But Hold Me Fast [17/?]
anonymous
June 4 2009, 15:20:25 UTC
Writernon apologizes to the OP and to the other readers for how long this is taking - I’m starting to struggle with this story a bit, but I’ll try my best to update more regularly. ___
Alfred blinks as something stirs in his memory. “Bad fairies,” he murmurs, causing Lovino and Matthew to turn to him.
“You know what this bastard’s talking about?” Lovino asks.
Matthew’s frowning, though, and nodding along with Alfred. “No. You’re right. I’ve heard of them before, too. I just…can’t remember where.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” the cloaked man says. “What matters is that they’re overrunning this world and causing havoc. They’re manipulating and influencing Nations.”
Matthew frowns. “But what about the…the good ones? The good fairies. Don’t they help balance out the bad that -”
“The Seelie Court has all but vanished,” the man answers. “Their Queen is sleeping under Avalon’s Lake, and the Seelie’s gather their power from her. It might be possible to wake her.”
“So where is this damn lake?” Lovino asks, sounding as frustrated as Alfred feels. “Can’t you just, I don’t know, take us there?”
“I’m not allowed to interfere. There are rules here. And one of them is that you’ll have to find the end of this journey by yourselves, though you might get a little bit of help if you’re smart enough to spot it.”
Lovino snorts. “You’re a pretty cruddy fairy, you know that?”
Alfred sees a smile flicker beneath the hood’s shadow.
“Who ever said I was a fairy?” The man scoffs and turns his back. “Regardless, that’s the situation. Reject this dream and go back to certain death, or accept it and fight to save the ones you love - the choice is yours.”
Alfred blinks, and the man is no longer there.
“This is…this is bullshit,” Lovino says, but his confidence sounds like it’s fraying at the edges. “This isn’t - this can’t be -”
Alfred opens his mouth to agree, but nothing comes out when he realizes he doesn’t know what to believe.
Matthew looks up at Alfred, and Alfred watches as something in his brother’s eyes hardens.
“I’m going.”
Lovino sputters. “Y - you can’t mean that you actually believe -”
“We have nothing to lose if we do this,” Matthew points out. “And we all have something to lose by not even trying - you guys might die and I…I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here. And…don’t you guys feel it, too? There’s something here we have to do.” He turns his head away from Alfred and into the vast darkness beyond. “Something that has nothing to do with saving the world.”
Alfred thinks, reaches into himself - and yes, there it is, some urge welling up underneath and into his heart.
“You guys do what you want,” Matthew says, and turns away. “I’m going to find the Seelie Queen and do what I can.”
Alfred watches Matthew as he walks away and finds he can’t say a word. It would be such a simple thing to just wish to wake up and get away from here, like the man said.
“….What about you?” Lovino asks, but Alfred doesn’t look away from Matthew’s retreating form. “Are you seriously going to buy this crap?”
To get away would be the easy way out.
But when does a hero ever take the easy road?
Alfred lifts a foot, places it in front of him. Repeats. His legs speed up as he jogs to keep up with Matthew’s retreating form.
“What - what are you - you’re not serious, right!? Right?” Lovino calls after their retreating forms. “You guys are - hey! Don’t leave me alone!”
Alfred doesn’t respond to Lovino, his attention focused on Matthew as he slows and stops to walk alongside his brother. “It can’t be too bad,” Alfred says. “We’ll be just like those heroes in Kiku’s fantasy comics who save the world and stuff.”
“I’m glad you decided to come,” Matthew says, and gives his brother a small smile.
“Gah - you bastards, leaving me alone like that,” Lovino pants as he comes up behind the two. “So where are we going?”
“I have no clue.”
“M-Matthew!?”
“Oh, great, now we’re lost. You guys are no better than that tomato bastard!”
“Look at it this way, Lovino - would you have had Alfred pick the random direction to walk in?” ___
It’s not until Ludwig’s back in his hotel room that he gets the opportunity to take a really close look at the book Heracles gave him.
Re: But Hold Me Fast [18/?]
anonymous
June 4 2009, 16:39:17 UTC
He sits on the bed, his back hunched, and runs his fingers over the cover. It’s heavy material, whatever it is - heavy and coarse underneath his fingertips.
