Chapter 20: The Eagle and the Mistletoe
A dark book lay on the floor. The last remnant of his childhood. He reached down slowly and picked it up.
"Diana- there's something I want to ask you."
She beamed at him wordlessly.
"I was wondering if you'd help me with this." Royce balanced the book on her shoulder. She turned to look at it, sniffed its corner and then gnawed on its edge playfully.
"Hey! Cut that out!" he pried it away from her and she let it go. "It's an antique…"
She sat up on her pillow, pouting at him.
"Please, I know it doesn't seem important but I feel like this book is- it's something I have to know. I've had it for so long. Since my childhood that I can barely remember after the accident. In my notes, I had sketches of a girl who looked just like you. I know they're connected. But this book's written in a strange language. Nobody can read it. But I thought maybe- have you ever seen it before?"
He passed it to her gently.
She took it uneasily, and read the title: "the Eagle and the Mistletoe."
"How- "
"It can't be you," she cried. She let go of the book, released him and pushed him away. "I don't believe you. You're lying, you're just like Ishigami, just like my father!"
Then she turned back to him and opened her eyes wide with a look that startled him. Red fluorescence gleamed in her pupils. A smile crept over her face and she slowly placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Darling, is it really you? I've waited so long. I have to be sure. I want to know everything -"
"Uhhhhh- Diana- what are you doing? You're scaring me."
There was a bright green flash. Fear welled up in his chest but he was transfixed on her eyes. Green and white lights dazzled him until he was falling down a tunnel of light. Strange fuzzy images floated past him like film negatives falling from a camera. In his mind he saw two shards of broken glass fit together seamlessly to form a whole.
Then he remembered that day from fifteen years ago. The day he found the book.
A dusty shelf riddled with cobwebs in his father's basement. It was lying on the ground, covered in white ash. Strange, heavy and ornate.
"Where did this come from, dad?" he held it up. The old man propped up on an easy-chair was watching old holos. A green glow covered his face and he grunted at the suggestion.
"What is that? A book? Where'd you steal it from?"
"I found it in the basement!"
"Must have been from the old owner," he snarled. He got up, hiked his jeans above his waist and scowled. Slowly, a glint of understanding spread across the old man's face. His tone dropped low. "Oh- yeah. Must have been from the old owner. You should stop stealing stuff."
He tugged on the book but Royce tugged back in resistance and his dad released it after a few moments of struggle.
"Whatever- if you want it, go ahead. But, you know, reading and drawing all the time isn't good for a boy your age. Why don't you go out and play with your friends?"
"Okay," He tucked the book under his arm and peered down at the floor. He saw a sticky beer stain on the carpet. Months old. He looked back into his father's eyes. They were cold, uncaring, and accustomed to the blind obedience of others. A sparkle of pride glimmered briefly, then it was gone. The old man walked back to his chair. Back to the holos.
He walked outside through warm summer air which grew steadily colder as the night progressed. The ground slowly gave up its heat to the uncaring maw of a starless sky.
He walked like a ghost across streets packed with phantoms, through stoplights which blinked like lighthouses above a raging sea.
After a short walk he reached his favorite spot to read- the Nimbus tree, alit with searchlights shining up from the ground, just like it always was at night, an eternal flame to memorialize some long forgotten hero. Its braches stretched wide across the skyline, supporting little pink blossoms where the stars should have been. Below its roots formed a chaotic truss-work, overgrown with slippery moss and comfortable wild grass. It reached so wide that long wooden stakes propped up its elder branches.
He took a seat, beneath the mammoth trunk and took the book out of his bag to read. He flipped through the fantastic scenes on its pages: a prismatic bird, a huge tree, a muscular hero, a beautiful woman who transformed into a bird, a fallen king and hungry wolves devouring a prince at the end. But its words were in a language he couldn't make out. It was something other than Serilonan. Other than Khanian or English.
He frequented the spot under the Nimbus tree often. Sometimes he would sit and doodle, or read. It was where he'd sit when he didn't want to go home.
