Broken Promises for Broken Hearts
Rated T
Summary: Sequel to If I Had a Heart. Two years of peace have come and gone. Of course, it was something that simply couldn't last. A new evil has come, and it involves each and every person on the planet. (Resumed after an 7 year hiatus.)
Notes: Be sure to have read the first one before attempting the second.
000
It was Aries third Night since he was assigned as Arianna's protection detail. Sol rarely had periods of darkness, and when those periods hit, the royal family was confined to their palace until the Light returned. It was when they were most vulnerable. It was a rather common fact for the people who lived on Sol. However, there was typically little trouble since the citizens actually liked their sovereigns and wished them no ill will.
It was only when he was a bit older that he realized what the true threats were—what really lay beyond the darkness.
While he was a Junior Guard, he was generally kept with the princesses. It annoyed him to no end, since Arianna continuously whined about how bored she was and how she wanted to see what the city looked like without any light. Chloei was too young to do more than babble and cry, which only made Aries feel even more like a child when he was confined with her.
If Arianna hadn't managed to slip out of the palace, he wondered how much longer he would have been kept in the dark, so to speak. He remembered the moment that her absence had been noticed. He remembered because he mentally prepared for the beating he would receive from his superiors for letting his charge out of his sight.
It was all hands on deck. Every guard that could be spared was out running about, calling for their missing princess. He wasn't particularly active in searching for her, though he wandered around and half-heartedly shouted out her name. As he left the palace, however, he realized how dark it really was. Without the mass amounts of candles and lanterns, it took his eyes time to adjust.
In the time it took to grow accustomed to it, Aries started to notice movement around him. He may not have been able to see, but he could certainly hear the rustling—the growling. In an instant, he summoned his talisman to him and raised it. The silver sword gave off its own glow, enough to push back the darkness and let him see any of his would be attackers.
Some of them were vaguely humanoid. If not for the odd markings on their cheekbones and exposed arms, he may not have noticed right away how different they were. Then there were the others… some had tails and talons, claws and fangs. He hadn't seen anything like them before in the woods surrounding the palace. Though he tried to act tough, he still hadn't completed his full guard training and felt thoroughly unprepared to fight off the beasts.
Crying.
He could hear crying. And of course, he recognized it as Arianna.
"Damnatit," he muttered, cursing in his native tongue. He had no choice. He had to continue on or else he may be too late.
One of the creatures decided it would take him on. It leapt at him on all fours, trying to pin him down. He slashed forward and cut through it with ease. Its skin sizzled where his talisman had touched it. Three more ran forward, and he knew he would be quickly overpowered.
He summoned forth his energy and attempted an attack he had only recently learned. It was risky, and he knew he could deplete his energy too quickly, but Aries didn't feel that he had much choice. He thrust his blade forward, focusing his power through the weapon, and sent a series of silver energy blades flying forward. It was perhaps… overkill. He certainly destroyed the creatures, which weren't likely very powerful to begin with outside of their pack tactics, but he also took out some of the surrounding trees.
Yes, he certainly used too much energy.
Aries shook his head and focused his momentarily dizzy head. There were other beasts around him, but they chose not to attack. Instead, they wisely backed up, disappearing beyond his sight. He moved on, trying to follow one of the paths he had walked many times in the daylight. Unfortunately, no matter how well he knew the path, it was much harder for him to do than he thought.
He quickly became lost. He had done his best to follow after Arianna's cries, but he had become turned around at some point and lost his way. Now he was alone, in the dark, surrounded by potential enemies.
There was a 'crack' behind him as a twig broke. He whirled around, his sword still raised and providing him his only light.
"Who's there?" He called out before he could think about what he was doing, "I'm warning you, I've already killed four others. You should probably flee while you have the chance!"
There seemed to be a pause, but then he saw a pale hand reach out. Soon there was another, and a body to go with it. He stood guard but did not attack since it moved slowly and seemed to be showing a sign of submission.
"Are you lost?" It was a girl. She looked close to his age, and he thought for a moment it was Arianna. But he knew immediately it wasn't her—her aura felt entirely different. Unlike his charge, whose aura was warm and annoyingly familiar to him, this girl's was… icy. "I'm lost. I don't really know how I got here."
