Act 5 - "The Last Dance"
Akagi's bloodcurdling scream caught the attention of everyone in the hall. Heads began to turn as the surprised visitors set their eyes on the scene. Once they saw the withered body, writhing on the floor, horror struck their face.
Zanoba, who is in a state of panic as well, slowly backs away from the scene. His eyes widens in fear after the poison finally takes effect. The plan indeed was for the princess to consume it, however now that someone else did, what should he do next?
"Damn it all!"
And what his instinct told him is to flee immediately. He pushes his way through the approaching crowd, not caring who he shoves aside whether total strangers, or close friends.
As he ran, King Helios, Captain Griffon, and Kuroe emerged from the other side. Their eyes widened in surprise soon as they saw Akagi kneeling down beside her fallen bodyguard. Her face, and elegant gown tainted by the blood of the person that saved her from this exact fate.
"What happened here?!" Helios exclaims with a furious voice.
"I-It's Lord Zanoba... he-" Akagi's friend, Emilia who is standing nearby, tries to explain the situation. As soon as she mentions the name, Kuroe leaps into action and chases after the fleeing noble. She nimbly breezes through the surrounding crowd, fixating her gaze on Zanoba.
"Haa... haa... haa... this wasn't supposed to happen! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm-- ack!" Zanoba tries to flee as fast as possible, but he was not able to escape the pursuit of the king's personal guard. Kuroe lands a kick at Zanoba's side, sending him flying towards the wall. He falls unconscious immediately after due to the impact.
Meanwhile, back at the scene of the crime...
"Hey! Young Fuubuki! Say something!" Griffon gently shakes Fuubuki's body, hoping to get any signs of consciousness, but he what he gets only is the limp swaying of his limbs.
"It's my fault... it's my fault... it's my fault..." Akagi, still kneeling, clutches her head as she begins to lose it.
"Akagi! Snap out of it!" Helios shouts while shaking Akagi's body to wake her up and get some answers.
"What happened here?!"
"H-he... he drank the poison that was meant for me... all because I won't believe him..." Akagi replies with teary eyes. Out of everyone involved, she is the one who is most horrified of the situation.
"This is terrible, I can feel his pulse getting weaker by the minute. Your highness, let's bring him to my father at once! The effects of this poison is nothing I have seen so far," Griffon reported as he tries to assess Fuubuki's condition with what little knowledge he has on the Mesgaean body.
"Right! Knights! Prepare a stretcher! We must bring him to Marcellus quickly!" Helios orders to the nearby knights who then immediately springs to action.
As they wait for the stretcher to arrive, Kuroe appears before them, carrying the unconscious Zanoba on her shoulder.
"I have the culprit," she briefly reports.
"The Cindre kid? But why?" Helios ponders. As he does so, his eyes scan the crowd and he immediately notices Mephisto looking uneasy.
"This party is now over! There has been an attempted assassination of the princess! By my authority as king, I hereby order everyone to leave this castle now except the members of the Cindre household for investigation!" Helios declares in an intimidating tone. Seething anger can be noticed from his voice even though he tried his best to suppress it.
A while later, the stretcher arrived. Griffon carefully places Fuubuki's body on it.
"Your highness, I'll take care of things here in the grand hall," he suggests.
"Right. I leave everything to you."
"Yes sir. Also, be careful with him. His body felt like he could break apart with one careless mishandling," Griffon adds with a nod.
With Fuubuki now placed on the stretcher, Helios, and Akagi rushes him to the library, accompanied by the knights. They heeded Griffon's advice and took careful maneuvers around corners to maximize their speed while preventing any accidents from happening.
Moments later, they reach the library where their resident professor, Marcellus spends most of his time in. Akagi bursts through the door in a rush as she calls for her teacher.
"Professor Marcellus! Professor Marcellus!"
"snore Wha-? Who's there?" the old man answers as he jumps awake from his slumber on top of the table.
"Marcellus. It's an emergency! Please, can you take a look at him?" Helios pleads.
"Hm... mm? This is...!" Marcellus' eyes widen in shock as he sees the terrifying state Fuubuki is in.
"How could this have happened?" he asks with a grave tone.
"According to Akagi, she was about to drink some poison but young Fuubuki drank it for her. Apparently, this was the effects of the poison," Helios summarizes.
