Note: I do not own Sony Computer Entertainment America or any of its affiliates. Consider this a disclaimer to the ideas/characters presented in this story.
I'm done school now, and I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to squeeze out quite a number of chapters this summer! Of course, there's only the two of you who read this that I know of, but us three can have ourselves a Wild summer. Get it? HAH!
Chapter Five: The Tear Drop
Cecilia awoke with bleary eyes and a splitting headache. She could scarcely remember what she was doing last or where she was. As her vision cleared, she saw the familiar marble ceiling of her bedroom. Her eyes widened. She hadn't been in her room for years.
What time is it? she thought to herself. She felt woozy and jostled, like she'd been stampeded over, but most of all, she felt incredibly hungry. I must have been casting magic. A lot of magic. She slipped off her bed carefully, and spotted a small silver plate with a slab of roast and a bun on her vanity. And they must have known I was casting magic.
Like a floodgate opening, her memory recovered, and she could see the creatures, the bodies, the blood, as if it were all right there at her feet inside the palace. Her father was there.
Everything was so quiet.
Cecilia darted to the door and fought to tear it open. When she stepped out into the hall, Terwillegar and Capilano stepped in front of her. They were both bandaged and pale, with defeated grimaces set permanently in their features.
"Where is my father?" Cecilia blurted out, unable to control her fear. Her hands moved automatically to push the knights out of the way, but they kept her at bay.
"Your father is in his room," Capilano said quietly, "he's resting. The medics are doing all that they can—"
Cecilia pushed passed them more forcefully, then dashed down the hall to the stairs, towards her father's chambers.
"Cecilia!" Terwillegar called after her to no avail. She turned the corner and ran past another knight, who also tried to stop her from entering the room. She had not time to be delayed. Medics wouldn't be able to heal her father to the ability she could.
Cecilia ran up the slender marble corridor and into the wide bed chamber, spotting her father lost between the sheets and linens, small and frail looking compared to the size of the room. Johan stood at the bedside, and two doctors sat on either side of the king, their hands full of bloodied bandages and tools.
Cecilia's breath flew from her lungs in a strangled cry, and she stood rigid on the spot, her muscles so tense she could barely breathe. Her father looked to her, his face pale from blood loss. She expected him to say something, but she could feel the thickness in the air that made it impossible to say anything.
"Cecilia," Johan whispered sternly as he approached her, "you need to stay in your room!"
"I can help him," she shot back hotly, brushing past him towards the bed. "Let me do it," Cecilia said to the doctors, dismissing them with an urgent wave of her hand.
The doctors stood and collected their things, and the king spoke weakly to his daughter. "Cecilia, you're in no condition to be casting anymore spells—"
"I won't have other people helping you when I can heal you just as well, if not better," she stated firmly, sitting beside him. She reached for his hand that rested on top of the sheets, and he hissed, drawing away from her.
"He brokesome bones in his hands," one doctor said to her as they began to depart. "He... broke most of the bones in his body."
Cecilia winced and hung her head. He was severely injured, indeed. She listened to the doctors' footsteps, echoing amongst the silent room, as if testing her fortitude.
"Wait," Cecilia called out softly. "In case... I can't."
She didn't look behind her, but she heard the shuffling of feet as they all turned to watch her carefully. Cecilia looked into her father's eyes, and was scared of what she found there. This wasn't school anymore; she had been thrown into reality in the matter of days, and now she faced the true test of her education.
"I've never done this without my wand," Cecilia whispered to him, "but I should be able to heal most of the prominent injuries. Just stay very still."
He made no sign of assent, but Cecilia could read everything through the way he looked at her. She saw love, courage. Trust. Things she wished she could summon at times like these.
Cecilia peeled back the sheet carefully, uncovering his chest. He moaned softly into his mouth, writhing slightly from the pain. Cecilia let her hand hover over her father's chest, and she let her eyes go out of focus, trying to concentrate on the aura she felt inside. Concentrating her energy, she exhaled slowly through her nose, and whispered: "Or."
Casting magic without her wand felt like tightrope walking on a wire, but Cecilia's target being so close made precision of aim unnecessary. She felt the healing magic cascade from her and latch onto her father like an invisible spiderweb, concentrated around his abdomen. He sighed with relief the moment it surrounded him, but something was wrong. She felt as if her essence was being drained the more she poured into him, and before she could even begin to repair the damage done to her father, she felt herself begin to weaken.
