Tai: Hey, TK, what are you doing?
TK: I was just looking at the reviews for Forbidden Tales. Apparently, this guy thinks I'm out of character but he apparently didn't point out all of the things wrong with everyone else's character.
Mimi: That's true. I mean, since when was Joe so cool and collected all the time?
Joe: Hey! That's just mean and rude.
Sora: Izzy also seems cooler than he actually is.
Ken: And I'm nothing like how I'm portrayed in this. Even when I was the Emperor, I wasn't this messed up. Not to mention what a stereotyped teenager I was being in the previous chapter.
Cody: Let's not forget that Davis is unusually sensitive and considerate. Not to mention how accepting he was that Kari didn't have feelings for him.
Davis: Shut up. Personally, I think Tai and Sora are way too lovey dovey in this.
Matt: Not to mention the fact that TK and I seem to be just filled with teen angst.
Tai: No, that's pretty accurate…For you at least.
Matt: That is so not true!
Izzy: We were placed in a medieval setting where our characters grew up in different circumstances as our canon representations so it's no surprise that we're slightly "out of character". The person who sent that in as a review must not have realized that fact.
Zero Unit: Will you all get back behind the fourth wall?! You're supposed to be back on set for the next scene!
Yolei: Well, while we're still here…Why did you kill me off so soon?
Zero Unit: Get out!
Yolei: You are the worst silver screen writer/director ever.
Takuya: We here at Zero Unit Productions do not apologize for any OOC-ness seen in the characters for they are perfectly intentional. We apologize for taking up your time and please enjoy our regular program. Leave a review!
Zero Unit: You're not even in this story!
-X-
Davis scratched his head as he sat there in his bed. He didn't feel like getting up anytime soon, ever since he lost his leg, he's been unwilling to do much. And as a chef only working during lunch meant he didn't have to get up until two hours before midday. It's not like he didn't appreciate the fact that the princess found another job for him so quickly but he missed being a knight.
Someone knocked on his door. "Davis, are you up?"
It was Sora. "Yeah, I'm up" Davis replied. "Come on in."
Sora walked into his room and picked up the bin where all his dirty clothes went. She looked at him and noticed how he was still lying in his bed. "Did you just wake up?"
"No, I've been up for a while now" Davis chuckled. "I just haven't been so inclined to get of bed just yet."
"It's kind of strange" Sora sighed. "Usually, you're up by now, patrolling the castle or something. It feels rather weird for me to actually have to knock on your door to come in and do my chores." She noticed how his expression became a little sad upon hearing the duties of his old job. "But you're great as a chef. You're cooking was great, even head chef Yuu complimented you on it!"
"Yeah, thanks" Davis smiled unconvincingly. "Well, I should probably get up and head to the kitchen before he gets mad at me for being late again."
He swung his legs over the bedside and Sora turned away quickly, she didn't think she could ever get used to seeing him with only one leg. It wasn't the first time she had seen a person missing a limb before but this was one of her friends, it was difficult for her to stomach because it just made it clear to her that any of her other friends could be victims as well.
Davis wasn't used to it either as he stared down at his legs. The first few days had been difficult because he kept forgetting that he needed a crutch to walk with and constantly fell over as he tried to get out of bed.
"Sora, could you hand me my crutch?" he asked. "I was frustrated before going to bed last night so I threw it across the room."
Sora did as he asked and handed his crutch over to him. "Do you need any help getting downstairs?"
"I'll be fine?" he replied. "I heard that Ken attacked the village yesterday and that Tai went out to fight. What happened?"
"Tai's fine" Sora said. "But Kiriha and about seven other villagers were badly injured. There were about eighteen casualties, no one we really know but I'm afraid that it won't be long before something terrible happens to one of our friends."
"You shouldn't worry so much" Davis huffed. "Where's Kari?"
"She received an invitation from the high royal family to have dinner with them so the princess is helping her prepare for it" Sora said slowly. She knew how the former knight felt for the young maiden but to her surprise, Davis smiled.
"I see" Davis chuckled. "I hope she has a good time then."
"You're not upset or jealous?"
"Why should I be?"
"Well…It just seems like the high prince, TK, has feelings for her."
"Kari deserves to be happy and she chooses the prince over me than I'm perfectly fine with it" Davis said. He stared at Sora for a long while and started thinking about how his senior felt about the seamstress. "I wonder if Tai would agree with me."
"Huh? What was that about Tai?" Sora blinked.
"Nothing…"
-X-
"You seem really nervous about this" Mimi commented.
"Well I've never been invited to have dinner with such a high member of nobility" Kari said. "I'm just afraid I'm going to embarrass myself in front of them or something. Why did they even invite me in the first place?"
