I'm alive! ^_^ and so is this fic! Here it is! 9??? words of pure crap! =D But I've completely ran into a wall and knocked out some of the interest in writing this story though… but I'll try to finish it even if it takes me years… haha jk. I'm warning you of confusion and maybe disappointment ahead if you're gonna start reading… but maybe I'll answer some of your questions in my long author's notes at the end of this chapter. So go on and read it if you must, there's deep thoughts and emotions in this story which you would probably think for them waaayy out of character but… just read on… I totally don't really like this chapter; that was why I was kind of hesitant to post it up… Please read and review…

Disclaimer: SD3 does not belong to me, otherwise I will make it angst-filled… =D

~*~~*~~*~

A Growing Darkness

~*~~*~~*~

            "Where are you going?"

            "Out for a walk."

            "At this time?"

            "Relax Jess," Hawkeye kissed his fiancé on the forehead and gently massaged her shoulders, "I'm just not sleepy yet, and you should go to sleep." He lightly pushed her down to the bed and tucked her in tightly. He gave her another peck on the cheek and turned to leave but her hand flew out and grabbed his.

            "Stay for just a little while? I…" She couldn't finish her sentence because her blood was rising to her cheeks in a deep blush and she tried to hide under her blankets.

            Hawkeye warmly smiled at her and sat himself beside her while whistling an old Navarrean folklore song in which Eagle had taught him so long ago. The tranquil peace between them was so calm and serene; he felt like she was the only person who he could truly bond his soul with. He looked out the night sky, the stars reminded him of the stars back in Navarre, but in the desert, they sparkled so brilliantly like diamond jewels, everyone wanted to have them to themselves. With a final low note of the song, Hawkeye turned to see Jessica's head limp to the side in slumber.

            "Love you jess." He stood up and left, shutting the door to Jessica's room. The blue-haired girl opened her eyes and tightly clutched her pillow.

            "No you don't…"

~*~

            Underneath the eyes of the mother of night and her children, a willowy figure sauntered gracefully towards a quietly sighing stream within an Eden of flowers. The girl laid herself down next to a flowerbed consisting of white roses and looked over at a little group of rosebuds standing erect but still so young and yet to bloom, she smiled and sat near them. Admiring the beauty of a snow-white rose hinted with a slightest hues of light yellow, a fragile finger reached out and caressed the frosty petals of the uncommon flower, traveling her lithe touch lower to the stem to pick it, but the flower protested as its thorns pricked her finger in objection, drawing her blood.

            Riesz winced and withdrew her hand and examined her minor wound, little droplets of blood emerged from the fresh new cut, sliding down her finger and then hand. She did nothing to stop it. She looked at it as it fell and landed on the white rose, tainting it with dark red streaks, how perturbed the amazoness princess was, as she watched her blood spoil the unsullied flower like a virgin robbed of her chastity. She quivered and turned to the gleaming stream to cleanse her finger but before she could do so, a warm hand grasped hers' and her immediate attention to the owner of the pair of bronze hands.

            "H-Hawkeye…" She stuttered.

            "You cut yourself…" He examined her minor wound with wide eyes.

            "I-it's nothing…"

            His golden-green eyes were staring intently at her; she felt his warm breath brush upon her cold fingers, which led to a shiver deliciously traveling down her spine. Was he teasing her? Oh he knew what a power he had over her. Everything, her soul, her heart, her body was his to claim and only his. She wanted to apologize for her actions the other day but she just kept avoiding him even if he would wave and call out her name. Obviously he's over it, but she's still lingering on it…

            "Hawkeye I wanted to say-"

            She was startled and a soft yelp escaped her lips when she felt the rough yet gentle texture of his lips kiss her cut and then lightly suckle on it. Riesz's cheeks immediately burned of embarrassment.

            "Hmm…?" he looked up from her finger to her face.

            "Nothing… I have to go…"

Riesz quickly withdrew her hand from his clutch and hastily stood up but stumbled in doing so and tumbled back wards, plummeting down to the stream she sat by. Hawkeye blinked then made a movement to quickly grab her flailing hands, but she was already leaning back so far, which consequently made the violet haired boy lose his equilibrium when his hands even got a chance to clutch hers, so they both prepared themselves for the collision with water.

            Riesz let out a shriek but the rest of it was buried within the sound of the large splash at the impact of both their bodies hitting the cool water. She felt her body falling towards the bottom of the shallow stream and Hawkeye's figure hovering on top of hers. She opened her mouth to let out some clogged up air only to suck in unwanted water. She tightly closed her eyes shut as tiny amounts of water filled her lungs and her body tried to squirm free from the person floating above. Seconds later she felt her hands being grabbed and pulled her body to sit up and emerge from the surface of the stream. She struggled for breath and opened her eyes revealing a gasping Hawkeye kneeling in front of her with a worried expression drawn on his face. Riesz coughed up the water from her lungs and took long gasps and glared at the boy sitting in front of her.

            "Were you trying to kill me?!" Riesz's voice was loud and demanding, her glare towards Hawkeye said that she wanted an explanation.

            "I only tried to save you from falling, but you pulled me in with you!" The sopping wet boy remarked, staring back at her with equal amounts of frustration and a red face.

            "Then what was that stunt you pulled earlier for?" Riesz's face was red either of embarrassment or anger but her heart was reading to jump out of her chest.

            The Navarrean boy smirked at that question and his façade turned to one of a mischievous one, "Did you like it?"

            Riesz blinked and found that she couldn't reply to his question, partly because she was at a loss for words. She hurriedly got to her feet, she didn't want to confront him tonight, but the unexpected rush from standing up too quick got to her head and the world seemed to tilt and sway, she faltered, but this time Hawkeye was able to catch her since there was nothing left to fall into; unless, the earth opened up and swallowed them both whole, but that was unlikely to happen.

