iMuch to my dismay, the night truly didn't come easy, the throbbing in my skull a numbing but gradually dull pain. There's a sense of an unease in the air as I lay in the bed, the sheet and robe doing little to warm myself, the morning slowly dawning as a rattling twitching feeling in my chest goes haywire. Whatever sleep I could get was miniscule and a brief respite, I can feel my mood sour further and further as I start to twist and turn in the sheets once again with a deepening frown on my face. Why hell can't I get some sleep? Is it the garb I'm wearing, is where I'm trying to sleep specifically? I've slept on a barrel once, I should be able to handle a bed. It's torturous to keep myself to the thing, time passing so SLOWLY in this pile of garbage room. My fingertips idly scratching and tearing lightly at the sheets as I slowly exhale, looking up to the ceiling and retreating my thoughts into the back of my mind. What's going to be happening Zeke, try to weasel your way out of this mess? You don't have an idea on whether or not it's actually going to be okay after all, who's to say that the Templar's aren't gonna double cross you? You'd do the same if you were one of them, you probably have. Why does Lucas seem so willing to help you, it seems so strange, he hates you, loathes you! Why would he want to help your furry ass get up and out of here, why would he protect you? Sure Edward would be fine because of his family connection, but you? You're an amnesiac soul displaced abomination trying to peddle yourself as a bastin, you can't even manage to be that! If you do get out of here cause of Edw-
The violent swing of the door slamming open brings myself back to the real world, jolting in fear as I turn to face the intruder, nothing to defend yourself Zeke what are you gonna do? I recognise that face, that hair, it's as if a wave of relief washes over his face as he makes his way towards me, I can't stop the twitching smile at my lips from forming. My mind suddenly feels so much clearer, he's still in the same clothes as yesterday.
"Hey Eddy boy! Now you're probably thinking that I fucked up in being safer, which I did! But I didn't expe-" I let out an oof of surprise as he smothers my face with his chest, his arms clasped around my back as he lifts me upwards. I blink at the sudden and forceful hug, one of my hands awkwardly patting as his shoulder.
"Er, nice to see you again too?" I say in confusion, his grip around my chest only tightening at time passes, a firm and rapid change as he holds tighter and tighter.
"Erk, Eddy, I gotta breath here!" I manage to choke out before coughing onto the man's shoulder, serves him right. As if he only just realises what's going on, he pulls away with an awkward grin on his face, I can finally breathe at least. I shoot him a grin of my own as I lean back into the pillow, hands behind my head.
"What were you so worried about? Did you think some magic would poof me outta existence? You're still stuck with me." I stick out my tongue in a jokingly goading manner, chuckling aloud as he crosses his arms, I can hear his foot tapping against the ground.
"Now is not the best time to be joking around, Zeke, we thought you wouldn't make it. I'm glad you did though." He almost mutters the last part under his breath as he pulls a stool from beside another bed, taking his seat on it. It warms my heart to hear it though, basitin ears baby, my grin turning a bit more soft and genuine.
"I know Eddy, I know. I'm sorry for slipping up like that, I forgot that Templars could use, ya know, magic. It's what these towers are for after all. What happened to me afterwards though?" I both apologise and question my friend, he's owed the apology at least, but I really want to know what happened. Edward shifts in his seat, it seems like he's getting himself all comfortable, sounds like this might be a long story.
"After you two disappeared to have your own fight, the other Templar and I had our own little duel, it was close but he kneeled in the end. He seemed honourable enough in his surrender, so I left him to find out what happened to you. I found, well, I found you lying against the ground, with that other Templar hovering over you with sword in hand. I didn't really think, I just wanted him away from you, nearly tore his head off trying to do that, according to the other Templar. Turns out the captain here was already on his way to check out what was going in with the smithy, he had his suspicions about it all and he had some plainclothes confirm it. He was already coming to confront them, we just happened to be there first." He explains, finishing his story with a deep intake of breath, that's a lot of information to go over. I squirm a little as he mentions Alex and I, I already know what he'd be wanting to do to me, so close and yet so far. Edward went haywire trying to protect me huh? It's heartwarming to know about that, but I still feel guilt brew in my chest as I think over it, you shouldn't have been in that situation to begin with Zeke. Captain Lucas seems smart, burly and scarred but smart, he probably knew about the schtick for a long time.
