Summary: Before joining Kalas and the others, Lyude finds love at a young age with a girl named Sarah, but the abuse he witnesses makes him want to be a hero. But when love gets in the way, are death or exile second options?
Rating: PG-13 (Violence, scary images, mild language, battle sequences)
Bleeding Concerto
Prologue
Soft pools of moonlight crawled innocently over Lyude's bed as he suddenly sat up in fright, his short red hair matted to his forehead by a thin sheet of cold sweat…his white shirt clung to his chest and shoulders.
His nightmare was dark and vivid of when he was just 15 years old, though only three years ago it seemed like it happened an eternity passed since that night at the Empire's ball.
Looking around to see if Kalas and the others were asleep, Lyude slowly got out of his bed and went over to the short wooden balcony with the view that overlooked the Celestial Tree.
'I just don't understand…why must this nightmare come back to me now?' he asked himself desperately, leaning his arms against the railing. 'I need to concentrate on the mission more than ever now…'
They had just saved King Ladekahn from intruders and were in Anuenue after speaking with Queen Corellia, with an interruption by Emperor Geldoblame obviously, and tomorrow they were heading for the Celestial Tree to unseal the next End Magnus.
/Can't sleep Lyude/ a voice asked, catching the officer off guard.
It was Kalas's Guardian Spirit Lilith…
"I'm fine now, just a mere nightmare is all, sorry if I disturbed you Lilith," Lyude apologized, feeling the faint warmth of the Guardian Spirit inside his mind and body.
/A nightmare of the past perhaps/
"What gave you that idea?"
/I can see in the crevices of your memories Lyude, this is a memory that has been imprinted in your mind since this journey started right/ she asked softly, her innocent voice causing Lyude to sigh of relief…for some reason every time he spoke with Lilith, he felt at ease.
"Yes, a memory from three years ago…one I wish to forget every time, but unfortunately, the pictures come crawling back," he whispered softly, his voice cracking as he spoke.
He heard Lilith sigh sadly and he felt the warmth go cold slightly, but he could still feel her warm presence in his chest.
/You're lucky you still have memories Lyude, mine are gone like Kalas said…I remember nothing…/ she began, and all was silent for a moment.
Giving the spirit space to think, Lyude suddenly looked over to see Kalas looking at the redhead, and then walked over to him.
"Can't sleep tonight Kalas?"
"I was trying to…have you been talking to someone Lyude?"
"Oh…Lilith found me and popped up a conversation, why?"
Kalas sighed, ran a tired hand through his wild blue hair than stared out in the starry night of Anuenue, then looked back at his friend.
"Very clever of you Lilith…" he whispered, chuckling quietly, and then lightly patted Lyude on the shoulder. "Well, I'll leave you guys to chat for a while, goodnight you two…"
/Lyude…who was in your dream/ Lilith asked suddenly, but gently.
"I don't remember her name, but I met her at the Empire's ball three years ago, I saved her from bleeding to death," he began, his eyes gradually watering.
"She was petite and weak sometimes, but over the three years I knew her and stayed with her, she accepted me for my own personality…unlike my older brother and sister did after they became soldiers."
"Only her and Almarde were the only ones who cherished my presence and appearance, but one day she…she…d-d-died…"
"She was taken from my home one night by Emperor Geldoblame and his assistant, and I never saw her again after that night…it was raining and windy."
"I tried to look for her in the morning, but Almarde made me stay home. My older siblings just ignored me as always, and I think even sometimes…they smiled because I was suffering."
"She…I guess…was my first love, but I never got…the chance…to tell her before she was…t-t-taken from my home like that, I should've…s-s-s-saved her and we should've escaped somewhere…with Almarde and never return…"
And then he dropped to a sitting position and buried his face into his hands and cried softly, his shoulders shaking and his red hair covered his entire face.
Even though he felt Lilith's presence wrap around him, he just shed his tears of loss…love…sorrow…and especially anger.
Three years ago that night, his friend had been taken and never returned…Lyude could feel his anger rage inside him like a dormant shadow about to awaken and wreak havoc.
