Second Chance

Chapter 5

Morrigan was ready for anything: screams, anger, irritation, but not for a calm and restrained response. This confused her. It was impossible to predict Squall's reaction, no matter how hard she tried.

"It's a joke, isn't it?" - Morrigan drawled incredulously. She stared intently at the Wundersmith, trying not to take her eyes off him. It was necessary to be always on the alert with him, he did not deserve full trust yet.

"Do you think now is the time for jokes, Miss Crow? One more word, and I can change my mind" - Squall abruptly cut off Morrigan, who had already opened her mouth to object, but immediately closed it and began boring Squall with a gloomy look, showing with all her appearance that his action exasperates her, but she has no choice, so she will have to be a good girl. - "It's much better this way" - Squall grinned, sat down at the table again and started flipping through the book.

She raised her eyebrows with some indignation. He was acting at home in her room, as if it belonged to him and not to her.

Morrigan crossed her arms over her chest, looking expectantly at Squall. "He's mocking me" - the girl thought.

"You should sit down" - he advised, glancing at her briefly. Morrigan continued to stand stubbornly by the door. - "Well, as you wish" - he shrugged indifferently. - "So, have you read this volume yet?"

Morrigan shook her head.

"I haven't even read half of it. I managed to get the books only today, for the first time ... there were some difficulties" - she replied evasively.

"Oh, yes, the invasion of beetles! You know, Miss Crow, there's always something going on where you are. Didn't you notice that?"

Morrigan just snorted in response and shrugged. She had nothing to say. She was always in the thick of things. It was time to get used to it.

Morrigan was still standing at the door, not wanting to sit down.

"What a familiar stubbornness..." - Squall said thoughtfully, staring at her intently, but then cut himself off.

"What do you mean?" - Morrigan asked, puzzled.

Squall didn't answer. He was leafing through a book, his gaze was distant.

After a while, he started talking. His voice was emotionless. Squall was completely lost in his thoughts.

"You know that the Wundersmiths were born many ages ago, endowed with amazing power to serve other people. This has been going on for centuries, everyone is used to it. They didn't care who asked them for a favor, as long as it was a rich and influential person. It was our job" - on the last phrase, there was a hostile note in his voice. - "We had to fulfill people's requests, whatever they were. As I told you before: that is what we do. We say yes. We do the ghastly things that are asked of us by people in power, and we do the good things, and we take none of the credit and all of the blame. It's what we do. When we were children, we thought it would be exciting, that we would finally create The Wonderful Acts, help people, work miracles. Oh, how we've been disappointed!" - Squall laughed dryly. - "It was all so far from reality! Maybe earlier, in the first centuries of the existence of the Wundersmiths, it really was so, but not now. Elodie and I tried to stay away from it as much as we could, but, believe me, we were not able to just shut ourselves off from it all. Firstly, we would not have been allowed, and secondly, we still had to use our powers somehow. But I can still be proud of one creation" - Squall looked around the room with his eyes, his gaze was absent, as if he was looking somewhere in the past. Maybe it was. - "Hotel Deucalion turned out to be amazing! Everything is as Elodie wanted, she came up with the design of the facade and some rooms. Have I told you about this? You can't deny her creativity..." - now he perked up a little. Morrigan had never seen him so outspoken and talkative. This confused her even more, but she listened to his story with bated breath and tried not to interrupt. She didn't want him to silenced again and decide that he had already told too much. She didn't even notice that she had sat down on the bed after all. - "I helped her bring it to life. She was able to find a sponsor, as far as I remember, it was one of her relatives. I never understood why she keeps in touch with them, because they abandoned her, gave her away, call it what you want... I haven't heard anything about my own since the day I was taken away. To be honest, I didn't even try to find out what happened to them and where they are now. Most of the Wundersmiths did just that. But it was important for Elodie, so I tried not to bring up this topic once again" - Squall had mentioned other Prodermasters several times before in his speech, but he did not speak about anyone with such warmth as about Elodie. So Morrigan was right and for him this name is not an empty word. At that moment, Squall frowned and shook his head slightly. - "But I got distracted. Her relative, surprisingly, turned out to be a nice guy. He gave us complete freedom of action, allowed us to do everything at our discretion. And it led to a good result. The hotel was thriving! What more could be desired. But good things never last forever, do they?" - his gaze darkened again. - "There are always people who seek to gain power. And when they are smart and have extraordinary strength, everything can turn into a disaster. That's what happened! I warned them that she could not be trusted, that she would ruin everyone and everything, but did anyone listen to me!" - Squall snarled. His eyes were blazing with anger. He didn't even try to restrain it. He didn't seem to notice Morrigan and talked more to himself. - "Even in these books, she is mentioned only in passing, nothing concrete. As if she was just a ghost, invisible and elusive to human eyes. Two knacks! Unheard of! This has never happened before".