Dragon Warrior Fan Fiction ❯ The Meaning of Happiness ❯ The Escort ( Chapter 2 )

He stared at himself in the mirror, wondering what kind of person was looking back at him. Ryuuichi changed out of the casual garb he usually wore even on duty at the castle to the uniform of his status as the captain of the guard. Instead of the typical blue shirt and brown pants with the yellow jacket, they were replaced by a silk white shirt tucked into black pants and a silver jacket buttoned up halfway. A wine red scarf draped itself over the jacket and a belt of the same color wrapped itself around the waist. He still wore his black boots and opted out from wearing the chainmail and armor usually required to wear for a job like this, but Ryuuichi found that it was impractical and cumbersome. He wasn't used to seeing himself without his trademark bandanna around his head, his brown hair unruly and naturally pointing in a variety of different directions.

He didn't look like him and more like the man that he was appointed as: captain of the guard for the Kingdom of Trodain.

Blowing a sigh of nervousness and frustration, Ryuuichi grabbed is Liquid Metal Sword and slung it over his shoulder as he always did and hooked a pouch on his belt which Munchie immediately jumped in. He gave a sad smile at his pet, affectionately petting him behind the ears, before taking one last look at his room and heading out the door.

He had to pick up his princess, but he decided to take a scenic route to delay the time. On his way around the hallway of the barracks, the young man looked up to see a very familiar man and a very familiar sight.

Angelo was leaning one arm against the wall, chatting amiably with two of the maids of the castle. They were laughing at something he said, and Ryuuichi immediately knew that the other man's "charm" was at work. The silver-haired man looked up as he came closer, a quick look of surprise on his face before changing into a smile and wave.

"Hey," he greeted. "Didn't recognize you for a second there."

The young man shrugged, returning the greeting. "Well, I'm not in this garb, much. How have you been doing?"

Angelo chuckled out of habit. "I've been traveling around for a bit, taking care of orphans and all."

One of the maids who was latched on his shoulder giggled, forgetting for the moment her position.

"Isn't it soooo romantic, Captain?" she asked, her blue eyes dreamlike. "He travels around the world, taking care of children especially when they're orphans. And then he'll take them to a nearby orphanage and makes sure that they get good adopted parents! It's so sweet of him!"

At a loss of words, all Ryuuichi could say was, "Uh... really?"

"Don't milk it up too much," Angelo said to the maid with a light shade of pink on his cheeks. "Don't want to have my reputation damaged."

Ryuuichi shook his head, still smiling, until he forced himself to remember that he had a very important task to do. "Aren't you ladies supposed to be preparing to leave?"

The maid behind Angelo gasped in realization. "Oh, that's right! Megan, we should go! I'm so sorry, Captain!"

Both men watched her drag her friend out of the hallway, reprimanding her for delaying their progress to prepare for their journey to Savella Cathedral.

As soon as they were out of sight, Angelo turned to him,"Seems that your new position has given a lot of respect among the people of the castle."

Ryuuichi shrugged again, still not comfortable with everyone making such a big fuss about it. "It's not much, really. I'd rather speak to everyone as an equal rather have them treat me like I'm some sort of god."

Angelo laughed at his comment. "Still humble as usual, you are." He paused for a moment, looking at him closely. "By the way, are you going to pick up the princess?"

Ryuuichi forced a smile again, hoping that it looked natural. "...Yes, I am."

A slight frown appeared over the silver-haired man's face before it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. "I know that today we're to escort her to Savella Cathedral, and to be honest with you, I didn't want to come at first. I don't... personally like these sort of occasions, especially since we'll be seeing that idiot of a prince again."

He folded his arms across his chest to indicate the seriousness of his words. "But it's been a while since the four of us have been together, and I honestly missed those days so I came. However... will you be all right?"

The captain blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Angelo chuckled. "It's quite obvious that Princess Medea has feelings for you, and you, her." He smirked at seeing Ryuuichi's shocked expression. "You may hide it very well, but I have had my share of relationships. Yangus, Jessica, and I have been talking about it for a while; we just never brought up the subject to you. You love her, don't you?"

Ryuuichi looked away from him then, contemplating on his words.

"...Whatever the princess decides... I will abide by it."

It was what he truly believed and gave much careful thought to. She had told him years earlier what she wanted to do, and all that the young man could do was to respect her decision and hope that she would be happy. Even if it meant that they would never see each other again, he would stand by on her decision.

He had already convinced himself that there was no time to be selfish on these matters -- both politically and emotionally. Being together with her without the consent of both kingdoms would provide a terrible fate for the world.

He heard Angelo sigh and looked up.

"You truly are too humble for your own good," he said to him, shaking his head. "Well, I'll be waiting in the courtyard then."

He watched the man go, leaving him back to the immediate task at hand. Ryuuichi looked down at his hands, still contemplating on Angelo's words. Was he doing the right thing? His mind told him yes, but his heart told him otherwise.

Shaking his head and bring up his resolve again, he continued on his way to his princess' room. Yet as he walked, something inside of him said that this wouldn't be the last time Angelo would bring up the subject once again.

He knew he had to run into Jessica sometime soon, and he nearly missed her while he turned down one hallway and she coming out of another.

"Hey, Guv!"

Ryuuichi paused in mid-step as soon as he caught a glimpse of the magician's fiery red hair and turned. She approached him cheerfully with a wave.

"Wow," she gave him a good look over, which automatically made him feel uncomfortable. "Does every person appointed to captain of the guard dress like this?"

"Um... well, on formal occasions, I guess," he meekly replied. "I don't wear this often."

"You should; it looks good on you," she told him. "So how have you been doing? It seems like ages ago since we defeated Rapthorne."

