…..


….


"You only want the amulets?" Sakura asked as she looked at the girls with curious eyes. They were in one of the rooms of the improvised Shrine, Kamui was in the back of the room, playing with one of the toys they used in the festival. "….. Are you sure?" she handed the Omamori´s* when they nodded "Wh-Where did you find these anyway?"

"In the forest," replied Hinoka.

"Not from a girl, nope!" Oboro whistled, trying to calm herself.

"R-Right, well, if what you said it´s true, then you have really good items, I would like to examine their magic pr-properties later…if I´m not….kidnapped again."

"I don't think that Hana would allow that," Oboro snickered.

"Y-Yeah…." Hinoka sighed, it has been a couple of hours and now the day was almost ending, she needed to think in something else, reporting that stupid seller was a bad idea, at least doing as quickly as she could, they lost a lot of time talking with the guards and making sure that the bastard didn't escape the town, and adding the time that Sakura took to craft the Omamori´s, it was already late.

Not that she regretted it, totally at least.

But there were few choices, with only an hour before nightfall, they could get some activities and maybe they could watch the fireworks, there was only one tiny problem.

"So, what now?" Oboro asked Kamui, who was still playing with that little wooden spinner.

"I wonder if I could push her off the festival," Hinoka thought coughing in her fist. "Maybe some candies? There might be some delicious fruits from the southern islands too."

"W-Well, whatever you do, just remember," Sakura said with a bright smile. "He has…about two? Maybe three hours before his r-replica needs to recharge, and with the opening of the festival…."

"Such a pain…." Hinoka groaned. She hated, at least at the moment, being part of royalty. She needed to make a speech in front of the people to welcome the full moon, not that she was not fond of her traditions, but it was the first time in days that she could do something else.

"Can't be helped then, let's hurry up," Oboro stood and took Kamui´s arm, pulling him outside.

"HEY! NOT WITHOUT ME!" Hinoka quickly followed them, leaving Sakura alone in the room, she smiled with some sadness in her eyes.

"Milady," Kaze appeared in front of her. "If you want, I can follow them."

"N-No" Sakura shook her head. "L-Let them be, I know that she needs her private time with Kamui…"

"…..She?"

"A-Ah! Sorry, you can't know….at least for now, Kaze," she smiled with her hands on her chest. "Tell Kagero that everything is ready for our little plan, she will know what to do."

"Right away milady" Kaze disappeared, Sakura sighed again, thinking back, it was crazy, she could feel the few pages and flowers under her yukata against her skin, maybe she could help Hinoka with Kamui? She wasn't good with surprises or being spontaneous, but perhaps she could push their relationship on the good side.


"What´s the big deal?" Hinoka frowned taking Kamui's free hand, the albino rolled his eyes, feeling the killing glare of some jealous men, both girls in each arm. In the end, he didn't care, or minded, he just wanted to run out of energy, perhaps he could disconect just there? Then again, doing it would lead to a tiresome talk about being rude from Reina.

"We can get some stuff from the stalls, we can al-" Oboro was talking, but Hinoka quickly released Kamui and pulled her with her arm around her neck, whispering in her ear.

"Did you forget what Anna said?" she whispered looking at Kamui who just leaned against a tree of the street.

"…..no," she rolled her eyes.

"Bulls eyes," Hinoka thought. "Then?"

"I was thinking….." Oboro was playing with her fingertips. "We got something nice from him, what if, we can find something good for him?"

"Like what?"

"You know, food, prizes, maybe something he likes? I just don't want to do nothing, its rare to get any chances to be alone with him."

"…..you must be kidding me," Hinoka thought with a plain face. "If I didn't knew her better, I would said that she fell for him," Maybe it wasn't the best time to point it out, she coughed "Fine, what about this, if we-"

"AH! MY FAIR LADY!" Hinoka got interrupted as a man suddenly grabbed her hands. "I have been waiting for this moment all day, we sh-"

"NOT INTERESTED!" Hinoka withdrew her hands from the strange man in front of her with a frown and a step back, she tried to gain some space but the man insisted too much.

