"Honest Eyes, Cold Lies"
Lumiere
My hands had become wet and stingy. I clenched my teeth and chanted, "Avlavo."
My hands were once again dry and roamed inside Sky's jacket, ready to pull out his gun as I glared at the Akane girl. Her grey eyes stared right back at mine. But it didn't mean that she was brave.
Lime moved as quickly as a lion in an offensive stance in front of the girl, dropping the ballpen to the ground. He's trying to keep her safe from me.
"You appear to be aware of my movements. You are aware that I would be bound by orders." I locked my gaze on him. "Then you must be aware of my sudden desire to kill as well." I saw the girl's hand clench into a fist, but she said or did nothing. Coward. "If you don't move, I'll shoot you both."
Lime's stance has hardened significantly since a few moments ago. This is a girl he adores. In a big way.
"Take this candy. It will help you relax." He said.
I cracked a bone on my neck as my patience wore thin when Lime spoke again. "Serpent's tears cause a poison-like effect even if it's already dried. Maybe her tears touched the ballpen and the poison transferred to my hands. It's not her fault!" He screamed that his emerald eyes lit up.
Demons...they smell danger when one comes. Some demons might be pirates before being sent to hell. They always have that treasure to pass from one lifetime to another lifetime. I don't believe in connecting lifetimes but this one that involves these monsters fascinates me. It exposes that even the demons have their weakness. Demons are a danger themselves that they can be protective of their greatest treasure. Whether it may be a person or a thing. They would protect it until they die. Until their eyes lit up.
I backed up a bit with shaky legs.
"Vous ne voulez pas faire ca." 'You didn't want to do this.' I whispered to myself. My hands become twitchy too but my hands and the gun remain inside the jacket. With unstable hands and breaths, I closed my fists to reach for the candy.
The candy turned sweet but left a bitter aftertaste. I flopped on the floor as my body broke down cold sweats. "Salope, you better carry me after this."
Akane emerged from Lime's shadow and approached me while Lime went to the counter. Maybe to get a new ballpen.
"Her uniform's on the lower left of my belongings," Akane said but Lime didn't answer. Instead, he asks a new question.
"Do you know what she is?"
"She's french," Akane sat beside my head. "And a demon with something. Or a witch. Something that goes under that umbrella."
"Demons always have something," I told her and she quickly agreed.
"Yeah, Lime got a tattoo right before his ass." The serpent said so I turned my head on her.
"You've seen his ass?"
"Not really. Just his naked upper body."
"Ah."
"Stop talking about my ass." Lime blushes. It doesn't suit him. I noticed a plastic in his grip. "Here's your uniform, Lu. Is it fine if I call you Lu? Whatever, I'll just call you whatever I want."
Akane chuckled as Lime was blabbering nonsense. Unusual behavior from an unusual demon.
Lime finally sighs, "Let's go now, Lu. Aka, do you want to get lunch together later?" He leads the way to the door.
The serpent helps me on my foot. "Nah, I think Sir Theo's going to give you a mission. He dropped by earlier to check on her clothes." I gave her a look as she hugs my arm as if her life depends on it.
"Oh?" Lime pushes me lightly. I would see that it's because he's jealous. "Magpalit ka na ng damit. Most likely nakapalit na yung iba pagdating natin."
Kinuha ko na ang mga damit sa kaniya ng walang sabi at saka kumuha ng dalawang privacy screen. One is not enough for me. I even heard Akane whistle teasingly the moment I unbuttoned Mason's dress.
The training clothes are light on the body and I can move freely. The pants cover my lower half without emphasizing my ass or anything down there. The top is only a dark sleeveless undershirt and a comfortable enough jacket when it's hot.
"Magkano?" Saad ko paglabas. Saglit pang tumingin si Lime sa akin saka tumango lamang at wala nang ibang sinabi bago ibalik ang atensyon sa cellphone niya. Akane smiled at me with a bag in her hand behind the counter.
"Bayad na yan pati eto. You're brothers paid it for you." Her statement caught Lime's attention.
"You have brothers?" Lime asked I quickly turned down.
"No, I don't. She's lying."
"I can't lie. My serpent eyes only see the truth and nothing but the truth." She rolled her eyes at me. "YOU are lying."
