Author's Note - Hi Everybody! Just a reminder, this is a Sequel, make sure to read the original first.
I would like to apologize for the lateness, I've been busy with math and out of town away from a computer.
Thank You to those who read and Thank You to those who review. Reviews make me happy and feel like i'm doing a good job. Sadly I don't own anything in the story except for Olivia, Melody, Princess Astrid and the story.
Enjoy!
Bob and I were crouched behind an old willow tree by the lake rethinking our strategy. Mikey and Frank had already taken out Princess Astrid and Melody. Gerard and Ray had shot Mikey and Frank right after. Our war game had taken up most of the day, from after breakfast up until now, with the sun setting. Every strategy that one of us would come up with, the other would find a massive flaw. The sound of light footsteps approached us. Bob helped me silently climb into the tree and followed me up. He gave me a look that said 'this is it'. Nodding, we held our breath while Gerard and Ray approached the base of the tree we were in.
When Gerard and Ray were teamed up, we all knew that winning would be a long shot. The two together would out smart us in every possible, challenging us. Ray nudged Gerard and pointed to the drawings we made on the ground. Grinning, they kneeled down to examine our strategy better. I nodded to Bob and we silently let ourselves down from the tree. This would be our chance to win, if I hadn't of stepped on a twig. Bob shot Ray, but Gerard was faster than I.
"Revenge for the previous game," he smirked.
"You two still lost," I told him, distracting him long enough for Bob to shoot him.
"Dammit!" Gerard exclaimed.
"We were so close man," Ray added.
"Yes! I won!" Bob cheered, causing the four of us to laugh.
"Good game," Gerard congratulated.
"Let's go see what the others are up to," Ray suggested.
Melody, Mikey and Frank had gone silent the second we joined them in the sitting room. Frank started laughing while Mikey and Melody tried to hide their smiles.
"What are you guys up to?" Ray asked.
"Nothing?" Mikey said quickly.
"Who won?" Melody added, trying to change the direction of the conversation.
"I did!" Bob announced cheerfully.
"Gerard shot me," I sadly admitted.
"But I came to the rescue!" Bob added, picking me up and spinning me around the room.
Mikey watched the two of us and frowned slightly. Melody noticed and pocked him in the side.
"Go get her!" she quietly urged him.
"I'll save you princess!" Mikey announced in a cheesy tone
Gerard quickly took a seat next to Melody to watch the events unfold.
"She's mine now!" Bob laughed evilly.
Ray had sat next to Frank, occasionally glancing over at the two across from them. As he did a piece of paper fell out of his pocket.
"You dropped this," Frank said picking it up.
"Oh, uh thanks," Ray quickly replied, blushing.
"What's that?" Frank asked.
"It's a letter from Autumn," Ray rushed as he turned his attention to Mikey and Bob.
I had managed to slip away from Bob and allow the two men to play fight for me. While trying to get over to the couches without being noticed, I spotted a journal lying out on a table with what looked to be paper jutting out from it. With a closer look I saw that the journal belonged to Astrid.
"I wonder how she's doing," I muttered to myself as I picked up the journal.
I opened it up and started leafing through it. Inside were details of the mansion and of us. The journal was almost filled up, at least three to four pages on us. Curious, I found the pages about me. My mouth dropped; 'Spoiled Whore' was written under my name. One of the loose pages fell to the floor as I changed the page. On instinct, I picked the paper up and looked at it. The piece of paper was a letter from her parents asking about the research being done about locating The Patient.
"Hey guys, you need to hear this," I said out loud, walking towards them.
"What did you find?" Ray asked.
"Is that Astrid's Journal?" Melody asked as well.
Sitting down on one of the couches, Mikey sat next to me and placed his arm around me while Bob sat on the other side of me. I handed Astrid's journal to Gerard to look through.
"Our Dearest Daughter,
We are pleased with what you have found and thank you for some of General Way's stationary. We need you to find out how far along they are in their search for The Patient and any extra information on any undisclosed research as well. We hope all is going well. Please try to be friendlier to them; we want them to trust you. Come home to us safely.
Love,
King Peter and Queen Jackie of Fiore," I read out loud.
Gerard stood up, threw the journal on the table and stormed out of the room. Ray and Mikey rushed after him.
"I'm not like her!" Melody quickly stated, tears starting to fall.
"I know. I know," I told her as I sat next to her.
"I wouldn't do that. Please don't think that I'm like her!" she begged, the tears falling more freely.
"Melody, you haven't done anything to make us think that way. Right guys?" I asked Frank and Bob, pulling melody into a hug.
"Right!" Bob quickly agreed.
Bob picked up the journal and started leafing through it skimming each of the pages, his face quickly turning to disgust and horror from all of the detail that she had.
"Melody, I know you wouldn't hurt a fly. You wouldn't even shoot me earlier with a water pistol!" Frank laughed, causing Melody to smile.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Melody timidly asked.
