"Ready, E ?" Oda said while standing at the door.
"We literally have fifteen more minutes before entering hell again. Why the rush?" Errot mumbled sleepily against his pillow, his body under the warm sheets.
"Look, I don't wanna see what happens if we get there late. Do you? Don't think so. So, let's just go" Oda said while pulling the covers off Errot and dragging him out of the bed with force.
Errot flinched a bit when he fell to the floor and opened his eyes to glare up at Oda.
"Don't look at me like that. You should actually thank me for waking you up early and forcing you to get dressed on time. " She said with a side smile on her face.
Errot's face softened a bit and kept looking at Oda. "I am. Grateful, I mean."
He slowly stood on his feet and tried to fix his bed hair a bit.
Oda chuckled at that. "Come on, handsome." She extended her hand at Errot and he immediately intertwined his fingers with hers while rolling his eyes at her comment.
"Dude, just got Elian flashbacks." He shivered at the thought.
Oda opened the door and they walked out hand in hand. "Elian is a gentleman"
Errot raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. That, he is"
Before Oda had the time to reply, a few fainted voices could be heard from further away in the corridor.
Errot and Oda turned to look at each other at the same time.
"Do you think it's Canton?" Oda whispered.
"Maybe." Errot smirked. "Let's find out" He whispered back.
"No, Errot- "
"Sh." He guided them closer to King Canton's rooms at the end of the hall.
The moment they reached his door, the voices of Canton and Elvina became crystal clear. Errot curiously leaned to look through the peep hole.
"I'm losing my fucking mind! " Canton exclaimed while throwing a knife at the wall across him, forcefully.
"Didn't you already lose your mind a while ago, though?" Elvina questioned calmly.
"Elvina." Canton warned, his fists clenched in anger.
"A joke. I'm joking. " She threw her hands up in defence with a smirk on her face "But you should really calm down before someone hears you and- "
"I can't calm down! I can't- I..-" Canton's green eyes were widened and he was looking around a bit lost, slightly disconnected from the world.
"Canton. "
Canton didn't move an inch. His whole body was frozen dead on his spot.
Suddenly, a knife came flying through and almost buried itself into Canton's neck causing him to snap back to reality, a second before getting killed. He grabbed the knife in an abrupt motion and held it still, a breath away from his throat.
He slowly raised his gaze up from the knife on his hand to look at Elvina who was now wearing a smug grin. He then immediately pulled two of his own knives out of both of his arm sleeves, now holding two blades on his left hand and one on his right . Without wasting a second, he aggressively threw them straight at Elvina, purposely landing them right above her head and at each side of it.
Canton was breathing heavily while Elvina remained the same as before, calm and amused.
"Ah, love it when we try to murder each other" She crossed her arms against her chest.
Canton run a frustrated hand through his hair completely ignoring her and started pacing back and forth in the room. "After all those fucking years and somehow- " He decided not to finish his sentence .
"I thought drinking a whole bottle of bourbon yesterday night would calm you down but apparently it resulted in hangovered panic attacks." Elvina said more to herself and sighed.
Canton stopped moving and threw a few weapons down his table with force. He then placed his palms against it and leaned his weight a bit on them.
Elvina got her back off the wall, walked to Canton and copied his exact position.
"I'll find out what the hell is going on. Maybe we should have a lovely chat with some backstabbing Moccassins. Want me to demand an audience with Elian?"
Canton nodded in anger. "It's time we finally pay a visit to our friends in Moccasin Blood."
Elvina smirked and Canton continued. "Tonight. Just us two. "
"Your wish is my command, my King"
"It better be." He said coolly and went to grab another bottle of bourbon.
Elvina shook her head at him. "Alright. I'm gonna let the great wicked king drown in his misery now."
"Did I say you could leave?" Canton asked coldly while taking a sip from his drink.
"Okay then, I won't go train your new teen spies." Elvina said amused.
Canton pressed his lips into a thin line.
"Right. Elvina. I want the boy alive till we- "
Oda grabbed Errot's arm abruptly and started running for her life, forcing him to run along .
Once they were finally out of the main building, in which they were staying at, they managed to stop and catch their breaths.
