Final Chapter
With the Prince's fate changed, Kaileena gone, and the Dahaka no longer the driving force behind us, we had every reason to stop and goof off all we wanted on the way to Kaileena's library. I don't know how many times we pushed each other into the sand portal we used to get back to the past, and who knows how many times I would jump onto the Prince's shoulders and demanded playfully that he carry me. We talked about a hundred different things, each one just as ridiculous and pointless as the next, including food, shoes, pastries, the art of taking a bath and so on. We laughed, giggled and teased each other, we made jokes, wrestled, and acted like we were twelve again.
For a while, I actually had my best friend back. How awesome is that? But even so, I still had a problem on my hands. He hadn't mentioned anything yet, and I was hoping to the stars that he wouldn't bring it up. A friendship gone bad romance was the last thing I needed, especially with the Prince.
Over the years, he had become like a big brother to me. We were best friends forever, partners in crime, til death do we part. And that's how I wanted it to stay. I didn't want him loving me romantically; I didn't want him trying to become my lover. I preferred him to be the overprotective one standing between my lover and I, with a sword at his throat, threatening to chop him into little pieces if he so much as made me flinch.
Besides… if I was going to have anyone as a lover, it was going to be another angel. Not only was it the law, but some of those guys I'd gone to classes with were pretty cute… Don't get me wrong; there was nothing wrong with the Prince. At all. Maybe he was a bit… ruthless and unforgiving, but he was my closest buddy. He was strong, able, kind (when he wanted to be), and downright sexy, but he was the last person I wanted to get involved with romantically.
When we finally reached the library, I couldn't help but grin. Books… lots and lots of books… all sitting there, just waiting for me to pick them up and…
"Calm down, Naomi…" the Prince said from beside me. This only made me grin more. "They aren't going anywhere…" I felt his hands on my shoulders. No doubt he remembered the Hall of Learning seven years ago. I hadn't really changed much on that front. I still went absolutely nuts in libraries.
"Books…" I said quietly, almost jittery with excitement. "Oh my freaking god SHE HAS A LOT OF BOOKS!"
"Easy… there's no rush…" Just to please him, I decided it would be best to keep myself under control at some level or another. So instead of just darting off and flying all over the room from shelf to shelf, reading a couple lines from each book I pulled off, I stepped forward, looked between the shelves and calmly walked over to one to eagerly examine my options.
Kaileena had a ton of really neat stuff in her collection. Things like demon encyclopedias, books on the history of countless races from other worlds, travel guides, philosophical essays, sketches of strange looking creatures, epic tales of legendary heroes, primers on languages I've never even hear of and more.
"There's so much here," I heard the Prince comment from behind me. I turned. He was examining a shelf on the opposite wall. "What this… 'Sherlock Homes'?" he read off. I grinned, shut the book I was holding and stuffed it back on the shelf.
"Are you serious? That's here?" I said, and looked over his shoulder. "Kaileena has a copy of 'Sherlock Holmes' in her library. Holy freaking crap."
"What in the world is a Sherlock Holmes?" the Prince asked, giving me a funny look.
"He's a man, a detective, to be precise. A fictional character in a series of books. He was my childhood hero," I explained, taking the book out and scanning the cover. I used to own the entire collection, until they fell apart because I had read them so much. I finally had to toss them out. But one year for Christmas, my mother got me the complete series all compiled together in one huge hard cover gold leaf book. Oh, I was a happy girl that year. I spent the whole night reading that thing. I even stayed up past my bedtime to read it. Mom didn't even come in to yell at me to go to bed, either."
"Your mother sounds like a kind woman," the Prince pointed out. I sighed.
"She was… She always spoiled me when I was little… after she left—" I stopped. Damn it, girl, you almost let slip that little bit of info you swore you'd never ever tell him about! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"After she left what?" the Prince pressed. I shook my head.
"Never mind," I said quickly, "I said too much."
"Naomi-"
"Drop it!" There was a tense silence for a moment, but I pretended to not care and tried to focus on the book in my hands.
"… She left your father, didn't she?" GAH! This guy was persistent! He just can't take a hint, can he?!
"Let it go, Prince," I said darkly.
"Naomi… you've been trying to say it for a long time. Just let it out and be done with it," he said carefully, lightly putting his hand on my shoulder.
