Author's note: Hello again! Ok, this note will actually be more related to
my STORY then anything. Who woulda thunk it? Anyways, Some good info passes
by in this one. I don't want to say anything about it though because you
probably have not even read it yet. Just know it involves Nite's dream and
K.C.'s identity. Hey, that's a good name for this chapter.
Ok, I'm done. Tell me what you think. More importantly tell me if Nite's dream pulled at you heart even a little! Ah and by the way....Remember all the people Nite asks about in his dream. They'll play an important role....Crap! I have to stop giving away tiny spoilers.....
Anyways, This is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out. **************************************************************************** ****
As Nite slept on the ground, still waiting in that unnecessarily long line, he had a dream...His first dream in a long time. Nite wasn't happy about finally having one because every one of his dreams, for the past eleven years, were the same.
The dream started with him as a little boy, waking up in a room full of thick smoke. It filled his lungs and forced him to cough up what little oxygen he had left. He ran out of his room to find every inch of his house covered in flames. Confusion growing in his mind, he dropped to his knees and started looking for his other family members. He searched for what felt like hours, calling to all of them, no one answered. He fought back his tears and continued his frantic search, with only one thought going over and over in his mind. Please don't let them be dead.
He didn't see it, but felt it. His mother's arm on the floor. He ran his fingers up the arm...It was still connected to the body. Why did he think it would be off in the first place? He pushed the stupid thought out of his head and began shaking his mother.
Nothing happened. She didn't respond, just lied there, limp. Nite called to his mom, tears now rolling down his face.
"Mother! Mother! Wake up! Please wake up! Say something! Anything! Please!"
Still nothing happened. The thought of his mother being dead never crossed his mind. To him she was just sleeping but far from dead.
"Mother! Where is Claire?! Where is Tina?! Mother where are they?! Can't you hear me?! Please say something!"
Again her body lay silent. Motionless. Nite had no choice but to accept the truth. She was dead. She was dead and was never coming back! Why! Why did this have to happen?! Why did his mother have to die?!?! He was so young! How could he live without her....But, there was still the rest of his family he had to search for maybe they were still alive. The HAD to be alive, there was no other way around it. Just then a voice from the other end of the house caught Nite's attention and soothed his crazed mind. He ran over to see who said it. It was his father.
"Father, are you alright?!" Nite asked him.
To his disbelief his father replied in a way he didn't want to hear. "No son....I am not....Alright."
His father's answer was the last thing he needed to know.
"No! Don't say that! You'll be fine! I will get you out of here!"
His father refused. "No....Nite listen...They....Attacked.....For.....Dark Samurai."
Nite was confused. Dark Samurai? Who would attack their house for the arts of the Dark Samurai. No one in his house even knew them. In fact, nobody in his family were Samurai or Ninja.....At least that's what he was told.
"Nite." His father went on. They were.....The Shinobi."
Shinobi? The ancient group of Ninjas who lived in secluded forests? Nite Growled in anger. If there was a band of assassins that would kill his family for no reason, it was them. His cabin was most likely just unlucky enough to be in their path....Yet his father talked about them wanting the arts of the Dark Samurai Nite's father continued talking, taking deep breaths between words.
"Nite...The sword...Take it...Use....It...To find....Claire...It glows when...Close...Go...Fi...n....d..." Nite's father died before finishing his sentence.
Nite reached down and took the sword from his father's waist. The Muramasa. Nite's only hope to find Claire and with that maybe even Tina. His poor sisters were out there somewhere, alone and afraid.
The fire grew stronger around the young boy as he kneeled silently by his father's side. He gripped the sheath of his katana tightly. The Shinobi attacked because they wanted an art not known by his family, well now he was going to find this art and master it then use it against them. This was his vow to his family. This was his words of vengeance.
Then, like it always did at that point, the dream ended and Nite woke up in a cold sweat to a new morning and a new day. He stood up and looked around, quickly wiping a solemn tear from his eye. His vow was almost fulfilled. The art was learned but his search for Tina was not done....And his vengeance on the Shinobi was not completed.
*** Bridget woke up with a slight yawn and looked out the back of the carriage. The sun was just coming over the horizon and everything sparkled in a beautiful gold color. She turned to the opposite direction to see how far the line moved. With a laugh only she could hear, she saw that it had moved quite a ways and they were now third in line.
