Knight Me

As much as Amelia enjoyed immersing herself in the activities that she partook in, the prospects of weeding out the bad crops from the metaphoric garden of theirs was not the task she imagined that she would end up doing at some point. At least she had the freedom to employ methods of her own choosing and she had a number of them in mind. At the current time, she was pacing back and forth as she pondered the tasks ahead of her. This time, Amelia had truly entered the folds of the Quincy, a Knight of the Order of the Quincy. A role which seated her in a somewhat militaristic position was nothing new to her so she did not feel out of her depth. The difference was the dimension of the threats. Previous before she was dealing with humans who would use conventional means of warfare and she was a highly trained specialist who engaged in unconventional warfare designed to neutralise that type of opposition. Now she was a Quincy and was dealing with spiritual beings. Whilst a significant amount of her skills could be translated over, she had learnt that the overruling factor now was sheer power. Beyond honing her claws, she had to increase her raw strength now more than ever. She felt she had reached a bottleneck that was crying out for a scrap to break through her current limits so perhaps the business with the Schades could personally benefit her.

Amelia's thoughts were disturbed by a rap on the large door followed by an introduction. It seemed that she had a visitor, perhaps something to break up her thoughts, it was someone that she did not know so Amelia was interested in who this person was who sought her out in the castle. Strolling across to the door, her hand grasped the brass handle and opened the door. Behind the frame was a male who looked a little older than her. Instantly the most notable thing about him was his height, he was rather tall, taller than most. Amelia was taller than average for a female but her height was nothing out of the ordinary. She also noted his general posture and the clothing he wore, it all screamed military. Amelia had been around enough service people to be able to tell that he had a background there, not that it was difficult to suss out. Amelia's attire was sharp and formal but in a different way. Above the long sleeved white shirt was a well fitted tailored black jacket with a pair of belted black trousers completing a pair. The only two military styled things on her person was a CWC military issue G10 watch on her left wrist issued to her whilst she was part of the British armed forces as well as a pair of distinctly military styled black boots which she tended to wear for their practicality. 

Nodding politely she addressed him in Italian. “Ah, ciao! Dal tuo accento sei americano, non è vero? Non penso di conoscerti.” The Quincy would pause to gauge his reaction before lightly chuckling to herself, “Amelia Vietti-Thompson, nice to meet you.” She extended a hand out in greeting before inviting him in. "Lucas Lightner is it? I heard about your arrival, it's good to see Quincy united across the continents. Here have a seat." Amelia tapped a comfortable, plush leather armchair as she walked to the other one adjacent to it. Between them was a coffee table with a trio of martini glasses along with a cocktail shaper. They were a few of the things that she had brought down given that she would end up spending a lot of her time in the castle. She poured the carmine red liquid from the shaper into one of the wide glasses, her choice tipple, a French martini, then hovered over a second before glancing up at Lucas the question in her eyes.

"So tell me a little about how you found yourself here with the Order of the Quincy, Lucas."

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After meeting Freyleif, Lucas was beginning to wonder if one of her already-inducted Knights—this Amelia—would be equally as young, maybe younger. Spiritual strength did not necessarily rely on age, which is why Quincy ever had any hope of defeating a Hollow or Shinigami. It was quite possible for a ten year old to hold the power of one of the fabled Shinigami Captains, though Lucas doubted that he’d ever see such a thing.

So when a completely grown woman with straight, brown hair, and strangely off-gold eyes, Lucas was relieved. He no longer felt like an old man in the company of children—not that he’d ever dare treat someone with Freyleif’s immense power as a child, of all things. Whatever had transpired for her to gain that kind of strength, he knew it made her as much of an adult as he.

More than that, she had a posture that he could recognize: Discipline. It wasn’t her plain, mostly-black outfit or even the boots that gave it away. It was the way she stood there, the way she held herself. She was strong, very strong, and had the experience to back it up. That was something that Lucas not only respected, but felt slightly unnerved by.

He was supposed to be of the same rank as this woman? He didn’t need to reach out with his spiritual sense to know that she was much more powerful than him, he could tell that at a glance.

This castle held more than one surprise, both of them pretty.

