Second chapter has a dark turn happening to Eva.

Here the differences between her and Evan will be a little more clear. Evan has a more pure heart, but Eva will be more fierce and collected, especially in the face of death. Not to say she won't be an Angel but the things she goes through, unlike Evan, stay with her to remind of her actions than forgiving them entirely. Her maturity heightens a bit but she's still jumpy child.

Our heroine becomes quickly fearless. But fearful on the inside.

Enjoy.

"Nella!"

Roland is being led by a frantic Eva throughout the war-torn castle.

It was a battlefield at every turn.

Though Eva had a knife, Roland never took the chance for her to use it. What kind of man would he be if he lets a child fight? Blazing through the courtyard they met more enemies than they could count.

Not good.

He decided to rush in and fight them head on. Eva stayed back with her knife in her shaking hands. Glancing to the side, more enemies were approaching-There wasn't enough time to-

Then a swift work of wind knocks three guards of their feet.

He hears Eva let out a breath with a smile. Their savior is a woman dress in servant like manner. Then she sees a guard running towards the strong armed woman. She screams for her safety. "Nella!"

Ah so that was her.

Roland's too busy fighting back more guards when he barely witnesses the woman disappear in a flash to take down the guard twice her size.

Well, snce he's busy he doesn't mind the extra help right now.

It takes a moment for Roland and Nella to fend off the remaining mouse kin before heading to the secret chambers deep within the castle. Once they arrive with other servants of the castle who are not at war, Eva slumps against a wall.

Nella told her Mausigner is behind this. And it takes Eva a moment to not scream at her caretaker. She saved her after all. She doesn't deserve that. But what can you do when someone like him in behind this all?!

The betrayal stung.

Mausigner was like an uncle to her. He was her tutor when Nella was unavailable. He was so helpful towards father and supportive when she was stuck on her academics. At times, when her father was too busy to see her, he would be the one to reassure her when he'd become available. He liked to pat her on the head at her accomplishments and for times that didn't need reasons.

Another loss for her.

Why does she keep losing the people around her?

Nella taps her shoulder carrying a bundle of new sets of clothes. They looked like ordinary civilian wear except for the red cape.

"Go change. I have much to explain to you."

She doesn't question it so she mumbles a thanks you to her governess and gets up from her spot to leave. She hears Nella near Roland telling him they have some spare guard clothes lying around for him. Roland just complies. She wonders if they'll fit.

Roland comes back the same time as Eva, fully dressed in new clothing. He's wearing the blue coat uniform he's seen others around him wear. Eva's dressed in a long blue tunic with a brown skirt and white leggings. She finally looks like a normal girl. Except she had a red cape draped around her.

Huh. These style choices are so fantasy like...

The woman named Nella(or Aranella) explains that they have to leave and take safety outside the castle. Poor Eva keeps questioning her with the details of the whole coup. Nella keeps answering like she's trying to reason with a lost child with the most non alarming answers.

She knows.

Roland can make an educated guess to all this. But for Eva's sake it's better that she doesn't. They have to get out of the castle fast. But first Eva's caretaker approaches him.

"Your going to need this."

The governess gives him an arms band. Something to heighten his experience and strength with his newly given broadsword and his ammo for his gun.

He feels a bit perplexed but somewhat itching to see what it can do.

"We have quite a way to go. There's mouse-kin guards surveying the area. We need to get to the entrance to the sewers." Nella explained.

The three of them set off into the courtyard, going unnoticed and running from the guards. They make a few turns as Roland fends off against just one or two guards. Eva slowly trials behind Nella. The older woman glances around with a stride farther but in front of Eva.

She's willing to take the first shot if anything happens.

They turn into a hallway with an open room on the side. "Go into that room!" Nella shouts. As they entered, Roland looked across the room.. "It looks like an ordinary room." He observed.

"An ordinary room with a hidden passage. There's a switch somewhere around here.."

She pulls a book from a bookshelf and they head down the open dark passageway. As they go further down the dimly lit area Roland looks back to see Eva trail slowly behind.

She stops, and so does Roland. Aranella turns around.

"Its because of me...isn't it?" Eva starts.

"This rebellion…..by Mausingner…is happening because I'm going to be queen right?" Eva looks at her governess. The mother figure she had after her mother. Nella would always be careful with her words whenever she spoke to her. Never wanting the girl to worry about the responsibilities she had to deal with until she became of age. But this was a different matter.

There was no more sugar coating at this point.

Not for her.

"Oh…Eva…" Nella disheartens. And that makes Eva feel guilty just as much.

