As his master warned Havi, there might be a time where he'd have to bring himself to kill the one he loves most. That terrible time has come true resulting in not just Vald's death, but Havi's as well. It is truly a tragic and beautiful end, for two lovers to die together. Is this really the end of their story though? Both Havi and Vald have been given new life in our present day time, but what are their chances of meeting again let alone remembering each other? To not remember your true love, that surely is the true curse. (Slighty AU with some spoilers.)
DISCLAIMER: The Crimson Spell series, Halvir, and Valdrigr belong to Ayano Yamane. No way shape or form do I own The Crimson Spell series.
WARNING: This is a YAOI fanfic. That means there will be boy on boy love here. If you didn't know that before hand, how the heck did you read The Crimson Spell series without even noticing the yaoi? (There's at least one sex scene evey chapter, geebus.)
Spell One: Let the Fairy Tale Begin
A dark place, the air hot and thick, with the only sound of chains clattering together as a young man struggles against his bindings. He twists and turns in the tight cuffs holding his wrists above his head. It seems like he had been fighting to get free for hours and he has just about exhausted all of his strength. Eventually, the lone man gave up after tiring himself to the brink. His mouth and throat were dry as he coughed to catch his breathe. His brunette hair clung to his face from the sweat from his efforts of struggle. To add to his troubles, he was sure he scraped up his wrists badly from the tight metal. He couldn't really look up to tell, but they stung terribly in pain.
There was no one to help him. He was trapped there. Was he to die here? Alone? He didn't want to be alone...someone come soon. He didn't want to die alone. Someone please come...
Vald woke up suddenly in a cold sweat. He breathed heavily as he looked about the area he was in, taking in his surroundings. A television, bookcase, alarm clock...he was in his room. A long sigh of relief escaped the boy as run his hands through his hair slightly, holding his head.
"That dream again..." Vald mumbled to himself. This had been happening a lot quite recently. Ever since he turned eighteen a couple of months ago, he'd have the same dream every night. At first, it wasn't as intense, but recently they've been getting quite worse. He tried to speak with his parents about it and the school counselor, but they both dismissed it as stress. Vald was convinced for some time that is what it was. After all, his last year of high school was coming to a close.
The ending of this school year had been quite busy for him. Not only did he worry about applying to a college, but he also was the class president. So many ceremonies, selections for the next student body, and last minute business had taken up a lot of his time. Not to mention, he was also the captain of the fencing team. He wasn't aiming for such a position, he had only joined the club because the sport fascinated him. Not that he didn't enjoy it, he just would rather not have so much responsibility.
Still, Vald would never admit that being a leader bothered him. To see the smiles and knowing the apperication of his fellow peers was enough. Because of his efforts, the student body had been the best ever for the first time in years. Also, he manage to take his fencing team all the way to regionals. His high school got so much reconginition since he came along, he was glad he played a major part in that.
"...These dreams have to be stress...I'm working too much." Vald told himself once again as he collected himself to get ready for school.
"HALVIR YOU IDIOT!" The man held the phone away from his ear as he sat their stoically. He let the crow on the other end of the phone line screech on while he scribbled down some notes with his other hand. "What do you mean you need another month? You're already two weeks late! At this rate, the publisher will cancle your next book!" The man brought the phone close to his ear again once the woman had finished her rant.
"Must you raise your voice? It's very unbecoming for a lady of your age." He stated rather bluntly while he pushed his glasses farther along the bridge of his nose. That statement only made the upset woman sigh in frustration.
"Look, Halvir, you're good at what you do, I'll admit THAT much. But! If you keep this up, we'll both be out of a job! Are you really that cruel to do that to me? I'm your editor, but there's a limit to how much I can work with you!" Halvir rubbed his forehead, feeling he might be getting a serious headache soon.
"You can blame the publisher for that. I told them that I wasn't well versed in South American folk lore, but they still demanded I'd write about it." He was quite annoyed with the whole demand from the company and he almost declined to it. Maybe he should quit his partnership with them if they keep asking him ridiculous requests. "I may be a lore and myths expert, but there's even a limit to my knowledge." His editor on the other end let out another long sigh.
"I know you and publisher don't get along, but just finish this book by...the end of this week at least. Do that for me and I promise I'll find you another company that'll give you more freedom with your writing. Got it?" Halvir liked the idea of dumping that company, even if they were the main reason his books and studies were known world wide. When it gets to the point that someone uses his abilities and knowledge as a tool, that's when it's time to call pull out of the so called 'partnership.'
"Give me a month." He demanded of the woman yet again. He heard some annoyed mumbling through the phone speaker.
"Two weeks."
"Three." Why should he care about getting a book he was half assing for a company he was going to leave anyways?
"...Fine three. But you owe me! Oh! Before I go, how's that...other book coming along?" Halvir sighed as he leafed through the papers he had been scribing on earlier.
"The first draft is completed, but I want to do some self editing. I'm thinking about changing the flow so this edition can finalize the series." A gasp was heard on the other end.
