AnimeCrasherz: Another idea for a new story... I seem to dispense story ideas so quickly... This makes three unfinished stories now, right? And on top of that, this one's about Hinata as well...
But I'll make a promise! This story will be different from the others. I've never written fantasy before, and I've never tried to write a non-angst story that wasn't a piece of crap. But please, have faith in me?
Enjoy!
In case you can't tell italics mean flashbacks and normal text is... normal text.
Chapter 1, Nothing I can do
"I don't want to get married!" I shouted at her.
She whispered into my midnight blue hair, "We can't go against your Father." I could tell by her wavering voice she was close to tears.
"But... isn't there anything you can do? Can't you use magic...?"
"I'm sorry." Her voice grew weak at the mention of magic, "Your father is a greedy man. If he wants to marry his only daughter off to a rich old man for his money, there's nothing I can do..."
'...nothing I can do...'
"Would you like anything else, sir?" a perky stewardess smiled and stood in the open doorway of our passenger booth.
The pale, dark haired man sitting across from me turned to look out the window, "No, thanks."
"Well, I..." the stewardess started, obviously hurt, "I mean, call me if you need me!" she dispensed a bright smile and slid the door shut, walking away to tend to other passengers. Beneath my feet, I felt the train rattle on the rickety tracks.
Once again, it was silent.
I stared out the window, down the mountainside on which the tracks rested. The mountain was covered in thick, green trees, many of them pines. At the very base of the mountain a silver river slicing between two mountains shimmered in the setting sunlight. But gray clouds were rolling in, and would soon block out the radiant pink sky and cover everything in sheets and sheets of hail.
The man sitting across me -my appointed bodyguard- cleared his throat. Arms crossed, he was staring at the floor, his eyebrows knotted in an eternal frown. I knew nothing about him, not even his name. I wouldn't ask him, as I needed to know only that he was to see me to my destination safely.
My destination: I was to go live unaccompanied with my husband-to-be for a few weeks before our wedding. The old man was 60, rich, and alone. Although my family was wealthy as well, he assured me that he "loved me for who I was inside, not for my money," or so he said.
I knew that my Father just wanted me out of the house, and wanted the famous Hyuuga line to be continued and kept purebred.
Of course, I had no intention of marrying such an old, ancient man that Father had arranged me to marry. When I got to the geezer's castle I planned to run away. Maybe to another town, another country, or maybe die in the woods... I didn't care.
My grip on the charm in my hands tightened, and when I opened my hand the shape of the charm was imprinted on my damasked palm.
She stood there somberly for a moment.
"Oh!" she shouted, letting go of me suddenly, "Stay here, I'll be right back!" she waddled off to a corner of the dark, brick kitchen, where an ancient oak wood trunk kept her most precious belongings. Kneeling down and rummaging through it quickly but carefully, she pulled out something that glinted in the firelight. She also removed a large, old book from the trunk. Walking back over to me, she placed the object in my open palm.
"What is it?" I asked, holding it up close to my face and examining it closely.
It hung on an simply made silver chain, but the object itself was stunning. It was a large silver oval about three inches long. The silver was not solid but an elaborate weave of sparkling silver vines with glimmering lavender-colored jewels as flowers. Miniature periwinkle crystals stood as smaller flowers. The craftsmanship of such a beautiful charm was expert, and somebody must have taken years and gone near blind making it. It must have cost her a fortune...
Coming over and putting it around my neck she stood back, admiring me with pride.
"But, do you really want me to have this?" I said, fingering the silver chain.
"Of course! It was your mother's favorite." tears came to my eyes, remembering Mother. "Open it."
I held it up and looked for a straight line or a fasten that would open it. Straining even my sensitive vision, I finally fount a tiny fasten shaped like a little leaf.
Inside the locket, there was... nothing. Just smooth, flat silver, like the inside of any empty silver locket. I looked, squinting my eyes, and saw a colorless face with two white pupiless eyeballs squinting back at me. The image was blurred into lumps of different shades of white.
"I..." I began, confused, "There's nothing in here."
She smiled as if she were laughing at a child asking why snow is cold. "It's not empty. Here, if you use your nail, the 'mirror' opens."
(Mental note: If I ever want to be able to open this locket, I have to stop biting my nails to the point of bleeding.)
She took the locket from me and lifted the tiny flap with her long, chipped nail, then handed the locket back to me. Inside was a tiny, sapphire key.
Next, she handed me the book. "That key goes to this book. Don't open it until you're gone from this castle, promise me."
