8 Chapter 8

"Nope, never heard of anyone with those names." Cecil responded abruptly and brushed past them.

"Now, now, don't be too hasty!" The stranger laughed, catching up in a few skips. "If you say you don't know them, then I won't push, but I wonder, where did you get that little gold coin?"

'Ah,' Cecil had an epiphany. 'I see what he's doing now.'

"Didn't you hear me earlier? I think you were sitting there the entire time. I got it at the inn on the east side of town. Some random guy threw a bunch out. I think it's too late now for you to go get any though." Cecil explained and walked faster, letting out a huff of frustration when he noticed the guy was still tagging along behind him. "Didn't you hear me? If you really want one, you should go quickly and search really hard, and you might get lucky. Why are you still following me?"

"I heard you the first time," the stranger smiled predatorily, "but, if I may ask, why are you spending it on some cheap, street food in a back alley? I'm sure that you could have used it to get a nice, cozy room at the inn you were talking about and get a nice, big meal. Are you in trouble or something?"

"All the inns were full," Cecil frowned, speeding up even more only for his efforts to go to waste as the strange man refused to leave his side, "and I have my little siblings to take care of. I can't just take them all in the inn, can I?"

"Oh? Really now... but I don't see them? Do you mind introducing me to them?"

"They're all at home, and yes, I would mind. Go away." Cecil scowled, now speeding up into a run. To his great relief, when he glanced back, the man wasn't following him anymore, just standing there with his face in his direction.

'Better than having him follow me around the entire night.' Cecil thought, running past a few more blocks back to his temporary home.

Sitting down on the cleanest part of the floor he could find, he mentally reminded himself to get a mat or something similar, and then, he opened the bag of skewers. A delicious aroma floated up to his nose, and his stomach grumbled in response.

Reaching in, he plucked one out from the rest and took a large bite. As he chewed, his eyes widened, and he immediately took another bite.

In no time at all, he was already finished and reaching for another one.

Soon, all the skewer sticks were sitting neatly in the bag, and Cecil let out a burp as he patted his belly in satisfaction. He wiped at his mouth with his hand and pushed the paper back behind the door.

'I'll go throw that away tomorrow.' Cecil convinced himself before letting out a yawn. Carefully rubbing at his eyes, Cecil laid down on the floor.

He got a few restless hours of sleep, haunted by nightmares the entire time. When he blearily opened his eyes, he briefly wondered if he was still dreaming when he found a pair of chocolate eyes staring at him intensely. He was about to dismiss it and go back to sleep when a voice spoke up.

"Ah, the sleeping princess is awake." The voice remarked. Cecil furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember where he heard that voice before. A hazy picture emerged in his mind of a ridiculous guy and he bolted up, pushing himself up and to the door before he even opened his eyes fully.

He was stopped by a pair of hands grabbing his arm and pushing it down, dragging the rest of Cecil's body along with it. He laid there, dazed for a moment, and Darius took the opportunity to join Travis in holding him down.

Cecil's head cleared up, and he struggled uselessly. He couldn't overpower the two, grown men, however, so he resorted to glaring nastily at them.

"Sorry." Travis offered consolingly. As if that was supposed to help!

"Now that you're awake, I can finally finish what I was saying last time before you ran off! Seriously, it was such a pain having to track you down again!" Darius complained, waving an arm around. "You're under arrest! If it was a normal situation, hm... you'd be dead."

Cecil's heart stopped for a moment and his glare faltered. "Are you two some kind of special guards that specifically chase down people and execute them?"

"Now, now, we haven't even finished! You should really learn some manners. Anyways, as I was saying, that was if this was a normal situation. However, this isn't a normal situation! Yay! You aren't going to die!" Darius cheered. Travis shook his head in the background.

Cecil gawked at Darius in bewilderment. He was definitely judging him.

"Instead, you're coming back with us to the Royal Capital!" Darius revealed merrily.

Cecil blinked, and then he blinked a few more times.

'I must still be dreaming,' he thought in a daze.

"I recognize that look on your face. No, this is real." Travis sighed, motioning for Darius to continue with a tilt of his head.

"Yup, very real. Super real! Isn't this amazing?" Darius continued enthusiastically.

"I-. How is this amazing?" Cecil stuttered in bewilderment.

"Huh? You don't have to die. Isn't that the best thing of all?" Darius asked in confusion. "And you don't have to go to jail! And you get to go to the Royal Capital! Is that not good?"

"What my idiotic partner means to say," Travis interjected, "is that you are going with us to the Royal Capital."

"I thought I was being arrested..? What even is this..." Cecil muttered. already forgetting about escaping.

"You are being arrested! And the jail is the Royal Capital!" Darius reminded. "Are you ready? I want to go already!"

"Sure-, I mean, wait!" Cecil protested as he was hauled up from the ground. Travis dusted him off, picking up his trash and walking out the door nonchalantly. Darius grabbed his hand and started running after him, forcing Cecil to run in order to keep up.

"Let's go!"