For all of you who guessed it was Ripred, you're wrong. Sorry to disappoint. (Don't worry, he's gonna come soon.)

Fun Fact- My favorite colors are blue and black, like my soul. But with a sense of humor.

Lyrics of the Week: "Just sit back and relax, don't worry. The world can wait, don't need to hurry." -LemminoMusic (Infinity) [Check him out! He makes great music, but he's too unpopular...]

I turned to the source of the voice. What I saw amused me.

There, in front of the entrance of the stadium, stood purple and gold. Luxa and Aurora, respectively.

The Queen still had her golden band on her head, with her hair a little grown out and cropped off close to her head like the one she had in our first journey. She was equipped with a polished mix of leather and chainmail armor. Beneath her leather bodice was a hauberk. She wore leather bracers, gorget, tassets, corset; metal spaulders, leggings and boots, all in different shades of purple, mostly in dark shades. She also wore two metal bracelets, both of which were intricately and uniquely designed. The sword she was holding seemed thin like a rapier, but I couldn't really tell since it was sheathed.

Overall, she screamed stunning and beautiful. Any man who set their sights on her would probably fall in love, which is already proved by the loud whistles of the male Underlanders. Of course, I wasn't 'any man'.

I noticed Aurora closing her mouth.

So she was the one who screeched. Bravo, Queen. Nice entrance.

The crowd went crazy, shouting at the top of their lungs, even louder than I had previously heard. Apparently, she never told anyone about this.

The Queen began to stride towards me with elegance and grace, while Aurora flew and joined a group of fliers in the audience. I bowed deeply once she stopped a few meters in front of me.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Your Majesty?" I asked in a cheeky tone.

She cocked her head in confusion. "Did the guard not tell you?"

"Guard?" I was puzzled by her statement for a second. Then, I remembered. The guard that barged into my room was the messenger. He was supposed to tell me about this, but I had cut him off due to my -dare I say- overwhelming emotions. I felt a little guilty, but I didn't want to show that to her.

"Oh, him. I may have kinda... chased him out."

Now it was her turn to be amused. "Oh? And why is that?"

I shrugged. "Let's not talk about that and focus on this." I whipped out my two favorite daggers and took a defensive stance. "Ready whenever you are, Queen."

She unsheathed her sword and, to my surprise, crouched. She lowered and positioned herself like a sprinter getting ready to run, but with a sword at the back, pointing diagonally downwards. So this is how she duels. Crouching like a predator, ready to strike at her prey on any given moment.

Interesting.

Rather than circling around her to force her to repeatedly change her position, I merely waited for her move, anticipation gleaming in my eyes.

And then, the Queen moved. Just after she shifted into place, she shot out like a catapult.

In a blink of an eye, she had closed the distance between us. In that blink, my Rager hadn't activated. In that blink, I took a step back, not expecting that to happen. All of those fuelled my will and instinct to counterattack, and I forcefully swung my right-hand dagger.

But that was a fatal mistake. I had put too much strength in that swing, causing my literal downfall as I began to lose my balance.

The Queen used my stupidity to her advantage, positioning herself below me and thrusting her sword forward, towards my chest. An image of a blade puncturing my chest suddenly filled my brain, reminding me of my very recent nightmare. In a panic, I used my left dagger to slam the blade downwards. It connected, bringing her blade onto the ground and creating a small dust cloud. I quickly retreated to the edge of the arena, away from her.

Several drops of sweat dripped from my head. I wiped them off with my sleeve. I squeezed my eyes shut and clutched my chest, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Relax. Don't think of them.

When I thought I did, I opened my eyes and checked my hands. They were shaking, but mildly, luckily. I ran my hand down on my face, putting back my 'mask'. My usual face returned.

I looked back to where the Queen just was. She wasn't there anymore, but instead was already dashing towards me, only slower this time. At that distance, she shouldn't be able to see my face.

I questioned her speed. Had she already exhausted her stamina already? Or did she have no time to reposition herself and just attacked?

I really hoped it was the latter.

I went back to my stance and waited again, focusing on her breathing, her arms, her legs and her sword. Every small action she took from those, I noticed. Once she was in close proximity, she drove her blade down, straight to my head.

But I had predicted that. I crisscrossed my daggers to her blade, blocking it. Before I could let her attack again, I pushed her sword away and struck a fist right at her gut. Despite her protection with the hauberk and leather bodice, I still managed to send her flying, distancing ourselves once again.

Her body twirled and flipped in mid-air as she tried to position herself correctly, successfully landing on the ground with a soft thud. She then gripped her belly while wincing in pain, but still managed to give me a half smile.

"Your strength and speed is admirable."

I mocked surprise. "The Queen is praising me? How flattering."

For the first time in like, forever, she laughed. Not one of the fake forced laughter- it was a full, genuine laugh.