"I, shit, I'm still sorry that I got caught off guard like that Edward, I promised I'd try to be a bit safer and everything too." I finally say, following it with a half hearted sigh, I struggle to look him in the eye as I scratch at the back of my neck to distract myself from the unease in my chest. Edward smiles surprisingly softly, it's a pensive looking one as if he's reminded of a previous memory, his chuckle lacking enthusiasm.
"I know Zeke, or I figured it anyway. I expected it, but you still worry me anyways, did I ever say you remind me of someone?" I raise an eyebrow, intrigue brewing in my thoughts.
"I don't think you have, maybe? I'm not completely sure, my memory is pretty poor, why the hell are you relying on the amnesiacs' memory? I do remember you saying you'd talk about stuff later yesterday after our spar. We didn't have much of a chance to talk obviously, why do you ask though?" I ask him inquisitively as I push myself upwards, now I'm definitely interested in this. Edwards' smile turns a bit more warm as I tilt my head.
"Yeah, that's part of what I wanted to tell you about. You remind me a little of my brother, a lot of my brother actually, both of you have the same naive peppiness, if you understand what I mean." I blink in surprise, I remind him of his brother? I wasn't even aware he had a brother.
"I can't tell if I feel complimented or insulted, so I'll take it as a compliment. I always thought you were an only child, what's he like?" He's never really opened about his family, other than his uncle and father of course, I almost forgot about the rest of it.
"Very naive, very forgiving and kind to people around him. He's a unique kid, strange, but always meant well. Tended to get along with most anyone he spoke to." Edwards' lips continue its curl upwards as he continues to reminisce about him, it's probably the most I've heard him open up about his family.
"So, I remind you of your little brother? That's why you're that little bit protective over me?" I summarize, Edward shrugging in response.
"More or less. Physically there's a lot of differences, but you have a similar… charm, I suppose. Not quite the same, but close enough" An odd warmth grows in my chest as I look to the man, his eyes sharing that little happy glee the rest of his face does.
"Awh, Edward you sap, it's nice to hear you open up about yourself. You still look kind of uncomfortable though." I give him a small ribbing as I lean over and gently nudge his arm with a fist, he scoffs and rolls his eyes.
"Seriously though, I'm glad that you're open about that at least, I know it's hard for you and even though I have a lot of questions, I don't want to force you to feel pressured to answer them. Also here I was thinking that you had romantic feelings for me, that'd be awkward, and I'd feel bad for flirting around." I snicker and burst into laughter as his face turns into a blanch of disgust, groaning loudly as he muffles his face.
"That's it, I'm not telling you about shit again." He grumbles in a huffy tone, giving him an increasingly large grin as I nudge him once more.
"Hey, that makes the times I flirted with you to mess with your head kind of weird now, huh? I imagine that your little brother flirting making you feel kind of weird, hm~?" I question him again with a faux questioning tone, only bursting back into laughter as he groans again, louder even through the muffling of his hands.
"I kind of wish you were still knocked the fuck out actually, would've saved me from this torment." He says aloud in a deadpan tone, though his one sided smile contradicts his tone.
"You don't mean that, you love me you secret sap bastard. Thanks for coming in for me though, especially so early, do you know how fucking boring it is in here? I miss my cloak, where is my cloak anyways? Who the hell stripped me cause that's on my mind and I'm extremely uncomfortable with the thought that Lucy had a hand in it, please tell me Lucy didn't see anything." I splurge out my questions rapidly, my tone turning pleading towards the end, Jesus Christ if Lucy saw any of me I'd flip my shit. I huff in a petty manner as Edward bursts out into laughter, shoes on the other foot Zeke. It takes a while for it to die down, his wide grin subdued.
"Ahahah, I'd imagine that Kedrick would've done so, Lucas introduced me to him afterwards, I'm surprised a man like him is a cleric of all things. Lucy being here was surprising, but she stood off to the side in case her magic was needed. Which, it wasn't. Zeke, do you have any idea why you're so sensitive to magic? I always thought basitins were resistant to it, but you kind of, well.." He trails off as he looks over my prone body, his hand gesturing to it. I shrug in return, holding my hands up flatly with raised arms.