Suddenly, he heard a woman's voice calling, "stop running, you'll fall!"
"I'll be fine!"
A heap of pink hair fell in front of him with a thud and a soft "oof!"
"Are you okay?"
"Who are you?"
"Me? My name is Rex." He extended a hand to help her up and noticed a small band around her wrist with a shining silver bird.
Rex? My name was Rex?
"I'm Diana," she said. Then she pointed at the book in his hand. "What's that?"
"Oh, it's a picture book. I found it."
"Let me see!" She snatched the book and lifted it up in the air, "the Eagle and the Mistletoe," she announced.
He was shocked. "You can read it?"
"Of course! My mom taught me Kanji- it's how they used to write back in the old old times. She's really smart."
"Oh."
"Honey! Are you-" a grown-up's voice yelled from behind the tree. "You're not digging again are you-" a tall woman with short blonde hair came dashing toward the girl, then picked her up and inspected her like a mailman inspects a package. Bits of candy and dirt flew out of her pockets and tumbled to the ground. "Who's this?" the woman asked.
"That's my friend Rex!" she announced, while the woman held her upside down. "He doesn't know how to read." She raised a finger at him.
"Yeah I do!" he protested.
"Diana- how many times have I told you, you shouldn't play with kids your age, if they were to- we can't take those kinds of risks. You're special-"
"But mom!"
"He's not your friend, he's just a stupid boy, he doesn't understand anything. Let's go." Without hesitation she carried the girl under her arm. Her face stuck out behind the woman and she struggled to break free, but it was no use.
He stood in silence, cupping a few red candies in his hands, watching the curious eyes of the girl follow him as she was carried away crying. "I wanted to read the book!" she shouted back at him.
"I'll be here. Same time." He shouted back at her. It was an eternity before he heard a faint whisper of a response.
"Okay!"
Diana released him and collapsed on his chest. The book clattered to the ground. He lay spread eagle on the bed.
"Noooo!" she pleaded. "You can't be... You're my Darling from-"
"The girl from my notebooks- it really was you." He reached out his hand to touch her back but she remained silent.
She couldn't meet his gaze and she began to weep into her palms. Then she rolled to face him and grasped at him desperately, gently hugging him and crying all the same.
"Darling- darling- darling! Why did you forget? Why is your name different? Where did you go? You don't look the same! Why! Why did you leave me and never come back? Why don't you remember those things that happened? I wish I didn't remember. You're so lucky."
He stroked her long pink hair. The memories came flooding back. Faster now. She was so close to him.
A whirlwind of colors again consumed his vision.
"No, wait! You don't have to know-" she looked up at him in a panic but it was too late.
"Where the hell do you go every night, boy?" his father scolded him as he descended the stairs. Three weeks had passed since he met Diana, and every night he waited for her at the tree. He spent hours just drawing her face, her inexplicable Mona Lisa smile, her captivating mysterious eyes- hoping, wondering if she would ever return.
"Nowhere."
He felt something strong and forceful grab his shoulder. "Let go!" Then the old man ripped his backpack off.
The greenish light from the holos bathed the room in a radium glow. The pack's contents fell onto the floor. Pens, pencils, drafting paper, notebooks, sketches, school books, comic books, and one large black picture book with strange symbols on its cover.
"What the hell is all this?" he picked up a notepad and flipped through it. Sketches of fighter jets and tanks and giant robots, the Ash Cloud station, the moon and other celestial bodies flew past in a blur of pages. Drawings of people, couples in the park, images of leaves, flowers, foliage, natural and artificial objects of beauty, the face of the young girl- her eyes colored a dazzling emerald green, concentric irises and her face obscured by wisps of pink hair. The face of a girl who promised to unlock the secrets of a world forever hidden behind a veil of shadow and hieroglyphs.
"What's all this crap? You trying to be an artist or something?"
"No, dad I just-"
"Whatever. I hoped you'd turn out to be a man - a soldier. But I guess I hoped too much. Go paint your pretty pictures and read your books." He loaded the papers and books back into his small yellow backpack as his father stumbled off again.
