a/n: This took awhile... -.- Anyways here's chapter 11! And we meet Germaine (but we don't know she's Germaine...sshh...)
Thank you for bearing up with slow updates :) I'm sure you all know what it's like to be busy.
HERE WE GO!~~
The Crimson Warrior (Germaine Avadonia): Meiko
The sun peeked out from the mountains, a beckoning to yet another new day. Spilling though between curtains that weren't closed that night, the rays caused the Queen to slowly crack her eyes open.
"How did I get here...?" She groaned, flipping over to dig her face into the pillow. The yellow blanket she always had was tangled around her neck, slightly damp from drool.
"Ew."
And then she remembered yesterday.
His secret. Her new mission. Their kiss.
"Allen...?" She sat up, still groggy, looking around her spacious room. She carefully stood up from the bed, and was startled when two hands reached out from underneath to seize her ankles...
"EEEEK!"
"Gotcha~" A familiar voice sang. She pulled her nightgown up, swinging her head down to peer under the bed.
"What the hell are you doing under-"
The rest of her sentence didn't make it past her lips, because they suddenly met his own.
"Rise and shine!" He grinned, poking his head back under the bed. Riliane scoffed, shaking off the kiss. She extended a hand into the darkness, successfully latching onto his hair on her first try.
"You creep. How long have you been there...?"
"Easy on the hair, please..."
She pulled the squirming servant out by his locks, to meet her face. She gave him a sweet, yet dangerous smirk. The one he knew so well.
"Don't you know that watching your Queen sleep is looked down upon in society?"
"Well, you're looking down at me quite literally right now. Also, I've deduced that since I was technically under the bed, your accusation is therefore proved invalid."
The smug confidence in his grin was wiped off of his face, when a incoming pillow managed to get hit him hard.
"Deduce THAT." Riliane snickered, but was met with the same pillow colliding into her laughing face. The servant had got his revenge.
Then Riliane. Then Allen again.
And then all hell broke loose as the pillow fight reached its supreme ordeal. After a few crazy moments, the room was filled with feathers...buttloads of feathers.
"Aw...I have to clean this all up..."
Allen lay on the bed, panting. Riliane joined him, looking up at the mess of feathers they had proudly created. She sighed contently, feeling a feather between her fingers. Her head ached to lie ontop of his chest, but she felt too sweaty to do much besides gasp for breath.
"It's okay to break rules sometimes."
Riliane stood up, taking the feather-dotted blanket with her. She threw it up into the air, causing a white flurry of feathers to rain down on the both of them. The blanket came down afterwards, to top it off.
"Look! It's snowing!" She stuck her arms out, pointing with childish excitement. She giggled when one landed on her nose, and he blew it off. "We're like snow angels!"
"Snow devils, you mean." Allen corrected passively. She smirked, plopping her head onto him, comically. As soon as the mood settled in, the thoughts of yesterday came back. Allen was thinking the same, she could tell.
"So what you said in the story was all true?"
"All of it."
She bit on her tongue, before saying the only thing she had left to say. Two simple words that matched her feelings perfectly.
"I'm sorry."
It happened again. That subtle but piercing pang in her heart, an emotion she has yet to familiarize with.
What was it called again? Ah yes, guilt.
"It's not your fault. It never was." He kissed her forehead softly. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. After all, which of us was originally planning to kill the other?"
She stayed silent for awhile, before answering. "I'll accept you for whoever you are. Whatever you are."
"As I will for you."
He told her everything about Chrome, what they did and why they did it. There had been others like her, whom were his past targets. Like her, he had gained their trust and friendship. Unlike her, they didn't last.
"It's always been Chrome. From the day I opened my eyes, they were there. I didn't remember anything before that. Life was a blur of emotion I never felt, of false passion and feigned feelings. And there was pain. So much pain..."
Subconciously, Riliane traced the scar he had on his back. He flinched at her touch, whether it was from pain or something else, she didn't know.
"So. I'm guessing that this wasn't from a horse-riding accident?"
