Last Arc: The path towards the endless end.
"I am surprised you are not being childish."
Dia did not turn his head nor make any movements after hearing the voice behind his back. He is currently in the highest balcony of the Clover Castle, below is a beautiful garden filled with clovers and trees. Dia looks like he is in a longing daze while watching the wind dance with the leaves and grasses.
Ace watched the slumped back of his younger friend who did not even bother to respond to him. The boy's back had gotten a bit wider, it seems that his halted time is moving in a faster pace to catch up.
Ace also noticed that the two wolves that came with Dia had significantly aged too. Their fur had became brash and brittle. Their whiskers are curved and dented. However they still seems look dignified and the weak knights of Clover still find them terrifying.
Ace came forward and stand next to Vanille, the male wolf. Ace also gaze down the balcony to find what the young boy is gazing at with full of longing. But there is nothing but the tall Wisteria tree which is in full bloom with beautiful lilac colored blossoms and the clovers beneath it which are impossible to see from where they at, unless you have sharpened senses like the seal bearers.
"Won't it be your character to go barge in and ask for her attention?" Ace unconsciously asked Dia.
"Well, from the start, this is what I do. I watch her day and night and just stay next to her. Back then, I cannot talk to her and she cannot see me, I can only embrace her and whispers unaudible sounds to her ears."
Ace made a sharp turn with his head to Dia.
"You... Pervert!!" Ace exclaimed.
"Huh?" Dia finally turn his head to Ace.
"You embrace her?! My sister is fifteen!!"
"Huh?! Technically speaking I am younger than her."
"What kind of lunacy-?!"
"Are you guys fighting again?"
Queenie came in with some refreshments for the wolves and the two boys.
Queenie watched the two bare their fangs at each other. She is happy to see a childish side of Ace, but it is getting out of hand.
"Why don't you two sit down and do not make so much noise. The knights been giving you both some meaningful stares. You both might had forgotten, but you guys are the most noble people here."
"Yes, stop being children and sip some tea."
Queenie flinched after noticing the black round owl elegantly nesting on top of the table.
"Lass, tea please." The owl requested with nobility.
"Yes." Queenie smiled, she finds this red eyed owl adorable.
The owl is fluffy with feathers and just the size of her palms.
The two boys watched the girl and the owl prepare tea. The two wolves listened to Queenie and sat next by the two bowls she neatly set for them on the ground.
"Sit down." Night said after elegantly picking up a cup with his wing.
Queenie's eyes sparkles as she watched how the owl picked up the cup. It is fascinating to her, as the owl is moving more precise and elegant than the royals and nobles she used to mingle with.
"We have a lot of things to talk about."
Dia stood straight and faced Night. He then slowly walked towards the table and stopped to face the owl.
"It seems that your friend is the cause of all this."
Ace and Queenie's demeanor suddenly became tense.
"You are not entirely pushing the blame on her, child. She went out of our comfort place to save your life."
"Ha!" Dia rolled his eyes. "Stop being denial and admit it."
Night elegantly put down the tea cup and stared back to Dia's emerald eyes with his scarlet eyes.
The Diamond seal and the Shadow Seal are glowing.
Dia who felt weird, briskly sat down across Night. Ace followed suit and awkwardly sat down too. Queenie decided to keep arranging the desserts and tea on the round table.
"Wasn't the old man's body... it was a sign that she was here. It wasn't only him but other people was also graced by that light."
There is a hardness on Dia's tone. He only cares about Dream but he fully well knows how the soul he supervised for a decade will carelessly act. He needs to eliminate anything that might repeat the events from their former lives.
"Her... power was certainly here..." Night said in a low tone.
Dia did not respond back as he was not present when it happened, they both cannot justify the degree of Light's presence.
Ace who was listening to the two's ambiguous conversation decided to say something.
"Does he have a red hair?"
Night and Dia both look at Ace.
"That day.... Sir Kaleid came to pick up the King of Spade and the Spadian Knights. My Father, find it weird that the man came all the way here but he pushed that feeling aside as it is the man he trusts the most."
