Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Whispers in the Dark ❯ One-Shot

Disclaimer: The basis of the characters seen in Whispers in the Dark comes from Amaria's role-playing game, A War of Three Nations: Earth Divided. All characters, except for Talim and Preia (who belong to Amaria) and Ryeden and Rye (who belong to Hellfire), belong to me.

 

Author's Note: I told Amaria that if we kept this up, Three Nations might turn into its own fandom. ^_^; I don't think there's a long way to go, but at the same time…well… It really can't be called much a `fandom' with so very little people knowing of it, but hey! There are obscure series, even in anime… right? </unrelated stuff>

 

Anyway, just a little thing that came to me while listening to Cascada… and Sting/Cheb Mami.

 

Summary: Her ears twitched as she heard a fleeting sound within the grass, and before she could cry “Ryeden! Watch out, behind you!”, he was already sinking onto the ground…

 

- - - - - - - - -

WHISPERS IN THE DARK

By Snowy/bnczabala

- - - - - - - - -

 

“Oh! Ryeden! You came!”

 

The Lady Alexxis was smiling grandly at the Netherdrake youth who stepped into the Alexxis Mansion. Ryeden blushed under the welcoming gaze that the Lady Aceline was giving him, but entered anyway, eyes quickly averting to the figure that was stepping down the stairs. He didn't know how she managed, but in some way, Edeline Alexxis, Aceline's daughter, would always be elegant and fleet-footed in whatever she would do.

 

Ryeden breathed a sigh of relief, “Good. I'm not late, am I?”

 

Edeline smiled beautifully at him, “Just be glad Father and Ezekiel went out hunting, Ryeden, or they would have disapproved.”

 

“Oh,” Aceline said cheerfully, politely hiding a laugh behind her hand at Ryeden's fearful expression (he knew how bad the Lord Alexxis' temper was, and he did not even want to think about Ezekiel's), “Zephyr wouldn't mind, Ryeden, and Ezekiel is another case. After Edeline's fever nearly took her, he's been overly protective of her.”

 

Ryeden nodded, showing that he understood the feeling of being overprotective of a sibling, or a close family member. He then extended his hand to Edeline, smiling grandly at her, “Shall we, Lady Alexxis?”

 

There was a very evident cherry-shaded blush on Edeline's face that made her mother chuckle, but accepted Ryeden's invitation nonetheless. He was going to `surprise' her today since her father and brother were out, and since he'd invited her weeks earlier, Edeline had been dying to know where he would be taking her. Ryeden led her to the front of the mansion's door, and upon exit, two horses came bounding toward them. One was Edeline's own, Rain Dancer; the second was Ryeden's, she assumed, as it certainly did not look like one of the Alexxis family's horses—and Edeline had memorized each and every detail on all twenty-five horses.

 

Ryeden motioned for Edeline to mount her horse, and as she did so, the Netherdrake youth mounted his horse as well. Edeline could not resist the temptation to ask, “Ryeden? Where are we going?”

 

Ryeden looked at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “Patience, milady.”

 

Edeline averted her gaze immediately, the cherry-shaded blush still on her face. Ryeden laughed good-naturedly, and then began a quick gallop, turning back to the shocked Edeline,

 

“Come, Edeline! Quickly!”

 

Edeline nodded meekly, coaxing Rain Dancer into a fast gallop that, in no less than even a few seconds, had Edeline riding beside Ryeden. Holding on to Rain Dancer's reins with one hand and then quickly tucking locks of her hair behind her ear; she stole a look at Ryeden, and immediately looked away when she saw that he, too, had been stealing glimpses of her. Her heart was pounding quickly, oh-so very quickly, and her breathing became very fast.

 

`W—why?' Edeline questioned herself. `Why am I feeling this way?'

 

During the rest of the ride, Edeline kept her head down, eyes looking anywhere but to her left. She did not want to know whether or not Ryeden was still looking at her, because that would mean looking at him in turn. She was so confused. `I mean,' she continued to think, `I see men every day—Father, Ezekiel, the servants, the people of Fayrie—but whenever I see Ryeden… It's just… I feel so different around him!' She let out a frustrated groan, which eventually led to Ryeden's turning to her and asking, “Something bothering you, Edeline?”

 

“No!” Edeline snapped, but gasped immediately as she saw the hurt look flash through Ryeden's eyes. Wide eyes looking at Ryeden apologetically, she said, “I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!”

 

“It's fine,” Ryeden whispered lowly. Edeline felt horrible.

