Hey I'm back. It's been a month or so now. So uh... *awkward silence* Uh... *silence* I really don't know what to say.
Love Story
In the previous chapter...
Richard grabbed both of her hands, "Promise me that you'll be there?"
Rachel rolled her eyes, "Yes. You're so naggy."
Rachel tried to wrench her hands of his but to no avail. She let out a deep sigh, "I promise you that I'll wait, okay? I, Rachel Roth, Princess of Azarath, promise Richard Grayson, Prince of Gotham, that I'll wait until I die."
"Don't be so negative about it."
"I have to go now," Rachel closed her eyes. "Trigon's sending my mother and I to Steel City."
Richard let go of her hands reluctantly.
"Last time," Richard continued. "Promise?"
"Promise, Mom."
Rachel's figure soon faded.
Chapter 17
"Arghh... What the hell is wrong with this robe? It's so scratchy. And arghh... this pair of sandals give me blisters..."
Rachel looked out of the window of the horse carriage, she didn't even notice her mother's complaints. The aure blue sky was dotted with magnolia white clouds. However, dark gray clouds started to invade the picturesque scene. A deep rumble followed closely by.
"Can he survive?" Rachel thought that out loud.
"Of course he will! Your father's won many battle, you know. That's how I fell for that bastard..." Arella started rambling about her teenage life.
"Your highness, it is about to rain now and we have not reach our destination—"
"Bring us to the nearest village, I wouldn't want to be stuck in a forest with a pungent smell of damp soil," Arella cringed at the thought of it.
"Princess Rachel?" Kori casted a worried glance at the princess. "Princess, are you all right?"
"Rachel! Don't be rude to Kori, she's speaking to you," wrenched at Racehl's arm, causing Rahel to jerk back to the reality.
"Huh? Uh... Yes."
RxR
Under the fiery watch of the sun, the Reds and the Blacks were gliding down the steep slopes, charging towards each other. The sound of horses' hoofs stomping on the soil, the clattering of weapons, the roars of commands made, the cries of the soldiers... Hubbub of noies emerged from the raging war. Blood spewed out from the wounded, perspiration trickled down from the foreheads. The soldiers sucked in deep breaths, they put their life on the line, battling for freedom, battling for justice, and battling for the families.
Richard rode his horse up to Trigon. He smirked as he came up to him from the back. He raised his sword, aiming, and...
"Tsk tsk. My dear Richard, don't you think attacking domeone from the back is a very despicable thing to do? Didn't your father teach you all this?" Slade raised up his shield and blocked Richard from Trigon.
"My father's dead."
"No one talks back to me," Slade held up his sword.
Adept in many different types of weapon, Richrad pulled out a bow and an arrow and shot it at Slade before his sword could reach him. Fortunately for Slade, it was only a skin trauma. Slade smirked
"Count yourself lucky," Richard gave a few punches.
"Don't be such a show off. You may win me over this, but when it comes to Rachel..."
"Shut up!" Richard clenched his fist and white knuckled fingers locked around his sword.
"Admit it, you're not as good as me. You can't even get over your own past—"
"And you can't give her a bright future," Richard slashed his sword into Slade's body.
Blood oozed out from the wound and stained his red battle clothes. He pulled the reins of his horse and it lifted its feet and kicked Richard out of his horse.
Cuts and bruises formed on Richard's arm. He stood up just before Slade could stab him. Richard punched and kicked Slade flat in the head. Slade wiped some blood off his nose and he punched Richard on his chin upwards. Poor Richard was being flung a few metres away.
"Dont push your luck, boy," his cruelly handsome face darkened with rage.
Slade dragged Richard's body and hurled punches at him. He then stepped on his chest, smirking as he raised his polished sword.
"Any last words?"
Richard scanned his surroundings. "You know, we, Reds are going to defeat Blacks like you."
Richard smirked, "I don't think so."
Slade arched his brow and looked behind him. Richard's horse sent him a kick and he was thrown a few yards away.
"Good boy," Richard patted on his horse before riding it.
