A/N: Fast updates are available on Wattpad! and you can get access to what the characters look like there!
Having illegitimate children in RHEA is considered to be extremely immoral
_______CHAPTER TWENTY TWO_______
HATHOR
~
"Mom, did I get a vasectomy?!!" the bluette dashed in the study of his mother, Eleven Yugen "No...? Why are you asking if you got a vasectomy?" she looked at her youngest child utterly confused with the sudden question regarding what makes him, HIM. "Are you okay?" the matriarch of the Yugen family added "Where's Four and Iroh?" but the bluette kinou ignored her question and demanded the current location of his two older siblings "Your older brother left earlier for his work," Eleven gave her son one last scrutinizing look before continuing on what she was previously doing "And I think your elder sister is out taking a walk with her dog--don't leave the door open!" but before she could finish the bluette dashed out immediately without another word.
~
Essential stuff has been packed as Hibiki and Sting planned to temporarily leave Lireo along with Fuzuki to visit the deceased, the next day after the brunch that Queen Minea has held to happen today rest to say every staff working under the vicinity of the royal palace's kitchen was doing their best to cook the best viaticums for their beloved monarch and her guests. The sequence of them asking for much-needed permission for this sort of little vacation they will take concluded this with Milady yesterday, "Hey Milady! so I was wondering if we could leave?" Hibiki busted in the door not even greeting nor knocking first upon entry, Sting had to be the one to close the doors "Leave?" Milady questioned not looking up from what she was doing "Yeah," the orangette acknowledged without any sort of context and it left Milady confused upon why would her two most valuable assets leave with no reason at all.
"Why would I allow you to leave? you two are the most valuable--" Milady was almost annoyed but her right hand intervened to cut her words short "Oh! no, no, not that kind of leave" Hibiki sassily waved his hand at Milady as he took a seat in front of Milady's right with Sting on the left. Hibiki continued his words in a pleading manner clasping his hands together upon kindly asking Milady to permit them, even if there was a good amount of distance between them Milady could feel as if the orangette had his face close to her "--I mean we and by we, I meant Sting and me. Can we please leave Lireo for a short while in the following day after Queen Minea's brunch to visit Cana, Arcade, and my dearest mama?" upon hearing that the two kinou's are going to be visiting one of the Rhiannon's that genuinely called Milady a true comrade, she stopped from her writing to look up at the two "Sure...why not." she set down the pen she is using.
To pay attention to what more they could say about this trip they planned to take "Yiiiieeee! Thanks, Milady you're the best!" Hibiki rejoiced like a kid who's been given a treat by his parents for being good at accomplishing something "Sure...?" Milady's word sounded credulous in a way but mostly with a hint of a question in it "Oh, and well be taking Fuzuki along with us too so she can get to know Cana and Arcade." Milady didn't find anything wrong with that hence it was a good connotation for Fuzuki to learn before she passes away just like Panacea had said previously to the blonde kinou of Xeris. Said blonde scanned his eyes around the library seeing no sign of Ethan anywhere and it made him ponder upon where could the little ravenette monster possibly be at around this hour aside from lingering around Milady.
"Just remember to take extreme precaution when you step outside the borders of Lireo, my father's lackeys are somewhat lurking around the perimeter of each tribe's borders for a few days now, we'll all except for Helium and Zoldanga." Raios has been trying to keep tabs on Milady's current situation and she did the same, the difference between them is that Milady doesn't need to send anyone to do the work and she succeeded in doing what he had failed to accomplish. According to how he raised Milady failure isn't an option, and those were some of the things that made Queen Evergreen worry to some extent as she was kind of expecting their firstborn child to be whinny about how she failed to do something her tyrant father wanted but much to the surprise of Zoldanga's monarch it was the opposite "Yup we sure will Milady!" Hibiki assured like there's no tomorrow, Milady intertwined her fingers together upfront whilst he spouted those words.
"Sting?" Milady turned her attention to the blonde who has been quiet since they arrived at the library mere minutes ago "Hibiki already covered everything." To which Sting just shrugged his shoulders upon responding to Milady's inquiry in case he had a spout of words too regarding their little trip "So anything you want in particular to give to Cana and Arcade?" Hibiki read through Milady's scape like an open book upon taking notice that she was kind of disheveledly taken aback by the mention of Arcana Diaz into the frame of things, Sting darted his eyes between Milady and Hibiki curious as to what Milady will say "I'll have Odette give it to you tomorrow." was all Milady had to say, she wanted to speak out the piece but figured that it'd be much better to write it down and have Hibiki read the text there at the blonde amazons resting place.
"Aww and here I thought you were going to say that you feel bad for not answering Arcade back then, he was a good candidate though--No offense Sting." the orangette teased and gave word not breaching Sting's personal feelings, "None taken." back when Sting first heard/known about the little friendly competition Zero and Arcade had over Milady he almost laughed his ass out from how predictable his gorgeous looking nephew was as Sting kind of had a feeling beforehand during their youth that Arcade did have the hots for Milady but threw aside the taste testing he wanted to pull hence she was already dating Sting during the time. "He's in the middle of okay, the flamboyance he proudly displays is good, but I'm not interested." Milady was almost bedded by the gorgeous blonde but she dodge that bullet by manipulating the time around him "Cause you wanted Zero?~" notice how he teasingly said the word want instead of like or preferred? Hence Milady wanted the bluette heir of Lireo in her life--any way continuing on.
"Exactly." Milady verified, hence as attractive looking Arcade is, his way of doing things is kind of off-setting to Milady. Hence some members of the Diaz family are quite risque when it comes to terms of romantic affection, those family members are notably consisting of Arryn Diaz, Aquarius, and Arcade. Arryn Diaz is one hell of a perpetrator of this theme Arcade and Aquarius managed to somehow instill in themselves as they age throughout the years of their individual life spans, as Arryn's logic when it comes to finding the right person to be in matrimony with is that...he must first have a taste of every food that is on the menu and once he does just that, he will finally be able to choose which one is the best out of it all. By the way, some context of how Arryn did that is, he went on dates with the amazons he found interesting and asked later on if he could possibly kiss them via lips to know what kind of flavor they were.
A kind of? interesting take? but Yugen, oh Yugen, he definitely just had to be mentioned or else this would not be complete. Everybody in RHEA practically loathed Zero's father for using that exact take for the wrong rationale of his own selfish motives--carnal motives! in fact, Yugen almost got kicked out of our home planet from all the wrongs he's committed against the female Rhiannon's from when he was only studying at Ephedia. "And wait? okay? OKAY? Milady come on!" Hibiki fretted like he's encountering a first-world problem that needs an immediate solution "Arcade was bloody gorgeous! I can't believe you! ughuhuhuh," Hibiki fake cried as if he was the greatest actor of all time RHEA has ever seen "Is he actually of Aulorian descent?" the blonde commented whilst giggling "...Yes." Milady had to roll her eyes from the orangette's silliness before answering Sting's commentary with a sigh.
"MILADY!?!?!" Hibiki crawled over the side of Milady pulling on her garments dramatically "What?!" she annoyingly half yelled at him, to which Sting found hilarious beyond eternal repose as he has never seen Milady this laid back for years and it's kind of nice to see her act like as if Arcana was somewhat present in today's time "He was sexy! admit it!" Hibiki begged on his knees as he held both of Milady's arms shaking them rigidly, the sapphire earrings Zero bought for her yesterday shook a bit also "Are you--how did we even get to this point? how?" Milady turned her attention to the blonde to complain nonchalantly about her words but it only came out similarly to how Ignatius talked when she was being annoyed by the little ravenette monster "Hehehe by the gods," Sting only chuckled as Hibiki continued to playfully antagonize Milady about Arcade's of so glorious beauty.
~
"Why do I..." she sniffs her skin upon sitting up on the bed "...smell like weed?" then she realized "By the gods." Princess began to touch around her body to make sure that her undergarments were still on and it was but her own garments from yesterday were completely missing from her person--and she was wearing some stranger's oversized gray shirt. Looking around the room she spotted things that certainly belonged to a stranger and this was putting her state of scape in a high alert of why and how did she even manage to get here, the sheets began to move making Princess's eyes grow wide when the person sleeping next to her peaked their head over to see what the commotion was about "Oh you're awake, great." it was Cullen. Princess instinctively grabbed the pillow behind her slapped the still drowsy kinou with it "The hell is your problem?!" his beauty rest was disrupted by the sudden hit on his back.
"Why am I here? I don't remember agreeing to share the same quarters with you!" Princess irritatedly asked him the million cyhea of a question. "You drank too much coconut palm for your own good last night and passed out--"Cullen began to explain the details but Princess angrily slapped him with the pillow again but this time around it's straight to his gorgeous face "OWW! What the fuck was that for?!" Princess was heavily bothered by the fact that she is wearing his shirt but taking it off at the moment isn't heavily ideal, someone might barge in and mistake the situation for what it is "That's for not taking me to my own designated quarter's pervert!" she continued the onslaught pillow slaps on the raven-haired kinou without mercy.
