Elaclea Electronic

(Ack, it's been forever and a day since I last updated this! XD Oh well. Just about three more chapters to put up, and then it's all over. Whoo hoo. So, here's the next chapter.)

Chapter Ten: The Wanted Ad

Dunya lowered her glass of water and placed it on the table next to the chair she sat in. She had been recording Luciola's story for hours and found it all incredibly interesting. Now, though, he paused. Had he decided to stop relating it to her? "Um, sir, won't you go on?" she asked, switching off her new-fangled recorder.

Luciola sighed and rubbed his forehead. Since he started, he knew that he had to continue. With a slow nod, he replied, "Yes, but I will not go into every detail…Dio and I lived with Gale and Godwin for seven years. During that time, we were able to purchase medicine at a local hospital for Dio's condition.

"Due to the fact that I cannot recall absolutely everything, I will continue as I have, and simply tell you of moments that are important to me." Some of this would be hard for him to speak about; he knew. A handful of these memories were so terrible, he never spoke of them before to anyone.

Life in Disith was much different than life in the palace. The four of us shared an apartment not far from where Gale and Godwin worked. They were helping construct a railroad that would connect Disith with Anatoray. We often met friends of theirs, who were all interested in our story. Of course, while I was apprehensive about telling them, Dio spoke of it as if it were an exciting novel.

One young man I remember in particular, was an Anatorayan named Claus Valca. He was always with a girl by the name of Lavie, I believe, and the two of them were researching a new idea of transportation; flight. It seemed a little far-fetched to me, but Dio thought it was brilliant. He spent much of his time with them, watching their experiments and giving his own input.

Dio took a great liking to Claus. He always told me that "Immelmann" reminded him of people he read about in such and such story. This nick-name for Claus came from an epic written by a Guilder hundreds of years before our time. I barely remember what it was about. I felt no jealousy toward Claus. My confused feelings about Dio vanished when we moved to Disith. He was simply a friend and nothing more.

One day, I distinctly remember. We had been living there for almost seven years to the day. I sat outside, waiting for Dio to return from Claus and Lavie's home. I could see Godwin coming toward me…he was coming home early. A little girl with blonde hair, wearing a grey dress, walked with him. She stared at me with large, sky blue eyes. I wondered who she was.

Godwin stopped walking when he got close enough to me. "Hey, Luciola," he said and motioned to the little girl, "This is my niece, Alvis Hamilton. She's come to visit for a while." I thought it was strange that parents would send their little girl to stay with a bunch of railroad workers but I knew little of foreign culture.

"How do you do, Miss Hamilton," I greeted, bowing my head a bit.

Alvis gave me a shy nod in return; her big, pale eyes still staring at me. "He-hello," she said softly. Like all children. She had a certain apprehension toward meeting new, older people.

Godwin flashed one of his characteristic smiles and then gave me a slightly confused look. "Where's Dio?" he asked, "Isn't he always with you?" I have come to find that "always" is a word that other cultures use in many different ways. While I was with Dio much of the time, I certainly was not "always" with him. We both had our own business and our own lives…Even when he and I lived in the palace, I was not in his shadow every moment.

Instead of speaking my true thoughts, I simply said, "He is with Claus and Lavie. I am waiting for him." 'Waiting' was a bit of an understatement; Dio was supposed to be back half an hour ago. I began to think that he enjoyed Claus and Lavie's presence more than mine. That should have been obvious though. After all, they must have been more enjoyable to talk with.

A slight frown crossed Godwin's face for a second, but before he could say anything, I saw Dio coming in the distance. Claus was with him. When they came closer, I noticed that Dio walked a bit slower than he normally did. I began to wonder about what might be wrong…The closer they came, the more anxious I became. Finally, I could take it no longer, so I ran over to them.

Dio's face was practically white and he seemed more frightened than ever before. He clutched a crumpled piece of paper in his shaking hands. What could this mean?

"L-Luciola," the prince began as he opened the paper for me to see, "They know we're here! Look! Look at this! Delphine is offering a reward!" It was true; the paper was a wanted ad with both our faces on it. Apparently, she wanted us badly…the reward was for over 100,000 claudia.

My mind went blank, as it had a tendency to do when I became stressed. At first, I told myself that it was not real…No one should think to search for us in Disith. But then I realized that it was happening and that there was nothing either of us could do about it. Also, it was foolish of me to think that Delphine would only search in Anatoray.

Claus, thankfully, did not ask us what it was about. Instead, he went to Godwin and began explaining why Dio was so upset. Meanwhile, I saw Dio throw the ad to the dusty ground. Tears fell freely from his crystal eyes. "What should we do?" he whispered. I told him that I did not know, but I pulled him into an embrace anyway.

I wished that I could have expressed myself as freely as he did. While he had lived such a sheltered life, compared to the rest of us, he was the most unafraid to be himself.

Later that same day, we all sat around the table in the kitchen of Godwin's home. No one wanted to talk about the paper, which had actually been discovered by Claus that morning. Instead, Alvis told us about her trip all the way from Anatoray. Unfortunately, I barely understood her language, but I could not concentrate anyway.

Dio was not paying attention either. His face was blank, which was something I had never seen on him before. As much as I wanted there to be some kind of solution, we could not run anywhere else. I was certain that all the train stations were being patrolled.

Just as Alvis concluded her story, there was a soft knock at the door. Godwin stood up and opened it. I felt a pang of nervousness until I saw who it was; Claus's friend, Lavie. She was carrying a brown, paper bag and looked fairly pleased with herself, as she always did.

Godwin grinned. "Hey, Lavie. How're you?" he asked as he let her inside.

"I'm doing great! I heard that Alvis was coming, so I picked up some treats to celebrate," she replied and placed the bag on the table. Alvis smiled and left her seat so she could stand next to Lavie.

Before anyone could ask what was in the bag, Lavie ripped it open and let its contents roll out onto the table.

…They were oranges.

Dio's eyes widened and I could see him wringing his hands nervously under the table. He had only acted this way once before; right before he had that seizure in the palace. This time, it was slightly different…But why did he just randomly have them like that?

Everyone's eyes were on Dio, but no one said a word. The prince rose from his chair and shrieked. He was staring at the oranges as though they were huge, terrifying spiders.

(whoo! Only two more chapters to go! )