Royce wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and heard the pop of a can. The he slipped out the door.
…
"You came back!"
A voice in the distance called to him. He looked up to see Diana waving.
"Diana!" he smiled. It was the first time he smiled in three weeks.
She stopped a foot away from him- her starlit eyes looked straight through his own. Then she hugged him.
"Sorry, it's just you're the only boy my age that I've met."
"You don't go to school?"
"My mom teaches me."
"She teaches you Kanji?" He reached into his bag for the mysterious book. "I was wondering if you could help me read it?"
"Of course!" she shouted, reaching out her arms in triumph.
An older couple looked over at them from across the park. They were sitting on a bench holding hands. Diana retracted her arms and hid her face, then she whispered, "sorry- of course!"
Then they sat side by side and held the book between them while she read from its large intricate pages.
"Let's see- the Eagle and the Mistletoe…"
Once upon a time, there was a King who had five sons. Four were all grown but the fifth son was still a boy. Unlike his brothers, the youngest was born without hair. They called him Baldy.
The king told his four oldest sons to go off and find the most beautiful, wisest, and richest princesses they could marry, and bring them back to his palace. He gave the four oldest sons his finest cloths, so fine that candlelight gleamed off them.
He gave them his finest stallions, so fast they could outrun even the birds that swooped in the sky.
He gave them gold and jewels and his finest swords from the armory.
And then they set off into the land. They traveled together for many days and met many wonderful princesses, wise men, kings and queens. And at last they came to a magical land called Walhalla and the king there had four wonderful daughters; the loveliest in all the land.
Soon, each of the four princes fell in love with each of the four daughters, and they set off home again, head over heels in love with their sweethearts.
But on their way back to their father's palace they stumbled across a ferocious giant who blocked their path. The giant said:
"What do know you of life, foolish humans? What do you know of pain? Of loss?"
One of the princes, the oldest and bravest of the four replied:
"Gentle giant- please let us pass and we shall do you no harm."
But the giant was jealous of the princes and their sweethearts and he boomed at them:
"My heart is cold and you know nothing of the gifts you've been given. I shall make your hearts cold like mine."
So the giant cast a spell. And before the princes could draw their gleaming swords, the giant turned them all to stone, and their horses, and their sweethearts too.
Back at the palace, the King waited with his last and youngest son Baldy, who was now grown. One day he said to his father:
"Father, it has been four years now and my brothers have not returned. You must let me go to find them. Perhaps they're in danger."
The kingdom was struggling and the treasury was empty and the King, afraid of losing his last remaining son, buried his head in his hands and said to Baldy, "Son, my last son, if you go and do not return, I would not be able to go on."
But Baldy protested. He begged and pleaded with his father to let him go. Eventually his father relented. But there were no swords or stallions or fine cloths left for Baldy. Instead he took an old Tarpan horse from the stables, and a servant's cloths from the tailors, and a falconer's gloves from the armory.
"Farewell, father," he said, "I'll come back and I'll bring my four brothers back with me!" and with that he set off. In the distance the king wept and wept, for he had lost his whole world.
Baldy rode for a while and eventually he came across a Raven, which lay in the road and flapped its wings, but the raven was not able to move out of the way because it was too hungry.
"Oh friend," the Raven said, "won't you spare me a little food? I promise I'll repay you one day."
"I haven't got much food," said Baldy, "and I don't know how you, a Raven, could ever help me; but I'll spare you some of my food. I know you need it more than I do."
So he gave the Raven some of his bread and set off again.
A bit further down the road he came to a babbling brook, and in the brook there was a Salmon which had beached itself on the side of the stream and couldn't get back into the water.
"Oh friend," the Salmon said, "won't you shove me back into the water? I promise I'll repay you one day."
"Well I can't see how a fish could ever help me; but since you asked for my help I'll do what I can." And he shoved the fish back into the stream.
