Sooo... yeah. I just finished playing these games for what feels like the thousanth time (love them so much. Zander is such a sweetheart.) and boy, did the last one leave some questions bouncing around in my head. The very least of these being "Who on earth could possibly be the Seer?" Anyway, without further ado, here you have my guess as to what could happen next in Aida's adventures. Also, for the purposes of this, I have Aida paired with Zander. Just 'cause I love him so much. Though, come to think of it, Kole is also quite a dear...
~Lucy
1.
"Thank you, kid." Aida said as she accepted the fresh bundle of letters from the page boy. The boy beamed and bowed slightly.
"You're welcome, highness." he said, then rushed off to complete another task before Aida could protest.
"I keep telling you to just call me Aida, Joddy." She muttered to herself, closing her chamber door and sitting down on a comfortable chair in order to start reading the letters from her friends.
In particular, to read the letter from Zander.
She was halfway through when a knock sounded on the door. Aida jumped with surprise, then, feeling incredibly annoyed, she stood and answered the door.
"Oh, Uncle Landy." her annoyance melted away at the sight of her uncle in her doorway, only to be replaced by worry upon seeing the expression on his face. "What's up?"
"He's been asking for you again." King Landon said grimly. Aida frowned, but nodded understandingly.
"Okay. I'll go. Is Kyra around? He's probably going to try and kill himself again."
King Landon sighed regretfully. "I know. He blames himself for everything, doesn't he? But unfortunately, Kyra already left for Ildis. She won't be back for quite awhile. I can't send down a castle doctor, but why don't you take a first aid kit, just in case? And don't give him anything sharp. And don't let him strangle himself, either."
"Yes, Uncle Landy." Aida said, accepting the first aid kit and closing her chamber door behind her.
"And don't let him-" King Landon tried to add, but Aida cut him off with an irritated glance.
"Uncle Landon," she said, pursing her lips with annoyance, "I won't let him kill himself. I know that he needs to stay alive, as much for my sake as for his own. Don't worry about it."
"Are you sure you can prevent-"
Aida rolled her eyes in a long-suffering manner. "Uncle Landy, I've spoken to him a thousand times before. today's not going to be any different, but you can wait at the end of the hall, if you're so worried about his well-being."
"No, it's fine. You're right, my dear. I trust you. I should go back to the throne room to take care of those dull matters of state that kings must see to." King Landon sighed.
Aida grinned. "Good luck with that, Uncle Landy. See you later!"
King Landon managed a small smile before parting ways with her, heading down the opposite corridor while Aida made a beeline for the dungeons.
"Princess Aida," the guard said, rather nervously, eyeing Aida's white hair, as though reassuring himself that she was, in fact, real.
"Darin! Hey! Sorry again about that time- y'know, when I got you drunk and then knocked you out? It was nothing personal."
"Oh, that's quite all right, Princess." Darin said nervously, fiddling with the ring of keys he kept at his side. "That particular incident has only served to make me train harder, to prevent such things happening on my watch in the future."
"Well, that's good. As long as you're okay, that's fine by me. Anyway, lemme in, I have an errand to run down there. Also, please don't call me princess. Just 'Aida' is fine. You won't get in trouble, I swear."
Darin smiled nervously, then opened the heavy wooden door to allow Aida to pass into the dungeons.
She walked through the labyrinthine passageways, not pausing for a moment until she reached a grate in the floor in one of the deepest parts of the dungeons.
In this area of the dungeons, there were no windows to speak of: the only light afforded the area was the light of the torches and a lantern which Aida took off of its peg on the wall, lit very carefully, and, just as carefully, placed it on the floor at the edge of the grate. She squatted down and looked at the prisoner chained several feet below her feet.
"Hey." she said quietly.
The man looked up, meeting her green-eyed gaze with his own. "Aida." he said hoarsely, as tears budded in his eyes. "You came."
"I always do." Aida said, smiling sadly.
"Yes. Can't imagine why, though." The man hung his head, allowing his now filthy white hair to fall inelegantly over his face.
"Because you're my twin brother, Kael. And you did apologize, after all. So what's up? Are you hungry? I could probably pinch a bit of food from the kitchens without anyone noticing, if you want."
"N..no. Thank you, Aida. I don't deserve your kindness."
"Well, suck it up, ex-king, 'cause you're getting it either way." Aida grinned. "I'll bring you something to eat after supper's over. But Uncle Landon said that you were asking to speak with me, so what is it?"
Kael looked back up at her, his green eyes now overflowing with unsuppressed tears. "I shouldn't be alive, Aida. Why am I alive? I'm nothing but the scum of the earth. Why am I still alive? I should be dead!"
