{Valentine's day special}
"What's all this?" Tristian exclaimed quite surprised at what Canton had prepared for them.
Canton got close to Tristian and hugged him from behind, leaning close to his ear.
"Do you like it?"
Tristian could hear the smile on his voice. He took a better look at the rose petals scattered around the wide spreaded sheet on the ground and the champagne bottle that was laying on top of it.
They were currently at the edge of the tallest cliff in Ink Blood with no one else to bother them.
The sun was slowly setting, colouring the sky with random shades of orange and purple.
Tristian was amazed.
He slowly turned around to face Canton who was currently down on his knee, a ring on his hand.
He was now staring wide eyed at a very nervous looking Canton.
His eyes were full of hope.
Love.
"Tristian." He said. "Will you be my forever valentine?"
ERROT
"Good morning, my king" I smirked at Canton upon his arrival in our room.
Canton, who had decided to ignore the fact that I exist once again, suddenly stopped dead on his tracks and turned to look at me with a confused expression on his face.
My smirk widened.
"Are you okay? Maybe you're going down with a human fever" he said.
I chuckled at that. "Nah, I'm just fine."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Okay. What is going on? Really."
I shrugged. "I saw Oda yesterday, we spent the day together..and..."
He raised an eyebrow at my hesitation.
"And..Adan found me after. Went on a late midnight walk to the gardens" I couldn't help a small smile that formed on my lips at the thought of my date with Adan yesterday.
He was different. He was nicer, more romantic, gentle.
I felt loved, cared for. Safe.
For the first time since I met him, I felt like he truly had feelings for me.
He wasn't talking just to talk. We had meaningful conversations which definitely brought us closer.
Canton, on the other hand, was stripped off any emotion. He was looking at me unblinking.
"You look happy. You had fun with him?"
I looked at him, weighing my options. I can't lie to him considering how bad this will sound. I get so nervous when it comes to those things, I will just expose my own self in seconds.
"Yeah, we had a lot of fun..." I paused. "do you..mind?" I started biting at my bottom lip.
He wasn't talking for a few seconds. "Do I mind? Why would I mind?" He said indifferently.
"Because.. last time you found us.."
He closed his eyes at that for a brief second. He re-opened them. "Last time you were pushing your tongue down another man's throat in my own room."
I nodded.
Silence fell in the room.
I glanced at him.
"So...you don't mind? That..that I'm in a relationship with him."
Canton rolled his eyes at me. "I'll be gone for a few hours."
"Again? Where are you going?"
"It doesn't concern you."
"What should I do?"
"Leave my room. I will certainly not come back and find you doing god knows what with god knows who on my bed."
"Technically, it's my bed."
"Does it say your name, Merlot? That bed was mine when you arrived and it's still mine to this day. This place.." he said and pointed around the room with his hands. "Is mine. This castle is mine. This entire dimension is mine and last but not least.." he approached me and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, pulling me closer to him. "You. Are. Mine. As well."
I felt my eyes widening just a bit.
I gulped.
His stare is so intense, I might start freaking out if he doesn't let me go any time soon.
But instead of freaking out, I went into a daze.
He's so close.
Too close, actually.
Why is he looking at me like that and why can't I find it in me to speak.
I managed to open my mouth but no words came out of it.
His eyes traveled down my face and to my lips before he freed his grip on my shirt and tore them off me completely.
"Leave." He ordered. "And I'll text you when I'm done."
"As you wish" I mumbled, still startled. For some reason, I can't make my heart stop beating so damn fast and it's slightly bothering me.
I turned around and walked out of the bedroom, my pace quick and my heartbeat still irritatingly loud.
Only he can manage to turn my whole mood around in pure minutes and make me feel tensed and taken aback.
He makes me feel odd.
He confuses me.
And I don't need that.
I'm in the need of some fresh air, instead.
Again.
I made my way out of the main building of Canton's castle and walked towards the left one.
More like sprinted .
I have to see Adan and I have to see him now.
After a few tries, I finally found Adan's room and pushed the door open.
He was putting his shirt on when I run to him and begun kissing his lips, desperately.
He immediately reciprocated and didn't question anything.
He had a huge grin on his face when I pulled away, panting.
"Happy Valentine's Day, babe. I missed you too. Haven't seen your pretty face in a while."
I frowned. "Is it February 14 already?"
I then rolled my eyes playfully, my arms still wrapped around his neck. "Yeah, cause four hours away from me is a lot. How did you even survive, you poor thing"
Adan blinked at me, his grin now gradually fading. "Four hours? You now see me in your dreams too?"
