Disclaimer: I do not own anything I could be sued for
Owen glanced at Ley who was smiling rather contently. "Er…are you alright?" he asked as he glanced at her as he pinned her arms to the wall.
Grinning Ley shook her head. "No, no. Nothing." She said happily as she grinned evilly at Owen. "But first, I want you to know that I have…well…a problem."
"A problem?" Owen echoed.
Ley grinned as she nodded at Owen. "Yeah. You see, I have split personalities and they can just come out at any minute…like now."
As soon as Ley said the word "now", Yami immediately took over.
"Don't hurt him too badly Yami." Ley grinned as she retreated into their mind.
"No worries." Yami said out loud. "T'night I'm gonna have some fun."
Owen mistook the message. "Fun?" He grinned. "What kinnda fun?"
Chuckling evilly, Yami's eyes suddenly grew bigger and more dangerous as the pupils got smaller and shone with a deep evil. "My kind of fun."
***
Nagiciam glared down at Hitomi who shuffled her feet nervously. "Well?" he said angrily.
Hitomi just played stupid and looked away. "Well what?" she asked.
"You. Told. Them."
Hitomi only coughed softly and closed her eyes. "They promised they wouldn't tell."
Nagiciam sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "This is very bad. Especially if master finds out."
"Finds out what?" a deep voice said behind him.
Nervously, Nagiciam turned around and saw what he feared to be. "Er…Master! Hello…I…" he stammered.
Sohac stared down angrily at Nagiciam. "Find out what?" he repeated. "Your relationship with Leyline? I already know that thanks to your sister here."
Hitomi gave a weak laugh.
Sohac grinned as Nagiciam glared at his sister and made a choking motion with one hand towards her as she squeaked and backed away. "Nagiciam, it is not my purpose in life to find every little thing about you nor is it my matters to be involved with them. So I have no problem with this. You are dismissed. I have more important things to think about other than our study session."
Startled, Nagiciam looked at Sohac who only just swept his way across the room and sat down in an old chair, pull out a book that was old and heavy, and begin to read, ignoring the two others in his room.
"Uhm…thank you master."
***
A heavy sigh escaped Nagiciam as he and Hitomi began making their way around the hallways in a way to kill time. Or at least to Nagiciam's hope, run into Ley.
"Nagiciam," Hitomi finally said breaking the silence that stood between them. "Are you really going to go after a Blue Eye? What chance do you have against that other guy Owen? I mean, he's strong and he's smart, and he's a great warrior and he can talk to a lot of girls before. He's very popular…"
However, seeing her comments were only hurting, Hitomi tried a different road.
"Well he may have that, but you've got looks, charm…um…and you…are…good looking! Did I say that already?"
Grinning, Nagiciam only shook his head and crossed his arms as he stopped, his wand sticking out of his hands as usual. "It's alright Hitomi." He said gently as he patted her on the head. "I…I think I have a chance."
"You've got more than a chance brother." Hitomi said as she smiled up at her brother. "You've got it all the way!"
Suddenly a scream ripped through the halls.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"What was that?" Hitomi cried as she gripped onto Nagiciam, choking him.
"Hi-Hitomi…!" Nagiciam gasped as he pushed her off him. "S-Stop…!"
"Sorry."
And with that, they both took off down the hall.
***
Nagiciam stopped as a crowd of people stood around in a tight ring. Turning to Hitomi, Nagiciam stopped her and said sternly, "Stay here."
Ignoring the protests that followed, Nagiciam pushed his way through the crowd and at the last second nearly ran over Citlec.
"Hey watch it!" Citlec said annoyed as Nagiciam pushed past him.
"Sorry."
Then turning his attention to the middle of the floor, Nagiciam gasped at what he saw.
"It happened just minutes ago when a maid found him here like this and screamed for help." Citlec explained as Nagiciam stared frozen. "Listen, I know this might be kind of hard for you but…hey…are you laughing!"
Indeed, Nagiciam was staring at what was in front of him and trying vainly to keep back laughter.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!"
Holding his stomach and doubling over, Nagiciam dropped his wand and began flat out laughing. He was laughing so hard, he had to sit down and wipe small tears from his eyes.
Citlec just stared lamely down at Nagiciam while trying to hold in his own laughter by disguising it as coughing. "Well…at least Owen is still in one piece…" he chuckled.
"Shut up!" Owen yelled from his pole in ten time's higher pitch than normal. He had been completely stripped with nothing but his underwear and red paint had been painted on his rear. His body had been tar and feathered, he wore a painted mustache, and to top it all off, he was hanging by his underwear on a high pole with the end of his underwear pulled over the top to complete a massive wedgie. To make it all worse, the pole had been enchanted so it would pull up making Owen squeak with pain any time anyone tried to approach it to get him down assuring he would stay that way for a long time.
