Author's Note: Hello, people of the internet!
Friday the 13th may be over, but my weird fascination with the day isn't. Also, the POVs don't always work as they should, but oh well.
Since I said this many times before, you probably all know by now that I definitely don't own Fairy Tail.
Friday the 13th
"A knight riding a horse comes into a village on Friday. He spends three days at the village, then leaves on Friday. How did he do it?"
xXxXx
The gates of the grand ballroom opened with a loud creak, but no one turned to look. The music was too loud for anyone – Sakura excluded – to hear anything, and Sakura wondered how the guests were able to talk to each other at all. Perhaps they were just pretending, nodding and smiling, since these noble people usually talked about the same things.
(The weather is nice, is it not? Yes, yes.
This is a pleasant ball, is it not? Yes, yes.
Prince Valentine is quite handsome, is he not? Yes, yes.)
Realizing the same thing, Obi sent her a look, asking how to proceed, Miss Heartfilia?
To be completely honest, Sakura hadn't really thought this through. She didn't think she'd ever get to this point, but she was here now, so the only thing she could do was play the part.
She shrugged in response to Obi's questioning gaze and her companion's eyes started twinkling in amusement. Sakura wondered why she only started to regret her choice of asking him to accompany her now.
She turned to look around the room, trying to find any suspicious people among the crowd. Sadly, everyone looked equally suspicious to Sakura in their dazzling ball gowns and with their noses in the air.
She felt someone tap her shoulder and looked over it to see Obi holding his hand out to her, obviously asking for a dance. She glared as hard as she could into those stupid yellow eyes of his, and watched as his lips slowly curled into a huge smirk before he grabbed her hand pulled her closer to him.
Let's teach you how to dance, his eyes said.
I didn't know you could dance, her skeptic quirk of an eyebrow said.
He gave her a smile full of silent laughter and Sakura froze, realizing that this was the first time he showed her his real smile. He took one step back and stared at her expectantly, and it took her a few seconds and around five confused blinks to understand he wanted her to follow him.
This continued on for some time until Sakura (sort of) got the hang of it. By the time she decided to stop the music in the room became quieter and the guests all began to form a crowd at the end of the room. Sakura presumed that the arrival of the king had something to do with it.
'Thank you for the dance, sir,' she said to Obi as she bowed her head playfully.
'You're welcome, milady,' he bowed back.
'I'm not anybody's lady,' she retorted hastily, frowning as he let out a snort, one that made her feel like she was left out of an inside joke.
'Do you want to be?' he asked as he leaned closer.
Sakura's stance didn't waver as she crossed her arms. 'Do you want to get slapped?'
He raised his eyebrows and his eyes widened with mirth. 'Is that a trick question?'
'Are you sure you want to find out?' she quipped before joining the other guests.
Several guards were stationed by the two large staircases that led to a podium at the end of the room. In the middle stood a golden throne with two smaller wooden ones at each side. The king was standing at the edge of the podium, his hands behind his back as his small brown eyes studied each invited person carefully.
Just like his son, he wore a white cape held together by a golden brooch with the royal emblem on it, which was almost hidden by his dark beard. His long brown hair fell loosely on his back, and a shining golden crown sat atop his head, its jewels matching his blue garments in color.
The prince was standing on his right side, his posture mirroring his parent's, his white clothing was, however, somewhat more elegant. He even had a small crown himself, which was covered in many tiny pieces of jade.
It was barely noticeable, but he was chewing his lower lip as his eyes darted around the room. When his eyes met hers, the corner of his lips twitched, and since the motion still looked as hilarious as it did a few hours ago, Sakura tried to smother her laugh with her hands, which earned her another snort from Obi.
'Thank you all for attending tonight's ball,' the king spoke loudly. 'As you know, this ball is where my son, Prince Valentine will choose his future queen–'
'No,' breathed Sakura in disbelief, suddenly feeling terrified. Did she finish reading that invitation? She couldn't remember. Oh, crap.
