A/N: The first thing you are going to notice about this fic is that I've
taken a lot of liberties with the fates of some of the characters. I did
try really hard to keep everyone in character though.
I like to try new things when I write, and try to broaden my horizons every now and then, so if this fic seems a little different than some of my other ones, it's because I'm 'pushing the envelope' as it were.
While this is primarily a romance, I tried to include a little bit of every genre in this fic - angst, drama, adventure, and wit are other genre's I was sort of targeting on the side. While the story isn't extremely long in terms of chapters, each one is fairly lengthy.
This has already undergone a lot of revisions, and I worked super hard on it! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^_^
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fate and Destiny
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
_____________________
Chapter One - The 'Other'
_____________________
*~*~*~*~*
Blood. There was so much blood.
He held her in his arms as she choked out her last words, trying to ignore the smell and feel of the thick red liquid spilling out of her, soaking her clothing. His ear was less than an inch from her lips, but her words were still barely audible through the gurgles of blood in her throat.
She made her last request, and then she gripped his arm as tightly as a dying woman could, staring at him desperately in the eye.
"Promise."
Tears in his eyes, he nodded, not trusting his voice not to crack into helpless sobs if he were to speak.
"Promise. Say it. Promise me."
"I promise." He uttered, struggling to keep back the tears.
"I know it will be hard. Especially. . . since you're now. . . cursed. . . I'm. . . Sorry. . . But I know. . . You're strong. . ."
Having said this, she let out her last breath and closed her eyes forever.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he buried his head in the dead woman's shoulder, and he let out one anguished sob that echoed into the night.
*~*~*~*~*
Her silver, silk evening gown reached floor, smooth and shimmering. The color of the dress matched perfectly with her hair, which was in a complex assortment of braids that hung loosely down her back. Her light violet eyes were large and bright. To anyone who saw her, she was a vision of beauty and youth.
However, as Chris Lightfellow gazed at this woman in the full-length mirror, she found herself frowning.
She glanced down at her elegantly gloved hand. The rune within it gave her eternal youth, this she had known from the start. But it was unsettling. Unsettling how she looked exactly the same, year after year after year, her appearance never changing. All those around her slowly aged and perished, but she was the same as when she first took the true rune twenty years ago.
A soft knocking on the door interrupted her thoughts.
Chris sighed. She had never really liked going to the annual Zexen Ball, but as Captain of the Zexen Knights, it was expected of her to be at these functions. Although the Zexen council could do nothing if she refused to go, Chris had decided to go for the morale of the Zexen people. She was their hero after all. . .
"Lady Chris?" A male voice called hesitantly from behind the door, apparently curious as to why there was no immediate response to his knocking.
Chris left the mirror and opened to door to receive her friend and comrade.
A knight in his mid-thirties stood before her, his sandy blonde hair slightly askew in contrast to the impressive uniform that knights wore to special occasions. He smiled at her and bowed his head slightly.
"You look wonderful, milady!" The knight commented politely.
Chris smiled warmly. "Thank you so much, Louis. Shall we get going? We don't want to be late now, do we?"
Louis chuckled lightly, not failing to hear the slight sarcasm in her tone. "Don't worry milady, I'll see if I can find some way to excuse ourselves early."
"Nonsense Louis, I don't want you to leave early on my account. I'll make up my own excuses. I don't want you to stand guard over me while I mope about tonight. Go and mingle with your friends at the ball." She stated, smiling at him.
"But milady-"
"No." Chris said, interrupting him. "No buts. Every year you neglect your friends to keep me company while I sit around brooding. I want you to have fun tonight. Stop feeling obligated to watch over me like I can't take care of myself."
"But-"
"That's an order!" She exclaimed, mocking a scornful expression.
Louis chuckled. "If you insist milady."
"I do. Besides, I heard Salome is coming from Brass castle to be here tonight. I will spend the evening catching up with him."
"That's right." Louis replied thoughtfully, "We haven't been up to Brass castle for some time now. . . We've had such a long stretch of peace lately, I fear my skill and sword will get rusty."
"Louis, peace is something to celebrate, not something to worry about."
