So far so good...
this story is for personal satisfaction so i'm not too concerned if it's popular or not...
But for those of you who do read this, feel free to leave a review or read another one of my stories...
It might be a shorter story than the typical 15 chapters anyway...
College is starting soon and i'm pumped... can you tell?
...
Read on!
After an hour, all the musicians were dressed in various animals. None were pleased except the prince and his friend. Although, some of the Queen's tea guests were pleased with a small giggle. Vexen stormed over to the practicing game.
"What is the meaning of all of this?" he shouted.
Terra and Ven smiled innocently.
"Practice..." they both said.
"It doesn't mean you can just use my musicians for your selfish desires!" Vexen screamed again.
"The servants have the day off and all the targets are destroyed." Terra explained, knowing that Vexen couldn't fight back.
And Terra was right. The conductor bit his tongue, trying hard to not fight back. He wouldn't win anyway. The prince smiled and turned to the musicians.
"Prince Terra, with all due respect, we object to this." a clarinet player said.
The rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"I am an artist, sir! Not a boar!" a violinist complained.
"Really? I never knew!" Terra gasped sarcastically.
Ven laughed at the joke, which was quickly silenced by the musicians' evil glares. Vexen grumbled under his breath and watched the event.
"We are a band and not a band of animals! This masquerade is more than we can bear!" the musicians sang.
"There goes my reputation." a drummer dressed as a turkey sang.
"It's awful, this humiliation." a small triangle player, dressed as a white rabbit sang next.
"And I've the lion's share." a petite trumpet player sang last.
Terra shook his head in disbelief. Did these guys really dread target practice? Sure they were out of their element and talent here, but someone has to do it.
"Okay guys, Vexen here will blow a whistle and you run for it. Ven and I will give you a 30 second head start to run or hide. The boundaries are the Forbidden Forest, the castle, and the village. No going inside any buildings or hiding in the forest. Got it?"
No one said a word. All the men glared at the prince and his friend with pure hatred. Did they dare object any further? Of course not. They didn't want to lose there jobs. Then again, no one said this was part of their jobs. But, Terra is the prince and the only ones who had authority over him were his parents the King and Queen. Unfortunately, the royal parents didn't mind at all. They were still a bit upset at the whole cancelled engagement thing. It wasn't something you could just drop after planning it for 19 years. Moving on...
Ven handed the conductor Vexen the whistle. The long blonde haired man grumbled and prepared to blow. The musicians prepared to run. Terra and Ven checked their powdered arrows one more time. Terra's was a red-ish orange while Ven's was grass green.
"Okay, here it goes..."
Vexen blew the whistle and the men made a run for it. Terra counted patiently out loud.
"1...
"2...
"3..."
Ven was counting on his own.
"15...
"20...
"25..."
"VEN!" Terra shouted.
"What? It makes things interesting..." Ven said innocently.
Well, Terra didn't want to waste time that could be used to find Surane. Sounded good to him.
"Go!" both men shouted.
Immediately, they ran after the men with bows in their hands and quivers on their backs.
Halfway through their little hunting practice, the Queen's tea guests lost interest in the party and watched the prince and his friend run around. The Queen wasn't pleased in the slightest bit. She planned this party so she could discuss wedding plans with her friends, but obviously that wasn't what all the chatter was about. It was good that her son was running around, showing off his skills and handsome body to her friends and their daughters. She might be a grandmother yet!
The younger women looked at Terra like a piece of meat. Heck, even their single mothers were. Double heck, the married ones as well. They all wanted that body for themselves in some way or another, and in one way for sure. After listening for 19 years that this handsome young man was taken and now available, the Queen's friends couldn't visit fast enough. The opportunity to marry into the royal family of the Land of Departure was something extremely desired.
Terra and Ven ran by in a flash. You could hear the sighs and gasps from all the women. Queen Bethany sighed.
"Day after Day, all my son ever does is Practice, Practice, Practice. Thinking of her and the way that is was...Practice, Practice, Practice..." she sang before sipping her tea.
"If we had refused, he would've sacked us..." a quivering voice sang under the table.
The Queen shrieked in surprise as a small man dressed as a fox came out from underneath. It didn't take long for a red arrow to his him square in the cheek.
"TERRA!" his mother yelled.
"Sorry, Mother! Just practicing!" he yelled back at her, moving on to the next target.
The party guests started singing as well.
"Day after Day, all my son ever does is Practice, Practice, Practice. Thinking of her and the way that is was...Practice, Practice, Practice..."
"If we had refused, he would've sacked us. Now we face a life of target practice..." the musicians sang.
"Five seconds!" Vexen yelled.
"Practice! Practice!" everyone sang.
Terra spotted one last target, the white rabbit. He aimed his red powdered arrow and shot it at the small man.
"Practice!" and the song ended.
"Time! All animals assemble for point count!" Vexen yelled, taking a piece of parchment and a pen out of his pocket.
The musicians grumbled and limped back to the starting place. Terra and Ven came running back, clearly proud of themselves. The tea party came shuffling over, eager to see who won. Even, the Queen was interested.
