Violet skipped into the room, humming happily. She flopped onto her bed and stared up at the bottom of the loft bed over her.
Zala looked up from the book and frowned, sitting up from her bed, slouching to avoid from hitting her head on the ceiling. "What's got you all giddy?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You know that little request mission I was talking about?" Violet asked, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"Yeah..." Zala drawled questioningly.
"Well, it got accepted! He didn't think of approving it one bit but after I told him my reasons, he agreed to it! Now tomorrow, I begin my training! I know I would have to train constantly to learn everything, but if I don't learn everything, at least I won't be a complete idiot on the battlefield," Violet explained.
"Well then...I still don't think it's a good idea, but I hope to train you and teach you all about the art of stealth with you being so loud," Zala said, nodding and smirking a bit.
"Aw, you'd teach me?" Violet cooed, giggling. She paused for a moment and glared at her, "hey!" She snapped.
She sighed, looking around the room and noticed that River wasn't here. "Hey, where's River? I want to tell her my awesome news!"
Zala's eye twitched in annoyance when she had cooed at her. "She's off to the garden to help the gardeners water the flowers. She should be back soon," she said.
Just as she said that, the said water nymph walked in the door and slowed to a stop when they both looked at her. "...what?" She said, frowning in confusion, "did I do something wrong?"
"Oh, no, you're not! I'm just glad you're here so you can hear my good news!" Violet chirped, bouncing up and down in joy. "My mission to go to the neighboring kingdom! Isn't that great?"
River's blue eyes widened, "what!" She exclaimed, "you're kidding, right? The king would never approve!"
Zala snickered, "I figured that her reaction would be that..." She muttered under her breath.
Violet ignored Zala, "actually, he did approve of it. He is sending a map of the castle later on today and I'm begin my training tomorrow at dawn," she explained.
River sighed in exasperation, "what is King Shoko thinking; sending a unexperienced human out into the world?"
"At least I'm being trained constantly!" Violet retorted.
"Yeah, but that means nothing! It takes weeks, even years!" River argued.
"You told me that already yesterday..."
River huffed and turned away from her, angry. "Whatever... I'm going to the garden again to clear my head; maybe even to the closet lake," she said as she walked towards the door and out.
Violet watched her go and looked at Zala, who seemed to have been watching them the entire time. "She kinda acted like you just now."
"Oh, shut up."
The next morning, it was training day for Victoria. She woke up early, around five in the morning. After she finished getting ready an hour later, she got a bottle, or a leather canteen to be specific, and headed out the door. She had noticed they both River and Zala were gone when she had woke up; maybe they had went to the training rooms before her?
She went through corridors, looking down and using the map she was given yesterday. She stopped when she reached the destination of the stairs that led up to the third level and walked up the stairway.
Once she reached the top, she immediately fell on her butt, giving a small huff from the sudden impact. She rubbed her head and looked up to find out that she had bumped into the boy from yesterday. "Oh hi! Are you okay? Sorry, that I bumped into you!" She exclaimed, getting up and holding out her hand to help him up.
The male dark angel chuckled and stood, not using her hand to help himself to get up. "It's fine; I probably didn't see you in front of me, so don't blame yourself," he smiled, "I just forgot my canteen in my bedroom before my practice."
Violet blinked and looked at the said canteen that was attached to his belt. "Um...isn't that it, right there?" She asked, pointing to it.
Ciel looked at where she was pointing at and laughed, "oh, there it is!" He said, grabbing and shaking it a bit, seeing that it was still full with water. "I guess it's one of those times where you forget where you put it at or forget that you got it, when really after you look for it, it was right in front of you or in an obvious place the whole time."
Violet giggled. "Ah, those times are fun yet annoying..."
"Aren't they always annoying?" He asked, letting out a small laugh again. He turned and started walking back to where his going for practice. "Now, what are you doing up here, human?
Violet frowned slightly and followed him, catching up to walk beside him. "I'm Violet, not 'human'," she muttered, "assuming I didn't introduce myself yesterday... You didn't hear about me getting approved by the king about going over to this 'evil king's' land? I thought it would be pretty big rumor."
"Oh yeah, that..." Ciel muttered, frowning, "that's a dangerous mission; but at least you'll be protected by warriors and knights. Also, you'll be constantly training up here, with only a few breaks here and there."
"Yeah, but at least this mess will be figured out and I just hope it'll end happily ever after."
"What kind of a saying is that?"
"'Happily ever after'? That's what they say at the end of kids' fairytale stories."
"The ones where the princess end up getting married with a prince or knight? Okay, I get what you're saying now. Those books were so fun to read..."
"I know!" Violet chirped, grinning. She never thought she'd get along with him; especially since Ciel is Zala's brother, now that she thought about it. "So, what are you going to practice up here?" She asked.