However, deep down Chris felt like a hypocrite, for she secretly missed the days of action and adventure, and longed to return to a time when life was unpredictable and keeping her on her toes.
Chris let out a deep sigh, and the two left for the ball.
******
"Hello Chris, it's been a while."
Chris, who had been sitting alone at her table at the ball, turned to see Salome smiling down at her.
Salome was now in his fifties, and time was not treating him kindly. His hair was thin and graying, and his face was somewhat creased and wrinkled with age. However, he was as extremely sharp as always, and still served as Zexen's number one battle strategist.
"Good evening, Salome. You are doing well I hope?" Chris said, greeting her old comrade.
The aging man took a seat beside her. "Well enough." He replied with a smile. "Where is Louis? He usually sticks to you like your shadow."
"He's over there." She said, pointing to the knight who was whirling about the dance floor with a pretty, young brunette. "I ordered him to go have fun with the consolation that I'd have you to keep me company tonight."
"I still can't believe that he was once your timid and shy squire."
"I know." Chris agreed. "He was so different as a child. He has certainly grown into one of the finest knights that Zexen has ever seen."
"Indeed he has. I know the others would have been proud of him. . ." Salome trailed off, regretting his words. The other four members of the old 'Mighty Six knights of Zexen', was a sensitive topic to bring up around Chris, and he was unsure of how she'd react.
Chris had become silent, staring solemnly into her wine glass as she was engulfed by a wave of memories.
"I am sorry." Salome said quietly after a moment. "I didn't mean to stir unpleasant memories."
Chris looked up at him, smiling weakly. "Nonsense. They are not some sort of forbidden memory to never be thought about! Yes, thinking about them makes me sad. . . But there are plenty of good memories too! I think it is good to reminisce sometimes. I certainly don't want you to think that I wish to forget about them." There was a moment of silence, and then she continued. "I suppose I just miss the days when we were the Mighty Six."
Salome nodded. "As do I. But I'm afraid things just weren't the same after Sir Borus. . ." He trailed off with a sigh. "He was our greatest swordsman. And then with Sir Leo and Sir Roland so soon after. . . It was as though we just simply couldn't function with one of our counterparts deceased. . .The losses during the war down South were phenomenal. Even after all this time, I still can't believe that three of our finest knights were killed within the span of a few short months. It had been traumatizing for everyone, but especially hard on you, Chris. I'm glad you found solace in Percival. It is fortunate he decided to rejoin the knights after that."
"Ironic," Chris said quietly, "How I always tried to be so independent, saying I could take care of myself. . . But if it wasn't for Percival, I don't think I would have made it through those times."
Salome fell silent for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Percival, after a ten-year marriage to Chris, had met an inexplicable demise only five years ago when he had gone on a mysterious trip up North.
Chris' four closest friends and comrades had all died at a young age; Borus and Roland before the age of thirty, and Leo and Percival had barely been in their forties. However, Chris knew as well as anyone, that a knight must expect a premature death. It was a rare occasion for any knight to reach retirement.
Chris closed her eyes. "I miss them."
"I know."
"I. . . I don't belong here anymore, Salome. I love Zexen dearly, but. . .There is nothing left here for me. To me, my life as Captain of the Zexen Knights ended fifteen years ago, when the Mighty Six fell. And after Percival. . . Ever since I just feel like I've been going around in circles, doing tricks to please the council and the people of Zexen. " Her voice wavered slightly with emotion.
"Chris. . ."
"I just wish there was somewhere for me to go, something more for me to become, something to strive for. As it is. . . I have nothing more to do or be except act as Captain of the Knights, the Hero of Zexen. But does Zexen even need a hero anymore? Sometimes I think I want out of Zexen. Sometimes, I just want to give up on life altogether. I know I could never do that though." She smiled slightly. " 'They' would never forgive me."
"Yes, I think I understand."
But Chris wasn't so sure he did understand. How could he, really? Chris considered Salome to be a good friend, but the older man always did have trouble grasping the reasons behind the angst Chris had endured throughout the years. Now that she thought of it, there were only ever two people she had ever known who had completely understood her. Percival was one, and the other. . .
