The church lives [Private/Noir]

Lance sat on his throne with a sigh. It had been a few days since he had defeated the lion with that girl “Noir…” he said in his mind as he stared at the front door of his church “Looks like she never showed after all…” he chuckled sadly and shook his head as he stood up and walked into his office in the side of the church. His church was his masterpiece and the people that lived here adored him. All he ever wanted in life was someone he could love and someone he could love back and these kids did just that. But it was not enough for him. He had to go farther than that. He wanted to spread Lanceism to the ends of the world and maybe even farther.

He sat at his desk with a book on magic opened on it. He was staring at it closely and forgot all about the Orphans running around outside or the black ruhk, white ruhk, and other specimen that floated around in jars behind him. This office was known to be the place where he studied his magic further and made more sense of things in the world. He hoped that in the end his studies would lead him to finding out the way to create the perfect world.

The church was pretty much a giant warehouse that he had taken over when he had first asked to make a church in Reim. “I wonder how Lagi is doing…” he muttered to himself as he had not seen the boy in a while. He had grown quite fond of Lagi and it surprised some of the people who knew who he really was.

This church was a home to the broken and forgotten.

The black haired girl was pretty busy since early morning as she headed as quickly as she could to the kitchen and started to cook everything she had in mind. It has been a few days after she helped a merchant’s crew from the lions attack and meeting an amusing man named Lance, who was running a church in Reim and taking orphans in, giving them a care. Noir held her breath as she placed the last piece of dumplings on the food container and sighed in relief after she done, stepped back a little bit to see her masterpiece after busying herself for several hours. A proud looks and a very little smile were attached on her face before she packed all of it. “Gaooo…” The white liger approached the girl and rubs his body on her leg, looking for some attention from its master. Noir hummed and pet him, commanding him to not mess with all the food she made and quickly go for a quick shower. She was excited today, wondering if she could learn some new things from Lance as she found him as a very interesting figure and if the food would be enough for all the orphans there.

Huge abandoned warehouse…. Noir murmured under her breath while sitting on Haku, putting the food container on her lap while her beasts walked in the city. She looked around and around but she was confused because she couldn’t find it. She commanded Haku to stop and looked around, asking at some people but unfortunately, not all of them was right. The black haired girl looked up as she heard rumbling sound, noticing that the sky was slightly darkened and rain suddenly dropped heavily. She motioned Haku to find a shelter quickly; sighed after standing below the roof of an unknown building and wiped some water on her head. It seems the rain won’t stop for a while…

“Haku… should we go home…?” Noir petted her liger and kneeled down, but stopped halfway when she saw a door right beside the corner. She was curious about it and stood up again, approaching the door and knocked it several times, wondering if anyone was inside. It looks like abandoned warehouse though…could it be…. The girl stopped knocking and pushes the door, peeking inside it. She spent several minutes to decide if she should enter or not and finally encouraged herself to enter. The abandoned building turns out to have a church like decoration inside and it was Noir’s first time to enter a church. It’s beautiful… She motioned Haku to follow her while she looked around and then took a seat on one of the long benches. It’s peaceful… She closed her eyes, letting the liger to sit near her legs while she leaned down a little to stroke its fur and hummed.

The church was bustling with many kids running around and playing. One of the kids spied a girl walk in and stared at her for a few seconds before running into Lances office "Sir there is a lady that walked in here unannounced!" the boy said in a hurry "Should we deal with her?" he asked, turning his hands into fists. Lance briefly glanced up from his book and look out the window of his office.

Once he saw the lady that had sat down in one of the chairs he laughed and smiled "No my child go outside and play I shall deal with her!" He gently walked outside of his office and closed the door shut. It made a slight bang noise that echoed throughout the large building. The noise woke Pestis, who was laying by Lances throne which sat at the top of a staircase. Pestis got up and shook itself awake before walking down the stairs to join his master.

Lance gently walked over to the seat the girl was sitting in and sat down next to her "Quite a sight isn't it?" he said as he leaned forward and turned his head to look towards Noir "Would it be weird if I said that I had been waiting for you?" he chuckled a bit and shook his head gently.