"Well, Gerard is going to go ballistic and check his office while Ray and Mikey try to make sure he doesn't do anything drastic. Astrid will probably be arrested while guards will go through her belongings to make sure she doesn't have anything else we should know about. There is a good chance that we could be in another war," Frank sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I hope Gerard knows I would never do anything like this," I heard Melody whisper.
"He doesn't," I replied.
Six guards then entered the room, two stationed themselves next to the door while the other four came and stood by the couches. I was trying to be strong for Melody, trying to hide my growing fear during this situation. The door to the sitting room opened and the guys had returned surrounded by guards. I stood up and walked to Mikey, throwing my arms around his neck.
"What's going on," I asked him.
"We can't find her," he replied, pulling me tighter.
Gerard had joined Melody on the couch and pulled her to him, holding her in a tight embrace. Ray had sat down next to Frank with a look of worry on his face. The two of us had then returned to the couch we were previously on earlier.
"We can't find her. I'm having the guards search through the mansion. Every room will be checked. I've sent troops to check the homes of anyone who may work here as well. Either she has already left, or she is hiding somewhere," Gerard told us, releasing Melody.
"What's the plan for when we find her?" Bob asked.
"There is a possibility that we will have to send her back to Fiore. I know, that's not something I'd want to do, but I do not want to put our people through another war if I can help it," Gerard answered.
As if on cue, a guard had entered the room and saluted Gerard.
"Sir, all of the bedrooms are clear. We found some items which you may find interesting from Princess Astrid's room. We took the liberty to deliver them to your office," he informed Gerard.
"Thank you," Gerard replied, saluting the man.
The guard left the room, leaving the rest of us in silence. I placed my head on Mikey's chest and closed my eyes.
"We should all probably head off to bed. We'll all have guards with us tonight stationed outside of our rooms. If anything of importance comes up or happens, I will send someone to get you. Until then, try and get some sleep," Gerard told us.
We all stood up and left the room. After a few minutes we split up and left down different hallways. Mikey and I had made it to his room through the heavily guarded halls.
The next few days, the horrors had become worse. More and more evidence had surfaced, revealing letters to and from Astrid and her parents passing information back and forth. It was sickening. The name Arthur Kingston had come up a few times causing my stomach to churn.
"Gerard, is this who I think it is, Losco Setan?" I asked, my hands and voice shaking.
"Yeah," he said angrily.
"Fiore has allied with the Losco Setan?" I asked again, afraid of the answer.
"These letters seem like it. Where is Melody?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"She's in the library. Don't worry though, she has her guards. Since you five were busy I've been helping her," I informed him, starting to look at a new letter.
"Thank you. I mean it, what with the new research and now this, whole mess, I really appreciate you helping me with her," he said to me.
"It's my pleasure. I like her and I think she really likes you," I smirked.
"Well, I might have some feelings for her," he blushed.
"That is wonderful news in the dark times that we're slipping back into," I smiled.
A knock came at the door, gaining our attention. In walked Jeff, a guard on his heels.
"Sir, I have some disappointing news. We were unable to find Princess Astrid. We believe she has fled back to Fiore or to an ally. Troops are searching homes to see if they are hiding her, but so far our reports are turning up negative. We have sent out units to patrol the border and have set up check points in hopes of catching her," Jeff reported.
"Thank you Jeff," Gerard told him.
Jeff turned around and left the room, his guard shadowing him. I sighed and set the letter I was reading on the table in front of me.
"Do you think we'll know how much damage has been done?" I asked.
"Unless we find her, then I'm afraid the answer is no," He sighed.
"You should take a break," I suggested as he reached for his coffee.
"We need to finish going through this mass amounts of information she managed to collect in a short period of time," he replied.
"Gerard, I know you can pull rank, and I know I'm still technically only a visiting dignitary, but as your friend you need to take a break," I told him, placing a hand on his arm.
"Will you stop nagging if I do?" he replied in defeat.
"Melody is up in the library," I smiled.
"Thanks," Gerard said, hugging me.
He left the room, while I stood there looking around. I noticed that her trunk had been brought in, so I opened it and started to search. The bottom of the wooden trunk looked odd; the bottom was a completely different stain than the rest of it. The next half hour I tried to pry it open, but was interrupted by the door opening.
"Where is General Way?" Jeff asked.
"Up in the library!" I told him from the floor.
"Thank you," he replied starting to leave.
"With Melody!" I added.
"Thank you again," he laughed.
"Can you tell me?" I asked him.
"Since he is busy at the moment, I don't see why not. We found her. She was hiding in an abandoned house on the outskirts of town," Jeff informed me.
"That's wonderful!" I replied.
"We are bringing her back to the mansion and will keep her in a holding cell," he continued.
"Would you please inform Ray, Frank, Bob and Mikey? I'll take care of the two new love birds," I smiled.
"With pleasure," he smiled in return.
Author's Ramble - Sorry if this chapter seems kinda of a 'what?'. i had a double root canal yesterday and i wrote most of this on painkillers. Um, i guess i'm starting to plan for the end of the story and the beginning of the next. The seeds are being planted :D