Chapter Twenty: Something Crazy
And it's crazy
But it's true
You really don't know love at all
Until it's making you do
Something crazy!
'Something Crazy', Steven Curtis Chapman
xxXxx
'I wish I had the chance to apologize to her. I have never broken my word before.'
Despite the fact Baron's last minutes were counting down, that was all he could think about as he dodged ice attacks and tried to use plant life to his advantage.
Unfortunately, his Spring gifts were near to useless in such cold, hard surroundings. He forced himself to switch to Summer fire, despite how little he could actually do with it.
But it was still more than his Spring gifts in this cold setting.
The Keeper of Winter laughed as the fire seeds tried to burn through his ice shield. "My my, but someone should have paid more attention to his lessons," he mocked, making a sudden rising motion with his hands.
Baron tried to move out of the way, but found his feet stuck where he stood. He looked down in horror, finding that his thick Winter boots were now cemented to the ground, twice as thick now that ice was covering his feet and lower legs.
'My end begins. At least Haru will be spared the sight of it.' But not one to go down so easily, Baron immediately started focusing his meager Summer powers on melting the ice before it could continue climbing up his body.
"Oh, do spare yourself the effort. Such an awful fate to die tired," Thiris purred, raising his hands a little higher.
The ice was now growing only slightly faster than Baron was able to melt it.
"Come now, just a bit more," he encouraged himself under his breath, although he was already exhausted from dodging stalactites and giant ice shards. 'No, do not feel the cold! Haru is counting on you!'
"Very well, if drawing it out pleases you," the Keeper of Winter sighed, resting one hand while dropping the other one in order to slowly raise it again.
The ice's progress slowed as well, but now Baron couldn't feel his feet!
"Foolish child!" Thiris spat, sitting himself comfortably on his Keeper's Seat while still raising his ice. "Even your father was no match for me! Not that he truly gave me a fight. All diplomacy and words, just as he ever was. I cannot imagine why it never bored your mother."
"You underestimate the power of words, Thiris," Baron growled, knowing that the full weight of the simple sentence would not be appreciated.
"Your father's son, I see. Speak enough words, and all you desire will be thrown at your feet. Speaking of which, how do you imagine your Host will react when you fail to return?"
Baron kept his tired gaze at his thighs, where the edge of the ice was still threatening to climb up and swallow him whole. "She has likely discovered it by now. Haru is no one's fool."
That caught the Keeper of Winter's attention. "Oh? If she is that clever, why were you not clever enough to stay in your own Realm? Did my little observation irritate you so?" he asked with a smirk, still raising his hand.
Baron failed at suppressing a growl. "It had nothing to do with your indecency. Haru... will not have me."
Thiris stared at him in complete surprise, even stopping his freezing spell in order to gain an answer. "What?"
Baron took the needed opportunity to regain his breath, although the ice was now at his waist. "... Despite how I tried to persuade her, Haru could not overlook your curse enough to consider a life with me. My only prayer was to either make you take the curse back or die trying."
The hairless feline could not believe his own ears, staring at the young tabby like he had never seen him before. "She is turning you down because I forced you to love her?"
Stiffening his jaw, the Keeper of Spring was able to manage a small nod.
After a moment of stunned silence, Thiris broke out laughing over his Keeper's Seat, a sick delighted chuckle that would have alerted his love immediately of the cat's true intentions if he had been foolish enough to make the sound in front of her.
"This... this is wonderful!" he was finally able to gasp after several minutes of mirth. "Your precious words have finally failed you! Oh, if I had known it would make her reject you, I would have told her of the curse myself!" He finally turned to his young opponent and grinned evilly. "I knew I liked that girl despite the abuse! Her refusal must have hurt worse than this."
The ice encasing Baron's body suddenly surged to his neck before Baron could move his hands to make the signature Fire move. He tried his hardest to break free, but his body was barely able to shiver through the freezing cold. His chest could barely expand enough for him to breathe.