He reaches between the covers and runs his fingers along the paper’s edges. It’s a bit softer, and bends under his fingers.
Ludwig frowns and wonders if the paper was hand-pressed as he reaches, undoes the twine tie binding the covers shut, and opens the book.
He starts when he sees a small piece of paper flutter to the floor. Blinking, he reaches down and picks it up, opening it and smoothing his thumb into the folds to flatten the paper.
Ludwig recognizes Kiku’s neat, small handwriting in a heartbeat.
Ludwig-san -
I know how fond you are of folklore and fairy tales, and I’ve heard from Feliciano that you are doing research for your own.
If you ever do get the urge to write, I thought that this would be helpful to you. You can write rough drafts, ideas, pieces of story in here. Whatever you like.
I hope this comes in useful as you create worlds and bring stories to life.
- Honda Kiku
Ludwig frowns at the letter before glancing down at the open notebook in his lap and rifling through the pages.
It’s all blank.
Ludwig’s frown deepens. That doesn’t make sense. He hears Heracles’ voice, feels it in his mind and through his body.
“I don’t know if Kiku wanted to ‘give’ this to you, not in a permanent sense. Maybe he just wanted to loan it to you.”
Ludwig wonders if Heracles was mistaken, but he hadn’t sounded it at the hospital. Not at all.
“Why would Kiku give me a journal, of all things?” Ludwig murmurs. Then he shakes his head and stands, moving from the bed to the desk. Perhaps it would be best to think about that later. Right now, he wants to -
His eyes land on the book of Japanese fairy tales he was reading earlier. He blinks and stares at it as his mind slows.
His eyes creep from the storybook to the journal in his hands.
Ludwig remembers his childhood once more, sitting with Herr Wilhelm and drinking tea as they read old fairy tales.
“…and he took his father and Marlinchen by the hand, and all three were right glad, and they went into the house to dinner, and ate.” Wilhelm sighs and puts the parchment down. “Is that better, Ludwig?”
Ludwig thinks about it for a bit before nodding, slow and thoughtful, and taking a sip of tea. “I think that’s a good note to end it on,” Ludwig says.
“Yes, but it’s an ending I use so much,” Wilhelm laments, even as he smiles around the rim of his teacup. “Honestly, I think I’ve been in this profession for far too long. I’m starting to slip into old habits.”
“Then why do you still write?”
The room becomes very quiet, and Ludwig feels his face explode in a blush. Herr Wilhelm was teasing, he should have heard it in his voice. “I-I’m sorry, that was rude of -”
“No, Ludwig, it’s all right.” Wilhelm smiles and presses his arms onto the table; Ludwig sees those eyes cloud over in thought.
“I think I was about your age when I first met him,” Wilhelm murmurs.
“Who?”
“The man that inspired Jakob and I to do this.
“He was a very funny little man, with a beard and colorful clothes and red eyes. I don’t remember what he was doing in Hessen - I think it was something on official business. But he stopped us in the street, Jakob and I, and asked if we’d listen to one of his stories. We didn’t have much else to do, then, so we agreed.”
Wilhelm opens his eyes, and Ludwig can’t help but be fascinated by the look in them.
“When he read…” Wilhelm’s eyes shut again as he sighs. “It was like…it was as though his very words were coming to life and acting themselves out here, in this world. It was as though his very words could turn fiction into reality. I don’t know how many stories Jakob and I managed to beg out of him before he finally had to leave. I know that it was dark by then.”
Wilhelm opens his eyes, and Ludwig catches the thread of sadness lurking in them, follows it down. “We heard later that he was killed by his own village - they believed his gift to be a curse, and feared him for it.” ___
Yes, the storyteller Wilhelm mentions is a cameo of a character from another series. Bonus points if you guess right. ;)
Re: But Hold Me Fast [18/?]
anonymous
June 6 2009, 03:55:54 UTC
AAAHHHH.
I just read up on all the chapters and. This is DEFINITELY the best fill I have ever read on this kinkmeme. No joke.