"I promise." I said, closing the locket and carrying the large -and heavy- book under my scrawny white arm.
She gathered me into her embrace once more. I didn't know it was going to be my last. "If you stay down here longer, your Father will get impatient."
I knew Father didn't like me being in the kitchen. "It's not ladylike," he said. But he was gone so much of the time, and I was so lonely after Mother passed.
"Now, you have to go." she said, squeezing me so tight I found it hard to breathe.
Will this be the last time I see her? I thought.
"Goodbye."
I thought about the book now, nestled inside the suitcase under my seat. I was out of the castle- would it be okay for me to open it now? But she seemed so serious about the book being powerful, should I open it in the presence of strangers?
"Hey."
I looked up across the car, hearing a deep voice.
"I'm going out... for fresh air. Don't get into trouble."
He got up, opened the door, stepped out, and slid the door shut. Dead silence followed, now even his occasional "ahem" was gone.
I leaned my head against the window, and was about to fall asleep, when-
BOOM!
The train jerked violently to one side, then shook back into place. My forehead smashed against the windowpane, and my ears were ringing. Just when I was about to stand up, it rocked again, close to tipping over, and I had to cling to the seat for balance.
After I had waited for a moment to see if it was safe, I slid open the door to the passenger booth and stepped out. It seemed that I wasn't the only confused one; many curious passengers were poking their heads out of their own booths, most of them angry.
The same perky stewardess as before stumbled into the train car, giggling nervously.
Her hair and clothes askew, she spoke in the most sugary-happy fake tone possible, "People, people, please! Calm down. We apologize, but the train is experiencing some... minor technical difficulties. We assure you that we have people on the job to solve the problem, and will do our best to ensure you enjoy the rest of your trip!"
She walked back out, just as people were beginning to grumble and slide the doors closed.
Before she left, the stewardess shot one last questioning glance at me.
"You should be getting back inside, sweetie! Don't want anything to happen to you."
"I was just going outside for fresh air." I said in a dismissive tone.
She hesitated, then shrugged and left.
Stepping lightly and quickly across the hall of the train, I crept to the end and opened the windowed door. Immediately, a biting rush of loud wind almost blew it shut.
I wrestled my way out, and by the time I was outside my hair and clothes were a tangled mess. I found myself alone.
Nobody was outside.
Disappointed and confused, I craned my neck to try and look around. There was a little ladder leading to the top of the car, and even daring to climb that and look around from my new windy vantage point, I saw nothing. The clouds had rushed in fast, now covering the entire sky so that neither moon nor star could peek through. It was black.
With a deep sigh, I hopped back down clumsily and reentered the train car. Already a bit used to the cold wind, my cheeks, nose, and hands felt hot and tingly, and my eyes stung when I closed them.
"I guess," I wondered aloud where my bodyguard could be, "Maybe he went to the bathroo-"
CRASH!
I whirled around to look at the train car door. Pressed up against the bloodied window was… a face? A shrunken, brown face, with tiny yellow eyes sunk deep into black sockets smiled, baring fangs, through the blood-speckled window. Upon seeing me its smile vanished and it clawed violently at the door, heaving its gnarled body against it.
I screamed and stepped back, tripping and falling. Frozen to the ground and eyes frozen wide, I watched as the creature almost broke down the door.
Trembling from cold and fear, my eyes widened in terror.
Suddenly, the creature reeled backwards, backing away from the door. Some yellowish-red goop splattered the dirty window, and an inhuman scream came from outside. Another face appeared in the tiny window... my bodyguard!?
The door flew open and my bodyguard jumped in, backing against the door to keep it shut. I could tell he was straining to use all his weight to keep it closed. The thing outside was heaving his body against the door, using it's shoulders to band against the weak frame.
"What- what's going on?" I stood up and took a step back, my bony knees knocking together.
"I.. I can't explain right now!" he managed, pausing every time the thing banged against the door. "Just.. ah! Get to... the other.. side... of this train car... go... to the dining... car!"
"But- but you..."
"Just go!"
I took another step back, reluctant to turn around. When I did...
CRASH!
The door gave way behing my bodyguard, knocked right off it's hinges, and as I turned I saw the monster climb over the door into the train car. It's eyes were gouged out; instead the same yellowish-red goop oozed from the wounds. It's nose was turned up, poking in the air, trying to sniff something to devour. When it took a whiff of the air in front of me, its lips curved into an evil grin once more, and it licked it's fangs.
My bodyguard crawled out from beneath the door, wincing in pain.