"Just some flight; you know, circling and fighting in the air. Stuff like that," Ciel said, looking down at her with a smile. He stopped and looked at the wooden door to his right. "Here is my destination. See you later," he said, waving towards here and slowly back away to the door.
"Wait! Do you think I can watch you? It'd be interesting to see," Violet said.
Ciel thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Perhaps later? You have to get to training right now and I don't think your instructors would be very happy with you being late and skipping out on your sessions," He chuckled.
Violet huffed, pouting a bit angrily, "alright...see you later," she said, waving a goodbye towards him and heading off to her first session.
Ciel watched her go, smiling and shook his head. "Well, she's an interesting one," he murmured before heading into the practice room.
Violet walked into her training room and looked around for her training instructer. She noticed Zala standing in the middle of the room, tapping her foot and waiting impatiently. She walked up to her and tilted her head to the side in confusion. "So...you're my training instructor today?" She asked.
Zala gave her a curt nod. "Yes. Tomorrow, River will be teaching you about magic, if you can learn it. She would determined if you can learn it or not at your training session," She said, "right now, we will be focusing on combat. First, choose your weapon; long ranged, melee, et cetera." She pointed over to the long wall of weapons.
Violet bit her lip, struggling with her choice. She went up to the wall and picked up a few weapons, testing how heavy they were and to see if she could use them.
A few minutes later, she had chosen a bow and arrows, as well as silver duel daggers as backup; or in case if she was in a close combat battle. She went up to Zala, armed with the said weapons.
Zala nodded, "alright, so both melee and long ranged. Good choice on that; it's good to have a backup weapon for close combat if you have a long ranged weapon. First, we shall practice on targeting and shooting at your enemies. Let's move to the target room," she said, leading Violet to the target room.
Once they were standing in front of a target, Zala stood beside Violet and showed her how to load the bow with an arrow. "Alright, once I step back to the safety line, I want you to aim at the target as best as you can," she said, already backing away to the safety area. "FIRE!" She yelled.
Violet jumped a bit from the yell and immediately shot, losing her grip of the arrow. She looked away, worried where the arrow where go off to.
"...Woah."
Violet opened one eye slowly and fearfully looked to see why Zala sounded so surprise.
Immediately, she knew why.
The arrow had landed in the yellow zone, though close to the green zone. What made even more surprising was that the arrow seemed to have pierced the target deeply.
Violet's jaw dropped, too shocked to say anything.
Zala went over to the arrow and examined it. She grabbed the base of it and yanked at it, trying to get it out. From a few minutes of trying, she gave up with an annoyed huff and went out of the room with Violet watching her in curiosity.
She soon came back with a pale guy with a fang poking out from the side of his mouth.
'Hm...he must be a vampire,' Violet thought as she continued watching them.
The pale guy went up to the target and held it still before grasping the arrow, yanking it out easily. He frowned, examining it. "Hm...the arrow seemed to have pierced into it by seven inches. If I hadn't known better and if I wasn't able to smell her strange scent, I'd say she is part elf," he commented, giving the arrow back to Zala.
She nodded, taking it and giving the arrow back to Violet, who took it and loaded it again, making sure the arrow was pointing down to avoid from shooting anybody. "I'd say so too; it is highly unlikely and very extraordinary for someone simple like her," she said, going to the safety line again. "Anyways, thanks for the help, Jared."
The said vampire gave a nod and a smile before leaving to let them go back to their training.
As time flew by, it was time for dinner.
It was a tough day of training for Violet and she sat down at the dining table, sighing and looking down at the roast chicken with carrots and peas as the side. This time her drink was water, but I guess that was expected since she had been training nonstop. She began eating and looked up to see everyone she had met; Zala, River, and Ciel and they were all talking about how their day was.
Violet sighed and looked down, continuing on her food. Just then, Ciel had looked over at her with a wide grin. "I heard you practically mastered long range weapons today! You're like an elf!" He exclaimed, raising his hand up for a high-five.
Violet laughed and high-fived him back. "I guess; I never thought I would be this good, especially for my first time at doing stuff like this."
River looked at her with wide eyes. "Woah, you master the long ranged weapons? I couldn't even master that in a week!" She said, shocked by that, "are you sure you're human?"
Zala chuckled, joining in on the conversation. "That's what I thought! She did pretty well," she said, going quiet and listening in to their conversation.
Violet looked at Zala when she spoke and back at River. She laughed again, "yes, I'm pretty sure I am perfectly human. If not...then I need to see some doctor," she joked at the last bit of her sentence.
"Woah, Zala is actually laughing; that's a first," River giggled, getting a threatening light smack to the head by Zala. She whined and rubbed her head, frowning and glaring at the female dark angel. She looked at Violet again, "Well, congratulations; your training is actually coming along quicker and better than I, or anybody of that fact, expected," she said before she retreated back to her conversation to a fellow nymph that was sitting beside her.
