A/N: Revised version of what I had written and posted earlier...blah. Just read it and enjoy :D
The sky had grown dark yet it was still young with the lustrous crescent moon casting a faint pale light on the castle built by stones that were beginning to experience erosion and not far from the castle was a little garden enclosed by brick walls.
In the garden, where numerous kinds of plants grew, ranging from trees to bushes and to flowers, was a tea house area in which the Queen Aimi and her daughter, Rima, rested quietly, watching the stars glitter before their very dull and wary eyes. At least, it appeared that way.
But somewhere far away from this place, a dreaded war was raging between the Shiki and Touya royal family because of something valuable taken from Shiki family—a piece of jewelry that looked like a mere piece of accessory but inside held a magical power that remains unknown.
Both families have never been friendly with each other due to unknown reasons.
Out in the garden where Rima sat on the opposite side of her queen she placed her elbow onto the table with her head resting on her hand, she blankly looked ahead at the blooming flowers and knew from her father's absence that he wouldn't be back in another week or two.
She sighed, looking dully at her mother whose pale face had wrinkles on her brow, dark bags shaded under her eyelid, eyes that were blood-shot and restless, red-orange hair that grew disheveled over the days from lack of grooming, and her silky dress smothered with dirt because she has simply been harrowed since father hasn't sent any messenger to inform about he and his army and the state they're in. Queen Aimi was nearly as dead as a zombie.
"Looks like another week," Rima said.
Her mother said nothing but nodded her head slightly, trying to keep herself wide-awake. Rima waited for an answer then shrugged, whipping her head away from her and back to the door that led back to castle grounds. Not a sign of life or shadow seemed to be coming from that door.
"Yes, it seems that my lord won't be returning due to the situation we're in at the moment," Queen Aimi finally spoke up but her face remained in that same emotionless state that has been worn on for many days now.
Worried and curious, Rima flickered her attention over to her mother and asked a question that annoyed her mother.
"Why are we even fighting this?" Rima thought that it's ridiculous to fight but yet again what did she know? She had hardly left the castle grounds because of her parent's over protectiveness and insecurity of what may happen to her.
"Because, my dear, the Shiki family would like to claim their jewelry back which isn't even theirs to begin with," mother sighed and had probably explained it for the hundredth time.
"Right…," Rima responded as she twirled a few strands of orange hair which grew down past her shoulder and she was donning onto a blue dress made of fancy embroidery and the best fabric around town.
She wondered if everything was always about war. Why do people fight? All she knew was that war sucked and is bad because it separated her family and they haven't gathered together in such a long time—for about a year now and the disappearance of her sister, Ruka, a beautiful and petite lady whose figure and features could only be expressed with one word: perfection. She had light brown, wavy hair and faint color eyes. Her skin was extremely pale; she's almost as light as a ghost. Anyway, she's been missing since the start of war or it was around that time period…mother lamented giving her the permission to wander around outside of the castle because since then, a word hasn't been heard from her. Even though Aimi had tried sending search troops, they returned with no news of her. She was only able to think of two reasons for her disappearance: first, she might have been kidnapped or she just wanted to run away from kingdom life. That was the last that they saw of Ruka.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard. Somebody made crunching and scuffing noises on the ground and Rima and Queen Aimi both turned their heads to see a herald, a man is his mid-50s who is also growing wary of this disastrous and gruesome war. He came and subjected to the both of them then announced, "My lady, it appears that my lord has been severely injured right at the front border. The enemies are approaching." He delivered the message with much anxiety and urgency that mother gasped as a hand covered her mouth.
"How is his condition?" she asked in a concern voice.
"We're not sure yet…but it's likely that he'll survive," the herald stumbled upon his words as his eyebrows creased then informed her that there is yet more terrible news to come.
"Mother!" Rima slammed her hand onto the chair arm. "Why can't I go help father?"