"I- I didn't believe him! I'm so stupid! I'm... I'm sorry!!" Akagi apologizes with all her heart again as she cries.
Marcellus, upon getting his answers, starts to examine Fuubuki's body. His body almost looks like a skeleton. His skin is as pale as a withered grass. His cheeks are sunken, and his lips looks dried up.
Marcellus then pushes a finger on Fuubuki's chest and closes his eyes as he concentrates his mind. Small amounts of mana comes flowing out from his fingers and into Fuubuki's chest.
"Hm... as I thought... but how did it even got here?" he mutters.
"What is it?" Helios asks.
"This poison... it's the extract of the Dark Manaeater flower. It's a flower native to the Dark Region where the world light does not reach. For him to have consumed it... oh dear, and he's so young," Marcellus explains with a dreadful sigh.
"W-what's wrong? Why do you make it sound like you're giving up on him?"
"Your highness, I'm afraid to tell you that... I don't have the means to save him..."
Helios, and Akagi's eyes widened as they hear Marcellus' revelation. They keep staring at him, their expression clearly asking him for more explanations.
"The Dark Manaeater, as the name suggests, is a type of plant that eats mana. Once ingested, even the least amount of nectar going to your system can produce this result. I say eat mana, but it's more so that it destroys, or dissolves it. And as you know, a Mesgaean getting drained of mana is a one way ticket to death," Marcellus explains with a defeated look.
"There should be a cure right?! Anything?!" Akagi asks, seeking for the slightest bit of hope.
"A cure... that would be the Fruit of Rejuvenation from Mother Gaea's domain," Marcellus answers, although there's still a grim look on his face.
"Then let's--!"
"Can you get one within the next thirty minutes?" Marcellus immediately cuts off Akagi's suggestion.
"What..."
"That's how long the poison will take before completely obliterating the mana of the victim. sigh... I'm sorry but, there really is nothing we can do."
"That can't be..." Akagi's pained expression got worse upon hearing Marcellus' brutal reality. She returned her gaze to Fuubuki, regret consuming her mind as she realized that she just indirectly brought someone to their demise.
"Whatever you wish to say to him, I strongly urge you to say them now while there is still time."
A dark, depressing atmosphere envelopes the library with the inevitable future. The knights who came in with them left the room, sensing that they should give them some space to mourn.
"No... this is too..." Helios grits his teeth in anger, his voice audibly shaking. He turns his gaze to Akagi who is staring at Fuubuki with a broken expression. Her eyes are devoid of life, and the tears just flow down uncontrollably.
"No... no... no..." she repeats with a lifeless tone, like a broken record.
"Your higness, let's leave them be," Marcellus whispers to Helios. The two of them then walk away in silence, leaving Akagi, and Fuubuki alone in the library.
"I... I am so sorry... I should've trusted you. All along, you were only looking out for me, despite how I never showed appreciation for everything you were doing," Akagi cries as her hand gently strokes Fuubuki's arm.
"I never imagined that it would reach this point. I... I should've listened to you."
Just then, Akagi feels Fuubuki's finger twitch a bit from her touch. Looking hopeful, she turns her gaze at his face.
"..." Fuubuki's eyes slightly opens, accompanied by a pained groan.
"Fuubuki... I'm so sorry... for everything..."
"G..." he tries to speak but his voice comes out dry, and raspy.
"Glad... see... you... fine..." he forces himself to speak a coherent sentence, but all he can do is a few words before his eyes shuts again.
"Even now... you're still thinking about me.. Thank you... sniff Thank you... for everything..." Akagi hunches over and digs her head over Fuubuki's chest, her arms crosses on top of his body as she cries her heart out silently.
Meanwhile, outside of the library...
"How did it come to this! Damn it!" Helios vented as he punched the wall in frustration. His fist leaves a deep dent on the stone wall of the castle.
"It is quite the unfortunate turn of events your highness. However, it still boggles me... how did that nectar get all the way here?" Marcellus asks curiously.
"I do not know. The Cindre kid was the one who had it. We don't know what he was thinking, but he undoubtly was the one behind this incident," Helios bites his finger as he ponders the situation.
"But, poisoning the princess in front of everybody? No matter how you look at it, it's a bit too strange, isn't it? What was he after?"
