12. Princess
Eventually, Name had gone to sit in a corner of the classroom by herself. She hadn't seen Fera and Kein since the previous morning, Sky had escaped and Dia was not visible.
I have to concentrate.
Yet it was difficult, Leo with his sharp sword stabbed one mannequin after another, straight to the heart. Estelle instead was in the middle of the room with her scepter in her hand horizontally, she seemed focused on speaking to herself.
In Leo's team there was a third hooded boy, but he wasn't visible.
A flying sword surprised her: it was Leo's, burning blue. He looked at her.
«What are you looking at?» he said menacingly.
«You shut up.» Estelle looked excited, but Leo said no more and turned around.
What is ...
Suddenly, the colorless sphere of the scepter glowed in a deep yellow.
«Yes!» Estelle grabbed it with one hand, turning the stick between her fingers.
In a flash, with a twist, Estelle had pierced all of Leo's mannequins in one fell swoop, aiming the scepter.
«Wow!» Name cheered fantastically.
Leo glared at both of them, muttering something.
Some shots had missed, they weren't as precise and deep as Leo's.
Even Name was more or less beginning to see the difference in the various powers and weapons.
Right ... I'm a Conjurer too.
I could ... have that power.
Name's was not magic of light, that was untouchable, almost invisible and shimmering, hers was more dense, sometimes it seemed liquid, sometimes the opposite, without a precise description.
«Do you want to?» Name's eyes widened to find Estelle, weary.
«What?»
«Go and get your weapon, do you want to go?»
Right!
Name had completely forgotten.
Nodding, she followed Estelle to the small white door.
To enter they had to pass the Pass near the handle, to confirm their identities.
The Pass was strange, you couldn't take it off your wrist, but it didn't bother, sometimes Name didn't even remember having it.
«Ah here!» looking out at the counter, Estelle and Name noticed a bright sign, which had first been turned off, with the wording "product ready".
Name opened the glass drawer below.
Wrapped in a box, with a sticker on it with his Name and answers written on it, was his weapon.
It was ... a very small box.
Behind her were scepters of all sizes, now enclosed by glass, but not as short as a hand.
«Oh! You open it! Looks like a Novice gift. It's our holiday. If you are from the realm of light, you know about it, right? Once they gave me a shoelace instead of the usual ribbon.»
The brown wrapping did not seem festive to her and she did not know the Novice.
She tore it up gently, revealing a plain blue box. She opened that too.
Inside was not a scepter, but a silver bracelet.
«Maybe you don't remember… obviously. However we celebrate it the last day of the year, everyone traditionally gives a ribbon of a different color to the people they care about. It symbolizes how much a person is attached to another and if he hopes to stay with him again for the next year. Tied like ribbons. Red is for lovers, it's forbidden, yellow for friends, orange for family and ... mhh.»
Name wore it, it rolled up around his wrist, had a single pearl at the head and tail. The engravings on it resembled those of a leaf.
Her three leaves of fate were delighted with the novelty.
Estelle stared at her curiously, but nothing happened.
«It's just a bracelet ...»
«It's a convertible! It transforms, but I don't know how they are activated.» happy, but still a little dissatisfied, Name came out, tucking the cuff under the sleeve of his uniform.
«Name!» Fera entered racing in the class.
She hastily dragged her out and then sighed, leaning against her.
«I can't...» her tone was shaky.
Fera, what...
«I can't handle it anymore!» she screamed in tears.
«Come back!» through the doors, a dazzling light entered, partly covered by a familiar figure: Kein.
«No!» Fera took refuge behind Name as Kein walked slowly.
Oh ... they're just playing, it's nothing special.
Name was relieved.
«You can't make me retrieve your arrows!» she complained.
«I just started! I need assistance!»
«Why did you choose a bow ?!»
The two continued to argue, with Name in the middle.
But she only noticed one thing, the elusive figure of Dia hiding behind the door.
Noticing her gaze, she ran away.
Ah ... no!
Name somehow managed to break free and run back to Dia.
Dia had cried with her and consoled her, they had lived that traumatic moment together, Name owed her at least a thank you.
She ran up the stairs, Dia had to be locked in her team room.
«Dia? Dia? Can we talk?» Name knocked hastily.
I'm so sorry...
Upon that thought, the door opened.
«I'm sorry!» they both said at the same time, Dia whispered it.
She was half hidden behind the open door and stared at the ground flushed.
