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- authors note - -
WARNING!!: LONG chapter.
This chapter is dedicated to my friend Amy (I love link) for forcing me to keep writing and making it quick (hey…I had writers block!). She actually did that for Chapt.4 but for some reason my authors notes didn't appear… weird… Anyway, enjoy. And everyone read Amy's stories! BTW, the first scene takes place the day after Hitomi has returned, k? It seems that part didn't appear either… weird… Ooh, and I apologize a head of time for any spelling or grammar errors, but my spell checker on the computer is screwed up… -_- Neways, ONWARD!
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--recalling
the past--
The letters were handed over to her in rolls sealed with the royal Fanelian stamp. She was told to deliver the messages as soon as possible. She bowed, put the letters in her pouch and jumping on her horse.¹ She nudged it with her heels on the sides and it began trotting towards the groves.
Getting
the job as a royal messenger wasn't easy – especially for a girl. Her father had been the royal messenger
before her, but then Zaibach attacked and… well, King Van needed a new
messenger after they had begun to rebuild the city. She had travelled with her father many times when he was sent to
deliver messages, and she knew every shortcut to anywhere in Gaea
imaginable. So, who better to take the
job, right? …His Majesties high council didn't think so. Typical, she had thought, but Lord
Van knew better. He ignored them and
gave her the position as head-royal messenger.
In
all her years of working for him they had never spoken, he had only smiled at
her once. But that smile was enough for
her to swear loyalty to him. She had
proven it, too, many times after that, but now, it seemed her loyalty was to be
quick. She had been told to deliver the
letters in the hands of Allen Schezar – the noble knight of Asturia and good
friend of Lord Van – and Dryden Faza – another good friend of the king's. She had delivered letters to them before,
but never with such urgency.
"Must
have something to do with the blue light that appeared last night," she said to
herself as she passed throught a small path in the forest – one of her many
known shortcuts to Asturia. The forest
seemd incredibly quiet though. Paying
no attention to that, she continued to pass through. The leaves brushed all around her with fury and she heard the
chuckling of what she thought were small children playing.
"Hello?"
she asked out loud as she stopped the horse. All she received as an answer was more chucking, "hehehe." Chills ran down her spine, but she ignored
them and tapped the horse gently so it would start walking. She was alert of what was going on around
her. Had she not been, she probably
wouldn't have noticed the small pairs of lights appearing in the bushes. In all her years of travelling, nothing like
this had ever happened. The small
yellow lights in the bushes began to join into two big red ones as she rode by
them… and she wasn't stupid.
With
one strong kick to the sides, her horse was galloping faster than she had ever
ridden it. She could hear the pounds of
large steps behind her. As the horse
and herself breathed with obvious fear she couldn't help but wonder, what
the hell is going on? Curiosity got
the better of her and she looked back, catching only a glimpse of a bony
hand/claw with veins and flesh dangling from it. The hand had been reaching toward the horses rear. "The pouches?" she whispered to herself as
she dodged branches. Ofcourse, she was
only carrying two things of importance in that pouch: the letters.
She
reached behind her and pulled the letter's out of the pouch. The horse neighed fiercely as the creature
dug it's bony fingers into its rear. With one strong thrust, the horse was pulled back with a strength Emi
never thought could possibly exist, but she had known that was about to happen
and leaped off the horse it as it was pulled back. Never stopping to look back, she continued running as the sounds
of ripping flesh came from behind her.
The
roar of the creature following grew louder with every terrorized breath she
took. Still running, she looked
back. Thank gods she had done that just
in time to see something being thrown at her. She dodged it. When the object hit the ground it splashed
something red everywhere; it was blood. The creature had ripped apart her horse and thrown a member of the
horses body at her, maybe the organs. She wasn't sure. It's not like
she wanted to know either. She heard a
leap from behind her, and although she tried to keep running, the impact of
when the creature landed infront of her made her lose her balance and fall to
the ground. She looked up at the
creature from where she lay. Terror
filled her, and disgust too, but it was mainly terror. What scared her the most were its eyes
though. Eyes that seemed to bleed. She watched motionless as the creature's
eyes began to turn as black as she could have ever imagined. A black of pure evil. Somehow, despite it's skull-like head, the
creature seemed to smile with satisfaction as it looked down upon her
terror-filled face.
