Fortune 12-Torn Heart

It had already been a week—a full week!—and Blai was strangely contented with the arrangements. It was unnerving that he could find his time with the girl enjoyable, just the thought of it sent shivers running across the boy's spine. Though, he did feel strangely like a dog…Wherever his companion pointed, he would go, though that was because she was the only one of the two of them that had even the slightest idea as to where the EscaFlowne might have been. While the boy did almost anything Star could ask of him, and more, he was surprised to find her listening to his ideas and suggestions. Before then, the prince had thought her too proud and arrogant to even think about doing such a thing.

But one day that easy contentment changed. The two teenagers were sitting beside a beautiful lake that glowed in the afternoon sun: Blai was fishing, attempting to catch their lunch for the day, and Star was lying on her side, her back facing her companion and her hands running absently through Aiichirou's fur. "Did your father ever tell you how they got to Atlantis last time," she asked. "I mean, when Kanzaki was here before." It wasn't like the girl's cousin had told her anything, but she still knew about it anyway. As she so often said, the older girl thought very loudly.

"No," Blai answered, bewildered, what had brought this on? "I didn't even know they'd gone," it took him a moment to understand what else he was feeling besides confusion: sadness, feeling left out, paranoia. Why hadn't any of the others ever bothered to tell him? Did they not trust him enough, or did they think he wasn't mature enough, or was there some other reason that Blai couldn't even begin to fathom? While he was trying to decipher his thoughts, he saw the fishing pole at his side move and almost leap into the water out of the corner of his eye. The boy lunged for it and started to pull. He turned around to grin at his companion; they'd have a good meal for the first time in a while, but was walking away until she had disappeared through the veil of trees.

The young prince shrugged, he was used to that sort of thing happening a lot now that he was stuck with the girl full-time. At first he would have become angry or worried, but he knew by now that she could take care of herself. No, what worried Blai was how easy things had been so far. Things like this were always supposed to be harder, and he knew that they had to watch closely for when something, anything, happened. But, of course, Star knew that already.

Blai tugged harder and a fish flew out of the water, attached to the string he had tied to the stick earlier in the day. With a smile, the boy started a fire and cooked said fish; that made it one for him, he had caught it earlier on, and one for Star, the one he had just caught. Finally, something other than whatever berries and herbs they could find. He looked up at the sky and was surprised at how late it was, the sun was already beginning its descent beneath the horizon and darkness was quickly rolling in. "Where can she be?" Blai wondered aloud. He gave a shrug, if she wasn't back by the time the fish was cooked, he would go looking for her. The girl needed her space once in a while, and he didn't want her angry with him for the next couple of days because he wouldn't give it to her.

Star turned around and started walking back to where she had left her companion. It was getting late and she hadn't realized how long she had been wandering through the trees. It was calming, soothing, and it gave her time to think, but if she didn't hurry back the boy would start to worry about her. She hated to admit it, but over the past week she had begun to grow quite fond of Blai. Possibly even love? No, that couldn't be. She'd never felt love before, but she had vowed on the graves of those that she loved that she would never allow herself to fall in love, never allow her to get close enough to someone to have her heart broken again when they are taken away. But then…what was this feeling? When she was with him it was harder for Star to keep her mask. She felt that losing him would be even worse than losing Kanzaki and those thoughts and feelings were why she needed to get away. Maybe she had gone on too much of a walk, Star was thinking much more than she wanted to.

Suddenly, while she was walking, the girl had the urge to sing. The words flowed from her like a steady stream and now that the dam had been taken away it would not stop until it ran out. It was a sad song, a nonsense song, a song that held her entire heart and soul. Star wasn't proud of her singing voice, but people said that it was so full of heart that it was beautiful.

"You have a lovely voice," said a familiar voice from behind the protection of the trees. "It's too bad it's such a sad song." Star knew she heard that voice from somewhere before, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Who are you?"

Chid stepped into her range of vision, "I'm hurt that you've forgotten me already," Star noticed that he looked flushed. He had obviously run a great distance since she and Blai had clearly had a very good head start.

Star turned her back to him and started walking towards where she had left Blai; he would start looking for her soon. "What do you want, Freid?" she asked as she spun around on her heels to start her return.

The blond boy caught her wrist and Star winced, it was the one with the scar and she hoped to the God that she didn't believe in that he wouldn't find out about it, even though her hands were gloved. "I wanted to see you again," he said, pulling her into a strong, gentle embrace. "I just can't keep you out of my mind," he whispered softly into her ear.

"Let go of me," she said weakly. Had she been expecting this she would have thought of some way out of the situation, but as things turned out, this was one of the last things she had ever been expecting. Along with Blai wearing a frilly dress and doing the can-can. Then again…it was one of the last things she was expecting.

"I can't," the boy was still whispering, "I wanted to see you one more time" (Now, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that Chid is...about fifteen years older than Star. I really don't think that's legal…). He closed his eyes, "I just had to follow you. When you left you took my heart with you; that was when I knew I was in love with you."

"Took you an awfully long time to catch up," Star said sarcastically. She couldn't move, she willed her body to break away but it would not, having longed for a loving touch for so long. Even if she couldn't control her body anymore, she still had control over her sharp words.