"Pervert? excuse me? it's your fault in the first place!" Cullen grabbed the pillow hence Princess was about to whack him with it again "Me?! why me?" the two of them began to pull on it like a tug of war was being insinuated "I did bring you back to your designated quarters but you refused to let go of my freaking arm and annoying clung like a gecko demanding that I'd stay with you." Princess began to used her talents to scan the passed time--and all that Cullen was spouting right now was all accurately true "That's not true!" Princess defended herself from the factful accusation Cullen threw at her "Then ask your ball? orb thing!" he grabbed the blankets and settled himself back to HIS bed, annoyed by my Princess's loud voice "Her name is Hathor, asshole!" she slapped him with the pillow again.
~
Continuing to the next day, said brunch was held in the palace glasshouse for the guests and host herself to get a feel of what RHEA's third tribe looked like during springtime's sunshine peek. The whole concept of it was all credited to none other than Queen Minea's handmaiden, Irina Lock. Only a selected few from the two elite families were invited for today's festivities and those were the Diaz's and Yugen's as Queen Minea wanted everything to be quaint, Sting also has long ago informed his relatives of Fuzuki's existence with Milady's permission of course and...how the raven-haired young girl came to be, they were furious at first hence the blonde kinou committed a viable sin against our homeworlds litigation but said disappointment did vanish over the months hence there was nothing they could possibly do about it anyway as it was already done, so they just opted to show love and care to the little fragile ravenette girl instead. The Diaz's are heavily scared of divine retribution.
Virgo sat a great amount of distance away from Milady's designated seat to avoid having to deal with their sibling drama, Kalil was offered a job here in the palace and today he's standing behind the buffet table, so Virgo was left to hang around her grandmother to avoid boredom as she doesn't really know the two elite families that were invited all that much and she has no future plans to socialize with them unless she has no choice but to, just by simply observing Four Quatro Yugen and Venus Kallista Diaz converse had the pinkenette princess frown. Ignatius was currently waiting out the palace gates of the royal palace for Kaito--who almost got halted halted by the palace guards if not for the brunch invite he showed them, Nox had to entertain some of their guests because obviously, the pale-haired monarch cannot be at all places at once, Ethan was busy hanging around the buffet table to see what will his options be later on, while both Milady and Zero conversed with his cousin Uno Yugen. Moments later the redhead alcoholic arrived with her lover and he couldn't find the right words to speak when he is met by their crown prince in person for the first in all his life.
"So you're Ignatius's new boyfriend? It's nice to finally meet you, Kaito Yew if I'm not mistaken right?" Zero offered out his hand to shake in which case the silvered-haired kinou took blinking twice to make sure he wasn't dreaming as of the moment the firm grip of the bluette royal blood verified that reality check "Whoa! Yes!--I mean hi! Sir--Your Highness Sir, His highness Edurne, Ze, Zero! It's an honor to meet you too Sir!" Kaito shook Zero's hand like there is no tomorrow "Is he okay?" Ethan chimed in whilst he floated mid-air, a small plate of a sliced strawberry cake was being chewed in his mouth "No, no he's not." Milady had an arm crossed on her chest whilst the other was propped and nonchalantly watched Kaito fanboy over her beloved spouse.
"Is Zero that incredibly hot?" Ethan pondered as he took a spoon full of cake "What...?!" Ignatius is half confused and kind of disgusted why would the little ravenette monster say such shameless labels in public it's a good thing none of the elites heard him or else some might raise a few eyebrows. "Uhoh--Milady, Milady," Ethan vigorously grabbed his mentor by her right shoulder blade shaking it to get her attention hence Sting has arrived with Fuzuki being carried in his arms, Milady turned her head to where Ethan was pointing at--but when she did look over hers and Fuzuki's eyes meet leaving the preteen girl to say this "Mama!" Fuzuki's voice echoed within the glasshouse as she waved at Milady as a greeting, Ethan could swear he saw Milady turn pale as if she's seen a ghost for a millisecond straight, those present turned their attention to the high pitched voice of what they assume is a child.
Milady did not hesitate to lift up her talents around every nook and cranny their guests could think of escaping to "Is she going to kill us?" Kaito whispered as he hid behind Ignatius from shaking in fear of seeing someone's blood pour out like fine wine "No," Zero was the one who answered which made Kaito slightly feel better but not there yet to be fully better, Virgo inched closer to Panacea just incase as she knows when to underestimate her elder sister and when not to. "Did that girl just call you her mother?" Uno was the first one to break the silence as he spoke for everyone who is curious to know the facts but before any more of that could be escalated, Milady reversed time so it doesn't happen again... no one living outside the royal palace of Lireo shall know until Milady decides so.
Sting patiently watched as Suha finished combing the raven wavy hair of his daughter "Fuzuki," he grabbed a chair and placed it on her right "Yeah Papa?" Suha distanced herself a bit as Sting shot her a look hence he was going to tell Fuzuki a bit of the truth "I don't want to say this but..." the hesitation was heavily evident in his features as Fuzuki stared back at him waiting with a head tilt accompanying it "...sweetie could you not address Milady as your mother anymore?" he wanted to stab himself for even saying that hence he feels like there was no ounce of right in him to tell that to her--more or less command her to do it. Milady was Fuzuki's biological female parent no matter what angle you look at it, denial of it will only make it more obvious beyond repose "Papa why are you calling Mama like everyone else's?" Fuzuki was unsure of how she was supposed to feel at the moment but she knows that she doesn't like it.
Upon hearing those come out of Fuzuki's lips the blonde kinou was reminded of how he used to call Milady moronic, by quote on quote saying "Out of all things, I hate Rhiannon's that have mental range of a teaspoon like you." to Milady when she first joined their team and it makes him feel worse about himself "Zuzu, your mother and I are not married to each other...that bas--blue-haired kinou, Zero, is the one she is married to." Sting had to pull on the restraints from calling Zero any explicit/rude nicknames in front of his daughter, he wants her to instill the best morals even if it is only for a short period of time "Why isn't she married to you, Papa?" Fuzuki asked on the verge of crying. "Milady doesn't love me, sweetie, she never did." now that he's the one saying it--the pain of rejection hit him like a bus "Then...why did you two even have me?" heavy tears that are similar to Xeris's waters poured out of her eyes. Such words shouldn't be spouted by someone her age yet and she already did, it is sad "Zuzu," before their eyes the raven girl vastly matured two years, so now that makes her twelve years old only six pulses left and the curse will do what it does best--kill a life.
Sting instinctively hugged his daughter to calm her down from the aching emotion she was feeling "Zuzu, I know this is hard for you to accept right now but it's the truth I'm sorry." his tactful words made her cry even harder than before. "Papa, how could you lie to me? why did you lie to me?! I'm your daughter!" Sting pulled back to wipe the tears on her face. "It's because you're young Fuzuki, Milady never wanted me--I forced myself on her just to have you, in hopes that would make Zero want to kill himself out of pure shame. I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Suha on the side wanted to comfort the raven-haired pre-teen girl but stayed rooted on where her standing point is hence the blonde kinou was already doing just that, since she was already twelve there was no point holding back on spouting the truth.
"How could you ruin someone easily just so you could have what you want? why did you do that? why?!! you know it's wrong and you still did it anyway!" The words his own comrades previously yelled at him was now coming out of his own daughter's words, such irony had his brows knit together from insane regret "Because at the time I was jealous of what Milady and Zero had, I wanted what he had with Milady--I was jealous for the wrong reasons, I've regretted all of those now." he continued to wipe the tears on Fuzuki's face until not a single stain was left on her complexion. "But the damage has already been done." Fuzuki looked down on the marbled floor, spotting a few circles of her tears that fell on its surface.
"I know," Sting shot Suha a look over Fuzuki's shoulder to help his daughter freshen up from all the crying in which case she gladly complied to "I feel stupid for even wanting you guys to smooch back then," Fuzuki rubbed her puffy eyes whilst a half-suppressed laugh passed by her lips to ease out the ache she felt from her father's harsh words regarding the reality of things, Sting has been informed by Milady that Fuzuki does not see time perception as every normal Rhiannon does--a second felt like a minute, a minute felt like hours, days felt like weeks, months are like a year and a year feel like a decade. "If you would have told that to my teenage self, he would have been annoyed." both parent and child chuckled as the elephant in the room finally left.
"So you're Ignatius's new boyfriend? It's nice to finally meet you, Kaito Yew if I'm not mistaken right?" Zero offered out his hand to shake a second time in Milady's perspective in which case the silvered-haired kinou took blinking twice to make sure he wasn't dreaming as of the moment the firm grip of the bluette royal blood verified that reality check "Whoa! Yes!--I mean hi! Sir--Your Highness Sir, His highness Edurne, Ze, Zero! It's an honor to meet you too Sir!" Kaito shook Zero's hand like there is no tomorrow "Is he okay?" Ethan chimed in whilst he floated mid-air, a small plate of a sliced strawberry cake was being chewed in his mouth "No, no he's not." Milady had an arm crossed on her chest whilst the other was propped and nonchalantly watched Kaito fanboy over her beloved spouse again today.
