Hello all! I'm so so sorry it's been like two months. I mean, I'm not known for my great uploading times or anything, but it has been a very long time, and I apologize. Biggest two issues have been; this chapter, as I had no idea 1) where to go with it 2) how the heck to end it. Second issue is of course personal, I've been going through some hard mental times and this story has been the last thing on my mind that I have the time or effort for it. Thank you for worrying, and all your kind messages have been huge pick me ups! (Speaking of, Wavebreaker, are you okay omg that review shook me to my core lol). I promise I'm getting help and working through it, but forgive me if this story gets a little dusty in the meanwhile.
Once summer break comes rushing in to save me and my life, I should have more time to work on this. Just keep an eye out. I promise this story is not anywhere close to getting abandoned, I have too much plot planned for me to just stop here! See you soon, Remember, Review!
Zen rushed back into the tent. He zipped up the flap and scratched his hand through his hair in agitation.
You're going to perish anyways. The voice cackled in his head.
The pull was undeniable. Zen paced restlessly, pulling his shirt off in a desperate attempt to cool down.
Why do you bother fighting? It will all be for naught. End it all now, right here, anyways.
Zen knew it was all just lies and working with his inner demons to get him to obey, but he had to stop himself from letting his hand go to the hilt of his sword. Instead, he lowered his grasp to just below the hilt and freed it from his belt. He tossed it to the other side of the tent, then turned and sat down with a huff. He tightly crossed his legs on top of each other, pulling his body inwards.
The voice laughed. Poor, feeble, little Prince. Destined to a throne he will desperately wishes to run from. He wants to see the world, but he is bound by blood to the people in his country. They don't really care about you, to them you are just a weak promise of protection.
Zen grit his teeth and covered his ears, rocking back and forth. A hiss escaped his clenched teeth.
Then gentle hands touched his knee. He jerked, the voice going quiet. He breathed heavily, suddenly aware of his heart pounding on his chest and how his fingers were pulling too tightly on his hair.
Shakily, he let go of his head and opened his eyes.
Shirayuki was on her knees in front of him, her hand resting over the hair clip, which she had also pressed against his leg. "You alright?" Her normally soft voice was cracking with fever.
"Y-Yeah." Zen breathed, forcing his lungs to expand slowly. "I'm okay. Sorry for waking you."
Shirayuki's green eyes hardened. "Did you hear the voice?"
"A voice." Zen nodded. "I doubt it was the same one you heard." With a sigh, he let his muscles collapse into a slump. Then he grabbed her hand and gently lifted it, being sure to keep a finger over the pin just in case. He stopped mid – way, realizing he was about to kiss her knuckles. What a weird urge. Instead he shifted so he had one leg propped up, the other extending just past her. He gently rubbed the back of her palm with his other hand. "This can't go on."
"No." Shirayuki agreed. Her eyes flashed with a spark of rebellious gold. "If I could cast a spell that-" She cut herself off with a hacking cough, thankfully turning away from him and into her shoulder to do so.
Zen chuckled a little sadly. "You don't have the energy to be breaking the laws of the universe right now."
"It's not-" She cleared her throat and tried again. "It's not breaking any laws, magic is perfectly natural."
"Yes, yes." Zen sighed. His brother's voice urging him to kill himself? Yep, natural. A visible shiver racked through Shirayuki. Her cheeks were flushed with fever. "You should go back to bed." Zen felt his mouth pull with concern.
Shirayuki gripped his hand with her other. "You need to hold this, too."
Zen pursed his lips. "I'd rather go find them and hit them with it than just hold it in here." A thought jumped into Zen's mind and made him gasp. "Whoever's doing this – they can't do it to the horses, can they?"
Shirayuki shook her head. "No. I have a feeling River is more than just a normal horse anyways, but they can't infiltrate the mind of anything not human."
"Thank God." Zen exhaled. His heart was thankfully not pounding so hard. He was starting to love that little pin thing. It was very crowding to have another voice that wasn't yours in your head, in that moment, Zen was grateful to just be himself.
