A/N: Another week, another chapter. Unlike my last fic, I will be sticking to my weekly update schedule as best I can. That means no rapid-fire updates, and hopefully no delays. Anyway, enough of me, you're here for a story. Please enjoy.
A world separate to yours
A place chained to mine
What must we lose to meet here?
Time makes it more clear
CH.5: Desire What is Lost
"My, my, my," A smooth voice shifted the eerie silence. Walking at a casual pace, a female figure walked through the shattered gates of the castle. Fox ears perked in caution, she entered the darkness of the castle. "Do you sense that Ba'ul?" A small creature climbed onto her shoulder and glanced around. "This place is bewitched."
Her eyes looked up through the shadows and at a torn banner. She smirked and placed a feathered hat on her head. Bending down, she took up the helmet of a decorative suit of armor. She turned suddenly and threw the helm towards the gate.
When the helm struck a thick, magical barrier, she hid her eyes from the light. She lowered her arm and watched the helm, now partially melted, drop to the floor with a clang. Lips still forming a calm smirk, she continued into the castle, "A price to enter, and no way to take it back."
She lovingly stroked the head of the creature on her shoulder, "Come on Ba'ul, let's see if we can find him in such a strange place."
"So where are we going again?" Estelle asked. She walked between Yuri and Repede, seeing how the hound preferred to cover their backs. Her look of confusion lightened when the Nightingale chirped, as it sat on her shoulder patiently.
Yuri caught the noise, and was reassured that the Nightingale is still with them. "We're going to see someone who can help us out."
Estelle didn't look any less lost, "Help us with what?"
"Exactly," Yuri stopped at a narrow, winding staircase, and turned to her. "You don't know why you're here, how you get home, or what that thing is." He pointed upwards.
Smiling sheepishly, Estelle pointed to her shoulder, "Um, I think you meant to point here."
Yuri's ear twitched with his light scowl, "You get the point." He turned and led them up the winding staircase.
While ascending the stairs, Estelle couldn't help but notice the difference in structure. Unlike the rest of the spacious castle, the staircase looked added on. It appeared that the brilliant artisan that designed the castle, had no intention of these stairs being here. Just as Estelle found the idea both interesting and humorous, Yuri stopped in front of a door.
"Is this the place?" Estelle looked around Yuri's arm and at the shabby door. Had it been taken from a shack recently?
Yuri nodded, "That's what Fen told me. Look for the cruddy room that's at the top of cruddy stairs."
"Cruddy?" Estelle giggled at the word.
Misunderstanding, Yuri shrugged, "I might have paraphrased a little, but that's basically what he said." Raising his fist to the door, he knocked twice.
"Hmm, cruddy," Estelle tested the word again, and smiled. She always wondered what people outside of nobility are like. Sure, she had spoken to servants since she was young, but they still used proper words and mannerisms around her. Being with someone like Yuri is refreshing.
Repede looked between the two. One was busy trying to get someone to answer the door, while the other couldn't stop laughing at a word. He lowly whined at the silly behavior.
After knocking a third time, Yuri had enough. "Time for plan B." Before Estelle could ask what his plan was, Yuri lifted his foot and slammed it into the door. With a loud snap, the door flew open. Estelle stood aghast at what Yuri just did, but the rabbit-eared swordsman and his faithful hound just walked inside. After entering the room, Yuri looked back at Estelle, "You coming or what?"
"B-But you just- I mean how could you-" Estelle tried to piece some sort of sentence together, but she still couldn't believe what was happening. Finally, she gave Yuri a highly disapproving look, "You can't just kick doors down Yuri. What if they're not home?"
Yuri shrugged, "Then we'll wait for them." After a short staring match, Yuri rolled his eyes, "Fine, here." He put a hand to his mouth and faced the inside of the room, "If you're in here, we're not going to hurt you!"
"And?" Estelle put her hands on her hips.
"Sorry about your door!" Yuri smirked at the scolding gaze that remained on him.
"Yuri!"
"Alright, alright." He waved her off, "We're sorry about coming in without your permission!" Yuri looked back at her, "Satisfied?"