She greeted him in Italian to boot, something he didn’t get much of in the States. He could tell from the words, and the accent, but he didn’t understand a lick of it. He smiled just a little, but his ignorance must have been pretty obvious, because she switched to English almost immediately.

“Twice today, the pleasure is all mine,” he answered with a full smile and shook her hand in return, firm and short. “I’m surprised word moved this quickly through the castle. Neither the guards at the front door or the library seemed to care for me much, I didn’t think anyone would be talking already.”

Of course, he knew there were more people here than just them. The Quincy revealed by his compass notably outnumbered the ones he had met, which only made sense in a castle as large as this one. If there were less than ten people here at any given time, it’d be gross overkill.

He followed her in without hesitation. After all, if he couldn’t trust these people, he never stood a chance. The Quincy would truly have to be reunited, and if he was going to continue his journey—as he had promised, now—with the intent of bringing in as many Quincy as possible, he had to start by trusting them first, and earning it in return.

So when she gestured for a thickly cushioned, leather arm chair, he took with a small ‘thank you’ and made himself comfortable.

“I’m sorry you’ve been bored, then! I’ve hardly done much besides embarrass myself in the main hall,” he laughed a little as she poured her drink, and waved off her silent offer for one of his own. “It’s been quite the treat to meet so many. You’re Italian at least by descent, if I’m not mistaken? And the Queen, she’s…some flavor of Scandinavian? I can’t be sure, this is my first time overseas—which only makes it all the more momentous an occasion.”

Lucas took that opportunity to glance around the room. Two chairs, the table between them, and a bevy of personal items. It looked like private quarters, which made him wonder how long Amelia had been living here. No doubt, they’d have time to get to that a little later.

“But, I suppose, these stumbles and discoveries are exactly what brought me here,” he went on, his voice leveling out to something a couple notches above neutral. “A little help from fate, too, given the timing. I wanted to meet with the King, thinking that Wolfenstein might still be the ruler as the rumors suggested, and see if efforts were being made to finally reunite the Quincy. My organization, an Alliance of Quincy families on the East Coast of America, hasn’t heard from anyone else in any official capacity for quite a few years.”

His smile grew just a bit wider.

“You can imagine how elated I am to have found this sort of energy and excitement. I feel hopeful for our future for the first time in my life.”

*****

770 Words

Returning his smile, Amelia placed down the shaper and lent forward slightly, her fingers interlocked as she listened keenly to Lucas' words. 

"I'm glad to hear that you're optimistic. There's been a lot of change of late. Previously I took a backseat but circumstances have changed and now I have even more invested interest in make sure that we Quincy have some semblance of stability in the world."

Her fingers drummed against each other lightly as she her gaze fell, a soft laugh escaped her lips. There was a real need for intervention else history was set to repeat itself, the fact of the matter was obvious to someone with a background such as hers. Amelia looked up at Lucas intently, with a rather serious expression on her face, a trace of concern in those golden eyes of hers. "Our Icelandic Queen, Freyleif Jökulsdóttir. She's young, inexperienced and she doesn't have the disposition of a ruler. However she's someone I know is strong willed and driven and holds the Quincy's best interests at heart. Because of that, we will support her and mould her into a person able to lead properly. It takes more than strength to be a leader as I'm sure you know, I hope you'll lend your aid to that cause. I don't want any fractures in our ranks so Freyleif will need to grow up fast."

Lifting her glass, she sipped on the sweet alcohol beverage. Tilting the glass to the side, she absentmindedly peered at the swirling liquid. "I have a role as a face and an active presence on the surface but I'll make use of my specialities and work from the shadows. I've taken it upon myself to oversee our internal affairs for now. I hope to get to know everyone who frequents this castle."

Gently, she placed the glass back down on the coffee table before gazing back up at Lucas, her voice level, steady and matter of fact like. "I'll be watching you closely."

The faint smile reemerged on the corner of her rose lips. It was not hostility nor was it suspicion that laced her words before but a subtle tone that indicated that she had her eyes open, that she was taking everything in with a scrutinising magnifying glass. Amelia even took the time to reassure him of her intentions. 