She pushed the other from her thoughts. She had barely thought of him in twenty years, and she wasn't about to start now.
A few minutes passed in silence as the two sat reminiscing, and soon the cheery music of the waltz began to lift the dreary atmosphere of the conversation they just had.
Finally, Salome stood. "I must take my leave, milady. One of the council members also wanted to meet with me this evening. It was wonderful to see you again."
Chris nodded. "I'm glad you could make it down for tonight. I thought I was going to die of boredom sitting here by myself." Chris joked, attempting to lighten the mood.
Salome smiled. "You'd be less bored with the ball if you did more than sit around waiting for the evening to end."
Chris chuckled. "Like what? Dance? I don't think I need to remind you what happened last time someone made me do the waltz."
Salome chuckled as well. "I think maybe I do need reminding, the last time was so long ago. Oh wait. Yes, I think I do remember. You tripped and fell on a table, knocking over a glass red wine, spilling it all down the front of Lilly Pendragon's dress. Maybe you made the right choice to have become a wallflower, milady. Your dancing leads to utter chaos!"
Chris winced at the memory, but let out a genuine laugh, calling after Salome as he was leaving. "Don't worry, I've vowed never to dance again!"
The moment Salome disappeared into the crowd, she heard a voice behind her.
"May I have this dance, 'milady'?"
Chris froze. That voice! That distinctive, subtly sarcastic voice!
It couldn't be.
She turned around to face the speaker.
It was.
There before her, like a ghost from her past, stood the man she had pushed from her thoughts not five minutes earlier. What was more remarkable was the fact that he wasn't looking a day older than when she'd last seen him twenty years earlier. In fact, he looked even slightly younger than she remembered. . .
". . . Nash?!"
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Hoo hah, let the epic begin! Please don't flame me because I killed off so many of the characters. Believe me, I'm remorseful for having to do so. But I have a reason, especially for Percival's death. I'd like to apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors in this fic, I do read over my chapters several times for editing, but it seems inevitable that a few errors escape my eye, regardless.
Anyway, please read and review, thanks for reading, the next chapter will be up soon! ^_^
Next Chapter: 'Favor'
I like to try new things when I write, and try to broaden my horizons every now and then, so if this fic seems a little different than some of my other ones, it's because I'm 'pushing the envelope' as it were.
While this is primarily a romance, I tried to include a little bit of every genre in this fic - angst, drama, adventure, and wit are other genre's I was sort of targeting on the side. While the story isn't extremely long in terms of chapters, each one is fairly lengthy.
This has already undergone a lot of revisions, and I worked super hard on it! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^_^
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Fate and Destiny
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
_____________________
Chapter One - The 'Other'
_____________________
*~*~*~*~*
Blood. There was so much blood.
He held her in his arms as she choked out her last words, trying to ignore the smell and feel of the thick red liquid spilling out of her, soaking her clothing. His ear was less than an inch from her lips, but her words were still barely audible through the gurgles of blood in her throat.
She made her last request, and then she gripped his arm as tightly as a dying woman could, staring at him desperately in the eye.
"Promise."
Tears in his eyes, he nodded, not trusting his voice not to crack into helpless sobs if he were to speak.
"Promise. Say it. Promise me."
"I promise." He uttered, struggling to keep back the tears.
"I know it will be hard. Especially. . . since you're now. . . cursed. . . I'm. . . Sorry. . . But I know. . . You're strong. . ."
Having said this, she let out her last breath and closed her eyes forever.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he buried his head in the dead woman's shoulder, and he let out one anguished sob that echoed into the night.
*~*~*~*~*
Her silver, silk evening gown reached floor, smooth and shimmering. The color of the dress matched perfectly with her hair, which was in a complex assortment of braids that hung loosely down her back. Her light violet eyes were large and bright. To anyone who saw her, she was a vision of beauty and youth.
However, as Chris Lightfellow gazed at this woman in the full-length mirror, she found herself frowning.
She glanced down at her elegantly gloved hand. The rune within it gave her eternal youth, this she had known from the start. But it was unsettling. Unsettling how she looked exactly the same, year after year after year, her appearance never changing. All those around her slowly aged and perished, but she was the same as when she first took the true rune twenty years ago.