"My fair Lady, I have been pushing for an audience, could you at le-"

"SHE" Oboro started taking his hand that was about to reach Hinoka hand again "IS" she twisted his hand "NOT" pushed him down kicking the back part of his right knee "INTERESTED~" With her free hand pushed his neck down, making him fall.

"G-Gaaah! Bllrg!" the man was silenced and knocked out when she punched his guts, some spit falling from his lips.

"Let's get out of here, before we g- ¡HEY!" Hinoka looked back, just to see how a pair of girls were pushing their bodies against Kamui "¡LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She yelled as the girls laughed and tried to hide behind Kamui.

"Yikes! Lord Kamui, save us!/ Your sister is scary, Lord Kamui" both girls said at the same time as Hinoka approached, they were following them? Or someone sold them? Either way, she couldn't waste time.

"HE´S NOT INTERESTED!" Oboro frowned, this time instead of laughs she got pale faces, the girls fell on their butts as Hinoka and her took Kamui's hands and ran.

Following the flown of the people, they tried to dodge and evade any kind of common point of the place, any street or plaza that could lead to another encounter with those annoying nobles.

"Geez, those stupid guys," Hinoka groaned.

"And it´s not the end of it," Oboro pointed, halting. Ahead of them were another group, a little larger and definitely peskier that the last one.

They hid behind a stall. Hinoka looked at the path and tried to find a way out, she frowned seeing the "mountains" of the girls, placing her hand on her chest. "…..I'm sure they´re fake, just paper and leaves, Hinoka," she thought.

"Why the hell are there so many nobles?!" Oboro groaned leaning on her knees.

"Don't know," she tried to calm her breath "And don't care, we need to go to the other side of the Festival."

"Why?"

"We can always rely on the royal guards to get those guys out of our way."

"Anything is good, then let's go, Lord Kamui…." Oboro looked around, but he was missing, she looked around and paled again "LORD KAMUI!"

"¡¿UH?!" Hinoka looked back "….where…..where is Kamui?!"


"It has to be her!" Kamui thought, passing through the crowd. It was easier to move alone than with them, he could always say something, that he was pulled or he ran to evade those noble ladies, it didn't matter at that point, he SAW her.

His Anna, it had to be her, her figure, the side of her face he could see, that crazy match, maybe it could be over now! If he could talk to her and make a plan to run away, perhaps with Hinoka and Oboro?

He shook his head.

It wasn't the time to get ahead of himself, he had to reach his Anna, all that people who were in his way, it was annoying, his heartbeat was rising, or at least he thought so, his fingers were reaching for her, even her voice was alike her.

"A-ANNA!" He tried to speak, he pulled her shoulder, making her turn, his eyes were gleaming for a moment until he saw hers, unlike her amber eyes, one was yellow, the other green, she tilted her head confused.

"I'm sorry, do we know each other?" Anna asked. "Or do you want to buy something? I'm sorry, I don't have goods right now."

He shook his head slowly, releasing her shoulder.

"Umm…..is there anything I can do for you?" she asked, again he shook his head. "…o…..k….. I'm sorry, but I must get everything for the fireworks, you can always go to the 'Anna Gift Shop' if you want something," and with that, she was gone.

It wasn't until that moment that he realized that it was already dark. The sunlight was disappearing at the distance, looking around he tried to calm himself looking for the girls, it was when he realized that he was lost, again.

"You´ve met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" his eyes widened, feeling his fist trembling and looking back, a frown in his face with a step back. Yukimura raised his hands in surrender, he smiled. "Wow, easy now, I don't think it´s a good idea to fight here. After all, they can't know you´re a replica, right?" he smiled.

What did he want? It was already too late for words, not that he wanted to talk, he turned and started to walk.