'So, you might just become somebody's lady tonight,' whispered Obi, who seemed to be having too much fun about her predicament.
'That can't happen! I mean, I'm here as a technically nonexistent person!' hissed Sakura as she gestured wildly with her hands.
'Oh, right. I forgot that for a second, excuse me Miss Heartfilia.'
'Shut it,' she growled through gritted teeth, racking her brain for an idea that could get her out of the situation.
Her attention snapped back to the present at hearing the guests' claps, and she wanted to bang her head against the wall for not listening to the rest of the king's speech. She quickly turned around to ask Obi, but the music was already returned to its original volume, which meant he wouldn't hear her question.
Heaving a defeated sigh, Sakura's gaze shifted to the dance floor, where the prince was already waltzing with the first bride candidate.
As time crept forward and the prince's partners kept switching, Sakura realized that the king's letter made a little more sense now. He wanted to invite Lucy and her daughter – hence the pregnant picture – but for some reason he didn't know their old family business went down the drain along with the entire Heartfilia fortune. He wanted to meet Lucy's daughter and measure her personality for the role of the kingdom's future queen while also hoping for a heritage of good connections and an even better wealth.
Now she just needed to figure out how to get the hell out of here before the king asks her why she wasn't willing to share a dance with his son.
Would he accept a bathroom break excuse?
That's the oldest trick in the book, but still…
She needed to find a bathroom. For women, preferably.
She only sent Obi a look that hopefully conveyed Stay here and I'm fine just gotta escape for a sec before slipping past the small sea of people and out the door. Taking a deep breath, she made a beeline for the hallway on her left, where an utterly bored looking butler was leaning against the doorframe. His eyes widened as he struggled to straighten his posture but ended up tripping on his own feet. Sakura winced at the sound of his face meeting the marble floor, then stepped closer and tentatively held out a hand towards him. Accepting her hand, he ungracefully pulled himself up from the awkward pile he just degraded himself into, and thanked her quietly.
'Sorry for scaring you, mister,' she said apologetically. 'I just wanted to ask… Where can I find the restroom?'
'Just right at the end of this hall, milady,' replied the butler warily while avoiding her eyes, likely feeling embarrassed at his clumsy slip-up.
Sakura felt the annoyance spread in her system at the milady but swiftly turned away from the butler before she said something to insult him. Now the title kind of made sense, but that would mean Obi was making fun of her for not understanding…
That irritating cat-eyed freak really makes me want to hurt him.
The four teens with the flying cat rang the doorbell of the only house on Avocado Street. After minutes of waiting they were dejectedly ready to leave, when the front door opened up just enough for one eye to peek out. It was dark and blue and the person it belonged to wasn't wearing their glasses, but Ryū recognized it anyway.
'Mr. Tate, we'd like to speak with you,' said Ryū as kindly as possible, sensing the man's discomfort.
'Who are you?' the man asked, his lone eye shifting about frantically.
'I was the mage you hired about a month ago. I had to look for a flower for your daughter, remember?'
The man audibly gasped, the eye widened and the door slammed closed. The blonde slowly blinked as Karma looked at him questioningly. He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would make their case better, then closed it in hesitation. He opened it again, but this time the door snapped open as the man grabbed a fistful of his scarf and yanked him inside the house before impatiently herding the others inside as well.
Adjusting the precious gift on his neck with a frown, Ryū watched Mr. Tate lock and barricade the door. No one dared to utter a word as the man slowly turned to them, his gaze flickering around the room wildly.
'I'm sorry,' he spoke after a few moments. 'I was outside, gardening. I-I couldn't open the door sooner.'
'You have a garden?' asked Astrid eagerly. 'Do you have any pretty flowers? Can you show me?'
'NO!' he yelled and the others started, Corban going as far as hiding in his partner's scarf with only his ears peeking out from the bundle of fabric. 'I-I mean it's messy. I was digging up place for f-flowers, so it's messy.'
