Stepping through the courtyard gate, Lucian adjusts his haori, making sure his hitatare is tucked into his hakama properly. Smoothing down his mohawk before his hood automatically flips up, Rheya follows suit, tightening her new mohawk's ponytail before her hood covers her head. Looking over each other once more, Lucian notices some dirt on her haori and pats it off. After looking each other over, they give each other an approving nod before Lucian closes the entrance gate. With the Harvest moon glowing a deep orange low in the night sky, they casually head south down the moonlit sidewalk.
As he's walking, Lucian flips out his Lazblade from his quick draw holster and looks at the battery display screen below the dovetail sights.Cocking an eyebrow after seeing that it's below half full, Lucian adjust the lethal range down to a meter, upping the amount of half-second bursts to 54. Patting his obi, he finds his two fully charged spare magazines and caresses his father's Lazblade in his shoulder holster. Lucian nods to himself with a smirk after he spins the Lazblade with finesse back into his reverse draw holster held high on his left hip.
"Expecting trouble tonight?" Rheya asks in a serious tone, prompting her to check the battery levels on her Lazblades, but relaxes after Lucian limply throws his left hand up to stop her from being overzealous.
"I forgot to check it after we used them on those space monkeys earlier," he explains with a chuckle.
"Oh, right," Rheya lets a sigh out as she spins her dual Lazblades back into her holsters that are high and tight on her hips. "It seems odd that they looked like well dressed normal humans, not the usual furries that I've seen." Lucian grunts in agreement. "I'm having second thoughts about killing them so quickly. Do you think we should have sat on them a while longer to see if it was a Long Pine woman they were going to buy?" voicing her second guesses to draw out Lucian's opinion.
Lucian rubs his chin hair in thought. "Your call to rush them was fine. If we had waited, the ship's devices may have alerted them to our presence or the seller could have possibly stumbled across us while we were hiding. I'm sure James will be able to figure out who they were in contact with once he gets a hold of that ship's encrypted log. We can follow up on it at a later time," Lucian adds as they are getting closer to the Miller house.
Stopping abruptly in front of Rheya, Lucian glances back at her. "Where we're going, it will be nice and placid. Don't be too rigid and apprehensive. It's bad enough we're Servants at a civilian celebration. Lets not make it any more awkward for them, okay?"
Rheya grimaces, "But you scaring people at the market today with blood all over your armor to get a laugh, that's okay?" Lucian smirks and nods making Rheya roll her eyes and shake her head. "Fine," she agrees reluctantly then they resume walking.
After leaving the sidewalk for a foot path, they are guided by the warm orange light emitting from a two storied cabin's windows in the distance. Shortly arriving at the front of the Miller's log cabin, Lucian knocks on the wood door while Rheya begins looking around, checking out the shadows with her infrared. The thumping of drums reverberates throughout the house, spurring Lucian to bang on the door so that he may be heard. "They sound like they are having fun in there," he remarks, waiting for someone to answer the door.
Turing her attention to the cabin, "Is this house really made out of trees?" Rheya asks in disgust, making Lucian snicker. "I thought these were synthetic," she pauses as she looks at the wood scornfully, "Cave people," Rheya says disdainfully, prompting Lucian to sigh before he openly laughs at Rheya's snobbery.
"Yes, Ray. They are allowed to do that here, if they replant what they take," Lucian explains as she shakes her head in contempt. "All of these houses here are made by hand, with human powered tools, not electric machines," he tells her as he pats and rubs a timber frame in admiration."There is a tranquility to be had when you're making something with your own hands," he mutters to himself then goes silent momentarily. Drums snapping him back to the moment, "That's why this place is called Long Pine. They make beautiful homes," he expounds.
Tired of waiting, Lucian takes hold of the wrought iron handle and opens the door to a warm house illuminated by the glow of soft, yellow glow of oil lanterns. Feeling little again, he smiles, remembering playing board games with the Miller brothers in front of the fireplace during long winter afternoons. But Lucian is quickly snapped back to reality as everyone at the party looks to see who entered the house.