"Whoa, whoa! Not this again! Kael, you're alive because I'm alive! I've told you that, what, a thousand times now?" Aida sighed. "We're twins. Not just twins, we're half-noble twins. When I stabbed us, only the noble part of us died. And since we're twins, our very lives are tied together more tightly than, I think, either of us would like. So when Kyra resuscitated me, only the human part of me came back, and your human part had little choice but to follow along."
"Yes, but I don't deserve it!" Kael wailed.
"Shut up. No one said that you did. You've been a real douchebag lately, but killing yourself or getting killed won't help anything. Kael, you remember Diego, right?"
"That-The Eagles leader?" Kael asked, suddenly confused. "What does he have to do with anything?"
"Shut up and listen. We hated him for awhile, mostly because he kind of killed Sky and my entire camp, back in Appletown-"
"Sky... She's the human alchemist, right? The one with the lightning glove? The one who saved your life after I almost killed you that first time?" Kael interrupted, still tearful.
"Who's telling this story, me or you?" Aida demanded. When Kael didn't reply, she sighed and continued. "Yes, that Sky. Anyway, Diego sort of kind of had them murdered, along with probably hundreds of other people, including the Knight Order, -which was the reason the Silver Order and that douche Synius were able to screw you over so royally- and so of course we swore a vendetta against Diego. Just like any reasonable human being would do, right?"
"You should swear a vendetta against me." Kael muttered. Aida ignored him.
"But eventually, we figured out that we were actually on the same side, and that all of that murdering of our camp was just a big misunderstanding, as was the disagreement he had with Zander and Tillie-"
"The Moon Elf mage and the Dwarven alchemist." Kael interrupted again. Aida shot him a sour look.
"Quit interrupting, Kael. I'm trying to explain something important to you."
"Yes, Aida. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I-" Kael choked on his words and began to bawl, rather loudly, in Aida's opinion.
"Hush up." She said briskly. "I'm not done."
Kael silenced himself, with some difficulty.
"That's better. Anyway, we didn't like it much, and we didn't trust Diego much at first, but eventually, after a couple bumps in the road- one of which being selling me out to you in order to gather intel (that douchebag)- we grew to, at least, respect each other a decent amount. And he must have REALLY worked on getting Sky to forgive him, because, well..." Aida cleared her throat, still feeling solidly in denial about Diego and Sky's relationship.
"Was there a moral in there somewhere?" Kael asked.
"Er- yeah." Aida was dragged away from her disapproving thoughts of what Sky could be up to at that very moment, "You're quite a lot like Diego, Kael. I mean, just think: douche-y habits, blaming me for your troubles, having a tendency to murder innocent people for no reason at all, and, most importantly, you were being controlled. So that's why I don't blame you for what you've done. Synius killed your mother for the sole purpose of controlling your actions. Everything's his fault, not so much yours. He played on your fears, controlled you by controlling Queen Kathleen, hell, that douchebag even killed your father!"
"They were your parents, too, Aida." Kael said quietly. Aida was silent for a moment.
"Maybe biologically, but I never knew them. Not at all. I only met the Queen once, and I never got to meet King Adrian."
"It wasn't your fault, Aida. You were just a child." Kael told her.
"Who's consoling who around here?" Aida sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes. Then she laughed, remembering something.
"What is it?" Kael asked.
"Nothing. It's just that, well, not so long ago, you were telling me that it was my fault that I was sent away. Geez, you were crazy." Aida laughed.
Kael smiled regretfully. "I'm sorry. Our situations do seem to have reversed themselves, don't they? Now you're royalty and I'm just your twin, locked away in the dungeons..."
"Kael, shut up. I have absolutely no intention of acting like any sort of royalty, much less act like you did."
"But why? I didn't have to torture you so much, you know. I was a complete and utter tyrant, not to mention a spoiled brat, so why...?"
Aida smiled sadly. "Kael, you want to know why I haven't even so much as punched you?"
"It might clear up some of my confusion, yes." Kael admitted. Aida smiled even more at the humour.
"It's because first off, you're doing an awfully good job of that on your own. You don't need me to add anything to your pain. And second... never mind, it'll sound stupid."
She stood up straight, stretching out her legs which were now sore.
"I won't judge you. I'm in no position to, after all, Aida. Just tell me." Kael called desperately from his pit.
"Heh. I suppose you're right." Aida laughed mirthlessly. "Fine then. It's because of your eyes."
"What about them?"
"They're both green now."