It's US/UK alright, but you wrap in the stories and emotions of the other characters so well. This fic is just SO well-written and brilliant and charismatic and I am in TOTAL love with it. All of the characterizations are beautiful, the writing is beautiful, the concepts behind it...
I wait in anticipation for the next chapter. Keep up the ultra-amazing work.
Re: But Hold Me Fast [18/?]
anonymous
June 8 2009, 06:42:48 UTC
Good chapter writer!anon, its good to have you back!! Take your time on chapters though, there isn't any rush. If you aren't feeling it, then thats just how it goes.
But Hold Me Fast [19/?]
anonymous
July 7 2009, 22:07:51 UTC
Ludwig sits and watches Wilhelm’s face, quiet, letting him remember. When Wilhelm speaks again, it’s clear that he wants Ludwig to listen.
“That is why I write, Ludwig. Because that storyteller taught Jakob and I the power that the pen can hold - how it can create, how it can bind, how it can make man a god in at least one sense of the word. And Jakob and I want our efforts to come together and to collaborate in the creation of something large and beautiful - a state where all our people are unified.”
Wilhelm looks up, and Ludwig feels it again; that Wilhelm knows something, that Wilhelm sees past his human form.
“Never forget that, Ludwig. Storytelling, writing - it has shaped our world and our culture. And it shapes theirs, as well. All who can tell a story have the power to create.”
Wilhem’s voice fades from his mind, and he realizes he’s alone in the hotel room with a journal in his hands and a book on the desk.
Ludwig feels the spark of something - a bud waiting to blossom, a tale waiting to be told.
He stands and walks the two steps over to the desk, taking a seat. The journal crackles and rustles under his fingers as he opens the storybook to his neon green Post-It note. He takes a good, long look at the title.
And then he looks down and starts to write.
One morning, an old bamboo cutter kissed his wife goodbye and, obento in hand, ventured into the bamboo forests. It was very early, and what scant light the moon and stars gave was shielded by the stalks in the forest, so that the cutter walked through pure darkness on most days. But this morning, he came across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo…. ___ III. As summer went on, Kaguya-hime’s parents grew worried as their daughter forsook meals and walks among the bamboo to gaze upon the moon, reflecting its light through wet eyes. And though her parents pressed her for answers, they found that she could not give voice to her troubles.
Still, they asked, and one day, Kaguya-hime looked at her parents, her eyes round and soft with tears, and said, “Because this earth is not my home, and someday soon they will come to take me.” - Tale of the Shining Princess, Japanese fairy tale ___
“So, Arthur, what do you wanna do while you’re here?”
Arthur’s not sure why Alfred even asks. It’s not like anything will change. It’s not like Alfred will actually do what he wants. Still, there’s always a chance.
“Let me think…are there any good operas out?”
“What?” Alfred sounds incredulous, swinging his blue eyes over to give Arthur a brief, meaningful glance. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? You offered to let me choose what we do, right?”
“Yeah, but opera’s so…so…boring,” Alfred says, sounding like he’s trying not to gag. Oh, for goodness sake.
“Fine. Are there any good movies out right now that you think I might like?”
Alfred brightens immediately. “Oh, yeah! Hang on - I’ll get off here. There’s something absolutely AWESOME that you would love.”
Arthur leans back in the chair and shuts his eyes. He doesn’t smile on the outside, but on the inside, he feels himself grow warm.
It’s nice to believe that Alfred’s really considering him for once and not mixing Alfred Jones with Arthur Kirkland. He lets himself latch onto that probability - probably because he’s an old man who’s never given up hope.
Even so, he prepares a lecture for later. Just in case he gets let down. ___
“Wait, where the hell are we?”
Alfred blinks, and in the span of that brief moment of darkness something’s changed.
Instead of a dark void, they’re pushing their way through thick, hard reeds. Bamboo, Alfred thinks, and ducks as he almost gets smacked in the face by one.
“Lovino?” he calls, starting to panic. “Matt? Where are you guys?”
“Ow! Don’t shout, you big jerk!”
“Alfred, it’s all right, I’m here.”
