Carts bustle and buckle on the crude stone roads. It is worth the trek, however, to reach the oasis kingdom of Radiant Garden, so called for its beauty and vitality in the dry, arid desert. The only source of water known in the area for miles and miles, its wealth stemmed from its waters and its great caves, known for holding prized jewels in every wall. The hot air doesn't bother the kingdom, cooled by its endless seams of rivers. The beauty of water seen by none everywhere else has made it the center of the world. Arts dedicated to its beauty sit in each household. Each form of architecture is beautifully built thanks to the genius of the people and the endless wealth of the town. The days are long, granting easy light to workers and players alike. Flowers of every shade and hue decorate the town, best around the plaza. Stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables, juicy and tasty, line the plaza, their products harvested from the new farms built nary a decade ago but already in swift and fruitful production. The first city to build underground aqueducts, the soils close-by nourished enough to sustain life. Radiant Garden is truly a pinnacle amongst pinnacles.
It is here that another thing is of great value: alchemists. Frowned upon by religious leaders and seen as heretics and bringers of Chaos, alchemists believe in science and the spiritual coming together as one. While they must research from the shadows in many areas, Radiant Garden is the one place they are free to do their work. It is on one day that a carriage transporting alchemists was on its way, its passengers hoping for a fresh start after being ran out of their previous abode so far back.
"We're almost there," the man whispered to the girl. "Soon, we shall arrive, and all will be perfect. We can smile again, and we can laugh. They won't judge us here."
The man's kindred amber eyes settled on the girl next to him. Easy to be mistaken for father and daughter by apparent age differences, he looked upon her with much love and care. Her eyes were concealed by thick, black hair. She was hidden under a thin, tan and red cloak, the brown hood pulled over her head. The man wore the exact same cloak as she. He had his arm around her comfortingly, as though trying to reassure her through a time of stress. His long, straight blonde hair was quite fair. A goatee of the some benevolent tint circled his thin lips.
"Driver! Once the roads even out, speed up the Veil Lizard!" the fair-haired man ordered.
"You got it!" the driver shouted back, his wild, dirty-blonde hair hardly moving with the rocking motion of the carriage. His nimble hands whipped the reins connecting to the dark green creature.
Inside, the man went back to consoling the young girl. He had dreamed of peace and solace for so long, but his work never permitted such delicacies to stay long. Maybe now he would have his dream…
Inside the city, onlookers gasped out of fright. A creature! A creature that wasn't human! Such an atrocity was truly a sight. Its bulging eyes and quirky movements frightened many, but at the same time intrigued others. It cared not for all the attention it was getting, so it carried on a quick and steady pace.
The driver surveyed the map he was given, trying to make heads or tails of the paper before him. "Hey, uh…" he said to those inside, "where am I goin' with this?"
"To the galley! We need to get there in time," the man inside replied impatiently. He often wondered what had compelled him to take on such a foolish child as a servant.
"Right, right…to the galley!" the driver repeated, his green eyes grazing over the illegible scrawl on the paper doubtfully. With another whip to the lizard, he decided to just wing it.
It wasn't before long that the carriage suddenly stopped.
"…What's this? We're only a few blocks from the galley! You could at least—!" The man was cut short by the scene in front of him.
Upon hopping out of the carriage, he found his driver bound by guards. They were surrounding the lizard, which was on full-alert. It would be no use, however, how many they had in number.
"It's gone!" they yelled, when the Veil Lizard unleashed its special ability and turned invisible.
The fair-haired man smirked. Those soldiers had no imagination—they would be unable to tell the Veil Lizard was simply hidden, not gone. Just as he had surmised, the soldiers ran off to find the lizard, ignoring the fact the harness was still up in the air.
"You, there! Stay still!" a soldier ordered him.
Not one to trifle with the authority, the man simply shrugged and held his hands in the air. They took away the struggling driver, who was flailing about, kicking his long, thin legs into the air. As they took him away, two soldiers encircled the man. One went to the carriage, but it suddenly took off.