"Wow. That's a nice piece of scenery if I ever saw it." A voice said behind Nagiciam.
Nagiciam turned to see Yami kneeling beside him. "Y-Yami!" he choked out. "Did you see…?"
Winking, Yami said in a whispered voice as the people around them flustered tried to get him down. "I told him that if he squealed, he would be in for a lot worse." She grinned.
Above them, Citlec gave a disapproving stare.
Blinking for a minute, a thought hit Nagiciam as he broke out into a grin. "Was Ley in on this too?" he asked silently.
"Yes."
Nagiciam grinned as he stared at Yami. "Tell her thank you, will you?"
But at that moment, Yami switched with Ley and Ley grinned as she put her head on Nagiciam's shoulder who held it gently with one hand as the other met Ley's.
"She knows."
***
A swordsman looked down at his victim as he wiped the blood off his sword with a expensive looking napkin. "With all the commotion, no one noticed me. Ley built the perfect distraction without even knowing it. Oh well. I'll have to thank her."
And then he threw the bloody cloth onto the woman he had just killed.
"My best regards…your majesty."
***
Nagiciam grinned as he and Ley walked together down the hallway to the Great Hall for a special meeting the king had called.
"You know," Nagiciam said as he gave Ley a sad grin. "You're going to be in big trouble for what you did last night. I hope you know what you got yourself into."
Ley only grinned. "Ah, I can take it." She responded with determination. "I don't think they'll go so hard on me. I was acting in self-defense you know."
"Oh really?"
Stopping for a minute, Ley grinned and closed her eyes. "Yeah. It was. No one is going to try to make a move on me like he did. And I'll spare you of detail, but he was a real player I'll say that. What a jerk."
Nagiciam laughed as he put a hand on Ley's shoulder. "Yeah. It's a good thing he finally got a lesson. At least now he'll think twice before he hits on you or any other girl for that matter. I think you did all the ladies in the kingdom a favor really."
Laughing, the two entered the Great Hall together with smiles on their faces. However, as soon as the grim mood fell over them as their entered the room, their smiles and laughter slowly died.
Everyone in the Great Hall was looking down. Women were crying and the men just either talked very quietly amongst themselves or stared at the floor. King Otes and White were standing next to King Sage in a guest chair in the back and center of the room and Sohac and Sage sat in their usual gold chairs, Sage looking very sad and Sohac looking very cross.
Blinking and looking around the room, Ley asked quietly, "What happened? Why is everyone looking so…sad?"
Nagiciam shook his head a she too stared around the room. "I don't know and I don't understand. If this is about you, then there's no way your punishment could have been harsh, and if this is from some other affair, I haven't heard it yet."
"Brother!"
Quickly, Nagiciam found himself on the floor in an embrace that was squeezing the life out of him from his sister Hitomi.
"H-Hitomi!" Nagiciam gasped as she tightened the grip on her brother's neck. "Y-you're…ch-choking…m-me!"
However, that did not make Hitomi move, only tighten her grip on Nagiciam who was beginning to turn color. "B-Brother!" she cried as big tears rolled down her eyes. "I-I-It's the Queen of Elves! S-She's…"
Seeing Nagiciam was in trouble, Ley swiftly knelt down and gripped Hitomi's shoulders making her come off Nagiciam giving him a breath of life. "Hitomi, tell me. What happened?"
Still choking and sniffling, Hitomi managed to cry out, "S-she's dead! Someone…murdered her!"
Inside, Ley's mind, Yami widened her eyes in shock. "Citlec…!" she gasped quickly.
Responding in her thoughts, Ley turned to Yami. "What was that? Citlec? What does he have to do with this?"
But Yami had roughly shoved Ley aside in her mind taking over their body. "What happened?" Yami thought quickly in her own thoughts that were separate from Ley. "How did this happen? Who did this? When I find them…!"
But meaningless threats were useless in this situation as Yami got up, her gold eyes glaring, to the court and yelled, "Where's Sir Citlec? Tell me!"
The court instantly stared at the outspoken girl in the silence.
"Well?"
But no one knew.
"Damn it!" Yami yelled before she took off out of the Hall and out the door.
"Le-…Yami wait!" Nagiciam cried as he reached for her.
But she was already gone.
Angrily, Nagiciam slammed his fist into the ground. "Ragh!"
"Why…? Why does she always have to run to him?"
***
Yami grinned as she walked though the place where she and Citlec usually ran into each other. Eventually, she saw him, staring at his reflection in a small fountain, an unreadable expression on his face.
"So…I found you." She said amused.
Without looking at her, Citlec said slowly and sadly, "Did you come here to tease me more?"
"No."
Looking up, Citlec stared in confusion. "But I thought…" he stammered as he watched her stare back at him, her arms crossed.