"Well the king has been wanting his sons to get hitched already so I'm assuming that someone saw you with the prince the night of the ball and told the king who in turn, did the only thing he believed was reasonable and invited you over to see if you're fit to marry his son" Mimi explained quickly.
"What?" Kari blinked. "Marriage. I-I'm much too young for that."
"Too young?" Mimi repeated. "You're twenty, six years past the eligible age for marriage."
"I still feel too young!" Kari practically shouted. "I mean, you're twenty-two and you're not married yet!" The maiden covered her mouth. "I am so sorry for speaking such foul things your majesty."
Mimi waved it off but it was clear that she was angry when she started brushing Kari's hair like she was whacking some devilish beast. "I don't mind at all that you said that. It doesn't make me feel like I'm a hag that will never get married. Please, go on about your problems and pretend I don't have feelings like you."
"I knew it! You are angry!"
"I told you, I'm fine!"
The door opened and Sora walked in a young handmaiden pointing an accusing finger at a princess with tears coming out of her eyes. The princess sat there with angered eyes and triangular shaped mouth like she was in the middle of spewing frustrated nonsense. The seamstress tried to decipher this odd image in front of her but came up with no conclusions. So instead, she grabbed the sewing kit she had wanted and left the room, closing the door to prevent anyone else from randomly walking into the embarrassing scene.
"So, I think I might need your help in picking out a dress for dinner" Kari said quietly after Sora was gone.
Mimi was done brushing Kari's hair and now she was putting it in a delicate braid. "I'll ask Sora to finish that new pink dress she was going to make for me."
"No, I could never borrow one of your dresses" Kari replied. "Not that I wouldn't appreciate it but it just wouldn't feel right."
"Its fine" Mimi shook her head. "I've never worn it before and I can just ask Sora to make me another one."
"Well, if you put it that way."
"I promise you that everything will be fine tonight."
Kari was silent after a few seconds before an idea came to mind. "Mimi, would you come with me?"
-X-
"Noriko, why did you invite her over here?" TK practically yelled at the knight.
Noriko rubbed the ear he had shouted in and gave the prince a dirty look. "You were depressed over the fact that you could see her so I asked your father if he could. He excitedly agreed when I told him that she was a maiden you had fallen for."
"But how come I didn't know about this until now?!" the prince groaned.
Matt walked over to them and he could tell that his little brother was being overly dramatic again. "What's wrong with you? You're acting as if father decided to place more restrictions on us."
TK straightened himself up so that he could be eye level with Matt but also so he could turn his head more easily between the two other occupants of the dining room. "Our good knight, Noriko, here, decided it would be a good idea to do something behind my back."
"And now he's sulking because of it" Noriko continued.
"I'm not sulking" he pouted.
"And now he's pouting."
Matt picked up one of the seat pillows from the chair next to his brother's and hit him with it. "You're doing both. Now, why don't you clarify all that nonsense you just spewed out?"
"Do you remember that maiden he was with at the ball?" Cody said as he walked in. "Apparently, the prince was disappointed by the fact that he couldn't see her alone anymore since he was being constantly monitored by knights so Noriko invited her over for dinner tonight."
"You should be happy about that" Matt sighed. "You get to see her again at the very least."
"But I just know that father and mother are going to do something to embarrass me" TK groaned.
Matt hit him with the pillow again. "Are you sure it's not because you're going to embarrass yourself?"
"Or perhaps you don't want to bring your parents' hopes up about marriage?" Cody brought up. "After all you told us that she wasn't sure about how she felt just yet."
"I don't need you to remind me" TK muttered. "And how long were you standing there anyway?"
"Long enough" Cody shrugged.
"I need to prepare for this dinner" TK finally sighed and got up. He hurriedly left and got into his room. "What am I going to do?"
-X-
Ken stared at the portraits of nobles from the past and started counting them off. "Hate, hate, double hate, loathe entirely!"
"What in the world are you doing?" his companion hissed.
"Taking a stroll through memory lane" Ken replied.
His companion grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the painting shop. "You're going to make people curious about you and that's not a good thing."
"Relax, I used magic to hide who we are" Ken chuckled like it was no big deal. "Just remember, I'm Curt and you're Melody, no one will ever know who we really are! Besides, I wanted to come down to the village to see how everything had changed while I was sealed away."
He had curly brown hair with crystal blue eyes, his face was covered in freckles and the bridge of his nose was broken like he had gotten into a scuffle in a tavern the night before. He wore a long black cloak that covered anything he was wearing underneath. His companion had long blonde hair that fell down to her waist and she wore a tight fitting low cut blue dress that stopped at her mid-thigh. Her skin was close to a caramel color and her eyes were light brown.