It was peaceful, giving a peace for her clouded mind. So this was what church like, so beautiful, graceful and at the same time was mysterious. She stared at the altar, observing it, studying the foreign object and questioning so many things in her head without noticing that someone already sat beside her and said something. Her body jolted due to her surprise, she quickly reached for her wand but stopped when she saw the white haired man, staring at her with his glowing purple eyes. “Mister Lance…” She said, surprised a little that she actually came into the right place.

Her topaz orb would be locked with the man’s orbs as Lance said that he had been waiting for her, curious why the man would wait for her. She stayed quiet for a few seconds while staring at Lance with a flat stare and emotionless face, trying to find the reason of why he waited for her. “What is your reason to wait for me?” Noir gave up and her curiosity pushed her to ask the man about it before reaching for the bag she put beside her. She would wait for the man to explain about it before she took out the food container inside the bag and offered it to Lance. “For you… and the children…” She averted her gaze and wondering if he and the children might like it or not.

“Would it be weird if I said that I couldn’t wait to visit you…?” She stared innocently, “You are a very amusing man, I am sure that you have lots of knowledge. I cant wait to learn something from you...” After that she would pet her liger, waking him up from it's slumber and introduced him, "His name is Haku... Little one, greet Mister Lance..." The white liger would growl a little, but not in a threatening way after he heard his master's command, slightly lifting one of his paw for a second before putting it down again and continue to sit obediently besides his master.

"I was waiting for you because I find you precious." Lance looked at Noir for a second and smiled as he gently as he grabbed the container and smiled "Your very kind..." he said as he gently scooted closer to her and looked her straight in the eye "You know that your the only person that has ever taken the time out of their day to come see me..." he said with a wry smile "I thank you for that. It gets lonely around this church sometimes with the only people to talk to are the kids..." he told her without looking her in the eye.

Lance laughed at Noirs question "You couldn't wait to see me?" he smiled at her "That's a first time someones said that to me in a long time!" he smiled and shook his head "No its not weird at all. In fact I am happy!" He nodded to the tiger "Its a cute tiger..." he said as Pestis growled at Lance and rubbed its head on Noir in affection. Lance laughed and shook his head "Jealous much?" he said as he rubbed Pestis's head. The giant fox laid down at the feet of the two wizards and closed its eyes. He smiled at Pestis and looked back at Noir "You know one of the people who works at this church gave me Pestis as a present." He spoke with a calm yet sad expression as he stared at the fox.

He took a deep breath and looked at Noir with a blush on his face "Your really beautiful." he said as he scooted closer to her and looked her up and down "To be honest other than Lagi your my first friend." he laughed as he spoke and sighed "Someone like me can't have that many friends you know..." he muttered in a more serious tone now "I have done many bad things... I want to do bad things.. in order to-" he cut himself off before he started to go crazy again. He straightened back up and put on a fake smile "Sorry about that." he said calmly again.

He looked at the container in his hands and smiled "Thank you again for the gift it is greatly appreciated. We dont really have a lot to eat around here." The kids came and surrounded him at this point "Father, whats for dinner?" one of them asked and Lance smiled "This lovely lady provided us with some food. Make sure you thank her." he said. The group of kids all had big smiles on their faces as they all spoke in unison "Thank you miss!" they said as they ran off to play.

“…me…? Precious…?” Noir tilted her head a bit, innocently asking back to the white haired man as she didn’t think the same. “You are mistaken Mister Lance, I am not precious at all. I am not that valuable to be considered as precious, since I am a former slave.” She said while looking directly to the beautiful lavender eyes, her gaze was not filled with regret or shame for being a former slave as she shared it to the man who sat beside her. Noir would raise her eyebrow as the man spoke his thought to her, wondering why such interesting man would feel lonely. The black haired girl was pleased when the man said Haku was cute, even though the purple eyed man said that it was a tiger. Just when she wanted to make a comment about that, the beautiful creature that Noir remembered as Lance’s pet, suddenly rubbed its head on her. She understand what the creature felt and just let it rub itself on Noir, ‘This cute one is jealous…’ Her eyes would fixed to the scene where the man rubbed Pestis’ head, showing that she was fond of them.

