This chapter contains mild adult themes.
The ancient Chevalier drew in a deep breath before speaking. "I only lied about my name and my past, my feelings for you are absolutely true. I love you, in a way, I have loved you since the first moment I saw you, that angel that used to sing in the gardens.
"I'm sure you didn't know it, but I lived for those precious moments, secretly watching you, basking in your glorious voice and beauty." He laughed briefly. "Looking back, at that time, I think my feelings for you were nothing more than an adolescent crush. But I do remember the day, the exact moment when I truly fell in love with you, but it's not the moment you think. It wasn't on the day I was reborn, it was after that, when you asked the elders to spare my life before the entire court, risking your own reputation for the sake of someone who couldn't have been much more than a slave in your eyes, and then, when you smiled and thanked me for the flowers… Over the years, I have absorbed a great deal of romantic poetry and prose, but I still know of no words to describe that moment," he sighed and put his hand over his heart.
The words were coming from his lips so smoothly, it seemed clear that he had rehearsed this speech.
"When I was sent away, I immediately set out to find your sister. I searched for her every hour of every day, but never even found a trace of her." he paused and swallowed. "After two years of searching, I was out walking when suddenly, and overpowering feeling fell over me – It was like my heart had caved in on it self, it felt as if my blood had turned freezing cold, literally," he blinked as a tear ran down his cheek. "With out anyone telling me, I knew that you had died. I felt it.
"I cannot begin to tell you the pain I experienced, not only at knowing that you were dead, but I also made the logical assumption that it was your sister that had killed you, and I believed that if I had not failed in my mission to find her, I could have prevented you from dying by her hand. I blamed myself for your death.
"The only reason I allowed myself to continue living was my realization that because you had given me your blood, a part of you still lived, in me. As long as your blood flowed through my veins, you would never truly die. Even though a Chevalier's existence may seem meaningless after the death of his Queen, I knew that if I were to end my life, I would be throwing away the precious gift you had given me. I made up my mind to continue living – forever.
"And, over the course of many ages, I was able to find some measure of happiness again, taking on new lives, finding new reasons to live, making new friends and, I wont lie to you, occasionally even lovers." He paused and looked up at her. "But I never, not even for moment, forgot the earthly goddess that gave me eternal life, and even more generously, gave me her smile."
Yuki's eyes watered.
"Then, in 1964, when I happened to be passing through Paris, I heard a familiar song being sung by an unfamiliar voice. Naturally, I followed it to its source." He paused. "The moment I saw Diva, I knew that somehow, your daughters must have survived.
"From then on, I made it my business to find out everything I possibly could about them, and I can't tell you how deeply saddened I was when I finally pieced their story together." His fingers tightened into a fist. "Their misery was mainly caused by Amshel Goldsmith, a man who was a monster long before he became a chiropteran.
"I couldn't allow that tragedy to continue. While I believe they both suffered greatly, it was Diva who was the worst off, so I decided to help her first. Having found out that Amshel would eventually require Diva to become an opera star, I took on a new face and began the process of cultivating myself as an opera producer, and once I had achieved that, it was only a matter of placing myself in the right place at the right time to be chosen.
"When I joined the ranks of Diva's Chevaliers, I did everything I could to free her from Amshel. When I was asked to mate with her, I just spent the whole night explaining who I really was, and that I had come to rescue her from Amshel. She was delighted at the idea that I had met her mother, and surprisingly enough, kept my secret, but leaving Amshel was just impossible for her. Even though it was his neglect and abuse that had caused her mental illness, for the first decades of her life, he was not only the source of her suffering, he was the source of her only comfort. While growing up, the closest thing she knew to happiness were the moments of social contact she received when he came to feed her, and I believe this is the root of her life long obsession with feeding, since she associated blood with the closest thing she knew to love. For all his cruelty, Amshel was all she knew, and she was unwilling and unable to be free of him.
"It was also at that time that I gained access to Amshel's diary, a meticulously kept record of all his research. As I looked through it's sadistic pages, I discovered something wonderful – that your remains still existed, and were not crystallized. I knew that this meant that I could revive you with my blood, and immediately set off to do just that, but when I found your body, I saw the wounds carved into your forearms, and realized that you had committed suicide.
"I had no idea what had driven you to this, but I knew that whatever it was, it must have been horrible, something that no one could have borne. Knowing this, I realized that it would be cruel to wake you to a world in which one of your daughters was tragically insane, and the other was on a never ending quest to kill her and then herself." He paused and blotted his eye with his sleeve. "I resolved not to resurrect you until things between Saya and Diva had been settled.
