Bab 34: Chapter 33: Meeting of The Survivors
[Fiore's Castle - evening]
"Woo! We made it back first." Lavi cheered as he raised one of his arms, wanting a high five from her partner, Anna.
However, she did not get the hint, she blinked a couple times with a confused look on her face. "Come on, don't leave me hanging now." He deadpanned.
With no knowledge whatsoever, she asked, "What are you doing?"
"High five..."
"Oh." She raised her arm and gave him what he wanted.
"You know, you're very dense." He commented as he placed his hands on his sides.
"I am?" She stated while she kept her typical poker face. That was supposed to be a question but for some reason her voice showed no sign of variation.
"Yeahhh. You are."
Not long after, they could hear Ben and Ethan having their daily dose of arguments.
"...We could have finished the mission earlier, if you didn't flirt with those girls." Ethan scowled.
"Like I say, it isn't my fault that girls find me attractive. Besides, we finished the mission within a day. That's good enough, right? What's the big deal?" Ben shrugged nonchalantly.
"It is actually a miracle that we finished this within a day..." Jai uttered to himself, while standing in between the two other guys.
Lavi waved at the group from the entrance, but only Jai waved back. The two other guys completely ignored him. Jai then approached Anna and Lavi, with his usual smile, "Wow, you two are sure quick."
"Hey, you're pretty good yourself. You managed to finish the mission within a day, even though you had those two in your group." Lavi replied jokingly.
Jai looked over his shoulder to the two guys who were still going on with their argument, before whipping his head back towards the two other. Uneasy, he laughed, "Yeah..."
Just then, another set of footsteps could be heard and it was by Yukiko and Mary. The two of them were walking awkwardly together, side by side. They were not fighting, which was a rare sight, but the tension between them still lingered. The two of them remained silent as they made their way to the group.
"Hey, look. It's those two." Lavi alerted Jai as he tapped on his shoulder repeatedly.
"Oh yeah."
Cocking his head slightly, he looked at them for a few seconds, "They are a little weird, aren't they?"
He stared at the two girls, then back to Jai, before nodding, "Yup."
"So, how did things went?" He asked the two girls as they got closer to him, "It all went well, right?"
"Yeah, it did." Yukiko replied as she walked past him and into the castle.
Still in disbelief, he discreetly whispered to the other girl, "Um, Mary...? Is there something wrong with her?"
She looked at him for a few seconds before shrugging, "She had been like that when we started the mission. She did not argue much, which was a little weird..."
Yukiko ignored the little conversation they had between themselves and grumbled, "Aren't you guys going in?"
All of them were surprised.
Yukiko, the ice queen, was showing signs of consideration, kindness and genuine emotions in general.
What sort of sorcery was this?
Raising an eyebrow, Lavi asked hesitantly, "By any chance, you are waiting for us...?"
She folded her arms and glared at the guy, "Then who do you think I'm waiting for? I need to report this mission as soon as possible, that idiot still needs some training, you know that?"
"Oh, Emily, huh." Lavi thought to himself, "When did those two got so close? Why am I still thinking so much? We should seriously get in soon--"
Suddenly, a shout disturbed his train of thought, "My brother needs help!"
All of them whipped their heads around and noticed a little girl supporting his older brother, who was bleeding from his chest. His face was pale and his body was frail. Sweat droplets dotted around his face as he breathed painfully.
One of the guards, guarding the entrance barked, "Who are you? You can't entered the castle just like that!"
Her Brother pushed himself to stand upright to review a symbol at the back of his shoulder, "We are from the Jackson clan..."
"Impossible! They were all annihilated five years ago." He retorted with a hint of disbelief.
"...Yeah, but we weren't k--" Without finishing his sentence, Zack passed out and he fell on the hard ground. Kate kneeled down next to him and pleased, "Please save him! Whatever he said was truth! Everyone was killed except for us... Please, just believe us."
Mary saw the injured boy and rushed to him, she noticed that he was still breathing, which was a good a sign. She then continued to remove the blood soaked towel to take a quick look as his wound, "It's pretty bad..."
Mary ordered the guards to take him in as quickly as possible, in which the guards obeyed. Afterwards, she went to the girl and comforted, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of your Brother. In the meantime, followed those people there."
Turning around, she pointed to the remaining gang.
Kate nodded and did what she was told while Mary went in the castle with the other guards. Lavi eyed down at the little girl, who was staring at the ground shyly yet worryingly.
Smiling, he bent down and handed her a candy, "There you go."
However, in the next second, he turned to the rest of the group and clarified, "That's what kids like, right...?"
