Royalty Arrives: Sleeping Beauty Kills A Fairy
Ayame had arrived at the Princess Test after a horrid carriage ride.
"Note to self, never accept carriage rides from old witches on the side of the road." Ayame whispered to herself, dusting of some of the things that clung to her.
She was currently in Crescent City. The city was high and expensive. The flowers were well tended to and the city was filled with people in high rich clothing. Ayame looked down at her own clothing. She wore a raggy and torn long shirt. After that carriage ride, she was lucky to even have some clothes on.
Flash Back-
Ayame walked down the winded road to the docks. Once the murky water was reached, she called out to the captain.
"Sir! Can you take me to the Princess Test!?" She cried, running over to him.
The man looked down at her. "You're cute, but sorry. You're not elegant or pretty enough to become a Princess. Sorry girly." He chuckled, launching the boat. Water splashed in Ayame's face as the man sailed away with some pretty girls all prepared for the test. Everyone on the boat laughed.
Ayame sunk to the floor. She was mad. Very mad. How dare they judge her so poorly? But instead of growls of rage, she sobbed. She sobbed so much her face became quite pure. The salty tears stung her eyes but nothing was more painful.
Suddenly, an old woman wearing a black cloak with long bony and pointy fingers walked up to the girl.
"Why would such an adorable child as yourself cry?" the woman asked, placing her fingers on Ayame's chin.
Ayame tried to wipe the tears away. "I won't be able to make it to the Princess Test again. But I need to go. After making it so far, my family will kill me." Ayame wept.
The old woman tsked. "Don't cry deary. What if I send you to the Princess Test myself?" the old woman grinned.
"Don't. You don't have to." Ayame tried to stop crying, but it made her cry more.
"I won't give it for free my dear. Taking his trip might cost you your life. The whole point of this ride, is the test on the way." The old lady grinned. "Good luck. And watch out for Zarbon trees."
Once the woman disappeared, Ayame was left alone with a silver carriage. "If only my clothes weren't so dirty, I'd feel like a Princess." Ayame groaned.
She hopped in the carriage and the ride began. He took a dangerous road with spikes. She tossed and turned, but Ayame tried to remain on her feet.
Spikes began flying in and it pierced Ayame's skin and clothing.
She dodged and tried to use some of it against the attacker. But, that was when she figured out that it was all magic. Zarbon trees smacked the carriage and poisonous pines flew in through the window.
"Argh, this is going to be long ride." Ayame groaned.
End of Flashback-
The girl wondered around the city. People tried to avoid the girl as she tried to search for the test.
"Are you looking for something girly?" a man asked. He wore dark clothing and sunglasses. A shady character.
But, Ayame didn't know what to trust or what to avoid. "I need to find the Princess Test." Ayame whined. "Can you help me?"
The man chuckled. "Girly, I work there."
Ayame brightened. "Really? Can you take me?!"
The man grinned. "Follow me."
The man led her further and further into the city. "Um… Mister, are you sure you know where you're going?" Ayame began to hesitate.
The man grinned slyly at the young girl, being the clueless person she was, she took this as 'yeah, of course I do'. Ayame and the man walked outside of the city into a dark forest, there, they found the darkest and strangest thing. Ayame began to panic. It was a junkyard with numerous thugs sitting on the trash. "Um, I think I figured out where the hall is mister, thanks." Ayame attempted to run away but the man caught her.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Little girl's shouldn't play alone." The man wriggled his fingers and moved them closer to the poor girl's face.
"Let me go!" She screamed kicking him in the face.
The man screamed in pain and released her. She tried to make a quick dash for it, but the thugs caught her quickly.
I'm not quick enough. Ayame thought.
"Behave you rat." One large and smelly thug grabbed her by the collar and shook her wildly.
Suddenly, there was a flash and the thug was on the floor. "You should be careful. Girl's can be even more tough than men sometimes." A sweet, melodic mixed with coldness voice hissed.
"How dare you try to capture a girl!" another, more harsh voice sounded.