He shook his head. "Chrome did that too. I still have yet to know the reason for it."
"I don't think it's a scar..." She trailed off... "Looks more like a birthmark to me."
"I've considered that idea before. But last time I've checked, birthmarks aren't known to be painful."
She laid back, giving him a lazy smile. "Quite a dilemma you've gotten yourself in, huh? Who knew this twisted organization existed. And to think you went all these years without true friends, without anyone who loved you. And the ones who did were either fake, or killed."
Allen sighed, picking at an embroidered pattern on the sheets. "It wasn't their fault. My hands killed them, and my heart could've saved them. I've always thought I had known everything, up until the point I've realized I was supposed to be Xanthine, not Azure. Sometimes, I felt I was far too great to dwell on such feelings."
"That's a common trait of our people. But then again, we don't always have to live by the stereotypes. Right?"
"I'd say. Because the more I look at you, the less I see of that arrogant royal pain that people knew you as."
She pushed him, rolling her eyes at his comment. But then her eyes glazed over, almost nostalgically. Riliane sat up, as if a weight in her chest was going to push her into the bed is she didn't get up soon.
"I can relate to that, Allen. Ah, from all I could remember, I've always been Queen. There was never a time I wasn't acting selfish, a time where I understood WHY I was this way. What propelled me to be so cruel, so evil? To this day, I still don't know what."
Her eyes caught the sun's glow, the two colours mixing in her irises. It was so unlike her to tell anyone the story of her life, one she didn't get to see the origins of.
"Hey. I want to show you something."
Allen felt himself being whirled away, their footsteps resounding from the massive foyer. Dashing through a series of random halls that Riliane knew so well, they eventually reached an alcove which from it hung a painting. A painting of Her Majesty herself.
The servant inched near the acrylic canvas, at the young princess before him. She sat poised and unperturbed, in a frame of yellow roses. Her face was plastered and expressionless, yet her eyes glinted with innocence.
"I've seen this painting before." He remarked, examining it up close. "When was this?"
"Seven years ago."
"Awwww~!" He cooed, because he knew it would annoy her. But Riliane's eyes bore into his, in anticipation. He stared back.
"Well, what do you want me to do?" He quipped.
She just crossed her arms. "Being a trained agent, you ought to know."
He turned back to the painting. Everything looked fine at first, until his eyes caught onto the wall near it. The painting looked a bit too close to the ground. In the corner of the painting was a shadow. One might suspect it was a shadow of the corner, but further investigation would reveal it wasn't a shadow at all. It was a hole.
Allen lifted the painting off of the wall, revealing a hollow with light streaming from it. Light from another room.
"This is new..." He turned to Riliane, who gave him a thumbs up, before he entered.
"My parents were executed when I was very young, so the nobles raised me. That's all I was told, on my life as a princess. But there was more. Each night, I had dreams about this person. Brother, cousin, random villager, I don't know. But they would come to me each night, as scrambled memories that I believe were somehow taken away from me. I felt emotionally attached to this presence, but I didn't know who they were. If I discover who this person is, I can unlock my past. And possibly, why I couldn't remember it in the first place.
So, I painted."
The Queen gestured, an action that was regal even in her current state of mind. The room unfolded before Allen, as he realized that it resembled an attic. "Castles had attics? How come I didn't know about this?"
But that wasn't the important part. What covered the walls of the attic were paintings and paintings of people. Some littered the ground unfinished, while others hung from the cherrywood walls with pride, in their purest form. A girl's painting, the story behind it simple yet spawling.
There were people of all shapes, expressions and Colours, all staring at him from a multitude of levels. Their faces and eyes held so much life to them, he was surprised they came from Riliane herself. Wasn't this type of art skill a Verdigris gift? And a rare one, at that.
"Riliane...this is all your doing?" His eyes didn't know where to land, but he found himself smiling all the way. They were amazing! The people shown were all faces, combinations of a mysterious dream figure she felt comfort in. One of these people, these non-existent souls, could be the person who would reveal her past to her.
