NoGift

"It"s a political decision.  They still doesn"t want to tear their face with the Temple," the Pope said while reading the paper he"s holding and not looking at Harlequin.

Harlequin just snickered.  Because that decision would be useless soon.  All the planning they"ve been doing for the past decade was now coming to fruition.  Sooner or later, this world would be put into chaos.  He couldn"t wait for that to happen.

"I heard Your Holiness put that Bishop Ernst in charge of entertaining the second prince?"  The Pope only made a small hum, confirming what Harlequin said.  "I heard he made the prince wait for hours at Casa Royale.  Did Your Holiness tell him to give the prince "special" attention?"

"Something along that line."

Harlequin chuckled.  "He"s actually quite smart, knowing clearly what Your Holiness mean.  Unlike that Stillwell.  Does he really think we wouldn"t notice all the movements he"d been making for the past three days?  It"s like his brain is not working properly anymore."

Lucern put down the doc.u.ment he"s holding and then leaned back on his chair.  A thoughtful expression crossed his handsome face.  "Maybe it really isn"t."

"What does Your Holiness mean?" asked Harlequin, a bit confused.

"It meant that we will probably see a good show on the night of the Midnight Auction," Lucern said with a gentle smile.

"Your Holiness mean that that idiot Stillwell is planning something on that night?"

The Pope only smiled mysteriously.  "Not him."

Before Harlequin could ask more, there was a series of gentle knocking on the door.

"Come in," said the Pope.

The door opened and a woman with long dark purple hair came in.  She was tall and statuesque.  She might have looked like a cold beauty if not for her eyes.  Her light blue eyes were out of focus, as if it belonged to a blind person.  She was holding a tray with tea cups and a tea pot on it.

"Your Holiness, I brought tea," she said, walking towards the desk and carefully putting the tray on it.  Then she served tea to the Pope.

Lucern picked up the tea cup and drank the tea inside.  "Limos always makes the best tea."  He raised his head and smiled warmly towards the woman.

Limos" face suddenly flushed red.  "Thank you, Your Holiness."

"Hey, how about me, Limos?  I want some tea too."

Limos" face returned to normal once she heard Harlequin spoke.  She pushed the tea tray towards his direction.  "Here.  I"m sure Mr. Harlequin could pour tea for himself."

Harlequin only rolled his eyes at her.  Though n.o.body really saw it since he"s wearing a mask.

"The twins?" the Pope asked.

Limos turned her head back towards the Pope.  "They"re still playing with the elf."

"Those two creeps would definitely make that elf as bats.h.i.+t crazy as them," Harlequin commented, shaking his head.

"Let them have their fun.  It"s not everyday that they could both spend time together like this," Lucern only said.  Then he turned to Limos.  "Just make sure that they won"t kill the elf."

"Yes, Your Holiness," answered Limos.

----------

"This is boring," Solis pouted looking at the elf chained to the wall.

The elf"s delicate white skin was filled with cut wounds.  His white blond hair was already matted red with dried blood.  But his green eyes were just blank.  No emotion could be read from it.  There was no sign of pain, even the initial anger and hate was no longer there.  It"s like he completely detached himself from what was happening to him.

"I don"t like this toy!  He"s not screaming like I wanted to.  Look, even his wounds are starting to heal!  What"s the point of putting all those wounds on him then?" Solis said, stomping his foot in anger.

Luna looked at the elf.  Just like what Solis said, his wounds were already healing.  Slowly turning his skin back to its perfect state.  But what interested Luna was his eyes.  He was all too familiar with that kind of eyes.  "Do you not feel pain?"

The elf didn"t answer and just continued to stare blankly at him.

Solis was even more p.i.s.sed seeing his brother paying attention to the elf and ignoring him.  "Brother, I think we should cut his limbs and see if it would grow back.  What do you think?" he asked, smiling sweetly at his brother.

Luna regained his gaze and turned to his twin.  "No."

The smile on Solis" face froze and then his golden brown eyes started to water.  "Brother, do you now like that elf more than me?  Do you not want me anymore?"

Seeing his brother on the verge of tears, a sliver of emotion appeared on Luna"s gray eyes.  He held his brother"s face in both hands.  "I only need Solis."

Solis" face immediately brightened when he heard that.  "Me too!  I only need Brother."  Then he hugged his brother"s thin body.  "I don"t want to play anymore.  Brother, let"s sleep?"

"Hmm," Luna said, agreeing.

The twins held hands and walked out of the prison cell.  But before leaving, Solis didn"t forget to give the elf a murderous glare.

The elf ignored it and just watched the two leaving.  Soon, it was only him in that dark and damp place.  Something that he"d been quite used to.

That boy - Luna - asked if he didn"t feel pain.  Of course he did.  Even if the wounds on his body right now was already healing, he could still feel every cut, every slash.  But he experienced much more excruciating pain than this.  So this was actually nothing.  

It was not that he didn"t feel pain.  He was just already used to not showing it.  He learned long ago that showing his pain would just make his tormentor happier.  So he decided to hold everything in, not giving anyone the satisfaction to take pleasure from his pain.

For all the years he"d been alive in this world, all he knew was pain.  Constantly being tortured, both physically and mentally.  He could take it all.  Because he knew that was the only way he could protect his most important person.  Only by catering to that horrible man -  no, it"s more appropriate to call him a monster - would he be able to do it.

But that monster broke their deal, no longer satisfied with how things were.  So he escaped.  In the hopes that he could find someone to help him.  

To help his poor mother.

But he ended up in this kind of place, being tormented by two kids.  How pathetic could he be?

He curled into himself.  He tried to remember the only light in his life full of darkness.  The beautiful face of his mother emerged - her long white blond hair and her pair of bright blue eyes dusted with gold.  She smiled warmly at him, stroking his hair and singing him a sweet lullaby.  

And with those fond memories, he finally managed to sleep.