'Alright,' said Ryū quietly while he looked around. 'Where's Dina and Andrew?'
'T-They're, um, uh, upstairs. Yeah, they're playing in her room.'
'Can I see them?'
'Why did you come here?' asked Mr. Tate as he started walking around the room, examining different pictures on the walls and relics in the display cabinet.
'We came to ask you for information, sir,' replied Karma as he stepped closer to him, joining the conversation.
'What kind?'
'We have reason to believe you know the location of the dark guild Mystic Mustang.'
The man went rigid as a small picture frame fell from his hands and shattered upon meeting the wooden floor. Thanks to his heightened senses Ryū was able to see the picture of Dina with a woman, probably her mother, under the glass shards.
'I don't know anything,' the man said quietly but firmly, his back facing them.
'That's what they all say,' muttered Karma, bemused.
'I don't know anything!'
'Mr. Tate, we can help and we will,' declared Ryū, moving to stand in front of the man's back, arms crossed.
'You can't,' the man uttered, sounding every bit as broken as the picture frame at his feet.
'Mr. Tate, I'm sorry to ask now, but the long way tired us out. Can I ask you to bring us some tea?'
The boys stared at Astrid as if she had suddenly grown another head (in Corban's case it was still growing) but the girl looked each of them in the eye carefully before turning her gaze back to the distressed man's back.
Mr. Tate jerkily nodded and disappeared behind the kitchen door rather quickly. Astrid scurried over to the back door and fled into the garden.
'Astrid!'
Even though Castiel was the one who called after her, Ryū was the one who followed her. Running out the back door the putrid smell of burnt flesh instantly assaulted his nose, and distracted by Corban's squirming in his scarf, he almost collided with Astrid, who was kneeling on a pile of dirt.
'What are you doing?' he asked with a grimace.
'This is a little bit too big to be a flower bed,' answered Astrid as she started digging.
'Maybe he wants to plant big flowers,' quipped Ryū, not convinced by Astrid's overthinking.
'Could you at least help?' she growled back, and next thing Ryū knew he was sitting next to her, helping.
Some minutes passed before he saw her froze from the corner of his eyes. After taking in her frightened expression and impossibly wide eyes, he followed her gaze and felt his stomach drop.
In the hole there was the unmistakable form of a four-legged body covered in – once beautiful white – dirty grey fur.
'C'mon, let's get back inside,' he whispered as he gently grabbed Astrid's forearm and stood up, leading her to the door.
The twins' identical but differing gazes (Castiel's disapproving and Karma's curious) snapped in their direction as they entered the house, and Ryū was relieved to see that Mr. Tate hadn't come out to check on them while preparing the hot beverage.
'Did you see any dead bodies?' joked Karma in a low voice.
Astrid blenched even more and Ryū glared at him. 'One, a few days old. Their dog was burned alive.'
Castiel brows knitted together as his eyes widened, while Karma's face just went blank.
'Here you go,' said Mr. Tate as he stepped out of the kitchen with a tray of mugs in his hand.
The twins silently accepted it, while Astrid struggled a little to pick her mug up with shaking hands, and Ryū outright refused.
'Mr. Tate, we know about Andrew,' he stated firmly and the man flinched. 'Where is Dina?'
The man began to take heavy breaths, shaking all over as he walked away from them.
'Mr. Tate, we can help and we will,' the blonde repeated his earlier promise. 'Please, let us help.'
The man inhaled sharply. 'The deadline came but I didn't have the money… The maid,' he mumbled, 'I only just hired her last month, before all of this began… I never thought… Souzan– She wasn't even a good maid, but I didn't think that…'
'Didn't think what?' prodded Karma softly.
'That she was one of them,' Mr. Tate whispered. 'She was one of them, and she– They took her.'
'The maid?' asked Castiel slowly.
'No,' the man whimpered. 'She's one of them. She helped them take her away.' He let out a sob before helplessly sinking to the floor.'They took my daughter.'