Most of them shrugged, they did not know anything about children or whatsoever, most of them are still teenagers themselves. Besides, they are born to fight, not to do things like... This.
"You're hopeless." Yukiko huffed as she walked towards the girl. She took a deep breath and faked a beautiful and warm smile, "Hey, what's your name?"
"As expected of the Yumemiya's family. Masters of acting." Ben praised as he gave a Yukiko an applause.
She turned and glared at the guy, while mouthing the words, "Shut up."
Returning her gaze, she focused her attention back to the girl, with a completely different expression on as she shyly replied, "...Kate."
"Oh, I see. That's a cute name, isn't? Come on, you should follow us, alright?" Yukiko said with a plastered smile as she grabbed onto the Kate's hand.
"Wow, you're doing such a good job." Ben added as she walked past him, "You should become Mother soon."
Upon hearing that, she stepped on his foot and kept her foot there, increasing the pressure with every second that passed. She then turned to Kate once more, "Later when you meet the king just tell him everything you know, got it?"
'Oblivious', she strode off as Ben was left there in pain. Batting her eyelashes, she looked innocently at him, "Did I step on your foot? Sorry. I thought I was stepping on trash."
Those words came out so chillingly that it silenced Ben. Intimidated, he backed away till he was at the end of the group.
After their 'exchange', they continued their way to the study room the king and queen most likely were at.
Once they reached, they entered cautiously.
They bowed upon the sight of the two prestigious figures. Jai, who stood in front of them, cleared his throat once and spoke, "Your majesty, we had completed our missions. I'll pass you the reports in an hour time."
The king nodded, "Well done. I'll be looking forward to them." He noticed the little girl and asked, "...Who is she?"
Lavi walked up and answered, "She came to the castle with her injured Brother and said something about the Jackson clan."
The king raised his eyebrows and looked over to the girl, "She does resembles Zen and Katherine. During that attack, they could not find Katherine, Zen and their two children, don't tell me..."
"Are you Kate Jackson?" The king asked with his monotonous voice, which startled Kate, making her too scared to reply to. So, instead she nodded anxiously.
The queen walked towards her and patted her on the head, "Wow, you have grown, didn't you? You probably don't remember me, since the last time I saw you was when you were still a baby."
Kate looked at her with a confused look on her face, not knowing how to reply.
The queen giggled and said, "Looks like you completely lost. Well, it's okay. Why did you come here?"
Kate's eyes widened as she remembered, "Rachel and Robert... They are taken by three bad men, please save them." She begged as she gave them a sincere bow.
"Who's Rachel and Robert?" Lavi questioned, "Your friends?"
Kate looked up at him, "Yes, they are! So, please help them." She answered before bowing down again.
All of the sudden, Mary bursted into the room.
Her face went white as she stammered, "Emily... and Beck..."
"What's wrong? Are yo--" Before Ethan could finish his question, Mary spoke, "...T-The Phantom got them..."
"I see." The king replied calmly, "Since Emily is gone. Jai and Ben, you two are in charge. I don't want anybody to look for them just yet, we need to find their exact location first."
The two guys bowed as a gesture to accept their roles.
"But-t... Sir, there's no time. What if we don't make it in time?" She protested fearfully as her imagination went wild.
"We need protection here as well. If the Jackson clan is here, there's almost no doubt that the phantom might launch another attack here in Fiorentina. If any of you goes there, you will die. We can't afford to lose anyone." He explained as he eyed at her sternly.
"Is this land worth more than your Daughter?" Yukiko scowled, "She's your daughter, isn't she?!"
Hearing that statement of hers, the king still remained silent.
Yukiko cursed under her breath and stomped to the door. Just as she wanted to turn the doorknob, she was stopped by Ben. He stood there and warned, "If you are planning to go and rescue them, I might have to stop you."
"Sure." She said as she manifested her sword, "...I'll busted through here then."
He saw her sword and decided to pull out his sword as well, "Very well. I have no choice, do I?"
"I want you two to stop this nonsense. Jai, bring Kate to the guest room. Mary, keep an eye on Zack. Anna and Ethan, try to find their exact location. Ben, you are on watch for the night. Rest of you head back to your room to rest up, before further instructions." The queen ordered strictly. For some reason, all of them complied and did what she told them to.
At these times, the queen was as much scarier than everyone else.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
GalaxyUnicorn030
GalaxyUnicorn030 Sorry, guys!! I published this later than scheduled -.-
I needed to get some school work done. Well, hope y’all are enjoying this series so far!
And stay at school kids!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone