"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Rosa cried in a torturous lament. Or so she tried. She was half-draped over the restaurant bar, reaching out for something. It was probably supposed to be wistful. Unfortunately, all that did was remind me of a desperate octopus.

I sighed as I threw the rags into the wash bins. "Remind me to never encourage you into a life of acting."

"Excuse you!" Rosa fluttered her eyelids in what I had to guess was a sort of aghast expression. She just looked like she was blinking really hard, her mouth hanging open. "I will have you know that I am one of the most hidden gems of the world out there!"

"Yes, so hidden that not even the best miner would be able to find you," I said dryly. We were ten minutes away from closing, and Rosa had insisted on staying to practice for what she called was the "theater event." Thank goodness there weren't a lot of people here-- it was a slow night. Still, the few people who were here glanced at Rosa in their drunken daze, and by the way they shook their heads afterwards, I was pretty sure they agreed with me.

Rosa climbed down from the counter and sat on a stool. She frowned at me, looking stern. "Filian," she chided. "You're supposed to be helping me."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Help you? It's ten minutes from closing, and I don't even know who Romeo is." I took a step towards the back and blinked. "Great, now I forgot what I was going to do."

One of our (drunk) regulars held up an empty cup towards me, and I snapped a finger. Right! I was going to get more beer.

I grabbed a pitcher from below the counter and headed to the back to refill it. As I went, I called over my shoulder, "Shouldn't you be going back now, Rose? It's almost three in the morning."

"Nope, I'm skipping school tomorrow," she called back.

"What? Again?"

"What do you mean, again?" Rosa scoffed, scratching her ear nonchalantly. She glanced at me, her gold eyes glinting. "You're talking like I skip school, like, every day."

I paused. "Don't you?"

"No! Of course I don't!"

I narrowed my eyes at her, my refilled pitcher in my hands. "Really? Then why is it that I remember you told me you're taking etiquette as your extracurricular but never as much as saw an improvement in your manners?"

She froze, her eyes sliding to the right. "Uhhh.... that's because I'm already at the peak of manners. I don't have any more etiquette to learn."

"Ohhhh. Really."

One tangibly silent pause later, Rosa threw up her hands towards my face. I barely managed to stop myself from jolting back and splashing the beer unto my apron.

"Rosa!"

"Oh fine! Maybe I do skip almost every day. But that's only because etiquette is the most boring thing you could ever listen to! And I have to listen to that for an hour!" She huffed. "An hour of watching elephants poop would be time spent better!

"Gross! Don't talk about elephants pooping in a restaurant!" I cried. I switched to a cheerful grin when I neared the guy still holding out his cup to me. "Thanks for waiting!" And sorry about Rosa! "Here's your refill."

"Apple beer," the guy said gruffly.

"Sure! No problem." My other hand latched onto the pitcher of apple juice that I kept nearby and held it up so that I had one pitcher in each hand. I flashed him another grin and told him, "Please tilt your cup!"

Even in a drunken stupor, he managed to tilt it just enough, and I proceeded to pour both pitchers into the cup, the apple juice pitcher held up higher so that it trickled into the cup with a thinner flow. This way, there would be more beer poured in than apple juice. "There... you... go!" I said, setting both pitchers down. "And..." Flipping up the spoon I kept in my apron, I gently pushed down the raised part of the cup so that it was now level with the table, and slammed the spoon down into it. Bubbles sprang up to coat the alcohol just the amount I wanted it to be.

Satisfied, I smiled at the man and said, "Enjoy!"

The man grunted his acknowledgement and began chugging the thing with incredible speed. Ha! As expected of the champion of the Beer Chugging Contest of every year's Minstia Festival. He could probably down ten more of these before the end of the day, and we had roughly seven minutes until closing!

Meanwhile, Rosa was watching me with wide eyes. "You got a new skill!"

My Customer Service smile transformed into a smug grin. "That I did," I said, keeping my voice light. I slipped the spoon into the apron pocket again and stashed the pitchers below the counter. "You don't work practically every day for a month and not develop a new skill."

