Traditions
Chapter 8:
Surprises
"Look, Your Majesty, it's the carriage!" exclaimed Harlock.
"Yes, I see it.
It's going to be great now that Allen's returned. Has everything been prepared for the feast tonight?"
replied a very cheerful Van as he continued to look into the distance at the
black and red carriage made its way closer.
"Yes sire!"
"Excellent! Tonight
we will celebrate the return of our good friend and his guest, which reminds
me. I wonder who this mysterious guest
is? If Allen thinks he can surprise me,
wait till he sees what I have in store for him."
When Allen and Hitomi's carriage reached the palace gates,
Van began walking down the marble steps and began waving. Hitomi watched Van's every movement. 'He's grown much taller and more
muscular. His hair is still just as
messy but looks good on him.' She
could feel her heart skip a beat and her cheeks heat up as the carriage drew
nearer to the King of Fanelia. 'He
looks so good. Why did I ever leave him
in the first place? That must've been
the biggest mistake in my life. He's
never looked better in that red shirt of his.
Oh, and those tight pants. I
wonder where Merle is?'
"I'll go out first, then I'll bring you out alright, Hitomi?"
interrupted Allen.
Hitomi nodded and closed her eyes waiting to hear Van's
voice.
"Allen!!!!" Hitomi
felt tingly all over her body. Van's
voice was much deeper now but still ever so comforting and sweet to Hitomi's
ears. She took a deep breath preparing
herself for her big entrance.
"Van! It's so good
to see you," exclaimed Allen as he embraced his good friend.
"You too friend!
How long has it been? A month?"
"Yep, I returned to Asturia a week after getting back from
Millerna and Dryden's wedding."
"Ah, yes. And how
is the royal couple?"
"Very much in love and happy, which reminds me. I have a surprise for you Van," Allen stated
as he stepped back toward the carriage to the waiting Hitomi. By this time, Hitomi was so nervous and
anxious that her hands were shaking and sweating.
"Wait. Before you
show me my surprise, I also have a surprise for you first," interrupted Van as
he turned and waved someone to come over.
It was a girl with long straight auburn hair wearing a long blood red
dress. She was around Van and Hitomi's
age and she came running out of the palace doors into Van's arms. Allen was speechless. Who was this mysterious girl?
"Allen, I'd like to meet Kimera, the love of my life!" said
Van happily, kissing Kimera on the forehead.
Allen was shocked.
Was this some kind of joke that Van was playing? Where did this girl come from? There was no way that Van loved this girl;
he loves Hitomi with his entire heart and soul. Allen sensed something strange and he didn't like it one bit but he
couldn't let Van know just yet. He was
obviously mystified by this Kimera.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Kimera. I am Sir Allen Schezar," declared Allen in
his calm knightly voice as he reached for the mystery girl's hand and kissed
it.
"It's my pleasure, Sir Schezar," replied Kimera in a very
soft melodic voice.
Inside the carriage, Hitomi was frozen. Those four words were like flaming hot
daggers stabbing into her heart breaking it into a million pieces. 'I was such a fool!!! Why would I ever think that he would still
love me after all these years? I'm such
an idiot!! I wish I were dead!' Tears were forming at her eyes but she
just couldn't let them flow; she was still in too much of a shock to really do
anything.
Van wrapped his arms around Kimera's waist and rested his
chin on her shoulder. She, in turn, put
her arms around his. "So, Allen. Now that I've shown you your surprise, who
do you have waiting in that carriage for me?" inquired Van as he tried to get a
closer look into the carriage. "I see
your surprise is also a girl. Well,
Allen. What are you waiting for? Introduce us to your lady friend."
Allen smiled and nodded.
"I must warn you, Van. She is a
very shy girl and new surroundings such as these might make her a little
uncomfortable," insisted Allen, knowing that Hitomi must be in a state of
distress, as he approached the carriage door.
"That's alright," piped Kimera in her delicate voice,
"we'll make her feel as welcome as possible."
Allen looked back at Van and Kimera.
He couldn't help but notice what seemed like an evil twinkle in Kimera's
deep blue eyes while Van's burgundy eyes seemed empty. There was definitely something strange going
on.
When Allen opened the carriage door, he found Hitomi
crumpled into a lavender pile on the floor.
She was sobbing heavily. The
shock had finally left her and she was letting all of her pain and sorrow flow
out of her as tears. She was an idiot
to believe that Van loved her and now she was paying the price for such a
stupid mistake. Her heart ached as it
was torn to a million tiny pieces. All
she wanted right now was for someone to put her out of her misery, not go out
where she would be humiliated.
"Hitomi," whispered Allen as he reached down to her
shoulder.
"Leave… me… alone…" cried Hitomi in between sobs.
"Hitomi, you have to get a hold of yourself," pleaded Allen
as he pulled Hitomi up by her shoulders.
She struggled a little but then just closed her eyes and gave in to
Allen still breathing in gasps. "I know
that things don't look good right now, but you can't let it get to you."
Hitomi cut him off before he could finish his
sentence. "How can I? I can't look him in the face let alone that,
that…" She couldn't hold back her tears and began to bawl again.
