Rewritten
By Frau Eva
Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Sorry to everyone who was enjoying this fic when it was deleted, or any of my writing. My e-mail account had been hacked into. From there, whoever it was received access to delete everything in my account. I'll be getting everything up again, starting with these multi-chapters because they seemed to have the most interest. Everything will continue on as usual and my e-mail has been changed. Please be patient with me though; finals are coming up, and I have a lot of things to fix since my e-mail was hacked. I'll try my best to get things running smoothly again!
Utena stopped to breathe, her eyes taking in the whole cavern. She shakily dropped the cover of her coffin to the ground. She was sweating, and not just from the heat of spring. Though she knew she must have slept a long while, her eyes felt heavy. The shock kept them open wide. She knew she had only seen the clothes she was wearing in books: black leggings, tan boots and belt of leather, and a green and white tunic over her chest. She pawed at them awkwardly, grasping the wool between trembling fingers. She realized with horror that nothing more was underneath, making her feel even more vulnerable and exposed.
Her eyes flittered back and forth over her surroundings. Surrounding her were walls of rock, and a large opening full of sunlight far ahead of her. Layers of dried flowers covered the ground before her. Atop them all was a bouquet of fine red roses, still fresh and supple. One or two others showed various levels of decay, but most had been here long enough to crumble to shriveled pieces.
Flowers. Flowers for a coffin."It's as if I was dead," she said to herself. Logically, she should not be here. This is impossible. She should not have been asleep in the first place. She should be...at the arena. Her chest heaved painfully. The last moment she remembered was lying on the arena floor, the clash and clang of a million swords overhead. Then, searing pain. Nothing else. Her knees trembled slightly, and she resisted the urge to tumble backwards into the coffin.
"How...?" she asked, breath still heavy. Nothing answered her. She turned to look back at where she had laid only a moment before, seeing a small black cap and a sheathed sword. Her mouth was dry and cottony and her belly painfully empty. She picked up the sword, quickly pulling it out of its scabbard and resheathed it, as if she didn't believe it was real. She set them back down in the coffin before picking up the black cap and inspecting it. It was soft to the touch, with a large white feather attached by a little green jewel. She lay it over her head, brushing her two braids back over her shoulder.
With a shaky heave of her chest, she turned and collapsed back onto the coffin in a fit of sobs. Fat tears rolled easily down her cheeks and spilled onto its dusty surface.
She was too preoccupied to hear the light sound of footsteps coming towards her. The sound of a childlike laughter echoed through the cave, then stopped. Her head whipped up instantly.
Utena and two children stared at each other without a word, each wide-eyed as if they could not believe the other were real. The more she studied each strange garment, the more shocked and stiff she became. One was a girl of no more than ten–her arms full of wildflowers–wearing a simple white peasant dress covered in dirt. The small boy had one arm grabbing her skirt, the other carrying a bundle of flowers. He wore a dirty white tunic, and brown leggings that matched his hair and round eyes.
The girl suddenly leaned forward slightly and her eyes softened from shock to sympathy. "Don't cry," she said softly. With the girl's words, the boy seemed to loosen his grip on her dress.
Utena knew from her own memory that she should not have understood her. All her life, she could only speak Japanese. She barely even passed English class. What this girl spoke sounded like neither. She turned the words over in her mind; she knew them–knew their exact meaning–yet had no memory of the sound.
"Sorry! Sorry about that," Utena suddenly said, the new words stumbling out of her mouth. She was amazed at herself. 'Just roll with it,' she thought, 'I've seen a lot of strange things, and I'm definitely going to see more.' Utena recovered, quickly rubbed her hand across her eyes. She felt so silly crying in front of children.
"Ya shouldn't be sorry f' crying," the girl piped up, laying her wildflowers to the ground. The boy silently did the same. "Are ya sad because you're alone? The village will take care a' ya, Prince! We've always done so."
Utena smirked wryly, more a smile of pain than cheer. "No, no, it's not that. I'm sorry, but I'm not a Prince, little girl."
"But ya are! You are The Lovely Prince Utena!" the girl protested, "Everyone knows that!"
"Ya shouldn't say such things," the boy said shyly, barely able to look Utena in the eye, "If ya say something like that, sometimes it comes true. Mum always warns me 'bout that."
"Well, you can think that if it makes you happy," Utena said, "But just call me Utena. Not Prince. Just Utena, okay?"
The little girl's eyes almost seemed to sparkle. "Oh, I will! Ya can be certain of it! Thank ya so much!"
"Well...you're welcome." Utena smiled, slightly puzzled. "Now, could you please tell me where I am?"
"You're in Flussegen."
"Where is that?"
The girl stared back, looking immensely confused. "Don't ya remember anythin'?"
Utena remembered perfectly, but not in any way that helped her. She would probably be better off had she lost her memory. "No...I don't remember anything."