"I've had my experiences in these situations before." Roland adds. "And I can see the tension between the two species." He looks at Nella for confirmation.

"Yes. King Leonhart tries his best, gaining an advisor like Mausinger in his court….but it never worked as he intended…" Nella looks at Eva and bites her lip.

"Eva….Mausinger….had poisoned your father." Nella holds her left arm for dear life as she apologizes for withholding that information.

The girl stares straight at her governess. The shock was too much. She couldn't utter a word. Eva looks to the ground her jaw slightly stretched.

"I convinced one of the Mausinger's guard to talk….they were poisoning his food from time to time."

"So they were making it look like he was slowly getting sick." Roland speculated.

Eva still stood silent. Staring at the ground she could feel the adults look at her with worry.

"How…..How could he?" Eva clenched her fists. Her eyes burning the ground.

Both adults looked at the hidden rage the child was mustering. The anger and despair is too much for her to carry. Aranella looks worried and Roland couldn't decide if this was the first time she was showing such anger towards another being. But right, now they needed to get out.

"I know this must be hard, Eva. But we need to keep moving on. Let's go." Roland leads the way and the governess pats the princess to move ahead.

DING DONG WELL

Nella says the wells are ridden with monsters instead of guards. They can easily be taken care of. But before they fight, she casts a spell on him to test out a certain set of skills for him.

Roland's trust in this woman comes from Eva's well being. And the absurdity that this isn't a fully human world.

He can slice with his sword much farther and shoot his enemies like a canon. He can get used to this. Throughout the whole introduction he realized Eva is simply watching. Her expression is unreadable.

Almost eerily silent.

For some odd reason that worried him.

He catches her eye and she stares at him like he's a stranger again and looks away. When this is all over, he'll get her to talk.

They come across a broken bridge. The governess holds in a gasp and he knows they've walked straight into a trapped. "They knew we would come."

A voice confirms the statement, the traitor of the hour stands besides them with a group of mouse kin guards. And the dark aura guard Roland knows will be a tough fight to beat.

"There you are, my lady"

"Mausigner…" Eva breathes out glaring at the traitor.

"It's a shame I couldn't find you in time. Would have made things a lot easier. I'm going to have to ask you to relinquish your life for me if you would." Mausinger signals his dark heavily armored guard to step forward.

"Not happening!" Shouts Eva.

Roland and Nella stand in front of Eva and prepare for the attack.

But Nella has other plans. "Go! I'll hold it off!

"What?! No I won't-" Eva gets cut off as Nella grabs her shoulders.

"Go. Please Eva! Your this kingdom's only hope!" And with that Nella gave Roland the look and he knew what he had to do.

"Wait no! You can't just-" Roland grabbed Eva and jumped of the broken bridge into the abyss as the menacing guard clashes with Nella.

Eva screams for her lost governess.

They've been sitting in the same spot for while after they landed. Eva can't even look up. She lost again. Nella is gone.

The moment she saw Mausinger she couldn't stand him smiling so evil at her. She clenched her teeth.

"If only….If I could have done something!" Her thoughts go back to the horrible place again. She had tried to stand up to Mausigner even if she knew it was futile. But Nella wouldn't have it.

Can't death give her a break?

She still had a knife in one of her pockets. It was given by Nella the days after her father passed. For emergencies she said.

But not for this.

She hears Roland stand. "Let's go. We need to go somewhere safe." He finally addressed her after a while now. She remembered that he was looking at her before. She didn't want to hear anything before. Stuck in her own mind she was trying to know how to deal with this all.

Maybe Roland might leave her too.

"She's dead….right?"

It's a question for herself, but Roland answers back. "It seems that way."

"…"

Eva stands up and follows Roland whose looking at her with an unsettled expression.

"Are you….alright to keep moving?" He hesitantly asks.

She looks up at him with half lidded eyes. "No. But we have to keep going."

For Nella. She silently says.

Roland shouldn't have asked. But it got the better if him. He had expected her to cry and ask frantic questions like she did before.

But he sees those hollow eyes and isn't so sure anymore.

He stops and extends an arm in front of Eva. More guards. He can hear them running towards them.

He turns to Eva. "We're going to have to run. C'mon." She follows behind running through broken sewer level and notices a glint of metal on her arm.

She took out her knife.

Before he can say anything the ground above shakes and collapse.

And everything blacks out.

The last thing Eva saw was the boulder that landed between her and Roland. She woke up in an instant. There was large wall of debris blocking the path. It was just her here.

She hears Roland call out her name.

"Eva! Eva, are you there?" Roland calls out as loud as he can. Pulling out his sword to slash the large debris.

