so gloomy like that. Tell me you haven't given up yet." Jack asked.
"I don't know anymore. I want to fix our ties, but I don't think I can ever get Claire out of there." Cliff said, with a gloomy expression.
"What?! That's not the Cliff we know! Come on, get a grip! You're the only one who can go there and do something!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she grabbed Cliff by the shoulders.
"Yeah, but-!"
"No 'but's! I know, we know you can get Claire out of there!" she answered back.
With that, Cliff got back some of his enthusiasm. The others too lightened up, and began to hold a meeting on how to get Claire out.
-A week later, at the Regison mansion-
"Well, it's been a week already. Maybe your knight isn't coming here anymore." Lumina commented.
Claire remained quiet.
"Oh, what is this? You can't make any excuses for him anymore? Ahaha! That's so weak!"
"I know. I believe in him! He will come for me; he must need some time, that's all."
"My dear Claire, false hope is a scary thing. Trust me on this."
Claire just looked at her, then looked away towards the school.
-Secret Base-
"Skye, have you figured the routine of the guards?" Cliff asked.
"Hey, I'm not a master of stealth for no reason. Of course, I figured out their routine." Skye self-complemented himself.
"Stop with the self-complement and get on with it." Chelsea said.
"Alright, I found the daily routine shift of the guards on one of the rooms. And it seems security I a bit loose in Saturdays than any other days of the week. See, this is the layout of the positions the guards are placed in for every day of the week.", he spread the layout in he table.
"There ARE lesser guards on post at Saturday!" Jack exclaimed.
"But the numbers aren't far behind as compared to other days, but they are placed a bit farther apart than other days." Jill commented.
"What do you think, Cliff?" Vaughn asked.
Cliff took a good look at the layout for Saturday, then he answered, "Yeah, I think I can make it there, and there are no guards near the secret entrance."
"That's one problem out of the way, but what about Lumina?" Mary asked.
"Yeah, I heard that she's on duty near Claire." Skye said.
"I'll think of a way." Cliff answered.
"I'll stay near the place, just in case. And word of advice, to blend in the dark, wear darker clothes, black is good. Though I'm sure you might've already known this." Skye said.
"Thanks for telling." Cliff answered.
"Alright, operation: bring Claire out II starts tomorrow night!" Chelsea exclaimed.
"So the first attempt was operation I?" Jack commented.
"I hope you'll succeed this time." Mary said.
"Yeah, we'll be praying!" Jill added.
-The following night, Reginson mansion-
"This is now or never." Cliff said to himself as he entered the Regison grounds through the secret entrance. He hid behind the trees nearby as he spied on the guards positioned a bit farther from him. When the guard turned his back, Cliff quickly headed to the tree that was nearest to Claire's balcony. The very tree he always used to climb up and reach his destination. He hid himself just in time as the guard turned around to face his side. Soon, when the coast was clear again, he climbed up the tree, hurriedly jumped over the balcony and hid yet again near the walls next to the door.
Of course, as he jumped over to the balcony, the leaves of the tree rustled, which caught the guard's attention. He looked up but saw nothing and since it was quite windy that night, he dismissed it as the wind rustling the leaves.
Cliff saw the room lights off, so he suspected that Claire was already asleep, and that Lumina already went back. He quietly opened the door and stepped in. He looked around, and saw no signs of anyone else present in the room. But suddenly, the lights were turned on.
"Oho, so the knight really came back. But too bad I'm still here." Lumina said, as she headed towards Cliff.
"Cliff." Claire called out, a mix of happiness and worry for the boy shown in her eyes.
"Oh, I won't make quite a ruckus if I were you, there are guards positioned outside the room as well. They'll go away, as soon as I leave the room, which I won't be doing for a while."
"Tell me one thing, Lumina. Why are you doing this?" Cliff asked.
"Oh? Why I'm doing this? Isn't it obvious, I'm doing uncle Regison a favor. Isn't that all?" she answered.
"But is this what you really want to do?"
"Well, of course. What other things do I need to do, except making my family happy?"
"Isn't that what all parents tell to their children? Do everything they can to make them happy? But what I'm asking is what YOU want to do."
"Yeah Lumina, what do you want to do? I don't think having fun in other people's despair is what you really want to do." Claire added, noticing Cliff trying to talk Lumina out of this.
"Well, it wasn't my decision from the very start. But I don't really know what I would do except doing this. It's my only way of happiness." Lumina said, as she started to ponder on the question.
"Making your family happy is good and all, but you don't have to do everything they wish you to do. You also have to think of yourself, what really makes you happy?" Claire continued her question, making Lumina even more confused to the question.
"No one ever really asks me what I want to do…" she answered.
"Then tell me this, did you have fun when you tried to force Jill to give up on Skye? What if the situation's reversed and you'd be the one people torture?" Cliff asked.
"I-I won't like it…"
"Lumina, I'm sure you're doing all this for your parent's sake, and a few for your own, but you don't have to force yourself to become someone else that your parents want you to be. Unlike me, who am always under watchful eyes, you're free. Of course, people might watch your every move as well, but that doesn't mean you need to become a person they want you to be. Don't let other's make who you are, make yourself upon who you want to be." Claire said.
Lumina remained quiet for a while before she spoke again,
"You came here through the secret entrance you said, right? Go back."
"Lumina?" Claire called.
"And… Take Claire with you. I'll tell the guards outside that you're already asleep and my work here is done."
"Is this some sore of trap?" Cliff asked, in her change of attitude.
"Hey, I'm doing you a favor, even though I don't like it. I can see that you both are really intent on fixing this family relationship thing. And I don't think I can meddle with the relationship between you two as well. It's my loss. Now go."
Claire smiled, as she said her thanks,
"Oh, just a minute." She said, as she quickly wrote a small letter and kept it in her bed. "Just in case, someone enters the room after this.", then headed towards Cliff. Cliff and she went out. Lumina watched them disappear into the darkness, probably went through the secret entrance by now. She then left the room, after turning the lights off.
"The 'princess' is asleep now. I made sure of it. You can go now." Lumina told the guard, he left and Lumina made towards the door.
"Nothing's up, right?" Skye asked, as he saw Lumina heading for the door.
"No, not anymore. I can see that they really love each other, just like you towards Jill. I'll leave you all alone. It had been fun." Lumina said, then she exited the mansion.
"I guess it's 'operation clear' then." Skye muttered.
Another chapter done! And Lumina finally given up on trying to go between them! Now the only thing left is for Claire and Cliff to learn their families' history and try to fix that. Will they succeed in this? Find out in the next chapter!