Errot's and Oda's eyes were widened in shock.
" Errot.." She said and her voice broke a bit. She gulped. "I think I know the reason why he so easily decided to let us stay here..."
Errot eyes were glued to the ground, his hands trembling now but not from the cold.
"He wants us dead." Oda shot a terrified look at Errot and lowered her voice. "We're only alive because of his weird obsession with you or the person he thinks you are."
Errot locked eyes with Oda . "Plan A never actually worked, huh? "
"Morning, children. Late on your first day of school? " Elvina suddenly emerged out of the castle and walked towards them with Canton's confidence on her sleeve.
They both lowered their heads in sync at her arrival, feeling relieved she wouldn't be able to see the fear on their eyes.
"Come on. You'll serve detention during class." Elvina grinned evilly and started leading them to the backyard.
When they reached the training place, Elvina passed a blade to both of them and tugged her hands behind her back.
"Attack me before I attack you first"
None of them made an effort to move.
"Time's up. The bell rung." She said and without giving them time to process her words she grabbed their hands simultaneously and twisted them around harshly. That made the guys flinch in pain and drop their knives to the ground in mere seconds. She then proceeded to turn them around with ease and kick them at the back of their kneecaps, making them immediately drop down with a bang.
Elvina sighed and spared them a merciless glance. "Spies only on the brain. Get up." She kicked them a bit on the side. "We have work to do."
The next two hours of torture found Errot and Oda face to face with the grass, while breathing heavily. Scars and bruises are now covering their aching bodies and some blood is running from Errot's bottom lip and Oda's nose.
Elvina left them like that so they could recover in peace and head to their communication lessons. She was fairly disappointed but not nearly surprised.
Errot got up first and stretched his hand towards his best friend. Oda took it and he helped her rise to her feet.
She wiped the blood off her nose with the back of her hand and whimpered a bit in pain. "If Canton doesn't kill us, I bet Elvina will. "
Errot was grabbing at his stomach so he could reduce the throbbing pain. "I'm starting to believe she just wants to hurt us, not train us"
"We're gonna die soon, anyway."
"As long as the King wants us alive, we are good."
"Until he realises you are no use of him anymore. You heard them. They are gonna visit the Moccassins tonight. Our time is running out, Errot."
Errot paused for a few seconds and then frowned. "Wait. Fl-" he coughed a bit and started again. "That two faced bitch lied to us."
Oda's eyes widened a bit in realisation.
"Shit. She literally told me that Canton is crazy and doesn't know what he's talking about."
"What are they hiding from us, damn it?"
"I have no idea Errot.. but I say we worry about that later and go to Adan so we won't get beaten up again."
Errot nodded in agreement. "Let's get this over with."
They walked inside the building on their left, where Adan is supposedly waiting for them.
This part of the castle looked exactly like the main one. The dark atmosphere seemed to follow them at their every painful step, the icy cold temperature dancing along with the scorching hot burn of their insides.
They finally made it to Adan's room and right before Errot was about to knock, Adan opened the door widely, with a playful smirk on his face. His eyes immediately fell at all of their wounds and he burst out laughing in seconds.
"You're picture perfect, for real." He said with a very amused grin on his face.
Errot rolled his eyes while Oda remained silent, biting her lip a bit.
"Okay, I'm done making fun of you. I think. Get inside"
The guys walked in and Adan closed the door behind him.
"Welcome to the place I sleep. Alone or with people. " He winked teasingly.
Adan's room had a slightly different approach to it. His walls were painted at the shade of dark red that perfectly matched his hair. He had candles in every possible place, corner or furniture, making him appear like a pyromaniac.
Maybe he is. Errot thought.
"You're not very talkative, are you?"
Errot glanced at Adan and then buried his hands into his pockets. "You aren't really an Ink, are you?"
Adan's smirk froze a bit on his face. "I could ask you the same question."
Errot's faced darkened at that. "Did I give you a reason to doubt me? "
"Did you?"
"Learning how to answer a question with a question will be our first lesson? "
"Will it?" Adan smirked.
Errot scoffed.
"Don't be shy, sit down. Just be careful not to leave any blood stains on my bed."
