Secrets of Avalon
Celestia193's Author's Note: Well, people enthusiastically requested this spin-off into the fantasy realm. It's got a bit of a Tolkien/Paolini kind of vibe to it. You know, magic and elves, and maybe some dragons (still debating that part), so any fantasy lovers should enjoy this. I know that I love writing fantasy, it's my specialty. Anyway, enjoy, and we do encourage reviews, they make us feel good and want to update more.
Silver's Author's Note: This is a spinoff of She Deserves Better, but this tale is designed to stand on its own. So you don't need to read the other story to understand this one. Obviously, it would be awesome if you did though This story will also draw on some of the common themes in the fantasy genre, but we do hope to put our own unique spin on it. This is not a crossover. Anyway, we hope that you all enjoy this story.
Disclaimer: We own nothing and make no profit off of any of our stories.
Chapter 1
Another Seeker. Again someone approaches the book. A book of fate, wishes, hopes, and dreams. It both destroys and creates. And inside it, one either finds their destiny…or their doom. With every new Seeker, a new part of the never-ending story is written. Some tales stand alone. Others converge. But none truly end until the final page is turned.
A wizened hand drifts over a clear pool, gazing into its depths. Images rise, one of a girl, another of a book, and another of a boy. Two Seekers, one already crossed over, the other not just yet. But soon…soon, their stories would converge.
A wrinkled face watches as she approaches the tome. "The book calls to you, Seeker. Take it, open it, and all shall be revealed to you in time." A man? A woman? Or perhaps just a force of nature that calls the Seekers to the book. Simpler, perhaps…a gatekeeper. Leading those destined for more to the places they ought to be.
And there, they would be given a choice.
An escape. That's what the library provided Hinata with. Here everything was quiet and she could lose herself in a good book and she didn't have to worry about her stutter. She didn't have to worry about pleasing her father, being the perfect daughter, or being worthy of her family name. Here she was simply Hinata.
Not Hinata the Wallflower or Hinata the Heiress. Just Hinata. She grabs a random book because she wasn't in the mood for anything in particular. She was distracted, and she needed a different kind of distraction. Just this morning, it had happened again. Hinata had made the mistake of stepping foot in the halls and gotten barreled over! By the football team no less!
"Owe! Hey, watch where you're going!" A senior named Hidan glared at her.
Hinata had been knocked to the floor and all of her books were flung to the ground. "S-Sorry!" She wanted to apologize, but she never got the chance. Another member of the football team intervened, Lee.
Lee was rather unique to put it mildly. With his old fashioned hair cut, bushy brows, and love of spandex, he didn't fit the mold of a typical football player and it showed. "That's not very youthful!" He shakes his fist excitedly. "You're the one that bumped into her! You should apologize!" His teeth gleaming brightly, making Hinata briefly wondered what kind of toothpaste he used. Those were some really white, pearly whites!
Hidan rolls his eyes. "Yeah! Yeah!" Hinata quickly scrambles to her feet as she grabs her books. "I didn't see her there! She's so quiet! It's freaky!" She was quiet, but that didn't actually make her invisible, did it?!
"I m-might be quiet, but you should get your eyes checked!" She wasn't invisible. He should have at least seen her and so should the rest of the team! "Maybe, you should go see Nurse Tsunade about it." Tsunade was the busty school nurse. Like ridiculously busty. Hinata couldn't even compete with her and according to her sister, her cup size was rather enviable!
Thankfully, her friend Ino snuck in and grabbed Hinata. "Oh there you are, Hinata! I was hoping you could help me with my biology homework!" She waves to the football players and drags her friend off to safety. "Seriously, Hinata. Don't let them push you around like that!"
So after all that, it was nice to be in control of something. Even if it was just picking what book she was about to read. "That's weird. It's not written in English." Hinata couldn't for the life of her determine what language the words on that cover were written in, but it had a golden cover and silver lettering on it. Lettering that was elegant, but so foreign. She couldn't decipher it for the life of her.
Curious, she opens the book and blinks. "It's blank." There was nothing. Not a single word or even a letter. What was an empty book doing inside a library?
The empty book's pages shimmer slightly in the light. And slowly, one by one, strange characters to match the cover start to write themselves into existence in ink as black as night. The script was beautiful, the calligraphy flowing in an ethereal way that seemed almost like magic.
She gasps as she watches the beautiful shimmering and writing. "I must be imagining things." Her daydreams had never been this vivid before, but she supposed that there was a first time for everything.