As they are thinking of the possibilities, a knight approaches them.
"You're highness, the grand hall is now cleared. The members of the Cindre household has now been taken into custody at the audience room," he reports.
"Right. I'll go check on them. Marcellus, please keep an eye on her. We don't know if there will be any more attempts after this."
"Of course."
Helios then makes his way towards the audience room. His steps are intense, and furious. One can clearly hear each angered stomps on the hard ground.
As soon as he enters the audience room, he goes straight for Mephisto, grabbing him by the collar.
"Talk! Now!" the enraged king screams.
"I- I don't know what happened either! I swear, your highness!" Mephisto defensively pleads. Fear is evident in his eyes.
"Calm down your highness! Let's be formal about this!" Griffon implores as he holds Helios back but to no avail.
"I'm begging you, your highness! Please! I am telling the truth!" Mephisto cries in horror.
Helios then lets go of his hold to the old man. Mephisto's plump body plops on the floor with a loud thud. The moment he regains his ability to move, he kneels down and prostrates himself before the king.
"I really didn't think it would end up like this your highness! I'll admit it was my plan to get my Zanoba to become closer with your daughter and hopefully earn him your favor. However, I have no involvement in the attempted poisoning! I swear on my life!" Mephisto pleads.
Upon Mephisto's confession, Helios looks him straight in the eye to check his sincerity. The fear in the eyes of the desperate noble is genuine. It seems like he really is telling the truth about his irrelevance in the poisoning scheme.
"Your highness..." Griffon mutters as he notices the king's expression stiffens.
"B-besides! No harm came to the princess right? All's well that ends well. That guard of hers acted quickly. I- I'm glad she's safe," Mephisto nervously chuckles as he tries to wriggle his way out of this predicament.
"A promising young man is about to die! What do you mean all's well that ends well?!" Helios shouts furiously.
"Eek!"
Just then, Helios' aide, Kuroe appears on the scene. She kneels before Helios as she makes her report.
"Our interrogation was successful, your highness," she says.
"Let's hear it then," Helios orders, calming himself down as he turns all of his attention to Kuroe.
"Right. So as per his confessions, his motive was really to earn your favor."
"That's absurd! How does poisoning my daughter with such a deadly substance earn him my favor?!"
"Yes, so the plan, according to him, was to let her drink the poison, but he would administer the antidote before her case got serious. By then, Lady Akagi would be looking at him as her savior and Lord Zanoba would greatly earn her affection," Kuroe explains, concluding her report.
"How preposterous! To think that he- wait a minute... did you just say antidote?" Helios was about to lash out again to Mephisto but suddenly turns his head back towards Kuroe, his face asking for confirmation about her statement.
"Huh? Uh... yes... I did."
"Where is it? Where's the antidote?!"
"Hmm? I apologize, your highness, but I only have the information with me when I returned here. I didn't bother getting the antidote since the princess was already safe. Why-"
"Did you forget that someone drunk the poison for her?!"
Kuroe's eyes widens in disbelief as the king suddenly raised his voice at her. It was the first time he has been this furious on her.
"The boy?" Kuroe says with a puzzled face.
"That's right! Why didn't you- ah, nevermind! I'll go get it myself!" Helios quickly puts matters into his own hands as he quickly makes his way towards the dungeon.
Kuroe follows right behind him. Her eyes looks at him with curiosity as he handles things regarding the boy's safety with urgency. His fixation on the young guard boggles her mind.
After some time, the two of them made it to the dungeons, however surprises just kept on coming as they were greeted by a horrifying sight.
As they opened the door of the room holding the detained Zanoba, what they found instead was his lifeless corpse, sitting on a chair with his head hung low. His body looked old, and withered. Upon closer inspection, Helios found a slicing wound across the young man's throat.
"What happened here?!" Helios exclaims, his eyes widens in surprise.
"Impossible... he was still alive when I left him..." Kuroe mutters.
"So many things have happened already. Just what is going on... no, there's no time, search his body for the antidote first!"
With Helios' orders, Kuroe searches the corpse for the supposed antidote. Although it is his order, he cooperates along and assists with the search, ignoring the blood getting to his robe.
"Hmm?!"
"What is it?!"
Kuroe curiously brings out something from Zanoba's pockets. As they look at it closer, they notice the features of a glass vial. However there is one problem...
