A/N: I would recommend putting the video on loop since it's short.
Before you had time to ask him who it was, he angrily pounded his right hand against the bookshelf, sending a multitude of books to the ground. He repeated this action while accidentally sending a burst of flame at the fallen books, lighting them on fire. Now greatly worried, you shouted at Lucian to quickly put out the fire. He glanced at you for a moment before looking back at the books and seeing what he had done. Quickly he extinguished the flames before pacing back and forth in room, appearing as though he was about to rip out his hair.
Glancing at him from over the back of the couch, you asked, "Lucian who is it?".
As soon as those words left your mouth, you wished that you had never spoken. He cast a terrifying look your way while halting his pacing. Looking the other way, you decided to just remain silent. Lucian ended up collapsing to the floor with his hands hanging at his side.
"He can't be alive, he should be dead," he muttered in a still angered shaky voice.
Seeing his unstable state, you didn't know what to do. To your surprise, you found yourself walking over to him and kneeling down in front of him. You wanted to know who the green-eyed individual was and you also were worried that Lucian had finally lost it due to the far off look that was in his eyes. Furthermore, he kept muttering the same phrase over and over. Usually, he would come back to his senses after a minute or so, but no such thing was happening.
Hesitantly, you called out his name again. This caused him to jolt his head up and stare into your (e/c) orbs. Without any further hesitation, he gripped your shoulders and pinned you to the ground. His eyes still had that far off look to them and his hair hung loosely around his face.
"Tell me why he isn't dead! Tell me!" he shouted in your face, as though you were the cause of this individual still being alive.
Slightly scared by his outburst, you replied, "I don't know Lucian, but please let me go."
He was gripping you rather hard and it hurt, and his behavior was reaching a whole new level of instability, though his grip began to loosen. His eyes began to return to normal before he turned his gaze away from you.
"Forgive me, my pet," he merely whispered before getting off of you.
Leaning against the back of the couch, Lucian ran his fingers through his hair. Getting up, you went over to Lucian and leaned against the back of the couch as well, though you kept a reasonable distance away in case he had another fit of rage. Looking over at you, he sighed before apologizing again. Seeing that he was back in a reasonable state of mind, you asked your previous question once again.
"I'm sorry for earlier; I just thought that he was dead. The only way for him to be alive is if he made a bargain with the council."
"But who is 'he'?"
"The individual with the pale green eyes is my cousin Rezin, who I thought dead. For all this time, I thought the council had killed him, but obviously that is not the case."
"He's your cousin?" you asked, shocked.
Now that you thought about it, Lucian never once mentioned his family to you. He never stated anything about his past besides the fact that the council hated his ideals as well as him.
"Yes, he's the only one who has been known to have the ability to enter one's dreams and now after looking through the records that statement has been confirmed."
"I see, though Lucian you're going to need to give me more information to understand this better. I need to know why the council seems to despise you so much and why they haven't just killed you. Why have they only sent assassins? What happened to your family that you're not telling me? This is the first time you have ever mentioned someone related to you."
"My pet, you do not know what you ask of me. The memories that haunt my mind are ones that I don't want to bring back to light, but I suppose you do deserve some more information than I have given you."
Finally, you were going to get more information, and you waited for him to continue.
"The council has not just killed me because otherwise they would be breaking a treaty over eight hundred years old. My family used to be the most powerful in the magic realm, but the other council members decided to rip them from their seat of power. The reason for such an action was because the other council members were power hungry. They managed to convince the majority of the remaining magic population that our family was misusing its power and was the reason for all the attacks on the citizens by monsters. In reality it was the council members who were causing those acts in secret.
"With this in mind, my family eventually got thrown out of their position of power and was lowered to the weakest house on the council. At the time they stripped my ancestors of their powers, but allowed their children to keep their powers. These children were to sit on the weakest seats in the council, for there were still those who had faith in my family. Moreover, most of the magic population agreed that it was not the children's fault, but the parents. Thus a treaty was designed saying that the council would never attempt to strip the children of their power or try to kill them. For a time the council respected the majority opinion, but my ancestors merely sat on the council and had little to no say in any decisions.
"In time, though, the council decided to eliminate my family, framing their assassinations as accidents. However, at first the assassination attempts were failed efforts until twenty years ago. Members of my family were dying left and right. Somehow I managed to survive. My parents hid my sister and me away in place that they only knew of. I was four at the time and my sister was eight. The two of us grew up and left the place when my sister was sixteen and I was twelve. By this time everyone else in the family was dead.
"My sister joined the council and began to fight against the other council members indirectly. She would gather support from various sorcerers and sorceresses, stating the current flaws of the council, however she could never state that they were the ones killing our family, for all evidence of the acts were destroyed. While garnering support, she fought off the various assassins, protecting me in the process, for I was still learning how to control my magic at the time. The day I turned sixteen, I had finally mastered my magic and was able to join the council and give my sister the aid she needed, though that day ..."
Pausing, his fists clinched, as his bangs covered his eyes. You were fine with him not continuing, for you assumed that his sister had been killed and that's all you needed to know.
"Lucian, you don't need to continue."
"Thank you, but you know it all makes sense now. How the assassins knew where all my family's hiding places were, how to break through the strongholds, and what everyone's weaknesses were. Rezin was always interested in all the family information and he was one of the first ones to be killed off, though I know now that his death was fake. I was foolish not to notice. Though, how he faked his death is beyond me. He must have made a bargain with the council; he lives and gains power while everyone else in the family is killed."
"So do you think he is after the mask as well?"
"There is no doubt about it. We should return to the mansion, my pet. I'll restore all the books to their proper places and then we'll leave."
Nodding in response, you got up and waited for Lucian to fix everything. No wonder he didn't want to tell you his background. Having to recall such occurrences would be painful. Furthermore, this explained his occasional unstable behavior. Witnessing one's entire family being murdered would nurture irregular behavior.
"Listen Lucian, I'm ..."
"I don't want your pity, my pet. I only want you to remain safe and to trust me. Can you now trust me?"
You hesitated, knowing the weight of your answer. Could you now put your trust in him? You wanted to, but in the back of your mind the voice of doubt whispered its sweet words. He was the one that took you from your friends and family, he had taken advantage of your weakened state back when you were sick in order to get you to sign a contract with him. On the other hand, he demonstrated that he genuinely cared for you. When you looked up at him, his face was unreadable and you tried to read his emotions, but failed.
"Lucian, please understand that this request is difficult. You took my previous life from me, I just ..."
With a swift movement of his hand, he grabbed your chin and lowered his face to yours. "Before you give me your answer, let me just say this. You already know the reason why I took you away from your previous life and erased the memories of everyone you knew. Now think about what would happen if Rezin took you away from your family and friends. In comparison he most likely would have killed them due to his previous behavior. Moreover, he would have erased all records of you as well, but would have erased your own memory as well and manipulated your mind to his will."
Would that have really been the case? Basing it off of Rezin's previous acts, killing his own family members and haunting your dreams, the claim did sound reasonable.
"If you desire I can erase your memories of your previous life, though I thought you would prefer otherwise."
"Your right, I don't want my memories removed. It may be painful to constantly know that my parents and friends will never recognize me, but I don't want to ever forget them. I don't want to lose such a huge portion of my life; they mean too much to me."
"That's what I thought. Now what's your answer?"
You didn't know if you were making a mistake, but at the moment your decision seemed the wise one. "Fine, you have my trust."