«Huh? Why are you sorry?» Name saw Dia as a child, even though she wasn't physically, she felt a strange desire towards her to protect her. Maybe it was a remnant of her past? A thin thread to hold on to, since the rope that was her dreams had been torn.
«I ... I ... I ... I couldn't do anything ... I was so ... useless ...» Dia seemed to tremble, with tears in her eyes, Name didn't know what to do.
«I-it was me! I couldn't do anything! You consoled me, I'm very grateful, you did everything possible and ...»
Dia looked at her, with her big electric blue eyes.
«I'm sorry ... Really so ..»
«You dived in the lake to help me.»
Fera had told her in the morning, if it hadn't been for Dia, Name would now be lying in bed sick, or worse.
«You are incredibly kind and sensitive. Melchior ... it wasn't your fault, we ... we couldn't do anything but ...»
Name, taken by surprise, found herself in a hug from Dia.
She held it in turn.
«Sorry ... sorry ... sorry ..., Name seemed to be saying it to someone else.
Dia was slightly shorter than her, a single tear slipped through Nome.
A little sister.
She no longer knew what she was thinking.
I ... Did I have a little sister?
Her heart started pounding, her head was clouding.
She remembered nothing. Not a name or a face. But that feeling embraced by the slim figure of Dia ... it was familiar, too much.
Had she experienced such a situation?
She could no longer stand up.
«N-Name?» Name almost fell forward, Dia put her on the bed, the room was the same as theirs.
«I-I'm calling for help.» Name stopped her, the headache was already fading.
«No ... I'm fine.» Despite those words, she layed speechless on the bed, closing her eyes.
Of one thing she was sure.
Something or someone is stopping me from remembering.
-
«Thank you and excuse me.»
Name eventually passed out in Dia's room, but when she woke up, she felt as good as before and Dia brought her some hot tea.
I don't... remember... what happened? I just know i said sorry and then...
Neither said anything.
That girl I saw in the mirror and on the lake and my memories ...
Do they have something to do with each other?
And my dreams ... my power ... myself ...
Name was collecting more and more points, but could not connect them.
«I'm a princess.»
Dia spoke strangely without fear.
Name did not dare to speak.
«I am the 74th princess of the third generation kingdom of Energy. Daughter of King Drystan V and a peasant ... Hiroko ... half human and half mutant ... » Dia stared at the ground, clenching her fists, she seemed to be fighting a battle she couldn't see.
«I've always been forbidden to say it ... I've always been forbidden to speak ... but ... but ... I ...» Dia curled up, Name suspected she was hiding her tears.
«I'm afraid to talk ... but ... I don't want to shut up and ... continue to hurt.» Name stroked her hand, she had just heard something very personal and felt compelled to give all her support to Dia, her problems would have more time.
Dia let out a sob and Name hugged her.
«You don't seem silent now.»
Dia stopped shaking.
«It's because ... I trust you ...» Name's heart warmed, even if it seemed little, she could give something, do something for Dia.
«Take steps forward, even small ones. This is already a big step.» Name, devoid of life advice, told her what Mr. Xulio had confided in her.
Go ahead. You are strong, Dia.
Name felt a strong connection with her, but she didn't want to think about it, or she would pass out again.
Dia felt safe with Name and knew why.
She is as gentle and gentle as mom was. A small glimmer of warm light.
Dia still did not understand whether entering Deorum had been a blessing or a curse.
But at that moment, after that incident, she wanted to talk. She started talking about herself for no reason, she just wanted to talk ... and she wanted someone to listen ... as Name had done.
She should be my enemy.
Despite deviating from reality, Dia was always in Deorum and had to reach the center at any cost.
Yet of all, Name was the person with whom she felt most secure and closest.
After him, of course.
«Can you get up?» a boy put his hand to the little girl Dia.
Dia had just escaped from the palace, she was only eight years old, she had slipped into a train car and had ended up being kicked out of the station.
«Mh-mh» In those days Dia wasn't so taciturn, that hadn't happened yet.
The boy in front of her seemed lifeless to her, he seemed to her one of the blind elderly people in the palace, staring at nothing.
Slowly, the boy moved away from her, but before he was too far away, Dia's stomach rumbled.
She hadn't eaten all day and hadn't brought any food in her backpack.
She blushed, covering her lap, the boy took another step forward, then came back.
Dia, accustomed to life in the palace by now, was shocked by how he grabbed her wrist, dragging her through various alleys in silence.
They arrived in a blind and dirty alley, he left her, retreating to a temporary fabric tent.
