Lewis had told Snowball to be on guard. While it wasn't easy to confirm, the assassin had an idea of what might have happened and who was responsible. There was no proof, yet, and that was the problem…

He was watching her from afar as he tried to ascertain the best way to get his needed proof; he would hate to kill someone without a good reason. It was against what passed for his moral code.

Simone grabbed the book she was looking for and started down the steps. Much like before, she misjudged and fell down, bouncing her butt onto the poor helper assassin's face and then landing on all fours.

Lewis stared at Simone's butt for a second, turning a little red. "….cute butt." He ran over to her, and helped her up. "Simone, are you okay?"

The other assassin got himself up and started to dust himself off. "Damn, that kind of hurt. Are you oka-"

Lewis pulled a dagger from his belt and threw efdortlessly, embedding the blade into the assassin's forehead. Simone gave him a curious look, and he shrugged.

"He saw your butt…"

Simone was already embarrassed about what had happened. She must have scared them good of one was willing to try and catch her. 

She wiggled a bit to get her grounding before she got up with Lewis's help. "I'm okay. I just slipped." She had a soft landing though… They were still semi-holding hands as Lewis let go and killed the helper.

Simone tilted her head at Lewis, "And you said you don't get jealous." There was no point in being shocked at what Lewis had done or was willing to do for her. This was who he was and she accepted him wholely. He didn't even try to change her just make sure she was safe and healthy.

"Youhaveacutebutt." It came out of Lewis's mouth all at once and Simone found herself with a blush.

"Oh. Thank you?" She didn't know how to answer him but she was thankful. 

Ionia was about to lose her mind. She couldn't think of a way to get rid of Simone if she couldn't or wouldn't stay dead. So…

Later that night, Ionia had someone take Simone from her way back from a bath. Snowball had been on the watch and immediately went to tell Lewis. Simone though wasn't going without a fight as she bit and smacked the bigger man who had hold of her. "Let. Me. Go." He was taking her down to the beach where there was a box.

Simone kneed the man as hard as she could and got dropped. Soon she had a branch and was beating him. "Stay back! I have a branch and I will use it!" Simone's eye went up to an oil lantern and soon she grabbed it lit the branch and threw oil all over the man chasing her. When that didn't stop him throwing the fire at him was the last resort. 

Simone's eyes were big as she watched her kidnapper go up in flames with his screams filling the night air.

"Now why did you go and do that?" Ionia stepped out.

"You!" Simone went to get something else to defend herself with but all she had were rocks and a pretty good aim as she hit Ionia upside her head.

"STOP BEING A PEST AND GET INSIDE THE BOX!"

"YOU GET INSIDE THE BOX," Simone mocked before throwing more rocks but she was quickly running out of energy to evade the woman so Simone tripped the flailing man into the box and let light on fire. "Fuck your box!"

"You… Little bitch," Ionia said as she seethed and went to strangle Simone.

Lewis had not been sleeping, as usual, and was laying in the window staring outside. He was lost in thought on how things were progressing with the curse and how to find the source of it all. What would happen at the end? Would Simone find the peace that she desperately craved, and Lewis would go back to his own quest for the strength to protect what he cherished… no matter the cost.

Before his mind could wander into anything deeper, Snowball flew through the window and made three chirps. That was all it took for Lewis to jump from the window and dash towards the door, grabbing his bow. When he came into Simone's room, she was… surprisingly handling the situation quite well.

Of course, that didn't mean Lewis was going to stay out of it. He rushed forward and put himself between the two, kicking Inoia back into the wall. Within the same motion, he drew his bow back and let loose and arrow that slammed into the woman's arm and into the wall behind her, pinning her.

Lewis looked to Simone, and dropping his bow and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay? Hurt? Did anything else happen?" It took him a moment to realize that there was a box that was still burning, and he put two and two together.

"You know…so you saw…" Lewis looked back to Ionia. "Well…that makes things simple then…"

Simone took a breather as Lewis swept in and dealt with Ionia. "I'm okay. My knee hurts but other than that I think I'm okay." She put her hands on his and gave him a tender smile. 

Ionia stared at him before laughing, "She doesn't know does she?" Ionia looked at the small woman with Lewis. "You are a freak. You can't die. Lewis has probably tried getting rid of you and couldn't. How does that make you feel?" Ionia thought she could hurt Simone by revealing the truth.

However, as Simone turned her face to Ionia it was her eyes that shut Ionia up. They were dead looking. Her face had no fear and almost no facial expressions. "Lewis, dear this is a problem. What if she learns about herself." Simone took one of Lewis's arrows and balanced it on her fingertip after smelling it. "This is coated with a toxin that can kill in about thirty minutes if given in a low dose~ it's used for interrogation." 

She strolled over to Ionia and gave a smile, "honestly, I could give only a few fucks about what you try and do to me… However, throwing me in the ocean? I detest water…" She slammed the arrow into Ionia's abdomen and gave it a few good twists.  

"What the fuck," Ionia stared at Simone who was giving a tender smile to Lewis.

"I put her to sleep for the time being. She'll think she fainted. Should be enough time for you to get some revenge on this pathetic little thing." 

"Who are you?"

"I'm Simone," she answered quietly. "The one that's hidden away behind a younger mind. The one Lewis is fighting for." She walked behind Lewis and put her arms around his shoulders putting her chin on his shoulder. "Lewis is keeping my shell safe for me. My innocence if you will."

