Chapter 7: Naru and Flicker
Heyyyyy what's up people? I did promise a double update so part two is here! Most of this chapter is a flash back to look at Nephelle and Nyssa's past.
"Hey Naru get up!" I opened one eye and saw my 5 year old sister sitting on my bed. Only she called me Naru.
"What on Earth are you doing Nyssa?" It's the middle of the night!" I whined.
"But I'm bored and I want to play," she bounced on my bed.
"Go play by yourself vampire."
Nyssa looked at me before saying in a dramatic whisper, "Want to build a snowman?" I opened my eyes and the two of us grinned mischievously at each other before I shoved her off the bed.
"Would you stop quoting Frozen? You can't win me over with a bunch of 'magical snowmen' that I have to make. Tomorrow's Sunday so we don't have lessons. Bug me once the sun comes up." Grumbling, Nyssa finally gave up and went back to sleep.
Life as a princess is good, but not the best. Sure we were royalty and rich, but our parents' attitude could use a tune up. We had a small family: our brother, the King and Queen. Our brother's name was Kalen and he is seven years older than us. He hung out with us sometimes but he had his own friends.
Dad never played with us because he didn't have the time, being king and all but he let us do some pretty cool things. Aside from taking normal classes, dad let us learn whatever Kalen learned. Kalen was learning archery? So were we. You've got a sword lesson later? We are so totally there. He also hired a mage who could teach us to do more magic. I could control anything winter related like ice or snow, and Nyssa had control over fire.
Mom wasn't as nice. She played with us sometimes but mostly only ever hung around when she was teaching us to be ladies or showing us how to act in public. She also didn't want us to use our powers. Too bad dad told the kingdom about them so people wouldn't be scared if something weird happened. We were bored twins with far too much time on our hands. The lessons didn't take long, so we were constantly trying out new stuff to do with our powers. We had a whole room that had a spell on it so we couldn't blow it up or burn it down. We could do whatever we wanted to in there.
"Hey Kalen will you teach us some new sword skills?" Nyssa whined. "There's nothing to do and we're bored."
My brother laughed, "Sorry Flicker, but the instructor said for you guys to take it slow remember? You've only just started." Flicker was Kalen's nickname for Nyssa.
"But we perfected those techniques ages ago," I groaned. "You know we're fast learners."
"Sorry but not today. Could you just follow the rules for once?" Kalen smiled.
"Alright fine," I grumbled. "Besides I'm sure that Ryan would love to play," I winked at Nyssa.
"Of course! I have this great new fire ball move that I wanted to show him, we just need to find an area with fewer trees and lots of water." Kalen paled; we always managed to talk Ryan into doing something stupid that we weren't allowed to be doing and usually got in quite a bit of trouble.
"Fine I'll teach you the new moves," he sighed. Me and Nyssa high fived,
"Think about it bro, you saved yourself a lot of stress," Nyssa told him.
"Yeah, you would've been teaching us those moves sooner rather than later. And now we don't have to follow you around all day making puppy dog eyes. You have no idea how exhausting that is for us," I added dramatically.
"Or how annoying that is for me," Kalen grumbled, but he was smiling as he lead us off to the practice arena.
Because we had nothing else to do, we had a lot of weird hobbies; singing, ice skating, playing the guitar, violin and flute, drawing, reading, writing, doing all kinds of crazy gymnastics, fighting and playing lots of video games. Our brother, magic teacher and Ryan the stable boy, were the only people who didn't take us as a joke or treat us like a weapon or bomb. Because of our limited friend choice, me, Nyssa and Ryan hung out a lot and also, got into a heap of trouble. Of course, that didn't really improve our relationship with mom, all we did was prove that we really were weapons.
When we turned seven, two things happened to us. The first was that me and Nyssa received our dragons, but not as birthday presents. We had snuck out of the castle and ridden our horses Blaze and Storm, out into the forest. We found a green dragon named Rhiel and her dragonets. It was one of the dragons that father wanted to kill for terrorizing the town.
Once Rhiel learned that we didn't want to hurt her, she told us about her problem. Nyssa and I had been trying to prove that the dragons weren't trying to hurt us but we didn't know how to convince anyone until then. Short version: we made friends with two of Rhiel's dragonets Nova and Kilgarrah and spent two months training with them and we convinced dad that the dragons had the same right to be here that we did and that Rhiel was simply protecting her babies. We made our point by showing them our bond with the dragonets and a peace treaty was signed with the dragons (Something that we still keep) and Nova and Kilgarrah came to live with us.
The next thing that happened wasn't as pleasant. The two of us had been playing a racing game when our mother dragged us from our room. "Hey what gives? We haven't blown anything up!" Nyssa said indignantly.
"Yeah whatever happened is not our fault," I added.
