The fire crackled loudly along with series of metallic sounds that resonated in the room. The searing heat was unbearable for most, but it didn't deter Caelum nor did it shake him out of his concentration. His shirt was sticking onto him like a second skin, sweat dribbling down his forehead as he hit the hot metal with the hammer as hard as he could in a rhythmical pace.

A blond woman with her hair tied up into a bun walked into the shop with a bouquet of flower, looking around for a certain ginger. It was the loud sound in the back room that notified her that the man was working. She huffed and shook her head, a soft smile on her face as she went to the lone vase of flowers, slowly wilting as its life span was nearing the end. She gently placed the flowers she was holding onto the table and changed the flowers in the vase along with the water.

Just as she finished arranging the fresh flowers, Caelum walked out to the front of the shop with a sigh and grabbed a dry towel that hung on the hook on the wall. He blinked at the presence of the woman and grinned as he wiped his sweat.

"Azura!" He walked to her as he called out. "What brings you here today?"

The woman, Azura, smiled. "Can't I see the person I love?" Caelum flushed at that and chuckled bashfully. "Of course. A second, please." He rushed to the back room again to change into another shirt, after drying the sweat off his body, of course. He sighed in relief, feeling much more comfortable without the soaked shirt clinging onto him.

He smiled at the flowers by the corner of the room and grabbed the woman's hand when she reached out for him. He pulled her close and placed a chaste kiss on her head, smiling even though his cheeks were flushed, either from shyness or the heat that hasn't disperse.

"How's your day?" He asked softly. "It was as usual. You?"

"Same." He chuckled as he let go to pull the chairs for the both of them to sit. "Oh, right," He looked at her in curiosity at that. "I saw a few travellers, though." She hummed. A few, she said, but honestly it was merely two of them. She couldn't exactly remember how they looked like since they were wearing cloaks that covered their faces. She could tell that one of them was a regular traveller to their village.

"Really?" He mused. It wasn't strange that they would have travellers coming to their village, but not around this time of the year. The monsoon wind had changed its direction so most travellers, if they were merchants, would be heading to the east. 'If the travellers are from the capital, however...'

Caelum's eyes darken slightly at the thought, only to snap out of it when Azura squeezed his hands. He gave her a wry smile as they changed the subject. 

"How's uncle?" 

"Father's recovering well. His back doesn't seem to hurt so much that it would render him immobile." His father had sprained his back a few days ago, so Caelum took over his current projects seeing that Lucien, Colette and Leo were out, visiting Colette's parents in the neighbouring village. While usually his father was the one doing all the smithing and he was the one fixing the mechanisms of whatever was made, he would once in a while took over doing it.

He laughed a little, remembering how his mother had nagged his father into staying put when he wanted to go back to work. "Speaking of which, mother asked if you'd like to join us for dinner tomorrow." She tilted her head. "I can, but mind if I ask what's the occasion?"

Caelum sweated as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Is a reason needed for you to come? It has been a week and mother was being insufferable about not seeing you often." She hummed in contemplation, almost teasingly as she turned to the small box that held trinkets on the table instead. She knew that Caelum wouldn't like it if he had to disappoint his mother. It was rather fun, teasing him like this.

"I'm not sure.."

Caelum deflated, lips pursing. (He looked almost as though he was pouting but Azura knew it wasn't. Maybe. She had never seen him pout before.) He didn't even protest the fact that she might not accept the invitation and just quietly accepted fate. Honestly, she had never met someone like him, who would hardly convince anyone to do anything they don't want after the first rejection from them.

Then again, Caelum could be really persuasive if he wanted to. (The one time she saw him sold the steel sign board frame with a higher price than it actually worth was the time she realized that Caelum was actually a cunning, sly man. She love him nonetheless anyway.)

She giggled, deciding that she had enough of teasing him. "I will come. Tomorrow, right?" He lit up at that and nodded happily. "Yes, tomorrow." He smiled fondly at her. "Merci, ange." Her cheeks tinted slightly at that just as the bell from the church rang. She rose from her chair, brushing her dress. "Well, I should better head back." Caelum nodded, standing up as well. "Uhum." He hummed in agreement. "Who knows what will happen if you leave your shop unattended with a cat running free." He grinned playfully.

She slapped him on his chest none too lightly, but she had a similar grin on her face. Caelum's eyes soften as he tilted her head up and leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "See you tomorrow." He whispered as he backed away slightly. Azura blushed, leaning up to close the distance between them again, placing a small peck on the same lips that just left hers'.

"See you tomorrow." Caelum waved at her until she turned down a corner, heading back to her flower shop. He let his hand dropped as he leaned against the door frame of his father's shop, staring at the flowers in the vase. He was no longer smiling. In fact, his lips were pulled thin as he sighed.

He shook his head slightly and walked to the back of the room to continue his work.

