Chapter 5: The nightmare among dreams

They all landed just outside the defensive walls of Hyrule, Mizusaki's kingdom, and they noticed that the marks were still there. The marks that the war had left.

"You kingdom doesn't do repairs much?" Emily Asked, as she stared at the bomb craters left in the 10 foot wide wall. But, there was always a reason with these Hyrule citizens. They never did anything unnecessary, and they always had reason, but heaven just calls them "excuses".

"Not really." Mizusaki shrugged. "Then again, since this is my home, we can stay here. Until Dianna gets over her hangover or something." His smile revealed little cute dimples on his cheeks, and suddenly he wasn't so intolerable anymore--well, only Hara thought boys were intolerable. But, she couldn't think that about everyone couldn't she? Mizusaki walked across the street with his hood on, putting a shadow over his face. Probably to cover his identity, how awkward it would be for him to come back bringing a ton of friends. Emily thought. But, everyone in Hyrule had memorized the royals faces. As soon as a glimmer of light reached his face, he would be revealed, so he kept his head down. The citizens had also recognized Emily, Dianna and Hara as royals from other countries. Hara of Albion, Emily of heaven, And Dianna of The eastern underworld. They're parents were popular here too, they could see their parents faces in the newspapers and sometime they would see their names tattooed on someone's arm. (Although in Belrinya, Tattoos were kinda illegal.) They walked past the different stalls of food, Fabric, and other things that were sold in the marketplace. While Mizusaki was keeping his eyes glued to the floor, a man suddenly came up and accidentally bumped him in the shoulder, before he tripped and fell, unraveling his hood and revealing his identity. The man gasped, his face full of fear. Would he go to prison? Would he be sent to the gallows? The thought of that, the thought of being sent to the gallows to prepare for execution by hanging is a citizens worst fear. Mizusaki coughed as dust plumed around the spot he had fallen, as the man searched for words, the royal guard had already heard about his highness. As 15 armed men pointed guns at the man, Mizusaki stood up and flicked his hand, signalling them to back off. He held out his hand to the man as he had fallen out of surprise, the man took his arm and Mizusaki lifted him up and gave him a pat on the shoulder, before whispering--

"Be more careful, the queen isn't as merciful." The man froze up and ran. When the guards prepared to run, Mizusaki had already grabbed Kei's arm.

"Don't bother." He said to his friend. "He's not worth it." He let go of Kei and everyone in the area knelt down at his highness. Kei was Mizusaki's bodyguard when he was around, but when he left, he was promoted to general of the Hyrule army, small, sure, but still skilled and powerful. After all, they had a Death hunter train their armies. Death hunters, were like mercenaries but, they never killed an innocent person, people who harm them, people who are on the dark side are the people they kill, They mostly train the future death hunters in the Albion army. "Your highness." Kei dropped on one knee, as the other 15 soldiers followed in respect for their prince. "The King and Queen wish to see you."

"Oh my dear son!" The Queen said as she hugged her son in a big embrace.

"Meredy, stop coddling him." His father, the King, sat in a throne in the middle of the room, the rooms carpets and curtains were in a very distinctive color of wine, the Royal color of Hyrule. "These are the ladies you were supposed to pick up I presume?" The King asked, he looked amused in a way. The King was looking at the three girls talking in the seats a few meters away from them. "Yes, father." Mizusaki's bow had reached his waist. Even if he was a part of the royal family, he still had to respect his seniors. The king's eyes darted to Hara and then back to his son, at least 4 times. Hara and Emily came over the the King and Queen and greeted them. "King Kylix, Queen Meredy." The two girls curtsied at the same time. "Were you looking for us by any chance?" The two girls smiled nervously. They had caught the King and Queen looking at them. The King looked around a bit, as if looking for a clue but, never found anything. "Oh no, I wasn't." The King replied nervously. "You may go back."

The two girls headed back, and the king leaned closer to his son and smiled. A servant had came by and given them a glass of cider. As Mizusaki took a sip, his father whispered--

"I see you have also met you betrothed." Mizusaki had nearly choked on his drink, And cider leaked from the corner of his mouth. "My what?" He asked again, praying it was just a dream. "Betrothed." His father repeated as he too took a sip from his drink, His son had nearly fainted. Betrothed? I had just turned 19 and my dad pulls this on me? I barely even know whichever girl he meant. He thought. "Which girl did you mean?" His son urged. The King almost laughed at the statement. "Now what do you mean?" The question was indifferent, the king knew what his son had meant. Mizusaki rolled his eyes and continued to drink from his cup.

"The Albion princess."

Mizusaki had completely choked on his drink--"What?!" His son's voice raised as he coughed. "Hara?"

His father raised his eyebrows, "Yes." The King's eyes went back to the Queen. "Meredy take the girls to their room." The Queen understood what he meant by that, and what he meant was: take them to the room across the boy's. After the girls left, King Kylix and his son continued their talk in the common room.