Just for a little while, Cecilia thought to herself, practically pushing the magic from her body. She caught a moan of pain in her throat and swallowed it; she felt as if all her blood was being drained by the gallon each second she continued.
"Cecilia," her father whispered, "stop."
"No," she grunted painfully, twisting her face into a grimace. "Just—a little—"
Her father reached up to grab her hand, and the sudden contact broke Cecilia's concentration. The spell ceased, and she gasped heavily, feeling the sudden effects of pushing too much magic upon herself. Her entire body was trembling, and the tips of her fingers were numb.
"Cecilia, you look paler than a ghost," her father said weakly, still in obvious pain. "You've done enough for me. Let the doctors finish their work."
Cecilia leaned heavily on her hands beside her father, her long golden hair veiling her face, hiding herself from him. All those years of magic, and she couldn't even cast a simple healing spell on her father when he needed her.
But pride to the Adlehyde family was a scent, and her father brushed her hair gently from her face to look her in the eye to reassure her. "You have saved my life, as well as the lives of many men. You should be proud for what you have done. Now rest."
"Sir!" a young knight shouted, bursting into the room. Everyone turned to look at him, and he hesitated, giving a swift salute. "I mean, your highness—we've just received demands from the demons; they want the Tear Drop in exchange for—for the town."
Cecilia stood quickly, her fists balled and her lips taught on her perfect face. She felt incredibly dizzy from the motion, however, and was forced to sit back down on the bed. Johan and a doctor were at her side immediately, gently touching her shoulders as if she were a delicate thing that would break at the slightest disturbance. She waved them off subtly, then waited until her head cleared before she spoke. "Demons? Are you sure?"
The young man nodded. "Yes."
"But the demons are only in legend," Cecilia posed, mostly arguing with herself, "they were from stories thousands of years old."
A moment passed as she thought things over, and finally came to the conclusion that no matter what the circumstances, bizarre or not, she would act when her kingdom needed her. "The Tear Drop is very precious to our family. To me. But... if it is the lives of the kingdom at stake, I am willing to surrender it."
But why the Tear Drop? she thought to herself. She knew it as an invaluable and holy object, but all those beasts outside... what would they do with such a thing?
"Cecilia," her father said, sitting up in bed ever so slightly. She turned to face him, his eyes burning and his face hard as stone. "No."
"No?" she replied, perplexed. "But the kingdom is in danger! We can't just ignore this!"
"Cecilia, the Tear Drop isn't just a family heirloom," he said, his good hand absently clutching at his chest where his ribs had broken, "it is an artifact that is the key to unleashing the ancients."
Cecilia balked, her eyes growing wide. She reached for the chain around her neck and pulled it over her head, studying the small jewel that hung from it. She had been able to open magically sealed doors with the Tear Drop, and that was all she believed was it's extent. It fit in the palm of her hand; so fragile, so gentle, like a baby in its cradle.
"The Tear Drop can only be possessed by a Adlehyde princess," he continued, "by one who hears the will of the Guardians. Like your mother did."
Cecilia watched him carefully, her fingers closing over the Tear Drop. The Guardians. Stoldark.
"The one who possesses the Tear Drop holds the fate of the world in her hand. Cecilia, you are the Guardian of the Tear Drop. Of the world. You cannot surrender it to the demons, they..."
He sunk lower into the sheets again, shrinking evermore, as if he were slipping away from her right before her eyes. Cecilia reached out to touch him, as if she really were afraid he would disappear.
"Cecilia, stay in your room," he said as firmly as he could, "no matter what happens."
"Princess," Terwillegar said from the front of the room. He and Capilano stood waiting for her. "Please."
Cecilia looked at her father. "I want to stay here."
"The doctors need to continue their work," Johan offered gently, yet sternly. "You need to give them space. You need to let His Majesty rest."
"Father," Cecilia said, clutching both him and the Tear Drop, "be here when I come back."
He said nothing, but he didn't need to. It had been years since they saw each other face to face, but she knew how to read his eyes better than any spell book. She had his eyes, just as round and as crystal blue as the Tear Drop, and they both were able to speak worlds with them. He would be alive when she saw him again, and he would promise it.
Terwillegar and Capilano led Cecilia from the room, and she watched her father for as long as she could before he disappeared behind the two toiling doctors. Cecilia walked forward, clutching the Tear Drop in her hand, feeling its almost insignificant weight in her palm.
She would not let innocent people die over it.