The girl looked up at her sorrowfully. "Not even your brother?"
Something was definitely wrong here. Deeply, deeply wrong. "I'm sorry, little girl, but you must be mistaken...I...I don't have any siblings."
The girl shook her head, looking up at Utena with pity. "Tis sad. Ya cannot even remember the reason ya became a Prince." Her face then brightened, long brown hair swinging as she reached forward and took Utena's hand. "But don't worry! You're awake, so the spell has already started wearing off! Come with me. We'll take care of you."
"Ah, hold on, hold on, I have to get something," she said. The girl quickly drew her hand away, and Utena leaned over the coffin and grabbed the sheathed sword. "Alright," she said as she turned back to the girl. "I can go now."
The girl smiled. "Just follow us," she said as she began walking out of the cave. "C'mon, Albrecht, we'll show her to Papa." The boy hurried to walk beside her. The bed of dried flowers crunched underfoot as they walked. They made their way to the cavern's opening.
"Oh, I almost fergot! My name is Adelheid, and this is my brother Albrecht. It's a pleasure to meet ya, Pri-, ah, Utena." Adelheid stopped for a moment to draw her skirts up and curtsy, as if well practiced.
Utena smiled genuinely for the first time since she had awoken. "Nice to meet you." With exaggerated gestures, she drew one hand up to her chest and bowed. This overwhelmed Adelheid with giggles, jumping and blushing. Her brother watched silently with wide eyes.
Adelheid soon calmed down and began walking again, both Utena and Albrecht following her. They had now reached a sun-dappled forest, the trees looking hazy in the intense light.
Utena sighed. Her limbs ached from disuse. She was covered in dirt and sweat, her clothes sticking to her uncomfortably. Her belly still ached with emptiness and her throat was dry and scratchy. But thinking about better times was even more painful, and thinking about the present and future only confused and frightened her. Perhaps, she thought, she should just stop thinking altogether.
She took a deep breathe. 'My name is Tenjou Utena. I have no siblings. I have no parents. I live with my aunt Yurika in Hokkaido, Japan. I attend Ohtori Academy in Houou. I am fourteen and my blood type is B. And there is certainly, certainly no such thing as magic spells.'
Who was she kidding? This wasn't going to get her anywhere. "So, Adelheid, what exactly do you know about me, or–I mean–what I was like? What's that whole flower thing about?"
"Oh, that," Adelheid said, breaking into a skip, "You had died a long time ago. Well, not died. We thought you had died saving our town from the dragon. But you didn't look wounded, so we put you in a glass coffin above ground to make sure. That happens sometimes, where someone'll just be enchanted."
"That happened to Uncle Friedhelm," Albrecht piped up.
"Aye, but usually they don't sleep for as long as Prince Utena did, and she didn't age neither. Uncle woke up in a few days. The village witch looked at ya. She said that she'd never seen such a spell b'fore and that it would have ta be very, very strong."
"It happened again though, remember Adelheid?" Albrecht said, tugging on her dress. "Her Ladyship's children fell into an enchanted sleep for a long time too."
"It happened in other places too," she agreed, "But you were the first, well 'cept your brother–but that's somethin' diff'rent. 'Course, this is all before we were alive. I think you've been sleeping 'bout fourteen years now."
"Fourteen years? You have to be kidding me!" Utena yelped, "I mean, I'm only fourteen! That's...impossible!"
"You didn't age, Pr-, ah, Utena," she replied, "You've always looked jus' the same since I've been coming here. And people have been coming here to give ya flowers ever since you fell into an enchanted sleep; they say the same."
Utena took a deep breath and simply accepted it. Okay, so she fell into an enchanted sleep while she was fighting a dragon. Sure. And this, apparently, is not so strange here. "Didn't you also say I had a brother? What exactly do you know about me, Adelheid?"
"That's what people have told me. Your father is a King, and your mother is some foreign woman. Your brother is some person named Zarasai–he was cursed, and you had to become a Prince to lift it."
"It's not like that," Albrecht piped up, "A hundred lives have ta be saved in Zarasai's name. Being a Prince jus' seems like the best way to do it."
"Fine, fine," she said, giving her brother a glare. "Anyway, you're The Lovely Prince Utena, who saves the lives of people everywhere to cure her brother. That's the most important part of the story."
"It's jus' the part you remember," said Albrecht.
"Quiet, you," his sister replied, the siblings scowling at each other.
"Hey, hey, don't fight, you two!" Utena said sweetly. "I appreciate you being able to tell me what you did. That'll be a big help to me."
Adelheid's eyes almost seemed to glimmer at Utena's words. "I'm sure everyone will be able ta tell ya even more! They were alive to see it. Oh, won't they be surprised to see you with us!"
