Summary Recap: Elestra and Flauvic are transported to another world/realm when Elestra touches her mother's hand. Elestra finds out too late that the person that she thought was her mother was actually an illusion, created by the villain. The illusion of Meliara, Lord Devin, and Lady Aislinn disappears. With the disappearance of the illusion, the main characters are transported to another place, where they find their heart's desire, as an aftereffect. Enraptured by their heart's desire, they lose focus of their goals, the reality of everything.
------------------------------------------Flauvic's POV------------------------------------------------------------------
It was…definitely not what I expected. Immediately I pushed away from her and knew that it was another illusion. He [W/R: He as in the villain] knows about my feelings then. I realized with some amusement, but with worry as well. I had to tell her to help her and the others.
"Dios y diosa liberan la ilusión [W/R: God and goddess free the illusion, in Spanish. It isn't as cool as Latin, but at least I know how to conjugate the verb...sort of.]" I said, dismantling the illusion.
In a puff of smoke, the Elestra look-alike disappeared. This trick, he played, angered me. It humiliated me and he was going to pay, once I find Elestra.
"Dios y diosa le me traen a la persona busco. [W/R: God and goddess bring me to the person I seek, again in Spanish.]" I spoke in my usual quick fashion to cast the spell, before the conjured winds surrounded me and I was dropped elsewhere.
---------------End of Flauvic's POV & Start of Elestra's POV-------------------------------------------------------
It was…definitely not what I expected. It was a mere kiss, a mere touch of the lips, duel between the tongues, and an exchange of a sort. It reminded me of a certain other kiss too. Shocked by the idea and the image resulted from the familiar kiss, I pulled away quickly with both of my hands pushing him away from me. I looked at him, just staring at him, confused and in wonderment. I knew I looked like an idiot, but I just couldn't help, but stare like a simple-minded person. Surely, my mind was just playing tricks on me, yet why would it? He looked like Mr. Mysterious. His touch stimulated the same emotions as well, but his kiss was just different, just strange and foreign or maybe not so foreign for it did seem like the kiss of another's. He looked back at me confused and I saw hurt in his eyes. I bit my lower lip, looking away. How was I to explain to him why I pulled away when it made no sense even to me?
"Elestra, what's wrong?" Mr. Mysterious asked, gripping my arm.
I didn't answer him, unsure how I could even begin to explain. Someone, anyone, give me a sign to explain everything I'm feeling. Then I spotted something in the empty blue sky and Mr. Mysterious's grasp stiffened for a second, but I barely noticed. Looks like a bird, no a flying object? Wait…no…it's a man? He's falling out of the sky? Life! I thought, squinting up at the approaching speck. The person landed in the water a few feet away, creating a large wave. My mouth dropped in horror, as the wave descended upon Mr. Mysterious and me. It loomed above us and crashed upon us with great force that I was amazed to still be upright and in the same position as I was before the large wave. I was spluttered out the ocean water from my mouth, feeling numb from the cold water spilled all over me. I raked and wrung water out of my hair, which hung like large dreadlocks. Mr. Mysterious didn't appear dry either. I must have the greatest luck, I thought sarcastically. When I wanted a sign, I didn't mean such a dramatic one. The warm winds felt cold on my wet skin and I sneezed. Warm, but wet arms encircled me and I looked over my shoulder to see the ever-sweet Mr. Mysterious with concern for me, shining in his eyes. Life, I don't deserve such a guy.
"Elestra," The cause of the wave called. "Move away!"
I tore my gaze from Mr. Mysterious and looked to a drenched man a couple of feet away from Mr. Mysterious and me. I barely recognized him, but I recognized the voice. It was a voice that I knew fairly well and I was baffled as to why he was here. It was Flauvic, who mimicked a drowned cat in appearance. I almost laughed at seeing the "great" Lord Flauvic Merindar, the Flower as he had once been known. Apparently, someone went overboard in watering him. When he parted his dripping pale locks from his face, did I see that face of his.
"Flauvic?" I said, trying to control my laughter, though I bet I looked much better than he did. It thus resulted in my inability to hear his command before he started casting a spell.
"Dios y diosa liberan la ilusión [W/R: God and goddess free the illusion, again, in Spanish.]" He quickly said, as he waded in the water toward us.
A blinding light struck Mr. Mysterious and the light repelled me from him, throwing me into the air. The light dissolved and the spots in my eyes faded. I sat on the sand, a foot or so away from Mr. Mysterious, who lay in the sand.
"Mr. Mysterious! Are you hurt?" I asked concerned, running up to him and lifting his head, resting him in my lap.
