Authors note: alright here's chapter 10! I'm sorry but I just notice that I mess up some of the chapter numbers. I promise I will fix that soon. Anyway please enjoy chapter 10! GOODBYE AND GOODNIGHT!
Chapter 10 - We meet at last.
A glass wall, a crystal cage. A shut window, marred by ugly streaks of dripping, dropping rain. I press my palms flat against the cool, clear surface, watches as condensation forms an outline around my hands, waits as the icy surface steals and saps all the warmth from me already frigid fingertips.
I can't sleep; at least, not in this little shack in a small corner of some diminutive country. The mattress feels like stone and my sheets are like ice, so incongruous to the unshakable burning that hasn't left my eyes since I left home.
Nohr is miles away to the west, painted with stars until the very last breath of night air before sunrise, and Hoshido lies the other way, somewhere just before the promise of a rising sun. I can feel my skin and bones long for Hoshido, for the promise of homeland and summer sun, just like I can feel Nohr pull me in by the heartstrings, playing at old memories and whistling the tunes of fading laughter in sunlight-stained gardens.
The rain is muffled against the roof of the shoddy shack I had taken refuge in, a physical barrier between me and both countries, and I had never felt so alone. I draw my hand away from the glass, experimentally pressing the numb fingertips against my lips, and a shiver rolls down my spine at the touch of them. To my, royal skin, the dying embers in my measly fireplace are nothing but false comfort, exuding the color of warmth, but none of the reassurance.
It would be a lie for me to say that I wasn't heartbroken,and falling apart from the inside out; every muscle and bone in my body is slowly rotting, decaying without familiar soil to plant themselves in, to entrench and innervate themselves with. Whatever pieces of my heart I had left have either slipped from my shaking fingers on the escape here, slipping on the blood spilled there by their own sharp edges, or buried themselves into the soft flesh of my chest, splitting open festering wounds every time I moved.
There is nothing I wouldn't give to be back at home - at either of my homes, both of my homes - but with a war poisoning the air between the two countries, such a quixotic wish is impossible. I can chase and grab at the fleeting wisps and whispers of a so-called peace, but they all die out just like fireplace embers, leaving me miserable and cold.
Even my latest attempt to end the war has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I can still taste the tang of blood, the result of a scar on my face, the words ended up unspoken, never managing to fall past my lips, and the last looks I received were ones of shock, of betrayal and incomprehension.
Their likenesses are still emblazoned across my mind's eye, as startlingly vibrant as the scarlet that stains my gloves from where I had palmed blood away from my lips, tears away from my eyes. Just behind my teeth, I can still taste it, foul and metallic, forcing a choked exhalation past cage-like fingers and chapped lips, pushing bile past a tight throat and chattering teeth. I almost threw up where I sat, alone and in the dark, yet nothing falls past me lips save for the painful shudder of desperate breath after desperate breath.
I draw my knees up to my chest, winds my cold, spindly arms around my trembling body, and tries to focus on the warmth that is supposed-to-be under the paper thin sheets I drown myself in. They are the brightest thing in this room, a sickly, dusty alabaster illuminated only by the dull glow of the moon past heavy, dirty clouds. Twisting my fingernails into the scratchy fabric, I keep telling myself that tomorrow will be brighter, that the rain will clear on both the beaten path behind me and the untracked one before me.
There is peace somewhere, past the vitreous barrier of my windows, the relentless, icy sheets of rain - I knows there is, there has to be - and even if I have to stumble blindly through the storm until my eyes blur with sky-fallen tears, until my skin turns so icy that the rain is only an absent prickle against their feelingless surface, I will grasp it between my fumbling fingertips and never let go.
It's out there; how could it not be? I didn't give up everything, tear away every one of my heartstrings and ties, to fall away, plummet from my lofty, cloud-tall castle top and die like a princess forgotten. I stare out my window once more, at the unchanging darkness and the unyielding rain, and close my eyes, tries to imagine sunrise.
When I open my blue eyes, the rain still pounds against the drowning earth outside, swallowing everything in cold and gray. With a heavy sigh, I free an arm from my cold sheets, presses a palm against the crystal cage that closes me in. It's freezing, icier than Nohrian winters, instilling cold and an all-consuming plea for the sun into my bones; than sharpened steel against my skin, trickling fire-hot blood across the porcelain surface; than stone floors underfoot, beating resilience and numbness into the calloused, tired soles of my feet. Just like raindrops on windowpanes, the flimsy blanket tumbles off my shoulders, exposes my arms to the unforgiving chill.
The embers of the fire are long dead, wan moonlight crawls weakly past the walls of rain, and, alone, I shiver. I felt tears streaming down my face. Then I looked up at the gray, dull, and dreary sky. I slowly drifted off to sleep and I started to have a vision. When I looked around I realized I was back in Nohr, then I saw Xander in the distance.
