"Yes…. yes… just right there" Andrei said, gasping for air.
"This… is hard… it's slippery too, I can't hold it right" Claire had a tired expression as she was grabbing something with her two hands.
The two were in Andrei's room as they were fitting the parts he asked Claire to produce with her magic, she often made the parts during the night when she had no other duties, at first she would make the parts with the poorly made blueprints provided by Andrei in her own room, but as Andrei's scribbles were becoming harder to understand since the first landmine bomb and the parts she made had been always rejected by him, she moved the work to his room, for convenience until all parts were made.
As Claire held both of her hands delicately on a piece of iron ore, she looked at the blueprint, while Andrei assisted her with his directions, her magic made a piece of molded iron resembling a snake that rose upward.
When this was finally done, the two who had held their breaths for a long time have finally been able to breathe it out.
That one complicated part was finally done.
"That… was… exhausting" Andrei said as he looked at the pieces of metal at the side of the floor where they worked at, resembling rejected versions of what they have just made, but were crooked in different directions and the sizes were horribly unproportional.
"You… barely… did anything, ahhhh I'm almost out of magic power" Claire said as she reaches for the cup for water on the table, "Now is that alright?"
"Yes, it's just about what I had in mind, I think we finished the last part" he spread out the paper on the table where he had drawn the blueprint for his new creation.
"This was supposed to be modeled to normal flintlocks, but the shapes... I think is hard for blacksmiths on this era to imitate if this goes on production level, should I alter it a bit to make it simpler?"
Then he shook his head to deny his first thought.
"No������� I can't just alter the shape, after all these are designs made so it would work properly, it's worth a shot but I have to make the prototype first and consult that old blacksmith."
He closed the blueprint and looked at the other side of the table where the completed parts were lined up, it took them nearly a month to make all the parts with all the trial and errors that they did, but to Andrei this was already a great feat as he never thought that that there would be a day that he'd be the one to make a gun himself, he looked at his back and there Claire had already fallen asleep, and seemed too vulnerable and cute, Andrei couldn't help but pinch her cheeks lightly to check if she could return to her room or not, but Claire didn't react at all.
"This girl, she pushed herself again, it's been so long since she slept in her own room… so just like the usual… heave ho" he princess-carried Claire in his arms and laid her on his bed, "Thank you, Claire" he smiled at her vulnerable sleeping face, and placed the blanket on her, while he got himself a pillow and placed it on the floor.
After cleaning up the scraps of iron on the other side to make sure that he wouldn't be sleeping on anything that could hurt, he put off the lamps and opened the window.
As the light of the glimmering sky reached to their room, Andrei laid on the floor where he prepared his makeshift bed, his head faced the window as he laid and could see the stars at the night sky that shone like tiny bits of diamonds.
"This… isn't so bad" he admired the scenery before his eyes and fell asleep, however when he closed his eyes, the images on the rescue mission flashed on his eyes, the enemy burning in the fire he created with the use of molotovs, suffering as their skin got burned into crisp, the bandit leader where the smoke-tear bomb he created melted his eyes turning him into a zombielike state while holding his already melted face, everyone on his nightmare was cursing him with their horrid and deep voices coming together, and all he could do was run away shouting for help, but in the dream, no one could hear his scream, he called for Ann, for Michaela, Claire and Erneis, but no one came to his aid, he ran and ran while cursing his fate.
But this all stopped when he heard a smack, and felt that his left cheek was hurt, as he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the darkness, but he couldn't see the windows anymore, what was before him was the girl who was supposed to be sleeping on his bed, wearing her usual black dress with white frilly laces, she leaned over to him and her expression wasn't as neutral as before, but it was different.
"Is she… worried? Why?"
Being half-asleep Andrei couldn't understand what had happened, but he felt relieved that he woke up from the terrible nightmare.
Bathed by the moon lights that shone from her back, he couldn't help but feel that the scenery before him was beautiful and mesmerizing.
In another smack, he was then fully awake.
"C-C-Claire?"
He reacted reflexively, as the girl was sitting in front of him when he came to.
Her expression was not anymore worried, but she was peacefully smiling in front of him as if she knew what had happened to him.
"Are you having those nightmares again?" She asked him, while giving him a glass of water.
Andrei was familiar of the scene, every time he felt down, she was always there for him, even though she often mocked him most of the time, the care she gave him not only took chaotic things off his mind, but it felt that she was touching and healing his very soul from inside, with her smile accompanied by her unpredictable but gracious movements.
He took the glass of water from her and drank it. When he finished, he let out a deep breath and talked.