"It eventually became my plan to arrange for them both to be pregnant at the time of the inevitable final confrontation, thus rendering them unable to kill each other, so perhaps a truce, or better yet, an alliance, could be reached.
"Originally, I planned to pair Diva with Haji, but fate threw Riku Miyagusuku into the mix, and Diva chose him instead. As for Saya, I hoped to have Diva turn Kai into a Chevalier, so he could sire Saya's children. Unfortunately, at the Thanksgiving concert in North Carolina, it became clear to me that Kai would not be turned, despite the carrot of fathering Saya's children. Luckily, I had a plan B – Solomon, and as a failsafe, I had already set it in motion by calling him up and informing him of Saya's location and that she was in danger. I knew that he would come to save her due to his already being in love with her, and I knew he would whisk her away afterwards due to his overconfidence in his own charms and his obliviousness to her feelings.
"Unfortunately, despite her being naked in his bed for almost forty-eight hours, conception did not occur. So, I lured Solomon back to my place in order to have a man-to-man talk with him about his creepy wooing techniques, but that only ended with him chained up in my basement," he rolled his eyes, "entirely due to his own stupidity.
"I was still hopeful though. When one of my then-co-Chevaliers was dispatched to kill Saya, I released Solomon, thinking that he would once again rescue, kidnap and attempt to seduce her, hopefully with more success, but I think we all know how that ended. With Solomon effectively out of the picture, and only a few days until the fateful performance at the MET, I realized that I had no choice but to leave Diva to her fate, not only because in death, she would finally have her freedom, but because if she had survived under those circumstances, the world would have been overrun by chiropterans, causing an ecological imbalance that would almost certainly be fatal to the human race as well as our kind.
"The big day finally came and my poor Diva passed on at the hands of her sister, thus leaving Saya to the suicide she had awaited so eagerly. I wasn't worried about that though, I knew there was no way Kai and Haji would let her. Just after that, I faked my own death by leading Saya to believe that she had killed me as well, so she could at least go to sleep in peace, believing she had completed her mission.
"I spent the next few decades tending to your granddaughters – poor Kai as the single father of special-needs twins – that's more than anyone should have to bear, and that was before he conned Mao into hooking up with him again. Along with Solomon, I helped their paternal-uncle to care for them, and later, taught them how to use and control their chiropteran powers.
"As Saya's awakening approached once more, I sensed that the time to finally bring you back was nearly at hand and began making my final preparations, most of which were aimed at getting you another set of grand children. Oh, and by the way, I don't think the ship has sailed on that either." He winked and gestured to Solomon. "Anyway, I traveled to Bordeaux, arranging for your family to follow me, and used my blood to revive you. While I recovered from the blood loss, I watched over you from a far until you were found by Saya, Haji and Solomon.
"It was always my intention that you end up with the Miyagusukus, it was my hope that their support would help you in the same way it had helped Saya get through the return of her own memories. I always stayed close by in order to make sure that you were safe, and spent a good deal of time sneaking around Kadena, spying on the American military. It wasn't long after I became the Kyudo Boy that I discovered that the Americans were planning to attack you, as they had learned of your existence and desperately wanted a sample of your blood. I rushed to your home to make sure you were safe and what happened next was not something I had planned. You may not realize this, but you actually did kill me that day, and if you hadn't given my your blood, I would have stayed dead."
He sighed and smiled. "The incident enabled me to do what I had always dreamed of doing, to take my place at your side as your Chevalier and companion, and I must say, it has been, by a wide margin, the happiest time of my life."
Yuki stared down at him, eyes glossy with tears.
"But why didn't you tell me who you were?" she asked, now sounding more emotional than angry.
He glanced up Yuki. "I admit, my reasons for lying about my identity were partially, if not mostly selfish."
"What you mean?"
"Would you have – ," he paused and sighed, "could you have loved me if you thought of me as the lowly gardener? I know that generally women have better sense than to fall in love with men that they truly think of as inferior." Freddie slowly looked up at her. "I wanted you to see me as your equal, as you seemed to do for that one moment, the day I was banished."
"Freddie -" she said breathlessly.
He bowed his head humbly. "The truth is, I am your servant, not because I have received your blood, and certainly not because your clan bought me, but because I love you. Nothing will ever change that, but if you ask me to leave you, I will obey."
Haji unconsciously reached for Saya's hand.
