Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Illusions ❯ Dead Prince's Dance ( Chapter 51 )

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Shattered Illusions

Chapter 51: Dead Prince's Dance

By: Melissa Norvell

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Two weeks passed since the news of the mute prince's body being dug up. Everyone had spent that time resting, planning for their final fight with Hizaki. After their wounds were healed, they trained with each other, heightening their battle skills and upping their endurance and strength. It was crucial that they prepare for the psivamp. Who knew what kind of possesion games he had in store for them next time?

Tsubomi walked out on the balcony, dressed in her usual attire. It was actually nice to wear something that wasn't a pink sun dress. As much as she had admitted that she was a woman she didn't long for dresses and make up. The days of glitter and glamor were far behind her, along with her career as a stripper.

'Nothing has changed much since that moment.' She thought to herself as a gentle breeze flowed through her hair. Tsubomi closed her eyes, reveling in how nice the warm air felt against her skin. 'Copernicus and I have only managed to grow closer. We've even talked about getting married. That was a shock, but I think he's worried about what will happen with Hizaki. We haven't heard anything out of him in two weeks. It's strange how if feels peaceful right now. Maybe it's the calm before the storm.'

"Hey! Tsubomi!" She heard a male voice call to her.

Glancing down, her laid her sights on Millie, who was wearing a blue and white lolita dress, accompanied by Zino, who was dressed in his usual clothes. He was a man of rustic style, after all. He waved at her with both arms, as if to get her attention.

"Come down here with us!" Cupping his hands around his mouth, Zino shouted up to her. "Everyone's having tea!"

"Sure," she turned and walked through the room she shared with Copernicus and down the stairs. As she walked through the living room, the portrait of Prince Yale that hung on the wall caught her eye. The girl paused and looked up at it in deep thought for a moment. 'Prince Yale Axis Wittenburg...His body has been missing for two weeks that we know of. The last time Millie saw his grave, his casket was still under ground.'

Turning her gaze away, she glanced in the kitchen. "It must be really annoying, not being able to rest even after you're dead."

Sighing, she continued into the kitchen, where everyone was sitting at the tea table. They all had cups of tea and pieces of cake. Chatter filled the kitchen, accompanied by infrequent laughter. Oddly enough, it was peaceful considering their problems. Everyone seemed jovial but Teru, who stared at his piece of cake.

Millie leaned into him. "It's good cake, you know? Copernicus is a really good cook."

"Yeah," Teru said lifelessly.

"Are you alright?" The gun slinger looked concerned. "You haven't been yourself since Shiva died."

"I just need some time is all. We've never been apart...never, never, never. I miss her so much." Hanging his head, he felt the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Teru," Millie tried to chide him with a gentle smile. "I'm here for you."

"We have to take out Hizaki...or my sister's death will mean nothing." More than anything, the fact that she might not be avenged hurt him the most. Teru's entire purpose in the fight from that point on out was to fight for Shiva's sacrifice.

"The final battle will be very soon," Copernicus educated everyone. "Hizaki has surely found out that Hide's been murdered by now. All I have to do is wait."

Tsubomi glanced to him, picking up her tea cup. "He's probably planning something."

"Well, that's scary in itself. We couldn't beat him last time, when you were possessed." Just thinking about what they all went through during that incident gave Zino war flashbacks he'd rather forget.

"We only fought Hizaki for a small amount of time. We were mostly fighting against Copernicus," Tsubomi could only hope that it was a factor in what made the battle so difficult last time.

"Yeah, since they didn't need you anymore, they were just going to use you as a personal guard," Millie hoped that was what made the fight so hard. She didn't want to think that the drag queen was unbeatable.

"I'm happy to have you back," Horatio didn't think they could survive another fight with Copernicus. They barely lived through the last mess.

"I'm so sorry, Sir Horatio...and to you as well, Prince Teru." It was a near fatal mistake and despite showing him how much of a slave he had been, so many useless things resulted from it. Copernicus had a heavy heart, filled with regret.

"It wasn't your fault. You were possessed," Teru knew that he couldn't blame it on the vampire. As much as he wanted to, the situation really was out of his control. He never would have killed Shiva on his own.

"I'll make it up to you when this is over with," Copernicus wasn't sure how he was going to do that yet, but he would.

"Well, it's not guaranteed things won't screw up. I know he wants to initiate the Time of Ending," Teru brought up Hizaki's main objective, something that everyone had kept in hindsight until that moment.