"Xander..." I thought
Xander was not an emotional man. Under the constant demands of the title Crown Prince of Nohr, Xander's face was stiff and cold, the facade of having to be seen as a leader of men outweighing his own needs. There were very few places where Xander could be himself and one of those places was my room.
As a young child, his father would beat him for crying. "Emotions make a man weak," his father scolded, a fist raised above him, "If you want to be a man, start acting like one!" His new sister me was horrified the first time I saw it, my heart hurt at the sight of my sibling's pain. "Big brother! If you ever need to cry, please come to my room!" I said to him later when he began tearing up again, "I'll cry even harder than you so father won't know! So please, cry as hard you want, It's okay!" With a resounding wail followed by my own cry, It was the first time since he was a babe that Xander was able to breathe again.
As we got older and less teary-eyed, Xander would come to my room, once a year, merely to lay his head on my lap and let me sing to him to soothe all the worries and stress plaguing him. "I'm a man, Sapphire," he said to me one afternoon, staring up at me from my lap "Your older brother! I-I should be stronger than this. I do not wish to burden you with my problems, little princess."I stroked my hand through his hair, smiling fondly at my nickname, I loved when he called me by my nickname, "It is not a burden if it's family, Xander. I always want to be here for you. I want to support you because I love you, big brother. Is that not good reason enough?"
When I was taken by Saphira, he went to my bedroom. Trying to take some sort of sweet comfort from the familiarity of the walls, furniture, and floors. He would not touch anything, wanting to keep the serenity of the room preserved. 'When Sapphire returns,' he thought to himself, 'she wouldn't want anything changed. Everything will be like it use to be and we can go back to how it was between us.' He spotted Felicia walking out of my room with her hands full of my clothes. His heart clenched.
"What are you doing!?"
The maid jumped in surprise, dropping several dresses, "L-Lord Xander! I-" He grabbed her shoulders, anger boiling within him, "Why are you moving Sapphire things? They should not be touched till she returns." Felicia swallowed nervously, "M-my Lord, under King Garon's orders. Lady Sapphire room was to be cleaned out."
"What!? N-No! I-"
Pushing past the maid, he burst into my room, only to be greeted by an empty cabinet where my clothes use to be. Bed, desk, drawers were all gone. The walls that held some of my old childish drawings, torn down and removed. Even the scent of my, lavender with the hint of jasmine was replaced with cold, stale air.
"No… No! I won't allow this! Sapphire is-Sapphire is coming back, she's…I-please, Sapphire… I can't-"
He sank to his knees, a resounding wail emerging from the back of his throat as the silence of the room echoed a deafening truth, 'Sapphire is not coming back.'
"Xander-oh Xander, I'm-I'm so sorry, XANDER!" I reached out to my older brother, to comfort him the way I always did when he came a visited me. But before I could touch him, the vision faded away. I woke up from my vision, face full of tears.
"Xander, I'm so sorry" I cried. "I'm so sorry." I was mourning for my family. But were they really my family? Oh, I just don't know! Things are so different here than back home. I don't know whether I'm a Hoshidian Princess or a Nohrian Princess. The royals here believe in their ancestral "gods" the dragons. The people believe in that too. But me, I believe in the one true God, but I don't even know if God's here, or if I'm even back home. Ah! Who the heck am I kidding? I know I'm not back home, because last time I checked, dragons, Faceless, and magic don't exist, plus there no place called Hoshido or Nohr on the world map. Wherever I am, I know it isn't home. Home. I wonder what my family is doing right now. Mom, Dad. I wonder what there up to now. I wonder if there thinking about me like I'm thinking about them. I looked up in the dark stormy sky, thinking about my family, and wondering about the Hoshidian and Nohrian royal families, and what there doing right about now. The harder and longer I thought on these things, the more pain it brought me.
"Wait a minute? How am I alive?! I should be dead!"
Then I heard a roar outside my cabin. I ran out and saw Saphira swooping down from the rainy sky. A single word rang in my head, calm and clear.
"Sapphire."
"Are you coming down Saphira?" I asked with my thoughts.
"I am," Saphira replied with a roar.
Saphira landed ever so graceful in front of me.
"We met, at last, my beloved princess!"
I turned around to see that standing above Saphira and I was a man, and beside him was a pitch black dragon, larger than Saphira. They both seemed to glare down at us with hatred and hunger. Then the man jumped down to come face to face with me. His armor was that of a dark angel, armored wings and all, and it had faded red spots all over it. His black dragon also dressed in armor as well. The man had her black hair that matched his dragon, and his pure green eyes were very attractive. But, looking into those eyes of his sent shivers up and down my spine.
Saphira sent a challenging roar to the man's dragon. The dragon didn't flinch at Saphira's roar, instead, he sent a challenging roar to Saphira. The roar was much louder then Saphira's, and much more intimating. Saphira slowly back away but growled at the black dragon.
"Who the heck are you?" I asked.
