Chapter 7
Hey peoples! Again, sorry about the long wait! I swear I say this every chapter but I'm not that good at writing stories and during the summer I actually have less time to work on them (don't ask why). So I, again, am really sorry. Please forgive me, nya :3? I also have an announcement to make! I am preparing to go to Umicon in Daytona Beach! So this will likely be the last chapter posted until after the convention on September 6th, 7th, and 8th, unless I have unforeseen time on my hands. I will be cosplaying as the Undertaker from Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler! So with that said, onward to the story!
Bold is thoughts.
Italics is fae language.
I don't own animes mentioned here!
Third person P.O.V.
A long breakfast laden table sat in the middle of an extravagant dining that is part of Earl Ibrazel's manor. At the head of the table sat the violet eyed Earl, Edgar. To the right of him sat three empty seats and to the left sat Nico, who kept flicking his ears in annoyance and glancing at the grandfather clock off in the corner. Sitting beside Nico was Ermine, who had recently come back to work as Edgar's servant. Sitting on the other side of Ermine was none other than a very perplexed Kelpie who, in fact, was still thinking on the riddle-like words the fairy cat had spoke to him earlier. He couldn't stop thinking about it. If it wasn't Edgar, and it wasn't him, who could it possibly be? Everyone was sitting in silence, until Raven and Lydia walked in.
Lydia's P.O.V.
After Raven and I had left my room for breakfast, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to ask any of the other questions I had. I was about to ask, when we turned into the room housing the breakfast table. My jaw snapped with an audible click as everyone turned to look at us.
"My apologies for being late Lord Edgar, I have brought Miss Lydia as you have requested." Raven said as he knelt down in front of Edgar.
"It's not a problem Raven, but please try to be quicker next time." He replied in a bored tone.
"As you wish, my lord." Raven said as he stood. "Ah Lydia, come sit next to me." Edgar said holding out his hand and pulling out the chair for me. I sat down without taking his hand. I suppose I will just have to ask Raven another time, I thought as he sat to the left of me, emerald eyes flickering towards me for just a second. Everyone then started to eat.
"Now then," Edgar started to say. "I have two important matters to discuss with everyone." At this everyone's attention turned from the food in front of them to Edgar. What news could he possibly have? "I have decided that, in honor of Paul's upcoming birthday, I will host another ball here in the manor." Ah, another ball, because the last one turned out soooo well. I thought, remembering the fiasco with Paul, Kelpie, and the ring. "And this does mean that, Raven?"
"Yes, Lord Edgar?" Raven responded.
"I do not trust that the next dance instructor I might hire would be trustworthy, so I am leaving the instruction of Lydia in the area of dancing to you. I trust you are able to complete this task?" Raven nodded his head and agreed. Nico then tapped his front left paw on the table, so as to get the attention of Edgar and everyone else at the table.
"Yes Nico, you have a question?" Nico cleared his small throat and asked.
"Why is there an extra plate set beside Raven?" Edgar then said.
"That brings me to my next topic of discussion, Kirinoha, you can come out now!" Edgar yelled across the room.
Raven's P.O.V.
I tensed up immediately at the sound of that baka pup's name. What was he doing in the manor?
"Hello Kirinoha, thank you for joining us." Edgar said as said enjeruokami hopped onto the chair next to me, not even bothering to conceal his purple tipped wings from anyone. "You came to me early this morning after Raven had awakened me, and told me that you were sent by your queen to assist us in finding the purpose of the invisible key. I trust you will explain further now that a good number of us are present." Edgar directed to Kirinoha and he replied despite my icy glare.
"Yes I will." He replied, glaring right back at me; making the tension in the room palpable. "I have been sent here by my- or should I say our queen, right Raven?" Everyone except for Ermine looked toward me with startled looks. If looks could kill, Kirinoha would have died at least five times already with the glare I was giving him. Even my left eye started to glow, the sprite inside me preparing to force him to shut up. The arrogant pup just smirked right back in my face, lips lifting in a wolfish grin.
