Tsubasa Chronicle Fan Fiction ❯ Tsubasa: Revolutions ❯ The Golden King ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: The Golden King

 

 

I knew, the moment I saw him, I knew that he was not human. But I don't find it my place to say anything about it to anyone just now. And just coming out and asking him about it is downright rude. “Excuse me sir, but you aren't really human are you?” is hardly a question you want to ask someone you have just met.

 

Especially someone as clearly powerful as he is. Offending him when we have come to ask for his help just seems like a step in the wrong direction to me.

 

He smiles at us as soon as we are all properly introduced. It is a genuinely kind, friendly smile and he says with a short nod, “I am glad to meet you,” in a pleasant tenor-tuned voice.

 

There were plenty of books in the public library with information about him, and how his rule over the lands was the longest and most peaceful in all of history. So I suppose I had been expecting to see someone much… older. If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed him to be in his early twenties. His eyes told a much different story than the rest of him however, and I feel guilty for feeling the lest bit relieved by looking at them. But his deep hazel-green eyes are the first signs of genuine sorrow I have seen in this world.

 

“So you are travelers, I hear?” he leads into a conversation, leaning forward slightly on his high-set throne as a sign of genuine interest. “Do you mind my asking where it is you all come from?”

 

“Somewhere very far away, sir,” Syaoran-kun answers politely. It is our general answer to the question which we are asked so very often, and typically people who are not genuinely concerned will leave it at that.

 

He smiles once more and I hear a faint chuckle slip from his throat before he speaks again. “Indeed,” he nodes. “This is what concerns me.”

 

I should have seen that coming.

 

“Tell me,” he continues after scanning over our faces, “what brings you to our fair country?”

 

The four of us exchange glances and it is Sakura-chan who is the first to speak, which is actually quite a surprise to me. And judging by the expressions on Syaoran-kun and Kurogane's faces, I believe it is safe to assume that it surprises them as well.

 

“We are on a quest, sir,” she takes a step forward and bows her head formally to him like the well-mannered princess that she is. “Searching for something I have lost before others try and claim it.”

 

“And your quest has led you here?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“So… you are accusing one of my subjects of thievery?”

 

“No!” she shook her head fervently. “No, I didn't mean it like that. We… have just come to believe that it may have found its way here somehow is all.”

 

“And what is this “it” that you speak of?”

 

Among our travels we have found that is usually doesn't come off well to bluntly state, “We're looking for a magical feather? Have you seen it laying around anywhere per chance?” as they either will know exactly what we are talking about and see us as just another threat for claiming their newly acquired power, or they have no honest idea what we are talking about.

 

Sakura blushes slightly and turns around to look at Kurogane and me as if to ask if it were alright to tell him anymore than she already had. I smile to her and give a quick nod. The king was not going to be fooled by some sort of made-up half-answer, that much I was sure of.

 

“My… it's my feather, sir. We've come to this country looking for my feather.”

 

His face seemed to drop so quickly it was a wonder it hadn't fallen on the floor and shattered, but he was quick to compose himself after a couple of long blinks though his big hazel eyes. “Your… your feather?”

 

Apparently the townspeople were not completely oblivious…

 

“Yes sir,” Sakura-chan nodded. “Would you know anything that might help us find it? The townspeople suggested that we come to ask you about it.”

 

He sighed heavily enough I think his guardsmen across the room may have heard it, and without another word he eased himself off of his throne, presenting himself to us for the first time at his full height. He stood just barely taller than myself but seemed to be built like Kurogane. It was probably the only similarity the youthful looking king had with him however, as the king is fair skinned, green-eyed and has probably the longest hair I have ever seen on another man; waves of golden locks falling past his knees.

 

“I suppose I should properly introduce myself,” he says at last, dropping to a single knee before Sakura-chan and taking her small hand in his own. “My name is Ienyn and I am king of this country. I have been king here for over a thousand years.”

 

Surprised by this very forward confession, Sakura takes a slight step away from him, looking at him wide eyed and unsure of what to say.

 

He chuckles warmly and smiles again, “It's a bit surprising I'm sure, but I'm really quite harmless.”

 

“So you're not human then?” Kurogane pipes up. It would not surprised me if he had noticed the king's non-human aura right away as well. I might ask him later, if I feel like talking to him.