Holding
the messages in her hand, she closed her eyes and prayed, "I'm sorry sire,
forgive me." The blood from the
creature's eyes seemed to splash out as it went down towards her, and despite
her terror she managed to rip the letters before only the sound of ripping
flesh – human flesh – filled the forest's once peaceful silence.
--back to the present--
Kuaru
had watched carefully into the destiny predicting device all day long. He was trying, once again, to see the fate
that awaited the young king of Fanelia. He needed to make sure that the past wouldn't be repeated and that the
king wouldn't turn out to be the one who destroyed their plans once again along
with the 'white dragon' or Escaflowne. However, he couldn't very well do that when he saw two fates for the
young king, could he? Especially when a
path was covered in mist. He could
predict the fate of anyone in Gaea, except him… talk about misfortune! The worst though, was that no matter how
hard they tried – no matter how many dreams or nightmares they sent his way
(heck, he'd even tried one of those – what were they called? Erotic dreams?), they still couldn't get him
to chose the path they had chosen for him.
The
anger grew inside him with every beat his heart took. The anger, which had begun to grow as fast as a cancer since an
image all too well had reappeared in their machines. An image he knew all too well; and an image that would soon
"disappear" as mysteriously as it had appeared. All he had to do was sit back and wait… and maybe plan another
one or two games to play with the minds of people (one being Serena
Schezar's). Either way, he'd have to
wait.
Wait…
that word would resonate in his mind everytime he thought about the action of
waiting. It made him think of a time,
not too long ago, when Paruchi, Garuto, and himself had to wait around
the city square and watch as their friend, Foruma, was tortured to death. He remembered how the three of them use to wait
for night to fall. That way, if
their faces changed, it wouldn't be all that noticeable and less people would
be around to watch. But most of all, he
remembered how the three of them decided to split up for a while until things
cooled down (or until the socerer hunt season was over). After that, on the day they had decided to
meet again, he remembered how Paruchi
and him waited… and waited for Garuto to return. Waiting… for any bad news as the days went by or for him to show
up and say he had simply been lost or was detained. Until one day they over heard a young boys description of how one
of the sorcerers had been killed in his village: chased down and eaten by
dogs.
Even
as he sighed and leaned back on the old throne, the thought still disturbed
him.
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Serena sighed as she walked up a hill toward the groves. She looked down at the castle beyond her and from where she was standing she could only see a peak of Dryden's new ship which he had landed in one of the new castle yards – much to the dislike of the high council. Ever since they had arrived, though, it seemed like Allen had been avoiding her as much as possible. She didn't blame him. Who would want a sister who was going crazy anyway? But she couldn't help the fact that she felt tired and sleepy… or that Dilandau came to her.
In a way though, he had become her closest friend. For some reason, it felt as if he understood her sadness; her emptiness. She didn't understand him though. Serena knew nothing about him besides his name and that he was obviously some type of general. However, not knowing about him didn't bother her. It appeared she didn't know much of anything anymore anyway, and no one was planning to tell her either. Allen had made that perfectly clear to her when he forbid her to go into Dryden's ship because they were going to discuss Hitomi's return.
She ducked down and reached for the knife she had begun to keep in her boot lately. She took it out and stabbed the tree she had been leaning against with it. So? She asked hersef. Ooh, big deal, Hitomi's from Freid… psh, not like it's gonna kill me or anything.
Ok, maybe it did bother her to not know what was going on.
She sighed, taking the knife out of the tree with laziness. "I hate you Allen," she said between clenched teeth.