"It's... empty..." Helios says in despair as he observes the glass container with a few drops of what used to be in there left.
"They act fast..." Kuroe remarks as she looks at Helios' hopeless expression.
"Young Fuubuki... forgive me..." Helios mutters as he buries his head in his palms, resigning himself to fate.
Meanwhile back at the library...
Akagi remains hunched over Fuubuki's chest as she sobs softly, waiting for the inevitable.
Fuubuki remains motionless on top of the table, his chest heaves slowly as his breathing becomes slower overtime. It is a drawn out, agonizing end.
Or so what he thought.
As his consciousness began to slip away, he instinctively reaches for his chest. He exerts the remainder of his strength to reach under his clothes.
Akagi notices the sudden movement of Fuubuki. She raises herself up a bit to give way for Fuubuki's hand that is reaching for something. She decides to offer her help for a bit, as she does whatever she can for him in his last moments.
With Akagi's help, Fuubuki reaches for the pendant hanging on his neck, and grasps it within his palm.
Akagi curiously sets her gaze on the pendant. It looks like some kind of heirloom. A serpentine dragon is carved on the front of the pendant, with six different colored gems equally distribute all around the dragon's body. The gems were red, green, blue, purple, white, and black, spread around equidistant from the center. Dead in the middle is the dragon's head, and one, slightly bigger gem is in its open mouth. Unlike the others, this gems appears to be colorless, or rather, completely transparent.
Akagi had never seen such a pendant before throughout all her times with Fuubuki, which made her even more curious, plus the fact that she somehow felt attracted to it. She reaches out both hands, clasping Fuubuki's hand that was holding the pendant within her own palms.
To her surprise, a strange light begins to emanate from Fuubuki's body, with the pendant as the center of the flooding luminosity. The light spreads throughout the whole library, enveloping the room in temporary darkness as the light from the pendant becomes too intense.
Following the light is a strange dark mist that begins to expel itself from Fuubuki's body. Akagi watches in awe as Fuubuki's body starts to regain its colors again, following the release of the black cloud.
"Fuubuki?!" she calls out to him as the light intensifies some more until finally...
FLASH
"Ahh!"
The light from the pendant explodes inside the library in a blinding nova. Akagi covers her eyes to shield herself from the bright explosion, letting go of Fuubuki's hands.
"What... what was that?" she mutters as she removes her hands from her eyes. However, to her surprise, what greeted her sight was Fuubuki's healthy body. No longer is it the dried husk it was moments ago.
Feeling a sudden glimmer of hope, Akagi inspects Fuubuki's body. His breathing had begun to stabilize, and his face was no longer sunken. His arms, legs, and abdomen no longer looked thinned and decrepit.
As the signs of the poison disappeared, she shook Fuubuki's body to try and wake him up.
"Fuubuki? Fuubuki?!" she calls, hoping for the response she was yearning for.
As she shakes his body, she notices the pendant hanging on his neck once again. However, something is different this time. The six colorful gems that was spread around the pendant had lost their luster. They now appear as bland, grey gems. Only the transparent gem retain its original color from before.
"What was that... Fuubuki? Fuubuki?! Open your eyes!" she calls once more.
Finally, her prayers seems to have been answered as Fuubuki's eyes slowly opens. He slowly lifts his body to sit up on the table he is laying on. He turned his head to the nearest person next to him, locking eyes with Akagi who is looking at him with a surprised expression.
Meanwhile...
"Damn! Our last hope to get through this, wasted!"
After the futile attempt of getting an antidote from the culprit himself, Helios is now stomping his way back to the library with Kuroe following right behind him.
"I do not get it your highness..." Kuroe suddenly speaks out.
"Get what?" Helios replies while keeping his pace.
"The princess is already safe from the attempt, yet you're still enraged by all of this. We're only about to lose a disposable nobody. I know it sounds harsh but, he's easily replacable. Yet... the way you treat him from the start..."
"All lives of my subjects are important to me. I'd be as furious if it were anyone else to lose their life over something like this."
"Yet you brushed off that Zanoba's death as if it was nothing..."