            "Easy there princess." Hawkeye snickered.

            Riesz glowered at him but couldn't find anything witty to counter with. They remained hushed, the flowing stream fondled with their skin and made them tremor and nestle closer to each other in search of warmth, it was wasn't cold but it wasn't cool either, not a wonderful place to be in the middle of the night, but with his snug physique pressed against hers like in an embrace lovers would only have the pleasure of enjoying, it heightened her senses and the pounding of her heart. When she finally found herself, she shyly sat upright up and moved out of his arm's possession and stared downward, suddenly taking an interest at the colorful pebbles at the bed of the stream.

            Hawkeye hoisted himself up and sat down at the edge of the bank and squeezed the water out of his long violet hair while observing the surroundings: flowers, bushes, more flowers, fountain, more flowers, balcony, pathway, pavilion, and, more flowers.

            "What are you doing here?" the amazoness queried, she had had that question in her mind for a quite a while now but her tongue wouldn't allow her to ask.

            "Hmm…?"

            Riesz frowned, with his reply she knew he wasn't really paying much notice to her, as much as she hated repeating herself, she did so, "I said, what are you doing here?"

            Hawkeye returned his attention to the girl sitting in front of him and he blinked down at her and met the intense gaze of sparkling azure. He sighed, "I thought you just needed a companion right now." She didn't believe him and he knew she didn't and answered again, "I just wanted to be with you."

            She smiled bitterly yet hid it from him, rising up to her feet; she lifted up her dress and walked over to where she previously sat before her rendezvous with the little stream. Silence overwhelmed them once again. Riesz parted her lips, about to say something when Navarrean boy beat her to it.

            "White rosebuds huh?" He looked over the little flowers blooming splendidly next to her.

            Adverting her gaze from Hawkeye to her side, Riesz's lips curled slightly into a faint smile. She felt like something about these young buds connected herself to them. "Yes, aren't they just lovely? I think they are the most beautiful flowers of all in this courtyard."

            "Besides you." Hawkeye added. That remark made Riesz's eyes widened as his comment reached her ears her cheeks reddened.

            "You flatter girls too much." Riesz glared at him but with a playful frown placed upon her lips, almost like a small pout, "And you're married too, how could you." She playfully accused him but he reacted with a sly grin and lazily cocked his eyebrow.

             "Do you know what rosebuds represent?" he asked, his voice velvety smooth which took the princess off guard by his drastic change in disposition.

            Riesz watched him; she felt the butterflies in her stomach fluttering around aggressively, wanting and searching for a way out of their prison. Her heart leapt to her throat and choked her with a silent gasp; he was absolutely stunning. The pale and mystic moonlight faintly blurred her surroundings with scenic radiance and also enhanced the sandy glow of his tanned face. His bewitching pools of gold and green seemed to be clouded with doubt that reflected his unexplainable sorrow to her openly, but she chose to cast that thought aside. His wet hair was clinging to his features, his damp white shirt that is now transparent, greedily hugged his build showing her his alluring Adonis-like figure.

            He glanced towards her and was slightly amused by her stare that was not directed at his face but something lower. She also looked like she was off in her own livid world with the zombie-like look that was so adorable. He bent over on his sitting position so that his face could meet hers and batted his eyes innocently. It took her a few seconds before a shock of realization hit her over the head and that he had caught her looking at him in a manner she had not in the past. Riesz knew her rose-colored face would embarrass her even more then her actions already did, so she shook her head violently to shake off the blush and Hawkeye took that as her answer even though he knew it was for something else.

            He gave out a wholehearted laughed and sat straight up. "Rosebuds symbolize beauty, youth, and a heart innocent of love. So if someone gave you rosebuds they mean, 'you are young and beautiful' in their eyes." He informed her. She felt herself melting and breaking into yet another one of her reveries. Anything he did right now, a movement, an action, his voice, she felt like she could succumb to them and forever drown in her dreamlike trance.

            His smiled faded slightly and continued, "Since you seem to be fond of white rosebuds, I guess that your heart is saying that you're too young to love."

            Riesz smacked herself mentally in the head because she didn't pay attention to him, so she gave him a puzzled look as to pretend she didn't understand him. Seeing that she was confused, Hawkeye continued, "White rosebuds means girlhood, as in purity and innocence," he paused, "it suits you well." And she was blessed with a genuine smile after his remark. "When the flower blooms to a full rose and when presented to you by a suitor, it means they are saying, 'you're heavenly', or 'I'm worthy of you', although the color of the flower alone means secrecy and silence, also reverence and humility." He finished, and said nothing else after that, partly replaying the earlier incident in his mind, hardly believing that the girl in front of him was looking at him the way she was.

            Riesz got on her knees and leaned forward towards him, guiding her hands to touch his face and whispered, "But if I were to stain the rose with my blood, turning it into red, what would it symbolize?" She held his face closer to hers; her head was barely an inch away from his and she can feel his breath tormenting her lips and a trickle of sensations flowed within her veins.

            His eyebrows furrowed at the thought of why Riesz would say something so morbid but her entrancing eyes made him speak. "A red rose not only means love," he paused when he felt Riesz twitch at the word but she looked at him wanting him to continue, "but beauty, courage, and respect."

            "So if someone would present me with red roses, they are saying…"

            "I love you…" He suddenly leaned forward closing the gap between them. Riesz's bright blue eyes went wide with surprise and shock but she then smiled bitter-sweetly. His lips brushed against her cheeks in a soft and gentle peck that resulted in the golden-haired girl blushing furiously and biting her lip.

            "Don't forget that." His whisper lingered in her ear and made her body shudder with unknown pleasure.

            Then unexpectedly, she felt his arms go under her legs and his other on her back he swiftly picked her up and walked towards the hallway to the rooms they were staying in. "Hawkeye what are you doing?" Riesz's face was even rosier than it already was, but the expression she made was so cute he couldn't resist his chuckle.

