Pokota's Plight

Chapter Four, Tears

By Relm

Pokota sneaked his way through the halls of Sailune castle. Due to his many visits Pokota was quite familiar with the layout of the castle. He was able to make his way through the halls towards his destination. Amelia's room.

Of course the bedroom of a princess was what you'd expect it to be. Massively large to the point that it was almost as wide as a small house. Amelia's closet alone was the size of a normal person's bedroom. She had a massive bed, several items of furniture which included a very long table with several chairs. It looked like a dining room table but it appeared that Amelia used this table as a desk.

Pokota stood in the shadow behind a pillar as he watched Amelia. He was trying to be quiet and still as he tried to decide what he was going to do next. He had spent all that time trying to get to Sailune and now that he was there he wasn't sure how he should approach Amelia.

Amelia was busy working on some papers her focus completely on her work. She was so consumed with her work that she was completely unaware that she had company. If you were to guess the subject of the papers it wouldn't be hard to figure out that it was to do with justice.

Unconsciously Amelia re-adjusted the hem of her dress. She was wearing that frilly pink dress again. It was the same dress that Pokota had seen her in may times when he visited. It was light pink, very tight and fitted in the bodice and flared out with many ruffles.

Ordinarily the sight of Amelia in this dress didn't faze Pokota too much. Yes she was a pretty girl, and she had made him blush from time to time. But he never went gaga over her appearance before. But this time was different.

It was if he had spent his life in a fog not coming to full grasp of the beauty of a woman. Looking at Amelia he couldn't help but admire her, and notice just how low cut that dress was. It was quite tight too especially in that one area below her neck...

Pokota had to look away. He knew from the hotness he felt in his cheeks that he was blushing. 'What the hell is wrong with me? I was never like this before around Amelia.' He went to look at Amelia gain this time he tried to just look at her face. At her porcelain skin, her shiny black hair, her baby blue eyes, her kissable pouty lips...

Pokota almost bashed his head against the pillar. There he was dying and he couldn't look at Amelia without acting like a hormone crazed teenager. True when in the body of he stuffed animal Amelia had been able to make Pokota blush. But it was nothing like the effect she was having on him at that moment.

'Is it because I'm in a human body now and not a stuffed animal?' Pokota wondered lightly hitting his head against the stone pillar.

Though Pokota was having trouble getting his nerves together to face Amelia, Kopo was more than eager to see Amelia. Kopo jumped out of Pokota's arms and hopped his way across the room. He leapt straight into the bosom Pokota had been trying not to look at.

"Pokota!" Amelia screeched blushing bright red as Kopo buried his face in her chest. She was frozen in shock and horror.

Pokota shook his head while letting out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry Amelia." Pokota apologized as he emerged from the shadows.

Immediately Amelia forgot about the creature latched to her chest and got into a battle ready stance with a fireball spell in the works. "Who are you? And how did you get in here?"

Pokota took off the hood and cloth cover his face and stared at her shamed eyes. "It's me Amelia. It's Pokota. I'm sorry about this."

Amelia just stood there staring at Pokota with her mouth hanging open. Her face was completely blank from the surprise and confusion. The fireball that had been building faltered and fizzled away leaving Amelia just standing with her hands in position but with no spell to fire. "Huh? Who? Wha? What's going on here?"

Pokota was going to explain but he wasn't given the chance. His body chose that moment to rebel and suddenly he came face to face with the floor as he crashed to the ground. His whole body convulsed in pain and nausea as he lost consciousness.

"Pokota!" Amelia yelled as she and Kopo rushed to Pokota's side.

Though Pokota was unconscious at that moment it was obvious that he was still in pain. His body rolled into a ball and his face was the perfect picture of agony.

...

Amelia kept pacing back and forth around the bed Pokota was resting in. She was a nervous wreck. Pokota pops up without any explanation and human to boot and then just drops to the ground like a fly.

Several healers and doctors came and went; not a single person knew what was wrong with the young prince of Tarforashia. Many spells and medicines had been tried but with no result. Pokota still lay unconscious in obvious pain.

'When did he become human again?' Amelia wondered as she paced. 'And why didn't Tarforashia announce it? Their crown price was no longer a doll. Why didn't they make a grand announcement and celebrate? And what's wrong with Pokota? Oh so many questions!' Amelia rubbed her head trying in vain to ward off the headache.

Kopo kept staring at Amelia from Pokota's bed. He watched her go back and forth, his glass doll eyes darting from side to the other. Kopo was aware that something was bothering the crown princess but the doll lacked the understanding to comprehend what was going on. He knew that something was wrong with Pokota, but there wasn't anything he knew he could do.

"What are you?" Amelia finally spoke looking at Kopo. "Pokota was a doll before, the same doll that you are now. So what are you? How did you come to be? Do you know what's happening to Pokota?"

Kopo cocked his head to one side staring at Amelia clearly not understanding her.

Amelia growled in frustration. "Either you can't talk, don't understand me or you're completely incapable of speech... Gah! I may as well be talking to a dog!" And back to pacing Amelia went.

...

In Pokota's sleeping mind he dreamt about strange things. He dreamt that he was being split up and put back together over and over again.

"Please stop!" Pokota begged trying to free his arm of the shackles that kept him tied down. "Please let me go!"

"Well we can't have that..." That ominous voice spoke.

Pokota being strapped down to the table couldn't see the face the voice belonged to. He could only see the man's back and his red robes. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I have to. I have find a way to fix what he did. He cursed me after all. And how can I achieve the greatness I'm supposed to have if I'm cursed? How can I help all those lives out there if I can't be complete? You are serving a greater purpose. Through you I will get my cure." The man cackled almost insanely as he got the incantations ready for the next experiment.