"Now, Now, you can always go, but I have something to show you, and I think is something you want to know," he looked back, he was about to take anything and throw it to him, but he stopped seeing the parchment in his hand. "Shall we talk?"


He was stupid, why did he follow him? Kamui's frown didn't disappear from his face as Yukimura led him to the nearest bench beside the path, away from the stalls, away from any prying eyes or ears.

"Our story hasn't been good, Kamui," Yukimura said, stopping in front of a tree, not looking at the albino "Hoshido and Nohr were close, you know? We had our good and bad times, and moved on, I guess it is just poetic!" he laughed, looking at him. "….you know the purpose of this festival?"

Kamui shook his head.

"Of course you don't~!" he laughed "A true Hoshidan would know," he raised his right hand, turning to him, "At the first hours of the festival, from the dawn until dusk, we celebrate the harvest of the year, but not only that, we celebrate the birth and grown of our kind, but once the moon is high on the sky, after the fireworks, we have a little show of respect for those who aren't with us," he stopped for a moment, looking at him, his smile disappeared, taking out the parchment "Such a shame that unlike us, the Nohrians don't celebrate the living….or the dead."

Kamui widened his eyes, he couldn't mean, it was impossible to mean what he thought.

"Well, at least that was I thought…before seeing this," he handed over the parchment. Kamui recognized the seal, why he was showing this to him? The seal was intact, but that wasn't what it worried him. "You know, every noble and high rank in Hoshido received this same parchment, such a shame that Lady Hinoka didn´t want to tell you before~"

Kamui opened the parchment, his vision was….clouded? His hands were trembling as he was unfolding the paper.

"Lets see…..ahh yes! Here it is," Yukimura took out his own copy "Let's read it together, feel free to correct me, my Nohrian is a little rusty;"

Reason over feelings, that´s normally our rule citizens, brother and sisters. I, the King of Nohr, I hereby inform you that this end of fall, we shall keep a deep sorrow, since the kingdom has lost two important souls in out always righteous fight, we have lost part of our glory and hope as our deceased will be honored, our royal blood have been spill and we need to mourn the next days.

Over the past months, we…..

Kamui ignored what Yukimura was saying now, he couldn't care, what he wanted to know was the reason behind the parchment. He recognized the seal, maybe Yukimura could be an asshole, but he couldn't know the secret codes in the parchments, in the imprint, and there was a special one in that.

It had to be a mistake, it had to be a lie, there was no reason for it, it couldn't be true, a void in his guts appeared, his hands were trembling as he wished it was a bad dream, IT HAD TO BE!.

The wax on the parchment, the seal on it, he cut it without Yukimura noticing it, but under the Nohrian emblem they use a small lines and dots, with the edge of the parchment. Roughly decoded it was what he feared.

Two words

Royal

Child.

Why? Why it had that word there? Why in that order? It had to be a mistake, he inspected the first letter of each part of the parchment, and again it appeared.

Royal.

Child.

He looked for a name, anything to know why were those words there, the Nohrian parchments always had some words of the close ones, there were Xander words, Camilla, Leo, even Flora and Felicia, all but one.

"…..E…..Elise…..no….no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"

Now his hands were trembling, he felt sick, he didn't want to continue reading.

"Oh? My speaking was that good? I'm glad to see it," Yukimura saw it. "By the way," he handed another parchment. "They requested your ring, the one you had, so maybe they finally gave up on you?"

His voice was filled with malice, without empathy, but there was something wrong.

He was ignorant.

He knew the Hoshidan formality, once you are declared dead, they bury you with yours belongings at hand, and the ring is returned to the family.

In Nohr it was different.

One doesn't get that luxury, not for that, but for a bigger reason, if they requested the ring, then there were few choices to ask for his, and he could only think about one reason, the custom was to melt part of the ring to form another one, two rings to be precise, the one from the father and the other from the mother, not couple, not husband and wife, but to honor the ungiven breath.

