Second Glance: Untold Stories
Chapter Seven: The Rain that Erases
"Samuel, how's your wife? Samuel? Samuel?"A frail woman held up her hand and waved it around, calling for her eldest son. She was coughing, again and again. The heavy sound of rain falling against their house almost made it impossible to hear her.
"Your mother's calling for you," said an elderly man to a young swordsman. The young swordsman had a grim expression on his face.
He reminded his father, "I'm not Samuel. Samuel's dead. He and his wife died a year ago in an accident."
His father shook his head. "Maki, please."
Giving a long sigh, Maki approached his mother and took her hand, squeezing it tightly and looking straight into her eyes. She couldn't see him, since her illness had already taken her eyesight away months ago. Something clenched at his chest painfully, and he listened to his mother talk to someone who wasn't there. His mother said that he should take care of his future kids. His mother told him to take care of his lovely wife. And not once did she mention her younger son's name, Maki, who was actually the one standing right in front of her.
……
"Oh, hello." The young novice tilted her head in question, staring right at Maki. "Are you okay? You look very sad."
Maki stared at her for a moment. It was Mina, that person that Rai had introduced to him the other day. She was drenched in the rain but not moving, but neither was Maki. Maki replied, "The rain just makes me feel uncomfortable."
Mina gave a smile and nodded. "I like the rain. I think it washes away everything. I mean, I can just stand here and pretend there isn't anything wrong."
Not knowing what to reply, Maki simply smiled back at her. His brother and his wife had died because of the rain—the carriage they were on slid off the muddy road when they were coming back from delivering goods to Alberta. It brought bad memories to him.
"Don't you agree?" Mina asked him innocently, but he figured that she wasn't really paying much attention because she was staring straight at the skies.
"Yeah, I suppose." Maki replied, lying to Mina for the very first time. When he got home that night, the rain was stronger than he had ever remembered, and his mother had succumbed to her illness and had passed away. He didn't cry, but when he stepped out of the house again, the rain fell on his face and, nonetheless, it somehow looked like he was.
……
"I can't believe it's raining…" Cheska pouted to herself as she looked outside the glass windows of the castle halls. "I really wanted to go to the festival."
Mina smiled at Cheska and looked out the windows, too. "Axis said the town's celebrating, anyway."
Cheska looked excited at this. She stared up at Mina with a huge smile. "They are!? They're celebrating in the rain? That sounds like so much fun! I'm going to go tell Cain!"
Nodding in agreement, Mina watched as Cheska started running towards the dining hall, where her brother was. Mina sighed to herself—Cain, Maki and Scarlet were all leaving again the next day. They were going to go after Seth, something nobody wanted to tell Rai. It also depressed Mina just to think about it. A cough shook her out of her reverie, and she turned around to meet Cain's confused face.
"Hey, why was Cheska running towards the dining hall?"
Mina blinked. "She… uh, she was going to tell you that the festival's still on." The High Priestess looked so confused; she tilted her head and pointed towards the direction Cheska ran to. "Weren't you in the dining hall just a couple of minutes ago?"
Raising an eyebrow, Cain said, "I went to talk to Maki about tomorrow. I passed by here… you were talking to Cheska. What the hell, I thought you saw me."
"Huh?" Mina's expression looked comical. At the same time, she wanted to hit him—it was just like Cain to ignore people when he walked by them. In addition, he thought they had seen him, and he had still ignored them. That was Cain, alright.
The High Priestess gave a slight shrug and turned around. She opened the window that she had been staring at, and the rain fell lightly on her face. It had died down to a drizzle, nothing like the heavy downpour that morning. She liked the rain; it felt cool against her face.
Behind her, Cain was staring at her back with a frown. He said, "You're going to the festival in this weather?"
"Sure. The festival only comes once a year. Besides, you guys are leaving tomorrow, so might as well enjoy today. I do think Axis could have moved the festival if he wanted to, though…"
"Ah. Him."
Mina turned her head to give him a disapproving look, and she quickly went back to staring out the open window. She rested her arms on the window sill. "What's with that tone? He's a nice guy; I don't understand why you hate him so much."
Cain gave a mumble in reply, but somehow, Mina could sense his uneasiness, as if he wanted to tell her something. Finally, he said, "He's coming with us tomorrow."
"What!?" Mina exclaimed, and she turned around suddenly. She hadn't realized that Cain was right behind her, and she hit his chin with her forehead. "Ow…"
Looking annoyed, Cain rubbed his chin where he was hit. That had caught him off-guard. Mina had her palm on her forehead, and she looked up at him with an apologetic and sheepish smile. He shrugged in reply and said, "He insisted. I don't know why."
