7 in 3

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Luna

】〓〓〓〓【

 

My eyes open to the sounds of people arguing. I can’t focus on their words, so I focus on the chandelier hanging above me. The metal arms swing gently, holding their small lights that twinkle down at me, mockingly. I scowl. I’ll rip that haughty thing down, I swear. I sit up and look around, to see what the fuss is about. 

I’m on the floor of one of Father’s meeting chambers. I recognize the layout because of the time I snuck in here to spy on his conversation with a foreign dignitary. That was a mistake, it was incredibly dull. The room is filled with cloaked figures, at least twenty, and they’re circled around a massive man. The man has an appropriately scaled smile. His glittering white teeth are clenched however, and give away his anxiety. 

The cloaked people are hounding the man with questions, which he’s struggling to answer. They’re asking about what’s happened, where they are, why they were in that cave. Cave? I look around again to be sure. Nope, this is definitely one of Father’s meeting rooms. 

The doors into the room slam open, shaking in their frames. My Father storms in, clearly furious. “Jet!” Father bellows. I’ve never even heard Father shout, let alone bellow like that. “Where the hell are my children, Captain?” His eyes are bulging, veins prominent in the whites. The man apparently named Jet somehow keeps a smile on his face. 

“Well Lord Ze— Nadir is being carried back by Porter as we speak.” The man does some disarming gestures with his hands. “Lady Pim had teleported back with us.” He motions to the cloaked people. “But then she disappeared.” The captain points at where I am sitting, and Father bores holes into me. Father pinches the bridge of his nose.

He lets out a sigh. “Luna?” Dammit.

“Y-yes, Father?” My whisper of a voice causes the nearby people to jump in surprise. 

“Why did you say nothing this whole time?” He’s scolding me like a child.

It’s my turn to sigh. “I just woke up, Father.” I pause for a moment. “And there were all these people around. I couldn’t just speak up.” The strangers in cloaks all look frightened by my disembodied voice. Something soft touches my hand, which makes me yank it back. I look down to see Hack happily wagging his tail while looking me dead in the eyes. Weird.

“Fine. Luna I’m going to ask you to debrief me on what has happened. You go find Porter and Z— Nadir.” Without responding I jump to my feet in one motion. I silently slip past everyone and out the doorway Father burst through. Soon enough I’m in one of the main halls of the manor. I start heading for the main entrance, whoever Porter is will probably come in there. As I walk down the long, dark, hallway, I hear clicking behind me. I stop in my tracks and spin around to find the source of the noise. Standing behind me is the familiar root creature. He’s looking me dead in the eyes again. How does he know I’m here?

I take a step to the left, making no noises, and his gaze follows me. I step back where I was, and he follows me with his eyes again. What the hell? I decide to ignore him and head to the front door again. The rhythmic clicking of his thorns on the waxed floors is strangely soothing. 

As the front entrance comes into view the large reinforced slabs of wood swing open silently. A man with pitch black hair and a knight uniform walks through the threshold, carrying my brother in his arms. This must be Porter. I walk up to him, Hack in tow.

The man’s eyes lock onto Hack and soften a bit. He makes no expression but his tone is affectionate when addressing the root monster. “Why you here alone, Hack?” I take the opportunity.

“He’s not.” My always quiet voice cuts through the thick silence in the entry hall. The knight’s gaze snaps to my head before flitting around searching for the source of the voice. “You had it the first time.” My tone might be a bit mocking.

The skinny but muscular man pulls out a small shortsword with his free arm while cradling Zenith in the other. How strong is this guy?

“Show yourself.” His tone is severe, like cut stone. “You are trespassing in the manor of Count Holdings.” He has a commanding presence that is betrayed by the nerves showing behind his eyes.

I let out a short laugh. “I didn’t realize I could trespass in my own home.” This may be the most I’ve talked to someone voluntarily in months. The man’s eyes flicker in confusion. 

“This house belongs to Lord Holdings and his children.” I let out a snort at his words.

“Well I’m one of those children, meatheat.” A smile plays across my face for the first time in… I’m not even sure. “My name is Luna Holdings, what’s yours Mr. Knight?” 

Porter’s mouth opens and shuts silently like a dying fish for a moment. “L-lady Luna? I’m pleased to meet you!” He drops to one knee. “I am Knight Porter, Lady Luna, and I’ve been appointed as your personal knight.” His practiced tone makes me hiss. Personal knight? I doubt this man can move quietly enough to be by my side. Irritation wells up within me. 

“Well, Sir Porter, are you trained for stealth at all?” Porter's eyes flash in confusion. He shakes his head slowly. I laugh mockingly. “Then how are you going to be my personal knight?” His expression remains flat. “I’m aiming to become an assassin, and as you can see — well, actually not see — I’m unmatched in pure stealth. How will you keep up with me?” As I hit him with facts and questions I slowly walk around him, causing my disembodied voice to slowly circle him predatorily. His eyes are tense.

