This is a story I wrote a couple of years ago and I just felt like posting it. Depending on the response I get I might actually make it into a story and not a one shot. I just need a kick in the ass. So please review and tell me what you think. You'll be the one deciding if you want to have more. And of course, if I write more you'll meet the canon characters too. :D
Lala looked around the room. It was so dirty and everything in it was old and broken. Some chairs lay on the floor, the table was broken into two and the bed and couch were both wrecked. She bent down and picked up a broken photo frame. The picture in it showed a little girl; blond hair, tiny and slender. The girl stood beside a old man, he looked very serious, while the little girl had a big smile on her face. Lala felt like crying, letting the sorrow just take over her, but she didn't. She wasn't that little girl anymore, she was strong and didn't let her feelings take control of her. Looking around the room made all the memories come back. The painful ones, as well as the happy ones. She started thinking back, when she had first met him...
Memories from the past
A little girl sat in her room, her blond hair in a little ponytail. She was playing with a new teddy bear, one she had gotten from her parents because today was her 3rd birthday. She laughed and threw the bear into the air and caught it again. She had no worries and no troubles, she was happy.
She had been playing while her parents cleaned up after their private little birthday party. And when she heard something hitting the ground and screaming from downstairs, she stood up and went to see what was going on. The sight that met her wasn't something any child should ever see. Her mother was screaming and kicking, two men dressed in black cloaks held her tight and didn't let her go. Her father was on his knee's in front of a big man in black, he had a samurai sword lifted. A broken scream went through the whole house as the big man swung his sword. She saw her mother fall down sobbing. Her father fell to the ground lifeless. The big man just grinned. They let her mother go and she ran over to her husband and lay on him sobbing in grief.
She watched the scene with fear, hatred and sorrow. She was smart, she knew her father was dead. Her mother had died at the same time as her father, or at least her mothers will to live had died. Tears ran down the little girls cheek as she watched everything from the top of the stairs. She saw the men setting the house on fire before they left, laughing like only a mad killer could. She had the teddy bear in her hand while she stumbled down the stairs. Her mother, still lay sobbing over her father. She didn't seem to be in contact with reality. The little girl screamed at her mother, they needed to get out of there. But her mother only lay there, whispering soft words to her dead husband. She had lost her mother, she knew that. She started running and barely made it out the burning house.
She had been walking aimlessly for hours in the big dark forest. It was night, she could hear sounds in the dark, she was afraid. Finally she just fell together, her small legs couldn't take it anymore. The last thing she remembered was seeing a dark figure and the feeling of getting picked up, before everything went dark.
As she woke up, she felt the warm and comfy feeling of a bed. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping. Maybe a few hours, maybe days and maybe even weeks. She didn't remember anything at first, everything was foggy. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. As she looked around the room everything came back to her; Her parents, the burning house, lost in the forrest. She started to panic, where was she? She jumped when the door opened and a man came in, he had to be well over 40 years old. She backed away in the bed, not knowing what to do. She was after all just 3 years old and had never seen much of other people before.
"Oh, your awake. Don't worry Angel, I'm not going to hurt you..." The man said to her. He had a dark groggy voice, but she could somehow feel that he didn't want to harm her. She relaxed some, he didn't seem to be dangerous. She watched him walk over to the table that stood in the middle of the room. He lay the basket he carried in his hands on the table and started to take different plants out of it. She watched him, a bit fascinated. He took a glass with hot water in and put a crushed plant in it. She watched him walking over to her and handing her the cup. She took it and looked at it hesitantly. He noticed this and laughed, a sweet warm laugh. She was surprised, the laughter reminded her of her father.
"Don't worry Angel, it's not poison. Merely some home-made tea..." He reassured her. "You'll fell better if you drink some of it..."
She looked up at him, her face surprised of this old man. Then she nodded slowly and took a sip of the tea. She felt the warm drink warm her up as it rushed down her throat. She wouldn't admit it but it was good, she felt better already. He took her on the head and smiled, before walking over to a little closet. She sipped on the tea, her tiny fingers barely capable to hold the cup. When he walked back to her he tossed a few clothes on the bed beside her. "Here Angel, take these on... I'm sorry, but I don't have any girls clothes so these will do..." He said and took the now empty cup from her. She looked at him, then at the clothes. She nodded and had soon changed out of the big t-shirt she was wearing. She now had a pair of black, a bit too big, pants on her, plus a black sweater. She looked up at the man who now sat in the couch that stood in a corner. She smiled brightly and turned around so he could see how she looked.
"Very nice," he smiled at her. "You look like an angel!"
She couldn't help but smile brighter. He was so nice too her. She run over to him and sat down beside him, looking at him with a tilted head.
"I am Maria." She said in a shy and childish voice. "I am 3 years old!" She showed him three of her fingers to make him understand.
