Anne yawns softly as she rummages through her closet “Mom!!” she cries as she goes into the hallway and walks down the stairs “I can’t find my ceremonial crown!! The princess never makes an appearance without her-” she stops and stares at the handsome man in the foyer.
“Anne, this is Kail. He’s going to be helping your father when they go to attack the Reaper Council. Apparently, the Council is planning on meeting in three days on an unpopulated planet nearby. This is the closest we’ve been to an attack that we may actually win in centuries!”
“Yea that’s great mom, now have you seen my crown?”
“Yes dear… You left it on your father’s desk after the fight, remember?”
“Oh right… I did say I’d never wear it again didn’t I? Oh well” quickly she dashes up the stairs, taking the second door on the left into a dark room; the walls a rich mahogany, a desk the only form of furniture in the whole room. Picking up a beautiful golden circlet she places it on her head. “Sorry father…” quickly she goes back downstairs.
“Oh Anne?”
“Yea?”
“Why don’t you take Kail outside; walk with him around the garden? Your father and I need to have a talk so take your time” she ushers the two outside. Anne puts on her cloak as she and Kail walk around the garden together, her nervousness causing her to shake, she and Kail both say "Hi." and blush at each other.
Kail bows slightly and says, "Why don't you go first your highness?” He smiles softly.
She meets his smile with a small nervous one of her own and asks, "So the Reapers council is meeting, this is the first time in forever isn't it?"
"Yes, apparently they're recruiting younglings today."
"Younglings???? Do you think any children will be hurt in the fight??"
"Well maybe... Are you really that worried about the enemies children?"
"Children are children. Just because they were raised a certain way doesn't mean they should be hurt or killed!! I mean if they're young enough, their thoughts and ideas can be changed!! They can learn to be one of us, to think like us!!"
Kail raises his hands "Okay, okay! I give!" he smiles softly "His Highness was right when he said to beware of your temper Princess. Sorry to have upset you."
"Oh... Uh you didn't really upset me... it's just... well children and war... they shouldn't even be in the same book!" she looks down, blushing softly "But there's my temper again... Any way... Wait... Daddy warned you of my temper?? Why would he tell you of my temper??"
"Uh well you see... Your father and I have... Um... well we've been... discussing... uh... well... marriage plans..."
"YOU"VE BEEN WHAT!?!?!?!" she stops and stares at him, thinking about all the forlorn glances and the meetings in the secret passages she asks "Why didn't you ask me first...?"
"Honestly I was worried you would say no." he looks down, slightly ashamed
"You still should have asked me first, I might have surprised you." She winks at him and pecks his cheek before running off to their favorite spot under the great oak atop the hill
"So you'll marry me?" He smiles happily at her as he catches up.
"Yes, I would gladly marry you." She pulls him agains herself, kissing him deeply. He presses his hands to the tree behind her, kissing back.
He pulls away from her slightly in search of breath, then stares across the distance, his face gaining a slightly worried quality “I think we should be heading in doors soon.”
Takes his hand "Alright Kail," smiles softly “let’s go inside, maybe even talk to Dad about our... future?"
"Yes princess." he smiles and squeezes her hand, leading her back to the house
"So... Big or small wedding?"
"Hmm.... You may be used to big stuff, but I'm not, how about a small one?"
"Works for me..." they walk inside just as rain starts to pour
As they walk back to the castle the storm picks up, thunder rolling across the clouds, dancing from one to the other as if taunting the earth, Her father runs out, screaming something at them that the wind steals before it reaches their ears “Could you understand him?" she asks Kail.
He nod and guides her inside “You stay here princess, he thinks this might be an attack, please stay hidden and safe."
She stares at him as he walks away, her mouth slightly agape “Anne!" her mother calls as she runs into the hall, holding the family sword “You need to get further in."
Anne paces in the kitchen, looking out the window watching Oh please be careful...
Lightening cracks across the sky, causing Anne to jump. Anne hits her head on the cabinet and faints.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shan stands above the castle of his enemies, the Skyknights, and grumbles. Not for the first time he wonders why Grimm had him leak the "Meeting" to the soldiers below. As he watches and waits, the sun starts to set and he begins his assault. Slow, so as not to raise too much suspicion he calls in the rolling thunderclouds that were far to the south. Once he has them heading his way he notices the couple standing atop a hill with a large oak and wonders if they've seen him or not.