            "Put me down before someone sees us!" She demanded quietly as they entered the hallway so that she wouldn't wake anyone.

            "Oh, so the princess is worried that someone might mistaken this as an act of a secret affair?" he teased which got himself smacked in the head.

            "I'm warning you Hawkeye, I'll pinch you so hard…" She threatened him with her sapphire eyes narrowing at him, but the former thief's grin only widened even more.

            'He's enjoying this isn't he? He likes seeing me like this…' Riesz thought and playfully scowled at him.

            "Oh intimidating now aren't you? I like a girl who can stand her ground, but from the looks of earlier, I don't think you can very well." He laughed again reminding the Amazoness of her little tumble with Hawkeye out in the courtyard.

            When he finally reached her bedroom door, with the girl in his arms still protesting he abruptly set her down which made her yelp and cling onto him. Hawkeye cleared his throat, "Ahem, your door m'lady."

            Realizing that she was at her bedroom door she frowned and lightly punched him.

            "What? No gratitude? No 'thank you sir here's a kiss'?" He pouted and Riesz just stared at him as if he was a mad man but couldn't help but smile brightly.

            "I'm afraid not 'sir' Hawkeye." She played along. Opening the door to her room, it gave out a loud creak that made Riesz cringe; she walked into her room and was about to completely shut her door when she stopped herself, realizing she had not said her evening parting words to her acquaintance yet.

            "Goodnight." She said.

            "For a second there, I was afraid the lady had forgotten about her manners." He joked, "Well then princess, make sure to change out of your wet clothes before you go to sleep… or would you rather let me the pleasure of doing so for you?" His grin was wide and his eyes were bright but her knew the chaste amazoness would reject his offer. The Rolantean princess stuck out her tongue then smiled at him, and finally closed the door, but he didn't leave yet, he stood in silence facing the towering doors.

            "Riesz…" He started in a low and soft tenor, but didn't say anything after leaving her in suspense. His much loved uplifting charisma diminished into that of a solemn one that carried out through his voice. The air was tense and weighed them down with uncomfortable silence between them even though the door separated them; both of them knew what the other was thinking at this precise moment, and the last thing on their mind was the merry exchange earlier. "… Goodnight." He sighed; he couldn't say it.

            She heard him, even though it was almost inaudible, "Goodnight." She murmured and leaned against the double doors and slid to her knees.

(A/N: O_O man… you can tell I went lazy on that didn't you? Haha, oh well, yes, Riesz and Hawkeye are not acting like what they are suppose to be. Let me ask you this, if you went through what they did in my fic so far, would you be acting the same way you are right now? Hmmm? Hmmmmmmm…? Exactly. Hehehe what's with me and flowers you ask? I seriously have no idea. I thought it put some meaning into my story; after all, I am a girl… too girly? Haha, I can write a bloody murder scene too… o_o)

~*~

            The vacant roads reverberated of a quiet kingdom where a sinister haze meandered upon the quiet midnight paths, evil and maliciousness loitered behind profile images of ominous monsters. No life, not even one significant movement or individual dared to amble the enigmatic roads of the fresh night, afraid to be abducted and hauled away by an anonymous form watching you from the deadly shadows. An agonizing cry lingers its daunting melody through the transparent blanket of haze where its plead seize ears of creatures nearby; though it feebly expires the moment of its birth.

            Riesz found herself standing in the middle of the road as the light sprinkle of tiny raindrops lightly dribbled down the youthful features of the young woman. She was gasping, her lungs hurt, and her throat was tingling with fire dancing within her chest. Her head felt drowsy, she was shivering; it was so cold. She looked around her surroundings. Gentle showers of rain delicately bathe the quiescent borough at slumber with its drizzling fingers of precipitation, softly rattling and tapping the aged glass windows on the old and ancient shops, and dieing as it hits the hard surfaces of the sleeping buildings.

            'Where am I… how come everything feels so… familiar…'

            Whispering warnings and drowning inaudible cries of nomadic souls that had no clue they were dead, the rain continued to gracefully sprinkle the eerie town with its watery gift from above. The dim streets smelt of foul waste, which clashed and tainted the icy ambiance, lurking and haunting its dreadful scent bestowed upon thus evening. The hushed hours of obscurity hung profoundly in the austere atmosphere; all was quietly dead to the world in their peaceful slumber as malevolent shadows awake and claimed their rule upon the hours of darkness.

            'This is… Rolante…yes, Rolante… but… why does is feel so…uncanny?'

            In a secluded distance, sounds of splashing music filled the moist air as a shady silhouette emerged from the fog. A meager girl hastily ran, gasping for breaths of air to fill her frail lungs and to keep her rapidly pounding heart, alive. Riesz turned her head to the side to see the girl and recognized her.

            'Eliza!' Riesz ran towards her comrade but the heavily breathing Amazon did not notice her princess. 'Eliza it's me-'

            Riesz halted when she saw the weary face of her friend. Fear and utter horror was etched upon her stricken features that gave off the impression that something vile was quickly pursuing her. Could it be an obsessed stalker? Or maybe even a hungry cannibal, or a disgusting middle-aged man with a Lolita complex. For some reason Riesz could feel Eliza's heart pounding accelerating at a very dangerous rate. Her weary legs felt like it would give in any minute, her body was such a tiring burden that she could abruptly collapse at any possible moment

            'Eliza what's wrong…!'  Riesz asked but the young woman couldn't hear her. 'Eli-'

            A ghastly scream overwhelmed the unsettling ambiance with a shrill of horror that sent chills up Riesz's spine. Riesz noted that the poor girl was shaking, and her knees were buckling, her ambiguous fear was devouring her courage and sane consciousness like a ravenous flesh eating insect, leaving her brain nothing but the sense of sheer terror to dwell upon. The Rolantean princess felt her heartbeat suddenly began to pound very loudly in her chest like a hammer striking vigorously against it, and it became the only sound that rang in her ears besides the lingering pitter-patter of rain. Why was she feeling so petrified?