INSIDE DRYDEN'S SHIP:
Merle grasped the carpet that she was sitting upon in Dryden's library. Master Van is so brave! She thought as he told Dryden and Allen about when Hitomi was brought back. No one seemed to notice that he left out the part of how he knew Hitomi was in danger, though.
To think he was in that kind of
danger… Merle puffed out her tail, Hitomiiiiii!!
Oof, that girl…
Millerna and Hitomi had sat quietly next to a window after Hitomi had told her side of what had happened. Millerna seemed a bit queazy throughout Hitomi's story, but now that Van was talking, she had more or less calmed down.
"Is that all?" Allen asked after Van was finished. Van replied with a nod.
The five of them waited for Dryden to say something but he looked completely submerged in his thoughts. Until, finally, he asked Hitomi, "Uh… what did you say the little creatures looked like?"
"Mmmm… big round heads and bellies, thin arms and legs, claw-like hands and feet… greyish skin… yellow eyes… but they turned black and then red… with blood gushing out before they turned into the big creature." Millerna shuttered and again they all waited for an answer, but Dryden just climbled up a ladder to reach a pile of books.
"No… not here," he whispered to himself as he left a group of books alone and swung to another.
Near the window, Millerna and Hitomi saw a group of men coming from the castle and headed their way.
"They're Master Van's high council," Merle whispered to them. She seemed to have appeared beside them in a nano-second. Hitomi turned toward Van, who obviously had no idea they were coming and smiled at him. Van smiled back as a noise outside their hallway grew louder and suddenly, in tumbled 5 old men – the high council.
"Sire…" the eldest man began saying as he fought for breath and almost as suddenly (and noisily) as the high council had tumbled in, there came a loud blow from outside the castle walls. To Hitomi it sounded like trumpets, and maybe the noise was just that, but to Van, Merle, and everyone else it meant much, much more.
As a half enfuriated, half shocked Van walked out of Dryden's ship, the rest (except for Dryden, who semeed to not have noticed anything going on) followed him.
"I'm sorry," the old man, Kioyi, continued saying behind Van as he tried to catch up. "We didn't know about it either until just a while ago." He said it is if he had already explained the situation, ofcourse, it was only Hitomi who didn't know what the situation was… and Leo knew this.
He waited until they were outside the castle walls and inbetween the massive crowd that had gathered round outside the walls in hope to catch a glimpse of what would happen. He walked over to her when he saw her standing alone. She looked almost excited about whatever she might think was going on.
"Ahhh, isn't this exciting?" he asked her, pretending to be almost as excited as she looked. He felt almost sorry about what he was about to do when he realised that her excitement was almost like that of a child's: simple and pure, with no explanation needed.
"Yeah, I guess. But what's going on?" she replied with a friendly smile while the trumpets could be heard louder than ever as a highly decorated carriage approached them. Leo smiled at that question, and what a question it was, indeed.
Despite her own opinion, her father sent her anyway. Here she was, Princess Aliz Ani Egzar, being almost paraded down a street to simply meet another suitor. Well, she had to admit it was not just any suitor. It was, after all, one of the heroes that had saved Gaea. Still, he was only a boy, merely a year older than her and no matter what her father said, his country was still one of the most worthless ones in all of Gaea. Why did anyone need farmers? Why did she want the king of farm-nelia as a husband? And yet still, there he was, waiting for her outside his castle. He wasn't dressed fancy or anything, he wore normal clothes… peasant clothes… Aliz lifted up an eyebrow from where she was admiringly… he looked alright
Woah, she thought, that was totally weird. One second she's cussing him out and then after she see's him, she's much more than curious about him… It would have normally made her feel angry that someone would receive her that way, but when she saw him she felt a bit drawn to him. His hair looked disobedient, his eyes were alert, his body was upright (almost tense) with a tan you just knew came from being outside with the peasants too much. That would have to be changed… mingling with lowlifes… ugh…
His clothes would definitely have to go too… and the clothes of whoever was standing a few feet away from him… They were the strangest clothes she had ever seen in her life. What kind of girl wears that?