The girl noticed something as the man told her about how he got Pestis, it was not visible but Noir could see it. Sadness was on his face, even though he covered it with his calm, the black haired girl was a good observer and she noticed it. But she didn’t want to ask about it, instead she tried to change the topic. “Haku is a Liger… an offspring from lion and tiger.” Noir would pet Haku that was still lying beside her and then continued, “He is a unique kind though… a Thermal Liger… ” Then she stopped, not knowing what else to say to the man. She was not a good at socializing with someone though, considering how she made a trouble towards the king by kissing him without knowing what it really mean and how she kissed Ayero’s chest because she thought kiss can heal. But now she know and refrained herself to do that, mostly she would not trust what she read on the book a hundred percent. Well, after her guardian spent two whole day to lecture her about it when the black haired girl share her ‘weird’ experience, she did learn a thing or two to not fully trusting something easily.

She would stare at the man, wondering if the man had anything else to share but her eyes widened when the man took a deep breath and blushed. ‘Is he angry…? His face is red…’ Noir wondered, but she was too afraid to ask, knowing that it might led her into another failure to establish a relation to befriending someone so she just stayed quiet until she heard what Lance said. The words echoing in her ears, never in her dreamt before someone would say the she was beautiful, she began to deny it in her head, making herself to realize that she was just a former slave and such compliment didn’t suit her at all. The man now was even closer to her, making the girl questioning why he would keep sitting closer to her when there was a lot of space in this big bench. “Mister Lance…?” She called, but when he mentioned the king’s name, she quickly replied, “You have met The King too? He is a very kind man right…?” She averted her gaze and if Lance was observant enough, he could see Noir smiled a little for just a second before making her expression back to his usual emotionless face.

As Lance talk, Noir would listened closely to what the man wanted to say, interested in every words that came out from his lips. All the words that she hear made her wanting to know more about this man beside her as she could feel the similarity between them. Both of them might longing for a friend or hoping to have a normal social life, but she was not sure. Lance was a kind man who built a church and taking care all the orphans, so how such a kind-hearted man could didn’t have many friends? Yes Noir could notice the black rukh fluttered around the white haired, but the girl believed such rukh didn’t determine that the person was evil or not loved by everyone. She also noticed how excited he was when he killed the lion, but that was just a matter of individual’s way to satisfy themselves as what Noir could believe. The female magician stopped her own thoughts when Lance said, “I have done many bad things… I want to do bad things.. in order to—“ Then he stopped, carved a smile on his face and apologize. Noir held herself to speak as she now felt sympathy towards the man, but she didn’t want to show her pity as the man wouldn’t like it. It was strange, but she understand the urge, the man just needed some things to express himself, showing his true emotion in the big canvas called ‘The World’ and would do anything to be able to do that. But all of it was only a guess, as she didn’t know that well about things.

When the kids suddenly came and surrounded the man, Noir would watch at how Lance took care of the orphans kindly. The kids seemed love their father too as they kept showing their big smiles. She bowed and nodded a little when the kids thanked her before watching all of them ran off, making the place became quiet again. This time the girl would look at the man’s eyes, moving her face closer to the man while doing so and lifted her hand up. “You can continue…” She cupped her right hand on his cheek, at first she hesitated for a few seconds and then she put all of her courage to touch Lance’s left cheek as she thought it was necessary. “Sometime you will feel better after you finish what you want to say… The book mentioned it though…”She would looked down for a while before staring back to the man’s eyes again, locking her golden eyes with the ash mauve orbs. “So you can tell me anything you want… Mister Lance…”

His eyes fluttered a little as Noir's hand touched his cheek. He smiled sadly as he saw her look at him in the eye "Alright." he said as he did not back away but instead let her hand stay there. Something about her touch calmed him and made him seem more relaxed. Noir was an ex-slave so him and her where one in the same so he thought it would be fine if he told his story. Maybe someone could finally understand him. "Well before I start... Like you I am an Ex-Slave." he said with a serious tone.

He took a deep breath and scooted closer to the girl and spoke in a soft yet sad tone "I was born in Balbadd. My mom was a slave and my dad was a slaver." his voice got a bit shaky "My dad killed my mom soon after I was born and made me a slave. I spent all my life as a slave up until I finally broke free. During that time I was put to work and abused..." He closed his eyes and took a deep shaky breath then continued "I... I killed my dad and escaped to Heliohapt were I met some homeless children who I quickly became friends with. They looked to me like a father and I trained them how to steal and fight. We were real street rats back then." he laughed saddly and shook his head "One day we were on a job and the building caught on fire... killing all of them. I could have saved them but I didn't... I had to think about myself..." he clenched his teeth to keep from crying "So I thought that maybe if I killed enough people then it would be enough to get revenge for my mom as well as bring her and my friends back to me." he gave up with trying not to cry and let his tears flow.

