Most stories begin on a dark stormy night or with once upon a time. But how does one decide where exactly a story starts and where it ends? Does it begin with the birth of a princess or the night she is snatched away? With a human girl opening the doors to a mansion or with her daring escape? For the sake of time, dear reader, we will start as many stories often do: somewhere almost in the middle.

Before we begin, dear reader, I feel it is my duty as the author to warn you about what you are about to read. This is not your typical whimsical romantic fairytale plot where everyone gets to live happily ever after and good triumphs over evil. Some characters will of course find their happy endings and others most certainly will not. That is just how life is. For even amidst the delicate blossoms of love and passion, the hidden weeds of jealousy and hate linger. If you are looking for a quick, clean, fluffy romance: I highly suggest you go read something else.

But, if you are willing to indulge me by listening to my meager tale, we will start, as I said before, somewhere in the middle on a beautiful warm moonlit night in a location not disclosed yet.

The Meeting

It was a perfect night. The scent of roses hung in the warm night air, an occasional cool breeze carrying the scent further into the night. Not a single cloud hung in the sky, allowing the stars to shine brightly among the silvery glow of the quarter moon. It was the kind of night that harkened lovers to meet in the gardens for a late night rendezvous, which murmured the sweetest of dreams into children's ears as they slept, the kind of night that made one feel that they could accomplish anything. In other words, it was a night fit for magic.

Yet all was still and silent. The sweet nightingales had quickly ceased their nightly serenade. The lively jig of the crickets had gone dead silent. Not even the great horned owl dared to make a sound. It was as if every creature was holding its breath in anticipation.

Silhouetted by the moon, four hooded figures made their way across a darkened stony corridor. Every so often one of them would look over their shoulder, as if to check if they were being followed. They continued on for a couple more minutes until they approached what appeared to be a dead end. However, the four figures did not stop and, had someone been watching them, the figures would have appeared to vanish into thin air. They would not notice the door that suddenly appeared or how the figure in front knocked before

Inside the room was lit with only a few candles with sparse furnishings save for a large oak desk and the red leather back chair where "The Commander" sat reading over a file.

He was a man whose prowess on and off the battlefield had earned him the nickname I Cálala -o Faire, the Commander of Death. His bulky six and a half feet frame only helped fuel his terrifying reputation. It didn't help that his face seemed to be frozen in a permanent scowl. Still, with his slightly curly black hair, tan skin, and aqua eyes he was considered to be a fairly handsome man by most people.

Leaning against the wall to the right of the Commander was his second in command, "Puck". It was the Queen herself who, after seeing Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream centuries before, had bestowed the nickname upon him. With his wild red hair, ever-present smirk, and mischievous emerald eyes, it was easy to understand how he came to acquire such a name. Many people tended to underestimate the red haired man for this reason. This often proved to be a fatal mistake.

To the outside observer, the Commander appeared to be his usual calm self with Puck casually lounging against the wall. The group of four however could sense the tension engulfing the room, noticed the Commander's white knuckled grip on the file, and how Puck's smile was stiff, eyes cold and calculating.

The Commander gave no acknowledgement to group, instead glancing over at Puck who nodded. With a snap of his fingers the room was engulfed in a bright blue light before it faded away. After a brief pause, the Commander set the file down on his desk before acknowledging the four standing before him. He raised an eyebrow.

"I know I said to be discreet but cloaks?" he asked as the tallest of the group gave a snort.

"Believe me this wasn't my idea, K-," a sharp whack to the head cut off the rest of the sentence. Letting out an oath, he angrily turned to the person who had hit them

"No real names remember Ringo-baka?" cooed a sweet tenor voice mockingly. Ringo narrowed his eyes, his lips drawing back into a sneer.

"Want me to fix that girly face of yours Neko? Who knows, you might even start to look like a guy," he snarled back, cracking his knuckles as the smaller figure, Neko,hissed.

" At least my face doesn't scare girls off!"

"At least people don't think I'm a twelve year old girl!"

"Well I'm not the one who gets mistaken as a gang member!"

"You wanna take this outside you prissy ass little midget?!"

"Gladly you oversized oaf!"

Their faces were inches apart by now, Ringo cracking his knuckles as Neko's right eye flickered between red and blue.

"That's enough," snapped a stern baritone voice. The two boys froze before slowly pulling away, looking slightly embarrassed under the other mans glare.

"This is neither the time nor place for one of your petty squabbles. The Commander has called us here for a reason."

"Sorry Scholar," the two boys mumbled. Scholar let out a sigh before turning back to face the Commander and Puck.

"Given the level of that silencing spell, I take it this is a pretty serious matter, even for you Commander," said the last figure tiredly.

"We can't have any of the wrong people over hearing this, Knives," sighed Puck, running a hand wearily through his hair. The Commander leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms as he leveled a hard glare at the group of young men.

"What we are about to tell you does not leave this room. You are forbidden to talk about this with anyone outside this room. Not one word of this may leave this room. Do you understand?" said Puck calmly.