Leo had walked over for her to ask that exact question: what's going on? And he had her. Oh, he would tell her what was happening, for sure. He would tell her exactly what she needed to know to whipe that smile off her face.
"Those trumpets announce the arrival of a royal Egazardian princess, Aliz. Her arrival is sure to make Lord Van happy. He's been so overwhelmed and tense with this whole… thing" he said that while looking her straight in the eye and then looking her up and down. 'Thing,' meaning 'Hitomi's arrival.'
"Happy?" Hitomi asked. Van hadn't seemed sad or anything…
"Well, who wouldn't be with the most beautiful woman in Gaea as his bride?" he asked.
…
. . .
. . . .
*CRASH!*
It felt as if a thousand worlds had crashed down upon her. It felt like as if her throat was being squeezed shut as her heart was ripped apart… as if she was slowly being pulled down int a lake of tears. She felt hopeless and powerless; completely alone in a cheering crowd who awaited a young bride… Van's bride.
At that moment, her dreams had a meaning. The loneliness, her feeling of being pulled down into water as if she was slowly dying and there was nothing she could do about it but watch. Watch as the carriage stopped infront of him and watch as, indeed, a beautiful princess came out of it.
Unconsciously, she had begun walking away from the crowd. She didn't even hear as Merle and Millerna called for her to ask where she was going. She didn't even notice when she walked past Van and bumped into him. She was just out of it. Somewhere else, somewhere other than Gaea. Somewhere where she was totally unaware of the disdain in Leo's eyes and the wickedness in his smile as she walked away into the groves.
It all seemed to be moving in slow-motion for Van. The crowd's loud, cheerfulness seemed to fade away into a backround that wasn't there. All the noise just faded the closer that damn carriage came to the castle's front gates.
**TRRRIIIUUUMPTUTUUU!!**
His attention went back to the now parked carriage infront of him. A well dressed herald walked toward the door and opened it for someone to come out.
"Your majesty," the herald said adressing to Van, "I present to you, Princess Aliz Ani Egzar." At first, only a hand with a big ring came out. The ring had the design of the Egzardian royal crest in a light blue stone. The hand gracefully met with that of the servants and as you can imagine, the crowd went dead silent awaiting for the princess to come out. It seemed like an eternity to Van.
The princess came the carriage wearing a fashionably exquisit Egzardian dress. It was a deep blue at the top (in her chest area and the top of the sleeves) which then slowly faded into a light blue. The light blue slowly transformed into a light purple which then, like the blue, turned into a dark purple at the bottom of the flare. She wore a neon-green cape, which, despite its colour, looked incredibly good with the dress. Not to mention the person who was wearing it. She gracefully looked up at Van after she was out of the carriage. Her hair was combed out and it shined in the sunlight. "Good day," she said as she bowed down a bit – enough to show respect, not enough to let him forget who she was. Her eyes sparkled and her lips created an almost perfect smile. She was beautiful. Even more so than he had thought, but… Unexpectedly, he felt as a body bumped into him pushing him forward a bit. His head turned to see Hitomi walking away, almost as if being driven by something unconsciously. Where's she going?
Aliz smiled at him, reminding him (kind of) of what he was supossed to do: he extended a hand toward her, and they began walking toward the castle.
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An evil laughter filled the room. The sound of it made you wonder what was really in it: evil or joy? No one understood that laughter better than Paruchi, who was happily going through his fourth cup of vino ever since they had begun to see the dragon being forced to take the clear path – their designed path. Life was good at the moment; too good.
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Walk, that's about all Hitomi could do besides think. Think about Van; think about her feelings… wonder about his.
"Ofcourse," she sighed as she dodged a branch while she entered the groves, "now I see why we lost touch." The thought made her feel unconfortable, it was unbareable, "He wanted something… real." He couldn't really hug Hitomi, kiss her, touch her, and well… Van was King now. He had to look after the well being of his country.
