Then, Rain woke up, by feeling someone shaking her shoulder. Rain opened her eyes and saw her uncle leaning over her with worried look on his face. She blinked the sleep away from her eyes.
"Are you alright, you were speaking in a foreign tongue." Kaien asked, causing her to look at him in surprise and confusion.
"In a foreign tongue?" Rain reasked.
"Yes. It was a language I had never heard of and, when I tried to wake you up, you didn't respond at all." Kaien said worriedly. "After that you started shaking, as in fear, and then you switched to an old dialect of English, and didn't wake up either, until now."
"I'm sorry to have worried you, uncle." Rain said quietly, while her thoughts swirled about what he had said. She had spoken in different languages without even knowing that she knew foreign languages? That was odd.
"It's alright dear, I'm just happy that you are alright." The chairman said with a sad smile on his lips, but then he turned serious. "Do you know who are Milla and Telma?"
"Those were names of two people I saw in my dream. This is the first time I have heard them…" Rain said, but then hesitated. Did she want to tell her uncle about the new figure in her mind, or the fact that she saw herself in the dreams? Kaien saw the hesitation in his adopted 'niece's' face and said: "You don't have to force yourself to tell me what you see in your dreams. But know, I'm here if you need me."
Rain looked at her uncle and tears sprung from her eyes, as she went to hug him. This surprised the chairman, but then he returned the hug with a sad face, wondering why all of his adopted children lives were with some tragedy. But he quickly removed the sad look from his face, not wanting Rain to see it. He didn't want her to think that she was unwanted.
After few minutes, Rain calmed down and let go of her uncle, removing her face from his chest. Rain looked at Kaien with a sad gaze, yet thankful expression and he returned it with a small smile. Now, if this were some cheap, cheesy romance novel or shojo manga, he would have confessed her his undying love for her and she would accept his confession, despite the fact that he was old enough to be her father, and they would have sealed the deal with a kiss. Luckily, it wasn't so.
"Cheer up. We will find a cure for your nightmares. Now, show me a smile." Kaien encouraged the girl, hoping to improve her mood, however, the smile was strained. Rain wasn't in the mood to smile.
"Uncle… can we practice, please?" She asked in hopes to make her forget about the nightmares at least for a while, by distracting herself. Kaien looked at her with a critical eye, not really wanting to spar with Rain in her current condition, but, after seeing the desperation in her eyes, after a while of observing he gave in. In addition, it had been a while since they last sparred, since he had canceled the sessions few days after her nightmares started. With a heavy sigh, he nodded his head in acceptance. "Go and get your sword. I'll meet you in the training area."
Rain got off the sofa, put on her shoes and left the office. After that she got her sword and went to the training area. However, she stilled in shock as she saw a person leaning against the wall right next to the door.
"Arminius…" She said quietly, but the child heard it none the less, because he smiled brightly at her, looking like an angel with eyes closed. Alas, when he opened his eyes the innocence around him disappeared due to the vast knowledge and experience showing in his eyes.
"Don't worry about me – I only came to see how well you have mastered Reaper." The blond boy said and opened the training room's door for Rain to enter first, like a gentleman. Rain hesitated for a moment but then entered the room, since her uncle was waiting for her there. Once she entered the room, Kaien smiled at her, but, as soon as he saw the blond child coming in behind her, his smile stiffened. He had heard from Yagari about the child; that it was Arminius.
"Hello. I believe this is the first time we have met, though I doubt that introductions are necessary. " The child, Arminius, said with an innocent smile of a child, though neither Kaien nor Rain believed it.
"What is your purpose here?" The chairman asked, one of his hands on the handle of his sword.
"I'm here only to observe Rain's prowess with Reaper and give some pointers." Arminius replied, blinking his blue eyes, acting innocent.
"Who is Rain to you?" Kaien rephrased his question in hopes to lure out more information. The child only smiled and took a seat on a chair by one of the walls; the very same one that Kaien had occupied while Rain learned the basics with a sword with Yagari. Arminius carelessly dangled his feet in the air, all while smiling as he observed both Rain and Kaien. After a while of simply looking at Arminius, Kaien sighed and pulled his sword out of its sheath and gestured for Rain to do the same.
"Move your feet more and add faints to your attacks. Such direct attacks are easily to be read." Arminius's childlike voice called across the room after a while of simple observation of the two spar. "Your attacks are clumsy compared to your wielding Reaper before."
"What do you mean?" Rain asked, wanting to know more.
"In the past, your fighting with Reaper was a beautiful dance. Now it is very sloppy. You still have a long way to go." Arminius answered.
"What do you know of me?" She asked, glancing at the child sitting in the chair across the room only to see him smiling with no worry in the world, clearly showing that he wouldn't answer the questioning. With a sigh, Rain returned her attention to her uncle, however, he blocked the attack and pushed Rain back, using his superior strength.
"Don't swing your sword with blunt force. Let it flow." Arminius commented after another while of observation. "Swordswomen are to move gracefully, like a feline, and be no less dangerous than one."
Arminius continued to reprimand Rain about her fighting style, getting on her nerves more and more till finally she snapped at him: "Shut up!"
"Do you even know what are you doing wrong?" The child asked in turn. Rain sent a glare back as a response to what the child only smiled with eyes closed. When Rain went to attack her uncle again, Arminius said: "There is no point for you to continue, if you don't know what you are doing wrong. I suggest you quit for today and continue when you realize your mistake."
