Chapter Eleven: Haru's Deed
This time, Haru was surrounded by silvery mist, and her bare feet sunk into the soft cool earth slightly. To keep herself from going numb with cold, the brunette kept playing her father's instrument, and moving her feet around in a semi-dance.
Out of nowhere, a cool hand wrapped around her shoulder.
"You can stop playing now, dear. We're ready for you."
Haru turned to see a matronly woman, who was beaming at her. Although she knew she shouldn't just trust strangers, the young girl lowered her weapon and followed the woman through the mist. Eventually, they came to a campfire, where two other women were waiting for her. One was old enough to be Haru's grandmother, while the other appeared to be close to the brunette's age. Both were also smiling warmly at her.
"Please sit down, Haru. We have much to discuss."
The brunette did as suggested, surprised that the grass underneath her wasn't wet. She rested her violin on her lap. "Um, what's going on?"
The eldest woman laughed a little nervously. "We owe you a small apology. I kind of made a mistake a few years back, and it threw everything out of balance. You were born to correct that mess."
Haru quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
The youngest one laughed, and the surrounding area seemed to echo her bell-like giggles. "You are a mortal, Haru, but we aren't. You have heard of me and my sisters, even if you don't know it."
The matronly woman spoke up, sitting next to the slim brunette. "You have heard of the maiden, mother, and crone?"
Haru's eyes widened. "The Keepers of Time?"
The three nodded.
"It has been our duty throughout the ages to ensure peace and happiness for all. But, we made a mistake, as my sister has said before. King Phoebus was supposed to be born a cat, as was his son and his son's intended."
"Lune and Yuki?"
"Yes. But the time stream can be fixed by making the king alone a cat. Lune truly will fix as much of the damage his father's done as possible, and his pale queen will rule by his side. The kingdom will rejoice when they are crowned."
The eldest of the three hobbled over to hold the mortal's hands. "A little over a decade ago, I traveled to your realm to find a suitable gift for you, for doing this little favor for us, since we can't personally interfere. We had specifically given you the gift of music, and the ability to affect reality with it, in order to change the king into a cat. But your music will lose its magical properties after you do the deed, to ensure that you can't ever misuse it."
Haru nodded sadly. "As long as I can play, I can handle the rest."
The youngest one beamed at her. "We knew you'd think so. Anyway, my sister traveled through the rebel camp, amusing herself by telling people small parts of their destinies, until she saw your Baron."
The elder woman sighed. "He's a wonderful lad, no doubt of it. But there were many girls vying to be his bride, and he was going to break down soon and marry one of them. But he wouldn't have been truly happy; especially when he saw you grow up into a wonderful woman. I looked enough into his future to see you giving him a flower to cheer him up and told him he would marry the first girl that did so after I left." She winked at the brunette. "I made sure to add the last part, so he could get to a safe place to wait for you."
Haru's jaw dropped. "So… it was you that told him he would marry me one day?"
The crone nodded and started laughing. "The funniest part of it is that it will become true because I said it. If I hadn't, Baron never would have thought of giving you a chance, or even of waiting the necessary years for you to grow up." Her dark eyes glowed warmly, and wrinkled lips kissed Haru's brow softly. "He fell for your sweet spirit, as I knew he would. He won't ask you to marry him because of what I said. It's because he loves you. You two will have a very happy future together."
Haru nodded softly. "And all I have to do in return is turn the king into a cat?"
The three women nodded.
"We only called you here because of the chaos in your soul. We have already been too lax with you, as your years of being Shadow can say, and we cannot take any more chances with your ability to perform this important task. Know this, Haru of the Yoshioka line; the Baron von Gikkingen loves you for yourself, changing the king will benefit everyone, and you can have a happy life with your lover when all is said and done. All will be made right again."
When Haru woke up from her dream, there were tears running down her cheeks. But unlike her earlier ones, these were tears of joy.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
King Phoebus growled again, throwing the papers off his desk and at Natori, who held up his hands in an effort to avoid paper cuts. "This isn't good enough! The Rebel Company must be found again!"
Haru was the key to his downfall, and she had to be taken out of the picture before she pulled some of her killer moves on him. It's such a shame; she would have made the perfect queen for him.
The monarch stormed out of his study and down to his throne room; his two higher advisors trailing behind him like shadows. The king sat down in his throne again and threw out the edge of his cape to drape dramatically over the arm. He snapped his fingers, signaling a servant to come forward with the king's favorite fish drink. Phoebus grabbed it and hurriedly started fishing around the glass, trying to catch the tiny fish within.
A soft melody suddenly filled the large room; seemingly out of nowhere. The king looked up fast, his drink forgotten for the time being. His large mismatched eyes widened even further, and he dropped the glass; forgetting that it was in his grasp. As the tiny fish flopped around on the floor, the king slowly stood up from his throne, and started looking around. The music was of the sort that only a violin could make.
The crazy monarch struggled to bring moisture to his mouth and quell the fear in his heart. "Is that you, my Shadow?"
"I am no one's Shadow," a voice whispered, paralyzing everyone in their places. Although the voice had been as soft as a breeze, the tone was terrifying, and the words seemed to echo everywhere.
The king gulped. "Um, Haru… I can understand that you'd be put out with me for the obedience collar, but how about this? If you swear fealty to me, I'll make you my queen."
The voice was silent for one moment. And then, terrible laughter began to echo throughout the entire palace, accented by the slightly wicked music.