'I will not tell him that it did.'
Still chuckling, Thiris stood up in order to approach the son of his rival. "How considerate of her. Thanks to that fetching young lady, both you and your meddlesome father will be but a passing memory before the sun rises over my mountain."
Baron stopped struggling, feeling his heart lighten hopefully. "Father is alive?"
"If you want to call it that. I cannot wait to see the look on his face when I deliver him your frozen head! Think of what pleasant company he will have as I remove the small bit of heat I have allowed him to keep. Such a long, lovely death... I will never be able to thank your Host properly for this."
"L-Leave my father b-be!" Baron gasped, trying to stay strong as he lost feeling in his arms as well.
"I think not. However... yes, why not?" Thiris suddenly decided, his eyes lit up with malice. "I think I will try my hand at your precious 'words' and see if my wishes are thrown to me."
It was all Baron could do to keep his teeth from chattering as he tried to breathe better.
"Long before you were born, I was attempting to invent a love spell to force your mother to take her rightful place at my side. I assure you it was not lack of trying that kept me from success. I endured failure after failure, but it was only after word reached Winter that Luiz was expecting you that I realized I was attempting to go about my revenge all wrong. Because despite my attempts to the contrary, the old myths were correct. There is no way to magically manipulate a heart."
Baron's jaw dropped, all discomfort forgotten.
"However," Thiris stressed with a smirk. "I found a way to manipulate something just as potent." He insultingly tapped the thick ice over Baron's chest, directly over the heart.
"Luiz herself may have been lost to me, but there was still a way to make her see her mistake. At the celebration of your birth, I ripped out a significant portion of your attention. I pulled it out close to the heart to keep anyone from guessing the truth. After all, have you not always been able to love your parents and charges?"
Baron was too stunned to think of a retort.
"I knew four years and your own heart would be sufficient for love to follow my spell after it found a pure-hearted Host." He then frowned. "But now that I have met your lady, I cannot help but wonder if a mere week would have been enough."
The younger Keeper felt like a colossal idiot. As he silently looked back, he realized that it had been intense interest at seeing someone and something he had never seen before, not love.
Not that he could pinpoint the exact moment he fell in love with Haru, but he wasn't going to deny that he had been fond of her innocent antics as a child. His love and concern for the sweet brunette had matured as she did, and he had never thought to question it.
He should have seen it before. He had even informed Haru that everything his life had seemed boring until the spell hit her.
"I never had to come here," Baron whispered in horror, making his captor chuckle in amusement.
"Well, I do not know about that. The look on your face is quite wonderful. That poor child; she will never know that you chose to love her," Thiris stressed, making sure to twist the knife as much as possible.
The tabby couldn't speak. 'Haru. I am so sorry, my love.'
"So tell me, dear Baron," the hairless feline sneered. "With you out of the way, whom do you suppose will win your fair lady's hand?"
That made him snap to attention. Baron struggled to fight, but he was starting to feel dizzy from the lack of feeling and oxygen.
"Surely you realize that someone will claim her? Our little struggle has proven that pure-hearted beauties are indeed most rare. However," he mused, taking out an overly-jeweled bracelet to play with it. "A magician with that much power deserves to be on the arm of a Keeper."
"She will never have you," Baron managed to snarl.
"Oh, still so naive," Thiris chuckled, still playing with the bracelet. "Have you already forgotten that I have invented the next best thing to a love spell?"
His heart froze in fear, although that had been the main reason he refused to allow Haru to accompany him here.
He then took the time to show off the jewel-encrusted bit of gold. "All I have to do is wait for her to be in slumber, if you never thought to be rid of her mirror."
Baron couldn't fight his expression of terror. 'Why didn't I think of removing it instead of repairing it?!'
Even if Haru found that rather simple spell impressive.
"How accommodating of you. With this to erase her mind and her attention on me, no one will ever be able to compare in her eyes. In fact, I don't believe I will allow her to know that there are any other people in this world."