Hitomi wanted to fall down crying and just lay on the dirt. It wouldn't be that bad – laying on the dirt. After all, what could be worse than this?
"Nothing?" she half answered, half questioned herself. "Oh, what am I supossed to do?" Hitomi needed someone there at that moment to comfort her; tell her everything would turn out fine and that, maybe, this was all for the better. She wanted Yukari there to answer her questions. Hitomi continued walking as she spoke out loud to herself, "I can't go back, can I? What do I do if I do go back? Congratualate them? Act like I don't care? Avoid him?"
"Ugh, this is so typical of you, Hitomi," she imagined Yukari scolding her. "First Allen with Millerna (a princess) and now Van and this princess… you're on a roll." Hitomi laughed inwardly at that thought… yeah, that's what Yukari would say, alright.
She continued walking for another while, not saying a word or thinking much about anything. She just had a desire to leave. "Just until we find out what's going on…" she quoated out loud and imitated Van in an almost exasperated way as she threw a stick she had picked up back on the ground. She heard the stick break when it made contact with the ground. Strange… I didn't throw it that hard… she thought to herself as another stick snaped behind her. A small amount of adrenalin rushed through her body, making her spine tingle with fear. She spun around to see who it was after she heard a third crack.
The tingling feeling slowly left her. At first, she had only seen pale skin… and she resembled Dilandau a bit so it was only natural of her to think it might have been him. "Serena?" she asked once she had been able to make out who it was from the shadows.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Serena replied with all sincerety, yet, not expressing too much of it. "What? Allen sent you away too?" Her teeth grinded at the thought of it.
"No. Not at all." Hitomi was a bit taken aback by that question, making there be a moment of silence between them. Still, Hitomi heard Serena all too loud and clear with the look she had on her face: so what are you doing here? "No, he didn't send me away," she replied again. "I was bored. I don't like parades too much… or whatever's going on,"
"Oh," Serena seemed to have believed Hitomi's excuse. "Do you know what the parade's about, then?" Her tone of voice was curious.
"Na. Something about a princess or something… I woulnd't know," Hitomi lied. "Sure," Serena said, looking over her shoulder as she passed by Hitomi. She lies almost as bad as I do, she thought. Dispite her thoughts though, Serena liked Hitomi, and her face showed that when she gaver her a smile. Her smile was returned as Hitomi caught up to her.
Having Serena there was a comfort, even if she hadn't told her about what was going on. It helped her take her mind off Van. For Serena it had been strange to talk like that with someone her age. Millerna was her friend, sure, but she was a married woman and couldn't exactly joke around as much… not to mention the fact that she was a princess and living in the capital of her country mostly everyone would be watching them. Sometimes it was a bore, but Hitomi was different. She was nice, and from the way she kept on saying, "In Earth, er, the Mystic Moon we…" it was obvious to Serena where Hitomi came from. It also explained why the moleman had rushed with such urgency to tell Allen of her arrival.
"So, why are you back in Gaea?" Serena asked. Hitomi replied with a shrug.
"I'm not sure… " Serena was kind of surprised… wasn't sure?
"When did you first come?" Serena hoped Hitomi wouldn't think she was stupid or inconsiderate for not remembering.
"Two years ago when Van brought me here." Hitomi chuckled at that, obviously not thinking of Serena as stupid or incosiderate. "It's not the first time he's done it either." Serena smiled at that remark and the way Hitomi said it.
"So, Van and you…?" She felt almost envious. King Van was good looking after all, and she had never known about those kind of feelings. What was it that she had heard the courtiers at the castle call it? Love? Crush? Serena knew nothing of that. Sure, she 'loved' her brother despite the way she felt about him at that moment, but there had to be something else. Something different about this kind of love…
Hitomi shrugged and looked away. Could love be all that bad? Maybe Hitomi didn't love Van? Still, she had to ask, "Do you love him?"