Smiling faces turn into looks of shock and terror as they see two Soul Takers strut in from the crisp night air and tower over the crowd. The music almost instantly cuts off, the party which was jovial is now suddenly silent and still.
Trying not to look threatening, Lucian smiles and lightly waves as his eyes dart around the room looking for familiar faces. Rheya on the other hand likes the fear she instills in the civilians and wears her smile for a different reason as she stands like a pillar of intimidation behind Lucian.
"Is Sean or Stephen here?" Lucian almost timidly asks, making Rheya draw a hair lip on her face in disbelief that her partner, a master Lazbladesman, is trying to be personable to commoners.
"They were here all night. They did nothing wrong," someone shouts out from a far corner of the room.
Lucian scrunches his face, and waves off the accusation. "No, no. They aren't in trouble. We were invited," Lucian tries to explain until he sees a face in the crowd that he recognizes. His eye's heads up display matches the current face to his memory: Jacob Anderson. Rheya's HUD signals who Lucian is targeting, causing her to automatically draw out her Lazblades without hesitation and take a fighting stance.
After Jacob's recognition, Lucian and Rheya grimace as dark demon masks slide over their faces from under their hoods, conform to the skin and drop out a segmented neck guard that latches to the now visible chest plate. With their Lazblades out, their clothes conform to their arms and legs as the segmented dermal armor ratchets out from under the haori to cover the shoulders and thighs. Lucian, with his left hand, pulls out a folded gunsen fan from under his haori, flaps it out in an instant, revealing its shiny metallic surface. Aiming the fan vertically at Jacob, everyone on either side of him begin to cover their ears and squirm away, leaving Ian screaming in pain by himself.
Lucian crosses 15 feet in one leap and rams into Jacob, knocking him down and leaving Jacob gasping for breath. As he tries to get up, Lucian waves the fan lightly over Jacob, making him writhe in agony, yelling through clenched teeth. Putting his foot on Jacob's back and holding him on the ground, Lucian's Lazblade sights become fixed on the back of Jacob's head.
Rheya carefully walks backwards toward Lucian as she cows the crowd away. "Everyone stay back or death will be swift," her voice booming through the voice enhancer in the mouthpiece of the mask. Her thumbs carefully adjust the range of her Lazblades from three meters to five.
"Don't kill'em!" a high pitched effeminate voice shrieks from behind Lucian. Snapping is head around, Lucian's HUD identifies the woman: Kyah Albright. Lucian momentarily watches her flail with hysteria as others are holding her back.
Lucian's neck armor unclips from his chest plate, folds up into the mask just as it slides off his face and back up under his hood. His narrowed eyes glare at Kyah, but finds her glaring back at him with fearless watery eyes.
"What's up? Want me to detain her?" a text from Rheya to Lucian's HUD. Rheya's HUD gets a text back from Lucian, giving her the go ahead to detain Kyah and to take her outside. Quickly holstering her Lazblades, she pulls Kyah from the protective group of people. Kyah cries out as her arms are wrenched behind her back as Rheya zip ties them together at the elbows and wrists.
"What the fuck? I didn't do anything?" Kyah screams as she struggles against Rheya's hold. Rheya, growing irritated by Kyah's antics, grabs her by her low hung ponytail and begins to forcefully steer Kyah toward the front door. "No, god damn it! I was so close," Kyah whimpers as she is shoved outside.
Lucian's mask slides back down over his face with the neck armor locking back into place as he turns his focus back on Jacob. "For your participation in the raider attacks that lead to deaths of three civilians, ten years ago on the night of October the 12th; I hereby find you guilty of betraying the sovereign community of Long Pine," Lucian announces to everyone with his elevated voice as he forces Ian to sit upright on his feet. A hushed murmuring passes through the crowd as everyone watches. "Last words for anyone specific? I'll make sure they receive them," Lucian says grimly as he pulls Jacob's head back by the hair to look him in the eyes. Fighting to control his nervous shaking, all Jacob can muster is to spit on Lucian's mask. "I take it that you are ready then?," Lucian rhetorically says with a snicker.