The flowing script begins to rearrange itself, the characters changing slowly into letters. And as the letters form, new characters appear, making the transition to readable words like a boat gliding across the water.
Oh Seeker with the clearest sight, know this. What has been started cannot be stopped, even by the hands of time. Cast on this book is a spell, one to grant a heart's deepest desire. With it, comes salvation or escape. Only one, you may choose, else the door slams shut for all eternity.
Hinata stares at the words, feeling more than a little frightened by the message. "I must be imagining things." She immediately shuts the book. "There weren't any words on it before. Words don't just suddenly appear like that!" And what was this about a door and slamming shut for all eternity?!
Despite the book being closed, the elegant cover glows, the light growing steadily brighter, though attracting no attention from anywhere else in the library. The warm glow expands, engulfing the entire deserted aisle around Hinata.
"Seeker…you are called." The voice, disembodied and without discernible gender echoes softly from the book. "Come to us, Seeker."
"Who are you?!" The young woman's eyes widen with panic as she sees the light. "What do you want!? Let go of me!" She decides to make a run for it. This wasn't a daydream. This was a nightmare.
The voice calls a little louder. "Seeker, COME!" The light grows brighter, blindingly so, blotting out all else in sight. The magic was active, there was no turning back.
When the light fades, only the book remains lying on the floor.
The light was dappled green as he walked beneath the leafy canopies of the palace's outer halls. The walls were sung from the mightiest of oaks, twisted and grown with magic to suit their whims. It had been done over centuries, every spring, adding a little more to their forest city.
Since arriving here two, no…three years ago, was it? He'd found that he was content here. At first, he'd done his best to find a way to leave. But, by the time he found it, he decided that he didn't want to. After all, he had a family now. His heart's desire really had been granted by the book.
"Your Highness!" Sasuke looks over his shoulder, spiky raven hair swaying slightly in the constant forest breeze. Ah, it looked like one of the palace guards. Was it another message from his brother?
Well, not his real brother, not exactly. But they looked enough alike that they could definitely pass for having been born as brothers. It's what caused such a stir when he first arrived. He looked so much like the Queen and her son that they wondered if he was a lost prince. Ultimately…he'd been adopted by the monarchs anyway. And here he was, almost eighteen years old. Young, for an elf, very young. But he was grown, at least in body. Enough to pose a challenge in combat even to the royal guards.
The guard bows lowly to Sasuke. "The High Prince wishes to see you." Jugo was an elf. A very large elf. He towered over even most fully grown warriors by a foot. Though he was a mostly gentle giant. "It sounds important, My Prince." He sighs and shakes his head. "I believe it to be about the Kingdom of Aladel."
"I see." Sasuke grits his teeth at the thought of the elves that lived towards the mountains, where the water ran clear over the sheer cliffs into which they built their cities. "I'll go to him now. I assume that he's in the library?"
The two kingdoms were in the midst of something along the lines of a cold war. Not that anyone here knew what that meant. Sasuke had found that out when he first asked about it. And boy was it a serious case of culture shock to have to learn about the world here. But Sasuke was a genius, something that seemed more common among elves than humans. So it wasn't too hard to learn to fit in. Even his free-spirited nature was something that fit into their society. It had taken him a while but…this was where he fit in most. Better than back in the world of his birth.
"Yes, Your Highness." Jugo nods his head in confirmation. "High Prince Itachi is in the Royal Library as we speak and is awaiting your arrival." He pauses for a moment and then smiles at him encouragingly. "He did say to make haste!"
"Right. Thank you, Jugo." Sasuke always did like Jugo best of all the guards. Though he was still convinced that Jugo was half giant or something. The man was massive!
The path to the royal library, however, included a winding staircase that Sasuke wasn't too fond of. But by now, he'd learned to just skip the staircase and scale the wall instead. It was much faster.
Which is why it took him two minutes instead of ten to reach the top floor of the library and drop in through the window, his black cloak fluttering behind him over the silver plates that lay firmly attached to the blackened leather of his hunting armor.
The bottoms of his knee-high boots touch the ground soundlessly as he strides into the library, looking for the familiar black and gold of his brother's usual casual attire. Meaning, the scholarly robes that Itachi liked wearing in the library. He said that they were more comfortable than armor. Sasuke would disagree with him, but that wasn't the point.