"...He wasn't my father. He was just some lowlife who took us in when we had no place to go," I clarified. "All he ever did was eat, sleep, sit around and get drunk, then wait for mom to get home so he could scream and yell at her, then beat her until she could no longer put up a fight, then he'd take the rest out on me! As far as I'm concerned he can go rot in hell for all he's done!" By the end, I was all but screaming. But the Prince didn't back off, or even flinch. He just stood there as I finished and turned my attention back to my book, which there was no way in hell I could concentrate on after that little outburst.
"…I'm sorry, Naomi," he said after a while, his voice soft and sympathetic. "But maybe when we return to Babylon, we can change that." I only made a 'hmph'-ing noise, although after yelling like that, I somehow felt a little better. "My father is there, waiting for me to return… he'll just love you. I know he will."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for you. Knowing him, he'll do everything in his power to thank you for it."
"But just because he's grateful doesn't mean he'll love me."
"He will. They'll all love you." I rolled my eyes, but the way he said the words was too conspicuous.
"I am definitely keeping this," I said, trying to ignore the tone of his voice and tucking the Sherlock Holmes book under my arm. "What else does she have in here..."
He obviously knew that I was deliberately trying to ignore him. I could tell by the look he was giving me. Lucky for me, though, he didn't push it, and busied himself with looking over more book shelves.
"I think I finally have an understanding of your enthusiasm for books," he told me after a while. "There's so much here... I almost wish we could take them all with us."
"Welcome to my world, Princy!" I replied cheerfully. "I wish we could do that... but whatever we don't take we'll have to destroy."
"Destroy?" he exclaimed, looking back at me. "What ever for?" I turned to him, hands on my hips.
"Think about it. With Kaileena gone, if we just left all these here, then anyone who happens to stumble across this island can just walk in and read them! I don't know about you, but this is way too much information for the world to know, especially if they fell into the wrong hands." After listening to all that, he nodded.
"I see. Good idea." Then his expression turned sly. "Although, that's a bit more than I expected to hear from you, of all people."
"...Hey! That's not very nice!"
"I am only stating a fact."
"No you aren't! You're being mean!" He only chuckled and returned his attention to the shelf. "Meanie..." I mumbled. Another few moments passed in silence as I looked over the books and took the ones I wanted to keep. I could only assume the Prince was doing the same. Soon, I came away with a sizable stack, put them on a small table on the far wall and joined my partner. He didn't have nearly as many as I did, but what he did have actually surprised me.
"Since when are you interested in Angel mythology?" I asked, somehow feeling flattered.
"I would like to know more about you and your people," he replied, throwing me a sidelong smirk.
"And what suddenly peaked your interest in us, if I may ask?" He looked at me with that charming 'Prince' smile of his.
"...I just thought it might come in handy."
"In handy for what?" No answer. "Fine. Be secretive. But I'm finished here. Can we go now?" He pulled a final, dusty looking old book from it's place on the shelf and turned to me.
"Yes, I'm finished as well. But now the question stands: how do we go about destroying this library?" I pursed my lips and looked around.
"Um... we could burn it... but how do we start a fire?" The Prince looked around for a moment until his eyes came to rest on an old, tore up looking table I hadn't noticed before.
"There," he pointed. "That wood looks flammable. Now all we need is some way to get a spark..."
"Why not just do it the old fashioned way and rub the wood together?" He looked at my incredulously.
"Do you know how long that will take?"
"Well, it's not like we're starved for time, you know..." The Prince gave me a look, but I could tell he realized I was right. Now that there was nothing pressing at hand, time was one thing we had plenty of. Finally, he sighed and turned towards the old table.
"Very well. Help me pull it apart."
"Aye aye, captain!"
It took us a good while, but after a lot of splinters and arm aching, our efforts paid off and the old dried up wood ignited and lit up rather quickly. We didn't stay long enough to see much more, though, since as soon as we had our books back in hand, the Prince yanked me out of the burning room and shut the doors tightly. Even then, he insisted that the hall we were in still wasn't safe, and he began pulling me off in the direction of the nearest portal room. Since the portal was already active, he just pulled me right in behind him, returning us both to the present.
