not you [kole]

Do you see her anywhere? Hadley asked Nila as the two of them stood outside Solange's sword store. He had been visiting her for the day, but eventually she had to kick him out because she was going on some date or something or other. He was waiting for one of his staff members, Fiona (one of the few who insisted he use her name) who was supposed to be escorting him back to Earalas. It had been several minutes now.

Um, no, Nila replied, looking back and forth down the street. There were a few clio walking about, but no sign of Fiona.

Fucking great. Either she was running late, forgot about him, or was fucking with him like everyone else always seemed to be. Either way, annoying as fuck. He could either wait in Dahlin for who knows how long, or he could use Nila to try and get to the balloon station.

Fuck it. He was going. Nila was a little unsure, but scurried up onto his shoulder so she could tell him where to go. She directed him around the corner so that they could set off down the street, staying close to the buildings so that he could brush his fingertips along the walls. Luckily the station wasn't far.

Kole was in Dahlin today, meeting up with one of his associates. After the meeting, Kole felt confident. It was always nice when evil, conniving plans were well underway. He was eerily happy today, he even stopped by Casa Nova's to buy a cinnamon bun and a coffee.

As he continued his way through the city, he slowly came to a stop when he saw a familiar clio. "Look who it is," he said to his daemon. "Hadley has finally ventured out into the world!" Briar chuckled from her perch on his shoulder.

He continued to watch him until Hadley turned to leave. Kole decided to follow him, and turned down the same corner Hadley did. He picked up his pace to catch up to him and playfully slapped Hadley's shoulder when he did. "Earalas!" He said. "You look like you could use some help!"

Hadley almost jumped out of his skin when someone smacked his shoulder from behind. And he didn't exactly calm down when he heard the voice that somehow made his blood simultaneously run cold and boil at the same time. It was Kole, the guy who had ruined his life and threatened the only clio in the world Hadley cared about. He had a crazy impulse to throw a fireball at Kole's face and run away, but obviously knew that that would not be a good idea.

He swallowed. "I'm fine," he said, keeping his voice deliberately calm and even. It took effort. They were in public. There were clio around, right? Kole couldn't try anything here. Right? He walked a little faster, even though that always raised the risk of tripping over something. "I don't need any help."

"Nonsense!" Kole replied, while reaching out and grabbing Hadley's arm. "Let me help you!" He wore a fake smile on his face, while he forcefully pulled Hadley back toward him. "Let's catch up!" He said in a chit-chatty sort of way. "We haven't spoken since I visited you in the hospital!" Kole could feel Hadley trying to pull away but he wasn't going to let him. He was having such a good day, toying around with Hadley would make it even better!

"You know it's so nice to run into you outside of Deilig," he said all nonchalant-like. "Your lovely little adviser showed up a while ago...wanting that thing from my Kingdom...too bad you screwed that all up!" He chuckled.

Hadley gritted his teeth when Kole forcibly grabbed his arm and tried to pull away, but Kole was holding on tight. Not to mention, even if he did pull away, what could he do then? Run away? It would be a miracle if he made it twenty feet without running into something or someone. He could always make a scene or something, but somehow he had a feeling that that wouldn't do any good. He pretty much had no real choice other than to let Kole "help" him. It was fucking humiliating. That was the point, he was sure.

"Oh, you're just too kind," he said caustically.

Kole wrote:"You know it's so nice to run into you outside of Deilig. Your lovely little adviser showed up a while ago...wanting that thing from my Kingdom...too bad you screwed that all up!"

"I know," he said, sounding agitated. He was torn at whether to be angry or scared right now. He was pretty sure Kole was just bringing this up to insult him, but he was worried that if he said the wrong thing it would make Kole reconsider acting on his threat against Remy. "We didn't need it that badly anyways."

Hadley wrote:"We didn't need it that badly anyways."

"Good, I'm glad!" Kole replied. He let go of Hadley's arm, only to pat his shoulder again. "So how is your adviser doing? And your lovely sister? How did they take the news of your new ailment?" He tried to feign concern, but it was hard, and he pretty much failed.

Hadley didn't like the way Kole was bringing Remy and Sol into this conversation. He could hate Hadley all he wanted, but Sol and Remy didn't have anything to do with their feud.

His brow furrowed with annoyance as Kole patted his shoulder. "Not as well as you did," he said with disdain. Fucking Kole and his fucking daisies. It was one thing to be happy when something bad happened to someone you didn't like, but Kole's over-the-top giddiness was downright unsettling. "Why does it make you so fucking happy to see me like this? All I did was go to your club one time."

He didn't even know why he was asking. Kole was a psychopathic sadist, that was why.

"Why, you ask?" Kole asked. How was it not obvious? Hadley stuck his nose in Kole's business, so Kole had to punish him. And if he never had done anything about it, he had a feeling that that one time wouldn't have been the only time. Not to mention how smug and arrogant Hadley was about it, when he had visited. It really pissed Kole off.

"That's just it," he started to explain. "You just showed up one time, but let's not kid ourselves, we both know it wouldn't have been the only time." Kole squeezed Hadley's arm a little tighter. "And if you weren't so fucking full of yourself!" He shook his head. "You're a cocky little shit stain, aren't you?"

"I wasn't going to go back," Hadley protested as he felt Kole's grip on his arm tighten. He had only ever planned to go the one time, just to check it out. He never even had any intention of hurting Kole's operation. He'd just been bored for fuck's sake.

As for being cocky...like Kole had any fucking room to talk. Showing up at the hospital to gloat, showing up now to mock his condition. Not even Hadley had pulled that kind of shit back when he was the one hiring thugs to attack the clio he didn't like. The two of them were more alike than Hadley ever wanted to admit, but whereas Hadley was more or less indifferent to the suffering of others, Kole fucking reveled in it.

