I do not own Rave Master
It was around 4:00 in the afternoon when Musica heard a knock at his door that, unlike the paparazzi, he couldn't ignore. A royal summons came for him to come to the castle as soon as he was able. The prince had requested he speak with him. At first the royal family was going to dismiss Haru's request. He had already put the young blacksmith through enough trouble. There was no reason to bother young Musica just to enable the prince's outlandish fantasies, but after giving it some thought the psychiatrist working with the them recommended it. He had sat with Haru for hours trying to get him to talk so he could get a feel for where his mind was but the prince had completely clamed up and refused to speak with anyone other than his friend, Musica. The doctor thought that if this young man could get the prince to speak up, then by all means let them see each other. The plan was for the psychiatrist to sit in the corner and observe the conversation between the two of them, but it didn't exactly go that way.
Musica was at the palace within a half hour. The royal guards patted him down to make sure he wasn't carrying anything dangerous and then he was escorted to the prince's chambers.
Haru acknowledged his friend's arrival excitedly. He had something very important to tell him but waited for the right moment. The doors were shut up behind the blacksmith leaving only him, the prince and the doctor inside.
"Thank goodness you're here! Hold on a second." Quickly while the doctor was busy scribbling something on his clipboard, Haru grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and head butted the head doctor in one quick motion, knocking the psychiatrist out instantly.
"JEEZ, HARU! YOU CANNOT KEEP DOING STUFF LIKE THAT!" Musica reprimanded his royal highness, remembering when he also knocked out the curator who tried to prevent him from stealing from the museum. When was this kid going to learn?
"Shh! Quiet. They'll hear you outside!" Haru had a plan and he couldn't have this doctor going around snitching on his parents who were likely to try and stop him.
"He called me 'Rave master'. At first I didn't think anything of it because he always called me that and also you know, other stuff going on at the time, so I guess it's not that big of a surprise it didn't hit me sooner but still…" The prince cut himself off from rambling. He had a point to make. "In this world I apparently never became the Rave Master so why would he call me that?"
"What they hell are you talking about?" Musica asked in hushed angry tones.
"Lucia! He called me Rave master! Why?"
"Maybe because you were holding the Ten Powers? They have history books in Raregroove too you know! He probably recognized it from learning it in an old social studies class or something!" Musica reasoned.
"It's not just that! There are other things!" Haru began to pace around the room as he explained, trying his best to be quiet.
"He knew about Elie's amnesia and how to exploit it! He started doing all this crazy stuff just after his parents 'suspiciously' died, like he had a plan this whole time. This entire time it's like he had information he shouldn't have! Information he would have gotten in the world I'm from! He's the same Lucia that I knew from my world!"
"What?" Musica exclaimed in a harsh whisper. "If he's from your other world then why is it he started this crazy scheme of his months ago and you've only been crazy for days?"
Haru had an answer for that too. "I've time traveled before. Sometimes when more than one person travels to a different time together they don't always land in the same spot. It could be just like that! When Elie blasted the endless it sent us both to this world where a single action of one Rave master was altered and the overdrive never happened. Lucia landed months ahead of me in this time."
Musica was about to say something but stopped himself and let out a sigh instead. He just didn't know what to say to all of this. What could he say to a guy this dead set on what he was thinking?"
"Come on. Now that we know what we're up against, let's go save Elie." Haru headed strait for the window and opened it wide enough for him to jump right out.
"You just got your ass handed to you by King Raregroove's flunkies today!" Musica pointed out.
Haru climbed onto the windowsill as he responded, "I feel a lot better now. The doctor's gave me some potions to speed up the healing process and now I'm good as new!"
Haru stood on the ledge about to jump off. He had every intention of hitting the ground running. Elie was waiting for him. There was no more time to spare.
"Have you even stopped to question whether any of this is real?" Musica had to ask him. He had no intention of letting his highness drag him around on a crazy adventure again.
Haru gave Musica a determined look. "All day. I've been asking myself all day whether or not I'm crazy, whether or not it's right to just leave this world be or to find a way back, or if there even is a way back. It's all I could think about. There is one question though, that I never asked. I knew the answer already and that was 'should I save Elie?"