Yuki gazed down at her Chevalier, tears streaming down her face as she extended her hand out to him, palm up. Apparently familiar with the ancient gesture, the elder Chevalier kissed her wrist.
"You know," she said sternly, retracting her hand and putting her fists to her hips, "you're still a lying sack of shit," her tone suddenly lightened, "- but not in a bad way."
Their nightly ritual had existed for quite some time, though it had evolved a little over the years. Saya changed into a sleeveless top and pajama shorts, as Haji kept his back to her, pulling her sword from his cello case, and, once she was dressed, propping it up beside the bed.
Since they had gotten engaged only two things had changed. For the first time ever, it occurred to her to feel guilty about his having to spend the whole night with nothing to do but stare at her through the darkness. That wasn't to say that she minded, there was a certain flattering comfort in knowing he was watching her, but at the same time, she imagined that it must have been remarkably boring.
She had never been very good at perceiving his true feelings, when it came to her.
Despite his assurances that he was perfectly happy with his current nightly occupation, she suggested, and later virtually insisted that he find something to read. Gladdened by the idea that she had his comfort in mind, a relatively new development in their relationship, he was happy to oblige, though the book was often abandoned sometime after she actually fell asleep, so he could resume his favorite pastime.
Only one other thing had changed about their nightly routine. He always gave her a chaste, though not at all unaffectionate kiss before she got in bed. Though appreciated by both, those kisses had a habit of making them both a little disappointed that the other hadn't taken the initiative to push it at least a little further.
Just after they had performed this nightly ritual, Haji sat in his chair on the other side of the room and Saya nestled into the covers, only to remove all but the top sheet a few moments later, due to the tropical heat. She turned to her Chevalier, and watched as he pulled out his book.
"What are you going to read tonight?"
He smirked subtly. "Les Trois Mousquetaires, it has been a while since I have read it."
She smiled. "I taught you how to read with that book."
"And it has been one of my favorites ever since."
She settled back into bed for a little over a minute before cracking an eye and peering toward her Chevalier, catching him staring at her over the top of the pages. She would have smiled at this, if not for the forlorn look he had been giving her. She knew that Haji had to be feeling something quite intensely before she could see it on his face.
"Haji, is something wrong?" she asked as she sat up.
"No."
"Are you sure? You've seemed so distant and extra-quiet for the past few days, you're almost acting like you did when I didn't remember who you were. You can tell me, Haji. Remember our deal about secrets?"
He hesitated for several seconds and broke eye contact before he spoke. "You like him."
"Who?"
"Solomon," he almost choked on the name.
"I do not!" she spat back childishly.
His tone remained completely even and calm, though somehow that made it all the more heartrending. "Saya," he paused and swallowed nervously, "If you ever want me to leave you," he paused again, and then forced himself to look at her, "You need only ask."
"Oh Haji -" her throat tightened at the idea that he had been thinking this way. She flew across the room to his side. "I never want you to leave me," she threw her arms around him, "and even if I did like him, it doesn't matter, because I love you."
Her other Chevalier, sitting not ten feet outside the bedroom door, once again "unintentionally" eavesdropping, heard this and grinned to himself, taking note of her semantics. She hadn't said it wouldn't matter, which would have sounded more like straightforward conjecture, but rather she had said it doesn't matter, which sounded much less hypothetical, implying that she actually admitted to liking him. From Solomon's perspective, this was considerable progress.
Haji's eyes lowered. If only that were true, if only it didn't matter, he thought silently before his attention was claimed by her lips on his. Her fingers buried themselves in his ponytail, kissing him as passionately as she knew how.
She leaned back and thought for a moment, recalling what he had said earlier that day, when she had first awoken.
"Haji, come to bed with me."
Solomon's eyes widened in distress.
Haji was silent for a moment. "Saya…"
"It's alright, I trust you."
He still hesitated.
"Please Haji."
He gave a silent sigh of resignation, he was never any good at saying no to her. She smirked at him as she got into bed, watching as he paced across the floor to the other side.
"You're getting into bed wearing a shirt and slacks?" she giggled.
"I do not own any night clothes," he stated.
"That's all right, you don't need any."
Solomon nearly rose out of his chair upon hearing this.
Haji's lingering concept of Victorian propriety caused him to hesitate yet again. He actually blushed slightly as he began unbuttoning his shirt, not so much because he was uncomfortable with her seeing him in a state of undress, but because she was watching so intently. Once he had finally removed all but a pair of unassuming underwear, she peeled back the sheet, motioning for him to get into bed.
