The Arrival

After that Awkward conversation with king Victor (Rose's Uncle).

Rose sat on the dining-table processing what had just happened while Dmitri and grandmother Mary argued

Rose thought to herself  "am I moving away?! Or is grandma moving away! Am I going to be alone! Is grandma going to be OK? Where is 'Home' she was so confused as grandmother Mary only told her stories about 'home'. They always seemed to be in vague descriptions and the events always seemed to change.

"Alright, FINE! Fine...I'm going to give you three hours and then I'm taking you back. You can bring your little abomination with you as HIS MAJESTY commanded." He said looking at Rose with degrading looks.

Dmitri always looked so serious he reminded Rose of Mrs.Browne He Just looked so intense and strict as she were which made Rose feel unease.

"THREE HOURS! BOY! You better watch how you speak! We'll leave when we feel like leaving and stop! Just stop being disrespectful to MY sweet angel!" She scolded Dmitri as if he was a little boy

"THREE HOUR... I really don't have any more time to waste on this!" He said with a serious tone as if he was a robot with no feelings not toward his grandmother nor toward Rose as if they were just another routine mission he needs to accomplish.

Those degrading looks to rose faded, those caring looks to his grandmother faded. He turned his back on them and slowly walked away.

"Grandma...are you moving?" Rose barely spoke with the saddest fainted tone. Weldon is the only place Rose's ever known this quite, small town where everything seems to go slow that small house she grew up in and known since her first memory "THREE HOURS" how do you say goodbye to a lifetime in Three hours Dmitri's cold voice echoed in her head "an abomination and a freak" that what's they'll think of her there as she was drowning in those horrifying thoughts Grandmother Mary's voice pulled her up.

"No, my sweet angel, WE, are moving! Look at me, my sweet girl! I'm with you! It's sudden and overwhelming, I know but your ungrateful uncle is right it's a better opportunity for us." She said as she slowly hugged her wrapping her arms around her.

Rose couldn't find the warmth in her grandmother's Hug she almost felt suffocated

Suddenly he's 'HER UNCLE' Rose didn't even meet him in person yet. That was literally the first time she talked to him or seen how he looked. A part of Rose wanted to push her grandmother away and reject this whole rushed idea. She loved this town, this house but she also loved her grandmother and she never said NO to her.

"Whatever you think is a good idea..." said Rose even tho she completely rejected the idea.

"Let me go pack! We have what 2 hours and 50 mins lefts" she said with a somewhat sarcastic tone as she pushed her grandmother and rushed upstairs to her room.

As she threw her backpack bag on the bed a wrapped gift fell out of it. She looked at it and remembered that a few days ago she received that gift from her father whom she only sees once a year on her birthday, Or maybe twice on Christmas if she's lucky but whenever she sees him he's always bearing gifts which always came in handy.

She took a hard look at the gift and pulled off the card that was attached to it, she opened it and to her surprise those words where written on the card, those words that she didn't believe in

"HAPPY 16th my little special freak,

Welcome 'HOME'

Love DAD."

She throws the card away and rushes to rip off the gift wrap to reveal a diamond-shaped gadget that looks like the one Dmitri used to summon the projection of King Victor. She held it in her hands looking at it confused until her grandmother walked in carrying what seemed to be the smallest suitcase they own and said "I'm ALL done, Sweetie"

All done, all those years and memories in that small suitcase she stared at the suitcase as if she has seen a ghost her face started to turn white as grandmother Mary said "Of course Dmitri is packing the rest in boxes, at least he's good at something other than complaining" she said chuckling

"Dmitri...?! Oh, I understand" Rose seemed to have only a few words to say she didn't have the energy to say more.

"Yes, DMITRI!!! COME OVER HERE AND HELP ROSE PACK!" She yelled for him

"Help her PACK! What am I your fucking HOUSEKEEPER!" He rushed in the room irritated.

"housekeeper, king's second hand... isn't it the same! Just do it! Look at the poor girl this is all overwhelming for her! Her face is so pale and she-..." grandmother Mary said as Dmitri interrupted her

"She looks fine to me...maybe she's just hungry...." Even tho he sensed that she was disturbed.

He gave her a look as if he was begging her to acknowledge she is fine to make grandmother Mary feel good and not to worry.