With a wave of a bright fuchsia colored beam that illuminates the room, a barely audible hum is heard momentarily before Jacob's head rolls onto the floor. His body collapsed, the neck stump begins to squirt blood rhythmically all over the hard wood floor by Lucian's feet, much to the horror of many at the party. Lucian spins his Lazblade back into its holster then pivots on his heals to head outside. On his way out, he spots a bottle of the famed apple liquor Sean and Stephen mentioned before, sitting on a nearby table. Retracting his mask, he quickly grasps it and takes a long swig from it. Spotting Sean who is making his way through the crowd, Lucian hands it over to him once Sean is within reach.
"Sorry about ruining your Harvest Moon celebration. I really enjoyed them as a kid but I didn't know Ian still lived around here, much less that he would be here tonight," Lucian explains as he stares at the apple liquor bottle, taking in a deep breath. "I should have killed him ten years ago when it happened." Lucian sees that Sean is overwhelmed by the situation and can't form words to respond. "I'll notify your proctors as to what happened here and they'll sends some personnel to retrieve the body and clean your place. But keep everyone inside for now." Sean nods blankly as Stephen comes out from the back of the house to walk in on the aftermath just as Lucian exits out the front door.
With his armor folding back up under his haori and his clothing loosening back out to it's natural flowy form, Rheya follows suit, revealing her sour expression. "She has done nothing but sob since she's been out here," Rheya gruffly says as she shoves Kyah with her heal, sending her into the dirt.
Lucian walks over to Kyah and squats down to her level but she avoids eye contact. "Still got that dream of getting off world, don't you?" Lucian asks in a somber tone. Kyah tries to control her crying as she tries to suck up the snot that's dribbled out of a nostril. "What was he to you? Boyfriend still?" Lucian asks, referring to Jacob.
She shakes her head. "Not for a long time," she says begrudgingly. "But he had the connections to get me off this planet. I was supposed to leave today but he said the smugglers stopped contacting him," she explains as she tries to control her crying. Rheya and Lucian to give each other knowing looks. "Did you kill him to keep me here cause of your stupid jealousy from when we were kids?" Kyah accuses before she begins to sob loudly again.
"Hardly," Lucian scoffs as he stands upright with a stern look drawing across his face. "It seems your ticket off the planet was a slaver ship. We found the vessel over in Bear Creek earlier today. The captain's personal data device had a list of potential places to auction someone off, which apparently was going to be you." Kyah is in dumbfounded silence as she listens to Lucian. "Jacob lied to you. He was gonna sell you off, make a fortune in tradable resources and disappear while you'd be carted off to some far off colony to be used as a sex slave or worse in the outer rim," Lucian explains as he folds his arms across his chest.
"You lie!" Kyah screams, causing herself to lose her balance and fall forward into the dirt before she begins sobbing again.
Rheya, incensed that a lowly commoner called her partner a liar, begins to stomp over to Jessica to give her a thorough beating but is blocked by Lucian, who is calmly waving Rheya to walk away. Breathing out fiercely through her grit teeth, Rheya smugs up her face then walks a short distance away, making sure to keep her backed turned to them while she tries to keep her temper under control.
Turning back towards Kyah, Lucian goes over to her and stands her up. Pulling a short utility blade out of his obi, he cuts off the zip ties and begins to dust off the cold dirt from her clothes.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kyah asks as she shoves Lucian's hands off her then wipes away the tears that are still on her face. "Don't act friendly towards me after what just happened in there." Lucian sighs and backs away, giving her some space as she rubs the sore spots where the zip ties were.
"I don't deny that I was very jealous of you and Jacob ten years ago, but what I told you then was true. Ian helped the raiders blow the wall that night. But when I seen Jacob, my former friend, trying to kidnap a child, I froze. Before I could do anything he dropped the kid and ran off as I got distracted having to defend myself from other raiders. My father didn't see him and I never told him that Jacob was involved. But I told you," Lucian pauses as he watches Kyah's face."Why didn't you believe me?"
