I'll be by your side
Note: This is before he met Shirayuki, enjoy!
Zen's P.O.V:
"Mitsuhide, Kiki, Obi. I'm going training in the mountains. You can come along if you'd like but for now, you guys have some time to yourselves." Zen informed the others.
"Well, Mitsuhide, Kiki, you guys should go on a date or something. I'll take care of Zen." Obi smirked.
"What?!" Mitsuhide exclaimed.
"We're not dating." Kiki simply stated.
"Whatever you say, lovebirds. Go do as you please." Zen grinned.
"We'll leave him to you, Obi. Stay safe, Prince." Kiki replied with a calm look.
Zen and Obi laughed at Mitsuhide's red, shocked face as Kiki dragged him out of the room.
"So the mountains, Prince?" Obi said.
"Yeah . . . I've informed my brother and Shirayuki." Zen nodded.
"How long are we going? And what about lunch?" Obi asked.
"It's ultimate survival, Obi. We go there with a sword and a horse, we come out with knowledge." Zen answered and walked out.
Your P.O.V:
You woke up in a sleeping bag. You were sleeping in a cave with no demons, thank god. You sat up and looked around you. There was an amount of supplies. Some daggers, bows and arrows with blood splatters on them, an oil lamp with some oil and some berries. Further in the cave was a beautiful sword that seemed to be untouched, it must be reserved for something really important.
You decided that you were probably living alone in this wilderness. But wait, your clothes!
You looked down and saw that you were wearing some tattered shirt, a nice jacket with some pockets and cargo pants that stopped mid-calf. Inside the pockets was a magnesium rod and some matches. You were also wearing a utility belt. You looked in the pockets and saw some little pouches with drawstrings that held several plants, vials that held several liquids and some slingshots with rocks.
Luckily, you found a journal. Between the pages were guides to surviving in the wilderness. The notes seemed to be taken by you. There were hunting tips, carving tips, a list of plants dangerous, and helpful, and so much more. Even if you didn't exactly enjoy reading tiny letters, this journal was going to be essential for your survival. Besides, you've read a few survival books and it doesn't seem to be extremely hard. I mean, you've got a sword! Talk about self-defense!
The mouth of the cave was covered with a make-shift door made of rope and wood. You would probably need some kindling for some fire, and getting more rope was never too bad. Taking some daggers and some berries with you for the trip, you set out and looked for fallen sticks. It was only on that trip did you realise you keen senses, you immediately smelled something, deer, or rabbit? It moved to the left of you and with the way it moved, you determined it was a rabbit.
As much as you wanted to let it go away, a rabbit would be good for lunch. You stuffed the sticks in your cargo pants' pockets, ate the rest of the berries and dashed towards the rabbit. You moved surprisingly fast. The rabbit did not hear you as you crept up on it. Getting your daggers in position, it was like you already knew what to do without even thinking, in one swift move you pierced it in its' heart. Really hard.
It wriggled a little and you held it with your 2 shaking hands, it stopped moving and relaxed. You were still shaking when you got to your cave. Not only did you have keen senses, move really fast but you had a good sense of direction too! Then you shifted your thoughts towards the rabbit. It had been the first thing you've killed, but obviously not the first your previous self had killed.
You skinned the rabbit and decided the next thing to do would be to look for a river. You took the sticks from your pocket, put them in a tipi position, added some dried leaves that you found around you, put them at the bottom and struck a match. Soon, you had a fire going, but you didn't know for how long.
It took an hour to get the fire going and cook the rabbit going at the same time. It was midday, you decided, when you ate some cooked rabbit. After the meal, you went looking for more kindling, a river maybe and tested out your skills. You could run at a great speed, and your stamina seemed to be pretty good as well, you climbed trees very well and could jump from tree to tree. It was like playing in a jungle gym playground. Your body moved without you really thinking. You were surprised with how quiet you could stay as well.
You found a river and stopped there to rest a bit. You flipped through the journal to look for any information on drinking water. But you were too thirsty and drank straight from the river, it was clean enough anyways. In your utility belt, there was a jar and you filled that with water.
You got up and went back to the cave without any trouble. Next time, you'll simply listen for the calming running of the water.
You cleaned the rabbit fur and set it to dry over a branch. Just then, your ears picked up something, there was a noise, some hooves maybe? That came from the north? The hooves slowed down and footsteps landed on the ground. You heard rustling in the trees as well. Another person, you guessed.