"Is Zero that incredibly hot?" Ethan pondered as he took a spoon full of cake, this time around Milady has noticed that Ethan didn't bother to annoy Ignatius all that much and instead behaved himself just like what she told him the day before "What...?!" Ignatius is half confused and kind of disgusted upon why would the little ravenette monster say such shameless labels in public it's a good thing none of the elites heard him or else some might raise a few eyebrows. "Uhoh--Milady, Milady," Ethan vigorously grabbed his mentor by her right shoulder blade shaking it to get her attention hence Sting has arrived with Fuzuki standing beside him wearing a short flowing dress that cut on her knees, Milady turned her head to where Ethan was pointing at knowing well what is about to come--but this time around she did look over hers and Fuzuki's eyes meet leaving the preteen girl to say this "Milady!" Fuzuki's voice echoed within the glasshouse as she waved at Milady as a greeting.
Milady excused herself from the group to go greet Sting and his daughter. No one paid that much importance yet to who the pre-teen girl that was with Sting and continued on without much of a hitch in their each group conversation. The Diaz's who were present knew that they should have their mouths shut for good measure "Interesting dress," Milady commented as she came face to face with Fuzuki "Papa said it is a gift from one of our relatives," Fuzuki bragged as she did a little twirl to emphasize the beauty of her new clothes to Milady "Oh, did it say on the packaging who?" Milady humored her Diaz genes that kicked in "Papa?" the raven-haired girl turned to her father to ask "It's from Venus." He pointed at the blonde amazon who gracefully held a glass of champagne up in her left-hand mind I say her pinky was out whilst conversing with a few guests, the way Venus laughed at a joke Iroh spouted was so beautiful to those who witnessed it.
Fuzuki has never seen Venus Kallista Diaz in person before so she too turned to look at where her father is pointing his finger at the raven-haired girl saw a gorgeous glimmer of sparkles at its finest "Your oh so fabulous aunt, I knew it." Milady tilted her head a bit to glance at Venus's splendor, the former leading duchy of Xeris loves to flaunt their flamboyance and wealth in every way possible not only them to be completely honest--but the whole tribe of Xeris is like that "Now, shall we not stand out over here, so shall we go inside?" Milady guided the way further inside the glasshouse "Sting! Sting! redhead's lover boy is here! look! look!" Ethan called hurriedly as soon as he saw them heading over, there were only two children present in this brunch, and those were Ethan and Fuzuki.
Uno's wife did not fail to give the ravenette monster a side-eye for how loud he's being at the moment and ushered Uno to distance themselves from the loud noise hence her talent is Aggrandize Range and she's not exactly thrilled to hear any more of Ethan's loud voice near her. Zero's cousin complied with her wishes "Ignatius began to randomly smile whenever she's either scooping up rice--" Sting exposed the redhead alcoholic as he shook hands with Kaito and instantly Ignatius defended herself to cover up the fuzzies Sting had revealed to her newest lover "I never did!" she playfully elbowed Sting by the shoulder Fuzuki couldn't understand a single thing they were talking about so she just watched them. The catching-up chatter inside the glasshouse continued for a few minutes more until Irina had all of them requested to take a seat hence brunch shall now be served.
Most of the older Rhiannon's talked about random things in between bites to make the table lively "Mind introducing to us who is this young girl is Sting?" Iroh voiced hence he's been noticing that the raven-haired girl is referring to Sting as her father, the attention was now on Sting "Everyone this is Fuzuki, Fuzuki Diaz and she's my daughter." upon introduction Fuzuki shyly smiled and waved her hand at the elites "You had a daughter all this time?" Zero sarcastically chuckles to himself upon the question of his cousin to Sting, Queen Minea shot her son a look "Yeah," the blonde answered chuckling upon swallowing the viaticum in his mouth "How old are you dear?" Uno's wife asked Fuzuki whilst slicing the piece of meat on her plate "I'm twelve, Your Grace." she acknowledges the question with a warm smile.
"I like your dress it's beautiful." Iroh's daughter commented, tipping the fork to indicate the dress's beauty "From yours truly." Venus glorified herself of the fact with a bit of a hair flip "Thank you again, Auntie Venus," the raven-haired girl beamed her thanks to the blonde amazon that sat across from her to the left "Oh it's nothing~" the official of RHEA singsonged as she placed a hand under her chin flustered of the gratitude Fuzuki spouted to her "What kind of talent do you use Fuzuki?" Sting's cousin, Aine Diaz who recently just got engaged asked next "Skin Amorphous, Your Grace." Fuzuki cannot help but notice the messy hairstyle of the blonde kinou "Oh, a good choice, that talent is quite versatile when it comes to average use especially out in the field. Great job Sting, your daughter will be a fine talent user someday. " Iroh pointed out the benefits of learning Skin and congratulated Sting thereon after he was done with the compliments of facts "What inspired you to learn skin, Fuzuki?" Sting's other cousin finally chimed in the conversation after getting herself seconds.
"Ma-Milady told me about what Meraki's were and the talent they use, initially I wanted to learn Fauna but Milady told me that we, Rhiannon's are forbidden from learning it." their guests did not fail to stop for a second whilst eating at the mention of Milady telling Fuzuki all about the talent Skin some individual guests took a short second secretive glance her way, before getting back to their meal pretending that didn't just pass by their sense of hearing at all "That we are, My Lord Muriel can I?" Iroh, Zero's uncle, willingly volunteered to be the one who will impart such a matter asking Sting for permission first in case he was against to it or not "Sure go on ahead just rephrase some parts please." Sting gave the open table of his permission to the uncle of his favorite comrade.
"No problem, and before I begin, do I have everyone's permission as well to speak regarding why we should never learn Fauna?" such delicious nourishment was being consumed and Iroh did not want to spoil their taste buds of such gooey topic that he is about to spout out, the soft clanging of utensils down the platters was emitted for a short while whilst Hibiki took the liberty to collect everyone's response to Iroh's question, and all of them agreed "Everybody agrees, Your Grace." the orangette noble nodded at the older bluette kinou "Us humans have a different DNA composition than animals hence why we must not learn Fauna, but for example, someone were to dare and try to learn a forbidden talent which in this case is Skin Fauna, The very being of their soul gets highly targeted first to deformity beyond repair then next and worse scenario is their physical appearance morphing into the point that not an eye of any single living being will try nor dare to glance at them for being so hideous beyond repose." Fuzuki shivered as she gained an unwanted imaginary thought of what Iroh was describing.
Milady was not up to do another time-reversal today, so she secretly intended to manipulate the time of Fuzuki's blood vomiting later on after the brunch with everyone else's was done, despite the blonde clearly plastering that he wants to be informed first of what Milady might do to his precious daughter, but right now that was not a clear option since vigilant eyes were watching them. Therefore if the raven-haired girl did puke whilst on the dining table she will be seen by everyone present aging another year older which is thirteen years older and Milady doesn't want to risk such a grave mistake despite the two families being close not only to Queen Minea but her husband, Zero, and her useful employee/comrade at arms, Sting.
Sting stood behind his daughter rubbing her back as she vomited blood down the sink of her bedroom's bathroom, the blonde kinou told Fuzuki to take a few good hours of rest as he ordered Suha to give spoon full amounts of the quote on quote supplementary to his beloved daughter's running life span before letting Fuzuki take a short rest. She aged thrice today, he thought to himself whilst sitting at the sofa by the edge of Fuzuki's bed, his upper limbs propped up by his lower ones that were open. Only five pulses left... Sting mentally counted upon facing palming himself to hide his tears away, silently sobbing.
"Really Papa?!" Fuzuki exclaimed as Sting broke the news to her that they were going to take a trip outside of Lireo, later after she woke up from her nap feeling a tad bit better than before, Venus chuckled from the vanity mirror's reflection finishing up the waterfall braid on Fuzuzki's hair. "Yeah," the blonde gave his daughter a chaste kiss on her temple as he walked over to Suha giving the footwear the little girl wore to be returned back along with its companions in the closet, he pulled the heavy curtains a bit to look outside seeing roughly only a few chunks of snow gracing Lireo, some floras even began to sprout back up from their prolonged hibernation. Sting estimated that by the time the three of them return back to Lireo half of the plants they pass by on the journey have already bloomed to fruition.
"Yiiiieeee! I'm excited, can we take Salt with us?" her eyes sparkled from the exhilarating joy of finally getting a chance to step out of the royal palace of Lireo, to an extent the raven-haired girl loves the palace too but if she's going to bet? The outside maybe is happier, free, and pretty--sorry Queen Minea. "If we can? but we can't sweetie I'm sorry therefore the terrain we'll be taking is going to be quite rough. And Salt belongs to Milady as her pet." he explains to her the situation, but not fully hence he wants her to see it for herself once they trek out the path he's describing "Awww and I wanted to take pictures with her too." Fuzuki pouted to which case Venus found it adorable and poked her puffy pinkish cheeks "I'm really sorry sweetie, but maybe next time." Sting got down on one knee in front of his daughter "Okay." Fuzuki found no importance of mopping around if there was going to be the next time of a so-called chance to bring Salt, Milady's pet, on a next trip...if only there was going to be one, the sadness of reality is heavily cruel.