A soft knocking on the door interrupted her thoughts.
Chris sighed. She had never really liked going to the annual Zexen Ball, but as Captain of the Zexen Knights, it was expected of her to be at these functions. Although the Zexen council could do nothing if she refused to go, Chris had decided to go for the morale of the Zexen people. She was their hero after all. . .
"Lady Chris?" A male voice called hesitantly from behind the door, apparently curious as to why there was no immediate response to his knocking.
Chris left the mirror and opened to door to receive her friend and comrade.
A knight in his mid-thirties stood before her, his sandy blonde hair slightly askew in contrast to the impressive uniform that knights wore to special occasions. He smiled at her and bowed his head slightly.
"You look wonderful, milady!" The knight commented politely.
Chris smiled warmly. "Thank you so much, Louis. Shall we get going? We don't want to be late now, do we?"
Louis chuckled lightly, not failing to hear the slight sarcasm in her tone. "Don't worry milady, I'll see if I can find some way to excuse ourselves early."
"Nonsense Louis, I don't want you to leave early on my account. I'll make up my own excuses. I don't want you to stand guard over me while I mope about tonight. Go and mingle with your friends at the ball." She stated, smiling at him.
"But milady-"
"No." Chris said, interrupting him. "No buts. Every year you neglect your friends to keep me company while I sit around brooding. I want you to have fun tonight. Stop feeling obligated to watch over me like I can't take care of myself."
"But-"
"That's an order!" She exclaimed, mocking a scornful expression.
Louis chuckled. "If you insist milady."
"I do. Besides, I heard Salome is coming from Brass castle to be here tonight. I will spend the evening catching up with him."
"That's right." Louis replied thoughtfully, "We haven't been up to Brass castle for some time now. . . We've had such a long stretch of peace lately, I fear my skill and sword will get rusty."
"Louis, peace is something to celebrate, not something to worry about."
However, deep down Chris felt like a hypocrite, for she secretly missed the days of action and adventure, and longed to return to a time when life was unpredictable and keeping her on her toes.
Chris let out a deep sigh, and the two left for the ball.
******
"Hello Chris, it's been a while."
Chris, who had been sitting alone at her table at the ball, turned to see Salome smiling down at her.
Salome was now in his fifties, and time was not treating him kindly. His hair was thin and graying, and his face was somewhat creased and wrinkled with age. However, he was as extremely sharp as always, and still served as Zexen's number one battle strategist.
"Good evening, Salome. You are doing well I hope?" Chris said, greeting her old comrade.
The aging man took a seat beside her. "Well enough." He replied with a smile. "Where is Louis? He usually sticks to you like your shadow."
"He's over there." She said, pointing to the knight who was whirling about the dance floor with a pretty, young brunette. "I ordered him to go have fun with the consolation that I'd have you to keep me company tonight."
"I still can't believe that he was once your timid and shy squire."
"I know." Chris agreed. "He was so different as a child. He has certainly grown into one of the finest knights that Zexen has ever seen."
"Indeed he has. I know the others would have been proud of him. . ." Salome trailed off, regretting his words. The other four members of the old 'Mighty Six knights of Zexen', was a sensitive topic to bring up around Chris, and he was unsure of how she'd react.
Chris had become silent, staring solemnly into her wine glass as she was engulfed by a wave of memories.
"I am sorry." Salome said quietly after a moment. "I didn't mean to stir unpleasant memories."
Chris looked up at him, smiling weakly. "Nonsense. They are not some sort of forbidden memory to never be thought about! Yes, thinking about them makes me sad. . . But there are plenty of good memories too! I think it is good to reminisce sometimes. I certainly don't want you to think that I wish to forget about them." There was a moment of silence, and then she continued. "I suppose I just miss the days when we were the Mighty Six."