Ryū's eyes widened in understanding as he felt his muscles quiver in rage.
'Do you know where?' questioned Karma, and Mr. Tate feverishly shook his head.
'I can't say. They said I can't. They said that if I did, Dina would…'
'We won't let them hurt her if you tell us where they took her,' whispered Astrid.
He raised his head and looked into the girl's maroon orbs, which were filled with resolve and the promise of a better tomorrow with Dina at his side, before the broken man let out another broken sob and told them everything.
Just thinking about that conversation had Ryū's blood boiling.
He ran along the narrow hallway, trying to reach the source of light as fast as he could. The fluttering of Corban's wings and two sets of footsteps behind him reassured him that he still had friends to fight with – and to fight for.
He came to a screeching halt at the end of the tunnel as he caught sight of a big white lump of something. He arrived into a simple, empty room that had four torches on the four walls. He saw no doors or other kind of openings, and he silently cursed. They couldn't find Karma and Castiel here.
He averted his attention to the big white lump in the corner as it started to move. Ryū steadied himself for whatever it was to reveal itself, making sure his stance was balanced as his hands curled into a fist–
Then he found himself falling face first to the ground.
'Eeeek!' shrieked a feminine voice above him.
'What are you doing, Astrid? Get off of Ryū!' he heard Corban say.
'Shut up, Corban, I accidentally ran into him!' yelled Astrid as she practically flew off of him. 'It's not like I want to be on top of him!'
'Sure, you don't,' the feline snickered.
Ryū stood back up, ignoring the dying noises Corban made while Astrid was choking him. The lump in the corner started growling and this time both girl and cat let out a startled squeak. The thing slowly rose to its current height, and the trio's eyes grew along with its size.
He turned out to be a huge, paper white-skinned man. The white fabric he wore as clothing was dirty and torn, and the chains that held his ankles and wrists together snapped apart, some pieces flying over and hitting Corban in the head. The man's head was bald, and his eyes were small and vicious, bright red colored.
Ryū began to speak to ease the uneasiness in the air. 'Um, hi? Can you help us find our fr–'
The man's fist slammed down with a boom, leaving a rather big crater in the ground.
'I don't think he's friendly, Ryū,' whimpered Corban.
The man let out a deafening roar and Ryū clamped his hands over his sensitive ears, trying and failing to block out the sound. The man started running to the trio, who jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting body-slammed.
Ryū summoned an attack as soon as he was a safe distance away. 'Fire Dragon's Roar!'
The man's head turned in his direction. His eyes narrowed and Ryū's widened as the flames blew up right in his face.
'Ryū!' called Astrid before facing the man and clapping her hands together. 'Iron-Make: Tiger!'
A snarling iron tiger materialized out of her palms, slowly creeping towards the man. Its target stared at him stone-faced, until the tiger turned around and started to approach its creator with a loud growl.
'What?' murmured Astrid, backing into the wall as she tried to call her creation back, her blood running cold with the realization that she couldn't.
With a proud sounding battle cry Corban made his way towards the man, only to bounce right off him and into the wall.
'Hey, you brute! What's your deal?' demanded Ryū, feeling pretty pissed. 'Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!'
He rounded at the man with his fist aflame, but he caught it in his own. Hot lava started pouring out from between their hands and Ryū was heavily impressed that the guy didn't burn himself. He pulled his other hand back, but the man caught it before he could've landed the punch.
'Fire Dragon's Claw!'
He lifted one leg to kick him with his fire but upon reaching the man's skin it simply burnt out, leaving smoke and an even more pissed Ryū in his hold. Using that magical failure as a momentarily distraction, the man flung the blonde into the ground, putting his entire weight into the throw.
Meanwhile Astrid created another tiger that engaged into a cat fight with the other one. Rushing over to stand in front of the spot where Ryū landed, she clapped her hands again. 'Iron-Make: Gorilla!'
