You're Not Alone

It was early morning when Ksenia made her way out of the castle. A small smile slipped onto her face as she felt the cool breeze against her face, it was good to be out in the morning. Her steps were light and quick as she made her way down the stairs, the soles of her knee high soft leather boots barely making a sound. Cleo was hot on her mistress's heel, running into the clearing ahead, her long tale barely brushed Ksenia's thigh as she rushed past. The leopard has grown to nearly twice the size she was when Ksenia bought her a few months ago.

The witch paused for a moment, letting her eyes scan the scenery, searching for a particular figure. And there he was, moving down the path towards the amphitheatre, about twenty feet ahead of Ksenia already. The Slushatel Prefect flicked her braid over her shoulder and started down the path herself, half walking half jogging to catch up to Lucifer. she was dressed casually for a change, or as casually as she ever did. Instead of the long roes she usually wore Ksenia decided to wear simple black sweater and black pants that were tucked into her boots to keep out some of the cold. The chill was beginning to set with winter moving closer and closer, but it was still warm enough to not require a heavy jacket.

The leopard was the first to reach the Hrabrost Prefect, sniffing his leg before darting ahead at a run and disappearing into a cluster of bushes. "Hey," Ksenia said lightly as she came to walk beside Lucifer.

Lucifer looked down at the animal that sniffed his leg. He'd recently taken a dislike to the creature thanks to his father. If he'd never stood up and protected the dumb animal then he'd still be on speaking terms with his father.

He turned to see Nia following as expected but he made no attempt to stop. He needed to train to get back into his fathers good books and nothing was going to stop that. "Hey." He said giving her a brief smile.

Ksenia gave him a smile in return as they walked further down the path. "Here," she said as she reached into the pocket of her pants, retrieving a small vial of gold coloured potion encased in clear glass. "Odour Masking Potion. Something I found in the library this summer. The book looked like it hasn't been opened for a few decades," she said as she held out her hand for him to take the vial. "It's safe, I tried it on myself already and I have zero record of poisoning people with my brews," she said with a small smirk, her gaze almost mischievous.

He raised an eyebrow at her as he took the potion. "You trying to say i smell? Cause you know, as an assassin there can be no greater insult." He smirked. "Well there can but seeing as our scent is one thing we work on it definitely up there." He placed the vial into his pocket and continued to walk towards the arena. It wouldn't be long now before he was hacking off the heads of the dummies.

Ksenia raised both of her eyebrows back at him. "If I thought you smelled I would have simply given you deodorant and not a potion that hasn't been brewed for half a century. This particular one has been developed by your ancestor, Gamigin Sicarius, in 1267. From the brief bits of history about him I have managed to read, it seemed that he was quite a potioneer. This one was one of his lesser creations. No deodorant can stop the scent of smoke, or a lot of other things for that matter, from clinging to you like this potion can. I would imagine it would be useful on some of your missions," she said as she looked ahead at the path in front of them, her voice a bit dry but amused.

"You and your family do not even know how much useful information there is in your own library. I was only searching through history when I found the instructions for this potion. I would imagine there would be much more powerful spells and potions hidden under heavy wards in there as well," her tone was almost musing as she continued.

Ksenia couldn't help but smirk slightly as she turned her head to face him once again. "I must be getting close to beating the record for the amount of times I have unintentionally insulted the assassins of your line. As an assassin, what advice would give for situations when you enter a completely unfamiliar environment?" she asked him.

"Gamigin?" He asked snorting at the name. He doubted anyone in his bloodline was called that. "I think you mean Hermoso Sicarius. He was the potions master of his time. I know everything there is to know about my family history Ksenia, we all do. After Hermoso came Gandalf, he was a master archer. There wasn't a thing he couldn't hit." He said pulling open the double doors to the arena.

He sighed and turned to face her. "Don't insult our intelligence Ksenia. We may not read books but we know our own. Everything in those books is passed down through generation after generation through word of mouth! We don't need to read." He spat turning his head to the side and pointing to the tattoo behind his ear.

"You see that! That's been in my family since time began. My family are built around traditions and we never! Forget them." He turned, pulled out his sword and walked off to the center of the arena where two dummies stood waiting for him.

The dummies began to circle him as he stood there on the stop. His eyes the only part of him that moved to follow them. "Don't insult those that have the ability to kill you with one movement." He said and swung his sword to cleanly take off the first moving dummies head.

The relaxed expression vanished from Ksenia's face to be replaced by the more serious one she wore most of the time as she listened to Lucifer's words. She watched silently for a few moments as she stood just inside of the gates. "How am I supposed to learn anything about the Mafia when I am being stopped at every pass I take?" she called out to him, a slight tone of hardness in her voice. The Slushatel Prefect has never felt so lost before.