It was only then that Thiris' face softened, his expression finally turning gentle at the thought of having a mate after so many years of solitude. "Imagine, just her and myself to once again fill these caves with life and laughter-"
"You do not deserve her!" Baron roared with every fiber of his being, enough to even make his captor jump back in surprise. "You killed her and sent hundreds to die over a slight that was never intended! Sentenced an innocent girl to die for having a pure heart! It took eighteen years for a spell traveling at the speed of light to find one girl like her!"
"Indeed," Thiris agreed, composing himself from the sudden scare.
"You are no better than the monsters on her world that tried to destroy her pure heart!"
"Tried is not the same as succeeding. Besides, what does your opinion matter?" The Keeper of Winter raised his hand to seal the freezing spell. "In just a few short hours, that word will be the one thing she will never see me as."
"Do not count on it!" a furious voice rang out a little breathlessly.
Before the feuding felines even had a chance to look towards the source of the familiar sound, a loud blast of familiar magic knocked Thiris off his feet and into his Keeper's Seat hard enough to topple it onto its side.
'A sure sign of bad luck for the Keeper in question,' Baron's mind automatically recited as he strained to look behind him. He did not bother questioning how the blast had left him unscathed. "How did you get here, Haru?" the tawny feline asked a little breathlessly.
"If we use magic now, we can talk later!" the love of his life gasped, tiredly running up in order to stand at his side. She hurriedly placed her bare hands over his; one to his heart and one to his aching side. There was at least five inches of ice between them, but she was not paying attention to the fact.
"Y-You are going to pay for that!" Thiris howled, tossing ice at her.
It hit her on her right arm, cementing her to the Keeper of Spring's heart.
'She was already cemented there,' he thought as Haru fought back a yelp of pain.
But she bravely looked him in the eye. "Baron, think of your fire power, and no talking back!"
Before he had a chance to tell her he couldn't use it with his arms held fast, she opened her mouth and started vocalizing a spell he recognized immediately, even without the tools she began summoning to help. Since he didn't have a better plan, he did as he was told, although worried about her obvious exhaustion.
The handsome tabby had never dared to practice fire spells when she practiced this one, especially since this was one of the spells she usually used to express her anger and frustration. It had not taken him long to figure out that her spells could influence others' potential, and he had always feared of such a collusion as this. It was one of the reasons his fire magic was... less than impressive.
But desperate times called for desperate measures, and he needed the feeling of heat that her mind was conjuring.
Unlike the other times she used this spell, the Bird of Fire wasn't acting out of malice or boredom. This time, it was straining against the chains of ice holding it flat against the top of a glacier, unjustly caught by a Keeper of Winter. There were several marks of abuse and torture between the half-plucked feathers, turning this glorious creature into a mockery of what it had the potential to be.
Baron could distantly hear Thiris fighting back the spell's hold, so he focused harder on filtering his power into Haru's spell.
A large blizzard was blocking the Bird of Fire in, almost mocking it for daring to think that it could escape...
Before it did.
With a final tired tug, the chains shattered like glass, revealing terrible marks on the sensitive flesh where feathers should have been. Feeling a great wave of happiness over the new found freedom, the beautiful bird opened its wings in order to fly directly into the heart of the blizzard with a defiant cry.
A huge wave of fire suddenly shot out from the two in an increasingly widening circle. Thiris was able to somewhat shield himself with his ice power, but parts of his robe were still burning when the wave passed him. With the current danger gone, he began his approach. The bracelet was still in his grasp.
The Bird of Fire was struggling bravely against its opponent, but it was severely outmatched by such a powerful blizzard.
'It is not enough!' Baron thought in a panic, looking at Haru with desperation. 'We cannot stop him!' About half of the ice covering him had melted in the blast, but it wasn't enough to free his body and defend her from Thiris' intentions.