 

“No. I have not been human for quite some time now. I am now what this world calls the Dragon of the Sun. Or at least that is what they used to call me back when I was actually needed,” he says very matter-of-factly, then stands up. “If you would all follow me, there is something I would like to show you.”

 

His hair sways slightly back and worth as he walks. We all follow silently behind him. Sakura, then Syaoran, then Kurogane. I follow last, taking my sweet time and keeping a nice distance between me and the others as I let my one good eye scan my surroundings. The palace is old. Centuries older than the skyscrapers beyond the palace walls. I can tell by the shapes of the windows and doors; their rounded, hand-laid stone faded now into a pale wash of grey. Nothing like the sharp edges of the buildings in the city.

 

“I did not actually grow up as this kingdom's prince,” Ienyn explains to us, leading us down a long stretch of hallway lined with windows that allow us to look out into the gardens. “I was raised to be the true prince's guardian.”

 

“Did you kill him?” Kurogane asked the obvious question.

 

“No. Nothing like that,” Ienyn chuckles and shakes his head, apparently un-offended. Then suddenly, without any warning at all, he stops in his tracks and gracefully whips around on his heals and grins, “The fact that you know that word at all gives me much hope however. You do know the true meaning of the word, do you not?”

 

“What word?” Kurogane snarls at him. I've seen that look many times before - the expression of “Stop joking around Fai, because you're not funny,” though I must say it's the first time I've seen it directed at anyone other then myself.

 

“Kill,” he shrugs. “You do know what that means, don't you?”

 

To Kill (v): To cause the death of; to put an end to. Syn: Murder. Slay. Execute. Destroy. Eradicate.

 

“Of course I do,” he grumbles, and I cannot help but be astonished that he didn't offer to demonstrate his knowledge.

 

“I thought so,” the blonde king raises a single eyebrow at him, then scans the rest of our faces before speaking. “And you will find that you are the only ones who do.”

 

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Syaoran exclaims, though I'm sure everyone else was thinking it.

 

“It means that here, there is no word for `kill.' There is no word for `hunger' or `anger' or `sorrow,' no word for `dirty,' or `cold,' or even `lonely.' There are no words for such things because they simply do not exist. Surely you must have noticed.” I cannot help but observe that he is looking directly at me while says this.

 

“So it is perfect, after all?” I murmur to myself. To be honest, I was expecting much more of an answer than “it does not exist.”

 

“It may seem that way to some. Or at least to those who do not know any better.” Ienyn offers a simple shrug. “But we'll talk more about that later.”

 

And with that, he starts walking again, down the hallway filled with warm spring light and up a large flight of stairs.

 

We pause just as we reach the top and Ienyn kneels before Sakura-chan once again. “You must promise me that these feathers belong to you,” he says, his eyes deep and serious and searching all of Sakura-chan's innocent face for just one flicker of a lie. “Please… promise me.”

 

“I… I promise?” she stammers with a concerned look stuck on her face.

 

“And your companions?”

 

“They are helping me to find them. Nothing more.”

 

“Alright then,” his face softens. “Forgive my asking, but I have been so excited over your arrival I haven't stopped much to explain myself, let alone make sure you are someone I can trust.”

 

We are lead down a final hallway that ends at a pair of large, ornate whitewood doors. His long, pale fingers linger over the door handle for a moment before he opens them. “Do not be alarmed by what you see,” he warns before he lets us pass.

 

A soft lavender light seems to have encompassed the entire room even though all the curtains are drawn. At its centre, a large dark wood poster bed rests, and sleeping peacefully amidst a pile of fluffed pillows and a mess of extraordinarily long black curls is a girl who looks maybe only a year or two older than Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun.

 

“Her name is Annabelle,” Ienyn says, gliding to her bedside and sitting at its edge. His face looks sadder than I have yet to see it and he reaches out one long arm to touch her sleeping face. “She is my wife. And she has been asleep for the past 1000 years; locked in an unending dream.”

 

“Did someone do this to her?” Syaoran wonders, being the first of us to step deeper into the room.

 

“No. I believe that she has done this to herself,” Ienyn offers. “I believe it is the result of a wish that she made on the day that she found that feather.”

 

“She has the feather?” Kurogane raises a suspicious eyebrow. “Hey! White manju, do you sense the Princess's feather?”

