UWWAAAAHH! I haven't updated for so long! I had completely forgotten to write, as exams are coming up. My hand is doing better, but I did get 3 weeks more plaster since last time. I can use it decently now, but really, I can't play the violin for longer than 10 minutes or it starts to hurt. It frustrates me like hell.

Also, I'd like to show my support to everyone in Japan. It doesn't mean much, but I suppose the money I did donate helped a little.

Another notice, there goes a message round on the webt, and even in my class they were saying that Pokemon's creator Satoshi Tajiri had died in the tsunami. This isn't true. Nintendo brought out the message that he fainted upon seeing the damage but that he's fine.

Also, I wanted to update three days earlier but on my way to work, I found myself opening my eyes to the emergency-services strapping me to a stretcher. I seem to have hit a lamppost and hit the pavement. Currently I have a concussion, and a hole in my head, but there's no fracture or internal bleeding.

I don't own Pokemon or it's characters, obviously.

ps. Fanfiction has apparently a lot of trouble with editing the stories, but changing the word property to content in the url, makes it work! I wanted to update last week, but couldn't because of this reason.

Chapter 9 Milady, For You I'd Do Anything

Last time:

"I oppose this marriage!" a voice sounded through the abyss as the doors were thrown open.

Present time:

There on the post, stood Drew. He was leaning against the door-frame, and he seemed to be breathing hard.

"Hayden! How dare you!" Gar yelled.

Drew smirked, "I dare, because I oppose this marriage," he said.

Nobody said a word as he stumbled foreward.

"Why you..!" Gar growled, but unexpectedly, King Norman ushered him silent.

"Be quiet now, I want to hear what this boy has to say, an excuse for this...odd exclamation," he said.

Angrily, Gar shut his mouth tightly. Norman turned to Drew, "Why do you oppose this marriage?" he asked, not unkindly.

Drew leaned on the wooden benches beside him, "Because Gar doesn't care for anyone, anything, but himself," he spat. "He doesn't care for his soldiers, he doesn't care for the women he has slept with, he doesn't care for those bastard-children of his, and he certainly doesn't care for May!" he said.

Gar couldn't hold himself, "I told you before, it's Milady or your Highness to you!" he shouted.

Drew laughed, throatily, a foreign sound, "But I don't stand here as your warrior, or even as a mercenary, Gar! I stand here as May's friend. Despite of what you think, she has feelings, and she has a very intriguing personality," he said.

Gar laughed, "She has no need for such things. She just has to be a good wife, do what's expected of her, and keep my bed warm."

May turned her head away. She had known that her future would look like that, but to hear her future husband say it, it made it painfully real.

Drew saw this and frowned, "And then why do you want her as your wife, why May? Any woman would have been fine," he said sharply. His knees were slowly failing on him, due to both his still raging fever, and his broken bones.

May saw this and wanted to go to him, to help him when his own strength wasn't enough. But Gar's grip on her wrist was too tight, and she had no way of going anywhere.

Gar snickered, "So that I know, that my wife is pure, I don't take damaged goods. A princess would be pure, I assume," he said.

Sweat dripped in Drew's eyes and he knew that he wouldn't last much longer. But he had to. If not, May would be that bastard's wife. She protected him, he would protect her. He would not let this continue.

When Drew did not respond and kept glaring at Gar, the pudgy man turned a shade more purple, "Hayden, I will not forget this. You will pay for this! I'll make you suffer and..." he yelled, losing his patience, but was interrrupted.

"You will not do anything!" a strong voice sounded through the abyss.

"But...but, King Norman!" Gar protested but the king had risen from his seat, his face twitching in cold anger.

"You will not harm this young man. I have been blind for too long, and you will not hurt him who has opened my eyes..."

After this, Drew's world faded to black and he lost consciousness before he even felt himself hit the ground.

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Drew groaned; how was it possible to wake up feeling even worse than the last time?

"Thank the gods you're awake!" he suddenly heard.

