Once Upon a Time By Hotaru Kimiko Lai

Chapter 2

Merlina smiled as she woke up. Today was a very pretty day. The sun was shining, and there were a few clouds in the sky, and the birds were singing and flying in the air. It was a very nice reminder that today, she'd graduate. Yes, she, Merlina Quertwen, 16, was going to graduate from school. She had finished her studies in an accelerated manner, and the teacher had allowed her to graduate early. The ceremony thing would be that afternoon at sundown. Maybe it was because of her brains. Or more probably, to get rid of her. Not that she hated them for it. She knew she was cold with them. It was how she dealt with things. No one knew who she really was, what she was really capable of doing, other than her mother, Jera. Her mother, now there was a lady she really respected. Her mother was strong, emotionally, and physically. Her mother wasn't weak or scared. She had known the consequences for loving a Mazoku and had loved anyway, even if it meant having to leave her house in Seyruun. Even if it meant your very best friend deserting you and trying to hang you. Her mother was strong. She smiled and stood up. It was also her birthday today! It was so neat! She took her old staff, one she had cut from wood, and was about to practice, when her eye spotted something. Her eyes widened.

Elsewhere... two voices were speaking...

"How are you doing?"

"I've been OK."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. How about you? It's so wonderful to see you again."

"I missed you too. I missed both of you terribly. But don't tell anyone I said that."

"Of course. You are always so stoic."

"You too!" Pause. "About tonight..."

"Don't worry about it. I can handle it."

"I know you can. Sometimes, though, I don't know how I can."

"Dear, you're so sweet! We can do it, together."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you worried she'll try to stop you?"

"No. I'll cast an Erase on her. Tomorrow she'll know."

"Speaking about her, how is she?"

"Wonderful. She's a real blessing."

"Tell me about her."

"Her eyes are like twinkling rubies. She reminds me so much of you."

"Go on..."

"Her hair is a brilliant red."

"Like yours."

"Like the color of spilt blood?"

"You know I was just kidding when I said that."

"I know, but I like to tease you. Yes, like mine. She's a born fighter. Her black magic skills are wonderful. It's beautiful watching her in action."

"Continue, please? She sounds like a great kid."

"Yes, she is. She knows how to handle the sword and staff. And her appetite is as big as mine."

"And you still have a house? Amazing!"

"Yes, dear... stop laughing!"

"Sorry. Continue."

"And she's obedient. She also has your cunning, your slyness, your intelligence,... She's like a female version of you."

"Don't cry. Everything will be all right." Silence for some time. "I have to leave now."

"Now? So short? After years of not seeing you, I only see you for a few minutes?"

"I'm sorry, dear. I wish I could change things around. But you are worried. You normally aren't as, open as today."

"Yes, I'm worried. About her."

"Is there anything I could try to do? What are you worried about?"

"I had you to hold me together when times got rough. She doesn't have anyone."

"Introverted? Antisocial?"

"No, lonely. She knows she's different from everyone else. She holds it up well, she doesn't break easily. But sometimes, I catch her staring into nowhere, looking so empty... almost..."

"Hon, you know that we are loners."

"Yes, but she's also human. She also needs friends."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Please. And take care of her. You two are the ones I love the most. I don't care about anyone else..."

"Hush now. Everything's gonna be all right. So, take care."

"Good bye, Merlin."

"Good bye, Jera."

And the voices stayed silent.

Later that morning, Merlina waltzed into the kitchen. Jera was there, cooking up a storm known as breakfast.

"Morning, mom!!!" said Merlina happily. She had on a huge smile.

"Morning, Merlina!" said Jera. She turned to see her and stared. Merlina was outfitted in a dark red, almost maroon colored dress. The darkness emphasized the brightness and life of her crimson hair and eyes. It was a simple dress, with a lace trim. Around her neck were two pieces of lace, one in gold and the other in ruby. The lace was different, since you couldn't tell any pattern from just seeing it. That lace style was found on the trim of her skirt also.

"Mom, I love it!" she cried as she hugged Jera.

"Hon, it looks great on you, but I didn't give it to you." said Jera with a secret smile.

"So, who gave it to me? Sherri?" asked Merlina. But Sherri had left them about a year and a half ago.

"Your father, who else?" said Jera with a smile.

"..." said Merlina.