I blew raspberries and approached the counter to search for a tie and gestured it for her when I can't find one. She opened a drawer and gave me a hair tie. I look directly into her eyes, "I may be a demon but I'm not french, Akane. I don't have brothers. That's that. Shit's shit."
Akane, defeated, sighed and waved her hands to dismiss me. Her energy from earlier evidently decreased. "Whatever you say so. It's too early to talk about ancient eyes. " She placed her hands on my shoulders. "And you're draining my energy."
I spare the demon a glance in exchange for some answer but he only waved goodbye to Akane and pulled me away from the room. We were in the middle of a field when he finally started to talk.
"You drained almost half of her energy." A strand of his blonde hair straying from others.
I rolled my eyes to keep my attention away from his hair. "I didn't use any kind of spell except Avlavo."
He rolled his eyes harder than I did try to show 'dominance' but failed as the wind blows crazily hard. His long hair almost covered his face and he uses the hair ties displayed on his left wrist. I didn't want to laugh at his face so I averted my sight and saw two people standing behind a pillar.
I cast a silent smell that sent the two of them air spikes. It gave them small cuts on both cheeks and some long ones on their exposed skins. They both spat on the ground and glared at me but I only stared straight at them.
"Could have put a poison in it," I whispered.
"In what?" Lime said after he tied his hair into a neat ponytail.
I turned around to walk away from him, that he needed to catch up with my pace. "In your mom."
"Girlie, I'm orphaned. Almost everyone in the team is an orphan."
I didn't look back. Didn't feel like I should. Good thing is that he caught up with my pace. He placed his arms on my shoulders as if he always fits in there.
"Do you want me to say sorry that your parents left or what?" I know it's rude, but what the hell am I supposed to tell an orphan that my father possibly made an orphan?
He patted me a few times before side-hugging me, "Nah, you're okay. The team understands that you're different than your father. It's not like you killed and trampled kingdoms before, didn't you?"
"I was my father's pawn, Lime. I dirtied my hands for him. I messed up my karma for him. I don't think killing a whole damn kingdom is out of my plate." I walked faster.
"Well, I think that you're capable of it." He claims.
We walked past the field, the canteen, a few groups of students that stare, and a big tree in the middle of the school. I saw Winter's hair from afar but Lime held my elbows and told me that we were going straight to the training grounds.
"Back to what I was saying," he matched my pace. "you drained Akane's energy because you claimed that she's a liar."
I look at him, "But she is."
He sighs, "I don't know the truth but I hope you're one of us that protects us from someone accusing her of something that may affect her energy."
"That's what's wrong with the creatures of this realm," I stopped walking and put my finger on his chest to stop him too, "they always rely on their supernatural abilities. They don't care about anything as long as they got it."
I let those emeralds suck me in, "And you're nothing without those power. Trash. Garbage. A goddamn chesspiece for others to control."
A smirk appears on his face as he brushes some stray hair off his upward. He licked his lips, marinating every word he will say.
"You may be right." I move my feet again and he does too. "But it doesn't mean that every creature is like that."
I didn't look back at him. I know he's one of those creatures that heaven favors.
"Show me later then." I invited him. "Now, tell me more about Akane and why I should protect her even if she's out of the mission."
Inakbayan niya ako ulit. "Iba si Akane. Hindi niya ginusto yung eyes na mayroon siya ngayon. Alam kong alam mo na may lahi siyang serpent. It's not that simple, Lu." Inayos niya ang ilang buhok na naglalaro sa mukha ko kaya napapikit ako saglit. "Yung lahi nila Akane, may ancient eyes sila. Kaya nilang makakita ng katotohanan. Kaya nilang makita kung ano ka."
"Pero?" Tanong ko.
Nakita kong lumunok muna siya, "Pero hindi sila pwedeng magsinungaling. Nababawasan ang energy nila. Mahina ang pisikal na kakayahan ni Akane kaya sa energy bilang serpent siya kumakapit araw-araw. Maari siyang macomatose o hindi kaya ay mamatay kapag naubos ng tuluyan ang energy niya."
Tumango lang ako at naglakad muli. "I don't see anything bad about her except that she doesn't see you the way you see her."
Halatang nagulat siya dahil muntik pa siyang madapa kaya tinuro turo niya ako, "Alam mo ikaw---pwede bang wala kang sabihin tungkol don. Hindi nga namin pinaguusapan yon nila Chris tapos yang dila mo? Paepal ka ha."