Jack and Rudy stood in the long corridor amongst a vast number of townspeople. After fighting their way through the town, and saving several people in the process, the guards had escorted them all to the hall. Rudy and Jack tried to rejoin the men going back out to fight, but the guards would not let them through. No civilians were being released into town until the danger was thwarted. Jack kept eying the doorway, working his jaw as the gears in his mind turned restlessly.
"Hey, Hanpan, Rudy," Jack whispered, keeping his eyes on the door where the guards stood, "whadya say we blow this place and go join the ranks on the front line?"
Rudy looked over at Jack, and Hanpan shuffled around inside Jack's coat pocket. "Are you serious?" he whispered.
"Of course I'm serious," Jack whispered back. "We're no good to anybody cooped up in this chicken pen while the foxes are outside destroying everything. You saw how those knights were fighting; we can do just as well, if not better. They could use us out there."
"You do have a point," Hanpan said, "but you also forget that there's three—well, two of you—and who knows how many of them. Fighting isn't all glory and guts, Jack! It's mostly just guts. You know that."
"Quit your worrying," Jack muttered. "If we don't do something, this entire kingdom might go to the dogs. We've got to do something."
"Jack, just because you weren't able to protect your friends the first time—"
"Shut up!" Jack whispered harshly, and Rudy recoiled, caught off guard by the venom in his voice. No-one around them seemed to overhear Jack's outburst, but Jack sighed, apologizing and quieting himself down. "It's not like that. If I can do something to help, I'm not just gonna sit around and wait for them to come bite me in the butt."
"Yeah, I suppose you always need the first bite, don't you?"
"And you always need the last word in an argument," Jack retorted.
"Do not!"
Jack shot Rudy a sideways glance, and Rudy offered a small smile.
"Well, what do you think, kid? Do we bust on out of here and try to save their sorry sights?"
Rudy contemplated. They had saved a good number of townspeople before the castle gates closed, and none of the guards seemed to be doing quite as well in a battle without their help. It wasn't that Rudy was sure that he and Jack were both more skilled in a fight than the knights and guards; rather, he found that they tended to battle in pairs, and a third member made the fight against those creatures all the more seamless. One or two more could tip the scales in their favour.
"Yeah," Rudy said, nodding, "let's go."
"Right, Hanpan," Jack said, pulling his coat open to peer down at the wind mouse. Hanpan peered back up at him with black, beady eyes. "You think you can cause a stir with the guards?"
"I'd feel a little guilty making a scare at a time like this," Hanpan stated, "but it shouldn't be a problem."
"Okay. You get them away from the door, and we make our escape." Jack searched his memory. "I think we need to head left down the hall."
"That goes to the kitchen," Hanpan said.
"Well, we can't as easily go through the front door; there'll be tons of guards there. Besides, there might be a garden path out the kitchen or something. I'm sure the cooking staff'll give us a tour and everything."
"I'll meet up with you by the inn, then."
"Keep it low profile once you're out, all right?"
"Because all I do is try to get attention in public."
"Quit being a smart ass. Get going."
Hanpan leapt from Jack's pocket and darted across the floor. He was so swift that none of the people huddled in the hall noticed him. When he got to the doors, however, he deliberately stopped and squeaked, peering up at the guards. Before they could look down and get a clear look at him, he burst off down the hall.
To say Hanpan was a wind mouse was an understatement; he could reach speeds that were impossible by human means. The moment the guards looked down, a gust of wind swept past the people down the hall, kicking up dust and loose items in its wake. In less than a second, Hanpan had reached the other end of the hall and was shooting off down another corridor. The people in the room scarcely began to scream in surprise before he was halfway down that hall.
"What was that?" a shrill woman cried, trying to brush her hair down again from where it had been blown up. The guards readied their weapons and began to make chase. "Are they inside?" cried another man.
While everyone was in an uproar, Jack strolled across the corridor and through the doorway, Rudy cautiously trailing behind.
"What about Cecilia?"
"Who? Oh. What about her?"
"Shouldn't we go look for her?"
"She's with her people now. Besides," Jack said scratching his chin, "maybe it's best she doesn't get caught up in any more righteous adventures."
Rudy shot his eyes to the floor in disappointment, then continued to follow Jack towards the kitchen.