It was my turn to lose my smirk. "What dreams, what are you talking about?"
He frowned. "No, what are you talking about, Errot? I haven't seen you since yesterday morning, when you returned from that island with cotton candy."
I felt my heart skipping a few beats at his words.
I removed my arms from him and managed a nervous chuckle. "You're joking, right? You're messing with me."
"I'm clearly not. Four hours ago was seven in the morning. Who did you see at seven in the morning? Cause it definitely wasn't me."
I think I've turned pale.
"Adan, two am. Yesterday. You were coming to find me. You couldn't sleep. I bumped into you. We spent the night together. Gardens, remember? You left at seven."
Adan had become more serious than I've ever seen him.
He ran a hand through his hair, getting slightly frustrated now. "Errot, that wasn't me. You got tricked."
I feel like my legs will give up on me anytime soon.
So, I decided to sit down on Adan's couch.
My eyes were widened. Unwanted chills ran through my spine, making me shiver all over.
Being shocked is an understatement.
"But we.." I paused and shook my head a bit. "No, Adan. We were together. We had fun. We...we...kissed."
Adan threw a punch at the wall, his knuckles quickly turning red.
"It wasn't me!"
I flinched.
"I'm gonna kill him." He mumbled, his palms covering the entirety of his face, now.
"Him...you think it was Canton?" I asked, fearing of his answer.
"Are you dumb? Who else could it fucking be?"
"Tone it down. I don't like the way you talk to me." I clenched my fist.
"You think I care about what you like or not?" Small pause. "He had the nerve..." He scoffed. "As if he had any chances with you while being his own miserable self. Let me laugh." He muttered more to himself than to me.
I felt a wave of anger pass through me.
I got up from the couch. "I said. I don't like the way you talk to me."
He looked at me. "How did you not realise that it was someone else? Didn't you notice any differences? What a fool."
I'm pretty sure I'm going red right now and it's not from embarassment.
"Yeah. You're right. I did notice a difference. Canton was actually sweet to me. He wasn't acting like a damn asshole. And for the record, even though he looked exactly like you, he kissed me better than you ever could."
I turned around and stormed off his room, slamming the door shut in the process.
ODA
"Hello, sunshine." Elvina greeted me.
I didn't turn around. I kept staring through the window. "Hey."
"How was your day off?" She asked.
"Good."
"Right..sorry for being too noisy." She said sarcastically but amused at the same time.
"It's fine."
"Oda."
I finally turned to face her.
"If it's for..." She trailed.
"No, it's not for. Everything's good."
"I don't want us to be awkward now. I'm never awkward with anyone. I hate it."
I sighed. "We are not awkward. Sorry if it feels that way. Feelings are rarely mutual, anyway. So, I'm not upset. Or awkward. Or anything else. I get it."
Elvina gave me a small smile. "Alright. So, I have an order for you."
I scoffed a bit at that. "Usually people say 'I have a gift for you' not an order."
"Well, you could call it a gift."
I frowned and crossed my arms against my chest. "I'm listening"
"Remember when you first came here and we forced you guys into training?"
"Yeah...?"
"You, my friend, will start the lessons again. I need you trained. You have to know how to use knives, arrows or swords at any given time."
"Can you like, not kill me this time?"
"Oh, I'll make sure you come back to me as a whole. If he dares to hurt you, he will have to do with me."
"Wait, wait. What do you mean he?"
"Santos. I don't have the time."
"What?? But Santos..Santos can't leave Canton's side. He's his spy, isn't he??"
"Hey, don't freak out. Why are you freaking out?" She smirked. "I have Canton's permission to use him for a few hours every now and then."
"No, Elvina. You don't understand." I placed a palm on my forehead in frustration.
"Help me help you, then." She kept smirking, amused.
"Santos is..I don't like him. He's irritating me. I can never hold a normal conversation with him. He doesn't like me either. We just end up arguing every single time. You can't do this to me."
"Awe but why? Sant is a sweetheart. Deep down. He just doesn't show it a lot. I know that he usually behaves as a grumpy grandpa but that's just the way he is. You'll get used to him"
"A grumpy grandpa that doesn't have a filter. He just spits venom every time he opens his mouth." I mumbled.
Elvina sighed in a playfully nostalgic way. "That venomous mouth of his."
I slightly froze. "....sorry, what?"
Elvina chuckled. "Listen. We got drunk one night. Ended up getting into bed with him. It was hot. But we are friends. We both woke up regretting ever doing anything."