Shan notes that he's fears are half founded because they run of it back to the castle which he is above and really starts to grumble, his mood reflecting in the lightening as it dances between the clouds “Well, guess now's as good a time to start as any..." he lets loose his hold on the storm and descends with it upon the castle, ramming it into the battlements as he flies over them, the troops on the walls falling with the stones, Shan revs up the storm to hurricane power and lets nature take its course, soon he finds himself within the castle walls and in the kitchen and finds a young woman there passed out, taking pity on her, he picks her up in his arms and carries her with him through the portal back to his home. Shan takes the girl into his house and lays her on the bed. He goes to his kitchen and gets a first aid kit and a cool wet washcloth. Taking it to the girl, he puts antiseptic on the small gash on her forehead. Then he sets the rag on her head and paces in front of the window, waiting for her wake
He slowly paces a while longer then sits in the chair and passes out for the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne sits up and rubs her eyes, a rag slips off her head and into her hand “That’s odd… oh ow!!” She winces softly as her hand brushes the bandaged gash on her head. Slowly she looks around the room, then gasps at the sight of the strange man in the chair under the window He opens his eyes and yawns softly
“Ah. I’m glad you’re awake... I was worried you might have a concussion...”
She curls into the blankets, blushing a deep red "Hi..."
"So, what's your name young one?" his smile is disarming and handsome, but doesn't quite reach his eyes while he looks her over
"Umm... it’s... It's Anne... What’s yours...?"
"Shan"
"Shan...? That’s... kind of a weird name... don't you think?"
"Well isn't Anne? Hmm? What kind of a name is Anne?"
"Well it’s... it’s the name my mom gave me... and if it’s such a weird name, what would a normal one be."
"Hmmm, well how's Anisa?"
"Sounds about as foreign as yours..."
"Do you not like it? I'm sure it means something of great beauty from my home world..." just then the man, Shan, looks out the window with a saddened look, his blue eyes clouded almost grey.
"I didn't say that... And I'm sure that it's very pretty, where are you from?" she gets up and goes over to him.
"That's just it, I don't know..."
Anne pulls the stool up beside the chair. “You don’t know? Why… Why don’t you know…?” she sets her hand on his gently, looking into his face. Then thinks to herself, Maybe that’s why his sweet smile didn’t reach his eyes…
"I don't know that either, though I know it wasn't for my own good, I get the feeling that I was exodized from my home world to yet another world and left with nothing but my base instinctual mind set, it's taken me quite a while to be back at the state I am now, except for that great nagging sadness that tells me I'm the only one left now... Do you want something to drink?" He gets up and walks to the door.
“Oh... Umm… Sure… a glass of sweet tea would be nice…” she puts the rag ontop of her head and then stands in the doorway. the poor dear... he's all alone in this universe....
He goes into the kitchen “Ice or no?"
Follows him “umm... half a glass of ice please...”
"Ok." he prepares and hands it to her “So... What about you?"
"Oh. Well..." she takes the glass, taking a sip “You really wanna know????"
He sips from his own cup “Why not, it doesn't have to be the full truth right now, I'm mostly just curious about if you have one." gives another smile like the first.
She smiles softly "alright... I'm the only one of my kind.... I'm a vampyre and a Skyknight... I’m to be mated to an archiwolf.... what does that make me???" sighs, looking down as tears fill my eyes "It makes me a freak........"
"Could always be worse, at least you don't have to deal with a mask that's trying to make you crazy." he says, sighing softly
"Mask...?" realization hits her and she backs away into the counter "R-reaper... yo-you’re a... Reaper...."
"yes.. I am."
She tightly grips the counter top, trying not to be mesmerized by his beautiful blue grey eyes "Please... Would you please send me back to my home...?"
"I'm afraid I can't do that yet... You see the storm that came yesterday did a lot of damage to the battlements of your castle... There may not be anyone there... and if there is still someone, they're probably fighting for their lives right now."
"Then I should be with them!! Please!! Please send me home!!!"
“I can’t do that right now, I’m guessing that someone on the other side set up a barrier to keep me out.” he said as he sat at a table “For the time being you just need to make yourself at home. Because there’s no getting of this planet without my consent and I’m not just going to drop you off at some random point in the galaxy for your people to find you. More so given how purist your people can be. I don’t want some galactic war because you turn up dead.”
