Simone was pleased by her reward from Lewis but also scolded by him. He wanted her to be safe and not put herself at harm’s risk even if it was actually impressive. She looked up from her book towards Lewis to see him getting his butt kicked by the weapon’s master. “Should be any time now…” She gave a smile.

She knew he was taking her everywhere as a precaution for her safety and so she didn’t get bored. Simone was small and so she didn’t take up too much space. She also didn’t cheer Lewis on or cause distractions. Most of the time she was in her own little world and Snowball was keeping an eye on her.

“…Oh.” Simone looked up as there was screaming. Markus ran in and dozens of crows were going after him. They were pecking at him and he was trying to shoo them off.

“YOU. YOUU WHAT DID YOU–” He screamed as the crows chased him around. Even Snowball got up and tilted his head at the smell.

“Stay away Snowball. The crows will hurt you.”

“You are such a fucking pest,” Markus was yelling at her now. “You are just as annoying as he is!” He pointed at Lewis. “Get rid of her Lewis. She’s a distraction to the temple. I’ll write a formal complaint to remove her!” He was dodging the crows.

Lewis, against his better judgement, bowed respectfully to the weapons master and put the spear up. Markus was still running around, finally ending with brandishing his weapon to try and slay the crows all about him. Lewis drew a dagger, and tossed it, knocking the sword from Markus’ hands before he could hurt the animals.

Snowball made a chirp of relief, even if the crows were his mightiest enemy,

Lewis marched up to Markus, and grabbed his shirt, yanking him close. Markus was easily twice the width of Lewis, and over a head taller than him, which made for a very interesting scene.

“I think we all know how this is going to end,” Lewis whispered. “Oh no…would you look at this? Markus here intends to assassinate our weapons master here. Look…he even brought a sword.”

Markus stared down at Lewis, “What the fuck are yo-”

There was s sharp pain in his chest, and when he looked down, there was a dagger embedded in his heart.

“It is a shame that I had to end it so quickly…” Lewis smirked. “Or did I…” he whispered as he slowly dropped Marukus’ body to the floor. “Weapons master…I apologise for this display…”

“Clean it up,” he said as he waved his hand. “And I expect your…payment later.”

Simone slipped off of her perch and came over to where the crows were acting up. “Here,” she took out some seeds and spread them. The crows left to feast on the seeds finding Markus unappealing now. “And for you Snowball.” She held some out in her hand and Snowball was happy to feast on them.

She bowed to the weapons master and helped Lewis clean up the body. “So what are we doing with him?” They got him back to the tower and tied him up to a chair.

“I’m not so sure what I’m doing. I’ve never hurt someone before Lewis.” She was blushing and being adorable in front of him. She hadn’t hurt anyone she was aware of… but Lewis knew what she was capable of. “And if he lives… He’s going to get me thrown out.” She seemed sad.

Lewis scoffed, “There is no chance in hell that he is living.” That had already been decided, but apparently Simone wasn’t quick to understand. Instead, he took a dagger, and placed it into her hand. “We’ll take it slow. It’s practice…” There were a lot of things he could teach her about this, but the simplest would be to start with the basics.

“Handling the dagger in a situation like this is key. If there is too much pressure, you cut too deep. If that happens, there’s too much blood…” The explanation evolved from there, but Simone seemed frozen on the idea of causing pain. At least, she wasn’t sure how to start…

“Here,” Lewis said as he got behind her, guiding her hand with his own. “Lightly at first…see how it scratched? Not enough force…just a little more and-”

Markus woke up, struggling against his restraints as the blade slashed his arm. They had stuffed his mouth full of cloth, so he could barely make a sound. The knots that had been tied were well enough done that he would never be able to escape.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s not going anywhere,” Lewis stated. “Try again…just like this. Get the feel for it. Good…”

Simone was looking over the dagger as her hand gently guided the dagger. “Just like this?” Her hand was a bit unsteady as Lewis guided her. Once she saw the blood she instinctively winced. It was the difference between herself and the other her. How much did she have to go through for it not to hurt her? She didn’t really like blood right now. It bothered her.

Once she started to hyperventilate she dropped the dagger and hid her face in his chest. “I don’t like the blood.” It was such a contrast from her other self who practically bathed in it. The innocence that Simone had before she was tainted. Her breaths were getting shorter and she was hyperventilating. “I don’t know why but I feel like I’ve seen a lot of it.”

It was a bad omen when Simone started to remember something from the past. Normally, she got hurt right after. “I’m sorry Lewis…”

Lewis sighed, and gently held Simone for a moment. “It is…fine.” He had half expected something like this. Maybe not to this degree, but the reaction itself could have been anything of its kind.

Markus struggled for a moment, trying to use the momentary lapse of attention to flee. That ended in a split second with a dagger to his throat. “Here…we will go take a bath and wash this all away. By the time we return, the body will be gone.” He had made arrangements. There were quite a few people happy to see Markus and his pompous attitude gone.

Once in the baths, Lewis carefully washed Simone one limb at a time, scrubbing her clean of any traces of blood. “There we are…” Once that was finished, he cradled her in his lap, letting the warmth of the water and his chest comfort her. “It’ll be ok…”