Estelle remained just outside the door, firmly frowning at him, "I'm beginning to think you're hopeless Yuri."
He smiled back at her, "What took you so long?" Amused by her ever deepening frown, Yuri turned back to inspect the dim room.
Elsewhere in the castle, a lone man stood in the midst of a disheveled throne room. Cobwebs occupied the corners of the room and hung off of the shattered remains that was once part of walls and pillars. A thick layer of dust and grime stole the splendor of the room, as if no human has even laid eyes upon it for lifetimes. The light from the open door revealed the dust that hung in the air, and broke the ranks of the night-crawlers.
Wolf ears drooped, he looked at the empty throne with cold colored eyes. He blinked slowly, replaying the events of the past once more. Steps echoing in the stale room, he approached the throne and ran a gloved finger over the lion encrusted into the arm. "To enter this place, something must be sacrificed."
His voice was filled with restrained emotion. With eyes filled with a great sadness, he looked upwards. Through the shadows at the ceiling, passed the upper rooms, and towards the sword-like structure that crowned the castle. He could not see who was at its apex, but he knew they were there. A breath later, he was making his way out of the throne room and back into the light of the hallway. He flicked the dust from his fingers.
"Long live the king."
Distant shouting broke the calm darkness that she unknowingly fell into. Slowly, her eyes opened, only to see more darkness beyond her drooping lids. More muffled voices reached her ears, as the sound of footsteps further woke her. Judging by the sound, she guessed someone was examining her extensive collection of magic circles.
"Whoever lives here obviously can't clean. Is that a lump of moldy... um... I think that's bread?"
"This is so wrong. You really shouldn't invade someone's room like this."
Her ears twitched at the voices, but her mind was still in a drowsy state. However, a third noise caught her attention.
"Woof!"
One cat ear perked up straight away. Without a second to think, she popped out of the mountain of books and pointed an accusing, although shaky, finger to the pipe toting canine, "Get that beast out of here!"
"Beast?"
"Oh my."
She honestly didn't care about the other two people in her room at the moment. Still pointing to the dog, she glared towards the one deepest in her territory, "That filthy dog, get him out of here!" Her tail stood straight up in indignation.
"Oh," The long-haired swordsman looked down at the dog, "I'm so used to Repede that I sometimes forget that he isn't human." He chuckled, "Looks like you have another fan Repede."
The blue-coated hound growled dismissively and shook his head.
"Gah, as if I'd want anything to do with a dog!" The newly awakened young woman seemed more flustered at the very idea. Her furious green eyes widened in shock, however, when a pair of familiar eyes suddenly filled her vision.
"You're that girl, from the Dining Hall." The owner of such large and innocent eyes looked in amazement as Rita backed up in surprise.
Startled, Rita tripped over her books when she tried to back away from the awkwardly close girl. With a thud, a groan, and a few colorful words, Rita found herself on the floor and at the feet of Repede. Her tail bristled and her ears shot up in shock before she yelped, "G-Get away from me you... you dog!"
"Hmm, first I meet a girl Repede doesn't take to, and now I find a girl that has a bit of a problem with dogs." He shook his head laughed, "Man, what a day."
"Yuri, are we here to speak to Rita?" Estelle looked back at him with inquisitive eyes. From her former station at the door, she could see that the room is packed with books and papers full of information. Despite the mess, Estelle would've guessed that this room belonged to some wise, old researcher, not a maid that dances in the Dining Hall.
Scratching a rabbit ear, Yuri shrugged, "I guess so."
Stepping up onto her desk in an attempt to get away from Repede, Rita gave Estelle and Yuri a sharp glare, "So you just barge into a person's room instead of knocking?" She folded her arms and tapped her foot.
Yuri would've felt it necessary for caution, if not for the maid outfit that Rita still has on. Holding back a smile, he looked around, "Yeah, about that-"
"What Yuri is going to say," Estelle quickly cut him off with another disapproving look, "is that we're sorry for intruding." She turned back to Rita with a polite smile and a humble bow of apology.
