Crimson

Disloyal..

Vita laughed again .

He had been unable to control his smile since Juno disappeared .

Juno never failed to surprise him .

He turned and headed the opposite way to the Governor's building , they were meeting Larona to discuss their individual findings .

As he walked , he had an inner battle .

He was excited to see Juno and was looking forward to possibly seeing him at The Haze .

Whilst , he was also chastising himself .

He wanted to catch up with the thief early and do some serious thinking , preferably alone .

Coming to Agrippa had changed his view about a lot of things and even shaken his stance on being a brigadier .

One of the brigades vows had been to move the Utopia to it's Future .

Vita had always assumed he was doing that with every step he took as a brigadier .

But , Agrippa had made him realize he had only been leading a select people to their future and not the Utopia .

A brigadier coat Swaying to the cold morning wind by the side of the road caught his attention .

What was Nero doing in a place like this ?

He moved closer but abruptly stopped moving when he saw another pair of brown boots in front of Nero's brown boots .

Was this another Messenger ?

Nero had been awfully busy lately and was always going off alone without informing Vita .

Vita had not wanted to ask because he had also had a lot on his mind and he could just imagine Nero asking them to trade secrets .

He decided to take a peek at Nero's secret because try as he might to look the other way , he was curious .

Nero's tales of his various adventures ( mostly sexcapades really ) were also Vita's ultimate adventures .

He slowly moved forward till he was able to see the features of Nero's latest victim .

It was a familiar redhead , that was currently glowering .

Keanu , the Historian from the gambling den .

Nero had taken a liking to him then and Nero was not one to let someone he liked go that easily .

Yet , Vita had not thought of this since then .

Usually , he would have kept an eye on them , to make sure it was not someone out to hurt Nero or the brigade through Nero .

As he stood , shocked by his uncharacteristic absent-minded attitude , the Historian noticed him .

His glower increased and his red eyebrows came together producing an extremely disturbing image .

Nero turned and spotted him too .

Keanu said something to him and Nero shrugged .

Keanu said something else , raising his hands to gesture wildly , he seemed really upset about something .

Nero answered him and even though Vita could not see Nero's face , he was sure that Nero had said the wrong thing .

The redhead seemed to agree with Vita too , he narrowed his eyes and turned around to leave .

Nero grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him from leaving and the red head turned sharply , gave him an evil look and proceeded to slam his heeled boot onto Nero's much softer boot .

Nero fell to the ground , howling loudly while the Historian left without a backwards glance .

Vita chuckled .

He had become used to seeing Nero beat up by his numerous partners.

When Nero was done howling , he stood up shakily and began to limp towards Vita .

He put his fingers up when he reached Vita .

" Don't ask ".

Vita smirked .

" I did not intend to ask " .

Nero nodded and they began to walk towards the governor's building like Vita had originally intended .

****

At the front of the governor's building standing amidst various city guards stood Fabia .

He looked untouched and was chewing something from a satchel that hung around his neck .

Nero groaned .

" Is he back so soon ?"

Vita gave him a condescending look and whistled softly .

Fabia stopped chewing to look around , once he had spotted Vita , he trotted over .

Trotted ?

Trotted ??

Vita had once been away from Fabia for half a day , when they had met up in the evening , Fabia had run full throttle to him and had continued to bray for minutes as if he was narrating how his day had went .

The rest of the brigade had made fun of him for weeks after then , braying whenever he passed .

Now , that same horse had trotted halfway and stopped to dip his head into the satchel around his neck .

Vita walked the remaining halfway to the horse .

He observed the horse cautiously expecting to find something that proved this was not Fabia but it was Fabia .

He hugged the horse despite it's constant betrayal , he had been worried even though he had known that he would come back .

He beckoned to the stable boy that was listening to a conversation between Nero and three guards .

He hurriedly came over and began to drag Fabia away .

Vita watched till they disappeared from his sight before before he walked over to the stairs that led inside the Governor's building .

As he began to climb the stairs , Nero joined him .

" Those three behind us found him " .

Vita nodded at the information .

