Alma 167 My All Is Yours To Take

"You want to talk about it?" said Lu'um. She put a warm cup of coffee on Reed's desk and then peered over his shoulder. He did not respond. Reed had cut off his auditory senses in an effort to concentrate, unbeknownst to Lu'um. Her well-intentioned question had quite literally fallen on deaf ears.

She was rightfully concerned. Reed had not fallen asleep since the day he had met the Dreaming Council. For the last day and a half, he had committed his entire being into consuming the reports that the Dreaming Council had given him. Reports on every possible topic regarding the continent's welfare had been included, be it political, economic, miltary, civilian, and the like.

Reports that dated as far back as the beginning of the Four Empires had been included in the information packet that they had given to Reed. A complete and detail record of every single action the Dreaming Council had made since its very birth was what Reed had been scruntizing over like a madman. And despite his best efforts, Reed had not found a single thing he could criticize them with.

When the Dreaming Council said that they followed the law to the letter, they had really meant it. There was not a single piece of evidence laid with the exabytes of information that could prove Reed's suspicions correct.

What Reed had wanted was a single shred of proof that they had at one point been disingenuous. If he had found that, then he could have laid his demons to sleep about they chilling warning they had given him.

He was caught up in web of indecision unlike anything he had ever expierenced before. The scale of responsibility in his heart was unequipped to handle the load it had suddenly been given.

On one side of the scale was Reed's integrity, his word as an honorable person. When Reed had rejected the Bastard's offer, he had meant it to the last word. He choose his freedom over the perfect path that the Bastard had offered, even if it meant that he would have walk a thornier road on his own...

That was all well and good for Reed, since he was fine taking a couple personal blows and failures along the way. A fair enough price for his freedom. But now things were different. He could no longer just think about himself and perhaps, his closest friends and family anymore.

Reed felt the weight of the entire world on his shoulders even clearer than ever before. There was more at stake than his personal life -- the fate of more than a hundred million familes had landed square on the other side of the scale. He, as a responsible adult, as a someone who bore the title of a hero, and as a conscientious individual was beholden to do the right thing...

Old Man Hartford's words echoed in his head, reminding him that he had chosen to be a Personal Hero, only acting to protect the few -- those that he loved. Yet now he had been saddled with a position contrary to his beliefs...

Where Reed was a Personal Hero, the Stainless Prince was Everyone's Hero.

These two heroes were both at quandary, an impasse that would determine the fate of Mulia...

Lu'um had enough of Reed's meandering act. She snatched his tome and forcefully shut it closed, frightening Reed out of his obessive search for an answer.

"What the hell's the matter with you?! I was reading that, goddamnit!"

"No, you weren't. You were running away; that was what you were doing. It was pathetic and unbecoming of what are you normally capable of," said Lu'um with an annoyed expression on her face.

Reed chuckled slowly and sneered at Lu'um with his weary, tired eyes. He stood up, gestured for his tome back with an outstretched hand and said, "I'm sorry that I've dissapointed you, honey, but I'm not made of steel, nor do I have the answer for everything in my back pocket like you."

His childish insults had little effect on Lu'um, who simply stared at him with an unimpressed expression. She was above using textbook playground insults and said, "No. Not until you promise to end this unhealthy way of handling your problems. You need to stop running."

"Then what am I supposed to do?! Just fucking wing it, again?!! Have you forgotten what happened the last time I rushed into a problem headfirst like a stupid idiot?!" Reed lunged towards Lu'um and tried to snatch his tome back, to no avail.

Lu'um spun around, dodged Reed's greedy paws, and then hit him with his own tome. She smirked and said, "Ah-ah-ah! You should know better than to challenge me, dear."

As if to goad him, she waved the tome in front of his face and said, "If you need this stupid thing to save the world, you might as well not even try to save it. The world is doomed."

Reed knew that she was trying to provoke him and coldly said, "I. Won't. Fail. And I don't appreciate your incessant meddling and teasing. Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" He lunged again toward his tome in a feint attack. Lu'um spun around again, but the move did not work this time, as Reed had gone for the source of troubles instead.

He caught Lu'um himself and quickly chucked her on his bed in an attempt to pin her down in one place. The more he letter run around freely, the harder it would become to catch her were she to get serious about running away with his tome.

Lu'um giggled in a provactive manner and said, "...Oh? Isn't this a welcome surprise... Is this yet another one of your secret... preferences? You should have told me sooner, dear. We could have done this--"

"Give me my tome, you damn pervert."

Lu'um laughed and said, "Why don't you make me, then? You have me in your clutches, don't you?" Of course, this was far from the truth. The clown of a woman who was currently being pinned down possessed a bodily consitution that allowed her to, in a literal sense, move mountains. She was full of provocations today.

Reed wanted to get mad, but he knew that if he did, she would win. Deep down, he understood that getting into an argument with her was a battle that would always end up in his defeat. He was not her match when it came to verbal sparring, by far. The only reasonable thing he could do was capitulate to get her off his back...

He deeply sighed and released her from his hold. There was nothing he could done to her anyway, the she-bear that she was by nature. Reed shrugged his shoulders in defeat and said, "What is it that you want from me? State your full terms, woman."

Lu'um grabbed Reed and said, "Don't mind if do you, then." She dragged him back into the bed and reversed their positions. It was Reed that was now pinned under her iron grip with nowhere to run.

When Reed noticed the dangerous, primal gleam in her eyes, he sighed internally. He was going to get the full works today, he thought. It was going to be one of those nights...

She closed in on him and said, "...All I want you to understand is that you aren't alone in this tribulation. All I want is for you to understand that I am at your disposal. You don't need to search for answers; My Knowledge and Wisdom is yours to take, mine beloved, as is my Strength and Will. My all is yours in the same way that all you have is mine.

What I am asking is that you rely upon me, as you should. Let what I possess make up for what you do not. If you truly trust me and think of me as yours, then you should naturally not be concerned with such.... inane concerns. We will find the correct answer together, I promise."

She put his tome on his chest and said, "You have me. You do not need this little thing."

She put his tome on his chest and said, "You have me. You do not need this little thing.

Chapter end

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