Hitomi looked sad, confused, maybe just uncertain, but definitely the thought of him disturbed her. Serena felt bad about bringing it up. It was none of her business and she didn't want her new friend (and a good one, not to mention trustworthy) upset. Serena was about to withdraw her question when Hitomi spoke up, "I do love him."
Serena could see Hitomi's eyes filling with tears. She put an arm around her friend's shoulders trying to provide comfort. She didn't know how much it was appreciated by Hitomi. Still, she wondered, could love be all that bad? She wouldn't know.
"Anyway," Hitomi cleared her throat. "Do you have a special someone?"
Yes, Serena answered in her thoughts, if a guy that lives in your head counts. "Na, going around in your pants, boots, and boyish shirts doesn't get you many courtiers," she quoted what she had once overheard a court lady say about her as she lifted a hand in a girlish manner to her chest. Hitomi laughed with Serena. What was it about her that made Serena so normal when she, herself, really wasn't.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Hitomi assured her. "I mean, I'm sure you've got a guy after you and all the other ones don't know what they're missing." Hitomi sounded so sure of herself. It almost convinced Serena that what she said could some how be true.
Yeah, the thought almost made her smile, I talk to a guy in my dreams and can't remember almost 10 years of my life… big turn-on I am. "It's amnesia," she remembered Allen telling her. "You were so shaken up by the war that you had amnesia. It'll all come back to you someday." Sure… two, five, eight years later? Never?
Serena's once smiling mouth changed to a frown and she began to take slower paces. Hitomi stopped and gave her a questioning look. "Funny," Serena said outloud to herself, "you'd think I'd at least remember a girl from the Mystic Moon." Hitomi was surpised.
"Remember?" Hitomi asked her. Maybe she hadn't heard Serena right.
Serena turned and looked at her. "Yeah, remember… I mean, I did meet you when you first came to Gaea, right? Allen wouldn't have just stashed me some place and not taken me with him… so, we did meet… ?"
Hitomi lowered an eyebrow in wonder as she looked away. Hadn't Allen told her? "Hmm… kind of," Hitomi answered her. "So," she changed the subject to the one they had been talking about first, "you don't have any guy in mind?-"
"No!" Serena's response was sudden. It surprised Hitomi, who said nothing. What, Serena wondered, did she
mean by 'in mind?'
They both continued their walk in silence for a while. All that could be heard was the soft breeze as the leaves brushed against each other. The air around them was starting to get thick though; heavy. The breeze was beginning to go the opposite way, bringing with it a stench that made Hitomi and Serena gag. They choked on it and coughed as they tried to run away from the smell. They ran, but the stench followed them. What is that?! Hitomi and Serena tripped on a log and stumbled down a ditch that they both could have sworn wasn't there before. They tumbled and cuts jabbed in causing pain. Especially for Hitomi who felt the wound on her neck slightly open. Serena's bare shoulders and hands were cut ,too and her right cheeck was also cut. They both came to a stop and the pain was still there yet not because of the cuts, but because of the impact of their fall… aparently, the ditch had an even steeper level to it.
Hitomi landed face down, chest first. Serena lay beside her all twisted up. Neither of them moved for a while. Hitomi began to close her hands in fists and felts something oozy in them… The stench was so bad now you could even pretend it wasn't there… It was awful. They both stood up at the same time and looked over towards where the stench came from. A dead body.
Two bodies, actually. One – if it weren't for how badly it was torn up – could be said to be a human. The other, was definitely a horse… torn in two. The human was a girl… that much u could tell… though her eyes were no more, her tongue had been wripped out – as if to not be able to tell, even in death, who had killed her – , and her skin was – for the most part – practically shaved off. Her stomach had been cut open (or torn open) and her intestines were green now. The horses own intestines surrounded her. Covering her in cuagulated blood. The stench was from both these bodies decomposing.
