There was a strange sort of peaceful serenity that surrounded the mostly empty wing that the platinum-haired girl found herself sequestered within, and the dichotomy of her current location in comparison to her memories was just another one of the many disturbing things that piled up within her mind and left her silent and lost in thought. Her ruby-red eyes were distant and focused on the trees outside of the open window beside her bed, and though the strange pink blossoms beckoned to her in the gentle breeze, she could not find it in herself to see the beauty. Her thoughts were turned completely inward, trying to find sense and put order to the chaos that the last several days had forced upon her shoulders, and she felt restless yet exhausted all at once from the mental circling that she simply could not seem to stop.
Only two weeks ago, a short fourteen days ago, she had been a guest in Castle Krakenburg along with her twin brother, proving their worth and inadvertently demonstrating their rebellious nature to Nohr's king. Only two weeks ago she had been the proud second princess of Nohr, finally ready to live amongst her precious siblings, and she had known her role in the world and had come to accept the hand that she had been dealt by destiny. She was a strong young woman, ill in body but strong in spirit, and even if she would die young as the healers had told her all her life, she would at least burn brightly until the moment her life's flame spluttered out on the field of battle. She would die with her sword in hand rather than sobbing for breath in the foul, stifled and enclosed healing rooms of the northern fortress, and Eve was as happy as she could be with such a weight upon her shoulders.
Yet, in less than fourteen days, her entire world had been turned upon its axis and left her reeling and uncertain and lost. It had started so innocuously, a simple mission to survey an empty fortress for use by her homeland's troops on the border of the Bottomless Chasm, but with lightning speed, everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong like a toppling wall of dominoes. She still could barely believe so much had happened, it almost felt like one of her exceptionally vivid nightmares, but as she felt that empty pang in her chest that reminded her of Gunter's absence, she knew there was no fighting the truth. Hans had led to the death of the only guardian she and her brother had ever known, Lilith had proven herself to be far more than anyone could ever begin to guess, and she was now stranded in Hoshido, the land of her supposed enemy.
"Aidan... Evelyn... Oh, my darling children...! How I've missed you!"
The Queen of Hoshido had claimed her and her brother as her children, long held hostage by Nohr, and Eve felt her stomach cramp unpleasantly as she tried again to digest the outlandish statements that had been thrown so cruelly into her face. She had felt disconnected from herself, somewhere far away and unattached as she was pulled into a warm embrace that felt familiar and yet so strangely alien, and was called by a name that she did not know. What had happened immediately afterward was more of a blur than a memory, though Eve was vaguely aware that during the conversation that had followed the embrace that her body had simply shut down underneath the physical and emotional stress.
It was not a new occurrence to her, to lapse into a fit where her lungs cried out for air and her chest constricted and her mind began to panic. She was used to those horrible moments when she fought for a breath, sobbing out for just one taste of oxygen as her limbs became weak and her head swam with a strange mixture of calm, fear, and certainty. Each and every time she wondered if this was to be the last attack to seize her frail body, if this time she would not regain control of her breathing and when she collapsed to the ground that she would not rise again.
Across a vast distance, despite the fact that he had been kneeling down on the floor with her and cradling her shuddering and wheezing form protectively, she had heard her twin brother growl menacingly at the strangers who had triggered her fit with their words. She was numbly aware that he had sheltered her from them until they gave in to his demands to stop calling her by a name that she did not know and instinctively recoiled from, and it had been in the strong and unfaltering arms of her twin brother that she had been carried through the castle to the healing wards that were so vastly different from the ones she had grown to know and loathe in Nohr.
Though that had only been yesterday, it still seemed like such a thing had happened years ago as she now sat quiet and still in the bed in the far corner of the large and rather spacious room that the Hoshidan clerics used to treat the sick and wounded. The beds were spaced far apart from each other, the windows and doors were open wide to allow the fresh air through, and though the warm light of the morning poured in to brighten the place and bring in new life, Eve felt nothing but a strange and hallow sort of coldness deep within. She could find no beauty to appreciate in the complete difference of the world she knew and the one she was now immersed in, and she stared without focus into space as her mind continued to race.
The Hoshidan capital of Shirasagi was a beautiful place of splendour and natural warmth, and the castle of white and gold seemed to wrap about its inhabitants in a comforting and kindly embrace highly reminiscent of its ruler. It stood as Nohr's complete antithesis, and the sheer shock value of being faced with such a thing was far more than enough to shake Eve's already so-fragile composure. She could find nothing familiar within the country of Hoshido's borders, not a single thing spoke of the home she knew and instinctively craved, and she was frightened of the words that these strangers were telling her were the truth of the life she had once lived.