Alfred reaches out, blindly, and feels a hand brush his; a gentle chill and a slightly sticky feeling tells Alfred it’s Matthew. He reaches out, grabs him by the wrist.
“Ah! Hey, hey, don’t grip too hard! You’ll cut off my circulation, eh?”
“Matthew - Matthew, I can’t see you -” ___
Anon apologizes for how obscenely long this has taken her to get out. I have no excuse.
But Hold Me Fast [20/?]
anonymous
July 11 2009, 16:59:48 UTC
“It’s all right, Alfred,” Matthew says, fingers tightening on Alfred’s wrist. “I’ve got you.”
“Lovino - GAH!” Alfred yelps and has to bite back a scream as another hand clamps onto his shoulder.
“There you are, you burger bastard.” Lovino shoves aside the bamboo and makes his way to Alfred’s side. “I was wondering where you were. Now let’s go!”
“What? Go where?” Alfred hears the bamboo click - Matthew making a gesture, probably. “For heaven’s sake, we can’t see anything! What would the use be, eh?”
“It’s better than just standing here, isn’t it? Let’s see if we can find a trail or anything! We don’t have anything to lose!”
Silence, filled only with the sound of birds and trilling cicadas.
“You’re right.” Matthew takes a step forward, prompting Lovino and Alfred to follow. “Let’s keep going. Who knows what we’ll find -”
And Alfred hears it; a high, organic sound, the voice of another human being somewhere to his left.
“Sakura, sakura…”
All three of them freeze at the high, eerie sound, at the voice of a child growing closer and closer. And beneath it all lays the choppy sound of bamboo being cut and hacked away.
“…no-yama mo sato mo…”
Hack. Tumble. Alfred swears he hears Lovino gulp behind him as the voice grows nearer. For some reason, all Alfred can wonder is how sharp something had to be to cut through bamboo.
“…mi-watasu kagiri…”
They can see it now, drawing closer; the bamboo jerking and falling away a little to the left of them. This seems to jerk Matthew out of his shock, and with a muffled cry he tries to run ahead.
His foot catches on a piece of bamboo, and with a sharp yelp he falls to the ground. Alfred tries to reach to help him up, but there isn’t enough time, it’s almost here -
“…kasumi ka kumo ka?”
With one last hack, the bamboo hiding the three of them falls away. They find themselves face-to-face with a little girl. And that should not be scary, but all Alfred can think of is how blank and neutral her face looks, how the blade of that cutter seems as long as one of her arms.
Lovino’s breath ghosts in quick, panicked gusts over his ear. Alfred swallows the fear trying to fight its way up his stomach.
“We’re…we’re sorry,” he says, as slow and quiet as possible. He has to explain that they’re not intruders - that they’re here by accident. “We…we do not mean to intrude…we came here…by…by accident -”
The girl tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Are you here to see Lady Kaguya?” she asks them in perfect English. ___
Yao is looking at the moon when Heracles joins him on the small porch in Yao’s room. “It’s a full moon tonight,” he hears Heracles say.
“It’s beautiful, aru,” Yao responds. They fall silent for a bit at that, just watching the moon reach out and eclipse the stars. “How is Ludwig?” he asks after a bit
“Still locked in his room, last I checked. I believe he’s working.”
“Working, aru?”
“…I gave him the journal that Kiku made.”
“Ah.” Yao drops his gaze to the balcony. “Yes. I…remember you telling me about that.”
“I still don’t know anything beyond what Kiku instructed me to do, though.”
“That’s all right, aru.” Yao clasps his hands together, not daring to meet Heracles’ gaze.
“…It’s been seven years,” Heracles responds at last. “Seven years since…since those three disappeared. And now it’s continuing, isn’t it? The story, I mean.”
“I think so.” Yao sighs and shuts his eyes. “…Though to be honest, I’m less afraid for Alfred and his companions than I am for others still among us, aru.”
Heracles doesn’t respond, choosing to wait instead for Yao to continue if he wishes.