"And if you really hate me so much, why are you going out of your way to "help" me?" he went on, emphasizing the word "help" since that's obviously not really what Kole was doing. Kole had wanted him to suffer, and he got that. Hell, he got more than what he wanted; Hadley being permanently blinded had been an added bonus to what was supposed to just be a beating. Kole didn't need to drag things out anymore with this petty bullshit. "You won, okay? I learned my fucking lesson. So just leave me alone."

Hadley wrote:"I wasn't going to go back,"

"Be that as it may," Kole replied, loosening his grip some. "You had it coming to you anyway." Kole knew all about the things Hadley got himself into. In a way, Kole admired Hadley a little bit, but his hatred surpassed any admiration he ever could express. Hadley was one of those clios who got themselves into dangerous situations just for the shits and giggles. Kole was too proud to ever put himself into danger, but he would go to the extremes to entertain himself, like murder for example.

Hadley wrote:"You won, okay? I learned my fucking lesson. So just leave me alone."

"Oh but I don't think you really have," he replied. "To be honest, I don't think you ever will." No matter what, Kole believed that Hadley would never cease to be an arrogant bastard.

While Hadley would always be far from the most humble or selfless clio in Amelia, Kole was one hundred percent wrong if he thought Hadley was the same man he had been before being attacked. The old him would never have let Kole get away with this without retaliating or getting revenge. Nor would the old him have ever done things like consider Remy's feelings, spare a single thought for the Dahlin mayor's sons, or really feel empathy for anyone at all. He had learned from this.

Not that he wouldn't trade away all of that and more if it meant getting his sight back. He'd go back to being his old self in a heartbeat if it were possible. That was the worst part of all this. He'd learned and changed from it, but he was still going to suffer the consequences for the rest of his life, no matter what he did.

"Maybe you're right," he said, even though he wasn't. "But you and I aren't so different, Kole. Maybe someone out there thinks you're the one who needs a lesson."

It wasn't a threat. Let's face it, Hadley wanted as little to do with Kole as possible at this point. It was just an observation from someone else who used to think his title and power made him invincible, and who learned the hard way that he was wrong.

Hadley wrote:"But you and I aren't so different, Kole. Maybe someone out there thinks you're the one who needs a lesson."

Kole outright laughed at that one. He knew he had plenty of enemies, and probably all of them wanted him dead, but Kole was strong, and feared, and he knew that. His army was growing stronger, his Elite were getting better, no clio dared to step foot in his Kingdom, and if any ever did, they'd be punished, much like Hadley. He knew Hadley had sent out plenty of clio to punish others, but he wasn't smart about it. Hadley was the blind one, not Kole. Kole didn't make mistakes.

"I'm sure there are," he finally replied. "But I'm clever," he tapped his temple as he said this. "I know how to avoid becoming blind or dead."

Despite the degrading and potentially dangerous situation Hadley was in right now, he almost wanted to smile. He vaguely remembered a conversation he had had a while ago, one that felt like a lifetime ago.

The past wrote:"Don't do anything reckless."

"I never do anything recklessly."

It was another trait he and Kole shared. That near-suicidal overconfidence that had been Hadley's downfall, and that would inevitably be Kole's in the future. Maybe it would be a few months, maybe it would be a few years, but Hadley just knew from this conversation that Kole was going to make a mistake and fall, hard. And whenever it happened, Hadley was going to enjoy it thoroughly.

"Whatever you say," he said, his voice now calm and almost even bored-sounding. Since Kole had loosened his grip earlier, Hadley wrenched his arm free. "Are you done gloating about how superior you are to me yet?"

They were actually almost at the balloon station, according to Nila. She had assured him that despite the opportunity Kole had to lead him wherever he wanted, they actually had been headed to the proper destination this whole time. That...almost annoyed Hadley even more, actually.

Although Hadley wrenched his arm free from Kole's hand, he continued to walk with him until they reached the air balloon station. He momentarily considered riding in a shared balloon with Hadley, but decided he was getting bored with their conversation.

Hadley wrote:"Are you done gloating about how superior you are to me yet?"

"Actually yes I am," he replied, completely unfazed by Hadley's comment. "This is where I leave you." He patted Hadley's shoulder, like they were old friends then asked in a condescending tone, "Need any help walking to the air balloon?"

"No," Hadley said firmly, glaring in the general direction of Kole. It was okay, though. He could deal with the condescension knowing that Kole was one day going to get what was coming to him. Not to mention he was pretty relieved that Kole was apparently bored of this little game and was going to leave him alone now.

There was only one little problem though, and that was that Hadley genuinely didn't have any idea where to go. Nila! he snapped, fully aware that Kole was watching him just stand there and not go anywhere.

Oh right! Nila squeaked. She'd been too terrified this entire time to pay much attention to anything. She looked around at the signs. Balloons going southbound are straight ahead to the left!

Wanting to get away from Kole as quickly as possible, Hadley set off that direction with maybe a little less hesitation than he probably should have. So of fucking course he almost immediately stumbled over something that some idiot had left discarded on the ground. He took a deep breath and just angrily kept going, not wanting to stick around for Kole to insult him for that, too.

He made it to a southbound balloon, practically shoved some money at the operator and demanded to be taken to his estate. He slid down to the floor of the basket, wanting nothing more than to get home and fire the fuck out of that negligent idiot, Fiona.

Kole watched Hadley's internal battle as he stood there awkwardly. He even laughed out loud when Hadley stumbled over something on the ground. He smirked and shook his head.

"What a great day this has been," he said to his daemon. He continued to watch Hadley until his disappeared inside of the air balloon's basket.

Kole decided it was time to go home, so he manipulated his shadow to take on the form of a giant falcon, hopped onto its back, and flew off.