8 years ago

Cross stared down at the job request he had managed to snatch off of Servilia's desk. It was for a Hunt. The payment was decent, but that wasn't what he cared about. He just wanted to do something, anything. If he could complete a job they wouldn’t have any arguments against letting him work. He could finally start spending time out of the city and away from all of its inhabitants, maybe even leave the country for a while.

"What are you doing, Cross?"

Cross whirled around, stuffing the paper into his pocket. He scowled as he found Alexis staring at him. "What do you want, Princess?"

"I saw you steal something off Miss. Servilia's desk," Alexis said with a frown. She took a step towards him.

"I didn't take anything," Cross shot back. He matched her challenge, stepping towards her.

"You know you're not allowed to go out on jobs by yourself," Alexis said, closing the distance between them and holding out her hand. "Give it back."

"Go bother someone else." Cross said, trying to go around the younger girl, but she shot her arm out and blocked his path.

"Move."

"No," Alexis shook her head.

“Move.”

"If you do this you'll just get hurt. Don't be stupid."

"If you don't move, you're going to get hurt."

When Alexis didn't move he lifted up a hand and shoved her, hard. The girl stumbled back a few steps before regaining her foot and stepping back towards him, shoving him back. Cross's hands balled into fists and he moved to punch Alexis, but she was quicker. Darting passed his fist she drove a quick punch into his gut. Gritting his teeth, Cross back pedaled before blocking her next punch and landing one of his own, then another, before lowering his shoulder and knocking her to the ground. As she fell she kicked out his knee, knocking him to the ground with her. Rolling towards him she tried to pin him in place, but he out muscled her. Pushing her roughly to the side, Cross staggered back to his feet.

"Mind your own damn business, Hart. This is why you don't have any friends!" Cross snarled, bringing his fists up. Alexis faltered for a moment, her eyes widening, before slowly she raised her fists up, mimicking his pose.

"I'm just trying to help!" she said. Her voice cracked. "You'll get hurt if you do this and upset everyone else."

"Just shut up!" Cross snapped. He charged forward and shoved her back as hard as he could. Her thin frame spun around and she was sent careening back. With no time to brace herself, she slammed face first into the wall.

As soon as he heard her hit the wall Cross knew he had made a mistake.

The rage inside him deflated instantly as Alexis let out heart wrenching sob. Her hands came up to her face and Cross felt his stomach twist as blood began to seep through her fingers. He took a half step forward, reaching out with his hand, but Alexis struggled to her feet by herself. Without looking at him she took off down the hallway, a cry escaping her hands and echoing through the empty hall. Cross stayed where he was for a long time, frozen in his place with one arm still reaching.

Later that day Servilia found a mysteriously crumpled job request hidden under a stack of files on her desk.

xXx

Cross wiped away a bead of sweat that was dangerously close to falling into his eye. Taking in a deep breath he lifted up the wooden training sword with both hands and swung it towards Jiana. She blocked the blow with ease, her sword held lightly in one hand, before returning with a thrust that forced him to hop to the side. Cross tried for an upward strike, but Jiana read the move, trapping his blade with hers before slapping him hard across the face with the back of her free hand. He was sent sprawling to the ground.

"What's troubling you Cross?" Jiana said as Cross picked himself up off the floor. "You've been unusually sloppy this past week."

Cross shook his head, charging at her and attacking with a flurry of strikes and slashes that Jiana parried with little effort before spinning around behind him and cracking him hard on the shoulder with her sword. Crying out, Cross stumbled forward but managed to stay on his feet. Spinning around he tried to catch Jiana off guard, but she only took a small step back and allowed his blade to pass harmlessly in front of her. Off balance and completely open for attack, Cross was unable to do anything but watch as Jiana thrust forward, slamming the wooden blade into his stomach and sending him back down to the mat. He stayed on the floor, gasping in pain as Jiana stared him.

"She was crying." Cross said after a few moments as he regained his breath.

"Who?"