"Yes. They're nothing, just what I imagine them to be. Since they are no more than a warm presence, the possiblities are endless!" She grinned, although there was some hardship hidden in her face. She knew that there was no way for her find the person, Allen could tell. To her, all that's left to do is to paint.
"How come you've never told me...?"
"You've never asked." She stated nonchalantly, then placed a finger to her cheek in mock wonder. "Besides, we all have secrets. Hmm...what else do you hide from me, Allen?"
"We could be here all day, if you were to know." He smiled, looking too happy for the situation. "I would also have to kill you, probably."
"Ah, haven't you tried that before?"
"Ooh...touche." Allen remarked, hand covering his brow. He turned to one of the paintings, stunned by the sheer beauty of her lines, flowing and lively like the ones in the Green Kingdom. "But seriously. You have remarkable talent, my dear. Who taught you? I've never seen a Xanthine capable of producing such beautiful, sophisticated art."
"I don't know, actually. I'm not even sure when I started painting. But I stopped when you came." Her face regarded him, as she looked up. "Because ever since you arrived, the dreams disappeared. I haven't had one since."
Was it a good or bad thing? A person she had loved was replaced by another on that day, except this one was real? Or what if that person was himself? What if he was one of the figures that shared a part of her young heart, the one that had been corrupted with ice the day she had lost her love and memories?
No, that can't be true. He would've been completing training at Chrome back then. And he should have remembered that, if it actually did happen.
"But then again...I don't remember anything..."
"Speaking of dreams," He finally broke the silence that was weighing down on them, the first one that wasn't followed by synched laughter. "Back before this Kyle thing happened, I had dreams of you every night."
"Don't tell me they were..." She trailed off, looking slightly disgusted.
"No, Riliane." He rolled his eyes. "They were perfectly innocent, I'd tell you. Except that one nightmare, when I dreamt I um, raped you. An effect from the Canterella I had carried around for too long. I hated myself for it."
The Queen froze, an irritated look plastered on her face. Her hand trembled as though she was dying to strike him, although she knew it wasn't his fault.
Instead, she grabbed his tie, forcefully pulling it up as if to hang him. He voice came out in a seething whisper. "You don't have to be so brutally honest, you know."
"So you're implying that you want me to be 'honestly brutal', or something of the like? Because I would, for you."
Riliane released him, annoyed, but she turned just to hide a rare setimental smile. In the end, he was still her loving servant. One that was both intelligent and dumb, dangerous yet compassionate. So mysterious, yet so relatable.
"I'm just glad I never got around to executing you." She said simply. Riliane expected a chirpy response of "Me too!", but her servant just kept quiet. Like he took her statement seriously, comtempating the fact that she could've killed him long ago. Then all this political struggle would have not existed. But the marriage would.
"Come on, Allen. I'm getting bored of this place. Let's go help my people."
Twenty minutes later, the two emerged from the kitchen, with baskets of brioche. Although Riliane was relunctant to bake the bread after yesterday, she immediately regained confidence as Allen's steady hands guided hers. The finished product came in a manner of mere minutes.
"Ugh...how could bread be so heavy?!" She whined, two large baskets in her hands and one over her shoulder. The servant tsked, lifting one of the baskets off and placing it over his own.
"It's not just the bread, but the burden of all the pain you had caused the people." Unlike her, he didn't seem to cringe under the weight. "This was what you had taken from them. And now, you are giving it back."
"I guess." Adjusting her hair bow, Riliane unlatched the gate to the stables. It was a vast, forlorn place...empty except for one mare, of course.
"Josephine!" The Queen cried in joy. The horse froze, so that Riliane could pet her. But as soon as she sensed Allen, her slobbery long tongue covered him in saliva. She licked and licked him, causing his bangs to stand on end.
"Easy, easy..." He adjusted his hair, scratching her behind the ears. "I'm not your lollipop."