He lives there? She wondered.
When he came out he was holding a piece of bread.
«It's not moldy.» he broke it in two and gave him half.
Dia ate, that old bread brought old memories to the surface.
«Thank you.» Dia was worried, when would they come to get her? This time she had gone far, they would not find her easily. But they would find it, right?
«Can I stay here for the night?» the little boy, with some crumbs around his mouth, shrugged.
«Do you have any money?»
«No but...»
«Then no.»
Dia had been rejected many times, she could never do anything, but at that moment she needed to stay indoors, with the sky so cloudy, it would rain any moment!
Dia stood there playing with her hands until it started to rain lightly.
At that point, he took refuge in the boy's tent.
«Hey! Go out!» she tried to get her out, unsuccessfully, there was room for both of them.
«Please!»
«No! It's my place!»
They continued for a few minutes, but eventually, under the typical thunder of the energy realm, they both calmed down.
«What's your name?»
He didn't answer.
«Are you here alone?»
He turned and didn't answer.
Dia then had an idea, took her book on Deorum for children from his backpack, tore out a page and with a pen, wrote the first question.
On the page the birth of the world was told.
«There was only life and death at the beginning of the world. They were the first gods.»
She passed paper and another pen to the boy.
He looked at it several times, then wrote three single letters: Sky.
Dia did not speak, but asked another question.
«I'm Amy. How long have you lived here?»
She couldn't reveal her real name, after all she was officially recognized as a princess.
After a dozen torn pages and words that Sky could not write, for which it took time, Dia realized that Sky had been living there alone for a few months, he moved every six months. He had a sister, but she died electrified in the war, even though she wasn't a soldier.
Sky was her age and he liked rabbits and the color blue.
«What does the book say?» finally he spoke.
«It talks about Deorum! Do you want me to read it to you?» He nodded, he had softened, finally.
Throughout the night, they talked about Deorum, the gods, life and death.
At one point, he took the book from her, writing on the cover.
"Is everyone happy in Deorum?"
Dia wrote a sincere yes, but this frowned Sky.
«You're not from here.» Dia jumped, thinking he recognized her.
«Do you know what it's like to be afraid of dying every day?»
He stared at her, Dia smiled, not knowing where the question came from.
«Yup. When I was little, I lived with my mother, in a territory conquered by the kingdom of Energy. My grandfather died in front of me, but I remember little.» she told it with a smile, after all it was a war country, they were normal things.
Sky did not smile, however, but looked away.
«Amy ... I ... I don't know if I'll be happy one day.» Dia, even as a child, understood that Sky was a little boy who had been hurt too much.
Dia covered her face with the book, when she took it off she made a funny face, but Sky didn't laugh, remaining stony.
Dia tried another face, without effect.
After the fifth try, his mouth formed a small smile.
«You are laughing! You're happy!» Dia pointed to him.
His smile turned into a small laugh.
«I'm laughing at you, n-not for you.» Dia was still happy, so much, that she wagged her tail.
Being the daughter of a half mutant, she had received little of her mother's cat tail. It was white and she always had to hide it, but sometimes it slipped off. Half mutants weren't such a great rarity, but they were highly discriminated.
Sky said nothing, although he was surprised.
«There is always something or someone to smile about, just do it! My mother once said: happiness always tends to want to run away from people, but you just have to hold it and run with it, not chase it. If you start chasing her, one day she will chase you, and you won't have achieved anything.» all those words, Dia didn't understand them very well, Sky instead seemed to understand them.
Sky lowered his head, then raised it: he was smiling with his teeth in full view.
«You're weird. Thank you.»
His gaze was completely different.
«We're friends now, promise?» Dia smiled too.
«Yup!»
She held out her little finger, he grabbed it, confirming their promise.
That same night, Dia was taken away by the guards, her favorite book lying on the ground, along with Sky who had been beaten as soon as he woke up.
Their happiness didn't last long and he didn't even know who she really was.
She was used to it, it wasn't the first time, and yet it left a great void.
She was still an innocent and infantile child: she cried all night.
He had been her first friend.
Now, in the present, Sky still didn't know who she was.
Obvious. I don't have my tail anymore and my hair is short now.
They had met as children, for just one night, Sky had stuck in her head, being her first friend.
«Excuse me.» Aldien's voice woke her from that memory.
Name seemed to have seen a ghost, Dia blushed fiercely.
Another voice rang through the building.
«To all residents of the Winter Regime, please go outside for the practical lesson.»