The High Priestess looked upset. She turned around and rested her arms on the window sill again. "I insisted on coming too, you know."
Cain didn't reply, something which Mina had foreseen. She had jumped out of her skin when she suddenly felt his arms snaking around her waist from behind, and he rested his chin on her shoulder without a word. Mina had a confused expression again since Cain rarely showed affection, but she turned towards him and put a light kiss on his temple. All the response she got was a soft incoherent mutter.
Meanwhile, in the dining hall, Cheska was running around. The maids watched her with amusement as she interrogated each one of them about the whereabouts of her brother. She ran towards one of the other halls, where she found Rai speaking to Maki. They didn't seem to notice her, so she slowly approached them.
"She slapped you?" Rai asked with exasperation. "Why'd she slap you?"
"Uh…" Maki looked embarrassed. "She said I had no right because I kissed her twin. But I didn't kiss her twin. You saw it, right?"
The dancer gave him a huge grin. "Well, you didn't give much of a fight, that's for sure."
"What, you wanted me to punch Viole—"
"You didn't have a right to what?"
At this point, Cheska was standing right in front of them and staring at them, waiting for them to finish their conversation so she could interrogate them. Maki looked from Cheska to Rai, unable to answer the simple question. He couldn't tell why, since he told Rai almost everything—except when he was into Mina, because she was their best friend and that was strange—and the dancer told him everything, always told him too much information about her nights with Seth.
"Well?" Rai asked impatiently.
Maki gave a deep sigh. "I told her that I liked her."
Silence. Rai's eyes widened slowly, and before Maki knew it, she burst out laughing, holding her stomach in the process.
"What the hell, Rai…" Maki muttered under his breath. Cheska still stood there, but for some reason, the little girl was also wearing a smile.
"Well, you confessed your love to her right after she saw you kissing her twin sis—"
"Confessed my love…? No, no, no, it was just something that I blurted out on impulse…" Maki looked stunned. "And I didn't kiss Violet. Are you even listening?"
Nope, Rai wasn't listening the least as she laughed some more. Maki rolled his eyes and looked at Cheska, ignoring Rai. He asked her, "What is it?" and his voice was almost drowned out amidst the laughter. Cheska was amused. She could practically see that angry vein on his neck.
"I'm looking for my brother." Cheska told Maki. "Have you seen him?"
Maki shook his head in reply and realized that Rai's laughter had died down. He looked at her from the corner of his eye. At the same time, Cheska gave a sigh and started to walk away. Rai was staring at something behind him, and he realized who it was when he heard Cheska's voice greet the newcomer.
"Hi, Violet! Have you seen my brother?"
"No, I haven't." Violet answered. Cheska nodded and walked away.
Maki saw the confused look in Rai's face. He was just as confused. Violet's voice was so monotonous, and that was rare for her. Turning around to look at her, he saw that she looked so tired. She didn't have her usual playful smile, and her hands were lying flatly on her sides. She seemed too… well, normal.
"What's wrong?" Maki asked Violet. "Hangover?"
Violet averted her eyes, obviously not being able to look at him. "I suppose," she replied, and with that, she walked away.
"Hm." Rai said simply, puzzlement evident. "So she's also angry at you? Man, just yesterday you had a pair of twins. Now you're back to zero."
Rolling his eyes, Maki said, "I did not have a pair of twins."
"Whatever," she replied. "So you don't have a date for tonight, then? That makes two of us. That means you're accompanying me to the festival."
"What?" Maki raised his eyebrows. "There's no way I'm going to that festival in this weather."
Rai gave a yawn, not hearing him. "So, meet me by the gates at around five. I'll see you then." She stretched a bit and stood up, leaving him with a slight frown.
……
Violet's chest hurt and she couldn't explain why. She just felt terrible. A few pictures from the previous night flooded her mind, but it wasn't the fact that she kissed Maki that was haunting her—no, it was something else, but it still did involve her face. She felt guilt, intense guilt.
The sage placed a hand flatly on the castle walls, and then she put her stare towards the empty ground. The people in the garden glanced at her as she passed by. She could feel their gazes, but she didn't say a thing.
"Excuse me?"
Violet blinked and put her hand down. She turned around to see a High Priestess staring back at her, one she had never seen before. This High Priestess was shorter than her and a lot skinnier, but she brought a very strong presence. Violet said, "Yes?"