"Is everything a joke to you girls?" our mother sighed. "Honestly you are nothing but trouble. Your brother has disappeared. We believe him to be kidnapped." We gaped. Kalen was now 15 and one of the best swordsmen in the town, how could someone have kidnapped him?
"This sucks!" I grumbled blasting the wall of our destruction proof room with ice. "This really sucks!" Shortly after things really started to change. Our parents never spoke to us despite our efforts. No one ever found my brother so he was presumed dead. Nothing changed until a couple of weeks before we were going to turn twelve.
I banged on mom's door, "I've had enough! You never pay attention to us and you've given up on brother too! I'm going to look for him." Before I left I cut my hair short so no one could recognize me and because it was such a hassle. I didn't find anything until the day of our twelfth birthday. I discovered that an organization had been capturing people to perform experiments on. They also had taken my brother.
I managed to sneak in and defeat the guards and me and Kalen lead the others outside. "Come on Kalen let's go!" I shouted, "The reinforcements are coming!"
"No way silly," he laughed. "We've got to help these people first."
"Sure thing bro!" I chirped. I was probably way too happy considering the circumstances. Kalen pointed me in the direction of an old man who had fallen over. As I moved to help him I heard raised voices. I couldn't hear what they were saying so I peeped my head over the bush that was in front of me and the old man. Kalen seemed to be arguing with someone but as I started to turn my head around I heard a loud bang. I quickly looked back at Kalen to see him lying on the ground.
I couldn't go get him, I couldn't even scream or the guards would find us and lock everyone up again. I don't remember exact details but I do know that we all got away safely. How on earth am I going to explain this to my parents? I thought. They always said that Kalen would be the perfect heir and how we were a disappointment. I knew that I would get blamed for this and probably disowned.
I never had a chance to see their reaction though; when I returned to the castle, I found it burned to the ground.
Nyssa and Ryan met me at the gate and we swapped tales and they told me that most of the staff and my parents had perished in the fire. "Happy birthday to us," Nyssa said bitterly. We rebuilt the castle using our magic and made it way stronger (although now it did look sort of blue).
"Um guys I've got something to tell you," My friends turned to stare at me. "I really hate living here; everyone either treats us like a joke or like we're weak. I want people to see me for who I am not as a pretty princess. I guess what I'm trying to say is: I'm leaving."
Nyssa nodded like she'd been waiting for this. "I'm staying here though," She told me. "Not just because no one would be here to watch the kingdom, but because I seriously need to improve this… village." We hugged and I jumped onto Storm.
Ready? I asked Nova. Of course the dragon replied. I waved to my friends one last time before setting off.
"So then, some more stuff happened, I became a bounty hunter and literally ran into Hollis in a forest. Since we have so much in common, we became friends right away."
"That's…different," Marth commented. "And no offense but your parents really suck." I laughed,
"I know right? Anyway since we were turning 16 this year, me and Nyssa are supposed to have our coronation in a few weeks but mom is putting it off until Kalen's birthday; just another reminder that he was going to be the best heir." I could feel my eyes getting wet but I willed myself not to cry.
"So you didn't want anyone to know about you being a princess because you think they would treat you differently?" Marth asked quietly. I nodded.
"I only tell people who understand and won't treat me like a 2 year old. Anyway, it's getting late; we should get some sleep."
"Of course. See you tomorrow," Marth called quietly as we stood in front of our rooms. I rolled my eyes and tried to be quiet so I wouldn't wake Hollis up. However when I opened the door, I saw Hollis half hanging off her bed, a Wii remote on the floor and Majora's Mask still playing on the T.V.
"So much for not playing video games," I muttered as I saved her progress then turned off the game. I left Hollis where she was though, and decided to let her freak out when she woke up (come on people, it would be funny). That's it, I thought, I'm going to sleep in until 10:00. Despite my birthday approaching quickly, I had no trouble falling asleep.
"OH MY GOD!" I bolted upright and grabbed one of my daggers. I saw Hollis standing by the T.V, completely flipping out. "IgotsofarintoMajora'sMaskandjustfinishedasupersuperhardbossfightinonegobutifellasleppwhileplayingandnowallmyprogressislost!" When Hollis woke up in her half off the bed position, with the Wii remote right below her facing a black television screen, she absolutely lost it. I couldn't help it; I started laughing.
"Relax! When I came back upstairs last night you were asleep so I saved your progress for you." "Oh," was all Hollis said. Shrugging, she turned the game back on and got ready to play.
What do you guys think of the backstory? Looking back, I did a really good job of creating Kalen's character, and I wish he wasn't dead. Wait… hold the phone guys. Is this MARVEL? Do I sense the return of a character? Nope, just messing with you guys, he's not coming back. I LIED! Kalen will be back for vengeance! JK, he's staying dead! You guys probably don't know what to think at this point.