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#1
Old 03-21-2008, 04:57 AM

So I've decided to start a drabbles list in order to develop some plot holes in the couple of stories that I'm working on at the moment.

It's really more of an excuse for myself to write down the floating bits and pieces that I'm not at yet, but want to write down so that I don't forget them.

It will probably take me a while to finish, but at least I will have somewhere to go to when I need to write.

I'll be using the 100 Themes list by Foxnede on Deviantart. She listed it to be used for artworks but I think it should work just the same for writings too.

Just a couple warnings. Most of these will contain gay material, some may have strong language or violence and are in no way in order.

Edit: I've decided to add Sieto and Psyrien's Romance Drabble list because I've gotten tired of looking at the other one. XD Now I have 200 some to complete.

Last edited by Sho-Shonojo; 08-21-2008 at 03:13 PM..

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#2
Old 03-21-2008, 04:57 AM

[color=indigo]X's mark completed ones. Multiple X's = Multiple Posts.
1. Introduction XXX
2. Love X
3. LightX
4. Dark X
5. Rot X
6. Break X
7. Heaven X
8. Away X
9. Cut X
10. Breathe X
11. Memory XX
12. Insanity X
13. Misfortune X
14. Smile X
15. Silence X
16. Spit
17. Blood X
18. Under
19. Gray X
20. Fortitude X
21. War X
22. Mother X
23. Distasteful X
24. Want X
25. Lurking
26. Europe X
27. Foreign X
28. Sorrow X
29. Urban
30. Rain X
31. Flower X
32. Night X
33. Wrath X
34. Moon X
35. Walk x
36. Precious X
37. See X
38. Abandoned X
39. Dream X
40. 4:29 PM X
41. Citric Acid
42. Still X
43. Die X
44. Two Roads X
45. Two Guns X
46. Drop X
47. Dirt X
48. Young X
49. Preservatives X
50. Breaking the Rules X
51. Sport X
52. Old X
53. Desecrate X
54. Tower
55. Need X
56. Biohazard
57. Sacrificial X
58. Kick in the Head X
59. No Way Out X
60. Desert X
61. Fairy Tale X
62. Voodoo
63. Do Not Disturb X
64. City X
65. Horrorific x
66. Snow X
67. Drum
68. Hero X
69. Annoyance X
70. 67% X
71. Obsession X
72. Mislead X
73. I. Can't. X
74. Confrontation X
75. Mirror X
76. Broken X
77. Testament X
78. Drink X
79. FUCK [if this theme offends you you may do the alternate theme "Balk"] X
80. Words X
81. Pen and Paper
82. +
83. Heal X
84. Cold X
85. Sick XX
86. Seeing Red X
87. Hunger X
88. Pain X
89. Through the Fire X
90. Triangle
91. Drown X
92. Rape XX
93. Iron
94. Soft X
95. Advertisement
96. Storm X
97. Safety X
98. Puzzle X
99. Alone X
100. Gone X

1. Valentine's Day
2. Roses
3. Chocolate
4. The Language of Flowers
5. The Language of Fans
6. Star-crossed Lovers
7. "Trust Me" X
8. "I Love You"
9. Happily Ever After
10. Damsel in Distress
11. Knight in Shining Armor on a White Horse
12. "Take My Hand"
13. Cliche Love Novels
14. Ice Cream X
15. Blanket
16. Closet
17. Ring
18. Heart
19. Pair of Doves
20. Fairy tale
21. Serenade
22. Moonlit Walks
23. First Date
24. Proposal
25. Engagement
26. Marriage
27. The Red String
28. Flirting
29. New Guy/Girl
30. "Catch me when I fall"
31. Until Death do us part--or longer if we may
32. Denial X
33. Jewelry
34. Movies
35. Feeding Each Other
36. Holding Hands X
37. Picture Taking
38. Dancing
39. Piggyback Ride
40. White Day
41. First Kiss X
42. Mistletoe
43. "Follow Me"
44. "I will Protect You" X
45. Come Back to Me X
46. Blind Date
47. Arranged Marriage X
48. Carrying ( Princess/Bridal Style) X
49. Honeymoon
50. Tied Together with Doggie Leashes
51. Spaghetti Noodle Kiss
52. Sharing a Chocolate through a Kiss
53. Wink
54. Phone Number
55. Love Letter X
56. Perfume
57. Finding the Right Gift
58. Hot Springs
59. Confession
60. Only You
61. Love Seat
62. Tunnel of Love
63. Scary Movie X
64. Blackout
65. Candle-lit Dinner
66. Chandelier
67. Stargazing
68. Wish Upon a Star
69. Can You Feel the Love Tonight? X
70. "Will You Be Mine?" X
71. Hold Me
72. Hugs
73. Kisses
74. XOXO (X Means Kisses, O Means Hugs)
75. I just can't help falling in love with you.
76. I was made for loving you.
77. Stalking
78. Longing
79. Secret Admirer
80. Crush
81. Stuffed Animal
82. Right around the corner...
83. Sick X
84. Concern
85. Telephone Conversation
86. Tuxedo
87. Lipstick Kisses
88. Peck on the Cheek
89. Playing in the Rain
90. Scented envelope
91. Locket
92. Tree Engraving X
93. Meant to Be
94. I miss you
95. Unexpected Love
96. Next Door Neighbors
97. Bouquet
98. Unlikely Match B
99. Opposites Attract
100. Glomp!

100 Drabbles by duchesscourtney on fanfiction.net
1. Introduction
2. Complicated
3. Making History
4. Rivalry
5. Unbreakable
6. Obsession
7. Eternity
8. Gateway
9. Death
10. Opportunities
11. 33
12. Dead Wrong
13. Running Away
14. Judgement
15. Seeking Solstice
16. Excuses
17. Vengeance
18. Love
19. Tears
20. My Inspiration
21. Never Again
22. Online
23. Failure
24. Rebirth
25. Breaking Away
26. Forever and a day
27. Lost and Found
28. Light
29. Dark
30. Faith
31. Colours
32. Exploration
33. Seeing Red
34. Shades of Grey
35. Forgotten
36. Dreamer
37. Mist
38. Burning
39. Out of Time
40. Knowing How
41. Fork in the road
42. Start
43. Nature's Fury X
44. At Peace
45. Heart Song
46. Reflection
47. Perfection
48. Everyday Magic
49. Umbrella
50. Party
51. Troubling Thoughts
52. Stirring of the Wind
53. Future
54. Health and Healing
55. Separation
56. Everything For You
57. Slow Down
58. Lesson
59. Challenged
60. Exhaustion
61. Accuracy
57. Versus
58. Heartfelt Apology
59. Luck
60. Impressions
61. Teenager
62. Irregular Orbit
63. Cold Embrace
64. Frost
65. A Moment in Time
66. Dangerous Territory
67. Boundaries
68. Unsettling Revelations
69. Shattered
70. Bitter Silence
71. The True You
72. Pretence
73. Patience
74. Midnight
75. Shadows
76. Summer Haze
77. Memories
78. Change in the Weather
79. Illogical
80. Only Human
81. A Place to Belong
82. Advantage
83. Breakfast
84. Echoes
85. Falling
86. Picking up the Pieces
87. Gunshot
88. Possession
89. Twilight
90. Nowhere and Nothing
91. Answers
92. Innocence
93. Simplicity
94. Reality
95. Acceptance
97. Enthusiasm
98. Game
99. Friendship
100. Endings
/color]

Last edited by Sho-Shonojo; 05-05-2011 at 06:37 AM..