He didn't look hurt, only dazed. He nodded, though distractedly with closed eyes, before falling unconscious and limp in my arms. I ran my hand through his hair, as my heart throbbed fast and agitatedly. I helped him lie down comfortably, as Flauvic swore in the background. I checked his pulse and watched his breathing. He's looks like he'll survive.
"Get away from him, Elestra. He's not Mr. Mysterious." Flauvic said, apparently done with his swearing. "He cursed Lord Devin and trapped your mother in her mind. He is the source of all the evil."
I bit my lip, as anger arose in me. I couldn't believe that he had done such a thing just now. I turned to him and got up from the sand. I moved toward Flauvic, though not because I believed that Flauvic was telling the truth. I got right to his face and punched him, as hard as I could. Flauvic's eyes widened in shock, but before he could recover or say anything, I started yelling at him. "How dare you! How dare you do that? How dare you accuse him of such a thing! How dare you place a spell on him! You could have killed him!!! What were you thinking? You inconsiderate, mean, horrible person! Is it your job to make everyone as cold and miserable as you?!?! I can't believe you just stroll into my life like this and ruin everything. Why can't you learn from your mistakes? Stop trying to make everyone bow down to you. They certainly won't and neither would I! Just leave me and everyone alone."
I landed a blow to his stomach, making him double over. I was about to knee him, when he blocked my attack and blocked the punches after that, as he straightened up. Perhaps, my emotions blinded me and allowed him to predict my next attack. Wordlessly and effortlessly, he flipped me, tripping me down to the sandy beach. Groaning, I lifted my face and turned to him. I was satisfied in seeing a large bruise, forming around his eye from where I punched him. It looked painful and tender with the inflammation kicking in around his eye. I realized with impish glee that I was in the perfect position to kick him and providing him with a lot of pain. I kicked upwards with no reluctance or hesitation. He gasped in pain, clutching the spot where I'd kicked him. I intertwined my legs around his left leg and flipped him to the sand, beside me. I moved to get up, but he pulled me on top of him and then we rolled, so that he trapped me beneath him. His hands restrained my wrists and his body pinned me down. I glared at him, both of us were breathing shallowly. We both were red.
"Will you stop attacking me now?" He asked, calmly.
"Well, you deserved it," I replied, childishly and fuming still. "You don't cast spells for no just reason. Get off of me!"
"My spell would have worked, if you weren't in this denial about Mr. Mysterious. And it was for a just reason. What spell did he cast over you that you forget about everything, but him?"
He ignored my command, but held me so that less of his weight was on me.
"Denial," I exclaimed. "Denial about what? And he cast no spell over me, Flauvic."
"Oh, come on," He said. "You can't actually believe that he is the Mr. Mysterious that you know."
A frowned flickered for a second across my face, as I remembered the strange kiss I had earlier.
"Ah ha, so you did suspect it!" Flauvic exclaimed, watching me, seemingly reading my mind. "A mere kiss can reveal a lot, don't you know, Elestra? Can't you just hurry up and apologize to me, get over you denial, and save the others?"
I scowled at him.
"You don't know what you're blabbering about. I'm even sure if I know what you're blabbering about." I told him.
He smirked at me, knowingly. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face, but I couldn't exactly do anything until he was off me. I coiled my hands so that I gripped his wrists instead of the other way around and I pushed him off. The good thing was that he let go of me, but the smirk grew, instead of diminishing. He's not a flower, more like a weed. I thought, narrowing my eyes at him. He sighed looking at me, propping himself on one elbow, as I rubbed my wrists in an attempt to get the prickling feeling out of them.
"How long do you think you can lie to yourself? How long do you think this imposter will keep you alive, before he thinks you're no use to him anymore?"
"He does not use me as a hostage or toy," I retorted, emphasizing on the word hostage.
"It may seem so, for now." He replied, unaffected by my words.
"I don't have time for this. I have to bring Mr. Mysterious to a healer."
"I told you the spell didn't work. It bounced right off of him, since the one he's blinding with the illusion does not want to believe it's just a fake."
"Fine, Lord Flauvic. If you think that, may I ask how you know that he's a fake, why I should trust you, and how can you be sure of anything."
"I am sure he is a fake and that's all you need to know. You should trust me, because I didn't hurt you when I held you hostage and I am sure of everything, because this is me, you're talking about."
I rolled my eyes. Why is he even doing this, I wondered.
"You're not persuading me in the least. Good day, Lord Flauvic. You should get a healer to check on your head for that fall into the water must have dislodged something up there." I told him with a small shove to his head.
Getting up, I felt a pull on my wrist. Sighing, as I looked down at what held me back, I asked, exasperatedly.
"What now?"
"Believe me or at least let me put on some protective gear."
"Very funny," I replied with a tone contradicting my words.