And her brother, the one person she had hoped to turn to in order to find comfort and reassurance, had not seemed to blink as he absorbed the story that had knocked her so cleanly off of her feet. She had only barely seen a flicker deep within his crimson eyes as he stared from face to face, almost as if they were confirming a long-held suspicion that he had never shared with her all his life, and he had spoken not a single word to the Hoshidans to rebuke them when they had finished. Instead he had simply let out a breath, a long held and almost exhausted sort of sigh, and it was as if a great weight had been taken from his shoulders as he sat by her bedside and accepted the tale that she did not wish to believe.
Now, as Eve sat alone by the window, she wished she had used the short few hours she had spent with her brother far more wisely before he had been called away by the crown prince she knew as Ryouma. She wished she had spoken long and hard to him about this story that they were now being told was the truth rather than sitting in shock, recovering from the attack that had sapped her of her strength and will and left her in sore need of rest that she did not wish to take. She had slept for more than half of a day, too drained to resist when her body had demanded to shut down and reset itself, and she had woken only to the feeling of her brother's hand on her forehead and the quiet farewell he had uttered to her before leaving her side.
She understood the reasoning for his absence, after the situation had been explained to her by the Hoshidan queen. If he could see with his own eyes the war that Nohr was fighting with Hoshido, perhaps he would be more inclined to believe their story, though Eve already knew he was already convinced. She didn't understand his willingness, his almost eagerness, to believe that he was not Nohrian, but the thought disturbed her too much to want to linger on. It was simply too overwhelming, and even as she sat quiet and relatively immobile in her bed, she could feel her lungs whispering feebly for more air in response to her rising panic.
Closing her eyes and banishing the thoughts, Eve forced in a deep breath to dispel her anxiety so she didn't lapse into another ugly fit. It had been bad enough she had collapsed once already. Though she couldn't remember much of the fit itself, she did recall the looks of shock and concern that had filled the faces of everyone who had been present in the throne room when her legs had given out. Even the young man with the ponytail, who had been glaring at her and Aidan venomously since the moment he had been summoned to the throne room, had looked worried for her health after her collapse.
But it was pity that stirred him, Eve was well acquainted with such changes of heart due to her fragile body, and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with such things. Weak as she knew she was physically, she was still strong in spirit and mind, and she would never allow anyone to look down upon her simply because she was frail. She had spent far too long training her mind and her body to let that happen, and even if her siblings wished to treat her like a china doll, she would stand tall and proud beside them as a warrior. She had earned that right.
Quiet footsteps alerted her to the approach of a stranger, and Eve's thoughts scattered to the wind as she looked away from the window to the sliding door that was never closed. Her eyebrows raised as she glimpsed a familiar shade of grey peeking about the edge of the door, and despite herself, her lips began to quirk into the faintest hint of a smile. It was the prince with the ponytail, she had seen him several times passing by the room almost as if he was trying to see her without giving away his true intention, and when her eyes met his curious stare, she was slightly amused to see him recoil in embarrassment at being discovered.
Without thinking, Eve found herself raising a hand to beckon him inside and to come join her. She wasn't entirely sure why she did so, she supposed perhaps she simply wanted company after spending so much time alone in thought, and her smile widened a little in what she hoped was a welcoming gesture. If he was to continue passing by under the guise of casual roaming, she saw no reason not to let him converse with her. She called quietly, glad that her voice was steady and calm rather than breathless or weak, "Prince Takumi, yes...? Do you want to come in and talk?"
Several emotions flickered rapidly through the young man's face, embarrassment, surprise, hesitation, but quickly his brown eyes narrowed suspiciously even as a flush curled its way across his cheeks. He stood tall and straight, and his hands clenched at his sides before he was growling back in a voice made tight and somewhat strained from either his anger or awkwardness to be trading words with her, "Don't you get any ideas. I'm not here to be your friend. I'm just checking to make sure you're where you're supposed to be while Ryouma is gone, that's all!"