"You three better be careful, Sting." Venus reminded her nephew as Grand Ma Doma approached her the other day asking whether or not shall she stand along with them unfortunately for the leader of the Council Venus gave her a vague answer and left the conversation blank as it is "We will I promise." the six-foot eleven blonde kinou had both of his hands stuffed to the side pockets of his trousers upon closing the furniture that contained most of Fuzuki's accessories, making sure that all of them are in order like a true Diaz "Zuzu could you go with Suha for a bit? I need to talk about something with Auntie Venus for a few minutes." He offers his hand to the teen raven girl as she stood up from her seat that was still a bit too high for her height, sadly to her perspective she inherited that from Sting. "Okay Papa," Fuzuki gave her father a kiss on his cheek before leaving with Suha to get an afternoon viaticum, Venus watched the door close behind Fuzuki, and once it did she used her talent to lock it and the two adults continued their conversation.
"You better solidify that promise Sting because the other day Grand approached me asking if I'm going to side with them or not, Iroh told me earlier that he too was approached by Onyx a week before mine had occurred." Venus narrated her latest encounter with her fellow officiants and what she and Iroh talked about earlier before brunch has commenced "Why are they suddenly asking about which side are you guys on? They know you stand neutral." he crossed his arms on his chest "I believe there is something else going on." Venus lours, the tone of her voice lost their fruity luster as she spoke out those words of impending dread that she fears might come again to make everyone suffer.
"And what that might be?" he inquires "No one stands neutral in a war nephew," Venus's words made Sting's organ of sight grow wide "War? Are you serious right now?" Sting asked puzzled to which case Venus shot black an indication that she is "...no...that's not going to happen." he dropped his hands back to his sides, refusing to believe what just came out of his aunt's mouth "We have to pick sides whether we like it or not. Not choosing which side to give your loyalty to will only result in death, many stayed neutral beforehand and none of them lived to breathe their next breath intake." Venus recounted her past experiences during the Autarchy War to Sting "What if they were hinting about something else?" Sting got goosebumps upon hearing the words and blunt tone that came out of Venus's mouth hence his relatives had always told him ever since he was young about how his parents and two older siblings perished in the second war that graced RHEA's cultivation "Sting," Venus fixed the bangled jewelry on her wrist before looking up at her fretting nephew.
"Maybe it's just another decision that all of you officials had to take and agree upon?" He began to panic, not only for his own safety but for everyone else's too. "Sting..." Venus opted to calm down the overwrought kinou of sunshine her brows furrowing as he dismissed by walking back and forth in front of her "It couldn't be a war? It can't be a war, maybe Grand Ma Doma was just disheveling your thinking scape so that you'd fret over something that wasn't exactly going to happen in the first place, I mean that's a hilarious assumption for sure but--" he rambled on and on sarcastically to hopes that it would take his mind off the things running around his head "Sting!" Venus took hold of his shoulders "..." Sting was unable to mutter a single word as his eyes remained glued wavering down the cold marbled floor. The blonde amazon had him sit down on the side of Fuzuzki's bed.
"I've barely survived the second war," Venus took a seat next to her nephew, easing his tense nerves down by placing her arm over his shoulder, such motherly actions have always been evenly distributed to Sting and her own children "...so I know when another one is coming." Venus became the new matriarch of their family after her elder sister was taken by the Autarchy War's blades, unlike others she was prepared to take on the role to uphold their daunt among society during those trying times "I don't want to alarm you of something that is yet to show signs but...I have to alarm you so that you and everyone else in our family must always be cautious of the danger that is approaching again on the horizon of our already suffering homeworld." When Sting's mother got caught up in the bloody conflicts during the Autarchy War, his father went down into a spiral of depression after her decapitated head was sent as a morning platter by their enemies, his two older children did their best to provide him the medication he needed. So it was up to Venus to take care of Sting later on.
The twins of Xeris's royal family and Sting coming to life was long postponed due to the war therefore children will not be able to live their best or even survive when times such as that are roughing up RHEA's entire mass of a system. The weak perished, those who remained deeply unwilling to choose sides? perished, living beings who tried to escape? perished, even those who have the wits to fight despite the fear eating them up barely lived...and the strong ones? barely even had full control to manifest it all. An ultimatum of pick or die. When Fuzuki returned later on Sting took some time to explain some stuff to her and by stuff--gore. Venus was there to help her know what kind of work Sting and the rest of his comrades does, it took some time into the conversation for her to understand but she was absolutely certain that it was nothing pleasant to witness personally.
~
"See? now you can believe my words are true." Cullen watched my Princess as she went through yesterday's event a towel was present on the kinou's drenched raven locks, Princess cringed at how petty her intoxicated actions were "I can't exactly leave you out in the hallways because you have a higher political status than me, and if I were to leave you out there the Empress might kill my family." Cullen walked over to his cabinet in search of new garments to wear "Hey! My mom isn't like that!" Princess defended her sole parent "Of course you'd defend her." Cullen rolled his eyes without facing Princess "Duh she's my mother." she muttered annoyed at him.
~
A jet was used to help the three get to the borders of Lireo faster, Queen Minea offered to have them be straight taken flight to Aulora but the two older kinou's kindly declined the offer saying that they want to enjoy their time on this trip rather than relax too much. As it would be in Fuzuki's best interest to see the rest of RHEA with her own organ of sight. They would only have to cross over this continent's sea space to be able to reach Aulora, the pale-haired monarch before departure reminded them to stay extremely far away from the red tribe's river where Sikotas root reproducing plant life on RHEA's fourth tribe and nurturing their own kind as well, paired sikota's remain calm away from their starved selves whilst the little flora receives the necessarily stored nectar by her parents--if someone or something were to disturb the process the calm demeanor will be long forgotten and bloody liquid with a tint smell of metal will grace the soil.
Like what she had previously said, Milady had sent Odette to give Hibiki an enveloped letter containing what she wanted to give to the deceased the two kinou's will be visiting but most of it was for Arcana. The team also bid the three temporarily goodbye and good luck on their trip as said aircraft hovered to leave the palace grounds. Sting had his daughter look out the window to see Lireo's view from above, she was amazed by what she saw and couldn't stop pointing at random directions of Lireo's landscape that caught her attention for Sting and Hibiki to look at too it lasted for an hour or two until she has enough for now and slowly fell asleep in her father's arms clinging the rabbit plushie Nox and Ignatius's gave her. "Are they going to be fine on their own?" Zero asked Milady both their eyes glued to the aircraft that vastly flew away "Those two trained alongside us back then, they'll be more than fine fighting against the mere cretins my father have lingering around." the three youngsters went back in first whereas Milady and Zero stayed back by the helipad for a bit.
"I can sense that you still have doubts,"
"Doubts no, worry? it is plausible maybe."
"Worry? why?" the bluette doesn't want to jump to conclusions that Fuzuki is the one that Milady is worried about, he waited for her answer hence her being worried about something or rather someone else other than him and Riona was a bit on the rare side of things "About the reaction of those two once reading the contents of that paper." her medium length hair blew away to the side, picking up from their youth and his questioning to me, Zero pieced together that it has something to do with Arcana. "How many do you think we'll first encounter once outside?" Hibiki sat on the blonde's left side "I'm thinking more or less fifty as a warm-up." Sting gently stroked the raven locks of his sleeping daughter as his eyes stayed glued to watching the news play out on the holo screen before them. "Did Milady say anything about Conri wandering around too?" there was a hint of blood lust in the orangette's words, hence Raios's loyal dog was responsible for murdering his late mother.
"No, she says he's too busy staying by his boss' side as Queen Evergreen was needed to be kept at Helium." Conri would be able to trace that Fuzuki came from Sting and Milady that instant if they encounter him outside of Lireo's borders "Let me guess he needs resources from Zoldanga's hardships?" Hibiki chuckled at the self-aware negligence of RHEA's proud emperor "Yes." Hibiki's father here and there threw insults at Raios when the Arhianna team was training under him back then "My Mom has said before that Helium has an abundance of resources for play in the economy and overall balance of RHEA, but the self-proclaimed emperor chooses to waste it in either his hobbies and personal luxuries."
"The last time I saw that bastard one of his earings is made of pure diamond fangs." Sting recollected the memory of Raios whispering to him to defile Milady right there and then when she's at her weakest state, the blonde tipped his head to the side looking at the result of that regrettable assault he's done on Milady "No one but my Dad is knowledgable of Raios's talents. That's why the search for him still hasn't ended." the unending hide and seek game of King Loki pissed of Hibiki from time to time sometimes but at the end of the day the most trusted right-hand of Milady knew that it was for the best "A clear indication that Emeritus Loki doesn't want to be found." the former Luxian Anuva and General of Aulora did not retire nor step down from his title of being a monarch even after Aulora was destroyed.
