Chapter 16: Clytemnestra

King Aston was sitting up in bed when Eries and Millerna arrived.  His once pallid and sunken cheeks now bore a fleshy color not there the night before. The white gown he wore hung loosely off his deflated frame, months of sickness had whittled away at the stores of fat leaving loose folds of skin hanging from his arms and jowls on his face.  But his eyes were dull and distant, and he did not turn when they entered.  Just before arriving the nursemaid warned them of the man they would find inside.

"His body's healing," she said.  "But his heart isn't in it.  Poor dears, maybe you can cheer him up a bit.  I'm sure with a little motivation we'll get him up and about yet."

Millerna cast a furtive glance at Eries.  "I can't tell him about Dryden now," she murmured.  "It would kill him."

"You have to," Eries insisted.  And then added a reluctant "sometime" and swung the bedchamber open.  King Aston was staring out the window to a place far away. 

"Look," King Aston softly commanded.  "Look at our beautiful kingdom.  Look at what has become of her.  The gods must be angry with us for they've let her be raped by Zaibach.  And with this war she'll be destroyed, swallowed by the sea, gone forever into the mists of time.  Centuries from now they'll speak of Asturia remembering her in a time we've never seen.  When she was beautiful.  When she represented all the promise of a new world.  And everyone will say it was only a legend.  That no place could have even existed.  And perhaps they'll be right."

"Father, no," Millerna said taking a few cautious steps toward him.  "The gods are not angry; they only test us.  And we will prove strong.  Asturia will not be lost, she will be rebuilt -- more beautiful and more grand than ever before."

Aston looked to her.  "My beautiful and wise daughter," he whispered and held his hand out for Millerna to take.  She did so and knelt beside the bed.  Eries watched them silently standing with her back to the door.  "What have I done to deserve you?  The gods were good to me.  They gave me two daughters both wise and beautiful who carry in them the potential for the future, for a new world to be born when this war is done.  I will not last long into that new world.  And I will not be the one to fashion it.  So I leave Asturia to you and your husband.  Take care of her; take care of her people.  They are your sheep.  Treat them gently."

"Oh, Father," Millerna said emotion tearing her voice.  "I am not worthy of what you give to me.  I have been such a fool."

"You and Dryden shall learn together," Aston said.  He looked around the room.  "Where is he?  Why has he not heeded my request to come tonight?"

"Dryden is no longer in Asturia," Millerna said.  "And he is no longer my husband."

"What?"  An angry word.

"He left this morning of his own accord and gave me back his ring."

Eries saw Aston's fingers flex tight on Millerna's hand.  "No, Millerna, that is not right.  You took vows and Dryden is your husband.  Why did you drive him away?"

"I did not mean to drive him away.  He told me he wanted to start over with the survivors and become a better man."

"He is a fine man!  Good enough to become king!" Aston yelled his knuckles turning white around Millerna's hand.  "He cannot abandon his duties like that.  Bring him back at once!"

"Not so tight," Millerna gasped.  "You're hurting me."

"Like you hurt your kingdom through your selfishness?"  He did not loosen his grip.  And Millerna was trying to pull free.  "By rejecting your husband you reject Asturia.  You make a disgrace of her and yourself."

"Daddy, that hurts," Millerna begged.  There was a sickening popping sound as Aston squeezed even tighter on her fingers.  "Please stop."

"Why should I?"

"Stop it!" Eries hissed at him coming forward to the bed.  She pried Aston's fingers from Millerna's hands digging into his flesh with her nails as she did so.  "How can you hurt her like that?"

Aston stared at her.  "Who is this who questions me?"

"You know who I am, King Aston.  And you know the promises I've made to you.  You shall not treat Millerna like you have me.  If you do, what was started shall be quickly finished."

She helped Millerna off her knees and led her away from black-hearted wraith called Father.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

They found themselves outside.  Standing together in the cool night air in a city that seemed peaceful despite the war that raged across the sea.

"Are you all right?" Eries asked.

"Yes, I don't think anything's broken," Millerna said rubbing her sore hand.  "I knew he'd be mad, but I never thought he'd try to hurt me.  It's not like him."

"He's still sick, Millerna.  He's not himself," Eries said.  "The disease may have affected his mind."

"A sickness of the mind?" Millerna said slowly.

Eries nodded, but it all sounded so hollow.  She was just repeating all the pretty words she learned so long ago.  All the excuses Mother and Marlene had made up for Eries to tell those who asked why.  Why does Eries walk so funny?  Why does Eries wear her gold earcuffs?  Why does Eries look so afraid when her father enters the room?  Why does Eries act so distant from the rest of the world?