Violet smiled, nodding before looking at Ciel. "So, how was your day?" She asked.
Ciel looked up and grinned, finishing on chewing and swallowing a piece of chicken before speaking. "Pretty good; I sometimes saw you in the hallway when I went to go to my other practices. Sadly, you didn't see me," he said, giving her a little pout of sadness at the end.
"Aw, I'm sorry for not noticing you, big baby," Violet teased, giggling.
"I know! So mean..." He teased right back.
Violet gave another giggle. "Now, I remember a promise earlier on how you were gonna show me your little flight practice? I'm pretty eager to watch and see how it works," she said, practically bouncing in her seat, excited.
Ciel chuckled, "alright, alright. Luckily I'm finished eating and it seems you are too, so let's go," he said as he got up, as well as Violet.
When they got to the large double-doors and exited the dining hall, Ciel took her hand and started running, leading her upstairs to the flight training room.
They stood in front of the door and Ciel turned to her. "Now, close your eyes! The room must be a surprise!" He said.
Violet laughed, "okay, I'll close them till you tell me to open them," she said, closing her eyes and putting her hands over them. She felt a hand on her back that was leading her into the room as she heard a small creak of a door opening. She was stopped and sat on a bench.
Ciel moved her hands away from her eyes to check if they were still closed; just as he thought, they were. He smiled and back away till he stood in the middle of the 50 ft high room and snapped out a pair of black feathery wings. He gave them a few flaps before taking off into the air. "You can open your eyes now!" He called out from above.
Violet opened her eyes and looked around to see him in flight. She gasped at the sight in awe and giggled. "That looks amazing! That is so cool!" She called up.
"What? I can't hear you with this high altitude!" He teased, going through hoops hung from the ceiling, doing loops, and pretending he was walking in midair.
Violet rolled her hazel eyes. "You silly, I know you can hear me!" She said.
Ciel gave her an evil grin before swooping down, picking her up by grabbing her by the waist and flying up to near the cieling.
Violet shrieked and clung to him by the shoulders. "You jerk! You could have told me you were going to do that!" She said, although laughing, enjoying the amazing feeling of being in flight, even though she was not the one flying.
Ciel chuckled, "yes, but you would have been scared and say no by the fact that I could just, oh, I don't know, drop you like this?" He said, letting her go.
Violet started shrieking and gasped, panting from the adrenaline when the male swoop down and caught her in his arms. He laughed, "having a fun time there?" He teased, moving his head back before she could slap him harshly.
"Now, you're even more of a jerk!" She snapped, truly mad now, "because that sure as heck wasn't funny, nor was it nice!"
Ciel immediately frowned and winced when she snapped at him, stopping and just floating in the air. He slowly descended to the ground and set her down. "Sorry..." He whispered, looking down shamefully.
Violet stared at him before frowning and sighing. She patted his upper arm, no longer mad, as she wasn't able to stay mad at him for long. "You're lucky that your my friend. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me; at least, not on purpose," she said, smiling a bit and moving his head so he was looking at her.
Ciel stared at her with a surprised look before he smiled happily when she forgave him, his wings fluttering a bit from his happiness. "You forgive me?"
Violet laughed, "of course! What, you'd think I'd stay mad at someone like you? Now, pick me up and fly again."
Ciel bounced up and down giddily with a wide, ear-to-ear grin before scooping her up and taking off to the little obstacle course.
Violet giggled and held onto him, enjoying the flight she was given.
It was midnight when Ciel led Violet back to her room. Violet was practically skipping in her step in glee while Ciel was watching her with a smile from behind.
They stopped in front of her room and exchanged goodbyes. Once they agreed they had a fun time together, they waved goodbye and left in their separate ways.
When Ciel was out of sight, she headed into her room and closed the door. She turned around to see that Zala and River were standing right in front of her with annoyed expression. "Um...what'd I do...?"
"What were you doing out with Ciel?" Zala asked suspiciously with narrowed eyes and her arms folded across her chest.
"He was showing me his flight practice. He also took me flying. It was pretty fun!" Violet said, grinning and sitting on her bed.
"Yes, but you should have been back two hours ago for sleep; you have training in six hours!" River countered.
Violet sighed, "I know, I know; but we both lost track of time! It was too much fun! If you want me to sleep, then let me sleep! I know what I have done, and possibly him as well! I have no regrets!" She said, laying down and pulling the covers over her head.
Zala sighed, knowing that what she had said was true. "Alright...goodnight," she said as she climbed into her bunk and went to sleep.
River looked at Violet for a few moments, thinking. She shook her head before going to bed as well.