"Sit down and have breakfast. After that, we'll talk." said Jera. Merlina nodded and sat down. During breakfast, the two were quiet, concentrating on getting their portion of breakfast before the other beat them to it. Jera watched Merlina during the whole meal. She had been quiet, and there was a dazed look in her eyes. She was operating on cruise control, her hands doing what they usually did, but Merlina wasn't actually doing it. Breakfast finished, dishes washed and put away, Jera motioned for Merlina to follow her to her room Merlina stood and went.

Once up there, Jera sat down and smiled.

"You heard right, Merlina, that's from your dad." she said. "Now, tell me, what do you know about him?"

"Um, you said he was a Mazoku, one of the higher ones." said Merlina, her eyes focusing on her mother. "You said that you met him while trying to gather herbs in a forest near Seyruun. He was fishing near a brook and you didn't know he was a Mazoku until you checked his magic aura. And you tried to kill him for many months, and he'd come and tease you. You fell in love, he did too, and you got married secretly. Then he had to leave to obey his master. He rarely visits... That's about it."

"Well, you got most of it." said Jera with a smile. "But, there was one part I left out. Before we got married, I left Seyruun to go adventuring. As you know, my family was a white magic family, no black. And we were the keepers of what is known as the Sword of Light. As it was, I was the eldest child, and most proficient at white, so the Sword of Light was handed down to me, with me promising, that the Mazoku's would never get it."

"And you gave it to dad?" asked Merlina.

"No," said Jera. "I never gave it to him. I didn't even let him touch it, and he understood. The Sword of Light was my last tie with my family. I left home with nothing but the Sword and him to go adventuring. This was after telling him I loved him. He loved me too, but Mazokus have trouble with that. So, we went adventuring and it was fun. I never knew that I'd marry him. After all, Mazokus don't love, and they certainly don't marry mortals. Especially, white magic mortals. So, we considered our adventures our long dates, you could say. Anyway, he had a staff. It was an ancient staff, given to him by his master the day he was created. When he left, he gave it to me. And I pass it on to you. That dress is his present to you. You have come of age to rise to your heritage." She stood up and motioned her closet. "Lock break." she said. A click was heard and the door opened. From within the closet, came two objects wrapped up in black velvet. One of the bundles opened and from within it, came a simple scabbard, with a dull looking pommel sword.

"This is the Sword of Light." said Jera. "Handed down from generation to generation, to the strongest White Mage in my family. And I hereby pass it on to you, Merlina Quertwen. May you use it's strength and magic wisely." The sword fell in Merlina's hands.

"But..." said Merlina before Jera interrupted her. With a flick of her wrist, the other cloth fell off the staff it had been hiding.

"This is the Staff of Death." said Jera. "Created by Beastmaster herself, this staff embodies wickedness and evilness into a mundane staff. Let not its wickedness tempt you, my Merlina. Do not fall into the trap of evil. Use it sparingly, use it wisely, daughter of Dark and Light." The staff came to rest in Merlina's other hand.

"Use it wisely, my daughter, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. Let not the Staff's stone ever be tinged with black. Let not the Swords brilliance ever be dulled, Keeper of the Two Worlds." finished Jera. Her eyes had been closed, and now they opened and looked at Merlina warmly. "They are yours. Do with them as you wish."

"But mother... I don't know White magic!" said Merlina, not quite believing what was happening.

"That doesn't mean it's impossible. I know I always tell you to stay away from it, but truthfully, I want you to experiment and try to master it. You are, after all, daughter of one of the greatest beginning White Mages in Seyruun, you know."

"Mother!" whined Merlina. "I'm not joking. I can't have this." She tried to give back the sword. Jera put in back into her hand.

"It matters not. For you are the keeper of the Sword." said Jera. "OK, OK, I made up the ceremony. I don't know what is going to happen, I don't know how you'll turn out. I'm giving you both options. Turn to the Light, turn to the Dark, stay in the Middle. But whatever you do, you are my daughter. I forced this decision on you, and it was not my intention to do so. I will respect your choice, Merlina dear. But you must choose." Jera hugged her. "I will always love you."

"Mom..." said Merlina quietly. She looked at her staff and her new sword. After a while, she asked. "Mother, you asked about keeping them white. How?"

