It wasn't a prison. Moon was sitting on a bed of a room he had been ordered to stay in. It wore golds and crystal at every side. A perfect room for the noble. And not for a bruised, disheveled young man.
It had been hours and his dark eyes were still on the wall.
A crack.
The more he watched it, the louder it got.
A voice.
A laughter, rather infuriating one.
No, it didn't come out from this crack. It came from the other. One which existed in the past. One that somehow still remained in his brain. Though distant now, he can hear The Hero laughed as they got thrown into a prison. Him and Moon. No, all the members of the Hand—in their fifth, sixth attempt to assassinate the hero, they were roped with his issue. Yeah, that's right. Moon recalled the sinking feeling that they were sure that it was the end.
But the prison had a crack on its wall.
And it ended there. No matter how hard he closed his eyes, pressed his temple, held his breathe. He can't remember what was next.
Nevertheless, they did escaped, he was sure of that.
Moon stared at darkness creeping in, wondering if he can also break free from his current prison.
But should he? Maybe not.
Maybe he had to just stay in here.
Dragging his own body to execution.
That had to be the best option. He couldn't think of something else.
He couldn't remember anything else.
A day later.
Knock, knock.
Moon opened the door and had to bend his neck a little to meet with her. A white hair, silver eyes—Lina? No, this girl shorter, in her body height and hair. She wore the Academy uniform—a white, blue attire and skirt. Moon recognized them. A student. Then… her relative?
The cousin.
"Excuse me, are you the Hero Of the West?"
She asked.
Just before he fully opened his mouth, the girl added, "Ah, the fake one of course."
Moon changed his answer, "… yes."
"I am at the right place then."
After nodding, she slipped her thin body in the room. "My name is Mina. Apprentice of the Hero Of The West. Or at least that's what I should tell people I am from now on."
Moon closed the door and followed her. She was kind of rude wasn't she? Now Moon wasn't the best person to talk about manner since he came from a poor orphanage, but walking in someone's room and already dove onto their bed, that was something he never thought of doing.
Yet Moon didn't feel slightly offended. Since 'that person' was a lot more pain in the ass to deal with.
Mina swung herself around the red blanket, facing the ceiling. Then she pulled out a worn-out notebook from her pocket… until she realized she was missing something. Then she jumped back to her feet and started opening every drawer.
Does she know? Moon asked himself. Judging by what he heard from the Council, Lina's niece being sent with him could only mean one thing. That they were sending her to death.
Mina turned around meeting Moon's face with a blank expression, "You know, instead of just staring at me you could help me find a pen here."
"Lina… did she tell you why you're here?"
She returned to scurrying, "Of course."
Then her hand froze.
A pen, she found it.
She turned to him, wearing a face that tell she had nothing to do with anything. Yet, she said this, "we are going to die, aren't we?"
He took a few seconds to realize that Mina might not be what she looked like. A student that dream a bright future. A student who don't dream.
Moon felt an unexpected rush of relief. He had no idea how to tell her if she was uninformed. Well, not that it helped anything since it was still a bad news.
"How do you feel about that?" she asked.
Moon tried to look at himself… and answered, "I'm not sure."
"Really? Because I feel nothing but excitement," the girl said, "I got to experience my first adventure after all. Shouldn't you be excited, too?"
She jumped and sat on the bed now with a pen, a notebook, and a smile that don't reach her eyes.
She wrote. They were characters that Moon had never seen. But again, what can his rely with his shattered memories.
Then she stopped in the middle of a, what could be guessed, a sentence.
Her silver eyes found the black pearls.
"What is it they call you before he fell?"
A name, she asked him for his real name that they both knew can't be spelled out. Moon didn't know whether the curse bound with her, too. but if he knew anything about Lina… she probably did it even to her niece.
Mina didn't stop staring, pushing Moon for an answer. And if he just outright told her, he had a feeling this very room would be covered with his flesh. And hers.
Luckily, his name was a very easy one to guess. Since it was there every night.
"The brightest light," Moon said, just slow enough, "at dark skies."
It hadn't been a second and Mina wrote something down. No, drew. A circle. "Got it. Pleasure to meet you, Hero Of The West."
Her hand clapped close the notebook.
"Now that's done, we should start preparing,right?"