“I have to get out of here.” Rue looks around for the way out.

“You can’t do that.”

“AH!”

“…”

“Are you trying to threaten me with a pen?”

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack???” Rue was one minor inconvenience away from choking Nyx. Again.

“Well, that aside for later both your accusations and interesting choice for weapons. You do realize that you can’t leave, right? That is your party over there.”

“No, that is the hero’s party. You know the person who is supposed to be here and seal the sleeping one.” Rue walks away.

“Well, it doesn’t matter whose party this was supposed to be. It’s now yours.” Nyx follows.

“Come on you can’t be serious! We already talked about this.”

“Exactly! And in case your teeny tiny brain forgot the necklace now belongs to you and cannot be given to the hero anymore.”

Rue pulls their hat over their ears trying to block out the sound of Nyx voice, but the thin fabric hardly saves them.

“Anyway, they want to see you fight! So, show them!!”

“The only thing I can show them is how fast I can run away.”

“Why don’t you try summoning some weapons! There might be one you are a natural at. Though I don’t recommend doing so in front of your little party! Because they cannot find out about me or the truth and all! I’m mentioning this in case you decided to forget this too.”

“I’m about to summon a bomb and shove it up your-”

“WOAH!!! Look, mate, there are minors here!”

“We are the only ones here….”

“That’s what you think :)” Rue pulled the most disturbed expression in their entire life in that moment and would like to mention that it still does not do their emotions justice.

“Can you like stop.”

“Stop what?”

“Everything.”

“How about you stop whining and get to choosing a weapon!”

“Are you serious about this whole…” Rue does some weird and complicated gestures that vaguely look like a dying fish.

“Of course! Who do you take me for? Don’t answer that. You can summon any weapon you can imagine but they only work against monsters and are completely harmless to People.”

“What kind of rule is that? What if I must fight a person?”

“You are the hero you are not supposed to hurt fellow humans but instead protect them. Now chose a weapon before your party starts a search party.” The cat remains aloof and unhelpful.

“Not my party…” Came a quiet mumble from Rue before they look to the necklace.

Rue reached forward. A strange light flared, forcing them to look away.

When they looked back, two identical daggers rested in their hands. Wine red blades, golden accents reminiscent of the castle, and red Beryls embedded in each cross guard.

“Weird but oh well!! See that wasn’t so hard, mate”

“AH!” Rue lets the daggers fall.

“Should have seen that c-”

“JCBEOEJCEHCECEFHI”

Rue was choking Nyx once again.

“WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT-”

*Knock knock*

“Are you ok? We heard screaming and-”

Rue was breathing heavily with two fancy daggers on the floor their hands still somewhat extended in the air and trembling.

“Oh! I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I’m coming! Right now!” Picking up the daggers, Rue slips past the gentle one into the training ground. A doubtful look was sent their way by the gentle one who was biting his lip in thought.

The other three seem to be deep in a conversation so Rue takes this time to practice with their daggers. They are light and easy to wield just how Rue was used to. When they were younger, they had to learn how to fight but because of their weak constitute it was decided to rely on their speed and agility.

“You seem pretty good!” Another chipper voice sounds from Rues’ right and out of reflex they get in an offensive position. Their opponent quickly gets in a defensive position. It turns out that the blue one snuck up on Rue while they were distracted.

“Sorry…” Slowly Rue goes back to a relaxed stance. Embarrassed, they look away missing the blue one’s frown.

It was quiet. Three days have passed which Rue spent mostly practicing and avoiding the hero’s party without being too suspicious. They had been thinking about leaving a lot, but the weird cat was very against the idea. Rue was provided with new clothes though they looked similar to their usual ones just better quality and less dirty and ripped.

“Your presence was requested by his majesty.” A servant said politely to Rue who was just about to walk to the training room again. They frown lightly. During their stay they did not see the emperor again. The news made them bite their lip. A nervous habit they never managed to shake.

Not even five minutes later Rue ended up in front of the emperor with the hero’s party in the large room. He looked cold. Rue suppressed a flinch and wondered if they were found out.

Logically there would be no way to disprove that they weren’t the real deal since all the facts were basically holding a glowing sign towards Rue claiming them as the hero. However, they didn’t know a lot about the hero and their legend.

Rues memories are very vague and not helpful. After all they couldn’t even recognize the hero’s relic.

“Unfortunately, some less than pleasant news have reached me.” That seemed like an understatement. Rue mused as the king spoke in a tone hiding his obvious confusion and frustration at the ‘less than pleasant news.’

“It appears that the sleeping one has awoken.”

Dead silence.