"You're not." He said truthfully. "We're called the mafia for a reason Ksenia. You think if we just let anyone know our trade secrets we'd be who we were today? Of course we wouldn't! Some things are best kept buried with those that run the place." A dummy struck whilst he was momentarily distracted and hit him in the ribs, releasing a growled from Lucifers lips.

"I do not mean your trade secrets. I mean the rules and traditions that you function by. It feels like I have entered another world and I have no idea what is happening around me," Ksenia told him, more calm this time. She watched him move, she didn't want to distract him from his training, but she was tired of feeling so lost and she wanted some answers.

He sighed and after one quick look at her he returned to the attacking dummies, taking each one down more easily than when he'd first tried. It was amazing what he could do when he didn't hold back. Once the last dummy was down he stood up and placed his sword back in its holder.

"You have five minutes, what is it you wish to know?"

Ksenia frowned at him once again. "Am I the only lucky person to get a guard from the Mafia who treats them like an animal or is that the normal thing around here?" she almost snapped at him. It was a good place to start considered that he was not very willing to listen to her in the first place.

He laughed hysterically. "You've seen the way, the mafia runs and you think i treat you like an animal!" Suddenly he turned sour all the laughter gone from his face as he dropped his training to approach her. "Do you want me to treat you like a member of the Mafia Ksenia is that it?" He asked, sliding his sword back into it's holder. He'd annoyed her now.

"Was christmas not enough for you? Do you wish to see me under more torture before it gets through that thick skull of yours? The Mafia is no place for someone who can't fight their own battles!" He spat. "We're all animals waiting for that moment of slaughter, cause lets face it, none of us face a natural death. You should count yourself lucky. I treat you like a human being because i shouldn't, not if my family standards are anything to live by."

Ksenia gaped at him. She would never have expected such misunderstanding. Or perhaps she might have if she wasn't so annoyed already. "Why would I say anything like that about you? You've treated me with respect since we first met. You are close to being the only person who has been friendly to me in the Mafia," she said, surprised at how calm she sounded. "I know I made a lot of mistakes and I am sorry for that," she told him, meeting his eyes.

"You are not my guard, you are my warrior. I am was talking about Treshawn, the guard that your father has assigned to me." A snarl formed on her own face as he stepped closer to her. "He is the one who insisted on persuading me that the only thing I am good for is making more assassins. Isn't that wonderful!" she snapped at him.

Ksenia's expression turned dark as his next words hit her. "What do you think I did before you came to this school?" Some of the hate that she had harbored inside herself and has never been aimed at him shined in her eyes now. She felt something inside her snap as he spat at her. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME WEAK! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE COMPLETELY ALONE! KNOWING THAT YOU WON'T EVER SEE YOUR FAMILY AGAIN!" she screamed at him. It felt like something has finally unbound itself inside of her. Like she could finally let let out some of the hurt that has been buried within her for years. "I AM TIRED OF FIGHTING! I AM TIRED OF FIGHTING FOR MY OWN SANITY! I AM TIRED OF ALWAYS WORRYING ABOUT MY OWN SAFETY! AND MOST OF ALL I AM TIRED OF FACING EVERYTHING COMPLETELY ON MY OWN!" she yelled at him, her voice echoing off the walls of the arena as tears poured down her cheeks.

Ksenia was not exactly sure what was happening to her, but she felt better after she let those words out finally. "Maybe I do want someone to fight my battles for me now," she said quietly as she hugged herself, looking away from him finally, not caring for the tears that clouded her vision now. "Maybe I am just too exhausted to do that myself now."

He looked at her in confusion. If he'd treated her with nothing but respect then what did she mean? "My father assigned you a guard without consulting me first? Why didn't you tell me?" He asked turning to pacing with his head in one hand. Why was he always the last to know. Was he not to be trusted? He was next in line to his father throne so that had to stand for something right? And Treshawn of all people.

"Im assuming by Treshawn you mean the halfwit we met in my gardens over summer?" He asked pausing for a few seconds in his pacing to receive an answer. It seemed he needed a lesson on respect towards women. "Don't worry about Treshawn, i'll sort him out. He won't be bothering you again, if he does he'll have me to deal with."

He stopped his pacing and just listened. He hadn't expected her to shout like that, he'd always seen the calm side to her so this had come as a surprise. Once she was finished he did something he'd never done before and pulled her forwards into a hug. He didn't know why. He never was one for the intimate gestures and he hated his personal space being invade but he felt she needed it. Perhaps it was their connection working.

"It is my job to protect you Ksenia, mind, body and spirit. You don't have to worry about that anymore."