After eating the food in her room and giving herself time to recuperate, Cecilia was heading down the hall towards the ramparts, wand held tightly in hand. Terwillegar and Capilano had left their post at her door after shouts rang out from somewhere on the floor below. She was surprised that they would abandon it so quickly, but she imagined their reasoning included her ability to defend herself, should any danger come her way, whereas the rest of the castle was in a precarious state of peril. As she approached the door leading outside, she broke into a run; she caught sounds of a horrific battle coming from beyond.
As she rushed out onto the ramparts, she could see several knights engaged in a fight with a tall animated skeleton wielding a large and intimidating scimitar. It slashed upwards at a knight, sending him backwards through the air. Cecilia aimed her wand, casting a fire spell, and a bolt of flame shot out right at the thing's exposed heart, causing all the bones to fly apart in several directions. All the knights braced themselves from the flying shrapnel, then looked up to see Cecilia rushing past them.
"Wait, princess!" the knight on the ground called after her, "you need to stay in your room!"
But before any of them could make chase after her, another creature had swept overhead; what looked like a faun with large, leathery black bat wings swooped in on them, followed by two more. Some of the knights wielding bows began to fire at them, while the others took them on in close combat. Cecilia could hear the sounds of their armour being kicked in by the creature's hooves, but she did not stop to fight. She shot another bolt of magic in the creatures' direction, then kept going. She ran past more and more scrimmages between the guards and knights and creatures who scaled the gate and the walls. In the distance, she could see several more flying fauns heading for the fairgrounds.
Cecilia rounded the ramparts to the other side of the castle, then ran down the spiral steps just through the door. She rushed through the halls, making sure to avoid sight of any guards that were around, and finally found herself standing in the kitchen.
"Cecilia?"
She turned to find all the kitchen staff staring at her from over their boiling pots of stew—for the refugees, no doubt—and Montmatre, the head chef, staring at her, his round, plump face shining with the steam from his concoction.
"Why is everyone coming through here today?" a chef said quietly.
"What are you doing here?" Montmatre asked, watching her fearfully, expecting her to have been escaping from demons who had broken into the castle.
"Montmatre, I'm going to need your help," Cecilia said, rushing forward to him. They braced each other's arms, and she began her hurried speech. "I need to gain passage to the sewers, like I did when I was a little girl. Don't look at me like that, Montmatre, I know the last thing you want to give me is entry to the town, but I need to get there. Please, help me!"
Montmatre stared at her for a few moments, his face still infused with the shock he held when she first entered the kitchen. "What I was going to say was, 'I'm glad you're home, I've missed you'."
Cecilia stumbled over her breath, then a smile cracked on her face, feeling uneven and out of place. She was happy to see Montmatre as well, but given the circumstances, she could scarcely feel any sort of joy.
"Please," she said, sobering herself, "there are so many people in danger. They won't leave until this kingdom is leveled. Only I can stop them."
"I know what you're thinking," Montmatre said, placing an unusually soft hand on her cheek, "I've heard their demands. But you mustn't give them what they want. So many more lives will be in danger if you do."
Cecilia only hesitated a moment, considering his words, then shook her head. "You can't stop me. I won't hesitate to knock you down Montmatre." He looked stunned, as if she had already dealt the blow. "I'm sorry, but I'm needed now. I'm going."
Montmatre stepped back from her, and the rest of the kitchen staff stood stalk still, staring at her with wide eyes, like she was one of those creatures outside, storming the castle. She flexed her fists nervously, feeling as if she had transformed under their stares, then headed for the disposal chute.
She pulled the drawstring and looped it around the catch, staring into the black hole in the wall. She wanted to look back at all of them, but she felt the pressure of their stares on her back, and felt it impossible to turn around. Flicking her wand and whispering "Hyde," she climbed into the garbage chute, then slid down into the sewers.
"C'mon," Jack said, holding his hand out for Rudy. He was perched on top of the garden wall, trying to pull Rudy up with him. They had gone to the kitchen, and the staff had turned to stone in their spots like Rudy and Jack were the demons themselves. After some friendly goading, some of the cooks pointed the pair in the direction of the garden, much to Jack's surprise (he didn't actually expect there to be a garden path from the kitchen) and the two of them went weaving through the intricate hedges and shrubs, until Jack found a convenient stone bench placed against the wall to climb up from.
He pulled Rudy halfway up the wall until the younger could swing his own feet up and over the threshold. The two of them dropped down into a thick of trees, and all seemed to be calm and peaceful for a moment, as if there were no creatures rampaging the town.
"I think we have to head that way," Jack said, pointing south. "That'll probably lead to the Castle Guardian."