"Because I thought you would make up anything to break us up," she spits out bitterly.
"So you thought I was lying just to be spiteful?" he asks.
"What does it matter?" she yells in frustration. "You got to leave while I had to stay in this shit hole. I was going to do whatever possible to get off this rock," Kyah grumbles then bites her bottom lip to keep from crying again.
"Then why didn't you ask my father to take you off world, like I urged you to do?" Kyah doesn't answer, keeping her eyes locked on the ground. "Well?" Lucian raises his voice, making Kyah flinch.
"Cause everyone in town said that if you ask a soul taker to take you off world, they instantly take your head off," Kyah blurts out, making Rheya scoff then snicker at her ignorance. "And I figured you told your dad what Jacob did, so I was scared that he was going to hold me hostage to lure out Jacob then kill us both," she explains as her voice wavered. "That's what y'all do right? You do whatever it takes to catch the culprit?" Kyah asks to affirm her reasoning.
Lucian shakes his head and scoffs. "Parents in this town," he growls through grit teeth as he becomes very still. For a moment, the wind is louder than anything around them as they stand there in the moonlight until Lucian suddenly draws his Lazblade and cuts a nearby oak tree into pieces then quickly reholsters with an exhale of relief. Kyah cringes at the sound of the cracking tree coming down while Rheya gives a frown of approval at how many pieces the oak was cut into. As it falls apart, the tree top flops to the ground, snapping its limbs, throwing a plume of stiff autumn leaves up into the air to fall around them. The smell of burnt oak now weighs heavy on the air as wisps of smoke dance around the glowering Lucian.
Slowly walking over to Kyah, he stands near her, facing the rising moon. "Just so you know, parents tell that stuff to their children so they won't talk to us soul takers. It keeps the children from ever leaving the settlements. I guess I was too naive to think Long Pine different from the rest," he explains, trying to restrain the disgusts in his tone.
"Are you telling me the truth?" Kyah asks as the newly shared information Lucian gave is bringing her back to life.
"When have I lied to you?" Lucian growls from his side glance. Kyah hangs her head, feeling guilty about how she yelled at him. "Don't worry, you're still getting taken off world," Lucian adds. "I've already signaled James a few minutes ago to come get you," Lucian barely says above a whisper.
Overtaken by the elation of the moment, Kyah can't stop herself from hugging Lucian and squealing with excitement. Lucian makes sure to signal to Rheya to stand down, that he's not being attacked. Lucian, himself overwhelmed with her sudden affections, can only muster a few light pats on Kyah's back before she releases him to spin around in glee.
Rheya spits on the ground in disgust as she sees the 'nice' facade of Kyah emerge after getting what she wants out of Lucian.
Looking up into the night sky, Lucian's HUD tracks James breaking through the outer atmospheres. A text pops up in his HUD from Rheya, "Did you signal The Destroyer as soon as you seen her?" Lucian visibly shrugs when Rheya looks at him. "And if she didn't want to go?" another text from Rheya asks.
"Then I would just enjoy a visit from my uncle, I guess," Lucian texts back, making Rheya giggle under her breath, causing Lucian to flash a smirk at her.
The noise coming off of James as he careens through the atmosphere is now permeating the air. "Fuck!" Rheya yells as her noise dampeners activate in her ears. "Is he going to sonic boom us?" she yells out loud.
Lucian squints as his HUD is focused on James, sending him a text to stop being so loud. "Fine," James' reply text says in Lucian's HUD. The noise stops after a deep boom could be felt pass over them. After a few moments of silence, a fair skinned effeminate body with flowing waist length, corn silk colored hair falls from the sky and lightly lands onto it's tip toes in between the startled Kyah and stern Rheya.
Kyah relaxes but stays in quiet awe of the statuesque being that is standing next to her, but averts her eyes as soon as she notices that he's completely naked.
Turning his attention toward her, James smoothly glides over to her as his silken hair dances on the soft wind. "So, you're the Amish girl with stars in her eyes, hmmm?" he states as he gets uncomfortably close to Kyah as he's looking her over. "Pretty cute for a country girl," he says aloud while giving her a wink, making her feel more uncomfortable.
