The Ashlanders - Chapter 6: The Blind Man's Last Gambit (Closed, Started)

[The Funslinger]

"High fatality chances is my middle name."

"Yeah, well if I die and take my stand-in with me, Bennie would kill me," Ruffles replied, rolling the plasma canister past her and unsealing the shelter's flap. "Mask on. Let's go."

With that, he started rolling the power cell out to the crawler, and up its lowered ramp.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"You're with me."

"Sure thing, Captain." Sandra chirped, checking her weapon, a 9mm G17C, one last time, before tucking it into the inside pocket of her leather jacket. In the opposite pocket, she had two spare magazines, as well as a flick knife tucked into her belt at the small of her back. She was keeping it simple, and discreet. When that was done, she hopped out of the Crawler, and fell in step beside Bennie.

 

[Terratina.]

You'd think with all the rumours and stories, being with the Iron Maidens would be somewhat more eventful. Apparently not. There was chatter, fixing up the idiots who were stupid enough to break an arm or something during training and watching the other Maidens go about their business. Maria was currently doing the latter, well, before she had just been wandering the corridors of the ship like normal but, a certain tent outside caught her attention. Had it just been glowing? What the hell was Ruffles and his little, fire-haired apprentice doing in there? Well, it certainly didn't look safe. At least they were out now, and at least there was a lack of explosions. However, she hoped the glowing stuff wasn't radioactive...

***​

The day was getting worse by the second, although being put on watch wasn't so bad - even if it included enduring yet more of Sprout's presence. The kid's head was getting so big, and the tempted to pop that balloon was growing more and more. Naturally, 'Jesse' let the ladies go first out of the crawler, insisting that Sprout and Gale would get out onto firm ground first. Then the runaway noble succeeded at not rolling his eyes at Bennie's speech. Well, he hoped a sigh would go unnoticed. "And if we pay special attention to Sprout when things turn nasty, what are we to do when we look down and find our bodies filled with holes?" Was something he desperately wanted to say. However, Astor kept his mouth shut for once.

....Not for long anyway. He immediately leapt to Gale's side and said, "You heard the man. Shall we, my dear?"

 

[Fappy]

Satisfied with their replies, Bennie turned on his heel and led the group of young bandits a few yards down the street. The machine gun mounted on the back of their crawler got them more than a few suspicious looks, but people in this dome were used to seeing that sort of thing. Bandits were not exactly a rare site in settlements like this. That said, they still had to be discreet. Other than their holstered revolvers, Bennie and Sprout were unarmed.

Bennie and Sandra brushed by two elderly folks on their way into the building, leaving the other three to keep watch on the street. Sprout found a nice spot near the staircase to lean back and relax. In the shade of the large building looming overhead, he took out a box of 'Ace of Spades' (Lilith's favorite), smacked it against his palm a few times, and slid out a single cigarette. Without warning, he looked to Jesse and tossed the box to him; his intent being rather obvious.

After lighting it, Sprout took a deep drag and leaned his head back against the concrete slab as he exhaled. He kicked his foot up, resting the sole of his shoe against the slab and stuck one thumb inside his waistband. He grinned. "Ain't shit gonna go down today," Sprout told them. "Y'all can relax."

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Once inside, Bennie told Sandra she could look around a bit. It was a peculiar kind of building. Not many people in a dome like this owned phones or any kind of printing devices, so they'd all come here if they needed something like that. Bennie paid the clerk some carbon to use one of the backrooms. It was a sensitive call, after all.

"Hey," he said into the phone. "I'm here in Pebblebrook. The fax number is E731HY90 and the extension is 89."

"Sending it now. By the way, my boys will be there soon," a gruff voice said on the other end of the line.

"Great, thanks," Bennie muttered before hanging up the phone and attending to the fax machine.

Though everything had been going smoothly so far, Bennie couldn't help feeling anxious. His hatred for Wilkes-Vines was simply too profound.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Elizabeth couldn't believe what she'd been told. Though Franz was vague on the details, what made him think she could be trusted? Did he and his mother see through her facade so easily? Was it that obvious how much she loathed Dio?

What does she really want with me?

This 'Golden Empress' had a reputation, after all. She had never been much of a bleeding heart, so why start now? What could she possibly gain by helping Elizabeth?

After talking to a few more annoying nobles, Elizabeth pushed her way through the crowd until eventually finding Asad once more. "Hey," she called out to him, her voice somewhat wary, "what happened to Commander Saburo?"

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"Hey,"

Asad didn't acknowledge the girl as she approached, merely looking into the bottom of his near empty glass as he was propped against the bar. His conversation with Lombardi had shook him more than he initially thought.

"what happened to Commander Saburo?"

Remaining silent for a few moment, he looked at Elizabeth from the corner of his eye as she she stood next to him. "Dancing." He mumbled before tossing back the remains of his drink. "With Lord Basilio." He sneered as he placed the glass back on the bar. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Asad squinted tiredly. "Lombardi knows, Elizabeth." He said simply. "And so does Dio, apparently." He almost laughed. "I'm just contemplating whether I should put a bullet in my head now and save everyone the hassle."

He was running out of options, and he had no escape plan. Asad hated not having an escape plan.

"These are the last days of the Basilio empire, supposedly." Asad whispered, chuckling sardonically to himself.

===========================================

"Let me drive." Allie chirped as she hopped into the driver's seat of the crawler. "I haven't had the chance since... well, since me nan got this souped up delivery truck in one time." The girl chuckled as she gripped the steering wheel. "Now that hunk 'o junk could move, reinforced suspension, overclocked pretty much the entire engine." She made vroom sounds as she playfully turned the wheel. "I crashed it into Mr. McNallie's across the street." She chuckled. "None the wiser though, I drove the truck back into the garage and made her good as new. Thankin' me lucky stars he was out that mornin'."

The young girl turned to look up Ruffles, a sad smile curling her lips. "Do you have any family Roofles?."

 

[The Funslinger]

"Now that hunk 'o junk could move, reinforced suspension, overclocked pretty much the entire engine."

"Yeah, if that impressed you, you're gonna fucking love driving a crawler looked after lovingly by this guy."

"Do you have any family Roofles?."

The question caught him off guard. "What?" He blinked. "Yeah, yeah. Got more family than I know what to do with. There's a lot of my family in the shanty town around Zephyr, where the Rock's largest shipyard is. Couple of us live in the actual houses, though. I shared one of them with five brothers and two sisters, all older than me. More every day, too. I think me and cousin Landon are like... the only ones without kids at this point."

He sighed through his nose, and looked at the dash. "That's actually why I'm going away. Not to have kids, I mean! I mean... I have a chance to make a better life for the rest of 'em. I can give my family a fortune by spending a few months doing what I always dreamed."

 

[Terratina.]

'Jesse' caught the box of cigarettes and took one, it wouldn't be his first thanks to neglectful guardians. Still, he did admit it was a filthy habit. However, Astor was more than happy to take the proverbial olive branch - it brightened what was turning out to be a shitty day a little. But one thing could not be forgiven: not offering the lady in their presence a smoke first.

'Course, with Sprout leaning in a pose like that, it was difficult resisting the tempting to wipe that smirk off Axel's face. Keeping the winning smile on his own face was hard enough with thoughts tumbling through his mind like, 'You think you're hot shit? Please, everything about that look says "try-hard", from the pose to the smoking. Goddamn hick.'

"Y'all can relax."

"As you say." 'Jesse' muttered as he offered the cigarettes to Gale. Now that he though about it, simply cracking Sprout's pride in two while on the mission was much too crude. Let him strut around like a puffed up peacock and then, when the shit hits the fan, let him eat his words. Like nothing was going to happen in Pebblebrook, every corner was just another place some bad guy could hide.

"You got a light, then?" Astor asked as he played around with the cigarette in his fingers, as casual as ever, just how he wanted to appear.

 

[Dogmatic99]

["I'm not really sure how we should start this."] Florian was sat at the table, awkwardly fidgeting with his hands and the loose strands of his sleeves.

One of a long line of awkward pauses followed. Erik set the bottle down and rummaged around for a pair of shot glasses and doing what came naturally with them.

["I guess we could start slow. You know... work our way into things in an organized and reasonable manner now that you're not surprising me with zombie shenanigans."]

["Was there any way I could have done it without spooking the crap out of you and getting my ass kicked?"] Florian asked, going back on the defensive again.

["Did Irena kick your ass as well?"]

["She tried to kick me in the nuts..."] Florian's eyes glanced downwards and he shifted in his seat, feeling like a child trying to worm out of trouble with a grownup.

["She didn't try hard enough."]

Erik breathed a heavy sigh of exhaustion as he got to pouring. They started with a single drink each, clinking their glasses together like civilized men, just as a way to grease the wheels. neither one felt comfortable having this conversation but they'd backed themselves into a corner and with that simple acceptance... they were off!

*Five drinks later*

["- No, no that is fucking stupid though because... why didn't you just talk to me, why didn't you come to me before you did anything like this? You could have done that, you know that, you could have come over and said 'Erik, I'm in trouble. I'm having doubts. It's all starting to feel too much for me.' You could have said ANY of these things and I would have understood. you don't think anyone else has thought this before you?"] Erik hadn't had enough to get drunk yet (though he had started before coming here) but he had consumed enough liquor to get a good rant on.

["I didn't tell you, Erik, because you would have tried to stop me! You would have spun me some talk and it would have been right back to the usual all over again."] Florian's tolerance had taken a big hit over the years he'd been tea total and it was showing, his face was already getting flushed.

["You're damn right I would have stopped you!"] Erik yelled. ["I would have stopped you from throwing your life away, everything we worked so hard to achieve, just so you could bum around the south playing bible chef!"] And another shot down! ["For god's sake, lad, even...even if you wanted to stop, you don't think there could have been a less insane way to go about it?"]