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"Alaude! I think we should rest for awhile! We've been riding since sunrise!" The said man scoffed. "We'll rest when we get there." The other man groaned but continued to ride on. He sighed. His back side has already gone numb, having to ride the whole day through without rest. While it wasn't the most gruesome and tiring trip he has, but it was slowly going up the chart by each minute. He wondered why Alaude was so impatient to head to wherever they were going. 

(Knuckle was sure that they were actually on a mission to the capital of France, which was in the opposite direction of where they were heading to.) 

'Unless...' Knuckle gasped to himself. 'He has a lover somewhere?!' He quickly shook his head, tossing the stupid thought away. 'There's no way..' He glanced at the beige haired man's back. 'But he might?' He knew that Alaude's really famous among the signoritas despite his cold demeanor. Although he denied of having a spouse nor being in a relationship, he had rejected a lot of people. Even the most persuasive woman Knuckle knew couldn't shake the man from his composure. 

They had reached a village sooner than Knuckle had expected. Alaude probably knew that they were reaching, which was why he didn't want to stop. Knuckled huffed at that as they slowed down to a stop. His eyes widen in awe as he pulled the rein, the lively crowd of both the villagers and travellers alike in what seemed to be the market street drawn him in easily. 

It was so colorful and foreign. It wasn't any much different from Sicily, but it has its own unique aura that Knuckle couldn't put a finger to. That, and it was really different from Ireland. Ireland was gloomy most of the time, so it was really amazing. It honestly took his breath away.

"Wow, this place is amazing to the ultimate!" Knuckle commented as they dismounted their horses. "Where are we?" "My birthplace." Knuckle gaped. Alaude said nothing else but simply pulled his hoodie up, shielding his face. Knuckle was puzzled at his action but followed suit, pulling his horse after Alaude as they joined the crowd. He wanted to ask but honestly, he would rather not because the other seemed to be in a really good mood. 

The villagers wasn't fazed upon seeing them passing by, each seller promoting what they sell, be it fruit, meat or random trinkets, anything, all speaking in French. It was a language Knuckle couldn't master no matter how he tried, unlike English, Italian and German. 

"Monsieur, today's apple is really sweet and fresh. Would you like one?" An old lady suddenly spoke to Alaude, who paused on his step. He stared at the apple and remembered about a certain ginger. "I'll take a bag." Knuckled raised his eyebrow at the conversation, clearly couldn't understand a single word other than 'apple' and 'one'.

He was enlightened the moment the old lady smiled and gave him a huge bag filled with apples as Alaude handed her the money before continuing their track. Knuckle, out of reflex, caught an apple was thrown back to him without warning. Alaude didn't even look back to know that he had caught it, biting into one as he fed another to the horse.

Knuckled grinned at that. Despite how he claimed that he wouldn't care if any of them died, Knuckle knew that Alaude actually cared and trusted them a lot. Such a dishonest man he was, but none of them would want him any other way. (He's homicidal enough.)

They walked to the edge of the village, to the one lone house that looked like no one had stepped into it for years. Well, it hasn't been, for three years, that is. Even so, Knuckle knew it was Alaude's home, seeing how casual he was with passing through the gates and immediately bring the horse to the saddle. 

Alaude wordlessly looked over his house, finding nostalgia as he scanned it over. Untouched, surely. Everything was where it was just as how he had left them. "It's really big, your house."

"It's nothing compare to the mansion." He said, walked to the door and unlocked it. He went in, pulling off his hood and trench coat. It was cold despite the summer air, the house. Perhaps because no life has been here for awhile. He absentmindedly ran a hand against the handle of the dagger stashed on his belt alongside with a gun.

He wondered what kind of reaction would Caelum give him when he visit him later?

He placed the article of clothes on the chair and pulled his weapons off his body, and turned to Knuckle. "Let's spar." Knuckle didn't have the chance to decline when Alaude had already lashed out. "W-woah time out- Alaude!"

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As Caelum closed the shop and called it a day, he heard the sound of horns in the Central, where the church was. He groaned aloud as he pulled the hood of his cloak up, pulling the bag strap onto his shoulder. Very reluctantly, he headed to the Central. He muttered a few curses under his breath upon seeing the familiar uniform of the Capital army.

Standing at the edge of the crowd that circled around the leader of the army troop, a man called Fitzgerald, he absentmindedly listened to what the man said, mocking the Capital accent. "-And from now on, every household will be obligated to pay tax-" That particular one made Caelum perked up just as the rest of the villagers roared in protest. Caelum silently fumed even when he didn't voice out anything.

The villagers, including Caelum he himself, never liked the Capital and the Rulers. The only reason they had tolerated the Capital's people whenever they came to their village was because they were granted the freedom of neutrality since the beginning. Their village were a neutral ground and the Capital knew that. 

And the Capital were trying to overwrite that. 

The sound of screams died out almost immediately when one of the army men aimed his gun to the air and fire twice. Caelum didn't flinch from the sound as he was used to it, having to fire a number of it to make sure the guns were in good condition before selling it off. He twitched, however, because the gun the army man used was not taken good care of.