"He already has," Copernicus didn't like delivering that grim news, but it was better that they knew what was going on. "They've been reporting sightings on the news. Humans are beginning to hate us. If the hatred continues to grow, they'll form a rebellion and rise up to challenge us."

It was just as the Time of Ending had stated. Humans and vampires would be at war, no one would be able to trust anyone and paranoia would reign supreme, ripping bonds asunder as genocide in cold blood was committed. Why hadn't he seen this before? It started with his parent's deaths and carried on all those years.

He had to stop it.

"This will be it," Millie looked down at her tea cup, holding the porcelain in both hands, "the final battle."

"Man, I don't know if I'm ready for this." Even though Zino had trained, he still wasn't sure if he could stand up to Hizaki in his current condition. He was worried that he would end up like Shiva.

"I mean, it's just Hizaki-" Teru stated to say, before he was cut off.

"Providing that he hasn't possessed anyone," Copernicus reminded them.

"Damn it," Teru sighed, leaning his head in his hand, "you're right. It was hard enough fighting you."

"I feel like a fool for letting him get to me like that," the Inheritor lowered his head.

"It's alright," Tsubomi cast him a sympathetic glance. "You're not the only one it's happened to." She was also used as a puppet by Hide and Hizaki. It wasn't to the same extent as Copernicus was, but it was still just as bad.

"For now, we must think of a plan." If they wanted to even have the upper hand, it was imperative that they strategize. To Horatio, it was the only way they'd get ahead.

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Everyone stood around the desecrated gravesite. Each of them talked amongst each other with visages of sorrow and confusion as the ever present question battered their psyche: who would do such a thing, and why? It was baffling as to why someone would want Yale's corpse, especially after all of this time.

"Man, this place was destroyed," Zino looked at the scattered clumps of dirt that lay around haphazardly.

"I still can't believe that someone would do something like this," Millie shook her head solemnly. It really hurt that she couldn't even provide her prince with a peaceful rest after death.

"It's too bad, really," the black-haired man glanced over his shoulder, then turned completely around. His face lit up in shock as he laid eyes on what was before him.

Millie cast him a glance of confusion before the uttered a 'huh' in response and mimicked his actions.

"Move," Zino's tone was strong as he shoved her in the shoulder violently and jumped out of the way as a blade flew in between them. It barely missed them as the girl fell to the ground and he landed a few feet away. His visage was riddled with confusion. "What the-? Who? No way..."

In that moment, his worst nightmares came true.

Millie lay on her stomach, crushing blades of grass below her. Her face scrunched up in pain as she slowly pushed herself up into the sitting position. "What's going on?" When she realized what exactly had happened, her eyes widened and her body locked up in fear. Standing before her was a familiar sight. "P...P...P...Pr..." she could hardly believe it, "Prince Yale..."

The Prince stood before her, radiating a foreboding presence. He pointed his rusted blade at her and stared at the girl with blank, glowing eyes. Even though his corpse should have been decomposed, he wore what looked like a new skin perfectly. Yale's features were washed out and his hair was dull, giving him a sickly look.

Drawing back his sword, he readied himself for his next move.

"Isn't that the prince you loved?" Zino was certain that was Prince Yale, but he was supposed to be dead.

"How? How in the hell-" she was cut off as she glanced at his chest where the massive stain from the gunshot that fateful night brought a painful reminder to her senses. Visions of that day assaulted her mind: the bullet ripped through his chest and everything stood still, the pain seeped back into the ventricles of her heart as she remembered falling to the floor, weeping over his loss, hugging his dying form close. "No way..."

Then, something hit her, jolting her body as a flow of anger rushed through her veins. It was powerful and uncontrollable, surging through her with an incredible force as she rose to her feet. Her fists shook and teeth gritted together. "Who the hell are you? You're not Prince Yale."

She refused to believe it. There was no way that Millie would accept that this was the man she loved.

"Oh, but I am Prince Yale. However, I'm a different Prince Yale than you know. I dance to the tune of a different instrument entirely," the blonde cocked his head to the side, a smirk planted on his face and voice in a pitch of amusement.

"How can you talk? Your vocal chords were severed when you were held captive by Estella Nu," Horatio wouldn't believe it, not without proof. He might have looked like Yale, but the prince he knew of the past was long gone.

"The dead need no explanations," sticking one leg out across the ground, he held up his blade and swung it around, sending a wave of energy at his opponents. They scattered out of the way to evade the attack as it slammed into the ground, sending shredded grass through the air and a laceration in its wake.

Tsubomi, Copernicus and Teru approached the puppet prince.

"What madness is this?" Copernicus could hardly believe that his brother was in front of him, moving, walking and even talking.