"Alexis." Cross said, using his sword to prop himself up. Shaking his head he brought his sword up and stabbed towards Jiana. She blocked the attack and returned with her own. Back and forth the pair went until Cross's guard slipped and Jiana landed a hard strike to his left wrist. Grimacing Cross took a step back and lowered his weapon. "Alexis never… She doesn’t cry."

"Ah, I thought that was you hiding outside the door. Poor girl. Quite the nasty scar that is going to leave," Jiana said, beginning to circle him. Cross brought his sword back up, rotating with her. "She was very distraught once she saw the damage, as anyone would be. She'll carry that for the rest of her days. Life here has already not been easy for her, you know."

Cross's fingers tightened around his weapon. "I know."

"Do you really?" Jiana said, surging forward. Cross blocked her initial slash but was unprepared for the kick she leveled to his stomach. He was lifted off his feet for a moment before he dropped to the mat. Rolling back up, he kept his sword ready, though it took considerable effort.

"I find it interesting that you can say that, yet treat that poor girl so harshly. She left her family to come here, to create her own path, her own name, as was expected of her. The expectations placed on her by herself and by others are incredibly high. She is scared that she could fail and in her fear, she has ostracized herself from others. She is quite alone here, Cross." Jiana gave him another hard strike to his right arm. "If anyone could have understood that, I thought it would have been you."

Cross faltered at her words. With a clean strike Jiana knocked the sword from his fingers and brought up her weapon for the killing blow. Cross made no effort to move, his eyes falling to the floor. He heard the air hiss as the blade came towards him, but the pain never came. Instead he felt himself being enveloped in a warm embrace. A lump formed in his throat as he felt his knees give out from under him. His arms came up as he tightly returned the hug, burying his face in his mother's shoulder.

“It was me,” he whispered. ""It was me. I was the one who-" he paused as Jiana suddenly released him and recovered her weapon from the floor.

"You know," she said as she walked over to the wall and put the sword away. "Interestingly enough, Alexis won't tell us how she was injured. We offered to punish the culprit quite severely, but she refused to give up their name."

"But I…"

"We all do things we regret, Cross. It's part of the trials of growing up," Jiana said as she walked towards the door. "What defines us is how we deal with them. Do we ignore them and hope they simply fade away? Or do we face them and accept the consequences? It is a decision we must make alone.”

Cross watched her go, silently dropping to the ground and falling onto his back. After a long time he let out a very deep sigh followed before a curse before closing his eyes.

"Please," he whispered to the darkness. "Please help me."

After a moment he felt a pressure beginning to form in his head, the focal point directly under his left temple. Reaching up with a tired hand he rubbed at the spot as the pressure shifted to a stabbing pain. His teeth ground together as each stab of pain grew more intense. He pressed his forehead harder as lights began to flash behind his eyes. His body began to shake but he focused on nothing but the light, forcing everything else to the side until pain suddenly subsided and his world went blank.

Paper and leather and wood. The library. The first aisle, the second, the third, the fourth – wait – the third. Second row. Fourth from the left.

Cross sat up with a gasp. His eyes open, but unseeing. The pain stabbing through his head nearly unbearable. He gasped for air, trying to fill his empty lungs. After a few attempts that resulted in crashing back to the floor, he finally managed to get himself into a sitting position. He rubbed at his eyes until his vision gradually began to return.

Taking a deep breath he slowly pushed himself to his feet and staggered towards the exit.

Now for the hard part.

xXx

‘Knock knock knock’

Cross shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for the door to be answered. Though he only waited a few seconds, it managed to stretch on for what felt like an eternity. A near uncontrollable desire to flee coursed through his body as he heard the lock being fumbled with on the other side of the door, but he forced himself to remain firmly in place.

The door just barely opened and a pair of large, black eyes met him. Almost immediately the door slammed shut again. Cross winced and knocked again. After a minute of no reply he knocked again, and again, and again, until finally the door was wrenched wide open. Without warning Alexis struck him, her small fist catching him across the cheek and sending him stumbling back. Regaining his footing, Cross held up his hand.

