After the celebration that went deep into the night, everyone retired to bed to rest, except for Alex.
Alex decided to take a walk around the town to get his thoughts together; he was genuinely wondering what his purpose was in this world. He was told to be the villain, except there was no sign of a hero, and if he did acts you could consider heroic, he didn't suffer any type of penalty. What was it that was needed of him, and what did the goddesses truly want from him? Did they simply want him to oppose the hero, or was there a larger goal at the end of this, and what was that goal and what would happen when he reached it?
As Alex gathered his thoughts, he felt a weird sense of being watched.
He turned around but couldn't see anyone in the buildings or trees around the village, but he knew for a fact that he was being watched by something.
Soon he heard a bush rustle, and he walked over to check it out. As he peered over the bush, all he saw was a rabbit running away.
"Oh, just a rabbit."
However, as he was about to turn around,
"Hyaah!"
*Ting*
Alex had to draw his sword and block an upcoming attack.
A hooded figure jumped down from one of the trees and used a dagger to attack Alex. However, the hood couldn't cover the entire face of the attacker; the attacker had long, dark blue hair, but he couldn't see the eye color. He knew it wasn't Kaede since this figure had darker hair.
"So you try to kill me but don't even introduce yourself? That's pretty rude." Alex said this while smiling.
"..." the figure didn't speak at all and tried attacking him again, but Alex dodged this time.
"Take off the hood already; I know you're a girl and the hood you're wearing doesn't cover your hair." Alex said.
"..."
The figure refused to listen to Alex and attacked again, but again without success, as Alex parried and jumped back, creating separation between the two.
"So you don't want to talk, huh? Fine, I guess I'll get you to take off the hood the hard way." Alex said.
Alex then used his lightning to immediately appear next to the figure, and as he attacked, the figure parried, but Alex, not letting the figure move away from him, grabbed her arm.
The figure tried to get out of his grip by using her other hand to attack, but Alex caught that as well.
Alex then used his lightning to appear behind the figure and removed the hood, keeping their face a secret.
It was a girl about the same age as Alex; she had long dark blue hair in a ponytail, but most noticeably, she had blood-red eyes that could pierce someone's soul.
However, this didn't faze Alex at all; in fact, he had a different opinion about her eyes.
"Now tell me, why does a girl with such beautiful eyes want to kill me?"
"...." the girl didn't say anything, but that's not to say she didn't reach; in fact, Alex could notice her flinch as he said this.
The girl attacks Alex again, but this time Alex smoothly moves to use his sword to knock the dagger out of her hands. Now disarmed, the girl tried to retreat and regroup; however, when she tried to run away and thought she was finally free, she was hit by a lightning bolt from behind. While her armor did manage to absorb some of the attack, she was still unbalanced due to the attack. She managed to get herself off the ground but couldn't stand up. She moved her head to look for Alex, but she quickly noticed he had his sword pointed directly at her throat.
"Give up yet?" Alex asked.
"Kill me." the girl said.
Alex could hear in her voice that she had surrendered; her body language showed as if she had given up. Alex had won.
"Why would I do that?" Alex asked.
"You beat me; my life is yours to take." the girl said.
"What if I don't want your life?" Alex asked.
"Then I'll be killed anyways" the girl said.
Alex was confused. "What did she mean she'd be killed anyways?" he thought to himself.
"Who would kill you?" Alex asked.
"..." the girl went back to being silent.
"Well, are you willing to answer a question of mine then?" Alex asked.
"Depends on what you ask." the girl said.
She was a woman of few words, much like how Kaede was before she started to open up. She didn't express much emotion in her face, which made her hard to read.
"Who sent you?" Alex asked.
"I don't know." the girl responded.
"How could you not know?"
The girl sighed and said "I was ordered to kill you; that was all the information I needed to know."
"Who ordered you?" Alex asked.
"..."
"I hate her silent act." Alex thought to himself.
"Now, if you're done asking questions, kill me." the girl said.
"One last question. What's your name?" Alex asked.
"Why do you want to know my name? What point does that serve?" the girl said.
"Just simple curiosity." Alex said.
"My codename is Moonlight ." the girl said.
"I don't care about your codename or whatever; what is your actual name?" Alex asked again.
"Claire."
"Well, why don't you go by that instead of Moonlight or whatever? It's a much better name." Alex asked.
"I have to." Claire responded.
"Well, not anymore." Alex said.
"Huh?" the girl said.
She was confused. What did he mean by "not anymore?" Would it be because she was going to die?
"You said I had to claim your life, and I will, but not through killing you; I claim your life to be my bodyguard."
"Your...bodyguard?" Claire asked.
"Yes, after all, since apparently someone wants me dead, I need someone to protect me, plus who wouldn't want a beautiful girl to stay by their side? You won't just be my bodyguard, but hopefully one day we could become great friends." Alex said.
"Friends?" Claire asked.
She had no clue what he truly meant. What did he mean by friends? Why wouldn't he just kill her? Her life held no meaning besides being an assassin. Why would he want someone with such a worthless life by his side?
"Why-" Claire started to say before she was interrupted.
"Just give this a chance; through your defeat, I grant you a better life. I will treat you as a friend, and I hope you do the same for me. So Claire, would you give me this chance for us to become friends?" Alex said.
Claire was confused. She thought he would just kill her, and she would be free. Free from her own personal hell. Why would he want to be kind to her? To treat her as a friend.
"I don't understand! I just tried to kill you. I'm nothing more than an Assassin who has taken countless lives! Why would you treat such a worthless life like mine with respect? I've done so many horrible things. Why would you ever be kind to a monster?"
She had always thought of herself as a monster, forced to never show her emotions from a young age and forced to commit countless atrocities. In her eyes, she was nothing more than a monster. Every time she was asked to kill someone, she did it without hesitation, but why, then, is this job so different, and why is this man in front of her looking at her with kind eyes?
While being consumed by her own thoughts, she was quickly snapped back into reality.
Alex had kneeled next to her and, to her surprise, gave her a hug.
She had never felt such warmth before. She couldn't remember the last time someone genuinely showed her affection.
"Nobody's life is worthless; don't ever say such things! Every life has value; all I ask of you is to let me show you that. I promise you, if you think your life has no meaning, I will change that. You may have done things some consider monstrous, but I am no different; however, that's not who I want myself or you to be. I will give your life new meaning. You will never be ordered to do anything you don't want to again. If I ask you to do something, you're free to object and discuss it with me. Please let me show you a new life, Claire, and I promise you will be happier. So one last time I ask you, Will you stay by my side and become my bodyguard?"
Claire didn't know what to say; the emotions she had buried inside of her suddenly couldn't be contained anymore. She was scared. Scared of the new reality Alex was offering her, Her doubt made her think it was a fool's offer where she would become nothing more than a tool yet again, but when she looked into his kind and beautiful purple eyes, something changed. She saw that he was sincere. A man she knew nothing about, a man who was nothing more than a name written in ink on a piece of paper, was suddenly offering her a better life. One where she wasn't forced to do anything she didn't want to, one where she would no longer go by the name given to her by "that man". One where she could be...normal.
No words were spoken, as under the moonlit sky, a girl was reborn through the tears she shed. She was no longer an assassin by the name of Moonlight. She was now Claire, the bodyguard of the man who was currently embracing her.
Alex Blackwood
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