 

She kept her eyes and face low again, and let out a shriek as Ryeden moved swiftly and placed his horse in front of hers. She breathed in and out, trying to regain composure, but it was all lost as Ryeden smiled. There was still hurt in his eyes, although it was almost nonexistent, but Edeline managed a small smile back.

 

“I'm guessing,” she started, “we've arrived?”

 

“Not quite,” Ryeden teased, and then swooped her off of her horse.

 

“Rye—!”

 

Ryeden grinned at her, and using his demon speed—which was, in itself, great and fast—he gave a panther-like leap over several of the lower trees in the area that they were in. As soon as Edeline saw the scenery that they were going into, she let out a gasp that sounded pleasantly surprised.

 

“Ryeden, this is—” There were no words that could describe the utter unearthliness of the field of flowers that Ryeden Netherdrake brought her to. It was a rainbow on earth, a beautiful production that only the gods and goddesses could ever manage, with flowers of golden yellow to one side, and then to the other, there were various blues and purples that were gently caressing the landscape. It was as if she'd entered another dimension that lived and breathed only paradise; a paradise that which no harm nor death nor ugliness could ever touch. She was in unexplainable awe, and when she turned to look at Ryeden, he was smiling tenderly at the happiness that she was exhuming, just as if he'd known this was what her reaction would be. “Wow. It's…amazing, Ryeden.”

 

“Isn't it?” Ryeden's voice took on a low tone that was almost a whisper. “But you are more beautiful.”

 

Those words snapped Edeline into attention, and then she pseudo-laughed, pretending as if she hadn't heard, “Pardon?” `Did you just say what I thought you said?'

 

Ryeden shook his head, “Ah, nothing.”

 

Edeline beamed at him then, interlocking her fingers with his, and then she led him into the field, smiling beautifully as they began running through the field together. The Alexxis lady was laughing, letting her hair loose and free and letting it spin wildly around her beautiful face, and the Netherdrake youth was grinning, his fangs proudly shone and unhidden, his own black hair let loose from its red tie.

 

They were, in that one instant, free spirits who had nothing on their shoulders—not the weight of nobility, not the weight of prejudice, not the weight if anything—and they were enjoying it, wishing that the moment would never end.

 

However, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

 

And it did.

 

As Ryeden was twirling her around, her ears twitched, hearing a fleeting sound within the grass. Before she could cry out—her throat was immediately dry and while she would force it to, her mouth could not function, could not speak—he was already sinking onto the ground.

 

Edeline screamed then. She gazed at the ground where several flowers had been trampled on by Ryeden's heavy form, and then she altered the direction in which—there it was. It was a large snake, and it was a wonder that neither she nor Ryeden had heard it approaching, what with their sensitive hearing, Ryeden's especially. It had bared its fangs as Ryeden had done earlier, Edeline surmised from the two bite marks that appeared on his legs, and by the way his leg was turning blue and by the way his breathing was hitched, that snake was poisonous.

 

It was as if God had snapped his fingers that instant, or it was as if a deity above them had snapped the cord from which Edeline's control suspended from, from which her composure came from, for Edeline lost herself immediately. As she stared, shaking uncontrollably and already sobbing, his lips were turning a sickly blue. She knew that horseback-riding would merely make it worse, so Edeline tried the only other tactic she had. She kneeled, and as she wrapped her arms around him, she numbed his leg, hoping to stop the poison from progressing any further as she worked her Earth to transport her to the closest mansion near by.

 

It just had to be the Louinia-Netherdrake mansion.

 

Edeline cursed, a very unladylike motion, beneath her breath as her Earth spun around her and Ryeden, and then she found herself no longer in the paradise—the `Eden'—that had been ruined by the snake—always the snake—but in front of the mansion. Gardeners who were tending to the beautiful flowers that were growing on the front of the mansion gasped as Edeline tried to keep Ryeden suspended in the air with her Wind as she ran, not bothering to care who was watching her, to knock ferociously on the grand doorway. She panted, and paled as Talim opened the door.

 

Talim Netherdrake gasped at the sight of her brother, carried gently by the Earth behind Edeline, and instantly noticed the blue hue of his lips, and of the Ice that was still circulating around his leg. “What did you do!?” she shrieked as she ran out of the mansion. “What did you do!?”

 

Edeline blanched, no color left in what was once her healthy face, and all the life had been drained out of her beautiful dark blue eyes. Tears were the only response that Talim received, and soon both females were sobbing openly, Edeline unable to form a response, and Talim equally unable to form a spiteful word. The Lord and Lady Rye Netherdrake instantly came out, and Preia gasped, “Ryeden!” as soon as she saw her son. Rye's eyes widened as he recognized the bite marks on his son's leg, and instantly coaxed Edeline's Earth to lower him on the ground, gently coaxing Edeline to remove the Ice that had been stopping the poison from circulating through his blood any further. He dipped his mouth onto his son's leg, sucked out poison, and immediately spit it out. Rye made a face at the taste of the poison, but repeated the process as Preia tried to comfort her daughter. Edeline stood immediately, feeling today to be the worst of her days, and stood to leave.