After that he rode for a long time and became very hungry. He came at last to a gigantic wolf who stood in the middle of the road at sunset. The wolf looked at him with piercing red eyes and said:
"Tasty human, you look so tired and I am so very hungry. I could bite your head off and eat you, but instead I will offer you a deal: a giant lives a ways up the road. If you give your horse to me and help me slay the giant so that my pack can feast, I'll let you live."
Baldy stepped down from his old horse and said, "No. This I can't allow. First I gave a raven my food, then I saved a salmon and now I have nothing to eat. Now you want my horse? Without my horse I will surely die."
"Oh friend, if you give me your horse I will help you to defeat the giant. For this is no ordinary giant and alone you will surely perish. Only I know the secret of how to defeat it. You can even ride upon my back into battle."
Baldy dismounted his horse and said, "alright great Wolf. You frighten me, but this Tarpan is old and is struggling to walk. I will trust you." And so the great wolf pounced on his horse and devoured it. Baldy took the saddle and laid it on the wolf's back and they set off to find the giant.
After a while they came across a Giant standing in the middle of the road. Baldy was very afraid but he and the wolf approached the monster, and he said:
"You Giant, I have come to face you!"
The Giant looked him up and down and saw the fearsome Wolf he rode upon, then the giant said, "What do know you of life, foolish human? What do you know of pain? Of loss?"
Baldy replied, "I don't know much of life, Giant! But I have journeyed for many weeks and met many creatures who I helped. I don't know much of pain either, Giant, but I lost my four brothers years ago and watched my kingdom rot while my father's heart ached. And I don't know much of loss, Giant, but I watched my father weep as I, the last of his sons, left to face you!"
The Giant grunted, "I respect your answer, Human. Your life has not been an easy one and I shall spare you this once. But if you return, I shall turn you to stone!"
Then with that the Giant stepped off the path and disappeared into the forest.
The wolf was stunned, "that's the first time I've ever seen the giant show mercy." He growled.
Together Baldy and the Wolf traveled a ways and spotted a lone house with four statues outside of it.
"This is the house of the evil Giant," said the Wolf; "and those four statues are your four brothers who the Giant has turned into stone with his evil curse. Look- you can see them and their four sweethearts still atop their four stallions."
"What shall we do," Baldy asked the Wolf, "How can we save them? I dare not go into his house. He'll turn me to stone like he did my brothers!"
"No, no," said the Wolf, "come with me and I'll show you a magical tree which you can use to survive the Giant's curse." They rode into the forest, deep down the blackened path until they reached a shallow lake cloaked in fog with an oak tree leaning its boughs into the murky water.
The Wolf said, "My friend, you must hide your spirit in this magical tree so that when the giant casts his curse he will not be able to turn you to stone. Your heart will be here, where he cannot touch it."
Baldy looked at the tree and touched it. Then the Wolf told him of a magical spell to place his heart into the tree, but warned him: "My friend, once you cast this spell, your body will be strong as the tree's trunk and curses will have no effect on you, but you will be bound to the tree's roots. If you should ever leave Walhalla you will die, and even if you stay, as the great oak's leaves die in winter, so shall you."
"If it will save my brothers, I'll do it."
So he cast the spell and afterward he felt cold and empty but strong as an ox.
"Come, friend," he said to the Wolf with a low commanding voice, "let us go and slay the giant."
And the Wolf obeyed, for now Baldy had grown fierce.
They returned to the giant's house but the Giant was gone.
Baldy smashed down the door with the Wolf by his side.
He searched all throughout the Giant's house and in one of the rooms he found a large bird cage with a stunning purple and green eagle.
The Wolf spotted the falconer's glove on Baldy's hand and said, "friend, you are a falconer. We should steal the Giant's Eagle, for surely the Eagle knows how to defeat its captor."
Baldy thought for a moment, he never handled a falcon before, but eventually he agreed to free the great bird.
He nodded his head and the Wolf bit the lock right off the cage. The bird remained motionless and regal as it stood bravely before them.
