Chapter 2
Before I go on about my adventures with my long lost buddy on the Island of Time, I should give a run down of what happened over the course of those couple weeks between my journey with the Prince and my chat with the Old Man. You know, so nothing is overlooked or missed.
All I can say about the firtst half is that it was total hell. I couldn't keep the Prince out of my thoughts, and I was so glad when I finally graduated and was officially free of my obligations to the Academy that I practically dashed back to my dorm, grabbed what I could and took off without so much as a note. I was just so anxious to see him again…
Anyways, during that time, the Prince had found himself a ship and a crew and had already set sail for the Island when I caught up to him. It was a bit weird, for both the crew, and me since I was so unused to people gawking at me. But I can't really blame them… I mean, how often did they see a chick with wings just swoop down from nowhere and hug tackle their captain?
Well, as you can imagine, my appearance made most of them just buzz with gossip. A lot of them believed that my showing up was a sign of good luck and that the rest of the trip would be cake with me on board. I just shrugged my shoulders at this. Personally, I thought they were wasting their energy praising me, but hell, if it put smiles on their faces, who was I to rain on their parade?
I spent most of the time trying, trying to not be completely useless. During the day, I was either helping the crew keep the ship clean, helping the Prince figure out the best route to our destination, or sleeping if there was nothing I could do. At night, I'd fly around the immediate area and keep a lookout for any danger. I know sometimes the Prince would tease me about how weak and squirrelly I used to be when we first met.
The night Shahdee's ship attacks ours, I was out scouting ahead for signs of land. The only problem was that there was a nasty storm going on, so I couldn't stay out for very long, especially since the rainwater was weighing my wings down.
With an exaggerated 'Oof!' I landed on the deck of the ship and shook my wings a little, trying to dry them somewhat. The prince was standing just a little ways away, looking around at the surrounding ocean. I started to make my way too him, when he suddenly turned.
"This storm shows us no mercy!" he shouted to his crew, "We shall respond in kind! Reef the mainsail!" He grabbed the shoulder of a passing crew member and said something to him I couldn't make out over the storm, them waved him away. I hurried over and gripped his shoulder lightly. He turned.
"I can't see anything in this rain, but I think we're getting closer," I said, trying to sound optimistic. He stared at me for a long moment before a grin spread across his face and he chuckled. "…What?"
"You're all wet," he said simply. My jaw hung open and my first thought was to say "Nah, you THINK?!" But then I happened to notice the blue streaks in front of my eyes… and my wings… My hair was completely matted to my head and my wings, sopping wet, looked like an old carpet that had been thoroughly hosed down during a rainstorm. All and all, I looked like a drowned rat.
"…You know, Prince… Sometimes…" I just shook my head, not sure how to finish that sentence. He laughed again. "Just because YOU have a HOOD…!" I stopped when I spotted something out in the distance. "Hey, what's that?" He stopped and looked over his shoulder. He must've seen it too, because he seemed to study it carefully. I stepped forward, wringing out my hair. I figured he might turn back and ask me to go check it out, so I gave my wings a quick test run.
"Naomi, could you—" he turned to look at me, but I cut him off.
"I'm one step ahead of ya, Princy," I informed him and jumped into flight. It was really difficult to stay in he air, since I was soaking wet, and the wind was working against me. Maybe that was why I was nearly clobbered when those flaming hook thingies came flying out of nowhere, landing on the deck of the ship and hooking onto the side. I only stopped to look for a second, if only to make sure the Prince was all right. He was already on top of things, throwing his cloak off and ordering his men to get ready for combat.
Knowing and dreading what was about to happen, I hovered there for a moment, watching as the enemy ship hauled ours closer. I kept wondering the same thing. If Shahdee's ship was attacking, then the island was surely close by. Would it be better to stay and help, or to track down the Island and wait for the Prince?
That decision was quickly made as another flaming arrow was hurled in my direction. With a loud yelp, I leapt to the side and took off for the island as fast as I could. I already knew how this battle played out, even without my help, so I was gonna play it safe and wait for the Prince on the beach.
