teamBLAZE: I'm glad you enjoy the little bit of humour there! ^^

Chris Shino: I heard that they had planned to include it in the first version but they had to cut it down because of length issues. I haven't watched the version in which this song is included, so I don't know how "out-of-place" this song sounds, especially when comparing to the marvellous 1991 edition, but on its own this song has a certain merit (and good humour, too, I guess). In any case, yeah, this chapter will be more about their relationship, so I hope you'll enjoy this! ^^

By the way, the song featured in this chapter would be Barbra Streisand's "Papa, Can You Hear Me?"

Gwen decided to go home the next day, seeing that Reine was already pretty much recovered. "I can't leave Mamma alone for too long,"

"You're right." Reine agreed.

For a moment the two sisters stared at each other in silence. For the first time in their many years together, Reine was unsure how to tell Gwen of what she was thinking. However, Gwen didn't need spoken words, for she was a master in silent communication.

"You need to stay here, Reine," she said, "I agree."

"I'm not running away from Zack."

"I know."

"Okay…"

There was another brief moment of silence before Gwen finally decided to ask her sister, "Do you… love him?"

"Zack? Of course not!"

"No! I mean… Neil."

"Oh…" Reine trailed off. "That's way too early to say."

Gwen smiled, "But it seems to me he ranks higher than Zack in your eyes."

Reine laughed. "He's unexpectedly awkward—that's for sure." She took a deep breath before asking back, "How about you and Allen? I know you guys spend a great deal amount of time together."

Gwen blushed. "Uh… that's…"

Reine fixed her gaze at her sister—one effective way of coaxing the words out from the latter. True, Gwen finally relented and said, "He is a nice person."

Gwen twirled the ring around her finger and Reine sighed. "You're not exactly thinking of marrying him now, right?"

"Wha—no! Of course not!"

"Then, why the ring?"

"Oh… safekeeping."

"Uh-huh." Reine eyed the ring carefully, obviously not convinced. "In any case, you should go now—you'll reach Lindell before sunset."

Gwen nodded and both sisters rose from their seats and embraced each other. "Be careful, Gwen,"

"You too."

When they walked out from the castle door, Allen was already waiting with Thor. Gwen gave Reine another quick hug before walking towards Thor, and Allen helped her up.

"Thanks for not returning the ring," he whispered as he led Thor to the castle gate.

Gwen chuckled, "Safekeeping, right?"

Allen smiled. "Right."

Gwen turned around for the last time, "See you later," she said, before turning back and galloping away.

Allen turned back and saw Reine glaring at him with her arms crossed. He smiled coyly and Reine sighed.

"You hurt her, you'll end up being firewood, you hear me?"

"Crystal clear."

As Neil watched Reine shot yet another arrow—gaining more bull's eyes as she became more accustomed using her new bow—he remembered his earlier conversation with Allen. It was rare for him to have such a frank conversation, but he had to admit that in this matter, Allen was an expert (at the very least, relatively so to himself).

"Do you still want to see this certain uncertain little girl? Do you still pin your hope on that childhood crush?"

"Why'd you ask anyway?"

"Yes or no?"

"Sometimes I wonder how she turns out. But I guess, with the way I am—well, who can ever love a beast?"

Allen sighed, "Then, rather than imagining some vague little girl from your childhood, why not see the one right in front of you? She touches your claw like it's not a big deal. She speaks to you the way she speaks to another human being—although strictly speaking she's the only human around—but don't you get my point? True, she can be harsh and unrefined—but that rawness of her is exactly what allows her to see the raw you. The real you. And are you telling me you're not going to consider that?"

Another bull's eye, and Neil realized that there were no more arrows in her quiver, and the target board was crowded with arrows stuffed into the centre red circle, with a few outliers.

When Reine noticed the same fact herself, she began to sense her surrounding and finally noticed Neil's presence.

"How long have you been there?" she asked, snapping him out from his thoughts as well.

"Uh, I dunno… since your third arrow, I guess?"

"Wow, that's some time ago—don't you have anything better to do?"

Neil averted his gaze. "You seem so focused that you didn't notice me."

"Well, yes," Reine agreed. "Once I lock on my target, I ignore everything else. For me, that's the beauty of archery: for a moment, there was nothing in my eyes but the target."

"…sounds like if somebody wants your undivided attention they should be your target." Neil muttered lowly under his breath.

"Hm?"

"Nothing." He quickly replied.

Reine shrugged as she retrieved another batch of arrows. "Why don't you try shooting for a change? I can teach you."

"Ukh…"

"C'mon~" Reine cooed with a playful smile on her face. "It's not that hard."

"Fine…"

Reine grinned as she gave her bow to him, "You're right-hander? Okay, stand with your left feet in front of your right and spread your legs shoulder-wide. Then, you load the bow," she handed him an arrow and showed him the butt part, "You see this? This is a nock, and you put it like this." She guided him to load the bow and brought his arms up, "Focus on the target, hold your arms steady… then shoot."

