He had no idea why he got a call from the academy. Luckily, he didn't have many plans today, as he finished training Rain for the day and Effie was out with her parents.
By the time he arrived there, which wasn't much time at all thanks to shadow step, he saw a line of people. He observed them, trying to find any similarities so he could possibly get a hint about what's happening, but in the end the only thing he saw in common was that they were all men.
Heading to the back of the line, he focused on listening to the conversations, and that's when he heard it. A name he hasn't heard in a long time, and a name he would have preferred to have not heard for an even longer time.
"I heard Lady Morgan is interviewing everyone one by one! Nobody knows for what, but it may be a recruitment into Valor!"
Another man spoke up, this one much older than the first.
"Well I heard she was looking for a sparring partner! There's rumors all her past ones had mysteriously disappeared.. the same goes with her attendants!"
A laugh rung out. This time it was from a young man who he actually knew. It was Shim, one of the Fire Keepers. He was a healer, which was why Sunny remembered him.
"From what I heard all of you wrong! The truth is actually that she is assembling a cohort for the first time! If so this would be the first time Lady Morgan had ever done so!"
He racked his brain, trying to find something that could give it away. He used all of their and the continuous influx of theories as hints, but none of them were definite. The only one he could imagine being possible was the recruitment to Valor.
Well, luckily for him the line was going by extremely fast for some odd reason.
Ah.. he had a bad feeling.
---
It took around an hour, but he was finally at the front of the line. The person who was in front of him just went in around two minutes ago and—
Before that thought could finish the man came running out, screaming curses. The bad feeling he had only got worse.
"NEXT!"
Well, in the end his curiosity is what made him stay in line. It would be a shame if he wasted all that time waiting just to get cold feet, so he walked into the room.
In the middle of the room sat a large desk. The only things on it were some sheets of paper, a large bottle of wine, and two empty glasses at each end of the table. Sitting on the other side was Morgan herself. She looked at him, and he could have sworn he heard her let out a sigh.
"Well what are you doing, get a move on and sit down."
Ah.. he really should have just left when he had an opportunity! Forcing down his rebuttals for the sake of not staining his image with the Valor clan for the time being, that is.. he sat down across from her.
As soon as he sat down she extended a hand towards him. In all honesty he was quite the petty person, and the attitude she's had has been annoying him for the minute he's been in the room. Sneakily wrapping shadows around his hand, he extended his hand out, giving her a nice and "firm" handshake. Of course he wasn't attempting to crush her hand! Probably.
Weirdly the handshake felt a little prickly, but he could brush that off. Or he was going to, until when he tried to pull his hand back Morgan didn't let go.. could she have figured out he was totally not trying to crush her hand a little?!
He took a glance up at her face only to see her mouth agape some and her eyes wide. It took her around thirty seconds before she pulled her hand away awkwardly and coughed a little into her hand.
"You.. what's your name?"
He already wanted to go home. He hasn't even figured out what's happening, and yet he still feels like he would rather go fight a great terror.
"My name is.. uh.. Sunless, but everyone just calls me Sunny!"
Why did he feel so embarrassed to say his name? Was it because he was practically in front of royalty and his name didn't exactly exude.. wait, why was he embarrassed? He was proud of his name!
"Actually on second thought, just call me Sunless."
Her red lips stretched into an almost hypnotizing smile before she poured wine into both glasses, the red color eerily similar to the color of her lips.
"Well Sunny, I have a proposition for you.. so listen carefully as I won't repeat myself."
Didn't he just tell her to call him.. you know what, never mind. He was more focused on this wine. He wanted to see why Noctis was so obsessed with it, since he never actually had any.
In the middle of his sip from the glass, Morgan gave him her proposition.
"I'd like you to enter into the candidates in taking my hand for marriage."
The glass in his hand cracked a little from the pressure he applied in that moment. He started coughing after choking on the wine after that statement.
What in the dead god's is she talking about?! Perhaps he misheard her.. yeah that has to be it!
"Sorry Lady Morgan, but I think I misheard you! For a moment I thought you said something absolutely ludicrous!"
Her smiling lips parted as she took a sip of wine, her eyes never leaving his despite that, and the smile still on her lips when she put the glass down.
"I can assure you that you heard right, I can also assure you that you'll be paying for that glass."
Damnation.
Still that was the least of his worries. The real question is how should he respond. Despite his charming looks and amazing personality this was the first time he's ever been in a situation like this.
"So, what's your awnser.. Master Sunless?"
He took a deep breath in and steeled his resolve for the consequences that may come. He was someone who didn't want to catch the eye of any of the great clans. Ironically, he felt himself more fit for the shadows.. which is why..
"Hard pass!"
Her smile cracked.
---
In all honesty the decision wasn't something he really should have had to hesitate on. The whole situation was ludicrous. His awnser may have been different when he was freshly an awakened and was semi money hungry.. but he was a money hungry master now. The difference was huge!
Morgan's stiff smile slowly fell before another one quickly took its place. She raised her hand up and snapped her finger. He prepared for the worst and wrapped his shadows around his body. That turned out unnecessary though, as the man who came in simply left a singular card on the table.
It was a semi holographic card, powered with soul shards. They were seen a lot in slice of life movies that starred awakened due to the special feature it had. It showed the amount of credits on the card.. that's why his whole body grew stiff as he read that it contained fifty million credits.
She pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the table. The piece of paper had his face on it, so he assumed it was his file, which drastically underestimated his capabilities due to the fact he kept most of his greatest feats hidden.
"Sunless, no last name.. grew up in the outskirts and later became apart of Changing Star's cohort. I have to say the movie didn't quite grasp how you actually are in person."
He drew his eyes away from the card before sighing and sliding it over to her. He was slightly annoyed now and he had no intentions to hide his annoyance.
"Ignoring whatever you had just said, because in all honesty I wasn't listening.. even with this card in front of me my awnser still hasn't changed, rather it reaffirmed it."
Her smile fell once again, her eyes narrowing as if analyzing him. Her lips went into a slight frown as she took the card, twirling it in her hand as if it couldn't buy a quarter of the city.
"And why is that.. don't tell me you're someone who believes you have to earn everything yourself? You didn't strike me as that type of person."
A snort came through his nose before he smiled, not bothering to care about the suffocating tension in the room.
"Of course not, rather who doesn't love free hand out's, but the reason is rather simple. I already have quite the dislike for legacies for obvious reasons. I think you just reminded me why that's all."
He stood up from his chair, pushing it in, and began to walk to the door. Before he turned the handle to exit he looked back at her one last time.
"You can afford to throw fifty million credits around for a husband, and yet you legacies couldn't help provide anything better than synthpaste for the outskirts? I suppose that self centeredness all you legacies have make you forget that your duty is to protect humanity as a whole.. and not just from nightmare creatures."
With those words he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
He walked away, letting the next man be called and enter the room. With a sigh he looked up at the sky.
Valor was so gonna hunt him down and kill him for disrespecting their princess, that's how great clans operate, right?
He really needs to write a will.
---
It's been two days since then. He had just come back from meeting with Kai. Everyone's lives were so busy now, so the rare moments they got to hang out like normal mundane people was nice.
He only had one question.
Why were a dozen moving trucks outside his house carrying furniture in?
And why was Morgan telling them where to put things.
She noticed him, and her red lips curved into a smile before she waved, pulling out a piece of paper.. that paper being the property ownership of the house.. and her now being the owner and him the tenant.
Damnation.