Here is yet another fanfiction of mine though I must caution the readers that this will not be your typical Ragnarok Online fanfiction. I do hope you will enjoy this, just as much as I enjoy writing it.
Another note to everyone: you might be surprised to find familiar characters in this fic, especially to the RB people reading my fanfictions here in Let's just say the two certain characters from an old fic of mine was more appealing to me so I made this separate fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ragnarok Online. It belongs to Lee Myung Jin and to its respective owners. I, however, own the characters used in this fic.
Fata Viam Inviente
PrologueA loud slap was heard throughout the room as a male Knight stood in front of a female Knight, who laid on the floor, clutching her right cheek in pain. Surrounding them were their own classmates consisted of predominantly Knights and some female Knights as well. As much as they want to help their classmate from Luthergrand Marcius' wrath, they were just too afraid to move.
"Get up, Clovermoon." He demanded angrily.
Clovermoon Lucile wanted to die right then and there. There he was, towering over her yet again, his piercing silver-gray eyes staring straight at her soul. Though he looked so menacing right now, the blonde-haired Knightess knew he still had that boyish charm. Brown hair that almost covered one silver eye and a well-build body, eighteen-year-old Marcius was a ladies' man. And to top all of it, he was considered a first class citizen, a privilege to those whose families were from lineages of Knights.
"I-I don't want to." She answered back defiantly, crystalline blue eyes flickering in anger. "You're just a nobody, Luthergrand, and I don't take orders from anyone except our teachers."
Their classmates suddenly gulped in fear. This was the end of Lucile, they all thought.
Roughly, the brown-haired boy pulled her up and pushed her against the wall. "You dare defy my orders, Clovermoon?! A third class citizen like you has no place in society unlike myself! And you even have the nerve to tell me what I am?!"
"You are a nobody, Luthergrand! You're just some spoiled brat who wants to get his way!" she spat out.
The male Knight's temper suddenly reached its boiling point and quickly, his right knuckle had connected with her left cheek. A bloodcurdling scream came right after the girl flew a few good feet, hitting several desks and chairs. When Lucile's unconscious body finally lay on the floor, a puddle of blood was visible just beneath her almost lifeless body.
Several people had panicked at the sight but Marcius said nothing though there was a sadistic smile plastered on his face. Satisfied, he left the classroom, minus his two friends who suddenly ran at the unconscious girl's side.
Mikado Shunrai, a blonde-haired Knight and one of Marcius' close friends, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and began to wipe the blood off of her face while Akizuki Yukishiro, a sapphire-haired Knight, began yelling his head off to their classmates to call the nurse at her office for some assistance… Lucile was in a much more worst state than they have imagined.
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Minutes had passed before the two men had gotten word that Lucile was already out of danger. According to the nurse, she was in such a horrid state; even the doctors were too scared to do something that might hurt her. The injuries were bad and it seemed Lucile might not even attend her own graduation, which was just two days away from now.
"I can't believe Marcius is doing something like this to Clovermoon-san!" Yukishiro told Shunrai as the two exited the hospital just near the Prontera Chivalry. "What happened to his verbal abuses against her?! It evolved to physical torture?!"
"Calm down, Yuki. Everyone knows Marcius is like that to Clovermoon-san so there's no use in wondering why he had done it."
"You don't understand, Shun!" Akizuki argued. "Her roommates told me that Clovermoon-san had been trying to kill herself because of Marcius! The scars on her wrists were the proof!"
"I already know all about it. She was the one who told me." Came the calm reply.
The sapphire-haired boy with matching sapphire eyes stopped walking and gave his friend a shocked look. "WHY DID YOU NOT TELL MARCIUS?!?!" he bellowed, shaking the blonde. "YOU COULD"VE STOPPED HIM FROM HURTING CLOVERMOON-SAN EVEN MORE!!!"
The blonde sighed and fixed the Iron Helm he wore on his head. "Yuki, you know that Marcius can never take orders from us. WE take orders from him though the three of us are all first class citizens." He spoke. "Besides, even if I tell him about Clovermoon-san's condition, do you think he will stop? Of course not, his purpose is to hurt her in any way he can. Right now, we can do nothing…"
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The familiar-looking blonde-haired girl finally opened her crystal blue eyes after hours of being unconscious. She tried to get up though it surprised her a bit to why she had ached all over.
