Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Illusions ❯ Empathy ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

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Shattered Illusions

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 12: Empathy

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Millie and the caramel-haired prince sat against the wall, silent as they huddled into each other for warmth in the cold, dark cell. Neither one of them knew what fate was to befall them, but both of them were content being at each other's side for the moment. Between them was the notebook and pen. Prince Yale stared at the objects with blank eyes; the life had been sucked from them long ago. Magenta hues looked to the man beside of her as Millie thought to herself about their situation.

'How long have we been in here? It's like time never passes down here. Man, I really want to help him, and then I can prove to Tsubomi-kun and Copernicus that I deserve to be on their team Not only that…He's so frail and sickly…and he's had everything taken from him I've never seen anyone in despair before. He's in such pain…I don't know what to do or how to get out of here. I'm so hungry.' Her thoughts began to drift to the subject of food as she sighed to herself in exasperation.

Yale looked to her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Prince Yale…"

He said nothing in return, simply offered her a look of understanding. He knew exactly how the girl felt. He had felt the exact same thing when he first was in the cell.

"Is there any way we can get out of here?" Millie asked. Surely he had been in there long enough to know a little more about the structure of the building than she did. "We can't just sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to get out of here."

The spunky girl was so hopeful on escaping that dismal place. Yale smiled bitterly at her upbeat attitude.

I'm too weak. We have no weapons and we are clearly outclassed.

"Let's try at least," he may have given up, but there was no way in hell that she was going to give up that easily.

They'll torture you. Yale held up the paper and blinked in confusion as he saw the girl frantically digging through her purse. She took the medical wrappings and unwound them.

"If I can get you out of here, will you do what I say?" Millie asked. She didn't want any questioning or negativity from the broken prince. There was no protest. They were going to escape.

Yale nodded.

"I think I have a plan but for it to work, I'll need your help," the girl told him as he scrolled a sentence down on the notebook and presented it to her.

What do you want me to do?

"I need you to be strong and I want you to drink my blood." Even if it slightly creeped her out, she knew that he would need it in order to be strong enough to escape with her. Yale looked in poor condition. If he had enough blood to at least run far enough to escape, then they would be successful. It just meant that Millie had to swallow her pride and allow him to feed from her. 'This is seriously going to creep me out, but I have to be strong or he won't be strong enough to run. He needs to be free…Now, I know how Tsubomi-kun feels.'

She looked the prince dead into his eyes. "Please bite me I don't care if we have to make a pact or whatever."

I won't make a pact and thank you.

The prince laid the notebook down on the floor and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. Shyly, she took off her jacket and began to unbutton her uniform and stopped above her breasts. The school girl would die if she had to go any farther. Surely he could find something to bite above that region. 'Calm down Millie It's not every day that a cute guy puts his lips on you, and oh my God! He's a prince!' The blushing girl thought as teeth sank into her shoulder.

Millie winced in pain but remained still as she felt the blood leave her body. 'Ow! Ow! I can feel his teeth on my bone! Oh God, that hurts! Relax…Relax…' She took a deep breath to calm herself as she closed her eyes. 'So, this is what it feels like to be a donor? I wonder how many times Tsubomi-kun and Copernicus have done this. I hope I feel well enough to get my plan under way.'

Gently, she placed a hand on the back of the prince's head as he slowly drew back and licked her wound clean. She felt his tongue and fangs run across her skin as Yale lapped up the blood. 'It feels so weird. What are people in school going to say about this? Better yet, can I even go back to school? Since that vampire grabbed me, I feel like if I went back, I'd be in a lot of danger and I don't want anyone else to die.'

Suddenly, she was pulled out of her thoughts by a book being shoved in her face. "Huh?"

Thank you. It's been such a long time since I've fed like that. Sorry if I bit down a little too hard. At times, it's hard to control your urges when you've not had anything fresh for a while. How can I repay you?

"No sweat and you really don't need to." Seeing the prince a little happy for once made Millie smile. She had really bonded with the man and felt a real connection to him. At this point, she'd even consider him her friend.

So, what's the plan?

