⚔︎ 𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗗 𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗟𝗦 ⚔︎ | 𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡

𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝙱𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜

You slurred your steps. You dreaded this, you really did. But you couldn't very well march up to the king and queen now, to tell them 'Oh, I changed my mind, I don't want to talk to Varias.'.

Was his name even Varias?

You forgot. Why did the guy have such an unusual name anyway?

You walked down the steps that led to the cells, your willingness to run away and never show your face again growing with each passing seconds.

But, when you were prepared to actually do so, you had already arrived. And the guards nodded to you, indicating that they saw you and knew of your arrival.

So it would've been embarrassing to turn and run off then.

'Might as well get this over with.'

You shone them a forced smile, and they let you through. Seemed like you had to find his cell on your own.

Most of the cells were unoccupied. The few that were occupied had criminals in them who were glaring at you.

Other than that, the walls were damp and covered in moss. One could hear water dripping from the ceiling, and it felt more like a cave than a prison. The thing you had immediately noticed was the dim light.

Even for a prison, this place seemed too run down. You didn't have much experience with prisons, but you were sure that it should've been in a much better state than it was.

Ah. How charming.

You had almost reached the last few cells when you spotted him. The boy whose name was in everyone's mouths these days.

He didn't look as cruel as you would've imagined him to, after creating an army of automatons that destroyed everything in their paths. Hadn't it been for the black rocks, they would've nearly been indestructible.

Well, to be fair, you couldn't see his face. His back was turned to you, and he stared at the one barricaded window, the one source of light in his cell.

A raccoon slept soundly at his side, and you wondered why it was there - it couldn't be a criminal too, could it?

It didn't matter anyway.

The king and queen had already entrusted you with a key to his cell, which you tightly clutched in your hand. But you weren't ready to step foot into his cell just yet, he could attack you and escape for all you knew.

Luckily, they had been kind enough to place a chair in front of the bars. That way, you didn't have to come into direct contact with him just yet.

You cleared your throat, but he gave no sign of having heard you. So, with a sigh, you sat down onto the chair.

You had practiced this. It was basically a script. You just had to say 'Hello, my name is (Y/N). I'm here today to help. What's your name?' ... you didn't feel like getting his name wrong, even though you had heard it a million times by then. That would be a horrible first impression.

"Hello, my name is (Y/N). I am here-"

The alchemist sighed in pure annoyance, turning around with an unreadable expression.

"Cut the bull. I know why you're here. And I am not interested in talking to you. Just shoo."

"You know, I would, but it's kind of my job to-"

"Yeah, yeah, believe me, I've heard it all before. I get that it's your job, I get that you get paid, but you're wasting your time."

"I wouldn't call it wasting my time."