Chapter 9 : Morning
The table was remarkably peaceful as the three sitting bodies ate in silence.
Although it had been several days since either of them had eaten anything, both of the dark elves became full surprisingly fast and finished eating long before Anton did. While waiting for him, Fiona busied herself with trying to clean the stuck porridge from her face by scraping her chin, cheeks and forehead against the sides of her bowl. Kianna meanwhile kept a hesitant watch on Anton who seemed to have either completely forgotten about the dark elves, or decided to simply ignore them entirely as he absently clicked about on his laptop and lazily ate his food.
Kianna couldn't help but to become transfixed as she watched Anton eat. There was just something about the process, and each of the small motions that were involved, that seemed to suddenly fascinate her. She found a strange elegance in the simplicity of it all. Such as how he dipped his sausages in his syrup and lightly drizzled said syrup over his egg and toast. In how and where he would take his next bite. How with each bite the food seemed to slowly disappear. And finally, with how his jaw seemed to effortlessly move in such a smooth and nearly soundless way as it supposedly destroyed whatever was trapped between his teeth. She couldn't exactly say why this was so interesting to her but it certainly was. And as he got closer and closer to being finished she felt a twinge of disappointment that the show would soon be over. Glancing at her sister she couldn't help but to feel a second round of disappointment, this time in herself, for not having paid better attention to her while she was eating as well. She wasn't necessarily interested in comparing the two, but instead wanted to find out if Fiona was as much of a spectacle to watch as Anton was.
A level of tension hung in the air when Anton finally finished the last of his food and casually slid his empty plate to the side. The two dark elves were both becoming more and more nervous as he seemed to be content with staying focused on his laptop. Finally, after having apparently finished with whatever he was reading, he leaned back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest.
"So..." he drawled as he turned to face them "Are we ready to have a conversation now?"
The dark elves both glanced at each other and nodded slowly.
"Alright, I'll go ahead and let you two start then" said Anton as he gave each of the dark elves a nod "I'm sure you both have some questions you're dying to ask"
The dark elves were both silent for a moment as they each seemed to be waiting for the other to speak.
"Are you gonna kill us!?" blurted out Fiona as she grimaced down at the table.
"No. At this time I have no intention of killing either of you" declared Anton "And by that I mean I don't plan to kill you at all. That does not mean that I can't, or won't kill you. It just means that I don't plan to. As of right now"
The dark elves both shifted themselves back at the implied threat.
"W-we can pay you!" cried Kianna as her ears pointed themselves straight upwards "We really do have a lot of money!"
"No, you don't. You did! But now you don't" said Anton as he shifted his gaze to his laptop "You have both been getting a kind of automatic monthly stipend, or an allowance of some kind, and this had built up to a pretty high number in each of your accounts... A stock portfolio was also set up for each of you. And I even found an apartment complex that was in both of your names. That brought in a decent amount of money every month. All together, when everything was said and done, you both would have been doing pretty well for the rest of your lives. But then you decided to abduct me. And now its all gone"
"...W-what!?" exclaimed Fiona as she leaned forward and got jerked by her chain "What do you mean it's all gone!?"
"I mean it's gone. All of it. All of your funds have been diverted over to my outer realm accounts and are currently sitting at a pending status while waiting for me to accept the transfers. So now with a simple push of a button, all of your money will be mine. The transfers for both the stocks and the apartment complex have already been set into motion as well" explained Anton as he used the nail on his pinkie finger to absently pick at his teeth "...By the end of this month you won't own anything and you won't have a dime to your names"
Fiona fell back into her seat and stared dumbfounded at Anton as he absently flicked away a bit of debris from his fingernail.
"...How, you! ...When!?" she exclaimed as she shook her head in disbelief.
"Why do you think I was keeping you in storage for the last two days? What did you think I was doing up here?" asked Anton as he gave her a sly grin "What you were already doing is actually what made it so much easier for me. Especially with the apartment complex. How could you possibly do that to your own sister Fiona!? Terrible, just, just terrible!"
A sickly look came over Fiona's face as she lowered her ears and shook her head.
"...Huh?" questioned Kianna as she looked from Anton to her sister "Wait? What were you doing?"
"Nothing!" exclaimed Fiona as she turned to face Kianna and pointed her ears straight upwards "I was just making sure the money was taken care of! That's it! That's all!"
"No, that's not what you were doing Fiona!" mocked Anton as he shook his head and met Kianna's gaze "She's been slowly transferring both your funds and your stocks over to herself for the last year or so. And she's actually the one who set up the "sale" of the apartment complex. I'm guessing she was going to sell it to herself? Essentially, by the end of it, she would have had control of all of your money as well as her own"
Kianna's eyes went wide as she absorbed what was being said.
"I really didn't have to change much in the way of moving things around" continued Anton "Most of the groundwork had already been set up. I just had to change a few names and some account numbers. Easy enough really"
Kianna's mouth hung open as she slowly turned to her sister.
"...He's lying!" cried Fiona as her eyes locked to her sister's and she began to struggle in her bounds "I mean! He's, he's!"
Kianna clenched her teeth as her ears pointed themselves straight back in anger.
Fiona smiled sheepishly as she hunched in on herself and lowered her own ears.
"I, I wasn't trying to steal from you! Honestly I wasn't!" she tried to explain as Kianna's face became angrier and angrier "I just thought it would be easier to keep track of everything if it was all in one place! Seriously! That's really all I was doing!"
Fiona cringed back and clamped her eyes shut as Kianna reached out towards her. Taking hold of her sister's bowl of food, Kianna pulled it to herself and set it on the other side of her own and far out of Fiona's reach.
"Wha? Hey!" cried Fiona as she realized what had happened "That's mine!"
"It'll be easier for me to keep track of it if I keep it all in one place!" growled Kianna and Fiona cringed back as her own words were thrown at her.
"Kianna" said Anton with a stern tone to his voice "Give that back to her"
Both of the dark elves immediately turned to him with surprise spread clear across their faces.
"What!?" exclaimed Kianna "But! She, she just!"
"You have no right to be angry at anyone but yourself" chastised Anton as he pointed his finger at her "The fact that you don't even keep track of your own assets is just embarrassing. You're lucky it was only your sister taking your money and not an actual thief"
Fiona blinked in surprise and quickly became smug as she smiled at her cowed sister.
Kianna's face was torn as she looked down at the table. Scowling in frustration, she kept her eyes lowered as she reached over and set the bowl back in front of Fiona.
"That being said..." continued Anton as he shifted his pointed finger to Fiona "You are far from innocent! But I'm sure Kianna can figure out a good punishment for you. So I'll just leave it to her"
Kianna's eyes became vicious as she gave her sister a toothy smile.
"Wha? Wait a minute!" exclaimed Fiona as her own face became scowling towards Anton "You're the one that just-"
"Or!" interrupted Anton as he narrowed his eyes at her "I could come up with something that I would think was appropriate... Though I would like to think that your own sister wouldn't be nearly as cruel to you as I will be!"
Fiona stopped short mid-speech. With a questioning look now on her face she turned to her sister and found her still smiling evilly. Unsure of who was now allied with who, the confused dark elf eased back in uncertainty as she looked back and forth between Anton and her sister.
