Chapter 29
"You plan to kill them all?" Serene asked with shock. Queen Pure Snow replied with a simple nod and looked down to her newest newborn. The baby was small, but unlike the rest of her siblings she had red hair and green eyes instead of the traditional white hair and blue eyes. The baby yawned and opened her eyes just a little bit before closing them and returning to sleep. The dark nursery was quiet as Serene was trying to process the information.
"That is why I have a favor to ask of you" Queen Pure said quietly. Serene looked at her master's eyes and notice the sadness and unsure thoughts that dulled Queen Pure's eyes. Queen Pure stared directly to Serene and said, "You have been my faithful servant throughout my entire life. Never had you questioned an order without a good reason and you always obeyed to the best of your abilities. Even when I was forced to leave our clan behind to marry King Edwin, you came along despite the fact that you earned your freedom from my family. At first, I was shocked at your decision but now I cannot see you as a servant anymore. You have been my best friend, even with the white hair that I bore when I was born. I was an outcast and a disgrace to our tribe, yet you were kind to me. I thank you for all the happy memories I have."
Serene stood there, in awe of her master's speech of gratitude. Queen Pure Snow's long white hair covered in jewels and accessories moved a little bit when she picked up her newborn and handed her over to Serene. Serene took the baby in her arms and cuddled with the baby. "Now I give you your final command; take the child and leave. Take her far away from here and hide. Become a noble to let the baby's presence be known to history but do what you can to hide her from her fate."
Serene looked up to her master's blue eyes and asked, "You wish for me to disobey King Edwin's order!? Why would you even asked that of me? Why would you choose to disobey your own husband?"
"Those are good questions. I shall explain" Queen Pure said as she went to the closet and opened it. There Serene seen that Queen Pure had been planning her disobedience for a long time, for the closet had all the necessities Serene would require to escape with the child safely through the winter storm. "The time draws near and the emperor of evil called Nightmare wishes to seek out the Yin Sword."
"Nightmare wishes to retrieve the Yin Sword?" Serene asked in confusion, for she knew the legend well as any Yin.
"Yes, and our hidden clan is about to be found out. We cannot allow any being to find the sword besides us, but it is clear that this child is destined for this fate."
Serene started understanding the situation that was going on. The baby snuggled into Serene despite the grave situation that is occurring. Queen Pure continued, "It is no coincidence that this child bears little resemblance to the Yin Family, despite her direct bloodline. She can be hidden until the time comes for her to accept fate's decision. You also have very little resemblance to us, which is normal. Since you and my child have features that were common in my previous clan, you can pretend that she is a relative of yours if not your daughter. My husband is certain that no one can find the Yin Sword if we are all dead, however I recently had a dream of the mystical Yin Stone that said, 'you must let one child live to find the Sword, otherwise the seal will be broken'. I discussed this with my husband but all he did was to confirm that the mystical Yin Stone was correct. However, despite the grave situation where the Yin could fall into the wrong hands, he scoffed it off saying that it was not of my concern since I am only his wife. I cannot help but feel that I must do this. I only hope that I am making the right choice."
Queen Pure turned quickly from the closet and straight at Serene, saying, "I must return to my husband's side. The other younger children have been disposed of and now we are gathering in the ball room. The plan is set. You must leave now or else everything I have done will be for nothing. Farewell Serene Dawn, my best friend and loyal subject! Even if you are unable to complete this mission, I will forever be in your debt."
"…thank you my lady and I too must say that you have been my best friend despite the conditions of my slavery. Farewell!"
Without another word said, Queen Pure left the room and headed toward the ball room for her final appearance. Serene quickly put the baby back into the crib and prepared for escape.
"Hey! Blade!"
Blade was startled out of a trance as Jerca waved his hand over her face. Blade gently pushed his hand out of the way and replied, "Hello Jerca. Pleasure to meet you". Jerca was a little confused by the sudden formal greeting, along with Blade, and asked, "How are you since…earlier? Okay?"
Blade was puzzled for a moment but soon realized what Jerca had meant by his question. "I'm fine. No one harm me physical."
"How about emotional and mentally?"
Blade almost didn't recognize this tone of voice Jerca used. He hardly has this tone unless something was really bothering him or someone was doing something harmful intentionally. Jerca sighed and removed his mask from the top of his head and put it on the bed. "I'm really sorry about what happened with the Star-Warriors earlier. I would lie and say that doesn't happen often but…"
When he trailed off, Blade became more concern yet curious about the situation. Jerca looked at her calmly and explained, "Star-Warriors are gifted warriors with the ability to handle tough fighting conditions. Naturally we take pride in such skill. So, when non Star-Warriors stay on this ship for a long time because of an important reason, many of them get jealous. Many of these Star-Warriors feel as though they are superior to all living beings in the universe."
"Do you feel that way Jerca?" Blade asked quietly, hoping that it wouldn't cause more trouble but somehow knowing deep in her heart that Jerca wanted her to understand what was going on. Jerca looked at her seriously and responded, "More than once. I thought I had the right to do as I please because of this, as long as it was for the good for the universe. Then I met Meta."
Blade listened carefully with intrigue as Jerca continued, "You see, Meta isn't a flashy person and he doesn't like the attention of everyone. He's sometimes skittish when he is put on the spot and tends to panic and flee. A lot of that was my fault."
"Your fault? You're the nicest person I met!"
"Not back then. I saw Meta as a weak individual because he wasn't a Star-Warrior."
"…wait a minute! What! Meta Knight is a Star-Warrior!"
"No, he isn't. He never was born a Star-Warrior. The only reason he was allowed to come on board with the Star-Warriors is because he volunteered"
"Whoa! Just stop! What do you mean he volunteered? What are you trying to tell me?" Blade said with frustration in her voice. It even upset her to the point where she got up from the bed. Why is he telling me this? Does this have to do with my incident earlier?