Haru looked at him, fully understanding what he dared not say. Both of them were already tired, although Baron could not imagine what his love had been up to in order to reach him in time. With that stubborn tilt of the jaw he had seen more than once, she raised her voice higher, somewhat altering the sound as Thiris struggled through the sudden heat to reach them.
"If there are any souls trapped by Thiris' malice!" she called out in a glorious plea, keeping the spell active. "Your time is now!"
That declaration changed everything. Without any warning whatsoever, the Bird of Fire exploded, temporarily causing the blizzard to howl with victory.
Until every spark and flame evolved into a full-grown Bird of Fire, most even exploding again in order to create more in a fantastic display of power.
Not waiting to finish forming, the Birds of Fire broke free of Haru's mind, coming out between her and Baron like a river of flame as the two did their best to keep the spell active.
Thiris screamed in horror as some of the birds kept exploding to create more until the main cave was nearly filled to capacity, creating a thick wall between the Keeper of Winter and the two lovers.
Everything began burning, including the fallen Keeper's Seat as the Birds of Fire began swiftly circling and attacking Thiris in a rather accurate imitation of a tornado.
"Back! Stay back!" the hairless cat demanded, frantically using his ice powers to try holding back the horde, but it was a losing battle.
The Birds of Fire showed no mercy to him. Bit by bit, little by little, the flames slowly consumed the Keeper of Winter as his screams filled all the caves in his domain. The spell that had taken on the feeling of battle slowly turned to a call of joy and freedom as Thiris slowly gave up his flesh, dying by fire and suffocation.
As the spell came to an end, Baron realized that he was tightly holding Haru against him, and that she was gripping him just as fiercely. Ice was nowhere to be found on either of them, although his limbs were buzzing with newly returned circulation. Once her spell was done, they collapsed as one to the stone floor that was now anything but cold.
They lay there gasping, looking deep into each other's eyes as their minds tried to process what had just happened. But before long, Baron saw a smaller Bird of Fire fly over them and wrap its wings over the two in an affectionate embrace without burning them.
The gesture was enough to make the two slowly sit up, still clinging to each other like they had forgotten how to let go.
The entire Army of Fire was still there, although Baron could see the edges of their wings beginning to fade away, now that their task was complete.
"There are so many of them," Haru whispered hoarsely, tears of grief spilling down her cheeks.
"Indeed," was all Baron could manage, holding her a little tighter. He tried to pick out a soul he knew, but there were too many to see all of them, and it was difficult to find any distinguishing features.
Nearly as one, before they faded completely, the Army of Fire bowed towards the living, making a great sensation of love and gratitude wash over the tired pair.
"If my mother is among you," he called out while he still had the chance. "I still love you. I hope you are proud."
The same bird that had embraced them wrapped her wings specifically around him, happily nuzzling her head against his.
It was only then that Baron was able to cry, releasing Haru in order to steal one last hug from his mother.
But it was still all too soon when his arms collapsed through her fire form, and she was able to give a loving but desperate look to Haru.
"I will take care of him. Whether he likes it or not," she promised in a heartbeat with a warm smile.
Luiz was able to brush a gentle kiss against her cheek before she and the other Birds of Fire faded away, but Baron could not stop crying. Haru wrapped her arms around him, giving the comfort she could as he clung to her desperately. He could feel her gently nuzzling his ear and breathing in his scent like being able to was nothing short of a miracle.
Which it truly was.
"Two seconds," she murmured once her heart rate had slowed to normal and his tears had ceased.
That statement made him groggily look at her with confusion.
"If I had been two seconds slower. I would have lost you forever." She squeezed him even tighter, now fighting back tears of her own.
He sat up off her lap, tenderly touching her cheek as he took in her loveliness.
Despite the fact that she was slightly dirty, disheveled and exhausted from running around the caves before playing with fire, all he could see was her beauty. Both inward and outward, he had never seen her equal.
"Not so, my love. You were right on time, despite my efforts to the contrary. Thank you for coming to my rescue. Again," he had to laugh despite the circumstances. 'If I had a care for dignity right now, this second rescue would be most embarrassing.'
