You Owe Me Two

Chapter 21 - The Heartfield Ball

××Zypher××

"Why would your family be doing this?" Wild began the next morning.

"Not many people in my family have moral compasses. They do whatever they want, whenever they want, without reason or care," I pulled open the bedroom door and let her enter first, "If they saw me with you, it doesn't help. They'll want you gone. We have rules."

Just the thought brought fire into my veins.

"Is there a reason behind wanting me gone? What rules?" Wild asked, confused.

"You don't look like us. They don't want those genes in our family bloodline and therefore see it as a betrayal on my part," I explained, shutting the door tightly behind us.

"That's terrible," Wild mumbled, tossing herself onto the bed. Until recently, I thought the same way the rest of my family did and behaved just like them too. I wasn't going to tell Wild that though. I didn't want to ruin her image of me even further.

I decided to change first since Wild didn't look like she wanted to move at the moment. I began taking my jacket off and removing my weapons.

"When we get there, I need you to be very careful. We're going to stick together but not too close. They already know you exist but they're going to pick a fight with me most likely and I don't want you caught in it."

I wanted to keep her as safe as possible, even if that meant keeping her away from myself.

"I'll be careful," Wild said, only slightly curing my unease.

Once fully unclothed, I opened the letter again and pressed my thumb on the small enchanted symbol at the bottom of the page. The light gray shirt-shaped outline lit up. The light encased me for only a moment before disappearing and going dark again.

Wild popped up from the bed, an excited look on her face that only grew once she faced me.

"How do I look?" I questioned, holding my arms out.

"Hot if I do say so myself. I have never seen your hair this calm," She said, approaching me. The hair comment got me though and I quickly turned to face the mirror on the wall.

I was dressed in a tieless dark colored suit. That was fine, but my hair was completely slicked back, not a single strand out of place.

My hand instinctively reached up to mess it up, not used to the style I never bothered to achieve.

"No!" Wild shot forward and grabbed my arm, forcing it back to my side. I glared down at her.

"It looks good," She complained and complimented, at which I looked back at the mirror to examine my hair once more. I turned my head, side to side, over and over. I could not say it looked bad.

"It's your turn," I sighed, deciding to leave it alone for her sake. I passed her her letter and took her spot on the bed, staring straight up at the ceiling to give her the privacy she needed.

It only took a few minutes for her to change and once the orange glow of the enchantment faded, I stood up to look her over.

She was beautiful. The yellow dress complemented her eyes wonderfully. The enchantment had done well in choosing her clothing. It had even put her long, red hair into an intricate bun.

"Your formal wear is strange," Wild said in slight distaste.

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ours show more skin I'd say. Gems and stones are used for decoration. They are a lot less... suffocating," She explained, twirling around a few times to see the dress move in the mirror.

"For what it's worth, you look amazing." Wild blushed but stood on her toes to kiss my cheek. I turned towards the bed to conceal my smile and started putting my weapons into my attire, as many as I could carry without causing problems.

"Are you ready?" I asked, outstretching my hand to her. She nodded and placed her hand in mine. We made our way down the stairs where Ryland was waiting. He waved us goodbye and wished us good luck. He had not been invited and we feared the worst if he attempted to come without an invitation.

It was twenty minutes before we entered the center of town where the money flowed into the hands of the few and from the hands of the many. Heartfield was too sweet a name for a town so full of corruption. It seemed many others had been invited by the host. It made me wonder how long this ball had really been planned.

I needed no map to find our destination once in the inner city, not because of the large masses of people heading towards the mansion, but because I had once lived there. A comment that had not missed Wilds attention. She was all ears to learn more about my time in the city and how I had come to meet Ryland, a man so vastly different than myself.

The mansion was near the center of town, standing tall and proud even after centuries of age. Calamity was etched into the rock above the dark wooden doors. The doors were wide open, inviting almost but I knew we were walking into a trap. The other guests seemed to be clueless to that fact though. They waltzed inside with no worries. This host must have established a good standing for himself in his time here.

We walked through the main entrance together but parted immediately after. My fingers brushed her arm one last time before I started for the other side of the room, towards the food table coincidently.

I sauntered casually around the table covered in silver platters and plates. As I filled my plate, I eyed my surroundings. Many people had already arrived. Some I knew from my time living in the city. There were about twenty people in the room that looked out of place though.

Out of place in a sense that they were dressed exactly like me, in dark suits with their hair slicked back. They watched the crowd like hawks and stood near the entrance, doors and windows.

I finished filling my plate, not wanting to stand in one place for too long and picked an empty table. Wild passed the table a second after I took a seat. Our eyes met but no words were exchanged. I forced myself not to look back at her, to follow her every move, despite the urge to ensure she was safe where she was.

I caught sight of familiar blue hair and immediately stood, making it seem like I was searching for a trashcan at the last second. I followed the blue haired man around the room, stepping past people and speeding up to get closer. He was dressed in a black, form-fitting suit that had the slightest hue of blue. I discarded my plate just as I was behind him, ready to confront the man that had been following Wild and I for weeks.

My hand reached for him but paused halfway there. The blue haired man was focused intently on a head of yellow hair bouncing around the room. The yellow hair belonged to a shorter man in a dark red suit who didn't look like he belonged here at all.

I didn't pay much attention to the other man until I saw his face light up. Then he began towards Wild. Wild who had her back turned.

My nerves skyrocketed and I shot towards the two, my hand already settled on my knife. My shoulder rammed into the blue haired man's but I didn't care. I had to get to her.

I watched with bated breath as Wild turned upon hearing the yellow haired man call her name. Everything stopped when Wild smiled in excitement and ran at the unknown man. They embraced each other in what looked like a bone crushing hug. I stepped back and as calmly as I could turned around, desperately hoping few had seen my sudden burst of panic.