"On their way to the teleportal, on the edge of the gorge, I saw Kaleid's auburn hair turned red. It was blazing like a furious flame."
Dia's eyes open wide.
"Wait! Are you saying that Kaleid?!"
Ace continued on, ignoring Dia. This is the first time he is speaking about Kaleid.
"His hair turned red, it surprised my father which means it also something that he never knew. And even before he could react, a sword slashed him and a blinding light covered everything. "
Dia is holding his head and seems in denial of what he is hearing.
"When the light is gone, all it left are the dying people of Clover and Spadian knights that was around the proximity of the light. My father fell out of the gorge. It took us a while to find him. We really thought he was dead. Thanks to the thick Spadian blood in his veins, he survived."
"Wait!!!" Dia slammed the table. "How can you be sure that was Kaleid?!"
"Who is denial now?" Night retorted back to Dia.
"Huh?! The power of light is more than an evidence you ball of....!"
"Stop!!" Ace stopped Dia.
"We don't really know! Everything is vague!! I saw everything with my own eyes, but I do not know Kaleid or the being with light powers you guys talk about. Moreover, after the blinding light he is nowhere to be found. We also do not have the time to investigate. I had to close Clover right away, so that that little chance that my father is alive will not be snatch from me. The way my father was slashed by the sword and that blinding power...."
"Lad, how close you are in that moment that you know for sure that that is what happened?" Night asked Ace.
"I was standing just six feet away. It seems that that bright power did not affect me."
Ace massaged the covered seal of Spade on his neck. Night could see long scars around the sloppy bandage of the seal. It seems that the seal bearer of Spade had a hard time accepting the power of the seal.
Dia calmed down and slumped back to his seat.
"Kaleid is a selfless man who have been taking care of me and Dream. Especially Dream! Thanks to him, Dream grow up so well, in spite being in that eerie black castle of Spade!
He taught Dream a lot of things and protected her. He is really good at cooking, baking, cleaning and he is a doctor too! He tends to the sick! He is a super steward who my father really loves!!"
Dia recited every word with sincerity.
Ace sighed. As matter of fact, that is all what he heard about the steward too. The Duke of Virgo was ever so thankful that Ace's father has a such trustworthy man on his side.
However, Ace always wonders. A young man who is loved by everyone, but he dedicated all his life to the King of Spade, who abandoned the Spade in the first place? Why?
Queenie raised her hand.
"Lass?" Night asked Queenie.
"Currently, there is only one person I know with a red hair."
"The Duke of Aries." Ace finished her sentence.
"Only one?" Night asked back to Queenie.
Queenie tilted her head from that question and decided to finally sit down with the group.
"Red hair had been rare for as long as I remember. " Queenie massaged her pink hair. "Even my haircolor is quite rare too."
"The Queen of Heart's bloodline is almost gone?"
Night could not believe that news. The Heart Country used to be place of people with red hair and beautiful violet eyes. Their appearance are always describe as beautiful as the dawn and dusk.
"For years, the noble women of Heart Country are married off to the nobles of Diamond, Clover, Spade and even to the royalties of the other continents. The noble woman with the heart seal is then married and becomes the empress until the seal changes host."
"What will happen if a young empress is no longer the host of the Heart seal?" Dia is curious as he is part of the Imperial family.
"They will be demoted to a lesser title and the new host will be the empress."
"What in a..." Night is flabbergasted.
Ace and Queenie who had been learning the Empire's royal etiquette find it weird that the two were surprised by that information. As matter of fact, it is a known fact that a Heart Seal bearer is to become the empress same as the Diamond Seal bearer to become the Emperor.
"It is a long standing tradition." Queenie added.
"So, you and I should be wedded in the future?" Dia who could not recover from shock drop the comment.
Queenie and Ace looked at each other.
"Well as per the tradition-..."
"NO WAY!!!" Dia slammed the table.