"Angel, your not Maria anymore. Maria is dead," he said quietly and looked at her. She looked confused at this, she wasn't dead, was she?
"Your name is Lala now, Angel. Lala Angelova. Your the daughter of Rumen Angelov, me..." He looked at her to make sure she understood.
She looked at him strangely. Was she Lala? She thought for a little moment and than nodded. She didn't understand it, but the intensity of the old man was enough to make her listen. "I am Lala!" She smiled. "You Rumen!"
He nodded at her and smiled, ruffling her hair. She laughed a bit. "Good girl!" He said to her, she felt a rush of joy run through her. This was her father, this was her family!
/Memories from the past
Lala lay the picture away and looked around some more. She had been Maria, but that was before she met Rumen. Rumen had meant everything to her. He had given her a home, saved her. He had taught her everything he knew, he had taken care of her. She felt something touch her legs and looked down; A black fox walked by her feet. She picked him up and stroked him. "I know, Iliya..." She said in her dark emotionless voice. She remembered when she had gotten Iliya...
Memories from the past
She was 8 years old, it was summer and she was out in the forest. She was training with her knives. She had been training for Rumen ever since he found her when she was 3 and she was getting better. She loved fighting, she loved it more than anyone could imagine. She was wearing a black skirt and a black t-shirt. Her hair had gotten long and she had to have it in a ponytail so it wouldn't get into her face while she was training. She threw a knife at one of the trees, hitting just in the middle of the X. She had a concentrated look on her face.
She threw a new knife, she missed the tree by a inch. She sighed. Now she had to go find it. She started looking and found it within a few minutes. She picked it up and suddenly stopped up. She could hear someone, or something. It was making a sort of painful sound. She walked towards the sound. It was just behind a bush. She moved carefully. She had learned a long time ago that there were dangerous creatures living in this forest. But somehow she wasn't afraid. She somewhat knew that this wasn't one of those dangerous creatures, she didn't know how she knew, she just did.
She pushed the bush away carefully and gasped. There, on the ground, a little black baby fox lay. It had caught it's foot in some sort of plant and couldn't move. She looked at it with eyes filled with compassion. Her hands slowly moved down to help the poor fox. The little fox didn't move a muscle, he lay still while she helped him. She was surprised that the creature didn't try to protect itself. But deep inside she knew why; they both knew. She set him free and smiled at it while it stumbled onto it's feet again.
"There you go, now run along home!" She said with a waving motion. But the fox didn't move. "Come on, go home..." She said again. But she knew it wouldn't help, just as she knew that this little creature would change her.
She shrugged and went back to the training spot, there she picked up her knives and started making her way back to the house. All the way back to the house she knew the little fox followed her, she knew he was trotting behind her quietly.
When she came to the house she saw Rumen outside. He was sitting on a rock just outside the house, smoking his pipe. He looked up at her as she came into view. And without even taking a look on the creature trotting behind her he opened his mouth.
"Who is your little friend?" He asked.
"I found him tangled in a plant and I just helped him out," Lala shrugged. "He's been following me ever since."
"I think we have some milk inside." Rumen told her and went back to looking at everything or nothing.
/Memories from the past
Later she had started calling him Iliya, because he was her strenght, her power. Without Iliya she wouldn't have been where she was today. Snapping out of her memories she focused on the task at hand. All emotions were drained out of her face, she went back to being cold and calculated as always. She walked over to one corner of the room and used her wand to throw the furniture and other broken stuff away.
She muttered a short spell under her breath and a secret hatchway, which she opened with her hands. She stepped down the stairs into the darkness, she didn't need light, she knew every little step and corner. She reached the bottom of the stairs and continued walking, muttering spells all the way, to get passed the traps and curses put on the secret room. Finally she arrived at her destination.
She took a device out of her pocket and pressed the button, several lights erupted from it and like a magnet sought out the orb's flying around the room. Soon the whole room exploded in lights. At first glance it looked like a completely bare room, nothing but white walls, a white ceiling and a white floor.
"Iliya." Lala looked down at the black fox who started running towards the wall upon hearing her voice. It had been a long time since they had last been there, but they both knew the drill. Iliya got closer and closer to the wall, yet he didn't slow down. He flew right through the wall, the wall just flickered a little and then Iliya was gone, the wall was still in one piece like before.
A click was heard. Soon the room started shaking slightly and several shelves were revealed all over the room. On the shelves were different kind of swords, knives and spears. Also throwing stars and other kind of weapons like arrows with bows. The fox came back out from the wall.
"Good job, Iliya." Lala crouched down and stroke the fur of her little fox. "Come on, let's get what we need and go get our avenge. I've been searching for this bastard for years, now he is finally going to get what was coming for him." She stood up and started gathering weapons, strapping them to her body.
She looked up towards the ceiling.
"This is for you Rumen!"
Her emotionless face broke into a smile for just one minute and for the first time in a very long time she felt at peace.