Prime

All Characters are owned by Konami. I own nothing absolutely NOTHING at all and I do not hope to gain any profit from this. Set in an Alternate Universe…Sort of.

Thoughts

"Speech"

Chapter I: So what?

Hero never really liked the new knight his father Ferid brought in. What arrogance. What shamelessness. Uncouth no matter how you looked at him. The plain sight of him just made Hero cringe. He had doubts when his father first introduced the Royal family to him. No background, no fame, no fortune. He was gruff as any man on the street could be; an aura of ruggedness shrouded him like poison mist. When Ferid announced that he would be a Queen's Knight, Hero's jaw almost dropped to the floor in disbelief.

Him? A Queen's Knight? Surely you can do better than that father.

Despite his biased hate for this knight, everyone else didn't seem to bother. Lyon sure didn't mind, in fact she was gazing at him in complete awe every time he talked about his adventures in the northern lands. His aunt, Sialeeds, would casually flirt with him every now and then. Both of them seemed to have a great time hanging out with a man they barely knew. Hero begged to differ, occasionally he would give a sneer at his comments or just refused to listen to his stories, whether they were true or not. But giving a thought to both the girls, he decided to play along and gave frequent smiles whenever he said something witty or funny. It wouldn't do him any good being angry at the man the whole trip.

"So Georg, tell us about the generals of the famous Scarlet Moon Empire." Sialeeds casually asked.

"They're…quite a unique bunch I'd say. Oh yeah! There's this really queer…" Georg's voice trailed off in Hero's mind. He didn't really bother about anything the older man said. To Hero, the role of telling stories of faraway lands was given to Ferid and Ferid alone.

And I didn't really need to hear that from you.

The three of them roared with laughter, which gave Hero the cue to follow suit. He hated this reluctant charade, what he hated more was that Lyon and Sialeeds were having fun and he wasn't. Clouded in a thunderous cloud of envy, he decided to divert his attention away from the happy-go-lucky bunch and concentrated on his mission to inspect Lordlake. The ship was nearing its shores and Hero couldn't wait to finish the whole thing.

"We're nearing the shores of Lordlake. It's been awhile hasn't it, Lyon?" Hero said.

"It's been far too long; I wonder how's everyone doing?" Lyon replied, who has just recovered from her giggling.

Everyone just fell silent and enjoyed the sea breeze on the way to the beautiful Lordlake. Hero imagined Lordlake would be just the way it was Lyon and him left it many years ago.

Lush and beautiful it was not. By the time they reached the shore, Hero already had a bad feeling. Usually there would be evergreen fields and blooming wildflowers scattered everywhere on the ground, but what he saw was nothing but scorched earth and barren dirt. Not only Hero was shocked, the rest of the crew came out from the ship and started gasping in disbelief. What was once one of the most beautiful places in Falena was right before their eyes, but it was anything but beautiful.

"Is…is this Lordlake? One of the most beautiful towns in all of Falena?" Sialeeds' voice shook.

"I heard it was bad, but not this bad. What happened here?" Georg added.

Astounded, the four of them decided to ask more about the situation of Lordlake from the locals, who weren't looking too pleased at all at their arrival. Hero wanted to give a smile to one of them but he was quickly discouraged by the scornful look of one of the locals. As they walked on further into the barren town, an elderly figure walked towards them.

"Greetings your Royal Highness, welcome to uhh…Lordlake. I am Talgeyl. I'm somewhat of a representative of the people of Lordlake. As you can see, this town isn't what it was supposed to be two years. Nothing much is left here except for barren land and its bleary townsfolk. I'm afraid some of the people here will consider you as unwelcome guests but pay no attention to them. If there's anyone to be blamed for their attitude, it's me." The man called Talgeyl muttered in guilt.

The group decided to inspect the town further, meeting up the townspeople and observing their lifestyle. It was a hard thing to be done; no one in Lordlake wanted to have anything to do with the Royal family. The doctor named Silva was especially rude to them. At the far end of the town they found a huge and lavish house, though it seemed like there wasn't any inhabitants in it.

"This is Lord Rovere's Mansion…well it used to be." Sialeeds said.

"Rovere…it rings a bell. Wasn't his entire family executed? Didn't he rebel against the Royal family?" Georg said.

The group continued on without a single sound of expression. Nobody knew how to reply to Georg's words. There was an air of awkwardness surrounding the four of them. Thinking that it couldn't be worse, they searched and inspected the now deserted mansion of Rovere. Toppled bookshelves and broken vases scattered on the floor.