Itachi smiles at Sasuke as he usually did, but there was something slightly forced about it this time. "I see that Jugo must have found you." The High Prince laughs softly. "He has always been a rather reliable guard. Unfortunately, I don't have particularly good news for our people."
Sasuke twitches. He hated it when Itachi did that, talking out of nowhere before he'd even found him. His big brother was even sneakier than he was sometimes. Still, if this had something to do with the Kingdom of Aladel… "Is the cold war over?"
"I'm afraid not." Itachi had always found Sasuke's strange manner of speaking both charming and more than a little baffling. "We're in danger of it becoming a hot war though."
A hot war? Had his brother really just called it a hot war? "Great…" Sasuke had studied wars before, in his history classes. But he'd never really expected to end up in the middle of one. "Is there a reason that the situation has changed so suddenly? Or are we shooting in the dark?"
Itachi frowns as he watches Sasuke warily. "Well it's more a theory. One of our scouts saw King Hiashi entertaining tribes." The tribes were elves who lived in the wild for one reason or another and had never built a capital. "If he can convince them to join him, he might be foolish enough to attack our kingdom." And that likely meant heavy casualties for both sides, no matter who the victor was.
Sasuke's hand twitches towards the sword and bow at his back. If there was an attack, then he would make for the trees with his bow, before doing what he could with a sword. Even if no one expected the youngest prince to fight. "How long do you think you could hold a barrier around the city?" Sasuke knew that his brother was a powerful mage in his own right, powerful enough to cast difficult spells, like barriers that covered a wide area, or purifying light to keep evil creatures away from the city. But an army…that was another situation entirely.
"It depends. Magic isn't an exact science." He smiles fondly at Sasuke, who was still more of a physical being than a magical one. "If they were just wielding traditional weapons, I can hold it for quite sometime. Perhaps even indefinitely, but if they are wielding magic...it depends how strong theirs is." He tilts his heads to the side considering it. "I'd say at least three days though."
Of course, it resembled physics in some ways. Sasuke had worked out that much. Most of the laws he knew applied here, it's just that some of the rules had also changed to encompass more energy than he'd ever thought possible. Still, three days wasn't enough, if they ended up under siege. "Does Father know?" It was strange, calling the king his father, but after spending so long in the palace, it didn't bother Sasuke nearly as much as it used to.
Itachi nods as if the thought never occurred to him not to tell the King. "Of course. Don't worry." He pokes Sasuke's forehead affectionately. "Foolish little brother, I'm far from the only elf in our kingdom with defensive magic."
"Tch, I know that." Sasuke rubs his forehead irritably. He knew very well that the elven kingdom of Thiral had many talented mages, and more than a few could use defensive magic. But that was no guarantee in the case of war. There were never any guarantees in war. "And stop calling me foolish! I'm not foolish…" Just…inexperienced in the ways of this world. Avalon.
"Good." Itachi chuckles at his irritation. "You are very foolish, but in a rather endearing way." He smiles at him reassuringly. "Don't worry. We'll deal with this concern and everything will be as it should be."
Sasuke bristles at his brother's tone. "Don't treat me like a kid, Itachi. If there's fighting, I can help. You know that." He was almost an adult by the standards of his birth people. Physically, that couldn't be in question. Though he wished that they would stop treating him like a child just because elves could live for hundreds, even thousands of years. He was NOT a child!
"It's difficult not to when you carry on like one." Itachi smirks and shakes his head. "An endless source of amusement. That's what you provide me with." He knew that it was probably wrong to taunt him so, but Itachi couldn't resist. "Perhaps, one day...you'll do the same for your bride."
Shaking his head, Sasuke laughs wryly. "Well, you're the older one, and the one who's going to be king. You should be looking for your own bride. I've still got a few decades before anyone would even consider me ready for that." It definitely skewed his sense of time to be barely more than a grade-schooler to these people. "Besides, I already have what I wanted." A family. A real family. Not foster homes that made him want to run away.
He smiles and pokes his forehead. "A decade or two until people begin pushing for an early engagement at least, but once you're of age, whether that is two decades by human standards, or five by ours...it matters little. I doubt you'll escape it." And that was most certainly true. Their kinds were blessed or cursed with remarkably long lives. "And please don't remind mother or father of that. They've become rather insistent as of late." He sighs dramatically.
Now it's Sasuke's turn to smirk. "Karma, Itachi, for all of the forehead pokes. Fate is finally giving you the headache you deserve." And did the man ever deserve it! Itachi was incessant with those pokes! Sasuke sometimes wished that he could use magic to set a charm up so that ever time Itachi poked his forehead, his older brother's fingers would catch fire.