The boy chuckled with his enchanting blue eyes still closed as he leaned closer to the girl and buried his face in her soft, dark hair. "Please, don't leave me again. I can't stand to watch you walk away from me again."

"Where the hell is that girl?" Blai wondered aloud as he stood up, he was both anxious and angry. What an interesting combination, at least when caused by someone like Star. It was already dark and, impatient as ever, he had eaten his fish while his companion's went cold. He watched the light from the crackling fire flicker as Aiichirou slept, curled up peacefully like a soft white cloud. "I'm going to find her," the creature's ears perked up and it looked up at him. Apparently, it had not been asleep. Blai would have smiled, but he was too worried about the strange girl, and he ran into the woods. "Star!" he called. Where could she be? A beautiful sound suddenly filled his ears and he stopped immediately. Someone was singing. A lovely song, a sad song…a beautiful voice, so full of emotion…that voice…Star! He willed his legs to move again and followed the sound until she had finished her song.

"You have a lovely voice," who was that? Blai knew he heard the voice before; it was so familiar, like a childhood friend, so why couldn't he seem to remember? "It's too bad it's such a sad song." The boy understood where he had heard that voice before. Chid!

"Who are you?" Blai peeked through an opening in the bushes that he was now crouched behind; he seemed to have been doing a lot of hiding behind bushes since he had met the strange girl from the Mystic Moon.

Chid stepped into view from behind a tree, his face flushed from running. He must have been pretty desperate to catch up. "I'm hurt that you've forgotten me already," he said. The young prince tried in vain to comprehend what was going on, at least, that was what he was doing until he saw his friend pull the girl into a tight embrace.

Why did it hurt so much? He felt as if his heart was being torn out of his chest and stepped on until not even a single atom was left. Why? He didn't have feelings for Star, not that way at least. He knew he didn't. He just couldn't be in love with her, not with someone like her. Cocky, arrogant, aloof, but also kind, caring, wounded, vulnerable…something that Blai had to take care of, to protect, to preserve. Was that love?

"Let go of me, Freid," Star said, more firmly this time, as she broke out of his embrace but not out of his grasp. Chid's hand was still clasped around her wrist. "You'll just get hurt. Never share your heart with anyone…I learned that the hard way," and how she had.

The boy's—man's?—eyes met hers and refused to let go of her blue gaze, "Don't say that. Please, don't say that. You don't know how much that hurts…"

"Really?" the girl glared at him coldly, "I think I do." She turned away again and tried to break out of his grip but the man pulled her closer and his lips met hers in a kiss. Star's first kiss, this was definitely not the sort of situation she would have expected to receive it in. Then again, every girl romanticizes the idea of the ever-important first kiss.

Blai's eyes grew wide; his entire soul had just been torn out and shattered into a thousand pieces. The pain of watching Star in someone else's arms had been enough to break his heart before, but now he felt he would die…watching as someone he had long considered his best friend steal a kiss.

Dejected and unwilling to watch anymore and put himself through more pain, Blai turned around and ran back to where he and Star had set up camp. "Am I in love?" he asked himself as he got further and further away from the scene that he wished would erase itself from his memory.

Star broke away and pushed the man so hard that he fell to the ground. She would have smiled had the circumstances been different, it was almost comical to see the usually so dignified and composed man lying on his back on the ground. The girl wiped her mouth on her sleeve to show her disgust over what had just happened. "Never do that again, you bastard," she spat. The jerk didn't even look ashamed! "I don't love you, get that through your thick skull and go back."

Chid stood up and brushed himself off, "I'm not going back," he said simply. "I'm not going back until you fall in love with me." Such confidence! Star wanted to strangle him.

"You'll be here for a helluva long time, then," the girl spun around on her heels and walked back towards her and Blai's make-shift camp, completely aware of the fact that Chid was following close behind. When she broke through the trees and saw Blai sitting next to a sleeping Aiichirou and poking the fire with a very long stick she gave a little smile. Her brother was quite fond of the boy. "Don't tell me you ate my dinner," Star cried with noticeably false anger. Blai didn't say anything, he just pointed to a leaf on which lay a cooked fish, now cold. That was strange; he would usually continue joking with her, since her joking in itself was a rare occasion.

That was when Chid stepped out from behind the trees. Blai stared at his longtime friend for a moment before getting up and walking toward the edge of the lake, the spot where he lay down to sleep. Star shrugged her thoughts aside. Whatever Blai's problem was he had to deal with it on his own otherwise he would never be able to get over it. So, there was no point in wondering what it was.

The girl curled up next to her brother by the fire and watched it flicker before closing her eyes and trying to fall asleep, appearing to completely ignore Chid's entire existence.

She had a hard time falling asleep, with the fire's warmth washing over her face. Too many thoughts were swirling around inside her head. You can't fall in love, Star, she reminded herself over and over, though she wasn't entirely sure which of the two boys she was referring to. If you fall in love they'll all leave you, just like last time. You'll be Sayako again. Sayako who cried in her sleep and was plagued by nightmares…Sayako who killed everyone that mattered… You have to hate them otherwise they'll leave you alone again. As the last thought faded from her mind, she fell asleep to the comforting crackling of the fire and the protective warmth of both it and her brother.