"The staff and sword are reflections of your actions. Or of the owner's actions. You can decide to pass the sword or staff to someone else. But keep in mind, the staff is Mazoku made. The jewel on the staff used to be blood red, as a testimony to all Mazokus of all the life that had been shed, all the death it had caused. So for every dark intentioned thing you use it, it will get slightly darker. The same with the Sword. Although it's a Sword of Light, it is the wielder who decides the real name of the Sword, be it Sword of Vengeance, Death, Destruction, or of Light, Hope, Joy. I pray you'll keep your heart and your weapons white, my Merlina, but that is hard, and may not even be your choice. They are in your hands to use as you see fit."

"Thank you, Mother...." said Merlina. She put them down and hugged her mom.

"Now, one more thing I have to tell you." said Jera. She took out a crystal ball, with strands of red, blue and yellow dancing inside. Merlina looked up and the world went black.

*****

Merlina smiled as she heard her mother speak to her.

"Really? I can just call their name and everything????" she asked. Her mother smiled and nodded.

"Of course." she said. "After all, we'll be leaving, and they can consider it a small parting present from us."

"I'll do my best to make sure they remember us!" said Merlina with a wicked smile on her face. Jera smiled at her. Her daughter could be quite, tricky,.... devious, when the time called for it. "I'll go now, and make sure they are delivered." She picked up the basket of letters and ran out of the house, her black cloak flapping behind her.

*****

There were many people in the small market. After all, everyone had to shop. And Merlina was there on a mission. She looked at one of the letters and giggled. She stopped at the fruit vendor and asked in a very serious tone of voice.

"Excuse me, I have a question." she said. The vendor looked at her guardedly. The whole town knew who she was. It was easy to tell, all you had to do was look at her piercing red eyes.

"What do you want?"

"May I have an apple?" she asked innocently. He gave one to her and she paid him. He was about to tend to other customers, but her voice stopped him. "Oh, and I have a letter for your wife on behalf of my mother." He froze. The others at the stall froze. Merlina pretended to be innocent.

"From your mother?" he asked softly. He was wishing the rest of the customers would go away...

"Yes." said Merlina. "She said to tell her that her appointment tomorrow had to be canceled and here is the letter." She took a white envelope from within the folds of her cloak and gave it to him. He hesitantly took it. "OK, got to go now! Hope you have a nice day!" And she left to go to her next victim. Around her, she could hear bits of people's whispered conversations as the gossip began.

"Did you hear her?"

"The fruit grocer's wife goes to that... witch?"

"Well, I always thought so, she is so dreadfully superstitious..."

And so on and so forth. For a while, it had been fun. The shock on their faces had been quite, exhilarating to see. She knew she was one of the few to know the dark side of many very respectable ladies in the town. So nice, and white on the outside, but they still came to her mother for services, and would still dare to mock her mother. But as the letters left her hands to be given to others, Merlina found herself becoming solemn. She suddenly realized that although she hated them for being hypocrites, she found herself getting sadder. She would be glad to leave the town and all it's hypocrisy behind. She had one more letter left. She sighed, and started off to the biggest house in the town.

*****

*knock, knock, knock*

Mrs. Soraya Kyuzan looked up from her afternoon tea with other ladies in town.

"Xellos, be a dear and see who's at the door, OK?" she asked. Xellos gladly stood up and bowed to them before leaving. Truth be told, he had been thinking up an excuse to get out of there. There was nothing worse than to sit with a bunch of ladies and here them talk about useless stuff. So, he was very glad to leave the stuffy room, the hard tea biscuits and the too sweet tea. Bleugh. He opened the door and came face to face with Merlina.

"What do you want?" he asked her. Merlina looked at his eyes. He really didn't like her. Not that she minded. But she just realized how much he hated her. OH well. She was tired of doing this. The fun had long gone. So she was frank with him. Besides, she knew that he knew his mother visited the Witch.

"I have a letter for your Mother, form mine." she said. "I know she's in a meeting now, so I'll give it to you. Give it to her on my behalf when she isn't busy. Oh, and have a nice day." She handed him the letter and turned to leave.

"Wait." he said as he stared at the letter and then at Merlina's back. "Hey, I said wait!" "What do you want?" she asked, her back still turned to him.

"I just want to know something." he said.

"Graduation is at sundown at the school." she said. Xellos was another that was graduating early.

"No, I don't mean that." he said.