"You're His Highness's friend, am I right?" The girl gave her a huge smile, but Violet could see how fake it was. "My name's Katherine. I'm his fiancée. Have you seen him?"
'Huh? Axis is engaged?' Violet wondered. She had forgotten for the nth time. It wasn't really something she was interested in remembering, "I don't know where he is." Then the sage put on a bright smile as if she had suddenly remembered where Axis was. "Maybe he's already in heaven!"
The girl, Katherine, gave a loud gasp, putting her hand over her mouth. Violet didn't seem to realize what she had said, and she just looked back at Katherine with her blank smile. Katherine said, "What are you talking about? His Highness isn't dead!"
"He isn't?" Violet tilted his head. "No, no, he's dead. I definitely attended his funeral."
Katherine looked so shocked that without saying anything else to Violet, she ran off towards the castle doors. She almost tripped in doing so, and Violet watched her retreating back with a confused look. The sage blinked—what had she just been talking about?
……
By the time evening fell, all that was left was a light drizzle. The festival lights were shining brightly and the music was cheerful and loud, and most people went around the streets like it wasn't uncomfortable in any way.
Maki felt like he was taking care of a little kid. Rai kept asking—no, forcing—him to buy all kinds of stuff for her, from food to accessories to stuffed toys.
"Do you want these, too?" Maki muttered, pointing towards a display of bows. He was referring to some that were of the colour red. "What even happened to the old ones you always wore?"
"I gave them to Seth," Rai replied simply. "And, no, I don't want those."
Maki stared. He started, "Rai… you—"
The girl cut him off as soon as she could, and she pointed towards the village centre where dozens of people were dancing to the music. Before Maki could protest, Rai grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the site.
"Hey, it's Maki and Rai." Cheska said, a huge lollipop in her mouth. Behind her, Cain and Mina were seated on a bench. The young thief had seen Rai and Maki pass by, and the latter was being dragged in a silly manner. She was going to say something else, when she suddenly sneezed. The young girl frowned.
"I think you're getting a cold from the drizzle…" Mina sounded worried, as she beckoned Cheska to approach her. The little girl did, and she allowed Mina to wrap a thick cloth around her small frame.
"Isn't that the table cloth you just bought?" Cain asked, eyebrows raised as he watched his sister get comfortable under it.
Mina shrugged. "It doesn't matter." Before she knew it, Cheska had squeezed herself in-between them and hugged Mina's arm. The girl was so obviously shivering and her teeth were now clacking together.
Cain said, "Let's go back to the castle."
"No," Cheska said quickly. "I don't get to spend time with you guys. Let's stay here."
Looking annoyed at his sister, Cain glanced across at Mina, who had a sheepish smile on her face. The High Priestess slowly untangled her arm from Cheska's grip and wrapped it around the child's form, and Cheska was thankful, because it really did feel warmer that way. Cain wanted to tell his sister how stupid she was being. He wanted to say that getting out of the damn drizzle was what common sense was telling them.
"You three look like a family," a voice suddenly said. Mina and Cain both looked up—Cheska was already drowsing off—and they saw Axis, who was smiling down at them.
Much to Mina's surprise, Cain didn't tell Axis to Fuck Off. Cain had kept silent and simply looked the other way. Mina was relieved—maybe Cain was finally getting some manners.
"I haven't seen Violet or Scarlet." Mina told Axis with a weak smile. "I'm not too surprised about Scarlet though, but I thought Violet would have enjoyed this festival."
"Ah, Violet." Axis gave a sort of puzzled look as he said that name. He also looked exasperated at the same time. "My fiancée came running to me this afternoon. Apparently, Violet had told her that I was dead."
"Wha…?" Mina's mouth was slightly open. For a while, she couldn't find a thing to say. "She said you were dead?"
Axis nodded. "I have no idea why she would do that. Do you?"
Mina shook her head. Just that moment, a woman called for Axis. Mina looked over to the source of the voice, and she saw a small female waving at Axis. She had a huge smile on her face. Mina asked, "Your fiancée?"
Nodding, Axis gave a slight wave and walked slowly over to Katherine. Mina watched as Axis spoke to her with a gentle smile on his face. She watched as Katherine hooked an arm around his and pulled him close, and Cain saw that Mina was staring, so he spoke up.
"What?" Cain asked her.
Blinking, Mina stared at Cain. "I just think it's sad. Violet is right, he's not in love with his fiancée."
