(A/N: The second part of Nausicaä and Ved's date is here. Things start to get a little dramatic at the end, and I'm sure a few of you might be a little angry with the way I end the chapter. Well, not angry, but, oh, you'll see)

Chapter 7: Past Memory

"I never imagined I'd have dinner on top of you're airship." Said Nausicaä, still surprised that Ved had arranged to have a large banquet on flat surface area on the top of his ship.

Ved just smiled. "This way we won't miss out on this beautiful view."

Nausicaä looked in the direction the sun was setting, watching as it lit up the valley. "I've never seen the valley from here. Well, ok, I have seen it while flying, but I haven't actually watched it."

"Another reason why bigger is better. Multiple uses." He sighed, patting his ship. "Think we'll seen any Night Glimmers?"

Nausicaä gave him a confused look. "Any what?"

Ved raised an eyebrow. "Night Glimmers. Don't you have any Night Glimmers here?" Nausicaä shook her head. "That's a shame. They're very beautiful. We have them back at Kalvandir."

"Well, what are they?"

Ved shrugged. "Basically giant fireflies. They come out from dusk until dawn. Sometimes they'll stay out later if it's cloudy the next day. They light up the sky with displays of colors and fill the air with their chirping music." He closed his eyes and smiled. "They sing and put on a light show every night. No matter how many times I see it, it's breathtaking."

Nausicaä looked awed by this. "I would love to see that."

This brought a smile to Ved's face. "You can come visit whenever you want. Maybe even live there if you decide to be my wife."

Nausicaä frowned. "Don't get carried away."

Ved chuckled. "Wishful thinking, my dear. You don't have to accept, although I hope you do."

Nausicaä blushed. "What do your parents think of this?"

Ved frowned and looked away. "They're… dead. They died four years ago."

Nausicaä gasped. "Oh, Ved, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I-"

"You couldn't have known." Ved replied, turning to face her again. "They were killed by the insects. No," he held up his hand to silence Nausicaä, for she had opened her mouth to speak, "it's alright. It was an accident." He sighed. "Sometimes fate is cruel. Maybe because we're cruel."

"Don't say that!" Nausicaä cried. "People are not cruel."

Ved raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yes!"

Sighing, Ved leaned back. "I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you there. The world is indeed full of cruel people. But," he smiled, "that is why we have the prophesized one, to bring humanity out of the darkness."

"People are not cruel!" Nausicaä insisted again. "Some may be, but humanity is overall good. Most of us have just been misled."

Ved was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking whether or not he should speak his mind. "That's not what you said before."

Nausicaä gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Ved suddenly became very interested in his wine glass. "I wasn't going to tell you, since it's obvious that you don't remember, but we've met once before."

Nausicaä blinked in confusion. "What? How? When? Where?"

"Many years ago, back when we were kids." He leaned forward. "Perhaps you'll remember this."

He took her hand and crossed their pinkies. Nausicaä looked at their connected fingers and a memory began creeping up in her mind.

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"Come on, Ved, it's this way!" a young Nausicaä cried, her long braded hair flowing behind her.

A miniature version of Prince Ved hurried after her. "What's the big secret, Nausicaä, and why can't our parents see?"

Nausicaä giggled. "Because it wouldn't be a secret anymore." She frowned. "Besides, our parents will be angry."

"Well you don't need to worry about my parents being angry with you since we're leaving tomorrow."

Nausicaä stopped. She hesitated a moment before turning to Ved. "You still can't tell anyone, even when you leave. Promise?"

Ved nodded. "Sure, I promise."

Nausicaä held out her hand with her pinky out. "Pinky promise me."

Ved nodded and connected his pinky with hers. "I promise."

Nausicaä smiled. "If you lie, you'll have to swallow 1,000 needles."

"I know. So what's the secret?"

Giggling, Nausicaä ran over to a tree and bent down by the bottom. "Come on out, I have a friend I want you to meet."

Ved cocked his head to the side, confused by what Nausicaä was doing. When she turned back to him he gasped, seeing that she held a baby Ohmu in her arms.

"Nausicaä, that's an Ohmu!" he cried.

Nausicaä nodded. "I know. I found him a couple weeks ago. I'm his new mommy!"

Ved pointed at her and began jumping up and down. "Ooh, you're going to be in big trouble if the grownups find him."

Nausicaä hugged the Ohmu to herself. "You promised you wouldn't tell."

Ved nodded. "I know, and I won't, but you'll still be in trouble if they find out."

"So what?" cried Nausicaä, looking determine. "I'm not going to abandon him. I'm his mommy, and I will take care of him." She brought the Ohmu closer to Ved and held him up. "Ohmu, this is my friend, Ved. He and his parents are doing some trading with my parents."

Ved reached out to pet the little insect. "Hello, Ohmu."

Just before he made contact with it, small gold tentacles came out of the Ohmu's mouth, brushing against Ved's hand. The Kalvandir prince yelped and jumped back.