"Hell if I know, I really don't have the faintest idea. I feel like a basitin in every other aspect, magic just kind of knocks me on my ass," I reply to him, sighing and dropping my arms, thudding the back of my head against the wall gently. "Lucy's gonna have a field day poking and prodding me with whatever she has in that house of hers if she gets her hand on me, that doesn't help my case either."
Edward snickers, his hand reaching over and ruffling my head and hair mockingly, his wide grin back on his face. I pout and stick my tongue out to him, the smug little bastard.
"If you really feel that strongly about her, then I can always beat her off with a stick in your steed, although I do wonder why you feel the way you do." He finishes his sentence with an ever widening smile, looking down on me with it. I blink in confusion before waving my hands in the air defensively.
"It's not like the way you're thinking, she has a vial of my blood on her, she showed me when I ran into her a few nights ago! Why does she have my blood Eddy? What type of fucking cleric just carries blood around on them, why did she have my blood specifically? Did she think she was gonna run into me or something? It's a cause for concern for someones' safety, my safety!" I blurt out my defense and worry to him, grumbling under my breath as I reach around, tossing my pillow at the laughing mans' face. It harmlessly bounces off of it, much to my dismay, fluffy enough to do no harm but too tough to actually think it's comfortable to sleep on, at least to me. The worst of either world.
The conversation dies down between us, replaced with a content silence as the sunlight continues to pour into the room, it looks a bit more lively in the morning, maybe it's just me. The place still smells like medicine, but oddly I can smell the sea salt scent, is it because of how close we are to the sea, is that news to me or did I only just register it in my mind? I rub at my temples, the headache still there, but it's a lot more manageable now and my mind clearer.
"You feeling alright Zeke?" Edward pipes up suddenly, concerned flooding his voice.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine, I've just had this really weird headache since I woke up. It's better now but I can still kind of feel it." I reply as I look over to him, an inquisitive expression on his face/
"Hm, do you think it's because of the Templar tower? You seem pretty sensitive to magic, oddly enough, and the towers do generate a lot of magic." Edward infers, I assume he knows a small bit about how the towers work. I roll the information around in my head and slowly nod, a small idea forming in my mind.
"Yeah, that makes sense actually. The mana mines below us and the mana storage above would put me in between the two, so whatever leaking energy, or magic, or whatever it'd be called. I think anyways, I have no actual idea beyond spewing potential shit, magic alone is foreign enough to me, let alone an entire tower full of it." I conclude myself and shrug, wincing as a strike of pain goes through my head. That's enough thinking before you hurt yourself Zeke, at least more so anyways. Edwards' raised eyebrow brings my attention back to him, a curious look on his face.
"Zeke, how do you know about the layout of a Templar tower? Sure, I get that you know what they do, but how do you know how they operate, their use? I briefly said that they helped with spellcasting, but I gave no more information than that." Edward grills me as he leans forward, his eyes squinting slightly. I blink, how did I know their use? I kind of blurted it out as I was thinking about it. Maybe you spoke a bit too much, Zeke.
"Oh, uh, that's a good question Eddy, I actually have no clue. I just kind of let it out, I've been remembering some things at least and I guess I subconsciously remember that little tidbit?" I reply with confusion of my own, shrugging again. Edward doesn't seem entirely convinced, his eyes looking over my face as I see the gears twisting behind them.
"Zeke, you're a Templar aren't you? Or at least you remember being one, it'd explain how you know about the towers instinctively, even if you don't remember exactly how you know it. It'd explain how the people around here reacted to you too, especially the person who attacked you." He continues to question me, his eyes probing my own with an intense staring. I feel the sweat bead on my forehead as the air turns tense. I don't respond, not for a few seconds at least, finally sighing defeatedly.
"I can't say that I'm surprised you pieced it together. Yeah, I used to be, I remember some parts of what I used to do, my tasks and orders and stuff, I guess there's some parts I don't fully remember, but it's at the back of my mind, know what I mean?." I finally explain to him, squirming slightly in the bed as he continues his examination over me, he finally drops the aggressive facade on his face, replaced with one of confusion
"I think I do, but why were you so scared of them then? You were one of them, even if you don't remember, you'd still be a part of them. Why didn't you tell me, either?" He continues to pry and pry, my headache flaring up again. I grit my teeth and try to barge my way through the pain, though, at least for Edward.
