Disclaimer- I don't own Witch Hunter Robin
Chapter 4-Bitter Revelations
Two months later.
The queen was presiding over her grand hall when her Captain of the Guard came in. "Ah Michael how are you?" she asked warmly. The Captain smiled and said "I'm doing wonderfully your Majesty. I trust you remember approximately 8 months ago when you asked me to procure a picture of the General? My regrets that it's taken so long but he is very heavily protected. Last week however we finally managed to get a snapshot. It is in this envelope." He handed it to the queen proudly. She smiled widely as she accepted the envelope. "Thank you Michael." She turned and addressed the hall. "Now we shall all see our most bitter enemy." The entire hall was quiet as the queen opened the envelope. The shock on her face after she opened it was evident to one and all. She tried to hide it but for the first time in public in her reign the queen found it hard to find the words to say. "Everyone…please…leave. I need some alone time." Everyone bowed and made their way out of the great hall, all concerned why their queen was acting like this.
Only after she was sure she was alone did she let down her guard and cry bitter tears, and as habit when she was stressed fiddled with the pendant-symbol of her status-around her neck.
Robin raced through the forest the same way she had right after the attack little more than half a year ago. Branches tore at her face, causing blood to mingle with her tears as she prayed he would be there, this early. She stopped at her foundation and screamed in agony. She was bleeding but that wasn't why she was so distraught. "It could've been anyone but him. ANYONE! But it had to be you didn't it?"
Amon was waiting in the clearing pacing back and forth. He didn't know why he had come this early, it's not like she would be here, the queen didn't put out a platoon till around 9:30. He played around with something in his pocket and went over once again what he was going to say to her. He turned around when he heard the sound of bushes crashing and the sound of his love's tears. "What could possibly be wrong?" He wondered out loud. He raced to the sound of Robin's crying and saw her collapsed on the ground by the foundation, position similar to when he had first seen her. This time however he walked through the bushes and wrapped his arms around her. "What's wrong love?"
She looked into his eyes as he looked concerned back at her. "Amon…I've discovered who you are. You're…the General. The leader of the Naturals army." Her voice shook as she pronounced every syllable. "Wait. Before you say anything else listen to me." He said. "Yes. I won't deny the fact that I am the General. However that doesn't change how I feel about you. I…" he paused and dropped to his knees, taking out a box. He opened it and revealed a beautiful white-gold ring set with a diamond with an emerald on either side.
She was screaming inwardly. She didn't want to interrupt him but she prayed that he wasn't going to ask her. "I love you with all my heart…will you marry me? I know we can find a way to make this work despite of the war." She broke down sobbing. "I wish you wouldn't have asked me. We can't…because of who we are."
Amon had been scared of this. But wait…because of who we are? "Wait…my informant told me that the queen was going to name an heir. Are you it? Because if you are I swear I will march into that city and work with the queen until I can arrange a peace treaty to be with you. I love you, and I doubt I could live without you. Ever." He finished off looking intently in her eyes.
Her heart broke just looking in his eyes. He wouldn't trust her again and he would never want to see her again after she told him the truth. Her eyes filled with tears and she collapsed to the ground unwilling to say goodbye to the love of her life and weary of everything going on around her. Weary of the war, weary of her status and weary of life taking away everything she loved. She felt Amon's strong arms wrap around her and she leaned into his embrace sobbing. As she did this she felt him take her hand and felt cold metal touch her skin. She knew she had to tell him though why she couldn't stay. She tried to soften her crying and at last succeeded. Getting up and walking several steps away from Amon she looked down at the ring he had slipped on her finger, twisting it this way and that.
"Amon…the reason I can't stay…that is to say I'm not the heir." She said. "Then what's the problem? If you come with me to the natural's army, because of who I am they will accept you no matter what." Robin turned to him and he could see tears beginning to course down her cheeks again. "Amon the reason I have to say no…again because of who we are. You know I'm not the heir. I'm the one who names the heir." Upon hearing this Amon felt his energy drain away. "I'm the queen. Queen Eve." She said, pulling out her pendant from underneath her clothes.
The look on his face after she told him the truth tore her to pieces. First incredulousness as though she was joking him, then denial, which he voiced. "No…no you can't be…your name is Robin." Then finally the truth set in as he glimpsed her pendant, a pendant he had seen before... in a picture of her predecessor. He looked at her anger bubbling inside of him and he saw the tears that were making their way down her cheeks. "You…you lied to me." He growled. Any amount of compassion she might've put into his voice just by being there had been erased. The tears kept on coming but she shook her head vehemently. "No. Believe me I never lied to you. About anything." He shook his head and walked away several feet and then turned around. "You said your name is Robin. And yet the Queen is named Eve." Robin responded quietly "It's a tradition to change the name of the reigning queen to Eve because of the Bible…the queen is supposed to be like the hope. The beginning. But I told the truth. My name legally is Robin." She stopped him before he said anymore. Tears began to fill her eyes as she described other ways she hadn't lied to him. "I... the decision to build the wall and cut myself off from my parents tore me apart. It still eats me up from inside every time I talk about it. They didn't want to live in the palace because they don't like living the high life. My new position forced me distance myself from them. Not only that I wasn't allowed to see them. And on top of that the attack right after the wall was up the attack on their village…it made me feel like I was responsible for their death. How do you think that made me feel?" she turned away unable to look at him any longer. She began to slowly walk back to the path she had tread so many times before. "My craft is fire…I am 18 years old…what more do you want?" "You said…you were the queen's closest confident. And yet you say you are the queen. How does that work." He questioned his stoic emotionless voice returning. She smiled an ironic smile "Well…as General you ought to know this…a leader has no greater confidant than themselves."
Standing in the middle of the clearing Amon felt almost as though his soul had been ripped cruelly from his body… she said she had lied about nothing. But…she had told him…he couldn't bear to think that she had lied about that. He stood there, two emotions, hatred and residual love-what he should feel and what he felt- warred within his body. He didn't know whether to hate her for who she was or continue to love her as he knew he would. He watched the love of his life-for he would never love another-pause in the edges where the forest started again. She turned around and looked at him. It still grabbed him even now knowing who she was, how beautiful she was. "I…if I could change who we were. If I could make myself anyone else other than queen I would do it. So I could be with you." She twisted the ring off of her finger, looked at it and tossed it onto the clearing floor just in front of him. She looked him in the eye and said "And as for the last thing…no I didn't lie. I do love you. Don't doubt it. I think actually you will be the only one I will love for the rest of my life." She conjured a wall of flames to cut herself off from her love, a tear slipping down her face as she did. A thought came to her head as the wall almost completed itself. "You said…that if I were the heir you would come and declare peace. Will you do it now that I'm the queen?" The wall closed and Amon could see her no more.
Right after the sounds of her crashing through the bush faded, leaving only silence, the once proud General dropped to his knees, tears trickling down his face, and began to contemplate his next move.