Embers || Ikemen Revolution || Sirius

Chapter 21 ~ The Garden

Once we were done with our little date, me and Sirius headed back home. We didn't do much, just strolled around and had some lunch. He even got me cake, despite me telling him that it was fine. The cake was delicious though.

"Today was fun," I hummed as I swung our interlocked hands, walking back to our base. "Did you have fun, Sirius?"

Sirius nodded his head as he glanced at me. "Yeah, I did. Guess you successfully completed your mission, hm? You should report back to boss and let him praise you."

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't really do anything worthy of being praised. We just had some fun together!"

"That's not true, the way you gobbled your cake was adorable."

I paused for a moment, looking up at Sirius with wide eyes, a slight blush on my cheeks. Damn, that's smooth.

"It's not adorable," I said, hiding my face in my hair, yet again.

"Yes it was," Sirius said. "Even the way you're hiding your face right now is adorable."

I scrunched my nose, trying to stop my blush from spreading even further, but I had a feeling that it didn't really work.

"It really isn't," I tried to reason, but Sirius just shook me off.

"It was cute, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind about it.

*~*

The next day, we were all at the Garden, seated and ready for the meeting to start. I was sitting at the foot of the table, closest to the exit. Sirius was right by my side, keeping me company.

"Why is the Queen of Spades seated at the end of the table," I heard Zero ask.

"Because I feel like it," Sirius replied. "Don't worry about it."

More likely because you just want me to feel safe, which I really appreciate.

"Has the Queen been demoted to Alice's watchdog," I heard Jonah ask. "Quite frankly, that's sickening."

I rolled my eyes. Of course he'd find that sickening, he's the Queen of Hearts afterall.

"Hey, it's fine, right," Kyle said. "No matter where we sit, we can still talk."

"That's right," I saw the brown haired guy who was by Jonah the first night say. "We have little time left to discuss matters like this. Now, discussions on the battlefield, that's an entire matter altogether."

I couldn't help but shiver slightly as the guy talked in such a soft voice, saying such scary stuff. Do they not care that it's war? That people might die? That people will get hurt? Or are they certain that they're strong enough to survive, so they don't care about anything else.

I don't think I want to find out.

"Who was that," I whispered to Sirius once the brown male was out of earshot. "I saw him by Jonah the first night here as well, but I never caught his name."

"That's the Jack of Hearts," Sirius whispered back. "Edgar Bright."

I nodded my head silently as my eyes roamed around the Garden once more, trying to distract myself with the pretty rose bushes everywhere. But damn, is Lancelot making his hair glow in the sun or something? It's like a mirror, or a fire, so bright and stunning.

"It's been a while, Alice," Lancelot said, his blue eyes cold. So no magic then.

"Yeah," I said, not knowing what else to say. "It really has. Thanks for inviting me, I guess."

Lancelot seemed to sense my discomfort, and sent me a warm smile, as if wanting to reassure me that I was safe. But that only concerned me even further. He doesn't look happy, nor does he look warm and fuzzy, like Sirius. His smile just feels so... fake. So dead. So unreal.

"Don't worry," Lancelot went on. "We're only here to talk. No one is going to attack you."

I nodded my head slowly, a single question burning in the back of my mind. It's now or never. I opened my mouth to speak only for Jonah to interrupt me.

"Are you talking about the attack near the Black Bridge?"

I blinked at Jonah before hiding my face in my hair, not saying anything. Let them argue it out. Sure enough, Seth immediately started a fight, calling Jonah a bully while Jonah just smirked cockily. That was, until Luka came into the picture.

"Luka," Jonah cried out, his face lighting up immediately. His golden eyes were warm and his smile was cheerful, loving. "Come sit with your big brother! I'll make some room!"

Hearing the words 'big brother' I hid my face in my hair even more. I miss my big brother. I wonder if he'll react like that to me? Smile at me lovingly, hug me when I'm down. I wonder if he misses me. I wonder if he even remembers me.

"Are you okay," Sirius asked beside me. His brows were furrowed with concern.

I nodded my head with a small 'mm.' With a deep breath, I shoved all the sad thoughts into the corner of my head and smiled up at Sirius' pretty purple eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I beamed. "Don't worry about me!"

Sirius smiled at me, but there was still a hint of concern in his gaze. Still, he turned around and started talking to the others. "Fenrir, put the pistols down. I don't care if you're joking or not."

Oh, was Fenrir trying to start a fight or something?

"Now are we gonna get this meeting started or not?"

"I assume you've come here with your answer, King of Spades," Lancelot said, looking at Ray.

"Of course I have, King of Hearts."

I let out a sigh as I tuned out the two kings as they talked, or argued. Whichever it is, they're speaking.

Now, if we were to hypothetically go to war, I want to make some enchanted good luck charms for Sirius and everyone else. Just in case. I don't want any of them to get hurt.

Maybe a shield, like the one with the snapdragons? But that was pretty basic, if the Red Army really does use a whole bunch of Magic Crystals in battles like everyone says, this spell will need to be more advanced to take the hit.

How about some layered runes? That should work nicely. If the top layer breaks or cracks, there will be plenty of layers of spells on the bottom to keep it steady. It'll last longer that way.

I did layer some spells for the snapdragons, but not a lot since I didn't have much time. But now, I'll just have to find a cool charm as a base and start from there. I'll have all night, at least. Maybe even more if I start on it early.

Now, should it just repel magic, or should it absorb magic to heal itself if a layer breaks?

That's gonna take a long time to perfect though, so repel magic for now should be fine. The top most layers will reach even further around the wearer, and the bottom layers, the last line of defence, will mold to be skin-tight around the wearer.

Yeah, that should be fine. That should work out. Hopefully. I really test it out a lot later tonight. Just hammer spell after spell until I'm worn out. Yeah, that'll be perfect! 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

A/N: 

You know what, at this point I might as well update this on Saturday instead of Wednesday. I swear, I was in bed when I finally remembered I had to update this, and the next time I remembered it was also in bed on Thursday. Why can't the update alarm in my brain function when I want it too???? TnT 

Word Count (not including A/N): 1223 

2021/09/25