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#3
Old 03-21-2008, 05:14 AM

1. Introduction

I stopped too quickly when I saw him standing there. I tripped over my own feet and watched the noble colors of the Tsinigani family fly past my face as I fell on the packed earth floor.

He slowly turned around and red eyes stared down at me, contrasting the white smile that glittered on his face, "Why hello there, would this happen to be yours?" I saw the glint of a polished arrow head appeared from beneath his ornate sleeve.

I nodded slowly, not sure if I should admit to being it's owner. Had it hit him? Was I going to be in trouble? All the questions flowed through my conscience that turn children into liars.

"It's ok," he said with a smile as he leaned down to hand the thin wooden arrow to me. I took it gingerly from his hands.

"Shonasha!" I dropped the arrow as my sister called me from behind. She quickly stopped when she too noticed the much feared emblem of the Tsinigani family.

"Sinume Shonojo."The man said as he rose to his feat, the golden thread on his jacket sparkled in the dappled light of the forest.

My sister quickly bowed to the man as she stepped over to me and put her hands on my shoulders, "My lord, I hope that my brother was not bothering you." She drew me quickly back, as if trying to hide me from sight.

"Nonsense, Shonasha was simply introducing himself to me," he said as he swept his cloak around his shoulders, "After all, we will get to know each other quite well in the future."

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#4
Old 03-21-2008, 11:42 PM

26. Europe

It was all Putnar could think about as the day dragged on. He kept looking to Sota's empty chair and thinking of what the other man's mother had said.

"There's no reason for you to come back here anymore, we're moving to Europe next week. Forget it, it's over"

He was not sure how he had made it through the day. Were the teachers giving him a break for once, did they know what was going on. Either easy, he hardly felt grateful. What kindness was it that they did not care if he paid attention now that Sota was leaving? There was no way he was going to survive in that place after he was gone.

The school bell finally rang and Putnar left out the back way. There was no where else to go now, and he walked down th graveled path of the back exit of the prep school while already blowing horns filled the front entrance as the students took off in their expensive cars.

"Need a lift?"

Putnar looked up in surprise, shocked out of his thoughts by the familiar voice that greeted him. He dropped his bags and ran over to the blue-haired man sitting happily on his motorcycle.

"Where have you been you jerk?" Putnar asked as he hugged the man, not wanting to let go in case he might slip away.

"Sorry," Sota said with a sad smile as he rumpled the younger man's hair, "But my mom made it harder to leave the house then I thought. She's so set on Europe to drive us apart, but I have a better idea." He looked into Putnar's warm brown eyes, "I'm going on my own journey, to anywhere but here or godforsaken Europe. What do you say, Putnar will you come with me?"

"Of course you idiot," Putnar said, crying with relief, "I'd go anywhere with you."
[/i]

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#5
Old 04-08-2008, 09:01 PM

2. Love

I have spent my life wondering at the answer to that question. What is love...really? There are so many words in the mortal language that it can be replaced with. Sacrifice. Lust. Affection. But what is it truly?

My family loved me. They took care of me, gave me everything that I could ever hope to want or need. They loved my sister too, but were meant to sacrifice her to a hard life. Did that mean they loved her any less? And when I took her place, did they love her any less to loose me, the one they had planned to keep all around?

The women who worked for Lord Totsu. They always claimed to love him, and he to love them in return. But I saw the pain there, they way they cried, and the way he mocked them when they left. I wonder to myself how can that be love, but they thought it was.

Is it separate for each person? Can I choose what love means to me, or would that be holding my opinion above everyone else's, and their's down?

All I know is that, to me, love is being held safe in the arms of the one who protects me. Love is knowing I will never me hurt by that person, that I can trust my heart with him and know that nothing will ever be happen to it except that it be filled with overwhelming feeling.

Love can only be explained in terms of itself.

To love, is simply, to love.

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#6
Old 04-11-2008, 01:19 AM

59. No Way Out

Putnar knew something was wrong as soon as they turned down that narrow little street. There was an shining black Corvette sitting out in front of the house, he wasn't sure of it's year, cars like that didn't drive down their street very often.

He heard his brother curse under his breath and he whipped a little to quickly up to the curb and threw the car into break. "Stay in the car" He said quickly as he got out.

"But..."

"Just stay in the car!"He snapped as he slammed the door.

Putnar watched his brother walk away in surprise, he had never yelled at him like that, ever. He looked up then to see that a man had gotten out of the car and was now leaning lightly on it in his expensive looking business suit as he smoked a cigarette. He rolled the window down a crack as they started to talk.

"What the hell are you doing here?" His brother said defensively.

"You know exactly why." He said as he let out a breath of smoke, "The same reason Putnar isn't in school right now. Aren't you supposed to be taking care of him?"

"Well you're one to talk aren't you Dad!"

Putnar sat frozen, that was his father? He was suddenly angry, his father was well off, much better off than they had ever been, and what did they get, a mere two hundred dollars a month.

"What exactly have you ever done for him besides leave us? You have no right to be here, I'm his guardian. Get out before I..."

"He belongs in prison. You know that don't you." His father said pointedly.

His brother stared back.

"You wanna know why he isn't in prison right now?" He asked as he dropped his cigarette and stomped it out, "Because I'm taking him in. All the arrangements have been made, he's been transfered and I've got people out buying things for him so he doesn't have to worry about taking any his garbage with him. All that's left is to get him on a plane and out of this wretched city."

Putnar could not help but laugh, and not just a little chuckle, but a crazy laughter so bad he couldn't breath. He had ruined his life in more ways than he could possibly imagine, all by buying that stupid gun. He was cracking up, in his laughter, and deep inside his very soul.

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#7
Old 04-11-2008, 01:38 AM

50. Breaking the rules

Putnar had tensed as soon as he saw the glass bottles mouth begin to slow. He had watched the game for a while now and the rules were beginning to blur more than ever as his so called friends pulled out the last of the alcohol from the back of the fridge.