["We may have both done some stupid things, Erik, but let's not act like stupid people."] Florian threw back his freshly filled glass. ["You know there couldn't be any middle ground. People would have seen me as an easy target if word got out that I'd gone off the rails. The family would have been hurt. Even if - and it's a big if - even if you tried to make something work there was no way Dad would have let it slide. He'd have found a way to bring me back on track. I'd been thinking of ways to get out for months until the factory. I didn't plan for things to go down the way they did but I saw my chance and I took it. How many people you know ever really walk away from the life?"]

Florian's tone went more grim as he forced himself to speak calmly as he stared Erik down. He wasn't going to back away from this. He'd been running from them for too long. They'd hash this out all night if they had to.

*Fifteen drinks later*

They were making progress at least. neither one was willing to concede anything just yet but they could at least meet the other half way. They were reaching a more humble form of inebriation, they just common men, they were flawed, they'd made mistakes that the high percentage of alcohol was forcing them to think on for reasons. Florian's chair had ended up pushed to the far end of the room as he leaned over himself and Erik sat perched on the kitchen table.

["Why a priest though?"] Erik scratched at the back of his neck as he stifled a yawn, it was getting pretty stuffy in here.

["I didn't set out to be one. It's just... okay!"] Florian waved his hands out in front of him with decisive purpose. ["So I ended up at Blackwall Abbey, just west of Feroxi, a friend sent me on there and they took me in for a while. You didn't have to do much to earn your keep, just help out and stuff and... they were cool. I mean they were just freakin' nice to everybody! Whoever the hell they were! Since when did we do stuff like that? And they just seemed to have everything figured out, y'know?"]

Erik gave out a sudden sound of understanding. So this was going to be the usual kind of story. Person hits rock bottom and at their lowest point they get scooped up by some cult that preyed on the weak. Honestly, he expected better of Florian. Saying as much wouldn't help him here though, so he let the boy keep talking.

["They were like a big mixing point for a bunch of different orders and groups. You know how many different kinds of church there are on The Rock? It's insane. But there was one, the clerics, they had two of their guys passing through."] His old mentors. He wondered where they were now. ["They were so free. No set vows, every man free to forge his own and walk the path the way he saw fit. The only rule was that you served. Serve God by serving your fellow man. Help everyone... doesn't matter who."] He was smiling now.

So Florian told the stories of his travels on the road again. Of life after baptism, where he'd wandered through the sprawling depths of every dome they came across, big and small. Helping the poor and needy in whatever small way they could and accepting whatever charity a thankful stranger might. The skills he'd learned in a life of crime were tested in new ways as he saw his fair share of knife and bullet injuries that needed mending. None of them on great bandit warriors, just their victims. Of people too weak or frightened to fight back, or maybe they just didn't know how. He told Erik the story of how he'd stared down the shotgun of wannabe syndicate boys. Of the night he spent out in the ash, clinging to his breather mask as the priests tried to guide a supply van through an ever shifting ash dune. He almost fell out of his seat laughing when he told them of the time they visited Zephyr and got drafted into helping some midwife nuns for a month. Florian had never heard the southern word for crowning but getting a front seat example of the translation certainly made celibacy seem like a less daunting prospect.

Erik listened and laughed along and asked for clarifications where Florian's drunken narration got too haphazard. The more he did so the happier the lad seemed and the more Erik came to doubt his initial thought on the matter. He'd never seen the boy like this. When he talked about his travels, these chaste little adventures, there was more light and life in his eyes than Erik could remember seeing in a long time. There was passion there.

*Thirty something drinks later*

The two of them were sat on the floor now, legs splayed out, asses going numb and snickering like idiots.

["Wait, wait, wait, wait!"] Erik rambled on until running out of steam. ["But you said you could choose your own vows an' stuff! So why the hell did you say you couldn't get your dick wet?!"]

["It's complicated!"] Florian was basically caterwauling by this point.

["How is it complicated?"]

["It just is! You wouldn't get it!"] Florian tried to slap Erik away by the shoulder as he struggled to even raise his arm.

["I am an educated man, Flower, just try me."] Erik grinned smugly.

["Stop talking to me like that- and no! You don't get this kind of thing, you don't take it seriously anyway!"]

["Is there at least a reason?"] Erik reached out to steady Florian who was close to sliding down onto his side.

["Yes, there's a reason."]

["Is it a good reason?"] Erik was regaining his senses a little more by this point.

["You wont think so, you'll say it's a stupid reason."] Florian's head slumped down and his chin bumped against his chest.

["Is that because it is a stupid reason?"] Erik lead him on like a condescending school teacher.

["I say it's MY reason! So you can fuck off if you don't like it!"] He snapped as countless harassments and gropings leaped back to his mind. some burning more than others. Why did everyone care so much anyway? People were happy to not have sex with him when he was up for it in the past, why was it suddenly so incredibly important and taboo now that he didn't want it either?

["That's a good enough reason for me."] Erik said after a pause.

*Everyone stopped counting a while ago*

The conversation had gotten back on topic after a few detours down memory lane and an awkward aside where Erik had tried to drag out an answer as to whether Florian had ever slept with/jerked off to any of the women on the maiden. He dodged giving an answer long enough for Erik's drunken patience to wear out. For now.

["So you and Irena have plans, I'm told. That you want to screw over Sergei and start making people act their age and such."] He growled in a haze.

["That's the super gist of it, yeah."] Florian's head swayed by way of a nod. ["You've gotta see it too right? Things weren't supposed to be like this, Erik. It wasn't going to be an easy change but there was supposed to be some change, right? Instead everyone's acting like animals. Shouldn't Dad have reigned them in by now? If he saw anything like this going on in the past he'd bring the fucking hammer down."]

["Don't talk to me about your father."] Erik rubbed at his aching eyes. ["He doesn't even talk to me half the time any more. Ever since we won it's like... it's like he's given up. Like he's just stopped and now, n-n-now he's not just happy to watch it all burn, he's gunna throw some gas on the thing and help it along."]

They were both quiet for a while after that. Thinking a hundred thoughts a second and unable to unscramble half of them in the time they thought they so desperately needed to as they so often did when drunk.

["It's because of you."] Erik said at last. ["This was for you to begin with. so that you'd have a strong family to lead and take over everything when we were gone and it's because of you now. This was his vengeance for you, Florian."] Erik said simply. ["What's he got left to plan for now?"]

["He'd always find something."] Florian bristled, crossing his arms over his chest.

["Would he? Vas never cared about this city, he only liked a handful of people, as far as I can tell. Anna's gone, he think's you're gone. He's alone, lad. All his true family gone and staring down his last years in the cold and for what? Who'll remember him?"] Erik was speaking in a voice far softer than he was used to now. His words were croaking out and his eyes looked far more tired than usual. ["I haven't told him you're back, it's not my place. But if we all came to him together-"]

["No!"] Florian cut him off. ["I can't! At least... not yet. Not until the plan's ready."] He trailed off at the end as he heard how feeble his reason sounded out loud. Erik didn't need to say anything.

They were quiet again but it wasn't awkward this time. It was Erik who broke the quiet, as he so often did.

["Then I'm in."]

["What?!"] Florian almost recoiled, taken aback.

["If this is what needs to happen first, then I'm in. Even if I can't save this family, I can save the family and my home with it."] Erik said. Every bit the old war hound.

["You're serious?"]

["Deadly."] Erik nodded.

The two of them dragged themselves to their feet with very some difficulty and brushed themselves off. The empty bottle clattered to the floor beside them, luckily Irena had more.

["Hey."] Florian looked up at the looming bandit. ["Are... are we okay?"] He asked sheepishly, almost afraid to look up into Erik's pale blue eyes, feeling like a kid again for the hundredth time that night.

Erik looked down at the young man before him and placed his hand around the back of Florian's head, he put the other on his shoulder and Florian flinched as it looked as if Erik was about to slam him with a headbutt. He didn't. He just pressed his forehead against Florian's, his eyes closed and feeling old for the first time in a long time.

["We will be, boy. We're always okay in the end, you and me."] He said softly before pulling away, his weathered face creased in a smile warm enough to heat the room.

"HEEEEEEEY!" Erik called through into the other room, back to his usual roar. "Women! We empty fridge tonight! We celebrating!"
===================================================================

"Y'all can relax."

Gale looked around the place, her wandering eyes only pausing as she waved away the offered smokes from Jesse.

"No thanks, never touch the things." She said, absentmindedly. She never was a fan of that kind of baccy. Too synthetic and acrid for her. They smelt like spite to her.

Little ol' Pebble Town did seem like a mighty quiet place. Not the kind to kick up a big fuss. Gale wasn't used to big fusses though, her people tended to attract little ones more than any other kind and places like this always had their fair share of bored boys with more spark than sense who wanted to prove the size of their balls if given the chance.

y'know, like traveller boys, or the pair right next to her. Men weren't so different the world over really. So maybe for now she'd keep an eye out and play things serious. Gale wouldn't want this going like her time on lookout the night of Lilith's mad dash after all. Or like her motor boating match against young Axel here either. Nope, two strikes was more than enough.

 

[Dogmatic99]

Spoiler

"The look on her face when she figures out why she can't seduce him, I'd pay to see that."

"The look on his face when he realises he might be able to seduce her! That might be worse." Irena's eyes bulged as the mental image went across her mind.

Lilith chuckled as the face of a confused Pixie filled her mind. "Yup, would totally pay to see that." Pulling her legs to her chest, the woman folded her arms over her knees. "Do you think they'll make up?" She nodded over to the door of the room Erik and Florian were using.

"He seems to really care about Florian, I could tell that much." She smiled sadly.

"I don't know." Irena shrugged. "The both of them are so damn stubborn about just sitting sown and talking about things. That was always my job, if Florian ever got cornered in something he didn't like he'd freak. You know I wasn't joking when I said that they might burn my kitchen down, Florian did that once. Didn't even blink. He just did it." She patted around her jacket pockets until she found a pack of smokes, there were still a few left. "He seems a little calmer these days though so... maybe?"

"Ha, really?" Lilith grinned. "Back on the Maiden, if you so much as left a dirty plate in the kitchen, he'd start freaking out, he loves that place. Could he cook before? Or is that a new thing?"