"Hm, they don't know? Well I'm sure you'll be asked to explain later Chi Yokun, so for now I will just explain my mission to everyone. I was sent to assist the princeling sitting next to me and his master in finding the purpose to the key of Ibrazel. I was also sent to assist in the killing of the prince, who so plagues you. And since the fairy doctor is helping you I suppose I must assist her as well. All of this is what Queen Eiko has assigned for me to do." Kirinoha finished his little speech, never breaking eye contact with me the whole time. Everyone still sat stock still as the winged wolf turned and started scarfing down his breakfast.
Kelpie was the first to speak. "Well it seems that you bunch have some assistance from a enjeruokami pup, but I might tag along too if you all decided to go traipsing off to wherever it is that key leads, if for no other reason than to follow my dear Lydia. And for one I am veeerrry interested to see how your servant explains all this." He said chuckling. I heard Lydia mumble what sounded like the word stalker under her breath. Kirinoha finished his meal and glanced at me nonchalantly, despite the fact that I was barely resisting slicing him to pieces on the spot and had settled for trying to bore holes in the side of his head with my eyes.
"Well I do believe that it's time to retire to the living room, now that breakfast is finished." Edgar stated and we all moved to a room furnished with three couches in a semi-rectangle around a fireplace with a table in the center. Lydia sat on the couch across from the fire-place and moved to the one closer to the fire-place when Kelpie and Edgar tried to sit on either side of her. My sister sat on the couch opposite Lydia and closer to Edgar. Nico, of course, laid down next to Lydia, and became quite uneasy when Kirinoha clambered up onto the couch and turned around several times before finally sitting down, folding his wings close to his body. I opted to stand in between the couches that held Lydia, and the one that held Lord Edgar.
"Now then," Edgar started. "I would like an explanation from Raven on this. What did Kirinoha mean by our queen? And why does he keep calling you princeling, not to mention I have no idea what Chi Yokun means. I would like you to speak freely on this, Raven, what are you hiding from us?" Dammit! That pup is going to ruin everything why does he have to show up anyway! I was just starting to feel the smallest bit happy in my life, and he has to come and screw it all up!
"As you wish my Lord." I bowed and started to speak again. "Chi Yokun in Fae langauge means Blood Princeling. When he said our queen, he meant that as a reference to that fact that I was born in the fae realm, and that I am by blood a fae even if my mother was human. He calls me princeling because my father was a sprite and a fae but he was also the son of Queen Eiko, who is queen of the fae realm. My father was sent on a mission to that village, but he instead fell in love with my mother, and so I was conceived. Ermine's father had died and she was only two years old at the time.
My father soon returned when I was about to be born and to eliminate any chance that I would be born any more than half-human, he transported my heavily pregnant mother to the fae realm where she soon gave birth to me.
After I was born he returned us to the human world, and did not return until I was nine years of age, due to my appearance and the villagers being extremely suspicious towards sprites and the fae, I was largely shunned as was Ermine and our mother, due to their relation with me. So, I readily agreed when my father returned to take me to the fae realm and train me properly as a fighter and as his heir. During the years until I turned 13 he trained me in secret to fight and to control my true form so that it never showed and so I looked somewhat normal on the outside.
However, it wasn't long before Queen Eiko discovered my existence. She was beyond furious, and punished my father by killing my mother, handing Ermine over into slavery in the human world, and banishing my father to the dark side of the fae world where he proceeded to become the leader of the dark court of fae. She decided to kill me herself because she didn't want any grandchild of hers to be even partially human. She attacked me again and again until I lost control of my killing urges and for the first time went into my full true form. I managed to injure her though I was not yet fully grown, and she decided that if I was strong enough to hurt her I might deserve to live.
I then became her personal killer, doing her dirty work for the better part of the next year. I never wanted to but I thought that if I earned enough of her favor I could return to the human world and get my sister's freedom. I had no knowledge that her enslavers worked for the prince.
When I turned 14 she granted my request and sent me to the human world. However, I was still young so I was not as strong as I could have been, and I foolishly misjudged my life force, so I fell to the prince. He decided I would be of better use as a slave and sent me to that place where Lord Edgar and Ermine were.