It slowed even more, it's thin mouth bouncing slightly as it came to a stop. He turned away quickly and looked back at the pool game he had been playing, pretending he hadn't noticed that the bottle head was facing straight at him. No, not when Anthony had been the one to spin the stupid thing. Anthony, the only reason he was even at this party to begin with.

There was a roaring cheer from behind him, a drunken version of the one they always let out at all those stupid football games he went to. He lined up another shot on the pool table and fumbled it completely.

Putnar watched the black eight-ball disappear down a corner whole as he was grabbed around the arm by a strong grip and dragged past the other hulking teens, their rancid alcoholic breath everywhere. This suddenly didn't seem worth it. The other guys were chanting, but he couldn't even tell what they said, he was only hoping to God that no one would notice how red his face was at the prospect of being shoved into a broom closet with Anthony, whom he had had eyes on since he started going to high school.

Then before he knew it, it was dark around him and he was hearing the door close a long time after it had actually happened. Putnar laughed nervously, and giggled the doorknob, beat his fist a few times on the door, "Come on guys this is stupid."

But just then he felt hot breath on his neck and turned around to find Anthony right there staring at him. And before he even knew what was happening Anthony was kissing him. Anthony, the man that ever girl in school wanted to date was kissing him, the loser who tagged around just to be near him.

And just like that it was over. The door opened behind him and Putnar saw the look of disbelief on Anthony's face. There was a violent shove, hard in his chest, and he was on the floor. Everyone else had scattered as if he was the rat that held the plague and Anthony was practically screaming out every curse word he could think of while pointing an accusing finger at Putnar. When he was finally finished yelling he spat on the floor and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"That's it," Anthony said to his pack of drunken lackeys, looking more and more like some horrible beast the longer Putnar stared at him, "Let's get out of here before this piece of trash makes me even more sick,"

As they left Putnar watched in disbelief as his whole world cracked apart. The sound of dance music echoed through his ears as the people that were left, standing motionless in shock, faded to vagrant blurs as tears welled up in his eyes.

Anthony had broken all the rules.

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#8
Old 04-11-2008, 02:04 AM

12. Insanity

Insanity.

Doing the same thing over and over in an attempt to get different results.

Putnar felt that that one word had become his life. Ever since he had been taken away to his father's house it had been the same thing day after day.

Wake up. Go to school. Come home. Sleep.

The weekend was only barely different and he would spend hours hiding up in his room hoping that no one would ever try to invite him out of that haven. Everywhere else in that house was hell.

Dinner was a vacuum of silence where his Father's second wife would try to drag some pleasant chatter out of him. He wouldn't bite, that wasn't going to happen. And then there were the endless complaints from his father. Work, money, life, Putnar, bills Putnar, Sara, traffic, Putnar.

Yes, somehow it always came back to him. Somehow it was Putnar's fault that the car had gotten a flat tire, or that the fridge was out of whatever the hell he was looking for that time. Somehow when Putnar had bought that gun months ago, it felt like years, and his father had come and whisked him away it had begun to make things his fault.

And Putnar would always bare it as he pushed a spoonful of peas into an impending death of suffocation in his mashed potatoes.

No matter what it remained the same, and as Putnar lay in that foreign room filled with expensive things he would never want or need, he would hope for something to appear in his live and break him from the cycle. He wished something would free him from the hell that was this insanity.

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#9
Old 04-11-2008, 02:24 AM

40. 4:29 PM

Putnar looked at his watch. The little green digits said that it was just as late in the afternoon as he had thought it was.

"So?" Anthony asked beside him as he put his shoes on. The afternoon light was shining in through the bleachers above them and bending around the hard angles of his face.

"It's almost 4:30" Putnar said with a huff. "Do you really have to go?"

Anthony gave him a hard look. It was the same look he always got when they returned to reality and Anthony returned to the life of the stuck-up prick of a jock. Putnar rolled on his side, not wanting to look at the glare that he would see on the man's face until the next time they met like this.

"I have to," Anthony finally answered, leaning against Putnar and pulling a dried up leaf out of the younger man's hair, "Don't worry, we'll meet up again soon."

"I wish it didn't have to be like this. Why can't you just tell them? Why does it have to be a secret? Is your reputation so important." It's what Putnar had wanted to ask, but he stayed quiet and let them run through his head as they had been since the very first time.

Anthony stood up then and brushed off his pants. He smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt and then headed to the exit from under the bleachers. He had added a loving "And don't forget to wait before I'm gone to come out," before leaving himself.

Putnar's eyes traveled around the secret spot. It was dirty, with littered trash from whenever the last football game was, and yet he kept looking forward to coming back here, with Anthony.

He closed his eyes and buried it in the coat he had been laying on "I'm such an idiot."

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#10
Old 05-01-2008, 10:00 PM

22. Mother

Cato placed a hand to her swollen belly. It was still many months before she would feel any of the miraculous movements of life there, but she new it was there. She had known it the very moment it had happened, had rejoiced in it, regretted it, hated herself for it, and loved every moment of it.

She could only think how much things would go wrong over one little insignificant life, because he had taken residence in the body of a princess, an adulterous, dirty awful princess.

Her sapphire eyes lit across the room where her one day husband lay asleep. They didn't stay there long, but skipped away to the window across the valleys that she could only imagine in the dark of night. They traveled father than where they could actually see, to the home of the real father, where she imagined Astin was looking back across that expanse at her.

She wished she could see the stars, those beautiful diamonds in the sky that she had only ever seen in that separate country where it has happened. That country where her god could not see her sin and the eye of the demon goddess looked down upon the earth through the moon. She wondered if she was cursed. She constantly wondered if some fraction of demon spirit had slipped into her on that night and doomed her child. Sometimes she thought that she would deserve for that to happen, but than she thought of that new life, and that he would never deserve for such a thing to happen to him.

"Hush Balkar," she whispered to the half-imagined movement deep in her belly, "I would never do such a thing to you...but if I'm right." She contemplated, "I'll never be able to keep you as my own."

A tear slid down the young woman's cheek, glittering in the candle light like the star that the yet unborn child was named after.

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#11
Old 05-02-2008, 01:34 PM

17. Blood

The smell of it seemed to be everywhere. How long he had been fed the red substance down in the caverns he did not know, but the dependence was beginning to take hold of him.

Every woman that crossed his path appeared to him now as a sack of pulsing flesh, ready to be bitten into and devoured. He wanted to sink his teeth into their flesh and pull it from their bones. And he hated every second of it. His parents had done right to try their best to bar him from ever living this life, but in those urges he hated them for his intolerance made his urges that much stronger.

He could not even waste the day away in his room, for if he was late than Lord Totsu would surely come looking for and drag him to his feet to follow the Lord about his business, and past those prime subjects filled with that coursing red humor.

