Chapter 4 - And It Starts.
~@~
Four days after each person had set off to journey to Fanelia, Skye sat up in her bed, almost completely healed.
Oddly, her first thought was about her clothing. Someone had changed her out of her ruined jeans and blouse, and into a thin, sort of white soft linen... nightdress.
There was a free-standing mirror at the other end of the spacious room, so she tentatively eased herself off the edge of the bed, and was surprised to find she could stand. She felt a little light headed, but the throbbing ache in her temple was gone. She thought to herself sarcastically: -Goody. You're not a cripple.-
Pursing her lips, she padded slowly to the mirror in her bare feet. The long white 'gown' swished around her ankles, almost touching the ground but not quite.
Stopping just in front of it, Skye raised her eyes from the hem of her dress and cringed at her reflection. Her skin was a deathly pale, where normally it should have been a healthy cream. She stared at her mahogany eyes; wide and startled, and the left still slightly swollen and purple.
Someone had tended to her hair and face, so she was clean, and her dark hair untangled. It fell down her back and over her shoulders in gentle waves. The blonde streak glinted softly.
There was a thick-set wooden door to her left, and just as she noticed it, someone began to open it from the other side. She heard muffled voices from behind it as it began to creak open. They didn't sound happy.
Skye tried to maneuver herself swiftly back into the bed, but her right leg didn't seem to want to keep up. The end result was a tall man striding into the room, with the cat-woman a step behind him. She reached for his arm, but as soon as the man saw Skye out of the bed he stopped dead.
The cat-woman perfectly copied his movement, managing somehow not to walk into him (Skye didn't believe it was deliberate, she was just incredibly fast.)
As he had entered the room, Skye had been trying to clamber back into the bed. Luckily, she hadn't had the chance to swing her leg up onto it yet. As the man's true-blue eyes stared at her, she suddenly became very aware of just how thin and low-cut the gown was, though that wasn't what he was staring at.
He gazed at her eyes, and despite her best efforts she felt a deep blush creep up her neck and into her cheeks.
Completely inappropriately, her right leg gave a warning twitch. As if to tell her it wasn't going to stand up much bloody longer so if she didn't sit down soon, it would refuse to comply any farther. As Skye glanced down at her leg, the memory of her pain, and where it was coming from came flooding back to her.
Turning, she sat on the bed, and, completely ignoring the man and the cat- woman, she slung her right leg over her left and yanked up the gown - figuring that a sudden thought which chilled her so badly was far more important than strangers in her bedroom.
She tried to forget they were there: -Well, they shouldn't be in here. If they have any courtesy at all they would get out. Huh.-
It was almost gone completely... the deep, deep wound in her lower thigh had almost vanished to a faint scar.
Just... how? How in hell could she have healed so damn fast? It must have been a week, or a little more, since...
And that thought brought her back to her home. A painful memory flashed through her mind and she gritted her teeth. She refused to think about it. No.
She woke from her daze then, and looked up, almost afraid of the two's response, but the cat-woman was already shoving the man out of the door. A little startled, Skye noted his golden-blonde hair that seemed to shimmer around him in the dim light.
The door shut behind him, and the cat-woman turned and scowled at Skye.
Her blue eyes were so intense they almost made Skye cringe. She protested, 'What? I didn't do anything!'
The woman sighed heavily, and shook her head. She chided Skye, 'Just be glad it was Sir Allen that you just did that in front of, and not some vagabond who wanted to see the new woman from the Mystic Moon.'
Skye blinked at her innocently 'Did what?' Inside, she was shaken. Never in her life had she been met with a stare so intense.
The cat-woman just sighed again at her. 'Don't you know anything?'
Skye remembered the last time she'd seen the woman, when Van had... well, she remembered that he had called her Merle. Was that her name?
She asked the feline woman with the pink bangs, '...are you called Merle?' Then without thinking she added, 'And who is Allen? Is he a Knight?'
Merle frowned at her and walked slowly to the edge of the bed. 'How do you know my name? You've been asleep, all this time, except that... once.'
She sat down carefully on the bed, curling her almost-floor-length dress under her.
Skye spoke, 'I just remember Van calling you Merle, that time... when I...' She shrugged, trying to avoid saying it out loud, '...When my body went... weird.'
Yeah, that was adequate. It was more like an epileptic fit that she should have died from.
Merle peered at Skye's face ponderingly, her dark eyes uncertain, 'Are you really from the Mystic Moon?' She paused. 'Hitomi never healed as fast as you.'
Selfconciously touching her fading scar through her nightdress, Skye replied without looking at Merle, 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure.' Then to change the subject, 'Did you find Hitomi yet? Is she alright?'