"You slept with him and found it..hot?"
"It was a one time thing aeons back. Wouldn't do it again. But at the time, yeah. It was nice."
I blinked. "Have you seen him?"
"Have you seen him? I might lean towards girls more but damn. That face." She was smirking until her smirk fell. She looked as if she suddenly remembered something. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just change the subject."
"Yeah. Let's do that." I kept looking at her, still not quite believing what my poor ears just heard.
"Want leftover chocolate bread?"
She asked, offering a piece of bread.
"No, I'm not very fond of chocolate."
Elvina immediately pulled her hand back, looking a bit offended. She eventually shook her head in disappointment. "Only the king appreciates good food in this castle."
"King Canton likes chocolate bread?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"King Canton loves everything that has to do with chocolate."
"Something about this sentence just doesn't sit right with me".
"It should." She started eating it.
I glanced at her. "You've...had sex with him too?"
Elvina almost chocked on her bread. "With who? Canton?"
"Yes.."
"No. No, I haven't."
I noticed how she shivered just a bit, her eyebrows furrowed a tad in disgust.
"What's up with that reaction? Everyone thinks you guys are..close like that."
"No, Oda. We are not. We never were. He's like... he's a brother..to me"
"He's like a brother to you? The wicked king? Really, he's just an awful being".
She rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed now. "Hey, careful how you speak about my king. You don't know him."
"You're right.. I'm sorry, it's just-"
"No, I don't want to hear it." She looked at me. "I have to go. I won't be back for a while. Do as you please."
And with that, she was out of the room before I could even reply.
I took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.
Congratulations to me.
Congratulations.
♛♛♛
I ended up sitting on a bench at the front yard of the castle, all alone, trying my best not to let my thoughts cloud my mind again.
Hours went by like that, the temperature falling fast every passing minute.
I'm starting to get used to the thick cold this dimension has blessed us with.
I actually find comfort to it once in a while.
It wakes you up, it keeps you energetic, on your feet.
I sighed.
I was ready to get up and go inside to make myself something to eat, when a familiar voice startled me to a stop.
"Leaving so soon?"
I immediately screamed and jumped a bit further away from my seat and the newly formed figure sitting next to me.
"Can you stop doing that every single time?"
"No." Santos deadpanned.
"How long have you been sitting here?" I frowned at him.
"Long enough to feel sorry for both of us." He shrugged.
I rolled my eyes. "So, you've been stalking me?"
"Was already here before you arrived."
"Don't you have work to do?"
He sighed. "Don't repeat yourself, it's annoying."
"You're annoying. And lazy."
Santos pulled his hoodie over his head and started staring ahead of him.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "So, what? You come here whenever you are off work and just stare at nothing for hours?"
"You did exactly the same" he mumbled still not looking at me.
"So we are both single on Valentine's day." I steadied my chin against my knees and copied Santos' position on the bench.
He snickered. "Valentine's day?"
"Didn't you know?"
"Gross." He mumbled.
"Gross? More like, romantic."
"If you truly love someone you don't need this day to show it."
"It's not about showing love."
"Then what is it about?" He asked a bit annoyed.
"Celebrating it."
Santos rolled his eyes and stayed silent.
"Why did you agree to teach me how to fight?"
"Elvina asked." He simply said.
"What? That's it?"
He didn't say anything.
"Just because Elvina asked?"
Unmoving.
"You must think very highly of her."
Santos started moving his leg a bit.
"She told me you guys are good friends."
He stopped moving it for a second or so and then continued.
"Is your leg okay?" I raised an eyebrow.
He stopped moving it altogether. "I liked you better when you weren't talking" he snapped at me.
"Wait..do you..." My eyes widened a bit. "Do you like her?"
His eyes widened a bit too. "What makes you think that?" He turned to look at me.
"I just asked you a question and you immediately lost your cool. That says a lot, doesn't it?"
Santos rolled his eyes once again. He removed his gaze from me but I couldn't help but notice how tensed he became.
"Oh my god, is this why you don't like me?"
Santos got up and tried to walk away.
I grabbed at his arm to stop him.
He pulled his hand away abruptly and threw a glare at me. "Don't touch me."
A small smile begun growing on my lips. "That's it. I'm right. Aren't I?"
He shook his head and walked away.
This time I let him.
And I let him because I got the answer I wanted.
ERROT
It's almost eight at night and I still haven't got a text.
I spent the whole day trying to distract myself from Adan and Canton and anyone else that basically exists to torture me.