Rudy nodded without a word, and the two of them set off, Jack clutching the grip of his sword and Rudy hovering his hand over the butt of his ARM.
After a few minutes of running, the ripping, roaring sounds of flame reached their ears, and sure enough, once they broke through the trees, they could see almost every building and structure in sight on fire. The Castle Guardian statue sat in the clearing in which they stood; half of its body had been smashed into pieces.
"God damn!" Jack growled. Rudy looked from the inferno in the town to the sky above. The place where the clouds had mysteriously congealed and cracked apart now resembled an infected wound; the sky around it had turned a pale red, and dark coloured clouds rolled out from the opening, which was starting to close. Either the demons had already left, or they were running out of time to take their portal back home.
"Let's go!" Jack said, kicking up dirt in his wake as he sprinted into town, his sword drawn. Rudy rushed after him, caught off guard by the sudden intensity of his anger. He could understand the raging emotions Jack would feel at seeing the town being completely destroyed, but he did not understand the way Jack's sword hand trembled as he ran. He was a man beyond rage.
They weaved through the burning houses, but all the creatures that had surged through the town not an hour before had disappeared. There was no-one and nothing there. After minutes of running through the buildings, they still found nothing. Jack roared in anger, then kicked the foundation of the burning house next to him, then slashed at it with his sword.
Rudy watched carefully as Jack leaned against the house with his sword held lengthwise in both hands. His shoulders rose and fell noticeably with every heaving breath he took, and Rudy could see the hatred roiling on his face.
"Hanpan," Rudy said quietly. Jack's head rose a little and he froze, as if he were an animal perking its ears. "He's waiting at the inn."
Jack nodded stiffly, then stood up from the wall. He looked completely confused, as if he couldn't remember how he got there. "Right," Jack said, then jogged off around the building and towards the main road to the front gates. Rudy followed him tentatively, his own face etched with confusion, trying to decipher the meanings behind Jack's peculiar actions.
When they reached the main road and started heading towards the front gates, however, both Rudy and Jack hesitated in their step, their eyes growing wide with shock. At the end of the road not twenty feet away, standing by the gate, was a gigantic creature: a demon. It stood at least ten feet tall, and resembled something between a man and a deadly reptile. It wore blue rags like a stranded swashbuckler, and its skin appeared green, but in the light of the fire that raged on in the city, it gleamed black, as if it were made of steel. The thing caught sight of them and straightened, growing several more feet in height. It had large vicious teeth that protruded from its lower jaw, and when it smiled at them, even more intimidating teeth glistened in the firelight. It lifted its right fist, in which it held a large menacing flail on a long, rusty chain. It gave out loud, grumbling laughter, which sounded like two great boulders grinding together, eying the two down.
"I thought it'd be harder than this, to be honest," the thing called after them, its loud voice shaking the ground beneath their feet. "Just the two of you, eh? Well. Name's Belselk. Just come quietly and hand over the Tear Drop."
Jack responded by holding out his sword, bending his knees and glaring at the demon menacingly. Rudy's hand went to the butt of his gun again, preparing to back Jack up.
"The Tear Drop, I said."
"Shut up!" Jack shouted. "I've been waiting a long time for this. I—"
The demon roared, its large mouth agape like a bottomless abyss, its giant teeth shining from the fire. "I really couldn't care less about what you've been waiting for!" Belselk howled. "Hand over the jewel and we'll be done with it!"
"What the hell are you on about?" Jack shouted back, not at all shaken by the threatening glare from the demon. "I don't have any teardrops for you. What I want is revenge!"
"Agh! Humans!" Belselk boomed, swinging his flail overhead. "I wish Zeik would've just let me level this place instead of trying to haggle with you people!"
"Wait!"
Rudy and Jack turned quickly to see Cecilia standing behind them, wand in one hand, and a small blue jewel on a chain in the other. "Don't harm these people. I have what you want," she said, thrusting her fist in the air. Rudy and Jack looked back at Belselk, whose face had twisted into something of a sinister smile. He held out his free giant hand, beckoning her with a finger.
Cecilia walked right past Jack and Rudy, her watched her go with perplexed faces, at a loss for what was happening. Jack tried to reach for Cecilia's shoulder to hold her back, but she shrugged it off harshly, walking towards Belselk as if in a trance.
When she reached him, she dropped the blue jewel into Belselk's outstretched palm, which seemed to disappear in his enormous green hand like a precious pebble in a swamp. He closed his hand over it, then stood tall again, leering down at Cecilia. She peered back up at him, stepping away slowly. "Now, leave this place."
