Fate I

CXXIV

It had been a few days since they had left the Kou Empire behind and began making their way towards the Kingdom of Sindria. Though nothing had changed much, it was clear that Wu Kong, Tomoyo, and Kuugen had lowered their guards to a certain extent. They were still as tense as always around Lucy but the atmosphere around them — which had been filled with bloodlust — had lightened up that they now seemed somewhat approachable to the soldiers who had accompanied Sinbad and his Generals.

"Masrur."

The tall, well-built Fanalis turned his head, his expression blank as always as his short crimson hair swayed gently in the wind. His crimson eyes stared at the young man who had called out to him in question, wondering why he had called out to him. Walking up to him, Wu Kong's bright crimson red hair blazed around him in the wind as his scarlet crimson eyes stared straight at him. Closing his eyes and pursing his lips, he lowered his head to him. Masrur widened his eyes and before he could urge him to raise his head, Wu Kong spoke up.

"You have our thanks," he said.

Masrur's gaze hardened as he averted his eyes. "I...didn't do anything."

"No. You did."

"All I did was bring what you all needed," he answered, knowing how menial his role was in all this. "Had it been anyone else, they would've done the same."

Wu Kong laughed. "If that was so, we wouldn't have been struggling back then."

Masrur widened his eyes before furrowing his brows.

"No matter how menial you think it was, to us, even that small act of kindness born from pity was everything to us. We couldn't afford to leave Lucy's side for fear that something would happen and so, it became drastically difficult to retrieve the very basic necessities that we needed to survive," his eyes hardened in disdain and hatred. "What love? He stopped sending even the bare necessities after two months. He truly was a worthless person."

Masrur's eyes were hard and cold. The very thought of Kouen and what he had subjected Lucy to was enough to make their blood boil.

"That's why you have our thanks," Wu Kong said, returning back to the subject at hand. "If it were not for you, she wouldn't be alive by the time Sinbad came. That's how important you were to us. Thank you, Masrur."

He stood there, his eyes wide in surprise.

Thank you, Masrur!

He softened his gaze as he remembered the first words of gratitude he had heard from anyone and the girl who had spoken those words. His eyes softened with affection, flickering with warmth as he recalled those past memories that he had shared with her. Smiling, Wu Kong perked up for it was the first time he had seen him smile. But, it wasn't just that. Though faint, he could see the clear look of affection in his eyes and exactly who he was thinking about at that moment.

"Lucy."

Masrur quickly stopped smiling and jumped up, still as a statue as he looked at Wu Kong who hardened his gaze. His crimson eyes glowed eerily and the atmosphere around them immediately tensed up, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.

"I see how it is," Wu Kong stared at him. "Come to think of it, you already knew Lucy even before she became the Imperial Noble Consort, didn't you?"

He looked back at him. "Yes."

"Judging from your actions, it seems as if you just remembered something," he said. "If I had to guess, you two probably met when you were both young with the both of you much too young to remember anything that had happened then. But, the memories of her were still retained in your mind because that was just how much of an impression she had left on you. In other words, you fell in love with her then and there."