Don't Change

In the middle of the night I hear a knock on my door. I wondered who would come this late and to my surprise yet again, I am paid a visit by Rex's little protegee Spade Escroc, honestly it's either this man is as shrewd as Rex or he simply does not take my attack seriously.

"Why did are you here this late?" Spade Escroc said beating me to the punch.

There was a time when I found these jokes funny but hearing from a youngster now, I can relate to the sour old man I used to play pranks on.

"Have you no bounds boy?" I scold him, like any good adult would do.

"When a teenager enters an older man's room in the middle of the night, it won't be the teenager who gets in trouble don't worry"

Oi enough with the jokes, and to think there was a time when I thought you were as smart as Rex, its a good thing I didn't kill you the first time you visited or it would just be another child in my conscience. What does Rex see in you Spade Escroc?

"I'm closing the door" I warn because I'm not so rude as to close it without warning.

"Ah thanks how polite of you" He said as he entered my room.

Patience Lacquer, don't let this kid get in your nerves.

"Now lets talk" he sat down and looked at me with all seriousness. Wow that shift in his personality, I suppose it is possible for Rex to see himself in you.

"What is there to talk about?"

"I want you to stop your plan"

"You aren't the first to ask that but my answer is still no"

"At least tell me why you fight such a needless battle, all those books tell a story of a merciful commander, of a man who loves his people, tell me Lacquer where has that man gone?"

Spade, you have the same eyes as me. Weary and broken and when you speak your word have weight, it is as if I am talking to a man who has also lived a long hard life.

"A child like you wouldn't understand"

"Why? because I haven't killed as many as you have? Because I haven't had to make your sacrifices? Would Anakin understand?"

My son?! I couldn't control myself and I hurled him to the wall.

"Why do you know that name?!"

"That is why isn't it? Rexcarius made you choose between him or the kingdom and you chose the people, and now you resent him for it, tell me I'm wrong"

I let him go and regain my composure.

"Your wrong, I never resented Rex" I say as I wipe the tears from my eyes. Anakin, to think the next time I would hear your name is from a strange teenager.

"You are brave I can tell you that Escroc"

I then pour a bottle of one of my strongest booze to a glass, I'll be needing it after all the memories this brat uncovered.

"I know you don't want to kill me, I was one of the people you saved after all"

He said as he also poured a glass for himself.

"You shouldn't be drinking that"

He looked at me with a condescending glance.

"Should you really be saying that when you had been drinking with Alfron when he was much younger than I am"

How the hell does this kid know so much?!

"That's much too strong for kids"

"The kick of alcohol is like the horns of war, when your prepared for it, it wouldn't feel so bad" He said as he drank like a connoisseur would a good amontilliado.

"I used to say that to my soldiers, how do you know all this?"

"I didn't come here to talk to you about that, I want to talk about Alfron and the workers"

"And what about them?"

"I know you care about them, and you just said you care for the king so what the hell is all of this for?"

Well it wouldn't matter anyway.

"This kingdom used to be a small province, one that entrusted their lives to me and I did everything to protect them, I even let Rexcarius take the throne, knowing he would be able to make the calls I never could"

Spade simply remained silent listening to every word.

"Now the age of war has ended and we are no longer suitable for leadership"

"The hell kind of reason is that?! Who do you think would take the rule when you have killed Rexcarius and hanged yourself? What do you think would be left of Cebunilla when the two greatest leaders it ever had suddenly died?"

So you even know my plan to die, I have reached the point where I don't even question what you know now.

"Zyderine would make a good queen, she knows much more about the throne than Rex or I when we first took over this kingdom"

"Tell me the real reason Lacquer"

"I just did"

"Is it because you want to go back to the warzone?"

"What?! No, that isn't a pain I want to bring upon anyone"

"Yet you still intend to bring it nonetheless, your words contradict your actions and your values contradict your ambitions. Tell me Lacquer which do you hold more sacred?"

"Don't give me that! I am not doing this for my own well being! If I was the selfish man everyone says I am then I would have never stayed here! I would never have been left alone! I would have never stayed and watched as everything I have ever lived for fall apart, I never would have fulfilled the promise I made for people who died before I could show them! You will never know my pain! You are just an emotionless machine who finds pleasure in torturing your own comrade and toying with your own children! You are the monster here Rex not me!"