"YEES! VERY hungry!, I'm fine just very hungry" She replied to his looks

"Make her some of your disgusting home-cooked meals that she couldn't stop talking about it on the way here," he said with a fake tone

"How dare you! My cooking is art let me prove to you! You sorry excuse of a grandson!!" She said as She rushed down to the kitchen you could hear the slamming of bowls and spoons and mix from upstairs

Now it's only Rose and Dmitri in the Room alone together you can sense how the air was full of Tension Rose stood still. As Dmitri mumbled.

"Lord knows what she's making!"

He placed an empty box on the floor and said "here put whatever is most important to you that fits in that box"

She looked at him without saying anything or even moving. She was still processing what's happening.

He sat on the bed that was filled with clothes bags and boxes. It was so messy and didn't even have a blanket on just sheets and sighed and said: "You know you have less than 2 hours left..."

She ignored him still.

He sighed some more before he spoke "You know I'm just gonna pack what I assume is the most important things to you, I bet they all fit in that small sad box"

"REALLY! you ASSUME! like as if you know me like you know ALL my life would fit in that box! Like I could pick out things as if I'm running away from a fire!" she snapped yelling at him

He completely ignored her standing up looking through her room he stood over her desk and said "ah OK. I see you have only pictures of you and grandma...and bunch of cats....you weirdo...WHICH means you have no friends... and to what Mrs.Browne said about you, You're not an overachiever in school, in fact, you just do well enough to get by..." he mumbled

"Grandmother was very specific about the no friends at the house RULE! And I just got FIRST place in my science project AND AND I GOT an A in English last semester AND I have named MISS green thumps in the harvesting competition at our local farmers market!" She rambled on she started to get defensive

"Yes! Yes very! Impressive Miss Green thumbs" He said sarcastically as he throws the Miss green thumbs trophy in the box

He looked at her messy bed and started looking through the pile of clothes, books, accessories and bags and said

"Giving to the the amount of bags and books and clothes on your bed that means that you don't use your bed often, or at all...which means that you sleep next to grandma.... and that's you're a virgin...How sad..."

"STOP! Just stop judging my life...just.," she said with a tone as if she wanted him to look at her instead of the things that are scattered around her room.

"Life....what life?! You're like what just turned 16..." He said as he was reading that gift card she got from her father, "that's NOT a life you were living ! you don't even know where you came from! I'm not saying you are going to be completely ACCEPTED there but For sure you DO NOT belong here and YOU know it! You have your whole life ahead of you, if it were me I wouldn't put a single thing in that sad box, And go live a new life...a life I chose for myself not follow my overprotective grandmother nor an Uncle I never met or A father that buys his way into my heart....." He continued to say.

Rose stood frozen she was so mesmerized by every word he breathed as if he could see straight into her soul.... she was drawn to him as how could a person sees what's completely inside of you she felt so naked and didn't even mind it.

"...I..." Rose wanted to speak but grandmother Mary walked in interrupting them by saying with the most sarcastic tone "Shut up...AREN'T you the King's Bitch..."

"I am NOT his bitch! I'm his second hand...SECOND HAND!" Dmitri replied was impulsive. as how many times has he been looked down at for being the king's second hand, it's the most honorable highest position a knight could ever have, except that the people knew why he had that position he's always been the king's favorite, Dmitri the one who the king keeled and begged for his life to be Spared.

Down in the kitchen Rose, Dmitri And Grandmother Mary we're sitting on the dining table as grandmother Mary was serving supper, it was a pile of yellow mush that resembled mashed potatoes but was nothing even close to it. not in smell nor taste and she served it with peas, she took out a tray from the oven and served an ashy mushroom looking thing tho it was ashy when you cut through it, it would start to melt with more ashy goop coming out of it.

"What in the name of HELL! Is that?!" Dmitri looked at the food with utter disgust as he gazed straight at Rose who was sitting across him who seemed to be enjoying her food

"Yum! It's on Tuesday! It's stuffed mushrooms!" Rose said as she began to eat the ashy mushroom.

Dmitri was eating the peas with his fork as it was the only thing Grandmother Mary didn't burn.