"You didn't know?" Ksenia asked, frowning slightly, the anger gone from her expression. "I thought your father would have told you. I imagined that the main reason he did assign a guard to me was for you not to get distracted from your training by me," she said. "I am quite surprised that you don't know actually."

"Yes," the Slushatel Prefect nodded her head slightly. "He is not a halfwit. He is an actor. Quite an arrogant one at that. I've met him before you arrived at Durmstraang. Even then, when I didn't know he was in the Mafia, he was annoying," she said, her face turning sour as she talked about her guard.

Ksenia was surprised when he pulled her towards him and hugged her. She didn't really think of how she expected him to react to her outburst. She didn't think anymore of it as she leaned into him, pressing her cheek against his chest, wrapping her own arms around him. It felt so safe in his arms, she hasn't felt as safe for a long time. It felt like it was finally okay to be weak, to allow her tears to fall. "I know I don't need to worry about my safety anymore. It's just," her words came slowly as she finally let them out after holding them in for so long. "After Abraxas's death it felt like everything went back to exactly how it was before he arrived in Russia. It felt like I was alone again," she said finally. After going through so much emotional pain all she wanted was for someone to be there to offer some support.

"I.....I don't want to overstep any boundaries," she continued slowly. Causing any more trouble for Lucifer is what she wanted the least. But she was aware of their situation, had seen him with Ciar throughout the current school year. "But you are the only person I can trust completely right now." Ksenia knew that it would be extremely hard for her to learn to trust someone else as she trusted him right now.

"No." He frowned, he needed a word with his father about secrecy. He was supposed to be his heir, he shouldn't be keeping things from him. Especially not at his age, not now. "Im sure father had his reasons for not telling me." He shrugged, more to reassure himself than her.

"Oh i know. I was taught by the best. He's not as smart as he likes to think he is though, he's definitely a half wit. His acting skills are dated, acting the half wit is so old school it's obvious to even the common muggle." He'd been taught even trick in the book about tricking your opponant and that was first on the list. How stupid did he think he was? "Oh Treshawns not in the mafia. We like to make people think they are so they work their best but he works for us. There's a difference. We won't work side by side with some stupid half breed, i think he's already proved he's not reliable enough to actually be one of us."

"Ksenia, you're like a little sister to me. I will always be here for you. Whether you need me or not. It's what brothers do. I may not have experience with sister but i have a brother, it can't be much different. I would kill for him just as i would for you." He said brushing back her hair in comfort. "Trust me Ksenia. If i didn't want you around you wouldn't be. I'm a Sicarius, we don't put up with complications as you've probably figured out. Just live your life, be happy. Let me deal with the hard stuff okay? It's my job."

"Most of the time I feel like strangling him," Ksenia sighed. "He is like a child more than anything else. He just has his own opinion and doesn't want to listen to anyone else." The Slushatel looked up at Lucifer as he said that Treshawn was not part of the Mafia. "Well, that is very good to hear," a smile finally appeared on her lips. "He is such a nuisance."

"Thank you for that, Lucifer," she said sincerely. "After you killed Abraxas there was not much left for me to do except think about what happened. I guess I just didn't have anything to move on to, to distract me and that's when things started to get much worse. I need to move on from my past and think about my future," she said thoughtfully. "All my past does to me is make me weaker every day." The witch was getting her emotions back under control. It felt good to finally get some of her thoughts off her chest. Ksenia let her own arms fall to her sides as she smoothly stepped back out of the warrior's embrace. "Thank you for your help, Lucifer. I probably wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for you," she said, smiling at him.

Lucifer snorted, it was very out of character for him but he couldn't help himself. "Just say the words and i'll do it for you Ksenia." He didn't care what his fathers reactions would be once he found out he'd killed Tre. It would be worth it to wipe that smile off his face.

"You don't need to thank me Ksenia." He smiled softly. "The past is the past, we all have one. Some of us have darker ones than others but we've got to learn to push them aside and forget about them." He shrugged dropping his own arms as she stepped away.

"Don't mention it. It's my job to keep you safe."

Ksenia couldn't help but laugh. It felt good to actually genuinely laugh about something at a time like this. "Well," she said, smirking at him. "Just as long as he stops following me everywhere and generally doesn't bother me, he can do whatever he wants. And besides," she said as her expression grew slightly serious. "I am sure he will find it more entertaining to play with the first years anyway. Plus your father is actually starting to like me. I wouldn't want to damage that over something like this."

She returned his smile. "I thought your past was meant to make you stronger. Maybe mine will someday. I just need more time."

She glanced down at his weapons briefly. "Maybe I should try to learn to fight again," her first attempt did not lead her very far and at this moment she was still hesitating. Fighting had never been her thing though maybe it would be good to focus on it right now. To help her return to a version of her former self.