He was crying by now and he shook his head "I just want to be happy again." He said as he closed his eyes but still did not pull away from Noir "I know I am a bad person but... I am making my mom happy right?" he asked with clenched fists as he was trying to fight his own feelings.

‘…ex-slave…’ Noir thought in her head, still staring at the purple orbs which now were emitting a sad gleams. She didn’t know what to say and just let the man continue while trying to not reminding herself about her past even though she already accepted it. Well, even though she accepted it, some part of her memories when she was a slave still painful and traumatic. But it was not her story that she needed to tell, it was his story that she needed to listen. She felt something towards the man, it was not empathy nor a pity, as she knew if she showed or even felt that, it would be very disrespectful towards the former slave. Noir could notice the man scooted even closer to her, but she didn’t care and only focused on him, watching as his lips moving, letting out a sad tone from there.

Disbelief was in her mind as she listened that Lance’s father was a slaver, making her eyes twitched but it still locked with the man’s orbs. Now she knew what she felt for the man, it was a sadness, mixed with a relief because he made it alive after he broke free. She would have cry for the man but she couldn’t as her emptiness wouldn’t let her to do so, her lack of emotion in her face didn’t allow her to even cry for someone when she felt that she needed too. She cried once and once only back then after being engulfed by her own guilt, but never again until now.

“You did a right thing… I believe in fair judgement…an eye for an eye, so a life for a life…” The girl said before she sat on her knees, leaning closer towards the white haired man and wrapped her arms around him. She could feel his body warmth and just stayed still, wishing to give the man some comfort. But as the man continued his story, she didn’t stop hugging him, but just saying, “We all are an egoistic being, but maybe even you realized that what you did by not saving them was not right…” She wrapped her arms tighter, “It was not wrong as well as now you have a reason to live because their life dwells in you right now. All you have to do was just figuring out what useful things you can do with your own life. But then again, killing people is not right, it won’t bring back your mother… or your friends…no matter how hard you try…” Her heart ached as she said it, knowing well that nothing could be done to bring back the one who already was not belong into this world anymore. It was her family and her dear friends who were also a slave that she wished to meet again, but she knew she couldn’t and all that guilt haunted her every time. She would gulped down hard a little bit before saying, “They said the deceased one will still considered as alive being as long as someone remember them… cherishing them and reminiscing all the memories with them.” She would say to Lance, but then when she heard Lance said, “I know I am a bad person but… I am making my mom happy right?” She pulled away, her eyes filled with curiosity but there was something much darker inside her innocent eyes. His words triggered it, making her confused because she didn’t have any memories with her mother at all, neither with her family.

“What… is her happiness…?” Noir would ask with a confused face, she tried to interpret about the meaning behind the ‘happiness’ itself and tried to relate it with her mother. She would think what would make her mother happy, but she didn’t know, nothing came across her mind as if her mother was only a stranger for her. Her father and brother also was in her mind right now as she tried to find their happiness, but nothing too. “How does it feels to live with your family back then…?” In her mind was only the scene of her mother being killed, she could feel it on her body as her mother’s blood splattered to her body as the mysterious man slit her mother’s throat. It played over and over again, making the black haired girl shook her head, trying to not remember it. But it was too late as rage changed something in her body, taken over it as her eyes color changed from golden to crimson. She realized it and quickly covered her face, ashamed to show those filth in her eyes to the man. Noir would apologize to the man, knowing that her lack of control of her own feeling made the entire conversation with the man broke down. “I am very sorry, Mister Lance… I am sorry….” With a shaky voice and trembling body, she continued, “Y-you can c-continue Mister Lanc…e… I w-will listen…to it…”

Lance listened to the girls words of encouragement "my mom... is still alive... if I think about her?" he questioned himself as he noticed a change in the way Noir was acting. “How does it feels to live with your family back then…?” he blinked for a second before swallowing hard. He didn't remember any of it. He didn't remember what made his mom happy and for all he knew he never even had a family.