"Violet," Cain started with a frown. "Probably doesn't even remember he has a fiancée."
Mina chuckled and looked over at Axis and Katherine again, except that she couldn't see much because the rain suddenly strengthened again, and her eyesight went blurry. She felt Cheska stir, and at the corner of her eye, she could see Cain getting up.
"Cain, what?"
All around them, people were rushing to get under the shade. Even the music had stopped. Mina, Cain and Cheska were one of the few who were unmoving. Cain leaned down. He was talking louder because of the noise of the rain. He said, "Go bring Cheska to the castle. Now."
"Why?"
But before she got a decent reply, Cain was already walking away quickly. Mina felt upset. She knew that expression of his, it was the one he always wore when he knew something terrible but refused to tell anyone. What exactly did he see?
Cain turned a couple of corners with a grim face. These streets all looked too familiar to him. But when he finally thought he had caught up to him, a dead end met him. He gave a deep sigh and turned around, ready to head back to Mina. He was probably mistaken. There's no way he could have seen—
"Hey."
There it was. That familiar, nonchalant voice.
Looking ahead of him, Cain saw him—Seth. His partner had his hands in his pockets and had a grin on his face.
"The pendant. The glass flower," was all Cain could tell him. His expression was placid, something Seth had seen all too often.
"I don't have them with me." Seth replied with a sheepish grin.
"Why are you here?"
"Well…" Spreading his arms as if inviting Cain to embrace him, Seth bellowed, "I missed you!"
Cain stared. He raised his eyebrow.
Laughing loudly, Seth put his hands back down. Then, he said, "Nah, just here to tell you that I don't mind if you hold grudges. Also, I just wanted to ask you to look after Rai, please."
"Why did you do it?"
Seth placed a hand over his mouth and seemed to look like he was thinking about it. The two of them were speaking in loud voices. They were at a distance, neither of them making a move to get closer. Seth said, "I don't need a reason. I just do it. We've been partners for years, you should know that."
Cain shrugged. He looked away. "Why should I look after that annoying dancer for you?"
"Because you owe me."
His eyes suddenly becoming stern, Cain snarled at his partner. He was finally started to grow impatient and lose his temper. "I don't owe you a fucking thing."
"You owe me, and you damn know it." Seth's voice was also starting to grow furious, something that was unusual for him. Even when he was in the process of sticking a dagger in someone's guts, his face had always been calm, sometimes even smiling. Cain had known that.
Suddenly, Cain was right in front of Seth. He grabbed Seth by the front of his shirt and glared at him. "You're a fucking traitor, you should be thankful I'm not trying to kill you right now."
"Fine," Seth's voice was back to calm. "Kill me. Kill me right now."
And Cain wanted to as he glared at Seth, who stared back at him. He tightened his grip… and after a few moments, let go. Seth smirked at him, and then he walked away. Cain let him walk away.
……
"Ugh, I hate the rain!" Katherine was trying to squeeze her hair to get the water out, but to no avail. She sighed again and again in a miserable manner as she stood beneath one of the festival stalls. A couple other people were crowded with them, none of them recognizing Axis amidst the turmoil. Katherine whispered to Axis, "You should ask them to leave and give us this stall's space!"
Axis wasn't paying attention. He was staring at the village centre. A couple of other people were doing the same, pointing and whispering. Katherine, curious, looked at where they were staring. When she saw what it was, she had the same puzzled expression as everyone else.
There, in the middle of the centre, alone and silent, was Violet. She just stood there, looking up at the skies. Her hands were flat on her sides and her mouth was carved into a slight frown. Her stare was perfectly blank.
"It's her," Katherine muttered. "I think she's seriously deranged. Your highness, let's get back to the castle, please?"
To Katherine's surprise, Axis shook his head slowly. He said, "You should go ahead. I'll take Violet back and follow… I'll see you there, okay?"
"Huh? Your highness?"
"Like I said, please call me by my name…" Axis gave his fiancée a weak smile before getting out of the shade to approach Violet. If she had said anything more, the rain had drowned it out, and he was slightly thankful for that. Violet had started walking, and people were no longer pointing at her. Katherine gave an impatient huff. Slightly hurt by Axis's actions, she turned around and headed for the castle.
……
Mina was drenched to the bone by the time she and Cheska got back to the castle. She had to force Cheska to get a change of clothes, because the child had whined and kicked initially, just wanting to go to bed. Mina had refused to let her do so, saying she would catch a fever. When she put Cheska to bed, the High Priestess got ready to get her own change of clothes. She went to the bathroom and was just about to undo the ribbons to her clothes when the door opened. For a while, she was shocked.