"…Was I that…stupid?" Kamui thought, remembering the last weeks with Elise, how she giggled, how Camilla was delighted, the stupid comments of Charlotte and Selena, the moment she was always in the bathroom in the morning, how she rejected any kind of alcohol, her small and innocent comments.

"Say…" Her voice resonated in his mind "Is there…any way to get a bigger room?"

"You know….." her gentle and sweet voice as she hugged him. "We need to strive from now on."

His heart ached, his eyes were clouded with a shade of darkness, even with that fake body, the pain in his heart, the void in his gut, the sickening feeling in his soul.

"I apologize for your lost, Lord Kamui," he looked up as Yukimura handed a small vase, with two white flowers. "You know the custom, right? One for each soul, perhaps with this you can fill part of your daily activities," he laughed as Kamui stared at the flowers, one that was a little withered, the other that had not bloomed yet.

Did he know it? EVEN THAT BASTAD KNEW IT?! HE WAS THAT BLIND?!

"Well, its to be expected, after all, everyone knew this would happen, my most sincere apologies," he bowed with a faint smile on his face "Oh? It looks like its time for the fireworks, excuse me, I need to cheek everything is in order, farewell….Lord….no…..Farewell…." he left with a curl on his face, leaving him alone.

He stared at the vase for minutes until his hold wasn´t enough to maintain it in his hands, he saw the vase fall as the time moved slowly, hearing his own heartbeat.

Ba-thump* Ba-thump*

"….is this world….taking it all away again?" he could see her smile fading, blackening in his memories, withering as all the precious moments were transforming in ashes

Ba-thump* Ba-thump*

"….this was…my choice?" her dance, her warm, her gleaming eyes disappearing, her lively eyes losing its light with her warm.

thump* thump*

"…..I…killed her?" her figure in the ground as he was taken away.

thump* thump*

"….no….please…..somebody…..tell me it´s a lie….another trick…..please!" a scene of them at her desired house, far from the darkness of Nohr, surrounded by the same flowers they declared their love, she with her child, THEIR child in arms, a never coming future.

thump* thump*

That´s why Lilith never tried to reach him, their connection wasn't severed, just disconnected as she couldn't bring that future to them.

thump* thump*

That´s why he never heard news from Nohr, they just discarded him.

He was truly alone in that sea of darkness.

Alone.

Abandoned.

Forgotten.

thump* thump*

"…..Please….Please! anyone, Sakura…Oboro…..Hinoka…..Reina….please…don't let him…take my happiness again…..not again….somebody….help me…." he could only see how her love walked away from his grasp as the world darkened around him, the vase broke as he fell on his knees with his hands hitting the ground, he wanted to scream, such twisted fate that in that moment he couldn't cry, that he couldn´t feel his own tears falling, that he was alone in that dark place, no more hope, no more time with her, nothing more than unsaid words and feelings.

thump* thump*

"…please…don't abandon me…..not again…not again…" one last image of Elise appeared on his mind, walking away, disappearing in the shadows of his memories.

"…"

"…they haven't ...taken ...everything..." another voice resonated. His heart hurt as it felt that it was melting, that he was asphyxiating, that he was losing it as he felt his mind breaking apart.

"….. We still have ...something more...to give…"He looked up, as that 'Elise' appeared in front of him, his sorrow and misery, slowly turning in something else, deeper, stronger, darker. That eldritch smile with open arms that welcomed him, as a long, lost friend, strangely it didn't scare him. Her presence was drawing him.

It felt 'right'.

In that dark place, it was the only thing he had left.

"…..LET´S SHOW THEM... EVEYONE, OUR…LAST…..GIFT…" 'she' knelt, embracing him as his blood boiled, his heart stopped for a moment as the new feeling invaded his body "…EVERYONE…LAST GIFT…"

- Cl4ss upd4t3d -

- Cl4ss chang3 thr0ugh –h4tr3d- ach1ev3d -

Silent Dragon Class


CHAPTER 25: HATRED.