Curiosity got the best of you and you moved towards the noise. From in the trees, you saw a boy with white hair, who seemed to be in his early twenties. You also saw another boy, with something on his forehead, jumping along the trees who also seemed to be in his early twenties. They had a horse with them, the boy with white hair wore expensive looking clothes, the guy in the trees wore really comfortable clothing that would be good when sneaking up on someone. You jumped to another tree and then jumped down, you ran a bit further away from them, so you could see them, but they couldn't see you.
Obi's P.O.V:
Obi heard a slight movement from in the trees a little further away from them. When he turned to look, there wasn't anyone there, he decided that it must be the wind. He hadn't heard any breathing and there shouldn't be anyone in the forests.
"So, Prince, where exactly are we going?" Obi asked.
"Well, I was planning to go to a waterfall, maybe train under there, but it seems as though we might not make it 'till late at night. So now I'm looking for a good place to rest for the night." Zen explained.
"I see." Obi replied. There was a quick blur on his right but he couldn't quite make out what it was, it was going really fast.
"Prince set up a fire when you find a place, won't you?" Obi told the prince. He set off to follow the blur.
Your P.O.V:
Prince! The guy with the white hair was a prince! That must mean the other guy is a sort of guard or something. No matter, you had to get to your cave before they go to it and claim it as their own. You heard footsteps a good few metres behind you, someone was following you, probably the guard. You searched your utility belt for something and found your slingshot, you turned around and shot a rock at him. Then you proceeded to sprint to your cave with a good pace.
You put down your findings inside, took multiple daggers and went outside the cave and to wait for the guy.
"So protecting your habitat, huh?" A voice said from in the trees. You shot a dagger in that direction and another in the spot you predicted he'd move to. He was pinned to the tree when you turned to look.
"Who are you and what is your business here?" You asked.
"Well, I'm here with the Prince of Clarines. We're training." He replied. "Seeing as though I've answered your questions, how about you answer mine? Who are you and what are you doing in the forest?" He asked.
"You didn't tell me who you are. Your name and position, please." You responded.
"I'm a friend of the Prince. My name is Obi. Now tell me yours." Obi answered.
"My name is Y/N. I live here." You stated.
"Live here? In this cave? By yourself?" Obi questioned.
"No, I live with a family of monkeys in the trees." You answered sarcastically.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah I live in this cave, if you didn't notice. You don't see anyone else here right? That must mean I live by myself." You sighed. "Have you ever heard of sarcasm?"
"Attitude. Nice. Well then. I'm not quite sure what to do with you." Obi replied. Just then, the Prince came over.
"Oh. Who are you?" The Prince asked.
"Her name is Y/N. She lives in the forest, so she says." Obi answered.
"Do you have a last name?" The Prince asked.
"I wouldn't tell you even if I did." You answered. You didn't know if you should use your real last name or fake one. You might have a different last name in this world, after all.
"Well, okay." The Prince replied, taking the matter into deep thought.
They all stood there, Obi unpinning himself from the tree. He tossed the daggers to you and you caught them with your left hand.
"If you guys don't mind, I have things to do. I need to make sure you're not going to steal anything of mine." You said.
"We won't, we're here to survive in the wilderness, stealing from you would be cheating." The Prince shook his head.
"Do I have your word?" You asked, unsure.
"Of course. Let's go Obi." The Prince nodded, looking up from his thoughts. He and Obi left.
You suddenly heard the movement of a deer and decided that you could take it down and so, you dashed towards it.
Zen's P.O.V:
"What did you tell her Obi?" Zen asked.
"Well, I told her you were the prince of Clarines. And that we're here for training. I told her I'm a friend of yours. Anyways, I think we should follow her. Y/N shouldn't be a very common name. Besides, she moves really fast and quietly, who knows what other skills she might possess, or how smart she might be?" Obi replied.
"You told her I was a Prince? Yet she still treated me normally, if anything she treated me with no respect whatsoever." Zen remarked.
"Yeah, she's got an attitude." Obi nodded.
"Well, I think we should start a fire and hunt. We're bound to cross paths somewhere." Zen decided.
"Sure. Whatever you say Prince." Obi shrugged.
Your P.O.V:
You heard the 2 boys walking in the forest from the right. You were carrying the dead deer in your arms. Unfortunately they were coming closer. The deer was quite heavy, what with it's bones and all so you couldn't do anything except let them come.
"Hi Y/N! What a coincidence seeing you here!" Obi waved.
"What do you want?" You asked, annoyed.
"You look like you need some help." The Prince said.
"I'm good, I should probably build up my strength anyways." You shook your head. They'd probably ask for some of it in exchange, you couldn't waste food here.
"I see, well perhaps you'd like to spar later on?" Zen offered.
"Spar?" You replied, a spar? You didn't want to unsheathe your sword on the likes of him.
