Jiana paced back and forth in front of a kneeling Lexi, a thick binder full of mission reports in her hands. Lexi had been dreading this moment since they had returned. The Mistress had barely given the group a glance when they had returned to the guild, simply ordering them to remain in the hall until she wished to speak with them.
A week. A painfully tense week had passed after that before Jiana began to take a day or two to speak with each individual member of Lexi's 'team'.
Cross's debriefing had been first, and the shortest, followed by Romeo, Banksy, Makina, and then finally it was her turn. Despite Cross's assurance that everything would be all right, Lexi couldn't shake her nervousness. Try as she might to hide it, she knew the Mistress could easily read her apprehension with every subtle glance.
Lexi steeled her nerves and continued to wait as the minutes ticked by.
xXx
Makina let out an irritated noise and launched a book at Cross. He flinched as it bounced off his face and fell down to the floor at his feet. He glanced down at the cover. It was a children's tale about a dragon. It was one of the first books he had ever read on his own. Sighing, he bent down and picked it up before tossing it back onto the bed next to Makina. She shoved it back to the floor with a huff.
"Having trouble?" Cross ran a hand through his hair.
"Of course I am having trouble you idiot!" Makina grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Cross caught it with ease and threw it back on the bed. Makina nudged it to the floor.
"Learning to read your current, useless, human scribble is stupid." Makina glared at him.
"The Mistress insisted you learn if you're going to stay here," Cross said as he walked over to the window. He lifted the curtain to the side and stared up at the sky. The clouds were thick and grey, heavy with rain that refused to fall. It made the air heavy, lulling Cross into a lethargic state, but he was far too anxious to even consider sleeping.
"Also, it is quite impossible for me to focus on my reading when you refuse to stop moving about."
"Then read in your own room," Cross said, letting go of the curtain and turning to look at her.
"Your bed is much softer than mine. I have come to prefer it. Now, if you would simply switch with me then I would not bother to come here, but you still refuse. If that were to change…"
"You can't have my bed."
"Then it seems we are at an impasse!" Makina snapped, tossing her hair. "Truthfully, I could just take the bed, seeing as you are my servant and therefore everything you own actually belongs to me, but I am a kind Master."
"You're something." Cross began to pace around his room again.
"Stop that!" Makina waved her hand at Cross, sending a cold breeze of air washing against his body. Cross paused as the cold set his hairs on end and a chill ran down his spine. Shaking the feeling off he gave Makina a stern look.
"Don't do that."
"I will do as I please, human. You should be honored to have even an ounce of my magic bestowed upon you." Makina stuck her tongue out at him. "Now sit down. Your fidgeting will give me a headache."
"I can't imagine what that could be like." Cross grabbed his desk chair and fell into the seat with a sigh.
"I still don't understand why we should suffer any consequences," Makina grumbled. "I was right, as you will come to learn is always the case, and your Mistress was wrong."
"We still broke the rules," Cross said, beginning to tap his foot. "Punishment probably won't be too bad. Honestly, it's not really a problem for me. You're probably good too. Romeo won't care and Banksy will get off easy, but Lexi…" Cross trailed off, falling deep into thought.
Makina stared at him for a long time, before grabbing another pillow and hitting him in the face with it. Cross batted the offending bedding away from his head and gave Makina a halfhearted glare.
"Why are you so worried?" Makina asked. "What will happen to Lexi?"
"Lexi has wanted to be a Leader since we were kids. We both did." Cross shook his head. "This could really ruin her chances. Disobeying a direct order from the Mistress… That's not often something that is taken lightly."
"I don't understand all of this Leader nonsense. " Makina reached out from the bed and slapped Cross's hand as he reached for his desk for something to fiddle with, unable to keep his hands idle.
"It's pretty simple." Cross sat back in his chair. He let his head roll back and he stared at the ceiling. He made a note of the burn marks from a few powder mishaps that needed to be repaired. He would also need to prepare another batch of cartridges; maybe he would borrow some of Romeo's new colored powder…
"Well?" Makina said as Cross took too long for her liking to answer.
"Requests that can be handled by anyone are put on the request board." Cross exhaled. "Mostly couriering and small, odd jobs. Simple things that probably won't be dangerous. The pay is low, but the work is pretty consistent. It's what I do most of the time."