"Dad! You can't make me marry Hara." His son whined, as he paced the room. "I barely know the girl!" His father's eyebrows raised slightly, as if daring him to continue. Mizusaki fell silent and sat onto the chair in front of him, no longer having the will to look at his father.

"You will get to know her better." His father lit his cigarette. "You will have to." Mizusaki thought for a moment, scanning his memory. "But," his son reasoned. "She already has someone she loves." The King had spit out the cigar from his mouth and had coughing fit. "She has what!?" The King sat up straight on his chair with his leg crossed. Just then, his mother entered the room, the moment she stepped in she could sense the awkwardness in the atmosphere. The feeling had pierced her, making her rush to the chair, next to her son. "Hey," The Queen patted her son's sun blond hair. (Just like mine. She thought.) "Maybe we could talk about this again. Where were you in the conversation?" his mother fixed her posture, as she looked at the tapestries and painting of married Kings and Queens in the history of Hyrule, and her eyes had stopped into one painting. Her eyes scanned the girl's long blond hair, her leaf green eyes and almond freckles, and the boy's walnut colored hair, his Iron silver eyes, and the small dimples that were on his cheeks. It was her and Kylix, they were much younger back then, of course. They were an arranged marriage as well, only they both had accepted it, with no complaints. "She likes someone else." Mizusaki continued. "Or she did." His mother and father were confused as they were intrigued. "And who is this?" His mother asked. Just then a steward came into the room. He did a bow, not even raising his eyes, he was waiting for the approval of speech. A custom to those who work in the castle. The King nodded his head, and the boy spoke. "Your highness, Princess Emily would like to speak with you." His head faced Mizusaki, and all 6 eyes turned to him. "Wait, me?" He asked, why would Emily wanna speak with me? "Yes, my Lord." The steward bowed once again. Mizusaki stood up and headed for the door, the steward tracing behind him. He saw Emily sitting in a chair in the common room, waiting. What would she want with me? He scoffed. Emily caught him lagging in his steps and her eyes caught him, her glare was undying and unrelenting. Mizusaki froze. But, pushed himself to sit there, for the sake of his dignity. No one should know that a prince was glared down to the ground by a girl, 2× smaller than him.

"What did you wanna talk about?" He asked nervously, as his hands shook behind his back.

"You were talking about Hara, am I correct?" Her glare still holding. Mizusaki's hands froze. How the heck would she know that? He asked himself. "How would you know?" His hands crossed over his chest, confident she would think she was wrong.

"I heard and I saw." Her stare fell to the cup of tea in her hand, sighed. "Don't pretend, You were talking about who she loved." His gaze fixed on Emily, her eyes flashed a sudden emotion. Pity. She was sad about Hara's love, but why would she be? Shouldn't she be happy for her friend? "

Your wondering who it is don't you?" Her gaze fixed, no longer glaring. He nodded slightly, he was confused about many things, and had many questions. Emily drew a shape in the air and spread her hand, Suddenly the room around them began to dissolve, and they were no longer in Hyrule Castle, they were on Albion soil. "Why are we here?" Mizusaki asked, he looked around and suddenly felt familiar with the area. Until, he spotted a giant building in the middle of the area, it was a giant tower. "I'm going to tell you a story." Emily's eyes traced 2 kids, no older than 5 years old, running around the military grounds like they had owned the place. The girl had bright brown hair, and wine red eyes, her appearance cute and innocent, the boy had pitch black hair, bright green eyes, and an charming exterior. They were playing around dodging bullets from toy guns (although they didn't look like toys, they looked very much like the real thing.) "There were 2 kids, playing around the military facility, a girl named Chizuru, and a boy named Rouge." Emily started to narrate as the surroundings zoomed in to the 2 kids. "They were best friends since young, and spent everyday together. One day, 8 years later, the day of the great war, Rouge had military training and couldn't join Hara in the study, while she sat there studying tactics alone, a huge crash suddenly screamed outside. As they both looked for each other, Hara called her best friends from Heaven, Belrinya, and Hell and asked them what had happened. A war was coming. Hara immediately stopped looking for Rouge and looked for her parents. But as she crossed castle grounds. . . " Emily's eyes filled with sorrow, as she paused. "She saw Rouge laying there, blood coming from his back, head and arms. She rushed to him and laid his head on her lap, despite the blood coming out of it, he opened his eyes and saw her there. His last smile, had made Hara's tears spill. But, she could feel his spirit around her always. Anytime she was in need, Rouge was always there as a spirit to guide her. But, she needed him in person." Emily stopped once again, as the scene changed once more, they were now in a lush green forest, and Hara appeared even older now, 15 at least. "One day, Hara went to see a spirit arts user, she needed to to know how she could make Rouge's spirit come to life when she really needed it. The spirit arts user was named Selena and she was a master at the art, she lived in a very deep part of the forest and could do these things but not for a cheap price. Knowing this, Hara brought 3 bags of gold coins. As she found the willow tree where Selena resided, she saw her sitting on one of the branches, as if she knew Hara would come. 'the trees said you would come.' Selena smiled. 'now what do you need child?' Hara explained her situation and her status, and Selena said, 'well that's a simple spell, but a risky one. if not done right, it could lead to the spirit dying instead.' Hara knew the risks now but she also couldn't not take it, she needed this." As the scene melted back to Hyrule Castle, Mizusaki suddenly woke up, finding himself lying down on the sofa in the common room, Emily nowhere to be seen. Kei was standing there beside him.

