Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Illusions ❯ Rose Thorns ( Chapter 35 )

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Shattered Illusions

Chapter 35: Rose Thorns

By: Revamp

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Millie held up a picture of Prince Yale that she was given at the time of his death and a tear splashed onto the face in the image. "Prince Yale..." Her voice trailed, cracking with emotion as she cradled it with both hands. Pressing it to her heart, the girl sobbed to herself before a hand was placed on her shoulder. The warm contact caused her to pause and glance over her shoulder where Horatio had been present. "Sir Horatio..." The girl looked up to him with tear-stricken eyes.

"I am entirely sorry. I should have been the one who was shot. I have failed his highness...I am a horrible knight," Horatio looked down with a solemn expression. The nightmare played over and over in his head as he tried each time to diagnose it, to understand it, to think of ways that he could have helped the fallen prince. Each time he came up with a million answers, and a million excuses as to why he couldn't and didn't help. It sickened and depressed him.

"No.." Millie turned to him. "You didn't do anything wrong. We weren't prepared and Prince Yale suffered." That was their true weakness. They should have been prepared for anything, but they had let their guard down, thinking that Hide wouldn't follow them to a public affair. They should have known better.

"No, it's my fault," Horatio continued to blame himself, "I should have been by his side. As knight, it is my duty to protect his highness. I have failed him by letting him walk away first. I knew that they were out to get him...I just didn't know that they'd have the gall to be at Earl Prizemarter's party." His voice was riddled with pain as he spoke. Millie could tell how distraught he had been. She couldn't deny that she didn't feel the same way, but blaming himself wasn't going to make the situation better.

"You didn't fail him. I don't think he would have blamed you at all," Millie replied and held the letter up. It was mottled with blood stains that her eyes were immediately drawn to. Yale's final moments played through her head with vivid clarity.

Yale took a note from his pocket. A picture of himself was enclosed into the folded letter. Half-opened blue eyes, looked to the girl as she took the articles of parchment in her hands. "Please...as my dying request, read this when you're alone. It tells you all you need to know about me. I regret that we didn't meet earlier. I am always so happy to be around you."

"I'm so afraid to read this. I know Prince Yale wants me to...and I know I should fulfill his dying vow," she was very torn between her decisions. Millie didn't think that she was truly ready to open it just yet, but at the same time she was curious as to what her lover could have wanted her to know.

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The grinding sound could be heard from another room as Copernicus sharpened the Rigatama over and over again, grinding the impurities out of the blade and making sure the edges was razor sharp. The vampire held it up to his face, examining his newly sharpened blade that flashed in the sunlight of his window. 'They've made their move. I left him wide open for the attack.'

Memories of that moment that Yale was shot replayed in his head. The bullet rang through his senses; the blood spray from his chest was vivid in his mind. He held his brother as the last of his life drained from him. Dark blue eyes narrowed as his heart filled with contempt and sorrow. "Dear brother, I'll get my revenge. You will not have died in vain and I now realize what you were trying to tell me. Ruling behind my armies is fine but there is a time in my life where I must step forward and take action. At what cost would a king be willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice?"

Tsubomi walked into his room and sat in a nearby chair, watching her master as he put the blade down. After a few moments of silence, the girl decided to make her presence known. "What do we do? I feel terrible about Prince Yale..." The memories ran through her head as well. Yale fell to the ground as she stood there, wide-eyed and stunned, unable to act due to the sudden shock she felt. "I mean, I just stood there like an idiot." Guilt riddled her expression as she glanced to the side. "I'm usually so quick to react but not then. I could have done something. I could have reacted and saved him."

Of all of the people in the ball room, she was the closest one to Yale. She was the one who could have saved him. She was the one who could have acted, and because she didn't, Prince Yale was assassinated. Tsubomi regretted it wholeheartedly.

"No, this was an unforeseen event. No one could have calculated it. Suspected it, yes but calculated it, no." To think that she could have stopped it by such means was illogical.

Tsubomi looked back to him, her features turned serious. "It was Hizaki...wasn't it?"

"Yes," Copernicus knew good and well who was responsible. No one other than Hizaki could have committed such a vile crime. He was sure of it.

"But, who was the vampire who pulled the trigger? I've never seen him before." Was he someone else who worked for Hizaki or was he another threat entirely? That's what concerned Tsubomi.