"Hah! A human, giving me orders. If it weren't for Zeik, I would've already destroyed this place, mark my words, princess." Belselk looked up in the sky, and gave his boulder-rumbling laugh again. The three of them looked up to see the strange flying faun creatures flying up into the broken sky—
"The golems!" Cecilia cried, watching as the three gigantic weapons from the festival were carried off into the crack in the clouds by the creatures. As they drew nearer to the hole, a beam of light shot down around them, and they all disappeared without a trace. Cecilia's mouth hung agape, staring at the place the golems had just been.
"At least this trip wasn't a total waste, eh?" Belselk said, chuckling to himself. He stepped forwards, looking up to the sky, as if expecting a beam of light to come collect him as well, when—
"C'mere!" Jack cried, slashing his sword against Belselk's forearm. He had sprinted the twenty feet in less than a few seconds, surprising both his companions and the demon. The thick green skin only yielded a shallow scrape from Jack's attack, but the demon looked affronted, as if the human had just cut off his entire arm.
"You wanna play that game, huh?" Belselk said, leaning forward like a dangerous predator and swinging his flail over his head again. Jack backed up, but still held his sword provokingly.
"You got whatever it is you came for," Jack shouted over the din of the flames, "but I came for revenge!"
"Jack, no!" Cecilia screamed, but neither the demon nor the man paid her any heed.
"Fine, if that's what you want, I'll humour you for a while," Belselk said, slowly rising and swinging his flail faster, "but don't blame me if you snap like a twig under my—"
Just then, a sharp crack sounded in the street as a gust of wind and dirt flew past Jack like a spear and hit Belselk square between the eyes. The demon snapped up straight, howling and clutching at his face where the gust of wind had hit him, and Hanpan leapt on top of the demon's head before the hand closed in on him.
Taking the momentary distraction into play, Jack lunged forward and swept his blade upward along Belselk's belly in a high jump, scratching along its skin and slicing half of its ragged shirt. Belselk roared again, staggering back slightly. Hanpan leapt from its head and scurried off behind a building, while Cecilia and Rudy moved forward to stand near Jack. Rudy raised his ARM, and Cecilia held her wand at the offensive. While Belselk was large and threatening, he was fairly slow in his movements, giving the three an advantage of agility.
After Belselk finally recovered from the attack, he began to swinging the flail again. He eyed Jack with a malicious heat in his eyes, the fire playing on his features dangerously, when he swung the flail down towards him with surprising speed. Cecilia flicked her wand in a downward facing crescent, then flung her arm in Jack's direction. Jack dove out of the way of the flail, but not quite fast enough; however, as the flail came soaring at Jack's knees, it collided with an invisible wall that shone white when the flail connected with it. Jack still felt some of the blow, and went tumbling to the side from the impact, rolling over himself several times.
Rudy raised his ARM, took careful aim, then fired into Belselk's face. The demon shuttered with the force of the fire, and its head snapped backwards as he lost control of his flail. It took a long sweep into the inn beside them, and a huge chunk of the wall came flying out with it on the other side. It swung around towards Rudy and Cecilia, and he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her sideways and landing on the ground just as the flail swung over their heads. The inn creaked from the massive chunk missing from its wall, and a loud thud sounded and a blast of dust shot out from the base of the foundation. It began to lean towards the missing chunk in it wall, then slowly started to fall towards the ground.
Rudy helped Cecilia up quickly, and the two of them dashed from under the fall of the inn. Jack rolled to his feet and leapt away with incredible speed, while Belselk turned to see the second storey of the inn steadily falling towards his face.
The building crashed around Belselk, and debris and dust went flying everywhere from the impact. Belselk shook off the remaining pieces of wall from his head, then stepped out from the mess and roped in the rest of his flail, his face etched with annoyance.
Cecilia pointed her wand at Belselk and cried: "Nua!" and a differnt sharp crack filled the air as a bolt of lightning flew from the tip of her wand and hit Belselk square in the chest. His arms folded in over himself, like an insect protecting its underbelly, but he barely slowed in his pursuit. He began swinging the flail again, then swept it wide across the three of them.
