(West Wing - Second floor)

There was a stillness in his surroundings, one that was mixed and heightened by the silence of the staircase he was perched on. Despite the chaos that was happening within the prison building, sounds failed to reach Sheldon's spot, or pry his eyes away from the letters in his hand.

He spent years and years trying to understand the events of that night. He needed answers but no one explained. Maybe, because no one had an explanation, to begin with.

His mother, many a night he had seen her crying. He even heard her complain to God about why her life was laden with so much suffering. He heard her question; doesn't she deserve to be loved? If only he could tell his mother now, that not only was she loved, she was given a man who saw her for everything that she was. A man who chose to Languish to see her live. A man who appeared to have loved her until his final breath.

Sheldon's tears ran wild again. He wiped them with the sleeve of his uniform, but instead of getting them dry, the act elicited another river of tears. The memory of that man and him, once again, flooded his head.

Why didn't he say anything back then? Why did he choose to remain as a shadow? If he loved Maria so much, why did he choose to go to prison and not whisk her away when the incident happened?

Sheldon, with his shaking hand, took one letter from the pile, laid the rest beside him, and began to read.
***

Dear Maria,

How are you? Are you still happy? Were you ever happy? I worry about you all the time. Sometimes I lay on my bed and imagine what life would have been like if back then, I dared to take you away.

I love you so much Maria, I can't stop crying and thinking about you. You're all I ever think about. Maria, please, I'm begging you. Please be happy, please be safe.
***

Sheldon once again failed to keep it inside, he stopped reading and allowed the waters from his eyes to drop on the letter. "Lucious Dualti," he murmured, as his entire body shook from the raging emotions that crippled him from within. "What did you say?" a voice suddenly said from behind him. Sheldon was startled by the sound, he immediately stood from where he was seated, and as he did so, he slipped and rolled down the stairs.

The man who spoke slowly descended the steps and stood over him.

The fall did not give Sheldon too much damage, other than the pain in his left shoulder, everything else felt fine. He gazed up at the man looking down at him and immediately recognized him as Oscar. An old prisoner.

Sheldon was told earlier by Demitri and Farlow that the old prisoner partnered with Rudolf. The two criminals were the catalyst of the chaos reigning inside San Fernando Correctional.

"What name did you call out just now?" the prisoner asked him. Sheldon was uncertain, but was the old man looking at him with bewilderment?

"Can you repeat what you said earlier?" Oscar asked again.

Sheldon heard the irritation in the old prisoner's voice, but still, he failed to give a prompt reply.

The two of them stayed that way for a full minute, Sheldon sprawled on the bottom of the stairs, while Oscar stood on the first flight of the steps, looking down at him with eyes filled with confusion.

"Lucious Dualti," Sheldon finally answered.

"How do you know of him?" Oscar asked, but after realizing the irony in what he said, he rephrased his words. Because naturally, the guard would know who the man was. Lucious was, after all, a prisoner in San Fernando Correctional.

Once he managed to sort out his words, he finally questioned, "Why did you call out his name?"

Sheldon only felt confusion in his head. First, the man and his mother, now, a prisoner who seemed bothered by the name Lucious Dualti."

Oscar kept his eyes on the guard. An hour ago, he and Rudolf had an argument which led him to leave the man's side. Rudolf wasn't bothered nor asked his men to do anything to him. Believing that the old man was incapable of wreaking havoc on his plans, he allowed Oscar to walk away without so much as a glance. Oscar was planning to find a suitable place to hide until the prison is released from its metal confinement, and that's when he heard the guard uttering a name he knew too well, and too important to be ignored.

"The letters!" Sheldon screamed, when he saw the pile he laid beside him earlier, scattered all over the steps of the stairs. He immediately pulled himself up from the floor, went past Oscar, even bumped into the man during his ascent, and hysterically picked up the letters one after the other.

Oscar watched in amazement, an adult man acting like a child was not something he saw every day. His already confused state turned into astonishment when the man sat back on the steps and began to cry.

Now, Oscar was a cold man and as far as he knew, he was not someone that will offer help or support randomly, especially to a guard, but he couldn't help thinking, that there was something wrong with this particular guard. Why did he even utter Dualti's name?

Lucious Dualti, that old man used to live by a different name. Oscar never found out how he managed to get a new face... yeah, the face. He took a deep breath and began to reminisce on the day he found out who Lucious Dualti truly was.

It was the second week of his incarceration, he saw a man who reminded him of a classmate back in grade school. The mannerisms, the check-shaped scar on his left elbow and even the man's gait were far too familiar, but Oscar never dared to talk to that man.

