Brighter Than the Stars

Nicole - Children Playing At Government

For a moment, Annabelle and I just stared at him, open-mouthed. There was no way this guy was the one stirring up all this trouble, the one who was supposed to be a bunch of people's savior. He didn't look like he would be saving much of anybody; I wasn't sure if he could walk the two feet towards me. He looked like he hadn't showered in weeks, and definitely hadn't gotten medical treatment, either: his leg was a gory mess. His hair was greasy and filled with dirt, more black than brown now, and he looked like he had some sort of infection in his eye; one of them was bright pink.

Annabelle started to move forward, and I grabbed her upper arm. She raised an eyebrow at me. "I doubt he can hurt us. Look at him."

"Still..." I chewed on the inside of my lip. "Don't be stupid, Belle." 

"Me? Never." She flashed me a smile, then stepped right up to the Count, who had been listening to us the entire time. "We're not here to kill you," she said, though I heard her mutter, "I wish," under her breath, "but we do need you to come with us. You'll get medical care, and probably a better meal than you've had in weeks." She said it like she was trying to sell something and I supposed that, in a way, she was.

He glared at her. "I don't know who you are, little girl, and I'm not going with you. I don't care what you offer me; kill me, if you'd like, or just leave. I don't have time to play your games."

"I'm not 'playing a game,'" she said. "I could kill you right now, but I'm not going to. As for who I am–let's just say I'm a representative of the Crown. You're currently wanted for a number of things, and don't seem like you're in any position to resist me. So, you can come peacefully, or I can drag you out of here by your bad leg. Not that I want to touch that."

He stared at her for a moment, before he closed his eyes again. I wondered if he would die before we could get him anywhere. "Who've they got in power now? You're telling me all that, and it's just a couple of kids playing make believe?" He snorted. "Figures. Who's the Queen–Tiggy?"

I looked over to Annabelle for an explanation. "Itarise cartoon stip in the paper," she explained. "Cute, fluffy little monster princess. I love Tiggy. She'd be a pretty great Queen if she was in charge."

For the first time, von Vikas glanced over at me. "Who're you? You're all just hiring foreign kids now, too? Do you speak Itarise?"

"You've heard me speak," I said.

He grunted. "Guess I have. Anyway, this whole thing's a lot of nonsense, and I'd appreciate it if you'd just let me be, or kill me. Either way, you can get back on with whatever kids are doing now. Running the government, I guess." He gave a laugh that quickly died off into a wet cough. "Just tell me who the new Queen is before you do, if you'd be so kind."

"We'll do you one better," Annabelle said. "You can meet her." She snapped her fingers, sending von Vikas several inches into the air. He shrieked, reaching such a high pitch I was sure a few bats were wondering what was up somewhere. Annabelle smiled, pleased with herself.

"You're a witch," he spat out, back on the ground.

"Yep. And I can assure you, I have plenty more where that came from. So, you can come with us cheerfully and all sunshine and rainbows, or you can make this super difficult. Option B isn't recommended–mostly because Nicole and I could take you easily, especially with that leg."

He raised his eyebrows, then sighed. "Do what you want, then. I'm done."

...

We arrived back at the palace late at night–I hadn't realised how much time had really passed. It'd seemed like an instant, but everyone was already done with dinner and off doing whatever usual nonsense they did. Madeline and a few guards met us as we reached the entrance–I'd seen a few guards head off to alert them of our arrival when we passed through the front gates.

As they took care of the Count, I stepped off to the side, where Leo met me. Annabelle had already begun to tell the story, with so many embellishments that I was sure it wouldn't be recognizable by the end. She had gathered a crowd, and looked perfectly happy as the center of attention, as she leaned against the wall and removed the braid from her long, dark hair.

"So, how was it?" Leo asked softly as we moved away.

I shrugged. "Fine."

"Nicole..."

"Really. It was fine. He...he wanted us to kill him. Said he wanted to die." I stared at the wall. "We didn't, obviously. But how can he be the one people are putting all this faith in–do they just not know? I guess we didn't, so it makes sense, but...I don't know. It seems weird they would put all this trust in this person who they don't even know if he's alive."

Leo shrugged. "Desperate people will say anything, I guess. They've probably gotten so caught up in this idea that he would be better, that they don't know whether it's true or not–and I don't think they even care much. It's just something to believe. I think things are better now, obviously, but there's always going to be people who don't. You can't control that, and there doesn't always seem to be a reason behind their thought processes. But I'm glad you didn't kill him."

"Yeah." I didn't look away from the wall. "What if I had?"

"But you didn't. Look at me, Nicole." I did, meeting his eyes for only a second before I dropped them to the ground. "You didn't, so you don't have to worry about that, but if you had...I don't think you would ever do that without a good reason."

"I killed that guy–Jake. I didn't even know his name when I did it. Who's to say I wouldn't kill someone totally defenceless?"

"I don't believe you would. You killed Jake because you had to, because he would have killed you. But you wouldn't kill someone defenceless. Not like that," he said. "Either way, the important thing is that you didn't."

I chewed on my pinkie nail. "I don't know. It just scared me, I guess. He wanted to die. He wanted us to kill him, just like that. Just like how he was–hurt and with no way to defend himself. I'm just thinking about what could have happened, I guess. I'm sorry. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid. It would scare me, too. I'm just glad you're safe. If you're still processing that, then that's okay. It was big." We headed up the stairs together, and paused at the door of my room. "Are you okay to go to sleep? Or do you want me to sit up with you?"

"I'm good." Or, I would be.

"Good night, then. I'll see you in the morning. And hey–" He smiled at me, his dimples appearing. "I love you." 

Word Count: 1,224