Shirayuki let out a huff of breath that Zen usually related to people fainting. The thought made him sit up and push Shirayuki's hands and the pin closer to her. "You need to go back to bed."
But the moment he let go, the voice came back.
JUST END IT, USELESS-
Shirayuki shoved the pin back into his chest, leaning over him a little too closely.
Both of them panted – Shirayuki thanks to her fever, Zen thanks to the explosive voice in his head. Zen could feel Shirayuki's breath just touch the bottom of his chin. Her hair fell free over her left shoulder and curled against his thigh. "Sorry." She whispered.
"It's okay." Zen whispered back. Her eyes were more multicolored than he thought. Even when they weren't glowing gold, there were little flecks of the color all sprinkled around her irises.
"You seem tired." Shirayuki murmured.
Zen managed a laugh, shifting and managing to break the spell – although this one he liked a lot more than the one currently haunting them. "I-I am."
"You should sleep." Shirayuki glanced at the pin, then back at their sleeping bags, piled on top of one another.
Zen's eyebrows raised. Shirayuki, offering to share a bed – or a bed space? Of her own free will? He reached up and pressed the back of his palm against her forehead. She definitely felt hotter than she should, but he made a face anyways. "Just how sick are you?"
Shirayuki batted his hand away with a scoff. "Fine, then try to sleep without –"
She didn't even move but Zen grabbed the pin tighter, therefore grabbing her hand tighter. He felt his jaw working with the fear he was suppressing.
Shirayuki touched his cheek, and there were no more arguments.
When Zen woke naturally a few hours later, having comforting dreams that left him feeling a little warm inside, and Shirayuki's breath tickling the base of his throat, he knew what he had to do.
Tentatively, he pushed Shirayuki away from him. She stirred, and thinking quickly he shoveled his pillow against her front. It was warm from him, and smelled like him, so hopefully Shirayuki would think it was still him. He hesitated as he sat up, his one hand was still clutching the pin with Shirayuki.
He took a deep breath, then let it go.
There was silence.
He hurriedly slipped free of the sleeping bags and grabbed his sword. He was thankful he had fallen asleep in his boots, as he was able to simply step out of the tent. The knife still floated over the tent, spinning around sharply at every little noise.
Thunder and River were sleeping, though at the sound of him walking forward both of their ears pricked and they opened their eyes. He let his eyes scan the clearing, but he was also listening and feeling, trusting his instincts.
Sure enough, he thought there might be somebody nearby. A creeping sensation of being watched made the back of his neck tingle. He nodded to himself, and turned to zip the tent behind him closed.
You actually woke up, what a shame. You know, the world wouldn't really miss you if you were gone. Actually, most of the world thinks you're already dead, so really dying wouldn't make a difference.
Zen hummed in response to his brother's voice. Then he cleared his throat.
"This is the Song of the Sea…"
The voice in his head stopped, as if stunned. Zen didn't think he had the time to let whoever or whatever it was to run or realize what he was doing. So, he bit back his self-consciousness and began to sing in earnest.
"It sings to you and me. It sings to all who feel lost.
And even those who feel found.
The Song of the Sea is just for you and me."
There was a strange rustling that sent the knife on red alert. Zen jumped up and snatched it out of the air before it could lunge for the brush. The knife relaxed in his grip, and his skin tingled against the magic of it. The horses leaned a little bit away from where the noise was coming from – a spot just on the other side of the creek.
Zen tilted his head and walked a little closer there. He sang another verse. It was the strangest thing to be the one singing the luring song – and for it's intended purpose now, too. He heard Shirayuki singing it in his head, and was using her soprano as a way to harmonize to his alto, even if she wasn't really there. He could feel the pour of his own magic ripple across his chest and through his throat. It was a little like submerging himself into warm water, or when he was a merman and he would use the current to push him forward. Natural, but very different.
"The Song of the Sea lists left and right.