"There's...no way...Prince Yale, he can't be...still alive. No. I saw him die," Tsubomi was in disbelief. 'What the hell is going on here?'

Copernicus' visage hardened. "It's a form of possession. That's why he dug up Yale's body. He made him into a living puppet," he couldn't believe that he hadn't made that connection before. It all made sense now.

"Is that it?" Tsubomi asked, glancing at her master.

"He may have done the same thing to Hide." If that was true, then the situation was just as bad as it was before.

Just then, Yale changed at Millie, who blocked him with his original blade that she kept after he died. The two had a power struggle, pushing their blades against each other in an attempt to overpower each other.

"Prince Yale..." Millie grunted as she stood her ground, 'the man I loved...to see you like this...It's really painful to deal with your sparkling eyes that were once so full of emotions. Your charming personality...all gone. Any semblance of yourself is just...gone. Is this really your fate? Why?'

She pushed him back and he swung at her. The gun slinger blocked him, and their blades clashed over and over again. Each strike connected, and the sound of clanks were heard in repetition. This Prince Yale was relentless and his strikes were strong. He nearly knocked the sword out of her hand.

'Why couldn't you just have stayed dead? I can't...I can't kill you,' Millie wasn't over his death, much less having to deal with this. "What kind of sword is that? I've never seen it before in my life?"

No doubt it was one of Hide's contraptions.

"It's an old project of Hide's that he had when he had first come to serve my parents," Copernicus educated her on the blade's origins. "I remember that sword well. It controls magic, mainly darkness. When Prince Yale strikes, the darkness emitted from the sword is powerful enough to knock Millie off balance. She can barely stand up against him."

Every hit Millie blocked, her body jolted and feet slid backwards. It send a wave through her body and her arms felt as if every muscle in her arms had been liquefied to the consistency of jello.

"I'm coming!" Horatio called out as he tried to rush in to help her. Suddenly, he felt something grip his wrist. Shock lit up across his face as he saw Copernicus, "my lord."

"Let her fight this one alone. She should be the one who kills him this time, for both of their good," the king knew what she was trying to do. Above it all, Millie needed to get past her feelings and kill him off.

"What's wrong?" Yale taunted, faking sympathy as he swung his blade at his girlfriend. "Can you not kill me?"

"Huh?" Millie's eyes widened. 'Every time I hear your voice...or see your face, I think of the man I love and I can't kill you.' Confliction and pain painted itself on her visage. "You're right," she whispered in defeat, "maybe I can't kill you."

"Then I'll kill you," Yale plunged his blade forward and the girl dodged out of the way, causing him to stumble forward and nearly fall into the hole of his own grave. He stopped at the edge and jumped over it, swinging his sword down.

Millie saw him coming and darted out of the way as his sword plunged into the earth again. A burst of wind swept across the grass, causing it to wave. Bracing herself against the blast, she tried to fend off against it but was knocked off of her feet and thrown back. Her back beat against the ground.

Teru called out the girl's name in concern, then glanced around for any sight of the wayward prince. A scowl etched onto his features. 'Where is that bastard? I'm so incredibly sick of all of this. He's just manipulating people's emotions. Not only that, but the damned bastard is feeding off of them. I won't let my sister's death be in vain.'

"He won't get away with this," there was a promise.

Yale's sword plunged into the ground again as Millie darted out of the way. The prince cut to the side to try and get her as she moved. He missed with the blade but shoved his hand forward and blasted her backwards. The girl tumbled head over heels into a bush. The branches scraped her skin and leaved fell around her.

"What do I do?" Millie asked herself as her eyes darted around wildly in the confines of the bush. Splotches of sunlight filtered through and dappled her body with light. "Come on, Millie. Pull yourself together! This isn't the Prince Yale that you know. He's being used by Hizaki. But still...It's still his body. It's still Prince Yale's real body."

Suddenly, a sword blade cut through the bush and plunged into the ground beside of her, causing her to lunge out of the bush. Yale darted after her and Millie tried to leg sweep him but he jumped over the limb, sending another burst of energy at her. The girl dodged again and the force blasted the bush, stripping it of its leaves and causing them to rain down. He stood away from her, back turned the girl.

Millie pulled out her gun, but another blast of invisible energy knocked her backwards. Yelling, her body was catapulted back and crashed into the ground.

Turning around, the prince charged at her again. He was relentless about wanting to kill her.

"I hate just standing back here and watching this, even if Millie wants it this way." Here they were, facing off against a big enemy and Tsubomi could do nothing to contribute to the battle.