"I dunno, the last time I let him do anything like that for me didn't end well."

Spoiler: Cooking with Florian!

Twenty two year old Florian absentmindedly hummed away to himself as he prodded at the mass of egg that was scrambling away in the pan. Irena's mom had a bunch of herbs and spices so he could afford to get fancy with breakfast.

"Morning." Irena yawned happily as she draped her arms over his shoulders.

"Hey there." Florian turned the gas knob down to a low heat and left the cooker to its thing as he turned round to face her, slipping his hands onto her waist and leaning down to kiss her lightly. "I thought you were sleeping in today?"

"You know me. No rest for the wicked." Irena smiled mischievously between kisses. Florian was pulling her closer and it was getting very hard to concentrate on serious stuff again. But business before pleasure, they had to talk about this sometime. "Florian, listen, I need to talk to you about something." Irena pulled away from him a little.

"You know your dad's given me a real chance here and I'm serious about seeing it through. An... and you know how the others are. They don't need any excuses not to take me seriously at the best of times and I don't want to give anybody any reason to think I didn't earn my place here for any other reason than I'm better than them at what I do. not that I was boneing the bosses son. So I need to know..."

She took a deep breath. This was a lot harder than she thought it would be but he'd been so great so far. They were happy together, they could make something of this and have the best of both worlds, right?

"Where is this going?"

It was a micro reaction. For all intensive purposes Florian was the picture of calm, his light hearted smile never faltered, the warmth in his eyes was there to stay as he looked at the only woman in the world. Unnoticed by Irena one of his arms had left her waist and had ever so calmly moved to his back and felt out the gas knob again. With a flick of his wrist it was all the way up to maximum.

Irena leaped back and shrieked in firght as a plume of lame shot upwards, scorched the ceiling and showed no singsn of slowing down.

"Ooooooooh Nooooooo!" Called Florian, not sounding surprised at all but a little bit bored.

"He apologised eventually." Irena grimaced "A few years later a got this place and Erik tried something similar. Luckily that time the only person who got hurt was Florian."

"You two were together?" Lilith sounded surprised as she lit up one of her own cigarettes. 'That was years ago Lil, calm the fuck down.' She let a small chuckle escape her lips. "I suppose that explains why he came to you first. Must have been a real shock seeing him alive after all this time." She took a deep drag.

"I wouldn't call it together." Irena scoffed. "We slept together for a while but I don't think he's capable of being romantic. Not in a normal way, anyway. That's just their way here. Calling Frostfall 'set in its ways' is putting it lightly. The family's a boys club to the core. Plus my mom's from Yuteni so that made me a half-breed. Tehy called me that too! To my face!" She wasn't exactly angry, the insult was too old for that but she was plenty indignant about it. "Some dome's are just weird about outsiders I guess."

Irena sighed heavily and took another drag, watching the smoke hang in the air as drift over to the closed doorway. "Those two were the first ones to treat me like I was a proper person. Like none of that stuff mattered. Well, them and Vasa."

"That bad huh?" Lilith frowned, narrowing her eyes as she slowly blew smoke from the corner of her mouth. "This ain't the most friendly place, but I put that down to the recent events, didn't even think that it might be just the way people are around here." The woman shrugged, averting her eyes as she thought for a moment. "Did you ever go to Yuteni?" She asked softly. "Did you hear it got hit? Place almost got turned into a crater. I imagine they can fix it up, but no many people stuck around to help."

"Everyone heard about that. That the Iron Maiden went gun crazy and opened up on the tower, that got a few cheers round here believe me. Guess I wont be moving back when I retire." The fall of Yuteni hadn't hit Irena too hard at the time. They'd left when she was still a child, what family she had left was here in the north. "There are good ones here as well." She said after a pause. "The Hussars are a rough bunch but if you can win them over they're yours. They look after their own, y'know? It's just... we lost a lot of good ones along the way. These new named men, they didn't earn half the respect the others did... of crap I sound like Erik!" Irena buried her face in her hand for a moment as she let out a tired laugh. "Oh I need new friends!"

"Seems like change is happening everywhere." Lilith smiled sadly. "We lost a lot of good guys when the Maiden got taken, even more when we took it back." She sighed through her nose as she rested her head on her arms. "Florian almost got killed when Austin stole the ship, fell out of a crawler that was making a break for it. From what Pixie told me, he was out there for hours, unconscious." She looked at Irena. "He's a lot tougher than he looks."

"Eer, yeah. I knew him before he went all god squad on people." Irena raised an eyebrow at that. "I still can't believe he did that. That is so stupid!" She failed utterly at suppressing her snickering.

"It's not that bad is it?" Lilith asked. "I thought the whole priest thing fit him rather well." She pouted. "Made sense to me anyway." She puffed smoke from her nostril.

'Was he really that different before?'

"It sounds more like a con he'd run on someone." Irena snorted. "I mean I knew he was feeling the strain but a spirit journey, or whatever, I can't picture that." She broke into another bout of giggles. "Oh those Bejic men." Irena sighed, brushing a loose strand of hair from her forehead. "They don't do things by halves I'll give them that."

"I think he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else." The girl mused. "I know it's hard for you imagine it now, but back on the Maiden, he was the real deal, you know?" She averted her eyes. "At least I thought he was."

Irena just shrugged. There was enough for her to wrap her head around right now without adding Florian's moral crisis to the list. When did everyone else get so touchy feely? Such were the times, she guessed.

Cigarette hanging loosely from her lips, Lilith furrowed her brow. "Do you'll think he'll be okay?" She asked. "Dealing with all this I mean. He's been out of the game for a long time, I'm worried he'll over extend himself."

"You'll know he's hit his limit when he can't move any more. Till then he's good." Irena put it bluntly and leaned back into the couch. "He's tougher than he looks, right?" She gave Lilith a knowing glance.

Lilith met Irena's eyes with her own, albeit concerned, look. "Aren't we all." She grinned. "We''ll be here to kick him up the arse if he gets too full of himself." She winked, taking a long drag of her cigarette.

"HEEEEEEEY! Women! We empty fridge tonight! We celebrating!"

 

[Fappy]

"You got a light, then?"

"What you don' got yer own?" Sprout asked in an amused tone. Clenching the cigarette between his teeth, Sprout kicked himself off the wall and came over to Jesse. He looked to Gale while he lit the boy's cigarette.

"No thanks, never touch the things."

Sprout chuckled. "Yeah, I didn' really care much fer them until recently," he admitted. "I dunno, I reckon I've jus' been around 'em all my life, so it was inevitable I'd pick up the habit." Flicking the the lighter closed, he patted Jesse hard on the back and grinned. "Don' go chokin' on it."

"Enough of this peacock bullshit you have goin' on with Jesse. His life is in your hands."

Sprout pursed his lips and retreated back to concrete slab. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to be nicer to the guy. After all, he did win the girl, didn't he?

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

"These are the last days of the Basilio empire, supposedly."

"So they say," she replied flatly. Crossing her arms over her chest, she examined the crowd from her place at the bar. "They're playing us, Asad. I don't know what her angle is, but Contessa means to use us." She looked at the soldier from the corner of her eye. "We'll play her game for as long as we have to, but we're going to have to become better liars if we're to deceive her. Like it or not, we need to learn this dance."

She potted Dio in the crowd, dancing with Commander Saburo. There was a eerie grin on his face.

Elizabeth shivered. "Asad," she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Her gaze was piercing. "I need you to tell me again that you trust me. I need to be sure you're willing to weather this with me. We can't afford to falter. I need your word." Her expression was grave.

There was a cold, detached resolve in her eyes that he'd never seen there before.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Tsubaki and Dio danced together in silence for a time. Dio's smile was muted, almost forced, and Tsubaki did everything she could not to look him in the eye. She knew she was being foolish, but she couldn't bring herself to meet his penetrating gaze. Too much had happened.

She didn't know who he was anymore.

"Tsubaki," his voice was warm, "I'm sorry I have disappointed you." She looked up at him in surprise. The eccentric noble moved his hand up from her waste and held her cheek tenderly. She trembled at his touch. "Be still, Tsubaki, it's okay."

"M'Lord, I---"

He hushed her. "It's okay, I understand," he assured her. "You've heard things, and I cannot deny them. I told you, haven't I? I need to make certain sacrifices if I am to create a new world for us."

Tsubaki was silent.

"Major Harel... you love him, don't you?"

She averted her gaze, attempting to hide her embarrassment.

"It's okay," he said once more as he held her chin and guided her gaze back onto him. "It's okay that you love him. I'm happy for you."

Tsubaki furrowed her brow. "Dio," she muttered for the first time since they'd shared a bed, "I need to know... What is your plan for Lady Maribel? What are you doing in those labs under the tower?" She clutched his shoulders. "If you want to share this future of yours with me, I need you to tell me the truth. All of this... i-i-i-it's tearing me up inside. I-I-I don't want to resent you! I don't want to hate you! Please, Dio!"

Again, Dio hushed her. He didn't pay any mind to the prying eyes that Tsubaki's despair had attracted. "Elizabeth is a pawn, nothing more," he reminded her. "Her part in this is peripheral at best."

"And yet you torment her," Tsubaki argued. "Why?"

It was Dio's turn to avert his gaze. He looked uncharacteristically ashamed. "I'm afraid," he admitted. "I'm walking a very thin line here, Tsubaki. Everyone wants what I have. Everyone is out for Basilio blood. You heard her, didn't you? That ***** Contessa threatened my life in my own home." He was finding it difficult to keep his voice down. "If I'm ever going to make this world, I need to make the old one my enemy. Any potential threat needs to be dealt with in the only way I know how."

"And that girl is an actual threat?"

"Of course she is," Dio hissed. "They all are. You don't get it, do you? You are one of the only people I can trust. One of the only people I could ever trust."

Tsubaki was never very good at reading people, but she had known Dio for a long time. He was trying to distract her. "And the experiments?" she asked, suddenly.

"A necessary evil," he replied. "Trust me, we haven't done anything to anyone undeserving."