Despite him having a weapon raised to nearly her face, she sighed and kept her hands up and in his sight line.
"I'm… I'm not lost. I'm just checking the perimeter." He felt it was a pretty reasonable excuse, especially since he was wearing a guard's uniform. Anyone should have recognized that.
The girl didn't seem to buy it. She raised a brow and cocked her head to the side. "You wandered off the path near ten minutes ago. I think you're lost."
He frowned and gripped his weapon tighter. She had been watching him? He hadn't even noticed, though he supposed it was hard to know what was around in such darkness. Regardless, she didn't look threatening… Her hair was long, dark, and wavy, combed back neatly. Her dress was also dark, but it looked expensive. She clearly did not belong in the forest. She was not one of the wildmen or rangers who kept away from the main city.
"I can take you back to the path if that would help you," she said and shrugged, lowering her arms slowly and crossing them against her chest.
"If you could get back to the path, wouldn't that mean you aren't lost?" Aries asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing.
She sighed again. "No… No, I'm still lost. I don't think I'm supposed to be in this forest. I was home, in my own castle, when I felt a pull. I walked into my own forest and ended up here. I know this isn't my forest. It feels… different. It doesn't want me here."
"You don't seem particularly concerned about getting back."
"I'm sure I will end up where I'm supposed to be, one way or another. Besides, a little exploring makes life more interesting, don't you think?"
Aries thought about it for a moment and eventually agreed, though he didn't tell her. He would have enjoyed exploring a great deal many places. He would have liked to have traveled and lived out a full life. Instead he was stuck working as a babysitter.
"I need to find a girl. She was wearing a white and gold dress the last time I saw her."
The mystery girl in front of him scowled briefly, her features darkening. He thought he had imaged it though by the way it disappeared again as she returned to her aloof expression. "Oh yes, I saw her."
"Where is she?" His voice was stern and he tilted his sword, pointing it directly at her. Now he was ready to attack, rather than defend.
"Oh no need to worry," she said, waving her hand lightly. A chill went through him as he felt the air around him move. "She's… fine. Crying obnoxiously loudly, but fine. It was rather amusing toying with her. She shouldn't have wandered out here if she couldn't defend herself. That's just… asking for trouble." She smiled briefly, and he thought perhaps he saw fangs.
She started to walk by him, and he followed her with his eyes, keeping his weapon trained on her. She looked over her shoulder and sighed.
"Well come on then, you want to find her, don't you? You'll want to get to her quickly. Someone else may have found her and finished her off."
A jolt of panic went through him. He had thought that she would have been crying because she was lost. He hadn't actually thought that maybe she was injured since he was concerned enough about protecting himself. Reluctantly, he followed after the girl. It was hard, since he had to strain to walk over the shadowy obstacles in his path, but she walked ahead of him anyhow and clearly did not need the light of his weapon.
They continued on for a few moments before they stopped. He could hear the crying again. She turned around to face him and swept her arm to the side. "Well, she's just through there. She's trapped herself in the center of the pond."
He knew where he was now. There was a small shrine in the center of the woods. In fact, he went there often and should have considered going there first. A small bridge crossed the water to the shine, which was only big enough to hold about a dozen people.
The girl stayed back and let him pass through the brush. Unlike the rest of the forest, he could see a bit of the water. Arianna was curled up at the edge of the shrine, crying. Her body emitting a glow not unlike his own talisman. He couldn't be sure , but he suspected that there were malicious beasts surrounding the water's edge.
Aries glanced back at the mystery girl. "I'm not sure if I should thank you or take you to the guards."
"You couldn't make me do anything I didn't want to, even if you tried," she said and smile again before backing up a bit. She was barely in his light when she curtsied to him. "I am Desdemona. May we never meet again. If we do, I'm sure it won't be on pleasant terms."
Before he could even attempt to stop her, her body seemed to disappear where she stood until there was nothing but blackness facing him. He could not explain it, but a chill went down his spine, and he involuntarily stepped backwards a few steps. His boots started to sink in the mud as he hit the shore of the pond.
