Act One.
It was unavoidably dark outside. No moon hung over to illuminate its watchers with its silver glow, no stars were in sight to provide the superstitious, and sometimes the heart-broken, with any speck of hope. It was so perpetually black, even the few lantern posts that resided around town didn't provide nearly enough warmth for any night-time prowlers.
Not that warmth was needed. Not in this night.
A young blue-haired girl waits at the doorstep to a house. His house. Judging from the way she stood stiffly at the front door, she seemed a little bit apprehensive to even be there.
A light flickers on from a window above. One blonde young man sputters into view, his face briefly illuminated by the light of the candle in his hand. He opens the window, says something to the girl, and she replies with an unsteady voice.
No, he wouldn't get to see her. Not today. Not ever.
The shadowed figure rushes from his position and grabs her from behind—one hand clamped over her mouth, the other around her chest. Completely taken off-guard, she tries to reach for her weapon, but is twisted around too forcefully and her grip is too loose. It clatters to the floor, and as she is dragged to the encompassing darkness, the girl is allowed only a millisecond to desperately call out his name.
And then silence.
"Isaac?"
The Venus Adept's blood nearly froze. As it was the middle of the night, Isaac had stumbled out of bed while in his simple brown pajamas, and had grumbled a few expletives when he heard a few rocks pelting his window. God damn it, if this is Ivan with one of his stupid harebrained schemes to make Felix look bad again, he thought darkly, I'm going to take my Gaia Blade and shove it up his ass.
Below him, at his doorstep, the person was anything but Ivan.
"Mia…?" he said, hope and shock filtering in his voice.
The Mercury Adept only nodded shyly. She was in a long, lacy white nightgown that left almost nothing to the imagination. It only served to accentuate her willowy and smooth shoulders, as well as draw attention to her curves and the allure of her half-exposed legs. Only a pair of thin straps had held it together, and the piece of clothing had ended far above her knees. Thankfully (or not?), she wore a sky blue cloak to cover most of everything her sleeping attire didn't.
"I… I couldn't sleep. I've wanted to see you again, but…"
Isaac rose up a hand to quiet her. He didn't want to hear the words that were going to leave her lips. Not when he had a clue as to what they were anyway. "You… you can come in, if you want," he said, trying to sound as certain as possible.
"Were you asleep?" Mia lowered her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have—"
"No." He started to regain a tad more confidence. "You… you can come in and stay. We have a lot to… talk about."
He does?
The priestess looked up into his eyes. Clear brown eyes, which had shaken with uncertainty, fear, and a tad bit of hurt, still reflected the truth to her. And, just maybe, those feelings could have mistaken her for her own eyes. Yes… he does, she concluded. She put up a tired smile. "We do," she finally said quietly.
He nodded, trying his best to create a smile of his own. "I'll be down in a second, then."
The window was shut and the candle light faded from view. Mia took a deep breath, and then let it all out in a sigh. So much to talk about. So much to amend. Could we possibly try to fix it all…? Is he willing to listen to me…?
A twig snapped from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.
"What in Mercury—"
"Isaac—!"
As if the clank of the familiar weapon was not enough to alert the young Venus Adept's senses, he managed to catch the final plea of his name, just three seconds away from reaching the door.
"Mia?"
However, once he opened it, he was greeted only with the sight of a medium-sized mace. Faintly shimmering with its own internal light, it had been carelessly dropped onto the rough earth like a toy. Its owner was not present.
Isaac rushed forward, mentally cursing himself for not bringing his own weapon of choice, and picked up the mace with a harsh grip. But there was no enemy present in his sights, no more cries and pleas for the voice he had longed to hear for weeks on end.
To confirm his fears, the young man looked near the base of the Crystal Mace's shaft. There was only a name that was engraved there, a name that had and was still on his mind forever.
"MIA!!"
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it.
Isaac of Vale had long dropped to his knees, as well as the mace near his feet, and pounded the ground for what seemed to be the tenth time. Did she just up and walk away and simply left one of her things as a parting gift? But why would she scream then? Who the hell would possibly try to take her? So many possibilities ran through the troubled Adept's mind, and there was too much panic to even think of considering them all.
Someone would pay. Someone would pay dearly for this.
Though his senses were dulled by fear and frustration, they still caught movement to Isaac's right. He gripped the mace with righteous fury and was prepared to swing when a soft and familiar voice stopped him.
"Isaac…? I heard screaming. Did something happen?"
"Jenna?" His tension faded a few levels, though it hadn't completely subsided. "What are you doing here?"
From the side of the house, the normally fiery Mars Adept approached him cautiously. She was only dressed in her long white nightgown, which only streamed down an inch past her smooth thighs. Her reddish-brown hair, normally tied back in its signature ponytail, was left unrestricted and flowing free down the front and back of her body. There was a hint of redness in her eyes, as if she had been crying. Even then, she could see Isaac's uneasiness as clear as day. "I came to help," she started to say meekly, but then lowered her gaze to the weapon in his right hand. "Why are you holding Mia's weapon?"
The fear started to resurface in his expression. "Someone took Mia," he sighed. "It was so fast, too… one minute I was talking to her from out my room window, the next I hear her scream from the front. I… I was…"
"Calm down, will you?" Slender, slightly callused hands settled on the Venus Adept's shoulders. Isaac couldn't help but look up at her in surprise. "Whoever kidnapped Mia shouldn't have gone far. There's only way out of Vale, remember? Should I go and wake the others?"
"No." Isaac started to stand, yet for some reason, started to feel a tad cold once Jenna's hands left him. "Let's hurry and get to the entrance to town before he does. We can't risk losing sight of him."
The golden-haired warrior thought he saw hesitation in her eyes, but it disappeared as swiftly as she blinked. "Mm. Let's go then!"
From atop one of the trees that surrounded the village, the figure chuckled as the pair had left his sight. Its grim smile remained hidden under the cover of the night.
Its beady brown eyes then shifted to its prey at the base of the tree. Gagged and blindfolded, Mia was attempting to struggle against the ropes that bound her hands and feet together. The kidnapped snarled and leapt down, then hitched the girl up on one of its broad shoulders.
"Soon, my precious," he said dangerously to himself, "you will be all mine."
Taking the captive with it, the figure disappeared into the safety of the wood.
Author's Note: This is ONLY the prologue, people. I'm warning you ahead of time, what I have planned is not pretty and definitely for the more mature audience. You can probably guess the couplings, but... Well, you can find out for yourselves, can't you?
Some formatting errors have kind of screwed up the flow of this fic (paragraph spacing, for example), sorry if it disrupts your reading. Stupid QuickEdit.