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#12
Old 05-06-2008, 12:12 AM

1. Introduction: The Tsinigani Brothers

The Lord Tsinigani above all else was known for the many children that he kept housed in his manor. There were seven in all, each with their own demeanors and needs but not exceptionally gifted. The family had long suffered at the hands of their own greed and the interbreeding of the family led them to loose the gifts that were contained in their race. Whatever they had been was long lost in thinned blood of the past generations.

There were two however that lived up to the elder lords hopes. His young twins had developed the strains of their own gifts. They had begun these signs not long after the boys had gone missing during a hunting trip. The separation had been mere minutes when a rogue Shieto had torn from the brush at them and died on the shaft of the spear that the elder brother held out by mere accident.

When the boys were found again they remembered nothing. The shock of it all had wiped their memories clean of all of their life before that single moment and they forged new ones, even creating new names for themselves. The lord had worried for sometime, but it seemed Flamoya had been gracious to him and had rewarded him payment for his stolen children's memories.

The younger, Heso, became a Illian, a weaver of souls who was able to read the stitchings that Flamoya laid out for her people to follow. Lord Tsinigani could not have hoped for a better development in his son, but the child was weak in demeanor. He was frail and wise enough to be kind and thoughtful, such a thing could never be a proper leader. The elder, Totsu, the lord was glad to find, had a much stronger will about him, and an equally strong development. His sole turned to that of an incubus. He drew at the desire in the people around him, commanding his servants with an unpredictable skill.

For this reason Lord Tsinigani saw to it, when the time came, that his estate and all the power that came with it, was given down to the twin boys, now men. Surely with the combination of their power and foreseeing eye they would be able to keep their family prospering.

What a shame it is to know that Tsinigani gave his estate to wolves in sheep's clothing. Forseeing the event with his skill the younger had planned the attack on the children that they were so much alike. Not a thing could stop them then, once they were planted in the home, to take the inheritance that so belonged to the Tsinigani's true children.

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#13
Old 05-06-2008, 12:28 AM

1 Introduction: Shonasha Shonojo

Shonasha Shonojo was a child pulled apart by the two bloods that coiled in his veins. He was a half-breed, a child of a father's blood curdling desire. And yet, things were not as ill-fated as they could have been. Yes he was conceived of blood boiled hot, but his mother came to love the strange man that had taken her, stolen away to her foreign land as she was.

Yes, his father had lost his estate to the conniving Tsingani general who had been his most loyal follower, but it had been replaced by a love to precious to be compared with any of the things he had once had.

Shonasha Shonojo was of born of two bloods that had mixed into the most beautiful child either had ever seen. His parents both had the traits in them. His father was a Shieto, a charming race who relied on their appearances in order to lure in their pray that they devoured without a single thought. His mother was of the gentler Elreen, a forest sprite conceived of the earth and held all of it's natural beauty.

The most beautiful of roses, of course, has the deadliest thorns with which to protect themselves. Their child had not only inherited the charming features of his parents, he had received his father's hunger as well. He was a deadly creature, bursting with youthful looks and a kind demeanor reflected in his face that hid the everlasting hunger that festered inside him. He was living proof of why the races were divided, so no half-breed could ever become such a devastating danger.

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#14
Old 05-10-2008, 03:18 AM

3. Light

He pushed me out the door with an unkind slap before giving a fake smile. "I'm sure you remember where your room is, I would advise you go there if you do not want to make things worse for yourself. I will keep an eye on you if I have to."

He laughed at what I hoped was an icy glare back at him before closing the door in my face. I was left in the pitch black hallway except for a few spare candles further down the halls. Seeing that no one was there I walked no where in particular as I fiddled with the bonds that held my wrists. Whatever it was it was somewhat more than mere rope or string and I could not fathom how to get the damn things off. At least, I thought to myself optimistically, they were made of somewhat that wasn't chaffing and tearing the skin. I had had enough of that in my youth to last my lifetime, no matter how long it would end up being.

Without thinking of it, I had walked deep into the hallways of the Tsinigani manor. In the darkness, and my long time away, I was lost. Each way I turned looked the same as the hall before and the specks of candled light were little or no help at all.

"Shonasha."

I braced myself, and quickly spun to face the familiar voice, putting my back to the wall in case I may need to fend off my follower with a kick. But it was not Totsu come to fetch me and punish me for getting lost in the dark on my own. No, though the voice was the same, I new as I lay eyes on that figure, even in the dark, that this was Heso, Totsu's twin brother, and the man I loved.

"Heso." I replied back with relief, before feeling my head cock to the side in question. Heso stood before me in the darkness, with a forarm held in front of his face as if to ward of light.

"Ah...Shonasha it is you," He gasped as he came forward, dropping his hands and grasping my forarms, "I could not tell through all this light."

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked, hearing the higher pitched thrill in my voice as I looked at his closed eyes, tightly shut against his unseen light, "It's black as pitch in here."

"No..."Heso's voice was low as he contemplated, "Of course you would not see it. You've grown used to it...in all your time with him." I realized then that he went Luphana, the foreign god that I had been serving up until that time, the god of light and love. "But that's not what I came to talk to you about. What are you doing here Shonasha. Are you mad? You have stepped right into my brother's hands. And this light that surrounds you Shonasha, I cannot see through it. I cannot see what will come of this, and it frightens me."

A sad smile crossed my face to see him like this. I put my bound arms around his neck and stroked his hair, relishing in the smell of him, the memories. Not just the recent ones of love, but far back when I had first met this man who could cast his sight into the future. All I could remember was a single face card that read death and the fortune that came with it. A death that will bring about great change. It was not the first time that I wished I could get rid of that light.

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#15
Old 05-10-2008, 03:40 AM

73. I. Can't.

Cato lay upon her bed in the lonely birthing chamber. She felt empty and completely and utterly alone.

A stray hand stroked her now empty belly as she remembered that breathless cries of the child, her child/ And Astin's. She turned her head onto her pillow as a fresh onslaught of tears fell. Her illegitamate, unrecognized child was gone now, taken away by her brother before she could even put her arms around him. He was taken to a lonely home where Nimbus had assured her they would never know the babe's origin.

All that was left was to lie.

She shook her head, wiping the hot tears from her face as she imagined Leo, her doting husband, coming in to greet her with a smile and then watching it slip away as she let loose the concocted tale she had rotated for weeks in her head. "He was born dead" She heard herself say, and the words felt like a curse on her lips, cool and simple. He would see right through it.

But what else could she do. The moment the babe was born he was doomed. The moment they had seen the golden Lupine eyes Astin carried, then they knew it had to be done. Knowledge of the young dauphine's treachrous adultery would send the country into turmoil. Cato was willing to bear her own pain to keep her country surviving.