Because other than the things he noticed that reminded him of the silent boy in his class, there was nothing more that he could use to connect that prisoner to his friend. The man also bore a different face. It has been years since he saw his classmate, but his face gets old, it does not change completely. That's why, he abandoned the idea of approaching the man, convincing himself that he was mistaken.

Oscar kept his eyes on him though, for two whole years, until one day, the man walked up to him and asked, "Are you Oscar from San Ignacio Elementary?"

Oscar's eyes widened with disbelief when he heard the question, so he asked, "are you..." but he was not given a chance to finish his words, because the man covered his mouth and said, "My name is Lucious now, but yes, that was me."

Did Oscar believe him? No, not in the onset, but as the weeks went by, he noticed how the man's actions embodied his former classmate, and what cemented the story was the necklace the man wore. A weird-looking necklace made of an animal's finger bone.

When he asked if he could look at the necklace, it proved everything. The initials BT was carved on the side of the pendant. Only his classmate had a necklace with an animal's finger bone with the initials B.T on it.

But what truly hit the nail in the coffin was the name Maria Ventura. Oscar was aware of the love which that classmate of him felt for the butterfly Princess, and when his co-prisoner spoke of the things he knew about Maria, it obliterated any doubt Oscar had about the man.

Oscar and his friend became a team inside the prison. His friend told him everything he had done for Maria and the reason why he ended up as a convicted man. Oscar's heart broke for that friend of his, if only BT did things differently, then maybe, things would have turned out for the better.

Everything was going well for the both of them, despite being prisoners, they lived a good life inside the prison building, but something unusual happened to his friend. BT started to hang out with the Blood Brothers. Oscar never understood why, but his friend abandoned him and they started talking less and less until they completely ceased to acknowledge each other.

When his friend was chosen to be relocated to San Fernando Correctional, he didn't even bid Oscar goodbye.

It would be years before Oscar got transferred too, and that was after Marreta's prison burned to the ground. But upon his admittance to San Fernando Correctional, his friend had turned into a zombie. A walking breathing corpse who spent his days inside the library, not even bothering to speak with anyone. Oscar never tried to approach him again, and as the years passed by, his friend became a shadow inside the prison walls, an existence barely known by anyone.

Before walking up the stairs, Oscar slowly pulled out the necklace he have hidden beneath his shirt, an item, that proved his friendship with BT

"What do you want from me?" Sheldon asked the man, as he watched him come closer to where he was seated.

"You called Lucious earlier, tell me, what was your relationship with him? Why would a guard bother crying while calling out his name?" Oscar questioned. He was aware that his friend died a day ago, but did the guard see Lucious as someone important? Important enough for him to cry over his death?

"He meant a lot to me and my mother," Sheldon replied.

"Mother?" Oscar questioned with a frown on his forehead.

Sheldon looked up at the man and answered. "He loved my mother so much."

Oscar, confused as he was, continued to probe, and asked, "Who is your mother?"

"Maria Ventura."

Oscar almost fell off the stair-step he was standing on upon hearing the name. Did he just say Maria Ventura? Oscar thought to himself.

He stared at the man seated on the stair steps, he looked too old to be Maria's son, but then again, Maria got married at an early age. He can still remember the story BT told him.

Oscar sat beside the guard and glanced at the letters in his hand.

"What are those?" the convict asked.

"Letters from 247 to my mom," Sheldon answered. Oscar's eyes widened. Yes, he does remember his friend writing letters, but he never thought it was meant for Maria.

"Can I see them?" Oscar asked, wondering why he felt like he was talking to a child. But there was something about the man that's just ain't right.

Sheldon gave him the letter he was reading before the convict could ask anything more.
***

(Letter continuation)

Maria, when I got to San Ignacio. I learned that you and your husband moved to a place called Marreta. It took me a month and a lot of thinking before I decided to relocate there.

When I laid eyes on you again. My heart felt like it found its home. It began to beat normally. The pain inside my chest seemed to have magically disappeared. My body felt alive and full of vigor.

I was so happy to see you.

But Maria, why was your husband acting indifferent towards you? Why was he so cold to you? Why did I keep seeing him with another woman? Why were you crying on the side of the streets? Why were you looking so pale? Why were you sad Maria?

Why were you crying every day?

What was wrong Maria? Weren't you supposed to be living a happy life? Weren't you supposed to be smiling all the time?

Maria, whatever peace and happiness I felt after I was reunited with you, all fell apart when I saw those tears.

Acid tears that turned my blood cold.

Painful tears, which made my hands shake.

Agonizing tears that made me purchase a gun!

Maria, my Maria. I didn't have the heart to allow that to go on. I knew I must do something. And that something...

Hi Maria, Merry Christmas. I'm sorry for the letter, I will continue with it soon.

Love Forever

Your Silent Knight