-1Disclaimer: All characters belong to SquareEnix and Tri-Ace, except for Morgan. She's mine.
Note: A belated birthday present to myself. Hurray! I don't have to lie about my age on Adult Fan Fiction . Net anymore! (For those who don't quite get it, I just turned 18.)
Hana Mi
Chapter One
Lenneth awoke to the feel of a cold cloth pressed against her forehead, although she couldn't really place why. She didn't have a fever, she wasn't even sick. Just a little…weak. She tried lifting her arm to bat the offending rag away, but her body felt like lead, and an uncomfortable throbbing shot through her raised arm, as though it were fighting her for dominance. Sighing miserably, she let it fall back down to the plush mattress.
"You're up? How do you feel?" Lady Eir asked, adjusting that infernal rag as a young handmaiden looked on. Possibly an Einharjar
"I feel fine. Why can't I move?" Lenneth asked, her voice coming out as a mere croak, only adding salt to the wound of being practically paralyzed. The Lady shook her head, a somber look on her face.
"That I don't know. All anyone knows is that you spoke with Lucian, and that he brought you to me after you fainted. He said something about the festival in Midgard?"
"Yes. We had just came home from the festival when I lost consciousness. But, that is neither here nor there, is it." Eir touched a finger to her lip in thought.
"Actually, Your Highness, it just may be. Do you remember anything else before your incident with Lucian?" Lenneth tried to think back. She remembered everything, but none of it seemed to stand out as suspicious.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. I went with the others, ate, drank, and watched the finale, and came home. That's when I passed out."
"Do you remember how much you drank?" It was a long shot, but at least it would explain her little tumble in the Great Hall.
"If you are implying that I was unable to hold my liquor, I assure that is not the case. Especially since, as you know, I can drink any man in Asgard under the table." she forced a laugh, as did Lady Eir. It was the truth, after all, as Arngrim, Kashell, and Badrach all learned after allowing their All-Mother into their drinking games. The end result was not pretty.
"I am well aware, Your Majesty. I just want to get to the bottom of this. For your sake and the sake of Asgard. We simply can't have our Creator bed-ridden for too long."
Lenneth nodded, knowing that the Goddess was right. There was much work to be done, and she couldn't really rule worlds in her current state. "Perhaps you should tell me about your night, maybe something you did, as minor as it may be, put you here. Like, who was the last person you were with?"
Lenneth pondered the question for a moment before realization dawned on her. "I-I was with Lezard. And some girl that I had never seen before. He called her a friend, but you would think that she were his lover, the way she glared at me so."
"Do you think maybe they may have done something?"
"Lezard, no. I was….carefully watching him the whole time. The girl on the other hand…I don't know what type of magic she's capable of. Perhaps she used some sort of wordless curse on me." The goddess had to inwardly smirk at her own remark. If that girl had done anything, it was because of her jealousy.
"Why would she do that, if you had never met?" Eir gasped in disbelief.
"I assure you, I wouldn't know, but a girl in Lassen, whom I'd never met, threw a rock at me for no good reason, so I would expect no less from mortals." The young handmaiden blushed, but bit her tongue as Eir gasped. How dare those mortals treat their Creator in such a way. It was shear blasphemy.
"Pitiful. In any case, Lezard alone is suspicious enough. Tales of his wrongdoings spread far and wide in Asgard. I suggest we tell Lady Freya, should she want to interrogate the little pest." Lenneth sighed. It was inevitable, and If she knew Lucian at all, he would pressure the answer of her whereabouts out of her, and then run to Freya with the information. And that was drama she just didn't need right now.
"Bring Freya to me." she demanded. "If anyone shall tell her, it will be me." The handmaiden visibly jumped before she practically sprinted from the room and down the hall. Amazingly, for an Einharjar, she made it in record time, for it was only a few minutes before the fertility goddess materialized in her chambers.
"You wish to see me, Lenneth?" the woman asked. She perched herself gently on the mattress, placing a hand on her friend's.
"Yes. There is something I wish to discuss with you."
Ever since the festival in Hai Lan, Morgan had taken upon herself to stay in Lezard's tower, and nurse him back to health, even though the place creeped her out beyond belief. The monsters roaming around, the glowing runes on the walls, not to mention those eerie dolls in the tubes that looked suspiciously like…
"Like that damn woman at the festival, whoever she was." Morgan grit her teeth and held the wash cloth in a death grip. The thought her alone rose Morgan's blood pressure to an unbelievable level. "What does she have that I don't?" she shouted to no one in particular, as she threw the rag onto the cold damp floor.
"She who?" came a weak voice behind her. The young mage whipped around, eyes wide.
"Lezard, what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting!" she cried as she pushed him back towards his bedroom. The weakened young man tried to protest, but he couldn't find the strength. "You already passed out once, and scared me half to death, do you want to do it again?" Lezard honestly did not. After his moment with Lenneth, he began to fell weaker and weaker, but he simply chalked it up to lack of rest, possibly the lag of the long trip that brought them to the island. However, as time progress, he could barely keep his eyes open, his body aching, and when they finally reached the tower, he had lost all consciousness.
"I was simply wondering how you were doing. Are the beasts bothering you at all?"
"You know they aren't. They never do. Now get back to bed, I'll bring you some food in a little while." With one final shove, she sent the necromancer on his way back to bed.