            "Oh dear Mana Goddess… have we done something to upset you? Please… Riesz…!" Eliza's fists tightened and tears streamed down her face.

            'Eliza I'm here!'  Riesz reached her fallen friend and went to touch her but her hand and at that moment, she felt like a ghost, her hand glided past Eliza's shoulder and she fell past the Amazon, Riesz trembled with fear, fear of the unknown. 'What is going on…? Eliza?'

            The young Amazon didn't hear her princess and with the amount of strength she had left, Eliza painfully tried to force herself up by her bruised and scratched hands. Once on her feet, she clumsily staggered backwards until her back finally met with a firm surface to hold her still. "I must… go find Riesz…" her voice was raspy and she felt utterly hopeless at the moment, "Princess…" The girl choked out the name again, trembling with devastating emotions. Then she set off trying to escape from the person she was being hunted by.

            'I'm right here!'  Riesz cried, 'why can't she see me? This is… such a horrid dream…'

            A disturbing hiss of metal distracted both the girl from their thoughts as they whipped their heads around the unfamiliar area. Eliza stepped back, the girl gasped as realization hit her, hard.

            She had nowhere to go. She couldn't back up any further.

            Dead end. How Ironic.

            "You've led me on a great chase Eliza," The tempting tenor quietly said from the misty clouds of vapor floating chillingly in front of them, "but it has to end, now."

            "What do you want with me?" the Amazon's broken voice managed to ask right after he finished his somewhat threatening sentence. Curling her hands into fists, she felt her breathing pick up, felt the cold sweat trickle down her face like cold fingers stroking her pastel skin. Every moving second felt like an eternity and what donned upon her was that eternity was too far ahead and she will be dead by the dawn's light.

            Riesz stood and watched the scene before her, perplexed and horrified. She couldn't do anything… she felt like a spirit… but it's all a dream right…? 

            The Rolantean princess turned to look at Eliza. Fear. Utter fright and trepidation tinted her emerald eyes as she waited for the figure in cloak to answer, but he never replied to her question.

            "I only want some answers, but you Amazonesses are so stubborn."

            "And is that why you killed some of them!? You cold hearted--"

            Eliza stopped when her throat was presented with a long bladed sword that carried a gruesome aura attached to it. Souls had cried at the mercy of that weapon, and blood had shed before it.

            "I can kill you now. With a swift motion of this sword, I can cut you open and painfully one by one, remove your internal organs and feed them to the wolves… it's sad you have to come to an end this way… I'll be generous and just sever your head and add it to my lovely collection…"

            Eliza frowned and glared daggers at the overpowering man. "You sick bastard. Kill me, but I warn you of your fall. Our princess will slay you with the help of the souls you have taken. And I will be there, laughing and making sure of your demise."

            'Eliza…'

            "So loyal to your Princess… you can work for me and I can spare your contemptible life, if you answer my simple question." The figure kneeled down before the trembling Amazon.

            Eliza stared at him, emotionless. She smiled and spat in his face. "Never."

            "You're going to regret it when I give you a horribly painful death." The figure reached out his gloved hand and violently pinned Eliza's throat to the wall she sat against. The Amazon struggled against his grip; trying to pry open his fingers from his tight hold on her throat. Eliza choked, "The goddess…ughak… will never ughh…forgive your sins… ahhh…!" her face contorted to a painful look.

            'Eliza!'

            "There's nothing you can do to help your friend… Riesz…" The figure grinned sinisterly. Eliza gasped in shock and bewilderment before his large hand enclosed on her throat, Riesz was appalled when she heard the gruesome sound of the bone crushing and the snap of Eliza's neck and then the sudden gush of blood pouring out of her mouth. The scene of Eliza's head limp lifelessly to the side made Riesz's stomach churn, blood was dripping freely from her mouth and her eyes seeming to stare into nothingness before they rolled back into her skull.

            'E-El…Eliza!'  Riesz shrill scream of horror reverberated down the empty streets of Rolante, and finally buried within the showers of rain.

~*~

            Riesz's eyes snapped open and were met with Lance's figure hovering above her. Alarmed, she squeaked and as if it was an instant reflex, her hand came up and smacked his head away from hers, which evidently caused him to lose his balance since his vision was blinded by the princess' palm slap in the face, and he fell off her bed followed by a thud and a groan. Blushing furiously Riesz abruptly sat upright and looked to her side where Lance was sitting cross-legged and rubbing his head through his unruly burgundy hair. Riesz pulled her sheets higher to her chest and blindly reached for her spear that was perched upon the wall.

            It was an awkward moment.

            The dawn's colors flooded the room of early pink and orange hues, romantic, but obviously wasn't in both of their minds at the moment, but Riesz did realize that it was morning.

            "Lance what are you…" Riesz started to ask, somewhat flabbergasted.

            His crimson eyes darted to her face and burned through her sapphire pools, she blinked and her body involuntarily moved back a little with another one of those uneasy feelings welling up inside.

            "I heard you scream when I was walking by your room." He grumbled and got up to a standing position. "People wouldn't be able to hear you scream though since the doors and walls are pretty thick, it's practically soundproof." He walked towards the nearest wall and patted it then shifted his gaze back to the blushing golden-haired girl and eyed her, "Are you okay?"

            Riesz quickly collected her thoughts and nodded vigorously, her eyes squinted tight and her lips formed into a tight smile; 'she looks so adorable' the Artonian prince thought as he noticed her flushed face.