"Thank you. As I was saying, the government had decided that this village will no longer be a neutral ground but government's land. Each shop owners and leader of every household needs to pay tax every year. Punishment including imprisonment will fall to those who fail to pay according to the rate and on time. Any questions?"

No one was happy with it, but not a single protest was heard. Not when they were at gunpoint by trained army men. Caelum scowled and turned to leave, only to be stopped by one of the army men. "Where are you going?" The man, taller than Caelum but seemly weaker than him gripped his shoulders tightly as he shouted. All eyes turned to Caelum as the ginger groaned internally. 

"Home." He said in the most neutral voice he could muster, giving him a deadpanned look. He was shoved back into the crowd as the army men snarled at him about staying until the announcement ends. Caelum stared at the man in silence, stared with his narrowed, metallic blue eyes. 

The man was unnerved by his stare and tried to shout orders at the ginger again when Fitzgerald spoke up. "Archard, please." The said man backed up begrudgingly just as Caelum turned just until he could see the leader. Fitzgerald was intrigued by the cloaked man, who doesn't seem to be scared of his troop, nor the gun he was holding. 

'He would be incredible useful.' He mused. "Young man, I apologies for my man's rudeness." He gestured to his right hand man, who marched up to Caelum and whispered into his ears. Caelum twitched but nodded nonetheless. He let the right hand guide him away from the crowd just as Fitzgerald continued his announcement.

He was led to one of the shady bar that he would never walk into and waited by one of the tables in the corner. A few moments later, the leader had arrived and sat directly opposite of him. "My apologies for the wait. Please, let's talk over some drinks." 

"No need for that. I'm in a rush so please, make it short." Caelum said just as Fitzgerald was about to raise his hand. The leader raised an eyebrow at that but lowered his hand and intertwined his fingers on the table, somewhat smirking. "Direct to the point, good. Well," He surveyed the ginger once more, now that his face was more visible with the cloak slightly pushed back. Though, he wanted to see more.

"Perhaps you could take off your hood first. I find it a tad bit rude." He gladly ignored the displeased look he get. After all, he would be teaching him a lesson about respect personally when he was done. (Though, he would soon realize, in the near future, that he should never even dream about doing so.)

Caelum, with his fingerless-gloved hands, pulled his hood back. He decided to indulge the man a little, just so he could intimidate him more. (He found out ever since he was young, that it worked better without anything covering his face or body. His uncle had also said before that the basic art of intimidating people is to stare at someone long enough with a deadpanned look.)

(He didn't even want to learn deeper into the said art when he sent a neighbouring child running away in tears, when he was nine.)

"Ah much better." The ginger wanted nothing but to wipe that smile off the other man's face. "Thank you. You certainly looked more handsome this way." Caelum crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back, legs crossing the other. "And so?" He asked curtly.

"Oh, right. Back to the main point." The man leaned in after a short chuckle. "I was thinking if you would like to join the army. With your built, you would certainly rise up the ranks really fast. Of course, there will be a very generous amount of appreciation from the Capital for your service-" 

Caelum decided that he had had enough and sighed loudly. "I appreciate the offer, but no thank you." The smile on Fitzgerald's face faltered, but didn't drop. "I'm happy with what I'm doing right now."

"Please reconsider. Surely there's something that would appeal you. Name it and it will be yours if you join the army." He shook his head. "No, thank you." With that, he stood up and was about to make his way to the door, when the right hand of the leader blocked his way, the sword half unshed from its scabbard.

The right hand was almost the same height as Caelum, but he seemed to be towering over the ginger. Caelum felt as though the man was similar to a certain beige-haired man, but decided otherwise. Clearly, the right hand was not Alaude. Alaude was so much more.

"Percy, it's alright." The right hand, Percy, stared for a few more moments before backing off. He sheathed the sword and took a few steps back, lowered his gaze from Caelum's eyes. Fitzgerald stood up behind Caelum, but the ginger made no move to turn around and look at the man.

"I'll be around until tomorrow afternoon. Please reconsider it. I'll wait for the good news." 

Caelum wordlessly walked away, pulling his hood up again. Percy stared at his back just as the door of the bar swung close.

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A/N= I had no idea what title was suitable for this chapter so it was like, 'ererererererere' at first. Until I somehow felt like I need to emphasize something, which was the last part of this chapter. Guess what it is~

Weee, Azura! As all you guys know, she's Caelum's lover. She's a florist with a pet calico cat that's hyper as heck most of the time. That's all, I won't spoil anything else ;3

Ange is Angel in french. (There was one time I had to take the attendant of the participants to this school party, and this underclassman, her name's Angel something something I can't remember. In the list I had though, which was typed by my teacher, it was Angle. I was like- who in the world would name their child Angle of all things. It was honestly hilarious, in my point of view anyway. This just reminded me of that.)

Time set of this chapter is three years after Alaude left the village. Vongola's still unnamed.

I just realized that I actually dislike the name Fitzgerald?????

[I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]