Baldy looked at the great stunning bird and said, "oh great Eagle, you are so strong and swift, would you help me to fight the Giant?"
The great bird stared at him with wide piercing green eyes and said, "I care not about your class or cloths, young man. I can sense you have given much, and you have come from far away. But I am no ordinary eagle, I am a Zhenniao. I have been cursed by the Giant with poisonous blood and plumage. Anyone who touches me will die. Would you dare to hold my talons with your hand?" the great bird asked.
Baldy was taken aback by the bird's warning and thought hard for a moment, "I don't know- but right now my kingdom is in ruins and I'm helpless to save my brothers. I don't belong anywhere, and if I can't kill the Giant, I might as well be dead. Please, come with me."
The bird licked its beak and said, "You really are just like me. You and I are very similar. I like the look in your eyes. It makes my heart race. Lets go, Darling, and kill the evil Giant."
The great bird flapped its poisonous wings and landed on Baldy's gloved hand. Baldy was terrified of the bird but it was ever so gentle, and took great care not to touch him as he carried it on his glove. Then the Zhenniao whispered:
"Far, far away, in a lake there lies an island; and on that island there stands a church. And in that church there is a well; and in that well swims a duck; and in that duck sits an egg, and in that egg there lies the Giant's heart, - my Darling." The bird said, and so they set out.
Together they rode into the forest. The wolf took them to a great foggy lake with an island at its center, and they swam to it and found the church. But the keys to the church hung high above its door in a box and neither he nor the wolf could reach. He asked the Zhenniao, "oh kind Eagle, would you help me retrieve the keys?"
The great bird flapped its wings and soared high into the air and slashed at the metal box with its talons and pecked at it with its powerful beak but couldn't open it. It returned to his glove and replied:
"I'm sorry, Darling. I can't open the box. We will have to face the giant without his heart."
Baldy thought long and hard. No matter how much the Wolf and the Zhenniao urged him to fight, he refused. Then he saw a black speck in the sky which descended toward them. It was the Raven.
The Raven swooped down low and picked up a twig from the ground, then flew up to the box and with its twig, retrieved the key and dropped it down to them, then it flew away.
Baldy unlocked the church's doors and inside they came to a deep well with a small duckling swimming at the bottom. He picked up a rock and threw it down, but the duck refused to budge. He looked at the Zhenniao and said:
"oh great Eagle, won't you fly down to the bottom of the well and grab that duck in your sharp talons?"
"I'm sorry, Darling. I can't go down there." The Eagle stretched out its massive wings, "if I go down that tiny well to fetch the duck I'll never be able to get back out!"
Baldy thought long and hard. No matter how much the Wolf and the Zhenniao urged him to fight the Giant in open combat, he refused.
Then he saw a glint of silver and he peered down into the well and saw the Salmon scare the duck out of the water. It flew up out of the well and dropped the egg in his hand. He squeezed the egg and the Giant's tiny heart popped out.
The Wolf said, "Now, human, give the heart to me and I will eat it and kill the Giant! Then my pack can feast on the Giant's corpse. Do it or I'll eat you instead."
The Zhenniao whispered in his ear, "No, Darling, give the heart to me and I will poison the Giant and kill him! Then I promise I will be yours and you'll be the most powerful falconer in the world."
But no matter how much the bird tried to convince him, and no matter how much the Wolf growled, Baldy refused to let go of the heart. He squeezed the heart and heard a booming voice ring out across the forest, "NO! Spare me, human! If you release my heart I will free your brothers and the princess."
"Free my brothers and their horses and their sweethearts, giant! Or I will feed you to the great Wolf!"
And the Giant did. He restored his four brothers and their horses and their sweethearts back to life.
He squeezed the heart again. And again the booming voice rang out across the forest, "NO! Spare me, human! If you let me go I shall tell you the secret of how I tamed my great eagle and I shall give her to you."
"I have no need of your secrets, wicked GIant! For I have already stolen your great eagle and I am still alive."
Then a great booming laugh rang out across the forest, "you are a fool! A cursed fool!" the laughter continued.