            "Want to talk about it?" Concern was hinted in his voice. The red haired warrior prince pulled up a chair from the side and seated himself beside her bed.

She silently gulped and leaned back on her pillows with a sigh. "It was just a nightmare," She paused and looked up at the engravings of beautiful art etched upon the inner crown of her canopy; Lance nodded with a 'mm hmm…' and waited for her to continue, "I dreamt of Rolante," Riesz's fingers curled and crushed the silken bed sheets in her grasp, she choked out a sob but she couldn't hear herself with the thoughts flooding through her mind.

            Lance, on impulse stood up to wipe her tears but she grabbed his wrist before he could and looked up at him questionably.

            "You're crying…" He reached into his pocket and took out a white cloth and presented it to her. Riesz sniffed and finally noticed the feel of her tears rolling down her cheeks. She took it, refusing to face him.

Lance frowned and his eyes narrowed but he hid it from the girl in front of him and sat back down in his seat crossing a leg over the other and leaning back on it nonchalantly. "I can…" Riesz turned her head to meet his' once again, "I can take you to see a dream reader if you want, they can give you an explanation of your dreams. It might be a premonition or something."

            He waited for her response. Her face and her eyes for once were unreadable. The amazoness glared daggers at him and he didn't know why, yet he felt somewhat frightened.

            "Do you think my dreams is something to be made fun of? Premonition? That's the worst you can say! I don't want Rolante to become like that…!" Her voice cracked and she covered her face with her hands. Lance once again stood up form his seat and hesitantly embraced her; afraid she would unpleasantly smack him away again.

            "Riesz… I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

            "Do you think I'm weak Lance?" She quietly whimpered into his chest.

            He looked down at her and his face softened while his hands traveled up to stroke her golden tresses. "Oh course not…" He murmured.

            "Liar," Lance froze, "I am weak… the petals won't blossom…"

            Lance blinked, confused in what she had just said. "Petals?"

            Riesz moved out of his embrace he studied her eyes trying to find some sort of light emitting from it, but her gaze was blank and downcast. "White rosebuds…"

            The Artonian prince was still confused but Riesz shook her head as in 'never mind'.

            "Since you seem to be fond of white rosebuds, I guess that your heart is saying that you're too young to love."

            'Maybe… maybe I just am too young…'

            "Riesz…" Lance gently grabbed her chin and motioned it to face him.

(A/N: *kills herself* Cheeeeeeessyyyyyyyy… Forgive me, I have a weakness into writing things like that… -_-;;)

~*~

            Elliot woke up to a little feminine giggle, he stirred and saw a little girl about his age sitting on top of him with a wide smile stretching across her face, and he also noted a scar on the bottom left of her features. Her long ravenous hair tumbled down from her petite head and lightly tickled the Rolantean prince's face. Elliot was speechless, he also felt awkward and body automatically stiffened.

            "Want to play with me?" her bright violet eyes sparkled and widened when she asked him.

            "Sis told me to never play with strangers…" he replied shyly.

            She frowned and glared down at him, "And that proves you to be a coward."

            "I am not a coward! I'm the royal heir to the throne of Rolante!" The young prince retorted.

            The girl giggled and leaned down close to the Elliot. "A prince that cowers behind his sister, now tell me, what kind of King would do that? And you will never be able to be king, Elliot." The girl leaned back and laughed. Elliot glared up at her with his piercing icy blue eyes.

            "And why not?"

            "Because when yours sister marries, she will give birth to a child and that child will be the heir to the throne! Not you… such a pity you were born last."

            "I will be king one day!" The little boy hollered.

            The girl laughed, or maybe even cackled, but whatever it was, Elliot didn't like it. She reached out to stroke his pale face and run her hands through his hair, Elliot was unable to move only twitched now and then. "So lovely…" she giggled, "your flesh, smooth as a silken petal, eyes glassy and glinting of sapphire, hair goddess-given treasured threads of gold, body so young and chaste… I want to claim it for myself… shear off every soft and tender part of your limbs…"

            Gasping and stunned at her words, the young prince pushed her off of him and she rolled back with a loud laugh. "A beautiful creature like you surely would be tainted and who knows what would happen to you, you won't be able to rise up to the thrown after all…" she put her index finger on her lips and smirked, "I've grown a liking towards you prince Elliot of the Amazon wind kingdom… But if you truly want to be king one day…"

            Elliot's face twisted and frowned at her, quite not understanding what she was saying, but she was a little girl just like him, why did she act like this? She sounded like a cannibal… her voice thick and smooth like the flow of blood…

            The girl grinned and leaned in close to give the prince a peck on the cheek and then whispered in his ear, "Murder… her…"

            Elliot gasped and his eyes widened, he felt a pain on his neck and turned to face the little girl, "You…" He fell back, unconscious on his pillows.

            "You truly want to be king don't you?" The girl asked and then smirked, "with the unexpected death of your sister, you will save me… and she won't leave your side no more… she can become my new doll…"

~*~

            Hawkeye turned his head from them and looked up at the ceiling and swallowed a sigh. He looked inside Riesz's room again and saw that the princess, being shy as ever, had herself sitting on the other side of the bed fiddling with her nightgown. Hawkeye jumped as he realized she could see him from her view and she did. He quickly turned his head and walked on but he heard her call for him and his feet halted to a stop while his mind was telling him to sprint off.

            "Hawkeye… you saw…"

            "It's no big deal," those words hurt but Hawkeye didn't know, "It was about time you opened up to someone."

            He felt her petite body pressed up against his back and her arms encircling him from the side while her hands rested on his chest. "I only want you…" She throatily whispered. They stayed that way, they couldn't move yet they both didn't want to. Embracing him felt so right… after everything they have gone through… "I'm still in love with you."

            He stiffened. Then when he was about to answer back when she started talking again. "I know you can't accept these feelings from me but I don't want to regret… you were never mine to begin with so I guess there is nothing I have to lose…"

            "Then why make is even more difficult?"