"You can tell, huh? Perhaps it's because I developed another deadly weapon again? This dream is just like… it's reminding me that I'm really a... murderer."
"Hey Andrei tell me… this is just a guess but did you come from a country without war and conflict?"
Andrei paused for a while, shook his head, and said,
"No, my country, unlike other countries, it has a lot of problems itself, terrorists, rebels, small scale wars happens a lot, my dad and brother are actually soldiers and fought those on the front lines, my family is a Military family after all, most of our ancestors are warriors, I tried to escape this fate by choosing my own path unlike my brother, I really don't like fighting after all, but either way I got all kinds of military and fighting techniques drilled into me… However, I still tried to walk through the path that I chose, I believed that it was the right path for me, but as you can see, I ended up making weapons to kill other people, no… it could kill a lot of people, it's really contradictory to what I'm supposed to believe in"
"Do you… regret it?" she asked in a neutral manner but her tone was not as flat as before.
"No… if I just did nothing, I think you could have managed on your own, but still it wouldn't sit right with me, having the knowledge to save someone but not using it… I might have regretted it all my life, so right now, this is the path that I believe that I should believe in"
Then, Claire laid her head into his chest sideways, with her ear on his heart, he could feel her slender body pressing into his, but Andrei didn't panic, instead he let it calm his heart, he let out a deep sigh and looked at the window where he could see the glimmering dots again.
"You're really weird you know… but don't worry, this is our sin, you don't have to carry it"
"Don't be ridiculous… you said you'd let me carry half of it right?" Andrei answered Claire remembering the first time she comforted him at the garden, if Michaela was the one who inspired him to face everything he is dealing right now just like the sunlight, to him Claire was just like the moon that consoled him in his weakest times, "They are just like Ann if they fused their qualities together…" he carelessly thought, and immediately shook his head to deny it, "No, Ann is not around anymore, it's rude for me to think about that"
He stroked Claire's hair that was scattered on hi chest, this time she didn't tie her hair and it just fell down everywhere, "Claire… why can't you be always this sweet every time?" he jokingly said to her.
"That would be tiring" she responded with her voice could be barely heard, as she buried her face more in his chest.
"Really?"
"Plus you did awful things to me, and you expect me to be sweet to you?"
"What things?"
"Like calling me flat-toned, no-presence, stealth-mode, and you always overreact when you notice my presence, and also…"
"Also?"
She pinched his side that made him scream in pain, "That hurt! That hurt!"
"This is payback."
"What for!"
She raised her face from his chest and looked him in the eyes.
"Calling the bomb like that, you really don't have any delicacy do you?" he could feel her breath as she spoke, as their faces are very close together, all he could do was gulp down his response.
"S-S-S-So… that's what it was hahaha" he put his hand on the back of his head in shame and tried to divert his gaze from the gray eyes which were looking directly at his eyes, as if she can see his soul, "She smells nice…" he thought.
"Ahhhh remembering it, made me angry again, should I poke your eyes right now?"
"N-N-N-No… please let's just sleep okay? okay?"
"This was supposed to be a talk about your dream, but it turned out to be completely different, idiot Andrei" she buried her face back to his chest while her hands wrapped around his waist, "Fine… I'll let you get away for now"
"Claire… you're really weird today"
"Yes, I also don't know why… but let me do this for now, I also can't sleep after all"
"Is that so?"
"Mmm…"
"Then, okay…" he hugged her back with a hand and started to close his eyes when he heard her final sleepy voice.
"When we wake up, that weapon will be introduced, right? I can finally have a loooong rest"
"Yes, and we'll test it just like the usual"
"What will you call it? If you call it by my name again, I will really kill you, I promise"
"What a scary promise is that…"
"Anyway, don't think that this weapon will just take lives, this weapon will save people, okay? And also…"
"Yeah, thank you, Claire for being there for me… " he stroked her hair, "... and also what?"
"Forget about tonight…"
"There's no way I can forget about your highest-tensions day"
"Then shall I buy a magic potion?"
"What for?"
"Forgetting what happened for a day…"
"That stuff is expensive, right? Does it even exist? Fine fine fine, I'll forget about it okay? Okay?" he thought as he murmured, "No way."
He opened his eyes once again and saw her vulnerable sleeping face again, which was so close that it made his heart beat faster than normal. But being wrapped by the moonlight and her kindness, nothing more could make him feel better in his heart. Peace came into him and he finally fell asleep, and this time there were no nightmares, instead he had a dream about his world and his beloved.
"You cheating little…" Ann and him were eating on McDonalds again, more than a dream, it was a memory of their past, when Ann suspected him of cheating when he received chocolates from another girl on valentines.