"Because if my Dad were to be found...the only result of that is his immediate death." King Loki is the last remaining close relative Hibiki has left, he'd do anything to save that kinou from dying once he's been located or found "You said last time that General Conall William is with him." Sting turned off the holo screen to better pursue their conversation "Yeah, he is, that kinou is probably the only Rhiannon my Dad trusts right now." Hibiki was still bummed out by the fact that his own biological father literally ditched him to fend off on his own during Aulora's transformation to debris without any context--so much for parental love according to the orangette kinou "If I'm not mistaken his talents somewhat involved's terraforming right?" Sting placed a finger over his lips upon harking back to the memory of when he first met one of the highest military officials Aulora has to offer for RHEA "General William can also maneuver minerals, any kind." Hibiki saw it first hand when the military man was training the new batch of soldiers they had at the royal palace.
"Even fangs?" the blonde pondered whilst placing his shoulder on the sofa's backrest "That I do not know." Hibiki scratched his scalp trying to remember if General William could indeed do such a thing but nothing really came up so he was certain that the high-ranking military officer from his birth tribe couldn't possibly do such a thing...right? "He'd be a menace to society if he actually could." nope that ain't happening nope! "Theoretically some random Rhiannon would likely agree that General could do that, but it isn't a possibility of reality, fangs are a natural enemy of any talent. Using them used to be illegal but since Raios is obsessed with them they became a piece of common jewelry in Helium." that may be a tactful truth but some, notably Raios and the valtorians, use fangs to enhance their talents and strength of course this does not come without a price to bite you back at the end of the line, no substandard grim can be allowed to par--it must cease to exist once they've reached their selfish goals.
"It just goes to show that no matter how robust you are, a weakness will still linger around to keep you at bay."
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
Minutes of surpassing silence at the slight turbulence before they continued on where their conversation left off "Do you think Milady would be better than him?" everyone on RHEA doesn't think so, but those that knew Milady personally have a bit of hope that she would be whereas they officiants of our homeworld are divided in this answer "Than who?" upon all that they have discussed it sort of confused Hibiki on who would Milady be better than "Raios?" Sting's response came off as more of a question "Raios?" Hibiki repeated Sting's words "Yeah." he confirmed "I don't know, maybe?" he hesitated hence Hibiki knew that Milady wasn't ready for that kind of title yet "Maybe? why maybe? you're her right hand." Sting on the other hand was flabbergasted with Hibiki's answer to his question, as he assumed that the orangette would be the second Rhiannon to highly support Milady in becoming the future empress of RHEA, the first is obviously Zero.
"You don't know, I might be her left,"
"Hibiki."
"Point taken I am, but Milady still has some lingering tendencies of Raios's upbringing in her." although Milady was teaching herself to be kind-hearted as Zero would put it, it kept on being aggressively kicked back by the wicked upbringing of her one and only father. And yes she made a tiny bit of progress in that past and that was learning to show love? she hates the term to be honest, to those close to her the first was the romantic fascination for Zero her agreeing to be in matrimony with him solidified that, the second was platonic friendship for Arcana, the third was instinctual endearment for Nox, and the greatest of them all was her familial attachment for her late daughter Riona. "So you don't believe she can make a change?" the blonde cross-questioned at the doubtful answer he received "I do." Hibiki insisted.
"But you just said--" the answer made him knit his brows together "I know what I said, Sting." Hibiki softly giggled it off "Then do you believe she can or not?" he rephrased his question "She can okay? she truly can, it is just her tendencies on why I said maybe." He and Zero were just talking about Milady inheriting the supreme throne the other day and yet again the orangette is discussing it with Sting this time around, the bluette heir of Lireo sought the help of his best friend after finding out that Milady has been silently waking up in the middle of the night because of her nightmare memories "What tendencies does she still have anyway?" He began "--aside from the impending sadism, that one is obviously prominent even with a thick veil." The blonde snorted.
Hibiki put his thought on thought together upon counting them with his fingers "For one she's short-tempered still, tends to be manipulative, she still has yet to know the true meaning of fear, and lastly, if she wants something or something to be done she must have it and have it done her way. The best example of that is Fuzuki's education." Zero has already long but done his part in teaching Milady how to prospect love and care to others, they just couldn't find a proper timing for her to publicly put it on view because she's been maneuvering the time for it to happen "Tell me about it." the blonde sassily rolled his eyes at the recollection of it washing over him "With the added bonus that Milady's eyes still tend to be heavily judgemental especially to those that don't know how to use any talents like us." Milady hated that her younger sister Virgo brought a talentless commoner into the palace "Zeus' pole how does Zero manage to put up with her."
"I mean, you were once like him you know." Hibiki blurted to the side "-_-" the blonde gave him a look in the tactful truth "Always so ditzy, over Milady whenever she degrades you~" Hibiki singsonged as he childishly inched closer to Sting and began poking his cheek "Whoever said I was ditzy over her? I didn't, nobody did." Sting was quick to defend himself over it all, giving Hibiki the perfect opportunity to annoyingly tease the blonde kinou "Uhuh, keep telling yourself that Sting." the orangette noble of Aulora wiggled his eyebrows at Sting who was pissed off by the action Hibiki displayed to purposely annoy the shit out of his nerves "I was young at the time," he needed to uphold his regality upon the disgrace he committed "Still are~" Sting is just one year younger than Zero and Hibiki "Just shut up Hibiki." he tried to push the orangette away.
"Awww you were intoxicated below the waist--!" Hibiki adjusted the lapels of his jacket to further emphasize the thing, whereas Sting was quick to tug the dagger that was strapped to his arm "Fine, I'll shut up. But you were smitten with Milady once, once kay?" Hibiki raised his hand to his chest in surrender "Once." the aura surrounding him was similar to that of an Obsidian Loom talent user "Gotcha, once." Hibiki clicked his tongue whilst winking and snapping his finger at the blonde elite from the most beauty-obsessed tribe of RHEA "Are Cana and Cade resting at the capital?" Sting shifted the topic back to the deceased they were going to be visiting in a couple of days "Not exactly at the capital but near its borders, if my memory serves right." Hibiki's hair moved as he titled his head to the side.
"Oh dear, Hibiki's glorious memory, where could this possibly be then?"
"It'd say it's in the middle of Calla, Alanis, and Amara."
"So it's nearer the two upper cities?" Fuzuki turned to the side in her sleep upon the question of her father to the orangette "That is both a yes and no." Hibiki held his finger up to his lips "What on RHEA...?" a tick mark became visible on his temple "It's in the middle of all three! Xeris is debris from its former shining glory--I don't know!--By the way no offense on your birth tribe sorry about that part but still," he gave a mirthless laugh "Oh may the deities bless Queen Minea for providing us this jet." such sarcasm had him roll his eyes "I know the way," Hibiki pushed on, therefore, he truly does "Yeah right." but Sting comically refuses to believe him "Hey! I do okay?" Aulora's noble blood pouted crossing his upper limbs on his chest "Where is it then?" the blonde kinou snorted "Near the capital but not that near, a bit over Calla but not too much and a yard near the borders of Alanis."
"Just show me the damn map--this is giving me a headache." the blonde let out a harsh breath calming down his vexation over the location of the deceased "Mentally or physically?" Hibiki doubled checked on which one his comrade wanted "Either Holo or Paper map!" Sting threw his hands in the air from pure annoyance, looking immediately at Fuzuki forgetting that she was soundly sleeping on his lap "Alright then, one soft copy and hard copy of Xeris and Aulora coming up." Hibiki patted Sting's head like a puppy as he used his talents to pick up the map within his packed backpack, unrolling it out to levitate in front of them "Now point where." Sting demanded irked. "Here." the latter pointed with his left lower limb to further ruffle up Sting's feathers. "See!" Sting half yelled, "That was much easier than letting me guess where exactly their resting place is." he grabbed the levitating map much to the orangette's laughter "I never once returned nor visited my birth tribe ever since I came back...you know that."
"Because if you diiiid Milady's father would get the perfect opportunity to kill you off in an instant, yeah, yeah I know." Hibiki gesticulated upon shrugging his shoulders to the blonde who was staring at the printed terrestrial view of his now wrecked homeland "I just hope that Fuzuki will not be disheartened." Sting caressed Fuzuki's hair upon spouting those words "Not to break your hopes up but she will be Sting, Xeris is the tribe of material wonder after all." Hibiki rolled up the reality checker role in this conversation "The books up on her desk suggest that she's expecting a lot of good things." Hibiki read through Fuzuki's mind, getting a perspective of her reading a bunch of history books Milady provided "Those might have helped if Xeris and Aulora are still intact, but now? They're not helpful."