"Just believe me, please," He said, trying again with a small sigh.
I looked in his eyes and I hesitated looking in them. They reminded me of someone else. His hand around my wrist made my skin feel strange and my heart jumped, as my gut clenched in anxiety. What is going on with me?
"Remember in the throne room, I said I didn't want to kill you and you believed me. Believe me again."
"But you also said that if I got you to the border that you would let me be. I did and here you are again."
"Circumstances changed and I had to come back."
Skeptically, I looked at him, as he got up.
"How do I know that circumstances changed enough so that you will kill me and those closest to me? How do I know this is not your revenge for not getting Merindar or Athanarel?"
"Believe me," He said with his voice so soft, I almost couldn't hear him if I was not as close to him as I was.
"Why," I replied, just as soft.
"Because I-" Flauvic reluctantly started to say.
"Step away from the girl, Flauvic." Mr. Mysterious interrupted, causing Flauvic and I to face him, as he watched us in turn.
Mr. Mysterious started to stand and rushed over to him.
"Elestra, don't!" I heard Flauvic say, but I helped Mr. Mysterious anyway, shaking Flauvic's hand away from me.
I held Mr. Mysterious up with his arm around my shoulder, before he steadied himself. When he finally stood, his mask slipped off his face, the ties fluttering in the winds before falling to the sand, unheeded. There was nothing to hide him from me now. Unmasked was the face that I wondered so long about. This left me numb and shocked, not to mention confused.
"Lord Damien," I whispered to no one in particular.
"I guess that Fate has decided it was time for me to reveal myself."
"You were Mr. Mysterious all along," I stated, still in shock.
At least, I know why I thought of Lord Damien when I kissed Mr. Mysterious before. [W/R: Damien was the image that came to mind when Elestra was kissing Mr. Mysterious, you know the kiss that Elestra felt weird about.]
"Liar," Flauvic cried, striding up to us. "It's easy to see that you took the place of your illusion, just to further confuse Elestra. Why? Scared when I got over the illusion you sent me? Scared that I'd find a way to get to Elestra and destroy you? Or that she would find out on her own? It takes more than just appearances to trick people, especially people with a deep relationship."
"I did no such thing and you are one to talk with your infamous deceptions! I mean you are Lord Flauvic Merindar, are you not?"
"People change," He retorted with no emotion.
"Well, they need not if they were an asset to society in the first place."
"Perhaps, but then who is to judge the good qualities in a person? Certainly, you are not given such a job."
Mr. Mysterious smirked at Flauvic. Meanwhile, as the two men dueled verbally, my mind tried to comprehend and absorb the information placed before me.
"It's easy to see that he's not Mr. Mysterious," Flauvic said.
"It's not easy for me." I replied, practically yelling to him, frustrated.
"That's because I am Mr. Mysterious," Damien said, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. "And there's nothing to prove I'm not. Elestra, you know that don't you."
Everything, but my gut feeling tells me that you are. I opened my mouth to say something when Flauvic pulled me away from Damien's grasp.
"Hey!" I cried.
"Trust your gut feeling. Think logically! He didn't know you when Mr. Mysterious visited you through the carnival illusion."
"It wasn't a dream, then." I said, "But how do you know about that? No one else does."
He blushed so faintly that most people wouldn't have noticed. I frowned, as I wondered what he was hiding from me.
"I heard about you when you visited last time. Sadly, my father kept me occupied from meeting you. Another cause for our first encounter, Elestra." Damien explained, pulling me to his side with a slightly painful hold on my arm.
It was my turn to blush, though more fierce than Flauvic and Flauvic looked onto me with a raised questioningly eyebrow. I turned away from him.
"Damien has to be Mr. Mysterious. He was the only one that knew where I was that day when I climbed down the wall." I said. But something doesn't seem right still, I mused over the wrongness feeling in my gut.
Damien nodded in agreement.
"Now, let's head back to the castle and leave Flauvic to his delusions." Lord Damien said, pulling me away and I had no choice to follow, because of the force of his grip and pull.
"She's not going anywhere with you!" Flauvic yelled, grabbing my other arm. "Was the real Mr. Mysterious not with you, Elestra, when Damien interrupted your meeting?"
Flauvic jerked my arm, so I stumbled in his direction slightly. "Thus, causing Mr. Mysterious to leave and Elestra to climb down her wall to get away from you, Damien. You drove her to nearly get herself killed! Don't you get the message to go away, Damien?!?!"
"Oh get over yourself! Stop making up lies, just so you can steal Elestra from me!"
I felt as if I was the rope in the child's game, tug of war. Flauvic pulled me toward him and Damien pulled me in the other direction. It was not fun and it was quite painful to be yanked in two.