We escaped when I was 15 and the rest of that story I know Lord Edgar has told to you. He won over the loyalty of my sprite and likewise me and I became his servant along with Ermine.
A few years later I killed a rather large amount of people, around 100, when my sprite went berserk. Despite that, Lord Edgar was kind and still accepted me despite my sprites killing urges and made sure that none of the blame fell on me.
Though neither My Lord nor Ermine have ever seen even part of my true form. I can see and talk to sprites, fae, and likewise animals, which is why I could talk to Nico before Lord Edgar could. Many of the fae refer to me as princeling because Queen Eiko has not accepted me as her heir, nor has she disowned me, hence the princeling title. Some of them refer to me as Chi Yokun/blood princeling because of my fighting skills and because of my sprite's rather violent killing urges. I hope my rather lengthy explanation has answered all of your questions My Lord."
My throat was rather dry after my lengthy speech but I ignored it. Once again everyone except Ermine stared at me with astonished looks. I noticed even Kirinoha was a bit confused; obviously Eiko didn't tell him everything. His confusion soon twisted into anger, and he started growling at me.
"Wait a minute, YOU were the one who gave Queen Eiko the injury she refused to tell anyone about!" He said still growling at me, his hackles raised. I nodded my head, throat too parched to speak. At this he seemed to get even angrier and hopped off the couch, stalking toward me with his small form seeming to gain a menacing aura.
"Kirinoha, I am sure what Raven said upset you, but please, do not try to fight him here." As Lord Edgar said this Kirinoha's head whipped toward him.
"I wanted to test him anyway, so I will just do it now. And I am sure you would all love to see part of Raven's true form, correct?" This made me tense up and earned a gasp from Lydia, Nico, and Ermine. Kelpie however spoke up.
"I for one want to see it, seeing as how it would be hard to fight a truly furious enjeruokami in a human form." At this Kirinoha's growling ceased and his face beheld a twisted vicious grin. I whispered hoarsely to Edgar.
"I will fight only if My Lord agrees to it." Edgar appeared to think for a moment before saying,
"I approve, if only for the reason to keep ourselves in Kirinoha's favor because he has been sent to help us and it would be a shame to lose his assistance so soon after it has been given, so I say I will allow it."
I hoped my face didn't betray my sadness at his agreement as everyone walked to the gardens where the battle would commence. It was now noon and the sun was high in the sky. I stood a few paces in front of Kirinoha in a small clearing, this was it, if everyone didn't already they would soon see me very differently than they had before.
Chances are Lydia would lose the recent love she had found for me once she sees a glimpse of my true form, and that thought makes me very sad.
My left eye glowed ever brighter in preparation to fight. Kirinoha got down in a fighting crouch and I tensed myself before letting go of some of my control hiding my true form, as I felt that part of me flow only partially restrained, I closed my emerald eyes so as not to watch Lydia's peridot eyes widen in horror, and I prepared to fight.
Lydia's P.O.V.
What Raven had said had shocked me speechless; I had no idea that he had been through that. Still it was nothing compared to what I saw standing out here in the garden courtyard, while Raven and Kirinoha were preparing to fight each other.
Kirinoha crouched into a fighting stance and the air around Raven started to shimmer, and he sighed closing his eyes. I gasped as he started to release part of his true form.
Two dark black shadows sprang out of his back, and one out of the lower section of his spine. The shadows coming from his back/shoulder area soon took form into a pair of large, feathered black wings whose color closely matched his jet-black hair, and the last remaining shadow formed into a long scaled tail similar to a snake's, only without a pattern and covered in dark emerald scales seemingly to match his eyes. Raven's tail when it finished forming ended in a plum of jet-black feathers.
When everything finished forming Raven gasped, revealing that his canines had grown longer and had become semi-transparent. I was scared, in all honesty, I was scared. I had never seen Raven like this before, I didn't want it to, but my fear showed itself anyway. I started shaking and I knew my eyes had gone wide with fear and horror.
Raven glanced at my shaking form and his eyes became sad even as his face twisted into a vicious smirk, and I knew his sprite was taking control.
Why am I scared? I love Raven, right? I am so confused all I can do is watch.