The chill did not go away until he was next to Arianna and surrounded by the light that she was emitting. Even then, he felt unsettled as he sensed the eyes staring at them from the darkness. He knew he could not walk back out into the forest. He was sure that if he did, he would be overpowered by the shadows waiting for him. Without any other option, he sat down next to his ward, who hardly seemed to notice his presence, and waited for the Light to come once more.
000
"Dear gods, don't take him… Don't let him leave me!"
He could barely hear the voices calling to him, but the shaking—that he felt.
"Trunks! Do you hear me! I will not let you sink into a coma and leave me here to deal with your father! You better wake up!" Bulma was angrily sobbing as she pulled at her son's shirt. She couldn't move him on her own, and Vegeta had not responded to her shouts for help.
He began to stir and finally opened his eyes, only to feel a shooting pain go through his skull as he did so. The electric light in the bathroom was too harsh for him and he squeezed his eyes shut once more. He lay on the ground for a few more moments before slowly starting to sit up. "Please stop shouting…"
"Stop… stop shouting?" Bulma laughed, though hardly in amusement. "Stop shouting?! That's all you have to say to me?! You weren't even breathing a few moments ago! And you tell me to stop shouting. Damn it, Trunks, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
He sat forward and put his head into his hands, rubbing his temples slightly as he did. He wanted the pounding to go away, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be so lucky anytime soon. "Well, what do you want me to say? I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." He couldn't very well tell her that his reflection was talking to him and that he was getting wrapped up in the memories of his past life.
Bulma continued to mutter to herself as she reached down and helped her son stand (though he really only almost managed to pull her down with him due to his weight and her petite form.) He braced himself against the marble counter, and only then noticed that a chunk of it was missing.
"I… must have hit my head?" He said, though mostly to himself as he saw the chunk of marble sitting on the ground. For a normal human, it would have been a devastating fall and injury. For him, it was a headache.
"Well, come on, let's get you down stairs. Humor me and at least let me run a scan to make sure you're okay. You really gave me a scare," his mother replied and wrapped an arm around him. Though it was meant to support him, he suspected it was more for her own comfort.
He nodded anyhow and started to walk out. Before he did, he pocked Arianna's necklace again, just in case.
000
Author's Notes: ehehehe…. So… um… Hi there… it's been… Oh, only about seven years. I know. At this moment, you're probably thinking "well what the hell is the point of even coming back?" I will tell you why…
It is because of Rose. Rose sent me a review that I just couldn't ignore. Though this story fell inactive, I still update on rather regularly for different stories. I've just completed my novel length Gundam Wing fic called After Colony: Revelation, and I'm currently working on a Gundam Wing/Sailor Moon crossover called Cosmic Apathy. Now that I'm writing for two of my first-love-fandoms, DBZ has also been on my mind often as has the song that lends itself to this title. Additionally, the character of Arianna is one I frequently use even still—though her character has become much more developed, interesting, and not-Mary Sue (now that I'm in my mid twenties, I can admit that my high school characters were ridiculous.)
But Rose made me go back and read though my old story (and cry at how awful it was. I know I had typos, but dear lord, how did anyone read that? I could barely get through it!) But at the end, I forgot that Arianna did not get a happy ending, and it even surprised me that I was a little emotional after reading Trunks' rejection!
I am not sure if I will continue after this. Who knows, maybe I will? If Rose is out there and continues to review, maybe I will. Honestly, one person is all it takes to motivate me. If I continue, I can promise that Arianna will make an appearance again, but her character will be more mature. I can also promise that this will remain a Trunks-centric fic, and likely not a romance, unless that's what someone wants. I have a hard time gauging what audiences want—and honestly, I'm writing it for you, not just me, if I come back to this story. (I know people always say "don't write for others," and while that is usually true, I feel it changes after being gone for 8 years.)
So please, if you're out there, feel free to let me know. My writing has changed drastically and has certainly matured with me as well. If you can get past my old writing mishaps and have enjoyed it thus far, hopefully I can only improve for you!
Ever Your Servant,
A.F (formerly t.b.p.)
