The Forgotten Zodiac

Lexi blinked sharply at the wolf, as if not believing him, then shook her head and said "But...but I thought he was dead. I..." She looked towards the door, then slowly moved towards it as if in a dream, quickly taking to a run. She threw the door open and ran out, her curiosity overwhelming as she paused to wait for Ophile. "Please, take me to him," she said, her eyes begging him. "I...I just need to see him."

"He's alive and well. The one who died was a clone, apparently. We've checked, and he really is the true Werr." Ophile followed, breaking into a run all the way to Werr's room. "He was hugging his father last I saw. Allow me to check," Ophile nosed the door open a crack, peeking in. "They're just talking now. I believe it's okay for you to come in."

Lexi nodded, then knocked quietly on the door and slowly pushed it open. She stood there for a moment, simply staring at Werr with her eyes wide, one hand's delicate fingers over her mouth. She stared at him for a moment, then shook herself and said "I...I thought you had died. I'm sorry, I...I didn't mean to intrude. You're talking with your father, I'll go. I just wanted to make sure you were really alive." She blushed a bit and said "J-just because...I-I...oh, I'm making such a mess of this..."

"No, hold on, Lexi." Werr stood. "We were just finished. Please, stay." He walked forward, taking her by the hand and gently pulled her into his room. "This is my father. You should remember him from back in your hometown...and the week that you spent here."

"Hello there, young miss." Sylas smiled slightly. "It's nice to see you again. As for that, Werr, I'm afraid I didn't step foot outside this room the entire time...I was a bit depressed."

Lexi kept her other hand up over her mouth, mostly to try and hide some of her blushing, but it wasn't helping. "H-hello, sir," she stammered to Sylas, giving him a very awkward bow. As a commoner, she felt the need for this because Sylas was Werr's father and Werr was the king. She had been about to bow to Werr before he had taken her hand and inadvertantly stopped her.

Sylas blinked, not sure how to react to her bowing. Werr nudged him, and he put on a smile as she straightened up.

"He's not used to gestures such as that." Werr smiled a bit. "Have you had breakfast yet, Lexi? I'm guessing not. You can come and eat with us, if...if you'd like." He offered, already headed to the door. He paused at the entrance, crouching to scratch Ophile behind the ears.

"She likes you," Ophile chuckled quietly so that Lexi wouldn't hear.

"I noticed," Werr rolled his eyes, and Ophile took note of the fact that Werr actually liked her a bit, himself.

"I'll go tell Cynyr you're headed to breakfast," The wolf's volume returned to normal, and he turned and padded away.

Lexi fidgeted with her fingers, then murmured "I-I'd like that. If it's not too much trouble, of course, I-I don't want to be a bother at all." She looked down and blushed hard, feeling like a terrible inconvenience to the king and his father. She walked up behind Werr and accidentally brushed against him when moving to go out of the door. "I-I'm sorry!" she squealed, turning away in furious blush.

Werr blinked up at her, while Sylas couldn't help but laugh. "What happened to the calm and collected Lexi, the one who insisted upon talking to the king as though he were a normal person and not a sovereign entity?"

"Father, don't tease her," Werr frowned, putting a hand on Lexi's shoulder. "If anything, I'm not the kind of king to fuss over other people touching my clean clothing." He smiled a bit. "Now come along, let's go eat."

"That was...when father was using me," she murmured softly. "I had to act perfectly. That's all it was; an act. When my mother was still alive, I was always the shy little girl that was left behind in everything because it was like I didn't exist. Then she and my brother died and father went insane and told me to act or else he would beat me. And that was also before...I started to..." She blinked softly, then sighed and said "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be burdening you like this..."

"No, go on." Werr said, concern crossing his face. "Please, Lexi. Tell me. It's not good to keep things secret from everyone. I learned that the hard way. I was stabbed here," He pointed at his gut. "I tried to be strong. I tried to treat it on my own. I bandaged it and did what I knew to do, but...I nearly died. Keeping secrets is dangerous. Deadly. I won't force you to tell me, but please...please, don't keep things bottled up."

She hesitated, tears forming slowly in her eyes, then she said quietly "I had gotten hurt. It was just a broken arm, but I cried hard. And father grabbed my shoulders and shook me and told me to never cry again. That I had to stop being myself and be what he needed me to be. So I held in all of my sadness and...resorted to cutting myself. Just a few cuts, whenever I felt like I needed to cry. They healed fast. I was always shy; mother said it made me adorable, and that someday I would find someone that thought I was just too cute because I was too shy and he would love me for who I was, not for who I acted like I was. But...she's dead, and...I suppose what she said won't happen. If someone from my own family can stop loving me, who's to say a guy wouldn't do that as well?" She brushed her tears away, staring at the floor, then said "I've said too much," and ran off quickly, her shoulders already shaking with sobs.

Werr watched Lexi go, sighing heavily. "Should I follow her?"

"You don't want her to hurt herself, do you?" Sylas blinked at him.