"It tried to bite me!"

Nausicaä chuckled. "He's just saying hi."

"Nausicaä, Ved, what are you doing out here?"

Nausicaä gasped as a familiar voice reached the two children. "Quick, hide!" she whispered to the Ohmu, putting it on the ground.

The insect hurried away, crawling back inside the tree it stayed in. Nausicaä and Ved stood side by side, blocking the Ohmu from view until it was safely hidden.

A much younger Lord Yupa walked over to the two children, looking back and forth between the two curiously. "Your parents are looking for you. What are you doing?"

The two children smiled innocently. "Nothing."

"Hmm…" Lord Yupa looked at the tree suspiciously. He had thought he saw something at the bottom. Nausicaä and Ved had been blocking his view, but he had seen the tree's shadow.

"What are you looking at, Lord Yupa?" asked Ved.

Lord Yupa turned to the young prince. "Just wondering how big this tree will get." He told him.

Ved gave a very forced laugh. "Lord Yupa, you're silly. Right Nausicaä."

The little princess forced herself to smile. "Yeah, silly."

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The flashback ended and Nausicaä found herself once again with the grownup version of the little prince she had just seen in her memories.

Ved smiled. "It seems like it's coming back to you."

"I do remember!" Nausicaä cried, jumping to her feet. "I had completely forgotten."

Ved chuckled. "I don't blame you. It was a very hard time for you. They took away your Ohmu the next day."

Nausicaä lowered her head. "Yes, they did. They were worried about me getting too close to the insects. They didn't want me to be involved with such dangerous creatures."

Ved's smile faded and he crossed his arms. "As if such a little creature could ever hurt anyone. They knew that, but they still tore him from your embrace. An innocent child, simply because it was a different species. Can you truly not say that humanity is not cruel? After that happened, you even told me how cruel they were."

Nausicaä frowned. "I was just a child. They were doing what they thought was best, even though that didn't make it right. But I cannot and will not ever believe that humanity is cruel. I do not deny that sometimes some of the things we do are cruel, but humans are overall good. We just make mistakes. We just need someone to guide us in the right direction again."

This made Ved smile. "And that is what the prophesized one is for." He told her, repeating his earlier words. He sighed. "That's what I want. To restore order to this world. I know I can lead the people down the right path." He laughed. "But I'm probably not the only one to think such things. I guess it makes me seem like a stuck up person."

"Not really." Nausicaä replied. "Not if you're intentions are pure. You want to make the world a better place. There's nothing stuck up about that."

Ved gave her a grateful look. "Thank you, Nausicaä. I'm very grateful you think of me like that. But I guess it's up to you to decide if I will be the one to change the world."

Nausicaä sighed. "Yeah, what a burden."

Ved chuckled. "Yes, finding your true love must be terrible." He joked.

"Hey, don't tease me!"

This time Ved openly laughed. "I'm sorry. It's fun to tease sometimes. Besides, the look you have on your face now is really cute."

Nausicaä blushed. "Y-You're teasing me again! Stop it!"

Ved rested his chin in his hands. "You don't have much experience in relationships, do you?"

This time when Nausicaä blushed it was out of embarrassment. "W-Well, I am a princess."

"And I'm a prince." Said Ved simply. "I still found opportunities. Come now, can you truly say that you haven't had any kind of a relationship with a man, royalty or otherwise."

Nausicaä 's answer was quick and immediate. "No, of course n…"

She trailed of as she realized how false her words sounded, even to her own ears. Images flew through her mind of her and Asbel. She saw the two of them in the underground cavern, sharing the nuts the children had given her. She saw the look of concern he had on her face when he had found her crying, even though she had been crying tears of joy when she discovered that the earth was purifying itself. She saw him bravely face the Tolmekians as he gave her a chance to escape. She saw him laughing with joy as he picked her up and spun her around after the Ohmu had revived her. She saw Asbel in the graveyard, giving her a sympathetic look as he consoled her. She saw the look of awe on his face as he was touched by the Ohmu for the first time. She saw how his face slowly moved closer to hers as she leaned in to him, their lips nearly touching.

"Nausicaä, you in there?"

Ved's voice brought her out of her daydreaming. Asbel's face was replaced with Ved's as she came back to reality.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking."

Ved snickered. "I guess that means you have had some kind of relationship with a man if you could fall so deep into thought after what I just said." He smiled knowingly. "I wonder who it is."

Nausicaä shook her head. "N-No, it's nothing like that!" she protested.

Ved shook his finger at her. "Liar, liar. There was someone. And I'm willing to bet that it was that Pejite prince."

Nausicaä blushed to the roots of her hair. "I-It… it's not like that. We're just friends."

"Oh?" His tone suggested that he was teasing her again. "You wouldn't be harboring hidden feelings for him, would you? I think I'm jealous."