"To me, the most immediate goal that we should be aiming to absolutely achieve is 'unity'. Before we can deal with any threats to Quincy, to humanity effectively and efficiently we need a united front where we can look through different windows and see the same thing. The greatest threat to Quincy moving forward as a unit are Quincy themselves. Dissent, personal agendas, conflicting desires, power struggles. None of that can exist anymore. I'm a selfish person, I do what I do for myself, for my friends and my family. This is the best way to achieve that. Change is never easy to accept, people firmly reject change over what's familiar but change is necessary for growth, to take even a single step forward. That's the role I've chosen to undertake here. Whilst I understand the qualities of a leader, Aitrus von Erokose is more experienced than myself in regards to matters pertaining to Quincy, I'll see to it that nothing disturbs that." Pausing she pondered a thought for a moment. "The title 'Knight' isn't for show. The title denotes a certain level of responsibility that goes beyond what your average person is expected to do."

Amelia swiftly drained the rest of her martini before leaned back into the armchair, relaxing back. It was somewhat odd how she could act so casually yet maintain an undertone that was anything but. "You must have experience that you can translate to an optimal role to play out here. You said 'my organisation' so I take it that you've had to do a variety of different things to establish your organisation. Tell me a little about it, I'm curious. I'd like to know more about just who Lucas Lightner is."

Glancing at one of the large mahogany cabinets, Amelia took in the sight of a hand made chess set, carved from what appeared to be stone. It was something that she had found within one of the many rooms in the castle and 'procured' for herself. "Lucas, I'm quite fond of chess. I'm still undecided whether I'd liken myself to a rook or a knight. If you were to describe yourself as a chess piece, what would you be and why?"

It was an abstract question but it was one that Amelia asked to gauge a little more about the character of the man in front of her.

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This woman proved she wasn’t shy in just the first few minutes. Lucas liked that. Neither her nor Freyleif had anything to hide or worry about, especially not around him. Worst case scenario when Lucas walked in that day was that he was some sort of assassin, or something. That would have gone poorly, and not for them, and they knew it. What else did they really have to worry about with him?

So why not pry with the new guy, a little bit? Representing a large collection of families in America or not, he had come to their home and asked to join what they were making. Neither could really tell who needed the other more, so it fell to what each side already possessed. Lucas had himself, and Freyleif had the power of her soul and that of subordinates like Amelia. Either one of them could dispatch him and the rest of the Alliance like children, only Edward would last a moment against even Amelia.

“Icelandic, huh?” Lucas answered her clarification. Heh ad never really gotten to ask Freyleif about that. Of all the other things going on, everything else to go over, he really didn’t have the space for it. More than that, Queen or not, he didn’t want to get overly personal with a sixteen-year-old young lady. She ahd been through enough to be called an adult by any standard that mattered to him, but there were something things that just wouldn’t have felt right, no matter what.

Lucas nodded along when she brought up her desired role of managing internal affairs. That would be necessary, more than necessary, if Lucas could successfully bring in other Quincy. Who would he point them to, who would handle their coordination until they had a proper headquarters and people working around the clock to manage these things?

The Quincy needed to move fast, and not wait for the infrastructure and resources before bringing in the people. After all, the people were one such resource that they needed. They had to go at it, simultaneously, in order to make any real, solid progress that could stick around and not go anywhere.

“Someone has to do it,” he agreed with her. “And, clearly, you’ve got the thinking for it.”

Amelia’s comment to him, directly, wasn’t lost on Lucas, though. He returned her small, little smile. Freyleif had said something similar, that she saw potential in him and that he might very well be able to amount to something here. To see that Amelia, just maybe, had a similar opinion? It gave him hope that he could do what he wanted to set out to do.

As if to speak to his hopes and dreams more directly, Amelia went on. She talked about unity and bringing the Quincy together as an absolute first priority.

“We don’t have the luxury of split focus or internal fractures,” Lucas shook his head. “We all need to be on the same page, or we’ll flounder like the Hohenfels before.”

Neither person in this room wanted that, from what Lucas could see, and that warmed his heart. All of those years of apathy among the youngest Quincy and now he was here, with a peer, and saw someone else with vision that wasn’t twice his age.