He slipped in slowly, as if it were a hot bath and settled, almost awkwardly against his pillow, a few inches separating him from his Queen. It went without saying that as a man who hadn't slept in over a hundred years, he didn't spend much time in beds. Once he had finally reached something close to comfort, he simply watched her contently, knowing she was only pretending to be asleep.
Her eyes opened and she rolled over onto her side to face him.
"I'm not tired."
He felt his own heart rate increase and it took him a moment to respond. "You should rest."
"I was asleep until three this afternoon."
He thought for a few seconds. "Let me play for you, until you fall asleep," he said softly, a mild eagerness to try out his newly restored hand making it slightly easier for him to leave her side. He moved to get out of bed but immediately found that his slender wrist was tightly ensnared in her petite fingers. His resolve wavered when she looked up at him, her lips slightly pursed, her eyes with an enticing glint.
She pulled him almost forcefully back into bed until he was lying beside her, much closer than before, nestling her body against him. He exhaled in a subtly shaky breath as the delicate texture of her naked shoulders and legs pressed against him, her warmth seeming to seep through his skin, melting away the icy facade he had always used as his last line of defense against his love for her. It took every last ounce of Haji's remarkable self-control to resist, but when she placed a feather-light kiss on the center of his neck, he instantly seized her lips and body greedily, kissing her as if he was starved for her, unsure if he had allowed himself to do it, or if his body had acted with out his permission. She cooed appreciatively as he consumed her, on some level, knowing that these were the feelings he didn't know how to put into words. Reverent and ravenous, his kisses had an intensity that was certainly a result of having spent the past hundred and fifty years passionately, albeit quietly in love with her, but until recently, these feelings had no outlet other than fighting by her side and the occasional chaste hug. And now, here she was, arms around him, pinned between his body and the bed, returning his kisses with nearly equal enthusiasm, as if she was his for the taking.
But he was all too aware that this was not so. He pulled away and she leaned toward him, reluctant to release his lips.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."
"Its okay Haji. I know you wouldn't do anything that I would regret. I trust you."
She trusts me, his mind echoed as their lips met again. She trusts me. His hand began to prowl beyond the curve of her hip.
They had been this far a few times before, until he did something unexpected, though not entirely surprising or unwelcome.
Solomon sat motionless in his chair, made unbelievably tense by the rustling of bed sheets and lack of conversation coming from the other room. He seriously considered bursting through the door to put a stop to it, on grounds of the severe repercussions that would occur as a result of what he feared they were about to do. He only hesitated because he knew that to do such a thing would certainly precipitate not only extreme embarrassment on all sides, but violence would be likely as well.
All thoughts of interference, or anything else, suddenly vanished from his mind as his consciousness was seized by a voluptuous, feminine gasp. The vibrations of her voice reverberated until they seemed physically palpable, running through out his entire body in the form of a warm chill.
To his great relief, he did not hear the distinct cadence of intercourse, that in mind, it was fairly clear what they were doing. Nevertheless, it did inspire an absolutely maddening combination of jealous resentment and carnal fascination.
He knew that Saya would have been mortified and Haji would have been furious if either had realized that he could hear them. Still, for some reason, he couldn't quite force himself to go for a walk, though he knew it would have been the most prudent course of action.
Instead, he sat, riveted to the spot, his mind bewitched by her exquisite vociferations, unable to keep himself from imagining that it was his own lips muffling those erotic sighs, his own touch causing them. He nearly came completely undone with her final climactic cry, though his fantasy was abruptly dissipated by the infrequent, faint masculine groans that began soon after it.
Profoundly irritated by his situation, he attempted to regain control over his mind.
Patience, patience.
Soon I will have my chance. In the end, the ultimate prize will be mine, and I will make her remember those "sweet dreams about a future together." Let him enjoy his time with her, it will likely be over soon.
He took in a deep breath, tuning out the noises until they finally came to an end, replaced by complete silence.
Sweet dreams, Saya.
Sweet dreams.
End of Act II: The Snow Queen
Preview of Act III: Knights who Dedicate Themselves to Love.
The copse corps threat has been eliminated, but the war for Saya is far from over. With her wedding day and special night now eminent, she must finally choose between the man who devoted his life to her, and the man who gave up everything for her. With every love triangle, there must be a loser…
...
Ps. I am thinking about doing a separate one-shot prequel to this story, involving Haji and Solomon clashing at the Miyagusuku tomb, the day of Saya's awakening. Just a thought.