Slowly putting on his gold boots and jacket and grabbing a pendant from under the pillow, he ran into the forest behind the castle, and slowly let himself tear away from his sanity.
His curses and shouts to Geldoblame and the sounds of splintered wood and flapping wings of retreating birds, Lyude's shouts of sorrow and revenge echoed painfully throughout the entire nation of Anuenue, and no one answered his endless calls as he tore himself apart and his sorrow exposed its face after three years of sleeping…
-Morning-
"Why did you let him leave Kalas?" Gibari accused the still drowsy blue haired boy as he attached his winglet to his back.
"Hey don't blame me! I'm not supposed to look after him, Gibari!"
The two men continued their argue until Xelha pushed the two arguing men backwards and glared at both of them, Savyna not even noticing the bickery as she looked out into the forest.
"Enough you two, this won't give us Lyude's location!" Xelha yelled.
Gibari and Kalas stepped back, but their eyes were still seething with flaming anger, but eventually they simmered down and started discussing their plan.
"Should we tell the Queen about this?" Kalas wondered.
"Probably not…we don't know what his behavior is like," Savyna spoke up.
"I guess you're right, but where could he be now?" Gibari wondered, looking outside at the Celestial Tree, but something small in the woods caught his eye. "LOOK, DOWN THERE!"
Although the image was faint from the veil of leaves, the party could see torn up trees and small streaks of blood on the broken bark.
"Oh no…" Xelha whispered.
"Let's not waste time!" Kalas yelled and the four ran out of the room to find their lost companion.
Sunlight seared Lyude's tired eyes as he opened them to see the morning sun high and fiery above the trees, but the pain was unbearable.
"Wh-where am I? What happened?" he asked himself, looking down to see he was laying in a bed of pointed, broken tree bark with streaks of his own blood.
Then, thin splinters of his memory appeared before his eyes, and he remembered himself shouting and crying all night.
Smashing his body against the shot trees, his gun shots still shattering and echoing in his ears, and the pain slowly injecting itself in his tired limbs.
Delicately reaching his hand to his shirt, he felt the outline of the broken pendant, and sighed softly with relief that it wasn't damaged…it was the last fragment of his beloved past.
/Lyude…Lyude…/ a faint voice called out in his head.
He was going to answer when Kalas, Xelha, Gibari and Savyna towered over him, and his head fell back, knowing he would have to explain to them of his nightly escapade.
As his sight gradually began to fail him, Lyude could faintly hear the sounds of opera music a lovely soprano singing before an audience.
"S-S-Sarah…"
"Thank heaven!" Xelha sighed with relief of hearing from the doctor; Lyude was sleeping but would recover within a week or so.
"But who was the person he called out to?" Gibari asked, fingering the half pendant in his hand, the bright red stone shining despite the many cracks. "Never heard the name before…"
"He's hiding something," Sayvna simply stated, looking away from the balcony to gaze at the sleeping, bandaged Lyude. "It's as simple as that."
Before he was attended to, Lyude has puncture wounds in his arms, stomach, legs and a small one in his throat. Another hour or so and he would've died from eternal bleeding.
But now, with his matted short red hair shading his tired face, most of the scars were taking notice and the bleeding was gradually slowing down, and his breathing was normal.
"How much longer til he wakes?" Kalas finally asked.
No one answered him when Lyude sighed and opened his eyes, and everyone circled around him, and Gibari slipped the broken pendant in Lyude's stretched out hand.
"Who's Sarah, Lyude?" Xelha asked anxiously.
"It's a long story," he responded slowly.
"We've got time Lyude, it's alright," Gibari assured him, and helping him sit up, Lyude began the tale of his shattered past.
"Her name was Sarah, and she was a singer for the Emperor. A born soprano and always caught people's eyes, but her eyes masked a secret lifestyle of a broken heart," he started, and everyone was instantly hooked.
TO BE CONTINUED!
A/N: By the way, hello whoever's read and enjoyed this story! I look forward to your responses and I'll post the next installment soon.