"That was nice," Rosa nodded. "I approve."

"Why thank you!" I said. I flipped my hair backwards and put my hands on my hips, squaring my shoulders back. "I'm quite proud of it myself!"

Before Rosa could respond, Cook came out of the kitchen and nodded at me. "Closing in five minutes."

"Yes, sir!"

He frowned at Rosa. "You, go home!" he barked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"No, I stay!" Rosa retorted, crossing her arms across her chest.

They glared at each other for a hot second before Cook sighed and unfolded his arms. "Can't win against that girl," he grumbled to me, then lumbered back. He began barking at the poor cooks there, too, to prepare for closing.

I placed a hand on my heart and bowed my head towards him. I knew exactly how he felt. "Don't give up, Cook..!" I said.

"That was really dramatic," Rosa said from behind me, "What was that, a line from a play?"

"No, they were my true and honest feelings," I whispered, my heart reaching out to my comrade in the kitchen.

"What do you--"

The restaurant doors swung open that very moment, and I turned back, reverting into bartender mode. "I'm sorry," I said as I turned, my voice firm despite the smile on my face. "We're closing--"

"Oh, we're not here for that," said a smug voice I knew too well. I raised my eyebrows, my eyes finally landing on the figures of two people that I had, actually, been waiting for.

"Well, well, well," I sneered, shifting my weight to one foot and placing a hand on my hip. "Look who's finally here."

"Simon and Gair," sneered Rosa, swiveling on her bar stool to face them as well. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at them. "The unfashionable loan sharks after Filian and Auntie Avaleen."

Gair¹he tall, he thin, and he mohawk blinked uncertainly and looked down to share a confused look with Simon²he short, he stubby, and he buzzcut. "Have our roles been reversed without me knowing?" he murmured to Simon.

Simon furrowed his eyebrows. "You feel like that too?"

My sneer widened. "Closing time, people," I announced loudly, my eyes still trained on the two confused loan sharks. "Pay up for your drinks and leave."

Maybe they felt that something was about to happen if they didn't-- even the clingiest drunks quickly paid up as Rosa coolly listed out their charges, and then they fled the restaurant as fast as their staggering feet could take them. Before long, only the four of us were left in the main part of the restaurant.

I took off my apron and tossed it onto the floor with a flourish³haha, get it? floorish, then headed outside the counter area to join Rosa in standing down the two despicable loan sharks.

"Perfect timing," Rosa drawled. "You came when I was still here."

I smirked as they shared another confused glance. Oh, they didn't know what was coming.

---

Meanwhile, at the Academy for Nobles of the country of Durova, the school grounds were deathly silent. As it was an ungodly hour in the morning-- 2:30, going on 3 AM-- nobody in their right mind ventured out of their dorm rooms. 

Nobody, that was, but those involved in secretive conversations and political spying.

Two such people sat in the desks of the prestigious Student Council room in a conversation that was both secretive and political-- and, as rare as it was, emotional.

The Crown Prince shuffled his papers as he sat at his desk. He eyed his companion, whose head was resting on the long table in front of him. "So you've been spying on a potential traitor to the crown for the past few months, but it turns out she's probably very unrelated to the entire thing," he summarized. The report he held in his hand had said so, and the spy in front of him had told him more. He raised an eyebrow. "And that's why you've been missing school?"

Leonard Avelaide nodded, but his cheek was planted on the table, so it looked more like his brown hair was sweeping dust off the table.

"Is your father alright with this?"

Leo repeatedly squished his cheek even further into the table in an attempt to shake his head.

Prince Alexander sighed. "Then stop going there. Come back to school."

The spy in all black slumped his shoulders, and he sunk further into the table until he looked like a piece of slime attempting to merge into the wooden furniture.

The Prince leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms. He carefully regarded his close friend and most trusted ally with a keen eye. Leonard Avelaide was never one to let personal feelings get in the way of work. It was one of the reasons why he made such a good spy, but that was exactly what he seemed to be doing now. "Leo," he warned.