"H-hey!" he shouted, losing his balance by the sudden take-off.
The blonde man held pride and confidence in the Veil Lizard. Go… Take her far away from here, he mentally instructed the lizard.
As long as they didn't find her, she could be safe.
x~X*X~x
The soldiers marched the man through the two-story, covered bridge used to transport prisoners out of public view. The brick walls and uncovered windows letting in little light gave off a claustrophobic feel. While the entire kingdom had stone floors, not a single patch of dust or dirt left uncovered, inside the bridge, the ground was dusty and filth-ridden. No flowers or grasses here; only dust and debris could decorate the earth. The bridge encircled the kingdom, and the side of the walls facing the outside of the kingdom let in the arid, dry, grainy air of the desert. This made the inside of the bridge truly unbearable at high-noon, which had passed only a few moments ago.
The fair-haired man eyed the others carefully. While guards were watching everyone they transported cautiously, pickpockets and marauders wandered everywhere. You had every right to tackle someone that brushed your shoulder. You could die if you were careless for even a second.
He was pushed in the back by an impatient guard.
"Hmph," the man scoffed, discarding the guard as simply bored.
Their feet kicked up the loose soil, the entry to the dungeons up ahead. A great, bolted wooden door hung tenaciously above. It was surprising its immense weight was held up, sustained in the air just high enough for the first floor to traverse to and fro. The closer they approached the dungeons, the stronger the odor of depression and disease became. The man wrinkled his nose at the smell. He had encountered foul stenches in his line of work, but none could hold a candle to the reek of a most miserable dungeon.
Inside, the stone walls were splotched with gunk and mold and slimes of all types. There was little light, if any. The prisoners littering the cells didn't scream for freedom or argue with anyone; they were lying or sitting down, thin as rails, all former egos and strengths already wasted from their bodies. Where there is great prosperity, there is great poverty, and the dungeons were just that. The man eyed the people with anxiety and concern. Would he be thrown in here? For simply having a creature that was not human? He wouldn't be surprised. No matter how open-minded a person was, there would always be something just a little too out of his or her worldview.
He was both relieved and unnerved when his holders led him out of the dungeons and into the outside of the city. In front of him was just the barren desert. It pained him to see that which he had just escaped.
"To the right!" a guard ordered him.
He followed the order with no argument. To the right, he saw a truly grand view:
A great, majestic castle fitting for such a wondrous kingdom stood, towering as a symbol of royalty over the barren wastelands before it. There was a paved road between two rivers entering the basement of the castle. Great wagons full of products and people, large and small, elegant and plain, entered the castle with no fear. It had thin, circular towers with pale-blue roofs, its walls made from Persian orange stones. The windows were all either stained glass or a slight tint of sapphire. Its eloquence intimidated the man, who had not seen such wealth in such a long time.
He was granted the privilege to enter the caste. He cowered only slightly from the emanating power. Should he truly tread upon such an opulent domain? The farther he went, the more guards there seemed to be, and the more majestic powers he found himself encountering. Arts of all cultures, all forms, all undoubtedly priceless, decorated the vicinities as though mere trinkets. An exciting *clack!* echoed from the bottom of their shoes as they stepped on the clean, polished tiles. Each tile was an indecipherable shape, cut and wedged into each other perfectly. There wasn't a single speck of neither dirt nor dust. The light let in by the huge windows was always the same color of white, no matter what color the glass was stained. As such, all was brightly lit, revealing each adequate detail of the locale.
The man was forced upstairs to the second floor. The staircase in front of him was only a set of twenty or so stairs. It led up to a set of glass doors, which concealed what lay beyond them due to their dark coloring of ruby and sangria. The staircase split into twin staircases leading up to the third floor, but that was for another time. He was stopped in front of the large doors.