"Glad you asked," Millie smiled, but it was short-lived as the loud crack of a whip caused both of the prisoners to whip their heads over to see Estella Nu standing in the doorway.

"Now that I have them, it's time to have a little fun," the woman smiled deviously. "They'll soon know their places as servants of the Black Knight Ops."

Quickly, Yale and Millie ran to opposite sides of the door way, out of sight from the female vampire, who had been distracted in conversation. In one hand, the fallen prince held the hood which had masked his beauty for several years, and on the opposite side of the door, Millie held the medical bandages tightly and gave him a stern nod.

"Got it?"

He nodded in response. There was something about this girl that filled him with hope for the future. It had been years since he had felt a sense of hope but somehow, standing by Millie caused him to become a little stronger and if her plan worked, he would eternally be in her debt.

"Someone's coming," Millie warned as the heard the clacking of heeled boots on the hard floor. Both of them stood their ground and watched carefully from the doorway as Estella Nu walked in with her typical smug look as she snapped her whip once more, trying to get a rise out of both of them.

"Time for a little interrogation session," the purple-haired vampire said, but soon became confused as she saw no one in the room. There were only shackles and the crude, wooden device that she had used to further bind the prince's hands. "What?" Glancing to one side, she noticed that Prince Yale was standing there and her expression changed to one of anger. "Why are you running around free in here? I thought I fastened you back up after I punished you."

Yale quickly threw the hood over her head, holding her still as Millie wrapped the medical bandages chokingly tight and tied them in strong knots, so that Estella couldn't get free easily,

"What the hell!?" She questioned as she flailed around, trying to grasp the two as they took off running. "What's going on here!? What are you doing? Get back here!" Estella scowled as she tried desperately to pull the fastened hood from her head.

Running down the hall, Millie held the prince's hand tightly "Keep up with me, okay?" She looked back at him with a smile. They were finally free. Now, all they had to do was escape and they would be out into the real world, far away from such a horrid place.

Quickly, they turned around the corner and Millie skidded to a stop as her eyes widened. Yale slammed into her from behind as Hizaki turned around with a look of shock and irritation.

"You? What are you doing out?" He asked.

"Crap!"

"Ha!" The feminine vampire shouted as his nails shot forward and Millie dodged as she took off running, dragging the helpless prince behind her as she uttered 'crap' over and over. Turning another corner, Hizaki flowed through the wall and attempted to grab her. The school girl let out a scream, but Yale shoved her down as his nails shot between them, cutting the bandages around his neck which caused them to hang loosely around his wound. The bandages on his wrist had also been cut, and fell to the floor.

Millie thanked him, and he nodded in response. Arising, the magenta-haired girl glanced around. No one was present but the two of them and it was dead silent. Confused at where the cross dresser had gone, she asked Yale if he knew where Hizaki was, only to be greeted in the most harsh of ways.

"Right here!" The blonde vampire called out as he pointed his nails upwards and an invisible glance of energy ripped up the floor, headed straight for them. The two of them dodged to either side, being flung on the ground like dolls Yale landed on his side and Millie on her rear.

"Crap! If only I had my gun!" The school girl fumed to herself. "Are you okay, Prince Yale?"

The silent prince nodded in response.

"What did you say?" Hizaki drew back in shock at what Millie had just said. "How in the hell is he alive? I thought he was killed!" When he thought about it, it made sense now. There was something that Estella Nu was hiding, and he had just found it. How convenient. Painted lips formed into a frown at this deduction. 'So that's it, is it? Estella Nu had informed us that he was dead, only to keep him prisoner to extract more information from him. What is she trying to accomplish by doing that? Something isn't right about this.'

"I'm pretty sure he's wondering why he's alive too," the girl looked concerned for the young prince's mentality. His thoughts seemed to be so riddled with death from the short time that she knew him.

"What's the meaning of this?" Hizaki outraged before he tossed the subject aside as if it were meaningless. "No matter, if I kill you both, then it won't matter! Ha!" He called out once more as he flung his hand out and his nails extended towards the both of them, but Yale and Millie evaded it, causing his nails to sink into the wall. Reaching forward, the drag queen attempted to grab Millie, which caused the girl to scream and whirl around. She attempted to punch him in the face, but her fist only connected with air.

