Being knocked out for quite a bit, maybe even for a half a day, probably took it's toll on Caleb. Before he even opened his eyes, he tried his best to rub them, but he could barely reach that far. He gruntled in pain, as he moved his muscles, but it seemed as if he was slowly getting used to the pain, and finally ignoring it by the end.
I helped him sit up, and turned him to the side of the very wooden cross he was tied to. He managed to take a look at the surroundings, and eventually he realized what was going on. He looked at me, then the rest of our merry group, and he let out a sigh, as to acknowledge the fact that we came here to rescue him. He turned towards me, bowed down - as much as he could, then proceeded to do the same thing to the rest, until finally looking at me again.
"My Lord, I don't know how to thank you," he said, still having a hard time to talk, probably because of slight numbness, "I- Thank you. I was ready to accept my fate already."
"Don't worry about it, just lay down for as long as you need," I said, reassuring him, "But we'll have to move soon before reinforcements could come."
"If you excuse me for a minute or so, I'll be just fine," he said, again, acknowledging his situation, like he should, "I heard that someone might come tonight, for inspection - a certain masked individual," he added, giving me a proverbial wink.
"As I thought," I replied, "So who is he?"
"I wouldn't know, My Lord," he replied hesitantly.
"Come on. You think we wouldn't know about it, if we came to a place filled with Order members, and Zenia Pendragons?" I looked at him, with a mix of a 'I know' face, and a slight amount of sarcasm in my voice, and face.
"So you do," he looked down, exhaling a huge breath, "I, Caleb LaCroix, am deeply sorry for not telling you the truth, My Lord."
"Yeah, yeah. Apology accepted. So, who is this masked man?" I asked again, with a bit more commanding in my voice.
"Olivier LaCroix, my younger brother," he explained, "an Bishop of the Order. At least nowadays, that is."
"So your brother, eh? Did you know that last time, when he attacked us?" I interrogated him a bit more.
"No, My Lord. I had my suspicions, but I didn't know for sure," he said, sizing up the ground, and his legs.
"Well, that's part of the past anyways, let's deal with the nows," I nodded toward Zenia, "Karver, bring her here, will you?"
With that, Baulder brought the girl, and promptly placed her in front of Caleb, and the both of them looked away. She seemed to be really irritated, while Caleb just looked slightly out of place. As if he was regretting something. I didn't dwell on it much, the truth was about to come out sooner or later, anyways.
"My Lord, could you leave us for a second?" Caleb asked respectfully. I nodded, and left to deal with the rest of our preparations for leaving.
----
The situation grew more tense with every passing second. The silence that formed between the two left a gaping hole between them, and the longer they didn't speak, the stronger it grew. They had a shared history, yet it was filled with misunderstandings, and differing opinions. The past few years went with regrets and question for the both, yet it seemed hard to confront them directly.
They occasionally looked at each other, not nowing that the other was doing the same thing, their gaze would elude the others. With time, this indecision grew stronger, yet it somehow made them braver. They wanted to figure out what had happened on that day, but neither knew how to start talking about it. Such a long time has passed already.
"How've you been?" Caleb finally opened his mouth.
"That's the first thing you ask," Zenia replied, with a fierce tone. Blood rushed to her face, but it wasn't the same as during the time.
"Forgive me, I-" Caleb tried to say something, but it stuck deep down in him.
"Why?" Zenia turned to her past mentor, "Why did you go?" tears started to flood from her eyes. She tried to control them, but she couldn't. This was something she held in for quite some time.
"I had to," Caleb replied, "What we did was wrong, and I didn't want any part in it anymore."
"You were the Holy Paladin! You could've made changes if you wanted to!" she yelled at him, tear flying all over both of them.
"If I could, do you think I would leave?" he looked her deep in the eye, "It wasn't just the Order - I wanted to change myself. And that, I couldn't do there. Not with those people."
Then silence fell on the room for a second. Only the robots running about, and the rest of the group packing could be heard, with the occasional muffled screams of Claire. They just sat there, looking at each other, trying to understand what the other was thinking.
"What happened?" Zenia finally asked.
"Operation Holy Night," he replied, "We were tasked with eliminating a thousand Cult of the Seven members. We went there, and it was just civillians. I couldn't do that. I had so much blood on my hands already, I wasn't going to kill anymore."
Zenia sat there in silence. She had no clue what actually happened. What she heard, was that the Holy Paladin betrayed his own comrades, and left the Order. She never heard the entirety of the story, only bits and pieces. No one actually knew what happened, yet she stayed true to her faith. True to her Order.
"After we learned the truth, we all decided it was pointless bloodshed," Caleb continued, "It wasn't just me who deserted that night, it was all of us. Bet they didn't tell you it was actually thirty-one people who left the Order."
"I didn't-" she started, "How is that possible? Why wouldn't anyone know?"
"The answer eludes me, dear," he replied, "What I tell you is the truth, nothing less, nothing more. You deserve to know."
"I've been thinking that you betrayed us, joining up with those Cult people," she responded, "I thought they brainwashed you, or had some dirt on you, or something, I don't know. I didn't knwo why you'd leave me..."
With that last cry, she finally broke entirely. Her eyes swelled up with tears, flowing down her nose, mouth, eventually getting soaked up by her hair, or the ground below. She could finally let all that frustration out. Caleb leaned over to her side, consoling her with hugs. He had his regrets when leaving, but all those regrets were finally clear.
After a few minutes, he was standing again, reaching his hand out to his crying desciple. He smiled at her, and she looked up, trying to wipe her tears. This wasn't all that easy, considering the fact that she was still bound by Tentazione's [Power]. Caleb glanced over to his Lord, and with a nod, she was finally released, landing in front, on her hands.
She finally cleaned her face, and looked up at her Master.
"I don't fight anymore, but if you choose us, I'll keep training you," he said, "If you swear loyalty to My Lord, that is."
She was slightly puzzled, but she had an inkling, that this was the path she ought to take. She still didn't quite grasp it, but one of these supposedly 'evil men' tried to save her life during their fight. Another is her past mentor, and the other two were kinda evil-looking, but with thesse people around, could they be all that bad?
"I don't know about your Lord, Master, but I'll trust you," she nodded, and reached out to Caleb's hand.
He helped her get up, and walked her to Tentazione. She kneeled down, and raised her hand, to stab the ground with her sword. To the surprise of everyone, especially Ventus, the sword disappeared from his hand, and reappeared in the hands of it's original owner.
"I, Zenia Pendragon, descendant of the Sword-Hero Arthur Pendragon, I swear on this [Excalibur], that I shall serve you, Tentazione, weilder of [Temptation]," she proclaimed, and to her greatest surprise, the man in front of her squatted down to her.
----
"Call me Dan," I said, with a smile on my face. What a funny girl. Swearing loyalty to her enemy. Isn't her sword gonna burn her? "You don't need to kneel, or bow, or anything. I'm no overlord, I just have problems with certain people. If you help us, I'll be grateful."
She just kneeled there in shock, then blood rushed to her face, and stood up. She backed off, right behind Caleb, and hid herself there. I guess there's no better comfort than someone you absolutely trust, is there?
I glanced over to Meda on the ground, hoping that her eyes would finally open up.