Wild-Roze: Hmm, I'm on a roll with this fic. Hee, Im 16 today! I cant believe Im even bothering to write today! Anyway, here we go.
When Atai woke, Vyse was already gone. For a moment she panicked, but she soon found a scrap of dirty parchment with a scrawled note on saying he was training with the Emperor. So, with nothing to do in her room, she decided to leave, and re-familiarize herself with Soltis.
She soon found her way to the galley, however, as she was entering, someone slammed into her. She cried out in alarm, and almost fell back, but a hand caught hers and pulled her upright. Her eyes widened.
"Enrique!" She breathed.
The man before her was a mere shell of the once proud Valuan Prince. His eyes no longer shone with nobility and grace, he was dressed in a filthy brown tunic and his skin was grubby.
"How do you know my name?" He asked, surprised, as if it was the first time it had been used.
"Enrique, its me, Aika!" She breathed.
He looked closely at her, surely this tattooed, black haired woman was not the same Blue Rogue...
But there was no denying it. The same face, the same smile..... for a moment Enrique felt a small spark of his old self return to him, as he pulled her into a deep hug.
"Aika! I can't believe it! Its really you!" he said.
"Enrique, I thought you were taken to the mines... how did you get here? By the way, I've changed my name to Atai now, no one has called me Aika for years." She said.
The prince nodded in understanding, and the two walked together as Enrique told his tale.
"Well, for three years I worked in the mines, but eventually everyone collapses from exhaustion, so it was with me. I, and the others deemed no longer fit for work were brought back here, those who were seen as useless were sacrificed to Zelos. I was one of the ones who was kept on as a Palace Slave.... Have you seen Marco?"
She lowered her eyes.
"Yes."
"About 9 years ago, Ramirez 'took him under his wing' he had him trained and raised to be an Admiral one day. Marco is as devoted to Ramirez as they come, even seeing us, hasn't changed him."
Atai lowered her eyes as guilt washed over her.... If only she had taken the time to find him before she had fled....
"All slaves, and all prisoners captured from Ixa-Ness are to report to the Throne Room immediately." Said a stern voice over the loud speakers which were stationed on every corridor.
"No, not the branding..." Breathed Atai. Enrique smiled grimly at her.
"No, Ramirez decided to outlaw branding years ago, it got too confusing when someone was reassigned to a different area of work, so now he uses these." He said, tapping at a moonstone band around his neck. "Each of these collars has a mark which designates its wearer to an job, and, when that work is changed, they change the collar, they also contain us within certain areas of Soltis. The only ones they still brand for are the harem girls, once you have been through there, your in no condition to do any kind of work, no matter how strong you are, being sent to the whore house is practically a death sentence."
Atai blinked as a memory came back to her, fresh and cutting..
She spat at his feet.
"Your rein won't last forever Ramirez, I can guarantee it, one day someone shall smile down at your corpse, and the world will be free again." She hissed.
His hand shot forwards, grasping her throat, squeezing lightly, making her gasp.
"Keep a civil tongue when you address your Master, or I'll have a slave bracelet made for your neck." With those words, he shoved her backwards into her 'room' and shut the door....
She sighed and walked with Enrique to the Throne Room. When they entered Ramirez was already in there, and Vyse sat a little way away from the Throne, wincing every time he moved. Atai's eyes narrowed as she took in the image of him. Her son, naked from his waist up, was now wreathed in bandages stretching across his left shoulder and arm. She hissed furiously, and was about to start forwards and give the Silvite a verbal beating, but she found herself surrounded by other slaves, and those from Ixa-Ness.
"Enrique!" gasped a voice, the former heir to Valua turned to come face to face with Moegi.
His jaw dropped and he couldn't speak, so instead he picked her up and swung her around him in joy at seeing his love still alive and well.
Soon all the slaves and those doomed to be slaves were jostled in. The members of the Delphinus' crew from Ixa-Ness were brought forwards. Atai bit her lip as she was left undetected..... how could she stand there like this? Allowing her friends to be punished, while she was able to stand and watch. Without thinking Atai shoved forwards and stood among them at the front, facing the throne.
Drachma glared down at her.
"What are you doing? Get back!" He hissed.
"No way! I'm part of this crew too!" She whispered back, before she fell quiet as the guards called for silence.
Vyse spied his mother standing a few feet away with his friends, he stood painfully and went and stood before her, he was not going to let his mother be punished alone.
Atai smiled softly at him and laid her hand on his good shoulder.... If she lived through this she would make sure Ramirez knew exactly what she thought of her son being injured in his stupid sparring sessions.
Ramirez, sitting before the assembly merely raised a brow at the strange woman who stood with the crew, and absently wondered why she would join them when she knew that their sentence would be death. He smirked, she would be disappointed though.. he could not kill the mother of his pupil, that would severely hamper his training the boy.