“Seven years ago,” Yao said, lifting his head, “Arthur, Francis, and Antonio disappeared. Seven years ago, I asked the bai ze to journey around the world and collect the names of every demon living on this earth - all the living creatures that did not have souls.”
“And you think you will find the names of the kidnapper on that list?”
“Perhaps.” Yao looks up at the moon again. “But I am more afraid that I shall find the name of another - the name of one of us.”
Re: But Hold Me Fast [20/?]
anonymous
July 12 2009, 06:42:01 UTC
MOOAAAAARRR!!!! argh!!! cliffhanger right at the most interesting part! but don't worry you make a very good and interesting fic, i'll wait patiently, okay ^__^
But Hold Me Fast [21/?]
anonymous
July 12 2009, 16:16:25 UTC
Yao shuts his eyes and bites the inside of his cheek. He thinks of a childlike smile, of purple eyes. He tries not to think of that metal pipe once again stained with innocent blood.
“…I won’t ask,” Heracles says. “You think one of us is doing this?”
“No, not necessarily, aru. I’m just…afraid.”
They don’t speak after that. A kitten comes up and rubs itself against Heracles’ ankle. Heracles reaches down, pets its head with the back of his knuckle. Murmuring in Greek, he picks it up, stands, and leaves, closing the glass door to the porch behind him.
“You worked so hard to get a soul - to learn to feel,” he murmurs into the horizon. “I’d hate for you to have lost it to those insidious creatures.
“If you have….”
China’s fingers curl into his palm.
“…then I pray that they will find it before things get too out of hand.” ___
Alfred decided two things, then and there. One was that he preferred walking on the bamboo forest’s paths to walking through the bamboo itself. The other was that he preferred talking to Fujiwara Takako as opposed to listening to her singing in that high, eerie voice.
“So where is this village you say you’re from?” Alfred asks, looking down at her.
“It’s just over the next few hills - once we’re there, I’ll take you to my master’s house and you’ll be able to find some help.” She reaches into her sack, rooting around before taking something wrapped in a leaf out. “Are you hungry? I have a leftover riceball from lunch.”
“Ah - no, that’s all right, thank you.” Lovino takes her offer instead, reaching down and plucking it from her hand.
Takako shifts her gaze to Lovino, then to Alfred and Matthew. “…The both of you look a bit like her,” she says, “except that your clothes are very different.”
“Eh?”
Alfred resists the urge to roll his eyes at his brother. “Like who?” he asks.
“Like the master’s daughter.” Her eyes light up.
Alfred looks over at his brother and is certain that his expression mirrors Matthew’s. He’s positive that they’re both thinking the same thing - wondering why a town in a very oriental setting would have a daughter with blonde hair.
“A daughter, you say?” Lovino’s interest sounds piqued. “Is she very pretty?”
“There are suitors who come from far and wide to ask for her hand in marriage, but none have managed to win it thus far,” she says.
“So in other words, there’s still hope for me?” Lovino presses on, and Alfred looks over in time to see him look a lot cheerier than before. Figures.
“Maybe,” Takako says. “I know that the last man who tried to win her hand in marriage was found in a nearby cave with a broken dragon’s egg near his hand.” She smiles, the edges of her eyes crinkling up further. “Or what was left of him, anyway. The ones sent to collect him said they grew sick at the smell of burnt flesh in the cavern.”
Alfred hears himself make a high, uncomfortable sound and sees Lovino go sheet-white. Only Matthew responds to this revelation with a confused “Eh?”
Before Alfred has a chance to ask him about that, though, Takako points forward and says, “We’ve arrived. This is Aokihagara-mura, the village that took me in.”
Alfred stops, perched at the top of the hill. Over the growing shoots of bamboo, he sees the small huts, the paths, and the people walking along them. He lets his eyes sweep over the small town and up to the horizon.
There are a few huts after the great mansion in the center of the village, but it’s the mansion that draws Alfred’s eye back - a great structure of tans, browns, and earthy reds that stands out among the much smaller houses.
“Is that where the magistrate of this village lives?” Alfred asks, glancing back down at Takako.
“I guess so. My master and his wife live there - as well as my mistress, Kaguya-hime.” She takes a few steps forward, but stops. “Oh….”