The search was brief but thorough. There wasn't much to survey around the deserted mansion anyways. The house had been pillaged, it was obviously shown through the broken locks and shattered trophy cases. A certain scent of decayed wood lingered, with a tint of orange. Hero took a deep breath and felt sick in the stomach. The scent left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, so he decided to leave the hall for the balcony. Seeing the prince leave, Lyon soon followed along with the two adults.

As the doors were opened to the balcony, the looks on both of the youngsters quickly turned grim. Now they knew, why the town looked the way it is. The power of the sun showed its ugly side in this town. A power filled with glory and dignity and also be turned into a power bent on blind destruction. The withered plants, the dry carcasses and now a desert were the only thing they could see from the balcony to the horizon.

"Wasn't this…a river?" Lyon said, teary-eyed.

Mother…did…did you do this? Why?

"Mother…" Hero blurted out.

All eyes turned to the prince, who was staring blankly at the scorched earth which was once a river filled with activity and life. It was no mistake. Only the almighty Queen Arshtat of the Queendom of Falena could posess such power to decimate an entire town's source of water. The damage was grand and the aftermath was indescribable.

"Did the Queen do this?" Georg said, looking as shocked as the rest.

"I'm afraid so. They should've known better than to anger Arshtat." Sialeeds replied.

"She…doesn't really strike me as the type that would do this."

What do you know about mother?

"That is because you only known her recently. She used to be…a very good and kind queen. It's getting worse I'm afraid."

"Could it be because of the sun rune? Such power…it's too reckless."

You don't know anything. You're nothing but an outsider.

Hero's fists curled up by themselves after hearing Georg made such comments. He couldn't believe an outsider could judge so much on the queen with such freedom. He turned his head slightly to take a look at Sialeeds, who was looking down in utter disappointment. He was angered further by her that even as her sister, Sialeeds won't say anything to defend his mother's dignity. One more, one more comment was all it took to make the prince blow up.

"I see…as far as I've known Arshtat…………" Georg continued before being interrupted by Hero.

"You don't know ANYTHING about my mother!" Hero screamed with his back facing the group. As much as he wanted to cry, he couldn't bear the thought of showing weakness in front of an impudent outsider who was so ignorant. His lip trembled and his fists were curled white. Very much on the verge of breaking down, he knew he had to leave to preserve what was left of his dignity. He bolted towards the door to the mansion hall. Lyon was stuck on her spot, unable to do anything. She hasn't seen the prince this angry before. It was unlike him to burst into overwhelming anger.

As the prince passed Georg, Georg tried to stop him by catching him by the shoulder. But before he could land his hand on him, Sialeeds snatched it with a firm grip and raised it in the air. She gave a comprehensive shake of her head. Georg, still confused, calmed down finally. He knew what Sialeeds meant.

After a few minutes of silence from the remaining three, Lyon finally mustered her strength to walk up to Georg.

"Georg…so that you know…It's not your fault." Lyon trembled under the pressure.

Georg responded in acceptance by slowly closing his eyelid. Georg didn't know what to feel. He wasn't getting any hostility or friendliness from Hero, so he couldn't judge his character enough to pick his choice of words in front of him. He wasn't the kind to carefully pick his words in the first place, but this time, he felt he should have. Just as the situation was getting more and more depressing, Sialeeds broke the silence.

"Lyon, I want you to follow my nephew. Lord knows where he might be now. Try to calm him down, will you? We'll settle everything else when we return to Sol-Falena."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Lyon dashed out of the mansion as quickly as the prince did previously. Meanwhile, Georg paced in and out of the balcony.

"Was it something I said? Well, I guess it's pretty obvious. What should I do?"

"It wasn't obvious in the first place. Frankly, I didn't pay much attention to him either. Don't put yourself in the spot, it isn't your fault. I guess he's just not used to another male figure in his life. You should've seen the time Kyle was introduced to him." Sialeeds explained.

"What happened?" Georg stopped pacing.

"He hid behind Ferid the whole time. That time Kyle wasn't interested in getting acquainted with someone of his own gender. You know how Kyle is. But after that, Hero didn't mind Kyle at all. Kyle was either out on missions or chasing women in town. I see how you tried to strike a conversation with him. It's tough, I know."

"I see. I should've known earlier. I wasn't trying to take over Ferid's position or anything like that. I just…wanted him to be more comfortable around me."

"I know. I know." Sialeeds sighed and shook her head.