Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. Elizabeth Lawrence

There were hundreds upon thousands of people who didn't understand themselves and their capabilities. These people were the ones that infuriated Elit the most.

To be a novice at life,there was no excuse for that.

ÇHÅÕ§¶ËRFÇTÎÔN

©hapter Two

MÿNë\Bêgïnìng®

PårtOne¡

Weeks of solitary travel had fatigued the blonde girl,though she found herself unable to rest. Every time she stopped, her body yelped a protest. She was jittery and anxious. She needed to be doing something. Going somewhere... Anything other than resting. But there was no middle ground. It was either pain in moving or pain in resting.

Elit chose moving.

Finally,when she couldn't' move any longer,she gave in, submitting herself to a jittery rest. She sprawled across the cold earth,looking to the tree tops. The sky was still gray past the leaves. Snow flakes fluttered in,but melted before touching the ground. She closed her eyes,letting other senses take over. Her ears easily picked out soft paddings of animals,twitters of birds,rustles of leaves. But other things,as well,that most wouldn't hear.Soft swishes of long grass in a field far off,for one. She loved it,the ability to pick out each sound as she wanted too.To block al other things and focus only on,say,the sound of water in a river or soft breathing of a sleeping animal.

In this way,it was easy to finally rest,and the blonde drifted into an uneasy sleep.

The morning brought a layer of frost to the leaf covered ground,the trees, and even Elit. Her eyes opened,slowly allowing her senses to reach and find. Smelling the fresh air,practically tasting the mist in it when she opened her mouth. She found she was still exhausted though,and could hardly bring herself to move.

The jittery sensation came back to Elit,but she ignored it,to weak to care. Her body would not move,no matter how much her mind wanted it too.

Around noon she had taken to focusing solely on sounds again,switching between them but never really identifying. She was in too much of a haze. But suddenly,a noise came that she simply couldn't' ignore,weather she wanted to or not. Foot falls,many of them. She twitched,trying to sit up again,but only grunted in pain. It just wasn't going to Happen.

"And what've we got here...?" A rough male voice asked from beside her. She sat up,wincing,to take notice to a group of Bandits.

Well,they were pretending to be Bandits, anyway. They were much too tall. The apparent leader hoisted Elit up by her forearm, bringing his face close to hers "Well well princess...What're you doing on the ground in such a dangerous place?"

"I'm not the princess" Elit spat, glaring at the mask of the man. In a swift movement she landed a punch to his gut, but the grip on her arm did not slacken. Instead,two others grabbed her.

The bandit leader heaved a breath,then laughed "Watch it there Princess, or we'll break your pretty face."

And they sure tried.

Karma was a silly little thing. It was what happened when you punched your friend in the stomach and left her with the intentions of running after a malevolent king; you suddenly find yourself ruthlessly attacked by a gang, then left broken and bleeding strung up in a tree.

Now,Elit didn't know much about Karma, but this seemed a little extreme. Sure, maybe she deserved a little mugging, but not this. Maybe she was being punished for bad things Karma thought she might do? That made more sense.

So, as she watched the group stare up at her and laugh, she cursed everyone and everything. Connection to people sucked, pure and simple.

The bleeding just would not stop.. Constantly cuts and wounds re-opened, fresh vital blood leaking, dripping into her clothes and falling eventually onto the ground. She'd seen small predatory animals pacing the spot, looking for her. And the pain... Every intake of air brought fresh hurt. The metallic sent of her own blood burning her throat and nose.

The worst part wasn't the pain though. As time wore on, her senses dulled. Deprivation was settling onto her, darkening her mind and making her paranoid. Her vision blurred,her ears only worked occasionally,and never picked up far off sounds. Even her sent was dulling. Eventually she couldn't take it and would black out,only to wake up to complete darkness or quiet.

And then the rope broke.

She crashed onto the ground,the snap of bone loud and painful. She yelled not only in pain but anger. Blood began flowing from her nose,but she couldn't move.

'why don't I die?'she though sourly 'what did I do?!'

A twig snapped.

At this point,Elit couldn't' care less who or what came across her path,as long as he/she/it killed her.

He was tall and slender,with crayon red hair swept into a spiked leather band. She wasn't sure what kind of creature he was,but judging by the horns and yellow eyes, he wasn't a nice one. So the real shock came when he lifted her.

"W-who.."

He shushed her,smiling softly."Don't worry. You wont die today."

