Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lucian continued to talk with Mira, letting her small voice fill his head and take away the anger he held in his chest. How dare he turn on me in such a way! I call him by name and he corrects me? Mira's hand fell on the Prince's shoulder. "Sir, are you still listening? You became stiff and your eyes darkened. Are you well?" Lucian tapped Mira's delicate fingers. "I am well. Tell me more of this dream you had. It keeps me from thinking..." Mira smiled softly, her eyes lifted to Leo from across the room and a thin, devious smile came to her lips. She knew Leo saw her and she relished in it. She tilted her lips back to Lucian's ear and continued her tale. Lucian's eyes closed and he began to nod with each of her words. "Tell me more...", he whispered as her word's slowed,"...I wish to be in cased in your dreams."

Celie watched the two from her chair and growled. "This is wrong. Mira should not be up there with him! Shame on her for doing such a thing with the Prince! And before all of these people." Aria scoffed. "Doesn't seem like the 'Princess' really cares for the Prince or she'd have run up there to claim him and told Riri to back off." Kyuki huffed softly, shaking her head. "A true Princess would not cause such a scene as to disgrace her her name, family, and her future family." A high-pitched giggle, sounding more so of a cackle, broke up the triad's thoughts. "It seems that I'll be Queen here anyway! The Prince and his peasant pet have parted ways and now a slave girl? My, he must like his women helpless and abused! No matter, I'll take my rightful spot on the throne soon enough." Aria wrinkled her nose at the sight of Consona. "Get some where you over stuffed pin cushion before I show you to the door myself." Consona rolled her painted eyes. "You are no threat to me and once I am Queen I'll see that even the lowest of whore houses will not take your ruined body!"Aria rose suddenly and pointed her finger at the woman. "Look you air-headed, self righteous, rat! The Prince picked me to be his Princess's companion and he told you to take a hike so you might want to evaluate whose place is higher than the other." Consona lifted her hand and went to smack Aria, but when the woman didn't so much as blink, she grabbed her sleeve and ripped it.

The sound of tearing fabric filled the entire room. The band's music stopped playing, the feet stopped gliding over the floor, and the room went still. The sleeve fell to the floor and Aria's scared and ruined flesh was open to the world. The room was filled with gasps and small shrieks of horror. Aria looked at Consona, not with horror or fear, but with rage. Consona smirked. "My, aren't you a deformed creature." Aria started to cover her arms then let her hands drop to her sides. "Yes, I am aren't I? I could tell you exactly who deformed me, but he's probably here right now and it would be rude of me to disclose his name in such a way." Consona's smirk faded slightly. "That doesn't take away from your disfigured body. " Aria smiled, something dark in the way her lips curved. "Want to see the ones on my legs too while you've got everyone's attention?" Consona started to say no, but Aria grabbed the bottom of her dress and tore it to the mids of her thighs. The room echoed with the gasps of the horrified. Her legs were almost nothing but raised or darkened scars. "Disgusting isn't it? Yet the Prince, with his kind heart, brought me here to led a new life, to try and be normal and seek out something normal in my life. I know I'll never marry, never bare a child, never have any of the things many take for granted, but I'll live to see another sun rise and I'll never be hurt again. What kind of Queen will you be that you would pick on something such as I to make yourself feel better?"

The room's eyes turned to Consona and her face paled. "How...How dare you speak up to me in such...in such a manner! I am above you!" The room gasped as a chair toppled. "And I am above you!" Lucian's voice boomed through the room. The room grew heavy and thick with the sound of his voice and the anger that was in it. "You come into my home and you assault my maid, embarrass my Princess, and then insult and disrobe her companion! Have you no respect, no training in how a true leader should act? You're blatant disrespect of me and my house is repulsing!" The entire room shuddered with the weight of his voice. Lucian came down from his throne, his parents watching him in awe, and went to Consona. "Leave my home. Leave my grounds. Leave my county. Leave my Kingdom! You are banished from this Kingdom until I allow you to return here!" Consona's face fell, her mouth agape and her eyes wide. "How...You can't do this! You are not the King here!" Lucian turned to his father. "Will you honor my declaration father, for she has disrespected you in your house just as she has disrespected me by undermining your authority by breaking into my room in earlier hours?" The King gave a hurmpf from his chair. "I will honor the declaration!" Lucian turned back to Consona and narrowed his eyes. "You have until dawn to be gone from here."