 

Talim, eyes lit with blind fury, would not let her go. She stood from the comfort of her mother's arms, moved from the entrance of the mansion to the edge of the gate, and slapped Edeline.

 

Bad move.

 

“Talim Netherdrake!”

 

Not even Rye had authority over Lords Zephyr and Ezekiel Alexxis as they came riding through the forest that lay west of the Louinia-Netherdrake household. Ezekiel was turning red, and Zephyr looked appalled. He dismounted Silverwind and Ezekiel stepped off of Raging Fire, and both looked ready to kill.

 

“That,” said Zephyr, mighty general of Fayrie, towering over Talim, whose mother was immediately by her side, “was uncalled for.”

 

“She almost killed my brother!” Talim shouted, hysterically, as she pointed an accusing finger in Edeline's direction. Edeline curled up in her younger brother's embrace, shuddering as she heard Talim's voice.

 

“I—I wouldn't be able to—” Edeline began meekly, but Talim, even as she was restrained by Preia who occasionally looked in Rye and Ryeden's direction, would have none of it.

 

“Oh!? Then why's he got poison in him!?”

 

Edeline screamed as she collapsed, unsupported by her brother's strong arms, sobbing into the ground that began to move, bidden by her unconscious commands. The gardeners screamed as their plants were brought to life, the ground beneath them opening and some of them even dropping into the chasm below. Talim and Preia inched away from the uncontrolled girl whose emotions were let loose.

 

Only one voice could reach her now.

 

Zephyr was shouting to her, calling her back from the plane of existence that she had created by herself where only she was in, but she did not respond. Ezekiel was pleading, telling her to stop, but she could not hear him.

 

Only one voice could reach her now.

 

Talim, now afraid of the girl although she was older by a few days, tried to reach her, but Edeline would not have it. Preia tried to reach out to Edeline, but the youthful Alexxis lady would not grab her hand.

 

Only one voice could reach her now.

 

Rye looked on in horror at the youth's power, and he was frozen, immobile, and unable to do anything. Ryeden, whose lips and leg were no longer blue, attempted to sit up, but as he was told soothingly by his father to sit down, his and Edeline's eyes met for that one brief moment.

 

At that one moment, everything in the world ceased to exist.

 

It was only Edeline. It was only Ryeden.

 

Her tear-stained face turned paper-white as she slowly moved toward him, feeling as if there were tons upon tons of metal strapped to her feet as she did so. “Ryeden,” she whispered, feeling miserable although her heart was pounding harshly and fast. “I didn't mean for you to get hurt—I never meant to—”

 

Ryeden struggled to pull himself up to his feet, Edeline rushing forward with a scared look as he began to topple to the ground once more. She set him onto a sitting position down onto the ground, and began to openly sob into his chest. She did not feel the warmth of his arms go around her slender waist as she did so.

 

“I'm sorry,” she murmured in between sobs and gasps for breath, “I'm sorry.”

 

“Shh,” Ryeden cooed, mind unable to compare Edeline's situation to how Talim would act during a thunderstorm. “There's no need to be sorry. It wasn't anything major.” Oh, he was horrible at comedy. “See? I'm still alive.”

 

Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say. Edeline merely sobbed harder.

 

“Shh,” he said again, and as the both of them began to calm down from the day's events, Edeline straightened herself just in time to catch Ryeden's body as he fainted promptly into her lap.

 

 

***

“Hey, Edeline,” Talim began as Zephyr and Rye carried Ryeden into his bedroom, Ezekiel staying faithfully by his sister's side as Preia went downstairs to fetch the cloths and waters necessary for Ryeden's fever. “A—about earlier. I'm really sorry.”

 

Edeline acted as if she did not hear the elder girl; it was not that she was ignoring her on purpose, of course, but her mind was somewhere else. `Ryeden…' her mind often thought, `I hope you're alright…'

 

“Edeline?” asked Talim fearfully as the other girl refused to answer her.

 

Edeline's eyes snapped into focus as she heard the other girl repeatedly call her name, “I'm sorry? You were saying…?”

 

Talim bowed her head in embarrassment, “I'm really sorry about earlier.”