"You wanna know why I'm so scared, so fucking terrified Eddy? It's cause I was a genuinely terrible person god dammit and I don't want anything to do with my past beyond knowing it on the off chance that something might bite me in my ass, which did happen just yesterday. Whatever I did to Alex, the person I was fighting, it must've been something awful for him to hate me so much, and Lucas here isn't too fond of me either. Yeah, it turns out that I know both of them, I left a wonderful lasting impression on them, the only reason I'm still alive is because Lucas for gods-knows-what reason decided that he wasn't gonna crush my skull in my sleep, and god bless that man for it too, I was half expecting him to change his mind and finish me off in this very damned bed. I didn't tell you because the right topic for it never really came up, what was I meant to say? 'Hey I used to be a Templar and chances are most of them might wanna stab me in my sleep, can we do anything but talk to them?'" I finish my tirade with a huff, cursing under my breath as I rub at the growing pain in my temple. Edward sighs himself, pinching the bridge of his nose as he pulls backwards, his brow furrowed.
"By the gods Zeke, some heads up about it all might've helped, sure I wouldn't have willingly taken you to the Templars regardless, but it's the thought of giving some gods damned warning that counts. Listen, I know it's hard to talk about things, and I get that, but I want to help you, you absolute idiotic child. I can't do that if you don't fill me in on what's going on, especially when it's so serious. Fuck, if I knew half of what I do now, I'd have stood watch in this room my damned self." His voice is a serious and chiding one, the critical scolding forcing myself to frown. He is right, you know that Zeke, you can't do shit on your own, and if you can't keep a friend in the loop then they can't help either, can they? I roll my thoughts around in my head for a while before sighing, returning to thudding the back of my head against the wall, headache be damned, guilt and confusion stewing in my insides. Why didn't I tell him, was it because I was scared of spewing out my insecurities or something? I've told Anna that I've died for gods' sake, would Edward act even half as understanding? I brew in my own thoughts and bite at the insides of my mouth, hissing as I taste copper, shouldn't have bit that hard Zeke.
"You know Edward, I have no god damn clue. I guess I was just worried, not entirely sure on what, but it's the best I got. What if I've managed to do something to one of your family members or friends that'd make you hate me? I don't think I'd be able to handle you hating me like that." I finally manage to eke that little rebuttal out though my clenched jaw, my head throbbing in pain again and again. Edward continues to pinch at his nose, sighing once more.
"For fucks sake Zeke. I have no idea why you'd think that, but I can safely assure you that if you did do anything remotely bad to my family, I'd have been aware of that long before we went on this mission." He speaks in a frustrated but resolute tone, his eyes a cold but adamant reflection of it. His lips purse themselves together afterwards as we both look to each other, the guilt in my chest refusing to dissipate. I finally throw my hands into the air exasperatedly.
"Well fuck, maybe I'm just over thinking things, you've already done enough for me as is, and I don't wanna burden you any more. I just, fuck, I think I am over thinking stuff. I'll tell you if anything's on my mind though, I promise, and I'll stick to my promise, if I break it you can stab my legs to get back at me cutting you that one time." I say to him in an equally exasperated manner as my gesturing, Edward seems almost content with that reply, but he rubs at his temple again.
"I'm running out of ways to tell you that you're an idiot Zeke, if I ever had an issue with doing stuff with you and for you, I'd have told you to shove it up your ass, I've done it plenty of times before. I'm not gonna fulfil the second half of that promise, but I will be pretty upset if you keep me out of the loop again. Is there any other discovery that you want to tell me before something else pops up?" He finishes and asks again, an almost joking tone in his voice. Oddly enough, the pressure in my head seems to relieve itself as he gives a lopsided smile, no idea why, but it's like the guilt in my chest lifted itself as well. I guess I was a bit worried over nothing, something I might have to apologise for later on, probably repeatedly. I hum to myself, tapping my finger against the sheets.
"I do, actually." I admit to him, catching him by surprise. He raises an eyebrow but remains silent, shifting in his seat.
"And that's that Zeke?" He questions. I hum to myself and mull it over in my head, should I lay it down lightly, or should I just blurt it all out? Eh, fuck it
"I'm fucking dead Ed. Or rather, I died, but I'm here now, so I'm pretty alive, but I definitely did die. Met the grim reaper and everything, or Death, however you call it here." I finally confess to him. It takes a small while, but Edward suddenly bursts out into laughter, the noise echoing throughout the room. I frown, but I don't speak up, just letting him laugh his lungs out as I tap my fingers against the sheets idly.. He stops soon afterwards, a bright wide grin on his face as he looks over to me, which quickly drops as I continue to look at him.