"We understand sir," they answered in unison. Satisfied with their answer, Puck gestured to the Commander who sighed. Closing his eyes he waited a moment before speaking.

"We found Lady Eve."

Dead silence. The temperature of the room seemed to drop as the air began to crackle with tension.

Neko's eye began to flash once again as Ringo clenched his fists, while Knives started to tremble. Squeezing Ringo's shoulder, Scholar turned back to look at the two men in front of him.

"Are- are you sure?" he said quietly, his voice shaking slightly. The Commander pushed the file he had been holding earlier towards the group who gathered around Scholar to view it. There was a sharp inhale of breath as they took their first look at the picture that lay inside. They stared at it in silence for what felt like forever before looking back to Puck and the Commander.

"Is…is she alive?" asked Neko a bit fearfully, not sure if he wanted to know the answer of not. The Commander nodded.

"Yes, she's alive," he said, causing the group let out the breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding. Scholar however, still looked apprehensive.

"There's something you're not telling us," he murmured making Puck let out a joyless chuckle.

"As usual, nothing gets past you Scholar. The people who have her aren't your average run of the mill people. They're extremely high profile which is why we have to handle this so carefully. You're not going to like it," he warned as Ringo snarled impatiently.

"Quit your stalling old man and just tell us who they are already," he snapped. Normally Puck wouldn't have tolerated such behavior from one of the people under his command. Given the situation however, he brushed off Ringo's attitude. He knew the young man meant no real disrespect.

The Commander pulled out a second file and handed it to the group, eyeing them as their faces went paler as they read the information.

"Fuck," swore Neko as Scholar rubbed his forehead, deep in thought.

"You can see why this situation is so delicate," said Puck as Scholar let out a sigh.

"Yes I can see why now. Do we know exactly how long Lady Eve has been with them?" he asked. Puck shrugged his shoulders.

"From what I could see, I'd say maybe three or six months. And before you ask Scholar, no I don't believe they are aware of her true identity. I believe she was brought to those people as.." Puck trailed off, thinking of how exactly he should word the next part.

"As a what?" urged Neko. It was the Commander who answered him.

"As a sacrificial bride," he said slowly.

CRACK

Ringo had slammed his hands on the desk, causing a chunk of it to break off.

"ONE OF THE BRIDES? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" he shouted. Knives went to put a hand on his should but he brushed it away. "NO KNIVES, YOU KNOW EXACTLY HOW THOSE MONSTERS TREAT THEIR BRIDES," he continued, spitting out the last part as if it was poisonous. He gripped the desk tighter.

"They're lucky to survive a month there let alone six! And you're telling us that Princ-Lady Eve is being held captive in that hellhole? Why the fuck haven't you guys gotten her out of there already?!"

"As we said these people are high-"

"SCREW THAT SHIT!" roared Ringo.

"ENOUGH RINGO! " shouted the Commander slamming his hands on the desk. All was silent except for Ringo's heavy breathing. After a minute, he tossed himself onto on of the chairs, burying his face in his hands. Puck's eyes softened slightly.

"I understand your concerns Ringo, I do. I care about Lady Eve's safety just as much as you do. And if were up to us, she'd be home right now recovering. But it is not that simple. There's more at work here than we expected and if we handle this rashly, it could kill her. Do you understand?" he said softly. Letting out a breath, Ringo nodded. Neko and Knives each placed on hand on his shoulder in reassurance.

"Just…just tell me this? Have those…did they…?" Ringo struggled to get his words our. Puck however seemed to understand what he was to afraid to say and shook his head.

"They've definitely bitten her but I don't believe they've gone farther than that. We won't really know though until we get her back. That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about." Puck hesitated once again, unsure of how to break the next piece of news to them. Neko, however seemed to read his thoughts.

"She doesn't remember anything, does she?" he said sadly. The Commander shook his head.

"No. Whoever took her made sure to place a seal on her memories. Luckily we have a way to break it, though it's a little tricky. As for why she hasn't discovered her powers yet, I believe this will answer that question." The Commander pushed a piece of paper towards them.

"I came across this during a mission a couple of weeks ago. It is was what lead me to finding Lady Eve's location. Again, you're not going to like it though," Puck huffed and Scholar grimaced.

"I have a feeling there are many things about this situation that we're not going to like," he said, sounding resigned before opening the folder, the others reading over his shoulder. If possible, their frown became even deeper with every passing word that they read. After a moment, they looked back up.

"Are you saying, that that woman's heart is in Lady Eve's body right now?" Scholar said slowly, though everyone could hear the underlying rage and horror accompanying his words. Puck nodded.

"Yeah, it's part of the reason this is so complicated. The good news is that we managed to retrieve the original heart, thank goddess whoever took her kept it magically preserved. Getting it back to Lady Eve, now that's tricky part," huffed Puck as the Commander nodded.

"This is why we called you. In order to successfully reunite Lady Eve with her heart she has to remember who she is first in order for this to work." At this point, Puck stepped forward and, with a flick of his wrist, a glowing purple seal appeared in the air. Eyeing it carefully Scholar pursed hip lips, frowning.