"Jeez, Unc! Can't you wear clothes?" Lucian complains on behalf of Kyah whom he can tell is having a hard time dealing with the odd naked person standing in front of her. James acts affronted, scoffs at the question then fans out his long hair as he walks over to the cut up tree to inspect it
.
"Well I was clothed till my reentry burnt them off," James proclaims before his attention begins to stray off subject as he looks at his genitals. Suddenly he begins moving his hips to spin his little wiener around in a circle, amusing himself when his penis and testicles hit, making a clapping sound. "That's funny," he says with a giggle.
Shaking her head, Rheya covers her eyes as she muffles her giggling. "I still can't believe you're related to him, Lucian," Rheya texts to Lucian.
"I know," James scoffs out. "But it's because he's adopted," he jokes as his penis and testicles suddenly suck up inside of him while his body begins to take on a more womanly form.
"Pardon my rudeness," Rheya stammers out as she formally bows toward James, bracing herself for the ramifications of her err. "I hope I didn't offend," she adds while both Lucian and James are snickering at her formality.
Flipping his hair out in his new womanly form while he stares at Rheya, James smiles at her as he strides over to her. "You needn't be so formal with me," James says softly as he walks around her, looking her over, giggling at how stiff she is. Rheya is standing upright but is far from "at ease".
Blinking, Rheya notices her HUD is offline but sees James cutely smiling at her. Hearing James' intimate breathing inside her head as he locks eyes with her, Rheya begins to sweat, trying to control her nervousness.
"Don't panic, my pet. I just wanted to talk to you alone, okay?" James' voice whispers in her mind as his physical lips don't move. Rheya nods quickly while she tries to control her shuddering. "I'll release some of your dopamine to calm you down."
Rheya feels herself untense and breathe with ease as a wave of warmth passes over her. "Now, what I wanted to talk to you about is Lucian's behavior of late." Rheya's eyes glance over to Lucian then back onto James' womanly form. "You've noticed his odd mood swings lately?" Rheya furrows her brows in question. "From being up beat to dazed and sullen for no reason? Sometimes not even wanting to do anything or sleeping a lot?" Rheya unfurrows her brows and nods with a pained look as memories of the past few weeks cumulate to the front of her mind: Lucian sitting, staring blankly at nothing, not wanting to do anything, being sullen and and listless.
James nods as he plays with his long hair while staring deeply into Rheya's eyes before her vision suddenly goes completely black. In a panic, Rheya flails her arms out and around but is able to see her hands and body again, but all is still black around her.
Appearing out of the darkness, James stands before her and takes hold of her hands in his, causing a calming warmth to pour over her. Relaxing, she sighs out and focuses on James' illuminated emerald irises.
"We are in a place between your mind and mine," he tells her calmly but then his face becomes more serious. "Lucian wants to kill himself very soon, possibly tonight."
Rheya's face reveals slight shock but then turns to anger. "It's cause of that little bitch, isn't it?" she asks, referring to Kyah.
Shaking his head, "It's not what you think. It was because of his Lineage Induction after L3 died."
In quiet shock, "He never said a word to me about any difficulty he had with it."
"And he wouldn't, you know that," James scolds. "He's trying desperately to hang onto his personality as he filters through all the new information." Rheya's expression turns grave. "Tonight, he came here to try and keep it at bay, trying to focus on emulating the happiness he had in the past. But after what just happened, it looks to be the final straw, causing a mental dam to break." Sighing, "He keeps his mood modifiers off, wanting to wallow in it to keep his sense of self but it's causing his severe depression." Rheya's facial muscles flex. "He needs someone to help him out of that pit he's in," James says as he looks at Rheya with pleading eyes.
"I would help but he's a damned island. He doesn't like to accept help from anyone, especially from me." Rheya grumbles.
"Well, you're just going to have to push through his wall tonight by any means necessary." Rheya flexes her jaw muscles then slowly nods. "I know he acts like an uncaring hard ass but you'll understand better once you see for yourself."