Amelia caught him off guard when she brought up his home right after that.

“The Alliance?” Lucas asked, surprised she wanted to know about that already. “I suppose we’re nothing special. There are much more famous Quincy organizations all over the world, such as the Japanese Council that I heard of? We’re simply an organization of Quincy families that have immigrated from Europe over the years, and we work together to ensure we can make the most of the few Quincy we’ve got. A couple hundred, total.”

Which only reminded him of what he was thinking about just a moment ago: How many of them didn’t really care to be a Quincy at all. That disappointment crawled back onto his face, darkened his features, and he dropped his gaze for just a little bit.

When he looked back at Amelia, he was wondering how much he should open up to her.

But if he wanted them to trust him, completely, he needed to be the one to give something first.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he started. “I’m here now because the Alliance is facing a very large issue with Quincy my age and younger. Most, simply, don’t care about being Quincy at all. They care about their jobs, mortgages, pretty girls, handsome men; most see the Quincy thing as easy money, or an outright curse.”

He shrugged with those last words, “That’s why I ultimately came here. With my new Kirchengebet spell, and the compass for it, I was hoping I could give them hope for a grander future. Maybe, even, resurrect some of that Quincy pride I’ve heard so much about.”

Lucas leaned forward and put his forearms on his knees.

“The Queen, and your words so far, have made me believe we can achieve this,” he admitted. “And that means a lot to me.”

Then, he pondered her question about chess. If he was one of the pieces on that board, which would he be?

King, Queen, Knight, Rook, Bishop, Pawn?

Amelia couldn’t pick between Knight and Rook. A warrior capable of things even the Queen couldn’t do, or the walls that protected the most valuable people inside.

“I think, right now, I’m just a pawn,” he answered with a nod of his head and a bigger smile. “When I reach the end of the board, though, Amelia, I’ll tell you what I become.”

After he sat back up, he turned the question around, “What about you? What makes it hard to decide between the two?”

*****

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"I must say, you quite the optimistic one." She grinned, Amelia hoped that he was someone who was on her side and was willing to traverse across the hardships of the enemies' side to emerge stronger than before. "A pawn, the most basic of units but the one with the potential to become anything it wants." If Lucas truly believed himself a pawn, then it was of great importance that the Quincy were a united force. After all a pawn would only reach the end game if it had other stronger pieces around it otherwise it would become nothing but a sacrificial piece. The Quincy around him were the pieces that would maneuver with him and no matter how weak they were seen as, pawns were a necessity.

"Sadly there's no piece like a Knight, not even the powerful Queen. I have a skill set befitting of a Knight, the unorthodox methods of attack, can do things that you can't predict from a straightforward linear plan. I also value my freedom, the freedom to go as I please, unobstructed by anyone standing in my way, there's always a way around." Smiling somewhat sadly, she continued. "I need to be a Rook as well, I'll be someone who guards the 'King' , sheltering them from harm, a stalwart obstacle to protect. Like you, I have responsibilities that go beyond that of someone that follows. I'm the head of my family and I am someone who now stands by our Queen's side and I cannot be anything like Bishop if I truly want to protect her and the order that we've established. Perhaps a Queen would be more fitting for that role but I don't think I have the strength for that yet."

The fact that Lucas' alliance members wanted to embrace their more earthly desires was a sentiment that Amelia understood. A large part of her wished that she could go back to her normal life but that was wishful thinking. Her circumstances were different, vastly different from the norm though so her reasoning was dissimilar to theirs, it was not about frivolity but normality.

"I won't make promises but there's a real drive, determination and momentum with our efforts now. I do understand that desire and that feeling of being cursed but it's not the same. In a way, you could say I've only been a Quincy for about a year. My powers were sealed away as a baby, I was essentially a regular human with a rather secretive job and someone who would see ghosts every so often. I felt cursed with an immense power I couldn't control, a magnet for Hollows and the burden of putting my past behind me. My introduction to the 'real world' was no gentle matter."