 

Mokona, who had apparently been sleeping in Sakura's hand bag jumps to immediate attention, raising his ears like antennas, and wrinkles his nose. I notice immediately, and I'm sure the others do as well, that his eyes are normal and his ever cheerful “Mekyo!” noise is not to be heard.

 

“Mmmmm…. Mmmmmm. I can feel the presence of a feather. But it is not in this room,” he says sadly.

 

“No,” Ienyn shakes his head slowly, “It has never been in this room. She is locked in an unending dream by the power of the feather, but she has taken it with her.”

 

“Taken it with her?” Mokona tilts his head to the side and raises one long white ear in the air.

 

“To the dream world. You sense the presence of the feather only because this world, and Annabelle's dream world have somehow overlapped.”

 

“So, we're all in her dream right now?” says Syaoran.

 

“No. We exist in reality, except the rules of the world are bound to her dream. Or so I have come to believe.”

 

“Do you know what her wish was?” I cannot help but ask.

 

“No. Not exactly. I mean, I don't know what words she used,” he shook his head. “But I think I know the general idea of it.”

 

“How can you be sure?” Kurogane questions him. “She's asleep! How can you know anything at all?”

 

“Take a look at the world around you,” he says calmly. “She and this world have been like this ever since that day.”

 

“What happened then?” Sakura takes several steps toward Ienyn, her concern is plainly seen on her delicate face.

 

“It hasn't always been this way. Back then, we were in the midst of a great war. The Powers that rule over this world, The Light and The Darkness, had been assembling great armies, and their leaders were the two princes of the two greatest kingdoms of the time. One of them was her older brother, Monagan, the boy I had been raised to be the guardian of. The other was Sarûs, the prince of our enemy kingdom. They were born to fight one another. Prophecy stated quite clearly that as long as the two of them were alive, they would seek to destroy one another, and the battle that was dividing the world into two would only end once one of them had been crowned the victor.

 

“Just before Annabelle obtained the feather, a rumor spread of Sarûs gaining control of something of great power swept over the lands. They said it was something so powerful that Monagan would stand no chance against it; that he would surely parish. And then the feather was found. And everything has changed….

 

“All the evil, all the darkness. Anything unpleasant or even the least bit discomforting was suddenly just… gone. Sarûs. His army. His entire kingdom vanished in an instance. And Annabelle, who found the feather, has been asleep ever since.”

 

“So, she used the power of the feather to save him?” Syaoran interjects, his amber eyes fixed on Ienyn as he speaks.

 

“I believe so. Yes,” the king nods. “By banishing all Darkness to another place Light cannot reach, they cannot fight.”

 

“Is he still alive?”

 

“Monagan? Yes. He comes and goes from here often actually,” and Ienyn's eyes grow distant. “He is the one exception to this world…”

 

“Meaning…?” Kurogane growls. He's never been a very polite listener.

 

“If you spill your drink, the mess is gone the instant that it is made. There are hillsides full of flowers but not a single weed. People here do not shout at one another not only because they do not get angry, but no one ever gives them a reason to be. Only those of us who existed before this so-called `perfect' world came to be, understand that this is not how things really are. But if anything is ever done to disturb the world; if you make someone cry, if you hurt someone, cause anyone any sort of pain… you begin to vanish. One chance is all you are given, and if you do it ever again, you leave this world for good.”

 

“And he is the exception to this?”

 

“How can you protect someone from evil if you send them straight to where evil lives?” Ienyn raises his eyebrow.

 

A good point, I suppose. But that still hasn't explained everything.

 

No one says another word for a moment or two, before Ienyn stands abruptly and grins, “I think we've had enough for now. It's almost lunch time. Let's take a break from this and go eat.” He's regained his cheerful composure once again and continues on talking as he walks out the door about how even in the time before this all happened, Ádiea was well known for its delicious fruit and that it was officially strawberry season right now.

 

Of course it is…

 

Kurogane catches my wrist as we file out of the room, “You're hungry, right?”

 

I don't answer him, just give him my usual smile and continue on out the door. He knows I am. He just wants me to say it. I don't understand him at all sometimes.

 

I don't want to say it. And I don't want to tell him. Ever.

 

“If it's alright, we will join you in a moment,” Kurogane announces as we reach the bottom of the stairs, and Ienyn pauses to look at us with curious, questioning eyes, and he grabs my upper arm before saying “We have something we need to discuss.”