--

She awoke in a bed. Which couldn't have been possible. She was dead,and certainly would not have been destined to awake in such a warn,comforting place. Of course,there was always the off chance she wasn't dead,or that something horrible would happen before she noticed. She squeezed her eyes shut,imagining that the room would disappear the more she looked. When she opened her eyes again several moments later,the room was still there.

Elit sat up warily,the rooms spinning slightly with a head rush. It was a rather comfortable room .Darkly furnished,the bed she was on made of a dark oak,the walls a light stone,various candelabras illuminating the room.

"Finally. Awake."

Elit turned to look at a small koopa woman,looking up at Elit with no shame in her stare."We honestly believed you wouldn't wake back up. Seven days..."

The blonde choked,startled. Seven days?! She threw the blanket off of her legs and lifted the hem of the night gown,examining her stomach. Her eyes widened to not that they were gone. Not even small pink scars remained. She touched her skin gingerly,expecting at least a little soreness. Nothing.

The koopa coughed and grabbed the hem of Elit's pajama's,pulling them back down."You should get dressed. Lord Bowser wished to see you the moment you awoke."

With that she left the room,leaving a confused and speechless Elit behind. Bowser? Lord Bowser? And what clothes,exactly?

There they were though,laying on an en table. They were a neatly folded pink top and a pair of shorts. Black boots sat on the floor in front of the table,matching gloves hanging out of them. She lifted the shirt up,looking at it curiously. It looked like her old top,but couldn't' possibly be. That shirt was far past ruin.

But the main attraction in the room was simply the large,metal mallet leaning against the wall. It sparked something in her. Something unfamiliar and dark. Violent. A vague desire to use the weapon,just for once. Just to see what it was like to wield something like that against someone. To win...She gripped the handle,lifting it and observing it. It was sleek and powerful. It was the perfect weapon.

--

She was lead down a chamber room,with stone walls and a checkered floor. A red velvet floor runner trimmed in gold wan the halls entire length,right up to the throne in which the mighty Koopa king himself sat. Elit was intimidated,at first. She hardly believed that she was truly being brought before the king she so highly revered. Yet here he was,with so many people calling him King Bowser... It had to be true...

The koopa guiding her bowed deeply,and Elit followed suit.The koopa was dismissed and Bowser stood,becoming even taller.He cleared his throat.

"You may stand,now."His voice was more of a growl then actual speaking,but she still managed to understand it with a bit of work.

One massive clawed hand held Elit's face with suprising fragileness and he appraised her features. Kindness and longing flashed in the king's yellow eyes and he let her so.

"The resemblance is striking,I must say." He circled her"You looks just like her..."

"Imcee may have been a bad person,but you have to give her credit for trying.." Her own voice felt odd in her through in comparison to Bowser's. Her own was so soft and chime like.

"Yes well...Why not have dinner with my family?I'm sure they'll want to meet you."

--

Elit ran a small,silver brush through her hair taking out the knots. It was odd,in some small way,to be here when Azzy was so far away doing god knows what. They had never been this separate before. A bigger part of her hardly notice the girl's absence,and instead a sort of new loyalty was setting in. she had never thought she'd really get to meet the king,and now she had her chance..

--

The table was long and medieval like the rest of the castle.All along the sides sat several young yet large koopa's,all male with the exception on one vain looking female. Bowser himself sat at the very end of the table,and beside him there was an empty chair. It seemed that no one was to fill this chair. He motioned for her to take the chair at the end of the table opposite him. She sat ,then looked awkwardly at her plate of food.

They were all staring at her. All eight of them,marveling. Finally,the female spoke.

"Is she really the princess,Daddy? She looks like her."

"Don't ve stupid,Vedny,of /course/ she ees not the princess."Replied another,with a thick Transylvanian accent.His hair was blue and he had glasses.

Wendy glowered at him,"Well,I don't know Ludwig! I've only just met her!

Another started laughing loudly ,his shoulder shaking in his hysterics."I LOVE when they fight!"

"Oh,I don't. They get all loud and Ludwig has an annoying voice and Wendy can rant and rave for days-"

The rest of the children joined in,all arguing loudly and anxiously. A loud roar silenced all of them.

"Be quiet!" Bowser snapped,his anger practically tangible."Lets welcome out guest better than this!"

Each of the children looked down,though none really looked ashamed.

Bowser heaved a great sigh"And on that note,welcome to my castle."

Bandits are like shy guy's,only a bit bigger. They steal coins. In this case we have a human group pretending to be Bandits.