"But I cannot lie to him," she groaned in frustration. No, not to that sweet face that looked at her with such love and compassion and trust that is made her want to die for shame of it all. But you've been lying to him all along. A voice said within herself. It was true. She had known about it the very second it had happened. She had pushed Astin away when she knew that it was no use. She had grown closer to Leo then she had ever hoped to so soon, all in the blind hope that maybe the babe would like theirs and Leo could convince himself that it was his own.

A soft knock lit the door, and a somber, soft voice asked of entrance.

"I. Can't."" Cato thought wildly as her mouth moved with out permission, allowing Leo passage, "But I must."

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#16
Old 05-10-2008, 03:55 AM

85. Sick

Leo looked warily at the woman's head resting in his lap. Weeks earlier it had been full of joy, transformed by the bright happiness of baring new life. But now...

The bright sapphires of her eyes were sunken now, covered by dark, heavy lids. Lines creased her face, as even now her brows her knit into a contorted bundle of pain and disappointment. He absently brushed one of the thin white hairs from her face. They had always been a vibrant white, but now the color seemed to age her, making her appear an ancient sufferer.

It had been in their fears, cluttered at the far reaches of their mind. "What if the child doesn't make it?" "What is our people cannot produce together?" "What happens to the crown then?" "And..."

"What happens to us now?"Leo whispered as he stared down at his foreign wife and all the lightness she was made of, skin, hair eyes. What a contrast it was to himself with the heavy tan of his people and their dark hair and eyes. Could such differences really mix? Was it simply a lost cause?

Leo was sick to death of trying. He was sick of dealing with this misery and watching his wife struggle in her real sickness over this loss that was the both of theirs. He was sick to of the sorrow in her eyes when they caught the light of the sunset and he saw for a moment the same look that always was in her eyes when she saw Astin, the man she had loved.

He sighed heavily. Why did everything have to be so wrong from the very beginning?

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#17
Old 05-10-2008, 09:17 PM

6. Break

I paced the floor of the dim room. The dying candle cast my motioned shadow into disarray, breaking it on the floor. I stopped in frustration and shook my head for what seemed like the hundredth time as I tried to clear the image from my mind.

The king was dead and I had killed him.

No...of course is was not me but it had looked like it. The killer had smiled with my face as declared to the ballroom in my voice that he Shonasha Shonojo, my identity, had in fact struck down the king in the first minutes that he took the role.

I cursed myself under my breath, how could I possibly been so blind. I knew the power that Totsu had, he had warned me of it just the day prior, fair warning and I had been able to nothing to stop it. He had taken my very image and killed the king with it. I was framed by him again.

I fell into a wooden chair and sat my head upon the desk before it. My fingers adsently traced the tattooed lines on my stomach that represented the last crime he had framed me for. How had I let him do it again?

"It won't be long now before they search the rooms and find me. They can finally bring me to justice," I breathed in disbelief.

"I will not let that happen," A heartbreakingly familiar voice said from behind me.

Tears were already falling down my cheeks when I turned to look to the doorway. "Heso..." The brother of my enemy who had framed me. I looked into those red eyes, so much like his brothers and saw the ever-present sign of distraction in them. I wondered if he truly saw me with those eyes that were turned ever-forward to the future that he read like a book. Even now I could not demand his full attention, "You knew," I choked, the words coming out with much more bitterness than I had intended.

"You know I did," He said simply. The fire light in his eyes furthered the distance I saw there.

"Why? Why couldn't you tell me this was going to happen? The king is dead and I was right there, I could have done something!" My heart ached with the guilt of my blindless. I had let die the man who had saved me from rotting so many years before. The guilt however, was not so near to the hate that I felt for Heso at that moment.

"It would not have made a difference. You could not have done anything."

I hated the simplicity with which he said it, because he knew. He did not try to comfort, no he only said it so that I could let out my frustration because he knew I wouldn't listen to him until he did. And with that knowledge he set us on different planes, I knew next to nothing, and he everything. "I could have tried!"

He approached and took my arm trying to make me look him in the face, "And for what? To hurt yourself, I could not allow it!"

"Stop pretending!" I shouted at him as I looked away to avoid the face of the man I had come to love, "Stop pretending..." My voice droned away to a soft whisper, "That you care, that you love me."

There was a change in him then. His whole body froze and as I turned back to him I saw his eyes wide and for once fully focused on the present right there where I was.

"All you care about, is getting me to some place in the future where I will do something that has to be done. It's never once felt real," And my voice cracked because I knew I was lying to him and could see that I was hurting him, "You've only protected me in order to keep time running it's course. You loved me because I asked you to and because you knew it was the only way to build up to this point now. You have never loved me."

Heso blinked quickly and took my hands in his, pulling them close to his face as if to kiss them. "You're wrong,"

"No" I said pulling my hands away, "By dawn I'll just be another knot in the weaving. Lost until I'm useful again." I brushed away my tears with a fist, "What did you come to tell me?"

I heard him breath heavily, the air filling his body until he could speak again, "There is a horse and supplies prepared for your escape. You must leave before dawn or all is lost." His voice formed around the words awkwardly, conscious of the truth that they lended to my own.

"Hosingi and my brother?" I offered.

"You cannot all make it."He said but at my silence realized that I wanted more, "They will be taken into custody when it's found that you are gone."

"Before dawn?" I asked absently. Here was my world caving in on me again, but I had no room to care.

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#18
Old 05-10-2008, 09:19 PM

35. Walk

My feet carried me though I knew not how. Many hours ago I had lost feeling in them from the cold, but still I plodded on with my purpose. They had taken me into the square of a rather prosperous village. Water would have bubbled in the square's fountain had it not been frozen.

At the thought I pulled my cloak closer to me and looked around at the lit windows of the little houses. They were warm with a yellow light that told tale of the warmth inside. A door opened behind me and I could feel the heat waft out, turning to steam with a touch from the freezing air. It was not the only thing that froze.

A large brawny man stood in the doorway. His arms were folded over his chest. Even though I could not see his face from the light around him I knew that he was glaring at me. "You want something Shieto?"

I took a slow step back, shaking my head slowly.

"Your kind are not welcome here so git before I do something about it."

I turned away to leave knowing there was no point in trying to resist. No, Totsu had made sure that my kind would forever be outcast from the rest of society. Who would trust one of the breed that had killed our prior king? And yet it could almost be a could thing. At least know one ever tried to get close enough me to discover that I was the convict. I was the one they were all looking for. I simply had to wander and survive.

My feet carried me through the lit brush and into a clearing in the trees where warmth and sound wafted. The familiar songs of my people reached me and I stepped in to be greeted by them. They welcomed me easily and invited me to sit and be warm. They never questioned, never thought that the one responsible for their misfortune was there among them.

No, as long as I keep wandering no one will ever know who I am. As long as I keep going Totsu will never find me.

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#19
Old 05-10-2008, 09:22 PM

57. Sacrificial

"Shonasha..." A voice echoed between the pillars of the open sanctuary and floated down to where I knelt at marble feet, my forehead pressed against the cool stones, "What are you doing?"

