Disclaimer: I own nothing at all... except for the words and consept here... the characters are not mine however and neither is the base plot behind this story.
Author's Note: I entered this in a convention comp., but I didn't win with it... damn, so sad.
Interlude
"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are made for." -unknown
Happily ever after, a phrase used to death a thousand times over, was not one used when my official story ended, but it was one that crossed my mind, and most likely the minds of my comrades. We won, we were able to turn Takako back to the light, and fill the Tree until it gorged itself to death: Good-guys: One million, Evil: Zero.
Alas, such outcomes are restricted to fairytales and daydreams.
Fortunately my life has taught me never to take things for granted; not my birth mother, not poverty, and not my father marring into outstanding wealth. So I saw the destruction of the Princess of Disaster as just a temporary set-back for the forces of all things evil, dark, and sinister, keeping on my guard and awaiting the day when the need would arise for one with the will to stand up and fight. My life has taken on one meaning: there are those destined to fight, and while fighting is not a peaceful action, it is their way of creating the only peace they know how.
I fight to save everyone and everything I love, and to help create a peace that will last long after I have died and my position as Prétear becomes filled by another.
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"So you're telling me that you don't 'really' age?"
"Correct." Kei's posture was impeccable, making me slouch into my chair even further.
"Okay, maybe, this is my fault for asking you to explain you Leafe Knights to me, but could you BE more vague?!" I was seconds from pounding my head against whatever solid object I could find first. And to think, Kei is the most direct of the seven, "Define 'really'... since I can see Mannen, Hajime, and Shin are aging."
"Well, like humans, once we reach a certain age we stop maturing."
"Mentally?" I muttered, unheard, under my breath. It felt good to mutter, Kei couldn't hear me, unlike my Knight of Sound, Sasame, who I had taken to avoiding lately since I was doing quite a bit of grumbling about my comrades. I lifted my eyes to meet his, "Humans still age though, they just stop getting taller. What you are telling me is that you, Sasame, Go, and Hayate haven't aged physically in over 50 years... which isn't human at all."
"Which is why I didn't say EXACTLY like any human," he said with a shrug. "As for the boys, it depends really. They could continue to age at the normal human rate, or if one of them has a sudden epiphany about life or duty it is possible that he will Age to his prime at that moment."
"Really?" I was intrigued since I had noticed how quiet Mannen had become lately and the thoughtful looks that flitted through his ice-blue eyes. "That would be nice, with the Leafe fluctuating so crazily it would help if all seven of you were at your prime."
"Don't I know it? Sasame and Go believe that a new Princess of Disaster is at large, but I feel that this new enemy is going to be someone much greater... if Mannen, Hajime, and Shin Aged we would have a chance of quicker success."
The seven of them were arguing fiercely, going back and forth between who might be behind the draining of Leafe from the world. At the moment Sasame and Hayate were yelling at each other, Sasame for it being a Princess of Disaster and Hayate for it being some other nebulous force.
"There has never in all of history been anyone steal the Leafe that wasn't a Princess of Disaster!" Go was nodding his agreement with Sasame and I could see that this reiteration of the same argument had swayed all but Kei and Mannen to his side. I wasn't being involved in this discussion by my own choice; they were all being stupid.
"Just because it's never happened before doesn't mean it can't happen at all. No Knight had ever abandoned his Prétear to join the Darkness before, and yet I remember you doing just that." Kei's voice was cold and unfeeling: the words spoken in monotone.
"This is a joke; you're all being so immature..." I had forgotten that muttering wasn't safe around Sasame. His head whipped around violently, eyes locking with mine.
"This is not immaturity, Himeno; this is us taking care of a problem which you seem loath to recognize!" Like anytime Sasame was overly emotional, his voice carried me on waves of that very emotion, specifically anger. Unfortunately he had forgotten something: it wasn't wise to make me angry.
"First of all, your yelling is not taking care of ANY problem... but I do recognize several problems, Sasame, all of which seem to be standing in front of me making fools of themselves!"
"You sound very unconcerned, like you are trying and hinder us!" There was accusation in Sasame's voice that cut me deep. He knew how much I loved this world, how could he claim that I didn't care?
I could feel my blood rushing through my veins in a rage, blistering my skin. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but soon found it unnecessary. Attacking Hayate or Sasame was one thing, attacking me, it seemed, was quite another.
"No," Shin said in a quiet voice, "Himeno likes plants a lot; she does care!"
"Shin's right..." Hajime's eyes were wide at the idea of me being the bad guy in this new scenario.