"It's not that okay? Okay? She's just a friend, no matter how you think about it, it's obligatory!"
"Obligatory, huh? But it's definitely… handmade"
She picked up the chocolate on the table and broke it to pieces with a hand, it was a heart-shaped chocolate and was clearly handmade. Andrei couldn't say a word, instead the nervousness got him to eat the fries he ordered in speed of light.
Finally, in submission to the matter, Ann breathed a heavy sigh, and looked at him in her normal demeanor with a warm smile, "I wonder, how long our relationship will last, I definitely promised that I'd be with you for as long as I could, but we couldn't really tell about the future…" she looked at her side and saw the sun slowly setting, painting the skies with orange, he looked at Andrei again who tried to argue.
"N-N-No… we have promised, right? I'll do everything to keep this going on until we get married!"
It startled her, and made her blush, however she reached out her hand to his forehead and flicked it, "It hurts!" Andrei exclaimed.
"You mean…. 'We' right?"
"Ohhh, sorry" Andrei lost his nervousness and held her hand.
"But… if ever something happens to me, as I've said, the future is uncertain, I want you to be happy Andrei" with a pained expression she looked at her beloved, forcing the words that were hidden in her heart.
"Stop talking like that… nothing will happen to you."
"Yes yes… nothing will happen" she waved her hands, to deny the fact.
"If someone hurts you, I'll blow them up with Arduino made bombs! Hack their profiles and make them suffer! HAHAHA" he said proudly and laughed evilly.
"Stop the dangerous talk�� anyway if ever something happens to me, again..."
"...nothing will-" Before Andrei could continue, Ann already hushed his lips with her fingers.
"Again… I want you to be happy, don't let yourself be trapped of the past and move on, I'm sure there are great girls out there, but don't choose one randomly okay? Or I'll get out of my grave just to kick your butt"
"Then I'll do just that so you'll get out of your grave… and I will never let you go back to it again!"
"Even if I become a zombie?"
"That might be scary, but I don't care, I'll figure out something… somehow," he held and wrapped her fingers with his.
This was one of his precious memories before he knew about Ann's illness, but prior to that, Ann already knew that there was something wrong with her, as to why she said those words to him.
The memory was supposed to be over at that point, but an extra image appeared on his dream, it was that Ann got up from her seat, kissed him in the forehead, and waved him goodbye, and white light flashed ending the dream.
When he woke up the sun was already up, he was alone at the floor, and Claire couldn't be seen anywhere, he started to fix his bed, while thinking of the things that happened overnight and the dream that he saw, when he saw the parts lineup on the table, he started to assemble it, and turned out that the parts were just the right fit of each other.
"Now all we need is some flint, and gunpowder to test this baby" he said, he wrapped the gun with a blanket, then he heard someone knocking from the door, and a voice that spoke through it was familiar.
"Your Highness this is Celeste, Her Majesty Michaela is looking for you, please proceed to the planning chamber as soon as possible."
"Yes, thanks!" he opened the door to respond, which made the maid surprised.
"Your Highness?" she tilted her head in curiosity.
"What?" then he remembered that he only needed to answer loudly from inside, "I totally forgot that," he thought to himself.
But he was startled by the maids next sentence, "Your Highness, are you… crying?"
He immediately touched his face and felt that it was soaked, then he felt that his heart was really aching, as if it was being pulled downwards.
"Ahh I'm sorry I just went to wash my face, I'll be there soon" and with a bang, he closed the door immediately and walked inside his room.
"I didn't have a nightmare last night… but…" and he sat to the corner of his room while his eyes flowed like a river, the droplets of his tears fell to the ground, with the pain on his heart, all he could do was crumple his clothes at his chest in order to suppress his outburst, he cried and cried, he didn't notice it but his outburst wasn't suppressed anymore, as his eyes flowed like a river, he was shouting out the pain that was meant to be buried deep inside his heart as if the lock on his heart and was unlocked, since Ann's death he wasn't able to cry, he cursed himself for it, and thought himself to be a monster who couldn't cry for his loved one… but not until that day,
"... that damn Claire, did she put a spell on me or something… this damn magic world… damn it!"
At the wall beside the door, Claire was wearing her armor and could hear everything, but she just looked down and stayed there with her back against the wall to prevent anyone from knocking and disturbing him.
Two maids came to remind him again of the meeting, but Claire put her index finger on her mouth and shook her head sideways. The maids understood what she meant. They bowed and disappeared back to the hall.
When he arrived at the planning room, everyone was tense, no one noticed that his eyes were red from crying. It was the day that the battalions led by Gideon Savoy defected from the Empire of Kydus.
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