I relaxed my body to let her enjoy her moment. She probably came here to relieve her stress. I understood and respected that. I could ask her why to confirm my theory, but I didn't want to kill her happy mood.

After a little while, her laughter died down into chuckles and then went back to being serious.

"I am sorry for interrupting our duel. Shall we continue?"

I nodded firmly and charged at her. She did the same and we both clashed blades. She tried to do a feint by swinging her sword to my right and then suddenly veering it to my left, but I saw that coming.

I parried it with one dagger, followed by a stab for the neck with the other. Unfortunately for me, her reflexes were quicker than I thought as my daggers were blocked by a blade and a bracelet. Irked by that, I punted her knee, forcing her leg to be straightened, earning a shout of pain from the Queen (which quenched my sadism I couldn't get rid of), and causing her balance to be slightly off.

But no matter how slight it was, it still was an opening. I engaged by striking a flurry of jabs at her, most of which she tried to block. The rest tore through parts of her leather bodice but still did not damage her due to her hauberk. She was in the defensive. My aggressiveness of my attacks made her back out, step by step.

In the heat of the battle, something caught her eye, and her face fell. Her defense suddenly faltered and resulted in my dagger pointing at her neck.

The crowd went crazy again, breaking into louder and louder cheers every second, and chanting my title again.

But I wasn't in the mood for their praises. Anger boiled within me. What could be so upsetting that made her divert her attention from me? I couldn't help but follow her gaze as curiousity took over my senses. She was looking at the entrance of the arena, where an unfamiliar group of five kids were standing. One of the five, a girl, was not clapping like the others but instead weirdly and gleefully grinning away.

The Queen then eyed between me and my dagger in surprise, almost as if she never realized that I had a dagger pointing right at her. I groaned softly, which was more of a sigh, and kept both daggers back into their compartments. She also did the same and sheathed her sword.

"Let's hold this duel for now."

She merely nodded; her face saddened by either the fact that she lost to me or the appearance of that group. Now that I looked closer, she had lilac circles under her eyes. Huh. She must've had a really bad time.

I focused my gaze to the group once again. "Who are they that made you so distracted?"

"My cousins. They must have arrived in Regalia," said The Queen stiffly, a tone that felt unfitting for the future queen of Regalia.

"Are they different from your other two cousins, that Neri- something and Hen-" I bit my tongue. "...him?"

"Nerissa," she corrected. "Yes, Nerissa and... Henry." That last word cost her some effort to say. As if she was afraid to say that name. She took a deep breath before continuing. "They are the only royal cousins I have ever had. Our fathers were brothers, sons of a king, and of the royal family."

As in cue, the cousins began to head over to us, specifically the Queen. She nodded at them with her signature half-smile, but this time, it wasn't genuine anymore. Her eyes burned with obvious dislike.

"These five I am related to are on my mother's side. They are not of royal blood, although they greatly desire to be so."

"Not a fan of them, huh?" I said, folding my arms.

The Queen was confused at that unfamiliar term for a moment, but that quickly dissolved as she seemingly understood the gist of it.

"They make fun of Nerissa. Of her gift and her frailty," said Luxa. "No, we do not... that is, I do not like them."

So the pain and burden of losing Henry still dwelled in there. She would probably get over it in a year or so.

"They are only here on a visit from the Fount. Hopefully it will be a short one," said the Queen. It sounded like she was reassuring herself.

The Queen and her cousins exchanged brief, formal greetings, and then she introduced me to them. The oldest, Howard, was probably about sixteen and looked like an avid bodybuilder. There was a girl named Stellovet, maybe thirteen or so, who had flowing, silvery blond curls. She was the classic representation of a beauty, but I had a pretty bad vibe about her. She was the one who was happily smiling at the Queen.

Next in line was a pair of younger twins, a girl named Hero and a boy called Kent. Lastly, there was a little girl, maybe five or so, who was named Chimney and was clinging tightly onto Stellovet's hand.

All of them had troubles taking their eyes off me, probably because I was the Warrior or an Overlander. Maybe both.

"Greetings, Ryan the Overlander. We have heard much of your deeds and are grateful for your stay," Howard said, civilly enough. He seemed and sounded alright.

"Thanks, I guess."

"Oh," said Stellovet, her voice dripping with honey. I resisted the urge to cringe.

Oh, great. It's another one of those. A person with a superiority complex. And a girl, no less.

"We were so glad you were there to defend Luxa on the quest."

She sounded so sarcastic yet hateful at the same time. Just like-

I stopped that train of thought. No. Stop it. Stop the bad memories.