"Himeno is still our Prétear... that means she cares more than anyone, right?" Mannen was doing his best to sound sure of himself, I could tell, but was struggling against the distrust his elders were holding for Hayate and I. Then, like an epiphany, Mannen's eyes grew sure, and his voice deepened, "She gave her life for us before; she wouldn't sacrifice what she once embraced death to save."
Slow realization sunk into Mannen's elders of what I had been expecting for weeks. "Mannen... you're..." Hayate was at a loss for words, but joy shown fiercely in his eyes. Since he still blamed himself for the creation of Takako as the Princess of Disaster, he naturally felt responsible for Mannen, Hajime, and Shin's deaths. Mannen at least had finally come to a realization of what it meant to be a Knight and serve a Prétear; he Aged before our very eyes, and I admit I was just as happy as Hayate.
Mannen had always stood by me and trusted me; he would not change now.
The light within him drew me, and before I realized what was happening I was standing before him, taking his hands in mine. "And now," my voice said, "you are fully my Knight." And we Préted. It was glorious, he was in the process of Aging, so his childlike innocent purity was still there, but there was also a wisdom that came close to outshining Sasame and Kei (especially now when they were acting so silly), and courage that dwarfed anything inside of Go or Hayate. However something told me that this highly enlightened state was merely a product of the Aging, and it would soon diminish as he regained balance in human flesh.
Which sucked, but what can you do?
When our joining was completed I smiled and felt his warm grin on my lips; "You're still not going to listen to me are you?" I asked for lack of anything else to say.
Of course not, his mind said to mine, it wouldn't be fun otherwise. His grin left my lips to be replaced by a soft smile all my own, and we parted from one another. All around us, the Knights were smiling, anger of moments past forgotten in light of their brother coming into his full potential.
"Himeno is right you know," Mannen said with a smile, "we are making fools of ourselves."
"I think the best thing to do would be to go out and see if we can find this enemy of ours whether Princess of Disaster, or some unknown force." I smiled sweetly at the lot of them. "Now, I think we should all get away from each other for an hour or two and think things over so that our next discussion doesn't turn into another finger pointing session." With that I left them standing on the expansive front lawn... I hoped they'd all get lost in the jungle in the backyard at some point so I could have a somewhat quite afternoon, but I just don't have that kind of luck.
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"I think she has a point you know?" Go was sitting on the lip of the fountain his brow wrinkled in a mix of confusion and frustration. I smiled slightly as I watched them on the security monitors, they hadn't taken my advice and separated to think; they regrouped in a secluded little grove home to a small fountain and lots of flowers.
"Himeno always has a point; the question here is whether or not we can trust that point to be correct." Kei was a stickler for making sure facts were facts and that emotion played as little as possible in decisions... unless of course he was mad, and then his logic warped to fit his anger. Himeno smiled even more at the outrage she saw in the postures of Hayate and Mannen.
"Are you saying we shouldn't trust our own Prétear?" Mannen's deep voice (which would take time to get used to) was laced with thinly veiled threats, and the younger boys glared at Kei. Even though he had Aged, Hajime and Shin still treated him with the difference of their gang leader.
"I'm saying we should second guess everything." Kei's muscles were taut with the strain it took to stare down Mannen. It would take a while before he (and the others) would become accustomed to Mannen as an adult again.
"You never doubted her before, why now?" Hayate's voice was oddly soft, and his gaze held nothing but the question he asked, no anger, no bitterness, no challenge. For the first time I was getting a glimpse of what made him the unofficial leader of the Leafe Knights.
"She holds a great deal of anger inside of her, Hayate. Most of the time its innocent, 'don't touch my food' kind of anger that results in her punching you and yelling... but lately there is something deeper seething under the surface." Sasame did not lift his eyes to meet the gaze of the others, but rather watched the wind blow through the leaves. I shifted position in my chair; Sasame's voice had the ability to sway people to his side.
"Himeno is such a nice lady, she couldn't..." Hajime was clearly torn; he had known the other Knights for years and years, and had only known Himeno for a little over a year and a half.
"I hope I'm wrong, but we have to accept the possibility I could be right."