"I was going to say that." Yuri rolled his eyes.
Rita snorted, "Oh, I'm sure you were." In a rather unwomanly fashion, Rita plopped down into a sitting position on her wooden desk. She watched the trio uncomfortably try to find a good place to stand amongst her cluttered room with uninterested eyes. "So what is it that you want?"
Judging by the tone, Yuri knew that Rita is at the cusp of just shooing them out rather violently. "Fen told us you can help."
"Get out." Rite immediately turned away and folded her arms heatedly, "That bastard, always doing stuff to piss me off."
Estelle wanted to say something, but Yuri beat her to it. Shrugging, he sighed, "Alright, but this comes with us." He took out a strange colored shard from his pocket. Rita's eyes locked onto the strange stone with cat-like intensity. "And so does the Nightingale."
"You mean to tell me that she's the Nightingale?" Rita looked to Estelle skeptically, "Prove it."
Estelle blinked in confusion, "How?"
"Tell the Nightingale to sing." Rita ordered sharply.
"O-Okay," Estelle looked to the shining bird on her shoulder, "go on, please sing a song for us." The Nightingale tilted its head to her, but did not make a sound. Smiling, Estelle took it into her hands, "You're unsure of what to sing? Do you want me to help?" She instantly recalled her favorite tune and began humming it softly. The Nightingale listened to the humming before softly chirping along with her.
Rita listened to the soft melody of the Nightingale with her eyes focused on Yuri. His eyes were closed and his shoulder's relaxed. Something about how he listened to the melody struck her as familiar. A face flashed in her mind, but it was covered by shadows that would not budge. All she could make out from the quick image, was a pair of clear violet eyes.
"Proof enough for you?" Yuri broke Rita's trance with a sarcastic question.
Estelle watched Rita nod slowly, "Um, excuse me but," She hesitated, "can either of you explain just what is going on?" She suddenly felt uneasy under the awaiting gaze of Rita and Yuri, "What is this Nightingale? And why... um, am I here?"
"Estelle," Yuri looked her straight in the eye, "this is your dream."
"Commandant Alexei," A knight noisily rushed out into the blowing winds. At the apex of the castle's crown, a winding path led to a large, flat platform. At its center, a man with silver hair stood before a glowing sphere. At his sides, two other knights stood silently. "Alexei sir, I bring news from the other knights."
With a calm, knowing voice, Alexei beckoned him to speak, "Go on."
The winded knight caught his breath and sharply saluted, "Yuri 'Black Jack' Lowell has escaped his prison sir."
Alexei smirked, "It was only a matter of time before he did."
"I'm afraid that's not all sir." The knight shivered when the Commandant's eyes cooly turned to look at him, "I-It seems that a strange girl has also appeared in the castle, as well as a few other people nobody recognizes."
"I see," Alexei looked at the glowing sphere, "so this dream is drawing to a close." His smirk grew into a strange grin, "And when it does, I will have the power to create the perfect kingdom." He ignored the confused knight and snapped his fingers. Immediately, a man in a black uniform appeared behind him, "Go and retrieve the girl, kill any that get in the way."
His crimson eyes sharpened at the command, as he nodded his understanding in silence.
"What would you have us do sir?" One of the knights at his side asked when the red-eyed man disappeared down the winding path.
Alexei turned to take the same path back into the castle, "Tell Zagi to move, and inform Raven's Claw about the current development. He'll know what to do."
"Yes sir!"
"So great king," Alexei turned to look at the glowing sphere again, "how does it feel to know that you are supposed to be the hero?" He lightly ran his hand over the glassy surface of the sphere, "Yet thanks to me, you are no more than an observer." Alexei touched his forehead to the ball of light, grinning strangely, "Tell me, what did you sacrifice to enter this dream?"
A/N: Hmm, a mystery is a brewin' here. I think now is a good time to applaud the return of Alexei, the villain with an awesome voice for clever villainy. Aside from his failure in the game, I liked his voice. It was so perfect to me. Anyway, thank you for reading and please review!