Most Important Mission

You leave the Smelting Pot and walk around the Syndicate in search for your fiance. You figure she is probably over at the Sunrider Villa which is where she use to have her own little room but after she got engaged with you, she gave that to somebody else and started living with you in your chambers. She also never came back home last night that you remember so you imagine she probably stayed with Zoe for the night, to talk with her and help her out if needed.

With that, you make your way over toward the Villa to see if you can find them. As you enter inside the walls you are happy as can be as so many different warriors and Sunriders are out on the dirt grounds battling with one another, training on target dummies and fighting against one another. They are all doing what they can to make sure they are well prepared for the war that you all will be leaving for tomorrow. You actually wouldn't mind doing a little bit of training as well so if Zoe is up for it, maybe she would like to go down to the Training Grounds and have a little fun.

A smile crosses your lips as you step forward and reach your hand out to grip the door handle of Zoe's room. You pause and then second guess yourself as you shouldn't just walk inside so instead you let go of the door handle, form a fist and give the door three quick knocks.

You stand around for a little while waiting and just as you're about to reach your hand up and give it a knock again you hear the door itself begin to open. Then, shortly after that dark haired girl's head appears from the crack, looking out slightly and taking in your form, "Oh." she grumbles out, "It's you." she stands there in the crack of the door, almost glaring at you, not in a bad way but clearly she doesn't care to see you right away.

"Oh don't be like that, Zoesters." you grin, trying to brighten the mood.

"What do you want?" her voice still monotone.

"Can I come in? Whatcha doing?" you ask as you see her head turn to the side to look into her room before she reverts her gaze back to you, "Lexie here?"

"Yeah fine." she pulls the door open, allowing you full access to her room. When she does, the morning sunlight flows in and you can see that Zoe is still dressed in the same outfit she was wearing yesterday. Her entire face looks absolutely tired as either she was coming down from a state of Snuff or maybe she wasn't able to sleep very well.

As you step inside you look over the room and are pleasantly surprised to find everything is straightened up, put away properly and the place looks extremely clean. It's a complete one eighty from how it was the other day when it looked as if a twister flew through her room. As your eyes continue to scour the room, that's when none other than your fiance walks out from the restroom, "Oh, Hi Darien." she gives a friendly smile and moves instantly over to you, throwing her arms around your waist and lifting her body up to give you a good morning kiss on the lips. "What do we own the pleasure?"

"Not sure I'd call it that..." Zoe grumbles out as she closes the door and moves over towards her bed.

"I dunno, just curious where you were. I was bringing my armor and weapons to the Smelting Pot to have Rivianne tweak everything up and then I wanted to check in on you all. Since you weren't at the chambers this morning I figured you most likely stayed here with Zoe to keep an eye on..." you pause, not wanting to stir up any unneeded drama.

"Sorry that she actually cares about me..." Zoe mumbles under her breath again as she plops down in the bed.

Lexie only smiles back up at your face and mouths the words "Sorry" to you once again before turning to Zoe, "Doesn't the room look amazing? We talked, had some girl time, fixed her room up." she breaks off your embrace and moves back over to the bed where Zoe is now sitting cross legged on, "Didn't sleep much, but that's okay!" she plops down next to the dark haired girl.

"Well..." You move up towards the bed and stand in front of it, looking down at the two girls before you, "If you have some energy or want to get out of the room I'd love to either go grab some food or if you wanted to, Zoe, we could go train a little bit?"

She releases a puff of air and rolls her eyes, "Why bother..."

"Oh come on, you love training, don't deny it."

"Not really..." her head tilts down and she trails her finger along the heavy wool blanket she's sitting on, "Why train, it's not like I'm going to use those skills for anything since I'm stuck here in the Syndicate."

"Hey Lex?" you ask, "Mind giving us a few minutes?"

"Sure." she smiles at you as she rubs Zoe's back a little bit, "I'm going to step outside for a little bit, take a little stroll and grab some fresh air, I'll be back in a couple minutes." she tells her plan as she pushes herself up from the bed and makes her way to the front door. As she pulls the door open and steps outside, she closes it behind her back, sealing you and Zoe alone in the room.

You walk up over to her bed and take a seat on it and as you do Zoe still doesn't move, her head is tilted down looking at the blanket as she's tracing the lines in the fabric with her finger. "Look, Zoe." you mumble out as you now bring your legs up onto the bed, sitting on it just like she is, crossed legged, "I know you're mad at me, upset for what I did." you bring a hand down and start to trail it along the fabric, exactly how Zoe is doing it, "But don't give up, keep training, I know you love it, you know you'll be the best someday, even better than me, I know it."

She doesn't say anything but you know she's listening, "Plus come on, even though you're not going to war with me, you still have one of the most important jobs here at the Syndicate."

"Psh," Zoe puffs out air, "Yeah, and what's that? Being some stupid girl playing house and watching the streets. Not important." she grumbles out.

"No, Zoe." you continue to trace the fabric with your fingers, "You're going to watch over not only Karisi but Lexie as well." you pause, letting that sit for a few seconds, "While I"m gone, you have to watch her, take care of her, make sure she stays safe. This war is important to me because hopefully I'll finally be able to do battle against the one man who stole so much from me..." you stop moving with your finger and bunch your hand up in a fist, "But that use to be all that I was fighting for. Now though, Zoe, I need you to keep Lexie safe for me. I need you to help her out while I'm away. I know she's a strong women and she says she can handle everything herself but I still worry for her and truthfully I know you do as well."

"She does do a lot..." she mumbles out, "And never asks for anything in return..."