"You're finally awake, Lucile-chan." A gentle voice said.
The female Knight looked up to see her best friend, Caristo Adel, a pink-haired Priestess smiling at her happily. "I thought you wouldn't wake up, even if the doctors told us you were already out of danger…"
"Us…?" she asked, praying that Luthergrand at least had the conscience to visit her.
"Akizuki Yukishiro-san and Mikado Shunrai-san." The pink-haired eighteen year old said, slightly blushing after mentioning Yuki's name. "They were both worried about you, Lucile-chan…"
It did not surprise her one bit. Though those two Knights were Marcius' best friends and minions, they were also her protectors from his wrath when it had gone too far. Besides, they were the only ones who knew… something.
"I see…" the Knightess replied after awhile. "Adel-san, I'll be okay now. You can go back to the Sanctuary if you want to."
The Priestess looked as if she had been slapped across the face. "L-Lucile-chan… why are you always like that…? You shove people away who try to help you…" fresh tears began to run down her face as she gave her best friend a gentle hug. "Why do always want to be alone…?"
'I have always been alone ever since I was born.' The seventeen-year-old Lucile thought. 'In the Chivalry, I'm a pariah to everyone… and to think that I love that man who despises me so much.'
With that, she also broke into tears, wincing as the salty tears hit the fresh wounds on her face. 'No matter what happens to me, I still have to stand up to Luthergrand… even if it means I still have to endure at least a few more days before we separate. By then, I can go back to my life in the Sanctuary…'
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As the three boys began to have a get together that night at Mikado Shunrai's home, an already drunk Marcius bellowed loudly, "Here's to the pain brought upon by me to that bitch, Clovermoon!" As he lifted up his wine glass in the air and noticed that the two men with him said nothing, as if they lacked interest, he asked them, "What's wrong now?"
"Marcius, aren't you going too far in your teasing against Clovermoon-san?" Shunrai asked casually. "I mean… sending her into the emergency room earlier was no laughing matter."
Yuki decided to speak up as well. "He's right, Marcius. Why can't you just stop teasing her? There are at least dozens of women whom you could taunt endlessly… why her?"
The arrogant Knight suddenly smirked. "She's a social climber, can't you see that? a third class citizen like her has no right to talk to us first class citizens…"
"Well, what do you expect her to do? Talk to a wall?" Shunrai asked sarcastically.
"Correct. I want to show her where she really belongs." Luthergrand said.
The blonde of the three sighed. "How will you react if she becomes my girlfriend?"
The two other boys stared at their friend, especially Marcius who looked like he was ready to kill. That was unheard of; a first class citizen having some third class wrench for a girlfriend! "What?! Are you really serious, Mikado?!" the eighteen year old Luthergrand asked and when the said person nodded in response, looking so dead serious, the brown-haired Knight slammed down his wine glass in anger, the crystal fragments flying in all directions.
"I cannot believe that you would stoop so low as to get some third class citizen like her to become your girlfriend!!!" Marcius shouted.
"She may be a third class citizen but that doesn't mean Clovermoon-san is stupid. She's the top in our class, remember?" Yuki said smugly, seeing his best friend's angry face at the mention of the word 'top'.
"Do whatever you want, Mikado. Just don't expect me to be civilized to her when the two of you are together." With a swish of his cape, the first class citizen left the veranda of his own home, retreating to his room.
As soon as the silver-gray eyed boy was out of earshot, Yuki asked Shun. "Were you serious about turning Clovermoon-san into your girlfriend?"
He suddenly stopped. "I… I don't know, Yuki…"
Mikado Shunrai then proceeded to drink his champagne and began to think about the words he had just said to Marcius. He knew that Lucile would never give him the time of the day for she was so much in love with Marcius. How else can the latter evade punishment when the girl always made excuses to their teacher on how she had gotten all those ugly scars all over her legs?
'This may be harder than I thought…'-------------------------------------------------
Days have passed by and before Lucile had known it, she was now ready to get discharged from the hospital. Though it was such a painful experience for her, she knew that through self-mutilation could she get her sanity back.