The young woman winced in disgust. "Y-you really are experimenting on humans?" she asked, her voice weak.

"We have to," he said. "It's the only way. But like I said, we aren't hurting the innocent. In fact, one of our guinea pigs happens to be the man that nearly killed you."

"He's still alive?" Tsubaki blurted.

Dio shrugged. "I don't suspect for much longer," he told her. "He's been fighting us the entire time. I can't imagine he has anything left in him at all."

Tsubaki suddenly felt a crippling sense of pity for the old assassin. True, he'd nearly killed her, but no one deserved that fate. The soldier looked her her superior with a profound sense of disgust on her face. She was so utterly disappointed in him.

Dio frowned. "I'm sorry," he said. "The world's a dark place."

She looked down at their feet. The two of them were hardly dancing at all now. "I don't know what to say to you," she admitted in a defeated tone.

The tall man reached around her, resting one hand on the back of her head and the other between her shoulder blades. She had to prevent herself from squirming away when he held her close. She didn't want to cause a scene. Closing his eyes, Dio kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tight. "Tsubaki," he whispered, "do you remember the first time we danced together?"

Where was this coming from all of a sudden?

When she thought about it, Tsubaki did in fact remember it. It was a good memory. One of her fondest, actually.

She hesitated a long while before responding. "I do," she whispered in reply. Teary-eyed, she buried her face in his chest. "I was really bad." She giggled sadly.

Dio petted the back of her head. "Nonsense. You were magnificent," he said.

Spoiler: First Dance

[spoiler-Moosik]

Tsubaki was thirteen-years-old and she'd never felt more out of place. Dio, her savior, was hosting a grand ball for all of the Feroxi nobility and here she was, dolled up for no apparent reason. She had already begun her military training and was used to being ordered around by stern old men... not tended to by soft-handed maids. For whatever reason Dio wanted her to attend.

She didn't get it at all.

"Tsubaki," Dio said to her, standing over the small girl with his hand outstretched. "It's unseemly for a beautiful girl to be left alone at such an event. Please, may I have this dance?"

Everyone there had been ignoring her and Dio must have picked up on that. Though she found it tiresome to be pitied, she couldn't help but smile at the man. He was charming, and when she took his hand, she was filled with love.

To a man of his size, she might as well have been weightless. In a showy fashion, Dio swung the small girl round-and-round, eliciting a series of giggles and snorts form the young Tsubaki. He moved with such grace and power. She had no hope of ever keeping up with him.

Then, when the music grew quite, he slowed down and danced with her like she was a proper lady. As they swayed together in the center of the ballroom, Dio patted her on the top of her small head and smiled. "These people around us don't understand," he told her. "They see me as a powerful man and you as a weak, little girl with no title or station." She frowned at him. As if he needed to remind her. "One day that will change my little Tsubaki. One day there won't be a difference between you and I."

"What do you mean, M'Lord?" she asked him.

His smile only grew warmer. "If you stay by my side, I will give you a new world to live in," he promised her. "One deserving of your beauty."

She blushed and looked away from him.

He smiled.
[/spoiler]

"I love you," Dio whispered to her.

Oh no...

Tsubaki's eyes shot open and, without even thinking, she pushed herself out of his grasp. "I-I-I'm sorry, M'Lord, b-b-but I have to go," she stammered. "I need to go to the bathroom."

Dio nodded solumnly. "Thank you for the dance, Tsubaki," he said flatly. He was hurt.

Tsubaki speechless gaze lingered on him for a short while before she finally turned on her heel and bolted through the crowd.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

After having deposited her breakfast and a bucket of tears into the toilet bowl, Pixie had managed to drag herself to her feet as discreetly as possible. Several women had been in and out of the bathroom since she'd been there and none had overstayed their welcome. Pixie wasn't exactly quiet when she wallowed.

Staggering to the bathroom sink when the coast was clear, she frantically wiped the tears from her eyes and began reapplying the heavy make-up on her scarring. The cover-up had been severely disrupted and she couldn't risk anyone spotting it.

Fuckin' pull yerself together, god dammit!

She was still reeling from what she'd been told earlier, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She'd made up her mind. She'd leave Feroxi tonight. Fuck that guy. What the fuck did he know, anyway?

He knew yer real name.

Pixie resisted the urge to bury her knuckles into the mirror before her and settled for beating her fist against the marble counter-top.

Fuck him. FUCK HIM!

She couldn't waste time worrying about the past. She needed to look forward. She needed to protect her own, no matter what sacrifices she had to make to make it so. Sprout and Lilith... Bennie, Jake, Cameron, Aesop and Amy... they were her family. They were all still out there. They were all still alive. She could protect them. And despite her earlier conclusion, she knew she couldn't do that if she was rotting in hell alongside Dio.

By the time she'd almost finished fixing her make-up another woman burst through the door and staggered into the stall Pixie had left open. Slamming the door shut behind her, the woman started openly bawling her eyes out almost immediately.

Pixie had completed her task, but didn't leave the bathroom right away. Perhaps it was due to her recent bout of despair, but for some reason Pixie couldn't take her good eye off of the locked stall. An overwhelming sense of empathy gripped her heart.

She didn't know this woman and she had enough of her own problems to worry about.

The sobbing stopped for a brief moment and then suddenly continued, more intense than ever.

Fuck me.

Despite herself, Pixie approached the stall, and after hesitating for a moment, she knocked on the door. "Are you okay in there, Miss?" she asked in a fake accent.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"That's actually why I'm going away. Not to have kids, I mean! I mean... I have a chance to make a better life for the rest of 'em. I can give my family a fortune by spending a few months doing what I always dreamed."

Allie had known she'd be stepping in for Ruffles, but she didn't really know why. She hadn't realised that it might have been for family reasons.

"That's really nice." The girl smiled sadly as she averted her gaze. "I guess the Iron Maiden is my family now, since me nan died, I dinnae have anyone else." The death of Allie's grandmother was still something she wasn't sure she had processed. She was sad, but it didn't quite hit her as much as she thought it should. Maybe she was still hoping she was alive? Or maybe it just needed longer to sink in.

'People dinnae generally survive having a building collapse on them, Allie.'

----------------------------------------

We'll play her game for as long as we have to, but we're going to have to become better liars if we're to deceive her. Like it or not, we need to learn this dance."

'Easy enough for you to say.' Asad bit his tongue as he took a swig of his drink. How did she plan on them both becoming better at lying exactly? Were there schools for that? It's not like they had time to practice anyway.

"I need you to tell me again that you trust me. I need to be sure you're willing to weather this with me. We can't afford to falter. I need your word."

Looking at the girl from the corner of his eyes, the man clenched his jaw at Elizabeth's steely resolve. Did she know what she was doing to him? What she wanted him to do?

Grey was good, grey let Asad have some moral leeway in a situation. Letting this girl get devoured by Dio was a decidedly a very black and white affair, and wasn't one he could simply brush away, the nagging feeling in the back of his mind wouldn't let him.

"My word, eh?" The man smirked slightly, taking another long swig from his drink. "I better get an estate out of this." He chuckled.

 

[The Funslinger]

"I guess the Iron Maiden is my family now, since me nan died, I dinnae have anyone else."

"Well that's the story for a lot of people here," Ruffles replied. "Even before we recruited you guys, most of us were people with no place else to go. It'll take some time, but people here will love you as much as any family ever could, Allie. You're in good hands."

'Time for a lighter note,' he thought. "But you know it wasn't always straight-forward. We're a bandit crew, even if we are different. Back in the early days we took who we could get, and who we could get were sometimes kinda scummy. Pixie went out of her way to help me out, but I wasn't much of a fighter, so you can imagine I was an easy target. We had this one guy, Kyle. Wouldn't leave me alone. He'd take my food, trip me in the corridors. But it was gradually escalating. Guy was a drinker, and he was angry as fuck. Smart as I am, I didn't really do much to help the situation." He chuckled. "I found him passed out in a supply closet with its door missing, just sat on a bucket. I'd finished my brick forge a couple weeks ago, and I still had a bunch of bricks and mortar left, so I went and got as much as I could, came back, and walled him up. Took Pixie the best part of an hour with a sledgehammer to break him out once he woke up and started yelling."

=============================================

Wandering through the streets of Feroxi with a reluctant Jun on his heels, Bryan eventually found a bar to his liking. A place he'd visited once or twice on his own, called the White Lion.

Once they had a table, and Jun was sat down, Bryan went to the bar to order drinks. There were people lined up all along it, so Bryan stepped in between two young women. "Excuse me, ladies," he said, stepping up to the bar. The bar staff were all busy pouring drinks for other people, so he turned to one of the girls. "So what brings the two o' you out here? Your boyfriends getting you shitfaced?"

"As if," replied the girl on his left, with short dark hair. "Lisa's boyfriend was a complete asshole. We're celebrating being rid of him!"

'Oh, that's just perfect,' thought Bryan. At that moment, a barman approached him.

"What'll it be?"

"Whatever dark ale you'd recommend for me, and a rum and cola," Bryan replied. Jun would probably respond better to something that didn't taste boozey.

"So what do you two ladies do when you're not out for victory drinks?" he asked, as the barman disappeared. It was Lisa who replied. "We're couriers," she said. "Single packages need sending from dome to dome, and the big cargo caravans get raided by bandits. We find alternative routes, and because we're a small group, we go unnoticed."

"Sounds like a great job," Bryan replied. "Fucken love traveling, me."

"Yeah," Lisa replied. Then she appeared to notice the dog tags around Bryan's neck. "Hey Sarah, check these tags. This guy's a soldier!"

"Oh wow!" Sarah exclaimed. "Do you do anything dangerous?"

"Oh yeah, all the time," replied Bryan. "I don't know how long you two've been in Feroxi, but we had to chase out some bandits lying low here. Me and my mate over there are on medical leave."

"Well you're looking pretty good for someone who probably got shot or something," said Lisa.

