“No, that’s quite all right, if anything I have time to burn since I am here early.. But I do have to head out again a little later to finish up.”
Roland said, closing the door as quite as a mouse, leaving no room for error he sat down across from Alex efficiently..
Alex’s eyes tried to look away, but his curiosity drew him closer to Roland’s presence, something about this man was wrong but Alex couldn’t put a finger on it.
Roland’s darker hair, his ruff face and brown eyes, saggy clothes witch still looked formal despite his tired face.
He turned his eyes past Alex like he wasn’t even there, he looked into the kitchen at
Eveline who was preparing the dinner by her self, confused he spoke;
“Eveline dear, where might Tiffen be? She should be helping you after all..” As
Eveline turned to his voice she stuttered for an answer before the door opened again, this time the silhouette of a maid with lighter red hair was standing there, Tiffen then spoke making her was into the kitchen;
“I was out folding clothes and sheets, just in time to help Madam Eveline prepare the soup, just as instructed of her.” Tiffen took some pride in the word ‘instructed’ stepping past Roland, making her was into the kitchen with Eveline.
Her hands danced around the counters with precision, taking over the kitchen with style helping in more ways then just some extra hands.
“Good..” Roland whispered under his breath, not in a rude way or anything like that, it was more of a relief letting those words of praise slip out, even if Alex had only heard them.
Alex was utterly captivated by the movements and dynamic between the three, but he still felt some tension in the air, something he couldn’t quite find.
While looking at Roland making his moves, Alex was spotted by the mans gaze, looking down at the child Roland waited, silently staring at
Alex’s stare.
Alex felt a shiver roll down is entire soul, one questioned resurfaced at this moment;
『 Who even is Roland?
』
Cael thought as his gaze at Roland was challenged, despite such a weird feeling Cael wasn’t backing down, if he wanted to find the truth about who is farther even is, he would need to show him there equal.
But no cracks showed, his gaze was fixed like he had been frozen in time, this stillness sent shivers across Alex like a never ending storm. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
But he wasn’t giving up, on the inside, Cael was if not, around the same age as Roland, even though he was a child he still had the will of a knight.
Then Roland closed his eyes, with a heavy sigh he looked back at Alex who was clearly effected by the stare but also wasn’t giving up against it,
“So..” He said calmly holding his chin up with his arm, he then spoke again;
“You look different, Alex, did something happen? Or, perhaps, your alive?”
He said calmly, looking back at Alex with one eye open and one eye closed, silently staring.
『 Shit, what’s that even supposed to mean?
Am I alive?
Well yeah, clearly your looking at me!
Wait… Did he mean it… oh no… 』 Alex looked away down at his shirt, he had grasped his hair feeling his thoughts surge; 『 Does he know?
Shit shit shit, he has been lurking in the shadows of my life and noticed a change today?
The day that I have been given my consciousness?
The day I broke out and saw all my fragments of childhood, have I differed that greatly in a day?
Mother, and Tiffen, they would have noticed before he did right?
They spend the most time with me?
Surly they would of said something right?
Shit shit shit, what do I say!?
』
Roland tilted his head at Alex’s hand and how long it took to respond, Alex’s face was calm and thinking about his next move, Roland however lent in further;
“There is no need to hide it..” Roland’s words felt like it was being thrust through Alex’s heart, his breathing went higher as Roland talked further; “After all, I remember that strange day aswell…” A noticeably fear struck across Alex’s face and body, sprawling into thought;
『 That day?
Don’t tell me this basted was there, does he know what happened?
The angel, the sword-master?
Feray?
Does he know all of it?
Why did he wait until now?
Is he testing me!
』
“I remember that day… I was in a field, grass stretched to the horizon and back, the voices of the crickets and wind covered the sanction in life. That day, yes that day, oh how lovely it was to watch the clouds, to watch the wind, to lay in the grass, all of it led to the moment in my mind where for the first time I said aloud ‘Am, I, Alive?’ That day, Roland was born, it was my birth that brought me into the world, but that day I had fully understood I had walked and breathed in such a world.”
As Roland spoke more about this sudden feeling of ‘life’ or the act of questioning ones own existence, the more it mapped out to Alex’s day.
『 Phew, Roland wasn’t there that day in the other world, he was asking if I am alive in the sense of being ‘conscious’ he wasn’t asking about me, he was asking me… Wait no, that doesn’t make sense, ugh, he was asking if I was conscious, mmmm, should I say yes?
I mean if he is this observant then he would dig in further and I don’t want him to do that… I should, 』
Alex looked at his farther reminiscent on his first ‘moments’ of life, with a bit of courage Alex spoke this time he didn’t mask anything, trying to be truthful around such a man of shadows;
“Yes, I guess you could say that… I was sitting in the hallway when I felt something bigger then me guide me here, and now I think… And remember, much more then I could, almost like snap on becoming awake…”
Roland’s smile grew, not in an evil way, but more as for the first time his child understood what complex words he used, and conveyed his own message using the same language.
So in other words he was proud of his son, he was in fact alive and not a mindless baby collecting fragments of memory.
Just as Alex finished, Eveline and Tiffen had came over with a plate of bread and a pot of soup, the bread was long and thin, it looked slightly stale but nothing new.
The soup however took a green tint from all the herbs and varies vegetables from the garden and town, mixed with small chicken pieces.
Tiffen then spoke taking off her mittens as she had places the soup in the middle of the table, grabbing a bowl and finding the ladle hidden in the soup;
“Tonight we will be having soup, and bread, Me and Madam had made this dish for dinner tonight, cooked just in time before dusk, and early enough for Roland’s early arrival. Please enjoy, and let me dish everyone bowl’s out, oh and it’s very hot so don’t forget to blow it down…” She said looking at Alex at the end, slowly handing everyone bowls out one by one.
Alex was handed a blow in front of him, he didn’t know what to make his conversation with Roland, but it was clear it was staying in between them, 『 He almost had be worried… 』Cael thought, looking at his reflection in the bowl of green soup, grabbing a spoon as everyone sat around the table.