"It was Earl Charles V. Hampton III. He was my brother's personal body guard and caretaker. He loved the prince as if he were his own son. Like myself and Prince Yale, he was an Inheritor and couldn't have any children of his own, but had desired a child even though it was an impossible dream. He found solace with Prince Yale," Copernicus remembered all the good times that the two had. They truly bonded like father and son, and their relationship was unlike any that he had ever witnessed. Copernicus didn't think that it mattered that they weren't related by blood. He believed that they loved each other like any true father and son would have.

"Did he get possessed?"After hearing his story, Tsubomi didn't think it was logical that Charles would have killed Yale on purpose. It had to be Hizaki's possession.

"I'm one-hundred percent certain that he did. He would have never killed him, ever. He had raised him as well," Copernicus knew that he was possessed, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Hizaki's under-handed moves knew no bounds.

"Is that why you feel the way you do about being infertile? Because you saw how sad it made Earl Charles?" Tsubomi had a feeling that he was influenced by that man at least a little. He probably saw Hampton as a role model of a life he didn't want to lead. As a result, Copernicus gave up the idealism of having children because it would have only served to be a disappointment in the end.

"Part of it," Copernicus replied, walking up to the chair she sat in. "The other part is what I told you."

"What do we do now? If we aren't prepared we'll all get sniped off like that," Tsubomi knew there was no time to sit idly by anymore. It was time to act or be killed. If Hizaki infiltrated once, he would do it again.

"I want to attack them at the very center of their operation. Hide won't be expecting us to move in this quickly. He expects us to be set back or trying to figure out how to counter Prince Yale's assassination. He'll think that he's shaken us up." It sounded like a suicide mission, but Copernicus knew that Hide would be left wide open for an attack.

"So, hopefully we'll be doing what he doesn't want to do or what he doesn't expect us to do. Tell me, is this based off of how he knows you?" Tsubomi had an idea of where this plan was coming from based off of his past relationship with Hide, or what she knew about it.

"Yes, so going against the grain would be my best bet." It was better to take Hide off guard rather than give him another predictable move.

"Are we going to infiltrate or draw Hide out?"

"I want to face him alone," his words came darkly. More than anything, he was set on getting revenge for his brother's assassination.

"Huh?" Tsubomi's eyes widened.

"Call a meeting for the Blue Rose Order. We need to discuss our next plan of action," Copernicus walked out of the room as he heard Tsubomi respond to his request.

"Yes, master."

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The Blue Rose Order was gathered in the living room of Copernicus' house, clad in their outfits. Teru sat cross-legged on the couch, Shiva sat beside of him, holding a tea cup in her hands. Millie sat at the table with her arms crossed and head laid in them. Horatio stood beside of her with his arms crossed, looking at a portrait of Prince Yale that hung on the wall. Copernicus then entered the room with Tsubomi at his side.

"What's with this? It's only been two days after Prince Yale's death. Come on, people need time to mourn here!" It was unfair that they went into action not even a week after Yale's death. None of them felt up to fighting against Hide at the moment.

"I know it's sudden, but I wanted to discuss something with you all," Copernicus decided to bring the situation front and center.

"What is it?" Whatever it was, it seemed serious to Shiva.

"You all know who killed Prince Yale, don't you?" Copernicus narrowed his eyes at the group in accusation.

Teru scratched the side of his head. "Some random guy? He was one of the earls, right? One of your earls. Not mine. Oh hell no." The red-head waved a finger back and forth at the brunette.

"He was possessed by Hizaki,"Copernicus' words slammed into Teru like a freight train.

"Damn that gender confused bastard!" Teru held up his fist with an angry expression. Hizaki had always been a thorn in his side. Why didn't he think of that cross-dresser before?

"Why hasn't anything been done about his inside jobs? If you don't do something about this, what's left of Ramada's government will fall," Shiva knew that the situation was dire, especially if they were dealing with someone as powerful as Hizaki. At this rate, they would all end up dead.

"Hell, he was murdered because of it," Teru replied.

"Lives must be lost. As a figurehead, he knew that this threat existed. As a prince, you should know it too," Copernicus glanced towards the red head.

"Prince Yale was an inspiration to us all. He was a strong man who upheld his rule with love and compassion," Shiva looked up to Yale's system of rule and to him as a person. She had never known a ruler that was so gentle and so loved by the people as he was. Yale didn't deserve to die as he did.

"He'd be disappointed if we fell apart." The Order of the Blue Rose was the last thing Yale established before he died. Tsubomi wanted to keep them alive.

"We should attack now. We should strike while they think we're down," Copernicus knew they needed to do something immediately. They could still strike Hide in his blind spot if they acted quickly.