Ley grinned more and said coolly, "Well you thought wrong. I'm not here to tease you. I would be insulting the King of Elves."
"SHUT UP!"
Angrily, Citlec stood, his fists clenched with anger. "Damn you! Don't call me by that name! I'm not the king for gods sake!"
Ley only laughed at her new threat. "Oh denial can be an ugly thing." She chuckled. "But you can't run from the truth forever. Your Queen, no, your mother murdered, your father dead, and the brat gone as well, all that's left is you."
Shaking his head, Citlec closed his eyes and twisted is hair in his fingers. "No, no, no!" he screamed. "Shut up, shut up, shut UP!"
"Silence Elf! You're crying like a baby!"
Having up to here with her words, Citlec angrily stormed up to Yami and began yelling at her in her face.
"You know, just because you think that you're so brave and right doesn't make it so! And sometimes, people need to cry and I can't help it! I'm only a mortal! I'm not all-powerful and a spirit like you are! I haven't lives through the ages! I'm NOT YOU! I'll never stoop down to as low as that! You're so pushy and rude, no wonder you're stuck in some body of another! I feel sorry for Leyline to have to put up with you! You're nothing but a snotty, stuck up, bragging, know-it-all heinous BITCH!"
Yami was silent and her face expressionless.
Panting, Citlec stared into Yami's gold ones, bright amber burning into cold gold. "I…" he stammered as he calmed down slowly. "I…I'm…"
"Save it." Yami interrupted walking past him, brushing her shoulder into him. "I've heard enough."
Staring at the place where Yami was standing for a split second, Citlec quickly turned and called, "Yami! Yami wait! Wait! I didn't mean…!"
But Yami wasn't listening as she said over her shoulder, "You did mean it. Every word and you know it. There's nothing to say now."
Then as she left his line of sight, Citlec could only sit on the ground and hang his head between his knees, his shoulders shaking.
***
Nagiciam's eyes narrowed sadly as he watched Ley sit on a bench in the courtyard looking down at the ground and staring sadly at the stones beneath her. Walking up to her, Nagiciam slowly sat down next to her. "Hey Ley…are you alright?"
Nodding sadly, Ley gave a weak grin to Nagiciam as she looked at him, trying to put on a good face. "Y-yeah…Yami got yelled at and she's a little upset. I guess…I guess Citlec really made her mad. She won't even talk to me or share thoughts anymore."
Nagiciam felt a sweat drop run down his forehead. "You share…thoughts?" he asked coughing a little.
Realizing her mistake, Ley quickly gave a weak smile and held up her hands. "No, no, only things that can we want to share! Nothing personal!"
"Oh ok." Nagiciam said breathing a sigh of relief. Trying to turn to a different subject, Nagiciam leaned forward a bit on his knees and tried a shot at a conversation. "So…do you like it here? I mean, usually we don't have so many mysteries running around like this…and everything. But I mean…are you happy here…and the people?"
"I like it here a lot." Ley smiled as she leaned forward a bit too to match Nagiciam. "I enjoy everyone's company. And I've made new friends and caught up with old ones."
Nagiciam nodded. "Me too."
Ley grinned as she stared at Nagiciam right in the eyes. "By the way, Yami wants to talk to you. Says it's important."
"Well alright."
Slowly, Ley closed her eyes and when they reopened, they were harder, cold, and shone of a bright gold color. "Well we meet again Nagiciam." Yami said as she grinned evilly at him. "I have some things to tell you."
Nagiciam's smile also faded as he met with her gold eyes. "And I have questions to ask." He said casually. "But you first. Maybe then my questions might be answered."
Yami nodded. "You know that the prophecy calls for two keys, one only a key, and the other, a key and a door. There also needs to be a path. As you have guessed, or at least your master has, I am the one who ruled many years ago. And I am the path. The other key doesn't know who he is. But he will have to realize it in time."
Nagiciam stared. "How does this key know who he is?" he asked. "You've answered one of my questions by telling me you are the Evil Queen who once terrorized the dragons. But your new explanation has me confused. I've never heard of this path."
"The key will know who he is when his blood spills on the ground of the temple of Wish. That's where the door will be opened and only there. The other key, the door, when she is killed, not by her own causes, but by another's hand will the door open. With these two things, then the paradise will be opened. So do you understand?"
"Well what about you?" Nagiciam asked. "Aren't you the path? What happened? How did you get in Ley anyway? And what are you going to do to her?"
Yami snickered as she half glared at him. "I'm not going to do anything to her. I need her to live and I guess you could say I've gotten used to her. But I can read your thoughts and the question is not what I'm going to do to her, but what her father is going to."
"Her father?" Nagiciam gasped. "What about him?"
"Oh nothing." Yami said evilly. "But I can read your thoughts and I know what you want. And from what I hear, you might get it. Maybe you will."