Allen shook Hitomi to get her attention. "Look at me Hitomi," commanded the blond
knight in a calm voice. Hitomi slowed
her tears and stared into Allen's cerulean eyes. "I know for a fact that when I left, Van was hopelessly devoted
to you and your love. The Van that
stands out there now is not the same one that you and I care for. Something happened and the only way to find
out is for us to play along. Do you
understand what you have to do?"
"B…but…"
"No buts, Hitomi.
Things here aren't right and I will do everything in my power to put
them right again for you and Van. I'm
asking you again, do you understand what you have to do?" Hitomi hesitantly nodded and wiped away her
tears with a shaky hand.
"Alright, here goes," uttered Allen under his breath as he
stepped down from the carriage. He
carefully took Hitomi's hand and tugged her out. "Van, may I present to you my newest acquisition, H…" Just then, Allen remembered that he couldn't
reveal Hitomi's true identity. Her name
was too well known across Gaea and exposing her to Kimera and this Van could
make her a target for evil. "Haruka. I found her in one of the smaller villages
around Palas. Lovely don't you think,
Van?" Allen bent down and kissed Hitomi
on her cheek just like he had when he concealed her identity from Dilandau. There was no reaction from Hitomi.
"Yes. Yes she is,"
answered Van. Something about this girl
intrigued him but he couldn't put his finger on it. She seemed familiar yet mysterious. Van was about to reach out and kiss Hitomi's hand when he was snapped
out of his reverie.
"How rude of us, darling?
Allen and Haruka must be tired from their long trip. We should show them to their room so that
they may rest before dinner," interrupted Kimera as she tightened her embrace
around Van.
"Why yes of course.
Where are my manners? Shall we?" Van motioned everyone up the stairs as he
and Kimera walked hand in hand back into the palace.
During all this time of introductions, Hitomi hung her head
down and stared at the ground. It was
the only thing she could do to prevent herself from crying and trying to
scratch the lovers' eyes out. How could
Allen be so sure of Van's feelings? It
was obvious from what she's seen and heard that Van has fallen in love with
this Kimera. Why couldn't Allen just
let her leave? At that thought, Hitomi
felt Allen's hand on her lower back as he nudged her forward to follow Van and
Kimera. She complied but then blacked
out. This entire ordeal had pushed her
to the edge and the sight of the lovers' hands together shoved her over.
"Hi…Haruka!" yelled Allen as Hitomi collapsed. Both Van and Allen lunged to catch her but
Hitomi landed safely into Allen's arms.
"Oh my! Is she
alright?" asked Kimera, her voice emotionless.
"She's had a very long day," replied Allen.
"You two must be very tired. Please feel free to rest before dinner," Van stated looking very
confused. Why did he feel so strange
around Haruka? What was it that made
him dive down to catch her before she fell?
He needed some time to think.
"Actually, I'd like to do a little sparring. I want to stretch a bit after that long
flight and carriage ride. What do you
say, Van? Are you up for a challenge?"
A smile crept across Van's face. "Definitely, that is, if it's alright with Kimera?" Van turned to look at "the love of his life."
"Of course it is, darling.
It's not like you're my slave," Kimera answered with a deceitful
grin. "It will give me time to prepare
for tonight's feast." With that, Kimera
kissed Van on the cheek and went her way.
"Good, then everything is settled. I'll just take Haruka up to the room so that
she can rest and I'll meet you in the Fight Room."
"It's been a while since we've had a little spar, hasn't it
Allen? I think you'll be surprised at
what I've learned," said Van as he walked away to get changed.
"I'm sure I will."
Sparring was the perfect way for Van to have some time to
think. During all of his training
sessions ever since he was the age of five, not to mention all of Allen's
guidance as well, had made swordplay second nature to Van. All of the moves come naturally to him
making it possible for him to think about other things and clear his mind of
worries. Allen knew this of Van. He hoped that during this session with Van
could help him figure out what in all of Gaea was going on and devise a plan to
fix it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile deep inside the Fanelian forest…
A rat scurried past a pair of brown sandals and headed
straight for a plate of food lying on the ground of a rickety old shack. It sniffed the small morsel of bread that
lay on it and then stepped towards the piece of cheese next to it and began
nibbling.
"Hey! Back
off! That's mine!!" shouted an angry feline
voice. The sound of moving chains could
be heard and then suddenly pair of sharp claws was hurdling towards the rat.
"Uh uh ah," came a sweet melodic voice. "What did I say about attacking the weak and
innocent? I think it's time someone was
taught a lesson." The sound of whip
could be heard followed by the appearance of a pair of evil blue eyes and a
cackling laugh.
"LORD VAN!!!!!!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dun dun dun!!!! Who's
getting tortured? Who's the
torturer? Will Allen be able to find
out what's going on and put a stop to it?
Find out in Chapter 9, I think…well actually I hope.
So, what did you think of this chapter? Are all of you happy that Van and Hitomi have
seen each other up close now? Does
anyone else want Kimera to die a horrible, horrible death with lots of pain
other than me? I'll stop with the
questions now. I hope all of you
readers liked this chapter. It took me
a while to get it out because of a lot of things and it would take up too much
room if I explained everything, not to mention the fact that fanfiction.net has
been down. Hopefully I'll be able to
write the rest faster and have another chapter out by the second half of the
week. NEhoo, I'm really sleepy so I'm
gonna go night night. TTFN, Emily :p