Then she saw Cain standing there, door on the knob, his wet hair sticking to his face. He had a frown.
"I need to take care of Rai."
Mina chuckled—she couldn't help it. "For Seth?"
Cain nodded. He knew that she just thought he had a change of heart towards the dancer. He didn't need to tell her that he had spoken to Seth, that damn traitor—but still kind of his friend.
"Don't worry," Mina stood on her toes pressed their foreheads together, and she tangled her fingers in his pitch-black hair. "She'll grow on you."
"Whatever," he muttered.
……
Violet was humming an unfamiliar tune as she stared at the dark sky and blindly moved her feet around. When Axis called her name the first time, she didn't hear him, so he called her a second time, a third time, until she finally realized he was there.
"Hello," she gave him a bright smile.
"As you can see, I'm alive." Axis said with a sheepish smile, though he didn't know why he had said that.
Violet looked puzzled. "You died?"
"Huh? No, no…" Axis was just as puzzled now. This girl will never cease to confuse him. "Uh, Violet, are you okay?"
The sage shook her head. Axis was surprised that she even answered him honestly.
"I'm not very good with interpreting what I see. What's worse is, sometimes I forget that they haven't even happened yet. I mix up my memory a lot." Her voice was serious and he recognized it. She had used that tone with him the first time they had met. "Or maybe I just don't want to understand it in the first place. Why do I see nothing but terrible events?"
She turned around again and slowly started walking away from him, but she didn't look like she had a destination. In the distance, thunder rumbled. Axis had no choice but to follow her. He didn't know what to say, so he kept silent.
"I thought I had finally seen something good…" Violet continued. "But I guess I was wrong. I had seen myself kissing him. I thought it was something that meant to happen."
Axis was very confused now. He said, "Maki?"
Violet nodded. "I forgot about her."
"Her?"
She paused, hesitated. Finally, she said, "Yes, my twin."
"You…" Axis stared at her back and was still following her. She was circling the fountain in the village centre. "You remember? But I thought…"
"I remember Scarlet tricking me to drink the potion," Violet gave a sigh. "She probably forgot that things like that are somehow negated by my body after a while. It's something that came with my strange dreams and visions of the future. I'm cursed, after all, like she said. Saw the massacre of our parents and didn't even realize until it was too late…"
She was muttering, and Axis could barely understand what she was saying because the downpour made it all the while more difficult.
"She has always been giving up everything for me," Violet said in a clearer voice as she finally turned around to stare Axis in the face. "And this time, she could have been happy being with that Paladin. That's what I saw—her and that Paladin. But I thought it was me, not her. And I… destroyed everything for her, again. I kissed him, didn't I? She saw what happened? That's what happened last night?"
"You didn't know." Axis stated. "It's not your fault."
"It's always my fault, don't you understand?" The sage looked pained as she said this. "Everybody always gets hurt because of me. Everybody is always sacrificing for me. Do you know how many people have been killed because of me? I didn't ask to have this power, so why did they go after me!? Why did they have to kill our whole family!? Why are they after me again!?"
'But, I thought…' Axis frowned, not speaking. 'I thought they were after Violet because Scarlet betrayed the guild…?'
"I don't want more people to die because of me." Her voice was shaking, and when Axis took a step forward, she had backed away much quicker. She looked like she was actually scared of him. She was having a hard enough time looking at his eyes.
Axis shook his head. "Nobody needs to die."
"But they do! They always do!"
"I'll make sure nobody dies." Axis told her, his eyes serious. He held out a hand, as if asking her to take it. He wasn't used to seeing her this way. The Violet he had grown accustomed to couldn't keep a conversation this long. She never said anything that made any sense. He watched as Violet stared down at his outreached hand with narrowed eyes, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.
Much to his surprise, Violet suddenly burst out crying. She buried her face in her hands. "Haven't you figured it out yet, Axis? You're going to die! Axis, you're going to die!"
To Be Continued
YEEEEEEAH, UPDATE.
Thanks for the nice reviews, guys. I'm sorry it took me a million years to update. I don't even play the game anymore, so I think I'm very behind. I hope you all forgive me on that. Also, as usual, this chapter is not proofread, so please forgive the bad typos. (: Actually, it'd probably help if you tell me the typos that you see, so I can correct it?