"Stop talking so loud!" Melody hissed. "And why did you choose to turn me into this?"
"It's definitely not so I can admire your assets" Curt grinned.
"You disgust me" Melody scoffed. "Come on; let's just hurry through this so we can go back to the hideout."
"That place is so damp and muggy, why can't I just stay out here? I can just permanently keep myself disguised so that no one finds out who I really am" Curt suggested.
Melody looked around and when she saw that almost no villagers were looking their way, she slapped him across the face. "Wizards are able to sense other magical beings through their magical essence. You can easily get caught even if you're unrecognizable."
"As if that stupid storm mage could catch me" Curt scoffed. He marched away from his companions and paused when he saw a restaurant a couple of meters away from them. "I know, why don't we go get some food over there?"
"You're hungry? But you just ate a few moments ago."
"That was just a light snack."
"You cleaned out their entire kitchen; nothing about it was a 'light snack'."
"A freak gets hungry all the time" Ken said innocently as he dragged Melody into the restaurant.
The two of them were seated rather quickly in such a crowded restaurant and it wasn't long before their food was served. Melody just sat there and watched as 'Curt' devoured everything he and she had ordered. He had ordered one of everything, he convinced her to order the biggest thing on the menu. She was sure he was going to throw it all up once he was finished but he was actually done, he ordered one of everything again.
"Who the hell eats this much?!" she screamed.
"I do" he said with his mouth full.
"Whatever" she huffed. "And who is paying for all of this?"
"You are."
"I will not!"
Curt was just about to respond when he heard an intriguing conversation from a nearby table. It was a group of construction workers talking about how the high royal family had invited a young maiden from Princess Mimi's court to their castle for dinner. Curt glared at the girl sitting across from him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Curt scowled.
"I can't understand you when you talk with your mouth full like that" Melody frowned.
Curt swallowed and renewed his glare. "Why did you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" she sighed.
"You're my ears in the kingdom and not only that but you're directly involved in this" Curt tried to clarify although Melody still raised an eyebrow to show her confusion. "Why didn't you tell me that the princes were having a special dinner tonight?"
"Why do you care so much?" she shot back. "And I order you not to interrupt their dinner."
"Why not?"
"You know why! You're services are not needed there."
Curt gritted his teeth and Melody's eyes widened when saw him appear to glitch and for a moment, she saw Ken. She took a look at her hand and noticed that was starting to flicker as well.
Ken/Curt shot up. "I'm sick of you ordering me around all the time! You're doing all of this for your own sick gain!"
Melody was going to say something but then she decided that words were clearly not enough to convince the dark warlock from keeping quiet so she raised her hand and he seemed to freeze. "I told you that you're services are not needed there and shut up and maintain our disguises."
"How are you…?" was all Ken could get out when he realized that his entire body was immobile. "It can't be…You're…"
Melody didn't allow him to say more as she released him. She grabbed his wrist and left the restaurant, away from the undesired attention they were getting, after paying for everything. They walked until they reached the outskirts of the village and Ken released their disguises and he just stared at his companion.
"You're a mage?" Ken stared.
His companion glared back at him. "I am…But I only recently learned how to do that."
"Manipulation magic" Ken muttered. "It's rare and incredibly difficult to perform but you were able to nail it." He smirked and started laughing once he really thought about it. "It suits you. Not only that but you got it down fast. Although I should've known…You've been keeping you're true identity a secret to me too."
The other person scoffed in an annoyed tone. "What are you talking about? You already knew who I was."
"I'm not talking about your name" Ken laughed. "I meant your ancestry. And here I thought your grounds for revenge were completely unfounded but now I get it. Fine, I'll stay out of tonight's dinner but in return, I get a victim of my choosing."
"And what does that mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Ken took a few steps towards the village and stared at the people walking past. His eyes landed on the looming castle in the center and his smug grin only grew wider. "And I know exactly who it should be."
"You can't order me around" his companion retorted. "Remember, you are only bound to this plane level because of me."
"My contracts always have loopholes" Ken grinned.
Despite the fact that these two were allies, they seemed to have completely opposing agendas. The two of them just stared each other, waiting for the other say something, to slip up somewhere and give the other the upper hand. But it wasn't going to happen any time soon, they both knew that. So what were they waiting for?
"Who do you have on your hit list now?"
Ken turned back to the castle in the center of the kingdom. "His parents were two of the knights who hurt me over and over. They've spilt my blood more times than I can count. I'm not after revenge, like you are, but I do want some payback for my suffering. You can do that for me can't you?"