"No!" Werr said quickly.

"That's not to say she'll definitely hurt herself, but you don't want her to leave, either. What do you think she needs now?"

"No...she needs...someone to show her that she's not a lost cause. I...I understand her a little better now." Werr nodded solemnly.

"Right. Go do that." Sylas smiled as Werr darted off after Lexi, proud of his son.

"Lexi! Lexi, wait up!" Werr called, turning the corner in time to see her running around the corner of the other hallway. "Please, stop," He quickly ran out of breath; as usual, physical activities weren't exactly his strong suit.

She heard his voice and heard him call her name, but that only sent a wave of fear through her. She hesitated, however, and slowly came to a halt. She grew fearful, however, and quickly ducked into a guest room, shutting the door and locking it. She leaned against the door, tears dripping heavily down her cheeks. When she heard Werr come around the corner, she tried to keep quiet, but her small held-back sobs were easily noticed.

Werr didn't manage to run past. He stumbled to a stop, but he was breathing heavily and didn't notice Lexi's whimpers. He staggered past, only to groan in anger at his own weakness and plop to the ground. "Darn it, Lexi..." He muttered, wondering what on earth to do next. That was when he noticed the crying. He stood, crossing over to the door and knocked on it. "Lexi, please...please, just listen to me. It's not worth hurting yourself, and it's not like anyone will ever care for you ever again. Heck...I'm a king, and you're a commoner. But I invited you here because I saw that you had nothing left back in your hometown. I invited you here because I cared about you. And if you leave here...hurting like this...I-I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself, and...that's not something I want happening. To anyone. I won't keep you from leaving...but I beg of you, please stay here. Have breakfast with us. Let me prove to you that...that you aren't worthless. No one is worthless. Please, Lexi..."

She listened silently to his words, sniffling softly, then spent a moment in silence, thinking about what he had just said. A feeling blossomed in Lexi's chest at that moment, and it was so sharp it made her gasp. She slowly stood up after that, and there was the slow click of the door unlocking. She opened it carefully, peeking out at Werr for a moment before opening the door and exiting the room. She wiped her tears, then suddenly broke down and put her arms around him, burying her head against his shoulder.

Werr wrapped his arms around her, unsure of what to say. He pulled her all the closer and held her until she stopped crying. Which she didn't quite get there before a certain dark creature rounded the corner and stopped to watch them for a few minutes.

"How...unexpected." He muttered, but said nothing further before turning on heel and shuffling back the way he came, returning to his usual wander-the-halls-until-something-interesting-turns-up game. It wasn't too complicated; he just walked around until someone willing to talk to him came by, or something attacked. It was usually the latter. That wasn't to say the sight of Werr hugging a strange girl wasn't interesting; he just felt that it wasn't something he should meddle with.

Yet, at any rate.

Lexi cried herself out, something she hadn't been able to do in a long time, then slowly pulled back and wiped her eyes. "Thank you..." she said quietly, and she seemed to have an easier time speaking to Werr now that they had been close. "And...if you want...I can keep treating you like a normal person when I'm around. I'll treat you like royalty when it calls, but...I did get the sense that perhaps you would rather just be normal." She smiled a little, and it was a rather nice smile, at that.

"Actually...yes. That's exactly right." Werr returned her smile with one of his own. "Even Nate treats me like royalty sometimes, although I imagine that's just force of habit for him. But I was a normal person for most of my life. I liked having people talk to me. That just doesn't happen, when you're a king..." He took her hand, starting to lead her down the hallway towards the dining room. "But since you're going to stay here, you should have a job. How would you like to be...a temporary Adviser?"

She didn't shy away and blush as badly when he took her hand this time, but she did looked a bit stunned when spoke. "Me? An...Adviser?" she said nervously. "I..." She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. "I would love to help you," she said, smiling at him. "I don't have anything to do or go home to. I'll stay for as long as you'll let me and help however I can."

They bumped into Seria coming the other way. "There you are, Werr," she said, smiling and giving him a light bump with her hand. "You're late for food and Welk started to worry, you know him. Oh? Who's this?" She turned her gaze to the girl as she said "My name is Lexi." Seria smiled and said "Nice to meet you, Lexi. I'm Seria." They quickly struck up a conversation as they all headed towards the dinning hall, and the two girls seemed to get along very well. But Lexi's hand remained gently in Werr's, and she would occasionally look over at him and just give a soft, pretty smile.

Werr was clearly more relaxed as they walked back. He smiled as they reached the dining hall. "Sorry about that," He said, sitting down next to Cynyr. "I kind of got sidetracked."

"Just a little," Ophile snorted, already digging into the sausages.

"There's no cause for concern, like I said. Werr was doing something important." Sylas shrugged. "And here he is! Now then, let's eat."

((And if Lexi started praying to Yemara before they ate, Diana would cry and Forin would throw her out before Werr could say 'no'. xDD Just funny thoughts. :3))