"Get out, NOW!" he hollered. "GO!"
He pounced on the seven foot tall creature, but he was like a little marshmallow trying to knock down a steel door.
Like a deer caught in the headlights, I stood with my eyes wide open staring at the fight before me.
When the creature sank it's dirty nails into my bodyguard's shoulder and threw him to the ground, I got the sense knocked into me to run out the door.
The creature followed.
There was no door separating us now.
I climbed to the top of the car. Looking down, I saw a pale, bloodied hand reach for the creature's ankle and drag him back inside.
I kneeled on the cold, hard metal roof, facing the way the train was snaking along the mountainside. Looking down at my filthy, colorless knees, I sighed and allowed my shoulders to slump, an action that would be frowned upon in the castle. My heavy, plain white dress and oversized, beige, winter coat were splattered with blood now, and the bottom of my traveling boots were covered with yellowish-red goop.You could barely tell I was royalty to begin with -other than the fancy hairdo and jewelry- but I looked like common filth now.
SMACK!
A tree branch hit me square in the face, angrily throwing me backwards off the train car. I braced myself, waiting for the back of my head to connect with a metal pole, a metal platform, anything...
But I was caught by two strong arms, wrenched out of the air, all gentleness and caution thrown to the wind.
"We have to get off this train."
"What? But we-"
"We have to get off this train. Now."
"W-Why? Wha-wha-what's happening?"
"The creature, I don't know how... I trapped him. Inside a closet." he hopped gracefully off of the ladder, and let me step onto the metal platform, still keeping an arm securely around my shoulders.
"Come on. We're jumping. The train will explode soon; I overloaded the coal car and messed with some of the controls- don't ask. This train is a ticking bomb. By the time we're on the bridge ahead, it will explode into smithereens, taking the creature with it."
And all of the passengers. A bomb... wasn't this the kind of thing that happened in all of those action and adventure books Father frowned upon? I thought, as a light snow began to fall, surrounding us.
"Wait, I have to go get something." I lifted his arm off of my shoulders, and hurried towards the - now doorless- doorway.
"Stupid girl, we don't have time!!!" he followed me angrily.
"J-just.. just wait, ok?"
I ran inside, bumping into a few startled passengers, and took my bag out from under my seat. Tearing out needless, fancy clothes and throwing them wherever they landed, I reached into the bottom of the bag and tugged out the old book I received from Mattie. By the time I ran back outside, I was gasping for air, my breath coming in cold puffs of frosty white clouds.
My body guard grabbed my arm, "You ready?" I nodded, "Okay, on three," he helped me climb onto the edge railing, "One, two..."
A rush of deafening wind blocked out the "three!", and when I closed my eyes this time I really did feel the impact of twigs and dirt as we jumped off of the train and landed on the frozen earth below.
"...oooooh..."
I lifted myself off the ground, propping myself on my elbows. My head felt as if I had ran straight into a huge, heavy boulder. The world was a spinning void of... pink?
I was surrounded by pink snow! Fluffy snow powder acted like a pillow. There was nothing but pink snow, pink snow-covered trees and gray-pink, cloudy skies. I stood up, admiring the rosy wonderland in awe, only to slide on my still-goopy boot and land on my butt in fluffy drifts. The fall didn't even hurt. I dug down to see what was under all of this snow, but only found more and more layers of pink powder.
I had heard of pink snow in a book once; there was a type of algae that grew on certain mountains somewhere -I forgot where. But this! This was unreal!
After gaping for a few more moments, I regained my senses... remembering about my still-unconscious bodyguard. He was knocked out like a light, his face showing no traces of distress. Actually, the only thing out of place in his sleepy state was the crimson blood and yellowish-red goop staining him, his clothes, and the snow around him.
I was began to panic when I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not, but was relieved when he began to come to. He lifted his head off of the snow and cringed. I bet his head was spinning, too.
When his vision cleared and he looked around, his jaw dropped. He stuttered out a few incoherent little noises, and I waited for him to say something comprehensible.
"Oh, crap."
AnimeCrasherz: Please, try not to hate too much? Constructive criticism helps, though...
There's snow in this chapter -pink snow... I hate pink (don't hate me, pink-lovers out there) but pink snow seemed the most wonderland-ish for me to write about- festive for the holiday season! It never snows out here in the desert... T.T way too much sun.
So, this is my idea for a new story. It's been in my head for years, I swear... I've only recently turned it into a story.
Tell me if I should continue or delete, as always!