"To think; I was worried about the age difference between Baron and myself. With one sentence, your majesty has assured that I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life. I spit upon your offer, and you."
Sure enough, the king suddenly felt moisture on his face, making him wipe it off with disgust and horror. "Please, don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want, everything you want."
The voice began to laugh again, but it was softer than the last time, and the music also became calmer. "I never had any intention of killing you, although your majesty has earned it. It would shame my parents' memory, to lower myself to your level. In fact, I have come with a gift for you."
With that, the music changed once more. But, unlike the previous tunes, this one was completely innocent and carefree. The king sighed softly as Natori began pulling on one sleeve insistently.
"Please, Your Majesty! She's hexing you-"
The king flung off his advisor nonchalantly; his entire attention riveted on the song. Suddenly, he spotted a small mouse squeaking and moving around the middle of the throne room. Smiling, the king got to his haunches, and pounced.
The mouse gave him quite a chase, but the crazy monarch was triumphant in the end. Holding the squeaking mouse under one paw, he played with it with the other paw, in order to wear his snack out. He purred happily, content with the little game. Eventually, the mouse was too tired to keep fighting for its life, and the monarch killed it with a single bite. He swallowed it; pleased with his little conquest.
The song suddenly left off with a trill, making the king wake up from his little dream. Sighing, he stood up and tried to walk. But then he tripped over his own clothing, which now pooled around him like a lake. With shock, the crazy monarch wiggled out of his now ample clothes and looked himself over.
He was now a longhaired cat, maybe a Persian. His glee slowly erupted into laughter.
"At last! My dream came true!" He tried to dance around the throne room, but he wasn't used to his new body proportions, and just fell on his back for his efforts. From the corner of his eye, he could see a small group of people slowly become visible. One was his son, but the one heading the group was a petite brunette, who was clutching a violin.
Grinning, she gave a little bow to the king. "I hope you like my gift, because I can't take it back, even if I wanted to."
He purred at her. "Thanks, babe. Are you sure you aren't interested in becoming my queen?"
She straightened up, and linked arms with the Baron; lost in his eyes as the crown prince came forward, smiling softly.
"Well, Father? What's your first order as a cat?"
The longhair started chuckling. "Easy. Guards! Throw my son in the dungeon to await trial for treason!" He waited for the soldiers to do as ordered, but none of them moved. He growled at them; irritated that they haven't moved yet.
"What's wrong with all of you?! I said arrest my son!"
Lune put one hand to his cheek, mock amazement in his eyes. "What's wrong, Father? Why don't you speak human, so everyone can understand you?"
The king's heart froze. 'Oh no…'
Grinning, the prince addressed everyone in the throne room. "So, who's willing to let a feline rule over them?"
No one moved, still shocked that the cat hissing and yowling was once their ruler.
Sighing, Natori walked over to the king. "We can't have a king that we can't communicate with. All in favor of electing Prince Lune as the new king?"
There was a great roar of approval, more than even Haru was expecting, although the Keepers of Time had warned her it would happen. The longhair meowed in protest, but no one was paying attention to him anymore. Even the ones that had obeyed him to the end had done it out of fear or greed. In truth, no one, not even the king's son, held love for him.
With extended claws, the cat tried to charge the one who had lost him his crown, only to be kicked sharply away by the man at her side.
He smiled a little evilly. "Oops," the Baron von Gikkingen said sarcastically while rubbing his love's hand again. "We can't do any more damage around here, Haru; shall we go home?"
"Where's home?" she asked, since the only homes she could remember were either tents or the forest shack she had shared with her mother before her days as Shadow.
Prince Lune grinned at them. "I'm returning all the lands Father took from you, Baron. Your ancestral home is yours again."
Baron bowed low in gratitude, but then locked eyes with Haru again. "It would hardly be appropriate for me to take you home if we aren't married."
She rolled her eyes affectionately at him. Even if the Keepers of Time hadn't told her to ever tell about their little chat, she would never have told anyone about it. And now that she knew about her bright future with Baron, she was eager to get started on it. For after the time in her dream state, she now felt that she was mentally old enough to handle being a true adult.
"Then let's start looking for a priest."
ooOoo
Lots of love to; NeonTheGreen, WGDWriter, LeafeKnight7, E-man-dy-S, Luckygurrl12, 96Tsubasa, Bloodsong, SilverFeatherWings, Rowena Bensel, DemonWolf25, Guest, KrisG, Bambi4ever, MisfortuneKeep, Ebony Mitsu, Cool, Katty177, TwiliGoddess, Nanenna, James Birdsong, fringeperson, foxchick1, KathySacuba, anon, BookRookie12, Raye of the Sunshine and Wolfs and Tanukis for assuring me that this was an enjoyable read despite my reservations.
I'm kind of glad I decided to hold onto this story for so long, because 2020 was a year that left everyone down for the count. I'm still on only the fifth chapter of the next story, and not that likely to do a lot of writing soon since another brother is getting married (YAY!) and that means another wedding quilt because I'm a glutton for punishment.
Luckily, even though I haven't done a lot of writing on the next story, I've got a lovely collection of one-shots that I wrote while procrastinating on the next full-length story (don't pretend to judge me!). The next two one-shots are my attempt to rewrite Shadow's Secret before losing interest in favor of Truth. They're still corny, but there's some one-liners in there that I'm still proud of.