James, noticing Rheya's sullen demeanor, "Rheya?" he waits for her to make eye contact with him, "Lucian is going to need you tonight."
"I will do my best to help in any way I can," she replies.
James grips her hands hard, making her wince. "Would you die to save him?" he asks her in a grim voice.
"What are you two doing?" Lucian shouts at James and Rheya who are standing face to face with eyes closed, still as statues. Kyah found a seat on a piece of the cut down tree, kicking her feet, trying to fight boredom. "Well," Lucian begins as he turns his attention to Kyah, "whenever they are done doing whatever over there, James is going to take you with him." Kyah swallows hard, feeling a well of anxiety and excitement build up in her. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
She nods vigorously with a big smile. "I've waited a long time for this. I'm not turning back now," she says but then looks past Lucian at something that caught her attention.
Tuning to see what she's looking at, Lucian gasps in fear at what he sees standing before him: A tall blonde mohawked woman with a steely gaze donned in Jinbaori exoskeletal battle armor. Locked with Lucian's gaze, she narrows her ice blue eyes at him while flexing her jaw muscles.
On the verge of panicking, Lucian strains to control his breathing as his body becomes weak and shaky. Falling back against the log house for support, he still cannot speak. Stepping toward him, Lucian stiffens up and grits his teeth as she nears him. So close now that he can smell her familiar aroma, he starts to feel faint as she gruffly grabs his face.
"I sacrificed myself so that you could keep on living but here I find you wanting to throw that away," she says as she tightens her grip on his face. "If I had known you were going to let a mental problem, not battle, guide you into an early grave, I would have let you die," she growls as she shoves his head against the house with a thud.
As Lucian fights to stay conscious, he strains to say, "Fuck you," before he falls limply to the ground.
"Good man. He may still have some fight left in him," she says before reverting back into James' smooth, womanly form. Standing near the unconscious Lucian, James motions for Rheya to come over.
Quickly trotting over, Rheya gingerly scoops up Lucian's limp body, she asks James, "Who was that?"
Momentarily staring off at nothing, James breathes out heavily then turns his attention back to Rheya, "You'll find out soon enough who she is," he pauses to smile weakly, "one way or another."
Grinning back at James, "Someone I don't want to meet on the eternal battlefield, right?"
"Yes, especially if you fail tonight," James adds with a chuckle then the happiness drains from his face. "It's up to you now," he tells her. Rheya faces him, nods her head sternly then begins walking down the unlit footpath toward the main road as she flops Lucian over her shoulder.
Breathing out a heavy sigh, James flips out his hair that begins to braid itself while his skin from his chest to his crotch begins to turn black until form fitting cloth forms.
Noticing Kyah's look of awe, "Did you like the show?" he asks her with a snicker. Kyah has a hard time forming words but nods in place of them. "As you can see, I put some clothes on since you seemed uncomfortable before," he says as he skips over to her then takes her by the hand to stand her up. Suddenly hugging her tightly around her chest, she gasps as he holds her tightly to him, pressing their breast against each other. "This part would have been really uncomfortable for you if I was still naked, I'm sure," he whispers deviously.
"What are you doing?" she cries out as she tries to recoil from his hold.
"I know this seems brazen but it's not what you think," he explains with a giggle. "You do want to leave this place don't you?" She huffs then relaxes after nodding. "Then hold on to me tightly," he tells her. She reluctantly gives in and puts her arms around his neck. "I can't remember the last time another woman pressed her breast up against mine," he says with a giggle. Before she can object to his remark, they shoot straight up into the darkness of the night sky with Kyah letting out a fearful shriek that fades off into the distance.
Waking up, Lucian blinks a few times but his HUD remains off. "What the hell's going on?" he groggily asks as he notices his upper body is bare. Looking at Rheya more closely in the dimly lit basement of the Servant's compound, he sees that her top half is naked as well. Before them are their Lazblades set out formally. "Rheya, what is this?"
