Promise Me Forever
Chapter 1: Regret
LLL
Mel: I'm back already with my second fanfic! This one has nothing to do with my first one, and is serious. The comedy one was only for kicks and giggles, in a lame attempt to get me in the right mind. The mind set of: I don't care what you say, I'm going to write!
Loki: Actually, Mel just wanted to kill things without being yelled at.
Mel: Well…that too…I'm trying a first person perspective. Just to have a change. This one is going to be a Romance type fanfiction. Anyway, please read and review!
LLL
"Forget it! I can never pronounce that!" I protested, folding my arms over my chest. I had just recently joined Tantalus, after telling my adopted family to 'Go to hell'. My real family died in the attack on Lindblum. It was a sad day, I suppose, but I really didn't feel anything for them.
Tantalus wanted me to be in some sort of play, or something. "I Want to be Your Canary," Or something dumb to that effect. I was tall for my age, which was about thirteen, and looked closer to sixteen in all ways but my attitude.
People thought 16-year-olds had attitude problems. I was much worse.
We were arguing over a line in the play I couldn't pronounce. I wanted to change it to something easier. Baku wanted it to stay the same, finding it the only one that fit the rhythm of the whole damned thing. Blank really didn't care one way or the other, having his own issues to work out with Ruby. Cinna and Marcus were too afraid to fight with Baku, so they just agreed with him. Those cowardly pigs!
"We're gonna keep that line, and that's that!" Baku bellowed, storming off and throwing his version of the script into the air.
"God darn it!" I growled when he had left. I was forced into the part of the cheesy damsel in distress. Lucky me, right? Heck no!
Well, I was away from my adoptive parents. That was good. They were rotten as parents, and even worse as people. They acted as people around me, not parents. They beat me, or at least tried to. They feared me, since I had skill in magic, and not white magic either. They hated me, because I had taken up so much of their 'time, money, and space.' In reality, they didn't work, paid for things by begging on the streets, and sat around their cramped house drinking beer.
That was my life, and all in all, it sucked. Being a thief, traveling the world, and laughing at nobles, was so much better!
I'll never forget how I got into Tantalus, of course! It started out with me running from my adoptive parents, as you can imagine. I slammed the door to their little wooden shack in…I'm still not sure where they lived. They just lived somewhere, not noticeable on any map.
I ran for what seemed like months. Only a single night had passed. Tears had streamed down my eyes so incredibly fast that day. They were nothing but people to cause me pain. I didn't want to feel it anymore. I rain until it all went numb. Until it was no longer there, but miles away. It was night, and rain streaked down continually. Heavy buckets full, separated into heavy drops. Each pinprick of water falling to my skin made me numb. It's what I wanted.
I thought I would die. I didn't stop to eat, or to rest. My shoes clamored down cobbled roads that connected people's houses together. I'm sure I was screaming in the pain I had felt over such a short time. I'm sure I woke many people. I wouldn't have blamed them if they had killed me on the spot as I disturbed their towns. They never did, and I continued to run.
I don't know when I finally stopped, drenched from head to toe in my own tears and rain water. I thought I had stopped in the middle of nowhere. I thought I would die for sure, before a single airship passed over the spot. I was unconscious, finally relieved from the pain so far away. I wasn't, I know that now. I'll always feel it. But for then, there was nothing but sweet dreams and a warm sun to dry me as I died.
I awoke later, much to my surprised. I never expected to wake up. I had run all nigh, not stopping even once. I had pushed myself beyond human limits. I stopped in a deserted plain, with no one to help me. Yet, here I was, staring up at a wooden roof, wrapped in a warm cotton blanket.
My first thought was that my adoptive parents had gotten to me, and would beat me in my weak state. A blurred figure leaned over me. I couldn't see it, and closed my eyes shut, as tight as I could, preparing for a blow. That isn't what happened.
"I'm not going to hurt you! I've never hurt anyone, I swear!" An unfamiliar voice said to me. It was gentle, and seemed nearly as frightened as I was. "Are…you okay?" It asked me.
I opened my eyes to stare at the person, not used to light, or seeing for that matter. "I don't know…I can't feel anything…" I know I said it, but the voice I heard was so…timid. I was always confident, loud, bossy. This voice I heard was quiet and scared…submissive.
"I'm glad…" my sight was coming back to me. The image before me cleared. I don't think I had ever been so frightened.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I shouted, sitting up and pushing myself as far away from what I say as I could. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU DEMONIC PUPPET!" I had screamed to the poor child. Tears streamed down my eyes in pure fear.
"I've never hurt anything…" The small black mage whispered, pulling away from me.
"Liar!" I whispered, unable to say anything more, or louder.
"Now, that's no way to treat the boy who saved you!" A new voice said jokingly. It let out a loud, robust laugh. I turned to see the man who spoke. It was a huge man, more of a giant than a human. He was pudgy, tall, and wore the funniest hat I had ever seen. He was dressed like a thief, with an odd colored beard. He was surrounded by three other men. One had red hair, his eyes wrapped in metal. Another was short and squat with a scruffy beard. The last was taller than the second with a load of brown hair, pulled back and tied into a ponytail.
They were the biggest bunch of psychotic losers it will ever be my pleasure to meet.
I never said anything to them, and I kind of regret that I didn't. I had a million things to ask, that would have been answered right then and there. Questions that I might never get to ask them.
"I'm Baku, leader of the infamous Tantalus! Our friend found you in a field, more than half dead! He brought you here, and we've been taken' care of you, haven't we boys?" There was a round of affirmatives. "So, missy, since we've been keepin' you alive for the past month, mind tellin' us your name?"
"I'm Loki. Now get this rotten little demon away from me before I kill it!" I could only feel a fiery rage build through me. I was half convinced my normally green eyes took the color of fire. That was something I will forever regret. I wish…with all of my cold and heartless being…that I had never called the small black mage what I did. It's the only thing I will forever regret. The only thing I regret completely. Nothing else would ever compare to this…
LLL
Mel: I actually like this a lot more than my comedy fanfic. I love writing emotions. I may not be good at it, but my dear god it's fun!
Loki: Why'd you make me so mean to poor Vivi?
Mel: It's part of the story. Get over it.