Not missing Skye's avoidance of the mention of her home, but deciding not to push the subject, she smiled, 'Yes! The Queen of Astoria - Millerna, sent us a message a week ago. Hitomi arrived there, and was worried about you, Skye.'
Skye considered this. 'So... what did you say to Millerna?'
Choosing her words carefully, Merle replied, 'We sent a message back to Astoria saying that you were with us, being tended to by a healer. Something had gone wrong when you were transported here -- it seems you fell from the light, and into part of the forest surrounding Fanelia.'
At Skye's blank look, Merle added, 'Fanelia - the country you are in now. Lord Van is Fanelia's King.'
Skye rubbed her temples lightly, 'Oh. Okay... so... I must have still been unconscious then. Has Millerna or Hitomi sent a message back?'
Merle walked to the wooden window frame and leaned against the wall next to it. She gazed out at the sky for a moment. Her gaze following Merle, Skye noted that it must be afternoon.
Merle finally answered with a barely hidden smile, 'Oh, yes. They told us that they would be travelling here - that they were leaving a day after the message was sent to us. In fact...'
She turned to face Skye, grinning, 'Three of them are here now! Arrived just yesterday. The rest are expected in about two or three days. I don't suppose Hitomi's told you about all of them -- but I'll tell you anyway!' Faintly amused, Skye didn't get a chance to interject as Merle reamed off a list of names and a short background for each.
'First there's Hitomi! Well - you know her already - I understand that you'd only just met before you came here? Uh, well I guess it would be better if she told you her story when we're all together. Yeah.' Merle nodded to herself thoughtfully, then launched into another short burst excitedly,
'Millerna's here too - um, well, I guess that's Queen Millerna. She was only crowned just two months ago, when her father, King Aston died. She's here with her husband, Dryden.' She winked at Skye. 'Yeah - that's King Dryden to you. Though I expect he'll tell you to call him just Dryden when you're introduced.'
As soon as Merle stopped to take a breath, Skye thought she might as well ask --
'That man with the blonde hair. You said his name was Allen? Who's he?'
With a faint sly gleam in her eyes, Merle snickered, 'Sir Allen? He's one of the Knight Caeli. He's brought his younger sister here with him. Celena. There's a loooong story behind that girl.' She drawled.
Skye asked the cat-girl flatly, no happy pretence, 'Why were you arguing outside my room? He came in... without even knocking. You probably don't think me much of one for manners, but what he did wasn't exactly polite, was it?'
Merle's brow creased - she hadn't realised Skye had heard them outside the room. 'Well... you see, I tried to stop him coming in here, but he just wouldn't listen, I'm sure if he hadn't believed... that you were a... a -' She said the next word in a barely audible voice '- fake, then he wouldn't have barged in like that. Honestly Skye, he's normally a perfect gentleman.' She coughed quietly, '...most of the time.'
Skye hadn't heard anything after the word fake. She stood stiffly, incensed, 'What the hell do you mean, a fake?!' She practically yelled at Merle, but inwardly, she didn't really care.
Trying not to drag her still-bad leg, she stalked over to the room's wardrobe, which appeared to be made out of some kind of strong wood, though it hadn't been stained or varnished and looked almost brand new.
Merle tried to speak, but she wouldn't let her. She carried on angrily, 'A fake! I am no such thing! I never asked to brought to this bloody planet -- ' She repeated herself, and distantly noticed that she should shut the hell up '-- especially not to be half killed almost into a cripple and dragged to a strange place to be yelled at while still only semi-conscious and delerious, and to wake up, basically miraculously healed, and be called a bloody god damned FAKE!'
During her little rant, she had succeeded in dressing herself in her underwear (yeah, that includes her bra), socks, black jeans (which someone had considerately cleaned and mended) and a white simple shirt of some soft material with sleeves down to her elbows that she'd found in one of the drawers.
Through her venting, Merle had fallen silent, and now stood by the bed behind her. She hadn't tried to help her dress, probably knowing that she only would have been pushed away. Now she'd calmed down a little - or at least, she'd decided to shift her anger in the direction of the person she felt deserved it most.
Gritting her teeth, Skye glared at the air in front of her, -That arrogant sonofabitch.-
In her mind, the chilling fall in the dark sky was repeating itself.
The instant she hit the ground - the immense pain - the ride in the cart, every single bump and jolt tearing apart her nerves and broken body - the second time she woke up from her delerium, and Van gripped her so hard - and finally, her pain-wracked body, her body twitching beyond her control...
Skye turned, and stolidly did her best to not limp towards the door.
------
A/N: I know this may look as though its gonna be an Allen bashing fic, but I assure you -- it is not. I guess that disappoints the Allen-bashing- lovers... :P Please let me know in a review what you think so far! Any suggestions would be great, too.