"That's all good and everything, but we don't have a plan," Teru put his hands on his knees and leaned forward. If Copernicus had hatched something in his head, then he needed to spit it out now.

"Teru's right. We don't even know their strength level. They could devastate us easily," Horatio even knew that as they were now, they were sitting ducks lined up for Hide to pick off. Yale just happened to be at the front of the line.

"You're not usually one to be so active," Shiva wondered why the brunette was being so proactive as of late.

"You'll be putting yourself in danger. Prince Yale just died; we don't need to lose you, too." In fact, if they did lose Copernicus, they would be losing their king, the very foundation of their structure. Horatio thought it was too much of a risk.

"Are you saying that you doubt my ability to keep myself alive in battle? Are you questioning my orders?" It irritated him that they would think that he just called them there without a plan of action.

Teru nodded and folded his arms over his chest with a smile, "yep, sure are."

Copernicus was angry.

"Look, if you don't want to do it then we will," Tsubomi wasn't about to give up on her master. Obviously he'd thought about it a lot, and she knew he had a good plan but he wasn't able to get it out because everyone was questioning him.

"This is insanity. What do you hope to achieve by attacking them head on," Shiva wondered what he was trying to accomplish. It seemed like he just wanted to jump in there and kick ass without any kind of structure.

"We can deliver a crucial blow to Hide. He wouldn't be expecting it," Copernicus knew what he was doing. He just needed the cooperation of the other knights.

"What if he counterattacks? We don't even be ready," Shiva argued his point. To her, they needed a backup plan, especially if they were going to face off with Hide.

"Hey, Hide is no one to undermine," Teru waved his finger, as if scolding the noble. "I may be utterly, insane but there's no way I'd cooperate in killing myself. Hey, the odds are against you here."

"An organization is useless that does not stand behind its leader. You're all afraid to do anything. You dishonor all that the prince stood for," Copernicus knew that Yale established the knights to have a purpose, and sitting on their hands accomplished nothing.

"Because we don't want to act now? This is hardly the time. We have no plan of action," Horatio thought that accusation was a little harsh, considering their situation.

"Did you ask him if he had one? You're just automatically shitting him down because you don't like it," Tsubomi was tired of their accusations and blind theories. It wouldn't make her so angry if they at least would give him a chance to tell them his plans, but they weren't even doing that. It was like talking to a brick wall.

"Prince Yale would never do anything this foolish," Horatio knew that more than anything.

"Well, I am not Prince Yale," Copernicus argued the fact.

"That's for sure," Teru agreed.

"I'm just as good of a leader."

"You're jeopardizing a lot with this plan of yours. You should be more cautious. Remember your position, sir. If we lose you then all is lost," Horatio didn't think that he quite understood the repercussions of his actions. This was no simple loss if they couldn't pull it off. It resulted in the death of all of the Blue Rose Knights.

"I refuse to be a caged bird. So what? I'm nobility but if I'm not willing to fight for Ramada, then I am not worth the blood that flows through my veins. Who cares if I die? I will sacrifice my life for my country," Copernicus placed a hand on his chest. "This is the Time of Ending that we're talking about. We'll be exposed to the world if Hizaki and Hide succeed. So far, their plan has been working."

"What?" Tsubomi couldn't believe it. Were they really doing everything according to the Time of Ending? All of this time, they were fighting so hard against it, only to be closer than ever to move froward with it.

"Everything has been going according to the prophecy. If we keep going in this direction, then we're setting up The Time of Ending. Vampires have begun to kill vampires and the truth is slowly leaking out...Prince Yale, Coscatta, Earl Hampton...They have all been casualties fulfilled by the prophecy." As much as he hated to admit it, Copernicus could no longer deny that the facts were piling up against him.

"Coscatta wasn't influenced by them," Tsubomi wondered how someone unrelated could have been fulfilling a prophecy they didn't know about.

"It doesn't matter. It happened around the same time." It was a matter of humans killing humans, donors killing donors, family against family; it was all a part of the prophecy. "It happened around the same time. I will not sit by as their dreams become reality."

"We need time. This was way too sudden," Horatio needed some time to grieve at least. It was a shock to his system to be pulled into a war when he wasn't mentally stable.

"It seemed that I cannot depend on you all as of now," Copernicus was done with the conversation. He turned his back and walked away out of the room, leaving the knights gathered to deal with the aftermath.

"Man, this is crap," Teru complained. "We may be vampires but we aren't some super human master race."