Queen Aimi flickered her blood-shot eyes at Rima then looked at her threateningly and shouted, "Because you're a woman! Besides you don't know what's out there Rima! Do you want to end up like your sister, Ruka? I let her go for one day and she never came back. It's just too dangerous for you. I don't want you to see the ugly truth about the real world and war!"
"I don't care!" Rima shouted and covered her ears. "I want father back home! I want everyone to be at peace! Why? Why are we even fighting over a piece of jewelry that appears to wield nothing special? I don't understand." Drops of water welled out from her eyes and she used the back of her hand to wipe it off.
Mother sighed and then composed herself to explain once more to her puzzled daughter, "That piece of jewelry is said to have a mysterious power and we're trying to figure out what. They stole it from us for their own greedy and evil purposes."
"I see," Rima answered when she still didn't really get it but to satisfy her mother, she said she did.
Aimi went back into deep conversation with the herald as Rima sat there in retrospect and meditation.
She thought about the outside life and what it would be like. How was it different from kingdom life? Kingdom life isn't as pleasant as it sounds because the people basically dilly-daily their days and it's extremely boring since her parents have never permitted her to go anywhere and marriage arrangement has been delayed because of the awful war.
What's worse is that nobody knows when the war will end.
It's already been a long night for Rima, she yawned and stretched her arms. She decided that it was time to catch up with some sleep and dismissed herself from the garden, telling her mother good night.
Walking through the dark corridors with an incandescent candle in hand, she eventually came upon her bedroom where it was spacious but vacant of furniture—it only consisted of a luxury couch, a bed, and a mirror with a desk attached to it not to mention the crystal-clear chandelier suspending on the ceiling.
"Because you're a woman! Besides you don't know what's out there Rima! Do you want to end up like your sister, Ruka? I let her go for one day and she never came back. It's just too dangerous for you. I don't want you to see the ugly truth about the real world and war!"
"That piece of jewelry is said to have a mysterious power and we're trying to figure out what. They stole it from us for their own greedy and evil purposes."
She scoffed at what her mother had said to her as she settled down onto bed and gazed around the room. "Just because I'm a woman," she clenched her fist and grinded her teeth. "I'm so sick of this life. So sick of war…" She stood up and grabbed for her bag.
"What should I bring with me?" she asked herself and started stuffing in some ordinary clothes and a few royalty robes lest she might have to fight the winter or coldness out there. After getting the clothes organized into her bag, she changed herself into some commoner clothing, a white simple and fabric dress.
"Some clothes and my stuff rabbit should be enough. Maybe some food would be nice too," she said as she wedged her rabbit and tied the bundle together.
Quietly closing the door to her room, she padded to the kitchen which wasn't far from her room. She entered the dark kitchen where several of candles were lit and opened several of cabinets and drawers to obtain food and materials which she snuck into another bag.
After her trip at the kitchen, she continued roaming around the castle to see if she needed anything else. That was when she past by a room she has never seen before.
"Huh? This room was never here. Could they have built it?" she twisted the knob and surprisingly it wasn't locked.
The white door creaked open as she popped her head inside where a brilliant white light illuminated the room. In the room, there was only a wooden table and on the table laid the necklace made of a stone attached to a strand of string.
"What poor security here," Rima walked up to the table and seized the necklace, observing it by twirling it and putting it up close to her eye. She was right from the start; it was nothing more than a piece of rock attached to a string.
"Well, to protect my family and for their safety, I'm going to take it away with me," she grinned at her genius idea.
She safely pocketed in her dress and turned on her heels to exit the door where she started striding down the hallway to leave the castle.
She was walking and minding her own business until she heard footsteps behind her. The person spoke, "Princess, where are you going?"
She stopped in her tracks and stood with her back turned to her loyal servant, Takuma, a grown man with blonde hair where strands of hair were swept above his emerald green eyes. He had donned on a black suit and Rima's parents respected and admired him highly. His smile was always pleasant and his attitude was excellent.
