Deviation Actions
Morning was cold. The frost made no effort to hide the chill that covered the town and condensations trickled down the glass panels from the inside of the room. As a droplet made its way down the window, it cleared a path through the misty layer, allowing Loke to catch a glimpse of the outside before a clear of throat caught his attention.
"How's Lucy?"
Loke ignored the man and took another sip of vodka to cool his nerves. Lucy wouldn't be happy if he lost his composure now.
"A lil early for a drink don't ya think?"
A glare and the man smirked.
"Listen, I just wan'ed to apologise for the immense pain I've caused."
Loke slammed his glass on the table, but careful to not break it, before turning his head to face the man who had tortured his master.
"The name's Kyle." He introduced, stretching out a hand that Loke had no intention to take and turned his attention back to his Vodka.
Shrugging, he retrieved his hand and sat down beside the stellar spirit, seemingly pleased at the annoyance he had caused the man.
"An' how's your master?"
"Why would you care?"
"'Cause Drake told me to."
Loke scoffed. "Puppet."
"Says the lapdog."
And thus commenced a battle of glares.
Finally, Kyle decided to break the silence. "Tell you what, when you're done bein' sour 'bout this whole crap, you can tell your master to come meet me."
"No need for that." A third voice interjected.
"Lucy?" Loke asked in disbelief.
"I'm ready." Lucy announced before turning to Loke and with a grateful smile, "Thanks, Loke."
An impress brow was raised and so was a proud smile, the latter from Loke.
"Well, 'at didn't take long. I was expectin' you to spend a good week cowerin' in your room."
Loke began making his way to Lucy's side, doing his best to keep his nerves in check. A lopsided grin made its way to Kyle's face as he ushered the duo to follow after him, which they did without question.
After leaving the comfort of the mansion and entering the backyard, Kyle opened his mouth to ask Lucy a question that has been bugging him for a good long while.
"Do ya still 'ate me?"
Loke blinked, but Lucy wasn't too surprised. She seemed like she was going to say something, but decided against it with a sign and answered.
"No… But yes, if you hadn't asked at all."
Kyle laughed lightly as he swept his fringe to the top of his head.
"Jaysus, you really are as forgivin' as they say you are."
"Should I take that as a compliment?" Lucy asked doubtfully.
"Depends."
When they finally reached the courtyard, Kyle introduced the duo to Drake once more.
"Well, I'm sure you've heard of 'im, but, this here's Drake, the one who had made sure you'd come runnin' here."
Lucy frowned and so did Loke.
"Right…" She dead-panned.
He then smiled and turned to Loke to continue, "And he'd be your teacher for the next few weeks."
Loke nearly pounced but Lucy managed to catch a hold of his hands before he did.
"I don't need teaching." He snarled.
The flat side of a broad sword came at him, and Loke was sent skidding backwards as he took the blow head on, using his arms as a shield.
"Too slow…" Drake commented as he dug the sword into the ground and twisted it, sending dirt in Loke's direction with the intention of blinding him momentarily which ended with much success.
In an instant, Loke realised the disadvantage he was in and was forced to enter a defence position, backing up slowly in hopes of finding a wall to make sure that a back stab wasn't possible. However, to his dismay, he didn't have much luck and a very much silent attack had sent him sprawling to the ground.
"LOKE!" Lucy cried but a hand was held before her as Kyle prevented her from advancing.
Lucy shot him a confused look but his intentions were soon made clear when Drake began lecturing Loke on the mistakes he made and Loke's irritation became reluctant understanding as he listened with an acute ear. Smiling, Lucy realised that they had no ill intentions and left the duo be as Kyle led her back into the mansion.
Suddenly aware of how she was alone with the man, Lucy questioned where they were headed with unintentional curtness which was understandable.
"Well, I figured that you needed some…wrappin' up to do with Vanessa." He answered, in a matter-of-factly way.
Realisation dawned on her and she turned to hide her embarrassment for yesterday's reaction; she had been most useless and she felt her reaction to be unproductive and childish. In her head, she still wished, if only...
It didn't take long for them to get to the study where Cain stood guard at the door, slightly elevating his head in recognition of the two of them. Giving a small nod, he gave the 'okay' to enter the room.