"He forgets that we're only five to ten times stronger than a normal human," Shiva noted.

Millie stood and started to walk away. The whole meeting went bad and there was nothing that she could do to even help. No one wanted to listen to Copernicus and she wasn't mentally stable enough to deal with their fighting. Before she could get out of the door, she felt a hand grab hers. Turning around, she saw that is was Horatio. "Sir Horatio Pendragon?"

"Where are you going? You're part of this and you haven't said a word," she could have at least taken part in the discussion. She was a knight of the Blue Rose Order.

"I can't think," Millie also didn't feel like taking part in their arguments. Her opinion wouldn't have mattered since everyone was being shut out already.

"Don't you realize that Copernicus is setting himself up for suicide?" If she cared about the king, then she would have at least tried to talk him out of the crazy thing he was concocting.

Millie's visage transformed to a look of worry and confusion. She was torn on what to do, or even what to say. "I don't...know what to say."

"Leave her alone," Tsubomi stepped up beside of her. "Don't you see she's suffering?" The man she loved died. It wasn't fair to involve her in the meetings after she had to deal with that big of a loss. Maybe they didn't know how much she loved Prince Yale, but she did.

"Is her opinion the only one who counts?" Shiva asked. It was a little unfair that she took partiality to her. They were suffering as well.

"No joke!" Teru agreed. "You think we're not upset Prince Yale died?"

"She loved him. You could be kinder to her." They didn't have to be so harsh and forceful. The fact was still the fact, Millie was in love with the prince and his loss affected her more than it did the others. It wasn't that she didn't think that they didn't suffer; she knew that Millie suffered more at the cruel hands of fate. Tsubomi would have felt the same way if Copernicus had died.

Tears clung to Millie's eyes as she looked at the tomboy in shock. "Tsubomi-kun..." The maroon-haired girl had never witnessed Tsubomi, standing up against them with such a defiant look on her face. 'He's defending me?'

"How would you feel if someone you love died? Do you really think you'd want to be interrogated right now?" None of them would feel like that, and Tsubomi knew it.

"Where's Copernicus?" Shiva asked as everyone glanced around the room to notice that the other vampire had left long ago. They were so deep in discussion that they hadn't even seen that he had walked out of the room.

"He's gone," Millie stated the obvious.

Tsubomi sighed. 'He tells me not to be wreckless.'

Copernicus was going to act on his own, whether or not he had the approval of the other knights. She was sure that even now, he was making his way over to Hide's base to personally fight him. She knew in the back of her mind that nothing good could come from any of this.

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Copernicus stood at the rose garden and lifted up the door. It creaked as it unhinged and clumps of dirt fell onto the darkened stairway below. He slowly walked down a couple of stairs and shut the door behind him. Gripping his sword in his hand, he ventured forward into the darkness. He was on a mission, and he was going to make sure that Hide paid for needlessly slaughtering his brother.

Hide sat in his throne, gazing out of a large window that overlooked a spacious forest. A smile crossed his lips, slowly forming as the beautiful scene before him provided a sense of comfort and an environment that eased him, allowing him to think more clearly. 'Everything is going as planned. Soon the Time of Ending will be upon you. The line is blurring between human and vampire, and the two are beginning to hate each other. The pieces on the chessboard of life have moved into exactly the positions I've predicted.

'Killing Prince Yale is but another achievement of mine.'

Before him was a small chessboard, adorned with black and white chess pieces carved out of stone. They sat on a marble surface of black and white squares. Hide took the black king and moved it onto the white king's position, knocking the piece over with a clatter. The white king descended and tapped the chessboard. 'Sweet victory, the prince is gone and now the only obstacle in my way is Copernicus.'

Picking up a group picture of the royal court and family, Hide picked up a black marker and drew an ex over each face of the person he had killed. 'Queen Hepesta, King Carlyle, Earl Hampton, Earl Prizemarter, and Prince Yale Axis.' A red eye glanced to the side of the prince and saw that Copernicus' face was still uncrossed. It glared at him from within its sepia confines, mocking him. 'Slave to your crown, just as all of you royal irritations are. You can never freely be king if you don't have a mind of your own.'

"You're nothing more than a marionette, dancing on the strings of your duties and bloodline...Such a sad fate for a prestigious and intellectual such as yourself," Hide turned around in his chair to face the brunette who had been standing at his door. Hide sensed his presence there for a while.

"Is that so? You really think that I'm a slave to my crown?" Copernicus wondered aloud, his voice stern and his eyes were full of cold hatred for the vampire dressed in red in front of him.