"I said it's not like that!" Nausicaä snapped, harsher than she meant to. She immediately looked worried. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so upset."

Ved just shrugged. "Well, I was embarrassing you. I guess I deserved to be snapped at." He smiled mischievously. "Still, that doesn't change things. Even if you don't have feelings for him now, that doesn't mean you didn't have them in the past."

"Cut it out!" Nausicaä cried. For some reason, her embarrassment suddenly turning into heartache. She hung her head, letting her hair mask her face. "Please, stop."

The teasing smile on Ved's face vanished when he realized that she was really upset. "Nausicaä? I'm sorry, Nausicaä. I didn't mean to make you-"

"No." said Nausicaä. "It's not your fault. I know you're only fooling around. I don't know why I'm getting so upset."

She placed her hand over her chest, feeling the phantom pain in her heart. For some reason, thinking about her relationship, or perhaps lack of relationship, with Asbel was painful. She didn't know why. Ved was simply teasing her about her having a fake romantic relationship with Asbel. That wasn't something uncommon. Lots of boys and girls teased their friends about having non-existing feelings for friends of the opposite sex. It was just a joke. Heck, she had even teased a few of her people on a few occasions. So why did it hurt so much when it was done to her?

"Nausicaä, if you're not feeling well, perhaps we should end our date for tonight." Ved suggested.

Nausicaä opened her mouth to say that she would stay, but she suddenly found herself wanting to be alone right now.

"Maybe you're right." She said. "I'll probably feel better after a good night's sleep."

Ved nodded and stood up, offering her his hand. "Then shall I lead you back to your room?"

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Asbel sighed as he dragged his feet, making his way back to the palace. He had been training nonstop all day and was completely drained. But training had been the only thing he could do to get his mind off Nausicaä and Ved.

"Perhaps I over did it a bit." He said to himself. He rubbed his sore arm. "Ouch, maybe training for 14 hours nonstop wasn't such a good idea. I think I over did it a bit."

"Obviously."

Asbel jumped. He turned and found Lord Yupa leaning against the wall, giving him a disapproving look.

"Master, I was just-"

"Pushing yourself too far." Lord Yupa interrupted. He sighed and shook his head. "You're a fool. Why would you do this to yourself? Look at yourself, you can barely stand up."

Asbel looked away. "I was distracting myself."

Lord Yupa snorted. "And what a way to do it. Tell me, does the ache in your muscles surpass the ache in your heart?"

"I'm not talking about this." Asbel growled.

"Why?" Lord Yupa asked. "Does the thought of Nausicaä with another man bother you so much that you'll completely devote yourself to something else?" Asbel opened his mouth to speak, but Lord Yupa interrupted him. "No, Asbel. I told you before, don't run from love. Train all you want, or find something else to distract yourself with, but nothing will fill the void. I speak from personal experience."

"Of course you do!" Asbel seethed. "The great Lord Yupa has all the answers, doesn't he? He knows everything and can do anything!"

Lord Yupa grabbed Asbel by his shirt, pulling him closely. "Do not take your frustration out on me simply because you cannot face Nausicaä with your emotions."

Asbel winced at his master's words. "My emotions don't matter."

"You're a fool!" Lord Yupa shouted. "You say you're not worthy of Nausicaä's love, well I agree with you! Because you're showing me that you're not worthy by doing nothing!" He threw the Pejite prince away from him. "I did not take on a coward as an apprentice, so don't act like one."

Asbel watched in disbelief as his master walked away, not looking at him. It was the first time Lord Yupa had scolded him in such a way.

His fists clenched together tightly. Lord Yupa was right about one thing, he hadn't taken on a coward as an apprentice.

"Alright." He got to his feet, feeling a lot better about things. "I'm not going to be like this anymore. I won't be brought down."

Standing tall, he stormed back to the palace. His renewed spirits immediately came crashing down as he saw something that made his heart freeze in his chest. Nausicaä and Ved were standing by the entrance to the palace. They seemed to be having a conversation. Asbel immediately took cover, not wanting to be seen, but he couldn't resist listening in on their conversation.

"Well, I hope you feel better." Ved was saying.

Nausicaä smiled. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ved nodded, and then did something that surprised both Nausicaä and Asbel. He kissed her. It lasted for only a few seconds, but it still happened.

Ved pulled away, giving Nausicaä a smile. "Good night, Princess." He said, and walked away.

Nausicaä's hands drifted to her lips, remembering the feel of Ved's lips on hers. At the same time, Asbel's hand drifted to his chest, feeling as if his heart had been crushed.

(A/N: They kissed! They kissed and Asbel saw! Poor Asbel. And now Nausicaä finds out that she and Ved had a past together. And it seems as if Lord Yupa had been the one to discover her baby Ohmu. What's going to happen next? How will Asbel handle what he saw, and what will Nausicaä do now? Find out next time. Until then, leave me some reviews.)