Her eyes melted, and she unthinkingly began closing the distance between their faces.
The tabby's heart sped up in excitement as he closed his eyes... but then she paused right before pressing her lips against his. He opened one eye in annoyance, only to see that troubled expression that he was all too familiar with. The one that said louder than words that she was feeling... less than worthy.
'Not now!' "I do not suppose you overheard what Thiris said about the curse?" he asked, though her action already gave him the answer.
Haru shook her head as she pulled away, unable to look at him as she took her arms off him. "The first thing I heard was you calling out Thiris for what he did to me and the people of this planet. My gratitude for being so vocal; I was about to go down the wrong corridor when I heard you."
Baron reached out and guided her chin so that she was forced to lock eyes with him. "I did not lie just now, when I told my mother I love her. I have always loved her and Father as well as my charges, before and after the curse hit you."
Her eyes shot toward him in surprise.
"Thiris allowed everyone to believe he ripped my love out of me to improve his reputation. The truth is... he took my attention. Most of it, and centered it on you."
Her mouth fell open in surprise. Baron desperately wanted to press his own against it, but forced himself to be the gentlecat despite knowing that she was more used to the idea of men taking the lead. She had likely figured out by now what kissing on the lips meant in this world, and he wanted their first one to be perfect.
"... You could have laughed at me through all these years. You could have been like everyone else."
"Well, I would be lying if I said I did not have amusement over some of your antics, particularly when you used to trip up the stairs," Baron forced himself to confess, still caressing her face with one thickly gloved hand. "But I chose my feelings for you. Now that you will believe me, I will say it again; I love you. I love your kindness, your brilliant mind, your strong will that shines through no matter what even I attempt to do to keep you from harm. The only time you will hear the word 'perfect' out of me is when I say you are perfect for me. Well, perhaps also that a future with you would be my idea of perfection. You did imply earlier that you were not opposed to children instead of child?" he asked hopefully.
As a Keeper, he did require at least one heir.
He had never seen a smile like this one before. She was crying again, but the absolute joy that radiated from her features made her even more beautiful as she grabbed his face and jumped on him enough to press her lips to his once and for all.
The sensations that rocked his body were even more than he was expecting. It had long been established that the first kiss was a glimpse into what the marriage would be like, and he had assumed since bringing her here that it would be a proper and simple one, befitting the lady he had fallen in love with.
But this kiss was passionate, wild, and made it more than clear that despite what Thiris had thought, Haru was not to just support him in his role as Keeper of Spring.
She was to be his equal.
He had his arms wrapped around her waist in an instant, squeezing her possessively as he proceeded to inform her that he truly did prefer their relationship to be thus. A rather loud purr erupted out of him, but judging from the one echoing from her own throat, he could not find it in him to be embarrassed.
"T-That girl definitely inherited Pelia's legs," a familiar voice managed to wheeze as it entered the room after a few moments of bliss. A gasp of surprise was soon heard.
Although Baron wanted nothing more than to ignore the intruder, both he and Haru broke off the kiss in order to look over.
Renaldo was gaping at them in shock, heavily leaning against a cave wall as he continued to pant. His black eyes took in the heavily scorched room, and then became glued to the pair wrapped in each other's arms. "Where is Thiris?"
"Over there," Haru answered, reluctantly pulling herself off of Baron to point to a small pile of charred remains. "Or what is left of him, at least."
"... Then it is done. Where is Toto?"
Baron sat up, trying to catch his breath as subtly as possible. "He is waiting for me at the cave's mouth. I told him to go home if I did not return before daybreak."
"I see. I will tell him to go home," Renaldo promised, although there were tears of relief as he crossed the room to reach another opening.
"But how will we return-" Baron tried to ask, but Haru covered his mouth.
"My way is quicker, and we need to break your father out of his cell." Then her face suddenly filled with rage. "Speaking of which, why did you break your word?! I told you our best chance to defeat Thiris was to do it together! Did I just interfere with your death wish?!"