“If you didn’t want a galactic war than you should have left me where I was!!” she paces frustratedly around the room
“I couldn’t… Not with the storm there, the whole castle could have been ripped from it’s foundations.” he says back, still sitting sipping his drink
“Why me??? Hmmm? Why in the world did you have to save me?? You could’ve rescued my baby sister or my cousin. Or you could’ve just not come at all!!” she slams herself down cross-legged on the floor, mumbling many different curses in four different languages. She stops and looks up at him “Ya know I hope they come for you. They’ll kill you and I won’t stop them. Kidnapper!!!” she storms back to the room she woke up in and slams the door
he chuckles, finishing the drink “Unfortunately I know something you don’t that makes me think they couldn’t kill me, and you were the first one I found and also the only one old, yet young enough to understand.”
she opens the door slowly and looks at him “Daddy says that SkyFyre can kill anything…. Understand what….?”
chuckles a little louder “Come here Young one and I shall tell you.” he winks, a toying undertone dancing in his eyes as he pats the chair beside his
“I was found by Grimm nearly two thousand years ago, appearing much like I do today, and feel like I have been living for a good many galactic cycles before that.” he says, a small wicked grin crossing his beautiful features
“dang… You’re older than my mom… She’s like… only 20 millennia old which is like… four galactic cycles right?”
“Right, and I believe I may have met your mother, mind telling me her name, just to check?”
“Caroline… Caroline Rose DeGenerie”
“Oh great…” he half frowns
“What is it? What’s wrong???”
He gets up and goes to the door, getting there right as a knock, opens it to reveal her mother “Hello love, how have you been?”
Anne quickly stands up, a wave of dizziness overcomes her and she sits back down “Mom…? What are you doing here?? How’d you get here?? Are dad and Kail okay?????”
“So she is here, Shan do you know what that means?” Her mother asked glaring at the man
“That she has both your curiosity and fiery temper.” He chuckled, glancing back at Anne “And I fought your mother once long ago, she is, to date, the only person able to find my ‘Lost Planet.’”
Anne lets this little snippet soak in, Guess that’s why I’m the number one finder in the house. She clears her throat “Mom? I don’t really feel good… Do you mind if we sit and talk?”
“Of course, I’m guessing that’s why he brought you here.” She says to her daughter, turning to Shan “Am I allowed in or do I have to stand here forever?”
“I guess I could let you in, seeing as you do want to have a long winded chat and all.” He steps aside and lets her enter, they both come in and sit at the table “Now, where to start. How about with you Anne, how do you feel?” her mother asked, a bit of worry crossing her face “Is he treating you well?”
“Umm… Confused really and my head does hurt a little… But… I guess he’s been fine… He’s not been unkind or raised his voice… Mom… I get the feeling your hiding something…”
“I might be, your father is in tears nearly, the castle fell to the ground, we managed to evacuate most everyone, but everyone thinks you were hiding in one of those passages you love so much. Kail nearly got killed while at the battlements and went home nearly in tears, he was hoping to make a lasting ally.” Shan just sits back and relaxes, taking in the conversation.
“Kail…. Mom… Did you know that he was going to propose? That he’d been talking to Dad about it???” she looks at her mother’s face as the words her mom just said sink in “Wait… They think I’m dead?!?!”
“In so many words, yes, yes they do. And I knew that he would, despite his forward thinking your father still has his head in the past and thinks the best way to insure an alliance is through a marriage between the parties involved.” Her mother says, slouching in her chair slightly “And to make matters worse, one of the other Lords is using the attack to launch propaganda against your father… As much as it pains me to say, I think you need to remain dead for the time being, at least until things settle some, I’ll take a note to your father explaining things, but keep it a brief one.”
“WHAT????? There is No Way In Hell I’m Staying In This GodForSaken House!!!!!!!!!! Umm… no offense…. But come on!! There’s got to be something else?? Can’t I just be found under the rubble or something?? Like… Almost kinda crushed to death but somehow still alive????? Come on mom please?????”
“They’ve cleared away all the rubble already, and you don’t have to stay here per say…”
Shan sits up fast, nearly yelling “Hell No!!! She is not coming with me, not without joining! You know the rules, I taught you them once, even if you did leave after everything! I am not taking an outsider there!”