The girl apologized to him and he shook his head with a gentle but sad smile on his face as he lifted his hand up and touched the girls cheek briefly "No. Its quite alright." he pulled his hand away but still remained close to the girl. He looked down towards the ground, not making eye contact with her. "To be honest... I don't know the answer to these questions. My moms happiness? How it felt to live with my family?" he shook his head "They are all a blur in my mind." he clenched his fist and continued "My mom died a few days after I was born so I don't know all that much about her but the image of my father stabbing her... it will always be burned into my mind." he spoke with spite as he closed his eyes "That's why I hate the world. My mom died because of my father so I killed him... but it wasn't enough to satisfy me so I go around hurting others just to satisfy a rage that I know will never subside."

By this point it was hard for him to speak through his tears and he tried to smile but it was hard. He took a deep breath and regained himself as he looked back into her eyes "I am done... I am sorry for rambling on about my past." he said with a chuckle "I don't want people to feel pity for me. It just makes me mad." he smiled calmly at her.

Her body jolted when the man cupped her cheek, feeling the warmth from his palm but when his hand left her cheek, she frowned but it quickly faded and changed into her usual expression. She began to listen to Lance again, hearing every words coming from his lips. The more she heard the more her expression changed, it was painted with sadness as she furrowed her eyebrows and thought, ‘He is just the same as me…. Is he….?’

Noir would reach out her hands and cupped the purple eyed man’s cheeks after he stopped talking, noticing that even though he chuckled and smiled at her, he still looked sad. Noir assumed that this man was lost, losing his way to be in the right path although he knew that he was walking in the wrong way. She would say in the calmest tone she could say despite it would still sounded flat, “I don’t feel pity for you. Instead, I feel that you might understand me… and I am glad you tell me about your past… and because of that, I know that I am not the only one who is facing the same thing…” She gulped down hard while still cupped his cheeks and continued, “…maybe we can be friends…” There, she said it, with all of her courage being put inside her words, making this as the first time ever she would ask someone to be her friend. Her hands were trembling and she had fear inside her mind, afraid that he might refuse to be her friend. But Noir knew her place, even if he refused, maybe it was because Noir didn’t have any suitable points to be someone’s friend or just because she was no one.

“I never remember my own past… all I know was… I’ve been a slave for my whole life before I escaped…” She averted her gaze and paused for a second, hesitated to share her past. But she tried to speak even though her voice was a bit shaky, “At the day I escaped… was the first time I came to Reim and I found out that I have a family, which I didn’t recognize. Apparently, they were dead, being killed by someone they said. But I feel nothing, as if I listened to a story of a stranger. I never knew or remember how it feels like to have a family...” Noir exhaled a little, “Recently, a little piece of my memory came back… and it showed it how my mother died, I could still feel her blood splattered on my body… her wail and her scream was still clear in my ear… it haunted me every second. The person that died because of me too when I went to this strange island… Like they wanted to get their live back from me…”

Lance listened to her story with a serious look on his face. He began to feel a bit more sadness towards the girl but he didn't pity her as that is the last thing an ex-slave would want.  He could tell by the way she said things that this was a hard subject to talk about but he was happy that she was sharing it with him. He looked her in her golden eyes and he could tell that they were in fact the same. Similar pasts. He got a bit closer to her and placed his hand on her cheek for a second before moving in and kissing her on her other cheek.

He pulled away and averted his gaze for a second before looking back at her again "I see... Thank you for sharing that with me." he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile "I- I am not that good with talking to people like this but... I." he stopped for a second and rummaged around his body before pulling off a small golden jewel off of a string. "I want you to have this... It doesn't do anything but its was my moms." he blushed for a second and shook his head "I- I mean if you don't want it that's fine. Its a useless accessory. It doesn't make you stronger... It can't cast magic." he said as he held it out for a few more seconds. He hoped she would take it.

He went silent for a few moments before taking a breath and speaking again "You said... That killing people would not bring back my mother or my friends... What did you mean..." he asked her in a quiet voice as he did not look at her. He knew deep down that he was wrong for killing people but he didn't want to admit it himself. "The world killed my mom... My dad is dead so there is no one else to blame." he said with a harsher tone to his voice than before "People deserve to die... Slavers are the people who caused this but the bystanders are not innocent either as they just stand by and watch us be abused!" he rose his voice a bit as his breathing got heavier. Lance was fighting with himself on the inside because he knew what was wrong and what was right.