The words rang out loud and sharp in the room as the second prince turned on his heel and stormed away, but despite the venom that had been imbued in them, Eve couldn't help but smile as she watched him disappear around the corner. For all his grand display of suspicion, her keen ruby-coloured eyes had seen the blush and the hesitancy in his expression beforehand, and she couldn't judge him for the cold mask he was wearing to disguise his true feelings. Shaking her head even as she relaxed herself back into the pillows behind her, Eve murmured softly to herself, "Heh... No wonder I thought he was familiar... He's just like Leon..."
Though the thought had initially made her smile, Eve felt her heart throb unhappily at the thought of the young man she had left behind in Nohr, and she placed a hand to her chest in a vain attempt to quell the pain. The more she stayed and the more she thought, she felt every ounce of her being yearning for what she had known to be home and who she called family. She wanted Elise's bright enthusiasm, Leon's keen-edged but always well-meaning words, Camilla's fierce and yet sometimes playful protectiveness, and Marx's steadfast support.
"I am your mother, Mikoto... You, the both of you... are the children that were stolen away from us in Cheve by the Nohrians. Aidan... Evelyn... You are Hoshidan nobility. The lost prince and princess of Hoshido."
'Was I lied to all my life? Did everyone know that I wasn't truly Nohrian? Those here seem to believe it wholeheartedly, that somehow, Aidan and I were brainwashed in Nohr... but... I don't believe it... I don't... want to believe it...' The thoughts swam without end through Eve's mind, making her body slouch in on itself as she swallowed hard and closed her eyes in a vain attempt to block out her surroundings. It wasn't in her to distrust anyone immediately, she simply wasn't the type, but the story she was being told was just too much for her to swallow whole and without question.
Which only brought her again to her twin brother, and his uncharacteristic approval of the claim the Hoshidans made on him. It was as if he had always suspected something, something he had never spoken of to her before, and now he simply had the proof he needed to reassure himself of the truth. Part of her ached that her brother would so easily be swayed, that he would hold such doubts or frustrations without telling her any of it, but another and more logical side of her argued that the young boy who had held her hand and chased away nightmares when she was a child was a different man now.
'Until we talk... I don't want to commit to any one thought... I don't... want to believe anything until I can speak at length with Aidan... Maybe he just... knows something I don't. Or senses something I can't... We haven't had a chance to really talk since before our initiation in back in Nohr...' Eve sighed with irritation, and her arms tightened about her middle as she kept her eyes closed and continued to force order into her twisting and turning thoughts. It was difficult, it made her frustrated and tired, but the blame was turned ever-inward as her body ached to move rather than lie still as she had been ordered, 'Damn me for being so weak... I could have gone along with him to the borders to see whatever it is that Ryouma is so certain will make us believe in the stories they tell of Nohr...'
"Evelyn?"
The call brought Eve sharply from her thoughts with a cold and brutal tug to her middle. She fought down nausea at the name she had never once responded to or even heard in her time in Nohr, and it was a cruel reminder that the identity she had cultivated there was perhaps nothing more than a facade. Instinctively she shrank away from it, wanting nothing to do with the name and all that it implied of her, and she remembered painfully that Aidan had known before she did why it upset her so, and had been quick to defend her from it. Now with his absence she felt more alone and scared than she could ever remember, and she curled in on herself protectively as she bit her lower lip to stop herself from pleading for that name not to be used.
"Oh... F-Forgive me, Eve... I didn't... I'm very sorry, my dear..." Quiet footsteps followed the soft and genuine apologies, and Eve looked up hesitantly to the door, recognizing the voice and knowing instinctively that she could not hide from it despite all desires to. Eve swallowed hard as her eyes swept over the tall, svelte form of the Hoshidan queen, and her heart gave a pained throb again in her chest as she saw the look of contrition that had lined the face of the beautiful woman who called herself her mother.
Mikoto halted a handful of steps away from the bed where Eve was lying, almost as if an invisible barrier prevented her from coming closer, and she bit down on her lower lip as her dark eyes worriedly examined the pale girl. Whatever colour she had regained from her rest had disappeared again at her full name, and her ruby-coloured eyes were pained and fearful and cloudy. The queen could all but feel the tension and confusion that had tightened the princess' frail form, and swallowing down her own sympathetic pain, she spoke again in a quiet but sincere murmur, "Forgive me, Eve... I forgot not to call you that way... I wanted to check in on you. Takumi had told me that you were awake."