"Yo- You're serious, you're actually serious?" He asks bewilderedly, I give him a shrug.
"Well yeah, it's kind of important after all, and I'd imagine that kind of falls under 'stuff that's going through my mind and is important to my past', at least I think so, I might be wrong. You feeling okay there Eddy?" I answer his question with a question of my own as I tilt my head. He has his lower face covered by his hands, held up by his knee. It looks like he's just thinking about that little bit of information, I don't exactly blame him for it.
"Sorry just, give me a moment to process that. So you've died, and you've come back to life?" His face and tone seems pretty questioning and sceptical, and I can't say I blame him for it.
"Yeah, kind of anyways, I can't actually remember if I'm myself or someone else. I might be overthinking that too, but the way I think of it is that I've died somewhere else, and then I've been put into this body as a new life type of thing, but I still have memories of my life here, so I'm still me from both places. Does that make sense?"
"That makes literally no sense to me at all, so no." He replies bluntly with a deadpan expression. I can't help but chuckle at it, despite what he says, he's taking this pretty well, maybe he didn't mean that in such a humorous way though.
"Can't say it makes sense to me too, I kind of pulled it out of my ass. It's odd, like my soul was shoved into this body. I can still remember this life specifically, a lot better than my old one at least. God I was a bit of a prick here though." I re-explain myself to him, the 'two becomes one' thing seems to make a bit more sense to Edward, at least from what I can tell.
"...Does that make you a zombie or something?" Edward asks, it's both an odd and reasonable question that I can't help but mull over, zombies are just re-risen corpses aren't they?
"I'm surprised you have zombie stories around here, but… I don't think so, I'm still very much alive, and a basitin, just not a really good basitin it seems," I grumble under my breath as I gesture towards myself. "Still don't have a clue for why I got knocked on my ass by magic, might have something to do with all… this, I gues."
"You are a pretty awful basitin, but you're a pretty good friend despite your whole thing." Edward offers as he shrugs. I can't stop my lips from twitching into a smile, he considers me a friend! Fuck yeah! He snickers and rolls his eyes as I give a little victory fist pump, the feel of the room recorected into a happier one, thank god.
"So, does this change anything between us? I'd hate for it to be like that, but it is a pretty big ball to drop." I ask him, apprehension in my chest.
"I don't think so, just something we need to keep a mind on." He answers as he shrugs dismissively. I let out a sigh of relief as the knot in my chest disappears, another worry overcame Zeke, how long can you get away from it all? I blink and snap my fingers, I've forgotten something!
"Oh yeah, what are we doing today? Did Lucas say anything to you about what was happening? Fucker just told me to go to bed and it'd be fine in the morning." I push Edward for an answer, huffing as he snickers over it.
"He didn't say much, just that it would be best to meet with him this morning to discuss it. While we're probably safe, I wouldn't wanna push our luck with him by making him wait for us." I hum and nod along with him, I had more or less the same thoughts. Despite his attempts to be neutral, I can imagine his rage he barely keeps under wraps, my insides jump and jitter whenever I think about it.
"Whelp, lets not keep him waiting then huh?" I ask rhetorically as I push myself off of the bed, standing up straight next him, cracking my bones as I stretch. I look down to Edward, a confused look on his face as he remains seated, raising an eyebrow to him.
"..What? Is there something on my face?" My mocking question seems to bring him out of his confused trance, rushing himself to stand.
"No no, I'm a little surprised is all I thought you'd have trouble walking, you were hurt pretty bad." He explains himself, I let out a small 'ah' of understanding and shake my head.