“What?” Alfred asks, but he thinks he knows, recognizes the marching lines of men and the glint of steel armor in the sun.
“The Emperor’s army is back,” Takako says, then turns and gestures to them. “We’ll have to go down, but be careful. Follow me, and you should be fine.”
Lovino snorts out a “Ch, how inconvenient,” before following Takako down the hill. Alfred’s about to follow, but Matthew reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder.
___
Alfred blinks as something stirs in his memory. “Bad fairies,” he murmurs, causing Lovino and Matthew to turn to him.
“You know what this bastard’s talking about?” Lovino asks.
Matthew’s frowning, though, and nodding along with Alfred. “No. You’re right. I’ve heard of them before, too. I just…can’t remember where.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” the cloaked man says. “What matters is that they’re overrunning this world and causing havoc. They’re manipulating and influencing Nations.”
Matthew frowns. “But what about the…the good ones? The good fairies. Don’t they help balance out the bad that -”
“The Seelie Court has all but vanished,” the man answers. “Their Queen is sleeping under Avalon’s Lake, and the Seelie’s gather their power from her. It might be possible to wake her.”
“So where is this damn lake?” Lovino asks, sounding as frustrated as Alfred feels. “Can’t you just, I don’t know, take us there?”
“I’m not allowed to interfere. There are rules here. And one of them is that you’ll have to find the end of this journey by yourselves, though you might get a little bit of help if you’re smart enough to spot it.”
Lovino snorts. “You’re a pretty cruddy fairy, you know that?”
Alfred sees a smile flicker beneath the hood’s shadow.
“Who ever said I was a fairy?” The man scoffs and turns his back. “Regardless, that’s the situation. Reject this dream and go back to certain death, or accept it and fight to save the ones you love - the choice is yours.”
Alfred blinks, and the man is no longer there.
“This is…this is bullshit,” Lovino says, but his confidence sounds like it’s fraying at the edges. “This isn’t - this can’t be -”
Alfred opens his mouth to agree, but nothing comes out when he realizes he doesn’t know what to believe.
Matthew looks up at Alfred, and Alfred watches as something in his brother’s eyes hardens.
“I’m going.”
Lovino sputters. “Y - you can’t mean that you actually believe -”
“We have nothing to lose if we do this,” Matthew points out. “And we all have something to lose by not even trying - you guys might die and I…I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here. And…don’t you guys feel it, too? There’s something here we have to do.” He turns his head away from Alfred and into the vast darkness beyond. “Something that has nothing to do with saving the world.”
Alfred thinks, reaches into himself - and yes, there it is, some urge welling up underneath and into his heart.
“You guys do what you want,” Matthew says, and turns away. “I’m going to find the Seelie Queen and do what I can.”
Alfred watches Matthew as he walks away and finds he can’t say a word. It would be such a simple thing to just wish to wake up and get away from here, like the man said.
“….What about you?” Lovino asks, but Alfred doesn’t look away from Matthew’s retreating form. “Are you seriously going to buy this crap?”
To get away would be the easy way out.
But when does a hero ever take the easy road?
Alfred lifts a foot, places it in front of him. Repeats. His legs speed up as he jogs to keep up with Matthew’s retreating form.
“What - what are you - you’re not serious, right!? Right?” Lovino calls after their retreating forms. “You guys are - hey! Don’t leave me alone!”
Alfred doesn’t respond to Lovino, his attention focused on Matthew as he slows and stops to walk alongside his brother. “It can’t be too bad,” Alfred says. “We’ll be just like those heroes in Kiku’s fantasy comics who save the world and stuff.”
“I’m glad you decided to come,” Matthew says, and gives his brother a small smile.
“Gah - you bastards, leaving me alone like that,” Lovino pants as he comes up behind the two. “So where are we going?”
“I have no clue.”
“M-Matthew!?”
“Oh, great, now we’re lost. You guys are no better than that tomato bastard!”
“Look at it this way, Lovino - would you have had Alfred pick the random direction to walk in?”