There's no telling how many times I was nearly knocked out of the sky, though. The wind was all but working against me and the extra weight of the rain was no help at all. Not to mention I could hardly see a damn thing. And wouldn't you know it was my wonderful luck that I would have to smash into something at full speed. I don't know what it was, but I was hard enough to knock me out.
The storm had passed by the time I woke up. My vision was still a bit blurry as I stood up, and I saw double for a moment, but thankfully, my head straightened itself out and I was left with a splitting headache. I'd made it to the Island all right… but what about Princy?
"Ah, crap!" I said to myself, realizing that I could've been all the way on the other side of the Island for all I knew. This headache was just gonna have to go ignored, because the only reason I was here in the first place was to help the Prince. Like hell I was gonna leave him by his lonesome.
I quickly shook the water from my wings that hadn't already evaporated and took to the air. I was a bit wobbly at first, so I took my time until I was confident enough to speed up. I flew low over the beaches, looking for him, finding nothing for a long time.
I finally spotted him near the ruins of what used to be a ship. Probably our ship. And as if that wasn't bad enough, there were birds. BIRDS! I hate birds! Especially birds that were composed to sand! Anyway, I landed close by, waved the birds away, and dropped to my knees next to my buddy's still unconscious form. Still trying hard to ignore my aching head, I carefully lifted his head up onto my knees and brushed his hair away from his face.
I took to opportunity to close my eyes and focus on getting rid of the headache for a moment. I hated getting headaches like this, mainly because they were stubborn and would never go away. Luckily, they were few and far in between, but still. This one was bringing back unpleasant memories of the short time the Prince and I were stuck in the Prison level seven years ago.
"Prince?" I spoke up quietly as he started showed signs of consciousness. I put my hand on his cheek. "Princy…" Not much of a response from him. "Open your eyes, O Prince of Persia!" I commanded cryptically. Still nothing. "Come on, Sleeping Beauty! How long are you planning on staying in bed today?!" I leaned forward and pressing my forehead against his nose and my nose against his forehead so I was looking right at his eyes. Or in this case, eyelids. "Come on, ya lazy bum! Wake up!" He stirred again, turning his head slightly. "Wake up, sweet prince, or no cookies for you!" He let out a soft groan and slowly opened his eyes and jumped slightly with he saw me right in his face.
"Naomi…?"
"Morning, Sunshine." I sat up, allowing him to look around a little before sitting up himself. "Look," I said, gesturing to the island. He looked back at me. "We made it."
Kiri: CRAAAAP I'M SOOO SORRY, YOU GUYS!!!
Naomi: I'll bet you are... lazy writer.
Kiri: I've ben really busy lately, since forthe past couple weeks, I've had not only summer school, but also Drivers ed, which I'm glad to say I pulled out of since the teacher was an old geezer with heart problems...That guy couldn't keep a schedule if it bit him in the ass! Anyways, Sorry, also, for the exceptionally short chappy. See, it's the one year anniversary of when I first came up with the whole idea, so I felt obligated to post what I had. Aside from all that, I'll do a quickie FAQ today.
Q: Has Naomi even matured at ALL in the seven years she'd been gone?
A: Mmm... maybeh. You'll just have to wait and see.
Q: Well... they're on the island together... all alone... they've been through SoT together... it's so obvious that they're gonna elope or something!
A: Now, now, don't make conclusions yet. There's still lots more stuff for them to go through. Not to mention, They're gonna meet Kaileena, and much later, Farah. So what's happening now tells you NOTHING! Mwuhaha!
Q: So... is Dark Prince gonna come?
A:...you have to ASK?
Q: Uh... k... what about a Dark Naomi?
A: Well... it's a cool idea, but considering how ridiculously cliche that idea is becoming, and how much I hate cliches...
Naomi: Besides, I'm a freakin ANGEL, peoples! Angels have no darksides! If they do, then it's VERY minimal!
Kiri: Ok, I think that's enough for today. Remember, read and reveiw and all that good stuff and make me a happeh authoress! .