"I have my reasons. In any case, I need to return to my daughter's side. She needs me the most right now. I have to be there for her," Helios dismisses the issue before it distracted him any further. He quickens his pace as they approached the hallway leading to the library. Kuroe slows down a bit as she processes what the king just said, a subtle melancholic look appearing on her face as she looks at Helios gaining distance from her.
"Ah, your highness," Marcellus greets as he sees the king approaching him.
"How did things go on your end?" he asks.
"The kid had an antidote on him, however he was killed in his cell and his antidote was spilled on the floor," Helios replies through gritted teeth.
"Killed you say?"
"Yeah. Anyway, how's Akagi doing?"
"I think she's calmed down a bit now. Her loud cries ceased a few minutes ago. Although I must say, I've never seen her cry this hard before for someone else."
The two of them let out disappointed sighs. Helios burries his head in his palms.
"Damn! Damn it all! Even after all these years I'm still a--"
"AHH!!!"
Helios' thoughts were cut short as a loud scream was heard from the library.
Helios, Marcellus, and Kuroe immediately head inside the library to check on Akagi, however much to their surprise, what they saw is...
"Young Fuubuki?!" Helios exclaims in surprise.
As the three of them enter the room, they see Fuubuki sitting up on the table, in a daze as Akagi's arms are wrapped around him in a tight embrace.
"He's... fine?!" Marcellus expresses his disbelief as his knowledge about the poison's guaranteed mortality was proven incorrect.
"Hold on, let me check his condition!" he added as he scampers towards Fuubuki. Despite being already at his senior age, his body moved with such speed as he rushed to examine the young man who manages to survive such a deadly poison.
"Your highness, please let me check up on him for a bit," Marcellus implores Akagi, trying to separate her temporarily from Fuubuki, but her hold onto him is so tight that he instead decides to just examine him somewhere else.
"Oh well, this will do," Marcellus submits as he realizes pulling Akagi off of Fuubuki will just be wasted effort. He then repeats the similar step from before, but instead of Fuubuki's chest, Marcellus holds out his palm on Fuubuki's head. He then proceeds with his mana check. As the time passes, and the more he analyzes Fuubuki's condition, doubt began to leave his mind as it is replaced with amazement.
"This is..."
"What's the diagnosis?" Helios eagerly asks.
"Gone... The poison... it's all gone. There are no traces left! None at all! This is a miracle!" Marcellus declares.
"He's cured?!" Helios exclaimes as he excitedly approaches the young knight.
"Impossible..." Kuroe mutters under her breath in disbelief. However, seeing as how her presence is unnecessary in the room, she decides to leave them alone for a while.
After hugging him for so long, Akagi fixates her gaze onto Fuubuki's eyes, tears gathering on the sides of her eyeballs.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for doubting you! I'm glad you're safe!" Akagi cries.
"..."
Fuubuki is dumbfounded at the sudden attention he is getting. Questions began to fill his mind, but the most important one came out of his mouth first.
"Are you hurt?" he asks Akagi.
Akagi's lips curves into a smile as she receives Fuubuki's kind words.
"Dummy, you're the one who was hurt.
I'm fine. Thanks to you."
"But this is strange..." Marcellus chimes in as his mind was utterly confused at the current situation.
"Dark Manaeater has no known cure apart from Mother Gaea's fruit of life... how did you recover? I don't remember administering a single medicine on you..." he trails off.
"Yeah. What exactly happened? Akagi, you were here the whole time. Can you tell us what happened?" Helios asks, turning his attention to his daughter.
"Eh? Um..." Akagi collectd her thoughts as everyone's expectant eyes were directed to her.
"Yes. There was something..." she begins as she wipes her tears away to focus her thoughts. She then turns her gaze to Fuubuki's pendant which now has lost its luster.
"That pendant. I don't know exactly what happened, but that was the only thing I could think of. A strange light came from that pendant a while ago. The gems on those pendant still had their color but after that flash of light... they lost their color as they are now."
"This pendant..." Helios curiously held the item in question. His gaze is fixated intensely on it, a sense of familiarity creeping up on him.
"Hoh? Is this some kind of magic item? I've never seen something like this before..." Marcellus remarks as he went to take a closer look as well.
"How curious. I've lived for a long time, yet this is the first I've heard of a poison-curing pendant. Boy, where did you get this?" he asks as his gaze remains on the pendant.