Ayame looked up to see a girl, taller than her, wearing a pair of shorts, and pink dress like shirt. She had long blonde hair that was perfectly straight and wore a bow in her hair. Her eyes were bright blue and she was pretty skinny and overall, she looked adorable. On her feet were ballet flats and a small rose was attached to each one.
The other girl was much older and looked very mature. She had brown hair with some black highlights and her eyes were a deep brown. Her skin was a light colour and she had quite a skinny body like the other girl. She wore a knee length skirt with a whit ruffle top. Her feet were wearing some sort of fancy sandals that Ayame had only seen in her sisters' closets or in fashion magazines that were always left around.
"Are you okay?" the blonde girl asked. Her voice was sweet and pure, but there was a hint of anger behind it.
The two girls helped Ayame to her feet. "Yeah. I'm perfectly fine. I hope I didn't cause you two any trouble." Ayame murmured.
The two shook their heads. "You're headed for the Princess Test aren't you?" The brown haired girl guessed.
Ayame nodded furiously. "That's my target."
The blonde girl giggled. "Let's go."
"I'm Ayame Hotori. I want to become a Princess after my mother and father's deaths. I want to be a Princess and help someone with mysteries." Ayame chimed.
The blonde girl sighed. "I guess I'm next. My name is Nema Masadori. I need to become a Princess so I can kill the person who sent the beast that destroyed my home and family. Once I'm a Princess, I'll team up with someone so full of revenge and I'll help them out, then there comes my revenge. The Princess Court will grant Princesses full access to all sources of information and that will be very useful. Knowledge and power will be useful when hunting down the vile person who killed them." Nema growled.
Ayame nodded. "You must like revenge a lot."
Nema nodded back. The girl sighed and turned to the brown haired girl. "Well?"
The brown girl cleared her throat and spoke. "Name is Kirei Koshiro. I am a dedicated student and scholar. My father died after a treacherous beast kidnapped him years ago. The monster set my father free after I shredded its arm, but my father died of heart disease. I couldn't do anything to save him. Now, I need to become a Princess so I can gain access to different medicines and knowledge. Money might be required, but not wholly." Kirei explained.
Ayame groaned. "You all had awesome explanations and mine was so simple." She wined.
Kirei smiled as Nema stifled a laugh. "Come on, we have to find the Princess Test." Nema stated. The two girls agreed.
The two searched the city but they couldn't find a single thing. "Grrr. This is so frustrating." Ayame groaned.
"I have to agree, there must be something we're missing." Nema placed her hand on a brick building.
Ayame looked up from the position she was in. On a hill in the distance, there was a tree. It was massive and had points sticking out from all around.
"Hey, Nema, Kirei, what's that tree in the distance?" Ayame asked, pointing to the large tree on the hill.
Nema and Kirei took notice of it. "That's a Zarbon tree. Deadly toxic but small creatures feed off the poison." Nema explained.
Ayame brightened up. "We have to go there!" she leapt up.
Nema and Kirei panicked. "I said small monsters. Humans will die." Nema panicked.
"Don't act like that Ayame!" Kirei panicked.
Ayame shook her head. "On my way here, an old woman told me to watch for Zarbon trees, at first I thought she meant the ride, but she meant it as a test." Ayame jumped up and down.
We don't get it. Kirei and Nema thought.
"Come on!"
The two followed Ayame up the rouge hill and to the tree. In it were two little girls.
The three girls looked up the tree to see the two girls. "We have to help them do-
"Which one of us will you save?" they asked, cutting into Ayame's sentence.
"What are you talking about?" Kirei asked.
"This is a trap." One of the girls explained. She had maroon hair tied in two pony tails and blue clothing.
"The tree will release its poison cones if both of us leave." The other girl finished. She had blonde hair that dropped to her waist and grey clothing.
"One of us will save you,"
"The other will kill you."
The girls reached their hand out. "Which of us will you save?" they said in unison.
"This is nonsense!" Nema shouted.
The blonde girl tsked. "Think about it."
"How can we pick between the two?" Ayame asked.
Nema thought it through, and so did Kirei.
"This is so painful!" Kirei shrieked.