Recovering from shock, Rima responded slowly and hesitantly, "Away."
Takuma arched an eyebrow at me, "Excuse me?"
She turned to face him and looked into his eyes with her soft ocean blue gaze, she smiled faintly. "You heard me. I'm going to run away from this place. I'm sick of it."
He frowned at her.
"I know what you're thinking but please understand. I can't live in this castle forever. It's already been eighteen years and I still don't know what is outside of these castle walls. Pity me Takuma. I need to see the world for myself," Rima lowered her eyes to the ground and spun on her heel to start walking away from him.
He grasped onto her wrist and whispered, "You can't leave! Your mother will be wondering where you are and--,"
She smiled lightly at him and said, "My choice has already been made. There is no turning back now. Just promise me something Takuma."
"Anything, my lady," he released my wrist and bowed down to me.
"Don't tell anyone that you know that I'm running away," she pleaded and straightened him up.
"Yes, I will do that Princess," he placed his hand over his heart.
"Don't call me that. Just call me Rima. Geez, we've known each other since like forever," she teased then said, "Good-bye Takuma. You were a wonderful servant."
She choked on the last words of her sentence as tears started welling up in her eyes. It was just sad for her to leave everyone like that. However, it wasn't a choice. She had to see the real world and the ugliness in it. She just had to…and quickly picked up her legs to run for it.
She trusted Takuma. He was almost like a brother to her—he's been there all the time for her ever since she was young.
The wind blew gently outside, as she walked across the field of grasses which wavered with the wind. She took one last glance at the castle and said quietly, "Farewell mother, I'm running away from this dreaded place to go find a place where it's peaceful. And father, I'm going to come find you."
Her eyes couldn't help but shed the endless tears that rolled down one by one across her soft face and dripped down onto the stone necklace in her pocket.
Shortly after, a faint light shone in her pocket. She sniffled and wiped her tears then fixed her attention to the glowing object in her pocket which she took out and as each second ticked by the light grew more brilliant and suddenly everything flashed a blinding white light.
"What's going on?" she asked in confusion and she got her answer when she landed on top of a stout man who was carrying two baskets of eggs which dropped and cracked once they impacted the ground.
Her eyes widen at the unfamiliar environment that she was in. There were people working and selling goods and food at stalls. She also saw smog coming out from some of the houses and not far she heard some hammers clanking against pieces of metal. What an interesting and fascinating place to be at, she thought as excitement overwhelmed her.
But that excitement died out when the man whom she is sitting on said in a gruff manner, "Hey kiddo. What were you trying to do? Rob my eggs?"
She was startled at the sound of the voice.
"Rob your eggs, sir? Certainly not," she quickly removed her weight from him and started walking away.
"Hey brat!" he grabbed her wrist, "don't think that you can run away without paying."
He said that with a frightening glare which made her body shake nervously as she stuttered, "I-I-I didn't mean it sir…and I'm terribly sorry but I don't have any money on me. Would you like this dress I have in my bag as a replacement?" she searched through her bag and showed him a green tea color dress.
He snatched it roughly from my hand and began scrutinizing the texture and quality of the dress.
"This is trash!" he spat at her face and threw the dress aside, on to the dirty ground.
Her blood boiled. How dare he say that that dress is a piece of crap.
"Excuse me? That dress is crap?" she pointed at it and eyed him fiercely.
"I will tell you who is crap. You are! You ungrateful creature," she smacked him.
He took the blow and she left a red mark on his pale skin. He placed a hand over his stinging cheek and growled, "You did not just slap me…you worthless thing."
She suddenly grew scared of him for he held up one hand high in the air, ready to strike for her head. She cringed and back as far as she could from him, hoping to shield herself from the muscular arm that was going to hit her hard.
But then somebody with a soothing voice spoke up and said, "Takeo, stop."
She looked up to see a chest-nut hair boy.