Even More Mysterious
POV Gideon
I couldn´t believe what I had just witnessed. Gwaine had defied the lodge in front of the most important, most intimidating members, the whole counsel. Damn, he had guts. Leading him out of the room and away from the heavy atmosphere, I tried to find a start for a conversation.
“I will take you to our seamstress”, was the best I could do.
“You swore to protect that Count?” I had almost foreseen such a question. I understood where he was coming from, but he needed to get my point of view as well.
“I was raised here. This is all I know.” After that he was silent for a bit.
“I see, but one does not need to follow the path of their teachers.” Before I was able to question the odd advice, we arrived.
"Here we are.” I opened a huge wooden door, leading us to a large space, resembling a labyrinth with all the different rags with clothing. I looked around the cupboards, ending up in the middle of the room. It was cleared of all the clutter, only a small podium and a huge mirror filled it. In the corner sat a couch, a coffee table and a few chairs.
“Madam Rossini, we are here for the measuring.” Somewhere from the left, I heard a clang, then a woman with a thick French accent stated: “Oh, how lovely. I am finally meeting the ruby.” Gwaine was lazily scanning the room, looking cool even though he didn´t do a thing. Making my heart flutter.
A tall woman appeared behind a stack of hats, wearing a brown business outfit and a red beret: “I am Madam Rossini pleased to…”, as soon as Gwaine fully turned and locked eyes with her, she came to an abrupt halt. Her eyes glazed over for a second, then she took a deep breath, a large grin spreading on her face. I was about to ask, if Gwaine and the Madam had already met before, when she fell to her knees.
In alarm I hurried closer, only to recognize her kneeling in front of Gwaine, head bowed, right hand in a fist on her heart.
“Hokage-sama, it has been so long. I am delighted to see you well.” She didn´t raise her head. Astonished I watched the encounter. Gwaine scrutinized the woman in front of him, stepping closer. He lightly touched her cheek.
“Rise, you have no need to bow to me now.” His tone was firm, a leader speaking to his subordinate. Did he use that tone intentionally? The woman rose, but only reluctantly.
“There is time to talk about the old times later”, with that last almost demand, Madam Rossini reverted back to the woman I knew. But only after a salute to him.
“Hai!” Was that Japanese? She cleared her throat. “Well then, I will take care of your wardrobe. I will need to sew you entirely new outfits. Who would have imagined our ruby suddenly turning in to a man?” Taking measurements, she concluded: “You definitely won´t fit into anything I made for Gideon. You are much boarder.” The question´s in my mind only grew in numbers. Who was Gwaine really?
Next stop was the training hall. Here we practiced with the rapier, but also to dance, to walk properly, etiquette and so on. Honestly I was a bit nervous to fight Gwaine. He would probably trash me, as he had the guys yesterday. In case it was true, and he really had also learnt to wield the rapier.
It ended as I had feared.
I lay on the floor, panting heavily and tried to somehow catch my breath, while Gwaine looked hardly winded at all. On what kind of hellish training regime was he? He smiled down at me and offered his hand, after a moment I took it and he lifted me to my feet with one tuck. Mr George and Falk had watched all the this, Mr George with a knowing proud look and Falk with a carefully blank face.
“Next is the history exam, please just answer a few questions.” It seems Gwaine didn´t even have to think about the answer, before he told it.
“Next we have dancing, Charlotte has agreed to be your training partner, as Gideon cannot.”
“I woulnd´t have minded holding Gideon close”, he was looking me right in the eyes, as he announced that, making me blush red and turn my gaze down. Bloody hell, that man. Charlotte entered the room, as if she had only waited to make an entrance. “Please do refrain to step on my feet.” I balled my fists.
She sent me a resentful look, our breakup and the following denouncement of being the ruby left a mark on her.
“As long as you are able to keep up, beloved cousin.”
The music started to play and instantly, as if anyone didn´t already watch him, Gwaine commanded the room. This time not with his mere presence and attitude, but also with his elegant movements. He twisted and turned, leading Charlotte around the floor. Twirling her and showing her off like some prized possession. He made it look effortless. I longed to replace Charlotte. How she must feel in those arms? I was glad and disappointed at the same time, when the song ended. On one hand I wanted to rip Charlotte away from Gwaine, on the other he danced beautifully, it was a sight to behold. Falk was obviously dumfounded, leaving all the speaking to Mr George.
“Excellent, truly marvellous. How did you learn to dance like that?” Gwaine grinned.
“If one can fight, then one can dance. One of my teachers once told me that.” His past got me more and more curious. I longed to see the real Gwaine.
“The assessment is over for now, congratulations on passing”, Falk had found his tongue again. Hurra!
Mr George, Falk, Gwaine and me moved to a different, smaller room. Mr George turned the hologram, which showed the twelve time-traveller’s, on and it spluttered to life. “The problem is that the last gene carrier from your family stole the chronograph, containing the blood of the first ten time-travellers”, Falk stated accusingly towards Gwaine, who was unfazed.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but Paul de Villers, the last gene carrier from your family, was part of that drama as well. And it must have happened for a reason. Why would they steal the chronograph if not to prevent the circle of blood to close?”
“Why would they want to prevent that?”
“If the blood circle closes, the chronograph awards the owner a special power”, Mr George intervened.
“Lucy and Paul wanted those powers for themselves.”
“Gideon already met six of the twelve time-travellers and collected their blood to input it into the second chronograph.” “Only four are missing. Jade, opal, sapphire and tourmaline.”
Gwaine nodded to me: “Which one do you represent?” “The hardest, the diamond”, I told him proudly. Before Gwaine could make any kind of comment, Falk spoke: “We ran into problems. Margret Tillney. The grandmother of your grandmother. Birthed in 1884.”
“I met her yesterday evening in the year 1902, she told me she would only speak with you about her blood if at all.”
“Oh, interesting.” Was Gwaine even able to get stunned?
We lost no time in getting ready. Madam was luckily able to find a fitting outfit for Gwaine to wear. He both were now dressed in an elegant grey suit, complete with a rapier disguised as a walking stick. I had to lead a blindfolded Gwaine down the stone tunnel underneath the building to the chronograph. They didn´t trust Gwaine, still afraid he would steal the chronograph as Lucy had. Honestly, I enjoyed it immensely. I had my hands firmly on his shoulder and his arm and I could feel the muscles underneath the clothing. I somehow got the feeling Gwaine would be able to walk just fine without my help, but that didn´t stop me from touching and leading him. And he let me. The walk was filled with funny anecdotes and sharing memories. All to soon we arrived at the dungeon room the chronograph was located at. Falk and Mr George already waited for us.
“The operation jade may now commence”, Falk announced.
“Date of arrival is the 16. April of 1912.” Mr George informed us about the quote of the day, Gwaine put his finger in the hold.
I watched as the needle cut his finger, and the small drop of blood was taken in the chronograph, lighting up the ruby and generating a sudden bout of wind, while Gwaine vanished from sight. Now, it was my turn.