Amelia lifted up her shirt, enough to reveal her lithe abdomen and the three and a half inch scar where she was quite literally impaled by a Hollow. She twisted her waist around to show him the other side where a long sickle like appendage had exited her body. "My comrades were killed that night. I died that night, at least a clinical death. I was saved by Weylin von Wolfenstein and it was after that point that I had my dormant Quincy powers awoken, the rest is history." 

Straightening out her shirt again, she relaxed back in the armchair. "No matter what happens, an unforgettable story will be told by us Quincy and they should be part of that tale, just like you."

"What are your immediate plans then, Lucas? We're currently restructuring so few official tasks are being undertaken at the current moment whilst things settle down. Tell me, what's on the first square that the pawn will move forward to?"

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Optimistic? That made Lucas think. He had never really applied that word to himself before, but wasn’t it true? He wanted the best for Quincy and believed that they could achieve exactly that: The best. If that wasn’t optimism, what was it? Lucas answered, “the truth,” just on reflex, but that wasn’t a complete answer. After all, why couldn’t it be both?

“I suppose I am optimistic,” he nodded in agreement. “And I think we should all be, especially with what I’ve learned and seen today.”

A Queen more powerful than he thought a human could be, a Knight with strength that he was certain could bring down even one of the fabled Captains. Both of them had vision, ideas, and the motivation to help make something out of the Quincy, to really make something out of them. Not only could Lucas respect that, but it excited him.

If this could excite him, who had come here in a desperate attempt to revive his hope in the Quincy, what could it do for other Quincy? He wanted to believe that they’d be inspired too, that this fortuitous set of circumstances could be levied to make a real difference for Quincy the world over.

That, too, qualified him as optimistic.

“I think you’re too kind to me, is what I think,” Lucas brushed off her compliments, but not rudely. He smiled the whole way. “Save that hope for after I, with a little luck, actually make a difference for our people.”

As Lucas listened on, comfortable in his chair as he could be, he noticed that comment about being Queen. He could see the ambition in Amelia’s eyes, and he understood that Quincy monarchy didn’t work like the royalty of the past. Their King or Queen held their prestige and their title only by the strength of their soul and the accuracy of their bow, as the old phrase went. One day, Amelia might very well be able to stand level with Freyleif in power, though Lucas doubted that any Quincy could exceed her in strength. He scarcely believed that any Shinigami could do it, either.

Before their conversation could go on, Amelia shed a bit more light on herself. It was a relevant story, one that surprised him, and he understood why she shared it.

“If you could get through that, and still find the drive to be part of Quincy life, anyone can,” Lucas agreed with the moral of her story wholeheartedly. “I hope that proves true for all of the younger Quincy part of the Alliance, back in America. I want to believe that all of us, every one, can see this as something that’s good. Or, if nothing else, make it something that is. After all, isn’t that what we’re about? Quincy are self-made, Shinigami and Hollows are born. Despite what all of history has shown us, I believe that will be what proves our mettle as the superior force for good in the world.”

Based on nothing but faith.

Pride, faith, these were all things that the Quincy had, historically. So far, it had done nothing but get their people cut down to size a couple hundred years ago and left in irrelevance since. To anyone on the outside, looking in, there was no objective reason to believe that any of them, or any of these ideas, had value.

To a Quincy who stood on the inside, in the middle of it, they were all that really mattered.

Which brought them, then, to the future. Lucas practically felt Amelia’s golden gaze stare back into him. What were his plans, what was the idea, what was he going to do?

Luckily, he had already gone over it all with Freyleif.

He knew exactly what he was going to do.

“I’m going to go to Karakura Town,” he answered her directly, confidence simmering. “After spending a couple days here, I’m going to fly to Japan and spend a lot of time in Karakura Town and Tokyo. There are tons of Quincy there, I’ve seen them, and I’m going to bring them into the fold, as many as I can. From there, they’ll go out and bring others, and as long as we give them something to want to join, that’ll keep rippling outward. I’ll go around the world for months, years, repeating this, if necessary. Even if I have to talk to every single one of them in the end, I’m going to tell them the best news they’ve probably ever heard.

“That we’re Quincy, and our time has finally come.”

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