"How long have I been here?" He asked as he rubbed the sore in his neck. Kei's face was full of confusion, his highness has never slept on the sofa since he was a child. "Just about 3 hours." Not everyone could get away with talking to Mizusaki without calling him "your highness" or "my Lord" but Kei could.

"Where's Emily?" He rubbed the back of his head, he was having an illusion hangover.

"She left an hour ago."

Mizusaki strolled the castle halls, he hadn't been there for a while. He was still thinking about what Emily had told him about Hara. Should I have not told my parents about it? He thought. I wasn't wrong. I can't marry someone, who loves someone else, even if that someone is a spirit. He kept pondering about what had happened in the story. Did Hara succeed in her goal of make Rouge human again? Did Rouge's spirit die? He couldn't make out an answer, though he knew this he had the urge to keep it a secret from everyone else. Just then, when he was deep in thought, he bumped into Dianna in the Hallway. Dianna had lost her balance and fell backwards after bumping into his shoulder, her glasses fell off and hit the ground, leaving slight crack in its glass. Dianna fiddled to find it and put it on immediately before standing up, but Mizusaki had seen something in her eyes before she had placed her glasses back on. Her eyes weren't grey anymore--well it was before her glasses came off--her eyes were purple and glowing for a second, but as a demon they take pride in noticing things like that. Her eyes had reflected Hell, She really was a demon's Royal Blood.

"S-sorry, Dianna." He stammered, as he held out her hand to her.

Dianna took his hand, a friendly manner, quick and simple.

"Thanks." Dianna wiped her glasses, she kept her head down, as if she kept her purple eyes a secret. She stopped in the middle and put them on, the light glaring and bouncing off of them. "Hey, you were thinking about Hara just now, right?" She asked inconspicuously. How the hell could she know? Demon reader? He thought to himself, before he let his hands fall to his sides."N-No." He stammered, he was clearly lying. Dianna's face was full of disbelief, but eased up to make him not feel so tense, even if she would enjoy seeing these types of liars writhe on the floor in pain. Dianna sighed and continued walking, but when she walked past him, she whispered something. "You stand no chance with Hara." She said. Mizusaki froze cold in his steps and was too afraid to even look her in the eye. She continued walking, like she hadn't just degraded a prince. But, her pride was always more than enough. She wasn't gonna bow down to a price who isn't even first in line to his throne, unless he gets married. She replayed the thoughts she had read from him. Hara's old love, her kingdom, Selena. That name felt easy rolling out of her tongue. Like, she didn't know the evils that, that woman had done. She re-entered her room, it looked insanely different from all her other rooms. In the tavern she liked sharing a room with Sumi, Emily and Hara, back home she liked sharing her room with her puppies (they weren't even the size of puppies since, her dogs were hellhounds.) Been a while since I had my own room. A bit too big though. I'll ask if I can just share a room with Emily and Hara. She thought, as she looked around the room it was bigger than the tavern itself. Wonder if there's any clubs near hear. She thought. Dianna stood up and headed for the common room where Emily and Hara were waiting for her. They wanted to have some fun to overrun the gloomy mood. It was almost 5 pm and Emily and Hara were already pajamas, they thought clubbing would be a bit much, especially since Sumi's went missing, so they thought that they could have a pajama party like they did back at the dorms of their old dormitory. "Hey, Dianna!" Emily waved, her pajamas were quite cute and simple, exactly what you'd expect from a princess's night gown, it had Violet patterns on its seams collar, and it had long bell sleeves. Cutesy type, to be honest. Dianna's was a bit more laid back, and not so princess-y, hers was a oversized sweater-dress it had reach her mid-thigh and she had preferred to make it an off shoulder. Collars are overrated. She would say. It had ink black butterfly patters on the top and bottom, part of the crest of the underworld. The black butterfly symbolises bad luck, or a bad totem, same as how a black cat was said to bring chaos and destruction. But, in hell these types of creatures were treasured, while other kingdoms hated and despised them, hell had one good thing, anything rejected in other kingdoms, especially heaven, would be accepted in hell. Be it weird looking creatures, monsters that are mistreated, anything. Hara's was the normal kind of pajamas you would find in a teenager's closet, An oversized top, Some leggings and she's done. She was the simplest one of the group when it came to attires, she wore a military uniform everyday, and occasionally she would wear a formal dress, but never would she wear a poofy, pink, gown like the princesses in storybooks would. "Well?" Dianna shrugged. "Let's get this party started!"

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