Mascara

Mascara - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Year 2468

“Amoureux!” A woman’s happy cry echoed through the garden as she approached her husband with light, bouncing steps. Antoinette was very beautiful, with long, lush waves of pink-and-purple hair. It was not hard to see who her son had inherited his hair colour from. Her slim and lithe form was wrapped snugly under a thick fur coat, and diamond rings glittered on her fingers. She had a pale, oval-shaped face and a pair of pretty golden eyes. Innocent eyes.

“Wonderful news awaits you.” The woman beamed passionately at her husband. Pierre sat on a white chair in the middle of the garden, his back slightly slumped. Despite his elegant clothing, he looked haggard and lines crossed his forehead. His eyes brightened slightly then. “Have they retrieved Pavonis?”

“Pavo?” Antoinette sounded astonished, as if that name had never crossed her mind. It probably never did. “No, no, what has Pavo to do with anything? I am talking about my winning a voucher for a free cruise!” Her rich voice rose several octaves, as the French words flowed out of her mouth rapidly.

Pierre visibly deflated. “Antoinette, now is not the time to speak of such things,” he snapped. “Our son has turned traitor and you speak of going on a cruise?”

Antoinette pouted prettily. “People will think you care more about Pavo than you do me!” she cried theatrically, throwing her head back as she did so.

“It's not that,” Pierre said heavily. He sounded exhausted. “The Master is already displeased with me – to think my own son could shame our family like this!” His voice rose in anger.

“Calm yourself, Pierre,” a third voice chimed in, and Pierre's weary eyes widened as he saw the newcomer.

“Sir!” he exclaimed, speaking English once again as he heaved himself off his chair. 'Please, have a seat – you should have told me you were coming today, sir, so I could prepare—”

Grass crunched beneath the second man's feet. “Pavonis has killed my men,” he announced frostily. He was a tall man, with long green locks that framed his sharp face. He was dressed in an expensive suit that fit his thin body snugly. Pierre shuddered. The Master was truly in a bad mood, or he would not sound so cold. After all, he was a man who normally held an amused expression – nothing like the icy, hard look on his face then. “Shall I personally travel back to the past myself, sir? He is my son, after all, and—”

“Do you think travelling to the past is so simple?' his superior snapped. “One time is bad enough for us... but thrice?” Antoinette was watching the scene with wide eyes. “And there was that time with the Kurosu twins too,” she piped in helpfully. “So basically, it's the fourth time if Pierre should go.”

“Antoinette!' Pierre cried out in anger, his hand tightening on the back of the white chair. She was not helping matters – he was in enough trouble with the Master already. Pierre paused. Did fear just flash across the Master's face? It was so unlike the Master's usually casual self. “You may leave, Pierre,” the Master declared. “I do not require you right now.”

Pierre paled. “Sir—”

“Leave.” The order was final.

The atmosphere changed drastically the moment Pierre left the garden on weak legs. Antoinette's golden eyes darkened; no longer innocent. The man with green hair and an expensive suit sank to his knees. “I am so sorry,” he whispered. “Things did not go well.”

Antoinette smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. “Not at all. If anything, all went well. We now know who my darling son is associating himself with. A cross-dresser from Britain, Jack the Ripper of China,” she paused, in the midst of reverie. “His wife, and of course, the traitorous Kurosu twins. Traitors always go together.”