~@~
Four days after each person had set off to journey to Fanelia, Skye sat up in her bed, almost completely healed.
Oddly, her first thought was about her clothing. Someone had changed her out of her ruined jeans and blouse, and into a thin, sort of white soft linen... nightdress.
There was a free-standing mirror at the other end of the spacious room, so she tentatively eased herself off the edge of the bed, and was surprised to find she could stand. She felt a little light headed, but the throbbing ache in her temple was gone. She thought to herself sarcastically: -Goody. You're not a cripple.-
Pursing her lips, she padded slowly to the mirror in her bare feet. The long white 'gown' swished around her ankles, almost touching the ground but not quite.
Stopping just in front of it, Skye raised her eyes from the hem of her dress and cringed at her reflection. Her skin was a deathly pale, where normally it should have been a healthy cream. She stared at her mahogany eyes; wide and startled, and the left still slightly swollen and purple.
Someone had tended to her hair and face, so she was clean, and her dark hair untangled. It fell down her back and over her shoulders in gentle waves. The blonde streak glinted softly.
There was a thick-set wooden door to her left, and just as she noticed it, someone began to open it from the other side. She heard muffled voices from behind it as it began to creak open. They didn't sound happy.
Skye tried to maneuver herself swiftly back into the bed, but her right leg didn't seem to want to keep up. The end result was a tall man striding into the room, with the cat-woman a step behind him. She reached for his arm, but as soon as the man saw Skye out of the bed he stopped dead.
The cat-woman perfectly copied his movement, managing somehow not to walk into him (Skye didn't believe it was deliberate, she was just incredibly fast.)
As he had entered the room, Skye had been trying to clamber back into the bed. Luckily, she hadn't had the chance to swing her leg up onto it yet. As the man's true-blue eyes stared at her, she suddenly became very aware of just how thin and low-cut the gown was, though that wasn't what he was staring at.
He gazed at her eyes, and despite her best efforts she felt a deep blush creep up her neck and into her cheeks.
Completely inappropriately, her right leg gave a warning twitch. As if to tell her it wasn't going to stand up much bloody longer so if she didn't sit down soon, it would refuse to comply any farther. As Skye glanced down at her leg, the memory of her pain, and where it was coming from came flooding back to her.
Turning, she sat on the bed, and, completely ignoring the man and the cat- woman, she slung her right leg over her left and yanked up the gown - figuring that a sudden thought which chilled her so badly was far more important than strangers in her bedroom.
She tried to forget they were there: -Well, they shouldn't be in here. If they have any courtesy at all they would get out. Huh.-
It was almost gone completely... the deep, deep wound in her lower thigh had almost vanished to a faint scar.
Just... how? How in hell could she have healed so damn fast? It must have been a week, or a little more, since...
And that thought brought her back to her home. A painful memory flashed through her mind and she gritted her teeth. She refused to think about it. No.
She woke from her daze then, and looked up, almost afraid of the two's response, but the cat-woman was already shoving the man out of the door. A little startled, Skye noted his golden-blonde hair that seemed to shimmer around him in the dim light.
The door shut behind him, and the cat-woman turned and scowled at Skye.
Her blue eyes were so intense they almost made Skye cringe. She protested, 'What? I didn't do anything!'
The woman sighed heavily, and shook her head. She chided Skye, 'Just be glad it was Sir Allen that you just did that in front of, and not some vagabond who wanted to see the new woman from the Mystic Moon.'
Skye blinked at her innocently 'Did what?' Inside, she was shaken. Never in her life had she been met with a stare so intense.
The cat-woman just sighed again at her. 'Don't you know anything?'
Skye remembered the last time she'd seen the woman, when Van had... well, she remembered that he had called her Merle. Was that her name?
She asked the feline woman with the pink bangs, '...are you called Merle?' Then without thinking she added, 'And who is Allen? Is he a Knight?'
Merle frowned at her and walked slowly to the edge of the bed. 'How do you know my name? You've been asleep, all this time, except that... once.'
She sat down carefully on the bed, curling her almost-floor-length dress under her.
Skye spoke, 'I just remember Van calling you Merle, that time... when I...' She shrugged, trying to avoid saying it out loud, '...When my body went... weird.'
Yeah, that was adequate. It was more like an epileptic fit that she should have died from.
Merle peered at Skye's face ponderingly, her dark eyes uncertain, 'Are you really from the Mystic Moon?' She paused. 'Hitomi never healed as fast as you.'
Selfconciously touching her fading scar through her nightdress, Skye replied without looking at Merle, 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure.' Then to change the subject, 'Did you find Hitomi yet? Is she alright?'