Errot couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at that as he placed himself down on Adan's bed. Oda followed Errot's footsteps right away, already feeling exhausted.
"Oh, he laughs! That's impressive. Do it again. Can I take a picture while we're at it?" Adan looked amused.
"I really envy your good mood" Errot mumbled.
"Is it really a good mood? Am I acting like I'm in a good mood? Am I using questions to avoid answering because the truth isn't convenient for me? Should you also start doing that?"
Errot blinked. "How do you do this?"
"How do you think?" Adan's whole face was shining bright in amusement.
Errot started getting a bit annoyed at the whole conversation so he chose to stay silent, not giving his new nickname credit.
"Kay. I will ask you both a few questions and you're gonna try to answer them my way. Got it?"
"Whether they're true or false?" Oda questioned.
Adan shrugged. "Sure. Let's start with Errot. "
Errot braced himself for the worse and tried to keep his facial expressions neutral.
"Have you met anyone from the king's circle before or is this your first time?"
"Does the 'king's circle' include you, too?"
"Why? Surprised?" Adan raised an eyebrow.
"I could never really imagine king Canton trusting a cheerful, pyromaniac, party obsessed, wannabe Ink with his life. " Errot couldn't stop a tiny smile from forming into his lips when he saw Adan's face turn from amused to icy amused in an instant.
"I must admit I underestimated your skills, Errot."
Errot kept smiling.
"I mean, its fascinating that you can read someone and then use that knowledge to your advantage. You recognized my narcissistic tendencies and turned them into a distracting weapon and I totally forgot about the question." Now Adan was wearing a slightly impressive grin.
"Did I ? " Errot was getting more and more amused every passing second.
Adan was observing Errot while playing with a ring on his finger.
"Next question. Are you really spies?"
"Does the fact that 'Inks can't lie' mean nothing to you? "
"Since you aren't really answering my question, yeah."
"Is this an interrogation or a communication class?"
"It's up to your own interpretation"
"Fair enough". Errot was staring intensely into Adan's eyes while Adan was doing exactly the same.
"Why do you like eye contact so much?"
" You don't seem to mind eye contact either" Adan replied with a smirk and Errot looked away from him.
"Oda, your turn"
Oda tensed up a bit.
"Are you and Errot in a relationship?"
"Why? Interested?" Oda didn't answer right away.
"Define interested." Adan kept smirking.
"Interested in me "
Adan chuckled at that.
"I don't understand what's so funny" Oda defended.
"See, there are various... reasons why this can't happen. " Adan carefully uttered the words out, still looking incredibly entertained.
"Can we hear them? " Errot asked.
Adan turned his attention back to Errot, his smile widening. As he was about to answer, his phone started ringing . He pulled it out of his pocket and picked it up without hesitating. "What a pleasant surprise, gorgeous"
Errot found the chance to look at Oda but she was staring down at her feet.
"Ah. Haha. Wow, yeah. Mmhm. Haha, sure. Byee, love." He hang up.
Errot and Oda both glanced at him.
"So, the king and Elvina will leave the castle tonight. " Adan wiggled his eyebrows.
"And?" Errot questioned.
"We're gonna hang out! " Adan said enthusiastically.
Errot raised an eyebrow, a bit amused with his childish behaviour.
"Just me and you, though. Our blondie here will go with my boy, Santos." He said and smiled at Oda.
Oda frowned a bit. " Why do I have to go with Santos and can't stay with you?"
"Look, I'm aware I'm irresistible and you're crushing hard right now. I get it. I do."
Oda rolled her eyes.
"But it's not up to me. I just follow orders. But don't worry! Santos is..." He paused and pressed his lips into a thin line. "An interesting company."
"Right..."
"One more thing, we're done for today. I need to make a phone call and attend a meeting right after. Boring stuff."
When none of them moved, Adan spoke up again.
"Well? Chop chop. Move it. "
Errot rolled his eyes amused and got up from Adan's bed. When Oda did the same, Errot locked hands with her again while shooting a playful look towards Adan and started walking out of the room.
Adan had his usual grin stuck on his face, his gaze never leaving Errot. "See you tonight, kiddo"
Errot gave him the middle finger with his other hand and closed the door behind them.
♛