Hindi ko siya pinansin at tumakbo lang kahit hindi ko alam kung saan dapat kami papunta. Bahala na.
Nakatakbo ako lagpas sa ilang gusali at tao pero ramdam kong sinusundan ako ni Lime. Natawa nalang ako ng bigla siyang sumulpot sa harap ko. Teleportation. It's good that the bell probably rang while I was running because I saw some students disappear while I was running.
"It was you, right?" Tanong niya bigla.
"Care to elaborate as we walk to god knows where you're bringing me?" Tanong ko pabalik kaya inirapan niya ako bago tumabi sa akin.
"We walked--ran past the canteen, gym, classrooms, dean's office, teacher's office, and the dorms. This way's to the training rooms, laboratory, and clinic. Neo has a lot of secret spaces, you can choose one for your private time." Tinuro niya lahat ng gusaling sinasabi niya sa akin kahit na wala naman akong planong lumingon.
"I understand if the students here use the training rooms to enhance their ability outside the classrooms but! I swear to the fucking name of Zeus, I'm gonna commit mass murder if we're also going to classes. I was never enrolled in a goddamn school before, Lime." I reached for his neck while walking. I know he can feel one of my nails digging into his skin.
His eyes became fierce for a second but they went back to being the shiny emerald it is, "Stop provoking me. Who knows if one day I snap your neck out of nowhere?"
I retreated my nails and grinned at him, "Aww, poor little demon can't control his shit."
He rolled his eyes at me. It takes me a few seconds to acknowledge that he grabbed my wrist."Stop playing around, Lumiere. We can't control ourselves as you do, so it would be a great pleasure to stop poking a stick on our goddamn control. Also, we're only here for the training facilities. The management was fine with us being enrolled yet not taking any classes because of YOUR father."
He's pissed. I know.
And I like it.
"Hmm, my great father."
Lime chuckled for a bit and looked directly into my eyes with his wild green ones, which evident flames start dancing underneath. "Aww, poor little Lumiere who never had a parental figure so now she's a big ass meanie to everyone and thinks that she's great but no she isn't. She's a bitch. " His grip on my wrist became tighter as it began to burn.
I blinked. "Done yet?"
His eyes went back to being stale green and the flames died down, "Yes, I'm sorry."
I rubbed my wrists and patted his back. Now, I am the one dragging him to the clear walled facilities I see from afar. "All good. I know you needed it."
He rubs his eyes while walking, "What do you mean you know I needed it? Plus, let Yuel heal the burn."
I stared at my burned wrist, thin smoke still coming out of it. "Your eyes are perfect for a demon. I figured you're one and confirmed it hours ago."
He also took a quick look at the burn, "Still doesn't ring anything."
"I saw Mason's pictures of your childhood. You spent childhood with them. Your emotions are connected to them. You saw how I hurt Yuel yesterday. You must be enraged by it or at least your emotions burned you. I know you had to let the flames out or your spirit will burn inside your body." We approached a couple of archery training rooms and passed by a couple of sports-related ones.
"Yeah, but I know what you did." He said. Now, who's the one that doesn't make any sense? I squinted my eyes in response.
"You created an illusion yesterday, didn't you?" I felt my eyes shine while a smile made its way to my lips.
"You didn't want to hurt Yuel so you created an illusion. You fooled everyone in the confession room. You protected Yuel for no reason. And I know it." Confidence sparks from his words but I shrugged and kept my hands on my pockets so I can at least hide the burn.
"Yuel probably knows about it too." The mentioned guy always smiles. He smiles at everyone but not yesterday.
"Mn, but I was the first one to notice it because of the smoke. I saw it trailing behind you from the confession room. Yuel might know it because he didn't need to heal himself. Because there are no wounds to heal in the first place." He proudly says. I was about to reply when he suddenly jumped up and down as if he has a great idea so I let him speak.
"You know he can't heal himself inside that damned room! Didn't you?!" He exclaimed in excitement of his own realizations
It's true. We can't heal ourselves inside the confession room. No one can. Not even Simeon. We can use other powers like my illusions because Simeon's greedy to use his powers to hurt people in the hall. The weapons and machines are not enough.
"Maybe." I looked at him intently.
"Lime," I called.
"Yeah?" I reached for his shoulders.
"If you die because of her poison then you die. I'd just kill myself before Simeon reach for me."