Tales of the Alyss

Love the Chosen

A/N: So, this is my story. This whole thing is a mega giant cliched fanfic. It's even got the OC cliched-ness in there. Well, whatever. I had a dream like this, and then, being the fanatic I am, I elaborated. I let my mind run away with my recent dreams and obsessions, and it turns into stuff like this. So, I just had to get this out. I'll make it as good as I can, and hopefully, you'll like it! Oh, and sorry for typos and such. I'm not currently able to get to my game to find spellings of names and such, so corrections are appreciated! Love, Chosen

Chapter 1

The Fabre manor was in an uproar. No one expected the child to come this early. It had been a long and hard pregnancy for Madame Susanne Fabre. With her husband away for so long dealing with official business on behalf of the king, Lady Fabre had remained strong and had gotten through all right in the end.

But now the baby was coming. As the maids scurried through the halls, Ramdas had run to fetch the doctor. The king had been informed, and the young princess was left with her nanny. Her father was too busy sending messages with the guards to find the Duke to watch his three year old. The duke's child was almost here.

Outside the main gates of the city, a small group of men arrived to enter the city. The guards stopped them and spoke to the man at the front. As soon as the message had been relayed, the Duke ran as fast as he could to his manor near the top of the city.

As he came bursting into the hallway of his home, a doctor came from his and his wife's room.

"Ah, my Lord, your wife has given birth."

"And how is she? What of the child's health?"

"Both fine. The baby came earlier than we had hoped, so they are both very weak. Give them time, and they will recover."

"May I see them?"

"Of course, my Lord. But only for a short time, your wife needs rest."

The duke pushed the doors to his room open, and saw his beautiful Susanne holding their baby. He could see a tuft of auburn hair, and was proud to be a father once again.

"Would you… like to hold your child?"

The duke nodded and smiled at his lovely wife.

"Meet your second-born. Your daughter, Alyss."

Luke wandered the halls of his manor, looking for something to do. He had played in his room all morning, and had quickly grown tired of all the playthings his father had brought from his trips.

The two year old pushed open the familiar door and found his way into the courtyard. This was his favorite place to play. He loved chasing butterflies and squirrels, and took delight in seeing the many colorful hues of the birds.

It often got lonely, though. Princess Natalia came sometimes, and he saw her on his trips to the castle. Luke's father was almost never home, but when he was, he was much too busy to spend time with his son.

"But Mommy is different," Luke thought. "She always plays with me, even if the maids and nurses tell me I should leave her alone and play by myself. Besides, I'm going to have someone else to play with now!"

The maids told him he had a sister now. He couldn't wait to see her. He had also heard she was sick and that he was not allowed to see his mom, either.

"She's too small, Luke. She was born too early, and she was born with an illness. Your mother needs you to be good so she can be with little Alyss. They both need rest to get well again."

Luke sighed. There was nothing to do. In a few years, he was to start his lessons, and then maybe he would be allowed outside the manor, to go somewhere besides the castle! Until then, he wanted to be a good brother for Alyss. He wanted her to get better!

"I know! I'll get rid of the 'illness'!" So Luke busied himself with grand ideas on how to banish a monster like 'illness'.

When he had failed to come up with a plan, he went into the kitchen for his favorite form of distraction. He would at least get to see her today.

He waited until the maids had left, chatting idly about the latest gossip. Apparently, Duke Fabre had only come back for a few days after his mission to 'meet' with Malkuth nobles on Hod to see his daughter, before setting off on his next job.

The small red-haired child had found his target: a stack of newly cleaned dishes. The china fell to the floor with a smash. Luke slipped through the door in time to be undiscovered by the maids who had come back to see what happened.

But Luke's luck had run out. It seemed that Luke had played this trick a few too many times in his short life. Ramdas stood right in front of him, blocking the entrance to his mother's room.

"Master Luke, you know your mother needs to regain her strength. She has your sister to look after as well…"

"Ramdas?" called a faint voice from inside the blocked room.

The butler flinched and glared down at young Luke as he opened the door to answer his master's wife. "Yes, my Lady?"

"What is going on out there? Has Luke broken the dishes again?"

"I'm afraid so, my Lady. I promise, it won't happen again. It's being cleaned as we speak…"

"Then Luke is outside? Let him in please, Yulia knows he's a little starved for attention these days… We may need to hire someone to look after him…"

"Yes, Madame. I will speak to Duke Fabre about it." He opened the door wider to allow Luke access.

Luke gave Ramdas a mischievous grin. It worked every time. He ran into his mother's room, and leaped onto her bed.

"I'm so sorry, honey. I know you've been lonely lately. It will be better soon, I promise."

Susanne motioned for Luke to hold his arms out, then carefully placed Alyss in his embrace. "Be careful, she's still weak. Be sure to support her head."

"She's so little!" Luke thought. "Was I ever this small?" He smiled down at his new sister and couldn't wait till she was big and well enough to play with.

"I promise Alyss. I promise to protect you forever."

A/N: I usually have a hard time coming up with names, so I just come up with normal names with weird spellings. So her name was supposed to be Alice, but now I think about it, it could be like 'uh-liss' as well. I hope you enjoy it, please comment and feed my self-confidence. I don't know if I'll continue… I will if people like it! Thanks so much! Love, Chosen