With some difficulties, he opened his eyes and tried his best to stop the world from spinning. "What the..." he muttered. The he gasped for breath when his flow of oxygen was cut off by a set of arms around his neck. "Can't breath," he sputtered.

May released him, smiling sheepishly. Drew sighed and sat up painfully and slowly. Then May slapped him.

Now he was certainly awake, and his head hurt like hell.

He glared at the brown-haired princess, as good as it went. "What was that for?" he asked, in a low voice.

May lowered her hand, the one Drew still felt burning on his cheek. "You shouldn't push yourself that far!" she said harshly.

They glared at each other in silence. May was still angry at him for dangering his life again, and Drew wasn't happy with his bruised cheek and pride. "Didn't I, Princess?" he spat.

May winced under the use of her title as he used to do, but never that malicious. But then her anger flared back up. "No, you shouldn't have! You could have died back there!" she bit to him.

Drew frowned and then closed his eyes as he fell back down, only wincing slightly when his back hurt him. "Then I shouldn't have," he said tiredly, defeated. If she wasn't going to be a little thankful, he wasn't the one to keep fighting.

May fiddled a second with her clothes.

Drew heard the sound and opened his eyes slightly. He saw her picking at her dress, and noticed it was different from her wedding gown. Her head hung so Drew couldn't see her eyes. He reached out his hand and stilled her from ruining her dress.

"B-but, but I'm glad you did," she suddenly sobbed. A tear landed on his hand as Drew held hers. Maybe he should have expected this, but it shocked him none the less.

The story of the princess that never cried in front of anybody, no man, was independent, and never backed down from a fight. That was the story of this princess that was told under the soldiers. It frightened men, Drew figured as May sobbed, they were proud of such a strong noble but still frightened because there would be a second voice, someone who stood up against them. Someone who wasn't their enemy.

That was probably why men liked silent and obedient women. They couldn't make themselves feel powerful by defeating the opponent, even if most had no trouble hitting women. You just didn't kill her.

Drew wanted to pull away his hand, yet he also didn't. This girl wasn't the princess. The girl crying was just the person May. He didn't know how to deal with her crying. But it was hard to believe at the moment that this was the female everyone was somehow frightened of. She went to marry a man she didn't want in any way because of her loyalty. It was also a lie she didn't cry, she cried for others.

She was independent and strong, and it was her will to fight that marked her as a person. Why anyone would want to break her, was a mystery to him. So he held her hand in silence as she sniffled her tears away.

Then she looked up, "Thank you, Drew. If it weren't for you, I'm not sure i could've continued on."

Drew smirked as his eyes threatened to close, "Live, princess. Live it to the fullest, because that is what life is for," he mumbled.

May smiled sadly, suddenly painfully aware of the difference in status. "I told you to call me..."

"To call you May," Drew interupted her weak protest, as he opened his eyelids slowly again. He looked at her with half-lidded eyes. "I know," he said.

He felt himself drifting to sleep when May's voice drifted through the haze of sleep, "Why don't you ever call me that way?" she asked, not quite able to hide the sadness in her voice.

Drew smiled softly, "Because you are one, also at heart," he said.

May closed her eyes as well, to not look at him, the hurt soldier, "To you, am I also a princess?" she asked.

Drew nodded and clenched his teeth at the ache of his back, "Yes," he said simply.

May nodded and stood up, "Alright, Drew," she said. She could not help but feeling disappointed that he still only thought of her as a princess. "Get better soon," she said and then walked out of the room.

Drew sighed and watched a bird that sat on the windowporch. "But you're my princess May. And I'd do anything to be your knight," he muttered. It didn't come as shocking, these feelings.

His eyelids dropped again. "I just can't," he said before the world became a slumbering void.

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After that, May didn't come again and Drew healed slowly. His fever disappeared and the wounds on his back closed. It had become a maze of scars, Drew found out cleaning himself, and because people kept staring at it, Drew usually hid it under a cloth.

He had picked up his training again and was to say very happy, when he found out that commander Gar had been dismissed as man in charge. The man who told him, an average footsoldier around his mid thirties called Arden, grinned and gave him a friendly shoulder-pat.