"Yes, a spar. You know, one on one?" Zen nodded.
"Um, okay? Will you leave me alone if I win?" You asked.
"Sure. Do you have a sword?" Zen agreed.
"I don't think I'll need one." You replied in a monotone voice.
Obi let out a low whistle.
"Actually?" Zen raised a brow.
"If it makes you feel better, you can keep your sword unsheathed." You shrugged.
Obi snickered as Zen stood there, considering things. You might be acting too cocky, but it can't be that bad. You'll probably be able to tolerate these 2 guys anyways.
You reached your home base and put down the deer. You skinned it and cleaned the guts out and the organs. You also took out the bones and removed the antlers from the head. You noticed the two watching you as you worked.
"Can I help you?" You asked, staring at them.
"Um, no." The Prince said as Obi exclaimed. "Good knife work."
"Whatever" You huffed. After wiping the blood off your hand with some water. You cleaned the skin and put the meat on it. You tied it up with some twine you found in the forest, you put this at the back of your cave and rinsed your hands in some water. Then you grabbed your daggers and asked them.
"Are there any rules or something? And are you going to keep your sword unsheathed?" You asked.
"First one to hit the ground loses. And yes, I will." Prince answered.
"Okay. Let's make this interesting and say that if you unsheathe your sword, you automatically lose, if I use anything other than my body and my daggers, I automatically lose." You said and got into position. Zen was on the other side.
"Sure. Sounds fun." He grinned.
He let you attack first so you ran at him, shot a few daggers in his way, jumped over him and knocked his legs from under him.
He landed on his hands that pushed him back up, and moved towards you to attack. You dodged his attacks and 2 daggers at each shoulder and 1 to each leg. After dodging them, you were behind him and shouldered his side. He managed to stay upright and you took out you bigger daggers that weren't used for throwing. You attacked him and after a few minutes you were on the ground, with him panting above you, his sword unsheathed and your daggers pressed against them.
Obi clapped. And you relaxed, putting your daggers down.
"You fought for, like, 10 minutes." Obi smiled as Prince stood up, wiping beads of sweat on his forehead.
You were still catching your breath when Prince held out his hand.
"Good spar, I honestly didn't think we'd go at it for so long." He smiled.
"Yeah, I underestimated you Prince." You replied taking his hand.
He winced. "Don't call me that, too formal. Call me Zen."
"Uh, sure." You replied standing upright.
"This means you need more training Prince." Obi said.
"Yeah, I know! You almost got me at the start of the spar. I was really surprised." Zen laughed.
"I need new moves." You said to yourself as you took your fallen daggers.
"Perhaps, you'd like to train back at Clarines? There are a lot of weapons, and you'd make a good soldier." Zen offered.
"Train in Clarines? I don't know." You replied. You weren't quite sure what your self in this world would want. Some things seemed to be stolen perhaps, or maybe bargained with. You didn't know your relationships with people in the towns and villages.
"Well seeing as that Zen won, would you treat us with some dinner?" Obi asked.
"Fine. But we need some vegetables or something, eating just meat isn't good for you." You replied.
"So, you two start a fire and start cooking the meat with a spit. I'll go looking for some berries or edible roots." You ordered.
"Yup" Obi and Zen nodded.
Soon, it was dark out and you and the 2 guys were eating deer meat and some berries around the fire. You also found some herbs that you used to season the meat.
"So what's it like, surviving in the wilderness all by yourself? Do you have some tragic past or something?" Obi asked.
"Well, that's quite personal. But I'll tell you that it's actually quite nice in the peaceful forest." You answered.
"How about you guys? What's it like going on missions and doing stuff at the palace?" You asked.
"Well, there's a lot of paperwork. And learning about other kingdoms and the relationships we have with them are a bore. But they're important, as second prince of Clarines, it is essential for me to do what's best for the kingdom. Unfortunately, that also includes a lot of paperwork." Zen explained.
"Don't complain Prince, you need to get used to it." Obi tsked.
The three of you stared at the fire for a while. "I'm going to go for a walk okay?" Obi said and walked away, with his arms behind his head.
"Well, it's good to know that royalty isn't always happiness and rainbows. I find it ridiculous that people are dying to be queens and kings. It's not all luxury, there's serious work to do." You replied rolling your eyes.
"You don't hear that everyday. But seriously, you have no idea. Being royalty is more like a pain the butt. Not only do you have all this work to do, but it's hard to find friends. People get along with you because you're rich, they like you because you have power. No one bothers to think how I might feel or acknowledge me for who I am. They see me as Second Prince of Clarines." Zen rants.
