EL: I have to apologize.
Judal: For?
EL: For not updating in a long time...
Judal: And why didn't you?
EL: *mumbles* Because I forgot my password for my account and I couldn't log in...
Judal: Yeah. Go on.
EL: A-and then when I finally realized that I-I-I could've changed my password, a long time had passed... Um... I'll write a long chapter? *wilts under Judal's and audience's gaze* *directs "save me" eyes to Athealda*
Athealda: *claps hands twice* Alright, that's enough Judal. *turns to crowd* EL doesn't own Magi. At all.
When Judal saw her, things he wanted to forget about came back. Which, of course, made him instantly hate her. Her short blue hair, her mauve-colored eyes, and her pale skin all reminded Judal of her. Of Athealda. He watched her as she raced up the rough stone stairs of the dungeon, occasionally dodging the flying dead body of a soldier from the Kou Army.
"Hey, Judal."
He quickly turned his attention to the long-haired prince standing next to him. "What?"
"Doesn't she look a bit like..." Kouha knew that she would be a very sore subject to bring up, especially since today was also the day of her disappearance.
"Like who?"
"Like Athealda."
Judal grunted. "Athealda's dead. There's no way she could've survived by herself when she was only 6 or something. She probably just starved to death or something like that- not that I care, of course."
Kouen, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation cut in. "Kouha asked if she looked like Athealda, not if Athealda was dead or not."
Judal squinted his eyes at her for a moment, then sighed. He propped himself up on his magic carpet with his hands and closed his eyes. "If she grows her hair out longer, then yes."
"Really? Well... I've never met her, so I wouldn't know. By the way, she's looking at you."
"What? Really?"
It was true, the woman was staring at him. Or, more like giving him a funny look. He glared back at her and she resumed climbing to the top of the dungeon, where the djinn would be waiting.
"We'd better get going, too. We can't let a single woman beat us."
When Athealda noticed him, she received a splitting headache. And in a dungeon of all places. A dungeon. Which is a very dangerous place to get a headache. She knew it probably wasn't is fault that she got it, but she just couldn't help but dislike him. The man seemed to be around her age, maybe a year or two older. He wasn't very hard to miss, with a weird-looking segmented braid (seriously? He was a man, not a woman), even weirder outfit (no comment), red eyes (that was actually cool in her opinion), and pale skin (she had that too, so she really couldn't blame him for it).
The more Athealda stared at him, the more painful her headache became. Her head was really hurting now, but she felt like she had seen the man somewhere and couldn't look away. She wondered if he was part of her forgotten childhood, which she could't remember no matter how hard she tried to.
She saw him talk to a woman with long pink hair and large knife on her back and a tall red-haired man with (an insane amount of) armor on.
"I wonder..." she muttered thoughtfully. Then she glanced up to look at the man again, only to see that he was glaring at her.
"Well, someone seems to like me." Athealda sighed. "I better get going, or Yunan's going to get bullied by little kids before I get back."
Judal was impressed that a woman could beat an entire army, two princes, and a magi in a race to the top of a dungeon. By the time Kouen, Kouha, and Judal had reached the top (with the remainders of Kouha's army), the strange woman was already conversing with the djinn of the dungeon. They were talking, with the djinn smiling pleasantly and the woman nodding thoughtfully. When the pair noticed them, they immediately shut up.
The djinn gave them all an all-too-friendly (and toothy) grin. "Well, who will be king?"
Athealda knew she couldn't afford to not be chosen by the djinn. Yunan had told her that acquiring a djinn would probably help her "retain" her memories and blah blah blah...
Of course, it would be easier to be chosen if it weren't for some people that hadn't died earlier in the dungeon. But Athealda loved a challenge so she didn't really care.
"Now," started the djinn,"I wonder who I should choose... should it be... this... prince to my right, the one with the red hair and three djinns? You're such a greedy man, if you want another one. Three is a lot already, you know?"
The prince didn't answer, but the girl (that the black-haired man was talking to earlier) did. "How do you know that my brother is a prince? And why are you so weird-looking?"