"You're finishing it just like that? The fans of 'Romance Before Rose End' series aren't going to be very happy that it's ending." The editor sounded a little bit disappointed with the writer, but Halvir had made his decision.
"I barely had any inspiration to start with. I swear, I'm regretting writing that abomination in the first place." He pulled off his glasses, rubbing his closed eyes with his free hand. "Desperate house wives are willing to buy any crap as long as it includes a mousy woman having some kind of strange affair with some godly male."
"Really? So is this the end of the author, Vallerie S. then?" The curious editor questioned.
"I don't know, really. If shedoes quit writing these terrible books, maybe those flaky women will stop asking for Vallerie to make a public appearance." Honestly, Halvir should have never started the gushy romance series in the first place. He wasn't a fan of poorly written novels such as that anyways, but he had to start somewhere. Publishing companies weren't very willing to publish a young scholar when his books were about 'fairy tales.' Halvir hated when the rejection letters said that. Then, he got a pen name and created some books people were fools to sink their claws into. With a bestseller on his resume, they finally let him publish his studies on folk lore, myths, and legends into books. Even with his dream realised, it was starting to turn into a nightmare.
"Fine Halv, fine." The editor used the nickname he ever so hated. "If you really want to finish off the series, then I won't stop you. Just keep up with your other work twice as hard then! Finish that book and I'll look into some other place for you to write for." A click was sounded and the snippy hag that was his editor was gone. Halvir hung up the phone before leaning back in his desk chair. He stared at the ceiling for some moments, thinking.
"Romance is the fools biggest fairy tale of them all anyways..."
"Vald!" The brunette was just about done cleaning out his locker as a group of under class men came up to him. He offered his younger peers a kind smile.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" When he spoke and smiled, it always made the girls blush. Sometimes, the boys did too, but Vald never noticed. Right now was no different.
"You did so great at the ceremony today! Such a way to see us all off!" One of the girls spoke up from the group.
"You were so eloquent with your words, almost like a true prince!" Another younger girl eyes twinkled as she remembered the moment. Vald shook his head at the two as he closed his locker.
"Ah, I wouldn't exactly say prince. I just took what the previous class presidents said the years before. It's not that impressive." Vald tried to hide a small smile he had. He always thought the other students praised him a bit too much for the little things he did, but he was glad to seem them all so happy. It felt like he had done his duty for his fellow classmates.
"Haha! Come on! Stop saying you're not a prince." One of the boys within the group patted Vald's back. "Heck, you've been nicknamed the prince of our school since your second year." The brunette blinked and shook his head.
"I-it's a silly nickname..." He looked away, a bit shy but being reminded of such a ridiculous name.
"Maaan! This sucks! We finally get a good student body president and this is the last day we'll ever get to see him. The year went by so quick..." The confident female student stated, not really happy with seeing the cute president leave. "You know, we should all take this guy out for some fun tonight!"
"Yeah that's a good idea! You rarely hang out with anyone anyways, Vald. Why not change things up and come hang with us?" The boy grabbed his shoulder, smirking at him. Vald was almost about to decline, but then remembered that he needed to relax a bit. After all, he needed to stop these 'stress' dreams. He wasn't usually sociable outside of school, but he accepted the groups invitation.
"Alright, lets go then!" After the final day of class was wrapped up and everyone did their tearful goodbye hugs or 'see you again' handshakes, the group went off into town. They had fun chatting about their summer trips, the girls losing weight for swimsuits, or what the next year will bring.
"Oh! Hold up!" The loud girl stopped the group as she pulled the other female into the bookstore. The three boys looked at each other before shrugging and entering the store as well. "Ah here it is!" The girl pulled off a paper back novel off the 'Just In' shelf, in which the other girl pulled the same copy off the shelf as well.
"What is it?" The curious boy of the group asked, but when he looked at what they held, he made a face. "Ew, 'Romance Before Rose End?' I can't believe you two can stand reading that stuff!" He joked around with the other male, both making sick faces and sounds before laughing. The girls sent a glare towards the other two.
"This happens to be the last of the series! It's a very good book too! Honestly, you just don't like it because boys like you have no taste!" The other girl snickered to her friend.
"And they wonder why they both don't have girlfriends." Both of the girls started laughing, which in turn made the boys glare.
"Hey we heard that!" After a bit of teasing and more laughs, the curious male of the group observed their numbers and notice they were missing a body.
"Where did Vald go off to?" Just as he asked, Vald came out of one of the aisle and back to the group. In his hands were a couple of large books.
"I'm sorry about that, but I thought I might as well pick up a few things while we're here." He set his books on the counter as the clerk rang up his purchase. The girls followed suit with their beloved paper back novels.
"Hey, Vald, I got a question? What's you're opinion on gushy romance novels that're just terrible?" One of the boys asked as they left the store. The result of his question was answered with a swat to the back of the head from one of the females following behind.
"Oh stop it! If they were so terrible then why is Vallerie S. a bestselling author then?"
"Maybe she's really some fat hairy guy that says he's a chick. He probably makes the books to appeal to girls so he can get laid." The vulgar teen got another swat at the back of his head again.