Rudy and Cecilia ducked again, and Jack rolled forward under the swing, then stuck his sword through one of the chain links in the flail. The sword bent under the force as the flail came swinging around it like a pivot, and Jack had to use all his might to keep himself from swinging with the great weapon. The blade snapped, but not before the flail crashed into Belselk's left arm, issuing another loud boulder-like roar from the demon. Belselk fell over from the force, and the flail rolled off of him and crashed into the ground with a reverberating thud. All of them gawked at the mess of what used to look like an intricate system of metal insides poking out from Belselk's wound. He glared at them, collecting his flail again.
"I don't have time for this!" he barked, spittle flying down on the three of them from his gaping maw, "It's like battling fleas!"
"Leaving so soon?" Jack fired back angrily, holding his position as if he still held a sword.
"You're gonna hafta shape up if you want 'revenge' that badly," Belselk shot back, looking up at the sky again, which was almost fully closed. "Come back when you've got some real balls, kid."
With that, a bright white beam of light shot down around Belselk, and just as quickly is at had appeared, they both were gone. Jack rushed forward to where Belselk had been standing, then cursed, punching the ground.
Hanpan came running out from behind the ruined inn, then jumped on Jack's shoulder. He whispered into Jack's ear, but not quietly enough that Rudy couldn't hear what he said.
"You could have gotten everyone killed. Why can't you get revenge when it's just your neck on the line?"
Jack didn't reply, but Rudy watched him intently, as if he had just discovered a sliver of his past that he was not meant to know.
Cecilia turned from her two companions. She looked upon all the burning buildings lining the main road. It looked as if the sky was on fire as well; the sun had started to set, washing the clouds in pinks and yellows, which was deepened in a haunting way by the thin orange haze of the fire that raged around her. Her kingdom for a Tear Drop.
Raising her wand, she silently began another spell, and soon the wound of the clouds in the sky began to thicken once more, but instead of congealing, they became grey and black. Within moments, a rain drop splattered on her shoulder, and then all around them rain began to fall. At first it was insignificant, but the rain became so heavy that the flames began to falter under the drops. Both Jack and Rudy watched Cecilia closely as the rain extinguished all the fires in the town, putting out the last of the damage. She lowered her wand after the last of the fires died out, but the rain did not stop. She stood with her head hung, the rain drenching her, making her heavier, until she was sure she would never rid herself of the weight.
Rudy and Jack had led Cecilia back to the castle once a chill had started to set into their bones. Cecilia went wordlessly, but after they reached the gates (to which the guards opened for them with shocked, stony faces) she muttered another spell under her breath, and the three of them were warm and dry, as if the rain they had been standing in was just an illusion, part of a bad dream.
They walked through the castle, and no-one uttered a word to them. Rudy hadn't seen Cecilia's face since she relinquished the Tear Drop, but he could only imagine the pain that was displayed there, for when any of the knights looked as if they were going to say something to her, their words fell dead on their tongues, their faces reflecting the worry they must have felt for the princess that appeared broken.
They climbed wordlessly to the third floor, where Cecilia walked faster and faster the closer they got to her father's room. When they reached it, she slowed, as if she was afraid of what she might see around the corner of the room.
Rudy and Jack followed her slowly as she approached her father's bed. The two doctors and Johan watched her silently, all having the same expression as the knights did in the floors below. The two men stood off to the side, feeling out of place, and Cecilia sat by her father, speaking quietly.
"I'm sorry, father," she said. "I disobeyed your wishes."
The king seemed far off and lost under the covers, but Jack and Rudy could still see the foreboding look on his face. He seemed to sink further into his linens as he replied: "It is done."
Cecilia hung her head again, giving off a strong sense of shame. Johan shook his head sadly from beside the bed, and Jack and Rudy exchanged careful glances.
"But I have decided," Cecilia said, lifting her head again, "that I shall go to reclaim the Tear Drop."
"Princess!" Johan nearly hissed, and the doctors took in sharp breaths.
"This is my fault," Cecilia retorted quickly. "The only way to save my kingdom was to hand over the Tear Drop, and now the only way to save this world is to get it back."
She looked up at Jack and Rudy for the first time, and they, too, felt the shock that all the other knights in the castle must have felt when looking at her surprisingly hollowed face. "But I know I can't do it alone."
Rudy held his breath as Jack shook his head.
"I got the gist that whatever it is you handed over to that demon was something important," Jack said, folding his arms, "but I also have got the gist that you don't know what you're doing. You may be able to use magic, and I admit, I've never met anyone able to do it before, but I've met plenty more people who've had their heads on their shoulders and didn't like to act like the entire world rested on them instead. You've done enough, I think it's time you stood aside and let someone else clear up your mess for you, princess."
