BETWEEN NIGHT AND DAY:
SCENE ONE: Boy Meets Girl
Disclaimer: Konami owns Suikoden. I own this fic.
When the boy first met the girl, the first thing he noticed were her eyes.
The next was the top of her foot as it crashed into his face.
It was the first time anyone had decked the Prince of Falena… the first time indeed, that anyone had actually hit him. Even his father, in the infrequent event that the Prince did something mischievous enough that even Ferid would not let slide, never resorted to physical violence – perhaps because a mild slap from the Commander of the Queen's Knights was enough to send grown men to their knees, much less a nine year old boy.
Yet here was this girl, this tiny girl who he had never seen in his life, who met his gaze unashamedly with her wide, liquid eyes – here was this girl who knocked him off his feet without a word, without batting an eyelash, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
At first the Prince was too shocked to do anything more than rub his jaw gingerly. Much to his distaste, he thought he felt a tooth or two wobble, although the pain of their dislodging was at the moment masked by the general feeling of utter anguish that permeated the entire lower half of his face. One notable side effect of this was it made talking impossible, and as the silent, black-haired demon was volunteering no information, the Prince was left with no means to castigate her for her gross mistreatment of his royal person. All he had done was stare at her after all… and what was she doing in his room anyway? Still, growing up in the Palace, the young Prince knew there were other ways to communicate one's emotions.
Getting somewhat groggily to his feet, the Prince stared mutely at the girl for a moment, then sketched his most dignified bow. The girl looked confused for a second, then hesitantly returned it.
The Prince waited for her eyes to focus on the floor before leaping on her with a shouted battlecry.
Ferid found him a few minutes later, screaming bloody murder as the girl sat on his stomach, holding down his slightly greater weight with what seemed to the Prince to be supernatural strength, strength that was quite evident as she pummeled the hapless young royal within an inch of his life. The moment Ferid appeared though, the girl shot to her feet.
"What's going on here?"
A curious head topped with a shock of purple hair popped out from behind Ferid's imposing frame. "OoOoOh… I think someone's been skipping one-too-many training sessions…"
The Prince at that very moment had a great deal he wanted to say to Queen's Knight Apprentice Miakis – but at the moment, all he could manage was a sound between a strangled gurgle and a gurgling moan.
Ferid however, seemed to find the entire affair much less amusing. He quickly rushed to his son's side and rand gentle hands over the boy – not that they felt gentle to the Prince at that point in time.
"You're alright," Ferid said at last, more than a little relief in his voice, "You're alright."
"Yeah… great… " the Prince replied, allowing just a trace of un-princely sarcasm into his voice, but his father had already turned to the strange new girl, and his vouce rang out with uncharacteristic severity.
"This has to stop," Ferid said, "You're not in - " he began to say, but visibly stopped himself. "You have nothing to fear from us here, and wish to have no cause to fear you. You are amongst friends here. Family."
The girl seemed suddenly uncertain. "Family…" she whispered, and her voice was as liquid as her blue-black eyes.
"That's right," Ferid said, before helping the Prince to his feet. "This is my son, the Prince - "
Ever so slowly, the girl's face began to grow pale, and her eyes even wider as her expression took on a faint look of horror. Ha! Now she knew that she knew the gravity of her crime, she would surely…
" – you'll be seeing a lot of him, serving as his body guard, so do try to get along ok?"
… beg his forgiveness and…
Wait…
What?
"What?" he cried out, hardly noticing that Miakis joined in.
"But father, I don't need another body guard!" the Prince protested.
"I thought that's what I was here for!" Miakis chimed in.
The Prince blinked, then stared at Miakis incredulously. "Uhm… On second thought, I'm fine with the new girl then, Father."
Miakis' mouth opened in an "O" of offended shock, then she took a menacing step towards the white haired boy. "Oh you are SO in over your head…"
Ferid pulled her back by the scruff of her neck. "Settle down you two…" the Commander laughed, before turning a fond gaze towards Miakis. "You're going to be Lymsleia's body guard."
"You've gotta be kidding!" the purple haired apprentice protested. "She's two years old! The Queen doesn't even let her out of the cradle! What about my public appearances? What about my adoring fans?"
"You'll live, and so will they," Ferid chuckled, then addressed his son, "It's about time you had a personal bodyguard my boy, not just a rotating retinue of palace guards. Besides, she's practically your age, and it wouldn't hurt to have someone who could be your companion as well as your shield."
"Shield? Father she's smaller that I am!"
"And yet did she or did she not appear to be kicking your royal behind?" Miakis noted innocently, prompting a glare from his royal highness, which the older girl promptly ignored.
"Trust me, she's more than up to the task. She's going to be our newest Queen's Knight Apprentice in fact."
That took the Prince aback. "Really?" he asked, once more in tandem with Miakis.
Ferid laughed and took the new girl's hands in his own. "Would I have anyone but the best to guard my boy? Lyon is… special. Give it time, and I'm sure you'll agree," he said as he pulled her closer to the Prince.
"Lyon? Is that your name?" the Prince asked. The girl seemed suddenly shy in Ferid's presence, and her eyes flickered nervously from Ferid's face to the Prince's, then to the floor and back again.
She really did have pretty eyes.
"I'm… sorry…" Lyon said softly, hesitantly – not sounding as if she didn't mean it, but rather as if the word itself was unfamiliar.
Part of him wanted to see her prostrate herself before him, but the Prince wasn't really vindictive by nature. Besides, with his father and Miakis there, how could he be anything but magnanimous?
"It is already forgotten," he said, ignoring the chortling sounds coming from behind Miakis' cupped hands. "I pray I have not… hurt you by any chance?"
At that Miakis broke out into a full fledged guffaw. The magnanimous Prince resisted an urge to stuff one of her daggers down her throat.
Again Lyon's eyes widened, as if what he said surprised her. "No… I – I'm fine." She paused. "Thank you. For asking… your Highness."
For some reason, the way she said it made him smile. "Think nothing of it. And please – call me Rivan." He held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Lady Lyon."
The black-haired girl stared at his hand, as if at any moment it might turn into a snake. Slowly, her own reached out, until her small, yet strong, fingers clasped his own.
"Pleased to meet you, Prince Rivan," she said then, and as her eyes met his, she smiled.
It was even prettier than her eyes.
OOC: A little bit of practice before I plunge back into Vanishing Point – and what better way to begin writing anew than with a Suikoden fic? This is the series that is my first love, and Suikoden V is in all honesty, my favorite game of all time.
This will be a series of short "snippets", stories that flesh out or fit in between events or information given in the game. The game itself does a great job of showing the development of the characters, but the characters themselves are so rich that there's plenty of room to expand on what's given.
Things to look forward to? Well, hard to say at this point. I do intend to venture a bit into possible romantic feelings between the Prince and Lyon, Miakis and Luserina. There's also quite a bit of fleshing out I want to do after the... well, the first time you have to pick three parties in the game. I'm being quite spoiler-free in this first chapter but be warned – the farther along we go, the more spoilers there will be.
Well that's it for now. Feedback is always welcome. Next up is the first trip to Lordlake of Lyon and the Prince… back when it still deserved its name.