The man placed a warm kiss on her cheek while his warm hand was cupping her other cheek, making the girl’s eyes widened by the sudden action. But the meaning of that kiss was still unknown for Noir, she only knew that her guardian restricted her to kiss someone anywhere after she told the female magician that she couldn’t just kiss someone easily like that and it would be inappropriate. So she wondered if this man was doing inappropriate thing by kissing her cheek like that or not, but she didn’t even know why that was inappropriate, being a very clueless girl she usually was. “…Why did you press your lips against my cheek, Mister Lance…? Because someone said kiss was not meant to express your gratitude like I believed before… so what was the reason?” Her curiosity raising up, filling her mind and wiped the other things she had in mind. She would move her head closer to the man while staring at the man’s eyes and waited for any answer or explanation the man could have.

When the man said that he was not that good with talking to people, Noir looked down for a second, wondering how many similarities that they would have as they revealed themselves to each other further more. She moved her eyes, staring at the small golden necklace that Lance took from somewhere around his clothes. Her eyes would be back to the man again as she listened to what the man wanted to say and surprised that the man wanted her to have that. ‘….It looks expensive… am I really worthy to wear that kind of thing…’ she was confused and having a hard time to decide. “I-is it really okay… for me to have it…?” She asked to the man hesitantly, a hint of soft red colored her cheek as some thought crossed her mind, wondering if that was the sign of their friendship’s beginning. But she didn’t bring anything with her and would feel bad if she just accepted it without giving anything back, so she lifted her hand, reaching for her black colored ribbon that tied into a bow which was decorating her hair and pulled it down. “This…is the first thing I found in my room when I got back to Reim after escaping from the slave ship, it was on my bed to be exact… You will notice my name sewn there… and… it’s for you, if you don’t mind.” She would then grabbed his hand and put the black ribbon on his palm before continuing, “Unfortunately, it also cannot cast any magic and doesn’t make you stronger…it is not as pretty as that jewel too… But I want you to have it… f-for…” she gulped down and averted her gaze, “for… our f-friendship…”

As they talked for much longer, Noir could only be quiet and listened to whole thing that the man would say. She began to raise her eyebrow and only stare at the man while Lance said his words with a harsh tone, gradually rose his voice as he continue to talk. The girl knew how it felt to be in his shoes, while she didn’t know anything that he felt but at least she knew a little bit. That kind of thought that the world must be blamed for her fate already crossed her mind several time and the longer that kind of thought crossed her mind, the more she become disgusted with herself and cursed the world more. But it was not long until she reached her own sanity, making her could accept all the things and made her able to move forward thanks to one of the masters that she had. Her master taught her how to embrace her past, making it as a useful source for her own creativity. It was easy he said and at first Noir thought that was because he was a novelist so he was able to use it, but the man patiently taught her, slowly making her believe that she needed to embrace and accept everything, but didn’t forget to fight back for something too. He was the one who rose up the girl’s liking towards books too, but unfortunately, and again, as she began to took a liking on someone just like a cat who finally found its master, someone took her master away from her, making the man to only become a lifeless puppet and dragged her into the harsh path again.

She remembered how the man would react every time Noir ended up cursing her fate as a slave back then. She sat on her knees before lifting her hand and smacking his head, making a loud thumping sound as she did that. It sounded hurt and she knew it because she put all of her strength on it, “..Is it hurt…? I am truly sorry…” The black haired girl innocently asked with a firm tone and expressionless face. “But I believe that not all people deserves to die, not all people are bad too. The bystanders had their own reasons too, maybe they just didn’t have the courage or the power to help which require us to get on our own feet and move on.” Her hands reached out towards the white haired man’s cheek and she pinched his cheek, “Use that fake smile of yours… make it as your real smile like It is coming from the bottom of your heart. Smile while you can, Mister Lance.” She slowly pulled away her hands from his cheek, her tone became even firmer. “And do what you think is right, if you ever get lost, please look for me and I will try my best to find you a way. I know I am not the best person to do that, but… i—if we are going to be friends, maybe that is the right thing to do… a-am I wrong?”