Upon the first look, all the 'animals' were covered with an equal number of red and green dots. Vexen sighed, thinking how long this would take to count up. Someone had to do it.
"Alright, give me some time and I'll calculate the results." he said.
The girls squealed and surrounded Prince Terra. They marveled at his built chest, handsome face, and stylish hair. Not to mention his divine height and enormous foot sized. And we all know what they say about men with big feet. Don't worry, Ventus was getting some attention as well. Sometimes cuteness overpowers hotness for some girls.
King Eraqus heard all the commotion and ran down to see what was going on. He went to his wife's side.
"Darling, are you okay? I heard a scream!" he said, out-of-breath.
"I'm okay, honey. Our son was just practicing his archery...again." she responded.
Eraqus looked around at the scene. It was true, Terra was practicing again...for the millionth time this week. It was about time his son got his priorities straight. Marriage first, hobbies later.
"Terra, I know you're still upset about Princess Surane, but impressing other girls with your hobbies is a cheap way to do it. You ought to try throwing a ball to find your new bride." he smiled at his son.
The girls giggled at the idea and approved of it immediately. Terra blushed, embarassed at the idea, and waded out of the throng of girls.
"Father, I don't want another girl. I want Surane." he said.
"Surane's dead for all we know." the Queen said.
"She's not dead!" Terra shouted a little too loud.
The entire crowd of people went silent. It was an awkward thing to shout out loud. Vexen finished counting points quickly, in case a verbal arguement broke out.
"Okay, I have the results! Terra: 259 points! Ventus: 358!"
The musicians fell to the ground in exhaustion. That was the last time they ever did something for the Prince. They hoped a reward was in store...
"Men, you get a few days off on me!" Terra said to them.
Now, it was worth it.
Ven grinned happily and did a fist pump. Terra gave him a one arm hug and rubbed his blond hair.
"Good job, buddy!" he said supportively.
Vexen was just about to congratulate him when something caught his eye. The little man who was dressed as a white rabbit, had a strange mark on his rump. Did all rabbits have red butts? Yes, but not this red. The conductor came over and examined the rabbit more. Everyone stared at him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! There has been a miscalculation. I just noticed this last red mark on the elusive red rabbit. And since the rabbit is worth 100 points, Terra earns it and brings the total up to 359 to 358! Prince Terra wins!"
Everyone cheered and patted Terra on the back. A few women attempted to kiss his cheek, but he only let his mother to that. Ven gave him a man hug.
"You're an awesome marksman, Terra. The best I know! You know, it takes more than aim. It takes courage!"
"Courage, you say?" Vexen mused. "Well, then, let's play the traditional game of catch and fire."
Both Ven and Terra nodded at the idea. Whatever it was, it didn't sound too bad.
A little bit later, Ven was dressed up in a suit of armor. Terra was on the other side of the green lawn and had a shield tied on his back. Both men had bows, but Ven had a real arrow while Terra had no ammo. Vexen put the helmet on the suit of armor and tied a red apple on top for a finishing touch. The onlookers were kindly escorted back inside the castle for safety concerns.
"Um, how does this 'catch-and-fire' game work?" Ven asked, now nervous.
"You fire this arrow at the prince. He catches it, hopefully, then aims it at the apple on top of your head. Simple, really, don't be so nervous." Vexen smiled.
Ven nodded weakly and put the arrow on his bow. Terra waved to them.
"Is he ready?" the prince yelled.
Ven gave a small thumbs-up sign. Terra turned his shielded back to Ven and waited.
"Aim for the heart, boy. It's just between the shoulders. Don't worry, the worst you could do is aim too high and hit his skull." Vexen laughed.
Now, the blonde boy was pale with fright. This was a fatal game. Simple? He thought not. With a nervous swallow, Ven aimed the arrow to hit Terra. It took a few minutes for his brain to tell the fingers to let go.
Whoosh!
The arrow flew at a blinding speed to Terra. The prince heard the arrow slicing the wind just in time to turn and catch the projectile with ease. Turning around, Terra aimed the arrow at the small red dot above Ventus's helmet and fired. The arrow flew once again at a great speed and sliced the apple perfectly in half. Ven fell to the ground in terrified exhaustion.
"One hundred points out of one hundred! Well done, Terra!" Vexen shouted triumphantly.
Ven sat up and took off the helmet. The string holding the apple was broken too, and it fell to the ground.
"Just think, dear boy. If that arrow was one inch lower..." Vexen imagined.
Ven fainted once again. Terra smiled at himself for completing the game successfully. He felt it wasn't enough though. Whatever this creature was, surely it wouldn't play fair to give up it's prize.
"Hold on, Surane. I'm ready to find you. Just don't lose faith in me." he whispered to himself.
Oh goodnes...
this has to be the longest chapter I have written ever!
Well, i had to get it out of the way... so here it is!
As stated before, this story is just being written for self-satisfaction... i'm sorry if it's getting dirty in a few places...
Stay tuned! Another song is coming up!