The Wolf growled at him again, "give me the heart, foolish human. End this now!"
Baldy whispered to the Zhenniao, "chase away the Wolf and I will give you the Giant's heart." The Zhenniao narrowed its eyes and smiled, then it flapped its wings and chased the Wolf back into the forest, cursing Baldy and growling for revenge.
Baldy tossed the heart in the air and the Zhenniao bit it. It turned black and shattered into dust. A scream rang out through the forest and then there was silence.
The Zhenniao returned to the ground in front of him and transformed into a beautiful woman. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with eagle-like eyes and silver talons and a stunning green and purple gown.
She looked at him and said, "Thank you, kind Hero. You have given me a heart and with it I have become human. I am yours and I would go anywhere with you. But poison still remains in my veins. If you were to touch me you would surely die."
He looked at the ground and said, "Oh Zhenniao, I was never afraid. Your poison will not affect me. But I cannot go with you. For you see, the wolf has tricked me- I have placed my spirit inside an oak tree, and I will die if I leave this forest. And even if I stay, I will die when the tree's leaves die in winter."
The Zhenniao thought for a moment and replied, "tell me which tree you put your spirit in."
Baldy took her to the place of the great oak and she flew to a nearby branch where a mistletoe berry grew. She picked it up and cracked it in her beak. Then she released the cracked berry onto a branch of the great oak and flew back to him, transforming back in to her human form.
He winced in pain.
The Zhenniao said to him, "Now Darling, I have placed a mistletoe on your tree's branch. The mistletoe is a parasite which lives through the frost, so when the tree sheds its leaves in winter, a part of you and I will live on. So long as we are together, we can go wherever you wish!"
He looked at the beautiful woman and smiled, then he reached out to take her hand.
She recoiled.
"Darling?" She wore a look of concern.
Baldy replied, "you are worth the risk."
She smiled, "well then, let me get a taste of you. After all, you are now my Darling! "
Then she kissed him. And he did not die. The Zhenniao smiled wide and beamed at him.
"Now kind Hero, let us go and meet your brothers!"
They returned to the road together to find all four of his brothers and their four sweethearts alive and merry. The brothers were awestruck to see Zhenniao, far more beautiful and captivating than any of the other princesses.
They thanked him for saving their lives and for slaying the Giant, and told him they'd send for a horse for him to ride. Then they rode off to the palace, leaving he and Zhenniao behind.
Zhenniao turned to him and she transformed into her great Eagle form and he climbed on her back.
They flew to the palace, overtaking his brothers who rode their horses on the road below.
The old King was overjoyed to see his son and the four brothers return, each with their bride. "But the loveliest bride of them all was the bride of Baldy," said the King, "and he shall sit at the head of the table with his beautiful sweetheart by his side."
The King sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and songs that lasted into the night until the king grew drunk and boisterous and said to Zhenniao, "oh beautiful bride of my bravest son- won't you dance with this old king just once?"
And she replied, "please good king, I can only dance with my Darling!"
"Nonsense! You can indulge this old man this one last pity," and he grabbed her hand, then dropped dead on the ballroom floor.
The room stood still and Zhenniao wept. She changed into her Eagle form and flew out through the highest window.
Baldy was shocked and torn, he ran to the threshold of the castle gate, not knowing whether to stay or chase after her. In his haste he took up a sword from a guard's scabbard and thrust it through his stomach. But he did not bleed.
His brothers gasped, "You are corrupt! You do not bleed! Your bride was a demon, an assassin sent to kill the King!" They said. And he ran. They chased him through the forest until he became lost and the shouts in the distance grew quiet.
Baldy wandered the forest for days until he came upon the sacred tree where which he had placed his spirit and found Zhenniao perched atop its highest branch, still weeping on the tree's boughs. It was withered now, its bark peeling off and its leaves strewn across the ground.
On the end of the branch was the golden mistletoe which grew from where the bird had bitten to place the parasite's berry.