Salome nodded. "As do I. But I'm afraid things just weren't the same after Sir Borus. . ." He trailed off with a sigh. "He was our greatest swordsman. And then with Sir Leo and Sir Roland so soon after. . . It was as though we just simply couldn't function with one of our counterparts deceased. . .The losses during the war down South were phenomenal. Even after all this time, I still can't believe that three of our finest knights were killed within the span of a few short months. It had been traumatizing for everyone, but especially hard on you, Chris. I'm glad you found solace in Percival. It is fortunate he decided to rejoin the knights after that."
"Ironic," Chris said quietly, "How I always tried to be so independent, saying I could take care of myself. . . But if it wasn't for Percival, I don't think I would have made it through those times."
Salome fell silent for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Percival, after a ten-year marriage to Chris, had met an inexplicable demise only five years ago when he had gone on a mysterious trip up North.
Chris' four closest friends and comrades had all died at a young age; Borus and Roland before the age of thirty, and Leo and Percival had barely been in their forties. However, Chris knew as well as anyone, that a knight must expect a premature death. It was a rare occasion for any knight to reach retirement.
Chris closed her eyes. "I miss them."
"I know."
"I. . . I don't belong here anymore, Salome. I love Zexen dearly, but. . .There is nothing left here for me. To me, my life as Captain of the Zexen Knights ended fifteen years ago, when the Mighty Six fell. And after Percival. . . Ever since I just feel like I've been going around in circles, doing tricks to please the council and the people of Zexen. " Her voice wavered slightly with emotion.
"Chris. . ."
"I just wish there was somewhere for me to go, something more for me to become, something to strive for. As it is. . . I have nothing more to do or be except act as Captain of the Knights, the Hero of Zexen. But does Zexen even need a hero anymore? Sometimes I think I want out of Zexen. Sometimes, I just want to give up on life altogether. I know I could never do that though." She smiled slightly. " 'They' would never forgive me."
"Yes, I think I understand."
But Chris wasn't so sure he did understand. How could he, really? Chris considered Salome to be a good friend, but the older man always did have trouble grasping the reasons behind the angst Chris had endured throughout the years. Now that she thought of it, there were only ever two people she had ever known who had completely understood her. Percival was one, and the other. . .
She pushed the other from her thoughts. She had barely thought of him in twenty years, and she wasn't about to start now.
A few minutes passed in silence as the two sat reminiscing, and soon the cheery music of the waltz began to lift the dreary atmosphere of the conversation they just had.
Finally, Salome stood. "I must take my leave, milady. One of the council members also wanted to meet with me this evening. It was wonderful to see you again."
Chris nodded. "I'm glad you could make it down for tonight. I thought I was going to die of boredom sitting here by myself." Chris joked, attempting to lighten the mood.
Salome smiled. "You'd be less bored with the ball if you did more than sit around waiting for the evening to end."
Chris chuckled. "Like what? Dance? I don't think I need to remind you what happened last time someone made me do the waltz."
Salome chuckled as well. "I think maybe I do need reminding, the last time was so long ago. Oh wait. Yes, I think I do remember. You tripped and fell on a table, knocking over a glass red wine, spilling it all down the front of Lilly Pendragon's dress. Maybe you made the right choice to have become a wallflower, milady. Your dancing leads to utter chaos!"
Chris winced at the memory, but let out a genuine laugh, calling after Salome as he was leaving. "Don't worry, I've vowed never to dance again!"
The moment Salome disappeared into the crowd, she heard a voice behind her.
"May I have this dance, 'milady'?"
Chris froze. That voice! That distinctive, subtly sarcastic voice!
It couldn't be.
She turned around to face the speaker.
It was.
There before her, like a ghost from her past, stood the man she had pushed from her thoughts not five minutes earlier. What was more remarkable was the fact that he wasn't looking a day older than when she'd last seen him twenty years earlier. In fact, he looked even slightly younger than she remembered. . .
". . . Nash?!"
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Hoo hah, let the epic begin! Please don't flame me because I killed off so many of the characters. Believe me, I'm remorseful for having to do so. But I have a reason, especially for Percival's death. I'd like to apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors in this fic, I do read over my chapters several times for editing, but it seems inevitable that a few errors escape my eye, regardless.
Anyway, please read and review, thanks for reading, the next chapter will be up soon! ^_^
Next Chapter: 'Favor'