___
It’s not until Ludwig’s back in his hotel room that he gets the opportunity to take a really close look at the book Heracles gave him.
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He reaches between the covers and runs his fingers along the paper’s edges. It’s a bit softer, and bends under his fingers.
Ludwig frowns and wonders if the paper was hand-pressed as he reaches, undoes the twine tie binding the covers shut, and opens the book.
He starts when he sees a small piece of paper flutter to the floor. Blinking, he reaches down and picks it up, opening it and smoothing his thumb into the folds to flatten the paper.
Ludwig recognizes Kiku’s neat, small handwriting in a heartbeat.
Ludwig-san -
I know how fond you are of folklore and fairy tales, and I’ve heard from Feliciano that you are doing research for your own.
If you ever do get the urge to write, I thought that this would be helpful to you. You can write rough drafts, ideas, pieces of story in here. Whatever you like.
I hope this comes in useful as you create worlds and bring stories to life.
- Honda Kiku
Ludwig frowns at the letter before glancing down at the open notebook in his lap and rifling through the pages.
It’s all blank.
Ludwig’s frown deepens. That doesn’t make sense. He hears Heracles’ voice, feels it in his mind and through his body.
“I don’t know if Kiku wanted to ‘give’ this to you, not in a permanent sense. Maybe he just wanted to loan it to you.”
Ludwig wonders if Heracles was mistaken, but he hadn’t sounded it at the hospital. Not at all.
“Why would Kiku give me a journal, of all things?” Ludwig murmurs. Then he shakes his head and stands, moving from the bed to the desk. Perhaps it would be best to think about that later. Right now, he wants to -
His eyes land on the book of Japanese fairy tales he was reading earlier. He blinks and stares at it as his mind slows.
His eyes creep from the storybook to the journal in his hands.
Ludwig remembers his childhood once more, sitting with Herr Wilhelm and drinking tea as they read old fairy tales.
“…and he took his father and Marlinchen by the hand, and all three were right glad, and they went into the house to dinner, and ate.” Wilhelm sighs and puts the parchment down. “Is that better, Ludwig?”
Ludwig thinks about it for a bit before nodding, slow and thoughtful, and taking a sip of tea. “I think that’s a good note to end it on,” Ludwig says.
“Yes, but it’s an ending I use so much,” Wilhelm laments, even as he smiles around the rim of his teacup. “Honestly, I think I’ve been in this profession for far too long. I’m starting to slip into old habits.”
“Then why do you still write?”
The room becomes very quiet, and Ludwig feels his face explode in a blush. Herr Wilhelm was teasing, he should have heard it in his voice. “I-I’m sorry, that was rude of -”
“No, Ludwig, it’s all right.” Wilhelm smiles and presses his arms onto the table; Ludwig sees those eyes cloud over in thought.
“I think I was about your age when I first met him,” Wilhelm murmurs.
“Who?”
“The man that inspired Jakob and I to do this.
“He was a very funny little man, with a beard and colorful clothes and red eyes. I don’t remember what he was doing in Hessen - I think it was something on official business. But he stopped us in the street, Jakob and I, and asked if we’d listen to one of his stories. We didn’t have much else to do, then, so we agreed.”
Wilhelm opens his eyes, and Ludwig can’t help but be fascinated by the look in them.
“When he read…” Wilhelm’s eyes shut again as he sighs. “It was like…it was as though his very words were coming to life and acting themselves out here, in this world. It was as though his very words could turn fiction into reality. I don’t know how many stories Jakob and I managed to beg out of him before he finally had to leave. I know that it was dark by then.”
Wilhelm opens his eyes, and Ludwig catches the thread of sadness lurking in them, follows it down. “We heard later that he was killed by his own village - they believed his gift to be a curse, and feared him for it.”
___
Yes, the storyteller Wilhelm mentions is a cameo of a character from another series. Bonus points if you guess right. ;)
More later today or tomorrow.
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Anon over here would like to take a guess. Is that storyteller from Princess Tutu? (just coz I can't think of anyone else with such power)
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I just read up on all the chapters and. This is DEFINITELY the best fill I have ever read on this kinkmeme. No joke.