'At last, graduation day is today. After that, I can go back to my normal life without him taunting me every single day, calling me a worthless bitch who did not deserve to live…' she thought sadly as the blonde began to put on her Knight regalia, wince each time the tight clothing pressed hard against the wounds on her arms, legs and chest. It had taken some time before Lucile had finished getting dressed. Taking the Munak Hat from her dresser, Clovermoon proceeded to the Prontera Chivalry…
Dozens of students were already inside the building and found herself feeling left out. Sighing, the seventeen year old leaned against a pillar, thinking of her future. The Priestesses in the Sanctuary had given her a choice of either staying in Prontera or helping the other Acolytes build a new orphanage at Lutie or to other remote places around Rune-Midgard. That was the least she can do after all the years the Sanctuary had taken her under their wing…
"Well, well, if it isn't our top graduate…" came the very familiar menacing voice.
The girl suddenly froze in fear and began to put on her Munak Hat though the man was too fast. He then got her Hat and held it up high as to not let it be within her reach.
"Give it back…" she mumbled, not bother to raise her arm just to reach it. The blonde had already known that she couldn't reach it.
"What did you say?" he smirked. "Say it clearly and I want to let everyone in this room hear your request to me."
Everyone in the room started sweating heavily. What had happened to their few minutes of peace, now that Luthergrand had begun his teasing once more…?
"Forget about it." She said loudly, raising her arms exasperatedly. "I don't give a damn whether you throw that away or give it to your girlfriends… everyone's getting pissed off at your childish antics, Luthergrand and believe me, its not funny!"
At this statement, the eighteen-year-old Knight began to turn red in embarrassment and in fury. "What did you say?!?" the male heir of the Luthergrand family grabbed the silver tunic that she wore and slammed her against a pillar, the latter screaming in pain as the wounds on her back reopened from the impact and the Munak Hat already forgotten. "I dare you to say that again, Clovermoon!!!"
Before she could retort back, a woman in her mid-twenties wearing an elegant scarlet-colored Priestess robes with a white cross design on the front skirt suddenly entered the room and glanced around. When she saw Lucile, the woman gave her a stern look. "Clovermoon Lucile." She called out.
Marcius suddenly let go of her and she ran to the High Priestess, who in turn, gave her a tight hug. "Come on, darling, let's get going…"
"Go…? Go where?"
"Lutie. Adel is waiting for us there." The Priestess gave her a warm smile. "I've decided that you stay in Lutie with Adel so you can have your rest and relaxation."
For the first time since childhood, Clovermoon Lucile had smiled. "Oh, thank you, Nisou-dono!!!"
"Don't worry about your graduation, I have your diploma here. I have also talked with your principal about you getting your diploma earlier than the rest." the aquamarine-haired Priestess took out a roll of parchment and handed it to her. "As for your speech, I'll let a representative from the Sanctuary do it. Come on, time's a wasting, Lucile-chan!" with that, she took the girl's wrist and dragged her out of the Prontera Chivalry.
As soon as the two were out of earshot, whispers filled the building, expressing their shock over the closeness of the High Priestess of Prontera and a third class citizen like Lucile. The brown-haired bully, however, was losing his temper.
"Why did Kannagi Nisou, High Priestess of Prontera, defiled her own status by talking with that… that… gaishou." He spat at the last word.
"If you must know, Marcius, Clovermoon-san lives in the Sanctuary and the one who took care of her from her childhood until now was Kannagi-sama." Yuki spoke up intelligently. "They are very close friends."
"That's insane!" the brown-haired Knight exclaimed.
"Believe it." Shunrai spoke up as well. "And if you must know, Kannagi-sama noticed those scars you've made in Clovermoon-san's body. If I were you, I'd be careful… Kannagi-sama was glaring at you the whole time she was here."
The eighteen-year-old Marcius suddenly quieted down. For some reason, Shunrai's words about Lucile suddenly made him feel sorry for the girl but…
'Stop thinking about her being nice. She's not what she seems to be, remember that!' an angry voice in his head dictated. 'That girl does not deserve any sympathy!!!'
"So what?" Luthergrand spoke up suddenly. "Do I even care about her well-being? Besides, it was better that she had left early… I can't stand to see her face anyway."
His two friends sighed in despair. There was no use in convincing their friend about Lucile for it was better that the latter had already left. Peace would reign once again in their supposed 'quiet lives'.
To be continued…
A/N: If you must know, gaishou means 'whore'.