His large brown doe eyes revealed a sense of relief and his lips slowly spread into a grateful smile like a lost puppy who's just been found. I stared at him mutely, unsure of what to say. He was the last person I expected to see.
"I knew it was you. I can always pick you out of a crowd," V stated proudly with a wide grin. I winced at that, not something I wanted to hear. "Just wait until—" he started happily but stopped when he took in my appearance. His eyes roamed down my bloodstained body and I instinctively yanked my arm away from him and crossed it over my chest, hiding whatever I could.
Suddenly, he cupped my cheeks and his worried eyes bore into mine. "What's wrong?! Are you hurt?! We need to get you to a doctor." He latched onto my arm again and began to drag me away.
"Stop, V." He jumped a little, probably because that was the first time I was so cold to him. He stared back at me with sad eyes that practically screamed 'did I do something wrong?'. I held him back, refusing to move. "I'm ok."
He furrowed his brows and took another look at me. "Why are you covered in blood, then?"
My jaw clenched.
"Did the guards find you? Did someone attack you? I could have sworn I told the artist to make the nose bigger."
"What?"
He cheekily grinned. "For the wanted posters! I told her that your nose was gigantic and that you had half an eyebrow missing."
I couldn't help but laugh at his mischievous stunt to protect me. He was so proud of himself too.
"Good plan, huh? Makes all the difference!"
"Sure," I rolled my eyes. No wonder I looked so different in the posters. I just thought that was how I looked like to other people. After all, no one knows how they really look, since we've only seen ourselves thru reflections. Plus, I read somewhere that our mind makes small adjustments so we look better to ourselves. I remember how screwed I felt when I read that. "None of the other guys noticed?"
V shrugged. "They probably did, but nobody said anything about it."
"Oh," was all I said. I couldn't believe they were still protecting me like this, especially when I gave them reasons not to.
"Wait! You haven't answered my question yet. Why are you-"
A bitter smile kissed my lips. "I killed a lot of people. I attacked someone. I attacked a family."
He instantly snorted, "yeah right. Very funny."
My eyes narrowed at him. "Why? You don't think I can hurt someone?"
"Of course not. At least not the Dal I know," he replied without a second thought. He gave me the same heartwarming, innocent smile. The smile that I once could have stared at forever, but now, it only made me feel guilty.
I couldn't stand this guilt. It felt like I was drowning. "V, I'm not-"
His large hand clasped my mouth, and he pulled me behind a conveniently placed large bush. I looked at him dumbfounded and followed his line of sight to the edge of the road at the outer bank of town. A large group of 15 maybe 20 guards raced down the road before coming to a sudden stop several yards away from us. Someone at the head of the group turned towards the others. I immediately recognized him as one of the training leaders from the castle.
"Are you sure you saw him here?" He questioned.
"Yes, sir. He was just here a minute ago..." One of the other men replied, nervously looking around.
He?
"Well don't just stand there. He couldn't have gone far. You all know your orders!" The head guard ordered. Within a second, the guards dispersed, searching every corner of the field and road.
If it's not me they're looking for, then the only other person... What did V do? My gaze drifted to him, who surprisingly looked just as shocked as me. Did he not know? His hand dropped from my mouth.
"Why are they looking for you?" I whispered.
He shook his head. "I don't know either. I thought they were coming for you."
"Did you do anything, uh, bad?"
"I don't think so?"
Then, why?
I instinctively froze as some voices came closer. Crap. This situation is just a ticking bomb at this rate. Something. I need to do something. I glanced at V, who was clearly still confused about the situation. In the corner of my eye, I noted the distance between me and the closest guard.
I had a feeling about what was going on, but I had to be sure. To know who's on my side. And who's just a liability.
I waited a second or two before jumping up and landing a crushing blow on the guard's jaw. As he stumbled to the ground, I reached out and withdrew his sword. Several guards immediately rushed to us as more were calling the other ones.
Before they could close the distance, I shouted, "Stop!" and yanked V to his feet, pressing the sword against his neck, "or he dies."
All the guards immediately stopped. I gave a mental sigh of relief, at least they were still protecting him. V gave me an uneasy look, but I felt his body relax, as if he knew I wouldn't hurt him. How? Even in this situation. I unknowingly pressed the sword deeper against his throat, causing a small sliver of blood to coat his neck. But even so, where is this blind trust coming from?
"Miss Dal," the leader emerged from the group. "Please wait."
"Why are you following me?!" I shrieked in a voice so crazy it even surprised myself.
"We aren't following you," he cautiously replied.
"Then, how did you find me?!"
The leader warily glanced between my sword and V. "It was a coincidence."
I darkly chuckled. "Clearly, it's not. I've seen you and all your men searching for me in the fields."
"We weren't searching for you," he corrected.
I snorted, "then who? Him?" I shoved V slightly forward.
"Yes."
I raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "And why would you be doing that?"
The leader shot the man next to him a blank look. He carefully formulated his answer, "We were ordered to follow him."
"Who ordered you?"
"I can't say."
"Then I can't promise." A pang of guilt hit me before I pressed the sword deeper.
"Stop pretending!" The man next to the leader shouted and my eyes snapped to him.
"Lee," the leader warned.
"We should just capture her! She'd never hurt him. He told us they were conspiring against His Majesty together."
"That's enough from you!" The leader practically roared at this point, making the man take a step back.
My eyes narrowed. He confirmed my suspicions. Someone ordered them to tail V because he thought V had helped me kill the king. They used him to find me. Follow the bee (a/n: haha bee, v get it haha) and you'll find a hive. Which means even the castle was starting to distrust and suspect V. But who is 'he'?
V looked genuinely confused from the accusations and I knew I had to cut ties from these guys, once and for all. I never had the heart to bring myself to end things with them. Completely. But I needed to, if I wanted them to live their lives as usual. They needed each other.
I couldn't keep hanging onto the false hope that I would be able to return to them one day. That maybe one day they'd be my home. Besides, what V said before confirmed that: 'the Dal I know'. Everything they knew was fake. They'd been in love with the idea of the Dal they knew. I made a persona that they'd grown attached to. It was like any of my other jobs. I was naïve to think they could've accepted the truth. Whatever 'truth' really means. And just like my other jobs, it ended.
I squeezed V's arm and hoped that was an acceptable apology for what I was about to do.
I forced an eerie giggle. "You think I wouldn't hurt him?" I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please. Give me more credit than that." I swiftly plunged the sword into V's shoulder, close enough to his heart to make it seem like I had accidentally missed but far enough for it to be nonlethal. Murmurs erupted and I ripped the sword out of his chest, pushing his body towards the group, before sprinting in the opposite direction.
"Get help! Go find a doctor! Half of you go after her! Go call..." the leader's orders were replaced with loud footsteps behind me. The grass under my feet was replaced with dirt. The blood on my hand was replaced with V's look of betrayal.
--
[A/N]
surprise