"Isn't that obvious? Your method of rule is ineffective. That is why your government has failed you and your previous figureheads have died." Was he truly that blind? Hide had known all along that his system of government resulted in nothing but failure. He was shocked that someone who was usually as intelligent as he was would miss a point as prominent as that.

Copernicus said nothing, his frown deepened.

"You have some balls, showing up alone." Did he really think that he was going to beat him one-on-one? How amusing.

"You're alone as well," the brunette told him. It was only the two of them, no guards, no henchmen, and no knights. It was as it should be. All of the conditions were right for a proper duel between men.

"I didn't count on having a visitor today. Guess you caught me alone." It was truly unfortunate...for Copernicus.

Copernicus placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"The Rigatama, is that what you plan on slaying me with? The very sword that I taught you to use when you were a boy. No wonder you were able to get in here. A sword with that power can easily topple over an army of vampires," Hide showed no signs of being afraid. During the whole conversation he was either amused or casual, as if the two were having a nice tea party.

"I'm thirty-two, hardly a boy anymore. My skills have perfected." That was something Copernicus planned on showing him first hand.

"Do you think you can beat me?" Hide cocked his head and stood, pushing his chair to the side as he walked up to the brunette. "Do you have the guts? Can you kill me now? I am the only person who stands in your way, just as you are to me. At any moment, one of us could lash out at the other, not knowing the repercussions."

Hide quickly drew his sword; the tip of the blade was below Copernicus' chin, inches away from his neck. The brunette made no effort to move, nor did he express shock. He was just as stone cold as he was the moment he walked into the room. "Just as quickly as you can end my life, I can also end yours. Is it really such a good idea, when you consider the odds?"

"You murdered Prince Yale," it was the coldest tone that Copernicus could muster. When Hide looked into those navy blue eyes, he could see no emotion. It was as if the vampire before him was a machine more than a living being with emotions.

"You can't stand it, can you?" Hide teased, smiling. "Poor thing, you've lost everyone in your family. You're the only Wittenburg in existence. I commend Hizaki for a brilliant assassination, and you were the messenger to deliver the glorious news. Don't you feel like a wonderful king? Strange to think he's been alive all this time."

Blue eyes widened a little. Copernicus didn't know Hide didn't possess that kind of knowledge. "You didn't know he was alive?"

"Estella Nu had been secretly keeping him alive. If he and that Millie girl hadn't have escaped, we never would have known." It was thanks to his side that they had learned of such things.

"You will never get the throne, and if I die, I'll take you down with me so you don't get the pleasure of putting the Time of Ending into effect," Copernicus was going to make sure that The Time of Ending ended with the two of them and had no chance to bleed over into another generation of vampires.

Hide smiled a little to himself. "I'd expect nothing less from nobility. It's too bad that you're just a sad little pawn, just a marionette who willingly danced on the chains King Carlyle placed around you. That's the thing about royalty, they all have it pounded into their heads to either do as their ancestors or go completely against their method of rule.

"Everything is planned. Sure, you're the ultimate authority and you can oversee anything, but you can't make choices on your own. The royal breed is a stupid one, so prim and proper. You have to act a certain way, dress a certain way...a mere puppet and a slave to the people. Let's face it; you haven't done a thing to make yourself happy." All Copernicus had done was what others thought he should do. It was about what made the people happy, not what made him happy. It was such a shallow life. A life that Hide didn't want any part of, a life that he refused to lead once the Time of Ending was in put into place.

"My happiness is the safety of Ramada." That's what gave him strength. That was the true source of his joy.

"There you go no brain," Hide waved in dismissal. "You might as well be one of Hizaki's puppets. You're just as bad as your Black Knights. You're just as worthless as Prince Yale. I thought for certain that you could be better. I raised you to be an iron-fisted ruler who had both class and tenacity.

"I even gave you the Rigatama, my prized creation and taught you to fight with it so you wouldn't be a wimp, but even that failed. Honestly, how much can you screw up, Copernicus? You fail at everything."

Before he could utter another word, a whip comprised of red energy swept him off of his feet. It flung the vampire across the room and slammed into a wall. Copernicus was right on Hide's form, delivering a brutal punch to his midsection. Hide's stomach seared and the blow nearly made him vomit from the force. Hide looked up into those mechanical eyes with a pained expression, and the words came out, filled with repulsion and hatred.

"I am no one's puppet."

...To Be Continued