There was a cool breeze that morning. It drifted through the window then the curtain before landing a gentle kiss on Joy's cheek. The cold caused her to open her eyes just a little, she reached for her alarm clock only to realize it wasn't there. No wonder she woke up this late.
But that's not all, she sniffed the blanket that covered her. It was her scent, it smelled more like…
"Gil." She muttered waking up. This wasn't her room, somehow she had slept in Gil's room that night. For what purpose you might ask? Well there are two simple answers, first of all was that her bed was too big.
Its weird how when you get so used to something, like a small bed on the floor of you small cramped house, its so hard not to want it when you get an upgrade. Gil's bed was smaller as such she enjoyed it a bit more. The second, and most likely reason, was simply the she missed him. Which wasn't a bad thing. Missing people is normal, the same way she missed her mother.
Anyway, she had to get up and out of bed, otherwise she'd never leave.
'I didn't go to see him off.' She thought, 'He must think I'm such an idiot.'
The truth was simply because she couldn't bare to look at him as he left. 'I'd rather wait for him to come back than see him leave.' Truly, what could a girl with such a fragile heart do?
She walked out of his room when suddenly his voice rang in her head.
'You never liked people calling you joy, so why now?' That idiot, he knew her all too well. And she wasn't too good at hiding it anyway, but of course every girl has her secrets why would she easily give that up.
OK!
"No more depression!" She slapped her cheeks in front of the bathroom mirror, "When he comes back I'll show him that he's not the only one whose gotten stronger." She did a little skin care routine she had seen online. It went something like this.
Wash your face with water. Next apply soap, then repeat the first process. Dry it with a towel. Apply oil (Preferable coconut).
Apparently it was suppose to make her skin glow, whatever that meant. While Gil looked white because of his lighter skin, most people would tell you that the only other person who also possesses that skin color, all though not to a high degree is Joy. So of course if she made an effort to make her skin glow it wouldn't have been in vain as everyone would've immediately noticed.
Not that she'd care. Her looks weren't her top priority, the only thing she currently cared about was being the best at what she was currently doing.
"Hey Joy!" Some of her friends called. "We're going to see the others wanna come."
"Nope, I've got work today." They stood in the hall on the upper floor of the cathedral. It had been transformed into a sort of home, but rather than one for the holy spirit, this one was for the boys and girls who worked for Blake.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, and even if I didn't want to go to work I have an exam I should be reading for ." The girl she was talking too went by the name of Sofie. It was as though many of them had decided to take up foreign names, it was an epidemic in it of itself.
"You're such a bore." The voice came from a boy walking down the hall. "Thank you." Sofie said.
"I was talking about you Sofie, just because you have no job yet doesn't mean others don't."
"Thanks." Joy smiled.
"Your welcome." Said the boy as he passed by.
"Gosh, you two are such a. Kwendeni huku (Fine be that way)" She puffed her cheeks.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to give time and we'll all be there." Joy held her hand.
"You pwomise?"
"Yes, I pwomise."
Sofie smiled, "Ok, see you."
"Bye."
Joy moved downstairs greeting the people who had come to pray there. 'I like the current atmosphere of this place.' It was calm and peaceful and smelt like… rosemary for some reason. But it gave an air of freedom for the people of this village. It was no longer a place people would fear coming too or resent.
At the very least it wasn't like that for everybody.
She opened the door gently closing it behind her as she descended the brightly lit hall way, finally coming to a stop in the vast room they once called the morgue.
"There's my favorite student." Blake said with a cheeky smile.
"That's weird, I thought I was your only student."
"You are, but you can be my only student and still be my least favorite." Blake was done printing something as indicated by the large piles of paper that lay next to his desk, that and also the printer was on.
"So…" She leaned into this next conversation rather slowly, "Did Mr. Akame and Gil call when I was a sleep?" She slid into her desk.
"Nope. I told him to call when he was at the Capital, which I'm sure he currently isn't at right now." Blake explained, "Knowing him he'd probably say something like 'Over reliance on Blake will lead to trouble the day he won't be around anymore.' I honestly could've just gotten them a ticket for the Aquatic blue easily."
"Then why didn't you just do it?"
"Its like asking me to help a lion that doesn't want any help, I'll just end up being eaten or worse. I'll help when he wants me to."
He continued to type for a little while before looking at Joy. "Wow, you had a make over?"
"Oh." Joy smiled touching her cheeks, "You noticed, huh?"
"Well, you're practically radiating sunshine." Blake got up, "Its like you knew they were all coming today."
"Knew who was coming?" Joy was left wondering what Blake was even saying.
"C'mon, It'll be bad manners if we don't show that face of yours to the entire world." Blake went to her desk, "Let's go."
"Go where?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Huh, when you tell me not to worry, I worry even more." Joy got up, "Not to mention you said I've got an exam in the next week."
"So?"
"So shouldn't I be actively reading?" Joy clapped back.
"Jeez joy, don't get so angry, you'll ruin the glow of our beautiful skin." Blake teased.
"What do you mean ours, stop being creepy."
"It's only creepy if you let be." He shouted from up the stairs.
'Good lord. I didn't even get to drink my morning tea.' She had little to no stamina, as such the only thing she could do was pout the entire time they walked.
It was the first time they'd ever had an outside lesson. It was kind of nice, breathing in naturally flowing air. Having the sun's rays touch your skin. Just that, it was an upgrade from being stuck in that room for an entire day without seeing the sun, then crawling all the way back to sleep.
HOOOT!
"Blake, Wamefika (Blake they've arrived!)" Shouted a man who ran towards them. He led them down a cobblestone path all the way to the shores of the beach. One that was once littered with garbage, but now it looked really presentable. But the most surprising part was the pseudo-port that had been made there.
"Since when did we have a port?" Joy asked.
"Since last week. I had them finish this up a day ago though."
A huge ship, one that seemed pretty fancy with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos docked at the port.
WOW!
Joy's eyes widened. "It's a fancy ship, look at the top it has an antenna probably for satellite communication. Do you think it has a system for infrared detection?" She continued to mumble on to herself as a staircase emerged from the ship and a few people began to alite. Well technically it was just one person.
He had long white hair and piercing gold eyes that looked like the sun if you looked at it from the right angle. His skin was pale and his top incisors were sharp, so much so that they extended outside his mouth, but he kept them in check when need be.
He wore a brown leather jacket that wasn't like most, it looked more fancy. His stature was one of a high class. Blake sent a few men to get his luggage.
As he arrived Blake smiled.
"Joy, Meet Germain Count Saint Number two."
TO BE CONTINUED!