"Nah, I was walking around fine just last night, other than a limp, it's how I met Lucas after all. After being escorted by Kedrick anyways, every wall looks the same to me so I have no idea where anything is. I can take a hit and keep walking after all Eddy, just hurts a little." Edward still looks unconvinced as he looks up and down my body, but he seems to let it slide without further contest. I follow him out of the medical room, unlike the moody and still silence of last night, the room itself is bustling with movement, the Templars going about their way in a focused manner, little discussion being held beyond subtle mutterings between one another. There's so many, they're so close, how many of them know about me? Did they see what I did to Alex, did I do anything to them? It feels so cold underneath my skin as I blindly follow just behind Edwards lead, my jaw and throat clenching tightly. Don't look at me, don't notice me, don't talk to me, please don't know me, please please plea-
"Zeke?" My name being called brings me back to attention to the world, blinking quickly and shaking my head to clear it. I face Edward, a worried expression on his face, I didn't even notice that he turned around despite following so closely, nor did I feel his hand squeezing my shoulder.
"Huh wha? What's going on?" I feel so dazed suddenly, even through the shaking, the world feels ever so slightly muted to my ears, the edges of my sight blurred. Edwards hand squeezes my shoulder again, my chest untightening and heart beating slower by the second, warmth and feeling returning to my limbs.
"Zeke, are you sure you're okay?" Edward asks me again, keeping his hold on me. My head flares up with pain again before the feeling in the rest of my body comes rushing back, the feeling disappearing as suddenly as it appeared. I shudder and roll my shoulders around, everything's come back down to earth.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'll be okay, I just wanna get out of here, please?" I whimper to Edward as I shuffle away from the crowd, even though I feel relatively normal, there's still the lingering feeling of nervousness in my chest. I shake my head again and slap at my cheeks, Edward's here Zeke, everything's gonna be fine. Edward himself nods and drops his hand to clutch at my forearm, borderline dragging me away. I stumble initially, but recover enough to keep up with him, the limping of my legs seem to be manageable enough. The Templars we rush past don't seem to take notice of us, or if they do, they mask it well enough for me to not notice any side eyeing, it feels strange to be dragged around like this, but it's better than losing my focus in that room again, and it is Edward, so it'll be okay, right?
Much like last night, the travel to Lucas's room is a blur of grey mashed walls and doorways, but I do recognise the hallway at least. While I don't mind Edward grappling me around places, I can't say that I like being dragged, I shake my arm away and out of his grip and roll the shoulder around, the dragging feels like it almost pulled a muscle. Edward stops in his tracks and turns to face me, the concern still plain on his face.
"You okay now?" I nod my head and swallow the lump in my throat, I don't trust my ability to speak just yet, giving him a thumbs up as I do so. He sighs a breath of relief, a smile taking place on his face. "Alright, you worried me there. You zoned out and started to look uncomfortable, so I thought something was up."
There's a small fluttery warm feeling in my chest as he speaks, the smile on his face is infectious and I can't keep it down on my own. I swing my arm around his neck as I stand by his side, bringing him in on a sidelong hug.
"Yeah, I'm better now, thanks for that Eddy. I'll feel better when I get pants on though, do you know how fucking breezy it is near the sea? It's awful, so lets' get this mess outta the way." I snicker as Edward blanches with a displeased look on his face, shoving me off and away from him. With the little incident behind us, we finally approach the door to Lucas's room, office, whatever he'd call it, oddly enough, there aren't any guards placed around the doorway. That's… odd, why wouldn't there be anyone around? Lucas seems like he's more than capable of fighting, but he's still the captain, wouldn't he be protected?
"Is something up Zeke?" Edward suddenly pipes up, bringing me out of my thoughts. I hum to myself as I look up and down the hallway, there's no one else here, and I can't hear nor smell anyone else. Why isn't anyone else here? Is it just how Templars work?
"...Nah, I'm just wondering about Templar stuff is all, I don't think it's anything important. I promise it isn't anything to worry about, ready when you are Eddy." He looks inquisitive, with a frown on his face, but he seems to half heartedly accept it, pushing the door open for the both of us. Just like last night, Lucas is hunched over his desk, examining a page with a keen eye before scribbling on it with a quill. How the hell does a quill work for that? It seems like a lot of effort. It looks like he was expecting us though, there's another seat placed in front of the desk for the both of us.
The only motions of acknowledgement we get from him as we enter the room is the slowing of his writing as he looks upwards to us, quickly looking back down and jotting down a few more words before dipping the quill into a nearby ink pot. We silently take our seats in front of him, the atmosphere in the room suddenly makes this shoddy plain robe feel a lot more inclosed and itchy than before. Jesus, I wish I had my cloak back already, I really do miss the thing. Lucas's small cough brings me back to attention, sitting upright in my chair.
