Hey Guys,
Sorry this one might be long. Please VOTE VOTE VOTE! or at least a COMMENT. Sorry if you feel that there is too much details but trust me it will all fall into place. This chapter might clarify a few things. Please vote and leave comments. Should I do Victor's POV? Any of the other sisters' POV? Please let me know.
Thanks =)
Chapter 3: The Deal
"She's coming to" a soft voice spoke, right next to me. I heard footsteps coming closer to me.
"Please don't crowd around her, she's already overwhelmed as it is. Step away now." It was Gabriella, the one who barely spoke. She was the oldest, yet she never ever raised her voice or said anything. She would only speak when it was her last alternative. Boy, she must be desperate to keep everyone away. Wait, where was I? I turned my head slightly over to where I heard her voice and slowly opened my eyes. Phew, it was my room. I looked over to the beautiful blue walls that were filled with intricate drawings of peacocks and other beautiful birds. I started scanning around my room, taking in all the details slowly. My windows were all moon shaped, where one could sit on the C shaped curve that was made by with wall and gaze out to the sky. My ceiling had this beautiful painting of the night sky blending into sunrise on it. In the center was a big sun and moon merged into each other, resembling completion. I remembered the day when father had first asked me what I wanted to have painted in my room. I knew exactly what I had wanted, the two most beautiful parts of the day, sunrise and nightfall. I had never wanted the sun and the moon merged together, but my father had ordered the artist to paint it in that manner regardless, because he said it had something to do with my future. I had just shrugged my shoulders and let it be. It didn't bother me, because it was beautiful and I liked that aspect of the sun and the moon. I started looking around to see who was present in my room at this point. Giselle and Gwen had tears in their eyes, while a small wiggly smile was tugging in the corner of their lips. Gabriella placed her hand on my forehead and I looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back. I saw Gwendolyn and Guinevere sitting on my left side while Gia was standing next to Gabriella. All of them looked at me with such concern and care in their eyes. I winked at Gia who broke from her trance and smiled back. I turned and stuck out my tongue to Gwendolyn and Guinevere, who smiled back to me as well. Now it occurred to me, why all of these idiots were worried. It was the first time in my life that I had ever fainted like this in front of them. They had never seen me fall or cry or break down before. It must have been a shock for them, because it was a big shock for me. I was always strong in front of their eyes, and inspired them to work harder. They never let me feel any different, and revered me as their idol when it came to archery. Hmm, I wish this had been a battle of archery. I would have made bull's eye without even moving a muscle, let alone facing such defeat.
Where did father go? And where was mother? I wanted to speak to them about something. I knew I had mother under my wing all the time, if I could get father to listen to me then it would be perfect. I will ask for a rematch. Something felt wrong during this match, and I know that it was probably that idiotic vampire doing stupid tricks with his power. No fair! This was only a match of physical prowess, not magical tricks that came along with the package. I sat up all of a sudden, breaking all of my sisters out of the trance.
Giselle suddenly spoke, "Don't move Vive, your wounds will open up again." I turned to look at her and asked, "What wounds? What are you talking about Gis?" Gia turned around and pulled a mirror out of my dresser, She showed me my reflection in it. Damn. I had minor cuts all over my body. Somebody had taken my top off, leaving only the inner wear that we wear to cover my chest. There was a huge gash on my stomach that was covered with a large strip of gauze. My left hand was wrapped in a new piece of gauze, while both of my legs had wraps all tied around my ankle. Wow, I must have been so preoccupied in kicking that loser's ass that I didn't even bother to look where I got hurt. Gwendolyn put two pillows up behind me, so I could sit up.
Gabriella turned and spoke, "Congratulations Vive, you fought well."
"What do you mean I fought well, I lost!" I shrieked at her.
"You didn't, you fought and gave it your best, and that's what winners do." She chuckled softly.
" I still got beat," I pouted. " I demand for a rematch!"
All of my sisters gasped and then burst out to laughter. What was so funny? Why were they so happy about my loss? "what's so funny?" I screamed.
"You-want---a---rematch?" Gwen choked out. She was still laughing. I took a small pillow that was lying next to me and threw it at her. She caught it and stopped laughing to wipe a small tear that escaped her eye. "Did you know what Victor said? He said that he had never fought a warrior as ferocious as you, and if given a second chance, he would gladly put his weapons down and surrender, because you definitely kicked his ass."
"But that still doesn't change the fact that I lost. And whoa, if he said that, then I'll just ask him to a rematch, then he can surrender, and then I can claim victory, and he can get his ass outta here so I can live my life in peace." I quickly rattled out.
"I'm afraid you cannot do that my dear." I turned to see who it was. Father was walking into the room with mother standing at the doorstep. Hmm, how typical, here to lecture me again. I looked at mother, who was still crying silently. Oh, now she's going to use her emotional blackmail against me, lovely, but it's not going to work. And you would think that they would learn their lesson not to mess with me. Father should know, because as far as the G7 goes, I have highest record out of us sisters in changing 98 laws into my favor. One more won't kill.