Damn it my I lost my temper again. Spade only paused and finished his drink.

"So it was about him after all"

I couldn't speak again after my outburst.

Spade seeing as he could not change my mind got up to leave but as he opened the door he spoke.

"Rexcarius may not may not love his children but his children adore him...and you. Don't let them lose their father for a reason you can barely justify Lacquer"

Father? Which one of us are you talking about?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*19 years ago*

It's been a year since Rex has been teaching me magic and I'll say he is a really good teacher. To think about how different things were a year ago before I met Rex, the Cheysers were still abusing their power and my parents were beating themselves up because I still couldn't do magic but then Rex came and everything changed. With his magic the Cheysers were pushed back not wanting to deal with him just to get a few crops from our poor little town, and he even thought me magic.

Everyone welcomed Rex despite not knowing who he was, I did though because he told me but I advised him to keep the fact that he was King Heidcheyser's secret love-child a secret though. Him being a bastard was bad enough but if they knew he was the emperor's offspring they might kill him which I never really could understand. I wish to create a world where such useless thoughts are non existent in one day.

Well it's nearly time, my lessons with Rex are starting. I saw him pass and I showed him my latest magic spell.

"Magic Fireball!"

I say as I threw a rock at him.

Of course he saw from a mile away and dodged it easily.

"That wasn't a fireball, its a rock" Mr. Obvious stated.

" That's what makes it magical hahaha"

Rex looked confused, I guess jokes are still perplexing for him huh. For all the intelligence he has, he still lacked common sense oddly.

"So um shall we start the lesson?"

"Not yet, the weird men are still searching for me. I need to deal with them first"

"Cool, can I come?"

"ok"

Apparently the queen wants to kill Rex and she even sent bad men to poor Rex. They're bad people and they deserved to be punished but Rex just keeps on making them lost oddly. I wonder why Rex doesn't just make them disappear like the first time we met although it is fun tricking adults like this, they have no idea they have been going in circles because we keep putting dead trees in their way haha.

Eventually when the sun is almost down they would give up and go home those odd men and then me and Rex would continue our lessons, its weird that people said that we can only cast magic of our own affinity but Rex has been teaching me magic spells like fireball and lightning rod despite my magic affinity being Galaxia which seems to be the most superior star magic.

I still don't know what Rex's is though because he keeps on using spells of different affinity and for me when I try to, I only get twisted versions of my star magic like instead of "Shooting Star" my first spell ever being just a simple fast shard it becomes so fast that it becomes static which made it similar to "Lightning rod" but still way different from Rex's which was an exact replica of what lightning affinity users cast. Rex did tell me it was sufficient though so I won't complain. Still far inferior to his when it comes to distance and damage though still mine leaves a mark because of the rock shard which I don't know if its any better than Rex's clean burns.

Because of Rex's tutelage I have gotten much more free time which gave us the opportunity to make friends, although most of the children don't like us, probably because Rex is a foreigner and I am the favorite but still we had friends, well I did and Rex just stuck around and eventually my friends warmed up to him. I also found a girl I like and her name is April, she's really pretty and kind, our first friend actually but the thing is, she has crush on Rex and so does her older sister Lilia which is also pretty and friendly but something about her is odd, I was the only one who noticed but she likes to embarrass her sister to get attention and she even takes other children's toys which she doesn't even play with but likes the fact that other boys like her and would offer her things.

Rex is really popular, I wonder if it's because of his class and magic? I didn't ask April what she liked because it seems she hasn't realized it herself, I have this odd talent of knowing people very well that I know more than their family or themselves. I see patterns in people and although the lines and shapes are unique for each person it's still similar well except for Rex who seems to have a tangled pattern that makes it hard for me to read him. Perhaps he became close to me to untangle it but from what I have seen people don't change their patterns easily and there's only one person I saw who has changed her pattern and it's Lilia who makes it similar to whoever she wants to impress and call me crazy but sometimes I see her patterns coincide with the person she talks to and created tangles that are far from Rex's but still quite messy to look at. Perhaps if I am good at reading people then Lilia is good at changing them, thankfully April is still the same, I'd hate for her to be as messed up as Rex.