Lewis smirked at Ionia, who was now struggling against her restraints. The smirk slowly turned into a sadistic smile. One of the few things that Lewis took absolute pleasure in was torture. It was a sick and twisted kind of affair for him, one that brought an unusual amount of giddiness from an otherwise stoic young man. The cruelty that he displayed was only amplified by the fear of his victims…which was unfortunate for poor Ionia. She was built to be a little durable, and withstand interrogation. That meant she could take a lot of pain.

That would make Lewis just want to try harder.

“I guess we’ll have to…attend to this problem,” the ex-assassin said, practically salivating at the chance to watch Ionia squirm. He pulled a dagger out of his belt and slammed it into Ionia’s hand.

“Oh darn…seems I didn’t get it pinned,” Lewis said with a frown. “That’s a bit of a shame.” He looked over to Simone, his eyes wide with glee. “Would you like to try? I’m not pressed for time. This could be fun, right? You could use the exercise…”

Simone smirked a bit at her loved and she took the dagger out of Ionia’s hand before touching the blood dagger to Lewis’s lips. “You know I’m on a time limit though. We can torture her only so much before I must sleep again. I’ll tell you what though~ I will torture her with you and then you can return the princess to the tower for sleep… Do whatever you want with Ionia after if she isn’t dead…”


She lowered the dagger and kissed his lips. “Does that sound good? We can’t have our precious being tainted by such dirty things.”

“You talk about her like she is someone different,” Ionia managed to get out.

“Because she is. She is Lewis’s precious gemstone.” Simone took the dagger and stuck it in her hand good getting a nice scream out of Ionia who was holding it in. “You shouldn’t have killed her in the library Ionia. You could have avoided all of this. Lewis, what would you have done if she even pulled my little Simone’s hair out?”

Lewis frowned when she mentioned that the older Simone had a time limit. He should have known, but he had gotten far ahead of himself due to the excitement of the whole situation. Still, the compromise was something that he could accept, and watched eagerly as Simone dragged the dagger across Ionia’s flesh, eliciting a beautiful scream.

“You see, Ionia,” Lewis said as Simone asked her question. “I know a lot more about torture than you think. Lord Raith may have taught me the basics, but I went and studied it. Extensively. I even practiced when I had the time. I think…an appropriate punishment for hair…my Simone’s beloved hair… hmm… We could start with nails. No…not the kind you hit with a hammer…” He smirked, and produced a second knife. He pulled her free hand over to him, and placed the dagger’s tip between her nail and finger.

“See…I don’t quite have all the tools to make this work like I want to…” The assassin smirked. “It’ll be messier this way, and I’ll probably screw up a little…” The dagger inched forward, and Ionia struggled, causing the edge to slip and slice her fingers. Lewis frowned. “Ionia…please…you’re making this harder than it needs to be….” He looked at Simone with a sorrowful look. “Can you hold her still? I’ll have to heal her hand and try again…”

Simone smirked a bit as she watched him work on her nails. She held Ionia and restrained her the best she could so Lewis could get the fingernails off. “You both are fucking insane.”

“And now you see why we work as a couple. My younger self is innocent like the snow but me? Not so much. Tell me my love what is your favorite parts of both of us? You never get time to spend with me… You must have missed me so much~”

Once he healed her hand and they began again Ionia’s screaming filled the air. She was sure that other people had heard and were staying away. Once her hands were done she wrapped her arms around Lewis’s waist and looked into Ionia’s eyes.

“You thought you were Lewis’s perfect woman, didn’t you? That’s why you tried to get rid of me… Lewis’s what to do you think about that?”

Lewis sighed as Simone got close to him. This was as close to heaven as he would ever feel, and it was pure bliss. It was about then that Simone found the perfect words to push him forward.

“What do I think?” he repeated, his cold eyes locking with Ionia’s. “I think that she never stood a chance…” He smiled. The darkest part of Lewis’ heart had been unleashed, and Ionia wouldn't live much longer. Her screams, though, echoed throughout the tower…

And she was never heard from again…

—

“Shh,” he said as he gently tucked a sleeping Simone into bed. She grumbled, and let out a soft whimper as his warmth left her. “I can’t stay. I’m a mess…I need to clean up.” She whined again, and curled up with her blanket before drifting back off to sleep.

The assassin watched her for a moment longer, a dead stare in his eyes. She was precious to him. That much he knew. But…it had to end. It would end soon. And then…

Then, I’ll be alone again…

You’re Still Here

“And make sure she eats. I don’t need her passed out or sick again. Escort her to and from the baths. Remember the faces of all the men who ogle her and report back to me,” Lewis spoke to Snowball who was basically saluting him.

“It’s only a few days,” Simone smirked up at Lewis.

“Yeah, the last time I left you for a few days you were sick on the floor,” he flicked her forehead and she made a face.

“I’m not sick this time. I have Snowball.”

“And Snowball will make sure you follow orders or I’ll punish you when I get back.” He gave her a deadpan face before setting off on his job.

During the few days he was gone she did her hobbies, kept up with the cleaning, made sure to eat on the schedule that Lewis had told Snowball, and made sure to avoid any of the other temple goers. She didn’t want any to get a dagger to the forehead.

It was the night when Lewis was due home when Simone had changed into her nightgown and sat on the end of the bed. Snowball watched her wait for a bit before he tugged on her hair and hopped towards the covers. “You’re right… I guess he got caught up in the job…” She frowned a bit and climbed up into their bed and got under the blankets. “Goodnight Snowball… Maybe he’ll be back tomorrow night.” She was depressed about it as she grabbed his pillow and snuggled into it.

Snowball made sure she was asleep before flying into his cage and snuggling down for the night too. Though he kept an eye out for intruders just in case.