Weapon Exchange

Ace shook his head groggily as he looked around the room, sleep was still heavy on his body but today was an important day.

He is going to be in a meeting with the king of this country.

Lucian came to the room the night before as Ajax was about to leave the night before and they began to talk about the plan.

He has to play his cards right. Lucian had sent a letter to the king, on behalf of Ace, the king still does not know that the two are there, to ask what to do about this.

He never replied. Even though he used the quickest method possible.

It was almost like he sent a message and was left on read.

"This was his intention." Ace said, looking at the two. "He wants me to take care of this all on my own."

"But, why?" Ajax asked. He wasn't really questioning 'why', just his motive.

"Father is like that," Lucian said, leaning against the window. "We can never really tell if his intentions are good or bad."

"That is what makes me feel so annoyed." Ace sighed. "I feel like father wants me dead sometimes."

The two didn't reply and just exchanged looks, almost asking each other, 'What did you tell him?'

'I didn't tell him, I thought you did.'

"It's just a thought." Ace laughed before going back to thinking. "I think we have to take care of this problem as quickly as we can."

"What do you suggest, kid?" Lucian said, smiling lazily at him.

"A meeting with the king, if we can come to some kind of conclusion that will benefit both sides without making each other into enemies."

Ajax suddenly hugged Ace, tight. "You are too kind-hearted, little brother. Don't ever change."

"I wouldn't mind if he changed just a little bit." Lucian chuckled. "A little bloodshed never hurt anyone."

"Except for the people that are bleeding." Ace said from under Ajax's arms.

"Perhaps." he shrugged. "Come, Ajax. Let's schedule a meeting with the king. Let the boy rest."

Ajax only looked at Lucian as he replied, "I already placed the protection spell."

"Ok." Ajax's smile came back on his face. "Rest well, Ace. We will schedule a meeting at the earliest."

He promptly fell asleep once they walked out of the room.

______________

The moment Ace woke up, Ajax was walking out of the room and shouted, "The meeting will be in two hours! A maid will come to pick you up."

"Where are you going?" He asked but the boy was out of the room before he could hear him.

Tired, Ace forced himself out of the bed and walked to the bathroom to begin cleaning up.

The bathroom had a large mirror that ended from wall to wall all over the bathroom. There was a sink right in front of the mirror with a working tap and even warm as well as cold water.

There were some enchantments at the side of the sink to make the water come out.

At the side is a large bathtub that seems to be sticking out of the ground and it is filled with glistening clear blue water.

He was in for a surprise though, when he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

The left of his eyes was completely red, not a trace of white to be seen in the iris.

"What the hell happened?" He mumbled as she inspected his eye. It still hurt even when he touched around the area gently.

Pulling his hand away, he noticed how it stung slightly when he blinked, almost like the feeling of soap getting in your eyes.

"What happened?" he mumbled to himself when the air suddenly grew heavy and a little, red, fur ball appeared in front of him. "Cleo?"

"Hello." It said, smiling brightly at him. "How are you?"

"What do you think?" Ace asked, looking over the injuries on his face once again, there were some scratches here and there but they will fade in time, hopefully.

The one scar above his eyelid though, that looks nasty and almost like it got cut in half. Must be from that time he smashed his head against the rock.

"Your hair colour is coming along well," Cleo said, looking at his slightly redder hair now, nodding. "Good."

"Are you here only to admire my beauty?" Ace teased, taking off his shirt with a slight pain on his side, eyes widening. "Oh wow."

On his chest was a mark that seemed completely healed but the scar was still very visible. It was covered up with skin, almost like a perfect circle.

"Sorry," Cleo said, ears down. "There is nothing that can be done about the scar."

"Are you kidding?" Ace's eyes lit up. "I look so damn cool right now."

"Well, you are happy, that is fine." Cleo lit up again, flying to his face. "That kid did a good job. I am impressed he was able to save you, after that injury you sustained."

"Speaking of that." Ace looked down at his wrist and saw the marking on his hand gone. In its place is a faint scar running along the whole of his wrist. "It's gone."

"He took it out," Cleo said, grinning at him. "You owe him a lot."

"Why did he even save me?" Ace asked, frowning slightly. "He had no reason to."

"But he did. Ajax."

"My brother?" Ace asked, scrunching up his face in annoyance. "Why?"

"You still haven't unlocked that backstory yet." Cleo laughed. "You will know about it sometime. But you should know that he would do anything for him."

"Why wasn't he there to stop me then? I mean the player, when they came to kill him?" Ace frowned.

"He was not originally part of the story, the game story I mean. That is one of the main reasons why." It shrugged, flying around the room while Ace began to wash up in the bath.

"What was he doing then?"

"Donno." Cleo rested on the edge of the bath. "Again, he is not in the realms of the game so he can move however he wants, wherever he wants. He is a mysterious one. But ... this was the first time he actually stepped in to help someone."

"Really? So ... does he know about the loop?"

Cleo shrugged again. "Again, not I nor the system know anything about him. He is a complete enigma. It doesn't help that he is also a time manipulator."

"Oh, so he can do something like you would do when you talk to me?" Ace spotted another enchantment on the wall and waved his hand over it as the water began to bubble. "Ooooooooo~."

"Yes, but I am only able to do this because it is still considered as a 'game'. Once this spell breaks ... I will be, pretty much, powerless."

"I see." Ace nodded. "There is a chance he may know what is happening here and has decided to help me because he can't bear standing by and letting it all be like that."

"Oddly specific reason."

"Just a conclusion I came up to with myself." Ace played with the bubbles, cupping them in his hands and blowing them away. "It is most likely to not be true. Ohhh~ What does this do?"

He waved his hands over another enchantment and the water began to smell heavy, "Ugh. I hate lavender."

Waving his hands on the enchantment again, the small changed to a more earthy, forest scent and he relaxed into the waters. "I feel like I am going to fall asleep here, Cleo."

"You can't!" Cleo said. "Today is very important and you will need to do what you can to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Can't I be a little bit late?" Ace sighed, closing his eyes.

Cleo tried to shake him with its little paws, "Don't do that. You will fall asleep."

It was too late as Ace had already fallen asleep.

Sighing, Cleo said, with a smile on its face, "Drastic times calls for drastic measures."

Its claws came out and, with one swipe, cut against the boy's exposed chest, startling him awake.

"Who was that?" He asked, summoning a weapon in his hands as he looked around the bathroom.

"Relax, it was just me," Cleo said smugly. "Please put the sword away, you are going to hurt someone, someone being me."

"You didn't have to do that." Ace relaxed again, the weapon disappearing as he rubbed the scratch marks on his chest. "It hurt."

"You shouldn't have fallen asleep," Cleo answered back. "Look, it is almost time for the meeting and I need to tell you something."

"And that is?" Ace asked, stepping out of the bath as he reached for the towel, wrapping himself in it.

"You can't go into the meeting room."

"Why?"

"Remember how I told you about how time travel works?"

"Barrier, something and cannot get out of it otherwise we will go back." He asked, wiping his hair with another cloth and stepping out of the bathroom. "That was never a problem before, right?"

"Yes," Cleo followed after him. "The limit you can go is just before the door."

"Great."