Unfortunately, when the whirlwind set us back down, fate chose that particular moment to tell my feet to trip over themselves and in a moment of epic clumsiness, I dropped everything I was holding, grabbed hold of the Prince to try and right myself, only to end up pulling him down with me. And guess how we landed? With him, right on top of me. Whoever was watching me from the sky right now must've been laughing pretty hard at me...
I quickly tried to push him off to get back on my feet, but he also tried to get up at the same time and both our efforts failed, landing us in an even messier pile on the floor. We tried again, and this idioticness went on for about two minutes with both of us trying and horribly failing to pick ourselves up.
"...This isn't working," the Prince said eventually, his voice both amused and exasperated.
"No, it isn't," I agreed, both equally irritated and embarrassed at the situation. "How about you get up first and then I'll get up?" He silently hauled himself up onto his feet, successfully this time, and then pulled me up... only to slip and stumble backwards into the wall, pulling me along with him. Then the worst possible scenario that could've happened played out. I fell into him at just a perfect angle that my lips pressed firmly against his in an accidental kiss.
I had no idea if it was shock that made me freeze, or embarrassment, but I couldn't right myself. My face went hot and lord knows how silly we must've looked. His arms had locked around my waist in order to catch me from falling down again, and he was just barely holding himself up and keeping his balance using the wall as support. The second I was able to, I pushed myself away and dropped my head. I didn't want him to see me while my face was beet red. Why oh why did I have to be such a klutz around him?!
"Are you alright?" he asked, sounding a little strained.
"Uh... sure..." I squeaked. My lips tingled. The Prince, in all his manly glory, managed to right us somewhat, but his death grip on my waist never loosened. Biting my lip, I looked up to tell him that he could let go of me, but I was cut short when I saw how close we were... Too close... Much too close. Oh, not good. The tension between us only grew when our eyes met; a tension I did not want between us. I had to say something. Anything. Ruin the moment. Dispel the tension. Come on, Naomi, do something! ...Why can't I move?
The longer this went on, the more anxious I became because his lips were looking more and more appealing, and the fact that the memory of what had just happened a moment ago kept replying in my mind wasn't helping. This was not fair. This was borderline cruel. There's a smoking hot babe of a man holding me, staring right into my eyes with that oh-so-obvious 'I want to kiss you' look, and I have to say no! Who's stupid idea was it to make that rule? I want my money back!
"...uh..." I tried to say something just to make sure my voice was still there, which it was. But unfortunately, my tongue wasn't working properly in my mouth. I had to get my head together... I had to say something. Now. "...Prince," I tried to say, but it barely qualified as a whisper, "...I..." I never got to finish. His lips crashed down on mine, violently shoving all cognitive thought from my mind, including all the reasons why I couldn't do when he was pushing me into. My body completely betrayed me and eagerly responded to his kiss with a passion that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It was wrong. This was so bad... But it felt so good...
The Prince pushed us both up, all the while keeping us firmly connected, and pulled me tightly against him. My arms went around his neck, one hand tangling itself in his hair. At this point, there was only one thing I wanted. I wanted to be his. I wanted him to be mine. I needed him to be mine...
Lucky for me, he broke away and started kissing my neck, which gave my mind time to regroup. The intense animalistic passion I had just been engulfed in slowly faded, melting away into a fuzzy fog and my reason returned.
"...I shoudn't have done that..." I moaned, trying to collect myself again. Obviously not expecting this type of response, the Prince stopped what he was doing and looked back at me, one of his hands moving to my neck.
"...Why not?" he inquired, sounding just as breathless as I was. Crap. Now what was I supposed to say? Ugh, if only I could think straight... "Naomi, what's wrong?"
"This whole thing is wrong. I can't..." He started caressing me, which only made trying to get my point across even more difficult. My entire body felt warm with need. Come on, Naomi, fight it! "I can't do this with you." As soon as I said that, I could practically feel the wall spring up between us. He let go of me and stepped back, which left me feeling oddly cold... and somehow, disappointed. "It wouldn't work between us anyway," I added quickly, trying to soften the blow. His expression became unreadable.
"Is that some kind of Angel rule?" he asked emotionlessly.
"Well," I squirmed around uncomfortably. How could I tell him without getting in trouble? "It's just that... I have to... keep myself pure. Kinda."
"Pure? As in chastity?" he asked, trying to understand.