I sat up, letting my eyes follow the length of the marble statue where his head ascended above to be lost in the gray light of the open ceiling. He seemed so impossible to reach, disappearing into the heavens. "Trying to figure out what he wants from me." I looked over my shoulder at the priest. He smiled at me serenely, as he always did. "Flamoya was always so easy," I said looking down at my hand imprinted with a spiderweb of silver scars across the fingers, "She wanted our blood for our sins. She wanted sacrifice before her open eye, but..." I turned back to the statue standing serene and perfect, "What does he want?"

"A sign"

"What?" I turned back to the priest as I slowly rose to me feet.

"You will not get answers out of a marble statue Shonasha," The priest smiled as he crossed to the center and ran a hand along the smooth lengths of the mock sleeve. "It is only something that can be admired for it's craftsmanship. It simply gives us a face to picture when we worship. Would you like to see the real Luphana?"

"The real..?" I choked on my words as I clutched at the priests robes like a child as I stood in wander. Was a god really so tangible that I could view him, for my own? Could I make him mine? Capture his heart? Beg his help to me?

"Only if you are willing to give up your place in this world. Flamoya is not kind to demon who chose her brother over herself."

"Yes," I said ,"Yes! I want to be his servant. I want his protection." My hands had gone numb from clutching at the other man's robes.

He smiled and gently removed my hands, "Come with me."

I followed the priest out of the temple. He walked slowly on, accepting my anxiety with bemusement. We walked along the side of the temple to the staircase that started up around. On we went under the shadow of trees. I looked up between their branches at the swollen gray sky that I had known since birth. I was glad of the cover that hid my deed from the eye of Flamoya.

The stair wound it's way to the very center of temple where we stood at the top. Here not even the trees could follow, though they tried with branches reaching to the heavens. The priest brought out a candle. The pure white wax stood out in the darkness. He held it at arm's length before him. "Say your prayer and light the candle." He said solemnly, for once not smiling.

Gripping the flint in my hand I thought about what I wanted. I want to know you. I want to know the god that Sharazai followed and protected me with. I want to be under the full protection of Luphana. "Please, I will do anything you ask of me, anything you call me to do," I gripped the necklace that I wore, his emblem, and then light the candle.

A sudden wind struck up. It whipped fiercely at us, howling with an unseen rage. I cried out, and moved to block the small flame but even as the wind blew the flame was steady. It stood like a soldier as it burned into the wick and flayed open the wax.

"There!" The priest shouted at once over the howl of the wind. He pointed above at the roiling belly of clouds. There I beheld a sight I had never seen before. The clouds parted not the dark realm of night that was Flamoya's lair, no here it parted and beams of pure golden light rained down. It took my breath away as it poured down on us, blinding me with it's intensity. The rays were not cold like the silver ones that Flamoya sent down in the night. No these warmed my very bones, warmed me when I had not even realized I had been cold. And for a moment the wind stopped and I was caught in the serene air of warmth and blinding light that was Luphana before the wind once again blew the dark clouds back together and I was lost once again in Flamoya's realm.

The reality of this world struck me to my knees. This atmosphere froze me. It tore at my lungs to steal my breath like a monster. It hurt to return. It hurt to be back now that I knew with completeness what I could have, did have, once long ago in a life I could not remember.

I hand touched my back then "Let it out," Then I realized that I was sobbing into the stone, clutching at the last warmth that was left imprinted on the stone. I knew that I would sacrifice anything to have that again.

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#20
Old 05-10-2008, 09:29 PM

51. Sport

Nimbus was furious now. He paced back and forth across the tiled floor in the sparing room, hoping that it would do somewhat to cool his anger. Though the other soldiers continued their routine training, he could feel their nervousness. He was their captian and was already faltering behind thier own lines without even a threat to worry of.

But Nimbus knew their was a threat. As much as his sister had assured him he could not trust a demon within the castles confines, a Shieto nonetheless. Cato had told Nimbus that the demon could control himself, but it was impossible to tell when something inside him would snap, Nimbus understood that all too well.

And yet, not matter how hard he had argued with his father, the king had ignored the rational words and had accepted the demon. This did not anger him as much as the fact that he knew for a fact that, if Nimbus had supported the demon being welcomed into the city, his father would have been against it. It was this hypocrisy as well as this nagging anxiety that completely infuriated Nimbus now.

And so it was that Nimbus came to be completely on edge when the demon, Shonasha by name, came into the training room. It was silent when he entered. Every Lupnian eye was fized on him as he briefly examined the room and walked to a line of wooden swords hung upon the wall. He pointed to them and asked in his harp-like voice to a man standing nearby, "May I use one of these?"

The man looked to Nimbus out of the corner of his eye and Shonasha followed the look. His angled eyes, thickly lashed widened slightly,"Captain, do I have your permission?"

Nimbus nodded slowly, "Very well then, if you know how to weild it." His voice was filled with disdain that showed that he greatly doubted that.

"Oh," Shonasha said taking down one of the fake blades and testing it with a few swings, "I've had a few years to practice. A few generations of your people atleast." He stepped languidly through a few practiced motions that left him standing in front of Nimbus, "I think I could kill you easily enough if this were a real blade." Voices rose around him but a twitch if the blade brought silence again, "Not that I'd want to kill the prince of the land I have now sworn to protect. I simply meant it in the same terms you people use when you pratice. Why is it so much different when I say it?"

"You are a demon," Nimbus said it as if this explained everything, "And I seriously doubt that you could even touch me with the way you dance around with that sword."

"A wager then. Should I win, then you will trust me..."Shonasha said.

"And if I win?" Nimbus cut in.

The demon shook his head clearly unsure of what to offer, "I will serve you for a week," He offered.

"A month and I'll barter." Nimbus said quickly. Some of the when around him laughed knowingly, he silenced them with a stare. He began to pace a slow circle, his sword held erect in front of him in a tight diagonal to guard his body.

"Fine with me as long as you know that what I want is everlasting." He countered the circling movement, his sword held almost lazily aloft with a wide opening to his vitals.

They circled one another, Nimbus contemplating the possibility of a trick in the demons openness. His foot work pointing out obviously that the man did know somewhat of swordplay. Though what exactly it was he couldn't say. Once he could stand the waiting no more he struck, swinging widely at the man's open right side with a step. The demon read the sudden movementand cast quickly to the side and forward to reach inside Nimbus' guard. The wooden point held aloft on the man's skin above his heart.

"It's taken me years to figure it out," Shonasha said quietly, "But a soldier is most vulnerable when he is impatient," he said then added more quietly so that only Nimbus in their close proximity could here, "As well as when there is a chance of earning something we want. I do not mean to toy with you, but I need your trust." The demon lowered his sword, "I will ask your loyalty when I need it my prince, but there is no need make it a spectacle." He went and placed the sword upon the wall where he had taken it down from.

