Hi everyone! :D
Here it is the 2nd chapter!
Sorry if it feels a little heavy, but I didn't find a way to write it better, I really lack vocabulary and the more elegant way to put these things (the problems when you're not a mother language... ç_ç "^^).
Please, follow me on twitter if you like! I'll appreciate it ^^
( /RoryWild4)
And Bertaz too! (She draws Escalin sooooo well! She's an inspiration and a huge help every time!)
( /BertazHead)
CHAPTER 2
"Mmm...we should also add a tourney, the people would like that. What do you think, Merlin?"
Arthur was organising the celebration to remember the Lion Sin's sacrifice, and his plan was also to distract the Mage, having her help out in first person with the preparations, he also hoped that by doing that she would begin to cope with the loss of him.
The Boar was trying to maintain her neutral mask, but the young king was able to see through it, and could see how difficult it was for her, how hurt she was, but acting like she had been for the past year was hurtful for her too, so it didn't really change, but he hoped that she could still gain something good from this.
"Merlin?"
She was obviously lost in her thoughts.
"Oh, yes Arthur?"
"I was asking for your advice on how to pay better respect to him. You knew him well, you know what he would have liked."
He was trying to push her to react.
"Tell me something about him, about his character, what he liked, etc.."
Her eyes were full of sadness and her chest hurted, but seeing as this was for him, that Arthur was insisting and that he seemed to really care about this celebration, she tried to do her best to be of help too.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and cleared it.
"Well… he was… a very kind-hearted and gentle man, he was always making sure that everyone else was okay or he tried to find a way to make them feel better, he was very attentive, and he liked to see his friends enjoy themselves and be happy. On the other hand he was also quite prideful, never backing down from a fight, and was so very brave. He was a man of sweet poems and gentle gestures, always on the front line to protect his friends…"
Her reverie was stopped by a sudden sob, while she was talking a sweet sad smile had sprouted on her lips, and tears were running down her cheeks, her voice had begun to tremble slightly and her body too.
She tried to recompose herself but couldn't completely stop the tears or the trembles.
She was really a wreck.
"It's okay Merlin, you did great! You gave me so many ideas based on his character, I will run them with you once I'll be able to reorganize them in my head. Thank you!"
He was happy to have been able to make her talk, it was a first step.
She just nodded absentmindedly, and turned from him.
"I'll be in my lab."
With that she vanished, leaving Arthur in his study alone, sighing.
It went better than he had thought, at least.
While Arthur was trying to keep the Mage occupied, Mael arrived again to the place where they had last seen the Lion Sin.
He hoped to find something, even if it had been a year, he had to at least try, so he concentrated and searched for some traces of his soul or the Grace that had been inside him.
After an hour of looking for it he sighed and gave up, he had searched everywhere in the area, but found nothing, not even the tiniest bit of a clue.
He had failed here but he had other places to visit and some more research to do, and maybe he would be luckier in the Goddess Realm.
He didn't lose anymore time and went back there, he had a theory that Escanor's soul hadn't been lost, not completely at least, it just decomposed in very little pieces but its essence couldn't vanish like that, more so seeing that he had been housing a Grace at that time, so maybe his essence stayed glued to Sunshine and not having anywhere else to go it went back to someplace in the Goddess Realm.
It was a chance.
The preparations for the celebration were coming along well, thanks to Merlin and her previous approval of his ideas, Arthur was able to organize some very interesting and intriguing events, that were meant to resemble the qualities of the Lion Sin: of course there would be all kinds of fighting and physical abilities events, to prove one prowess, both in singles and in teams, but it would also took place a poem's event and an 'altruistic' event, to celebrate the gentle and kind side of the Lion Sin, always attentive towards others.
Merlin was watching all of this being prepared and her chest had never stopped hurting, not even once, it hurted her to see so much of him everywhere, but at the same time she was grateful that he wouldn't be forgotten, that his character would be celebrate like this, making everyone experience all these parts of him, to come to know, understand and admire him, like she did.
She hugged tighter his poem book to her chest and caressed the marks on her face.
How she missed him… but she won't be less than the others, she will do her best to honor him.
Once she had joked with him that one day she would have tried to write a poem of her own, so that maybe she could have understood his interests and fascination towards them, he had been flustered but very pleased by her words, and had encouraged her to try whenever she felt like.
She had never found the moment or the pull to try, not really, but maybe now it would be the right time and the right way to honor and remember him.
Putting her feelings down on paper could also help her to understand them better.
Thinking that suddenly she felt like she understood why he had liked poems so much: they were like a codified way to transmit someone's own thoughts but also a clear way to understand one's own feelings; every person had their own way to see, feel and write their own thoughts and sentiments, and by taking them out and then reading them, one could understand and reflect on them better. Because everyone had a personal way to put them, not everyone else could understand what the author meant, or not the whole meaning, so in a way the feelings resulted almost encrypted, but poems were a tool that talked right to the heart of who read or listened to them, so kindred spirits could understand each other through them, and appreciate the other.
Was that the reason why she had liked his poems so much? Not only because they were dedicated to her, but also because she could understand him through them? Because she felt nearer to him by understanding them? Because subconsciously she knew that he was also trying to make her know him while thinking of her?
She wasn't sure, the right answer could be all of the above or none.
Who knows if he would have understood her if she had ever written a poem for him before.
After a couple of days trying to search for a possible place where it could have gone, Mael gave up on the idea that he could do this without asking directly the Supreme Deity, he hadn't wanted to disturb her about a personal matter, but he hadn't any more choices.
He arrived at her palace and entered feigning confidence. He began walking along some corridors, searching for her, following the feeling of her presence until he arrived in a hallway with some doors and glass walls, so that one could see inside.
He tried not to peek, but it was inevitable.
There seemed to be a large amount of souls, in various kinds of state: some seemed whole, some incomplete, and of others there were only fragments.
He had never been here and he was completely intrigued by what he was seeing, why were there souls here? What purpose could they serve?
Arriving at one of the last rooms he stopped, frozen in shock by what, or who, he saw inside.
Immediately he was face to face with the glass wall, his hands on his surface and his eyes large in surprise.
"Mael."
A thundering, sweet, female voice took him back to the present, partially, he just turned his head to the side to find the Supreme Deity looking at him with a neutral but serene expression on her face.
His shock hadn't wear down yet, so the only thing that was passing through his mind was also the only thing that he could say at that moment:
"What is he doing in there?!"
Yep! I decided to have short chapters for this story! I'm still experimenting with fanfic writing! :D XD
For now I think it works better this way for this story, but let me know what you think ^^
And… who'll be the one Mael has found?!