“I-I’m not sure, my lady, but I’ll do it to the best of my abilities.” I snort. This meathead wouldn’t make it inside of a deaf and blind man’s house without being noticed.

“I’m good on my own, Knight Porter.” I swiftly dash away from the man holding my brother. I’d like to help my unconscious family, but I can only cause damage, not fix it. I look back at the blank faced knight as he silently looks down at the lizard standing next to him.

 

【〓〓〓〓】

 

The wind on top of the manor is chilly late at night. The moon illuminates the many chimneys that spew heated air from the heaters scattered throughout the building. I lean against one for warmth as I gaze up at the sky above. The twinkling stars are somewhat hidden by the blue glow coming from the townheart, but they're still visible. I sigh, and look back down at myself.

Of course I see nothing. I instinctively know where my body is, but I can’t see it. Just like everyone else, I don’t know what I look like. I… hope I’m pretty.

I open my status, the small sigil glowing in the air. The greenish pane opens in front of me, showing my name and such. I scroll through my abilities, looking for one to let me see myself. This has become a ritual of mine, every night I look for… something. My class is thief, but there are many skills that stand out to me, ones that the Baroness didn’t recognize. Like ‘Pistol Mastery’, no one could even tell me what a pistol is! I let out a sigh.

Many of the abilities are worthless, their descriptions uselessly vague. Most assume you have some foundational knowledge of what it’s talking about. Like ‘Hacking’, the description mentions computers and networks, more things no one recognizes. Even some of the more useful sounding ones don’t seem to work right. ‘Breach Network’ has a description that sounds useful, but doesn’t do what it says.

Breach Network: Forces a connection onto a selected communications network, bypassing any low level encryption. 

I recognize most of the words, but the context doesn’t make much sense. Bored, I try using it again. The magic wells up and scatters into the area around me. The clear voice I’ve heard before when using abilities fills my head. 

Breach Network activated. Searching for reachable targets… Success.

What?! It failed here last time, wasting my magic. This time the voice continues.

One available network, assuming target. Attempting Breach… Successful.

The cold voice cuts out and a new pane opens over my status, this one red instead of green. 

The rectangle is filled with information on… everything. Maps of the world, definition of legal policies, even some more malicious info passes by the rectangle. The words and images are all piled on top of one another, layered like stacked paperwork. Any time I try to read something specific it moves out of view before I can finish.

What the hell is this, it wasn’t here last time I tried this. When was that… I have no idea. An image of Father passes by, shocking me out of my thoughts. I reach out and try to grab it. My hand passes through the plane, but the image stops moving.

The image fills a quarter of the rectangle in front of me, with the rest having text about Father in it. I skim through the document. Most of it is public information, but some is extremely sensitive. Stuff about his communications with the pope about Wight! Who leaked this, who found this out? I feel the heat rising in my cheeks. 

Suddenly the words 'Intrusion Detected’ flash across my red plane, covering most of the information. I snarl in anger. Someone’s on to me. Before I can cancel the ability I feel my magic return to me, but the rectangle stays floating in front of me. The red hues of its surface slowly turn to blue. A cyan ring appears in the center of the window, covering the already obstructive ‘Intrusion Detected’ message. 

“Who, are you?” A woman’s voice echoes across the tiles of the roof. It’s different from the one from before, not as cold. Still cold though. Of course I say nothing. The blue circle slowly pulses, as if thinking. Finally it speaks again. “Explosion imminent, confirmation needed to cancel. Five. Four. Three.” 

I panic. “Stop!” I shriek, easily louder than anything I’ve previously uttered. The cold voice stops. The blue ring stops pulsing.

“I knew someone was there. Who are you? How’d you get on my network?” My eyes go wide. She knows about networks? Maybe she can explain my abilities. I feel my excitement rising.

“I’m…” I try to think of a clever fake name. “Moonlight?” Dammit! Lame! It also came out as a question. The blue ring pulses once, making a strange noise similar to a chuckle.

“Moonlight?” She sounds unconvinced, unsurprisingly. “Whatever, what about my other question?” 

I decide to humor her, maybe I can get info out of her in return. Not like her knowing about my otherwise useless abilities could hurt. “I used one of my thief abilities.” The blue ring turns orange before spinning for a moment. It quickly returns to cyan.

“There aren’t any thief abilities that can do that.” Her voice is very sure, like she knows for certain.

“Well I do!” My tone is exasperated. I’m actually telling the truth here! 

“What is it called then?” The blue pulses rhythmically, waiting for my response. 

“Breach Network.” The blue changes to red for a split second. 

The woman’s voice is harsher now. “I believe you, why did you attack my network?” Attack? I didn’t attack anyone! Wait, it's hers? How does she have that info on Father? 

“Why do you know about Father talking to the pope?” My anger gets the better of me, and I instantly regret my words. The circle turns orange again.