"I promised her Musica. She really does need me. I'm asking you for your help not because you believe me, you can believe whatever you want, but because that's the one part of this whole mess that you do believe. Elie needs saving, and in spite of what you may think, I know you well enough to know, you won't leave that girl you met in such dire trouble after what you saw from her"
"Now if you want, you can go out that door and tell everyone that I'm nuts, and leave Elie to her fate, or you can come out this window with me and follow the one thing you know to be fact."
Musica stared at the brave, young man up on the windowsill in silence. The young blacksmith contemplated a decision that would affect two countries drastically. This would be the stuff of history books
"… Sigh… Here we go again." He muttered.
Lucia's castle was dark, save for one room, the large dining hall. After the maids and servants had done their job for the night, the king told them to get out of his sight. God help anyone who didn't listen. Unlike in Symphonia, Lucia demanded no escorts or bodyguards to be close by. The Raregroovian king was pretty certain he could take care of any threats against his life by himself anyway. He may no longer be the Darkbring master in this world but he was still a powerful warrior in his own right. The only member of the royal family that he wanted to be monitored constantly was the queen and tonight she was with him and he wanted it to be just the two of them all alone.
Ever since king Lucia had hired that professional to 'reprogram' her mind things were going exactly the way he wanted them. He questioned why he didn't try such a thing with his wife sooner. Tonight he was testing out the results and went on a date with his bride. Not his usual 'just get her maids to make her look pretty and manageable and I'll see her in the bedroom when I'm ready' kind of dates, but a real date (that may just happen to end up in the bedroom).
At dinner she sat still, well mannered and quiet, she did not speak unless his majesty addressed her. In Lucia's mind, if he were being perfectly honest, it was really cute to see her that way
To him, his wife was like one of those little lap dogs, rich, bratty girls took everywhere. The queen had finally been trained to 'sit' and 'stay', like a good girl, and now that she was so well behaved Lucia couldn't help but want to spoil her. He wanted to give her everything.
"My lady." He commanded her attention.
"Yes, my love." She responded in a soft monotone voice as if her were in a deep state of trance.
"Smile for me." He smirked.
His wife gave him the best smile she could. It was the type you would give to a cameraman who asked you to smile for the picture. It did not reach her dull, lifeless eyes but Lucia could care less, actually the king liked it that way. It reminded him that he could make her do whatever he wanted, and he always loved having power and control. If he had any heart left in him, king Lucia might even say he was falling in love with her.
He felt so pleased that he wanted to ask her to dance. He put on some romantic music and led her away from the table where they slow danced with each other. Lucia smiled as he kept pressing his luck with her to see how far gone she was. The king whispered sweet words into her ear as they swayed slowly to the sound of music, prompting her to react.
"You look so beautiful."
"Thank you."
"I'm going to give you everything."
"I am happy if you are, my love." Elie spoke emotionlessly.
Finally Lucia said something that might have gone too far. "I've decided I want you to have my baby." He always planned on having the Etherion girl produce his heirs and see if he could mix Etherion into his family bloodline. Now that she wasn't going to fight him anymore, why not begin trying?
"Your baby?" She responded in a voice less monotone than she had been speaking all day. Lucia could feel her tense up in his arms. Her brow scrunched up in thought. Her true thoughts were trying to break though.
"….No….No…. I don't….. Want to…." She managed out.
"Lady Raregoove!" With those two words and a quick snap of his fingers. Elie instantly fell back into her composed, thoughtless, state of being. She affectionately rested her head on her husband's shoulder and responded once again in her dull voice.
"Whatever you desire, my king. You are my one, true love."
His majesty was told that there were moments when she might slip back into her old demeanor when he pushed too hard, but those moments would get more and more rare as time went by and as they continued to work with her every day. When those moments did arise fixing her would be simple.
The king whispered in his wife's ear "What do you say we really see how far I can-"
Lucia was cut off midsentence when he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder from behind, spun around and punched hard in the face, landing on the ground, far from his queen.
The Raregroovian king got his barrings and looked up to see Haru Glory standing between him and Elie, looking positively LIVID.
"I told you before Lucia. Never! Touch Elie! Again!"
There's not a lot that I can say about this chapter simply because I think it does a good job speaking for itself, just that we are nearing the climax.
Please review!