Allen unlatched the gate in front of her, as Riliane fetched the harness. She laughed at Allen's face, gesturing that he should take the reins. "After all, she seems to like you much better."
Their plan was to head out into the Kingdom, to deliver the bread to the people who happen to drop by. When that's done, they go back to the Castle to make more. Hopefully, this action and the ones that will follow can help restore her Kingdom's trust. She had even dropped the taxes, which was something never done in the Yellow Kingdom.
Allen turned to her, as Josephine gained speed. "I can't believe we're actually going to do this. I'm proud of you."
"Pshh..." She beamed. "I just hope we do this right."
The two set out, rounding to the front of the Castle. But what they saw there nearly caused them to drop all the baskets.
Riliane was startled out of her skin. "What on earth?! Allen, do you see-"
"Yes, I see. I see everything."
A mob. All the citizens of the Yellow Kingdom had gathered at the foot of their ruler, a massive sea of yellow glinted with orange light. Light from torches they had in their hands, although it was broad daylight. From the outcropping of Riliane's Castle, even the most near-sighted old man could see the group slowly move up the base of the cliff. It was a golden wave, as angry as the sea itself.
"Why are they out here?! What do they..." She panicked, as Allen dismounted to get a closer view. The blonde servant carried a solemn, yet fearful look. As if he knew it would happen one day, but scared him anyway.
"Allen?"
He didn't answer.
"They want...me, don't they?"
The noises were getting louder, screams and hollers of anguish and rage filled the sky. Crows swarmed above them, the entire gathering like a call to death. Which was ironic, since Riliane was the reason her people were dying.
Kill the Queen! Kill the Queen!
Kill the-
Allen narrowed his eyes in determination. He dropped everything, including the baskets, taking Riliane in one hand and Josephine's reins in the other.
"To the Castle! Now!"
Josephine bolted. Everything felt like it was on hyper-drive, as time seemed to skip and events seem to lose their transitions. Riliane couldn't take her eyes off his face, at his dilated eyes and desperation to reach the Castle.
"No...how could this be happening? I've dropped the taxes, we were going to give them bread...just when I decide to help them, they turn on me!" Her eyes stung with fear, as she turned back. They were advancing up the cliff. "I'm too late. I've lost control...
Control. That was all I wanted in life. Never had I felt it turn back on me."
The Castle doors bursted open, as Allen dragged the horse in as well. The sound nearly deafened her, but not as loud as the sound of her heart.
"Allen..."
"Riliane, just stay calm. Please-" His response came in a whisper.
"It's all my fault. I deserve this..."
"No, don't say that! Come, go to your room. I'll lock the doors. Oliver! Leonhart!"
Amist the terror in her heart, she found some control to listen to him. She sprinted into the foyer, running through the throne room. Her ten-foot tall throne, the one she gave her all her pride, looked like a colossal monster of darkness.
Instead of locking herself in her room, the Queen raced out to the gardens, climbing the massive tree where she and Allen had first kissed. Scaling the tree until she couldn't see the ground anymore, she looked out to see the people...HER people, approach the doors of her Castle.
"Allen. Oliver. Leonhart. Josephine." Instinct or love told her to head down to grab her servant and the others, until she saw him.
There he stood, any trace of fear from before wiped off of his face. The crowd had quieted, stopping at the huge Castle stairs. All souls focused on Allen, who faced them defiantly. His eyes were as cold as steel, but reflected bravery.
"I'm sure you all have a good reason to protest. But you're going to have to go through me first."
Tears welled up in her eyes. Her gaze pleaded to him to surrender, but no such thing happened. What was wrong with her? Why was she giving up on her Castle in the most crucial of times?
The protestors uproared, but were immediately silenced by a new figure. Two, in fact. Her eyes widened in horror, as she scrambled higher to get a better look. Making his way up the steps to Allen was the Blue Kingdom's Prince. Yes, Kyle Marlon. And this time, he has brought a Crimson Warrior with him, clad in armour the colour of blood.
