Life or Death (Part 3), Scene v1

Miseri, you disappeared on us again. Take a break once in awhile from your exciting adventures and pop in and say hi once in awhile!

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Lucas slowed to a stop, kicking and punching anything he could find before dropping to his knees in choked sobs. “Why…why did this happen?”

Kismet expected him to lose himself, but his words felt a bit unusual. Sara approached him slowly and crouched down beside him. She embraced him tenderly, speaking softly. “Lucas…”

For a moment Lucas seemed to have calmed down a bit, but then he shoved Sara off of himself and pushed her into the wall. “Leave me the hell alone, Sara! Just stay away from me and leave me alone!”

“But, you must be devastated after watching that. Isn’t it painful to hold it all in?”

“What’s painful is you constantly bothering me despite how many times I tell you to stop. Seriously, I’m sick of everyone constantly trying to talk to me about everything. If you really want to help, then just go away and stop talking to me!” His mouth twitched angrily. He seemed to be at his limit, and Kismet knew Sara didn’t know when to stop. The Catheran started slipping silently toward him, as not to agitate him any further.

And as expected, Sara didn’t know when to stop. She laid a hand on his arm, pleading. “Please, Lucas. You don’t mean that. Your mind is just clouded with all your emotions—”

Lucas swung his fist into the right side of Sara’s face, knocking her to the floor with a bloody mouth. “Don’t even act like you understand what I’m going through!”

Lucas reared his arm back for another swing, but Kismet grabbed his arm. He swung his other arm around but Kismet ducked under it and locked both his arms in place. “Lucas. Maybe you should spend some time away from the capital. Why don’t you visit your mother for a while? She doesn’t know about what happened, right? You could just tell her that we just finished a big assignment and have some time off,” insisted Kismet in as calm a voice as she could manage.

The rage in his eyes seemed to die down. He looked over at Sara who watched with tear-stung eyes and blood trailing from the corner of her mouth. Turning back to Kismet, he stopped resisting her hold on his arms. “Fine.”

Kismet released her hold on him. He rose to his feet then walked out of the alley. She walked up to Sara and offered her a hand. “You okay?”

Sara wiped the blood from her mouth with a glare. “I hope you’re not expecting a ‘thank you’.”

Sara climbed to her feet, never taking her eyes off Kismet. Why she seemed so angry, the Catheran would never know. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you wanted to get hit again.”

“He’s just depressed and frustrated and doesn’t know how to deal with it. If hitting someone helps him get through this, then so be it,” scowled the archer. She flinched as she touched the side of her face lightly.

“If you insist. Tell General Devin that I’m going to follow Lucas to make sure he doesn’t do anything he’ll regret.”

“What? Why are you going? What are you planning to do? I’ll go after him, you stay here with your little princess.”

“You’re insane. Were you not here just now, when he was about to pummel you? If you followed Lucas, who knows what he’d do.” Kismet walked through the alleyway and snuck out of the capital. Something about Lucas’ actions, his anger, and his frustration, seemed a little out of place to her. He was too violent, too uncontrollable. If he really was going to his mother’s, she had to make sure he didn’t take his anger out on her.




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