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The Last Command
Chapter 17 - Plain

Chapter 17 - Plain

Woosh!

"Ahh."

Klaus groaned and rubbed his eyes, hearing a loud wind break through the window. He stared blankly at the ceiling, not wanting to wake up yet until–

Vroom!!

Widening his eyes, he thought, "What is that?!"

Klaus slowly closed his eyes and sighed.

V-V-Vrooooom!!!

"Goddamnit!!"

Klaus immediately sat up and found himself on a clean, soft bed. Confused, he threw the blanket off and looked around.

A brown door in front of the bed closed, and a fan spun above him. As Klaus inspected the room, he noticed a glaring issue–it was plain—too plain.

The room had nothing except a solitary file cabinet (next to the bed) on the aged white carpet. The walls had a unique pattern planted onto them, resembling tiny bats. The bed was pure white, including the pillows and blankets resting on it.

"Such a boring room." Klaus thought as he jumped out of bed and walked to the open window. As he got closer, a peculiar aroma invaded his nose, causing him to furrow his brows.

Klaus inhaled, trying to pinpoint the scent: grass. He stuck his head out the window and saw Luna mowing the lawn with a…lawnmower.

"What is that? So loud."

Klaus considered leaping out the window and greeting her, but he wasn't sure because of her attitude yesterday. Were those her true colors? He didn't know.

"Only one way to find out…" Klaus thought as he crouched in the window, the wind blowing his hair.

"Hup!" He jumped down and landed softly on the cement. He admired the cement momentarily before humming and slowly walking toward Luna.

"Why won't this stupid grass be cut?!" Luna thought as she pulled the lawnmower back and forth on a specific patch of grass.

She pulled the lawnmower up and analyzed the patch, finding nothing glaringly wrong. Peering closer, though, she noticed some red spots.

"Wait a minute, is that…no…"

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"Is that a rat?"

"Eek!"

Luna jumped back and nearly fell to the ground when she saw Klaus. He looked at her confusingly.

"What's up with you?"

"What's up with you?! Scaring someone at 7 in the morning!!" Luna put her hands on her hips and glared at him. She turned off the lawnmower as she looked at Klaus with hateful eyes.

He rubbed his eyes and said, "Can't blame me when you got that thing at max volume."

"What even is that?"

Luna widened her eyes and said, her tone rising with each word, "It's a lawnmower!"

"It cuts grass!"

"Well, I can see that much."

"Then why'd you ask me?!"

"Well," Klaus scratched his head nervously. "I felt like it." He puffed out his chest and gazed off into the distance.

Sigh…

Luna sighed and shook her head. She turned the lawnmower back on, beginning to cut again until–

"So was that a ra-"

"Go look for yourself!" Luna screeched and pointed at the patch of grass with the red spots. She cursed under her breath as she walked off, mowing the grass.

Klaus immediately went to the patch of grass and looked down. There, he saw a fresh rat body. He crouched down to get a closer look.

Its guts were torn out and spread all over the grass, combined with the gray fur. Its bones occasionally appeared in fragments, hiding in small crevices. Its head was elsewhere, separate from the main body that lay here.

Squirm…!

Klaus grimaced as he saw insects coming to feast on the dead rat. They dug around in the guts, viciously tearing them even further apart.

"Ew! Those bugs are so aggressive," Klaus thought, putting his finger on his chin.

He oohed as ants took away small pieces of flesh into a burrow.

"Nasty, but cool," he whispered.

" I pray for your peace rat." He thought as he kneeled and clasped his hands together--before you ask no, he is not religious. He doesn't have enough time to think about that.

Klaus stood up and noticed Luna was nearing the last long grass file. He decided to wait until she was finished to ask her to explain what happened the day prior with Grandnew–wait, more importantly, how he ended up in the bed!

Sputter–sputter!

"Argh! No, please!" Luna pleaded with the lawnmower to turn it back on–she didn't want to finish this later. "Please…" Her voice lowered as a tear trickled down her face.

Sploot.

Luna frowned and threw the lawnmower. She eyed the file of grass and curled her fist, cursing it.

"So stupid…" A whisper escaped her mouth as she began to walk back to the door. She pulled a small white towel from her pocket and wiped the sweat off her face.

She sighed as she noticed Klaus fully intending to talk to her.

"My mind's too full for this…" she thought.

"Hey, so I wanted to ask–"

"Not right now."

Luna immediately shot down Klaus and walked past him. He stared at her back momentarily before walking beside her.

"Oi, this is important."

Luna glanced at Klaus and said, "Ok? So? I said not right now."

"And I said, oi, this is important ya hear?"

"You didn't say that." Luna said, shaking her head. She quickly looked at her old-fashioned watch (on her wrist) before walking faster.

Klaus mimicked her speed, his hands by his side, and continued to talk to her.

"Ok, maybe I didn't say exactly that but–"

"What is so 'important' that you keep on bugging me?"

Klaus furrowed his brows and said, "Bugging is a strong word." He put his finger on his cheek and then added:

"I would say…asking."

Creak!

Luna opened the door fast and walked to the kitchen. She paused at the counter, picking up a spoon. She turned back and looked at Klaus.

"If I answer you, will you stop bugging me already?"

Klaus nodded.

He cleared his throat and said, "I got two things–one more important than the other. How'd you heal Grandnew, and why was I in that bed?"

"Grandnew didn't even tell him her name, he deduced it…if I tell him about The Lattice, will he?" Luna thought as she filled up a glass of water.

She put a tea bag in it and stirred it with her spoon. Putting down her spoon, she motioned Klaus to sit on one of the couches.

Sipping some of her tea, she also settled down on a couch and began to speak.