"No, nothing like that," he tried to assure her, but her fury wasn't done yet.
"That was a dirty underhanded trick, especially with involving the children! If you ever break your word to me in such a fashion again, I will withhold affection for a month!"
Baron gaped in horror. "Now, now darling," he tried to reason with a guilty chuckle. "Do you not think such a punishment is a little too harsh? I was merely trying to keep you out of Thiris' grasp after all."
She gave him a scathing glare while stubbornly folding her arms across her chest. "I know full well why you did it! That does not excuse breaking your word to me, and if you want me to be your mate, that had better be the last time you deceive me in such a cruel manner, Keeper!"
He then scowled. "Haru, you are not allowed to refer to me so formally."
"Then do not disappoint me again," she ordered, standing up and offering a hand. "But we had best be on our way. Muta knows the way back to your father, and I blew a few walls through the caverns in order to reach you in time." She then laughed nervously. "One or two of them probably caved in after me, which explains why it took Muta so long to catch up. I am rather surprised that you did not hear me coming."
"You have seen him?" Baron asked hopefully as he also rose to his feet, but kept a firm grip on her hand.
"I... based this Bird of Fire off of the wounds on your father," Haru admitted with guilt as she led him to the opening Muta had left through. "But I really do think that he will make a recovery if we return him to Spring as soon as possible."
Baron felt like he was going to die with happiness. He had received a chance to make peace with his mother's tragic death, won Haru's hand, and was even going to have his father back.
Today truly was a day for miracles.
"But Muta and he seemed to think that we will not be able to free him," Haru confided, still leading the way to her second father. "Guil said that Thiris sealed his cell with his own blood."
Baron stopped walking as a look of chagrin overtook him. "A blood sealing?" he choked in horror.
Haru gave him a funny look. "That sounds about right, but I think we can find a way around it." For some reason, that sentence made her eyes light up with a delighted smirk.
'That sweet, naive girl,' he dared not say as his heart seemed to drop to his knees. "H-Haru?" he struggled to say. "A blood sealing can only be undone by the sealer. In case you have already forgotten, we just played a key role in his demise."
But that smirk was still on her sweet lips. "So is there a magic keeping me from breaking into the cell next to your father, and then breaking the wall between the cells?" she asked pointedly.
Baron gaped at her. "You wonderful genius, you," he whispered in complete and total adoration, not bothering to hide his thoughts this time.
Haru gave him a playful smirk. "I have to be, to keep up with you." It was only then that she released his hand in order to wrap her arm around his. "Now let us separate the feuding duo so that we can rescue your father and return home as quickly as possible. I am not certain about how you feel, but I am exhausted."
Baron held her arm as tightly, feeling prouder than he ever had before.
He had no idea that his love would be unanimously elected to be Keeper of Winter upon their wedding day. Much Winter magic had been lost with Thiris, however, so it would not surprise him that Haru's unique magic would become the new Winter magic. Life and laughter would indeed return to those empty caverns, but it would take several generations to rebuild it to its former glory. As much as it would pain his love, her duties as Keeper did sometimes lead to prolonged separation from her mate and some of their children, but she always made up for it with love and laughter upon being reunited. His father would live long enough to spoil most of their children, since he never regained the strength needed to take back his rightful place as Keeper of Spring.
But in Baron's heart, until his dying day, there was a simple thought that he never allowed himself to forget. Something that he owed every drop of his happiness to, and never stopped wishing that there was a way that he could repay his debt.
'Thank you, Tsuge.'
xxXxx
Just in case I didn't make it obvious enough, Haru used the Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky. I didn't care much for it at first because I thought the Disney 2000 interpretation was too scary (I was a kid, give me a break), but I liked the unedited piece a lot better when I eventually gave it a chance (the ballet is gorgeous!). Just picture the battle scene heading straight into the triumphant finale without the slower bit between them.