Raven pulled his dagger out of his suit jacket just as Kirinoha started to charge him. He quite easily avoided the attack and ran along a stone ledge in the garden before seeming to disappear and then reappear right behind the enjeruokami, his eye leaving behind a pale green ribbon of light. He moved his dagger before Kirinoha could even react; causing the pup to yelp in pain as he suddenly had a large gash dripping blood down his back.
Kirinoha frantically flapped his white and purple wings to try to gain a height advantage, but Raven was faster and his black wings bigger, and he slammed the winged wolf back down to the ground holding the dagger against his white furred ribs. Swinging his paws frantically Kirinoha somehow managed to swat the dagger out of Raven's grasp rendering him without a weapon, or so Kirinoha seemed to think. Too bad he was dead wrong. Raven pinned the winged wolf's legs and put his fangs against Kirinoha's throat, murmuring.
"My fangs are venomous, do you surrender?" I sighed with relief, Raven had control over his sprite again, if he didn't I had no doubt that Kirinoha would have his throat ripped out by now.
"Fine, I surrender!" Spat an annoyed Kirinoha.
Raven released Kirinoha and sighed as his body returned to normal, before picking up his dagger and returning it to its original place in his suit jacket. It was now late afternoon. I was still confused and in shock, I loved Raven, right? I don't know anymore.
"Very well then, you have tested Raven and I do believe he has passed. Now, Raven?" Edgar said.
"Yes Lord Edgar?"
"Would you please escort Miss Lydia back home, I'm sure the events of today have left her more than overwhelmed and besides, it's about time she returned home. I'm sure Professer Carlton is quite worried." Bowing, Raven replied.
"Yes, My Lord." He then walked past me towards a waiting carriage, expecting me to follow which I did. He held the door open for me, I got in and we were riding towards my house. The whole time I kept trying to say something but never actually succeeded in saying anything so I settled for thinking on what had happened today. I love Raven, right? I do, but if I love him then part of his true form shouldn't scare me, right? I can't decide whether or not I love him, I'm so confused.
As I was having my inner battle I could see Raven staring blankly at me looking at me without really seeing me, his face a blank mask, but his eyes held deep sadness and feelings of rejection. In what felt like no time at all we had stopped in front of my house and Raven was holding the door open for me to get out, and so I did. When I was half-way to my house I heard him speak.
"Miss Carlton, I am truly sorry you had to see that, so please have a good night." I turned just as he was about to step back into the carriage.
"Raven, wait!" I yelled, and he glanced back turning his head before asking.
"Yes, Miss Carlton?" I knew I had only a few more seconds before he turned to go back into the carriage, so I had to figure this out and fast. All the memories I had of Raven flashed through my head, before I realized, that if I love Raven that means that I have to love every part of him, no matter what it may be.
With that I reached forward and held his arm in place so he couldn't leave, determination etched on my face. In the back of my head I heard my front door open but I didn't care, I pulled Raven forward and kissed him. I closed my eyes as I felt him respond and wrap his arms around my waist as I ran my fingers in his soft black hair. Right then I didn't care who was watching us as long as Raven understood that my feelings for him haven't changed.
We pulled apart and stared at each other, Raven gave me a short hug and sat back down in the carriage and left with a sweet smile on his face. I sighed, turning around only to see that the person who had opened the door earlier was my father.
Emodragonsprites:Suspenssssssssse! Not really but I just wanted to say that~ Nya~
Raven:...
Lydia: I think that's the most Raven's ever talked at one time, I hope you didn't break him (hands Raven a glass of water).
Raven: Thank you.
Anyway...I hope you guys like this extra long chapter, it took me a very long time to make. I worked on it almost nonstop from about 8:30-9:00a.m. to 2:26p.m. Only stopping to get dressed, cause I didn't want to spend all day in my pajamas, and to get a package from the mailman (who scared the crap out of me when he rang the doorbell 2hrs after the mail was supposed to come). I hope you guys really like it cause I'm super proud of the length of this chapter! (I hope it can make up for some of the time I spent not updating.) So that's it for this chapter! Stay calm and wait anxiously for Pokemon x and y to come out (Fennekin forevah)!