"Of all the nerve, wandering around when he's sick." Morgan hunched down to resume her scrubbing. After all, if she didn't keep this place clean, who would? The homunculi? Not likely.
She wasn't scrubbing long before her senses peaked. Someone was coming. In fact, a few some ones were coming. Morgan rose to her feet, throwing down the rag before she summoned an orb of fire in the palm of her hand, ready to strike before they could strike her.
"Who's there?" She demanded, just as the intruder came into view. A group of four, two women, and two men, heavily armed and ready to attack her. One of the women, dressed all in emerald green, stepped forward.
"We wish to speak with the owner of this tower." she stated, or rather demanded. Morgan sneered at them. Of all the nerve.
"He's unable to speak right now. Whatever you want, you can take it up with me!"
"Why you insolent little-" the larger man was cut off by the woman in green, with nothing but a raise of her hand.
"It is in regard to Lenneth, our All-Mother. We have been personally sent by her to speak with Lezard. If you refuse our entry, you will be punished for treason against the gods."
"Oh please! You honestly expect me to believe you are gods? Get real." With that, Morgan released the orb, sending rubble flying as it crashed into the wall where the four were standing. Unfortunately, no one was hurt. The woman in green waved her delicate hand in front of her, in an attempt to clear the smoke, before she unleashed and energy orb of her own. The blue light sent Morgan flying back, her body ringing with agony.
"W-what was that?"
"If you wish to continue this fight, we will be happy to oblige. However, all we want is to speak with Lezard." The four looked the picture of battle-ready, and Morgan knew that she couldn't take them on her own, not with her magic. But she also knew that these brutes didn't just want to 'talk' to her beloved to Lezard, and she wouldn't be held responsible for his harm, or worse.
"I-I can't let you in. I won't let you hurt him!" She struggled to her feet, wincing as pain shot through her body. The emerald woman arched an eyebrow, and her party looked equally confused. Who would have thought that the little whelp would have so much fight in her.
"Honey, are you touched in the head or somethin'?" One of the men, a gruff looking archer, who looked like he had just stepped out of a bar, asked as he scratched his head. Morgan opened her mouth to reply, but before she could…
"What in the name of the gods is going on here?" Lezard demanded, taking in the sight of the nearly destroyed wall, the goddess Freya and her party, and his friend struggling to keep herself up.
"Lezard, you should be in bed! You're not well!"
"Well, Morgan, it's a little hard to rest when my home is being destroyed. Now may I ask what you all are doing here?" Freya, as well as everyone else, noticed how weak he sounded, his normal, intimidating demeanor shadowed by obvious frailty and fatigue. He even had his hand on the wall to keep from toppling over.
"We want to speak to you about Lenneth." That seemed to perk him up, but only slightly. Lezard nodded and waved his hand, a silent command to follow him into his bed chambers. If he had to do this, he would do it on his terms. His terms, of course, being in bed.
"So the lady Lenneth has fallen ill as well?" Lezard asked, taking a sip from his teacup, which he hadn't sat down since he had gotten back into bed.
"That appears to be the case. She lost consciousness right after she returned home from Hana Mi, on Midgard, and she hasn't gotten much better since." Freya explained. Lorenta, Badrach and Arngrim, as well as Morgan, sat in various corners of the room, secretly eavesdropping from afar.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but, as you can see, I'm not in the best condition myself. If I were, I would try to find a solution to our Lady's illness."
"That isn't what we are here for. We wish to know what you two did at the festival. Perhaps that will help us pinpoint the cause of this…epidemic." A chuckled erupted from the far corner of the room, where Morgan was occupying a small footstool.
"Two people get sick, and suddenly its an epidemic? Are the gods bored up there or something?" she laughed.
"That's enough, Morgan." she quickly quelled her laughter at Lezard's command. "Lady Lenneth is the All-Mother, and if she is too sick to do her godly duties, then it wouldn't bode well for the rest of the world."
"No, it wouldn't. That's why I need you to tell me exactly what happened, so we can get to the bottom of this." Lezard sighed and shook his head.
"I can assure you, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I spoke with Lenneth once, and she sat with Morgan and I as we watched the finale, but I hadn't seen her since then. You can even ask Morgan." Freya gave the young woman a questioning glance, and Morgan nodded in agreement.
"Make no mistake, necromancer, I'm not so quick to trust you, but we have no evidence proving your guilt."
"Perhaps if you bring the Lady Lenneth here, I can examine her and see exactly what's wrong."
"You can't be serious!" Morgan cried, raising from her foot stool in the corner.
"You can't seriously believe we'd bring the All-Mother here, of all places." Freya remarked, although the idea was better than sitting idly by, waiting for her to get better.
"Would you rather me come up there, to Asgard?" That remark put the fertility goddess in an awkward position. Either way, if Lezard could really help with this, there would need to be some sort of rendezvous point. Someplace safer than the Tower, which reeked of death and despair, but also harmless, where they could at least trust the necromancer to not do any long term or serious damage, should his dark side get the better of him once again.
"I think I may know someplace just as good as Lezard's lab. A place I'm sure he will have no choice but to be on his best behavior." Lorenta replied, a wise old smirk playing on her features. Already, Lezard didn't like the sounds of it.
This chapter was just awful. But my friend wouldn't cut me any slack on it, so I finished it up anyway. Gomen ;