"But why me? Why do this to me?" Pokota begged pathetically. His voice was weak and so was his body and spirit. But he knew that he couldn't give up. If he did he knew that would be the end for him. He was most certainly perish.

"You are a koppi. You are not one of god's creatures. You soul and life are mine to do as I wish. I created you and I can destroy you!" The man turned around to reveal the face of Rezo the Red Priest.

"You created me...?" Pokota looked around to anything reflective in the room he could see. His vision settled on a metal canister. The reflection wasn't that of the prince of Tarforashia, but that of Koppi Rezo.

"Yes I did. As your god I can do what I wish. And now it's time to remove those eyes..."

...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pokota woke from his dream screaming. "Oh god!" He desperately gasped for air.

"Pokota!" Amelia ran to Pokota and quickly wrapped her arms tightly around him. She felt the wild beating of his heart and the quick shallow breaths of his lungs. "Are you okay?" She pulled back to look at him. Her hands were still firmly grasping his arms.

"It was a nightmare... Just a nightmare... I'm okay." Pokota tried to calm his heart.

"You collapsed earlier! You were in extreme pain! I got all the doctors and healers in the kingdom to look at you and no one could help you or wake you! Don't tell me you're okay! Tell me what's going on!" Amelia pleaded desperately while searching his eyes hoping they would give her some clues as to what was wrong.

Pokota had to look away from Amelia's instance stare. The guilt he had been trying to suppress started to bubble up again. "Amelia... I did a terrible thing."

"What? What did you do?"

"You gotta believe me, I didn't mean for this to happen! I knew it was wrong but I had my kingdom's future to think about!" Pokota blubbered as tears started to form in his eyes.

"Pokota what's wrong? What did you do? You can't have done anything wrong, I know you. You're good, honest and care for the people around you. Whatever you think you did it can't be that bad." Amelia tried to reassure Pokota.

Unfortunately it had the opposite effect. Pokota dared to look into Amelia's blue eyes. He saw the trust and faith that they held. Trust and faith that she had in him. Whatever had been holding his tears at bay were destroyed by this. Pokota shook his head violently. "No Amelia! I am a horrible person! I don't deserve your kind words. Not after what I did."

Amelia frowned. She was sure of her judgement of Pokota and was getting worried by how upset he was getting. "Tell me then."

"When I was here last... when you left me alone in the library I saw the books you had put aside for Zelgadis. I read one of them and I got an idea... So I took the book." Pokota wiped the tears from his face hoping to regain his composure. "I shouldn't have, but I did. It was one of Rezo's books. A diary of his about his experiments concerning koppis..."

Amelia's eyes went wide. She looked at Kopo sleeping at the foot of the bed and then back at Pokota. "You made a koppi?"

"I know! Making koppis is banned. No one is to put themselves at the same level as a god. Life cannot be made and shaped by magic or science. But you have to understand what I've been going through! I thought I had everything Amelia, everything I wanted. My home, my people and my father all safe. I gave up my body for the good of my kingdom. I thought that was what I wanted. But once things settled I got so lonely..." The tears came spilling again as Pokota choked on his sobs. "I was a doll, not a living person! Who would love me like that? I would forever be doomed to be alone! And I am Tarforashia's only heir to the throne. If my dad were to die I would have to take his place. But as a doll I couldn't have children. And how long would I live that way? If I lived forever, I would be forever alone. If I died then Tarforashia would have no one to take the throne. So I had to do it. I had to make a koppi of myself!"

Amelia's grip around Pokota's arms tightened. "So you could steal the body? You actually wanted to condemn a life?"

"I entertained the thought. I even got two Hellmaster jars ready just in case. But I decided when I started making the koppi that I was doing it so he could carry on the bloodline for me. So that he could fall in love and have children. But things went horribly wrong... At first every time I tried to make a koppi it wouldn't form. I kept getting the process wrong. I was down to my last bit of supplies and I put it all towards that one last koppi. And it appeared to work. For the most part he looked like me. But when he woke up he had the intelligence of a domesticated pet." Pokota explained.

Again Amelia looked to Kopo. "So you decided it was okay to steal his body because he was stupid?"

"No!" Pokota shook his head. "I never wanted to steal his body! I wasn't even sure what I was going to do with him when he woke up. He seemed healthy and happy albeit his lack of intelligence. But while I was thinking he accidently activated the jars. We both got sucked in. And when we both got freed of the jars he took my doll body. I had no choice but to take the koppi body."

Amelia's frown further creased. "He does seem pretty happy as a doll... But that still doesn't make things okay. You were still playing god by making him in the first place."

"I know." Pokota gripped the sheets in his balled fists. "And I am paying the price. This body... This koppi body I made... is dying."

Amelia gasped in shock bringing one of her hands to Pokota's face. "No! You can't be!" Tears started to well in her eyes.

Perhaps if the situation weren't so grave Pokota might have gotten embarrassed by the close physical contact. But he was too affected by the graveness of his predicament that he failed to register the feel of Amelia's hand on his face. "Amelia this koppi body is degrading. I keep getting massive spasms of pain in random parts of my body. None of the healers or doctors have been able to help me. They can't stop the pain during those times. I know I'm dying and I don't know how to fix myself. Amelia please! I know I have no right to ask this but you were the only person I could think of. I'm desperate and I don't know how much time I have left. Please! Please help me!" Pokota begged; the tears fell harder and faster than before as his body racked from the sobs. "I don't want to die yet!"

Amelia was crying just as hard as she embraced him once more. She wanted to comfort him and tell him everything would be alright. That she'll get to the bottom of his and save him. But she didn't even know if that was possible.