Now that Adelheid had led them through the thick forest, Utena was beginning to see houses off in the distance. They would have to cross the fields first, which were flat for spring planting. Men and women walked the fields with sacks full of seeds, sprinkling it along the ploughed earth. At first, the workers paid them no heed. But as they came closer, a woman raised her head and quirked her brows at Utena's expensive clothing. Her face slowly faded into a look of recognition, then shock. "It's her!" she yelled, pointing and waving.
Those nearest came running first. Word spread through the acres of field, wave after wave hearing the news and immediately bursting into a run. Utena stood there paralyzed as they engulfed her, myriads of voices shouting questions and expressions of shock. She could feel callused hands patting her on the back. She stood wide-eyed in the middle of the whirling storm of bodies, too stunned to respond. Something then occurred to her, snapping her body back into movement. "Adelheid! Albrecht!"She looked around, not seeing them. Were they trampled? Thrown to the side? Where?
The crowd was startled to silence at the words of the Prince. A moment later, a voice piped up with, "Here I am!" She ducked out from under the legs of the adults, dragging Albrecht after her. Tears were welling up in his eyes and his walk was shaky.
"Did you get hurt?"she asked. The boy nodded slowly, then erupted into sobs. "Here, look, I'll carry you. It'll be okay!"She was about to lift him on her back when a figure forcefully parted his way through the crowd.
"Are they here?" he said, now staring wide-eyed at the image of the Prince holding his crying boy.
"He...he got trampled on. I was just going to carry–"
"Oh, don't worry yourself with it! He's my son, after all!"The man gently took Albrecht from Utena's arms and hoisted the boy onto his back. The crowd stayed mostly silent now, with an occasional hand thrusting out to paw at the Prince.
"We found her, Papa! We were bringin' her flowers, and she was awake! We found her!" Adelheid shouted, jumping up and down.
"Aye, aye, Adelheid, calm yourself," he said to her, then turned his head up to look at the Prince, "I hope they wern't any trouble." He smiled sheepishly.
It was strange, Utena thought, to see a man so deferential to a girl while simultaneously towering over her. "No, they weren't any trouble at all. They were actually very helpful."
"Oh, good, good!" he bellowed.
"Guntram, Lanzo still has her horse, remember?" a man said, putting a hand on a part of Guntram's back not covered by Albrecht. "Perhaps we should get her to the village."
"This deserves a celebration!" someone shouted out.
"We can't jus' stop planting, fool! Are we ta celebrate now, but starve in winter?" yelled another.
"Fourteen years! Fourteen years!"
"Let her rest! She's gotta be disoriented!"
"Are ya crazy? She's gotten enough rest fer a lifetime!"
"If I may," Utena said softly. The uproar lasted for a second more before abruptly ending. "Uh, I mean, you really shouldn't put everything on hold just for me. I'd appreciate some help, but you don't have to go to any trouble on account of me."
"Alright now," the man next to Guntram said, "Now, who amongst us can spare a hand to show her to the village?"
"We could have Alban do it," a woman shouted out, "It's not as if he does anythin' anyway."
"A fine idea," Guntram said, then turning to the forest, "Alban! Get out here!" Utena craned her neck to see who would be accompanying her. Nothing was yet visible but the trees.
"What do you want? I was just gettin' some nice acorns..."
"This is important! Get out here!" shouted Guntram.
"Everythin' to you people is important..." She could hear something running towards them from the forest, and squinted to see who it was.
"Fine, I'm here. What's all the fuss then?"
Utena's eyes widened. It was a talking pig. Her eyes quickly rolled back into her head and she collapsed. The crowd erupted into fright, her falling body caught by the edge of the crowd.
"Just a faint, just a faint," Guntram said, "She must be hungry after fourteen years, after all."
Once upon a time, two children walked alone and hungry in the dark of night. "What'll we do, Hansel?" she sobbed, tugging onto her brother's dusty shirt for comfort. "What'll we do? We'll never find our way back to Flussegen now!"
Hansel drew his sister closer. The trail of crumbs leading back to the cottage was gone. He stared into the thick blackness of the forest ahead, remembering their parents' hushed but fierce late-night argument.
"There's no food in this house, foolish woman! Not since the famine! Either those brats leave, or we might as well start chopping wood for our coffins!"
Hansel sighed. He quickly looked around them before turning back to his sister."We'll find the way back, Gretel. We'll find it. I promise." Hansel began trudging farther into the thick woods. "Come along." She sobbed but obediently followed.
Nowhere they went showed any signs of life. At least, human life. The dark trees towered over the orphans, the chirps and hoots of nocturnal beasts seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"What if the fay get us, Hansel? What if the trolls get us?" she whispered, voice shaky. The most painful part was that he could not assure her of anything. Her big brother could do nothing but lead them farther into a den of monsters. "We'll find home again. Do not worry. Just stay next to me, Gretel. Never leave my side."