The truth was that for the first time Millerna had seen the real King Aston, seen the one that Eries knew.  And yet Eries found herself making the excuses for him, too.

"But what did you mean back there?" Millerna asked.  "What did you mean about treating me like he did you?  What did you mean about finishing what was started?"

Eries looked away.  It was to protect Millerna, she'd made excuses to protect her little sister.  How long had she expected them to last?

"Has Father ever hurt you?"

Eries nodded.

"Whatever for?  You've always been the good daughter.  Why would he be angry with you?"  Millerna gasped.  "Oneesama?  What's been happening all these years we've grown up together?  Why do I hardly know you?"

"I suppose you're old enough to know now.  But I can't tell you tonight.  There's not enough time.  And it's too hard to talk about.  Too hard to hear."

"What happened?"  Millerna stared at Eries who did not say anymore.  Millerna talked instead.  "Do you remember those dolls you gave me when I was little?  Those wooden Matreshka dolls that nested inside each other?"  Eries remembered.  "It feels like you're one of those dolls.  Many layers that you can't see until you pull apart the outer shell.

"I'm scared about what I'll find when I try to open up your layers, my sister.  All my life there have been whisperings about you.  Things people don't say out loud.  Things Marlene would whisper to me and make me promise to keep quiet about."

"So you know?" Eries asked.

"I don't know anything!" Millerna cried.  "That's the problem.  I want to find out what's been going on, but I don't know when I'm going to reach that bottom layer.  I don't know when I'll break you if I try to force you to open up."

"Then let me do it in my own time," Eries said.  "And don't let it worry you." 

Out over the sea the horizon lit up.  A dome of light emerging from the battleground of Zaibach.  They looked out helplessly over the night.  Unable to know, unable to understand what was going on so far away.

"What was that?" Millerna gasped.

"I don't know," Eries said.  "I don't think it's good."

The horror of the unknown drew their minds away from Asturia.  And Eries knew no secrets would be laid bare tonight.  No answers for any questions.  The truth, in the end, would hurt too much.  And she could still protect Millerna.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

The morning's light brought about the need to see Folken.  To hear from him that everything was going to be all right.  But much to Eries' regret Folken wasn't in his lab.  Instead she found the long creme-colored cloth he wore around his shoulders to conceal his mechanical arm.  She carried it with her out of the lab wondering where he had gone in such haste that he would leave it behind.

One of the councilmen stopped her in corridor.  "The report just came in.  The war has ended."

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

They were home.  The massive airships hovered above the city, waiting for a place to land.  A crowd had gathered to greet their loved ones who returned home safely, to bring care to the wounded and to mourn those who didn't return at all.

Eries stood next to Millerna. The Council was patiently listening to the Generals and Knights Caeli as they tried to explain what had taken place.  It became pretty obvious they had no clue but the dark haired king of Fanelia and brown haired girl were able to offer a somewhat better, if no less confusing explanation.  Yet, they seemed in a rush to be elsewhere.  King Van explained they'd just stopped through to pick up Merle, the pink-headed catgirl now snuggling at his side, and would soon be heading home to Fanelia.

The girl repeated that word 'home' thoughtfully and the king's eyes seemed saddened by that.

"We should be going," Lord Van said.  "Allen!"  He called to the Knight Caeli who was standing a ways off from everyone else, talking to his little sister and Gaddes.  Actually, she was talking to them.  Eries could hear her voice as she spoke but they were too far off to be understood.  Allen looked up, and Celena kept on talking to him.  "See you later, Allen.  Goodbye, Gaddes."

Allen nodded.  "Goodbye Van Fanel.  Goodbye Hitomi."

They were going to leave.  "What happened to your brother?" Eries asked.  She had to know even if she already knew the truth.

"He died.  Folken is dead," Van said quietly.

"He died killing Emperor Dorinkirk," Hitomi added. More words came from her mouth, but Eries had stopped listening.

Folken is dead.  It repeated again her mind.

"Asturia commends his bravery," Millerna's voice reached her ears.  "We will not forget him."

Don't forget him. She remembered Folken's word to her "Put my death behind you when I'm gone.  Don't let it torture you."  She remembered the words, but failed to remember how had he said it.  Had his voice been sad or stern - or grave?  What did his voice sound like at all?

Folken is dead.

Was she already breaking her promises to him?  She said she wouldn't forget him.  But how many times within those last few days, since she had found his lab empty, had she allowed herself to think about him.  Once or twice?  Then she had realized the truth.