"What was that?" She was confused at why the vampire hadn't been where she thought he was.

Millie was soon far too busy to ponder the subject further as Hizaki appeared behind her and attempted to stab her but the quick-thinking school girl jumped back, avoiding the deadly fingernails.

Estella ran down the hall, finally able to rid herself of the hood and medical wrappings and now that she had, she was fired up and angry. If the two of them were ever going to be dealt pain, it was now. Aside from that, if anyone knew that the prince was still alive, she would be dead on the spot for keeping information from Hide.

"Hm…" She smirked as she saw them ahead of her, “there you all are."

"Why is Prince Yale still alive? We ordered the Black Knight Ops to execute him," Hizaki placed his hands on his hips and leveled her with a disapproving frown.

"I am simply keeping him prisoner to extract further information out of him. Not only that, but we can use him in our further plans as a distraction to bring the other members of the royal court here. Honestly, in this state he can't do anything, not that I thought he was a useful prince anyway. All he ever did was whine like a prissy boy. At least now I can't hear his voice anymore," Estella Nu folded her arms over her chest as a smug smile crossed her lips.

"You bitch!" Millie yelled in anger as she tackled the vampire. Both women crashed to the floor as they tussled around for a moment. Millie was soon shoved harshly off by Estella Nu, who grabbed her whip and struck the school girl in the side. Millie cried out in pain as she felt the blood seep through her uniform. The girl lay on the ground, holding her injured side.

Estella Nu got back to her feet and gazed down upon the girl, who writhed in pain below her. "What a wretched human. Give up, little girl," the vampire advised as Millie peeled herself off of the ground. Magenta hues trailed to the belt that the vampire wore, as her eyes widened upon her discovery.

'The Red Rose Thirteen.' Her gun had been strapped to the purple-haired vampire's belt. It was within her reach, if she chose to place herself directly in danger to acquire it. Right now, the Red Rose Thirteen was her only hope at getting a proper weapon to protect herself with. It was imperative that Millie regain possession of it.

The school girl drug herself up from the ground, holding her bleeding side as she made her way over to Estella, hell bent on getting the gun from her. There was no way that Millie was going to back down from her fight, even if it killed her. Estella watched with amusement as the girl neared her, and Yale looked on with anticipation as he wondered if Millie was crazy for attempting such a thing.

A whip cut in to her side again as the girl's form crashed down to the ground in pain. Yale frowned as he recalled the girl's words to him as they shared their time together in that cell room.

'Please hold on. I know we can get through this, together. When I heard about what happened to you…I kept thinking about how you must have felt.' It had been a long time since anyone had spoken such kind words to him, let alone words that were so similar to the ones that Millie had told him. Her sympathy for him and his situation struck the chords deep in his heart. After all of this time, he finally had the one thing that he had wished for- a friend.

'If only I had my gun.' That sentence haunted the prince as his cerulean gaze shifted to the gun that hung to the left on Estella's black belt. He had to think of some kind of plan to help her out.

The smile on Hizaki's face widened as he saw Estella Nu, relentlessly assaulting the girl with the whip. Every time Millie tried to get up, she was struck back down by the cruel piece of leather with blades on the end but still, she kept coming back for more as she attempted to desperately make her way over to the gun. It was pathetic, really.

"Suffer! Suffer, you little wench!" The purple-haired sadist laughed as she beat the girl over and over. "How desperately you try to grasp something that you could never obtain. You're just like all of the humans - constantly striving for a goal and when you reach it, you aren't satisfied so you simply strive for another." In the middle of her speech, she heard a gun click and felt something cold and hard press between her shoulder blades. "What?" Her eyes widened in horror and shock at what had just happened.

Millie lay on the floor with several abrasions; her blood flowed on to the floor below. 'I'm going to die here. I can't get out of this alone. . . Prince Yale…' Looking up, she saw that the prince was behind Estella, with the Rose Red Thirteen in his position, pointing it to her back. While Estella was immersed in her sadism, he managed to get the upper hand and sneak the gun away from her.