An hour much later the amazon piloting the jet announced that they have arrived at Lireo's borders, bid them farewell alongside a bit to stay safe and alive at all costs, Fuzuki was excited to see what awaits them outside but when her father explained the situation they will be facing before stepping out the borders of Lireo the ravenette girl pouted upon agreement that she will stay close either to Sting and Hibiki no matter what the circumstances may throw at them. Conri may not be present but some of his underlings will certainly be, two kinou's would be foolish to even dare underestimate them. An invisible force field is bounded to surround all of Lireo, hence the reason why no one lurking outside was able to hear the jet descend down, the force field has been there ever since Lireo has been established to become an empire, to prevent the deceased Queen Yuen from ever leaving the tribe she governs,
The sun has already begun to set on the horizon and fewer white sand from melancholia could be seen, Sting tightly held Fuzuki's hand as he and Hibiki took careful steps away from the only safe place they know of. Their surroundings weren't awfully quiet nor were any chattering voices of lingering Rhiannon's could be heard, a furred deer jumped by a few meters away from them trying to catch a rabbit "Was that a Sikota just now?" Hibiki pondered looking back at Sting to verify if he too saw that furred deer chasing a rabbit as well "Pretty sure it is, we should keep moving or else someone will spot us standing around here." they used the forthcoming darkness and few trees to conceal their presence from Conri's lackeys "Papa?" Fuzuki scanned her eyes around whilst they walked confused as to why everything was so dead and blank themed outside of Lireo despite having a few floras already growing out from the dusty crusty soil, a mist of fear slowly crawled unto her skin "We'll be out of here soon sweetie, don't worry." he gave her an assuring smile "Okay." in which case she upheld.
Hibiki offered to have them communicate telepathically to avoid causing any noise much further, as they wend their way out of their first obstacle in reaching Aulora's red sands. For the first half of it, Fuzuki was puzzled about how does one communicate telepathically exactly? Sting explained to his daughter she should talk without opening her mouth but instead with her thoughts a way of communicating thoughts directly from one person's mind to another person's mind without using words or signals, still confused he just simply told her to trust Hibiki talents and she finally got it. "Don't move." Hibiki gave out a warning upon sensing a person's movements ahead of them, Fuzuki has never seen the orangette friend of her father wield any weapon beforehand and the way he pulled out those chains from his bag frightened her to the point that she couldn't stop staring at the way he held them.
"Who is it?" Sting asked upon ensuring that Fuzuki was still clinging to him for her own good "Zemblanity and Hiraeth." the two underlings of Raios's guard dog were taking a break close by a burning fire to warm themselves up from the cold night while those who have the working status of minions roamed around the vicinity "The brigadiers?" two military servers that are always present at the biggest mining site of fangs that Helium has "Yeah." Hibiki was heavily puzzled about why they were sent here on Lireo's borders, something this trivial couldn't have possibly concerned them more than the work they do at the mining site. Sting expected some other high-ranking military combatant to say the least "Fuzuki will you be able to shapeshift for a minute max?" the blonde kinou turned to look at his daughter who was preoccupied staring at the chains.
"I think so," Fuzuki trailed her eyes off the chains, sort of hesitated to answer from fear of not being able to make it up to a minute max shapeshifting "What form did you master already?" he kept on with the questions to properly come up with a strategy that would put her out of harm's way "Water and sand." Milady had Fuzuki learn first the key elements that are the common foundation around Xeris, Sting did not fail to notice that upon the reliant answer he just got from Fuzuki "Will you be able to use it just on your face?" another inquiry hence no one is allowed to know that Fuzuki is related to Milady unless she permits it to be imparted "Yes...?" her reply came out more of a question "Sting I'll distract them, and when I tell you to run--do it." Hibiki didn't take his eyes off the two brigaders one bit, as to study their simple movements and read through their scapes upon why were the ones sent here a piece of vital information he could impart to his comrades later on "Old guise?" he tapped in upon pulling out one of his daggers.
"Second." the aulorian noble smirked upon saying the specific fighting form they shall be conducting on Conri's little lackeys "Great." Fuzuki didn't understand what they were talking about so she instead had all of her focus on transforming her facial features to match that of pure waving water, Hibiki violently had his chains clutter loudly proceeding to take out a good amount of trees and the minions close by in its wake "Now!" Sting vastly carried Fuzuki in his arms upon leaping out of their hiding spot successfully managing to immensely blind one of the two brigades that turned their heads to them "IT'S MURIEL! CATCH HIM AT ONCE!" Hiraeath yelled upon summoning a throwing spear in her hands, the lower-ranked soldiers made haste to follow orders, Hiraeath too was about to chase after Sting and Fuzuki but the aggressive rattling of Hibiki's chains made her vastly throw the spear into the dark shrouded trees behind her instead "Who's there?!" she yelled eyes scrutinizing to make out who was making that loud sound but instead of an answer the spear she threw seconds earlier came in flying back in her direction.
The military server bent her torso backward just in the nick of time to dodge the rear face returning weapon, little to her knowledge that the spear was slipt into two, the bladed tip of it came in seconds after she successfully dodge the first half leaving an angular wound on the right side of her face, getting back up on her proper posture to trace the pouring blood she heard loud screams erupting from within the forest "Oi!" she yelled at the still temporarily blind Zemblanity "Go chase after Muriel." she commanded him but he refused to get up "Tch. Useless--!" chains dripping with blood rapidly in circled her entire body pulling her into the dark shed trees before she could even finish up her words of a sermon to the writhing kinou on the ground.
A minute into the hunting chase of escape that is Sting, the orangette came in soon running alongside him, a few sprays of the metallic smelling liquid present on his clothes "Left!" They took a turn on the nearest corner when a bunch of Helium's lower-ranked soldiers came in closing some of them pondering whilst chasing is why on RHEA is Sting carrying such a weird looking creature securely in his arms like it's the last piece of jewelry he owns. Rounds of bullets were fired behind their backs as they ran, annoyed by the sound of guns firing the blonde kinou threw back his discs of light to blind their sights a follow-up of that is Hibiki wrapping them up to be broke into like mere twigs. Fuzuki embedded her liquified face into Sting's chest to avoid seeing the gore they were displaying to get past.
"Shit!" they've hit a dead-end "Surrender now!" one of the soldiers dauntingly told them upon cornering the three, Fuzuki was at her time limit and the soldiers from Helium were now able to see that Sting was not carrying just an odd creature it was a teenage girl whose face is turned away from their sight "We've got you surrounded--!" before he could finish Hibiki swung his chains taking off the soldier's head the recently decapitated's comrades stared wide-eyed on the rolling head "Opps." Hibiki shrugged his shoulders upon the chains returned to him "Quit staring around and GET THEM!" Zemblanity roared an order in his wobbly entrance of catching up to them. Sting telepathically instructed Fuzuki to securely cling her arms on his neck and her legs on his torso for him to gain full liberty in using his daggers.
He wanted to entrust Fuzuki to Hibiki but that would allow their enemies to see her features and he doesn't want to risk that, the plan to alter all of Rhiannon's time view was still not due today. Once his hands were free of any baggage the blonde did not hold back on throwing his daggers as if they were boomerangs that slit deep bleeding wounds in every flesh it made contact with, Hibiki forcibly cleared a path to get out of this cornering predicament "I need to work on my cardio!" Hibiki telepathically complained as they ran Sting just ignored the complaint and focused on his own running skills hence Zemblanity was seemingly able to catch up despite having terrible vision at the moment "BLIND HIM AGAIN! BLIND HIM AGAIN PERMANENTLY PLEASE! STING! STING!!" Hibiki fretted to which case Sting complied by creating a massive amount of light in his hands yeeting it like a bomb at Zemblanity's face.
"Hark down half of those trees!" Sting commanded when half of the soldiers chasing them got caught up in the attack that was solely for Zemblanity, his shoulder blades are beginning to feel a tiny bit numb from both the bag he's carrying and Fuzuki clinging around him like a gecko, the orangette threw his chains out escalating them further to tie up the trees splitting them apart from the ground "What the! EEEKKKK!" he promptly threw them as Jaromirs are somewhat inhabiting those trees and they did not appreciate what Hibiki has done, another decease in their enemies side. "We should have accepted the freaking jet to take us there!" the three of them underwent the entire debacle of running and dispatching a few lives until dawn made her rise up on the horizon.
""Queen Evergreen took Virgo out to Zoldanga this week for a proper acquaintance of RHEA's second tribe that she is to possibly inherit one day. Virgo's competitor the throne is none other than the being of Mint Ophelia, Queen Evergreen's daughter with her first--deceased husband, Hyacinth Ophelia. Least to say that the young pinkenette princess was beginning to be jealous of the attention their father is always giving her elder sister. Raios despite being well aware of the slowly aching emotion his second daughter is feeling couldn't care less, today the raven tyrant will be teaching his favorite daughter how to properly kill any living being that is up to his standards, the Council was forced to be present in this gruesome occasion, of course, Conri was standing guard on the side to make sure that none of them dared to leave the vicinity which is the royal palace's courtyard.