"Your tongue is still foreign to me sometimes." Itachi tilts his head in confusion. "I'm not precisely sure what Karma means, but I believe you are laughing at my misfortune!"
His smirks grows as Sasuke takes in his brother's confusion. "It means what goes around comes around. If you do good things for people, good things will happen to you. If you do bad things to people, say…poke their foreheads and give them a headache, then you will have a headache dealing with annoying parents who push marriage options on you."
Itachi clucks his tongue somewhere between disapprovingly and amusedly. "You're a bit sadistic at times. Perhaps it is best that you do not take a wife yet, after all." He shakes his head with feigned somberness. "How would she ever endure these sadistic tendencies of yours?"
"Well, I picked them up while I was still human. It didn't seem to offend the girls back on Earth." Foster kid or not, Sasuke was more popular than he would have liked, especially with the girls. You'd think that him ignoring their very existence would make them lose interest, but it didn't.
"You're fortunate that you were blessed with that pretty face of yours." Itachi laughs and places his hand on Sasuke's back. "That's probably why they overlooked certain quirks that you possess. Come. We should speak with father."
Sasuke grumbles quietly, folding his arms across his chest as his brother walks him out of the library. "I'm not pretty." He wasn't. He was a man. And no matter how graceful and elegant all elves were…he was NOT pretty.
Itachi smirks as he glances back at him. "Would it please you more, if I were to call you ugly?" And with that, he bounds towards the throne room. "Father, I have briefed Sasuke on the situation."
"Asshole…" Sasuke follows Itachi into the throne room, coming face to face with their father, the king. "Father." He nods politely, since he was still painfully aware that even if they'd taken him in as their child, they could still throw him right back out if it pleased them. Not that he thought they would, it was just a reflexive thought from his years in foster care.
"Sons." He nods his head in acknowledgment. "It appears that King Hiashi is consulting with the tribes." Sadly, there was no time for further pleasantries. "At a minimum we will need to send a few scouts or spies to see if that is indeed the case and how successful Hiashi has been at these attempts, if he is indeed making them." Too much was at stake. If Hiashi really was this foolish, the rivers would run with something far thicker than water. Elven blood.
Sasuke freezes in his tracks, his fingers unconsciously moving for his weapons. If it was at the point where the king felt it necessary to send out scouts and spies, then the situation had to be growing more serious by the day. "I'll go."
Fugaku frowns in concern. "I don't doubt your skill with blades or arrows." This was different though. "Spying and scouting in general requires a different skill set. There is always the chance you may have to fight your way out, but have you ever done anything like this before?" Sasuke may not be his son in blood, but he had taken him into their family. It was hard not to feel sympathetic towards someone who bore such a strong resemblance to their Clan, especially his wife, his queen. It was his eyes mostly and his skin tone. Luminous like the moon.
"Sneaking around, trying not to be seen? Yes, I've done plenty of that." Though for a very different reason. Mostly with classmates and stalkers, but Sasuke digressed. "The point is to be quiet, watch, and wait, right? Observe everything around you, listen for the whispers, and read into body language. I've been practicing with the scouts and rangers. And if it looks like I could be caught, I can use the charmed earring to pass myself off as a human." After all, he had been human most of his life, so passing himself off as one was actually closer to the truth than a lie.
"He's a prince, father." Itachi sighs and looks at the king almost apologetically. "Sasuke is going to be put into dangerous situations simply because he exists and the Hyugas despise us. It would be good for him to master new skills." Even if they were ones with a potentially negative connotation such as spying.
Fugaku sighs and appears to relent. "I suppose you're both right. Sasuke, take Taka with you." Taka meant Hawk, a name from a language far to the east. Together, Sasuke, Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu made up quite the team. "I'll feel better, if you do."
Sasuke was the most versatile and strategic amongst the group, acting as the brain and eyes of the 'bird'. Jugo was the strongest of the group physically, but also the kindest, a loyal member of the Royal Guard, the heart of the team. Karin was the wings because of her ability to keep the team aloft and agile, healing when needed, and with the ability to sense the life force of others and react accordingly. And finally, there was Suigetsu. That man took a sadistic and at times, mischievous glee in cutting down his opponents. He was the talons of the dangerous predator.