"Second Prince of Clarines huh? Well, seeing that I don't know where Clarines is and I don't know exactly what power the Second Prince has, I could care less." You shrugged finishing your meal.
"Do you mean that really?" Zen asked looking up at you. His eyes seemed to stare through your mind, which was quite terrifying.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I? Everyone at the end of the day is still a person, that's why I don't think we should really have royalty separating the society from everyone else. I have many other problems with the world, but what can I really do? My voice can't be heard by everyone else because I'm just another lowly peasant or something." You stated.
"I agree. We're all the same and certain roles shouldn't divide us. However, I don't think I should be saying that since I'm a prince. You're not a lowly peasant you're a person who deserves to be heard since you have some pretty good opinions. Perhaps you could work for me when I become King." Zen offered.
"I-I still don't know . . ." You stammered. It really seemed like those situations where it sounds like a good offer, but then in the end he's just going to benefit himself.
"You should take the offer. You'd get paid. Besides, if you really like the forest, you can come to it any time. But please, before we get into any further conversation, I'll warn you now about the bandits who are walking on the same forest floor." Obi interjected.
"Coming from the south, around 10 of them, we've got a few minutes before they get here, since they're speed walking. The fire must've lured them here." You frowned.
Obi nodded. "They have guns and maybe bombs."
"Okay, let's pretend we didn't expect them. We just have to do things really quickly so they won't fire or set the bombs on. You know how to disable guns right?" Zen instructed. You shook your head.
"No matter, just knock the gun out of their hands and knock them out. Don't kill them, they might be on the Wanted list." Zen decided.
"Maybe you should take off your emblem so they think we're normal people camping out." You suggested. Zen nodded and took it off.
Zen's sword was on the ground, hidden a little by the log. You had daggers hidden in your pockets. You went into the cave and took out your sword. "It's a really nice sword." Obi remarked. The three of you talked about things but with caution.
But the bandits did something you didn't expect; a pair of rough big hands grabbed you. "Obey or this one dies." A voice said holding a gun to your head.
"What do you want?" Zen asked.
"Any valuables or any information regarding the palace and its' layout." The voice said.
Before you could protest Zen and Obi immediately knocked out the others, you jammed a dagger in his arm and was free. But he still had a gun. You took your sword, unsheathed it and dodged most of the bullets. Most of them. You were fending off to others, who had clubs and Zen made the person he was fighting shoot in a different direction. It went too quickly and the bullet hit your chest, presumably where your lungs were.
And of course it hurt, there was blood staining your shirt and jacket. It was a nice jacket too, your breathing was starting to get faint. You grit your teeth, and with a burst of adrenaline you knocked out the people around you and sliced the guy who had a hold of you earlier, he yelled out in pain and Obi knocked him out. Soon there were a bunch of knocked out guys surrounding your camp. And there was blood, so much blood. You felt really faint and you found it hard to breathe. You looked in your pouches for some bandages and found some cloth that you pressed that against the wound.
"I'm so sorry. If only I hadn't- I didn't mean to-" Zen's voice faltered as he saw where the wound was.
"Oh this is really bad. I'm so sorry, I'm going to get you to the palace as soon as possible." Zen said with worried eyes and took his cloak. He used it as a bandage and attempted to stop the bleeding, it wasn't working very efficiently. He took you into his arms and told Obi to take care of the bandits while he took you to the palace.
"Zen? If I die . . . well, <huff> I don't really know where my family is <huff> but tell them, it was all good <huff> for me <huff> won't you?"
He gently placed you on the horse and, it was painful, riding on that horse, but you didn't want to worry him.
The rest was a blur as you were being treated and then they took the bullet out. You didn't really want to recall those memories. You felt really faint and heard that you weren't going to make it.
When you sort of woke up, it was around 3 am. You saw Zen asleep on his arms that were on the bed.
"Zen?" You called in a weak voice, you could feel your life draining already.
He stirred. "I'm, I'm sorry Y/N. I wouldn't do anything like that on purpose, I really like you! I mean, I can tell that you don't care about me being Prince or anything, and I hope you will continue to like me for who I am. You're a really interesting person and you can fight really well. I really want you to come to Clarines with me and stay. I'll never do anything like that ever again, I'll always be by your side no matter what. I promise, I promise to never let you get hurt again." He murmured, his face strained with guilt.
He was asleep, but you knew he meant these words, tears spilled down your cheeks and you whispered; "I love you too." You took your final breath and closed your eyes cherishing the words.
I
will
always
be
by
your
side
~If people scrutinize you, just ignore them and do whatever you want to do.
Zen Wistalia from Snow White with the Red Hair