"Stop it," I cried, yanking myself out of both their grasps. "I'm not a rope. I'm a human being. I admit I may be a child sometimes, but not as much as the both of you are now. The both of you don't even give me time to think or even barely breathe! I'd like to think and talk for myself, whether or not you mind or not. I want answers and I want them now!"
I turned to Flauvic.
"I'd like to hear from you first. What are you even doing here? Why do you know so much about Mr. Mysterious and me? Most importantly, why is it any of your business?" I asked him, eyeing him, suspiciously.
He rolled his eyes at me and for a second I thought he'd just ignore my questions until I heard him mutter something.
"Must it be so hard to save a person from doom," He muttered, turning away.
"Who said I even needed saving?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.
"Who said I was talking about you?" He replied.
"Okay, Lord Flauvic. I'll leave you to your asinine mutterings." I told Flauvic and shooting a look to Damien, "I'm walking back alone without any of you to follow me. If you do, I swear that you'll never see the light of day again!"
I turned from the both of them, muttering to myself about the idiotic ways of the male ego, as Lord Damien shouted for me to wait and stop. Unfortunately, I did stop, but it wasn't voluntarily. Flauvic, yet again, held me back with his grip on me.
"Let go," I commanded.
He, as I expected, did no such thing and we just stood there. The stern look on his face silenced me and perhaps, Damien as well for he said nothing either. Finally, I couldn't take waiting, if he was just going to stand there and do nothing.
"Why are you looking at me like-" I started to say when Flauvic interrupted me with his reluctant, but clear tone.
"I'm Mr. Mysterious."
"What-" I whispered. "You have to be kidding me."
Just as I was about to take a step back, he draped his arm around my waist and pulled me, so that I pressed against him. What is it with today and everyone proclaiming that they are Mr. Mysterious? Are they all just mocking my romantic notions?
"Stop playing this game. I won't and don't believe you," I firmly said, though barely above a whisper again.
"You will," He replied, in a tone that seemed sure that I would do such a thing.
As if drawn by an unseen force, my eyes looked to his lips and my sight disappeared into darkness as his lips welcomed mine. A mix between a gasp and a sigh passed when I felt his lips touch mine. He held his other hand behind my neck, as I linked my hands behind his. We held each other, seemingly too scared to let go or not desiring to. This was the kiss I was waiting for with the fireworks and prickly feelings. The kiss that made me feel as if both of us were the only ones in the world. The kiss that broke down all my barriers and the kiss that let me trust in him and only him. But I couldn't enjoy it entirely, until all the matters were over with. With the hopes of another chance for another experience like this, I pulled away. I'm kissing FLAUVIC!?!?!?!? Am I dreaming or something? What to do? What to do? Wait a minute, I can't do this! My eyes flew open and I pushed Flauvic away, as hard as I could with my hands against his unsurprisingly well-toned chest. He kissed me and I pushed him away. I should have slapped him as well. Too late now. Mentally, I sighed wondering why guys liked to kiss girls when they least expected it. Like my life was not complicated enough! He stumbled back a few steps before steadying himself and he looked absolutely confused and shocked, before his expression was washed over with a frown. I turned to look at Damien and he looked just as shocked and confused at what I had just done. No doubt he had expected something else to happen as Flauvic did.
I strode over to Damien, practically running to him, casting away the wrongness of everything in my heart and body. I clutched to him and hugged him, placing my head on his shoulder. A few droplets of my tears fell to his shirt. With a deep and calming breath, I lifted my head and looked to his puzzled, but happy face. A face I had so trusted and a person that I had grown to care about. I placed my hands beneath his chin and leaned into him, kissing him with as much passion as I could muster. It took a few seconds, but he finally started kissing me back, his hands sliding down the back of my gown and pressing me to him. I let him do so with no resistance and with no hesitation. He made soft moans, as he kissed me. It felt right to be in his arms.
-----------------------------------------------------------TBC----------------------------------------------------------------
[WakeRobin] Breathe in, breathe out everyone! Don't kill me or panic, please! Most of you must be like (o.0) & confused/shocked at how all this chapter ended. Don't worry, I have not gotten any crazier, since I last wrote a chapter for this fanfiction. You'll understand everything [sort of] once the last chapter is up [which will be uploaded when I'm back from my trip]. Isn't this chapter much better than the previous chapter 14? I think so, I actually like this chapter better than the previous chapter 14, since Elestra is less teary, it's more realistic, and etc. I hope you like this new version better than the previous one. Sorry for any confusion. Thank you all for reading and reviewing!!! (No individual thanks, just so I can speed up the updating and everything, but you're all appreciated, be sure of that.)