The great bird continued to weep. "Oh Darling- I am so sorry. I should never have come back with you. And you should never have come back for me."
Great red eyes peered out from the underbrush and he saw a whole pack of wolves glaring at him.
"Now we will take what is owed us," said the great Wolf as it lunged at him.
With his last ounce of strength he stabbed the sword into the dying oak.
Baldy perished there. The wolves devoured his body and tree's sap leaked out onto the ground.
The mistletoe fell onto the ground where the Zhenniao watched over it, scaring off all those who dared to disturb it.
Then the king's men came with torches and rope to burn the cursed bird and the dying tree.
As fires were lit around her, Zhenniao said to the ground below: "Do not worry, my prince. In spring the flowers shall bloom. For I will always know you as you truly are. One day, my prince, we will meet again, when saplings grow from our ashes."
"I'm not sure if I understand the moral of the story," he scratched his head.
She closed the book and handed it to him, then she reached into one of her deep pockets for a small red candy and popped it in her mouth. "I oonnt unddrstnd it eehheerr."
She munched on the candy which was far too large for her small mouth. Then she retrieved a second piece and handed it to him. "Aannt one?"
He took it gingerly and smelled it. "My dad says I shouldn't have candy. It'll rot my teeth."
"Rrryy it!" she pleaded.
He did. And it was wonderful.
They chewed on the sweet spheres for a minute, slowly reducing them in size. Diana angrily attacked her candy, biting off chunks and shards while Royce silently enjoyed his own. They looked over at a couple sitting across the park. They were holding hands when suddenly the woman turned to the man and kissed him.
"Eeeew! Gross," he whispered to Diana.
"What are they doing?" she leaned forward in awe.
"Looks like they're kissing."
"What's that?" she asked.
"I think it's something that grown-ups do."
"Like call each-other Darling?"
"I guess."
"My mom said she met her darling under this tree. Since I met you here, does that mean you're my darling?" Diana asked him with wide open eyes.
"I don't know," he pondered for a moment. He didn't know what it meant to be someone's Darling.
But- things didn't turn out terribly well for that Darling in the fairy tale, he thought.
He felt a small head rest on his shoulder.
"I wish I had a Darling," Diana said. "My mom said her Darling went away because he did bad things. But I barely even remember what he looks like. I only remember he was obsessed with finding something under the ground. That's all he ever talked about."
He put his arm around her shoulder as she started to sniffle. "Hey! Don't cry! I'm sure you'll get to see him again."
She continued, "I thought maybe if I could find the stuff he was looking for, maybe he'd come back. But all I found was this silly bracelet." She showed him the silver bird dangling from her wrist and he held her hand to admire it.
"Is it a Zhenniao?" he asked.
"No, it's a Jian- or at least that's what my mom says."
"Well I think it looks more like a Zhenniao," he smiled at her.
She smiled back, "I think you're right!"
They sat close to one another for a few minutes as he admired the bracelet on her wrist. She seemed happy to let him look at it, and soon the tears dried in her eyes.
"Does your mom ever talk about her Darling," she asked him.
"No." He looked at the ground. "I never knew my mom- she died when I was very little. It's just me and my dad."
"That's so sad! And you don't have any brothers or sisters?"
"Nope." he shook his head. "Do you?"
"It's just me and my mom too." She looked at him, there were tears in her wide green eyes. "All I know is my home, but I don't have any freedom."
He thought for a second, then replied, "all I have is my freedom. But sometimes it feels like I don't have a home." He wiped his nose with his sleeve. His vision started to go cloudy with tears that welled in his eyes.
A three pointed white object rose through the dark sky between the Nimbus tree's branches. He said, "You know, one day I want to go up there-" he pointed at the star. "They call it Ash Cloud. Only ten people have ever been."
"Will you take me with you?"
He looked at her and said, "Sure! I think that would be fun."
She beamed at him "Cool!"
He heard a yell in the distance.
"What are you doing here! I told you never to come near our daughter again!" came a woman's voice from far away. The woman was agitated, pleading, yelling at the top of her lungs.