"Well, it's only a flesh wound," said Bryan, picking up his drinks. "Come on, I'll introduce you to my mate." Turning around, he led them to Jun's table, and slid the rum and coke across to him. "Jun, this is Lisa, and this is Sarah."

Taking in the casts on Jun's hands, the two women flocked to him. "Oh my god, you poor guy! What happened to you?"

Jun kept telling himself that being dragged along at a bar would at least be doing something. It didn't make the experience any better. He just didn't know what to do in these sort of situations and now there was that coupled with the fact that Bryan had brought two women over and their attention had leapt straight to his hands. As if Jun wanted to talk about it. He sighed and give a quick answer, "Just a fight."

"Oh aye," said Bryan. "This guy jumped me, and knocked me on my ass. Jun wasn't taking any o' that shit. Went apeshit on the guy." He gestured at the other man. "Reckon that's why I ain't dead."

"Oh my god," Sarah cooed as she and Lisa sat in the booth, either side of Jun. "That's so brave! And you saved your friend's life, and you're just being really modest about it!"

The discrepancy between the actual event and the retelling was the thing which immediately came into Jun's mind, only to be knocked down by the inkling of what Bryan was doing. Jun latched into the straw poking out of his rum and coke then started to drink, every single cell in his body was telling that staying in the bar with Bryan and the women was a bad idea. Unfortunately, he was trapped between the vacant-minded females. Not to mention that Bryan would probably grab him by his ponytail and force him to stay. After a brief bout of trying to think of something to say which wouldn't make the already bad situation even worse, Jun stopped drinking and glared at Bryan. It was his fault he was in this mess.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Spoiler

"Cooome ooon! Come on, we be friends now!" The door couldn't muffle Erik's voice anymore. It had only done so before because he had allowed it!

Florian's voice soon followed. ["It's cool I got more stuff for the-"] Then there was a mighty unseen crash. ["Oh shit! Don't tell Rena!"]

["Don't worry we'll be okay, she wanted this."] Erik ducked through the door, drinks in hand, being the greatest house guest ever. ["Oh we should have done this years ago."]

Florian followed soon after and brought the rest of the party in with him.

"Are... are they drunk?" Lilith asked Irena, shaking her head incredulously. "It's been like, thirty minutes, how the hell are they drunk?!" She tilted her head as Florian stumbled through the door.

"I've never seen him drunk!" Lilith whispered excitedly as she leaned in towards Irena. "This is gonna be fantastic!"

"It honestly took you this to get talking, didn't it?" Irena stood her ground, hands on her hips and uncertain of how to feel about what was happening in front of her. "Are you going to stay friends once you sober up, can you two promise me that?"

"We not done talking yet.l" Erik nodded. "We have details to be working out... but we get there." He may not have been as drunk as it first seemed.

Florian was though. "We're going to do this. Even... even-ev- we're over the first hurdle! The hard's part done. We can do this!" He could easily do this, if he could talk Aesop down from a bottle of scotch and convince Cam that dying her hair blonde was a bad idea then he could do thi- oh crap why did he convince her that was a bad idea? He was a bad idea!

"But now we talk as group! We are team again now!" Erik thumped his fist into his open palm.

"Can't say I'm not impressed by how quickly you guys managed to get wrecked." Lilith crossed her arms over her chest, smirking slightly. "When was the last time you got drunk, Florian?" The girl asked. 'One way of letting off steam, I guess.'

"Whaaat?" Florian looked up at her incredulously. "This isn't wrecked... this is... you've seen wrecked... this isn't- nooo." He shook his head way more than was necessary.

"We run out fast though." Erik eyes up the empty glass corpse of the giant they'd drained between them.

"Four years- no, no I think it's five now, maybe." Florian's voice was going hoarse as he slumped down into the nearest chair and rested his head in one of his hands, sounding like he could hardly believe what he was saying. "So many mugs of coco..."

"I'm glad you boys made up." Lilith nodded with approval. "And with one hundred percent less punching than before, that's good!" Stepping forward she took the empty bottle from Erik's hand before eyeing up the label, she raised an eyebrow. It was the same stuff from the back in the bar with Erik. "How are you both still alive? This shit tastes like death."

Florian and Erik burst into a fit of disgusting laughter and Erik wrapped an arm around Lilith's neck and started to noogie the life out of her scalp. "Aw girl does not like to driiiink! Do not worry we, we treat you good! We teach you things!"

Irena quietly went about setting the table out. She couldn't afford to get drunk tonight but it was too late for these two, the least she could do was get more dirt on the two of them and let her hair down a little bit. Florian cracked open another beer and looked on, blurry eyed as things went on around him.

"Lemme go!" Lilith cried out, half in pain and half in laughter before she finally managed to worm her way out of the man's grip. "I can drink." She pouted, panting slightly as she began patting down her messy hair. "I just drink real booze instead of battery acid, or potato vodka, or whatever the fuck it is that shit is made from."

Grabbing her own beer from the fridge she gently nudged Florian's shoulder, regretting it slightly as he looked like it was taking all his concentration just to stay upright. "Look at you." She cooed. "Getting all drunk and stuff, turning into a right proper delinquent, what with the fighting too." The girl smirked as she narrowed her eyes. "Pixie would be so proud."

"Oh God no." Florian tried to hold his head in his hands and instead just ended up pressing against the beer can. "No d-don't make her proud she does the bad things when she's proud! how did you deal with that?" He asked Lilith pleadingly.


"It's easier when you're a girl, I imagine." Lilith took a swig from her beer. "I've got it easy by virtue of being like, one of three people she wouldn't try and fuck." She chuckled. "You wouldn't be so lucky." Lilith winked at the man. "I doubt she hasn't already tried with you, and you were so oblivious that you didn't notice."

"I noticed..." Florian's eyes went hollow as he stared a thousand yards into the middle distance.

["Rena, he's making it all gay again."] Erik joined the youngsters and leaned over into Irena, crushing her a little bit.


"See, I'm not surprised." Lilith shrugged her shoulders as she chuckled. "Was it before or after she managed to recruit you?" The girl tilted her head curiously.

"Both." He emptied the can. "So much groping. Nowhere was safe."

"And then you have the sex! We get it, you not ugly down south so you have sex with all the women! This is boring me now!" Erik groaned, crushing a beer can that had served as his side dish and moved onto the better stuff again. "Get to the good stuff."

"How long did she do that for?" Lilith raised an eyebrow.

'I swear to god, Merry.'

"Not a recent thing, right?"


"Whah? No, jus' when I joined up and we almost did it that one time but then we didn't... wait..." He took another drink in silence, his face a mask of thought. "NO! He burst out! "No we didn't!" He cheered, way too pleased with himself.

"You used to be FUN!" Erik jeered from his side of the table.

"Seconded." Added Irena.

Lilith almost failed to hide the relief she felt. "It's not very often Merry gets denied, that must have ruffled her feathers a bit." She chuckled nervously. "Did she punch you?"

'Merry's sloppy seconds, Sprout would never let me hear the end of it if he ever found out.'

Florian wasn't as amused by all this talk of failed encounters with women as the others were. The last time he'd turned someone down hadn't gone so well. The scar she'd left by his collar bone began to itch and burn as he thought on it.

"I think she was okay with it." He switched to the harder stuff.

"So are you two back together now?" Erik asked loudly, waving his hand between Irena and Florian.

"Pfft, no!" she scoffed without missing a beat.

"You don't need to say it like that." Florian reared back from the verbal slap to his ego.


Lilith looked between the three friends, a small smile curling her lips. It had been years since these people had sat down like this, and yet it only looked like it had been days. Some friendships never felt the effects of time, those were the kinds of friendships that would survive anything and everything.

For the first time since she left the Maiden, Lilith felt a little homesick.

Taking a swig of her beer, she lit up a cigarette before offering Florian one. "Them's are fighting words, you gonna kick her arse for insulting your honour?"

"No I'll just steal her rabbit back, cook it for stew." Florian took the offered cigarette and lit up.

"You leave Trotsky out of this." Irena said sternly.

"Hundreds dead and that rabbit lives." Erik shook his head in mock mourning. "Where is your god now?"

"Wait, Trotsky is a rabbit?" Lilith took a deep drag. "I thought it was a dog, or a cat or something." The girl chuckled. "Who the hell has a pet rabbit?" She blew smoke from the corner of he mouth. "Although I guess an emotionless animal would be the perfect pet for Renny." Lilith smirked as she looked Irena in the eye.

"He is fluffy and loving and a true friend." Irena said flatly.

"Does he still shake all the time?"

"That is his little quirk, Florian, and I love him for it." Her tone only got firmer.

"You used to be fun too." Erik grumbled. "We are supposed to be bandits! If you people do not get better I will leave to drink, fight and fuck by myself!"

"I haven't done bandit stuff in ages." Lilith sighed sadly. "How long ago was the train robbery?" Lilith glanced at Florian before an idea popped into her head. "OH!" She giggled. "We should rob a bank or something!"

"We should rob a bank!" Florian yelled back.

"No one's robbing a bank!"

"You children could not rob corner store! When I was young, me and Vasa would raid convoys all day and we do it in style and be back in time for duels. When Bandits were real men!" Erik gave a booming burp as if that proved his point even further.

"Old man regaling us with tales of his misspent youth." Lilith grinned. "Let me guess, Frostfall was colder back then too, and also, masks weren't invented, so you had to hold your breath for a really long time when you left the domes."


"They used to make me do that." Florian nodded along.

"We give you mask back when you needed it!" Neither of them could apparently see what any kind of big deal in that. Just another case of Southerners and their coddling. This was why they always tangled themselves up and made things so complicated for themselves.

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a little unbreathable atmosphere never hurt anyone." She took a long swig from her beer. "Did you two talk everything out? Did you tell him about the eggs?"

"It did not! It built the character. Is fact." Erik's accent only got thicker as the drink kept flowing. "Girl is egg crazy, like she is wanting the babies." He stage whispered in Irena's ear.

"Agreed. She is having the baby fever." She replied, imitating his rough attempt at the southern dialect. The two of them quickly started waggling their eyebrows at Florian.

