Chapter 28: Jackson Clan

The boy led the two of them to an alley between two stores. Just as they reached, a little girl came running out, giving the boy a hug. Once she noticed the two unfamiliar faces, she hid behind him.

"This is my younger sister, Kate." The boy introduced, "And I'm Zack."

Kate stared at the two strangers for a little while, before mustering up her courage and reiterated her introduction shyly, "I'm Kate, I'm going to be nine soon..."

Emily squatted so that she could be at the same height as her. She then gave her a warm smile (which she might have learnt from Jai) and greeted her, "Nice to meet you, Kate."

Her huge green eyes sparkled when she heard Emily, "Nice to meet you too."

Her older brother decided passed her an Apple, her eyes lit up at the sight of the juicy fruit. She then darted between Zack and the apple, and it was as if she asking 'how did you get this?' with her eyes.

Zack looked down and smiled, "Kate, they paid these for us, so what should we say?"

She blinked for a while and turned her head to face Emily and Beck, "T-Thank you!"

Emily could not help but to smile at the adorable girl, "It's fine. If I'm not wrong, it was not th--"

Suddenly, Emily felt a drop of rain on hand. Within a few seconds, the drops of rain multiplied. Before they knew it, it started pouring.

"Follow me." Beck instructed as he grabbed her wrist, prompting to run. However, Emily did not budge, she was more concerned about the two kids, "What about them?"

Beck stopped and looked over his should, at the two children behind her, "Alright, they can come as well." He then took off his cloak and passed it to them, "It will be bad if you two get drenched further."

They took and gave him a bow, to thanked him. The four of them then rushed to a nearby inn just a couple of metres from the alley.

Once they entered, they saw many travellers who were drenched, apparently many of them came here too because of the pouring rain. Beck walked towards the lady at the counter and the two had a conversation of some sort.

After a few minutes, he returned with two keys, "We're lucky enough to get the last two rooms, I guess we should stay here for a little while, until the rain stops."

Emily and Kate shared a room, while Beck and Zack shared the other room. Once Emily and Kate reached the room, Emily asked Kate to take a quick bath because she was a little drenched.

Afterwards, both of them went to the other room, the guys were. Emily knocked on the door for a couple of times, and waited for a response.

A few seconds passed before a click sound was heard from the door. It swung open to reveal Zack standing behind it. Pleased, Kate rushed forward to enveloped one of his arms. She seemed to be really close to her brother, figuratively... And literally.

Emily and Kate helped themselves in just as Beck came out of the bathroom wearing a dry set of shirt and pants. Zack stared at Emily for a while before asking, "Why are you still wearing the cloak? I'm not saying it in the rude way, I'm just curious."

"Errr..." Emily looked over to Beck, hoping that he could cover her. He got the hint and rubbed his neck a little before lying to the two children, "Well, she has a really huge scar on her face."

"Yeah, a really ugly one." Emily added on, even though she felt really bad for lying to them.

"Oh, I see. Sorry, I didn't know it was a sensitive topic." Zack apologised as he hung his head hung lowly, "But, you can remove it if you want. I'm not gonna judge."

That was really nice, but Emily did not want to risk it. So, she rejected his offer. "It's fine, I'm used to wearing this cloak anyway."

Zack backed away and raised his hands up as if to surrender, "Alright, sure. Oh yeah, I haven't got to know your names yet."

"Um... I'm Robert." Beck lied once again.

"Pfft--!" Emily blurted out, but she immediately covered her mouth with her hands so that she could hide her laughter. "...Seriously? Robert?"

Emily regained her composure and lied, "Well, I'm..." She tried to think of a name and a random one popped up, "Rachel? I mean, yeah, Rachel."

Zack stared at her with a hint of suspicion, "Ooookay, nice to meet you both."

"Same here." Beck answered with a smile.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Zack." Emily followed. "I think you two should get some rest. I don't think you two have gotten any comfortable sleep for the past few weeks."

Kate yawned adorably and nodded while Zack as he patted his little sister on the head, "I'll see in a little bit, alright?" His little sister nodded again while rubbing her eyes.