"What's that?" Royce stood up quickly.
"Sounds like my mom." Diana tried to hide her face with a red scarf she brought with her.
"Get away from her!" came the distant woman's voice.
He heard a nearby rustling. But before he could turn, he felt a jab of metal prongs into his back. The smell of camphor dominated his nose.
It was black and cold when he awoke. His head throbbed and his back ached.
He wanted to yell out, but he stopped himself. He thought better. He felt a bag over his face. He knew he was being watched.
"Who are you," he asked the void.
Stars appeared between cracks in the burlap sack. He saw the outline of a spotlight turned on him.
Someone ripped the bag off his head and a spotlight blinded him. He covered his eyes.
A man stood in front of the spotlight. Only his shadowy outline was visible. He sat on a hard metal chair in front of a hard metal table.
"How do you know Diana?"
"Screw off."
He felt a slap across the face. Points of light danced in his vision. He gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to strike back.
"What's your name, punk?"
He remained silent.
The man placed his hands on the table. "I'm here to help you, boy. You tell me what I want to know and we can forget all about this little mix up."
"What did you do with her?"
Another slap. This time he kept his head down.
The voice was coarse, like he was recovering from a cold, "I'll ask the questions. What's your NAME?"
"Rex," he replied. "Rex Verbius."
"Well which is it?"
"Both."
"Two names. Must be a foreigner." The man muttered. "That could be a problem."
"Where are you from? Khania? The Federation?"
"My dad's in the Army – he'll come looking for me." He bluffed. Although in his heart he hoped it was at least a little true.
The man growled. "You little brat. Where are you from?"
"Federation."
He heard whispers, "…that Verbius… could be… problems"
"Shit!" the man yelled as he pounded the table. Then he pointed a leathery glove at his face. "Shit," he said, quieter this time.
He tried to stand up defiantly but someone grabbed him from behind and forced him back into the seat.
"Let me go!" he yelled.
"Shut up, kid. I'm thinking." The man waved his hand and someone else trailing a light coat walked over and whispered something in his ear. Then he hurried off. The dark man stood.
"We'll arrange for you to be taken back to your family. This was a mix up. It's clear you don't know who she is and it's clear you don't know who we are. Just hang tight and we can forget all about this."
He remained silent, then felt a hand on his shoulder and stood up. A bag was placed over his head again and he walked down long dark hallways for what seemed like an hour before he was brought to a small white room with a simple white bunk bed. There were no windows. Only a small steel commode in the room's corner and a plain steel door which closed behind him. A small ventilation grate was fixed to the ceiling, just out of reach.
He walked over to the bed and took a seat.
What the hell do I do now? What is this place? Who are those people? Where did they take her?
He looked up at the vent, then at his bed.
If I can just push it, he thought. Then he did. He pushed with all his might and slowly inched the bed across the hard laminate floor. His feet slid along the ground as he tried desperately to get traction off the slick floor. The bed inched along, closer and closer, toward the center of the room.
It's close enough. He climbed up onto the second bunk, then leaned over to reach the vent's latches. A grate swung down and revealed a small metal shaft. It was too small for an adult, but he thought he could fit.
With one look back toward the door, he leapt off the bed and hung from the grate, then he climbed up into the impending darkness and dry warm air.
Author's note:
Just wanted to respond to comments here! Bro, uhhnova and all the guests - thanks so much for all your the kind words! This chapter was actually written a long time ago, but it's taken a lot of time and tweaking to get it right. There's still a lot of plot holes but I think I've got the rest of the story figured out. 'Woah' - yup, a lot of the ideas in here come from real philosophical paradoxes or real scientific phenomena that I thought the series lightly touched on but never explored in detail. 'Bltz' - thanks! And yeah, lots of mythology. The idea for The Eagle and the Mistletoe is loosely based on 'The Giant Who Had No Heart In His Body', an ancient Norwegian fairy tail referenced by the Golden Bough which many believe is the underlying mythology for Franxx itself.