Jeremie = Jeremiah, I alternate between the 'name' and 'nickname', until he tells them to call him Jeremie.

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Chapter 5- Infiltration and Discovery

Rivendell, Lyokonis

May the twenty-second, 12:15 AM

The lone black clad soldier sneaked through the hallways of the large castle, navigating his way to the upper rooms. He soldiered on, forging ahead of his fellows, in order to scout out the area and find the targets all at once, so that they would not be so easily detected. He crept along the stone hallway, his back against the cold, gray, rock, and he came upon the first door.

Jamming his blade in the vertical space between the wooden door and the post, he slowly lifted the blade up, bringing a large, horizontal lock with it. Once the lock slowly rested back into the non-barricading position, the elite, black cloth clad soldier opened the door carefully, and entered, warily looking around the room as if the room's occupant would wake up at any moment. Sneaking closer to the room's occupant by stealthily moving across the floor, crouching low to the ground and blending in with the shadows, the soldier made his way across the room.

Although the soldier could not clearly see his target because of the dark obscuring veil around the bed, he could tell it was definitely a male. The soldier parted back the veil just a little bit so that he could see, and stifled a sound of excitement. There was a mass of gray hair, shining vibrantly in the moonlight, though the face was obscured as the sleeper was sleeping on his side. He slumbered on peacefully, not knowing what was going to happen, who were invading the castle, and why.

Slowly reaching to a bag on his belt, the soldier brought out the cloth bag that contained a light purple powder given to him by Lord Xavier himself. Lord Xavier had spent a lot of time making the complex mixture, often working days on it. When the powder was just right, he had stored it somewhere, for special purposes, and did not bring it out until now. The soldier now loosened the string on the bag securing it, and reached in with a hand, clenching it into a fist, and bringing out a fistful of the powder. Paying careful attention to the sleeper's breathing, the soldier slowly sprinkled the powder on his sleeping form, being careful to sprinkle his head with it the most.

The Grey haired male jerked a little, before stilling again. His breathing grew deeper, and the soldier, satisfied, made a noise not unlike a quick, sharp, whistle. Soft footsteps padded, gradually getting louder, and four more soldiers appeared, armed with ropes and pieces of long cloth. With a nod, the scouting soldier stepped backwards, letting the others tie his hands and feet together, cover his eyes with a long piece of cloth, and gagging him with another piece of cloth. That being done, the other soldiers slowly took him, being careful not to inhale any traces of the powder that might still be floating in the air, and left with him, the scouting soldier taking on another group of soldiers to the next target.

--

Jeremiah slowly made his way to Aelita's room with a candle, hoping to hear a story to inspire him to be a little bit braver when it came to battle. He cautiously made his way to her room, finding a small orange and yellow flickering light coming from it, concerned, her tried opening the door, only to find it was locked. Hesitantly knocking on the heavy wooden door, there was a slight scraping sound, and then the sound of feet shuffling that preceded a 'thunk' as the barricade was removed. The pink haired female looked at Jeremiah in surprise before beckoning him in, hesitantly shoving the book that she was reading under where she slept, hiding it from view before she replaced the wooden barrier back to its resting position to block the door from any intruders .

Jeremiah found a chair next to the mantle, and sat down, taking in the warmth of the fireplace, and taking care not to choke on the smoke coming into the room as it went to the open window to escape. Aelita sat down on a chair on the other side of him, being careful not to ruffle her ankle-length light pink nightgown. She crossed her legs, put her interlaced hands on her lap, and waited for him to speak, curious emerald eyes watching him.

"Er…" Jeremiah began slowly. "Princess Aelita?" he continued hesitantly.

"You may call me just by my name. After a while, the whole Royalty ideals bore me." Aelita said, waving her hand dismissingly. "But that's beside the point, Jeremiah of Mirkwood. What did you need that you have come so early in the morrow?"

"You can just call me Jeremie, none of that unnecessary title, like you said, minus the Royalty part. I came here to ask for tales to help my… er… bravery problem." Jeremie said, folding his arms also. "Er… might there be something that you could tell me… a story perhaps? Or is there a few pointers that you can lend me to help me get over my fear of fighting."