"Oh no please, please don't tell me you've been feeding the poor freak this shitty food all these years," He said shaking his head as if he was telling Rose not take another bite of that ashy mushroom

"Shitty...how dare you! She loves it! And why would you care about what I feed her! I thought you didn't care about her!" Grandmother Mary and Dmitri started arguing again

"I...I don't but that's just plain child abuse! I'm shocked that no one has summoned the Modron!"

Their voices echoed in the background as Rose was eating her ashy meal. She couldn't hear them because the voices echoing in her head were even louder. She was trying so hard to not hear those voices, in fact, she was trying to focus on what her grandmother and Dmitri were fighting about but the more she focused the louder the voices in her head has gotten.

she thought that this may be the last meal her grandmother would cook for her the voices of doubt and fear made it so hard for her to fight the tears but just before the tears were about to fall Dmitri's voice snapped her out "HEY! You there! It's time, take your migro" he said as he throws the diamond shape device on her lap

"Wait...wait what?" She held it in her hands and jumped out of her chair her heart was beating so fast as the migro started to vibrate

"Oh my sweet angel relax, this a migro it would take us to the underworld, like communication and a transportation device" Grandmother Mary said in a warm tone as she held Rose's hands

"You don't know what a migro is?" Dmitri said looking as he was about to give a lecture about the history of Migros, but he took a deep breath and sighed

"Alright it's time"

Just before Rose could breath another word the migro vibrated one last time making the ground shake and the brightest blinding light came out forcing her eyes, soon she opened them but was blind for a second and as soon as she regained her sight she was standing on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere it was dark and the sky was red unlike anything she has ever seen not at dusk nor dawn did the skies of Weldon ever looked like that "so beautiful..." she whispered looking up captivated by the landscape

The sound of a honk interrupted her gaze as she turn back to see her Grandmother going in a black stretched car and the sight of Dmitri talking to a tall man as if he was giving him orders her gazed turned to Dmitri seeing him under the red bloody sky he looked like as if he was a painting that sight of him has awakened something inside of her but she didn't know what it was. Dmitri noticed her staring he was enjoying how she was shocked and confused it gave him a strange sense of pleasure he got closer to her

"Get in the damn car"

"Oh Right, sorry." she stuttered as she got into the car Dmitri slammed the door behind her she looked at him through the window as the car drifted away she turned to her grandmother "Why didn't he get in the car with us?"

Grandmother Mary expression changed as she said with a soft tone "Because he's not allowed"

"What? Why?" Rose was so confused why would someone not be allowed to get inside a car? Did he kill someone in a car? Because he looks like someone that would do that she thought.

Grandmother Mary turned to Rose and said: "Ah my sweet angel it's a long story, a story I never wish for you to hear, there are many things I want to shield you from, and that's one of them."

"I...understand..."

But she didn't! Why would Grandmother Mary not tell her about why he wasn't allowed to ride in the car with them why would a story hurt her if she wasn't in the story, Rose thought of Dmitri the whole time on what seems to be an endless ride, she thought he was so rude towards her yet caring to his grandmother, she thought he was cold, cold as ice if not colder but when he spoke his voice, deep in his voice there is this warmth that melt her heart it's true she never met him before, she heard his name as grandmother Mary rambled on and on about what an ungrateful bastard him and King Victor were.

But he has a connection with Grandmother Mary, He argues with her and looks her in the eyes and she does the same but when Grandmother looks at him her eyes Were filled with love. While Rose was stuck in clouds of her own thoughts the car stopped and the driver said

"We are here my Lady, I hope the ride wasn't too long!"

Grandmother Mary ignored him and got out as soon as someone opened the door Rose followed her out and just before she did she turned to the driver and said "Oh the ride was wonderful best ride I've had really thank you!"

She tried so hard to overcorrect her Grandmother's earlier rudeness. She stepped out of the car to and to the entrance of the biggest castle she's ever seen servants and guards stood in the most organized line to welcome Grandmother Mary one of the servants approached her and with a smile and said

"Welcome my Lady, it's been far too long...."

and just before he finished his sentence Grandmother Mary walked passed him ignoring as if he wasn't even there, she walked straight passed the gates then she stopped and turned to Rose who were speechless looking around

"Oh, come my sweet angel"

Pass the gates where those beautiful stairways from both sides across the hall covered with gold and dangling chandeliers as if they are descending from the heavens. Mural paintings were covering the walls and the ceiling as each painting was telling a story. It looked straight out of a fairy tale.