But the more I tried to concentrate at the brownies I was trying to make, the more Canton was invading my mind.
He was the one I spent the whole night with.
He was the one that kissed me like I was the only person that mattered to him.
The one that stroked my hair gently when I kept waffling on about random things.
And the one that held my hand the whole time we were walking.
Adan was right.
I should have realised it sooner.
Maybe I wanted to believe that it was actually him and not Canton.
But Adan can't and will never be Canton.
I checked my phone one last time, founding it empty off any texts.
I glanced at the poor brownies on the counter.
I tried one out of curiousity and I was actually surprised to find out that they weren't as bad as I thought they would be.
Maybe I will pick stress cooking up as a hobby.
I could actually nail it.
I placed the rest of them on a container and made my way towards the room.
I know he told me not to enter it while he was gone but I wasn't gonna bring anyone with me so it shouldn't matter.
I climbed the stairs and walked inside.
The only source of light the room had was a few candles that were making the room look a bit alive.
To my great surprise, Canton was laying on his bed with his eyes closed.
I hesitantly walked there and sat on the bed next to him.
I noticed how he was sweating all over, from his shirt to his forehead and face, he was completely drenched.
"Are you awake?" I whispered.
His eyes slowly opened. He looked at me and it seemed like it took great effort for him to gulp.
His green eyes were now glued on me.
My heart begun racing against my chest.
"Did you..poison yourself again?"
"What.." he trailed. "I told you.."
"Since when do I follow any orders of yours?" I tried to give him a small smile that quickly faded away at the sight before me. "Are you sure this is not going to kill you?"
Canton gave me a nod.
"Hold on."
I went to the bathroom, grabbed a small towel and then went back to the room and to his closet.
I started searching through his full of black clothes drawers and found a simple long-sleeved shirt for him to wear.
I walked back to the bed he was resting at, his eyes closed once again.
"I'm gonna change your shirt now, okay?"
He didn't move.
I took that as a yes and took a hold of the hem of his shirt.
I carefully took it off and my eyes lingered a bit at his destroyed chest and metallic arms.
I bit at my bottom lip and gently ran the towel at his chest and around his neck.
I proceeded with replacing his old shirt with the new, dry one.
The moment I was done dressing him up, I moved the towel to his face and removed the remaining sweat off of it.
Finally, I rested it against his forehead.
He re-opened his eyes. "Have I told you how ridiculous you look today?" He managed to mumble.
I gifted him a side smirk. "No. Go ahead."
He stayed silent for a few seconds while we stared at each other's eyes.
"I can't." He said.
I frowned a bit "Why can't you?"
"Cause it would be a lie." He almost whispered.
Here it is.
That pounding.
My heart is pounding.
My head is pounding.
My smirk is gone.
I looked away for only a second and started fidgeting nervously.
"You..." I glanced at him.
Canton waited for me to continue.
"Why did you pretend to be Adan yesterday?"
His lips parted a bit. I assume he didn't expect that question.
I kept looking at him. "Well?"
He took a deep breath, the action excessively slow.
"Hm.." was all he uttered.
"What hm?" I pushed.
A tiny smile formed on his face.
"I'll leave it to your imagination." He muttered lowly.
The fidgeting became worse.
What he doesn't know is that my imagination is very close to killing me today.
I can't keep thinking about it, I'm gonna end up having a breakdown.
A bit of sweat suddenly rolled down his cheek and I wiped it off before it could run to his shirt again.
His shirt.
His messed up chest.
It holds all of the torture he's been through and all of the torture he's put himself through.
My gaze travelled back to his eyes.
"Why. Why do you do this to yourself?" I realised that my words held a bit of anger in them.
He exhaled.
I kept frowning at him, the upset loud and clear.
"I... hurt myself so I can.. get so exhausted, I won't .." he paused to take a brief breath. "..have the energy to hurt anyone else" He closed his eyes and swallowed again.
"Canton..." I whispered, feeling my eyes burning a bit against my will and the anger vanishing completely.
I took his hand in mine and intertwined our fingers.
I made sure to hold it so firmly, he wouldn't feel alone anymore.
And I stayed there.
I stayed there till the poison started leaving his body.
Till the poison and all those continuous sleepless nights eventually took over him.
I held his hand through the nightmares and torments he couldn't wake up from.
Until exhaustion took over me as well, my hand still linked to his.
And even though I didn't have a valentine, I figured that I didn't mind at all.
Because somehow, I didn't fall victim to my loneliness tonight.
♛