Folken is dead.

She had pretended.  She had pretended everything was fine, because it threatened to hurt.  It was stupid - and a damn awful thing to do to Folken.

Eries watched as the three young passengers boarded the white guymelef.  They were up in the air, flying on the dragon's back.  Flying away from Asturia.  Soon they were nothing more than a dot on the horizon.

Folken is dead. 

Shut up!  She silently screamed to herself. 

Folken is dead. 

You've known it for days!  It's just like all the others.  They've told you now move on to something else.  Your mother is dead- now time to go see the doctors.  Find something else to cry about.  Marlene is dead- now go to Fried.  Express it all in eloquent words, but don't let the pain sink in.  Don't let it be real. 

Let's move on to something else.  Think about something else.  Worry about someone else.  The kingdom must be rebuild.  Trades must be restored.  Alliances rebound.  Let's go, let's go, let's think about something else, someone else.  Let's make our tears a show while getting colder all the time inside.

Folken is dead.

No one knew what it meant to her.  Why should she cry?  Why bother to feel sad?  If she cried they would say she cried for all those lost in the war.  For the orphans, those innocents who suffered under a burden they didn't make.  Isn't it easier like that?  To cry for them.  It hurts too much to think about just one person, one face, one life.

Folken is dead.

Why couldn't she cry at all?  It made her feel so empty inside.

Across the bridge Eries saw Gaddes standing beside Celena and Allen.  She saw him laugh at something Celena had said.  They were so merry.  Like the horror, the death meant nothing.  Didn't even exist in the world they knew.

Eries felt Millerna pulling her forward as she went to talk to them, but Eries didn't feel her legs moving.  She just saw Allen and Gaddes and Celena drift closer.  She heard Millerna saying polite words to them.  Heard Allen and Gaddes answer equally cordially.  She heard Celena still talking, her voice a steady cadence accompanying Millerna's.

Folken is dead.

She felt a tug at her sleeve.  Celena stood there, eye to eye with Eries.  Cheerful blue eyes, so full of life.  So opposite of what Eries felt inside.

"Mother, can we go home now?" Celena asked.

"Celena, you're mistaken," Allen said.  "This is the Princess Eries.  Not Mother.  Remember I told you before, Mother passed away."

"Oh yeah.  Mother is dead."  Her voice and eyes just as cheerful as before, like Allen's word didn't matter one bit. "Are you coming over to play tomorrow?"

Allen pulled Celena back close to him.  "Sorry, she's still a little disoriented.  With your permission, princesses, I'm going to take her home."

"Come on, Mother, let's go home," Celena said, taking Eries's hand.

Folken is dead. 

Celena's mother was dead, and Celena stood there not caring one bit. Not even realizing what had just been said.  Allen might as well have been making a comment on the weather.  Eries felt her insides jump up in her throat.  Her legs went weak.  Folken was dead.  He was gone.  She fell to her hands and knees upon the bridge.

"Oneesama!  Are you all right?"  Millerna cried.  "Oh, you're so pale!"

"Dead," Eries whispered.  A moment before she had felt so empty and now she was full.  Full of awful stuff.  The poisons, the lies, the hate, Aston, Folken, Marlene, her mother, Celena's mother, Chid, the doctors and her little sister . . . and dead people.  A rotting corpse floating in the river.  It was all suddenly inside of her.   She felt nauseous and slapped her hand over her mouth trying to keep it all in.

"Eries Hime, are you alright?" It was Allen.  Why did he care?

"Going to be sick," she whispered.  A pair of white-gloved hands pulled her hair back from her face.  Allen crouched down on one side and Millerna on the other.  Her little sister with her fingers on Eries's wrist, trying to be a wife, a queen in training, a moral supporter, a doctor and a sister all at the same time. Yet here was Eries, being so damn weak in front of everyone.

"It's all right, Eries.  Just be sick.  You'll feel better," Millerna said.

Folken is dead.

It repeated again screaming in her ears.  But she couldn't get rid of it.  She couldn't rid herself of the poisons that dwelled within.

+*+*+*+*+*+

AN: Just one more chapter to go.  A big THANK YOU is extended to everyone who has responded so far.  Your encouragement, comments, and even criticisms helped keep me inspired by this fic.  When I first began writing this over a year ago there weren't many Eries stories out and I had many misgivings on how well this would go over.  Added to that it's rather dark and depressing, and the main character is not entirely a nice person, and the writer of the story, me, is not very talented.  People responded way better than I expected; I can hardly believe I've gotten over 50 reviews.  Thank you all again and I'll see you next chapter.