Rain decided to ignore the suggestion, trying to push through Kaien's defenses, however, after disarming her, he put his sword back in its sheath. "I'm afraid that I have to agree with him. I would tell you, but you won't improve, unless you realize what you are doing wrong by yourself."
Hearing her uncle agree with the stalking plague dampened Rain's mood even more. She considered to leave Reaper on the ground, but then changed her mind and picked it up, after which she stalked out of the room, shutting the door loudly behind herself.
"How long will it take her to realize that she needs to change her whole fighting style?" Kaien asked Arminius, seeing that the supposed child was still on the chair.
"To realize it the first time took her a couple of months, since she is quite hard-headed. Seeing that she is still like that, I would say around the same amount of time, however, she tends to surprise from time to time, so it could be less." Arminius replied in a thoughtful tone in his voice.
"What is your relationship with her?" Kaien decided to ask, not really expecting an answer though hoping for one nonetheless.
"There was a time when we were very close. But that was long time ago. I just hope that she learn to turns me like she once did, or, better yet, remember me." Arminius revealed sadly. Kaien looked at him in surprise, but remained silent.
"But you need rest for tomorrow, so I'll leave now." The child said and disappeared into nothingness, surprising the chairman. One thing was hearing about the sudden disappearances, another was seeing it by yourself.
Rain returned to her room, after stashing away Reaper, onlyto fall in a rose-less bed. Clearly, Arminius hadn't been in her room yet to leave yet another annoying rose. Rain felt like burning the roses right then and there, but luckily her sanity turned itself on and told her that it is a preposterous idea. Burning plus, minus fifty roses in a room was against safety measures and would have her sanity checked by doctors and give problems to her uncle. But the thought was tempting. Giving problems to her uncle due to siding with the walking plague. How could he betray her undivided loyalty by siding with Armininus! Soon the time of the night started catching up to her, so she decided to try and sleep at least for a few hours, praying that she wouldn't get any nightmares.
Alas, her wish wasn't fulfilled. She quickly found herself in front of herself in the burning village. However, this time instead of looking at herself, she turned around to look at the girl, Milla, only to see a child around age of five or six years. She had hair black as coal and eyes blue as the sky, though not nearly as blue as Arminius' eyes.
The scene continued on as it did the last time she slept with herself introducing herself as Telma, but the dream didn't end there. Instead, it changed to a view of a wooden hut, where a tall person dressed in white robe stood by the door, as if waiting for her. Waiting for Telma that is.
"I see you brought another stray." The figure said with a small 'huff' in his voice. His voice indicated that he was a man, not a woman.
"It was her choice to live and come with me." Telma replied.
"You don't really give them a choice, considering the circumstances all of them are being put in." The man said.
"No. They have a choice. Being with their parents or coming with me. Many chose the former." Telma said back.
"Who is he?" Milla asked, pulling on Telma's dress in a part which wasn't covered in blood.
Both the man and Telma looked at Milla, which made her shrunk as if she had done something bad and now would be punished for it, as if she wasn't allowed to interrupt their conversation, despite the fact that she didn't understand a word of what they had said. The man went to the two girls and kneeled to Milla's level, making the child hide behind Telma in fear.
"Do not fear him. Cadfael won't harm you." Telma said, as she stepped aside, letting Cadfael do whatever he intended to do with the child.
There was a moment of simply Milla and Cadfael observing each other, with Telma observing both of them, but then Cadfael slowly pulled out one of his very pale arms out of the white clothing he was concealing himself with and extended it towards Milla for her to put her hand in his. At first, the child had shrunk back a bit, in fear of being hit or worse – killed, but then she slowly relaxed, as neither Telma nor Cadfael did anything to her and waited patiently for her to respond, and slowly put in her small hand in his big one. As Rain observed this, it looked almost like Cadfeal was dealing with a wild animal, not a human.
"What is your name, child?" The man asked, slowly taking a hold of the child's hand, as not to scare her.
"Milla, my lord." The child answered hesitantly, clearly not knowing how to speak to the man and choosing to be respectful. Cadfael did not correct the girl, letting Milla relax a bit more and understand that her choice of words was correct. Cadfael slowly rose up and half-hunched down, due to the height difference, led her inside the hut. Rain observed her copy, Telma, to see her having a soft look in her eyes, as she observed the two. After that the 'twins' followed the two inside.
The hut itself was nothing special. It was made out of branches not trunks and had a hay mixed with moss as a roof. Inside there were no pots, no beds or anything of sorts. It was clear that it was more of a shelter against the rain and animals than a living abode. However, there were some animal skins hung on the branched walls.
Cadael led Milla to the middle of the room and the let go of her hand, only to take a fox-fur off a branch and give it to Milla. "So that you wouldn't be cold during the night" was what he said and left the hut, leaving the three girls alone.
That was when Rain woke up, only to see that it was her roommate saying that she would be late for class.
A/N: Heya, all. As you can clearly see, I finally got inspiration and idea how to finish this chapter. ^^
As I told you in the previous story chapter, that there will be OC's and here is another one.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. In addition, I would really love some balanced critic on this story (as well as my other stories) with more detail than 'I love it' or 'I hate it'. I'd really like to know what it is that you like in it and what you don't, as well as some backing up to those words, as to why you like/dislike it.
And, like always, I am looking for Beta-readers/editors for my stories, who would say why my mistakes are mistakes, so that I and the story qualities would improve. If you feel like you're up for the job, send me a PM.
Till next chapter~