"WHO WANTS TO MARRY YOU?!" Ace retaliated by Dia's rude reaction.
"Calm down, kids..." Night is massaging his round head.
"Well..." Queenie gave Dia an awkward side glance. Which Dia reciprocated with a rude glare. Queenie sighed.
"No one knows that you were the Diamond seal bearer. Your father claimed that he had the seal on his left hand. But he refused to follow the tradition so I was engaged to his appointed Imperial Crown Prince."
"It is that Soliard boy, right?"
When Night mentioned the boy's named, the shadows around them trembled. Night remembered the events unfold during the time, Dream and Night were trying to get inside the Clover Country.
Queenie who felt responsible from what happened asked the owl
"Are all the princess' bruises...?"
"Bruises?"
"What bruises? Was her neck that badly bruised?" Ace who have a Spadian body did not realized the consequences of the event he had witnessed before rescuing his sister.
"Neck?" Dia asked Ace upon hearing the word neck.
"She was grabbed twice on her neck and was kicked on her stomach." Night added.
The cup on Ace's hand shattered and the table on his side cracked. The wind started howling with Dia's grim face.
"She healed herself quite a bit when she used her powers but it is because she still have no full control. She prioritized healing everything else beside herself. Thankfully she is still not too skillful and healed herself in the process but because of that she still have some bruising left. It could had been a really bad injury if she fully prioritized the healing of the people and the land of Clover."
"It might been her power of luck. Thankfully she was born as a Spadian in this life. Her body is sturdier than a normal adult" Night added.
"That Bastard...." Ace is looking too grim.
"Hey, open the barrier for a bit." Dia said to Ace.
"So I can do the same to him." Dia is looking more menacing as he says each words.
"Don't worry, I cut his arm and we made sure he did not manage to get it so that he could not reattached that arm."
"Oh!" Dia smiled with high amount of sinister.
The two boys looks like menacing partners and Queenie is feeling chills run on her back.
"So, what are your plans?" Night asked the question to the three of them.
"In the past, Clover had the barrier protecting this country for a very long time. She did not put it down until my past self was conquered." Night added, as if the magnificent being is hinting for the youngsters to take the safest route.
Night gaze at the far distance, reminiscing the past. "With the power of Clover, this barrier could go on for a very long time. Might be far longer as the three of you are also here."
The three massaged the seals on their face and neck.
"The Clover.... Dream, could live for a long...long... time. She will watched your deaths and your children deaths until our Father above call her back."
Many had said that it was God's grace that is why the Clover seal bearer often lives until they are hundreds years old. Some people seen it as a blessing as the souls of the Clover seal bearer were reincarnated beings who could remember their past lives. Unbeknownst to them, it is a lonely sacrifice.
"I'll be with her!!!" Dia said with full determination while slamming the table.
"So, what is your plan?" Night asked again.
...
Kaleid stare down at the body of a white eagle that is lying almost lifeless on his lap.
"I am tired," the eagle said in a low tone.
"And so am I," Kaleid said in response.
Kaleid noticed the head of the Eagle tilting up to look at him. The Eagle's beautiful lilac eyes are just like his.
Kaleid carressed the Eagle's head.
"All we did is love," Kaleid said.
He could see his reflection on the Eagle's irises. His red hair is like a burning flame.
"And that love consumed us both like a curse." The Eagle added.
"Are you really fine with this?"
The Sun seal on the Eagle's wing faintly glow.
"I could not wait for this to be over. I want to rest."
"What would you say to that person, once you meet them on the other side?" Kaleid asked.
The Eagle chuckled.
"How could you leave me behind." The being said in one breath.
"What would you say to the being you will leave behind?" Kaleid asked another question.
"I am finally free from you." The Eagle said and nestled on Kaleid's lap.
Kaleid continued on patting the heavy bird. It's beautiful white feathers are blinding but also mesmerizing to see.
From the blinding light, Kaleid understands that these magnificent being and him are the same.
Kaleid was cursed to stay next to the person he hates the most and was left behind by the person he loves the most.