With a knight's helmet pulled over to obscure their face, the Warrior stepped behind her servant. Their steps were strong, yet swift.
"Prince Kyle." Allen glowered at the man, who was now dressed as if this event was something worth dressing up for. Several soldiers accompanied him, excluding the Crimson one. Their faces were all drained of emotions, except duty to serve the heir.
"Ah, Allen. I knew I would see you again. Let's make this time the last."
From a sheath with the Red King's symbol on it, a erubscent sword emerged. The Crimson Warrior brandished it close to Allen's neck, just above a fatal vein. The servant didn't even blink.
"It was you, Kyle. You led the revolt."
"I applaud you, pitiful servant, for noticing that. But I wasn't the one who had created it. Look at all these starving people. Did you think they weren't capable of moving mountains on their own? Like them, I tend to take action due to cause." Kyle's smile looked almost like a madman's, one who had entered the Kingdom last night to build this crazy army.
"Jelousy, Kyle. You are just envious."
"N-no, Allen! Please don't make him mad." Although she hated Prince Kyle, her eyes were on the Warrior. Whatever Allen said was monitored by the silent Crimson.
The sword shone with sunlight as it was raised into the air. Riliane closed her eyes, and upon opening them, it was damp with blood.
And Allen stood there, as calm as ever, with a dark red stain on his collarbone. He made no sound to indicate pain, although now he was trembling. Just the slightest.
"Watch your mouth, you fool. Does it look like I care whether or not I'm still in love with her? Right now, she is a criminal. She's commited a time-elapsed massacre, and had violated her father's will. Now move aside, Allen. I'm done with you."
But he didn't move. Instead, he folded his arms and spat at Kyle's foot.
"No."
The sound of the revolt that followed was pitched as harsh as the crow's calls. The shining blade of death came down. Riliane screamed, just before he was fatally struck, and all eyes were soon on her.
Time seemed to stop. The heat from the merciless sun was killing her. She stared at Kyle, at the Red Warrior's non-existent eyes, putting on the bravest face she could manage. She eyed the sword, frozen in mid-air.
Allen's eyes widened with amusement. What was she doing in the tree, when he had told her to take shelter in a room that locks?
"The Queen is up there! Get her!"
Immediately, Allen disappeared. The androygnous warrior had abandoned him, allowing the sort-of spy to make his escape.
Her descent consisted of mostly hopping and falling. As she rolled onto the ground, the Queen started sprinting into the gardens. She huddled behind some bramble bushes, quivering with fear. Blood rushed through her head, almost loud enough to drown out the sound of someone approaching her.
"My Queen." A hand took hers, as it always did. She sighed with relief, nearly bursting into tears that he was alive. But all Allen did was run, even with the blood that he left behind. A momento that they were now fugitives.
Soon, her footsteps echoed in the main hall of her Castle. They never stopped running, although they both knew they couldn't run forever. That's why Allen had a plan. He cared not for the concequences on his own life...as long as they were made to save hers.
They stopped inside the ballroom. The servant knew from past experience that the doors were constructed from pure gold. Perfect to hide a secret, and a hell to break open. This is it, he thought. A little colour rushed into his cheeks, and he started to remove his coat, tie, shirt...
"Riliane...I know this will sound strange, but take off your clothes. Please."
"Excuse me? In a time like this?!" Her face burned scarlet, still questioning the intentions of his request. The incision made near his neck had stopped bleeding.
"Trust me. We're going to play a little game of dress-up, okay? Let's see...what would a Queen look like, dressed as a servant?"
The tone of his voice was innocent, like a child engaged in a simple swapping game. However, she still sensed his seriousness, his adrenaline. Why was he playing dress up, of all the things in the world? Was it a final chance to relive a childhood game, before both of their lives are taken? Did he want to be a kid again, just before the world they've known falls apart?
Unless he had a plan. And to her, when Allen has a plan, it never fails.
She sighs, giving him a weak smile. She would just have to trust him. "Close your eyes."