            Silence. Riesz was speechless, she didn't know what to say, but his voice was so cold and steely, it was alien to her. It held traces of despise…

            "W-What?" She could only mumble that out but her heart had shattered and dropped into a never-ending void. Her arms loosened around him and he took that chance to step away from her.

            "I'm going to get married to the one woman I was born to only love! Why do you have to say this…? I was fine knowing you loved me, but now that your feelings are back I…" He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists looking away from her, "It's just so damn difficult…" He stepped forward and paused hearing her pained intake of breath, then continued to walk away from her.

            'Don't look back Hawkeye… just walk away and everything will be over with…'

            "Why is it so difficult when you don't love me!" She shouted down the hall and he froze. "You can just ignore this confession because the only one you love is Jessica, so it can't be difficult! Why do you lead me on to thinking of such things?!"

            He didn't respond.

            "…"

            "Why…!" she cried, pleading for his answer, yet demanded as well.

            He never answered her and kept walking but before Hawkeye left their presence, for a split second, when he was about to stride past the frowning red-haired prince, he exchanged glares with him. He didn't know what his intentions were, but he would find out when this was all over.

            "I won't let you hurt her again." Lance suddenly spoke, as if out of the blue he became her new protector.

            Hawkeye immediately stopped beside him for a few seconds, then replied, "I won't hurt her again…" He brushed past the prince as his knuckles absentmindedly whitened from the tight fist he made and walked off, disappearing down the vast hallway.

            Riesz stood silently alone by herself in the middle of the hallway, she could cry no more tears. She felt her fingers intertwining with another's and she knew instinctively it was Lance. "Come to make fun of me?" She asked softly.

            "… No," He squeezed her hand, "I know how it feels like."

            She nodded and squeezed back. "Lance?"

            "Hmn?"

            "I… I'm going back to Rolante."

            "You can't!" Lance immediately responded to her with a shout that alarmed her, he grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her with wide eyes.

            "What's wrong with you Lance…?" her lips quivered.

            "It's…" He caught himself before he continued, as him stopping his mouth from saying something he might regret, "It's nothing, I'm sorry." He let go of her shoulders and sighed.

            "I'm tired, I'm going back to my room." Riesz slightly bowed and started to return to her chambers.

            "I can't let you leave…" The Artonian prince murmured.

~*~

            It was raining again. He scowled to himself. He detested it the most in addition to his feelings. He had cursed them; the two women that he only cared for. He cursed them so much to a large extent that he wished his string of fate had never intertwined with theirs. Now it was in such an inseparable knot that the only scissors that could cut and solve the solution was to choose one over the other.

            He laughed. He would rather die than see both of them hurt, but sadly he had already hurt one of them. His fondness and weakness for the ones he cherished is what had led him into unpleasant ordeals in the past. He didn't want history to repeat.

            What were women? Men can't live without them. They were the only ones that trigger the only source of humanity left in men. They held and knew their weaknesses at their fingers. They were evil; they harbored the power that can bring them to their demise. Love. Damn the feeling to burn in the deepest layers of the underworld.

            Was he in love? He had said that word so many times, his mouth and his eyes meant it, but did his heart? He had asked many what was love and they replied that it was the most wonderful feeling they had ever experienced, it made them happy just to be by the side of the ones they loved.

            'Liars.'

            If love was so great, why was he hurting? What's this guilty feeling? What's this strong longing to be by her… but only to brush her off like another woman in his path through life… Why does he have to resist the urge to always hold her, take the smell of her in and claim her as his own… embrace her with his passion, feel the touch of her porcelain skin against his. He clutched his fingers together into a tight fist. It was pointless to ask his own self when nothing answered him back, his mind had long since abandoned him, leaving him running to his heart that was already shattered into millions of pieces.

            His mouth released a low chuckle. That damned emotion. Stepping out into the rain he let the cold pleasure soak into his body. He felt his senses rising to welcome the tears of nature and the raindrop's caress down his skin. He felt so utterly hopeless. He wanted to drown. Drown. Her eyes. Curse her eyes.

            'How I love her eyes…'

            Closing his eyes he let his knees collapse onto the wet stone ground. He never meant to capture her heart. It was so pure, so chaste. It was irresistible. Like the wicked forbidden fruit. It bestowed upon him her ingenious heart. Can he ever regret? Yes, he was regretting now. His juvenile curiosity made him yearn to seek her love, the nearly impossible love from the virgin princess. It was a challenge that enticed him and proved worthy of his attention. But he never would have expected that her soul would have crept its way into his heart and engrave her name there. He could live knowing that she didn't love him, but then she finally confessed.

            "Isn't it obvious? I loved you."  And then, I'm still in love with you."

            Her words… It made everything so complicated. So fucken complicated. She didn't understand, he couldn't tell her. He wanted to scream out loudly just so the world can feel his pain, but nothing can hear him except for the crying wind. The wind…

            'Damn her…'

            He shivered. Always her in his mind, it was always her and it frustrated him beyond his sanity. He disguised all his hurt and pain with the mask of a happy go lucky attitude of which everyone was so fond of, but he never told them about his past, all the carnage, all the anguish, all the love that was fake.

            Fucken bastards…But he didn't have to worry about them anymore, they were dead. He could still feel their life slipping away at his hands, their warm blood dripping from his fingers and their horrified faces. And then he was found. The bright blue terrified eyes of Eagle staring at him.

            "Ha-Hawkeye… what have you done!?"

            He had sought out revenge on the ones that had showed him love but betrayed him, so they deserved death, they were the ones that caused him pain in the first place, and he merely took back the lives of his family that they had slaughtered. He had cried tears and his body was trembling, why?

            "Run away you stupid idiot! Do you know what they'll do with you if they find out about this?!"