Suddenly , thinking that the horse might leave a clue , he asked Nero .

" Where exactly was he found ?"

Nero sighed .

" I thought we could use that too to locate the thief but your horse was found on a street not far from the outskirts .

They think he might have walked from the forest " .

That was too vague to help .

They had finished climbing the stairs .

Larona stood at the top of the stairs .

" I've been waiting for you two for awhile ".

She said hurriedly .

Vita looked up at her.

" Why ? What is the problem? "

" Good morning ",Nero interrupted .

They both turned to look at him .

Vita continued , completely ignoring Nero .

" What did you want to say ?"

Larona cleared her throat .

" The governor's daughter has information on the thief from the day the ring was stolen ".

They both turned to stare her .

Nero broke the silence .

" Why now ? " , he asked

Vita had been thinking about that .

Larona nodded .

" I invited her over so you could ask your questions " .

Vita was satisfied with her efficiency .

" I'll see her now " .

Larona nodded and went ahead of them , showing them the way .

They went inside the building , and began to avoid the longer hallways as she took them to this place that she had left the governor's daughter .

They finally arrived at a darkened hallway .

Larona began to walk further into the hallway .

" She is In this room ".

She pointed at one of the barely visible doors .

Vita went ahead , turning the knob and letting himself in , he also managed to leave enough space to run out if the need arose .

The room was not dark and sooty like he had thought it would be .

There was a big window that was open and light poured through it .

The room was also very cold because of the open window .

He walked deeper into the room , there were paintings and fancy furniture and on one of the fancy chairs a blond girl sat with a cocky expression on her face .

She tilted her head .

" Are all brigadiers this good-looking ?"

Vita ignored her .

" I heard you answer directly to the Crimson Royals , my father is a cousin of the queen , I'm sure you know that ".

Vita stretched his lips into a grim expression .

" The queen has no cousin that I am not aware of , if I do not know your father , then he's not family to the queen ".

When Vita said this , she immediately glared at him .

Vita went straight to business .

" You said you had information , will you give it now ?"

She eyed him , an attempt to be seductive .He only stared at her , a blank look on his face .

Finally , she sighed .

" Yes , it's concerning the night the ring was stolen ".

Vita nodded , Urging her on .

" I was supposed to wear a particular dress. But , when it was time for the party , the seamstress could not find the dress .

Halfway through the party , I saw this glutton in the dress and approached her , she told me her lover ,the governor had given her the dress "...

She paused and took a sip of her tea .

" I was furious but then the ring was abruptly stolen , so I forgot about that encounter that is until I was told the thief was a master of disguises and possessed lots of acquaintances in different places ."

" I remembered then and asked my father for this girls identity, but , he really didn't know who she was .

All the other guests were accounted for except her ".

Vita nodded , this could have been a scout for the thief .

" What do you remember about this lady's face ? "

She was smiling as he talked .

She brought a wide piece of paper out of her bags .

" I was angry for a long time after then , so , I was able to remember her face and put it down on paper ".

She handed him the paper .

It was a detailed sketch of a woman ,mostly her side view .

He looked up at the lady.

" I really did not see her upfront so , I drew a side profile and the hair is black , midnight black ".

Vita nodded and went back to the profile , the more he looked at it ,the strangely familiar it looked .

She interrupted him again .

" Since , you really didn't ask , I'll act like you forgot . I'm Lucia and I know you are Vita ".

Vita watched her .

" It wasn't necessary to exchange names ".

He went back to looking at the picture. The girl stood up , prepared to leave .

When she reached the door, she turned back to him .

" Most women in Agrippa have the same

hair and makeup stylists or do similar makeups . I can easily tell who styled who .

But , not with this girl .Her makeup was uncouth , the kind you would usually find on people at The Haze ".

Vita blinked at this new piece of information .

" Find my father's ring ".

She said softly.

She weirdly did not slam the heavy door like he had been sure she would when she left .

He stared at the woman on the paper wondering why she seemed familiar .

It seemed like he had no say , he was definitely going to The Haze tonight .