"No clues, no nothing." Nema said.
"Or would you like a question to help?" the maroon girl asked.
The three looked up the tree. "Give it to us."
The two girls giggled deviously.
"Two people, they're different. Body expressions and all will be necessary in telling them apart. You have a test ahead. Pick, quick."
Ayame stood dumbfounded. Nema tried to solve the puzzle. Kirei grew impatient with the girls and felt like choking them, but she decided not to and help Ayame with the question.
Nema got an idea. "One of you lie right?"
The girls' eyes widened. "Yeah?"
"How do we know you weren't lying before?" Nema asked.
"One's a liar, another is honest. We both spoke the riddle, how do you know it's the truth?" they grinned.
"I give up. This is ridiculous." Kirei groaned.
"Giving up's forbidden." The girls growled.
"Blondie!" Nema called out.
The blonde girl with grey clothing stared at Nema. "What?"
"Tell me the real riddle." Nema grinned.
"Two people, they're different. Body expressions and all will be necessary in telling them apart. You have a test ahead. Pick, quick. Nothing is different." The girl said blankly.
Nema nodded. "Maroon!"
"What?"
"Tell me the real riddle."
"Again? One shall lie, the other will speak the truth, expressions and feelings can be spoken through not only words and acts, things are chosen for a reason, depending on the mood." She spoke.
"How can you tell if one of us are lying?" they asked.
Nema thought it through again.
Ayame's brain completely fried and Kirei tried to help calm it down.
"I got it!" Nema clicked.
Ayame instantly woke up and Kirei dropped the ice pack. "Who do we save?"
Nema grinned. "Think about it. They're actions and expressions are almost completely the same. The only thing different is the things they say. But even that is very similar." Nema clicked.
"I still don't get it." Ayame and Kirei said.
Nema turned back to the two. "We save maroon hair over there." Nema pointed to the maroon girl.
"Nema! We can't jump to conclusions!" Ayame shouted.
"I'm not. The thing she said. 'One shall lie, the other will speak the truth, expressions and feelings can be spoken through not only words and acts, things are chosen for a reason, depending on the mood.' They don't act different, but they're choice of style is very different. Maroon over there wears blue, which symbolizes honesty, the truth." Nema smiled.
Ayame began catching on and Kirei had figured it out. "So, the blonde girl is wearing grey…"
"SYMBOLISM OF LIES!" the three cried on unison.
The two little girls grinned. "Don't be so sure. You have to save us. The poison of the bark will kill you."
"How will you save me?"
"Leave that to me." Ayame grinned.
The girl wrapped her feet in herbal leaves. "Thirty seconds to get them down. Start counting." Ayame chimed.
She ran up the tree and grabbed the maroon haired girl. "10 seconds left! Gravity don't fail me." Ayame ran down the tree as the other girl threw the poisonous pine cones.
"Miyabi!" the blonde girl cried.
"Koizumi!" the maroon haired called back.
"What are these two shouting?" Nema asked.
Kirei thought for a bit. "Well, it could be others' name?"
Nema stared at the two. "Could it be, they didn't want to be saved?"
Ayame bounced back on the ground when the leaves burnt off completely. "Made it back in 10 seconds!" the girl cheered.
Nema and Kirei smiled. "She's injured." Kirei pointed out.
"She can't die! She has to lead us to the test!" Nema shouted.
"I'll heal her." Kirei sat back and worked some healing magic.
Ayame watched as the wounds were cleaned and carefully tended to. "Wow! That's awesome Kirei!" Ayame cried.
Kirei giggled as the little girl woke up. "Miyabi!" the girl in the tree cried.
The two girls giggled once the blonde girl fell out of the tree. "Well done to the three of you. You would do well in the Princess Test, observation, concentration, agility, strength and the ability to heal are very important matters." The two girls bowed.
Ayame grinned at the girls' compliments. "Allow us to guide you to the Princess Test." The blonde girl giggled.
"It'll be our pleasure." They said in unison.
R&R! No flaming. Constructive Criticism is requested. Please look forward to the next chapter!