"Well, then? I don't have all day, if you must know. I have many things to do." she said. Her back was still facing him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why what?" she asked.

"I know you could have talked to her know in front of everyone and given her the letter." he said.

"Yeah, I could have." she said. There was a sad smile on her face.

"Well, why didn't you?" he asked.

"Sore wa himitsu desu." she said. And she left the house. Xellos looked down at the letter. He turned around and went into the house, closing the door behind him.

*****

"Mother?" asked Xellos. The ladies had left and his mother was in her room, combing her hair.

"Yeah?" she asked. She selected a shell comb to put into her hair and started to fix it.

"Remember when someone knocked at the door this afternoon?" he asked.

"Yeah, who was it? You didn't come back."

"I was thinking. Anyway, it was Merlina Quertwen." he said. He was forcing himself to use a casual tone. His mother's hands froze for a moment before she turned around.

"And what did she want?" she asked.

"She told me to give you this." he said. He threw the letter at her. She snatched it from the air.

"Thank you for giving this to me." she said, trying to act calm. She hoped that he would leave so that she could read her letter.

"She said to give it to you latter." he said.

"What a responsible girl." said Soraya, not really meaning what she was saying.

"And I asked her why not give it to you just then?" continued Xellos.

"She must have known that I was busy... She's the witches daughter, Xellos. They have ways to know these things. You shouldn't be surprised." "And you know what? She told me 'Sore wa himitsu desu.' I looked it up. It means that it was a secret." said Xellos. He was staring past his mother.

"Oh." she said. "My, such a linguist.'

"And you know, I think she knew what was in the letter." said Xellos.

"Oh."

"And I was wondering. She had the perfect opportunity to embarrass you in front of everyone, you know?"

"And where did you get that idea from?" asked Soraya.

"I was just thinking." said Xellos. He looked at his mother and then left.

"I'll let you read the letter in peace now." he said over his back. The mother frowned and when he was gone, began to read the letter. When she finished, she crumpled the letter and then threw it into the wastepaper basket. So, the witches thought they could get away with this? Well then,... she'd have to make sure they didn't.

*****

"Mother! I'm back!" shouted Merlina as she went into their home.

"I'm in the kitchen!" said the mother. Merlina ran in.

"What ya doing?" she asked.

"I'm making something for the Graduation Party tonight." said Jera with a smile.

"We're going?" asked Merlina. "Must we?"

"Well, it would be polite of us to say good-bye to everyone, you know." said Soraya. She was kneading something.

"I guess." said Merlina.

"Now, go and get ready for the Ceremony. Why don't you wear that new dress you have?"

"Yeah! I'll do that!" said Merlina. She hugged her mom and ran to her room. Jera smiled at her retreating form and then went back to making the dough for some small cakes.

*****

The graduation ceremony was finished. There were a total of 12 students graduating, Xellos and Merlina included. After the graduation, there was a small party for the Graduates at the Kyuzan's home. Merlina and Jera walked to the house.

"Are you sure?" asked Merlina. She was worried. Her mother had been very calm and quiet.

"Sure of what?" asked Jera.

"Of going." said Merlina. "I mean, it's not like we're welcome or anything."

"Oh come on." said Jera teasingly. "It's not that bad." She was carrying the cakes.

"Well.... I think it is." said Merlina. "I don't like it. I don't like their house."

"OK,' said Jera. "You don't have to go, but I have to."

"How come?" asked Merlina.

"It's about the letter I sent to Mrs. Kyuzan." said Jera. "Professional matters."

"Are you sure?" asked Merlina.

"Yeah. You go ahead and go home, OK?" said Jera. "I'll see to business, leave the cakes and then leave."

"OK." said Merlina. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." said Jera. "Don't worry. Everything's taken care of."

"OK." said Merlina. "And... I'm sorry. It's just that I don't feel too comfortable about it."

"Don't worry." said Jera. She hugged her daughter tightly to her. "It's going to work out. And remember to sleep. The trip will be long."

"OK. I'll probably sleeping when you come back then." said Merlina. And the two parted ways, Merlina not realizing that she wouldn't see her mother the next morning.

End of Chapter 2

Author's Notes... OK, what do you think? I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. The next one might also, but don't worry. I will keep on working on it. Anyway, reviews are specially welcome. I really want to thank you all for reading this little thing. Hope I haven't disappointed you.

Take care!

Hotaru