"Yes, something like that." The wall between us fell back down and I breathed a small sigh of relief.
"If that is what you're so worried about," he stepped closer again and grasped my hand. ...And that bad feeling I had earlier came rushing back. "Then marry me."
My voice dried up like an old well and all I could do for a moment was stand there and stare at him. Marry him?! I know we were best friends and all, but when the hell did this happen? When had our relationship progressed this far? This had to have been a gradual thing. It couldn't have just happened in the two minutes we'd spent making out. I hadn't even done that on purpose! But when, and for the life of me, I could not figure it out, when did his feelings toward me change to love?
"You don't have to answer right now," the Prince told me, carefully brushing some hair out of my face, "you can think it over on the way home." His voice snapped me out of my mental bubble and back to the present world.
"...No," I said at long last when I got my voice back. The Prince cocked an eyebrow in confusion.
"No?"
"No," I repeated, "are you crazy?! No!" That came out harsher than I wanted it to. I stepped back to put some distance between us. The farther I was right now, the better.
"I... I don't understand." The hurt in his voice was as clear as day. Now I had to tell him... and he was not going to like this.
"Prince, I can't marry you!" I exclaimed. "I... I'm an Angel! you're a human! We're too different from each other for this to possible work."
"Are you saying you don't love me back?" his voice was dead, as was his expression. Oh, great going, Naomi. Way to make things worse.
"No, I'm-"
"Then why are you saying no?" I sighed. I had to tell him.
Prince, I can't marry you. I'm already engaged!" My words echoed through the room. Everything got quiet and the tension in the air was so thick I almost couldn't breathe. The Prince stared at me in disbelief, hardly able to register what I'd told him. But it was sinking in, and it hurt. He stared at me for the longest time, his eyes clouded with so many emotions it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"...Who is he?" he asked softly after a long, eerie silence. I swallowed hard. I really didn't want to tell him this...
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" his voice was sharper now. Looks like I was spilling the beans after all.
"I've never met him."
"You would have a stranger instead of me?"
"Prince, it isn't like that!"
"Then what is it like, Naomi?"
"It's an arranged marriage. I never had a say in it! Besides, it's not just me. All of us have to do it." He was quiet again.I took this an a chance to explain a little more. "Something's been effecting our ability to have children lately. No one knows what it is, but it's becoming a real problem... For us, it's not a matter of love. It's a matter of keeping the race alive." He let out a heavy sigh and an expression of sad understanding passed his eyes.
"Well... people marry for a lot of reasons, I suppose."
"I'm really, really sorry... It's just not my decision." He didn't say anything. "You're by best friend, Prince. My brother. The only one I know I can put every bit of my trust in without a worry in the world. I really don't want to hurt you..." He was silent still. As a closing statement, I stood up and my tiptoes, leaned forward and placed a small kiss on his lips. Hopefully that would lighten his load a little bit. To my surprise, he grabbed my shoulders and held me so he could look my right in the eye.
"I swear on every fiber of my being, Naomi, if this man you're marrying ever so much as touches you wrong, I will kill him. You make sure to tell him that when you meet him, because you deserve better than this." Ok, maybe he was overreacting a little, but I couldn't help but feel flattered by it.
"I'll be sure to relay the message." He released me.
"Good. Now... it's time to get off of this rock." The two of us picked up the books we'd dropped earlier and headed out again. We walked to the beach in silence, but the whole way there, the memories of our fierce, passionate kissing stayed in my mind. My skin still tingled slightly where he'd touched and kissed me. I don't know where in the world all those feelings of passion and need had come from, but deep down, I could still sense them.
Something told me that the trip to Babylon was going to be much longer than I wanted it to be.
The End…?
Kiri: NO WAY, JOSE! yes, my lovely readers, there is a part three, and it's coming real soon, so don't let go of your underwear!
Naomi: ...Princy isn't wearing underwear.
Everyone: ...
Prince:(blushing furiously) I AM TOO!
Naomi: Sure, you are.
Prince: I AM! I SWEAR!
Kiri: OKAAAAY! that's enough of that! That you so much for those disturbing images, Naomi!
Naomi: No sweat. ;)
Kiri: (sweatdrop) well, no FAQ. sorry, guys. Too much to do. So much to write. but definately keep an eye out for Warrior's Angel 3! Until then, Ciao!