Aelita, waited for a while before taking the golden ring-like tiara that showed a difference between her and the others off her head, placing it on the table nearby, and walking over to her bedside. Easily finding the book under her bed, she brought it out and walked over to her chair again, taking a seat and flipping to the very beginning of the story- the Legends of the Destined. She saw Jeremie read the title of the book and look at her with a curious expression on his face.

"Legends of the Destined? … wait… You can read?" He asked, brushing away the golden locks of hair from his eyes with a single swipe. "I thought it was forbidden for girls to read and you're a…"
"Yes, I'm a girl" Aelita responded, obviously amused. "It would be quite curious if there was a male with pink hair, I presume?"

"Yes, yes, it is a weird thought… erm… Aelita."

"Well, here it is… this is a fable of the family legend, I guess… some of the texts are missing from the story due to the age and it being weathered badly in the last few generations. I guess I'll have to fill you in, since my father was too tired to continue."
"Yes, yes… er… go on…" Jeremie said, leaning forward to listen to the legend, curious to see if his blade was part of this craziness.

"Well… it all began a long time ago… Right in this meadow" Aelita started, gesturing out the window. "My bloodline used to wholly represent the lighter side of things. That is, until the day of the shadows…"
"The day of the shadows?"

"Yes, it was when there was a schism between the family, a large debate on why they should waste their time and energy, and risk their lives, all to save other's lives as well. The spat soon grew more heated, and our family sort of… split into two from the schism. The question of nobility rose, and the evil-fighting side dwindled in numbers as the evil-causing side has slain them"

"So… so you're one of the last ones?" Jeremie asked, trying to make sense of the whole thing.

"Yes, this family you see here, this is part of the remaining forces of the evil-fighting side. We are scattered across the land in small numbers. I don't know about my extended family, if they are alive or not."
"So… what about Lord Xavier?" Jeremie asked, fearful of the answer.

"Xavier… you wish to know about him?" Aelita said, shutting the book with a little more force than it was intended to. "You wish to know about his lineage?"
"Y… yes…" Jeremie stuttered, caught off-guard by her sudden change in emotions.

"Well…" she said quietly, almost whispering it. "Xavier is my blood brother. My mother gave birth to him about twenty years before I was born. I don't know why he waited ten years to try to take over; he was probably too weak to do anything at the stage"

"Wow… talk about having sibling rivalry… your father probably doesn't know which child to worry about" Jeremie said half-jokingly.

"Well, I don't know why he's keeping us alive. Usually he would go on a bloody rampage right now."
"Maybe he's a little nice…" Jeremie suggested
"Xavier's never nice." Aelita cut in. "Both my parents stated he was a terror, even as a young boy."

"Well, then, we would have to see about how well he puts up a fight when we confront them, right, Aelita?"

Aelita was about to respond when a small 'thunk' caught her attention. She slowly got up and removed the wooden bar that was blocking the door. She opened it, and looked around, finding nobody in the stone corridor. Jeremie came up behind her, and he too, looked for anything that could be out of the ordinary- even though he had only been in this castle for a few hours. Aelita shrugged, and stepped aside to let Jeremie go off to his quarters. Jeremie, appreciating the kind gesture, nodded, and left for his room, leaving Aelita to re-block the door and quench the fire in the fireplace.
--

"Has anyone seen my mother and father?" Aelita asked as she and the others breakfasted.
"I did not see King Waldo, nor Queen Antea today, Princess" one of the maids said, wiping off the table.

"I think it's weird… it's almost sun high and they have not shown up… I better check on them…" Aelita said as she got up from the table and went upstairs to check on them.
"More please!" Odd said, happily taking a loaf of bread when a maid presented it to him.

"Odysseus, you are like a bottomless pit!" Ulrich said as he watched the boy scarf down the food hungrily. "You do possess the appetite of a god…"
"Well then, I am a god!" Odd said as he continued eating the bread.

"I was just making an allusion. You're still a mortal, though, we all are. So don't get any ideas of being high and mighty."

--

"Mom? Dad?" Aelita asked loudly as she wandered the hallways in search of her parents.

Aelita peeked into her father's chamber, not surprised when she saw the room was empty, and entered it. A light, musty scent wafted through the air, and entered her nostrils, immediately sparking her curiosity. She walked over to his bed, and noticed a faintly shimmering, light purple powder scattered across the sheets. She traced a finger across the sheets, and then brought the finger up, inspecting the powder.