It took several strange minutes, but eventually their clothes were switched. Allen's attire felt wonderfully loose to move in, a blessing to a girl who had grown up in corsets. She laughed at the way he looked in her dress, cherishing the simple moments before they lose them altogether.
"Here, Allen." She took apart her black hair bow, tying it around his injury. Her hasty knots were re-adjusted by his exprienced hands, and he hugged her in thanks.
"How could he be so calm...?" She mused, one of the many thoughts that were running through her head. He had just finished tying up her hair when the first knock rebounded off the door. It clattered, yet stood solid.
"We know you're in there! Come out, before we harm to the soldier and youth!"
Leonhart...and Oliver! They've captured them. Heavy thuds shook the doors, the handles banging back and forth from each impact.
"Show yourself, Riliane Lucifen!"
Allen whisked her away from the impending doom. He opened the doors at the other end of the ballroom, which led outside. Even better, no rebels were present at the moment. "Perfect," he thought, as they stood together just outside the doorway. His dress rustled in the slight wind, as well as his loose hair.
"Now's your chance, Riliane. Run, now!"
However, her reaction was stunned. "But Leonhart and Oliver would be killed! They're looking for me, Allen."
His face was suddenly up against hers, so close that she could feel his nervous breaths. His eyes glimmered sadly, in their true form. The exact same colour as her's. "Not anymore."
And then suddenly, it hit her. There was a reason why he wanted to switch clothes...
"N-no...please, don't..."
She didn't finish her sentence, as her world was engulfed with tears.
"Shh..." He wiped the tears away, thrusting a small soft bundle into her arms. Her blanket. "It would be fine, I promise. We look exactly alike, so no one would be able to tell the difference."
The now-servant looked at the blanket in her hands, trembling. "How can I let you take my place? I can't let you die..."
"Chrome had always wondered why I never seemed to die. But it was really because I found hope in the tiniest things, things that propell me to keep fighting, to survive." The banging and screaming from the door was reminding him of their current situtation. Time was running out.
"Promise me you will never give up from finding the solution. When I tried to find the solution to my life, I found you. So remember that I will always love you, wherever you happen to be. Whoever you happen to be with. That's the most important of them all, got it?"
She embraced him so tightly that she could've probably suffocated both him and herself. "...don't think I'm ever going to to forget this."
Sharing probably their last kiss, the servant and Queen quickly parted their ways. He had just closed the doors when the other ones bursted open.
"RILIANE LUCIFEN D'AUTRICHE! YOU ARE HEREBY UNDER ARREST! Surrender quietly and no harm shall be inflicted!" A bellowing female voice ordered. The Crimson Warrior stood in the doorway, with Kyle standing close by. More than half of the population took up the space behind them.
"Huh. What do you know. I guess she really does have a gender." Allen thought. For the first time in his life, he had encountered a female soldier.
"Will it be my last?"
But then his face changed. He went from the tearful Allen he was moments before to Queen Riliane herself. A new identity to take on.
The Queen smiled, so sweet that it didn't seem like she was capable of murdering so many. She turned, facing the Crimson Warrior, who held the sword to the her chest. One that had once been stuffed with bread.
Riliane's innocent grin darkened into a devil's smirk. She stared at where the Warrior's eyes would be, burning through the visor. No fear, no worry, maybe some contempt.
And in that moment, The Red Warrior recognized the face. One that she thought had died along with the other Outsiders, an expression she thought she would never see again.
But duty comes before anything else. Her faced hardened, dismissing the encounter as Azure soldiers arrested the ever-smiling Queen.
"Guards, burn the Castle!" She ordered. But what she wanted most was for his face to burn away from her mind.
a/n: Germaine recognized Allen, when Kyle could not. Heheh :D
Yep, so this is the infamous part in SOE. What comes next through, is even more well known. You know what I'm talking about D':
Anyways, since this is so twisted, don't worry about anyone dying. I'll fix that ;)
Thank you again for your reviews! XD