Young Writers Society

“L-Lucius?” Silently, Mikhail rolled onto his feet and straightened up, his pinched brow and protruding tongue warned of an unpleasant entrance into the conversation. The muted image of agility was then blown away with a sneeze, followed by an exaggerated shiver. Omnipresent shadows hung from a great lattice of branches, blocking the sun. “We should probably get going…”

“Mm?” Lucius wished that he had infinity to make his decision, and his frustration projected throughout his body. His face twisted in displeasure, and his fingers dug into his coat. Inside his boots, his feet curled as much as the earth would allow. “Mikhail, what do you think of Wila's... circumastances?”

A pair of hazel eyes beheld Mikhail with the utmost desperation. The girl mouthed something. Her hands were pointedly held out.

Hands tugging at his short sleeves and feet pivoting on the soles, Mikhail looked up, to the side, and back to the others. “.. Lucius, I think that-“

“Oh, come on!” There was no need for Mikhail to continue, because the fact that the boy was addressing Lucius with an apologetic tone was proof enough that he sympathized with Wila. If Lucius wasn’t convinced enough that there was a conspiracy between the two before, he was certain of it now. “What is between you two?”

“Nothing that you need to be concerned about,” Wila replied with a curtness that could not hide her relief. Her mouth tugged into a grin and she went over to Mikhail, patting him on the head. It looked quite strange, since she wasn’t all that taller than him. Realizing how unsupportive her actions were for her words, she stopped.

“Seriously.” Lucius was not willing to let this slide as a joke another time. The two had done well before, distracting him with personal matters and transitions into comedy, but a veil of simmering patience felt like it had enwrapped his mind. His brain stood alert, prepared to pick out any inconsistencies and turn them into reasons for a full-blown tantrum. “At least tell me the general idea of what was discussed before coming in here, and hopefully that’ll answer Mikhail’s questionable loyalties.”

The two exchanged glances. Mikhail sighed and Wila shrugged. Both held themselves with apprehension but also with an acceptance that meant the relationship didn’t have to be completely hidden.

“Alrightie, Luc, listen up,” Wila began. She bent down and cleared the grass of twigs and dry leaves, then flopped down. Her position was so casual that Lucius began to doubt if the matter was serious at all. “So if you haven’t guessed by now, we sort of know each other. Before this group, of course.”

“In the… outside world?” For some reason, Lucius avoided the world ‘real’. By calling the previous world real, it would imply that this one was fake. This arena, despite its bending of space and logic, felt too real. Perhaps it was the blood, the death of the unnamed woman, or just the people he knew here. No matter which, Lucius could not full-heartedly denounce this place into a land of fantasies. “Like Reyna and Claud?”

“No, no, that’d be way too convenient. The world isn’t that small, no matter how the saying goes,” she said, and before Lucius could ask what the saying was in the first place, she continued with a wave of the hand. Her sleeve slipped down further and Lucius caught the glinting tip of a knife. “I, um, knew a friend that he made in the arena. Travelled with her for a while. Left before he met her, though.”

“Wait, so what does this have to do with all this trust?” An eyebrow was raised. “Mikhail, if you trust her not to kill us all because of a friend that you made in here after the two separated, that’s some serious assumptions.”

“She… was a good judge of character,” Mikhail slowly said, rolling his words through a rusty filter. “She would always… talk about Wila. That’s why I thought I knew her before. When we were walking th-through the forest where we met.”

“Stop playing me for a fool,” Lucius growled. The two’s numerous moments of confusion and uncertainty eroded away the story’s plausibility. “I don’t care if it’s about some long lost love or if you guys are cousins four times removed. What’s the issue here?”

“Lucius, it’s really had to say. Is there no way you’re going to let us off the hook?” The girl’s face was as pale as the moon, in great contrast to the sunny disposition earlier, giving away the emotions beneath that neutral expression. She rubbed her hands together. Her lips moved and Mikhail sharply twisted his head to glare at her.

Instead of saying anything, Lucius squared his shoulders and stared above their heads. It was sign enough that he wasn’t giving in.

Wila pulled several blades of grass right off, squeezing her fists tight. Then, she let out a long breath and the grass fluttered to the ground. Grass that had been cut off from its life source could blend in with its flourishing neighbors remarkably well. “Alright. Let’s… talk while we walk. I don’t feel comfortable giving information here. Also, no judging.”