Lucian turned away from Consona and started for his throne, when he caught sight of Leo with another noble man. Leo gave a growl and strode over to the table. The man caught site of the storming Prince and froze in his seat. Lucian looked back over at the band and nodded. They swallowed down the fear they had from the look in his eyes. They began to play a soft ballad. Lucian went to the table and, without giving the man a second glance, grabbed Leo's hand and 'guided' him to the middle of the floor. Kyuki stepped forwards and cleared her throat. "And the Prince takes his Princess for their first dance together!" She began to clap, then Celie began to clap, the Mira clapped, which made Aria clap. Soon the entire room began to applaud as Lucian wrapped his arm around Leo's lower back and gripped his hand. Lucian leaned down and placed his lips to Leo's ear and breathed softly along the skin, his power radiating through the smaller male's body. "You. Are. Mine.", he whispered into Leo's ear, "If I wish to call you Lily you will answer to Lily." Lucian's hand gripped Leo's side tightly. "Are we clear?"

Lucian started to grab the male's skin harder, to make him suffer pain and whimper in his grasp, but it wasn't in him to further break Leo. He sighed and twirled the male once, twice, three times, before merely letting go and walking away. Lucian's fingers slipped between Leo's as he walked down the long ballroom towards the doors. His face was in his palm and he looked to have gown pale. Kyuki looked at Leo, waiting for him to move. When she realized that Leo wasn't going to do it, she ran over and stood between the Prince and the door. The room gasped, more shocked by the maid's action than anything they'd seen today. Lucian looked at Kyuki and her outstretched body. Lucian's lip curled into a cold smile. "Step aside Kyuki." He started to side step her and she stepped with him. "Strike me down and I shall move, but otherwise I will mirror you." Lucian's eyebrow twitched with irritation. "You are not helping anyone here by doing this."

The King rose from his chair. "Maid! Step aside as the Prince commanded you to do or face consequences." Kyuki looked up at the King then to the Prince, but she did not move. "Maid! i said step aside! Do you disobey the King!?" Kyuki swallowed, but refused to move. Lucian's eyes grew wide. "Kyuki just step aside!" Kyuki shook her head. "You fought so hard to get her here and now you'll just walk away? I'll die in this spot if that is what must happen, but I will not move from this spot as long as I still breathe." The King hurmpfed again. "Then so be it!" Lucian span around and growled. "NO." The King's face paled and the Queen looked ready to faint. "She is my maid and the only one who shall harm her is me." Kyuki closed her eyes and braced for the impact of being hit. Lucian went over to her and placed his forehead on her shoulder. "Speak to me what has come over you." Kyuki sighed, her body relaxing, knowing she wouldn't die at this moment. "We must speak elsewhere. The ears of the floor will be the whispers of the walls later." Lucian nodded. Kyuki stepped back and walked through the doors then Lucian.

The ballroom instantly went into chaos again. The King began to bark at the band to play and for everyone to ignore what they'd seen. Someone was fanning the fainted Queen. Aria was sitting in a chair with Celie as the pregnant woman comforted the shaken girl. Mira slowly slid up beside Leo and smiled, pretending to be just standing beside her as if nothing had happened. "You break his heart so very much", she began," and it hurts him so much to not be able to please you. He takes you from a whore house and makes you a Princess, but you reject him when he calls you by the name he fell in love with you by. Then you do not come for him or even look to him when he is spoken to by another woman. He wants so much for you to love him the way he loves you, but it seems you are not capable of doing just that. Have no fear though, if he is unable to bring himself back from the heartbreak, he wont marry Consona and he won't cast you into the streets. He'll send you back to that place you were before with the old lady and my brother and you'll live happily there until you kill yourself or you die." Mira smiled at a man who approached her and then went to dance with him for a time.


[[Those are not the Prince's true thoughts, Mira did twist them a bit to strike fear into Leo.]]

Lucian came back only moment's after Leo had departed. He strode into the ballroom and started to look for Leo. He grew frantic as his eyes did not capture him. Celie waved the Prince over and he quickly went to her. "Where is she? I had to tell her something!" Celie opened her mouth to speak, but Aria caught her first. "She's going to kill herself." Lucian's mouth fell open and his skin went deathly pale. Celie was shocked into silence, but Aria kept talking. "Her eyes. They were the same as Mimi's the night she walked into the ocean. She's been gone almost ten minutes....Run Prince." Lucian turned and fled the room. He caught Kyuki as he was in mid run. "Check the rooms! She's gone missing!" Kyuki grabbed the Prince's wrist and led him to her chambers. Her legs pulled the prince along faster than he'd ever seen her move before. When they got there she tried the door and found it unlocked. "Go. I'll go check your room." Kyuki turned and was running back down the hall.