The djinn did look weird. Its appearance never seemed to look the same after you blinked and looked at it. The djinn had already changed aspects five times right in front of Athealda's own eyes. When she first saw it, the djinn had the appearance of a young girl. Then, as Athealda blinked and tried to focus on the djinn's appearance more, the djinn's appearance changed from that of a young girl into a grown man. And then from that into an old lady. And then from an old lady into a young puppy. The young puppy was currently turning into what seemed like a large dragon.
The djinn's voice broke apart her thoughts. "I know everything and anything, Kouha. I am Giso, the djinn of communication and disguises."
The girl, Kouha, seemed stunned to know that the djinn knew her name. Giso turned to her and smiled. The djinn was now in the form of a goat, which was very unsettling, since goats don't really smile. "Just so you know, Athealda-chan, Kouha here is not a girl. He's a prince, also meaning, he's a boy."
Athealda choked on her own saliva. "Uh... are you sure...?"
The djinn seemed to take he words as an insult and frowned. "Yes."
"Um... ok."
Judal felt something inside him stop. Probably his heart. His knees bent slightly under his weight and he felt something change slightly in the rukh around him. But he didn't care. What he did care about was the fact that the djinn had called the blue-haired girl (who looked like Athealda... a lot) Athealda (minus the chan). But that was impossible. Athealda was dead. There was no way that she could've survived by herself out in the world. Judal could feel Kouen and Kouha's gazes on him and he glanced up.
Kouen had his usual "get the fuck away from me don't even try to talk to me" mask on but with a hint of "this is your problem, don't talk to me about it" and Kouha had a worried look plastered on his face. The djinn Giso, which was now in the form of a king dripping in gemstones, smirked at him. "I hate you" and "SCORE!" was written all over his face. "Esteemed magi, are you quite all right?"
What a bitch.
Athealda's once bored expression turned into one of curiosity. "You're... a magi?"
The djinn, who was currently turning into a... thing with fins boomed with laughter. "Yes, he is Judal, magi and oracle of the Kou Empire and..." -the djinn narrowed his eyes- "Al-Thamen."
How in the...
"Now, back to the main topic. I believe I was choosing a king, am I right?"
No one responded.
"Aw, come on you guys. Don't be so cold to me!" Giso gave them puppy eyes-literally,since now he was in the form of a large puppy.
A few soldiers yawned, along with Prince Kouha.
"Alright, fine! I'll get to choosing a king. What kind of a test should I give you guys? What do you think, esteemed magi?"
"Choose Kouen or Kouha."
"Why?" The djinn whined.
"Because they're capable. At least, more than that woman over there." Judal pointed at Athealda. She narrowed her eyes.
"Oh? And what makes you think like that?" She smiled at him.
"They've obviously conquered more dungeons than you. You don't have a single metal vessel on you right now, so even if you wanted to challenge them to a fight, you would lose anyways. "
Giso giggled, now in the form of another girl, but more lavishly dressed than the one before. "Well, then let me give you a test of wits and not of strength. How many of you like riddles?"
Groans were heard. Kouen, Kouha, and Athealda turned to the djinn, waiting for the riddle.
"You are put into a completely dark room with only one match. Which would you light first, a paper, a candle, or the fireplace?"
"The fireplace, of course. That's going to last the longest." Kouha half smirked, half smiled. This was too easy.
"I would light all three." Kouen said confidently. "The paper first, then the candle with the paper, and then the fireplace with the candle." Kouha suddenly wished he had said that.
"And you, my dear?" Giso turned to Athealda with a coy smile.
"I wouldn't light any of them."
Kouha coughed to cover up his snicker but Kouen looked curious.
"And why is that, my dear?"
"Because before I light any of the three, I would have to light the match."
"Correct! We have a winner!" Giso clapped his fish fins and sprayed everyone with water.
Kouha looked at Athealda with grudging respect while Kouen studied her carefully.
"Athealda-chan, how do you feel about acquiring a metal vessel? And me as your djinn?"
Athealda looked up at the djinn with an "isn't it obvious" look. "Why do you care?"
"Aw, Athealda-chan, you're such a meanie! I have a feeling we'll be best friends!"