Belle, who stood beside Vigoro looked away, she couldn't stand to meet the eyes of any of them. Not like this, her friends would die, and her crushed spirit could do nothing to help, she dared not stand against the might of the Emperor, her whole life was lived in fear.... She was ruled by it.
The Silvite stood, surveying the familiar faces of the crew, his eyes locked with the chocolate brown ones of the woman..... she stood in the centre of the line, he stance secure, and her posture unafraid. She stared back at him defiantly, her hair cascading over her shoulders.
The Emperor blinked, she was so like her....
"The women and the girls over fourteen of Ixa-Ness and the Delphinus, are to be branded, and sent to the Harem, the children, to be sent to the training grounds to be raised as Valuan soldiers. The other survivors of the Delphinus are to be slain. Bring those two to me." He said pointing at Atai and Vyse.
Atai sobbed and turned to drachma, throwing her arms around the neck of the old captain.
"Cap'n.... "she breathed.
The man hugged her back rather fondly.
"Just concentrate on staying alive, make sure Vyse grows up to be a better man than his father." He said.
Atai blinked.
"You know..."
He nodded gruffly before they were torn apart, Marco grabbing her and pulling her towards the throne.
She snarled in fury.
"Take your hands off me Marco!" She snapped.
He looked at her in shock, then he scowled.
"How do you know my name?" he demanded.
She didn't answer and wrenched herself from his grip, and proceeded towards the throne alone, to join her son.
Ramirez smirked at her blatant anger.
"You should be happy, your son is going to grow up to be a great commander." He said icily, liking the way this statement caused a boiling fury to glow in her eyes.
Atai stayed silent, she couldn't speak she was so livid. Vyse spoke for her.
"Yeah right! If you think I'm gonna work for you after you just sent my friends to their deaths you have another thought coming Emps!" He said boldly.
"Worm!" Hissed Vigoro stepping forwards, but Ramirez stopped him with a shake of his head, he stood, his mood light.
"You may go, I'll think up a duty for you in good time Little One," he said, unintentionally using his pet name for the dead Aika, "Boy, I expect to see you at six, sharp tomorrow."
Atai glared at him for a second longer, before taking her son's hand and leaving.
Vigoro rounded on Ramirez.
"Lord, why did you just..."
"Vigoro, yet again you question me.... You want to live to see your son grow, don't make me deprive you of that pleasure." He said, leaving it for the general to derive whether Ramirez meant to kill him or his son.
Atai had lain fuming in her bed that night, glancing at her son every time he gasped in pain in his sleep because of his wound. In the end, she could no longer take it. She left her room, and strode towards Ramirez's private quarters. Without the restrictions of a collar she could go their un opposed. Only occasionally she had to suck into shadows when guards went by on their rounds.
When she arrived she didn't bother to try unlocking the door, she knew it would be impossible. Instead, she clicked on the intercom which linked directly into the Lord's room. A feral grin slipped subtly onto her lips, he would be asleep.
Ramirez's eyes snapped open as the projected voice bored into the silence of his chambers.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! VYSE IS JUST A CHILD HOW COULD YOU HURT HIM THAT WAY WITHOUT EVEN HEALING HIM !?! I THOUGHT EVEN YOU HAD MORE COMPASSION THAN THAT! AND YOU CAN FORGET TRAINING WITH HIM TOMORROW, MY SON IS STAYING IN WITH ME!"
Ramirez growled and hauled himself, half naked from the bed, wincing at her yelling voice. This woman was something else.... How dare she disturb him like this... He flicked on a monitor so he could see her yelling in the corridor.
He responded angrily from his own intercom.
"Woman, I am warning you now, leave, or die tonight!" He snarled.
"SHUT UP RAMIREZ!"
Even he was surprised by her disrespect, and he smirked at he enjoyed her temper.
Atai smiled, knowing that her next statement would irritate him.
"YOU WOULD SHOW MORE RESPECT TO MY SON IF YOU KNEW WHO HIS FATHER IS!"
He watched her grin and cross her arms, flicking her hair back from her face. His eyes widened.... Could that be..
He shot to the door and opened it.
Atai squeaked in surprise, suddenly faced with the Lord, and his well defined body. In an instant he had grabbed her and slammed her into the opposite wall of the white corridor. She moaned in pain as he crushing hands left bruises on her upper arms.
Ramirez took no notice of her clear discontent, and merely reached up with one hand.
Atai froze, feeling his hand as it brushed past her cheek was enough to set her whole body on fire.
Ramirez swept her black hair aside, and looked closely at the crook of her neck.
For several minuets they stayed, silent, frozen in that position, until he was certain.
There was no denying it, he would recognize his own mark anywhere, he glanced up, his sudden movement making her jump. His emerald eyes locked with hers.
Wild-Roze: Whahhahahahahh! Anyway, review, I'll update probably quite quickly Im thinking....