Hitomi's mind seemed to take over her consciousneess and treaks of light appeared all around her. She could see the girl kneeling on the ground and wrip two papers in half as an enormous shadow came down upon her in the black of night. She could see the life of this girl, maybe 3 years older than her, being taken. Hitomi was forced to watch in her visions how the girl was killed (more like slaughtered) by small creatures, although she knew it had been one, horrendous creature. She watched as the girl's soul was being pulled down to a pool of water so dark she knew it wasn't a good place. She knew it was a place where the girl would suffer and where her soul would never rest. Where her soul, which she just felt was a good one, would be toyed around with… and it would be lost…
There was no sound in the forest… no movement. Only the smell of freshly cut wounds and the scent of decomposion and the scent of fear… and then there were screams of terror.
Horses began to neigh outside and he could hear soldiers mounting them with urgency. Van had told them to keep a look out for anythign strange happening incase his messenger showed up… but he didn't expect them to react that way.
He had been showing Aliz around the castle. According to Leo, this was done in case they… Van just didn't want to think about it. He looked past her toward the window that looked outward toward the front gates. He wanted to see what all the commotion was about. Something was wrong.
He turned to Kioyi with a concerned look on his face. It was returned by a puzzled look and a shrug. Van sighed as if he were giving up and turned to Aliz who stared at him with a smile that seemed to be ordering him to continue their tour. He hesitated for a while about what he should: go see what's wrong or stay there with her. Curiosity got the better of him, though.
"Excuse me," he said. "It seems I must attend to something." He tried to sound as polite as possible, and maybe somewhere along that he threw in charm. Van turned toward the door and was ready to head outside when he caught a glimpse of Kioyi and Leo widening their eyes toward the princess for him to see. "… a… and would u like to come with me?" he added while turning toward her, but he knew that Kioyi was expecting more. "They… I… would like you to come." He felt like such a puppet. The second Aliz took to agree seemed like an eternity. She had meant it to be like that, too.
Van hadn't fully stepped outside the castle when he called to a soldier who was hurriedly mounting his horse while it had already begun to take strides. "You there!" he called out. He felt bad for not calling him by name, but this wasn't the time to socialize. The soldier mounted his horse and stoped it in front of Van. "What's going on?" Van asked the soldier as his horse trampled impatiently.
"The soldiers on the outside shift heard screams coming from the groves, Sire. Allen-sama has already headed toward there. He thinks it might be Lady Serena- "
"Master Van!" Merle yelled, dodging soldiers and ducking under running horses as she ran toward them. "Master Van…" she panted. "Hitomi… Hitomi's in the groves!" Surprise and worry fludded Van's expressions. He grabbed the horse another soldier was mounting. "You," he ordered to the soldier he had first spoken to, "lead the way." Leo had already given orders for horses to be brought for the princess and the coucil, so when Van rode off they were right behind him. Especially Aliz.
Being a princess didn't mean she wasn't a curious person and of course, the question of what could upset a king that much aroused more than curiosity inside her. She brought her horse to a halt when they had apparently reached their destination. Her horse was winded – ofcourse it would be, Van was riding like a maniac and they all had no choice but to follow him. Watching Van jump off his horse and run toward the stangely dressed girl she had seen earlier was somewhat amuzing. It wasn't just a king running toward a damzel in distress… it was something else.
"A concubine?" she asked Leo who was beside her on his horse, also just watching.
"Something like that, yes, milady." She raised an eyebrow as she usually did when she had taken an interest in something. So, she thought, the King isn't exactly who he's said to be… good. Her lips curled into a smile in hidden amusement as the thought of him not being 'unexperience' crawled up in her mind. It didn't bother her, though. After all, neither was she.
"Hitomi!" Van ran toward where she was with Allen and Serena. She was in obvious shock of something. He noticed she sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes opened widely staring into nothing.
"Van, she's alright." Allen assured him when he leaned down and put an arm on Hitomi's shoulder. As though it wasn't enough, Hitomi put her arms around him and hid her face in his chest. Surprised, he embraced her back. From where Aliz was it looked as if his embrace was an attempt to protect her. She couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed by that.