            He couldn't move. He was still shocked and in grief to do any of that. Realization had hit him hard. He was going to hell for the lives he had taken. It was a cruel world, cruel people, and cruel love. All false, all an illusion, he yearned for happiness, he wanted a family, but the family he had had killed his biological family in the first place. Life is so twisted wasn't it?

            Accused and sentenced to death he welcomed it, but the one who cared about him spared his life and took him in as one of them. As a brother and companion.

            'Eagle…'

            The young heir to the thieves' guild had burdened himself with a stubborn kid, trying to make him fit in but all the scornful faces looked down on him, but still he defended Hawkeye. What a foolish boy. But then Hawkeye's cold outer exterior had broken when he met the young and fair Jessica; her kindness and clumsy personality molded his cold heart into that of a human once again. His sins were forgotten and he was warmly welcomed into the Thieves' Guild; the place he had called home for a few short but memorable years. He placed his past behind and became cheerful and constantly flirting with other girls just so he can pleasure in seeing Jessica jealous. He missed those days so much, women were not an issue to him since the one only in his heart was Jessica; until the day when his fate screwed over, and he met a kindhearted and willful amazoness who he had grown affectionate towards.

            He looked over to his side and saw a forming puddle of rainwater. His reflection manifested in its surface; he looked awful. He bitterly grimaced and brought his fists down to the puddle numerous times. He heard his voice crack, he sobbed. No tears. Just anger.

            'What happened to me? How can she change me so much…? Change…'

            "You changed Hawkeye." Charlotte glared up at the older boy who blinked and then looked at her with a confused face.

            "What do you mean Charlotte?"

            "Charlotte sees through your heart." She gave him a funny look and wrinkled her nose, "No fun no more."

            He chuckled to himself. Smart girl. She had always known what he was going through. Although he teased her a lot about her size and childish personality, and she had insulted him in many ways more than Angela, they both seemed to understand each other. But he hadn't changed, just referred back to his former self.

            The rain was beating down on him faster. He felt the raindrops slide down his body, he felt his hair clinging to his face, and he felt the emptiness of the courtyard start to disturb and irritate him. If she troubled him this much, he must not be in love with her after all; it was all just an infatuation. He enjoyed a challenge. His interactions with her were just classified as a fling before his final marriage to…

            "Hawkeye!"

            His body stiffened but relaxed as he recognized it as an angel's voice… she had come to rescue him from his suffering like she did so long ago. He stayed motionless on his knees and heard her panting and her running footsteps approaching him. He smiled slightly. He felt her fall beside him and her warmth emitting from her slim body and the worry etched in her voice.

            "Hawkeye what are you doing out here? I was so worried I couldn't find you in your room this morn-"

            He pulled her into a fierce embrace cutting her off from what she was saying. Resting his head on her chest he wanted to stay that way for a while. Obviously shocked for a few seconds, she relaxed and understood. Playing with his violet hair tenderly she held him, letting the sound of rain rule the quiet courtyard once again.

            "Do you love me Jessica?" His voice was slightly muffled underneath her chest but the blue-haired girl still heard him.

            Surprised with his question she felt her heart skip and a wave of emotion come over her. She held him tightly and placed her head on his shoulder. "Of course I do… always."

            With that answer his grip on her tightened and his face rose to meet her at eye level. His hands cupped her face and he stared into her eyes that looked back at him with so much love. He brushed some wet strands of hair from her face and smiled softly at her. "I love you too Jess." With that, he leaned down to claim her lips with his own wanting to forget everything. Eagerly wanting to forget the taste of Riesz's lips. He just wanted to savor this moment where all his doubts and pain was far from his mind and the only thing he was thinking of was the woman in his arms.

            'Goddess I'm living a lie…'

            Watching them, pairs of violet eyes danced in the shadows and twinkled with mischief. A feminine low giggle escaped the person and two hand puppets appeared out of the darkness.

            --Oh no! Whatever shall we do? The prince is getting married to the wicked witch!--     A puppet that looked like a clown exclaimed.

            ~~The princess will be sad!~~  Another puppet stated yet in a higher tenor than the other.

            --This will not do! No, no, no! We must fix this!—

            ~~But what can we do? We're just puppets!~~

            --Well we just can't sit here and do nothing! Besides, even if we do do something…--

            The voice of the puppeteer giggled malevolently, "No one will suspect dolls..."

            The little girl took out a doll that looked awfully like Jessica and with a quick snip of her large scissors, the doll's head dropped to the floor and rolled a feet away.

            (A/N: Oooohh… * insert corny suspenseful music here. * ^_^;;)

~*~

            In the royal chambers, Lance dropped the book in his hands and looked out the window at a tall tower north from where his chambers lay. He frowned. "Secria… what are you up to now…" Picking up his book he put it back at its place in the shelf and hastily made it out of his room when he suddenly bumped into someone.

            "Ow! Hey watch it!"

            "Oh I'm sorry, I-"

            Angela brushed herself off and then glared at the person who ever so rudely walked into her. "You're that Lance guy right? I've seen you around Riesz numerous times! What are you trying to do to her huh? HUH?" she asked him loudly pointing her finger up at him.

            Lance looked at the purple haired sorceress with wide eyes, slightly taken off guard by her actions.

            "Well let me tell you this I won't stand for-"

            "I have no time for this." Lance brushed past her and took quick steps down the hall towards the passageway that led to the tower.

            "Hey! I'm not done with you! Come back here you inconsiderate freak! H~~~EEY!" She shouted down the hall but Lance ignored her and kept on walking. She crossed her arms and glared down the hall. "What a jerk, I'll get him next time, right when he doesn't expect it."

            She sighed, a lot of strange things had been happening and she knew something was wrong with this whole kingdom but she couldn't put her finger on it. The sudden earthquake and now she couldn't find Duran or anybody else. She started to get paranoid.

