Vernon remains silent , his eyes wandering the room catching the many faces in the crowd. The queens hopeful and trusting face, His dad’s cheering and calming face, The various doubtful and skeptical faces and on the other side his eyes land on the desperate faces of the girls. His eyes wander back to him. a million thoughts go through his head in a second before he looks up and utters his final choice.
“ it would be…an honor to fulfill this duty”. The cheers of the girls echo through the room, a proud smile falls on his fathers face as he makes his way to him , a thankful smile falls on the queens face as she says “ excellent!. The preparation for leave start now, and they’ll take off in a few hours!. I call the end of the meeting”. All the members of the table stand then bow down to the queen, the girls follow suit. excitement flowing all through her body, Lara sneaks a brief glance at Vernon’s face. only to see the same glumness look on his face.
The preparation for the leave were in full motion. As Vernon was packing in one of the castles room, he hears a knock on the door, he does not answer to it ,then a turn of the handle. Someone slowly walks in. “ hi” Lara greets, a slightly awkward smile on her face. “Hello” Vernon answers in a monotone voice without turning to face her. he continues to pack. “ well… crazy meeting, right?” Lara says , continuing in the same awkward manner. “Not really” Vernon answers his voice unshaken. “ not really?!” Lara replies , “ what do heads usually fly in these meetings?” She says sarcasm in her voice. Vernon remains silent. “ but honestly not too hard to believe with those jerks in their”.
Vernon stops for second before immediately returning to packing now in more aggressive manner. “ like they were over reacting at every turn, especially when it came to your machines, it’s like they had it out for you or something-”. He slams the roof of the suitcase shut, turning to her he says in an irritated manner “ Lara what do want?!, why are you here?”. Taken back by his attitude but not wanting a fight , she tries to keep calm “ well we’re cutting to the point I guess, uhh I just wanted to say I hope this will be a nice and easy trip and that we could all… you know , get along” She gives a smile at the end. “ will you did , now you can leave. don’t you have stuff to pack or something” he continues to answer in the same irritated manner.
The strange attitude , only seem to confuse her more.“No not really- dude why are you mad?” She asks. Vernon only continues packing, the same irritated on his face. “ what?, is it because they kept giving you the stink eye in there. Come on man that’s the snobby folks favorite move. It shouldn’t mean anything to you!. Just look at the amount of wrinkles they have gained from making that look. And between you and me you have definitely got the best looking skin out of the bunch”.
“Lara, would you shut it!” He yells out. Stunned in place Lara was by his reaction. “You come here with all this jerk talk, when you’re the reason they’re acting like this!” . “Excuse me?” Lara says in low yet frustrated tone. “ how i could I possibly be the reason they’re acting like this!?” . Immediately with no hesitation, he answers. “ the lab”. An answer like that only seemed to fog Lara’s perspective even more.
“that cannot be possibly the reason you’re acting like this, so what if you got a few stink eyes and a slap on the wrist”. “ a slap on the wrist!?” He stands and turns to face Lara . “that incident have single handedly erased any progress I have made!”. Lara: “ what progress- are you serious?!” . V: “all I needed from you was one word!”. L: “ I was tackled down by a guard!”. V: “ you were let go!”. L: “ I was frightened!”. Vernon doesn’t answer. he goes to pick up his bags. “Enough, enough of this pointless arguing, let’s just get on with this trip” he starts to make his way out . “Your damn right it’s pointless” she yells at him. He rolls his eyes at maya and Lyan who were standing next to the doorway listening in. He continues out while they make in to Lara . “ what happened?” They ask their sister. “I-I don’t know…”. Standing outside of the back of the castle, as the leave is announced in the front to the entire town. Servants going in and out of a new carriage preparing it for the long trip. The girls playing with the horses and The queen steadily making her way towards them. She stands before Vernon ,two servants behind her , with the gem elegantly on a cushion. “As the current head of our nation,I formally bestow upon you the moon-” ,before she could finish, Vernon reaches grabbing the gem off the cushion and goes “ yeah- yeah you’re the queen, you’re giving me the stone, I won’t lose it and I promise to serve our nation and find a way for them back” . An offended look falls on the servants upon hearing his tone of answer. “May you excuse us” the queen requests , the servants leave in as instant.
A wrathful look on queen’s face as she goes “Vernon!. You need to fix your attitude boy” she says kenneling down to eye-level, fixing his hair. “ this is professional work!”. He gently pushes her hand away from his head, fixing his hair back into place as he responds “ well, we wish everyone like that” . “Oh come on, boy” she replies, then places her hands on his shoulder getting his full attention. “ now listen, you’ll do great, alright and whatever happens remember Dawn is your home” . A childish smile falls on Vernon’s face, cutting the sober edge of the conversation. “ I’m gonna come back ruby , what happened with ‘her’ isn’t happening with me” he answers. “Stop with the ruby, boy!. It’s starting to rub off on them” she responds in a playful tone.
The dad comes sprinting through, stopping in front of the girls with a big bag in hand, “ *panting* alright I thought you girls might not have much of the necessities so I brought this for you” he opens it and begins to showcase its contents. “ hairbrushes , toothbrushes, clean rags and for the clothes I honestly didn’t know what to pack exactly, some old clothing, some of Vernon’s clothes-” , “ dad!” Vernon shout out , “they’re old!” He shouts back , turning to the girls and whispering “ they have never been worn before” , they giggle. “ oh and also-”, he’s cut off by a smile and the words from Lara “ thank you sir, we’ll take a look on our own time later, better leave some surprises for then”. The dad smiles back “ right” . As Maya goes to pick up the bag, she’s pulled back by its weight ,“god that’s one heavy surprise” , none the less she makes her way in by dragging the bag along.
“ will I better leave you to it , you’ll be leaving pretty soo-”. “Sir!” , before he could leave or even get the chance to finish he’s cut off again by more of her words. “ sir, with all good intentions in mind all-all of them. I just really have to ask, why are helping us?” . The dad remains silent as he looks down with a soft longing smile on his face. “ what is there no rhyme or reason?” Lara responds to the look on his face. “ some people are just good, Lara” maya states as she passes by. “No, there is a reason actually”. As these words exist his mouth, the girls turn to listen keenly waiting for the anticipated reason.
“ back in my day I actually knew someone, someone very dear to me. That was in your exact situation. them and their entire family was. And back then I didn’t understand how it feel it be far and long for your home. I didn’t help at all in fact I think I only made it worse. To this day I still look back on those times and wonder, what could I have done differently, why couldn’t I’ve done it differently. And i guess I didn’t wanna repeat the same mistake with you” . The girls do not utter a word after. The breaker of the silence being Vernon as says “ really?, how come I have never heard this story?” He asks his father. “ well son after the events of the story, the fate of this someone remains unknown even to me, with time it become painful to recall the story”, the dad raises his head to see the somber and grim atmosphere he has created. Trying to immediately salvage what he can he says “ but-but uhh I’m sure your situation this going to be completely different and you will come back and-” his frantic speech is broken by a sound of calling coming from far back, it was time for the leave.
He gives his son a last hug, handing him a small bag “ take care of yourself and them, Vernon” the dad turns to face the girls and says “ good luck” with a cheery smile of his face. When all was set and done. The girls close the doors of the carriage, Vernon sits in the front. They began to move. The goodbyes and waves of the crowd fade and what was once a tall and magnificent castle, began to seem small and insignificant in the distance. As the carriage begins to pick up speed, Lara puts her head outside of a window, hoping that the air would wash the worrisome look off her face. But no matter the only question the remains on her mind, is what fate truly holds for them. And what lurks in the shadows waiting for them.
:)
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