"You see," he continued, "This law is not something that is just a part of our Kingdom, it is a law that is universal. Every Kingdom follows this law, even the Kingdom of Light. We, as the Kingdom of Water have had princesses undergo this ceremony for so many generations. This is how I found your mother as well." Whoa, did he just say that he had to defeat all these warriors and fight against mom and then win her over. What?
"How....did that happen?" I turned to mother, "Mom, you were capable of kicking ass during your days of youth?" My mother turned beet red while my father gave me a stern look with his dark eyes, signaling I had gone to far with my language. I chuckled and turned my attention to my father.
" Look, I don't care what others did, I don't care what you did. I am not going to allow a stupid law to decide how my life should be. I told you in this in the first place, that I would not participate in this stupid ceremony of yours. It's not that I am afraid to fight, it's just that I do not want to throw my life over to some blood thirsty freak." I turned around to look outside the window.
My father came and sat down next to me. I felt his hand on top of my hand and turned to look at him. He had tears in his eyes. This is the first time I had ever seen father cry after grandfather's death. He had always been so brave and calm. He had never shown an ounce of unhappiness and always smiled for all of us. Even when I did mischievous things and got into trouble, he would still smile at me at the end of the day.
"My dear, this is not as easy as it seems. We cannot call off your marriage, because if we do, then our purpose as a Kingdom to exist will deteriorate. Your marriage to Victor will create a pact between our Kingdoms, from which another decree will be established, that will prevent vampires from harming innocent humans who live within our boundaries, and beyond our boundaries in the Kingdoms of Wind and Earth. With your marriage, we are ensuring the safety of our kingdom, and the kingdoms that live under our control." With this, he wiped away his tears and looked at me with pleading eyes. Why me? Why were we resorting to stupid alternatives when we all had the capacity to fight? Who cared about the Kingdom of Wind, it was filled with moronic werewolves who had all lost their minds. Yeah they were a threat to our kingdom, but only those who had lost it due to age. The rest of them were fine, they could protect themselves. And the Kingdom of Earth was filled with intelligent human beings who were capable of creating machinery that could easily ward of these vampires.
"Why can't we just call war and kill all of them?"
"Because that would create disruption in our world, and we would be faced with the danger of losing balance. It would result in chaos and the world would be engulfed in fire. Each kingdom controls their element and brings balance to the world. Plus it's the King of Vampires, Victor I who wants to have peace. We have been in war with the Kingdom of fire for over 3 centuries, and it has done us no good. We have no right to sacrifice our people over our stubbornness, and we must always think of bringing good to our people, even if it is at the cost of our own life. What you are doing may be a big sacrifice for you, but for the sake of our Kingdom, it is considered nothing."
I was fed up with this. It was too much for me to handle. I slowly got up and walked out of my room. I walked towards the end of the hall and opened the door. The door led out to a beautiful backyard with a waterfall pool and training ground. I was in no position to go fight off and train, so I sat down at the bank of the pool and soaked my feet in there. A sense of calmness prevailed me as the cool water touched my feet. I felt relaxed and closed my eyes. Images of me playing with my sisters, training, having picnics and crazy dance nights passed through my head. It was as if I was re-living those moments again. A tear escaped my eye and fell straight into the pool. I saw my reflection ripple as the drop of tear hit the surface of water. Why was I crying? I never cried? Nothing ever bothered me. I was always strong and never let my tears get the best of me. What was this that was happening to me? I heard footsteps behind me and quickly wiped my tears away. The footsteps stopped right behind me.
"May I please join you?" I turned to see Victor standing behind me. He had changed from his black fighting outfit to casual black pants and cream-colored button down shirt. I looked up at him and grimaced. He chuckled again and sat down next to me. "I take that as a yes." Who did he think he was?
"NO, it's a NO. I don't want you anywhere near me. I don't care if we're going to get married. You need to stay away from me. I hate your guts, and if I find you anywhere near me again, I will not hesitate to kill you." I rolled my eyes and looked in the other direction.
He smiled and looked at me again. "You know, I could have killed you easily in a fraction of second if I had wanted to, but I only played along, holding back on more than half of my strength, to see your skills. I have to admit it, if I was a human, then I would definitely admit defeat in front a ferocious fighter such as yourself."
"Asshole, bring it on. I will kick your ass again and again if I have to. Don't you get it, I DON'T LIKE YOU AT ALL." I gave him the ugliest glare I could and looked straight into his eyes.
He started laughing and continued, "Actually, I think I would like that, a rematch with you and me, all over again. You know what I loved the most. The part when you got on top of me and pinned me down. Thought you had me didn't you? Haha, not that I didn't enjoy the feeling, but it tells me that you like being in control. Let me tell you something. I like being in control as well. Maybe we could switch back and forth sometime?"
I could feel my blood boiling inside of me. My hands gripped all the grass around me and pulled it out. I took my feet out of the water and stood up.
"Fuck off." With that, I walked away and went inside my room. I locked the door and threw myself on my bed. Life wasn't fair, even when someone like me constantly fought to even the odds. I watched the sunset on the horizon, and slowly drifted off into sleep.