"You know that you'd be angry if she interfered with your battle," Copernicus could see it from both ends, and he decided to remind her of how she would feel if she was in the gun slinger's shoes.

"When I had to face off against you and you were possessed, it killed me. I couldn't bring myself to hurt you," the tom boy knew that to an extent, Millie had to be feeling the same way.

"Yale is dead. That's where he belongs. It might sounds cold but it's the natural order of life. While it's true that his body is moving and it seems alive, the cold, hard fact of life is that it isn't. Since his body has been reanimated, his soul was torn from its resting place and shoved back into his body. He had been used to resting and now he's being forced to live again," Copernicus could only imagine what that would do to a person's soul. To be ripped out of the ground after someone had already been put to rest must have been a terrible experience.

"Is he in pain?" Tsubomi asked.

"I believe he is. I think, in many ways, the prince is begging to be put out of his misery." Even when he had fallen under the possession of Hizaki, he longed to be free. More than anything, Copernicus thought Yale just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Then Millie has the wrong idea. Killing Yale would make him happy. He wouldn't think anything bad about her at all." Maybe Millie was just afraid that he would die again, thinking that she was a monster. Tsubomi thought that Copernicus would have thought the same thing if she killed him while he was possessed. Yale was dead, but she was unsure if his spirit was watching her actions or judging her beyond the grave.

"I just hope that she finds it out before she gets defeated by him," Copernicus didn't want her weaknesses to get in the way of what she had to do. It was a lesson she and only she could learn.

"What will happen if she looks like she's getting beat?" Teru wanted to know if he had to act if she needed his help. Surely, they weren't going to just wait around until she got killed to act.

"We'll have no choice but to jump in and help her. I refuse to just stand around while she's being defeated." It was better for Horatio that they escape with everyone instead of risk another casualty.

"I agree, but we should only jump in if we have to," Copernicus wanted Millie to overcome her issues and grow on her own.

Millie rose to her feet again and evaded his blade. 'Prince Yale...they're right...this isn't you...' It was beginning to sink in, as happier memories of the once kind-hearted prince filled her senses. He handed her a rose and winked playfully at her and his face faded away once more. 'This isn't the Prince Yale I knew. The Prince Yale I knew was sweet and gentle...'

The girl turned to him, determination on her face. "You could never be him. You're just some monster that's inhabiting his body."

Yale darted at her again, sword drawn. His pace was fast as he closed in on the girl. Her friends watched as he got closer and closer to her, ready to end her life. Millie closed her eyes, standing there as if no threat was present.

A small smile crossed her face as she looked at peace with herself. "My sweet prince, you should be resting. You're tired from being alive."

Footsteps became faster as the distance between them closed.

"I loved you, and I always will. I was happy that we got to know each other so well when you were alive, but this isn't how it should be. You shouldn't suffer anymore," her voice was sweet as she drew her gun.

Yale drew his sword back, ready to strike.

"Rest in peace, my dear, sweet prince," Millie said sweetly and pulled the trigger.

A shot rang through the air and Yale's eyes went wide as the bullet ripped through his body. His assailant held her position, her hair waving slightly in the breeze as a stern frown crossed her features. Laughter sounded as everyone turned to see the source of it.

Hizaki was standing there, with his zombie lover at his side. He stroked his dead partner's face lovingly and offered him a seductive smile.

"Now is the time, my love. We shall destroy the Wittenburg family and begin the Time of Ending," the feminine vampire intended to carry out his promise.

"That's..." Tsubomi could hardly believe it.

Copernicus gasped.

"Isn't he supposed to be dead?" Teru pointedat Hide.

"He's a zombie, just like Prince Yale was." This was bad. The Inheritor was going to have to face him all over again.

"So, this is it. This is what it's all come down to," Millie turned to see the ones left before her.

"There's no avoiding it now," Horatio reasoned with himself.

"It's all or nothing, and I'm more than ready for it," Teru smirked and slammed a fist in his hand.

Tsubomi's face hardened. 'This is it. Do or die. I just hope that everyone comes out of this alive.'

Hizaki kissed the other man, then pulled away slowly and cast him a visage of affection. "Now my love, watch as I get revenge for everything they have done to you."

Turning, the feminine man rushed at the group of advisories, ready to obliterate all of them. More than anything, he wanted them to pay for their wrong doings. Even if Hide was gone, he wasn't going to be forgotten and the most he could do was continue to carry out his master plan. He would have wanted it that way.

"Prepare to face me, Copernicus. I'll drag you down to the depths of hell."

That was a promise.

...To Be Continued