But they still emerged against my will. Especially the memory of a young, rich woman, who was one of my targets. She even had the guts to sass me although I had her at knife-point. She had complained on and on about how unfair her life was and then even taunted me that I wouldn't dare to kill her. After that, she didn't have the guts anymore. That's because her guts was ripped out by-

The memory turned blank, as if someone had pressed the stop button. That someone was me. I couldn't bear to remember all of that. I had to lock up most of my past memories deep inside my brain again, but I knew that wouldn't hold them out for long. I knew, and yet, it was currently the only way for me to temporarily forget.

I really need to drink after all of this is over.

I was too busy focusing on that that I had almost forgotten about the cousins.

"... Overlander? Warrior, how fare you?"

It was the Queen who had asked that. I shook my head and said, "Yeah? I'm fine."

She was a little skeptical but didn't push it. The cousins and her were worried about me, as seen on their faces. Stellovet looked the most worried, like she pitied me.

"What is it?" I asked Stellovet, a bit too harshly.

Stellovet only blinked in surprise. She was about to repeat her sentence when I remembered what she had said.

"Oh yeah, about me defending Luxa on the quest. I don't really see myself as a defender or a guardian. But considering the number of rats we had to fight, I guess I owe her."

That was a lie. She owed me, like the time when I ordered Lizzie to shoot the root beer at the spider queen.

Stellovet's eyes narrowed, but she gave me a sweet smile. Disgusting.

"Yes, Luxa is something of an expert on rats." She then broke into a devilish grin; her next sentence full of malice. "No matter how many legs they have."

Ooh. That clearly meant Henry. I saw the Queen visibly flinching at her words. Even I wouldn't go that far. I mean, not really. I have killed others' loved ones before, but I had never spat their deaths at them in their faces before. I just moved along and let them deal with it. I felt a deep and growing dislike of Stellovet.

To my credit, Howard seemed embarrassed. Stellovet and the twins were smirking. The little girl, Chimney, was wide-eyed and confused.

I didn't want to defend the Queen, but my urge to rebute was rising, so I just went for it.

I stared at Stellovet for a few moments before casually asking, "So, where are you all from?"

"We live at the Fount. Our father is in charge there," Stellovet said with pride.

Ah, good. She has pride, just like all the others. Let's humiliate her a little, shall we?

"Yes, we should," said my counterpart unexpectedly.

So we finally agree on something. Didn't expect that.

"And does your father protect you from the rats?"

"There are not many rats in the Fount," she said with greater pride, totally escaping the point of my question. I guessed she didn't want to say yes and embarrass herself.

"They are no doubt afraid of our fighting abilities."

The rats, afraid? Hilarious. Even if the odds were stacked against them, they would never back out. Or at least in my experience.

"They have little reason to come," Howard said, giving his sister a disapproving look. "They would have to swim their way up treacherous river rapids, and we have no crops or Overlanders worth destroying."

I mentally thanked Howard for the information.

"Ah, so have you seen a rat?" I said pointedly at the smug Stellovet.

She blushed; her entire body turning bright pink. "Yes! I have seen a rat! As close as I am to you!"

I was about to question "And was that rat alive?", but Chimney interrupted.

"But, Stellovet," she said, tugging her hand. "That rat was dead."

I resisted the urge to laugh. Leave it to the little girl.

I enjoyed seeing Stellovet's blushing an even deeper shade of pink. "Hush!" she said to Chimney angrily.

"Figures. Come on, Queen, let's continue where we left off."

"If you will excuse us, cousins," said Luxa.

She and I turned and walked away from them. I shot a quick glance at her. The pain was still evident on her face, but she gave me a smile.

"Thank you, Warrior," she said softly. "But I do not want to fight anymore."

"Oh," I said, disappointed. "Then, uh..." I tried to think of a topic to prove that she owed me. "Do a flip. Do the fanciest, wildest one you can think of."

The Queen removed her armor and sword and gently placed it on a side of the arena. She then paused for a moment, focused on a spot halfway across the field, and took off. She launched into a beautiful sequence of flips, ending with a move where she turned two full times in the air completely stretched out and landed on her feet. People in the audience -which was much fewer in numbers- applauded, but she just jogged back to me as if she didn't notice.

"Now you try," she said, a little teasingly.

"No thanks. I'm not really good at this."

She was about to say something when Mareth interrupted by calling everyone to begin sword training, with the exception of me. I had also told the council that I didn't need training. I excused myself, walked to a wall of the arena and leaned on it, watching the Underlanders like a hawk. Howard and Stellovet had joined the Queen's group while the rest joined another. Everyone except Luxa chose a sword of varying types from a large cart that had been wheeled out onto the field.

After everyone had picked their weapons Mareth divided up the rest of the group into pairs to practice drills. Swords danced around, hitting other blades and air.

I focused my eyes onto Howard and observed his fighting style. He had chosen a broadsword, which fitted his muscular build. I analyzed his opponent, who was a teen-aged Underlander with two twin swords. If I remembered correctly, his name was… Demwop, or something like that. The victor was very obvious. My assumption was correct, as Howard overpowered the skinny Underlander in a few moves.