She decided it would be best not to wake everyone until it was necessary. Soon enough the two wagons ahead disappeared and they were next to enter.
"Wow you folks must be feeling really lucky." The gatekeeper said to the driver.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" The driver asked in response.
"Well you guys are getting the very last room in the very last Inn in the town. Everyone behind you are sleeping on the ground."
"Yeah well, I'm just dropping off some passengers., I'm not sleeping in this dead-end town."
"Yeah I don't live here either, I was hired by some guys down in Lindinbum to do this. Get twenty Gil for every person I 'help'." The driver laughed and rode to the Inn.
*** Claire sat on one of the two beds in the room and looked at Nite, then to Vyse. Finally they were were out of the line and at the local Inn. Not only that but It had taken Nite the whole time waiting in line, which Claire figured was around ten hours, to finally get Vyse to settle down about the missing princess.
"So what do we do know?" She asked the both of them.
"We wait 'till they let us into Lindinbum." Vyse answered, a hint of anger still in his voice. "And I have no idea how long that will take." He added, looking out the window to the ocean of people that were covering the streets.
"Well I can't sit in here all day," Nite cut in, "I am going to go find something to do." He finished, walking to the door.
"I suppose I will look around too." Claire said, also walking towards the door.
Vyse jumped off the bed. "Hey what about me? The clerk said if we want to keep this room then at least one of us has to be here."
Nite turned to him and grinned. "Guess you can catch up on some sleep." He said, ending with a laugh.
Vyse slumped back on the bed when they left. "Might as well take his advise." He said aloud before laying back and dozing off.
*** It took Tera almost no time to think of a reason to escape the crowed room they were squeezed into. "I'm going to go find something for us to eat."
Bridget nodded her head in agreement. "Try not to get lost in the crowd." She told her.
Tera said ok and left the room. Almost immediately after Tera left K.C. was struck with an idea.
"Hey we should go exploring Ked!" She screamed, leaping off the bed. Ked was about to complain about there being too many people outside but Bridget's voice cut him off.
"Only in the Inn though, It's to crowded outside." She instructed.
"Ok fine..." K.C. sighed while dragging Ked off the bed and down the hallway.
"Thank you!" Ked whispered to Bridget before his head disappeared from view. She laughed and laid down on the bed, hoping to get some rest before they were allowed in Lindinbum.
*** Tera squeezed her way though the crowd in the Inn's lobby. She was cooped up in that room for a good hour and a half, one minute longer and she might have snapped. She eventually located the door to the Inn and nudged herself out. Surprisingly enough, it was less crowded outside then in. She wandered around town looking for any place that sold food.
What she found was more then just a place that sold food, she found the guy who had jumped from her window two days ago, standing right in front of her buying something to eat. She wondered if she should say something to him. Maybe it would be too awkward to just start talking to someone who she saw jump from her window. Plus, what would they even talk about! Hey, I see you didn't hurt yourself falling out the window! Why did she need to come here!
*** Nite paid for his meal then turned around to find a place to sit. When he turned around he saw the girl from the Inn two days ago. Without thinking, he said. "Hey you're the girl from the Inn, thanks for letting me use that window, it helped a lot."
The girl smiled. "You're welcome. By the way...Why did you have to jump out it in the first place?"
"Oh my friend got into some trouble and because I was with him they wanted me too." Nite calmly stated.
The girl crossed her arms. "That's terrible! Just because you were around some delinquent you get in trouble!"
Nite shrugged a shoulder. "If it happens, it happens, so why try to argue with it?"
*** Tera was slightly taken back by his blunt logic, but if it didn't bother him then it shouldn't bother her.
"So..." Tera said, trying to find a different topic to talk about.
"Is Nite you real name?" She asked, remembering what he said back at the Inn.
"Yeah, it is. So what's yours?"
"It's Tera."
Nite crossed his arms the same way Tera did a second ago.
"Tera huh? Sounds familiar."
Tera laughed nervously. "Well it's a very commonly used name." She pointed out, quickly dismissing Nite's curiosity.