Making it the same size as the enemy, Astrid thrusted one hand out, making sure that this time she was in full control of the animal as it attacked the man. But then it melted away into a puddle of metal in mid-jump and she decided to change tactics.
'Iron-Make: Squirrel!'
The small and fast animal darted around the man's body, biting and scratching his skin, until the man grabbed it and crushed it in his fist. Astrid was surprised by his speed, he seemed way too heavy to be this fast.
A tactic change is needed again.
'Okay, new plan!' she hissed to the blonde who was slowly climbing out of the ground behind her. 'Physical attacks might be more useful.'
She summoned a pair of iron gloves and swung her fist forward, hitting the man square in the face, but he didn't even budge. Astrid let out a puff of air in fear as she felt her gloves starting to tighten around her hands.
The man used his peculiar speed again as he began to rapidly attack her with punches before giving her a strong kick in the stomach. Her mouth opened in a gasp of pain, blood dripping from it on the ground and on the man's leg. He then slammed his fist down on her head and she collapsed on the ground with a heap.
'Astrid,' Ryū rasped out, finally standing again. 'Corban! Are you up, buddy?'
'Aye!' said Corban with more spunk than he felt.
'Blind him somehow!'
'Aye, sir!'
The white feline braced himself again and shot towards the man with the speed of a bullet, attaching himself to his head with covering his eyes and letting his claws sunk into them.
Immediately grabbing the exceed, the man hollered in pain as he tried to rip him off. During their struggle Ryū charged up another attack.
'Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!'
He head-butted him in his middle, smirking as he noted his flames were still up. His satisfaction was short lived, however, for his flames disappeared only a moment later, and he bounced off the man back onto the ground. He quickly looked up to see that his partner was still covering the man's eyes, so what was that?
His gaze fell on Astrid as he heard her quietly groan beside him.
'You okay?'
'Stupid question deserves a stupid answer, stupid dragon boy,' she muttered back hotly, spitting out some blood between the second and the third stupid.
Ryū grinned in response. She's fine.
'I need you to blind him completely,' he said, glancing back just when Corban was slammed against the wall.
'How?' she asked, bruised hands curling into a fist at the sight of her friend getting hurt.
'My flames can't reach him in time, but you might be able to.'
'I don't think so, he's way too fast…' She gasped, her lips curling into a triumphant half-smile. 'I got it!'
'I'll distract him!' yelled Ryū before running at their opponent once again.
'Never tried this one before, but here it goes…' Gaze fixated on them, Astrid clapped her hands while another roar of Ryū's was blocked. 'Iron-Make: Mosquito!'
The flock of small bugs danced their way around Ryū's next attack before buzzing right into the huge man's eyes.
'Now!'
'Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!'
Ryū's flames finally hit their target. The explosion made the man loose his footing, stumble back and eventually fall onto the ground. Astrid counted his lack of speed to be caused by his blindness, and Ryū used that as the perfect opportunity for the last strike.
'Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!'
The giant of a man let out one last roar of pain as the attack tore right through him with another explosion, destroying the wall behind him almost completely.
As the dust settled, Ryū admired his work with a light whistle. 'He can dish it, but can't take it, it seems.'
Astrid hummed in agreement. 'How did you figure him out?'
'I didn't, really,' said Ryū, rubbing his neck with one hand. 'I noticed his eyes shifted a little bit in color when I first attacked him, so I got closer to confirm it. He did something with his eyes to make our magic useless.'
'Or turn it against us,' said Astrid while Corban walked over to the pair, his magic already drained.
A familiar voice suddenly startled them all. 'It was hard to find a staircase–'
'I was with you this whole time and I saw it–'
'No, you didn't.'
Turning around, the trio noticed the ground was wide open. A staircase popped up along with two heads of crimson hair.
'I'm telling you, it was right there since the beginning!'
'Then why didn't you say something?'
The two heads became their missing friends, Castiel and Karma, joined by an unknown woman on the latter's shoulder.
'Hi guys!' chirped the ever cheery blonde Dragon Slayer.