Cecilia looked at him, her mouth slightly hanging open and her eyes wide, giving her more of a ghostly look than ever. "You... you won't help me?"
"I don't think you heard me right," Jack said, his voice growing firmer. Johan looked enraged, and even the weakened king had a ghost of an insulted expression by Jack's tone. "You've jeopardized everything, as far as I can tell. I'm willing to retrieve this Tear Drop from the demons for this kingdom, but I won't be doing it with you."
Cecilia blinked.
"If I had known you were a princess in the first place, I would have never agreed to work with you. I've never trusted royalty—and you've given me further proof as to why I never should. You lied to us about who you were, and you broke your father's wishes about keeping that jewel safe. You may have saved you kingdom, but it was at the expense of the rest of the world." He stepped forward as to make sure the king could see him, and said, "I will gladly volunteer to get back what was taken from this place. I'm sure Rudy will, too."
Rudy gave a small nod, and Cecilia dropped her gaze, her hair shielding her face. She stood up slowly, her hands hanging limp at her sides, and she slowly looked up into Jack's eyes.
"I lied to you about who I was because I've spent my entire life alone," Cecilia said quietly, yet firmly. "When people see me as Princess Cecilia, they become distant. They never truly see who I am, and that identity alone has kept me from living the life you or Rudy have."
"Dream Chasing isn't all it's cracked up to be."
"That's not what I mean," Cecilia replied calmly. "You appreciated my skills in fighting, and even enjoyed my company—to an extent," she added when Jack pulled a questionable expression, "but the moment you found out I was a princess, you abandoned all those thoughts of me. I cannot be friends with anyone because of a title."
Jack said nothing. She looked to Rudy.
"You understand," she said, "how it feels when people reject you for something they think you are. We accepted you after we discovered you could wield the ARM."
Rudy looked away, ashamed. He did understand her. Completely, in fact. She turned back to Jack, and appeared to be holding back her rage or her tears. Which, Jack couldn't tell.
"You've seen my passion to save this world. Can't you understand how much I need to do this?"
Jack looked down at her, feeling as if his feet were sinking right through the floor. He did understand her passion. He understood all too well the need to fix the mistakes that had been made.
"Cecilia—ah!"
They all turned to see the king writhing in his bed, and just like that, the two doctors were on either side of him, checking his wounds fervently. Cecilia watched her father closely, afraid of what she was seeing.
As everyone watched the king's pain closely, Cecilia retreated to the corner of the room where her father's bloody armour rested on its perch. With slow movements, she picked up the sword that rested in its sheath at the side of the armour, and with a great effort, she lifted it up before her.
"Princess, what are you doing?" Johan called.
Everyone turned to watch her, and Jack advanced to take the sword from her, thinking the worst. Before he could reach her, Cecilia swept her long hair into her hand, pulled it to the side, and sliced the blade through it.
Everyone halted, the only sounds in the room being her father's laboured breaths and the ripping of her hair as she cut it off. She let the bulk of her hair and the sword fall to the ground, where the blade clattered, breaking the silence.
"I've severed my past," she said to Jack. "I'm the princess you know no more. Will you fight with me to reclaim what I have lost?"
Jack stood there, still as a statue, considering her. She could even see Hanpan poking his head out of Jack's coat to look at her. She held her hands out at her sides pleadingly, watching Jack closely.
"If you do this," Jack said, looking from the hair on the floor to her disheveled head, "then there's no turning back."
The room was silent for a moment, when one of the doctors spoke.
"He has passed."
All of them turned their eyes towards the bed, where the king now lay motionless, as if merely asleep. Cecilia looked petrified; she barely showed any signs of breathing, she stood so still. The minister looked between the king and Cecilia, and hung his head. Rudy watched Cecilia's head hang low again, as if she were going to sink into the floor at any moment—as if she wanted to, and never reappear.
It seemed like an hour passed by, just all of them standing there in the room, not willing to move, or simply too afraid to. Finally, Johan spoke.
"The danger has passed," Johan said gravely. "We must honour those who fought and died bravely."
He moved to leave the room, and the doctors followed. Only Rudy, Jack and Cecilia remained, all standing quite still, watching the king, as if expecting him to awake once more and give them more of his direction, his wisdom. But nothing ever came.
When Rudy looked back from the king's peaceful face to Cecilia, he found she had long left the room.