"Formally, you have been relieved of you duties until I see that you are fit for service." Lucian scoffs and narrows his eyes at her. "Informally, I am here to witness your death if you wish to die," she pauses to stare at Lucian sternly, "I plan to accompany you to the eternal battle field if that's what you decide," she adds as she readies her Lazblade.
"Did James put you up to this?" he growls but gets no reply. Lucian sighs, "What did he tell you?"
Readying her Lazblade, "He told me that if I was to have any chance of saving you, I must be willing to die," she flatly states as she hops out of seiza then begins walking toward Lucian. "But, I've been ready to die at your side since day one so it is of no consequence."
Lucian holds his hand up to get Rheya to yield. "That bastard knows exactly what's going on in my head but you have no clue, but he motivates you to do something like this, anyway. Damn him," he grumbles out while Rheya places the Lazblade at her side. Looking at her face and seeing her deep resolve, Lucian frowns, "I should have been crueler to you so that you wouldn't care if I would kill myself," he says with a sneer.
Rheya shakes her head, "I don't think you have it in you to be cruel towards another Servant. You may be a vicious man in combat and a harsh teacher but you are the most stalwart individual I know amongst the Servants of our generation or the previous one for that matter." Lucian rolls his eyes as he takes up his obi to put around him, "This seemed too simple to get you to stop from committing harakiri. Are you giving me a false surrender?"
Lucian shakes his head as he pulls his hitatare back over his shoulders then fastens the obi around his waste, activating the Lazshielding. "You," he pauses as he carefully picks his next words, "are the only thing I'm proud of. You excelled when all others faltered and lived when all others died. I would never let you take your life just because you wanted to follow my example. Another good person ending their life because of me is too much."
This reminds Rheya of how adamant he was about her not killing herself only two weeks before, after he instigated her emotional outburst. As she begins to pull her hitatare back over her shoulders, she smiles to herself, feeling victorious. Stifling her pleased expression back to placidity, she fastens her obi around her waist.
"Did you bluff me?" Lucian asks with a smirk.
"I would have done harakiri without hesitation so I could stay by your side," she quickly replies, making Lucian grimace.
"You stubborn shit," he grumbles. "After seeing her again tonight, I see that you are very much like her," he says under his breath.
Rheya sits down in front of him, staring at each other in silence, judging each others composure. Breaking the silence, "Tell me why you want to die so bad."
Opening his mouth slightly, he takes in a breath sharply then clenches his teeth. With his lips trying to form words, his hands begin to shake as his breathing quickens. Watching him, Rheya sees him tightly grasps his hakama and flex his muscles to the point of trembling. His face contorting between sadness and anger, he closes his eyes tightly before breathing out hard, gaining some composure of himself, "Everything I care for, dies," he pauses as he takes in a shaky breath, "because of me," he says barely above a whisper as tears well up in his eyes. "But if I don't hang onto my regrets, I'm afraid I will lose myself, " he mutters through grit teeth, causing Rheya to subtly shake her head in confusion, not knowing what he's alluding to.
After he utters it, he strains to control the sobs before buckling forward, hanging his head, bracing himself upright with his knuckles on the floor, tears dripping to the ground. "I'm so pathetic!"
Rheya is in wide eyed shock having never seen Lucian break down into tears before. Quickly scooting next to him, she wants to comfort him but is unsure of how to do it. Hesitantly, "Maybe if you tell me what you're afraid of, the weight of it wouldn't burden you so much."
Angrily, "I can barely admit my fear! How do you expect me to ever describe the torment I make myself endure?" Rheya grimaces, feeling the push back from Lucian. Drawing closer to him, she slowly reaches out and grabs his hand but he quickly recoils from her touch. "Don't take pity on this disgusting wretch. You need to just let me die instead of making me suffer this indignity!" he barks out as he begins to sit up with his back to her to hide his face.
Overcome with anger at his stiff rejection, Rheya lunges forward to grab him around the chest, dragging him back to her lap, restraining him like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Let me go!" he protests but can't wriggle out of her full nelson grasp on him. "I will not be further manipulated by whatever scheme James put you up to!"