"All thanks to you, kiddo," he said.

Drew frowned at both the name and the statement. "What do you mean," he asked.

Arden winked, "It was an order from higher up, like really high," he said. Delight spat from his angular face and his mossy brown eyes.

Drew cocked a brow, "But the only one with enough power to do that is..." he began but Arden finished it.

"The king, yeah." He then laughed, "You'd say he's quite indebted to you. You saved his daughter from a miserable life," he said. Then he smirked, "I don't stand here as a soldier, Gar! I stand here as May's friend," he quoted.

Drew stared at him, "If not for the fact I was half unconscious, I would have been more discreet. How do you even know what I said?" he remarked.

Arden smiled, "Wildfire, if you don't want to be talked about, don't think about joining the army and pull stunts like this. You are much more of an honorable man than I thought, Drew, than we all thought," he added.

Drew nodded, "Thank you, I guess," he said.

The man pulled a thoughtful face, "You think you could introduce me?" he asked.

Drew gritted his teeth, anger seeping once again through his veins. "I ain't a matchmaker for her," he growled. "She's the princess, and I'm a soldier, that's how it will be."

Arden backed away, nervous smile on his face, "Sorry, man. Didn't want to insult you," he said.

Drew rolled his eyes, and grabbed his sword, "I'm sure you didn't," he muttered as he continued his training.

It was cut short when another voice sounded over the terrain. "Drew Hayden!" resounded loudly and everyone on the training-court looked up.

Also Drew looked up, slightly disturbed, "That's me," he responded to the messenger.

The messenger took off his helmet, "I know," he said. The rest of the soldiers dropped quickly to their knees, as did Drew.

"Prince Max", he acknowledged the boy.

Max rolled his eyes, glancing at the rest of the men, "Please return to whatever you were doing," he ordered. The soldiers stood up and pretended to do something to keep their attention diverted, but Max really wasn't fooled. He knew that they were all listening, they were sometimes just like gossiping old ladies.

He sighed and walked up to Drew, "What did I tell you about these formal greetings to you?" he asked, his voice sharp.

Drew kept his eyes focused on the ground. He was wondering what could be wrong, for him to be called out like that. Even though he had served his punishment, he was still frightened the king could've changed his mind about him, and would discharge him dishonorably. "That you didn't want to be called like that, your highness," Drew replied.

Max groaned slightly, rubbed his head and then sighed. How to beat that over-formally talk out of the young warrior? "And yet you keep calling me that. Raise your head, Drew, and stand tall. You don't have to kneel for anyone," he said.

Slowly Drew stood up, but avoided Max' gaze, and frowned to himself. "I don't think I should be treated as an equal to you, sir," he said.

Max shook his head, and face-palmed. He was incorigible. "Whatever you want, Drew," he gave in. "But now, what I am really here for: my father has asked for you," he said.

Drew's mouth would have dropped open if not for his iron control, "The king?" he asked incredulously. Why would he be called to the king?

Max rolled his eyes again, "No, Drew, he's actually the maid," he replied sarcastically. "Of course, it's the king!"

Drew nodded, left mute upon this news. And honestly that sarcasm wasn't really needed, but it had smacked him in the face again.

Max signed to the sheath and leather fastenings Drew had put down on the ground earlier. "Grab your stuff, you won't be coming back here today," he said.

Drew obeyed, as if he wouldn't, but wondered to himself what exactly he was called out for if he wouldn't return today. Would it be because he had no place there to return to or because this something that was goin to be told would render him unable to return.

As he left he heard the other soldiers whisper lowly behind his back, all of them as clueless as he was. For the very first time since he had woken up with the Princess at his side, he wondered what would happen to him.

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Well I hope you guys enjoyed the update. I'm not going to make the promise of a fast update. I'm seriously freaked out. I'm the president of the yearbook committee and I have exams as well. I did get my application for college law accepted!

And now I'm going to get something for my head.

Edit: It's probably useless for me to say, but really, it's not like Norman will marry May off to Drew directly! Stop speculating! All of you have EXACT the same mind XD