"No, we won't," she muttered.
Athealda leaned against the large bag of gold coins, gemstones, ad other valuables and sighed. She raised he right hand up to her face and stared at the silver ring in which her djinn was currently residing in. Pretending to be busy with tying the top of her forever-open bag shut, she risked a glance at the magi, two princes, and army that were currently in the same magic circle as her.
Giso. Did you seriously have to put me with them? Couldn't you have just gave me a private one, all for myself?
No answer. Of course not. Since when could djinns talk to you in your head, anyways? That would be too good.
Almost no one in the other party even spared her a glance. Not that she cared, she didn't want to be stared at anyways. Someone, however, had an agenda that was clearly opposite of hers. The magi.
He stared/glared at her with his ruby-like eyes, watching her every move (which was creepy, not to mention stalkerish). Athealda sighed and went back to staring at her currently djinn-occupied ring.
I wonder if Yunan has been beaten up by little kids yet. Oh yeah, I remember that one time when he took a nap in a fishing boat, and the rope that tied it to the dock got untied... by a little boy... on purpose. Took me an entire week to find him. It was hilarious. He lost weight during that week, and he complained that he had had nothing to eat for the entire week. Then I asked him why he didn't use his alchemy magic to just make some bread or something like that. That shut him up.
Athealda, who was lost in her memories, didn't notice the man standing next to her, until he leaned down and poked her cheek. Her heart shrieked in surprise, but she forced her face and body to look and act calm. She lifted her head slowly to act like she didn't care.
"What do you want, Magi?"
Nope, she definitely isn't Athealda. Athealda would never be this nasty. This woman is probably just someone who grew up to look a lot like the Athealda with the name Athealda. But she's not Athealda. Maybe.
"Hey, Peach Girl, tell me about yourself. What do you do?"
He saw something throb slightly on her forehead and smirked.
"Did you just call me what I think you called me?" The woman looked up at him.
"What? Peach Girl? What so wrong about that, Peach Girl? I want to call you Peach Girl, so I'll call you Peach Girl. Ok, Peach Girl?"
Yeah, there was definitely something throbbing on her head.
"I dare you to call me that one more time, Magi." Her voice was dangerously calm.
"Call you what, Peach Girl?"
The next thing Judal saw was darkness.
Kouen and Kouha turned just in time to see "Athealda-chan" (a very cute name) do something to the back of Judal's forehead which caused him to blackout (not very cute).
Kouha rushed over to Judal. "What did you do to him, you bitch?!"
"Relax," she said, "I only hit one of his pressure points to make him black out. If I wanted to do something worse, I could have."
Kouen calmly walked over. "Why?"
"He was very, very annoying. I got a headache just from looking at him."
When Judal woke up, the first thing to cross his mind was Athealda.
"Where is she?" He wondered aloud, observing his surroundings. Seems like I'm in the palace again. Wait, what happened?
"You were knocked out by the girl," said a familiar voice.
"What?" Judal laughed and turned his head to the prince. "Don't make me laugh, Kouen."
"I'm not kidding."
"Liar."
"I'm not."
"I don't believe you."
"Fine, you don't have to."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Is that why I feel like shit now?"
"Most likely."
"Where is she?"
"Somewhere that's not here."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"...Dammit."
EL: Sorry if that was too short, guys.
Judal: Was that the Athealda?
EL: No.
Judal: Are you sure?
EL: Yes. Maybe.
Judal: ...
EL: I'm sorry if there's any confusion, typos, or any other possible mistakes. If there was, please tell me (because I need to improve). And once again, I'm really sorry about the delay, I'll try to make the next chapter as long as this one too. Bye!
P.S. Go on Google or whatever search engine you have, and search "mauve color". It's really pretty and also the color of Athealda's eyes! Also search up "iris blue", it's the color of her hair. Of course, you don't have to do this if you don't want to.
P.P.S. Please tell me if you guys want me to continue this constant "Judal-Athealda" change of perspective. If you do, please PM me or tell me in your comment. If you don't, please PM me or tell me in your comment and please also include whose perspective you want in the next chapter. Thanks!