"Can you do that for me?" you finally look up, bringing your gaze to the girl, "Take care of Lexie while I'm gone? Keep her safe? Plus, in case that I don't come back from war..."

"Darien..." Zoe's head shoots up, finally looking at you once more, "Don't say that!"

"Zoe," you pause, "If I don't make it back, I want you here, to be with Lexie, to help her out. And when the kid is born, I want you there in his or her life because I know you are going to make the greatest Aunt that child could ever ask for."

You see a slight glaze form in her eyes, "It's very hard to stay mad at you when you say things like that..." she grumbles out, trying to stay sad and angry with you.

"So yeah, even though you aren't marching south to war with me, you may very well have the most important mission of us all. Keeping my fiance and child safe, that's what truly matters the most to me." you reach a hand forward and place it on her shoulder, "So I know you're still mad at me and that's okay, I did come down on you pretty hard but what do you say, can you do for me, do that for Lexie and my child? Can I count on you?"

Zoe doesn't say a word for a few moments before she releases such a deep exhale out of her body and then she looks at you and cracks a little smile, "You know you can count on me to do that!" she nods her head up and down a few times, "Even though you're a big dumb meanie, I'll always look out for Lexie!"

With as much sincerity as you can, "Thank you Zoe." you smile, "It means a lot."

"You're welcome!" she almost sings it out sarcastically.

"So, you wanna chill here and continue to hang out with Lexie or you wanna ditch her and go train a little bit?" you grin, trying to get your normally care-free laid back girl back in your life. "Ya know she should be back soon...maybe we should have another city escape? Care to help the great Darien run away and evade capture from his fiance for once again sleeping with the Queen of Sicilian?" you toss your hand out, giving the girl a nudge.

Her eyes look at yours and you see a little sparkle of her old self, "The Queen fucker strikes again." she teases back.

"Quick!" you throw your legs off the bed and move with quickness over to the window. You pull the drapes back and look out into the grounds of the Villa, "I don't see her, the coast should be clear!" you snap your head back over your shoulder and look at Zoe who is now at least smiling a bit more, "If we can make it back to my chambers, the Queen is there...please Zoe, I need your help!" it only causes the girl to giggle a few times, "Zoe come on, I need this, you know it!"

"Oooh, Lexie is gonna hate you!" she pulls herself up off her bed, "But don't worry, Darien! We will make it to your chambers, we will get you to that Queen you so desperately need!" she moves up next to you and peers out the window alongside you, "Zoe and the Queen Fucker..." she whispers out, "Our last mission before war..."

It was nice to be playing around with Zoe again, even if it was only for a little bit before you leave for war. She truly had a way to make your mind see the playful side of things and overall just live and enjoy life for what it's worth. You were sick and tired of seeing the sad, depressed, Snuff infused Zoe so you were trying hard, even if it means making fun of yourself a little bit, you wanted to see that happy go lucky Zoe at least one more time before you left south.

"Shit!!!" you see Lexie making her way into the Sunrider Villa once more and immediately you and Zoe drop down to the floor and throw your backs into the wall, "You think she saw us?!" you turn your head and ask Zoe.

"Quick!" Zoe points to under the bed, "Hide under the bed! Or else she's gonna find us!" Zoe pushes herself over and crawls over towards the bed. With a shrug, you follow her and soon enough the two of you are scrambling under the bed in her room. It was such a tight fit for you and quite frankly you could barely even fit under it but with another few pulls and sucking in your gut as much as you could, you eventually force yourself under the frame. "Now shhhh!!!" Zoe hisses out and no more than three seconds later the door to the room opens up and Lexie enters.

"Zoe?" her voices asks, "Darien?" she moves over towards the restroom to check back there, "You guys there?"

You turn your head and look at Zoe who is on the verge of breaking out in laughter. So, you do what you could to help her out, you take your left hand and start to poke into her body, playfully jabbing her sides, her ribs and tickling her with one hand.

"Hahaha!" She let's loose "Stop it! Stop!!!!" she screams out before she crawls out from under the bed quickly, "You gave our position away!!!" she yells at you before her head turns right and looks up at Lexie who is now looking down at her, "Hi Lexie!" she gives an ear to ear smile.

"Ughhh..." you groan out before you eventually dislodge yourself from under the bed, "Welcome back, Lexie!"

She just shakes her head between the two of you, "My two little kids...tsk tsk tsk..." she grins. "We all good?" she asks.

"Yup yup!" Zoe pushes herself to her feet, "Darien is still a big jerk face but he gave me a super important mission." she grins, "Super secret too, sorry, can't tell you!" she nudges Lexie who just shrugs. "But hey Lexxxxxie...." she trails her name on, "Can I go train with Darien? I've been such a mopey dopey girl lately and I think that would be a good way to help clear my mind."

You shrug at your fiance, "What can I say, the girl just wants to get her ass handed to her this morning."

"Oh that's it, Mister! You are dead!" Zoe glares at you, "I held back before but not today! Not this morning! Training Grounds, NOW!" she yelps as she barrels passed you, throwing the door open and walking out into the Villa.

Lexie moves up to you, "Whatever you said, nice work tiger." she gives a smile, "She's been off the Snuff all night, she's getting there, I hope, although we'll see when you all leave if she'll stay strong. I'll do what I can, you know that, but it's nice to see her being like herself again." she wraps her arms around your waist and pulls her body into your side.

"Yeah, I have faith she'll pull through, she's a strong girl, I know that and so do you, if anybody can do it, it'll be her." you say to Lexie as the two of you watch Zoe almost skip around the Villa.

"Darien!!!!" she sings out, "Lexie!!!" she continues, "Come on, come on, come on!!!!"