...
Kaleid's early memories were him seeing his tiny hands, strongly held by his mother. They are running endlessly in darkness. With their heavy breathing and aching body, Kaleid could see his mother looking behind them making sure they have no pursuers.
"Mom, my feet hurts..." it is hard for him to match his mother's steps with his underdeveloped body. Moreover, the shoes he was forced to wear was an inch and a half smaller to his feet. It is harder to run with his toes bended to fit inside the shoes.
"Listen Kaleid!" His mother tightly grabbed his shoulders. Kaleid could see his mother's frantic gaze. "We have to run away as far as we can, or else your father will do those heinous acts to you again."
Heinous acts, at that time, he could not understand his mother's words.
"What about sister?"
"She already ran away."
Kaleid noticed the hard tone of his mother's voice upon mentioning his older sister.
"I did not know he will be this obsessive about the seals. I married your father, so that I can get away from the country of Heart. But living with him is worst than hell."
Her voice is trembling from emotions she has bottling up for years.
"Where are we going mother?"
"We are going to beg. That is our only chance to survive."
Kaleid heard his mother chuckled.
"I guess, it is a good thing that we daughters of Heart are sold to the nobles and royals. We have lots of places to ask help to."
...
Kaleid watch his mother as she begs every door step of nobles they been to. But no one are willing to let them in. It is not because they do not want to help, but it is because they are afraid of the Count who they run away from.
Due to this, they both became a subject of gossip in high society of Spade. It only been three days since they ran away, but the news had traveled far and wide in Spade.
Unfortunately, the Count who is managing a small land of which the Duke of Pisces owns, became aware of the news. This man who is in full raged due to his wife, daughter and son running away from him, sent out soldiers to kill the runaways.
Kaleid and his mother hid themselves in the slums while biting their nails in fear, and they are aware that they have no chance of survival this time.
Until an ironclad hands finally offer them help.
"You should had come to me first."
"I could never..."
The woman grabbed Kaleid's mom's hands.
"Among all of our cousins, the both of us are the closest. And you know what, I want our sons to be the same."
The woman, who is garnished with big jewelries looked at Kaleid.
"You look just like grandfather, my dear nephew."
"My queen..."
"No, please when it is only us, please addressed me as we used to. Sister Ricar."
"Queen.... Bella..." Ricar finally let out a sob. Kaleid knows that his mother crying is a sign of relief.
Kaleid felt a carressed on his head that made him jump and slap away Queen Bella's hand.
"Kaleid!!! I am sorry my Queen, there is an explanation for this." Ricar sent her son a frantic gaze.
"No, no, it is fine. I must had startled him. I will listen to your story later Sister Ricar. How about you both clean up and after that let's dine together."
Bella called a maid to help the mother and son, and asked another maid with another task.
"Tell Jacob and Joseph that they need to drop whatever they are doing and dine with me in couple hours."
Then Queen Bella looked towards Kaleid again.
"Sister Ricar, our Kaleid here does not have any allergies right?"
"No, your highness. "
"Oh, come on Sister Ricar. Just call me Little Bella as you used to."
Kaleid looked up to his mother and saw an awkward smile painted on her face.
Soon after, Kaleid and his mother were shown to a magnificent chamber.
"Her Higness Bella, wants you to use this guest room. She instructed that if you want a bigger one, we will prepare it right away." A really old butler said in a monotonous tone while his body is bended forward to show respect to the two with their unkempt appearance.
Ricar became flustered.
"No! This is... this place is more than enough."
"Great to hear my lady. Is there anything you need? The maids behind me will help you to bath."
"Ah... no..." Ricar looked around and noticed Kaleid's red hair. "Can I please have a hair dye."
"A hair dye?" The butler looked confused and stared at Ricar's auburn hair and then to Kaleid's red hair.
Ricar's auburn hair is a perfect match to the Queen's auburn hair, entailing they are related.
"What color do you need, my lady?"
Ricar nervously answered.
"Just like my hair color, please."