"I hate you both." Florian muttered into his glass.

"Ignore them Florian." Lilith put her hand on the man's arms, a look of mock concern creasing her brow. "They don't know any better, you must show them. Show them the power of expertly prepared dairy products." She glanced at the others, sticking out a her tongue as she blew a raspberry.

"You see this? With the tongue and the thing?" Erik waffled on. "I give up on the young ones if this is what they become. You were not like this." He pointed to Florian. "Your father and me, we teach you better."

The hours staggered on by and the drink kept on pouring. A few hours later and Florian was crumpled at the foot of the sofa. While Erik was rummaging through every draw and cupboard he could be bothered to raid, muttering something about how he knew Irena kept them around here somewhere. Irena had caved to their peer pressure and was drifting off from the mixture of alcohol and the heating Lilith had demanded be turned up.

"I shouldn't have done this again." Florian groaned.

"You didn't have fun?" Lilith yawned sleepily, stretching her arms over her head. "What's the problem wuss, can't handle your drink?" She chuckled, placing her hand on the man's shoulder. "I had fun." She smiled warmly. "No excuse for you not to have had any."

"I wasn't supposed to have fun any more." He sighed, placing his hand over hers out of reflex and laying his head back on the couch seat.

"Yes, how foolish of me, I had almost forgotten." Lilith deepened her voice and put on her best Frostfall accent. "I'm Florian, I must return my honour and also save my hometown from itself, what is this fun you speak off, sounds like something I wouldn't do because blah blah blah, honour, blah blah blah faked my own death, did you see how cool it was? Blah blah blah." The girl narrowed her eyes playfully. "Does that sound about right?"

"Yeah... yeah, that sounds like me." Florian tried and failed to stop his eyelids from drooping.

"Hmm, someone's had a long day." Lilith smiled as she gently shook Florian by the shoulder. "Come on." She gripped the man's hand as she began pulling him off the sofa. "You can have the bed tonight, I'll sleep on the floor."

Florian grumbled and tried to shrug her off with little success. "Can't we just share?" He croaked. This lingering look didn't have time to get intense though as Erik's paw of a hand came out of nowhere and shoved Florian back onto the couch by the face.

"Sleep." He barked. Florian was too weak to resist. "You come with me." He dragged Lilith away by the shoulder. "We are the cool ones now." This was not up for debate!

"Huh? Erik, what's up?" Lilith chuckled nervously as the old man dragged her away. "No need to be so rough."

"This not rough. You know when I am rough!" He roared with stereotypical laughter. "Come on, tonight you learn of my people." With that Erik slammed a handful of old photos into Lilith's hands. "You learn of men you try and destroy." Lilith was about to get her ear talked off and not in style.

 

[Fappy]

"I better get an estate out of this."

Elizabeth laughed, despite herself. "Oh please, why be so mundane?" she teased. "Ask for something more romantic than that!" After one last cursory glance, the young noble turned her attention from the crowd and looked to Asad. "This is a rather nice ball. Can we... at least for a moment, can we pretend this isn't all doom and gloom? I went through the trouble of getting all prettied up, so the least you could do is make me feel like it was worth the effort."

She offered the soldier her hand. "May I have this dance, Major?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes in an adorable fashion.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Spoiler: Empathy

There was a long silence that followed Pixie's announcement. She must have frightened the poor girl. The bandit queen stood there awkwardly as the sobs grew more and more quiet. "I-I'm okay," the woman finally said in a weak voice. The whimpering continued.

Pixie furrowed her brow. "I'm coming in," she told the girl, ignoring her halfhearted attempt to shoo her away. When she opened the door she saw a Asian woman in a red dress sitting on the toilet, holding a crumpled ball of mascara-smeared tissues in her hand. The woman looked startled.

She couldn't help herself. It was all too easy for Pixie to see herself in others. Despite not knowing a thing about this girl, Pixie had already taken all of her pain unto herself.

"Hey," she whispered as she crouched down in front of the woman. Reaching into her purse, Pixie retrieved a handkerchief and offered it to her. "Use this."

Though she was hesitant at first, the woman accepted the handkerchief and began whipping her tears with it. "Thank you," she muttered, her voice more steady now. She laughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I must look like a fool."

"No way," Pixie told her with a sad smile. "You just missed me doing the same a moment ago."

After the woman took a moment to calm herself down, she looked to Pixie and returned the smile. "Th-thanks," she repeated, handing back the piece of fabric.

Pixie giggled. "You already said that," she told her.

"Oh, yeah," the woman replied with a hint of embarrassment. Then another sudden revelation shone on her face. "My name's Tsubaki. Tsubaki Saburo."

"Melissa Cogburn," Pixie lied, holding out her hand for a shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Saburo."

Tsubaki blushed and averted her gaze. "Oh, no, I'm not a noble!" she pleaded. "I'm actually a soldier. I, uh... I kind of have the day off, I guess."

Interesting...

"You must have a very generous boss, Ms. Saburo," Pixie remarked.

Tsubaki apparently couldn't help blushing. Something told Pixie this woman wasn't very adept at talking to strangers. "Oh no, please, call me Tsubaki," she said. "I get enough 'Saburo' from my superiors."

Pixie laughed at that. "I hear that," she said as she rose to her feet. "You feeling any better?"

Tsubaki pursed her lips and looked past Pixie. "I think it might be a good idea for me to get out of here," she muttered.

"Yeah," Pixie agreed, "this party isn't all that great anyway." She peered around the stall. "What do you say? Want to play hooky with me?"

What are you doin' girl?! This *****'s probably a Basilio soldier!

It took little effort to quell the voice of dissent in the back of her head. At times like these, Pixie couldn't stand being alone. She'd already been down that road, and she never wanted to do it ever again.

She'd drown her sorrow in the company of another. It was all she knew to do.

Tsubaki blinked stupidly and grinned, hesitantly. "A-are you sure?" she asked. "I-I mean, I'm just a common soldier, M'Lady. I fear you'd find my company... lacking."

"Bullshit," Pixie retorted bluntly. "I think we'd get on just fine." Reaching her hand out, she offered the weary soldier an inviting smile. "I know a few good bars we can hit up in the cloud district."

"Please, no drinking," Tsubaki pleaded as she took Pixie's hand and stood up. "I don't think I'm in any position to do that sort of thing right now."

Pixie cocked an eyebrow. "You're wiser than I, Tsubaki," Pixie chuckled. "How's coffee sound?"

Tsubaki smiled.

"I'd like that."

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"Well that's the story for a lot of people here," Ruffles replied. "Even before we recruited you guys, most of us were people with no place else to go. It'll take some time, but people here will love you as much as any family ever could, Allie. You're in good hands."

'Love?' Allie averted her eyes shyly, he cheeks looking a little redder than usual. "I dinnae ken." She mumbled as a nervous giggle escaped her lips. Someone other than her grandmother? 'That would be... wonderful.'

Ruffles then began to regale the girl with tales of his past exploits. Allie listened attentively, a grin curling her lips as the tale came to a close.

"I found him passed out in a supply closet with its door missing, just sat on a bucket. I'd finished my brick forge a couple weeks ago, and I still had a bunch of bricks and mortar left, so I went and got as much as I could, came back, and walled him up. Took Pixie the best part of an hour with a sledgehammer to break him out once he woke up and started yelling."

"I bet he wasn't happy." She chuckled as she turned on the ignition for the crawler. "I cannae imagine Pixie was too please, who was she more pissed at?"

=================================================

"This is a rather nice ball. Can we... at least for a moment, can we pretend this isn't all doom and gloom? I went through the trouble of getting all prettied up, so the least you could do is make me feel like it was worth the effort."

Asad turned his attention back to his drink, rolling his eyes as he grunted enthusiastically. She was right about one thing though, Asad didn't think he'd ever seen anyone wash up quite as well as Elizabeth. She truly had two faces in that regard, the face she showed the world, the face of make up and false smiles. There there was the other face, framed in a comforter, pouting like a child because he was making fun of her coffee habits.

He knew which face he preferred.


"May I have this dance, Major?"

As the girl held out her hand to Asad, he looked at her from the corner of his eyes for a few moments. For a moment it almost looked like he'd reject the Elizabeth's offer, but instead he threw back the rest of his drink and pushed himself away from the bar. Gently cupping the girl's fingers in his palm, he held his other hand behind his back as he bowed. "It would be my pleasure my Lady." He smiled weakly before leading her on to the dance floor.

 

[Dogmatic99]

Gale gave another glance down the street and kept an eye open for sheisters. Nothing too bad by the looks of it. Axel carried on with his talk and threw a backhanded swipe Jesse's way. For all her friendly talk and laughs with him, Gale was getting kind of skeptical about this one. Maybe she'd read Mama Colburne's word wrong and this wasn't where she was supposed to be.

except then she felt the gentle nudging of the fox hanging from her neck, her hand reached up to it, pressing it gently into the cover of her scarves.

Or maybe she was, couldn't get too tunnel visioney now. That would never do. She thought to herself, smiling quietly.
==================================================================

Science was a fucking animal! There was no doubt about that in Erik's mind. The lower levels of the main tower were crammed with all kinds of flickering machinery that must have done... things! Damned if he knew and damned if the machines knew either apparently as most were clinging onto life, their link to the power drives that fed them having been severed during the storming.

One of Sergei's dogs was giving them the tour. Irena was handling this all so well, the secret they shared didn't weigh her down at all, as far as Erik could tell. She went about everything like it was business as usual. Sergei was like a kid in a crappy candy store, sure he knew the things around him were good but he was still bored.

Vasa's eyes were glittering in the faded neon light, darting from one thing to another, drinking it all in and sharp as ever.

"This is Vasa." Erik laid the photo out for Lilith to see. It was an older one where both he and Vasa still had all the color in their hair and far less wrinkles. The two of them were sat at a hotel bar, turning from their conversation to look at the photographer. Vasa must have been in his early thirties by this point. His features were sharper than Florian's and his hair straighter but the resemblance was clear in places.