 

“That's… fine,” Ienyn says hesitantly, obviously not too warm on the idea of just letting the two of us wonder around the palace unattended. “The dining hall is down the west corridor. You can't miss it.”

 

“We'll be right along,” Kurogane nods, “But don't bother waiting on us.”

 

He's still got a hold of my arm as the kids and Ienyn disappear down the hallway. Sakura-chan takes one quick look back at us before turning the corner and I smile and wave goodbye.

 

“You think now is the best time for this?” I say coldly, as soon as I think they're out of earshot. “And right here of all places? If anyone sees us, who knows what they'll think?!”

 

“I'm not an idiot, Magician. There's a room to the left. Get in.”

 

I am probably the most stubborn person in the universe. With the exception of Kurogane perhaps… but none the less, I stay put. He's at least going to have to go in the room first, so that when we get caught I can blame it on him.

 

Its become a new hobby of mine: blaming Kurogane for things.

 

There was a time not so long ago where I would have poked fun at him for being “sneaky and suspicious” danced around a bit, poked him in the shoulder and made a run for the room just to annoy him. I don't know why I had ever starting giving him such a hard time. I guess, around him and the kids, it was the first time I'd been able to have fun and not care about the consequences of my actions.

 

I could poke him and call him silly names and he'd chase after me with his sword and threaten to kill me. But he never really tried to catch me. I have no doubt that if he had ever wanted to, he could have. I'm sure it was annoying and tiresome; me acting like a undisciplined six year old child half the time, but I was having fun and for a long time, that was all that mattered to me.

 

I was away from my world. Away from my past. Away from Ashura. I was staring a new life where I could do as I pleased.

 

I hadn't realized that somewhere along the way, they started to care. I didn't know that had even been possible - for anyone to care. And yet here I am… alive because he saved me.

 

And instead of me having the decency of a normal human being to thank him; to thank him for sacrificing so much; to thank him for being such a good person that he would take on the weight of keeping himself alive so that I could live… I shun him for it. I despise him for it.

 

Because it was such a stupid thin for him to have done.

 

Why would you ever want to save someone who can't even say thank you?

 

He has already removed his jacket, rolled up his sleeve and has taken out a small dagger from his pocket to run across the flesh of his wrist. It's obvious he is still sore from this morning as he offers me his other arm this time - usually I get the same one for several days.

 

I've drank from him enough now that there are multiple wounds and scars on either arm; enough that he covers them fully in the company of others to avoid any questioning eyes. I can feel them, the raised imperfections of his skin every I run my lips across them and feel guilty for each and every one. He will carry those scars for the rest of his life…

 

“You seem to be hungrier than usual,” he says and I lean over to lap up the blood already seeping from his veins. “Are you feeling alright?”

 

I give a short shrug but say nothing. It's rude to speak with your mouth full after all. He is right however, and it is something that has been troubling me for some time. I suppose its one of the many reasons I cannot sleep at night.

 

And now I can add my nearly hurting him this morning to the list.

 

I'll won't be sleeping for another month at this rate…

 

I am conscious of my behavior this morning however, so I am sure to be extra gentle this time. So gentle it half-way feels as though I am kissing him arm.

 

Fantastic. That's all I need now; him to be thinking I like making-out with his wrist.

 

I can't help but feel that my cheeks have turned pink, but thankfully I am looking downward and my hair is long enough to cover most of my face from him. I'm trying frantically to think of how it is I normally do this, but I've gone blank.

 

Be gentle. Don't hurt him. But don't act like your kissing him for goodness sakes.

 

I don't normally drink from him this way do I?

 

I can't remember. It's something I've never thought of before.

 

I pause for a moment and take a breath. He is delicious as always.

 

“Delicious as always?” did I really just think that.

 

“Are you finished?” he looks at me completely unfazed by the fact I just went to first base with his arm and waits for my response.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I'm finished,” I say and give him my trademark smile. Its my way of saying, “It's a good idea you have no idea what I'm thinking about right now.” As I'm sure it would result in me being thrown into a wall or punched in the face, or something as equally… Kurogane-like.

 

“Lets get going then before the King gets suspicious,” he suggests as he pushes down his shirt sleeve.

 

We take a few steps and I hear the words, “But Kuro-pan is always suspicious!” followed by a small laugh. And I stop dead in my tracks after the realization that….

 

That was me.