“Father… pope… thief… You’re Luna Mutatio Holdings. Sixteen year old daughter of Count Holdings.” Her voice is smug and makes me seethe. “I’ve met your sister, Scarlet, and your personal knight.” Her tone softens significantly. “I owe them my life, they saved me from a dungeon.” What? Dungeon? No one tells me anything! I groan externally on accident. 

Anger flashes through me when I mull over what she just said. “My sister is Lady Scarlet to you!” I hate the stupid titles, but I’ll be damned if I let some stranger disrespect my sister, especially one she apparently saved.

The woman makes a strange pinging sound again. “Sorry, Luna, I’m not going to play along with your nobility nonsense.” She sounds frustrated for some reason. “And don’t worry, that information on your family will not leave my possession.” This woman changes her tones so fast it makes me dizzy. 

Suddenly the blue plane vanishes, plunging my surroundings into darkness again. I hadn’t even noticed that the thing had started to give off light at some point. This… bitch! She thinks she can just leave like that? She has another thing coming!

I open my ability list again.

 

【〓〓〓〓】

 

Sunlight glares into my eyes, snapping me out of my fugue state. I look up from my perch on the roof, the sun now peeking over the edge of the noble tier. I let out a sigh. My efforts all night to re-access whatever that ‘network’ was led to nothing but frustration. I try the ‘Breach Network’ skill again, but the usual swelling of magic from my core never comes. 

I focus on myself and find my magic reserve empty, a new experience for me. I guess that means I’m out of chances for the day. I jump to my feet and close my status plane. The bluish rectangle disappears with a flicker of light. I climb down from the roof, slipping into one of the open upper windows.

Making my way to the dining room, I pass by some gossiping maids crouched around a vase that apparently needs four of them to clean. Their whispers are just out of range for my ears to pick up. Using a skill would be a waste when I could just sneak up on them. I make sure my footsteps are silent as I crouch close to the group.

“- are they really the Count’s children? They look nothing like them!” a frumpy maid says in a hushed tone. 

“I heard they’re the bastards he had with some harlot on the streets.” A cold-looking older maid’s voice is snippy as she slanders Father.

“Count Holdings would never do that!” A maid on the heavier side with sunken-in eyes defends Father. “He’s a good man who loved his wife dearly. He would never have done that to her!” Her eyes twinkle deep in her face with a fury. Her expression saddens as she continues, “I could see the Count taking in street urchins out of pity, he didn’t have an heir anyways.”

The cold woman scoffs. “If that’s true, why let himself get his title of Duke stripped from him? He could’ve declared some random rat his heir, then!” The maid that stood up for Father shakes her head, not having a good answer.

Dark plans start to form in my mind. I try to recall where the jewelry was in my room. If I could just… slip in that woman’s pocket.

I approve. I jump at Coil’s voice, which is mockingly giddy. Just before I move to get the false evidence, divine retribution in a maid outfit strikes. 

A woman with golden brown skin and violently red hair comes around the corner. I swear the hair on her head is raised like a dog’s hackles. “Murma!” the small woman roars. “This is the last time I catch you gossiping about our Master!” Her face is twisted in anger. The cold-eyed woman from earlier shrinks back from the newcomer.

“I didn’t — I mean, that’s not—” the rude woman, Murma apparently, stutters profusely. “Emma, I swear I didn’t mean anything by it!” 

“Sure, Murma!” Emma scowls. “I’ll be informing the head!” 

Murma scowls before storming off. Once the scolded woman is out of earshot, Emma pounces on her next prey.

“Nemrit, this is your only warning!” She points at the frumpy woman. “Next time I catch you gossiping I’ll turn you in too.” 

Nemrit nods slowly. “Yes, Miss Emma.” The shorter woman quickly shuffles off after assuring the redhead she understood. 

Emma lets out a sigh of frustration. “Why are you engaging in this nonsense, Beth?” Emma’s much softer tone is turned at the heavyset woman who defended Father. Beth looks at her shoes with much interest.

“Well… I couldn’t just let ‘em badmouth the Count, now could I?” She looks up at Emma earnestly. 

The redheaded maid shakes her head in frustration. “Next time, Beth, just don’t even interact.” Beth nods at Emma’s words just as a blur shoots from around the corner. 

A small brown shape comes barreling at me, and before I can react it slams into me. How’s it so fast?! I fall on my butt, and the brown warm thing squiggles around in my lap. Looking down I see Hack, floating a few inches off the ground on my invisible legs. I suppress a groan.

Soon enough, my fears are validated. A man comes sprinting around the corner in full knight’s gear. “Hack! Wait for me!” The knight completely ignores the befuddled maids and just runs up to where I’m sitting. He looks down at the floating Hack with a blank face.

“Oh! Lady Luna, I found you finally!” This time I can’t suppress the groan.