The idea that the second prince had told his mother of her condition brought a smile back to Eve's face as she drank in the hypocrisy of the young man, and she shook her head a little as she smothered a knowing giggle. Proving right about his attitude was something of a triumph even if it was a little bittersweet for her memories, but she was glad to know that for all his grandstanding, Prince Takumi cared enough of his step-mother's desires to look past his own feelings for her sake. Fighting to keep that all from her face however, Eve instead replied as casually as she could manage, "I'm sorry for worrying you, milady... I am awake, though still feeling a little tired... I want to apologize properly for my collapse earlier... I know I had to... startle you all."
"Startle is certainly one way to put it... I had no idea that you were still so ill." Mikoto remarked with a frown, and Eve simply looked away as if the subject was not one she wished to discuss. Though, after the visit to the healing wings before exhaustion had won out, Mikoto could not blame her for the sensitivity. She had sat like a clockwork doll in the beds, her eyes cold and distant as she simply asked the approaching healer what arm she needed for the bleeding, or if she was to be subjected to a leeching now that her fit had passed.
The poor priestess had gasped with disgust and fright, looking with wide eyes to her queen as if demanding to know what on earth she was expected to do to her new patient. Mikoto had been at a loss herself until Eve had rolled up her sleeves in response to their silence, revealing a long and surgical scar underneath each of her elbows as she repeated dully that she was no stranger to the process, and any arm would do for their knives. She would also not object to a leeching if the knives would not do, though she had finished in that same hallow voice that she would not protest to whatever treatment they decided on to quell her symptoms regardless.
Ryouma's righteous indignance to such a statement had been almost palpable, and Mikoto had been forced to act immediately to stop him from simply bursting into a wrath right there in the healing wings. A sharp call of his name and a quick and piercing look had stymied him for the moment, and Mikoto promptly took control of the situation before it could get fully out of hand. She sent the priestess away with a quiet apology, and sent Ryouma after her in short order, and despite the anger simmering in his auburn eyes, Sumeragi's eldest ceded to her with a nod and a growl of a sigh.
Eve had demonstrated an eerily mechanical composure as she spoke of long-dead treatments that the Hoshidans had discarded in favour of herbs and potions many years before, and it made Mikoto shiver as she thought of blood being drawn from the sick in a misguided attempt to cure them of their illnesses. Still, she fought hard to keep such thoughts to herself, and she hoped the items she had directed the healers to prepare for Eve would be finished soon enough so she could have a second option to rely on instead of such macabre healing methods.
"I've been sick for as long as I can remember... but I'm still capable. My body is just frailer than most." Eve spoke quietly after what felt like forever, and while her words almost sounded like a plaintive little plea, Mikoto heard the iron deeper within her tone. It wasn't something she was saying to try to convince her or even herself, it was a statement of fact, but not one that the princess was going to allow to stop her. She had accepted the truth of her illness, but it wouldn't hold her back or slow her down, and for that, Mikoto fought down a proud smile for Eve's spirit. "I'll be all right with a little more rest."
"I'm sure you will. You can sleep in your own room tonight, if you'd like. I can't imagine being cooped up here is very pleasant after two days." Mikoto answered her warmly, but she was surprised as her words seemed to come as a complete shock to the platinum-haired girl. She turned her head sharply back towards her, ruby-red eyes wide and questioning, and Mikoto blinked several times before beginning again somewhat hesitantly, "Th-That is unless you want to stay here...? The choice is fully your own, of course."
"N-No, I don't want to stay here, but... You'll let me out? So soon?"
"You said so yourself that you feel better, and that you only need a little more rest. I see no reason to keep you here any longer if that is true." Mikoto pointed out with a gentle little laugh as she understood what had caused Eve's shock, and she carefully stepped forward to lessen the distance between them as she wondered at what else could be said to surprise her. It was as if the concept of Hoshidan medicine was completely alien to her, and the idea, while painful, did give Mikoto hope that she could share something positive with the lonely and hesitant girl before her. She continued gently, gesturing about to the open windows and the refreshing breeze that played through the cherry trees outside, "While there is plenty of fresh air to be had, it isn't your own quarters, and you can't really be comfortable here. No one ever really is. Being confined is still being confined, no matter how gilded the cage appears to be, yes?"
"That's true." Eve agreed with a slow nod, but she felt a twinge of unease as the words struck uncomfortably close to the issue that was laying unaddressed between her and the woman before her. She understood it was concern, concern and kindness, that kept Mikoto from speaking about her heritage again, but the worry didn't sit well on Eve's shoulders. It made her feel guilty for worrying the queen, for making her frown and betraying her hopes for not believing her story as willingly as Aidan did, and she hated herself for such feelings that seemed only to betray her loyalties to the home she had left behind in Nohr.