"Pathetic. You serve a divine being now, you should apply yourself." Makina click her tongue in disapproval. "Continue."
"When a request is more specialized or demanding, Servilia selects who should go on it. In turn, that person can request other guild members for assistance, normally for a percentage of the payment, or out of the goodness of their heart, if they're an idiot. That's normally what I do with Banksy and Lexi. He cracks the safe or she will steal the item, and I deliver the goods."
"Seems you have the easy job."
"Pay is equivalent to the risk. It balances out." Cross shrugged. "Most of these jobs only take a day or few. Sometimes, though, we get requests that require weeks of work or more, including prep time. Those are handled by a team. Each team has a designated Leader who is in charge of every member and their actions. If a team fails, it's on the Leader."
"Well, that seems fair." Makina nodded. "If a servant commits a transgression, it is because the master failed in her duties. Of course, the Master could always force the servant to take the punishment for them. If your Guild Mistress does punish us, I will allow you the honor of taking my punishment as well."
"Good to know."
"So what would happen if Lexi were to fail at becoming a Leader because of this incident?"
"Well…" Cross mulled it over for a moment. "First she would probably kill me, then maybe she would toss you out a window. That would be if she took the news well."
"Your sarcasm is not required when giving me answers." Makina sniffed. "Surely the Mistress cannot find fault in her actions. Loathe as I am to praise you, you did keep your promise and because of that, have returned of magic the race of man."
Cross brought his head back down at looked over at Makina. "I've been meaning to ask you about that."
"I would say I am shocked, but you haven't shown a great deal of intelligence. Very well, I shall explain it for you in very simple terms.
"The link between humans and natural magic is quite thin. In some cases, humans are able to use some small, pathetic amount of magic through this connections, but it is quite difficult. An example, it would seem, would be you. Now, however, by the grace of the Spirit Gods, that link has been strengthened allowing magic to flow freely to you simple mortals. An enormously generous act on our behalf, considering what barbaric acts your kind inflicted on us. Honestly, I hope you don't require it to be explained any simpler."
"Yes, I know that. I heard Aria explain it to you twice before we left." Cross said. Makina's cheeks burned red and her gaze dropped down to her lap. "What I was asking was, why didn't you use magic. You're not human, but you didn't use your magic until… until you did."
"I was quite weak from my imprisonment, as you should very well know. Furthermore, it took time for me to remember and regain control of my impressive powers," Makina said with a haughty turn of her head.
"When did you realize you could really use magic again?" Cross said, leaning forward in his chair.
Makina glared at him out of the corner of her eye . "Why am I being questioned by my servant?"
"Just curious." Cross fell back against his chair. "Going over what happened with the Mistress again and again made me think. It was on the train towards Ash, wasn't it? That's when you really knew. It was after you used it on me. But you didn't say anything."
The unasked question hung in the air and Makina faltered before regaining her composure.
"I will answer your foolish question once you have answered mine," she snapped. "You said on the train that maybe the world was better off without magic."
"I did."
"Did you mean that?"
Cross gave a noncommittal shrug.
"That is not a sufficient response to my question!" There was an edge to Makina's voice. She stared at Cross impatiently. To her chagrin, Cross didn't answer, choosing instead to look back up at the ceiling. He could feel Makina staring at him. He let out a heavy sigh and brought his head back down, avoiding Makina's inquisitive glare.
"You should be reading." Cross reached out and grabbed her discarded book. Standing up, he tossed the book into Makina's lap and headed for the door, calling out over his shoulder, "Try to finish it. The story has a good ending."
As the door clicked shut, Makina looked down at the illustration on the cover, noting for the first time a dragon in a deep sleep. Underneath one of its giant wings, was a small child, sleeping soundly beside it.
Makina put the book down and stared at the chair Cross had been sitting in. Twisting her body around, she hung her feet over the edge of the bed and smoothed out her dress.
"I was going to tell you. On the train. But then you said… that." Makina said after a long time, addressing the empty chair. Her small hands balled into fists and her voice lowered to almost a whisper. "I was scared you would say the world would be better off without me, as well." She swallowed hard and her eyes closed, a few stray tears falling from her lashes that quickly turned to crystals of ice against her skin. "Stupid mortal."