Alexander didn't have to say anything more for Leo to understand what he was trying to say. Leo raised his head weakly and glared at the Prince, his green eyes flashing in the dim light.

The Prince waited. Leo seemed on the verge of saying something, and despite all things, he was curious as to what exactly he would say. Would he protest? Would he make excuses? Would he submit?

"No," Leo said, stubbornness creeping into his voice.

The Prince blinked. Well, that wasn't exactly what he was expecting. He knew what he had to do, however-- "Leo, you have to remember what situation we are in. You know as well as I do that we don't have any time to--"

"I know," Leo cut in. He didn't say anything more, though Alexander waited, and his gaze remained steadfastly stubborn.

A surge of curiosity welled up in the Prince. What was it that had Leo, obedient son of the Avelaide household, the most loyal subordinate to the royal family he had ever seen, so determined for once to do something not advantageous to the crown?

He leaned forward towards his friend, his arms now leaning on the desk. "Then let me ask this. Why are you so resolved to go there?"

Leo's eyes, which had been boring holes into him, shifted to the side. His tensed muscles seemed to sag for a moment, and the corners of his lips drooped just the smallest bit. "...friend."

"What?"

"She called me her friend," he repeated, and he looked almost embarrassed.

The lights were not on in the room (it was a secretive conversation, after all) and the only source of light was the moon outside, which was not very bright either. But the Prince suspected that in the dim room, Leonard Avelaide's ears were turning just the slightest bit redder.

The Prince threw up his hands. "What now, then? You're going to keep going to--" he paused, since he didn't know exactly who it was-- "this girl just because she called you a friend?"

Leo set his mouth in a firm line, and Alexander rolled his eyes. Very unbecoming of the Prince, perhaps, but Leo was one of the few-- if not the only-- in the world to whom Crown Prince Alexander Forbias did not need to keep up his facade of the perfect prince.

"Alex," Leo said, and Alexander exhaled slowly, blowing at his bangs. Leo rarely called him Alex-- it was always Crown Prince or Your Highness, ever since they had turned older than ten-- but the way he was calling him that now was telling of how serious Leo was. Or perhaps how desperate.

"Fine," the Prince sighed, rolling out his tense shoulders. His eyes drooped down, familiar exhaustion setting into his face. "You want me to tell your father otherwise, right? And let you take supplementary lessons outside of school?"

Leo's eyes lit up, and Alex glared at him. "Abuse of power!" he accused him, but Leo only grinned. "But you will have to keep up the rest of your work. If this... thing... starts to affect everything else, even I can't do anything for you."

Leo agreed heartily and thumped a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Thank you," he said, the briefest smile on his face, and he jumped out the window before the Prince could reply.

Alex rose to the window after him, his cool blue eyes following the figure of the nimble and most wanted spy of Durova speeding his way through the trees. Leo-- whatever had happened to him, Alex now knew that he couldn't tell him to give it up anymore after seeing how joyful his friend had become. The Crown Prince shook his head ruefully, his silvery-white hair ruffled by the breeze blowing in from the window.

How could he? How could he, when Leo's tightened shoulders had relaxed in front of him for the first time in the fifteen years Alexander had known the kid? When the boy, only seventeen years old, had finally stopped looking as if the fate of the entire country lay on his very hands?

The Prince sighed as he watched the figure of his closest friend and most trusted subordinate get smaller and smaller into the distance. One part of him felt very glad for him, for finally finding something that was nearer to his heart than the state of the country-- as noble as that was-- but one part of him twisted wistfully, in an unnamable want that Leo's own emotions had pricked within him. But he shoved that part down as quickly as it came up, because he knew better than anybody that such a feeling needed to remain unnamed and as unfelt as possible.

And as Leonard Avelaide, son of Durova's Prime Minister, ran off with all the boisterous energy of a joyful teenager, the Crown Prince turned his back towards the window and the clear black sky within it, letting the shadows cast from the moon's dim light crawl onto his silhouette, back into place.

---

A/N: If, upon seeing this update, you thought to yourself hmm, why does it feel like the updates are coming later and later in the week?, then shhhh. Don't think. Just be.