            Turning around to walk the other way Lance went, she was confronted by a little girl standing a few feet away from her holding a doll with purple hair wearing a red robe...

            "I need a new doll to play with," She said, her violet eyes glimmering, "will you play with me?"

            Angela stood frozen in her spot. This girl… she sensed an eerie aura emanating from her form. Something inhuman, something she's came across many times, a zombie? But her skin wasn't decaying and surely she didn't smell so foul. Stepping back, she got in a position to attack if this girl was indeed an undead. She trusted her instincts and she knew for sure this girl was not part of the living. "Your innocent looks don't fool me little girl."

            The girl just tilted her head to the side in an innocent way, "You're so pretty," she clutched tightly to the doll in her hands, "I want to add you to my collection." The girl smiled widely, bearing her white teeth.

            "What the…"

~*~

            Riesz ambled down the narrow corridors leading to the kitchen, or so she thought… she was lost. She was about to turn around and go back to her chamber when she noticed a something hung upon the wall covered with cloth. Curiosity got the best of her and before she knew it, she stood in front of it. Unveiling it cautiously, she saw its frame of golden patterns and then found it to be a rusty old mirror. Why was it covered? Did someone recently die? She looked at herself and at once wanted to break it. She hated herself, she hated her feelings for him, she hated making his life so miserable, and mostly, she hated him.

            'No… I don't hate him… I can never…'

            Suddenly, a chill flew by her and she promptly looked up and faced the mirror to see a horribly gruesome looking face staring at her with a bloodthirsty wide grin. She froze and turned around immediately to confront a young woman smiling warmly at her. She turned around to look at the mirror again to see the exact same face. Riesz sighed in relief, he minds were playing cruel games to her these days.

            "Are you lost?" She asked, brushing back her long raven hair back behind her ear and her deep purple eyes watched her with a curious gaze.

            That was a slap in the face to Riesz. She remembered she saw this girl before. Violet eyes, black hair… scar bottom left of her face…

            "Riesz. Get out of the castle while you still can!" The amazoness gasped, "If you want to protect your kingdom… and your life…"

            "You…"

            "I'm Secria, nice to meet you." She greeted cheerfully while grabbing Riesz's hand and shaking it.

            Riesz shivered. Her hands were cold. "My name is-"

            "Riesz, I know, Lance told me a lot about you."

            "You know Lance? Are you his sister?"

            The girl looked down grimly and shook her head. "He… killed my sister…"

            Murderer!

            Riesz's mind screamed loudly in her ears and Riesz flinched. Lance, killed her sister? And then the dream, was it really real, can this girl be warning her about Lance… how he might be trying to…

            "He didn't mean to. I'm sure he regrets doing so… he must…" Her face brightened again and clamped her hands onto Riesz's. "Since, there's nothing else to do today, let's go out to help out in the kingdom, the earthquake was disastrous. But I heard only the agricultural land only got affected so let's go to the day market after! It's really fun!"

            She stepped beside Riesz and covered the mirror once again and turned to giggle excitedly at the bewildered amazoness and with that, the young girl dragged Riesz down the hallway and off they went…

~*~~*~~*~

Author's notes:

AND THIS IS WHERE I END THIS CRAPTASTIC CHAPTER OF 'WTF WAS THAT?' I'm sorry I wasted your time reading this. I got lazy in a lot of parts… that's why you probably cringed at some parts of my grammar.

I tend to linger on something a bit longer than I expect… and I had to cut this whole darn chapter in HALF… that's right, if I didn't this whole chapter would take eons to finish reading, so whoever read my sneak preview I posted up a LONG while ago, that would be in the next chapter. Got you excited for nothing eh? Haha sorry…

Is the story clearing up or getting more confusing? IT'S CONFUSING I KNOW IT CUZ I JUST DO. Of course I finally detangled myself from all the twists that my mind told me to imply to this story, and I WILL O_O

This chapter sets up the major start of the plot… and introduces a crucial OC which I don't very like myself *burns Secria with a torch.* but I love Lance so I'm gentle with him… *hugs Lance* and no, I'm not being biased… at least… I hope not… and I'm sorry for the major lack of Angela, Duran, Charlotte/Carlie, and Kevin… I kinda can't fit them in the story so I made them into… mmm… not gonna tell ya. Oh yes, the rose thingy, it's all true, I looked it up on the internet myself! Yay! I actually learned something from writing this fic…!

Oh yes, I took the liberty to add in my thoughts of Hawkeye's past. Bwhahahaha torture him and make him a martyr… actually I think I'm making almost everyone in this fic a matyr… or will be… *shakes her head in shame.* Oh the Angst! I LOVE ANGST! ^_^ And I do plan to write about Hawkeye's past in my point of view… it makes me love him even more…

My romance scenes are so corny I find myself wanting to scream like heck and bask myself in flames, but hey, no one's perfect… and I'm also VERY bad at writing action sequences hence I don't tend to write any at all… sorry for that.

Oh and if anyone's wondering, 'beautiful mind' will be continuing, once I get my co-writer to get off his lazy ass and write it with me…

And oh yes, summer school is going to be the death of me… especially because of my perverted teachers… maybe that's why I'm not thinking straight… and not updating because half of my darn summer is sitting in summer school!!! =S and Gundam SEED… but I won't get into that…

I drew a pic of Hawkeye and Riesz and I posted it up on mediaminer.org so It probably will have an error or load very slowly… but I got nowhere to post it… ;_; … so I drew this! O_O with my mouse… no tablet or nothing… drew it a while back too… I'll post the link in my profile since it failed to show up on this chap.

Please read and review! The more encouragement, the faster I write. Flames, as I said before, I will bask in, or use them for marshmallows. =)

Much love,

Bittersweet