Those Beautiful Lies

Chapter III

-OIKAWA POV-
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(Picture is of Lilly)
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Almost a week had passed since the old lady had given him the dagger. He had kept it hidden from his family well enough, none of them knew about it. Still, he felt the urge to tell them because he had no idea why he wasn't supposed to. Even so, he told himself over and over not to. It actually probably was a good idea to keep it hidden. Who knows, he family would probably try to sell it. The amount of money would defiantly allow the whole family to retire for the rest of their lives. If it ever came to that though, Oikawa knew he wouldn't let them. This dagger was too precious to him.

Oikawa, at the moment, was making his way through the streets looking for FLS coins that people may have carelessly dropped. So far, he had only found two. On his way around the slums, he noticed that there was a Flame guard on almost every street. He had to be more cautious then usual; this situation was really freaking him out. Why would they increase security on the streets? Really bad things usually never happen around here.

It wasn't really the amount of guards that freaked him out, but it was the ranking that they were. The usual guards here were the lowest ranking, ranking Three...but this past day, the Palace had sent out ranking Twos and Ones. The ones with better weapons, the ones who strangely had armor of some sort. It looked like they were preparing for an attack, or an event was going to happen where they had to protect someone important. Very weird.

As Oikawa turned the corner he almost yelped in surprise. He quickly jumped behind one of the huts, then peeked just his head around the corner. There were probably ten to twenty guards all standing around something huge...it looked like one of those old box cars that used to be pulled by old trains. About 15 horses were hooked up to the front; obviously they were meant to pull this old box car. And whatever was in it, or whatever was going to be in it, must be pretty heavy. Oikawa's brow wrinkled in confusion as he looked it over. Now this was getting strange, and he didn't like it one bit. Everything in the slums was suspicious today. He had a crazy thought of maybe approaching the guards, but noticing that they are all Ones, he expected that he would just get killed on sight.

Oikawa absentmindedly had one hand resting on top of the hilt of his dagger that was hanging in its sheath from the belt loop of his pants. As quietly as he could, he snuck away from the strange sight. "I should go home. Somethings going on, I have to be there for my family." He muttered to himself, making his way back to the hut. Who knows what could happen today or tomorrow. He defiantly didn't want to make any mistakes until he found out what it was.

When he stepped through the cloth door of the hut, he counted heads. All eight of his siblings were huddling around each other, but his parents were no where to be found. "Mom and Dad went to work?" He asked his 17 year old sister, Lilly. She just nodded slowly. "Yes, they went to work early this morning." Oikawa went to sit down on the old couch, resting his bad leg up across the cushion. His 4 year old baby brother, Maxwell, crawled up to sit on his lap. Looking down at him and stroking his hair, Oikawa knew for certain that he wouldn't leave his family alone today.

"Hey, Oikawa?" Lilly asked again, looking up at him. "Do you...do you know why there are so many guards today?" Oikawa just sighed. "You noticed too? Yeah, I don't know. something important must be going on today. I don't know what."

That's when they heard it; an alarm sounded, like a siren. Oikawa jumped slightly in alarm, and Maxwell clung to his chest with slight terror in his eyes. The siren stopped after a couple seconds. "Citizens of the Slums." They suddenly heard; a male's voice was echoing over speakers. This was rare. The public was never addressed like this. "An important announcement is being held in the Town Square. Everyone of all ages is required to go. If you do not, I will give you a fare warning; we will be checking your homes. All people found outside of the Square after the announcement starts will be shot on sight." The person let that ring for a few moments before continuing. "Under orders of Royal Palace, start going to the Town Square now." The click of the intercom turning off sounded, and all that could be heard after that was silence.

"Oikawa, what do we do?" He heard the twins ask in unison. Oikawa didn't say anything for a moment. "Well, we obviously have to go." He told them, standing up and carrying Maxwell in his arms. "But what about Mommy and Daddy?" His 6 year old sister, Kira, asked. There was fright shining in her eyes, as clear as day. "Mommy and Daddy will meet us there." Oikawa assured her gently. "Now come on, everyone. We can't afford to be late." He glanced at Lilly before adjusting his grip on Maxwell. "Everyone, make sure to stay together. Hold hands if you need to." He told them all.

Kira right away grabbed onto her 9 year old sister, Alanna. Oikawa's 11 year old sister and 14 year old brother, Kesha and Avon, grabbed each other's hands. The twins, of course, linked arms with each other. Even though they were both boys, they were wildly protective over each other more then anyone else in the family. Of course, they would never admit it.

Lily stood behind Kira and Alanna since they were the youngest girls, then nodded at Oikawa. "Let's go." She whispered, and the huge family quietly shuffled themselves out the door.

Oikawa made sure everyone was together the whole way, not loosing sight of anyone. Once they reached the Town Square, Oikawa's eyes widened in amazement. There was a stage set up, right in the middle of the square. There was a single microphone stand on in, and behind that microphone, there was a man clad in his uniform and all sorts of badges. Right away, Oikawa knew that he was a Commander.

They waited almost ten minutes, the Commander looking over every single person with creepy, black eyes. There was a smirk that looked almost inhuman plastered across his face. "Welcome, Shadows." The Commander finally spoke, his face morphing into one of stone.

"I have an important message to share with all of you, brought to you directly from the Palace. The Prince, the oldest Prince, the heir to the throne, is coming of age. He will be turning 20, and therefore, he is going to be searching for a wife. That means grand balls, dinners with the finest Flame families, anything you can think of. All for our beloved Prince." He said to them all.

Oikawa knew that this announcement was just to rub the Flame's wealth in the Shadow's faces. It was a bitter, uncomfortable feeling. Oikawa absolutely hated it, he hated this Commander.

"Also, there has been an increase in security, if you all haven't noticed." The Commander stated. "This is because we have noticed an increase in stealing from Guards. And as well as some of you resisting orders. That being said, we are going to enforce new rules." The Commander clapped his hands together, and Oikawa realized he was very nervous for what these new rules were. "Starting tomorrow, there is going to be a check in on every family. Once in the morning, once at night. If someone is not there by the time that check in arrives...it will result in the death of your whole family."
An evil grin spread across his face as collective gasps went through the crowd.

Everyone, after that sentence was uttered, knew what that meant. Work hours were cut short. Very short, especially for the night workers. This meant less income. Less income for the people who were already barely making it by. This also meant for Oikawa...his days of night pickpocketing were over. His family...his family might as well be done for. And Oikawa knew, from the whimpering that came from his family, that they knew it too.
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Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I know I enjoyed writing it. Anyways, everything mentioned in this chapter will mostly come together in chapters 4 and 5, so get ready for it!
Much love -Avianna