"You bastard," the vampire snarled as she gritted her teeth and her wine-colored gaze shifted back to the prince, who wore a stern look on his face and a deep-set frown. The moment that he possessed the power to end his captor's life was a great feat and a moment he had wanted badly for a long time.

"Prince Yale…" Millie murmured as she looked at the man in a daze, but she was thankful that he had saved her life.

Cold eyes stared daggers into the woman's form as he thought about all of the hell that he had endured over his years of imprisonment. All of the torture that the prince had been through, and the inhumane treatment. The thoughts flooded to his mind, in an effort to help him come to a murderous conclusion. Those thoughts and reflections were a twisted, blood-stained glory within the confines of his silent mind.

A gloved hand harshly held his pointed chin as long nails dug into his flesh, creating crescent-shaped marks of pain, but that was the least of the nobility's burdens. His wrists and legs were bound together in shackles with short chains, preventing any movement from escaping his body, in case the caramel-haired man decided that he wanted to strike his captor.

'They want me to kill you. What a waste of information. I've got better things to do with you and if Hide-sama manages to pull off the Time of Ending, then you'll be my possessed servant and you'll further hold your peace. Then, when I torture you, no one can hear you scream. You will never be able to speak to anyone, which is perfectly fine by me. I got sick of your mind games, trying to protect those pathetic excuses for vampires that you called parents.' Estella seethed as she glared down the blue-eyed male, staring into his eyes of slight fear and despair.

'They aren't pathetic.' Yale lowly spoke out against her, only to be struck across the cheek by her whip. The razor blade dug into his skin, tearing the flawless flesh and producing blood which ran down his face. Closing one eye, he winced in pain as a small noise escaped his lips.

'Shut up,' Estella commanded, 'you're no longer the authority here.' She neared his face with a mock smile. 'You're lucky I don't bite you.' (1)

Yale glared at those harsh words.

'Maybe I don't have to plan an assassination attempt,' Hizaki smiled in delight to himself at the fact that Prince Yale could possibly fulfill his task for him. In fact, the drag-queen encouraged him to pull the trigger. Maybe a possession was in order.

"What are you doing, Hizaki? Help me," Estella called out to the girlish man, irritated that he had simply been standing there, not even offering to lend her a hand. What kind of ally was he, anyway?

'Well, I always did want to pick her off myself for what she's doing to Hide,' the blonde reasoned with himself as he shot his fingernails at the prince, who attempted to pull the trigger, but the gun was flipped upwards and the shot only managed to embed itself into the ceiling above.

Seeing her opportunity, Millie grabbed the gun, but Hizaki materialized through the wall and grabbed her. Thinking quickly, Yale acted off of instinct and punched the Illusionary Princess in the face, causing the phantom image to disappear.

Thankful, the school girl told him that she appreciated what he had done. He nodded in response and grabbed her hand as they headed towards the exit. Estella whirled around, her slightly wavy, thick, purple hair slammed into the side of her angry face.

"Don't let them get away!"

"Stop telling me what to do, woman!" Hizaki placed his hands on his hips and frowned deeply. If there was anything that was irritating, it was some purple-haired, backstabbing, sadistic bitch telling him what to do, especially one that was of a lower rank than himself. He waved his hand in small circles as a crescent of fire shot around the two, cutting them off.

"Crap!" Millie called out in irritation as the flames shot up around them. However, this didn't stop Yale. He had come too far to let mere flames stop him. There was no way in heaven, hell or the mortal world that he was going to find himself a torture victim again. His pace sped up as he ran even faster towards the fire, dragging the girl with him. "What are you doing? You psycho! You're going to kill me!" He could hear her yell, but ignored her words as he leapt over the fire, pulling the screaming girl behind him.

They landed safely on the other side, his regal form beamed with confidence as Millie panted, holding a hand to her breast and heaving in fright as her heart raced. 'Be still my heart…I almost died! Man, for a prissy boy, this guy is dangerous. Copernicus was laid back and princely…This guy looks princely, but he's not afraid to take action and rip heads off. I think people just think he's Mr. Timid. He seems more like a knight than a prince.'

