Justice and Truth
Title: Justice and Truth
Author: Amata le Fay
Story: Force-Benders
Flavor(s): Peach Pie 20 (justice for all), Pomegranate 22 (priorities), Dark Chocolate 23 (paranoia)
Toppings: Chopped Nuts, Whipped Cream
Extras: None
Rating: PG
Word Count: 485
Notes: Pseudo-medieval AU, same universe as Valor and Arms and Discipline and Skill, which I am now dubbing “The Valorverse.” Concrit welcome-this one gave me some trouble and I would appreciate feedback.
“So, how do you feel about justice?”
Mattaso squinted his eyes. Machiatrellos wasn't exactly the type of person who asked these kind of questions. Especially not in the middle of a sword fight.
He parried the other boy's attack and went in for a touch. Machiatrellos blocked it, smirking in an almost unsettling way. A spark of anxiety flickered up inside of Mattaso-his fellow page's attitude has shifted from passive-aggressive to actively hostile in a matter of hours. The incident in the training room last night probably had something to do with it.
Could the boy be jealous? No, it wasn't that simple. What was there for him to be jealous of? As far as Mattaso was concerned, he and Machiatrellos had completely different interests. There was his sword-fighting ability, which had improved remarkably, but it was still no match for that of the trained-at-birth son of Aragon, so that wasn't anything worth coveting.
Malicious curiosity? He wasn't sure such a thing even existed, but if it did, that was almost certainly it. The secret of what he was doing in the training room was consuming Machiatrellos, and he would stop at nothing to find the answer.
One more way we're alike.
“Well?” The sound of a blade scraping along his own brought Mattaso back to attention. He blocked the attack at the last second and looked up at Machiatrellos, who was staring at him in an extremely unsettling way. “Justice? Equality? Fairness of the law? Any thoughts?”
The boy thought for a moment, then answered in the most detached tone possible. “You're trying to catch me off-guard. It's not going to work.”
Machiatrellos smirked. “We'll see about that.” He went in for another attack. Mattaso countered it. Attack, counter. Attack, counter. Sword fights were all rhythm.
Machiatrellos may indeed have been trying to take him by surprise this one bout, but that wasn't the end of it. It was all a part of something larger, a more broad investigation with farther-reaching consequences. What's Mattaso hiding, and how can I use it against him? All those conniving types thought alike. Right now, the boy was probably suspecting him of being some kind of vigilante, an avenging guardian taking the law into his own hands. Law. Justice. Equality. Real subtle there, Machiatrellos.
Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. It didn't matter, not really. What mattered now was that Mattaso wasn't about to go revealing his secrets anytime soon. Some things needed to stay unnoticed. And if it was going to drive him paranoid about every last word he spoke, so be it. He had far more to worry about than just that.
Machiatrellos lunged one more time, the blade of his practice foil hitting his opponent's chest plate right in the center. As the other boy grinned in triumph, Mattaso held back, face carefully neutral, continuing to let his suspicious peer think that he had won.