 

Edeline managed a small smile, “It was my fault, anyway. I distracted his senses with the fun that we were having. You have nothing to say sorry for, Talim.”

 

“But I feel so bad for slapping you!” the elder wailed.

 

Edeline waved her off. “No need to feel bad, Talim. Oh,” she said as they stopped in front of a mahogany door. Rye was already opening it, motioning for Zephyr to carry in Ryeden's body. “This is his room?”

 

Talim nodded.

 

As soon as Rye and Zephyr had settled Ryeden beneath his covers—Talim and Edeline averted their eyes as the two fathers undressed Ryeden—Preia came up and dabbed a washcloth to her son's forehead, telling everyone else to go, that she'd take care of him.

 

Guilt washed over Edeline. She'd caused this mess. She'd clean it up.

 

“Lady Netherdrake,” she said tentatively, hesitantly, “I—I'll take care of Ryeden. It's the least I can do for troubling you all.”

 

Rye, Zephyr, Ezekiel, Talim, and Preia all exchanged looks, before Zephyr sighed. “That's my girl,” he said, smiling proudly at her.

 

“Just be sure you get home tonight, Sis,” said Ezekiel, teasingly. “Or I'll send Cibynel to fetch you.”

 

Edeline smiled at him, “No need for that, dear brother.”

 

Talim bowed her head, throat constricted with embarrassment and thanks, and Preia and Rye smiled at her. “Please take good care of him,” Preia said.

 

Edeline said again, “It's the least I can do, Lady Netherdrake.”

 

One by one, the Netherdrakes and the Alexxis sans Edeline exited the room after each put their hand on Ryeden's forehead. Preia left the bowl of water and the washcloths next to Edeline, who gratefully accepted them. Edeline took the washcloth in her hand, dampened it, and she wet Ryeden's forehead with it. Unconsciously, her other hand reached up to caress Ryeden's cheeks. Edeline's eyes were half-lidded as if she were controlled by another entity as she did so, and her mouth seemed to move of its own accord,

 

“I would never have been able to kill you, Ryeden.” Her tone lowered to a whisper, one hand caressing his forehead with the washcloth and the other caressing his cheek. “I love you too much for that.”

 

***

His surroundings were black but he felt the warmth of a woman's hands.

 

`I would never have been able to kill you, Ryeden.'

 

Talim—? No. It couldn't be.

 

Mother—? No. Not even close.

 

Edeline—? Could she really have—?

 

`I love you too much for that.'

 

Ryeden's eyes opened immediately as soon as those words came out of Edeline's mouth, and Edeline jumped in surprise, knocking her chair back. “R—Ryeden!” she squeaked. “Er—um—well—did you hear anything I said?”

 

Ryeden grinned at her, his fangs showing. He said weakly, “`I would never have been able to kill you, Ryeden. I love you too much for that.'”

 

Edeline squeaked again, blushing as she stood and turned, but Ryeden caught her hand and turned her around, pulling her down so that she was lying on top of him. Edeline's eyes widened and she blushed, gasping, “R—Ryeden!”

 

Ryeden shifted his hand so that it was resting on her head, and Edeline shifted her body so that her ear was right above his heart. “Listen to it, Ede,” he whispered lowly, his hand now moving to her back, “listen to the beat of my heart.”

 

Edeline closed her eyes, and in that one movement, their surroundings disappeared and only the beat of Ryeden's heart could be heard between the two of them. “It's beating…” she murmured, bringing back the décor of Ryeden's room. “It's so fast…”

 

“It's beating for you, Ede,” Ryeden said.

 

Edeline tucked her head into the crook of Ryeden's shoulder as she moved herself up, and now their hearts were beating against each other. “Ryeden…”

 

“Edeline,” he said, “look at me.”

 

As Edeline did so, Ryeden tucked a hand beneath her chin and tilted towards his mouth, lower… lower…

 

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a breathless Zephyr came back into the room, “I forgot my swo—”

 

Edeline jumped quickly, muffling a scream behind her hands as she did so, “Father! I—we—”

 

Ryeden blushed, and settled on looking anywhere but the doorway. `What came over me? Edeline…'

 

Zephyr bowed his head although Edeline already foresaw the grin forming. “Oh, do forgive me for interrupting,” he chuckled jovially, his eyes sparkling his mirth as he looked back up again. “Do go back to whatever you were going before I so rudely interrupted the both of you.”

 

“Father!”

 

“Lord Zephyr!”

 

He merely laughed as he exited the room.

 

Oh, he was definitely going to tell Ezekiel and Aceline.

 

- - - - - - - - -

 

A/N: Sweet little thing, isn't it?