Guards lined up in front of the door. It took five on each door to open them. Inside was a lair fit for a god. It looked like a combination of the Wardrobe and the Great Chamber. Cloths of silk and satin and mohair and cashmere and angora and so many other marvelous materials were strewn about, their worth totally forgotten. The drapes were thick and heavy over many of the windows. The room was warmly colored, the walls a warm color of light sinopia with columns of pastel cream. The tiles were a pale periwinkle, the ceiling a mural of a sunrise, the sky a fresh blue and apricot clouds. All in all, it was quite inviting, and left little to fear. The edges of the room were messy with strewn cloth all about, but at the end, there was a grand seating of a huge throne. The seat shone in many colors at times, appearing to be made of a rainbow material. Otherwise, when the light didn't blind one with a flurry of colors, it was a rich gold. Its inlaid, plush cushions were Tuscan red and looked soft to the touch. Behind the throne was a wall of naught but a straight, carmine curtain. The back of the room had no corners, just a slanted wall as a vertex where needed. Each slanted wall was hidden by the edges of the carmine curtain, but the man could see that beyond the slanted walls were passageways. He assumed they led to the lord's bedchamber.
Sitting in the great throne in the middle was a man of intimidating stature. He was hunched over in his throne, most likely a position due to boredom, which was apparent on his face. He had tanned skin and broad shoulders. He had shoulder-length, jet-black hair that appeared slicked-back, and his eyes narrowed upon the entrance of the small group of guards. He wore shimmering black and coquelicot, velvet tunic, a Mikado yellow robe shrouding his form. This man was undoubtedly the lord of the castle and the ruler of Radiant Garden.
"Great—what now?" he complained. His voice wasn't exactly…average, for such royalty. It sounded like someone who was bored and utterly done with his job. While the man couldn't blame him for having such feelings, royalty were usually trained to show prim and perfect manners no matter when or where. The fair-haired man actually had felt slightly appalled by the act yet commended the man on not acting like something he wasn't. He wondered if this ruler was one to fear or not, though…
"An alchemist, my lord, in possession of an unknown being," a guard explained.
"'Unknown being'? Feh! And where is this 'being'?" the ruler scoffed.
The guard shifted uncomfortably. The alchemist smirked. They wouldn't be able to find it, now that it had turned invisible. As long as it kept her safe…
"My lord! We have the being in our possession!" another guard interrupted, bursting in.
The alchemist was mortified. Had they really? Sure, the Veil Lizard wasn't exactly…small, but there was no way—
"Oh, really? Take it to the coliseum, I'll see it there later," the ruler waved him off.
Please don't have her, please don't have her… the alchemist mentally pleaded.
"A-and…we have a young woman in our possession, as well," the guard added.
"No!" the alchemist shouted, struggling against the guards. Even if he had gotten free, he wouldn't have been able to get very far. The paternal instinct within him, however, had forced him to fight against the unbeatable odds. He had to save her; he had to rescue her before—
"Bring 'er in. Seems like the old coot's a li'l whacked about her," the ruler spoke in too casual a manner for one such as he.
The alchemist looked to the ruler in worry. What would happen to his daughter? What would happen to—?
The guard waved to others outside the room. They brought in a person shrouded in the tan and red cloak. The ruler looked on in minor amusement, mostly towards how the alchemist would react.
"Take off 'er hood, come on!" the ruler ordered with a wave of his hand, growing impatient.
The soldier holding her by the arm hastily pulled down her hood. The alchemist looked away out of shame at himself for not protecting her, for not being there long enough for her, for not being strong enough to save her. It was too late. He could do no more. He regretted granting her life, granting her a life that he could so easily foretell what would happen to her. He could only wish they somehow wouldn't be attracted by her wiles.
Long, wavy, black tresses flowed out from the hood, falling with a slight bounce, the ends of the thick, glossy strands straying to her waist. A sheen of midnight befell her hair. Her champagne skin had not a blemish nor scar, a gorgeous contrast to the pitch of her hair. Her thin lips stuck out upon her pale skin, slightly darker as the color of peach-orange.