Yet it seemed so easy to care for this warmhearted woman when she smiled so sincerely and watched her with such devotion in her deep, dark eyes. Her embrace had been gentle and familiar in a distant way, and Eve could clearly remember the warmth of her arms being wrapped so snugly about her. It reminded her of Camilla's hugs, of the limitless affection her elder sister would lavish her with whenever possible, and the thought deeply disturbed her and once more brought a sharp feeling of guilt back to her heart. It felt like a betrayal, a betrayal to both women to compare their embraces, and it left Eve floundering again as she wondered what was the right thing to do while being stuck alone in this situation.
As if knowing exactly what thoughts were going through her mind, Mikoto slowly lowered herself onto the edge of the cot and offered another warm, comforting smile as she folded her hands in her lap. She offered quietly, her warm eyes that were so keen despite their gentleness never leaving the young princess' face as she spoke, "Or perhaps you would prefer to wait for your brother's return? It may be strange to sleep somewhere new on your own... but, in the meantime, you are free to wander for small periods of time, if you would like. I know you are getting stronger, but you do still need your rest... Still, you will not find a closed door in Shirasagi. You may go wherever you wish."
The offer was tempting, and it showed as Eve's eyes flickered immediately to the open windows and the beautiful trees that lined the outside world just beyond her grasp. The gentle scent that floated from the pink blossoms on the light breeze were comforting and also distantly familiar, and the scenery was more than enough to make her wonder how far the vivid colour and sunlight stretched across the lands beyond her sight. She had never seen such bounty in her time in Hoshido, had never seen so much outrageous bursts of colour, and a small childish part of her wondered if it simply continued to go on forever.
"Would you care to walk in the gardens with me?"
The request came innocently, indeed, it was almost bashfully asked, and Eve turned her gaze away from the open doors back to the white-clad woman who was sitting with her. Though her expression remained gentle and composed, a shy and hopeful sort of light had come into the queen's dark eyes as she looked sidelong at the princess. When she saw she had Eve's attention, Mikoto offered a reassuring smile before nodding to the open door, and she repeated herself quietly, almost hesitantly now, "Only if you'd like to get some fresh air, of course... Or wouldn't object to my company."
"N-No... No, I wouldn't object..." Eve heard herself answer before she could think twice on it, and to her surprise, the Hoshidan queen smiled brightly as if she had fully expected a denial. The gesture seemed surprisingly childish, and it cut her harshly to the quick in realization of just how much the queen's emotions were tied to her words and actions. It took effort to swallow down the punch to her heart and offer a small smile of her own in response, but as she pushed aside the blankets and slid herself from the cot, she couldn't help but be eager, too. It was all new, new and strangely, distantly familiar, but she was willing to explore all the same to find the ground she needed to be even once more.
Eve followed quietly behind Mikoto as she was led into the gardens that wrapped themselves lazily, luxuriously, about the castle. It was a vivid display from the moment her bare feet touched the soft earth outside, and Eve drank in the fresh air and the crisp scents with a deep hunger. It was so different from the sterility she had grown used to in the sickbeds of Nohr, and the difference electrified her body and made her wish she had the strength to run and savour it all at once.
However, as Mikoto checked her pace and walked side by side with her, Eve knew that it would be a crime to run rather than walk. She needed the time to savour it all with her senses to truly appreciate the wonders of fresh air and flourishing plantlife, and it seemed everywhere she looked there was something new with which to feast her senses upon. Mikoto noticed everything she did and noticed, and without waiting to be questioned, began to name each thing Eve's eyes fastened on. Her voice was calm and gentle, reflecting the atmosphere and her seemingly limitless patience, and Eve was grateful for her kindness as she stored away each and every fact she was given with gusto.
Eve wasn't aware when she began to speak back to Mikoto's patient teachings, but she knew as she walked step by step next to the taller woman that she somehow felt at ease all the same. Whatever feelings of hesitancy or worry that she had kept within herself in the infirmary had melted away with her freedom outside, and as their steps took them underneath a grove of blossoming cherry trees, Eve heard herself murmuring as her bare feet all were but tickled by the ground below, "Even the ground feels different here... Softer. Hoshido really is nothing like Nohr."