“Shan, there’s no other way, she has to go with you, if she’s found off world she’ll be killed and John will be blamed for bad parenting, if she just walks up to the ruins of the castle then John will be questioned about it and all the lords will turn against him, please, I’ll owe you a huge favor…”
Deciding that her future has once again already been decided, Anne walks out of the house and paces around it, getting the feel of her surroundings as she curses under her breath
“That doesn’t sound much like a princess.” Shan said, standing at the corner that she was approaching “The final choice is up to you, if you want to stay then I’ll train you, if you want to leave then simply tell me where you want to go. I just feel I should tell you that no one has beat me in all my memory. And that your mother sees some spark in you that makes her think you can do this training. I guess you should think about it, your mom will be here a few days, so she can recharge enough to make the portal back.”
“You’re in my way.” Anne continues walking, her hand brushing his side as she moves past
He smiles and walks with her to the porch “I’ll let you think about it.” Turning to her mother he says “Care for a game or two since you’re here?”
“I’d love one, but left all my pieces at home in my vault.” She replied with a smile
“No Problem, I’ll lend you some while you’re here.”
Anne walks to a small sapling, hidden under the porch, sitting beside it she starts to cry
"Oh bother... I'll take care of it, you go inside." Shan says to her mother
her tears fall gently beside the sapling, soaking into the ground. The tree stretches until its shading Anne from the light rain that's begun to fall
"ok." she goes inside as Shan walks over
"Can I do anything to help?"
"Help? How could you possibly help?" she sniffles softy, still crying “I-I lost my family... My-My home... I-I can't g-go home...."
“No, not today. But given time I'm sure you could, and I'm here if you need a shoulder or an ear.”
Anne continues to cry, murmuring about eternity stuck on this world, the storm getting worse
"You won't spend an eternity here, only a few months, then we'll see the civilized world again."
"P-P-Promise..??" she wipes her eyes, tears continuing to fall down her face "D-Do you p-prom-promise i-i ca-can g-go h-home????"
"Yes." he smiles at her "Though I can't promise when."
She sniffles softly “I’m sorry… This isn’t the way a princess should act…”
“I would guess not, it’s ok, while you’re here you aren’t a princess.” He smiles, winking softly
“Oh??? Not a princess?? What do you mean by that??”
"Simple, while with me You’ll be Anisa, like we discussed, that way anyone who is your enemy when we go back to civilization will have a harder time getting to you, Ok?" He smiles a big broad smile, this one finally reaching his eyes
She smiles softly in return "th-thank you... very much..."
“You're very welcome, now why don't you come inside before you catch a cold in all this rain." he smiles again, standing and offers her his hand to do the same
She smiles weakly "What rain?" the water that’s standing on the ground is instantly soaked up by the medium sized oak standing beside her, the clouds in the sky dissipating "It's a nice sunshiny day..."
He chuckles softly, shaking his head "Figures, still, we should go in."
"Yes.. I suppose we should.." she stands up and starts to walk towards the house, her clothes dripping wet "After all if I stay in this much longer I may catch a cold... Umm... Do you think I could take a shower??"
"Yes, I'll show you to it, ok?" leads her inside and to a big room with a walk in tub, and a shower head on the wall
"Whoa..." marvels at how large the bathroom is "Oh wait... I don't have a change of clothes.. Umm..." blushes softly "Could... Could I borrow a change of clothes? I mean I know there's a minimum chance that you've got some girls clothes just laying around somewhere... But I'm sure with a belt a pair of jeans would fit..."
“You said you're 200, right?” He calls to her from a closet, checking for a box.
"Yes.. But what can you get from my age???"
"I'm thinking about your mother's rebellious stage." he comes out with a big box, giving a smiling wink as he sets it down on the floor, it reads, "Girls only. KEEP OUT!"
she smiles softly as her fingers trace the lettering "Mom's handwriting... Wait.. Mom had a rebellious stage??"
she chooses that moment to call out "What lies are you feeding my daughter?!"
"I'm not, simply informing her of the past. And yes, yes she did, and it almost lasted 50 years before her parents nearly caused a war about it" He say winking at her "I'll leave you to it."
"th-thanks.." slowly Anne opens the box, Shan walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him. She takes the box and sets it on the counter top. Stripping down she steps into the bathtub and turns the water on, sitting down she starts to cry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shan goes into the living room and sits at the table, looking at the woman he had once run into long ago, a woman he once loved. "She's a lot like you, ya know?"
"Yea, it would seem so..."