"I'm going to find a bench to sit at, would you like to join me?" He asked her.
"Um....Sure I guess so." She replied, following him to the closest bench.
"Do you want any of this?" Nite asked, pointing at his food.
Tera turned it down. She would feel uncomfortable if she ate something he paid for.
"So what brings you to this town?" Nite asked, munching on some of his food.
"Well I was heading for Lindinbum but they stuck me in here."
Nite laughed. "Yeah, me too" Tera smiled. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be to talk to him. He just seemed to have this 'thing' about him. It was odd.
"So why are you here?" She asked.
"Same reason you are," He said, "going to Lindinbum, but ended up here instead."
Tera nodded her head to his answer then asked why he was going to Lindinbum in the first place.
"To meet someone," He replied, "and it's funny because I don't quite know what he wants from me, but at the time he asked me I was bored enough to do anything."
Nite soon finished his meal and stood up.
"It was a pleasure to meet you but I must be going." He said, walking away.
"Hey! Am I going to see you around?" Tera asked, almost surprised by how much she cared. She did just meet him and barely knew him, after all.
Nite wasn't sure why he said what he said but he thought it fit for a perfect ending sentence....And it made him sound more cunning. "If our paths should happen to cross again you will, but until that time has come, fare thee well." And with that, Nite left.
*** Ked and K.C. had been wandering around the Inn forever and both were getting bored.
"What do we do now?" Ked asked K.C., almost falling over from the boredom.
"I dunno." She replied.
K.C. was walking to their room when she saw a very old friend just lying on a bed in one of the rooms to this Inn. Man! What a coincidence!!.
"Hi Vyse! What are you doing here?!" Vyse stared at her dumbfounded. No way the girl in front of him was K.C. Just no WAY!
"What am I doing here?! What are YOU doing here?!" He asked, running out of his room and kneeling next to her.
"Oh C'mon Vyse get up, don't make a scene!"
Vyse stood at her request. "Sorry Milady."
K.C. smacked her forehead. "VYSE!! C'mon! Don't be so formal!"
Ked scratched his head. "What are you guys talking about?" He asked, clearly cofused by what was going on.. Vyse spoke before K.C. could open her mouth, he must inform this boy properly before K.C. could deny it. "She is the princess of Lindinbum, didn't you know?"
Ok, I'm done. Tell me what you think. More importantly tell me if Nite's dream pulled at you heart even a little! Ah and by the way....Remember all the people Nite asks about in his dream. They'll play an important role....Crap! I have to stop giving away tiny spoilers.....
Anyways, This is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out. **************************************************************************** ****
As Nite slept on the ground, still waiting in that unnecessarily long line, he had a dream...His first dream in a long time. Nite wasn't happy about finally having one because every one of his dreams, for the past eleven years, were the same.
The dream started with him as a little boy, waking up in a room full of thick smoke. It filled his lungs and forced him to cough up what little oxygen he had left. He ran out of his room to find every inch of his house covered in flames. Confusion growing in his mind, he dropped to his knees and started looking for his other family members. He searched for what felt like hours, calling to all of them, no one answered. He fought back his tears and continued his frantic search, with only one thought going over and over in his mind. Please don't let them be dead.
He didn't see it, but felt it. His mother's arm on the floor. He ran his fingers up the arm...It was still connected to the body. Why did he think it would be off in the first place? He pushed the stupid thought out of his head and began shaking his mother.
Nothing happened. She didn't respond, just lied there, limp. Nite called to his mom, tears now rolling down his face.
"Mother! Mother! Wake up! Please wake up! Say something! Anything! Please!"
Still nothing happened. The thought of his mother being dead never crossed his mind. To him she was just sleeping but far from dead.
"Mother! Where is Claire?! Where is Tina?! Mother where are they?! Can't you hear me?! Please say something!"
Again her body lay silent. Motionless. Nite had no choice but to accept the truth. She was dead. She was dead and was never coming back! Why! Why did this have to happen?! Why did his mother have to die?!?! He was so young! How could he live without her....But, there was still the rest of his family he had to search for maybe they were still alive. The HAD to be alive, there was no other way around it. Just then a voice from the other end of the house caught Nite's attention and soothed his crazed mind. He ran over to see who said it. It was his father.