The tone is never quite right.
It speaks of love and those lost.
And it speaks of danger and the urge to fight for a cause."
Then the sensation got even weirder. Zen felt like he had to step backwards, and so he did just that. As soon as his feet resettled in the grass, something shot out of the bush. It moved so fast Zen almost lost the grip he had just managed to wrestle onto his magic. A glow of blue darted over the top of the river, sending a small shower of droplets onto River and Thunder. Then it jumped up overhead, crashing into some branches and displacing some leaves. It flung itself near the tent and then once around Zen.
He heard a small whisper in his mind, and so desperately he forced the next words to move slowly. He wanted the thing to stop moving long enough that he could get a look at it.
"Soon you will feel the Song of the Sea,
Right here with me.
In my arms I'll cradle you forever,
Right where we both belong."
The thing stopped moving as Zen kept singing. It floated in front of him, spinning in a sort of dizzying way. Then it lowered gently, until it rested on the ground below him. Zen held the last note a little longer. The thing swayed gently, and Zen knelt to get a better look at the torturer.
The glow faded, revealing a small man. Standing, it would have maybe been at height with Zen's knee. The man wore a long tunic with a small cornucopia on his belt. His hair was a sheer swathe of gold, but the strangest thing was located on his back. He had a set of four wings, like a dragonfly. Not to miss, the gold tail gently brushing across the grass.
"What are you?" Zen wondered aloud.
The thing didn't answer. It had a sort of a silly grin on its face. It hummed the tune of the Song of the Sea once.
Zen looked around for some sort of help, or anything else. This tiny thing had been what was telling him to kill himself? Really?
"A fairy?" Zen wondered. He reached down and gently poked the little man in the stomach.
Which was apparently a mistake. The little fairy man grabbed his finger and pushed it backwards with surprising speed. Zen cursed and pulled his hand back, but the fairy clung onto it and jumped onto his shoulder.
"Get off!" Zen slapped his shoulder, but the fairy jumped to the top of his head and yanked his hair. Zen grunted and slapped his hand to the top of his head, missing once again as the fairy front-flipped off of him and zipped forward, casting Zen a glare as he started to fly off.
Zen lunged after him and grabbed his foot. "Not so fast!" The fairy glared at him again and twisted to face him.
Pathetic Prince. Izana'a voice echoed in his head. Zen recoiled and went to let go of the thing, but he saw a glint of metal and stumbled back instead. His head hit the soft grass and he let out a breath. As the fairy lunged for his throat with its tiny dagger, Zen flicked his hand out.
Quick as lightning, a ball of water jumped from the river and darted over Zen's neck. The fairy dove into the water, and quickly Zen pushed it up and began to manipulate it. He managed to push the flailing little fairy man up until his head poked out. Zen closed his fingers and the water ball froze, creating a perfect sphere to hold the fairy.
Zen let out a breath and grabbed the ball. "Now, what are you?"
The fairy struggled in vain, turning its head this way and that. Eventually, it just sat with a sigh and stared at Zen.
"I know you can speak, you've been spewing nonsense at us all day." Zen growled.
The fairy's eyes glowed blue, which made Zen jump a little, but then he heard Izana's voice again. Much less malicious, and only giving him a cold feeling down his spine.
I cannot speak as you do, human.
"Okay, creepy, but good enough. Who are you, and why are you tormenting us?" Zen wanted to be intimidating, but he felt just a little too shaken up at the moment to do more than be curious.
The fairy's eyes still glowed, completely covering its entire gaze. I am a Will-o-Whisp. I was hired to stop you.
"Hired by who?"
The Will-o-Whisp did not respond, just kept his gaze level with Zen's.
Zen sighed. "Okay, then. How can I get you to stop?"
Pay me.
"How much?"
At least twice as much as my buyer already paid me.
Zen did not like the sound of that. "How much?"
The Will-O-Whisp grinned. You don't understand, little mortal. He paid me in blood.