He tucked his hands into the jacket pockets. "It's been... peaceful, for a lack of a better term. How about yourself?"

She laughed at his comment, putting a hand on her hip. "Well, I finally relented and decided to stay in Alexandria with my mother. She and I get along a little better now, so I've been teaching the local children magic whenever I can." She paused. "Oh, did you hear about Yangus?"

Her smile turned into a grin when he shook his head. "I heard that he's been teaming up with Red in the trading business."

This was a surprise. "...What?"

"Yeah, I know. Who would've thought that those two would reconcile their differences and work together?"

He vaguely remembered Red, the female bandit who bought his princess while she was still under the curse and had been Yangus' love interest. The former bandit never mentioned anything to him about his team-up with her, but Ryuuichi supposed that he probably felt embarrassed to even mention it.

"That's good for him," he commented softly.

"It probably is," Jessica agreed. "Seems like everyone is moving on in life. Which reminds me... you're going to pick up Princess Medea, aren't you?"

He slowly nodded, forcing back the tightening of his heart to a dull ache. "I was on my way before I ran into you."

The magician nodded thoughtfully, crossing her arms across her chest. "How is she? I mean, it's going to be her big day soon and all."

Ryuuichi looked away from her, thinking about his answer. It seemed as if everyone was concerned about his princess's (and behind it, his) well being. If it hadn't been for them reopening his doubts, his resolve wouldn't feel as faulty as it was now.

And the very person besides his princess that he couldn't quite lie to was Jessica. She seemed to have a knack at guessing the right things; a woman's intuition he supposed.

"To be honest, I don't know," he replied. "I haven't been able to see her as often as I used to because of my new duties."

"Hmm..." Jessica eyed him suspiciously, but she didn't press on the matter. "Well, I was just wondering. I mean, even before everything was over, it seemed like she didn't want to go through with this marriage."

"The arrangement was made during her grandfather's reign," Ryuuichi explained to her, though he felt as if he was reciting this out of a book. "So she has to fulfill the promise... as her duty as a princess."

"I guess that's the difference between royalty and common folk like us, huh?" Jessica murmured softly. Ryuuichi wasn't sure if she directed it at him or at the subject of arranged marriage and royalty in general.

Yet as quickly as she said those words, Jessica gave him one last smile. "Well, I'm going to go down to the courtyard. We'll see you two, right?"

He nodded and continued on his way to his destination. He had delayed seeing her long enough -- he just hoped that his heart didn't completely dissolve when he saw her.

Finding that she wasn't in her room wasn't that surprising to him. He knew that his princess also wanted to delay her departure as long as possible, and he didn't blame her. She loved her kingdom just as he did, a former palace guard with no family. Leaving Trodain on their journey to reverse the curse on her father and herself was hard, but this time she would be leaving the kingdom forever.

And he would never see her, a woman who was soon going to be claimed as someone else's wife.

Ryuuichi followed the sounds and vibrations of the melancholy music that filtered in the castle's second floor. His princess loved to play the piano for as long as he could remember, and her music more often times than not would reveal her emotions of the day. This past week he would often pass by the piano room only to hear her sorrow and it wrenched his heart along with everyone else in the castle.

Giving a slight nod of acknowledgment at the guard who saluted him at the door, Ryuuichi knocked once before entering.

If he had a choice, he would have fought Rapthorne alone ten times over than to see the look on her face, in her eyes. She had stopped playing the piano as soon as he entered and stared at him with eyes that looked helpless, sad. He would have stared into those eyes forever, had it not been for her to be the first one to speak.

"It's time for me to leave," she said to him. "That's why you've come now... isn't it?"

Ryuuichi inwardly winced at her words and for the first time since he actually talked to her, all that he could think of was to say "no".

Yet the muscles in his jaw tightened and he heard himself say, "Yes, everyone is waiting in the courtyard, Princess."

Inwardly, he was surprised at the tone of his voice -- so formal and cold; it was very much not like him. His princess seemed to notice it, too, a flicker of hurt in her eyes appeared as she stood up. So many times before she would correct him to call her "Medea", yet today she merely stood up and walked over to him without a word.

In what felt like an eternity, they just stood in front of the door: she looking down at her hands while he vaguely passed her figure.

"You look good in that outfit, she finally said, looking up and into his eyes. She forced herself to smile. "I should tell my father to tell you to wear it more often. It makes you look more... mature."

He merely blinked, frantically resisting the urge to grab her and run away from the castle. It wasn't as if he didn't have the ability to, not after those long months traveling around. "Thank you."

He turned around, setting a hand on the door knob as he forced those stray thoughts aside.

"Wait."

Clsoing his eyes to bring up his mask again, he turned back to look at her. She must have seen the false coldness in his eyes for she hesitated a moment. Then she decided to look away and he was slightly relieved.

"Can we...walk around the castle for a bit? Just you and me... like old times, Ryuuichi," she said softly. "Then we'll go."

He remained silent, thinking about his answer... and his decision. If it would make her a little bit happier...

"We'll have to walk quickly," he told her while facing the door. "You'll be fashionably late as it is."

He could feel her smile at his dry humor and he opened the door. He let her guide them to places where they secretly shared close memories together -- the sceptre room, the balcony that faced the gardens, the balcony to the throne room, and finally, the courtyard where they were to leave from. He walked ahead of her then, blocking out their cherished memories, looking back at her forlorn expression. She greeted his eyes once again, eyes that revealed the depths of her sadness and her hurt, before she silently caught up to him, letting him guide her to her carriage. He deliberately ignored the stares he was getting from his comrades and meticulously avoided his princess when they were on the ship.

Yet he still watched her from a distance as he had always done, wondering to himself if he was doing the right thing.