Lance was met with a loud thump to his head. His head shot forward a bit and he made a grunting sound as he held the spot where she had hit. It had hurt but he was not mad at her. He felt... grateful, maybe even happy for the first time in a long while. He listened to what she had to say with a grimace on his face but it turned into a bit of a warm smile. he looked her in the eyes and nodded "No... your right." he said as he gently placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair a little "Your the first friend I have had that I actually like." he took his hand off her head and placed it at his side. He didn't know why but he felt something was changing inside of him. Like he wasn't full of all this darkness anymore "Cursing my fate..." he muttered to himself in confusion.

He looked at the bow that Noir had given him and blushed as he thought about how he had kissed her on the cheek "About that kiss... from earlier." he muttered as he looked down in embarrassment "You see Noir I-" he cut himself off and laughed as he shook his head "Never mind." he quietly said as he decided to hide his feelings for her at this moment. She couldn't return those feelings anyway. Who could love a street rat?

Noir closed her eyes in surprise when the man lifted his arm to ruffle her hair, she blushed at that moment and looked up towards the white haired man when he stopped. Feeling a little disappointed that the ruffles ended so fast, she always liked to be ruffled because it made her comfortable even though some said she was just lowering herself like someone’s pet but she didn’t mind at all. The black haired girl blushed more when Lance said that she was his first friend that he actually liked, making Noir couldn’t say anything and looked around to find something appropriate to reply. While doing some rapid thinking, Noir tried hard to remember something that she learnt or being taught, and ended up remembering about this huge Imuchakk male that visited her last time. She still remember clearly his words about not using honorifics towards friends, wondering if the purple eyed man in front of her would be happy too if he heard this, “S-since we are friends now… Can I call you without honorifics…umm… like… just… L-Lance?”

She noticed the man blushed too and wanted to ruffle his hair to calm him down at first because she thought he was angry, but then she stopped when Lance mentioned about the kiss from earlier. Noir tilted her head in confusion and wondered if the man was mad because of the kiss, thinking that maybe the man was expecting her to kiss him back. He began to call her name but then cut himself off before telling the girl to not mind it, making Noir become more curious about what the man meant. But then without even asking first , the female magician would lean to Lance and then placed a soft, gentle kiss on his left cheek before pulling herself away and asked innocently, “You want that? Is that why your face is red like you are angry?” She blinked, hoping the man would answer her because in this time, she didn’t want the man to feel any negative emotion at all. “If no, then what are you trying to say?” She stared at the man intensely while still waiting for his answer. Beside her legs, her liger was already sleeping soundly like being in his own dream world.

After having some more conversation, she realized that the darkness has crept in and night had come. Noir would then call the white haired man’s name softly, with a very gentle tone. “Lance… I should go back home now…” She said, looking at the man’s eyes. “I really like talking to you…so let’s talk again if we have the chance…” She meant it, and was grateful to have a friend like him. Someone who knew her pain and had been going through same experience, the one who understood that pitying such things wouldn’t comfort anyone who had been through it. The black haired girl would give one last hug to the male magician before motioning her liger to get up and ready to go back home. She stopped a bit before stepped out from the big door, turning her back towards Lance and said, “Until then… farewell… Lance.” And she left with that, reaching to her neck where the necklace was put around it, ‘…I will treasure this…’

[EXIT]

Lance kept quiet. He didn't know what to say seeing as he had never felt this type of feeling before for someone. He watched her leave with a grimace on his face as as she left he held the bow that he had given her in his hand and sighed "I will not forget her..." he thought as he sighed and stood up, heading for his room.

He look into the mirror by his bed and grimaced "Why... Why did this happen to me... Am I even considered human anymore..." he said as he thought about his past and his actions. "Why does the world have to be like this... The prefect world is what we need but am I really going on about this correctly?" he asked his self as he clenched his fist and gripped the bow that Noir had given him "No. Slave traders are the problem with this world and believe me I will put the bastards down. Every single one of them." He had a new fire in his eyes as he looked at himself "Mom, I will make you proud of your boy." he said to his reflection as a glimmer of light started to shine in his heart.

Outside his office Rose, one of his disciples stood and watched him "Drowning deep in Revenge, Sanity will soon decay from his mind." she said as he spoke one last sentence "To save my soul from corruption. Risking this life of mine, whether I live or die, I will race to the final end." he said as he put his fist gently onto the mirror and smiled crazily. It was time for him to face his fears. Balbadd was the place where he was born and he was going to head back there.

[EXIT]