Chapter 7: Alice & Grey

The sweat slowly cascaded down the side of Grey's jaw, gently dropping to the floor in a silent splash. Grey was breathing heavily. His chest was rising swiftly, and falling even quicker. To his left stood a man in iron clad armor, a stout long blade positioned out in front of his hands. To his right a similar man stood with his sword horizontally. But Grey wasn't focused on either of those two. He held an unwavering gaze toward officer Burk, ready to retaliate the moment someone made a move.

Alice smiled as she looked down at Grey. "Is he always this serious when he fights?" she said smiling, gently resting her head in her arms as she hung partly out of an open window.

"Depends. He knows this is an important fight." Captain Pierce's voice came off warm and tenderhearted, with a hint of worry.

"But if he loses, can't he just fight them again?"

Pierce sighed. "It isn't that simple. Since he isn't of noble birth, if he wants to be welcomed into the knighthood, he must be exceptional. And exceptional excels. Right miss Alice?" He said looking down at the princess.

Alice sighed. "But even if he is gifted with the blade how can he ever hold up to master fighters like Lucas or Sky? I understand the point of hard work, but it doesn't matter how much work you put in. You can't beat the talented who work hard. Alice smiled while watching Grey fight. "Although, it is nice to see him try so hard."

Grey feinted a heavy swing towards officer Burk, and came in with a right hook that crashed into his face. Using the momentum of the attack, Grey springboarded off of his leg and threw a spinning roundhouse kick to his assailant on the left, rendering him unconscious. Grey looked up to see Alice cheering and clapping. Grey smiled, right before he ate a kick to the back

"I'm still here."

Twirling his sword, Grey smirked. "You really think you can beat me one on one in a sword fight? Come on now." Slashing his blade out in front of him, he created a whooshing sound.

"That's lame."

"Won't be lame when I kick your ass."

Grey didn't hesitate to dash towards his opponent. With skilful execution, Grey stepped out to the left while crashing his blade into his opponent's blade, forcing his opponent to stand still. After inciting a natural reaction of suddenly getting so close, an opening appeared, and Grey brough the blade toward his opponents neck, stopping just short of his trachea.

Grey smirked. "You done?" The soldier lowered his blade in defeat. He looked up at Alice and smiled. "Is thoust still wantest to goest through the garden mi lady?" Grey said with a twang.

Alice just smiled at Grey. "I dunno. I'm not sure I can find my way out of this castle. I might need some saving first." She smiled, as she wagged her finger at Grey as she got up from her seat in the window, disappearing into her room.

Just as Grey was about to knock on Alice's door, he was suddenly shoved to the floor. Looking up at his attacker he shouted, "Hey! What the he-." He stopped short with a smile. Standing up he snatched the cloak off of his assailant. "Gimme that you dork."

Alice stood smiling under an old potato sack. "Hey stud. Are you ready for our friendly stroll as nothing more than friends?"

Grey gently pushed her laughing. "Shut up. You wish I was royalty. Otherwise you'd be on me like white on rice. Are we going to the usual spot?"

Alice rolled her eyes and tapped her lips. "Hmm. I'm not sure I want to go anymore. Seeing as you are being so rude." Her eyes veered back to Grey, her lips curving into a smile.

Grey smiled back, rolling his eyes as he responded. "Princess Alice," He extended his hand. "Would you allow me to please accompany you to the garden this lovely evening?"

Smiling, Alice placed her hand gently into Grey's. "I would be honored."

As the pair walked down the halls towards Verion's garden, Alice talked to Grey. "So have the walls always been this golden?"

"Yes."

"What about the columns? Have they always been marble? Ohh! Have you ever found any cracks in them?"

"Haha! No. No I've never found any cracks in any of the pillars."

"Ahh! What? But haven't you lived her your whole life? How could you not if you've grown up here."

Grey's eyes grew downcast, and his glace shifted toward the floor. Grey let go of Alice's hand, and turned toward her. "You know-" His eyes shifted to the right.

Alice grabbed Grey's face. Looking into his eyes, she smiled. "It's alright Grey. If it's something painful you can always just tell me when you feel like it." Prancing ahead, she turned her head back and continued, "Besides, if you had kept going you would have totally killed this mood."

"Yeah. You're right." Smiling, Grey followed after Alice.

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Inside of the castle library, in between the rows of books, on the 6th floor, at an isolated table, sat Grey and Alice, silently studying together. "So," Alice whispered, "What was your family like? Oh don't give me that look! You promised you'd tell me. This is the perfect time! No one's around. Come on! I want to know more about you." She placed her hand on Grey's arm and pursed her bottom lip. "For me?"

Grey blew out his breath, blowing the hair in his eyes away from his face. "My ma. She was an angel." Alice sat back as she saw Grey's eyes grow starry, and a sad smile form on his face. "She was always so caring and nice. She would always cook dinner for the whole family. My dad, grandpa and me. Super nice woman. So genuine and caring. She would always jus-" Grey's lit up with a memory. Smiling, he said, "Actually, probably better I don't tell you that one."

Alice's mouth dropped. "Ah! No sir. You are not doing that to me. Come on! I wanna hear what you were gonna say." She gently shook Grey.

With a smirk, Grey continued. "My mom would always patch up my wound whenever I came back inside injured or hurt. And you know, at first, she was really sweet and kind. Like, she would say 'oh honey! What happened? Come here!' but then, as soon as she taped me up, she would fly out the front door in a fury, screaming like a banshee looking for whoever hurt her baby. There was actually this one time where some lady in the village was talking bad about me by the river while washing clothes, and apparently my mother actually picked up that ladies basket of clothes and threw them in the river." Grey turned towards Alice, his face full of excitement. "And guess what she said?"

"What?" Alice said, her face turned to the side, her eyes delicately watching Grey's every move.

"Oops!" Grey bent over in laughter, but not long after, his laughter quickly turned to tears, and his tears into weeping.

Alice pulled Grey into her shoulder, and let him weep, letting his tears stain her dress. Rubbing his back she comforted him. "Shh. It's alright Grey. I'm here."

Sitting back up Grey wiped his eyes. "You know, she would always fight with my dad. You see, he was kind of vicious. Well, he had to be though. He was the leader of our village."

"Oh? A man's man then?"

Grey pinches his eyes together. "Oh god no. More like an alpaca and a snail's love child."

Alice snorted. "That is such a weird insult."

"I can't hate on a dead man too much." Grey caught himself.

"I- I don't want to pry, but-"

Grey held his hand up. "No. I'll tell you." He confidently raised his head, and looked Alice in the eyes. "My family. No, my whole clan was murdered. Annihilated. And I am the sole survivor. Verion is the one who found me." Grey held back tears, but he couldn't stop his bottom lip from quivering.

Alice sat back in her chair and crossed her legs and arms. Turning her head towards Grey she smiled. "You can calm down sweetheart. I already knew you weren't noble blood. That doesn't change how I feel." Alice cupped Grey's face and smiled at him. "I'll always be here for you silly. Slave or king."

With the mix and whirlwind of Grey's emotions he couldn't control himself, and suddenly brought his right hand up from under the table and cupped Alice's face. Pulling her in, he kissed her. Neither pulled away, but instead sank into the bliss of the innocent kiss, unaware of the impending consequences.