When he was sure the demon was gone, a soldier remarked, "What do you suppose he seeks your trust for Nimbus?"

"I don't know, but I suppose it can't be good," he brushed a hand gently over the point where the wooden sword had touched him, "But I have been wrong before" he thought.

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#21
Old 05-10-2008, 09:37 PM

99. Alone

He felt so open; completely unprotected, as he walked into the marketplace in the satin uniform of the king's servant. In emphasis the symbol of the king's household was stiched onto the sleeve of the uniform.

It was altered however, like all clothing he wore now. It was made to reveal the black symbols stained onto his stomach. His criminal mark. It was this that made him feel uncomfortable. It was written there that he had killed the Duchess of the East.

Of course her people would be in the market. Traders from all over the land came to the capital to trade their wears. But it was those people, now leaderless save for the incompatant brother of her. They eyed him with loathing.

He knew what they thought. This role as servant that he had undertaken for the Prince was not a punishment but a reward, a privledge.

It stung, to be loathed by this people for a crime that he had not committed. Murasaki may understand, but there was no way to explain it to the common people. They would never believe the one who had apparantly commited the crime. And Murasaki could not speak against the criminal, against Totsu, without causing some sort of public scene.

Until then he would have to bare their snarls and glares.

"If only it were that simple," he said aloud. Eyes turned to him who had said the words. They were red eyes, like his own. The shieto man looked at him, the perfect features of his kind creasing in shame before he turned away.

"My brethren,"Shonasha thought as he walked on, "They bare the prejudice of it all."

They had previously been seen simply as other members of the community, but now...not it was different. The shieto who fed upon the flesh of mortals, cannibals, they were seen as uncontrollable now. Totsu had made sure that Shonasha had appeared completely mad when they "caught him in the act".

He looked back at the shietoman. He sat upon the filthy cobblestone speaking to a woman of the same race sitting beside him, a child wrapped in blankets in her arms. If these had been the old times, the father would not be living, eaten by the mother in order for her to survive. How could anyone believe them savage when they had passed that tradition?

He turned back and found himself caught by the shoulders.

"Watch your step," said a rugged voice that breathed out the thick smell of alcohol.

"Forgive me, it was my fa..." Shonasha's breath hissed in as the grip on his shoulders tightened. The man, men now as more had come, were Eastern from the look of them, they like so many others would want to enact their own form of punishment.

It stung. It stung to feel so alone, when he was surrounded by people in the midst of this market.

Totsu was laughing somewhere, knowing that someone else was taking the blame for his most heinous crime.

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#22
Old 05-10-2008, 09:45 PM

24. Want

The whole situation made my insides quiver with anxiety. This could be the grand finale, the final part of this torture that Totsu had enacted on me in the past few months.

Slowly, oh so slowly my rations of food had been deminished. I was taken away from the servant kitchens where meals were given out to us loyal workers. They had deminished to nothing. I Had watched that terrible master eat his meals in his room and had salivated like a dog on the hard wood floors. I felt like a dog; a beaten down stubborn dog starved into obedience and him laughing all the time. If it had not been for cutlery he ate it with I would have stolen it from him; resorting to the tactics of the beast I had become.

And yet I did not die. My body did not diminish into the dying state. It was a trait of my kind. The Shieto who feed upon the flesh of mortals of our own kind. It could be a damned long time before we could feed again, and as I had tasted it...it preserved me.

But it weakened me. Despite myself I leaned upon the arm of the most hated man in my life and he bore me down the flights of stairs where the horses we saddled for a spare few cavalry members, his lordship and I.

Into the village we walked, I leaning heavily on my horse trained to follow the others save its life was in danger. A trot would have thrown me and I dared in my mind Totsu to order so that I could fall and suffer the peaceful dreams of a conclusion. But all we did was walk, and slowly at that.

A few times I lifted my head to see Totsu check to see that I was still there. When I was tired of it I worked up the nerve to spit at his horses feet. He laughed at the gesture.

"Believe you me," he said, laughter writ into his voice, "Do as expected of you and you'll never have to endure the prelude again, though I must say I rather enjoyed it,"

"I'd rather die than do anything you request of me," I said lividly.

He turned away from me then but I still heard him say, "You say that now, but I do think you'll change your mind."

"Never!" I shouted back.

My answer was replied to with laughter.

We traveled down into the town that had grown since I had left it as a child. The trees no longer sheltered the small cottages and market had formed in the center. And yet there were no people about. With the sunlight shining through the trees in a golden light it was utterly abandoned.

They had expected us.

My uneasiness grew. The soldiers led the way down to a segregated cottage, as if the others had moved away in anticipation of this moment.

"Apparently the father came down with some illness," One of the men explained, "He's recovered since then, but the mother and daughter are convinced that his condition will return if he continues working in the fields. They've barricaded the doors and windows, nothing we can't handle, but you wanted to do something?" He asked, looking back at Totsu.

"Yes," he said, "Do they have any weapons?"

"No, they meant to protest through endurance," The soldier replied.

"All I need from you is to break one of the windows open, draw blood from either of the women and stand back in case things become violent." Totsu said.

"What are you planning sir?"

"I'm sending in a Shieto" He said simply with a glance at me.

It was with growing unease that I stood outside the window. The glass was shattered and the smell of blood emanated from the room. With a flash of pain I lost my consciousness and became the blind beast the Totsu had anticipated.

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#23
Old 05-10-2008, 09:48 PM

63. Do Not Disturb

A shuffling in the darkness had woken Nimbus from his slumber. In a flash he had grasped the hand by his head, pulled the arm attached to it across the desk where he had been sleeping and pressed the edge of a blade from his belt across the bare skin.

A soft gasp escaped in his ear, a breathless voice remarking with an edge of fear crisping it's edges, "You havn't kept your promise,"

Shonasha. "What are you doing in here?" Nimbus asked the Shietopressing the blade closer to the skin so that he would feel it there.

"Watching you sleep," The demon remarked with a dry laugh but with the presence of the blade added, "You had fallen asleep doing paperwork, I thought I would finish it for you,"

"As nice as the gesture was," Nimbus replied suddenly letting the other man go and flopping back into the chair he had fallen asleep in, "I'd rather you stayed away from me," He threw the knife onto the desk where it became lodged in the cheap soft wood.

"I just want to help," Shonasha replied, sweeping loose strands of hair behind a pointed ear.

"I do not understand though." Nimbus said pressing a hand against his forehead and massaging his eyebrows, "All my life the demons have been the enemy, in this very war the demons are the enemy," He lowered his hand and looked seriously at the demon before him, "Why do you want to help?"

"Luphana has sent me where I need to be," he said simply.

