Once Upon a Time…. by theFrey (Sections 5-6)

quote[quote]**** SECTION 5 ****[/quote]

Prince smiled at Kai, amused to see him copying his posture. “Well, Kai,” he murmured, leaning back and stroking his lower lip with an index finger. “Not that your visit is not an utter delight, but I can’t help but wonder what brings you here and why you are so insistent upon seeing Stan
and Xev. Especially since you said that you would no longer help them.”

Tilting his head slightly, Kai regarded Prince steadily. “That statement is not entirely true.”

“Really Kai?” Prince asked in a light wondering tone, his eyes gleaming
mischievously. “May I inquire in what way it is untrue?”

“What I told Stan is that I would no longer assist them until they had learned to satisfactorily fix my hair. So your statement is not entirely true since it did not include the qualifier.”

“But since they don’t know how to do your hair, you can not help them without breaking your word. Would you say that that is a true statement?” Prince asked in a slyly inquiring tone.

Kai continued to regard the mocking Prince with his normal unwavering intensity. “That statement may be true, but only once I have ensured myself that they do not have those skills, it will become untrue, as soon as they acquire those skills.”

“Ah, now but since I hold them prisoner, and you may not help them, how will you find out when they have acquired these skills with out my permission?”

“I do not need your permission to see them,” Kai informed Prince in a cold hard voice. “There is nothing you can do to stop me, and you know this.”

“True enough Kai, but if you force my hand, I might do something drastic to them. I’m sure you don’t want that to happen, especially since you have sworn not to help them.” Prince held up his hand forestalling Kai’s reply: “yet.”

He smiled again, lifting his wine goblet to take another drink, only to suddenly feel the cold metal of Kai’s brace locked around his throat like a lethal necklace.

“It will be difficult for you to do anything drastic to them if you are dead,” Kai said quietly.

Prince cleared his throat several times. “Quite right, Kai.” His voice was raspy from the brace. Even if he tried to call for help he would likely not be heard. Besides, Prince was not a man who called for help. He knew Kai would not kill him, or he thought he knew. He sat very still, waiting for the ex-assassin’s next move.

Kai snapped the brace away, the gesture almost casual, as if to imply that Prince should reconsider any ideas of trying to trick him. “You have three minutes left,” Kai said.

“Well, now. I did make you a deal, didn’t I? And I always stick to my deals. So let us talk.” Prince’s hand shook slightly as he took a drink and sat the goblet back down.

“I am listening,” Kai replied coolly.

“You know, Kai, if you were under my roof, I would see to it that your hair was done properly every day. And have new clothes made for you.”

“There is nothing wrong with the clothes I have on.”

“No, no, not at all. Other than the fact that they are a constant reminder of what you used to be.”

“The dead do not-“

“The dead do not what? Get upset? Don’t think about their past? The first part I’ll grant you, but if you say your past means nothing to you then you are lying, Kai.”

“Explain,” Kai said, a slight frown on his face.

“You are an ex-assassin. You stopped being an assassin because you regained your memories. You understand the difference between good and evil now. When you see evil you destroy it. If those qualities mean nothing to you, why would you act for the cause of the good? You think about your past. Intellectually, you do not like what you did. Yet you carry a constant reminder of it with what you wear. A mockery of the clothing you had when you were alive. A mockery of all that you were, all you believed in.”

Kai looked down. Prince kept his face neutral, though inside he smiled. He had given Kai something to think about.

“Well, I think our time is up,” Prince announced cheerfully. He rose. “And as I keep my word, I’ll take you to see them. Come this way.”

He walked through the hall, Kai silently walking beside him.

quote[quote]**** SECTION 6 ****[/quote]

“Ouch Stan, don’t tug so hard!”

“Well, I’m sorry Xev, but it’s hard to get your hair untangled without a comb or a brush. You have a lot of snarls back here.”

“Are you ever going to start trying to braid that lank mess she calls her hair, or are you just going to pull it all out?” groused 790, who wanted to be back on his window perch looking for his deadly thriller in black.

“No, I think it is smooth enough to start now. Let me see, where is that piece of string we ripped off the rug tassel?” Stan said.

790 heaved a huge sigh, or as much of a sigh as a disembodied robot head could manage. He focused the projection rays in his eyes to a narrow beam and pointed them towards the rug, where a seven-inch piece sting had fallen. “Right there you moron. Can we get on with it?” he inquired impatiently.

“You know 790, this would be a lot easier if you were a little more of a team player,” Stan said as he picked up the string and set it back down on the table beside him. He ignored 790’s mutterings and instead concentrated on the images of how a braid was formed that 790 was now projecting with his eyes.

“Hey 790, how is it that you know how to do these things?” Asked Xev as Stan clumsily separated her hair into three sections.

With out interrupting the instructional video that was looping a few feet in front of them, 790 replied in a testy voice. “Love slave training includes lots of information how to make yourself beautiful for your master. Since I received your instruction I know this stuff and you don’t. This would account for the fact that you walk around looking like a ill-kempt hag.”

The projection wavered a bit as Xev smacked 790 on the top of his head.

“Slut, keep your hands to your self, “ 790 growled and shot her an angry glare.

“Hey Xev, don’t do that, I’m trying to watch it.” Stan protested as the picture broke up briefly while 790 was glaring at Xev and then reformed. Crewing on his lip in concentration, Stan finished up the braid and tied it off with the rug tassel. “There. What do you think? Not bad for my first attempt huh.”

“No not at all Tweedle,” 790 interjected venomously, “if you were attempting to make her look more hideous than she usually does, I’d say you achieved your objective. However, if you are ever going to do it well enough to braid the hair of my gorgeous corpse, you’ll have to do much better!”

“Let me go look Stan” Xev said as she stood up and headed towards the bathroom mirror.

Stan turned a long-suffering look upon 790. “Now look here 790, if you have any thing helpful to suggest fine, other wise just shut it, okay?”

Xev had almost reached the bathroom when the hall door opened and Kai stepped into the room. Xev glanced over her shoulder at the sound of the door opening and then gave a joyous shriek of “Kai!” as she spun around and flung herself in his arms. “Oh Kai,” she cried hugging him tightly. “I knew you’d come for us, I knew it!”

For a few moments there was pandemonium as Stan hurried over trying to speak to Kai over shouts from 790, who was demanding to be taken to his sweet stiff in black.

Just as their uproar was dying down, Prince entered the room.

Xev’s joyful expression faded at his arrival. Stan, noticing the change on Xev’s face, looked up and scowled at Prince. Even 790 quieted as Prince walked over to the table, and favored them with a sardonic twitch of his brows.

“Hello, all,” Prince said cheerfully as the guards exited the room and closed the door in response to his gesture. “How are my favorite guests this afternoon?”

“Sick of being in this damn room, is how we are!” Stan declared.

“But these are beautiful accommodations,” Prince said as he made a slow circle around Kai and Xev, eyes crinkling as he took in Xev’s rather lumpy braid.

Xev glowered at him over Kai’s shoulder. “Why Xev,” he cooed. “Are you trying a new hairdo?” He flicked a quick glance at Kai who had turned his head slightly and was watching him, and then retuned his attention to Xev, his smile deepening. “It’s very nice Xev, but perhaps just a bit uneven don’t you think?”

Stan saw his grin and snapped, “Well, what do you expect when we have nothing to comb her hair with?!”

Xev leaned back and looked at Kai, “Please Kai, get us out of here!”

Kai gently disentangled himself from the distraught love slave, “I cannot do that Xev.” He said quietly stepping away from her.