He looked at the surrounding, surely, Trigon's arrmy were much stronger than theirs. The land was now a sea of red, red banners, red armors, blood... Everything was red. But he was not going to give up. Revenge was a flame which had burnt with a steady and fierce intensity in the heart of Dick Grayson for many years the Incident. He did not even know whether his brother was alive or not. Never in all that time had his determination to murder the men who had ruined his lifeand brought about the death of his parents wavered one instant. He knew he could not possibly kill all the soldiers who were involved in that war that caused his brother to go missing, but he knew he could avenge his parents—killing Slade Wilson.
RxR
The rain had stopped the next morning and Arella and the others had arrived at Steel City. The first day had been terrible as a robber, not knowing they were from the royalty, robbed half of the gold. They could not complain so as not to arouse the suspicions of the villagers. Strangely, the money was returned to them the day after that.
All of them, much to Arella's dislike, had to work. Rachel got a job as an errand boy, well, she had to dress up as a boy because a young girl, barely seven, called her a "princess" on the street during their second day. Rachel did not want to arise suspicions, so she wore Duncan's clothes everytime when she was out and when there were visitors. She now goes by the name "Rain".
Well, Duncun... He requested to serve as a body guard for Rachel, at first the request was ignored, but with the support from Arella and Rachel, he was excluded from the war. He works as a "safety guard" for the shop which employed Rachel.
Kori babysitted children to earn gold, while Arella... she had not found any job yet. She was to picky and was such a complain queen, getting a job was like finding a needle in a haystack.
RxR
It had been a week since Rachel started working. She had been chided everytime by her employer because of her lack of the experience. However, she always got away with the help of a certain someone.
"Hey, Rain, want to go out for a swim?" Roy, one of her fellow workers, asked. "The weather's good."
Rachel flushed pink imediately. What should I say?
"C'mon, it'll be fun. Let's take a break. Besides,you're new here, we could show you some interesting places here after that," Aqalad, Roy's partner, added.
No one knows his real name though as he was founded alone on the riverbank one night by a farmer, it was rumored that he was the descendant of an Atlantian, but no one could be sure of that. He was named Aqualad because of his forte—swimming.
"Since Rain doesn't want to go, stop pestering him," Karen, their friend, butted in. She was the only one who knew that "Rain" was a female.
"We did not even pester him!"
Not wanting to disappoint her new friends, Rachel answered, "Maybe I can just watch you all swim."
"You sure?" Karen asked. Rachel nodded.
"Then it's settled. Meet you at the river tomorrow night!" Roy exclaimed.
RxR
"So Rain, where's your hometown?"
Rachel's mind went blank. "I.."
"Yea, Rain, you didn't tell us about yourself before," Karen agreed.
"Well, I..." The three inquisitive friends looked at her, hoping that she would tell them more about herself. "I... come from... Azarath."
"Azarath?" All of them exclaimed.
"I thought there's a battle between Azarath and..."
"It's Gotham, you dimwit."
"Is it a beautiful place?"
"So do you have any... You know... boyfriend?"
Rachel was bombarded with questions. "Uh... you're right, Azarath had declared war with Gotham, that's why I came here. And yes, it was once a beautiful place."
"You haven't answered the last question. Do you have a boyfriend?"
Pink crept up her neck, "I..."
"It's okay if you don't want to tell us. We're sorry if we invaded too much of your personal life," Karen placed her hand on her shoulder.
"I need to get some air."
Rachel stood up and paced back to the village. On the way, she met a charming young man. He was ivory-skinned, just like her. He had creamy and spikey hair, and a pair of blue eyes. He seemed oddly familiar.
"H-hi..."
"Good evening, young lady," he greeted.
Rachel was back in the reality, "Lady?"
How the hell did he find out?
"It's my pleasure to meet you. I overheard that you're from Azarath."
Overheard? More like eavesdropping...
"You have not answered my question."
"I saw you and your family entering our village. I was curious, so I followed you all. Then someone robbed some of your gold. I went to chase him returned it to your family the next morning. Well, seeing that you are wearing a dress, I knew that you are a female. I tried to help you everytime you face any trouble as it was a gentlemanly thing to do."
"I see, so you're the one who get me out of trouble from my employer."
The young man scratched the back of his neck, blushing slightly, "You could say that."
"Thank you. May I ask for your name?"
"Malchior."
Oh. My. God. What will happen next?
Please review.