Hizaki's form rushed through the fire as Millie whirled around and pointed her gun. "Eat lead, drag queen!" She yelled as she tried the gun, but she merely shot an illusion that disappeared. Then, the feminine man reappeared beside of her, whom she fired another shot only to find that it too, was another illusion. Upon noticing, that she was only getting illusion after illusion, she fired at each other that bombarded her, just in case they were real, but none ever were.

"I feel like I'm in an arcade. Why won't you die?" The magenta-haired girl sighed as she held the Red Rose Thirteen up to her face defensively.

Yale turned around, to see if there were any illusions behind her, and as he did so, Millie's eyes widened as the feminine vampire slashed her across her back as blood flowed from his red painted nails and a wicked smile crossed his face until a punch was landed across his face, sending him into a nearby wall.

The caramel-haired prince picked up the tattered girl and darted off down the hall, but Hizaki didn't let him get very far before he reappeared in front of him. Skidding to a stop, the prince looked a little flighty and paranoid for a moment before he looked behind him to see Estella running up to him.

He was trapped.

"Die!" Estella shouted as she threw up her whip. Yale jumped up, revealing Hizaki on the other side, who was hit and burst into a pile of flower petals. He appeared behind her with an irritated expression on his face.

"What are you doing? Get a better aim. You almost took me out," he scolded.

"You shouldn't stand in my way," she argued. Why did she have to work with someone as impossible as him? There should be some way to take that big-mouthed, pompous drag queen out.

"Excuse me?" Her retort only fueled the fire for the feminine vampire's anger. How dare she tell him that he was in her way?

Before he could say anything further to her, she took off running after the two of them. "We don't have time. The prince is getting way."

Hizaki stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. "Damn it all, I don't have time to play cat-and-mouse with him," he picked up the bottom of his dress and followed suit. He didn't really care if Yale got away or not. In fact, to him, it would be funny, seeing how Estella was trying to desperately to keep him such a huge secret.

It would serve her right if he got away.

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"Where are we?" Tsubomi questioned as she glanced around at the clearing that the two of them stood in. There was nothing around the both of them but trees and flat land. It looked like a typical forest clearing.

"This is where it should be. Perhaps I was wrong," Copernicus looked thoughtful for a moment. He thought for sure it was located where they stood, now only confusion ran through his mind at the subject at hand.

"You're an idiot. You really should do more research," Tsubomi sighed to herself. The moment she needed him to pull through for her, he failed. What were they going to do now?

"I could have been off, or maybe they moved. I saw them meeting here frequently," the Inheritor informed. He had spied on them for a while now, and he had never known them to act out of the normal. Maybe they found out what he had been doing and changed their location.

"Maybe it's just a meeting place," the Japanese woman replied. If that were the case, then it would only make sense that they wouldn't be there now.

"True, I didn't want to follow them. I'd be in a world of shit. Maybe it's hidden around here," Copernicus replied. It was the only other logical explanation, since there were never any foot prints leaving the place after they had met there.

"Well, I hope that Millie is alright. We certainly can't find our way around," she frowned at their miscalculation.

"It's got to be hidden somewhere. I know it was around here." It had to be. There was no other location it would have been at.

"Give it up," Tsubomi sighed as she crossed her arms over her flat chest. Honestly, if he was wrong, he could have just admitted it. Blue eyes glanced over to the Inheritor as he walked through a rose garden and occasionally tapped the tip of his sword on the ground. She studied him for a while, wondering what he was doing and after a good five minutes of watching him, she decided to question him on the subject.

"The ground is hollow, so there has to be an entrance here somewhere," Copernicus deducted as he continued to repeat the tapping.

"Well, I'll be damned. Maybe you were right," a slight smile tugged at her cheeks as she heard gunshots and saw that finger nails shot up through the roses and rushed past the brunette man's form. Turning around, shock washed over her face as Tsubomi pulled out her gun.

"Copernicus!"

…To Be Continued

NOTES:

1 'You're lucky I don't bite you' - in the vampuric society, it's not sexy or a sign of love when vampires bite each other. It's taken as the lowest insult you could give someone.