"This was peace now. Other families had taken brake from big fights and we were celebrating something, I not remember what. It did good though. When we were young, we were hungry. Everything done right. There is proper way to do things." He nodded solemnly. "Even from start, Vas aimed high. He would beat every man who came before him... and you believed him. He make you think you can do anything." Erik smiled sadly to himself as he recollected the days when they'd first met, getting swept up in Vasa's wake.

["Now imagine if we could bring these up topside!"] The techies all sounded very excited about something, Erik wasn't paying any great attention. ["If we could take some of them apart, reverse engineer it, the factories could be put into overdrive! We're still working out some of the logistics but the possibilities could be amazing for the city!"]

Yes, yes, it was all a great and wonderful dream. No doubt they could think of all new ways to wage another great war and feed the machine they'd become.

"And this is her." Another picture for Lilith. "This is Anna." This looked to have been taken the same night. Anna was linking arms with Vasa in this picture, giving a perfectly demure smile. She seemed to hold herself with much much more grace and ease than the man next to her. Just looking at her made it clear that Florian was her child.

"Not many people remember this but she was a noble girl. Very bad link. Distant cousin of minor lord of small house, fortune all gone and they lose the riches... but it was real. Tiny link but when we take the last one, then we have link to line. Other nobles not want to go to war for this place, and they not have to." He looked over at Florian, prone and sleeping quietly on the couch. "Because we have our own."
==========================================================================

"Yes, gentlemen, as you can all see, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!"

Florian called out to the raging crowd of Boykov loyalists and officers. If only Irena could have been here, she'd been dealing with them up until now. Now here they were stuck between a pair of equally stubborn sides but if he could bring them on board and turn them on the undesirable elements then this could prove the final nail in the regime's Coffin.

"Now if we can all calm down and be reasonable adults about this... then maybe we can get somewhere and we can come out of the chaos of the past few weeks." He tried to hide the air of pleading from his voice as he looked over at Lilith. It had been a while since he'd been a negotiator. Well he was kind of going back to his old bandit job.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Sandra did a quick double-take at the elderly couple that loitered outside. They didn't look like anything, and there didn't appear to be much else around. However, she was at least savvy enough to know that what things looked like weren't necessarily what they were.

"So, how much experience do you have of how the Wilkes-Vines do business?" She asked the Captain, hoping his experience would give her some insight.

 

[Terratina.]

"Don' go chokin' on it."

"Please, you assume I haven't touched these before." 'Jesse' replied as he ever so smoothly took a drag and resisted the urge to blow the smoke in Sprout's face. One thing he also resisted was a really bad pun regarding the whole lighter affair. Something about travelling lighter than Sprout. Anyway, that was more than enough attention wasted on the hick, Astor's eye turned to Gale. She seemed rather fidgety. Did she hate cigarette smoke that much?

"I do apologise for spreading smoke around." He said to her, "Do forgive a man for having vices, if you would be so kind."

 

[Fappy]

"Please, you assume I haven't touched these before."

Sprout chuckled cynically.

"Do forgive a man for having vices, if you would be so kind."

"Yeah," the sandy-haired boy added, his eyes on Gale now. He shrugged. "Jus' like any other outlaws, Maidens ain't no strangers ta' 'vices', as Jesse put it. If yer ta' enjoy this lifestyle yer' gonna hafta learn ta' drink, smoke an' fuck every night... or I reckon you can learn to ignore the parts that don' suit you. Ruffles has got on along fine keepin' to 'imself since the beginnin', so if you wan' advice on that front, I'd talk to him." Sprout grinned. "Though, I'd suggest enjoyin' everythin' yer offered. Might as well, ya' know? Each day could be yer last."

Where the hell was he getting this from? Surely his mother was no stranger to hedonism, but he'd never heard her try to actually defend the lifestyle. Bennie and Lilith were both reserved in their own ways and many of the older Maidens, likely due to their age, weren't quite as rowdy as they let on.

Sprout probably just watched too many movies.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************

"So, how much experience do you have of how the Wilkes-Vines do business?"

Bennie shrugged as he cleaned his shades with Pixie's bandanna. "More than I'd care to have," he admitted. "Simply put: they're efficient and ruthless. In a weird way I kind of respect them." Sandra could see his eyes narrow before he put his sunglasses back on. "That said, all the respect in the world wouldn't stop me from gutting every one of those fuckers one-by-one, had I the opportunity. Most bandit crews are full of hotheaded, impulsive idiots, but Wilkes-Vines is different. They're more like a business than a bandit family."

Pushing the door open, Bennie tucked the file under his armpit and ushered Sandra outside. "They're punctual, professional and approachable, but that's just a mask they wear," he told her. "Underneath, they're the most vile mother fuckers on the Rock. Payton'd sell his own mother if it meant he'd get more territory." He looked at her with a telling frown. "Never get into bed with them. Never."

Perhaps he'd said too much. He trusted Sandra, but some small part of him worried she'd read into what he'd said. That she'd take his words back to Amy and use them against him.

Clearly, Bennie resented Pixie's decision to work with Wilkes-Vines and...

She was there. She already knows this.

Bennie couldn't let her get to him. Amy was like an unseen force, working against him at every turn. Ironically, she'd done very little at all to cross him at this point. She'd simply found a loose thread and tugged at it a bit. If Bennie wasn't careful, he'd end up doing the rest of the unraveling himself.

Get you're head straight, Carmine. Captain's can't doubt themselves.

"Hey, Bennie," Sprout called out as the big man and Sandra approached the group.

Bennie cocked and eyebrow. "What the fuck is this?" he asked the boy.

"What?"

Stepping forward, Bennie grabbed the cigarette out from between his lips and held it up in the air. "Lilith's bad habits rubbing off on you? Does Pixie know you've started smoking?" he scolded.

"No," Sprout replied, a little annoyed.

Bennie threw it to the ground and stepped on it. "This shit's no good for you, kid," he told him. "Your mom would kill me if she found out about this."

"Fuck her," he blurted. "She ain't here!"

Very suddenly, Bennie was fuming. None of the others had ever seen him truly angry, so it came as quite a shock. "Sprout, I---"

"I'm sorry, are we interrupting something?" asked a voice from behind Bennie.

"---zzzzttt----Hey Captain, they're here-----zzzzttt"

"I know," Bennie replied into his radio as he turned to face their guests. There were five of them, all men dressed in suits. Two of them were carrying rather bulky duffle bags. "Captain Carmine." He announced flatly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Mr. Carmine," the man in the front said. He wore his black hair slicked back and had a thick, obnoxious accent.

"I'm sure it is," the big man replied.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

"It would be my pleasure my Lady."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at his over-dramatic display, despite enjoying it immensely, and giggled like a school girl when the soldier took her by the hand and ran them onto the dance floor. She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and he put his on her waist. Together, they began to sway here-and-there, the thin blonde laughing all the while. This was better. This was pure.

This was what her life used to be.

"Asad," she finally said once her giggles had run their course, "can you imagine it? My life used to be like this all the time!" There was a very small hint of melancholy in her words. Her big, toothy grin distracted from the harshness of her observation, it seemed.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The two women hadn't found any issue leaving the tower. Thankfully, Tsubaki was there with her, and had simply flashed the guards her ID before escorting Pixie out the front door. The fewer times Pixie had to use her fake credentials, the better.

Pixie wasn't overly fond of the crowds coffee shops attracted, but there weren't many other options. Besides, as honest a person as she was, sometimes it was nice to escape into another life. Melissa Cogburn was a rather blunt and to-the-point persona, which fit her well, but she was still a noble and it took a lot of mental gymnastics for Pixie to take on that role without cynically undermining her cover. After all, she despised the kind of woman she was pretending to be.

On principle, if nothing else.

Spoiler: Da Train Begins

Being a noble, Pixie treated the soldier, of course. Tsubaki took hers with a bit of cream and sugar while Pixie's was black as night. "So," Pixie began after taking her first sip of her coffee, "who's your boss, anyway?"

Tsubaki was still stirring her coffee. "Lord Basilio, actually," she said.

Pixie contained her rage only barely. It was hard to accept anyone like Tsubaki would knowingly work for a monster like Dio. It was all too easy to imagine him and all of his underlings as nothing but pure evil.

Wishful thinking.

She didn't know much about Tsubaki yet, but the bandit queen was always quick to see through to people's hearts. This young woman wasn't all good, but she certainly wasn't bad either.

Stop worryin' about it, yer ditchin' the mission anyway.

Pixie leaned back in her chair, crossed one leg over the other and took another sip. "You must be pretty close if he asked you to enjoy a ball like this," she observed. "It's not a very common occurrence, you know."

"Yeah," Tsubaki admitted, keeping her eyes glued the swirling liquid in her cup. "I-it's a long story."

The redhead grinned. "And it's still early, fancy that," she mused.

Tsubaki gave her a knowing look and blushed. Then, she looked back down at her cup and took it in her hands. "H-he adopted me... well, not officially," she shrugged. "What I mean to say is, h-he's not my father or anything." She took a small sip of her coffee. Satisfied with its flavor, she took a larger sip and continued her story. "When I was very young, my family owed the Yakuza... I-I mean the Yamato family, they owed them a lot of money. When it came time to pay, and my family didn't have the money, the family killed my parents and took me as their servant."

Pixie's expression softened. "That's horrible," she muttered. "You were their slave?"

"N-no," Tsubaki told her, shaking her head. "Not really a slave. You see, the Yamato family has more sense than most. They have some honor at least, unlike most bandit families. They beat me when I got out of line or disobeyed them, sure, but they didn't, you know..."

"Yeah," Pixie whispered, her voice quiet. "Did you escape?"

Again, Tsubaki shook her head. "No, Lord Basilio saved me," she said.

SAVED?! No way would that fuck save anyone!

Pixie refused to accept her words, but couldn't risk arguing with her about it. She's have to keep her disgust to herself.

"I see," Pixie replied simply.