The ruler—and everyone else—was truly captivated by her presence. Her hair seemed to have the perfect volume and perfect wave like a goddess's would.
She raised her head to look up at the ruler. Her eyes caught him off-guard. Ice-blue with thick, black lashes, they peered up at him with the sweet, innocent guilelessness of a promising deer.
The alchemist had to admit one thing: she was indeed a temptress of the highest caliber. Her naïveté and innocent demeanor matched perfectly with her strong, striking persona to create a truly venomous and heartbreaking temptress. He just thanked whatever Gods he could that he had her shrouded in such crude garb.
The ruler eyed her approvingly, his brown eyes then keeping strong eye-contact with hers. He then looked to the alchemist, who still hung his head away.
"Alchemist—what is your name?" the ruler directed, his tone not at all holding the boredom it had before.
"...Ansem, sir…" he muttered, adding the latter part as a sort of attempt at recognition.
"Ansem, you really brought a wonder to Radiant Garden. Now I'm interested in seeing this 'unknown being' that they've been bickering about," the ruler praised.
"…Thank you…sir," Ansem again said, his words almost a sob.
"Heey, cheer up! What, you sad we saw your li'l girl?" the ruler jeered, standing up from his seat. His strong build and stature was truly shown as he stood straight up from his previously-hunched posture.
Ansem stayed silent this time, trying his best to keep the tears that threatened to fall in his eyes.
"Y'can call me 'Braig', by the way," the ruler mentioned, approaching the girl with lax steps. When he stood before her, he towered over her. "And what is your name?" he asked her arrogantly, bending down slightly to meet her height.
She only stared at him, her slightly-glossy lips not uttering a word. He raised an eyebrow at her silence.
"Hey, Ansem!" he spoke up. "What's 'er name?"
"...R…Rita, sir…" Ansem uttered.
"Riiita," Braig cooed, a devious grin playing on his face as he straightened up his posture. "Rita, Rita, Rita. Quite a name you have there, girlie."
She still stared up at him, no emotion crossing her face. Not anger, sadness, fright, glee, respect, arrogance, infatuation, nothing of the like was expressed from her.
"Uh, hey, she always like this?" Braig asked.
Ansem gave no response.
"Feh. Well, then, I guess we can find out what you can express later," Braig figured.
Ansem's head shot up at his remark. "Don't you touch her!" he roared, lunging forward again. The guards grew more hostile in their restraint of him.
"Hey, hey, cool it, cool it. Listen, you say you're an alchemist, right? Well, depending on what I think of your li'l friend creature thing that I'll see, I might just give you a good position here. What do you think of that?" Braig offered.
Ansem wanted to refute; he wanted to run with Rita out of there. But…he couldn't. He was a smart enough man to understand his limits, and in that castle, he had no power whatsoever.
"…I...accept," he consented through gritted teeth.
"Good! Now, how 'bout we see this creature of yours?" Braig suggested, patting Ansem on the back and leading him out the doors. Before they left, he told one of the guards, "Oh, uh, take her into the back." Ansem heard this order and twitched, but he could do nothing more. He hated the thoughts of what ran through his head.
And he knew they'd come true.
| XD | D8 | 8D | DX |
I had this story in the back of my head for sooo long lately. I sort of didn't want to ruin the image of Xigbar and Tarxi as father and daughter, but my corrupted mind just couldn't stay away from it. DX I like the way this is turning out, though. :3 I was originally gonna use Xigbar, but then there was this plotline later on that I knew I had to use Braig. And anyway…Xigbar has that more father-like persona, I guess, but Braig…he looks like the type of dude to lurk around beaches and hit on hot girls. XD Or…am I the only one getting that idea…? I love writing about Ansem. He's so much fun. He's actually one of my favorite chars despite his discrimination against Nobodies. He's really easy to write as. And, Ienzo shall appear (and then disappear! Fwah!) in chpt 2. I hope I can strangle my mind to the point where I can get chpt 2 out. 'Til then, bye~!