Not missing Skye's avoidance of the mention of her home, but deciding not to push the subject, she smiled, 'Yes! The Queen of Astoria - Millerna, sent us a message a week ago. Hitomi arrived there, and was worried about you, Skye.'
Skye considered this. 'So... what did you say to Millerna?'
Choosing her words carefully, Merle replied, 'We sent a message back to Astoria saying that you were with us, being tended to by a healer. Something had gone wrong when you were transported here -- it seems you fell from the light, and into part of the forest surrounding Fanelia.'
At Skye's blank look, Merle added, 'Fanelia - the country you are in now. Lord Van is Fanelia's King.'
Skye rubbed her temples lightly, 'Oh. Okay... so... I must have still been unconscious then. Has Millerna or Hitomi sent a message back?'
Merle walked to the wooden window frame and leaned against the wall next to it. She gazed out at the sky for a moment. Her gaze following Merle, Skye noted that it must be afternoon.
Merle finally answered with a barely hidden smile, 'Oh, yes. They told us that they would be travelling here - that they were leaving a day after the message was sent to us. In fact...'
She turned to face Skye, grinning, 'Three of them are here now! Arrived just yesterday. The rest are expected in about two or three days. I don't suppose Hitomi's told you about all of them -- but I'll tell you anyway!' Faintly amused, Skye didn't get a chance to interject as Merle reamed off a list of names and a short background for each.
'First there's Hitomi! Well - you know her already - I understand that you'd only just met before you came here? Uh, well I guess it would be better if she told you her story when we're all together. Yeah.' Merle nodded to herself thoughtfully, then launched into another short burst excitedly,
'Millerna's here too - um, well, I guess that's Queen Millerna. She was only crowned just two months ago, when her father, King Aston died. She's here with her husband, Dryden.' She winked at Skye. 'Yeah - that's King Dryden to you. Though I expect he'll tell you to call him just Dryden when you're introduced.'
As soon as Merle stopped to take a breath, Skye thought she might as well ask --
'That man with the blonde hair. You said his name was Allen? Who's he?'
With a faint sly gleam in her eyes, Merle snickered, 'Sir Allen? He's one of the Knight Caeli. He's brought his younger sister here with him. Celena. There's a loooong story behind that girl.' She drawled.
Skye asked the cat-girl flatly, no happy pretence, 'Why were you arguing outside my room? He came in... without even knocking. You probably don't think me much of one for manners, but what he did wasn't exactly polite, was it?'
Merle's brow creased - she hadn't realised Skye had heard them outside the room. 'Well... you see, I tried to stop him coming in here, but he just wouldn't listen, I'm sure if he hadn't believed... that you were a... a -' She said the next word in a barely audible voice '- fake, then he wouldn't have barged in like that. Honestly Skye, he's normally a perfect gentleman.' She coughed quietly, '...most of the time.'
Skye hadn't heard anything after the word fake. She stood stiffly, incensed, 'What the hell do you mean, a fake?!' She practically yelled at Merle, but inwardly, she didn't really care.
Trying not to drag her still-bad leg, she stalked over to the room's wardrobe, which appeared to be made out of some kind of strong wood, though it hadn't been stained or varnished and looked almost brand new.
Merle tried to speak, but she wouldn't let her. She carried on angrily, 'A fake! I am no such thing! I never asked to brought to this bloody planet -- ' She repeated herself, and distantly noticed that she should shut the hell up '-- especially not to be half killed almost into a cripple and dragged to a strange place to be yelled at while still only semi-conscious and delerious, and to wake up, basically miraculously healed, and be called a bloody god damned FAKE!'
During her little rant, she had succeeded in dressing herself in her underwear (yeah, that includes her bra), socks, black jeans (which someone had considerately cleaned and mended) and a white simple shirt of some soft material with sleeves down to her elbows that she'd found in one of the drawers.
Through her venting, Merle had fallen silent, and now stood by the bed behind her. She hadn't tried to help her dress, probably knowing that she only would have been pushed away. Now she'd calmed down a little - or at least, she'd decided to shift her anger in the direction of the person she felt deserved it most.
Gritting her teeth, Skye glared at the air in front of her, -That arrogant sonofabitch.-
In her mind, the chilling fall in the dark sky was repeating itself.
The instant she hit the ground - the immense pain - the ride in the cart, every single bump and jolt tearing apart her nerves and broken body - the second time she woke up from her delerium, and Van gripped her so hard - and finally, her pain-wracked body, her body twitching beyond her control...
Skye turned, and stolidly did her best to not limp towards the door.
------
A/N: I know this may look as though its gonna be an Allen bashing fic, but I assure you -- it is not. I guess that disappoints the Allen-bashing- lovers... :P Please let me know in a review what you think so far! Any suggestions would be great, too.