"This is more of a formality than anything, but I'd like to hear your sides of what occurred, yes the both of you, just so I can put it in the paperwork." Lucas's voice is a formally polite but humdrum one, his eye looking between the two of us. We give our accounts on the incident, how we were just walking around town to check out the smithy, meeting with the Templars, what they said, our sides of the fight. Lucas keeps an aloof but attentive ear on the both of us, writing down what I assume to be the details from us, occasionally stopping to wetten the quill tip with ink. We finish both of our tales and politely wait for him to finish his writing, I'm not sure why, but it feels so awkward to be in here doing and saying nothing. I think the lack of guards is on my mind a bit too much, even though by all means less guards should be better to me.
"Hey Lucas, what's gonna happen to the two Templars, Alex and the other fellow?" I suddenly ask the captain, Edward side eyeing me with a raised eyebrow.
"Hm? They'll likely be both thrown into jail at least, though I don't have full control over it all. Why do you ask?" I hum and bite the inside of my cheek as the two of them stare at me, my pulse rising. Jeez, glare at me more why don't you, assholes. I scratch the back of my neck nervously, swallowing down the nerves in my throat.
"Well… If you can do anything about it, can you see if you can get them off a bit lighter than normal? At least for them attacking myself, if nothing else." I sheepishly ask of him, it's a tall order after all. Edwards' face turns into a bewildered one, and Lucas raises an eyebrow in return.
"Let them off lightly? Zeke, you go-"
"Yes, I know I got knocked on my ass, I know that I've been stuck in this tower for nearly an entire day, but I still feel bad for Alex at least, I have no idea who the other person is, but he at least had reason to try to go for my throat and I, I dunno, I feel awful about it is all. I don't want him to get into more trouble because of his own hate towards me, because I've done something to him, sure it doesn't excuse the other person, but I feel at least minutely responsible for it for whatever reason." I finally explain my reasoning, Edward still seems to be a mix of confusion and concern, a frown clear on his face, but the strange chuckling brings both of our focus onto him. His chuckling is sparse and low, but it grows louder, turning into a grand uproar of laughter, throwing his head back and bellowing upwards. Edward and I share a confused look, giving him a shrug, what's so funny? Neither of us attempt to stop his laughter, and eventually it eventually dies down, an oddly mirthful expression on his face.
"You, I don't understand you Zeke. You're so awfully childish and naive, it's both shameful and endearing in a way," He turns back to snickering, resting his red face in a hand while Edward gestures theatrically towards him, as if saying 'See!?' when he brings up the whole childish part. I stick my tongue out to him in response, bite me Eddy. "Ah, forgive me, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, it's so off putting and ridiculous to hear it from you Zeke. Nonetheless, while there isn't too much I can do, I can attempt to lighten their load, just for you."
He finishes himself with another snicker under his breath, it feels so strange to hear it from the man, he's built like a brick wall with a scarred face, but here he is laughing like a man who heard a fantastical story. I shrug, it's the best I can ask of him I suppose.
"Well, that's all I need from the both of you, the two of you really aren't in any trouble, it's less paperwork for me thankfully. Is there anything either of you need?" I hum and tap my fingers against my legs again, feeling the robe beneath my fingers.
"Yeah, actually, where'd you put my stuff? I kind of get the whole robe thing for injured people in the medical bay or whatever you call it, but I'm fine now, and I really miss my pants. Stop laughing Eddy, I really miss my stuff!" I hiss to the chortling man, sticking my finger up to him as he continues to laugh at me, prick. Even Lucas hops in on the snickering, much to my dismay, god dammit.
"Ask around to find Kedrick and he'll escort you to where your belongings are, no one here ought to lay a hand on you if you're concerned about that, and you'll be free to go afterwards. If that's all, you're both dismissed." We stand, Edward and I giving our own forms of saluting and exiting the room as quickly as possible, the man returning to jotting down on another paper.
Edward looks over to me with a worried expression on his face, and I give the man a bright smile and a thumbs up.
"All cleared up thankfully, lets' get outta here Eddy. I'll be fine" I wrap my arms around his shoulders and give him a reassuring squeeze, he returns the favour too as we make our way back to the medical bay, or at least the room just beside it. Gotta ask around for the monster of a man I guess. Today feels like it'd be a good day.