Lucian ran into the room screaming for Leo. His eyes searched for signs of the boy. He saw the dress hanging neatly in the corner and then the smell of blood hit his nose. It was strong and thick. Lucian's eyes turned gray and he could hear a flighty heartbeat just beyond the door. Lucian grabbed the door handle and shook it as the lock prevented his entry. "LEEOO!!!!!!", he screamed at the door. The flightly heartbeat began to fade and Lucian felt his own heart skip a beat. "LEEO!!!" Lucian grabbed the door's hinges and ripped them from the wall, taking the door with them. His muscles burned as they pushed his human limits, but Lucian had only one goal. He was in the bathroom and he could see Leo's little body, pale and still, in the tub.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The entire castle shook with the sound of Lucian's scream. Parts of the village felt the tremble of it's force. The guests screamed in terror, but the King rose to see what was the matter. Aria walked up to the King and told him what was going on. He called for all the doctors of the castle and this part of the kingdom to be brought with haste. Mira lifted her skirts and helped Celie get down the hall to find Kyuki and possible the prince. Kyuki came back into the ballroom and offered to take the people to where they needed to be to save the Princess. They all moved as quickly as they could, including the King and Queen.

Meanwhile, Lucian ran over to Leo's body and clutched it to his own. He saw the blood pouring from his arm and tears welled in his eyes. He tore of his sleeve and wrapped it as tightly as he could around the wound. The green sleeve turned black with blood. Lucian tore off his other sleeve and tied it off around Leo's bicep. "Nononononono...", he muttered the entire time. The cloth still grew black with the blood. Tears spilled over the male's cheeks and onto Leo's face and neck. "You can't die on me...not like this...no...not like this...Leo...Leo...wake up!! WAKE UP!!! LEEEOO!!!!!" Lucian's arm's wrapped around Leo's body and he sobbed. Blood stained his clothes and sank into his skin, but he didn't let the male go. He sobbed and screamed the male's name until the entire castle came to the room to see what was the matter. Kyuki gasped at the scene, but when she tried to touch Leo, Lucian nearly ripped her arm off.

"The love of my life! The person of my dreams! Gone! Gone! Why! Why?! Why did you take you're life?! What did I do wrong?! How did I make you so miserable that you'd rather wed Death than me?! My Princess, my stars and moon! My sun and sky! My joy, hope, and life! Why do you lie dead in my arms!!!" Lucian threw his head back and wailed to the heavens. His power broke free and the mirror shattered across the room. He clutched Leo's body so close that he didn't notice the blood stopping as his power seeped into Leo's little body and began to heal enough of the wound to stop the bleeding. He wailed Leo's name, wailing his pain and sorrow to the heavens and all that had an open ear to hear it.

Lucian wailed more. "I didn't mean it! I didn't know better! I've never known better! How can you ask me how to love someone when I've ever know the touch of love once?!" He clutched Leo's body and rocked, everyone watching him talking to the air. "I just wanted her happy! I knew nothing of what he was besides the basics. I didn't know the pain of working back into society. I was raised on fairy tales and lullabies! I was blind to everything and when i was faced with it I didn't know how to handle it! I'm a prince! I know so little of what is beyond these walls even with all that I tried to learn!" His tears glittered as they fell onto Leo's body. "I wanted Lily back. I didn't want Eva, this foreign person, I wanted my Lily! I wanted her with all her pain and torture and broken pieces so that my hands could put her together, that my arms would hold her, that my words would soothe her! Had I known that she hated the name so terribly I'd never have asked her of it!"

Kyuki knelt in the doorway, crying silently. Her eyes were fixed on where Leo's mother was. "Please...give him back....he has never learned the ways of the world...pain does not exist here the way it does out there....he did what he thought was best...can you punish him for the sins of his parents?" Lucian looked at Kyuki and sobbed. "...Don't defend my stupidity Kyuki...." Kyuki ran into the room and wrapped her arms around both Leo and Lucian. "You are the son I never got to keep and I am the only one who could teach you when you're parents could not. You love Leo. You've loved him since the moment you met eyes with him. You spent weeks crying yourself to sleep because she was from your side and you say do not defend you? You loved him the best way you could. You gave Leo the Kingdom that broke him and you will let him change it the way he wants to see it changed! You saved his friend's life and gave him freedom! You saved three women from almost certain death! If anything Leo deserves to live to see something good come into his life!"

