✞ᵉᵖᵒᶜʰ✞

𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔞𝔭𝔢 |ten

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" A bottle hit the ground with a loud crash, breaking into hundreds of pieces after Mattias threw it out of anger.

He slid to the ground with his head in his arms, "Fuck!" He cursed again.

"You know, cursing and throwing objects might help with your anger issues but it's definitely not gonna help with finding your sister." Mattias was interrupted by a voice he could differentiate from any other in any situation, just because of how much it annoyed him.
He instantly stood up straight, fixing his ruffled hair and eyeing the person suspiciously.
"What do you want, Lucas?" Mattias's earlier cursing sounded like words of praise compared to how he said Lucas's name.

"I want to help you find [Y/N]."

Mattias narrowed his eyes at the younger man, "And how do you think you could be of help, huh," He placed a hand on his hip, "With all my resources, I still have no lead, and it's been a week!"

"I know where she is." Lucas announced, bravely. "I have a lead."

Somehow, it was still possible for Mattias to narrow his eyes even more, because that's what he did. "Is your head on right?"
Lucas ignored the jab, "I know an elf. A military commander directly under the king of might. They have [Y/N], she showed me."

"And why would someone who's loyal to their king help you? What nonsense are they planning?" Mattias scoffed, walking towards Lucas.

His eyes averted from Mattias's for a moment before he looked back, a new resolve in his gaze. "She owed me a favor. I called it in." He took one more step closer to Mattias, completely closing the last bit of space they had between them. Standing chest to chest, and glaring into one another's eyes, Lucas asked, "Are you in?"

The next time Mattias met Lucas, it was at Lucas' residence. Mattias didn't bother knocking, he simply walked in and found Lucas seated but there was an extra person. It was a short elf, a woman. Her gray hair was chopped unevenly, and the long sleeved shirt she wore did nothing to hide her ripped physique. Even though she was sitting, Mattias could tell she was smaller than the both of them but he had no doubts that she could beat them up if she wanted to. But her face looked beautiful, ethereal, even. She had white-ish skin- purple if you squint, her eyes were a light shade of blue framed with long eyelashes. Her pink lips were curled into a scowl as she watched Mattias vigilantly.

He refused to let himself be intimidated. "Why are you helping us?" He could see Lucas from his peripheral, rolling his eyes because Mattias didn't even bother with niceties.

The elven woman glanced at Lucas, then back at Mattias and leaned back in her seat, "I am not helping you. I am simply returning a favor."

"How can we save my sister?"

"By being patient." She responded, crossing her arms.

"How long?" Lucas asked before Mattias could.

"A few months. That's enough for them to be done with the wedding preparations-"

Mattias rushed to cut her off, "You must be insane if you think I'm letting that wedding happen!"

"I guess I'm not insane because it isn't." Her scowl disappeared to give way to a condescending smirk, "We need to wait for the day of the wedding, that's the only day defense would be low. You have exactly 2 hours to get in and out unnoticed."

Lucas sighed, running his hands through his hair. "So, there's only one chance to get her. And it still has a time limit?" He shook his head with a chuckle, "That isn't so hard, is it? We can do it."

"Of course, we can." Mattias agreed, "And we have enough time for a foolproof plan."

Novae kept fiddling with their hair, but their eyes never strayed away from your form. You were splayed on the bed- after reading a book of the eleven wedding customs.
Whenever an elf married a human woman, the elven equivalent to a priest made her a potion with the 'essence' of her groom(s). The said essence was either blood, a lock of hair or another DNA sample provided. The bride would then drink the concoction, to elongate her lifeline and to finally complete the ceremony. Elves live very long lives and when their lovers die before they do, it affects their magic- and the potion is said to be purified but that didn't make it any less weird for you.