Kate then followed Emily back to their room after their short visit. Once they were gone, the two guys were left alone. Zack volunteered to shut the door, since he was closer to it. However, just as he was about to turn around, Beck threw a book he found on the side table towards Zack's head, at a speed that was impossible for humans to dodge.

Zack noticed and dodged it swiftly without looking at the flying book. The book hit the door leaving a small spiderweb crack on it. He whipped his head around and looked at Beck shockingly, "What the--"

Beck's lips curved up to formed a rather intimidating smile, "Sorry, I thought I saw a fly."

"Oh, I was wondering if you hated me or something Zack laughed uneasily as he picked up the book and passed it to Beck. Beck reached out, but instead of grabbing the book, he grabbed onto Zack's arm. He then twisted his arm, forcing it to his back. He pushed him against the wall and interrogated, "Who are you?"

Even though his arm felt as if it was about to break, he still managed to force out a couple words, "W...What do you mean? I'm... Z-Zack."

"Just Zack? Is that your real name?" Beck questioned once more.

"Y-Yeah... Just Zack." He replied dishonestly. Beck increased the pressure, prompting him to tell the truth. "Ugrh! Alright! Alright! I'm Zack... Zack Jackson."

Beck loosened his grip upon hearing his last name, "Jackson... You're lying. There's no way, the whole Jackson clan was assassinated five years ago. There shouldn't be any survivors."

It was much easier for Zack to speak now, "Yeah, there shouldn't be. My parents... They sacrificed themselves for both of us, for Kate and myself. We escaped, with my Uncle."

Beck released him from his grip and backed away. Zack grimaced as rubbed his arm gingerly, before continuing, "I'm not lying."

"How would I know if you're not lying?" Beck spat with a hint of disbelief.

Zack lifted his shirt and to reveal a symbol at his right shoulder blade, a chinese dragon symbol that only those in the Jackson clan would have. "Look, I'm telling the truth."

Beck eyes widened, "You're really from the Jackson clan."

"Yeah." Zack pulled down his shirt and sighed, "Believe me now?"

The assassination of the Jackson clan, one of Fiore's allies. It happened five years ago and it was completely sudden. No one really knew what happened or who did it, it just happened. The only people who knew about what had actually happened were the members of Jackson clan themselves.

"Yeah, I do." Beck gave in as he rubbed the back his neck sheepishly, "I apologise for how I acted just now."

"It's fine--" Zack suddenly remembered, "How do you about all this? Who are you?"

"My real name isn't Robert, I'm Beck, from the Oliver family." Beck admitted, "I was supposed to be on a mission, but the weather seems to not permit that."

"Wait, wait. You're that one ally of the Fiore family? That Oliver family?! Rachel too?" Zack asked in surprise.

"Yeah, the Oliver family isn't that famous now though. It's just me and my brother. As for 'Rachel', she isn't from the Oliver family. She's from the Fiore's family, she is the Fiore's Princess." Beck answered causally.

"What are you talking about? Famous or not, it still an honour to be part of the family who stopped that one demon attack that happened years ago. Wow, I didn't know Rachel was Fiore's Pri--" He paused to process everything once more before freaking out, "SHE'S THE PRINCESS?!"

"Yes, she is. Her name is Emily actually, not Rachel." Beck informed with a smile.

"Oh. My. God. I've almost got her injured just now. It will be bad if the the nasty broom hit her face." His eyes widened as he walked in circles around the room.

"I think she wouldn't mind if that happened. 'If I can save him from that, it doesn't matter if I got hit.' That's what she would have thought back there." Beck comforted, placing the book back to where it belonged. He then turned to face Zack, "Zack, will it be alright if you tell me what happened five years ago? I'm not forcing you to do so, but it's a critical event that seems to be completely off of Fiore's records."

His expression darkened upon hearing his request. That event was something he did not want to remember, but he still got to face it someday.

With his head hanging lowly, he nodded, "I'll tell you what had happened five years ago."