The scent grew stronger as more of the scent entered through her nose. Fighting a sudden bought of sleepiness, she wiped the powder off her finger onto a clean spot on the bed, and felt the effects of the powder subside into a minor headache. Aelita shook herself fully awake and entered her mother's room, finding a larger amount of the same kind of powder scattered not only on her bed, but on the majority of the floor.

A small, silver object glinted on the floor, and Aelita picked it up, careful not to inhale the powder's scent that permeated the room. It was a dagger, and there was a rust-like coloring on the side and tip on the blade. The coloring was fresh, meaning that there was an attack here earlier, when people were asleep. Normally, the dagger was kept under their pillows so they could be battle ready if there was a sudden attack in their rooms at night, but what was the blade doing there on the floor? Aelita soon found the leather sheath, and wiped the blade clean of the rust-like coloring before sheathing it, bringing the small dagger and the cloth she used to wipe the blade downstairs for exhibition.

--

Emerald eyes opened to a world quite different from the world she was familiar to, the effects of the powder still affecting her mind and body. Her hearing seemed to be muted a little, as if every sound came from far away, through some device used for vocal magnification. Her vision was distorted so that she could not see clearly even a foot away from her, and everything around her was a gray blur. Her head hurt terribly, and she was sweating profusely for some reason, even though the room was cold as the icy region north of Rivendell. Her body seemed out of her control, one of her legs was shaking and the other was numb. Trying to relieve the sudden change in her body temperature, as well as get her vision, her body temperature, and her hearing back to normal, Antea slowly took large, slow breaths, controlling the urge to cheer when her senses slowly returned to normal, and her body temperature lowered to its normal temperature.

As her vision cleared, she realized that the walls and floors around her were a dull grey, the only light source was from a window-like structure ten feet above her that was outfitted with thick grey metal bars. Antea groaned at her predicament as she saw various devices of torture, the walls lined with horrific devices and the walls themselves covered in chains. It seemed like a gloomy outlook, but Antea still tried to find a way to escape, her brain processing multiple versions on how to escape her cell, getting quite upset when she saw her wrists and ankles were bound to the floor with heavy metal chains.

Antea heard voices outside the metal doorway, and it grew progressively louder until she was sure that they were outside of her cell. One of the voices seemed familiar, and very angry, while the other voice seemed smaller in comparison, as if the person was begging for his life. Antea did not bother to look still unconscious, even as the door opened with a loud squeak. Instead, she gazed at the two approaching figures, glaring at them as they made their way over to her.

"Hello, mother." The first figure said in a deep voice, kneeling down to look her directly in her eyes as she sat in a sitting position.
"You're no son of mine, Xavier" Antea bitterly spat.

"Now, now, you forgot that I have a title…" said Xavier, leaning in closer in an attempt to scare her.

"Your title means nothing. You're no Lord, Xavier. You rule only by tyranny and by fear!" Antea practically shouted as she spat into a corner to affirm her statement, not being fazed by his threat display

"Xavier does sound a little nice… well then, you can call me XANA. It rolls off the tongue easier." Xavier said as he slowly backed up a bit, a little disappointed as his failure at intimidation.
"I'm not going to call you anything" Antea said, turning away.

"Suit yourself. You can be out of here if you're on my less evil side… nah. I'll still keep you in here. You, along with your husband are my prisoners, and that means I can do whatever I want with you and daddy, even hold you captive and as hostages." Xavier said as he picked himself off of the floor.

"You better not come after them, you hear me! They will defeat you, you hear me!" she shouted, her voice falling on deaf ears as Xavier shut the door after his minion left the room, not listening to her angry voice as he walked away with his peon.

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Okay, the golden ring. Not so much of a crown. Why? I'm not going to be that unequal in classes. It's more like a little difference between the royals and the "commoners"- not having gigantic crowns or tiaras (they're overused). It's just a simple ring that fits their heads, with some designs on the top. Interchangeable for occasions, especially war- because fancy crowns can and will fall off during a horse ride. I'll put a picture up soon, I guess. I'll link it in my profile when I'm done, as links are deleted in fanfics. I show my feministic side in this fanfic…