"Okay," Mannen said, "Say we consider Himeno as a blossoming Princess of Disaster or has dark potential. What good will this do? When we fight with her, we won't be fighting well which puts everyone, most especially Himeno and the one she is Préting with, in danger. Sure she has a temper, don't we all? I'll tell you what I think this thing is 'seething' under her surface: she's drained... tired. She's been fighting nearly nonstop for over a year, the first of that was with one of the toughest incarnations of Finrir ever seen. She was forced to deal with a Hayate who didn't want her and told her she wasn't good enough. Then there is Sasame who deserted her, three kids who didn't even really know the truth behind the situation, and two Knights who seemed to feel it wasn't their place to inform her of that situation, which caused no end of emotional anguish. Then she died. Have you forgotten that? Unlike the seven of us, Himeno is still for the most part human, and humans are not made to be bounced back and forth from life to death and back to life again... such a normal thing for us has placed great strain on her mind and emotions." Mannen sighed and caressed a flower with his power, freezing it in pristine perfection. "She's not evil, she's unbalanced."
I sighed as I left the monitor room, deciding to believe Mannen's tale of my exhaustion and take a nap. I entered my room and locked the door behind me (not that it would stop any of the Knights, darn it, but maybe the gesture would make them think twice about barging in), and crawled beneath the thick comforter of my bed.
Sleep came then, throwing me into a shining nightmare...
Dream"My dearest daughter, I hate to be the one to bring you this news, but evil does indeed surround you." A light shone before my eyes and all I could make out was the blurry outline of a female figure that had the voice of my dead mother...
"Mom?"
"Himeno this isn't entirely a dream, I have been sent to you by your enemy to give you due warning. They seem to view this as some sort of game, dearest, but I'm afraid that you should take their insanity very seriously. Here is the warning: Your Knights are all on your side, and your family will remain your own, but your environment is ours to command. No not the winds and the trees, for those are controlled by your people, we are talking about your friends at school, your teachers, those who fix your meals and clean your room... any one of those people could be us. Your food might be poisoned, your bedroom trapped, your friends and teachers wielding knives behind your back... we wish you fun in your new life, and don't forget that you are never alone."
The glow around my mother's form dimmed as her message came to an end, and I could feel my jaw dropping. My mother's spirit form was wrapped in yards of chains. "Mom, those people... did they?!" I was outraged at the idea of someone hurting my mother... and murderous at them defiling my mother's spirit!
"They have me under their control, yes, it is only your living family that will remain yours... be brave my daughter, for this fight will be unlike anything you could ever imagine. I can say no more but to reinforce that you are never alone... so it might be wise to keep your Knights with you at all times... and your enemy sends a gift." There were tears streaming from her eyes as hundreds of shadow-daggers flew towards me, piercing my dream-flesh and burning through the light housed within my soul.
Then, as abruptly as it begun, I was tossed from the dreaming world...EndDream
"Mom! Mother no!" I was flailing and shouting, struggling against hands... so many hands pressing me firmly into my bed trying to restrain my maniac movements.
"Himeno, calm down... it's Dad, calm down..." his voice continued on in such a manner for minutes as tears of anger and searing pain spilled from my eyes and I struggled for breath. I was finding it hard to convince myself that I was still alive and that the daggers hadn't robbed me of my life. The worried eyes of my family and my Knights stared down at me...
As well as the many, many, eyes of the hired help.
"Get out!" I moaned choking back a sob of despair... any one of them could be the enemy. There were only eleven people in this world that I could trust, and four of them couldn't be allowed to know how precarious the situation was. "Dad, mom, Mayune, Mawata, would you all make sure that no one listens in on us?" I closed my eyes so I wouldn't see the hurt in their faces for being asked to leave.
There was a sound of several feet making their way to and out of my bedroom door, and then the sound of the door closing. I felt the mattress under me shift as someone sat at my side. A hand touched mine, Hayate, and I turned my lips upward in a pained parody of a smile. "Leafenia... spies..."
There were no questions as a Road of Light was opened and my shaking body was carried into the world of Leafenia. Hayate cradled me to him as we entered the most sacred grove where my spirit and flesh fully merged... my Knights all gasped in fear and barely contained rage.
"Who did that to you?" Go's voice was one long growl of fury. Unsure of what he meant I opened my eyes and saw the dark wounds, all over my body, oozing light slowly.
"That," I said breathlessly for I hadn't thought the wounds were real, "was a gift from our enemies."
Shin placed a small hand over my heart and the other on my forehead while his tear-filled eyes gazed solemnly down at me. I realized that Hayate had lain me on a patch of thick springy moss with my head in his lap.
"Who is our enemy, Himeno?" Kei's voice was very distant sounding, no doubt feeling guilty for what he said earlier.
I stayed silent, staring into Shin's eyes as he healed me. I could see a faint outline of a figure above him in the glare of the sun. Himeno, the figure said, you are never alone.