There, Joel stood in front of Vanessa, his speech cut short as the door had creaked open and Vanessa's serious demeanour had been broken at the sight of the blonde with a smile.
"Lucy." She addressed. "Is…everything okay?"
Lucy couldn't help but catch the worry in her voice and notice how she was threading carefully. It can't be helped, with the way she had reacted the day before. She closed her eyes, steeling herself before interlocking her chocolate brown eyes with Vanessa's clear blue ones again.
"Yes."
Shocked at her sudden determination, Vanessa blinked before commenting, "I…didn't expect you to get over it so quickly…"
"I know, but someone told me that it has always been our choice to choose whether to bend or break. And I'd rather bend right now."
"Yeah, and you sure knew how catapult back into place and hit us in the head." Joel commented with mock sarcasm.
Sending him a disproving frown, Vanessa waved him out, signalling it was time for him to leave. Taking an uncharacteristic bow to the Lady, he left with Kyle, giving the two girls their space.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Lucy turned to Vanessa.
"What now?"
"There is much I need to tell you; much you need to know before I can give you the choices of what you can do."
Taking a seat in front of Vanessa, Lucy listened intensively.
"The letters we showed you yesterday was just the prequel to what we found. After we realised the treachery that was brewing, we decided to find out more."
At this Vanessa opened her desk drawer and pulled out a different file.
"I had Joel travel to Bellum to investigate since the country we knew who was in obvious turmoil due to a recent –back then it was recent– uprising."
"But that was several years ago, no? And my father was still alive."
"Indeed. However, we couldn't risk notifying him or imploring for his help unless we knew exactly what it was that he was facing."
"And…?"
"We realised that he was sympathetic to the cause for the revolt in Bellgum."
"WHAT?!"
"The Heartfillia Railway was used to transport supplies and support to the rebels in Bellum. Jude had attempted to form a merger with the Junelles's household by wedding you to Duke Sawarr Junelle in order to give them a reason –a stealthy one– to help their cause."
Lucy's eyes went wide with revelation as she finished for Vanessa. "Which ended in failure when I chose to renounce my name and leave the estate."
"Yes. That was when the…forces… acted upon the opportunity. They had used his slip up to confiscate his lands and freeze his fortune under suspicion of treason. Luckily, Duke Sawarr was able to convince them to let him off with just the confiscation of his riches and not his head."
"The Duke told them?!"
Vanessa nodded her head solemnly before explaining, "However, it was with good reason. They needed to believe that Duke Sawarr was not sympathetic to the rebel's cause while keeping Jude alive and this was the best way they could think of at that point of time."
Lucy swallowed hard, digesting what she heard while desperately trying to push her feelings of guilt to the back of her head.
To bend or to break, it was always a choice.
She breathed.
"So in a way, I was the one who caused my father's plans to fall into shambles."
"Lucy…"
"It's quite alright. Please continue."
Vanessa hesitated, wondering which point would be her tipping point and wondered if they should continue another time, perhaps some training could help her take her mind of things for a moment and help her collect herself. But no, her eyes showed fire that would not be quelled till the truth is out –all of it– and so she went on.
"At this point, we had already joined Jude's league and helped planned his escape."
"To Acalypha."
"What we didn't expect was to have the government ban his travels until the investigation was completed."
"I thought you said the Duke was able to convince not have his head roll?"
"They did, but they didn't wish to risk having him rally his supporters so they decided to cripple his movements. Desperate, he turned to you for help." Vanessa finished, tone suggestive.
It took Lucy awhile to decode what she meant.
"You mean he planned to bribe?!"
"Of course it didn't succeed and we ended up sneaking him past the check points to make his way there by foot –luckily by foot– else he might've been ended by the dark guild, the Naked Mummy."
"Did the forces send them?"
"There is no telling. We can only guess."
A moment of silence fell in the room as Lucy recalled how that encounter with her father was her last. Just then, a chime of the clock announced that it was noon and the atmosphere that had slowly intensified in their talk had finally released its grip on them with the sound of Lucy's stomach rumbling. Smiling, Vanessa rose from her chair.
"Shall we adjourn?"
Lucy nodded in embarrassment as followed Vanessa's outstretched arms.
A/N: OK! Here as promised! I hope this chapter actually made sense cause I actually loved it O.O Anyways! R&R and I'll get back to you guys!