The identical heads turned in the trio's direction, blinking stupidly.
'Huh, it actually led us somewhere,' mumbled Karma.
'You said it's going to lead us out of there,' grumbled Castiel, sending a heated glare in his brother's way.
'And it did, so shush,' Karma waved him off. 'Do you recognize this woman?'
He dumped the unknown woman on the ground, whose eyes instantly opened and started whining over her rude awakening. Studying her closely for a few seconds, Ryū came to one conclusion.
'I don't know her.'
'How rude!' she screamed. 'I was there when you brought Dina that flower, you idiot!'
'Oh!' his eyes widened before pointing a finger at her. 'You were the horrible maid!'
'Excuse you, idiot boy! My name is Souzan!'
'Alright, time out!' said Karma. 'Who is that guy?' he demanded, jerking his chin in the direction of the defeated lump of their enemy.
Both Ryū and Astrid opened their mouth to answer, but Souzan beat them to it. 'Tommy! Tommy, are you alright?' she let out a wail. 'Waaah, you hurt my pet Tommy!'
'Your pet?' they all sweatdropped, but she continued sniffing.
'Now you destroyed both gifts from my husband.'
'What happened with your husband?' questioned Castiel with his arms folded in front of his chest, ignoring Karma's warning gaze.
'He was the guild master, and we were so happy! But earlier today he sent every member away and disbanded the guild. He left me!'
'The guild master left?' asked Karma.
'He disbanded the guild?!' asked Ryū. 'Damn him! I wanted to beat up that guy with the ugly nose and an uglier buddy who hurt Jessiel and the others.'
'You might have a chance,' said Souzan, demeanor completely changed. 'Lindan and Arad already left the guild a week ago, saying they wanted to join another, more powerful one.'
'Whatever! We'll look for those assholes and the guild master later. Now, tell me, where's Dina?'
Souzan scowled at him. 'I have no idea, honestly. My dear asked me to bring her in, and I did. She was taken from me afterwards, I don't know where she is right now.'
Guilty silence followed her declaration, filled with irritated sighs and tightening fists, and a distracted Karma.
Speaking of which…
'What is this?' he asked.
Karma was standing in front of the ruined wall, which had…another wall behind it? Something was written on it in a strange language. His hands shifted over the curves of the letters.
Ryū hurried over and started to take in the sight of the strange letters belonging to the strange language, the gears in his head turning.
Oh, right!
'It's written in ancient Irinian,' he finally said.
In the dumbstruck silence he received in response he could practically hear crickets chirping. Except they weren't outside, that is. Are there any, like, magical crickets that live inside? He should get a book about it when they go home…
'What does it say?' demanded Karma eagerly.
'Something about a knight riding a horse… Er, there's also a village and the day Friday appears three times as well.'
'I know that one,' came the exasperated mumble from Karma. 'That's kind of like a riddle, a very bad one that children tell each other just to see how annoyed the other will become.'
'Well the guild was founded by children,' Castiel pointed out.
'Is no one gonna question how Ryū knows ancient whatever language?' whispered Corban, staring warily at Astrid as she let out a lovesick sigh, looking absolutely smitten.
'Wait, what day is it today?' Karma asked as he whipped around to face the others, his expression showing mild panic.
Castiel cocked an eyebrow before answering. 'Uh, Friday, I think. Why?'
'Son of a–'
Astrid let out a surprised yelp as the wall next to her exploded with a harsh bang.
'Astrid!'
The dust cloud slowly disappeared. Astrid stood, her arms raised to protect herself, behind Jellal, who had one arm stretched out in the direction of the freshly made hole.
'How long were you planning to stand behind in the dark hallway?!' demanded Karma with a frustrated tone.
Jellal sweatdropped. 'Ah, well…'
It seemed Ryū wasn't the only one who figured him out.
'Oh, I forgot about you,' muttered the aforementioned male.
'Curious, they didn't use runes for this room.'