"I was cruel to Meta because he volunteered for the Star-Warrior Army. I along with my gang used to torture the little guy so we can get him to quit the Star-Warrior Army; we thought it was the right thing to do. One day, however, I was teamed up with Meta and Dr. Stork on a retrieve mission, one where I was to retrieve many weapons in some ruins and bring them back to the ship. We were ambushed by a monster on the way there and I nearly died that day. What saved my life was Meta receiving the finishing blow instead me; he almost died had it not been for Dr. Stork. Later when I asked him why he did that, he said 'You would have done the same thing. After all, that is what Star-Warriors do; they protect others from evil'. "
Jerca stopped talking for a moment, peeking Blade's curiosity even more. Finally, he said quietly, "That's when I realized what a horrible person I was."
"What do you mean Jerca?" Blade asked, wondering why he would even think that.
"I realized what a horrible person I was, because if Meta was in my position…I wouldn't have even bothered to help him"
That statement left a dark gloomy feeling in the room, making Blade tense. He wouldn't have saved Meta Knight…that's so impossible to think about. How would that even be possible? Jerca and Meta Knight are such close friends now, almost inseparable.
"I never told Meta this, so keep it between us." After Jerca's comment, Blade looked up to him and agreed.
"Later on, I decided to change my attitude all together and eventually after some major events in our lives we became best friends. I was only few of the warriors who realized how bad pride can be."
What a minute…is he saying that there are a lot of Star-Warriors feel that normal beings are inferior and truly do not accept the code of conduct? "I don't understand Jerca…I don't understand at all."
"Simple. There are many warriors on this ship that felt the way I did before I met Meta. They outnumber the good Star-Warriors about fifteen to one. That was probably my old gang you ran into in the hallway, but there is really no way of telling nowadays without technology. That's why you've been sticking with Meta and I this whole time."
Blade soon seen the wisdom in Jerca's speech and nodded to him in understanding. Jerca nodded back, stood up and stretched, saying, "We should get something to eat, and since it is our lunch time…actually it may be closer to dinner now that I'm thinking. It's too bad that no one's clock is the same on this ship."
Blade decided to put her armor and helmet back on while Jerca put his mask on top of his head again, just in case, and then she followed Jerca out of the room. Once in the hallway, Blade stayed close to Jerca when she noticed something odd. She stopped walking and stood there and right after this Jerca noticed and stopped walking as well.
Blade instantly asked, "You guys mentioned that a warrior summoned Galacta Knight from Riker, but he was defeated by Meta Knight...not only that but Meta Knight said he never wanted to fight Galacta Knight and he didn't summon him. Now that I think about it, you reacted badly when I said 'Surely nobody would have been that stupid', so I thought the group was laughing at the scene and not at you. Please tell me who summon Galacta Knight!"
Jerca stood there quietly, his face expressionless as Blade said this to him. He closed his eyes and replied, "Yeah, I did summon Galacta Knight. I did so on the account that I thought I could defeat him easily. I truly underestimated him." When Jerca reopened his eyes, Blade could tell that he was reliving painful memories of the past.
He fought Galacta Knight and lost while Meta Knight ended up fighting him and won. Meta Knight is truly skillful to fight someone that powerful, and even he cannot defeat Nightmare? Now I see the danger of this war, and if the Yin Sword is truly the last resort to stopping Nightmare then Sir Arthur didn't have much choice but to pursue this weapon.
"I wasn't the only one trying though. When the location of Galacta Knight's imprisonment was revealed, many warriors including myself sought after this title. I went mostly so that I could prove how powerful I was to the Star-Warriors, which was after Meta saved me but not before we became the best friends. I almost died that day too."
Jerca was also about to say something else, but he didn't. Blade had her ears open the whole time and listened so very intently, however Jerca grinned and said, "Sorry Blade, but that's all you really need to know about me right now." As he said this, Jerca's eyes were sad as well.
Blade nodded and answered, "Thank you for telling me everything earlier. The only reason I asked was because I felt that there was more to the story then what you guys were telling me earlier." Blade told a white lie that time, since she was told earlier by the Stone that the warriors were killing each other over a past, one that was bad enough to cause problems in the present. Is that the Star-Warriors don't like Galacta Knight though…or is it why Galacta Knight doesn't like the Star-Warriors. There is so many pieces left out that it doesn't make sense! I have a very dark feeling that whatever the reason that either side is behaving like this may influence the way the path of the Yin Sword will go. I can only hope that this is not the case.
"Oy! Jerca and Blade!"
Blade was sent back to reality as Falspar waved from down the hall. With both groups walking toward each other and meeting in the middle, Jerca and Falspar fist bumped each other with a grin. Blade's heart was able to rest at ease for the time being and noticed that Falspar had something in his hand. It looked like a large book that was rather thick. When she noticed the book, Falspar smiled and opened the book to show many pictures to her.
Blade was speechless as she saw the pictures. Falspar handed the book to her and said, "It's a picture album. It stores pictures of every kind. I developed some of the pictures already and went ahead with the album. It's mainly about your journey since you arrived to the Golden Angel. I thought you would like a little remembrance of everything."
As he said this, Blade looked through the album to see many different pictures, some that was took by the security cameras and some that was took by Sir Dragato's camera. Some were happy times, some were sad, some distant past, and some recently took. When Falspar finished, Blade looked up to him and said, "Thank you so much Falspar. You're one of the nicest beings I have met in the entire universe."
Falspar blushed when she said this, and Jerca smirked at him with bright eyes that laughed at this scene.
A little short but it does explain what has happened a little bit and all of what I wanted in this chapter. Thanks for the support!