My gaze then shifted to Stellovet. She was facing an Underlander that was twice her size and looked similar to an orc. The bigger Underlander smirked at Stellovet, probably thinking how he could squish her and being way too overconfident. He prepared to thrust his falchion at her, but she moved faster. Before his arm could extend fully, Stellovet rushed towards the giant and had her saber pointed at his neck. When the falchion hit the ground, he then realized the situation he was in and quickly backed off, touching his neck.

She did not let him rest and quickly charged at him. The large one reflexively lifted his sword to his body to block her attack, but she slid past his blade like a snake and poked her blade on his shoulder. No blood was drawn, but Stellovet seemed to be enjoying it, giggling away, almost toying with him.

After a while, they all broke to rest for a few minutes, and then Mareth announced it was time for cannon practice.

That piped my curiosity. I jogged to the Queen.

"What's cannon practice?" I asked.

"These are small cannons for sword practice. To help with speed and accuracy," said the Queen, indicating to the cannons. "You will see."

Three cannons were wheeled onto the field. Off to the side, Mareth set a barrel that was filled with something waxy about the size of a golf ball. "These are bloods balls," the Queen said, holding one out on her palm.

I took it from her and felt liquid sloshing around in it.

"Is it real blood?" asked my other self.

"No, only a red liquid to suggest blood. It makes it easier to see if one had made a hit or not," said the Queen.

Did she just read my mind?

It took me a full second to figure out that my mouth had moved without my consent again and had asked that question aloud.

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid.

The three cannons were positioned in an arc and loaded up with five blood balls each. The Underlanders gathered in a circle outside the cannons.

"So, who is brave enough to go first?" Mareth asked with a smile. "Why not you, Howard? I remember you did quite well the last time you visited."

Howard took his position between the cannons. One faced him, one was on his right, the last on his left. Each was about twenty feet away. On Mareth's command, three Underlanders started to crank handles on the sides of the cannons. Blood balls began to rocket out of the barrels straight at Howard. He swung his sword back and forth, trying to cover his front and sides. Seven blood balls burst as his blade made contact with them. But another eight lay unharmed on the ground around him. The whole thing only took about ten seconds.

"Well done, Howard! Well done," said Mareth, and Howard looked pleased with himself.

"Was that a good score?" I asked the Queen.

She shrugged. "It was not bad" was as much praise as she could muster.

One by one, each of the Underlanders took their turn in the line of fire. Most hit only one or two balls. The Queen matched Howard's seven, and Stellovet hit a pathetic five. When all the Underlanders had gone, Mareth called for the cannons to be moved to another part of the field.

"Does the Overlander not take a turn?" Stellovet asked in an innocent voice.

I winced. Why did she have to sound like that? It's so… awful.

"He had told the council he did not need training," said Mareth.

"I suppose it is too daunting," said Stellovet, "even for one so accomplished."

I pursed my lips. Daunting? Me!?

"I greatly doubt Ryan is daunted," Mareth said with respect. "Would you like to try it, Ryan? Only as an exercise. Almost no one gets many on their first try."

"Yeah, sure. Why not."

I had agreed for two reasons. One, I actually wanted to try it out on my own. It looked very interesting and certainly would be if I did. Two, I had my own pride. Stellovet's not getting away with that snarky remark. She wants me to be 'so accomplished'? I'll show her.

So, there I stood. Daggers in both hands. Buzzing with both excitement and rage. Ready to begin. Ready to show off.

Mareth's hand slashed down into the air, giving the order to fire.

I heard the Underlanders crank the handles. Time slowed to a crawl as the first wave of blood balls were shot out of the cannons.

Then, it finally happened.

Yeah, I know I have to apologize for the super long delay. So, I'm very sorry. I really am. Exams are 'right around the corner', as my DM would say it, and it's true. This chapter was heavily delayed because of that, and it's my finals. I had to study really hard cause I'm a very lazy person.

Uh, sorry to have your hopes up, but the next chapter (chapter 3) will be on a two month-ish hiatus because of, well, exams. I will be starting to write chapter 3 on 13 October, as that date is the last paper I have to take.

Ugh, I'm so tired. Rate and critic for all I care.

Note: I'm not really satisfied with this one. I feel like this chapter is not as fluid and natural as chapter 1. But I had set up my own deadline, and I had forgotten about it, because of my own stupidity. Thanks, me.

Another note: Please don't be as lazy as me. You won't go far. Trust me. You will start to procrastinate and have anxiety and stress and pressure, and the list goes on and on. Seriously, don't go the same path as I once did. Heh. It's funny, right? I, a nobody who thinks that he has all the time in the world, am telling you all that. Yeah, take advice from a teenager. But seriously, don't.

Whatever. See you guys in the next 1-2 months.