"Oh you are just immature! Anyways, Vald? What did you end up buying?" She tried her best to peer over Vald's shoulder. He decided to hand one of the books he was carrying to her, so she could get a better look at it.
"It's a study on the how myths and legends can be relevant to today's modern teachings." Vald then showed her the other book he had. "This one is another study that revolves around dragons and the scientific evidence of their possible existence." The group gave their classmate a curious look, surprised that their school's prince was into reading such things.
"Really? I thought you'd be into...I do know, books about sword fighting or something like that." Vald laughed at himself a little as he took back the books.
"I suppose you're right, but I've always had a fascination about the fantasy world and stuff like this. It's one of the main reasons I'm going to study over seas." One of the females jaw dropped when her cute prince mentioned he was going over seas.
"Whhhhat? That's totally not fare! Not only are you leaving us school wise, but you won't even be in the same country as us anymore?" The female student felt like she would tear up soon. One of the other boys patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry, you still got me for your last year!" He gave a sly grin, which was only met with a glare.
"Oh geeze, I feel sooo much better!" As the two went on bickering, the other two decided to question Vald some more.
"So, why're you studying that kind of stuff. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's kind of a strange subject." The brunette knew they would think it was strange, which is why he never really talked to anyone about it except for his family. He looked down as his books and smiled at it.
"I'm not sure myself. Even my parents thought I'd get some scholarship somewhere for fencing or because of my involvement with school. Still...I want to see where learning more about this takes me. I don't know, I guess you call it a calling?" The others shrugged and decided to drop the subject. They went on their way, making their last school day as at least a fond memory to have.
"When hell freezes over." Halvir crossed his arms, looking a bit pestered.
"Would you just listen for a second?" A ginger haired woman with thick glassed looked just as annoyed. "It's a decent job, and since you're not getting any offers at the moment, it'd be best to take it."
"I refuse." Halvir strode across the room, looking through papers on his desk. "What about that company we talked to a week ago? They seemed rather interested." After leafing through some papers, he found what he wanted. He also grabbed his reading glasses off of the table and put them on. "They even sent back a letter saying they were interested in publishing five books I write." It was the woman's turn to cross her arms.
"That was because you told them you were Vallerie S. They want books like shewrites, not your usual stuff." With that comment, Halvir crushed the letter in his one hand.
"We should just take their money and I make my books anyways." The editor shook her head at the author.
"Now you know we can't do that. They'll demand their money back if they're not what the want. Look, Halv, babe." Halvir raised a hand infront of him stopping the woman from speaking.
"Two things, don't call me Halv or babe." She waved her hand, dimissing the stubborn man's comment.
"Anyways, you should've expected this. Drop a big company you were writing for just because you wouldn't produce what they want, the others get scared. They all start suspecting you'd do the same thing to them." Halvir mentally cursed himself for that. That's what he got for not planning ahead and being selfish with his choices. Still, even if he didn't have any offers at the moment, how could his editor suggest this?
"Tell me, how do you expect myself becoming a professor would help me get another contract?" He guessed her reasons for suggesting this, but he wanted to hear it from her.
"You know how all those guys get famous for writing books because they first started out as college professors? Well, you started out in writing, but now you're becoming a professor. Think of how easy it'll be for you to get a writing gig then?" Halvir let out a long sigh before looking out his office window.
"That's just a shortcut for illiterate fools to get their terrible works produced." Granted, some of his professors back when he was in college weren't bad teachers, but some of their books were just awful.
"Well, it's your choice. Let me tell you this, I've worked with authors who've been in your position. A lot of them took up to ten years to get published again, and by that time, people had lost interest in them. Be a professor for a few years and you'll be back on track." The woman fixed her thick glasses as she looked at her watch. "Alright, I have other clients I need to get to, so I suggest you pull that stick out of your ass and decide soon." With that, the woman exited the room, giving the door a small slam behind her.
"That woman is going to be the end of me." Halvir muttered as he rubbed his temples. He wandered back over to his desk, deciding to organize the mess he'd just made. Messes weren't something that Halvir liked to make, he'd rather have everything in order than chaos. His eyes then caught the papers his editor brought him earlier. One was an ad that stated, "Vallerie S. has captured out hearts again with a new best seller!" He crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the waste basket. The second paper was the application for a position at a nearby university. It wasn't a prestige university, but it wasn't bad either. They might give him freedom to teach however he wanted and let him choose the materials for the classes. Really, all he had to do was say his name and they'd probably be more than happy to have a renowned author teaching there.
"This might actually work."
Note: Halv is around his mid twenties or a bit older and Vald is eighteen like it's mentioned in the start of this chapter.
Too bad so sad. There's not a meeting in this chapter, let alone any action. So what kind of college is Vald going to overseas? Will Halv accept this teacher's position? Will it happened that they'll see each other at the same university? Anyways, they'll have a meeting next chapter. It'll have some lawls here and there so no worries. Anything fluffy or sticky gooey goodness? We'll just have to wait and see. Btw, I love reviews.