"Just one thing though," Allen pointed to where a group of soldiers were attempting to pull something out of a ditch. Van looked at Allen questioningly. "I'll explain later," Allen replied and began to walk away toward his horse. Serena decided to tag along behind him… even if he wasn't paying that much attention to her. But first, she leaned down to where Hitomi was embracing Van and tried to comfort her.
"It's
alright Hitomi," Van heard Serena say
before she walked away behind Allen. Serena's calmness was shocking, in a way. He knew Hitomi wasn't all that brave, but if compared to the
rumours he had heard of her, Hitomi would come out having the bravery of 1000
men put together… with Serena, not being with Allen would terrorize her. So, he asked himself, why is Hitomi so
frightened?
"Lord Van," Kioyi called toward him, "do you want me to bring your horse over?" Van felt Hitomi tremble in his arms when Kioyi asked that. He decided it would be better if Kioyi didn't.
"No, thank you Kioyi. I'll ride the horse back later." Van and Hitomi were now standing, but her shaking didn't stop even when he said that.
"No…" he heard her whisper. He leaned his head down toward her to hear her better. "No… no horses, please."
"Sire?" A soldier approached him, wondering if Van wanted his horse.
"Um… take my horse back. I won't be needing it; we'll be walking back." The soldier bowed and did as he was told.
Merle overheard what Van had said. Her eyes were filled with mischief… he wants to be alone with her… Her tail puffed up when she saw that no one was going back. "Hey! He said he's walking back!" her statement didn't seem to affect anyone. "Hey! Allen! Start leaving, ok? You too Princess." Aliz couldn't help but give Merle a dirty look.
Van watched from where he was that everyone was leaving… Merle could do wonders, but maybe the stench that was coming from that ditch was the real reason of why they were leaving. He saw one of the soldiers who was taking what seemed to be the cause of that smell out of the ditch throw up by a tree.
"You ok to walk now?" he asked softly in Hitomi's ear after they were left alone. She replied with a nod before the two of them began heading back toward the castle. Hitomi seemed to fragile to Van at the moment. He wanted to hold her and make it alright… and maybe now, with no one around he would do just that.
· ´` ·.( ¸. · ´( ¸. ·* * ·. ¸)` ·. ¸). · ´` ·
Paruchi was now sitting on the old throne. Kuaru was down checking the destiny vibrator while he looked inside the destiny-predicting device. Everything had been going right, but now, it seemed, the shadow of the young king wasn't going down to the path they had chosen for him. A young sorcerer was looking into the self-fate alterator and he didn't look at ease. Paruchi returned his view into the destiny-predicting device to try and see what was going on. It seemed, in a way, that the mist above the unknown path was moving… something was happening. He wondered what it could be, but in this case, he wouldn't know for sure. All they knew for a fact was that the mist had to do with the girl from the Mystic Moon and her shadow was ever present…
"Paruchi-Sama," a sorcerer called toward him from the pulpit where 3 others were looking into the fate of the young king.
"Yes?"
"Something is happening…" he said with nervousness. Paruchi looked in to the destiny-predicting device once again and sighed with easiness. He didn't bother to get nervous or stressed anymore. All those emotions would not help in times when something went wrong. Paruchi already knew something was going to happen anyway. He also knew it would be something against their favour; he knew, that at this present moment the king was with the girl from the mystic moon and that it was why the mist was changing.
"Lord Kuaru!" he heard one of the soldiers who was incharge of looking at the machines call call. "Something's wrong with the machines!"
- - End of Chapter 5 - -
¹: K, I'm calling it a 'horse' but the truth is I don't know what they call those animals they ride in Gaea… if u know please tell me! ^-^
k, I know: the chapter was long and the ending so-so, but hey! I tried!
Anyway, I'll try to finish up the 6th chapter REALLY soon and nag me about it if it's not up as soon as u want it to be. R/R PLEASE, it really helps and I'm open to any suggestions so feel free to speak up.
Time Bomb