For this particular lesson, Conri was told to bring up a bunch of Rhiannon's from the dungeons that tried to either steal from or kill the present emperor "Before we start...listen clear my dear." Raios had his back faced whilst wiping the dagger he's holding with a white cloth throwing it aside once done "Never get close with people that prove of no use to your goals, do you understand clearly Mirror?" Raios made one of the tied-up criminals looks up to him by placing a sharp dagger under his chin before glancing in Milady's direction making sure that she listened to every word he spouted "Yes, father." she happily agreed without an ounce of hesitation hence Queen Evergreen did say once that both Milady and Virgo should listen to her and Raios hence they know and only want what's best for them, well the part about listening to Raios wasn't advisable. Queen Evergreen wanted both of her children to only listen to her and not her husband, but it was already too late for Milady.""
Now aboard a motorboat that they stole from the soldiers earlier, Sting feels like his upper limbs could fall off at any minute, Hibiki held the helm with his talent as his feet were killing him whereas Fuzuki adorably watched the glistening waters they elapsed by. Don't get them wrong they have undergone worse from working under Milady's authority, but last night's outrunning experience made them regret how much they've practically lounged around for half of the year and a half "Papa look it's a fish!" Fuzuki pointed a finger at the black and white sea creatures that jumped by the salty waters a square meter's away from them "That's a whale and they are called Orca's sweetie." he had responsibilities to fill and no amount of aches in his body can barricade that. "Can we get closer to them Papa?" Hibiki's eyes went wide upon hearing that Fuzuki wanted to draw close to a killer whale.
"We can't sweetie, Orca's are dangerous."
"Just like you and Hibiki?"
Sting was unsure how to respond to that hence his daughter was right in a sense "We're the good kind of dangerous Zuzu," Hibiki giggled not moving from his laying down spot "So the bad kind is like those Orca's and soldiers chasing us?" she collected "Yes," the blonde achingly searched through his own bag for the pain relief patches Panacea had given them, Fuzuki took another glance back at the Orca's swimming by then back to her father "But Papa how do you differ that you and Hibiki are the good kind of dangerous and not bad?" Sting paused from his search and was about to answer but Fuzuki bombarded another question at him "You and Milady told me that killing living beings is bad but why did you kill those soldiers?" Fuzuki pondered looking over her shoulder to continue "Doesn't that make you and Hibiki the same level of bad as them?" the possibilities of his daughter's questions are endless.
"Well for starters what I and Hibiki did back there was to protect you from harm, whereas those chasing after us want nothing but to harm us." The blonde slowly explained to his daughter "Why would they want to harm us? Even if we don't even know them until yesterday?" on their descent from the jet earlier only the situation was explained no context was provided on what will happen hence it is uncertain and thankfully it is being given now "They are enemies of Milady. Hibiki you want some for your legs?" Sting hollered at the orangette who only gave a thumbs up and took some patches via his talent. Upon division, the blonde kinou unpeeled the patches left for himself "And they will do anything to try and weaken her assets by targeting us directly." the patches smelled like old people medicine to the point that it could overpower his cologne.
The rumbling of Fuzuki's stomach caught the attention off their topic, Sting patted her head upon getting up to go get her some nourishment. Given that the motorboat they stole belonged to soldiers from Helium the stored viaticum certainly is from there also "Want some Hibiki?" the blonde looked over his shoulder showing his comrade a sandwich that was neatly wrapped "Gimme," he robotically spouted still unmoving, Fuzuki has never been exposed much to Helium's dishes unlike the two whom are thoroughly done with its taste but had no choice but to in this current moment. Sting grabbed the squared-packed viaticum for Fuzuki certain that she would like it "Eat up," he handed Hibiki a water bottle and his sandwich upon walking past him, an instant thanks to the blonde was elicited.
(A/N: The back seats and the front of the boat also serve as a refrigerator, hence how the soldiers managed to hide the good food they had.)
"Here Zuzu, it's from Helium." Sting carefully sat back down, own sandwich in hand
"That's the tribe Ma--Milady is from right?" The teen raven girl asked promptly upon receiving the packed lunch from her father. Hibiki already analyzed earlier that this is the motorboat they should take hence most of the soldiers are quick to inform their comrades and that the three were heading their way--long narrative short they had the other boat's food laced with heavy poison while they stuff this one boat with the pure ones unaware that Hibiki knows their plan. "Yes, that is where Milady is from." the salty air that has been lingering around made Sting much eager to see his home tribe again "They say Helium is our planet's balancing tribe!" Fuzuki pulled up the lid seeing potatoes and pork drenched in this brown liquid with some cooked rice noodles alongside it, being the foodie that she is, no hesitation was placed.
"Indeed it is--" Midway in his words the ravenette teen girl kicked her feet in joy "Ish' ish deluushush! Pawpaw!" Fuzuki's eyes glimmered as she spoke highly with her mouth full "Sweetie how many times have I told you to not talk with your mouth full," the blonde kinou reminded her of proper manners "Sorry Papa but this is good! I love it! This is now my favorite dish!" Hibiki secretly pulled out the gadget from his pockets to snap a photo of Fuzuki being adorable "I'm glad you love it." He smiled whilst chewing his sandwich "Can we have this again when we return to Lireo?" she beamed excitedly "Sure sweetie," Sting agreed despite being so done with cuisines from Helium. The dish Fuzuki loved is called Pork Adobo, there are varieties of this dish and pork adobo is just one of them, commoners from Helium refrigerate the dishes leftover hence the taste becomes better the next day upon heating it up.
The distance between Lireo and Aulora is about 10,036 kilometers so it took them two weeks and one day (fifteen days) to get there, meaning they mostly spent nights over the tiny vehicle, Fuzuki mostly enjoyed stargazing. They did stop by a couple of tiny islands for water resources or else they'll be dehydrated by the mere salty breeze and of course the daytime heat, that one is to be expected since they are nearing Aulora after all. One morning when the two kinou's were busy catching/fishing their lunch Fuzuki dangled her hands on the pristine salty waters completely bored out of her mind from all the waiting--spotted something glimmering underwater, curious as to what it could possibly be she reached out her hand down unknowingly that it was that fathomless she suddenly fell off the edge of the motorboat with a droplet sound.
Minutes into her serene fall into the ocean, Sting began to take notice how awfully dead silent it has been ever since the orangette beside him fell asleep turning his head over at the spot where Fuzuki is sitting at--he found no sight of her "Hibiki," the blonde lightly tapped the sleeping kinou "Hmmm..." some of his drool even slipped by at the corner of his lips "Hibiki, Hibiki wake up!" Sting shook him hence the first method wasn't working "Wha... what, what?--Did we catch a fish already?!" he woke up startled "No, get up Fuzuki's gone." Sting hastily undid the laces of his shoes "Gone? how could she have been gone? she's right-- oh shit." upon looking over there was indeed no existence of the raven-haired girl "Zuzu! Zuzu! Where are you?--" Hibiki started to call out her name in hopes that would work but the blonde threw his shirt at Hibiki's face who immediately removed it from his face.
"Quit yelling we're the only ones here, she might have fallen off the boat." the last to come off were his pants, by the way, he's wearing cycling shorts underneath--ya nasty. "Wait, Sting!" said blonde dived in before any more words could be spouted by the orangette. A few moments later Sting came back up with his daughter, thankfully she didn't drown due to her talent activating via instinct but the worrisome part is that she almost got a series of painful welts from nearly touching a man o' war siphonophore upon her fall. It's a good thing Fuzuki's talent only activated on her face hence if it transformed her entire body then Sting would have never found her that fast. Not wanting that accident to happen again she was given this seatbelt? strap? harness? thing whenever she sits by the side of the boat.
"It's a good thing we visited during this time of the year." Hibiki shielded his eyes from the direct sunlight beaming down from above, "It's so much sand!" Fuzuki scooped up the flammable sand into her hands. The breeze around Aulora this time is great than the usual one Hibiki grew up with, all but thanks to the slowly melting ice glaciers. The entire tribe of Aulora is covered in sand well red sand to be exact--as in RED as blood, and they are easily flammable if provoked by any lit-up fire. Also not to worry as the heavy sunlight above cannot harm nor set the entire tribe on fire, thanks to the catfishes swimming deep below, the Jaromirs heavily pumping much-needed moisture down the landmass, and lastly, the Krystiers or Coddiwople as the kids would call it, they are massive cold-blooded birds that have a wingspan of thirty-nine feet, every time they take flight into the skies the feedback of their flapping wings cools down the biome of Aulora to be bearable.
In terms of heat Helium and Aulora are on a running race the only difference is that Helium's cannot give you sunburn just vitamin D and sweat, whereas Aulora's will not only give you sunburn, heavy sweat, dehydration but most importantly straight-up heat stroke if you don't grab on any aulorian fabric on your entire person upon a simple visitation either average staycation "Although Milady said that we should avoid going near the river, we have no choice later on." Sting analyzed Aulora's geography, adding dots and ex's on certain places they need to look out for "Please don't tell me we are going to pull another all-nighter." the gloomy dread was plastered all over Hibiki's face just thinking about it "That we are, it's the fastest route we can take to Xeris." Fuzuki peaked her head on the side of the map "Or do you want to spend another two weeks--" Sting raised a brow a the little taunt.