Neil released the string the moment she said the word "shoot", and the arrow sped through the air, piercing the target board just at its perimeter. Neil glanced at Reine who smiled encouragingly at him, "It's okay. It's not that bad. I remember I missed my first target by five yards."

"Really?"

"Yep." Reine nodded, "But my father told me, as long as you keep focusing on the target, one day you'll hit it for sure. Just keep your focus, and keep giving it another shot. But you have to focus—that's why I decide to only focus at my target, and nothing else."

Allen's words resounding in his head.

…rather than imagining some vague little girl from your childhood, why not see the one right in front of you?

For a moment, Neil took a careful, closer look on the fearless young woman before him. It wasn't hard to see the fairness of her skin, despite all the scratch marks and callouses on her skin. Her soft pink hair, tied securely into a high ponytail like he always saw her, trapped some snowflakes that she didn't bother to get rid of. There was something almost adorable in her frankness—both in her words, her actions, even in her appearance.

Neil remembered that the girl from his childhood dream was a redhead, but he found himself not caring about that as much as he thought he did. Allen did have a point. After all, it was Reine, not that girl, who reminded him of his own name; it was Reine, not that girl, who gave him a human's warmth; it was Reine, not that girl, who saw him as a human still despite of his beastly figure.

It was Reine, not that girl, who was here—real and touchable.

A part of him loathed the fact that he abandoned his own boyhood dream in a snap. A dream of a decade—vague, but almost fantastical and soothing in the darkest of his times. He knew he would always remember her hair, red as the rose he had initially intended to give her before the Witch turned that very same rose into the clock on which his borrowed time was counted; and he would always remember her rich, tremulous voice singing a very sad ballad.

Papa, are you near me?

Papa, can you hear me?

Papa, can you help me, not be frightened?

Looking at the skies I seem to see a million eyes

Which ones are yours?

Where are you now yesterday

Has waved goodbye and closed its doors?

He would always remember that. But now he learned that that was all she should be for him: a remembrance, a memory.

And that it was Reine, not that girl, who was here—real and touchable.

Another snowflake fell on her hair and soon was tangled in the weavings of her hair. This time, Neil raised his hand and took that snowflake carefully.

That gesture shocked the huntress beyond words. Usually, her first instinct would be to back off, but somehow something glued her to where she stood that she didn't move at all.

"Uh… let's go back." Neil offered. "It's getting colder here."

"Isn't this fur thick enough?" she asked playfully, trying to conceal her shock by poking at his furry palm.

"You don't have fur." Neil replied, quite awkwardly, but sincerely concerned.

"Oh…"

Neil took off his cape and gave it to her before turning around and began to walk towards the castle, and somehow Reine followed him obediently after wrapping herself in that dark magenta cape, wondering why it was so easy for her to accept his kindness.

It had been quite some time, maybe ever since she took it upon herself to fill the void her father had left behind in pragmatic terms, that someone explicitly shown care and worry for her save for her mother and sister. Her huntress persona had led the people in her town believed her to be an untameable, almost-invincible woman. Maybe she herself had believed this that she hadn't expected anyone to show an ounce of care of her. Maybe she had even subconsciously tried to hide her more vulnerable parts to sustain that image, because in this day and age, three women living alone with no male protector was hard—someone had to take up that 'man' role, and she had decided that in her family, that should be hers, no matter what she had to give up to be it.

That was how she gave up her dreams to be properly educated.

And somewhere along the journey that had hardened her heart, and when she realized it she was left with a heart of stone. She knew, but she had decided to do nothing about it. If a heart of stone was what it took for her to sustain her family, so be it.

But his raw sincerity had stirred something in this heart of stone inside of hers. A flicker of a new flame. She knew she didn't exactly know what that was, but at the same time she felt that this new flame was not something entirely foreign at all.

It was like those famed treasures, whose existence was only known through tales and legends, whose existence only learned through legends and tales—foreign and familiar at the same time.

When they walked into the castle together, Reine knew that she was entering an unmapped forest in her heart, for the road and signposts of feelings previously there were already replaced by constant pragmatic, and practical concern of survival.

This was the time, she knew, she might have to begin to redraw the map of her own heart, as abstract as it might sound. Being a huntress, she was especially wary of the unknowns—but somehow this unknown didn't really worry her that much.

It was as if she knew, instinctively, that she was not alone—that someone would help her to redraw that map and find that buried treasure.

Neil decided to move on from his childhood crush to someone who is "here and real".

While Reine begins to relearn the ropes of truly loving someone besides her mother and sister.

Will the two of them succeed? Or is there something more awaits for them?

Thanks for reading!

Please rate and review! ^^