"I told you, everything I have done tonight has been my idea. I have not said any falsities. I truly want to help you or die trying," she explains vehemently. Upon hearing this Lucian begins to stop fighting her restraint, he breathes out loudly. Once he's settled down, Rheya releases her hold and puts her arms tightly around his chest, resting her face on the nape of his neck.
Lying limply in her arms, his breathing still quickened but is beginning to slow down, "How are you going to save this broken Servant when I don't know how to fix myself?"
"A mended vessel has more character." She begins to speak softly, "If you break seven times, I'll mend you eight times." She answers then takes in a deep breath to steel herself for his objections to her next request. "Let me have memory access if it is too difficult for you to talk about it."
"Outrageous!" Lucian growing incensed. "I don't care if this generation arbitrarily does that with whomever they fuck but I will never share something so intimate on a passing whim!" he barks as he tries to break free of her grasp again.
Hugging him tighter, her hands clenching his hitatare, she foregoes her inhibition, "What if it was with someone who loves you and wishes to always stay by your side? It's not a passing whim then, is it?" she asks, busting down his angry facade.
Feeling his strength and anger fade out of him, he sighs loudly. "You can't, Rheya. Not me," he tells her. As soon as he says it, Rheya throws him from her grasp, his body rolling to a stop a couple of meters away. Looking back at her, he sees Rheya hop out of seiza and onto her feet to quickly stomp over to where he lay.
"How dare you brush my confession aside as if I were an ignorant child who doesn't know any better! I'm 28 years older than you, you self absorbed prick! I'll feel how I want with whom I want no matter what your concern for my well being is!"
Making a sneer, "Would you rather have an outright rejection then?" he barks out.
Lifting her leg over to straddle him, she then lowers herself down to his pelvis to sit on him. Grabbing a wad of his hitatare, she pulls him forward toward her glowering face. "Say it, then! Tell me you can't love me! That you feel nothing for me!" she says with anger but her face betrays the sadness welling up beneath it. "Tell me you can't and I won't waste anymore time on you. I'll let you have the death you want! I'll make sure you die alone!"
With as much anger as he can muster, "I have never, and will never love such a pitiful excuse for a woman!"
Rheya releases Lucian from her grip, causing him to fall limply back to the floor. Her angry expression fades, turning into a weak smile as her eyes water. Taking in a deep breath before covering her face with her hands, she begins to softly giggle and cry at the same time. She utter's a word after a few moments of trying to compose herself, "Liar."
Lucian closes his eyes and grits his teeth, "You had your personality analyzer on didn't you?" he asks. Scoffing, "I should kick myself for training you to be such a good tactician."
Rheya begins to giggle louder as she wipes away her tears. "How shameful of me to show such emotion," but the grin on her face does not fade.
"Guess the cat's out of the bag," he says with a stern face that turns into a smirk. "How bad did it say I was lying?"
"Nearly off the scale," she says with a stifled laugh. Rheya drys her eyes and huffs, shaking her head, "You can be such an ass, you know that? Was it too hard to just tell me straight?"
Lucian smirks, "What did you expect? I've quit on myself. Why would I want you to waste your time on me?" he says as he places his hands under his head, laying more comfortably, being amused by what has transpired.
Rheya, furrowing her eyebrows, "You make everything more difficult than it needs to be, you know that?"
"To live is to suffer, Rheya," he breathes out quickly. "Do you really love me?" he abruptly asks.
His candid question makes her gaze shy away from his. "Yes," Rheya quickly states as she feels her face get hot.
"Are you prepared to understand why I am like this?"
Rheya puts her eyes back on his. "I was prepared to die. This will be easy," she asserts with confidence.
Sitting up faster than she can react, he clasps her face in his hands and presses his forehead onto hers. Grabbing onto Lucian's wrists, Rheya's fearful eyes become locked with Lucian's that are wide with hysteria.
Seeing the sudden fear in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Rheya. When it's done, just remember this is what you wanted," he whispers to her before shouting, "Memory access!" causing both them go unconscious; Lucian falling back onto the floor, Rheya limply flopping forward on top of him.