"A blood seal." Knives turned his head toward his fellow group mate.

"A blood seal?" he asked curiously as Scholar nodded.

"From what I've heard they were quite popular during the war. Because the person creating it uses their own blood, they are able to usually feel if someone is tampering with their work. It was used typically on soldiers incase they were captured to seal their memories so they wouldn't be able to pass along any information. If the enemy tried to unseal it, it would typically result in the soldier's death. There are very few ways to get around it." Puck grimaced and nodded.

"Messy little things they are. Luckily there's a way to break without killing Lady Eve. The only way to break a blood seal is with the blood of someone who shares a close bond with the victim, typically by blood. This one right here reacquires four different bonds to break it," pointing at four markings on the seal. Knives eyes narrowed

" Her family," he stated calmly and the Commander nodded.

"Yes but given the level of the spell, I have no doubt whoever did this put a special trigger in place to alert them if the family's blood is used. But this is also where out little friend made one very grave mistake on their part." At this the Commander leaned forward, head resting on folded hands, lips curled up ever so slightly. He waited a moment before speaking again,

"They didn't factor the four of you." The group stood silent for a moment, trying to process the information for a moment before Neko spoke.

"Us sir?" he asked slightly confused which made Puck chuckle.

"Very few people are aware of what your true relationship Lady Eve really is and even fewer know how that bond was formed," he said, smiling at their dawning looks of realization. Ringo pulled lips curled into an almost feral grin.

"So what you're saying is, that if we use our blood, it won't alert whoever did this," he said almost gleefully. Puck shot him a maniacal grin.

"Exactly. You'll have some other things to do of course but I'll go over that with you once we've reached the location you'll be staying at for the mission. Sadly, I have other urgent business I have to attend to but I'll walk you guys through what you need to do. Everything you need in here," he said, passinga large bulky looking bag to Ringo who slung it over his shoulder.

"How long do we have?" asked Neko eagerly, practically vibrating with anticipation.

"Until the next lunar eclipse."

"Doesn't give us a whole lot of time," murmured Knives making the Commander grimace.

"At this point we don't really have any other choice," he sighed as the group nodded in understanding. Neko though looked a bit uncertain.

"Sir," he said carefully, "are you sure we should be keeping this from family? It seems wrong with holding this from them." The Commander simply shook his head.

"I understand where you are coming from Neko and as much as I hate keeping secrets from the family, this one is necessary. Can you imagine what Kal and Móre would do if they caught wind of this?"

Scholar massaged his brow, getting a headache from just imagining the utter chaos those two would cause.

"I see your point. Knowing them, they'd tear apart the whole country just to find her," he sighed wearily.

" Exactly. We can not risk putting any of the other members of the family in danger at this point and besides," the Commander's voice began to softened, " they have enough to worry about with the anniversary coming up." The group flinched at the mention of that day, Ringo's hands tightening on bag strap. The Commander stood up and walked to stand in front of the group.

"You are to leave tonight. Puck will transport you to your location and explain the rest. You are to do whatever it takes to retrieve Lady Eve safely back however," he raised a hand up to silence Neko and Ringo as the opened their mouths to speak, "the family she is with is to be kept alive." Ringo huffed in irritation.

"And if those bastards attack us first?" The Commander raised an eyebrow.

" I only said they had to be alive. As long as they aren't fatally wounded I'm not to concerned but no maiming," he said directing the last part to Ringo and Neko who had matching grins on their faces.

"You got it sir!" chirped Neko happily as images of violence danced in his head while Puck gestured for the group to stand together. Looking on at the four boys, the Commander thought back to when he had first met them years before. A sense of pride rushed through him at the thought of how much they had grown.

'If only she could see how far they've come,' he thought wistfully to himself, holding back a grin. It wouldn't do any good for them to see him smile; Goddess knows they would never let him forget it. As rune the floor began to glow, his thoughts returned to the present situation at hand.

"Boys," he said making the group pause as they went to step onto the glowing circle, "this mission cannot fail. The future of our kingdom rests with you." Their expressions turned solemn. Ringo snorted, shifting the bag over his shoulder before looking the Commander dead in the eye.

"Commander, if this mission fails, I won't be coming back. I failed her once, I won't do it again," he said seriously before stepping into the circle. With a WHOOSH,the group vanished, leaving the Commander alone.

"Good luck boys," he murmured. From outside, the nightingales returned to their signing accompanied by the crickets as an owl flew from a tree in search of their next meal.

Somewhere in Japan, a girl with pink eyes awoke.

AN: I'M BACK! First off, I would like to say how sorry I am for not updating in years. I was a junior in college when I started this story and after surviving through those next few years of school I then had to survive my first year in the real world. However, when I saw that there were still people reading this, I was truly touched and my passion for this story was reignited once more.

I will be rewriting the first three chapters of this story and will also post it on my Archiveofourown account under the username bluerosejuliet. I want to try to have the rewritten chapters up as soon as possible and I am hoping to post chapter 4 by next Sunday.