The harsh wind brushed my face as I made my way to the lab. Richtofen had been acting two-faced lately. He was a generally polite man, but he had been ignoring my existence entirely for the past few days. Behind me were Tank and Nikolai, Takeo lagging behind. "Hey Tank, do you know what's been up with Richtofen lately?" "That german is always up to something!" Nikolai interrupted, "my guess is that he knows something we don't." "What's that supposed to mean?" I inquired. "That spell book thing DID change recently," said Dempsey. I exhaled bluntly. "Why don't one of you ask him?" "Hell no, I'm not dealing with Richtofen's bullshit," muttered Dempsey. Takeo was slowly catching up. "That german has already stolen my honor!" he said angrily. "So all of you are too pussy to ask him what the hell is going on?" The group fell silent. "I'll ask him myself then" We had arrived at the lab. Richtofen greeted us kindly at the door. Or should I say, everyone but me. He looked right past me. "Hey, Eddie!" I cheerfully greeted him, but to no avail. Silence.
Tank and I went over to the workbench, spying on what Richtofen had been doing these past couple of days." "Back," he said. "Mein instruments should not be fiddled with" Suddenly, he was behind me with his hand on my shoulder. "y/n, can you come with me?" The group watched as we made our way into the next room. "This is something I don't want the others to know about yet. The Kronorium was changed recently by, well, me and... it's not a good change. We don't have much time left. I must be sacrificed." "Oh Jesus Christ, why can't they know?" The thing was, I hadn't told him that I had feelings for him. And I guess now he would never know. "They would panic! You know that!" "I don't really think they'd-" "That is not why I brought you here. y/n... I have had... thoughts recently. Thoughts about you." "What are you trying to say?" I asked. Oh God, I think it's happening! He's confessing to me! "I think you deserve better," he said, his words trailing. "You are good enough." I looked into his eyes "What? No, I'm going to promote you." "Oh," I sighed. I felt humiliated. "What's my new position?" He walked over to a board, smiling. "These are the plans for my new, larger, laboratory." As he spoke about the building of a new lab, I couldn't help but feel that he was teasing me. I glanced at the plans for the new part of the building. "I see it that you and Dempsey are into my work so this should be a great position for you." he continued, "You're going to be my assistant, y/n." I started blushing. Assistant? Richtofen loved working alone. Maybe this is my chance! "Thank you so much Eddie!" I pulled him in for a short hug of thanks and pure happiness. "You should be able to start tomorrow, as long as Takeo fills your position." he said. He looked down at me with his glassy blue eyes. I couldn't read his emotions. He was always hard to read, but this time was even more difficult. Obviously with the smile, you'd assume he was happy, but his eyes weren't glowing as they would when he was feeling happy.
"That is all," he said bluntly. "You may go back with the others." I walked down the long hallway and approached Nikolai. "Nik, I got promoted!" "What, are you german's wife or something?" I blushed. "Nooo... I'm his assistant now!" "I'm tired of his games, find out what he's up to y/n" "Don't worry, I will." I said confidently. Takeo made his way over to us, looking almost forlorn. "Are you okay Tak?" "My blade.. is gone." I nearly gasped. "Do you think someone took it?" I asked. He glared at me. "The culprit is in this room."
authors note: he pronounces laboratory as lab-oar-o-tory.
chapter 2 coming soon!