"At a time like this…." He muttered.

Luck was not on his side today.

First the governess now Eva-he swears-

"I'm here!" Eva calls out from the other side.

Thank god. "Hang tight. Let me deal with this." He manages to crumble the debris into smaller pieces and stumble them out. But it's going to take a while.

Can he risk staying here or is there another exit?

"Eva?" He shouts.

"Yes?"

"Find out if there's another exit."

"…I don't really see anything here."

Then the marching starts. From his side.

In the distance, there's seven mouse-kin guards approaching him. One of them gasped.

"We got the wrong one!"

"But how?"

"I swear the princess was running with him through here!"

They bickered until one of them stepped up and said, "No worries, well just get it out of him on where she is."

Roland took his stance.

Like hell you will.

Eva couldn't see where there could possibly be another opening or escape. She sees nothing but the long empty passage way they cane from.

Then her feline ears twitch. Mouse-kin guards. She looks around but she hears them beyond the wall.

Roland is fighting. She prayed he makes it out okay.

She clutches her tunic around her heart.

She can't afford to lose again.

The young half grimelkin walks away from the boulders slowly, knife in her hand. She holds it to her chest. She walks over a large hole in the ground that could definitely get her foot stuck.

Then she hears it. Footsteps, on her side.

No…no…

Mausinger's guard has found her. She steps back, carely around the cracked hole so she wouldn't fall over.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't her Highness of Ding Dong Dell." The guard taunts with his sword waving back and forth. "I would be rewarded greatly if I took your life, but the King would rather much see it first.." The guard runs towards her attempting to catch her with his arms high in the air. "Come here you!"

Eva shouts for him to stop and braces herself for the impact-her eyes closed.

The guard clutches her in his arms and a blade enters his heart.

Roland has no idea what's happening on the other side. But he just heard her yell. He manages to fend off against the guards with the last one being difficult to put down.

"Eva! Eva, are you there? What happened?"

No response.

Not good.

He franticly hurls himself at the wall with adrenaline running through his veins. "Hold on!" He fights the damn thing until the rocks from on top roll down.

An opening. He takes it and crawls upwards to get to the other side. He stumbles down and lands on his feet, knees bent from the fall.

He stands and is taken back by the scene before him.

Eva splattered with blood while a dead mouse-kin guard is on the ground with a stab wound to the heart.

And one on the neck.

"Eva?..." He slowly walks trying not alarm her.

"I... He got up again…I didn't mean it the first time…." Eva tries to get the words out but she's staring at the body. Not with fear.

It's something he can't recognize. But she isn't scared.

Did she attack with intent the second time?

Though they're running out of time he has to ask if she's hurt.

"I'm fine…This blood is not mine." She tries to whisk away the blood stains from her tunic, it stains her hand instead. Her eyes stare at the blood for a long time.

He grabs that bloody hand and motions her to run. "This isn't over yet. Let's go."

They run back to find another route.

And Roland holds Eva's hand a little tighter.

Eva runs with Roland trying to empty her mind.

She killed a man.

He came at her with full speed and somehow as he got close he tripped on the deep hole on the ground just inches away from her. His arms encircled her small body as she tried to put her hands up to push him away.

With the guard's leg bent stuck in the hole, he stood weirdly upright and froze on the spot. Eva had her eyes shut thinking he was going to crush her.

Until she looked down and saw her knife pierce his chest.

Eva stepped back, taking her knife with her and hearing the horrible sound of the knife leaving his flesh. The guard slumped in shock. Eva thought he died.

But he was still breathing.

Slowly he clutched his chest and muttered that he'd kill her himself. Slowly he walked like the undead towards her.

"S-Stand back." Her voice was barely audible.

And he still kept moving. Inching closer and closer…

"Stand back" Her voice shakes just a bit and she finds her back against the wall. She looks straight into his eyes.

He's inches away. She sees the murderous aura around the guard and her blood boils.

"I said stand back!" The grimalkin in her growls.

She took a stance and swung.

Roland sees that Eva's lost in thought but he keeps moving forward and so does she.

Then a dark purple flame surrounds them as they halt.

The dark menacing guard with the purple aura stands in front of them. Roland's pushes Eva back. "Don't get close."

He's not risking anything now.

Roland and the dark guard fight head on.

Eva's trapped by the circle of flames so she stands not so close to the edge. She amazed at Roland's fighting ability. The fact that he can still continue to move is impressive.

Roland is winning the duel. As he steps back she notices his tired shoulders start to sag a little. Eva was already exhausted. Mentally and physically. But this was her first time around the rush of a battle. Roland, she can tell, has experience.