"No!" I yelled, sitting up sharply, ruining all of the healing Shin had been able to manage thus far. "This is Leafenia, you can't be here!" I glared at the figure; not recognizing it as that of my mother... this was someone I did not know, perhaps even my enemy himself.
I and mine go where we will, from the looks on my Knights faces they heard too, but for the sake of the game we will let you have your secret conference this time. You may amuse me child, but I will not bend all of my rules for you. Once again, my dearest Himeno, Hayate's arms tightened around me, you are never alone.
Shin was clinging to my arm, as Hajime was to Mannen's, and the remainder of the Leafe Knights looked positively homicidal. "Who was that?" Hayate asked in a voice that wanted answers, or else.
"Our enemy." I said softly. "Though this time the voice wasn't one I recognize. These creatures have the power to control the spirits of the dead..." I would not cry because the enemy probably expected me to. "The dream I had... it was my mother who delivered this... gift." I gestured at the still leaking wounds. Shin squeaked and returned to the task of healing the wounds.
"So what are we dealing with here?" Go's hands were curled into fists. We were a lot a like, we would both be much happier if we had something substantial to pound into the dirt.
"A lot of power and all of that power in the hands of a psychopath. Did you hear him say 'for the sake of the game'?" Sasame shook his head in disgust, "It's only the really powerful and truly deranged that treat control over life and death as a game."
"That voice seemed very comfortable with you Himeno." Hayate ground over the word 'comfortable'. "Is it possible that these people might be someone you know?"
"I think it's someone I've met before, but I probably don't know them. You heard Sasame, these people are psychopaths." I paused, "Could someone have known I had power before you made me Prétear?"
"Yes," Kei said, "The power is always there. Anyone with the gift to do so would be able to see your potential right off the bat. That's just potential mind you; it doesn't necessarily mean that you would be needed as Prétear."
"At least you are Prétear," Mannen added, "Since you were actually needed, you know how to use your power, what you're capable of. That's better than if they just attacked you alone for power you didn't know you had, right?"
"And you have us!" Hajime added.
I smiled at him, "You're right, thanks." I turned to face Hayate, "I have a suggestion to ward off spies..."
"Yes?" he asked, curiosity getting the best of his protective anger.
"Set up a wind around my room, and when we meet. That should be a quick way to make the things we say harder to hear. Plus humans that are working for our enemy won't be able to get past the wind, but won't kill like if we used fire."
"What if killing was something we had in mind?" Hayate's voice was icy.
"What if Mayune tries to set another silly booby-trap and runs into the barrier?" I countered. "I won't have an innocent person killed; part of the enemies' rules is that my family is mine and mine alone, they won't meddle with them."
"Tell that to your mother," Kei muttered.
"My mother is dead," I said shrilly, "Apparently the dead are free game. All I can do at this point is to protect those still alive."
Once again I had the curious sensation of a voice ringing in my head while not Préting. Don't worry about me... you are going to have a hard enough time as it is without that. You will have some help though, the other two little boys will Age soon, so your Knights will be at their prime, and together you only grow stronger. Takako too will be of some use, for she still has the power to manipulate Leafe, and you will soon find ways to use that gift to your advantage. I will not lie to you, my daughter, this will be the hardest thing you have ever faced and possibly ever will face, and it isn't likely that you will be allowed to rise from the dead a second time, so be very careful. However, I truly believe that you can beat back these people; I believe that you can win. There was a pause in which I could almost feel her running her long fingers through my hair. Please remember that no matter what they have me say or do to you, I love you very much Himeno, and I am very proud of every thing you have accomplished in your short life.
I felt my face light up in a true, happy smile, "I know Mom and thank you..." I felt her draw away from me, growing colder as she did... and I understood that too. From that point on she and I were enemies of a sort.
"Himeno?" Hayate asked a line of worry in between his brows.
"Its okay, Mom was just saying goodbye." I touched his hair gently and sat up, scanning the sky. For a second I could see a figure of light and shadow hovering overhead. "Let's go back to the mansion. Oh, I'd like it if you guys would move in, we can take over the rear wing of the house... since I'm 'never alone' anyway... we're going to have to start making plans on how to out-wit these monsters."
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Thus, began my second act. While I wasn't allowed the happily ever after of childhood fantasy, I try to remember that I'm alive, and I have good people fighting beside me, protecting me with everything they are... and the belief of my mother that I can win.
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End Notes: I hate this auto correct shit... damn, why does it take away my pretty scene breaks!?!?!?