"After that, well, I went to live in Basilio tower and decided to enroll in the military academy there in order to repay him for all he had done for me," despite her words, Pixie sensed bitter resentment in her tone. "I've been a Basilio soldier ever since. But you know, I didn't just do it for him. I did it because... I didn't want to end up like my parents. I didn't want to be that little girl anymore that was too weak--too afraid--to stand up for herself. To protect those she cared about."

Pixie sat in silence, watching Tsubaki drink her coffee. Her story had resonated with her far more than she cared to admit. Then, without even thinking, Pixie began to talk. "I knew a little girl once," she began with a vacant stare. "Her name was Holly. She was an orphan too."

Tsubaki frowned. "It seems like there are a lot of those around," she remarked.

"Yeah," Pixie agreed with a nod. "This girl... she had nothing. Her mother, a person whose face she couldn't hope to remember, had abandoned her without a second thought. She was left in the care of this... this horrible woman who ran a local orphanage. She was an alcoholic, right? So she used to beat the kids and she didn't do a damn thing when they beat each other. She'd just drink and watch them."

Pixie winced, as if suddenly struck. "This girl," she whispered, "she had no role models and no friends. She took beating after beating with little else to occupy her mind in the interim. Eventually, after suffering enough, she learned to harden herself and began lashing out. Defending herself." Pixie clutched the coffee cup in her hand and half-bowed her head. "She had been such a sweet girl, and now... now she was no better than the rest of them.

"She grew detached, cruel and even sadistic. That woman, that place... they'd twisted her all up inside. And then, one day, she met another girl slightly older than her. This girl was everything she wasn't," Pixie smiled, fondly. "She was like an angel."

Tsubaki tilted her head curiously. Pixie kept her gaze on the table between them. "The little girl envied her with all her heart. She wanted nothing more than to throw herself into this maiden's arms and give everything she had to her," Pixie admitted. "But she knew she couldn't. She had grown into a hopeless monster, unable to regain her humanity, just like all the other children and the old woman who'd spent their days beating her and spitting on her."

And then, Pixie went silent very suddenly.

After an awkward silence, Tsubaki tilted her head in an attempt to catch Pixie's eye. "What happened to her after that?" she asked.

Pixie pursed her lips and remained quiet for a short time. Then, she lifted her head and looked Tsubaki in the eye. "She killed herself," she told her bluntly.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"Now if we can all calm down and be reasonable adults about this... then maybe we can get somewhere and we can come out of the chaos of the past few weeks."

As Florian looked over at Lilith, she smiled warmly as she saw the anxiousness in his face. His eyes lingered on her's for a moment, Lilith winked at him playfully before he turned his attention back to the crowd. While her friend continued to speak, Lilith let her mind wander to the previous night. They had gone through this speech a dozen times, so it's not like she was missing anything.

Staring at the man, Lilith couldn't quite get over how much he resembled his mother. Vasa was everything he wasn't, all sharp corners and stern eyes. Florian was softer, gentle eyes, that wasn't to say he didn't resemble his father, there was definitely a likeness there, no doubt about it, but it was the subtle differences that had the biggest impact. Florian was technically a noble, she had looked over at him, dozing on the couch, the photo of Anna in her hand, as drool trickled slightly from the corner of his mouth.

"So nobel." She had said, chuckling slightly.

As Florian continued with his speech, Lilith couldn't help but wonder what her own parents would have looked like, if she had maybe passed them on the street and never realised, if she perhaps looked more like her father than her mother, or maybe she had his hair and her eyes. Clenching her jaw, she quickly dismissed such thoughts.

It was was never healthy to travel down that road, she knew all too well.



------------------------------------

Elizabeth was the tallest woman Asad had danced with that night, it certainly made things a lot easier than he though it would. Or maybe he was a little tipsy, he hadn't quite decided on that one yet.

"can you imagine it? My life used to be like this all the time!"

"It must have been dreadfully dull." The man joked as he kept up with the girl's footwork. "Dancing being the only thing you had to worry about." He looked at the girl. "Would you go back to that?"

Elizabeth considered his question for a moment. "I think I could do with the a bit of ignorant bliss, yes," she admitted with a small laugh. "But really, no, I don't think so. As awful as my life's been lately, I feel so much more... enlightened. I'm still rather naive, I admit, but at least I'm not a bumbling little princess anymore. What about you? Do you wish your life as a soldier was as simple as it was not too long ago?"

"I guess not." Asad sighed. "Probably a good idea for me to be on this side of the tracks now, I'd rather not be in the way when Lombardi pulls off whatever it is she has planned." He averted his eyes as he thought for a moment. "Who knows, maybe I dodged a bullet I haven't seen yet."

"That's probably the wisest thing you've ever said," Elizabeth teased. "I mean, it's quite on-point. Unless you're just that well connected--which, perhaps Contessa is--you can never hope to identify every threat. Right now I have four eyes, but I imagine I'll need far more." She smiled at Asad fondly and tapped him on the cheek. "You'll always be my favourite set of eyes though, even if they aren't very vibrant... or even attractive, really."

"Gee, thanks." Asad rolled his clearly non-vibrant and unattractive eyes. "You haven't even had anything to drink, how can you be this mean to me?" He pursed his lips. "Whatever, at least I don't dye my eyebrows." He didn't really know if the girl dyed her eyebrows, but he needed something to work with.

She gasped. "How could you?!" she exclaimed in mock horror. "To insult a proper lady in such a way! You must truly be a scoundrel!" Her expression slowly warped into a curious grin. "You probably get all kinds of dangerous women with that attitude." Then, she suddenly burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't tease you like that. Light flirting may not hurt, but the thought of you picturing me on my back is truly sickening! How could you be such a vile creature?"

That escalated quickly.

"Don't flatter yourself." Asad mumbled. "You're just a girl, you're like eleven years younger than I am." The man chuckled to himself. "If I started picturing you like that, I'd have to kick my own ass." He looked at the girl, meeting her eyes. "Did you think I thought otherwise? How embarrassing for you." A small smirk curled his lips.

"You can lie to yourself, but not to me," she declared, lifting her chin in a show of superiority. "What man could resist the allure of such elegance?" She looked down at her chest. "Okay, so there's room for improvement, but who is perfect anyway? You?" She scoffed. "You look like you belong in a garage somewhere fixing busted crawlers!"


"Don't tempt me." Asad chuckled. "Working in a garage somewhere, nothing to worry about, certainly not about any airhead nobles who thinks they can flirt a lot better than they actually can." He sighed longingly. "Yup, could just about go for something like that round about now."

Elizabeth's smile softened, and for a long time she just stared into Asad's eyes. "Asad," she said quietly, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've dragged you into all of this. You're a good man... you don't deserve this."

"Don't say that." Asad averted his eyes as he thought for a moment. "You're the one who doesn't deserve this, you never asked to be a part of their little game, but they're making you play it anyway." The man clenched his jaw for a few moments before looking down at the girl. "I've been a soldier for so long, and done so many things, killed so many people, yet I've never really seen any of the good I ever did, if I did any at all." A small smile curled his lips. Was that the change he needed? He'd been doubting his work for Basilio even before this whole Elizabeth thing burst onto the scene and now he was in a position to see the consequences of what he was doing, for better or for worse. Resisting the urge to brush a loose strand of hair from the girl's face (that wouldn't be proper, after all), Asad nodded his head gently. "I'll take care of you, Elizabeth. I promise."

Elizabeth's expression lightened up a bit. "Dangerous words, Major," she whispered. "Thank you. I don't know if I could do this alone."

"You won't have to do anything alone." The man spoke softly. "I'll watch your back." After a few moments Asad chuckled to himself. "I just hope we're not setting ourselves up to fail, you know?"

"It's better to die quick fighting on your feet then to live forever begging on your knees," she said gravely. "I won't marry that man."

"Good." Asad nodded with approval. "Good attitude." The man smirked. "Just keep your eyes open, and hopefully we can ride this out until Lombardi does her thing."

Elizabeth sighed. "It's unfortunate that we have to rely on her," she admitted. "I can't help feeling we're exchanging one evil for another."

"Just be patient." Asad smiled. "My gut tells me she has things in store for you, of course she does, she's a snake." He tilted his head. "But at least you'll be in a position to do something, because right now, you're a prisoner, and prisoners can't do much of anything."

Elizabeth nodded confidently. "You're right," she told him. "It's funny, you know? I'm sure you're tired of me being fanciful by now, but I can't help thinking the knight in shining armor found himself trapped in the tower alongside the princess he's meant to save." She smiled at Asad. "I know I can't do much, but don't forget that I'm here for you too. For as long as you're sticking your neck out for me, I'll do the same. You're not my underling, you're my... partner! I've got your back."

"Partners eh?" Asad pursed his lips. "Harel & Maribel Automotive Repair." He nodded his head. "I like the sound of that."

"I imagine we'll have a lot of blood on our hands before this is all over," she said matter-of-factly. "Maybe some oil wouldn't be so bad after all. Certainly a lot less guilt associated with ripping off customers, that's for sure."

"I'm used to blood, Elizabeth." The man said simply. "I'm more concerned that you aren't." He smiled at the girl sadly.

Elizabeth averted her gaze. "I did... I did kill one man," she whispered. "I didn't stick around to see if he actually died, but I am pretty sure I killed him."

Asad furrowed his brows as he looked down at Elizabeth. "Well you don't know that." Asad remembered back to the first man he ever killed. It was such a long time ago now, he could barely remember how he felt after the deed. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?" He reassured the girl.

"Something tells me it'll be sooner rather than later," she muttered.

The pair continued to dance for a short time before Elizabeth noticed a familiar woman standing by the bar. Contessa had been watching them. "I think she wants to talk to me," she told Asad. "Mind coming with me?"

The man groaned. "Do I have to? I can't help but think she's flirting with me, but in the same sense a wolf flirts with a sheep." The man glanced over at the woman, a small shiver running down his spine.

If you're the sheep, what does that make me?!" she pouted. "Come on, I need you. We're in this together, remember?"

"Fine." Asad mumbled as the girl began to lead him off the dance floor. "You're doing the talking though."