It would be a Shame.

Ignis opened his eyes as the blindfold which had been placed on him was removed. Sitting in a chair with hands and feet tied, he could now see that the room was dark. Dark didn't mean it was shabby, though. It was comparable to his own room back home. He looked around impulsively, analyzing any sound that he could hear.

An unforeseen situation had befallen him. He was told to go to the royal palace of Behmuth and return after staying for three days. All the negotiations and important matters were to be handled by the officials accompanying him.

But no matter how much he thought him getting abducted in the middle of the journey was never in the plan.

He could see the blue light coming from the moon coming in through the windows. Some large windows they were. It was nighttime now. He was abducted at noon. Apparently, they knocked out everyone in the envoy party with 'something'.

Ignis heard a rustle somewhere and immediately fixed his gaze on the darkest corner of the room. There was supposedly a bed and maybe someone on top of it, that was all he could make out of it.

"I have a question," a voice came from that corner.

"Who are you?!" Ignis shouted. "Why have you kidnapped me?!"

"I said I had a question," the voice said again. Eerily enough, it was a strangely calm yet terrifying voice. What made it terrifying? It was a child's voice, presumably a girl around Ignis' age. So the calmness made it sound even more chilly.

"I don't think I'm gonna answer any of your questions in this situation!" Ignis yelled. "You know what you've done by kidnapping someone from the envoy party, don't you?!"

The rustling sound came again explaining that the child had moved. Steps, small and swift like a shadow, could be heard. Ignis silently watched as the figure of a girl emerged from the dark corner in a red long night dress. Her hair was white, a different color from his silver ones, a much 'whiter' one. And as she came into the moonlight, he clearly saw her blood-red eyes.

It was an eerie and supernatural sight. As if a creature from fantasy had appeared in front of him. She stood just in front of him, staring down at him with cold chilly eyes. As if he was beneath her. But it strangely wasn't annoying. All Ignis felt was a weird compulsion to obey her.

"My question should be answered, I fear," she said. Running her long slender fingers on the ropes that tied Ignis to the chair, she stared right into his eyes (almost scaring him), she asked, " If I release you from these ropes, will you run?"

"Of course, I will," Ignis answered before he could think of anything. He wasn't a very bright child in the field of deception. Maybe it was another down effect of homeschooling and strict parents, but Ignis had a very honest disposition. He found it very hard to lie.

"I see, doesn't matter anyway," the girl said as she proceeded to untie him.

For the first few moments of being Ignis couldn't move because of the shock that the girl actually untied him even when he said he would try to escape.

"I said I would run. Did you not hear me?" he asked standing up to her and looking down at her (she was smaller than him).

"I said it didn't matter. You can't run anyway whether you want to or not," the girl calmly said while sitting on the sofa next to the chair Ignis was tied to.

"Well, I can!" Ignis said as he sprinted toward the door of the room. It opened quite easily. He scoffed," Ha! I told you!"

Before he could step out of the room, a current of electricity passed through his entire body, weakening his legs and making him fall.

The girl silently sat there, entirely ignoring Ignis as he crawled to the door again and again in hopes of getting at least a finger out. After a while, all that was left of Ignis was a pile of limp muscles and bones worn out from the shocks and fatigue. He hadn't lost consciousness yet, he was just too tired to move.

The girl never paid attention to Ignis until he crawled back to her in a half-corpse-like state and silently sat back on the chair. A moment of silence proceeded between the two as Ignis turned redder and redder with embarrassment and frustration.

"Fine! I can't run away! You win!" he shouted at the end hiding his face as he crouched on the chair.

"We weren't competing, to begin with. Do you wish to eat?" the girl asked without even looking at him.

Ignis shook his head in denial but the loud and sad groans of his stomach just added to the embarrassment he had already collected.

"Dinner," the girl said clapping her hands twice. "Do it when you wish to eat."

A maid came in through the door which Ignis had been trying to cross. A long tray with a list of appetizing and delicious-looking meals arrived along with the maid. She bowed and left.

Ignis could feel himself drooling unwillingly.

"Go ahead," the girl said holding a book (God knows where she got it from).

Ignis hesitated a bit and asked," You didn't poison it, did you?"

"Who knows?" the girl answered dryly as if implying that it was a bother to answer Ignis.

Ignis somehow felt offended and scoffed. An amazing idea ran through his mind. He grabbed a chunk of the steak and cut it to the right size and without missing another second, shoved it into the girl's mouth.

The idea was to make her eat it, but his hesitant hand stopped just at her lips. The fork with the beep stuck on it trembled in Ignis' hand as it slid against the girl's lips. He missed his chance. What now?

To his surprise, the girl ate the beef from the fork and said, "Too salty. Maybe they wish you would die from high blood pressure."

Ignis blushed as he abruptly jerked his hand back and began to silently eat. The amount of embarrassment he had felt in that short amount of time could last him his entire life.

Time passed and it was already two days since Ignis had arrived at the place. The girl never left the room unless it was for a bath. She never ate with him though all three meals were provided to him, quite lavish ones if one asked him.

He figured that he could not leave the room but was free to move around inside the room. He could only see the sky out of those large windows as if he had been flying. The fact that it could be a possibility was scary enough for him to try jumping out of them.

He was provided with clothes and anything he asked for. Two claps. That was all he had to do to get what he needed. The girl never talked unnecessarily. But Ignis couldn't get over the fact that she was indeed the most beautiful human being he had ever seen. She was like a living doll.

"What is your name?" he asked her at length.

"You don't need to know." (the girl)

"My name is Ignis." (Ignis)

"I know."

"How do you know that?! We never met before!" (Ignis)

"You don't need to know."

"Where am I?" (Ignis)

"You don't need to know"

"Guess I don't need to know anything, huh?" (Ignis)

"..."

"..." (Ignis)

"Hey, am I ever going to return home?" (Ignis)

"..."

"You don't need to know."

"Humph! Now you're just messing with me." (Ignis)

"..."

Ignis crouched into a little ball next to the girl on the sofa. He closed his eyes and inched farther away from the girl.

"Lucia. You can call me Lucia," the girl said at length.

Ignis almost jumped when he heard that. He looked at her smiled and called her name," Lucia."

The girl left the room when Ignis was sleeping to wash up. She entered her own room and the servants started removing her clothes. Her necklace was removed and her body transformed into that of a boy. It was no other than Lucifer. As he soaked into the bath, his thoughts were filled with Ignis.

'Is he really that stupid or is he just pretending to be?' he thought. 'This whole time, a weak-looking girl who was clearly from the family of the people who kidnapped him was right next to him. A perfect hostage was just there for him to use and yet he didn't even touch me."

Lucifer sighed as he opened his red eyes. The time was very crucial for the Whitlock Duchy, no, it was for the entire Behmuth. Tomorrow was the day when Alkezar announced its decision to whether save Ignis or the border towns. If Alkezar chose to help the king, Ignis' dead body cut into pieces would be sent over to Alkezar, and the exploding Artifacts that Lucifer had hidden all over the capital of Alkezar during his time there would be blown off.

That big of a tragedy would be enough to disrupt the internal stability of Alkezar, which would render them useless to the king.

But Lucifer really hoped that Alkezar would choose Ignis. It was a shame to watch the town he had lived in almost the entirety of his life to be blown to ashes.

'It would truly be a shame,' Lucifer thought as he dressed back and put on the necklace to go back to Ignis' side.