From the corner of her eye, Eve could see Mikoto's brow furrow at the mention of the neighbouring country, but for her credit, the Hoshidan queen's steps did not falter. Her pace did slow to match Eve's as her gaze became melancholy and far more searching of her surroundings, but her hands remained lightly folded in front of her and her expression did not flicker overmuch to betray her emotion. She spoke quietly, matching her tone unconsciously as she questioned her, "Is that how you see things?"
"It isn't a matter of perception... It just is how it is." Eve replied with a shake of her head, and errantly she reached out to lay her hand carefully, almost reverently, on the bark of the nearest cherry tree. Her callused fingers were gentle as they traced the shape of the trunk, and her ruby-coloured eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed up into the frail, pink blossoms overhead. She could not imagine finding such beauty in Nohr, at least, not where she had once lived, and she mused with another shake of her head, "In the fortress, where Aidan and I lived... it was all so desolate. Nothing grew like this there, or with such colour. It's almost painful to look at. To my knowledge, much of Nohr is barren, like the area around the fortress, or the border beside the Bottomless Chasm... Is all of Hoshido like this?"
"Much of Hoshido is blessed with good growth, yes... I cannot say the entirety of our country is like this garden here, but most of where you go, you will find plantlife in abundance." Mikoto answered slowly and with a nod, and her brows knit together as she cast a new eye about the gardens in thought. It was clear she was attempting to think of her surroundings with a different perspective, and her head tilted a bit to the side as she continued thoughtfully, "The Wind Tribe lives amongst the desert, but even there you can find farmland if you know the earth and have good trade... I suppose the answer to your question is yes... All of Hoshido is like this. Does that bother you?"
Eve didn't answer, though, she mused that the small frown that had appeared on her face was more than enough of one as her mind spun darkly. It was a beautiful scene to her, the myriad of trees and plants and bushes that all bloomed with outrageous colour, but it also made her chest heavy and her stomach pull painfully. There was plenty here outside of the borders of the place where she knew home, and despite all of her wishes not to, she could now understand why some spoke so coldly of her eastern neighbours. 'Such bounty... Such warmth. What I wouldn't have given for something like this to have surrounded the fortress. And if I wanted so much for it, in my privilege, what of the smallfolk...?'
"You are the ocean's grey waves..."
Eve felt herself start at the unfamiliar voice singing just beyond her reach, and she turned about automatically to try and pinpoint the sound with a racing heart. Despite the distance between herself and the source of the melody, and she knew there must be for the echo to be sounding, Eve couldn't help the feeling that the singer was close by, if not somehow within her. A gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her turning and gently directed her south and towards the trees, and as the song continued, Eve realized that Mikoto had keener ears than she as the words flew straight and true like an arrow.
"That would be my daughter, Aqua. She likes to sing by the water's edge occasionally. I didn't know she would be singing today, but it's a welcome treat whenever I walk the gardens." Mikoto explained softly through a pause of the singing, and her voice was quiet and respectful despite the fact that her child was far out of her reach from her unknown audience. A hint of a playful smile curled through the affectionate one she had been wearing a moment before, and she continued in an undertone that also carried a hint of mischief, "And please, don't let her know that her voice carries so far. She gets frightfully embarrassed sometimes when she realizes that her loved ones can hear her singing when she's out on her own."
Eve closed her eyes, listening to the melody ringing over the trees and echoing warmly within her tapered ears. Her heartbeat slowed unbidden, and her breathing likewise quickly relaxed as the words washed over her body like a warm mist and wrapped her snugly within it. She felt a strange but not unpleasant pull deep within, coaxing her forward and through the trees, and almost instinctively she pulled backwards from it as she understood from Mikoto's words that the singer seemed private and disliked being disturbed.
However, the Hoshidan queen merely shook her head and chuckled as she understood Eve's warring desires, and she gave the platinum-haired princess a gentle push forward on the shoulder. She waved a hand, gesturing errantly that her urge to continue was not wrong, and she proved in moments later with another carefree little chuckle, "Be free to wander, my dear, you are welcome. I believe you haven't met Aqua yet, either... I imagine you two will get along quite well. Please... Go on. And should you wish, bring her home with you. I can have some lunch arranged for you two when you return."