Then the dark guard steps back from him. She can't tell if he's tired too but he goes rigid.

Roland questions if he's done moving.

In a second the guard explodes in a frenzy of violet flames. A claw ten times his normal size peaks out the flames. And Eva is horrified by the sight before her.

He's turned into a gigantic monster.

The new dark terror threw a breath of fire hot flame Roland's way and she couldn't help but to call out his name. He blocks the ray of flames with his sword.

Roland's broadsword didn't do much against the gigantic beast. Not even when it was lit in flames. He kept dodging the monsters every move until it stood upright and blew a blast of violet flames his way. Roland scarcely dodged but the attack as not for him.

"Look out!"

Eva didn't have time to even move until a pack of weight pushes her aside-

And it's Nella.

Engulfed in the flames taking the dark magic burns head on.

He hears her call for Nella.

So she was still alive ...

And in her final moments she decided to dedicate herself to the princess.

"Dammit." Roland takes out his gun and to shoot the damn thing in the eyes. Staggering backwards and falling into the abyss where it belongs.

Eva shakes her governess to get a response. But he can tell that's it's end of the line for her.

Regardless, he carries and places her down the passage. Eva slowly talks to her caretaker...

"Nella? Nella are you with me?" She's frantically searching for a sign of life.

The older woman's eyes open but the light in her eyes is barely lit.

"Oh Eva… " She starts. "You were such a great child to look after. I just know…"

"I know…you'll be a great Queen." She smiles at her.

"One…that will watch over….with peace…and many great things." Her breath is becoming short. "I wish….I could see you become such…..because I believe in you."

Eva blinks away the tears. "Don't leave Nella…..you came back….You just came back!" She cries.

Aranella tiredly smiles at her foster daughter. "No one can replace your mother…..but….I couldn't help to wonder…..during our time together…..that you were my-

Eva cuts her off. "I know…..I know Nella." The princess give her foster mother a small smile. More tears fall as Eva's next line surprises her caretaker.

"I'm going to be Queen. I don't know how I'll do it but I'm not letting you or my father down!" Eva's face is full determination and yet her tears still fall. "I'm losing so much right now but now matter what I will build peace. For you and for everyone I've lost!" She breaks down, crying on Nella's chest. Her foster mother pats her head with a smile.

"You'll do wonderful my child."

Eva hugs her second mother until she slowly leaves this world.

Eva's sitting across a boy her age, possibly younger, in front of an oval glass table.

"Hello Eva. Good to see you're okay!"

"Hello?...where am I?"

Eva glances around, a castle filled with vibrant colored glass. She couldn't help but feel safe and secure here.

Like it was her home.

"My name is Ferdinand. And I know you went through some things just now."

Eva throws him a suspicion look. But decides not to question him.

She had to be dreaming. Atleast…..she hoped so.

"I lost people close to me." It was all she could say. The details….were too painful for her to go through. She clutches her hands.

"I'm sorry for the terrible memories but when there's bad things, good things also appear. You'll meet lots of wonderful people along the way." Ferdinand grins.

Was he being cheeky? It sounded like he knew the future.

But he was right about one thing.

"I did meet someone, someone that came along and made sure I was okay."

Roland came out of nowhere, from embarrassing her to saving her life. She smiles. I guess there was one thing that turned good. But at the moment there was more negative then good.

She's going to have to change that soon.

"You might meet someone that will stay with you forever ya know? Life is never easy."

Eva looks at the glass windows. "Nope. It's not."

There's a hint of sadness in her tone. Yet her lips sadly curve upward.

Ferdinand goes on. "Life's full of beginnings and endings. Hellos and goodbyes…every step of the journey comes with challenges and rewards.."

Eva takes a moment to think. "I guess so..."

The blue haired child chuckles. "I sound so wise and old." He keeps laughing. "Sorry it's just that someone would always say that to me. In whatever challenges I came across…"

The blonde girl smiles, "Well, they sound wiser than me."

She doesn't see it but Ferdinand's eyes glint in amusement.

Chapter two is done! Next up we'll get more reassuring(and relaxing) bonding with our two main protagonist. And cute moments with some higgelies!

A little side note; from the last chapter, I introduced the name of Roland's country as Eagalia. I had thought it was a headcanon but it was a joke name created by Bilbo-sama. So that name comes straight from them. (Or more precise the Chief Consul's Diary)

Pretty funny since it kinda fits as canon.(well to me. Damn Ni No Kuni 2 for not giving us Rolands Country's official name. XD)