"Father, are you alright?!" Nite asked him.
To his disbelief his father replied in a way he didn't want to hear. "No son....I am not....Alright."
His father's answer was the last thing he needed to know.
"No! Don't say that! You'll be fine! I will get you out of here!"
His father refused. "No....Nite listen...They....Attacked.....For.....Dark Samurai."
Nite was confused. Dark Samurai? Who would attack their house for the arts of the Dark Samurai. No one in his house even knew them. In fact, nobody in his family were Samurai or Ninja.....At least that's what he was told.
"Nite." His father went on. They were.....The Shinobi."
Shinobi? The ancient group of Ninjas who lived in secluded forests? Nite Growled in anger. If there was a band of assassins that would kill his family for no reason, it was them. His cabin was most likely just unlucky enough to be in their path....Yet his father talked about them wanting the arts of the Dark Samurai Nite's father continued talking, taking deep breaths between words.
"Nite...The sword...Take it...Use....It...To find....Claire...It glows when...Close...Go...Fi...n....d..." Nite's father died before finishing his sentence.
Nite reached down and took the sword from his father's waist. The Muramasa. Nite's only hope to find Claire and with that maybe even Tina. His poor sisters were out there somewhere, alone and afraid.
The fire grew stronger around the young boy as he kneeled silently by his father's side. He gripped the sheath of his katana tightly. The Shinobi attacked because they wanted an art not known by his family, well now he was going to find this art and master it then use it against them. This was his vow to his family. This was his words of vengeance.
Then, like it always did at that point, the dream ended and Nite woke up in a cold sweat to a new morning and a new day. He stood up and looked around, quickly wiping a solemn tear from his eye. His vow was almost fulfilled. The art was learned but his search for Tina was not done....And his vengeance on the Shinobi was not completed.
*** Bridget woke up with a slight yawn and looked out the back of the carriage. The sun was just coming over the horizon and everything sparkled in a beautiful gold color. She turned to the opposite direction to see how far the line moved. With a laugh only she could hear, she saw that it had moved quite a ways and they were now third in line.
She decided it would be best not to wake everyone until it was necessary. Soon enough the two wagons ahead disappeared and they were next to enter.
"Wow you folks must be feeling really lucky." The gatekeeper said to the driver.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" The driver asked in response.
"Well you guys are getting the very last room in the very last Inn in the town. Everyone behind you are sleeping on the ground."
"Yeah well, I'm just dropping off some passengers., I'm not sleeping in this dead-end town."
"Yeah I don't live here either, I was hired by some guys down in Lindinbum to do this. Get twenty Gil for every person I 'help'." The driver laughed and rode to the Inn.
*** Claire sat on one of the two beds in the room and looked at Nite, then to Vyse. Finally they were were out of the line and at the local Inn. Not only that but It had taken Nite the whole time waiting in line, which Claire figured was around ten hours, to finally get Vyse to settle down about the missing princess.
"So what do we do know?" She asked the both of them.
"We wait 'till they let us into Lindinbum." Vyse answered, a hint of anger still in his voice. "And I have no idea how long that will take." He added, looking out the window to the ocean of people that were covering the streets.
"Well I can't sit in here all day," Nite cut in, "I am going to go find something to do." He finished, walking to the door.
"I suppose I will look around too." Claire said, also walking towards the door.
Vyse jumped off the bed. "Hey what about me? The clerk said if we want to keep this room then at least one of us has to be here."
Nite turned to him and grinned. "Guess you can catch up on some sleep." He said, ending with a laugh.
Vyse slumped back on the bed when they left. "Might as well take his advise." He said aloud before laying back and dozing off.
*** It took Tera almost no time to think of a reason to escape the crowed room they were squeezed into. "I'm going to go find something for us to eat."
Bridget nodded her head in agreement. "Try not to get lost in the crowd." She told her.
Tera said ok and left the room. Almost immediately after Tera left K.C. was struck with an idea.
"Hey we should go exploring Ked!" She screamed, leaping off the bed. Ked was about to complain about there being too many people outside but Bridget's voice cut him off.
"Only in the Inn though, It's to crowded outside." She instructed.