The team's attention snapped to the broken wall where the new voice came from, catching the sight of a short figure standing on the ruins. When Souzan realized who it was, she began to crawl towards the farthest corner that was still in one piece, shaking with her eyes wide in fear.
A young teen, who looked to be about thirteen years old blinked up at them curiously. He had unruly dirty blonde hair and deep violet eyes, which were surprisingly dull compared to the honest smile he was sporting. He wore dark trousers and a red dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, showing off the worn and colorful leather bands on his wrists and his horsehead shaped black guild mark on his left forearm.
'What did you think of the riddle? Smart, isn't it?'
Sakura couldn't tell how much time passed before she finally decided it was enough and came out of her hiding place. She closed the door behind her and began to walk back to the ballroom when she met the prince halfway there.
She felt the waves of panic wash over her quickly.
'Good evening, Your Highness,' she squeaked out with an awkwardly over-tipped bow.
'Good evening,' he greeted back, 'Miss Sakura Heartfilia, I believe.'
'Yes, that's me,' she said with a small nervous chuckle. 'Um… Where are you headed?'
'To the restroom,' he replied slowly, the corners of his lips curling upwards into an amused smile.
'Oh, right! Of course.'
She turned to leave but she miscalculated the directions a little and almost ended up walking into the wall. She blinked stupidly at the painting of an elegant, green-haired woman, which was at level with her face.
'I see you've met my mother,' she heard him chuckle.
'Your mother?'
'Hisui E. Fiore, the previous queen of Fiore,' he said as he stepped next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him give the painting a longing glance.
'Previous?' she asked quietly.
'She passed away when I was a child,' he sighed. 'Soon after her passing, my grandfather retired completely and gave the throne to my father. Now he lives somewhere away from Crocus and only comes to visit during the Grand Magic Games, where he's the mascot. At least he hasn't abandoned that role yet,' he chuckled wryly.
'I see,' she supplied uncomfortably, not knowing what she should say.
'I like you Miss Heartfilia.'
Sakura's eyes widened in alarm, whipping her head in his direction to see him looking at her with interest.
'You're the only one who didn't want to dance with me.' Before she could protest, he continued. 'Hiding in the toilet for two hours? You must've been really nervous.'
Sakura paled. 'Yeah, nervous. That.'
'To be honest, I'm not really a big fan of this dance either. Probably because it was my father's idea.' He took off his crown and ran a hand through his hair – now Sakura understood where the color came from. 'And I always get a little anxious on Friday the 13th.'
Sakura snorted. It was probably rude in the presence of a prince, but she already spoke with him more than any of those girls he danced with so far, so she really couldn't be bothered to care.
'You believe in such myths?'
'Not really. It's not that, I just… I guess…' he trailed off twice, his eyes finding the portrait of his mother once again. 'My mother died on Friday the 13th.'
Sakura's good mood vanished faster than it came.
She made sure to audibly clear her throat before she faced the prince with the tiniest smile of smiles.
'I'm really sorry about your mother,' she said politely. 'I won't keep you any longer. After all, you have business to attend to.'
Making sure she wouldn't see his funny smile twitch thingy she turned on her heel and walked back to the ballroom with long strides.
She opened the door just a little so she could press her body through without looking suspicious. However, as she closed it behind her while looking around, she realized it wouldn't have mattered, because the room was empty.
Throwing her gaze around again she rushed though the room, desperately trying to find anybody as she finally registered the uneasy silence and the empty space that greeted her. Her eyes widened as a she felt her body go numb and the room started to spin. She stumbled over to the podium and grabbed its edge as she fell to her knees. She glanced up, and even though her dizziness made her vision blur and colors swirl, she could still make out a dark figure lazily sitting in the golden throne, and a pair of familiar yellow cat-like eyes staring her down, before everything went black.
The quote is from chapter 12. I'm just too smart.
I imagine Astrid's Molding magic stance works like Ed's alchemy from FMA, but without the sparks. Iron girl ain't need no sparks.