"Ah, but..." Eve began to protest halfheartedly, but already her bare feet were walking underneath the impetus of the push, and she couldn't find the will to stop herself as Aqua's singing once more picked up onto a new verse. She glanced over her shoulder, helpless and a little embarrassed, but Mikoto only offered her a small wave and one last affectionate laugh before she was turning away to let her do as she wished. Eve swallowed down her remaining arguments, understanding as Mikoto made her way back towards the castle that she was on her own, and she was surprised by the fact that it did not bother her overmuch. The sound of the song was louder, allowing her to chase it easily, and a strange part of her wished to hum along, as if it knew the song instinctively and wanted to take part in the melody.
'I don't remember hearing this song before... I wonder... Did Mikoto... sing this song to me when I was a child...?'
Eve peeked through the trees, catching a glimpse of beautiful blue garbed in white, and for a moment, the princess felt her breath catch as something foreign, something familiar, went through her like a bolt of lightning. A young woman, as tall as her brother but svelte and almost frail-looking was standing on the lone dock, singing to the lake without a care in the world. She stood alone yet unbowed, like a lone tree amongst the plains, and her thin arms lifted as she sang, fingers twirling in the air and proving that while her body stood still, she could dance just as well as she could sing.
Eve froze where she stood, immediately feeling like an intruder, yet she couldn't find it in herself to move as the song carried on unhindered, making her wonder why it felt as if she had heard it many a time before, and would hear it many a time again. The singer's voice felt right at home in Hoshido, where everything was confusingly new and yet heartrendingly familiar, and Eve swallowed down noisily at that twisting feeling she was quickly growing used to despite it all. Eve instinctive stepped backwards as she regained control of her limbs, only to and wince hard when her bare foot stepped too loudly on the fresh grass she had been trying to avoid while walking the path. She knew she'd been heard, and as the last line left the singer's lips, Eve could only stand guilty and small as the blue-haired girl whipped around, golden eyes wide in surprise and quickly narrowing in suspicion as the breath of her last lyric hung in the air between the two.
"Yet the waters ever change, flowing like time... The path is yours to climb..."
AN:
And that is the first oneshot in my collection "Twilight in the Land of Hoshido". I'm sorry for my long hiatus, I spent a good three weeks stateside, visiting my girlfriend and celebrating our birthdays together, and I only really recently got back into writing. My muse kind of up and left me after I came home, but I wasn't overly bothered by that considering things. I mean, it's an eighteen-plus hour bus ride from where I live to Washington, DC, and after three weeks of being somewhere else, you kind of just need to collapse face-down and let your body readjust to being home again. I was totally wiped for awhile!
Of course, now it's October, and I really do need to get my butt working again, you know? I had a bit of a rough week and didn't expect my muse to return to me, but lo and behold, here she is, and here I am. So, the first piece featured Eve in "Evelyn", which demonstrated Eve's first real taste of Hoshido and her thoughts on what might be her former home and what she's doing as she's adjusting to the influx of information. I really did enjoy the Hoshido-centric chapters in the prologue, though I was admittedly upset that not a lot was really done with the internal struggle that had to be taking place in Kamui at the time. Of course, with so much plot to get to, there really isn't time to dwell, which is what fanfiction is for, yeah? And with twins, I get to explore the truth angle from two distinct heads, and that really excites me. XD
The next chapter will of course be written from Aidan's perspective, and, as you can guess, the chapter will be called, "Aidan". It'll be centred around the Faceless fight that takes place on the borders, and will feature some interactions with Ryouma and Kaze and Rinkah, and maybe a peek of Sakura and Hinoka. I'm not entirely sure exactly how I want to go about it, especially considering how trash I am at fight scenes, but I suppose we will see after I replay the chapter a few times and see how I feel about the piece.
As promised though, there will be more than just two shots about the life in Hoshido for the Twilight Twins. I expect at the very least three more, perhaps four depending on how things go, and after that... Well, I'm honestly not sure. I could continue through any one of the three paths following the twins, or I could just do random oneshots afterwards based on mood rather than following a certain path... If you guys have any desires, please let me know in a review and I promise to take it under consideration. I'd like to know what you guys want to see from me, and of course, if you like what you are seeing at current!
All in all, I'd like to thank you for the reading, and hope that you keep it up as I keep on writing. Your support is massively appreciated, and should you feel the need, please drop a review down below and let me know how I'm doing. Thanks again, and happy days to all of you!
Mood: Sleepy.
Listening To: "If Everyone Cared" - Nickelback
~ Sky