"Ok fine..." K.C. sighed while dragging Ked off the bed and down the hallway.
"Thank you!" Ked whispered to Bridget before his head disappeared from view. She laughed and laid down on the bed, hoping to get some rest before they were allowed in Lindinbum.
*** Tera squeezed her way though the crowd in the Inn's lobby. She was cooped up in that room for a good hour and a half, one minute longer and she might have snapped. She eventually located the door to the Inn and nudged herself out. Surprisingly enough, it was less crowded outside then in. She wandered around town looking for any place that sold food.
What she found was more then just a place that sold food, she found the guy who had jumped from her window two days ago, standing right in front of her buying something to eat. She wondered if she should say something to him. Maybe it would be too awkward to just start talking to someone who she saw jump from her window. Plus, what would they even talk about! Hey, I see you didn't hurt yourself falling out the window! Why did she need to come here!
*** Nite paid for his meal then turned around to find a place to sit. When he turned around he saw the girl from the Inn two days ago. Without thinking, he said. "Hey you're the girl from the Inn, thanks for letting me use that window, it helped a lot."
The girl smiled. "You're welcome. By the way...Why did you have to jump out it in the first place?"
"Oh my friend got into some trouble and because I was with him they wanted me too." Nite calmly stated.
The girl crossed her arms. "That's terrible! Just because you were around some delinquent you get in trouble!"
Nite shrugged a shoulder. "If it happens, it happens, so why try to argue with it?"
*** Tera was slightly taken back by his blunt logic, but if it didn't bother him then it shouldn't bother her.
"So..." Tera said, trying to find a different topic to talk about.
"Is Nite you real name?" She asked, remembering what he said back at the Inn.
"Yeah, it is. So what's yours?"
"It's Tera."
Nite crossed his arms the same way Tera did a second ago.
"Tera huh? Sounds familiar."
Tera laughed nervously. "Well it's a very commonly used name." She pointed out, quickly dismissing Nite's curiosity.
"I'm going to find a bench to sit at, would you like to join me?" He asked her.
"Um....Sure I guess so." She replied, following him to the closest bench.
"Do you want any of this?" Nite asked, pointing at his food.
Tera turned it down. She would feel uncomfortable if she ate something he paid for.
"So what brings you to this town?" Nite asked, munching on some of his food.
"Well I was heading for Lindinbum but they stuck me in here."
Nite laughed. "Yeah, me too" Tera smiled. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be to talk to him. He just seemed to have this 'thing' about him. It was odd.
"So why are you here?" She asked.
"Same reason you are," He said, "going to Lindinbum, but ended up here instead."
Tera nodded her head to his answer then asked why he was going to Lindinbum in the first place.
"To meet someone," He replied, "and it's funny because I don't quite know what he wants from me, but at the time he asked me I was bored enough to do anything."
Nite soon finished his meal and stood up.
"It was a pleasure to meet you but I must be going." He said, walking away.
"Hey! Am I going to see you around?" Tera asked, almost surprised by how much she cared. She did just meet him and barely knew him, after all.
Nite wasn't sure why he said what he said but he thought it fit for a perfect ending sentence....And it made him sound more cunning. "If our paths should happen to cross again you will, but until that time has come, fare thee well." And with that, Nite left.
*** Ked and K.C. had been wandering around the Inn forever and both were getting bored.
"What do we do now?" Ked asked K.C., almost falling over from the boredom.
"I dunno." She replied.
K.C. was walking to their room when she saw a very old friend just lying on a bed in one of the rooms to this Inn. Man! What a coincidence!!.
"Hi Vyse! What are you doing here?!" Vyse stared at her dumbfounded. No way the girl in front of him was K.C. Just no WAY!
"What am I doing here?! What are YOU doing here?!" He asked, running out of his room and kneeling next to her.
"Oh C'mon Vyse get up, don't make a scene!"
Vyse stood at her request. "Sorry Milady."
K.C. smacked her forehead. "VYSE!! C'mon! Don't be so formal!"
Ked scratched his head. "What are you guys talking about?" He asked, clearly cofused by what was going on.. Vyse spoke before K.C. could open her mouth, he must inform this boy properly before K.C. could deny it. "She is the princess of Lindinbum, didn't you know?"