"Wait!" he cried, trying to keep his eyes from lingering on the bandage that covered the side of her face.

"What do you want?" Alexis all but yelled, taking a step towards him. At the end of the hallway one of the lights suddenly flickered and went out, though neither of the children noticed.

"I just-"

"What?" Alexis snapped, stepping towards him and pushing him with both hands. He went back another step. "What do you want, Cross? Do you want to hit me again?" She pushed him harder. His back slammed against the wall. "Do you want to tell me I don't have any friends? That no one wants me here? That I’m alone?" Her head was bowed now, not looking at him as she weakly punched him in the chest. "Do you want to tell me I'm ugly now too?" He could see the tears falling down to the floor as another weak punch landed. "What do you want?"

She lifted her fist again before letting it fall down limply to her side.

"I… I'm sorry." Cross said. His eyes fell to the floor. "I'm sorry for what I did. I didn't mean for you to get hurt like that."

"I was just trying to help you," Alexis said quietly.

"I know. Really, Alexis, I'm sorry… " Cross said. “D-does it hurt?"

"Not anymore. Galen was able to clean it up, but he said it's going to leave a…" Her voice cracked and she turned away from him and retreated back into her room. Silently, Cross followed after her, but he hesitated at the threshold. Unsure of what to do he simply stayed in place as Alexis sat down on her bed.

"I hate this thing," Alexis said, reaching up and touching the bandage gently.

"It will come off soon," Cross glanced down at the two items he still held clenched in his hand.

"It's going to leave a scar," She said. Her voice shook "Even when it comes off… There's going to be a scar. Forever."

"I know." Cross said before cringing and shaking his head quickly. "I mean, it will scar but it won't be ugly or anything!"

Alexis let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. She lifted her head up and stared at him. "How do you know?"

"Because." Cross said, finally stepping into her room. "I'm a clairvoyant. I can see it. You'll still be… pretty. I mean you are pretty so it won’t… I mean… Yeah… "

Alexis stared at him. Her cheeks grew pink for a moment before she looked away. "You're not exactly someone I can trust, you know."

"Yeah. I know" Cross said, frowning. "Look, I uh, I know you're upset about the scar so I… I got you this."

Alexis turned back towards him as he held out a small, sloppily wrapped gift. Tentatively she accepted it, pulling apart the wrapping. Lifting her hands up, she held the black scarf up to her eyes, the tassels fluttering. She looked up at Cross, confused. He lifted up the other item he had brought, a thick leather bound book.

"I found this in the library. See, there used to be these warriors back before the kingdoms formed, the Viegrand. They used to cover their faces before battles," he spoke quickly as he tried, and failed, not to stumble over his words. The well-rehearsed speech he had prepared just for this moment disappeared as he opened the book and showed her the illustrations. "They believed the most powerful feature a person had was their eyes, and, uh, and since your eyes are really big and pretty I thought that maybe you might want to try this or something…" Cross finished lamely, staring down at the book and avoiding Alexis's gaze. After a moment of hesitation he heard Alexis begin to move.

"H-how do I look?"

Cross lifted his eyes up as Alexis finished adjusting the scarf. Her large, dark eyes bored into his, waiting for his response. After a moment Cross gave her a small smile. "You look like a warrior… Well, a warrior Princess."

Alexis's eyes crinkled into a smile as she reached up and toyed with one of the tassels. "Cross?"

"Yeah?"

"I think… I think I can forgive you," she said before punching him in the arm and adding. "As long as you don't do something this stupid again."

"I won't," Cross said, closing the book. He glanced around the room, looking anywhere but Alexis as the next words formed in his mouth. "You know… I don't have any friends either. So maybe… You know… I mean if you wanted we could try…”

"I think, maybe, I'd like that." Alexis said quietly, her fingers still toying with the scarf.

"O-okay, good." Cross stammered as he quickly made for the door, his face burning. "Then I'll see you later… Lexi"