"Yup you're totally right Sting we should take Candle river instead! Now let's go this way HAHA!" Hibiki comically cackled upon interrupting Sting's words leading ahead of the two, the motorboat being levitated above his head hence they will highly need it further on into this trip "Papa?" Fuzuki turned to look at her father who was rolling the map back on again "What is it, sweetie?" Sting took a swig from his water bottle, offering Fuzuki one too but she denied worried that she would have to pee multiple times on this long sandy walk they'll be taking "Why does Milady want us to avoid the river?" Hibiki was having the time of his life running around the sands of his home tribe like a kid whilst the two were busy conversing. Unlike his hiding father, Hibiki's late mother always made so much time on her busy schedule whenever the then young orangette kinou wanted to go sand sledding or surfing with her.
"I'm sure you already know about what jaromirs are right?" Sting offered out his hand to Fuzuki as he were to carry her upon sliding down the blood-red sand "Yeah, Ethan even said that they're ruthless creatures if provoked." Milady once threw in an extremely starving Jaromir into Ethan's phantasmagoria to test if the agility of his talents is already up to their maximum, he survived with seven cuts on both of his lower limbs upon knocking out the said hungry flora--he almost killed it with how much gravity he pounded into its head. "That they are. Jaromirs that are from Xeris are called Sikota's hence they have more of a coral aspect than the usual flowery and leafy vibes every Jaromir has, they roam around every part of RHEA's water during melancholia to collect their babies. They are also hypervores meaning they are always hungry." the original Arhianna team back then once saw two Sikota's collecting their children and least to say they almost got eaten alive if it wasn't Hibiki levitating them all up in the air.
"But they're pretty right Papa?"
"Beautifully deadly."
"HURRY IT UP SLOWPOKES OR WE'LL MISS SEEING THE CATFISHES SWIM BY!" Hibiki sarcastically hollered from afar with motorboat in tow "We're coming!" Sting yelled back a response upon catching Fuzuki as she jumped off a tumbled-down pillar "Jeez, not all of us here has your talent." The blonde clicked his tongue whilst Fuzuki just giggled at his annoyance. Unlike the other tribes of RHEA Conleth, the capital city of Aulora is separated from the rest of its ruled cities. A massive impregnable bridge was established for easy access among those traveling back and forth for either tourism or trade, up to this point that bridge still stands--it is the only remnant of Aulora that Milady didn't manage to destroy in one go since the late Queen Thena passed on before Aulora was destroyed she was given a much ideal funeral than that of Arcana Diaz the only downside nowadays is that it's been defiled by so much debris.
(A/N: I drew this myself alongside the other tribe maps of RHEA, I'll probably post the rest either on my art book or the 1st novella book)
Ten miles later, Fuzuki was now perched on Hibiki's shoulders as he hyped her up about everything you could possibly see and do around here at Aulora despite that being back then or nowadays, he didn't care he'd always gladly play like a tour guide of his home tribe, especially when a heard of catfishes swam by their current path Fuzuki couldn't control her excitement and immediately asked her father to take a photo of her and Hibiki, of course, the blonde and his daughter also took multiple shots of their own photo. Sting couldn't help but appreciate the cuteness Fuzuki was displaying over these fascinations she had, to be quite frank the blonde kinou didn't have much of this attitude when he was her age. When they passed by a few regrowing cactuses Fuzuki also had the three of them take a bunch of photos, the same occurrence when they saw two Krystiers fly above them.
The now-destroyed to debris royal palace of Aulora's tribe stood exactly at the center of its capital. Fuzuki was scouring her eyes around whilst the older kinou carrying her walked down the ruins of where he grew up "Judging by the architecture left..." Sting scanned his eyes around the ruined royal palace, "Listen to your papa Fuzuki he's about to be a smart ass." Hibiki waited for the blonde to finish up Sting's little survey, whispering to the young girl what her father is about to do "Your home is characterized by post and lintel construction bonus feature is the thick massive walls," he crouched down on one of the pillars with molds and a few vines decorating it, analyzing the left remnants that could be seen "I can tell that these are probably either used as either ceilings or doors for the most parts." Sting concluded.
"Uhuh, okay, hear that Zuzu?" the teen girl nodded her head in agreement "Okay, now let's go, Sting!" Hibiki paved the way and Fuzuki gladly went with it. Sting took one last glance at the crumbled architecture before following behind his long-time comrade and his daughter. If only I got to see Aulora before this, it would have been phenomenal, the blonde thought to himself. now on the east side of the fallen palace, Hibiki told Sting to be careful with his steps in taking the stairs hence he might slip on the way down due to the sand, the duo also had to get rid of a few soldiers from Helium that were patrolling the area--Fuzuki would be crying petrified if Hibiki didn't cover her eyes when Sting crushed the soldier's skulls like they were a mere ripe fruit.
"Hey, Mom! I didn't know you had bodyguards lingering around here." Hibiki cheerfully yelled at the resting place of his deceased mother, Fuzuki whipped her head left and right to find who was Hibiki talking to since there were only now the three of them "Hibiki who are you talking to?" she lightly pulled on his locks "My mother." he stopped right in front of her gravestone were an image of late Queen Thena was "Your mother?" she was still looking around "Yeah, this one." he pointed at the gravestone "You talked to...? a molded stone?" Fuzuki tilted her to the side
"It's called a gravestone Zuzu," Sting handed out the proper term to avoid disrespect over the deceased "Most elites that have passed on from life have an image of themselves like this on top of their resting places," he explained to his daughter, such an ironic statement.
"Isn't this heavy? won't it fall down under the casket?" the ravenette teen girl shot two questions highly expecting them to be answered by either of the two kinou's "It might look it would fall under but no, it won't sweetie, it's cemented." Fuzuki was trying to figure out what could possibly make cement strong enough to hold such a heavy figure above "Oooh okay. But why is Hibiki talking to the gravestone can it hear what we are saying?" Fuzuki had a point, there was no one present in that grave but yet the orangette still spouts words when he relatively visits "No, not exactly." Sting double chuckled, whereas Hibiki telepathically alerted Sting that a soldier was trying to snipe them from the far East pillar of the broken down palace they are currently in.
The blonde tracked back a bit for a second to dispose of this disturbance by creating five shines in both of his hands projecting them straight are the sniper to permanently blind his organization of sight, with an added beam of light to create an evident hole on the sniper's throat "Then why are you talking to the gravestone Hibiki?" Fuzuki lightly tugged on Hibiki's hair wanting an answer to her curiosity "Sting help!" The orangette kinou pleaded with puppy upon turning to his friend who voluntarily obliged either way "A loved one's death can lead to a feeling of tremendous loss, hence the reason why Hibiki is talking to the gravestone of his late beloved mother is out of comfort Zuzu," the blonde explained after getting rid of the spy that dared to shoot them, Sting had enough practice when it comes to countering someone using a gun, ahem Zero. "Comfort?" Fuzuki pondered looking at Hibiki, then to her father, whereas Hibiki double-checked if the soldier that tried to snipe them is no longer breathing.
"Yes, many people say that it is a good coping mechanism if one is in grief or missing the deceased person." Hibiki can't exactly justify in full words why he was talking to the graves of both his deceased mother and betrothed, and least to say Sting did a great job of doing it for him. "Are you still grieving Hibiki?" Fuzuki looked down on Hibiki from her spot "I've come to terms with it now, don't worry Zuzu." said orangette in question patted her head with a smile, Sting did not fail to notice Hibiki's tone regarding his grievances "I can give you hugs if you feel sad!" Fuzuki offered her way of comforting for free to the orangette comrade of her father "Awww thank you," Hibiki levitated Fuzuki out of his shoulder blades and into his arms such actions made her giggle and Sting took the opportunity to snap a photo of them, afterward the orangette rambled on about everything that has been going on lately both regarding about him and his comrades to his mother.
""After the little surprise the team gave Milady, she hated herself overnight upon how could she come to like the despicable dish (as her father would put it) Arcana and Arcade brought back from their homeland, which was the fried blue marlin and nori rice. Hating seafood was one of the things Raios Verity loves to do and if doesn't like it, his favorite daughter shouldn't also. Short of it is when Milady sent her daily report of her day spying on their enemies to Raios--he instantly had her teleport back to Helium, just because she liked seafood. ""
"Get it together Zero..." the bluette kinou steadily breathed in and out calming his nerves down, hence the first paragraph in a recent paper he just read contained something along the lines of a children's hospital getting evaded by melancholia's cruel storm--killing all the incubated life there. Continuing on with the said document Zero couldn't stop thinking about his own late daughter with Milady, Riona as he read through it. He finished reading the document upon putting his personal feelings aside, it has been nearly a week since Hibiki and Sting left Lireo and least to say that the bluette felt comfortable walking around his home without Sting and Fuzuki around. All the parents or relatives of the deceased youth are ensured to be given cyhea as compensation for the burial of their losses. Was the last typed text on the paper Zero is reading, he added a few words of sympathy towards his citizens before sealing it off to be approved with his signature.
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