The man smirked. "My name is King Chaos. I am known as the Dark Lord. I am also the one, who brought you back to live, and you my young princess shall be my bride!"
"You did what!" My mouth dropped. "I'm your what!"
"I said that you, my princess, have been selected among many women to become my wife!" Chaos repeated as he walked towards me. "And that I brought you back to life. Though I am upset that you killed yourself, to begin with."
Saphira ran towards me but his dragon blocked her.
"There, now Shuriken will make sure your pesky dragon will leave us alone." Chaos said as he reached for my face.
I slapped his hand away from me. "I would never marry the likes of you!"
He grabbed my arm and twisted it, making me scream. Saphira roared out in anger when Chaos harmed me.
"YOU CAN AND YOU WILL MARRY ME! I WILL MAKE CERTAIN OF IT!" Chaos yelled as he placed more pressure on my arm causing me to scream again. Tears soon fell done my face.
Saphira roared even louder time. She attacked Shuriken, her attack caught him off guard and so did Chaos. She whacked Chaos away from me like he was nothing more than a fly. I jumped on Saphira's back and she flew away as fast as she could.
We heard another roar, Saphira and I turned around and saw Chaos on his dragon Shuriken. They did not look happy.
"I'll take you with me beaten and broken if I have to!" Chaos snarled and Shuriken roared out loudly in rage.
"Saphira! We have to shake them!"
"I know! I know!"
Shuriken and Chaos followed Saphira and me very closely. Shuriken tried several times to blast us with his fire breath. He may be larger and more powerful, but, Saphira is faster and agiler.
They were gaining on us, then I had an idea.
"Saphira do a nose dive," I ordered.
Saphira did not hesitate to comply with that order. And just like I thought, Chaos and Shuriken followed. Saphira used her fire breath and blasted Shuriken right out of the clouds. Saphira and I stayed in the clouds. We didn't see them but we heard what Chaos said.
"I may have lost you this time, but believe me, next time we meet, I will be sure you become mine!"
And with that, we heard Shuriken fly away from us. After we ran away from the battle with Chaos and Shuriken, Saphira came with a fierce roar and swooped downed to get me. She must have sensed my immense fear. Saphira had brought me to a cabin in the snowy mountains, far away from Nohr and Hoshido. But now, both the Royal families have seen her, along with half their armies. Keeping Saphira's existence a secret isn't going to be easy now. I could sense Saphira's anger and hatred for the Royal families, for putting me on the spot like that. When I thought about what happened, Saphira recoiled. She reared and roared deafeningly, then whipped her tail over my head. I scrambled back in surprise, ducking as her tail hit a snowdrift. Bloodlust and fear emanated from her in great sickening waves. Fire! Enemies! Death! Murders!
"What's wrong?" I put all of my strength into the words, but an iron wall surrounded her mind, shielding her thoughts. She let out another roar and gouged the earth with her claws, tearing the frozen ground. Stop it! People will hear!
"Oaths betrayed, people killed, war, violence! Blood everywhere. Murders!
Frantic, I blocked out Saphira's emotions and watched her tail. When it flicked past me, I dashed to her side and grabbed a spike in her back. Clutching it, I pulled myself into the small hollow at the base of her neck and held it tightly as she reared again.
"Enough, Saphira!" I bellowed. Her stream of thoughts ceased abruptly. I ran a hand over her scales. "Everything's going to be alright." She crouched and her wings rushed upward. They hung there for an instant, then drove down as she flung herself into the sky.
I yelled as the ground dropped away and as we rose above the trees. I looked down at the abandoned shack, as it faded into the distance. I was holding onto Saphira's neck for dear life. Well, we came to the mountain peek, she tilted into a shallow dive. Saphira spiraled down, leisurely drifting over the treetops. She pulled back as the ground neared, filled her wings with air, and landed on her rear legs. She dropped on all four and skipped a step to keep her balance. I slid off without waiting for her to fold her wings.
As I struck the ground, my knees buckled, and my cheek slammed against the snow. I gasped as excruciating pain seared through my legs, sending tears to my eyes. My arms cramped from clenching for so long, shook violently. I rolled onto me back, shivering, and stretching my limbs as best I could.
"I'm going to freeze unless you make me a shelter or hollow so I can stay warm. Even a pile of pine needles and branches would do."
"There no need. I will curl around you and cover you with my wings-the fire inside me with stay the cold."
I let my head thump back on the ground. "Fine, but scrape the snow off the ground. It'll be more comfortable." In answer, Saphira razed adrift with her tail, clearing it with one powerful stroke. Saphira helps me to the spot. Then she rolled on her side, exposing her warm belly. I huddled against the smooth scales of her underside. Her right wing extended over me and enclosed me in complete darkness, forming a living tent. Almost immediately the air began to lose its frigidity. Then I slowly drifted off to sleep, slowly drifting off into my dreams.
(Read Side Story)