Lucian rested Leo's cooling cheek to his own and let his tears run down his face. "....I just wanted to give him everything he never got to have....I just wanted to show him that not everyone was evil...I wanted to save him....I wanted to be that hero...the knight in the armor...from all the fairytales....if you can believe that....and all I did was kill him...." Lucian sobbed softer now. His eyes grew clearer and his words less broken by tears. "...if I cannot have her back....then...this kingdom will have no new king......for I will not live without my Leo....."

((i'm going to point out that everyone can see her, just thought you should know))

The woman sighed and closed her eyes, "If you want him back then do not call him Lily, do not use such a hated name. call him by the name i gave him, Leonard, Leo. my beloved strong hearted little boy who has known nothing but hell. You speak of fairy tales, but your fairy tales have brought him death. i will give him back to you, but i shall not be so lenient a second time." she warned before returning Leo's spirit. "i shall be watching." she warned before dissapearing.

Leo took a small breath and his eyes fluttered before opening and looking up at Lucian. "i'm sorry, my prince, please do not look at me." he whispered, his voice horse and broken. he'd failed, he couldn't even die properly. "forgive me."

Leo felt heavy, and tired, so very very tired. "there is nothing to forgive." he whispered after licking his dry lips. he closed his eyes, "mira is right, i will never be able to make you happy-i'll only ever hurt you." he dropped his head to Lucian's shoulder, to tired to hold it up anymore. "i don't want to hurt you-" he mumbled as he was dragged back down to unconciousness, "i love you..."

"M'ster?" Leo whispered and his eyes opened slightly, "Lucian-where?" his eyes fell on the decorations and he knew he was in Lucian's room. "it's ok-please don't worry anymore. go back to the ball, i'll be ok. i bet Mira-san would love to dance with you..." his voice trailed off as he slipped into unconciousness again, but his eyes opened again after only a few seconds. "please don't worry, i'm not...going...to die...just yet-" he gave a tiny smile, his his face was ghostly pale and his body completely limp, unable to hold even his head up.

Leo felt himself being put down and watched as Lucian left the room. he could feel the disress coming from the man as he left and he knew it was his own fault. "Lucian-" he whispered and gathered what little energy he had. he pushed with his good arm and slowly, painfully rolled over to his stomach. he had to lay there for a long time as he panted for breath. his was shaking, but he knew he couldn't let Lucian alone with the way the man was feeling. wasn't it his duty to keep Lucian happy? he was failing miserably if that were the case. when he was able to breath again he shakingly pushed himself once more, repeating the slow process of rolling over, only this roll sending him over the edge of the bed. he hit the ground on his aore arm and gasped in pain, blacking out.

when he came to again he had no idea how long had passed. had it been seconds? minutes? hours? however long it had been, his master had not yet returned and the room was still dark so it couldn't have been too long. he curled himself into a ball and moved so his head was facing the doorway, thanking whatever god there was out there that he landed on the side of the bed that was closest to the door and didn't have to crawl around the bed as well. walking was out of the question, he was dizzy from bloodloss and exhaustion as it was, but he wasn't going to give up now. his left arm was all but useless, but his legs and right arm were able to move.

his entire body was shaking so hard he could barely control it, but inch by painful inch he crawled towards the door. Leo wasn't sure how he'd find Lucian, maybe one of the servants would see him once he reached the hallway and send for the Prince. he prayed that was what would happen because he wasn't sure he'd make it much further than the door. about halfway across the room his blacked out again, his body shaking so hard his teeth chattered and he was in danger of biting his tongue. he woke againa nd once more wondered how much time had passed, but there wasn't room for much more thought other than that. the door was near, but his body refused to move. his head was pounding, trobbing with every racing heartbeat and his fingers and toes were numb. he dropped his head to the ground and groaned softly, tears slowly sliding down his cheeks. he tried to likc his dried and cracked lips, but his tongue and mouth were in no better condition that they. he closed his eyes and knew that he wasn't going to make the damned door. Lucian-