His Soul

Only Yours

You struggled to articulate what you were looking at exactly – two glowing red dots peered at you from behind the slits of a helmet. The presence was large and overwhelming, crushing your body under the armor's weight. It was like one of those decorative knight statues had come to life and was on top of you, choking you. You struggled for air as you kicked at him, but the effort was futile. Colors were prickling at the ends of your eyes.

There was a flash of blue and the figure above you was roughly shoved off your person. You coughed and sat up, pain shooting through you in reminder of your wound. Your eyes were wet as you looked up at Aydan, who was gawking at something in the corner of the room. Your head turned to his sight and found the knight-like man sprawled on the floor, recovering himself just as you were.

"Oh, this is interesting," the man chortled. " Interesting , indeed."

Your arms shook as you helped yourself to your feet. Your body went into fight or flight mode seeing your aggressor was also standing, but the magus across from you held up his hand before he could pounce on you again. His orange eyes were locked with yours, stepping towards you in fascination. You took a step back, any power you had felt in this situation diminishing under your fright.

"You have a servant," he marveled at you, then shook his head. "That answers everything."

"He is not yours," you growled.

"But he will be," Aydan countered, reaching into his pocket and surfacing a small pistol that was familiar to you. He cocked it and aimed it straight at your head, causing you to hold your breath. His attention was around the room instead, in search of something.

"Either you come out, or I will kill your master," he warned aloud.

" Don't !" you exclaimed, and before you could blink you felt the barrel pressed firmly against your forehead. Sweat formed on your skin as you stood there, eyes darting to the bodyguard who advanced on the two of you. Making any movement would get you killed.

"Don't," you whispered again, tears welling in your eyes.

The man let out a satisfied noise, and you looked up in time to see Curioso sitting on top of the Grandfather Clock. There was a cocky attitude to the way he crossed his legs and rested his mask in his hand, as if this situation didn't faze him at all. It encouraged you to wipe the fear off your face. If he wasn't afraid, then there was no reason for you to be, either.

"Oh, you are wonderful," Aydan sounded hypnotized, like he was looking at a thing of beauty. "I can see it now. You will entertain my guests and be my personal jester. I'll be a King."

"You should take that gun away before I kill you ," Curioso warned from above.

Ulysses advanced in his direction and the jester didn't even flinch, turning to him with his trademark smile. It was a standoff as the two stared at each other, unmoving and not speaking. Aydan seemed to think about something before nodding to his bodyguard.

"Search the premises for a box. And see if you can find Elise's, too, if you can," he instructed him.

" Master ," the knight's voice was incredibly deep and somewhat warped. It sounded off to you. " I cannot leave; I need to protect you– "

"Go."

At his forceful tone, Ulysses teleported elsewhere. The clock under Curioso felt like it was ticking until the inevitable time his box would be uncovered in your car, and Elise's would be found along with it. The two of you needed to act now. While his head was turned, you threw your fist at the side of Aydan's face, and smiled in satisfaction as your pistol was thrown from his hand. His finger had activated the trigger as it moved, and a deafening blow echoed in the small room.