Hi! Yup, I'm still alive. :P
Sorry, I haven't really been writing much. I haven't updated since... Last year?
I just haven't been feeling inspired lately. Blame it on heart-break and school overloads. :o
Anyway. Here's a piece of fluff. With a history lesson! This is only the first half of the story...
I was actually supposed to upload this on Valentine's day, but the idle bug bit me. Read and review, please?
-loves- :)
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Love's funny, isn't it? It can make even the most sensible person do the most nonsensical things. Take me, for instance. Here I was, waiting in Prontera for the boy I loved, so that I could help him with another one of his silly projects.
Bellatrix Raine sat on one of a green bench, her hand lazily making ripples in the waters of the fountain. She stretched her arms and yawned. What was she doing here again? Oh yes, that's right. Mikoshi sure was taking a long time… She bit her lip and shifted position. Gawd, was she bored. She scratched her head and remembered what had conspired yesterday. It still sent her stomach flip-flopping whenever she thought about it. Of course, he was just joking. He was always joking.
"Follow me, ladies and gentlemen, into the Moroccan exhibit." Their guide, a greasy young man, gestured to the group, his coke-bottle glasses slipping down his nose-bridge, a shiny bronze nameplate pinned to his chest announced that his name was Horace, and he would be glad to help. He shuffled towards a glass case and waved nonchalantly at it. "In this case is a priceless artifact, taken from the tomb of the Pharaoh Osiris XVI and his true love Queen Nubila. The ring in that case is said to be the ring of the Pharaoh himself, but popular belief says that whoever wears it will be cursed. This is only one ring in a matched set, the other ring is said to have been worn by Queen Nubila herself. That ring, instead of being cursed, is popularly believed to be blessed by Isis, the snake goddess." Mikoshi Tamashii yawned loudly and ran his hand through his dark hair.
"Oh god, this is so boring." Bellatrix whacked him on the arm.
"Don't be rude, Miko. You promised me that you'd accompany me today, and that you wouldn't be the same annoying git that you always are." She raised an eyebrow at him and placed her hands on her hips. He shrugged.
"I didn't think it would be this dull. You sure like boring things."
"It's called culture, silly. Try it sometime." She pulled him towards a wall covered in funeral masks as their guide's reedy voice droned on.
"When Queen Nubila died of sickness at the devastatingly young age of nineteen, Pharao Osiris XVI wasted away, until he finally died at the age of twenty-five. He was buried in the same pyramid as she was, their tombs side by side forevermore." They moved on to a display of frescoes, many showing exquisite designs of Moroccans in long white robes, their hands raised to the sun while snakes danced about their ankles. "Their tombs were watched over by the priestesses of Isis as well as the priests of Ra." Mikoshi reached out to poke a marble statue of a priestess, but Bellatrix swatted his hand away before he could. The guide shot them a nasty look. "But when the dark times came, what we popularly call the first Ragnarok, the great priests and priestesses were sealed inside the tomb. Some say that the holy men and women did not die, but instead lived on, mutated by the evil that seeped through the Pyramid's stone walls." Bellatrix rolled her eyes. Now Mikoshi was making mock-eerie sounds, and waving his hands about like an idiot.
"Eviiiiiil!" He stage-whispered, as he stalked about the exhibit hall. The guide cleared his throat and, in a voice that was dry and highly unamused, he said
"Indeed." He moved on to another glass case, this one containing a couple of Ivory jars, their lids carved in the shape of animal heads. "It is a popular Moroccan belief that the priestesses mutated into half women, half snakes, able to live forever; in a twisted form of protection by their Snake goddess." He coughed once, twice, then started shuffling off into another wing. "Now, if you all would just follow me to the Amatsu exhibit…" The crowd followed him, leaving Bellatrix Raine and Mikoshi Tamashii alone in the hall.
"Hey, Bella? The guide went this way." The dark-haired cross assassin said to his colleague, whilst tugging on her purple scarf. She waved at him lazily.