"Luphanan is not even your god!" Nimbus shouted with exasperation. He wanted to trust the demon, wanted to trust someone, but nothing he said made sense.

Shonasha was silent for a moment, the flickering of a dying candle illuminated the fine features that were even a rarity to the Shieto race that he belonged to. Nimbus could see the traces of Elren traits on him, his mixed blood that partly related him to her. It hurt to relate the two.

"He is my god," Shonasha replied after a long time, "Many of us demons who have come here." He was silent again for a moment more, brow furrowed as if to remember something, "'And in Her hatred for Her Divine brother, Flamoya created a rift in His plain and stole the heavanly children of that plain. For centuries more she tortured them and defended her own dark plain against his wrath that was rife for her crime. When she had no more use for them she attached them to the bodies of newborn demons to live and perish in her world. But Luphana knew that they would find their way back; the one hundred and seventy-nine lost souls of his people," His amythyst eyes looked to Nimbus, lit with the fire of the candle, "Don't you believe in you own legends?"


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#24
Old 05-10-2008, 09:52 PM

27. Foreign

It was strange to be walking in this foreign place and have it look so familiar to her. As she walked in the simple blue dress that she had been lent, she could not help but pass her hands upon the broken stone of the decaying buildings.

Shonasha had said that their were dozens of villages like these, uprooted because of their disloyalty to the false king. She wandered if her father, the King of Lupnia had left the Elren villages like these. But she knew that in their forest homes, the devastation must be so much worse.

She fidled with the basket hanging on her arm, wanting to distract herself from the possiblity of her home country doing such terrible things. The Lupnians were a naive raise, not wanting to face the truth. Star had said it himself, almost three years back now. She regretted thinking of him then to, a wave of longing and homesickness brushed over her like a wave.

"Anya wi tyumovey" A woman's voice distracted Cato from her thoughts. It was a greeting, a formal one in the demon dialect.

"Anyum wey tyumovey," Cato replied easily back.

The woman looked back, for a moment surprised by the dialect of her people coming from a stranger. She laughed and Cato liked her for it. It was a light airy laugh that matched her somehow; dressed in colorful cloth garments that accented well on her darker shaded skin.

"Princess," the woman remarked, using the term lightly, "You've caught me off guard. For that," she pulled a deck of cards from the sash tied about her waist, "A free reading! Come, look, see what they say of you,"

The woman leaned forward on the balls of her feet and forcefully slapped the deck against the ground. Her hands nimbly spread them openly so that each card was at least half visible. "Touch three," She told Cato.

Cato readjusted her basket and sat on her heels to put a finger on three cards, one after the other before standing up again.

The woman nodded, the beads in her hair rattling as she gently flipped the cards Cato had chosen and those touching them. Each was written on with demonic characters, old one that Cato did not know how to read. "To translate then," The woman said, closing her eyes and placing a hand over the first of the cards.

"Cato!" Shonasha called out breathlessly.

"Shonasha," Cato said, turning around to face him, all of the sudden feeling like she had been doing something wrong. She glanced back to the woman and Shoansha looked to her as well.

"Illian! Havamo!" He said to her, stop.

"Illian The weavers?" Cato asked, not having recognized the peddlers like woman for one of holy status.

The woman looked up at Shonasha, her hand pressed firmly against the first card. Her expression was one of forced patience.

"This is the crowned princess of Lupnia, Totsu must not know she is here!" Shonasha near shouted at the woman.

She gasped, picking up her carda and scooping them together with a fearful look at the two of them. She had gathered them in her skirt and was readying to walk away when she dropped them on the cracked cobblestones, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

Looking at the pile she could see why. In the midst of all the cards with mere writing was one with a picture forming on the front of it. Shonasha stooped to pick it up, giving the woman a look out of the corner of his eye. "It's yours," He said, handing the card to Cato.

She took the card uneasily, not understanding. The picture on the card was one of herself shrouded from behind by a dark figure, "What does it mean?"

"It means this woman has sealed. It can now appear in any Illian deck if one were to look for it." Shonasha picked up one of the blank cards, "That means that Heso, Totsu's Illian advisor will be aware of it..."

"And Totsu will know I've been here," Cato finished, realizing where he was going.

The Illian woman sobbed suddenly and offered an apology in demon.

Shonasha shook his head in rejection and dropped the card to the ground, but not before Cato had seen something appear on it.

"We can leave this country before they arrive, can we not?" Cato offered.

"If we leave now. However, that will not prevent destruction. They will look as long as they can get away with it, and use destruction as a means of search," The woman sobbed again, and Shonasha once again look at her out of the corner of his amytyst colored eyes, "But it is my fault. I brought you here and did not warn you of the dangers. I'll carry the burden of it."

"Please no," The Illian woman pleaded suddenly, grabbing hold of Shonasha's arm. "My fault," she said shaking her head, "No fault of yours,"

Shonasha ignored her, looking as if completely held by something else.

As much as it looked like her own home, Cato knew that this country was much different then her own. it was full of different customs and new dangers that she had never imagined. She looked at the card in her hand again, and the demonic character now displayed at the bottom, "The Betrayer."

Sho-Shonojo
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#25
Old 05-10-2008, 10:24 PM

13. Misfortune

Balkar was dicing vegetables in the kitchen when reality chose to come over him once again. He had been living in a dream for the past few weeks. He had spent all his conscious mind adjusting to the lost family that he had rediscovered. He had never given himself the time to let his thought regress back to that dreary day at the hospital where fear had finally struck home and she had left his world forever. It was at this point in time, several weeks later, that Balkar found that the knife no longer was perfectly content to chop vegetables any longer. He had gasped at how cold the metal had felt on his skin and had gasped again when his father's voice had reached his ears.

Star had been distracted from his prior thought by the end to the periodic work in the kitchen. He knew the devastation that his son had been through, he was weary of the dangers.

"Don't be a coward," Star had said after stepping through the silent swinging door into the kitchen.

Balkar did not turn around, but Star could see his head dip down behind the sickened thin frame. The shoulders shook as they leaned more heavily against the counter he stood next to and Star could almost imagine the rattling of the skeleton beneath.

"You don't understand," his son replied in harsh whisper. A metallic scrape deafened all other sound in the room as Balkar turned around to face his father, the knife in his hand dragging across the counter as he did. The other inclined his head in a defiant manner, but Star could see the agony in his son's face and the desire in that look, that desire to be saved from whatever his mind was telling him to do, "You can't understand what I've had to go through."

Star nodded. It was true. Balkar had grown up without a family in a country that included no others of his race. He had fallen in love with a woman who's family had hated their relationship and once they were together she had died off a disease that was now spreading through his own body. It would be too much for most people, but it this escape needed to be prevented.

Star wanted to laugh out loud, it had been years since he last had to act like a real and responsible father.

 


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