"Alright." Sasuke had no qualms about taking those three with him. They would often go out of the city on hunts and mock scouts, sometimes real scouting trips, mapping out the area and anything that might have changed. After all, nature was both steadfast and fleeting, and could stay the same for thousands of years, or change in an instant, on a whim. Those three, he trusted with his life. "We will be gone by nightfall." Probably before then, but Suigetsu and Karin were sometimes difficult to track down, unlike Jugo, who was almost Sasuke's shadow. In fact, the prince was fairly certain that Jugo was waiting just outside the room for him.
Fugaku nods approvingly at this. Seeming a bit relieved that he wasn't going to protest. "Very well." He glances at him with concerned eyes. "Be safe, my son. These wild tribes are rather unpredictable at times."
"I know." Sasuke had seen the wild grace of the tribal elves before. It was something magnificent to watch, but terrifying, if you thought you had to fight them. They were a force of nature unto themselves, their magic and combat alike untamed and powerful. "I'll be back before the moon turns." He didn't envision this taking more than a week and a half to complete.
"Very well." Itachi and Fugaku glance at him. "Safe journey." Itachi smiles at him teasingly. "Foolish brother."
Sasuke's hand almost reflexively goes to his forehead, those words usually accompanied by a poke straight to the forehead. Itachi just made him jumpy sometimes. "I'll be fine." Sasuke wasn't going to let some wild elves get the better of him. "I'll see you again soon." He bows to his brother and the king, before turning on heel and leaving the throne room. "Jugo?"
The two elves nod approvingly and perhaps not surprisingly, Jugo was waiting outside the throne room. He bows to Sasuke and smiles. "We should get Karin and Suigetsu, I take it?" They were most likely in the middle of a fight as usual.
"Yeah, we're dragging those two along with us." Sasuke wasn't looking forward to breaking up yet another fight between the two feisty elves. But it would have be done for the sake of their mission.
Jugo chuckles at how forlorn Sasuke looks. "It's nothing we haven't dealt with before." He smiles reassuringly at his prince and with that, the massive elf heads off in search of their comrades.
A tavern, that's where Sasuke and Jugo found Karin and Suigetsu. That wasn't too uncommon. And what really wasn't uncommon was Sasuke seeing the two of them half drunk and yelling at each other, trying to tear each other a new one. They were odd, for elves anyway. No sense of decorum at all. Which is why Sasuke like them so much.
Bringing his fingers to his lips, Sasuke whistles sharply through the tavern. "Karin! Suigetsu!"
Karin blinks at the sound of her prince's voice. "Sasuke?" She glances over at the giant elf beside him. "Jugo? What's going on?"
"Mission time." Sasuke crosses his arms, his eye twitching. "So stop beating up Suigetsu and get your pack, we're heading out until the moon turns."
"I protest that!" Suigetsu flails dramatically. "I was beating her up!" He most certainly was not being bested by the red head!
"Right, whatever." Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Let's go!" He tosses a few coins to the barkeep and motions to Jugo to drag the two of them out.
Jugo happily drags the two feisty elves off. "Yes, My Prince!" They were still trying to have a go at each other, but they were simply no match for the gentle, but powerful giant of an elf!
Once clear of the tavern, Sasuke motions for Jugo to drop them. "We've got a serious mission you two, so grow up." Honestly, they acted more like children than he supposedly did.
Karin eyes him as she jumps to her feet. "What, does the king need another boar for his table? I'm always ready for a hunt."
Sasuke watches her, unamused. "We're going to be spying on the royals of Aladel."
That straightens even Suigetsu out. "That could be a potentially suicidal mission." He beams at that knowledge. "Which means that I'm totally in as humans say in your era. Karin should blend in easily." He smirks more, showing off his sharp teeth that looked far more like a dragon's than an elves. "She already acts like a stuck up, spoiled princess!" Or not.
Sasuke's eye twitches. Maybe he shouldn't have spoken so casually to Suigetsu. He was picking up more of Sasuke's mannerisms than was entirely healthy. "Get it together, or Jugo and I will leave you behind. We leave by dusk."
"Alright! Alright!" Suigetsu nods in a hurry. "I get it. We'll be there!"
"Good." Sasuke could probably suffer to pick up a few things, but everything that he needed, he already had on him. He had his weapons, a few tools, the earring that Itachi had charmed for him a long time ago to make his ears appear round, and his features less refined. All he required now was a bedroll, something he could easily retrieve from his room.
They would be ready to leave before the sun set.