"Isn't this ring so beautiful? It's hard to believe that something so beautiful could be so deadly." Mikoshi tilted his head at her, his piercing blue eyes drawing Bellatrix's purple ones away from the ring.
"Yeah..." He paused and shook his head. "Oh, you mean the curse?" Bella rolled her eyes and turned back towards the ring.
"Of course. What else could I have meant?" Both fell in a comfortable silence, as they gazed at the various artifacts. Bellatrix looked at the other relics, but none held her attention as steadily the ring did. She wandered back to it and placed her hand on the glass. "The story behind that ring and its partner is so romantic… I wish that someone loved me as much as Osiris did Nubila!" Mikoshi remained silent, his eyes examining the ring behind the glass. Then, his voice soft, he asked her,
"How do you know that no one does?" She shrugged and stared at him, puzzled.
"For one, I've never had a boyfriend." She sighed. He glanced at the ring once again.
"Wow, that's a nice looking ring. Cool ruby in the center, too." Bellatrix sighed wistfully.
"Yeah, it is pretty nice looking, huh? I read somewhere that Queen Nubila's ring is exactly the same, except with a diamond in the center." Mikoshi leaned on a bust of Pharao Osiris III.
"It looks pretty cool with all those funky inscriptions." Bella cocked her head at him.
"Hey, did you know that Osiris' and Nubila's wedding ceremony lasted one week, and the feasting after lasted for months?" Mikoshi scratched his nose.
"No, I didn't know that. The guide never mentioned anything like that." Bella shrugged.
"They married each other when Nubila was sixteen and Osiris was twenty. She was even younger than me when she got married… That's so weird!" Miko laughed at the expression on Bella's face.
"What's with the look?" He asked her, in between chortles.
"I feel like an old maid!" She cried, launching herself at Mikoshi. The cross assassin caught her, having to step back twice to recover his sense of balance. He strode over to a bench and sat down, placing Bellatrix carefully beside him. He patted her back tentatively. After a few moments, she pulled away and sighed. "Imagine that! I'm only nineteen and I already feel like an old maid." Her friend laughed again.
"You're one of a kind, Bella. One of a kind." This made her giggle, and she punched Mikoshi good-naturedly on the shoulder. "Oh hey, you know what? All this talk on marriage has got me thinking…" Bellatrix threw a sidewards glance at him, the purple of her eyes intensified by her expression of curiosity.
"About what, Miko?" He grinned at her.
"About marriage." She raised an eyebrow, disbelief clouding her face.
"You? Mister Playboy? Thinking about marriage?" Mikoshi pouted for a split second, then smirked. He ran a hand through his messy black hair.
"So… Like, wanna get hitched?" The dark-haired girl did a double-take. Acting as nonchalant as she could, even with her heart fluttering in her chest, she protested.
"Excuse me!" Mikoshi rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air.
"You know! Be my wife and love and obey me forever! Raise all the little Mikoshis that will be running around the house. You know. Marriage. A.K.A, volunteer slavery." Oh. He was joking. Bellatrix deflated a little inside, yet she forced herself to act as normally as she could. A joke. Yes, a joke was the perfect way to lighten the mood. Fight jokes with jokes, or so they say… Or something like that. She placed her hands on her hips.
"What! What kind of a proposal is that?" She tutted, shaking her head. "Tsk. Dreadful!" They both laughed, Mikoshi never losing the easy grin on his face. Suddenly, he stood up.
"Hey Bella, I have to go…"
"Huh? Why, Miko?" He ran his hand through his dark hair.
"I have to get something." Bellatrix stood up.
"Oh. You need help?" He shook his head.
"No no, I have to do this myself. I'll need your help after, though." She cocked her head and shrugged.
"I see… Alright then. Good luck!" Mikoshi gave her a little salute.
"I'll message you when I need help, okay?" Bella nodded and smiled.
"Sure. Take care, Miko!"
"Seeyah." And she watched him walk down the long hallway, until he turned a corner and disappeared from her sight. She had no doubt, though, that he would stride through the museum doors, walk down the white stone steps and then disappear into the crowd.
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