"That... I've always had that for as long as I remember," Fuubuki briefly answers.
"You did?" Helios asks, his gaze now directed towards Fuubuki.
"Y-yeah... it's been on me since my earliest memories- ack!" Fuubuki suddenly cries out in pain as he clutches his head to ease the assault of a headache.
"Father, Professor Marcellus, please let him rest for a bit. You're stressing him out!" Akagi pleads after seeing Fuubuki's pained expression.
"Ah! Right!"
"Sorry!"
The two old men distances themselves from Akagi and Fuubuki. They gave each other a little nod and head out of the library, giving the two young ones a little time alone.
"Are you okay? Does it still hurt anywhere?" Akagi asks with her face painted with a worried expression.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It was just a little headache. It's gone now," Fuubuki reassures, removing his hand from his head. As he stares at Akagi, a sudden feeling of guilt built up inside of him.
"I'm sorry for ruining your special day..." he speaks out.
"What are you talking about?! You didn't ruin anything! That was all me... I... I should've believed you. All along, all you thought about was protecting me..." Akagi cries back as she wrapped her arms around him again for a tight hug.
The two of them stayed like that for quite some time, savoring each other's presence. As Fuubuki's condition finally got better, he got off the table he was placed down on.
"I'm all okay now. I'm returning to my duty," he declares.
"It's okay... there's not much to do now anyway... although, I would like to head back to the celebration area for a bit... can we?" Akagi asks.
"Of course. If you so wish."
With that, the two of them leave the library. Helios, and Marcellus give each other a curious gaze as they quietly let the two pass by them. However, they know that it would be best not to disturb them on what they are doing.
Akagi, and Fuubuki then reaches the venue of the party shortly. The once lively hall is now dark and empty. The decorations have been taken down and the tables have been cleared of the feast.
Akagi let out a deep sigh as she basks in the silence of the deserted hall.
"It was supposed to be a happy occasion..." she mutters.
"I'm sorry," Fuubuki says on impulse.
"Like I said, you shouldn't be apologizing," Akagi giggled back.
"But well... of course, you can't really blame me for wishing for a better outcome than this," she adds.
"Did you have any regrets?"
"If anything... I wish I could've at least had that last dance."
The last dance. The should've been highlight of the party where the celebrant chooses a certain someone to dance with as the party's culmination. Everyone's attention would've focused on her and her chosen partner, and that will end the coming-of-age ceremony.
As Akagi wallows in her sorrows, Fuubuki's eyes darted around the hall, observing its depressing state. But then, his gaze fixates on the giant clock hanging on the wall. The clock's hour hand was just a little short of hitting twelve, and the minute hand just struck at the 58th mark as the seconds hand kept going.
"No, there is still time," he mutters.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Akagi asks curiously.
"Your highness, I know I might be stepping out of line here, but I'll just do it anyway," Fuubuki begins as he offers his hand in front of Akagi.
"I do not know how to do it, but I will do by best. Will you please take me as your partner for your coming-of-age's last dance," he invites.
"...!" Akagi's eyes widens in shock, and her world felt like it froze at that moment. Not only is her knight willing to save her, but also her memory of her most precious day. Tears begin to well up in her eyes, but she pushes them back as she places her palm on top of Fuubuki's.
"Yes. I would love to," she gladly replies with the sweetest smile.
Akagi places her left hand on top of Fuubuki's shoulder, while Fuubuki places his right hand on her waist. They then held each other's free, opposite arm as they start to dance slowly in the silence of the hall, the music of the earlier party playing in their mind.
"Just follow my movements, okay?" Akagi cheerfully instructs to which Fuubuki replies with a silent nod.
"I'll do my best."
The two then continue to dance around together in the dark hall. No tune is needed as their attentions are directed at each other anyway.
Fuubuki easily follows the rhythm of Akagi's steps. Strangely enough, it was quite easy to sync with her moves. Him watching earlier on in the party also helped fill up his mind on how to properly move in this dance.
And then the chime hit...
The clock strucks twelve, signifying the end of the day, and the official end of Akagi's birthday. Yet despite this, the two of them continue to dance while holding each other dearly. The beat of the midnight chime even served as their music for this moment. The two look each other in the eye as something beautiful begins to bloom between the two of them as they dance the night away in this silent waltz.