It's US/UK alright, but you wrap in the stories and emotions of the other characters so well. This fic is just SO well-written and brilliant and charismatic and I am in TOTAL love with it. All of the characterizations are beautiful, the writing is beautiful, the concepts behind it...
I wait in anticipation for the next chapter. Keep up the ultra-amazing work.
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“That is why I write, Ludwig. Because that storyteller taught Jakob and I the power that the pen can hold - how it can create, how it can bind, how it can make man a god in at least one sense of the word. And Jakob and I want our efforts to come together and to collaborate in the creation of something large and beautiful - a state where all our people are unified.”
Wilhelm looks up, and Ludwig feels it again; that Wilhelm knows something, that Wilhelm sees past his human form.
“Never forget that, Ludwig. Storytelling, writing - it has shaped our world and our culture. And it shapes theirs, as well. All who can tell a story have the power to create.”
Wilhem’s voice fades from his mind, and he realizes he’s alone in the hotel room with a journal in his hands and a book on the desk.
Ludwig feels the spark of something - a bud waiting to blossom, a tale waiting to be told.
He stands and walks the two steps over to the desk, taking a seat. The journal crackles and rustles under his fingers as he opens the storybook to his neon green Post-It note. He takes a good, long look at the title.
And then he looks down and starts to write.
One morning, an old bamboo cutter kissed his wife goodbye and, obento in hand, ventured into the bamboo forests. It was very early, and what scant light the moon and stars gave was shielded by the stalks in the forest, so that the cutter walked through pure darkness on most days. But this morning, he came across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo….
___
III.
As summer went on, Kaguya-hime’s parents grew worried as their daughter forsook meals and walks among the bamboo to gaze upon the moon, reflecting its light through wet eyes. And though her parents pressed her for answers, they found that she could not give voice to her troubles.
Still, they asked, and one day, Kaguya-hime looked at her parents, her eyes round and soft with tears, and said, “Because this earth is not my home, and someday soon they will come to take me.”
- Tale of the Shining Princess, Japanese fairy tale
___
“So, Arthur, what do you wanna do while you’re here?”
Arthur’s not sure why Alfred even asks. It’s not like anything will change. It’s not like Alfred will actually do what he wants. Still, there’s always a chance.
“Let me think…are there any good operas out?”
“What?” Alfred sounds incredulous, swinging his blue eyes over to give Arthur a brief, meaningful glance. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? You offered to let me choose what we do, right?”
“Yeah, but opera’s so…so…boring,” Alfred says, sounding like he’s trying not to gag. Oh, for goodness sake.
“Fine. Are there any good movies out right now that you think I might like?”
Alfred brightens immediately. “Oh, yeah! Hang on - I’ll get off here. There’s something absolutely AWESOME that you would love.”
Arthur leans back in the chair and shuts his eyes. He doesn’t smile on the outside, but on the inside, he feels himself grow warm.
It’s nice to believe that Alfred’s really considering him for once and not mixing Alfred Jones with Arthur Kirkland. He lets himself latch onto that probability - probably because he’s an old man who’s never given up hope.
Even so, he prepares a lecture for later. Just in case he gets let down.
___
“Wait, where the hell are we?”
Alfred blinks, and in the span of that brief moment of darkness something’s changed.
Instead of a dark void, they’re pushing their way through thick, hard reeds. Bamboo, Alfred thinks, and ducks as he almost gets smacked in the face by one.
“Lovino?” he calls, starting to panic. “Matt? Where are you guys?”
“Ow! Don’t shout, you big jerk!”
“Alfred, it’s all right, I’m here.”
Alfred reaches out, blindly, and feels a hand brush his; a gentle chill and a slightly sticky feeling tells Alfred it’s Matthew. He reaches out, grabs him by the wrist.
“Ah! Hey, hey, don’t grip too hard! You’ll cut off my circulation, eh?”
“Matthew - Matthew, I can’t see you -”
___
Anon apologizes for how obscenely long this has taken her to get out. I have no excuse.
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Oh, Arthur... it's cute how you still have hope! XD
And I don't care how long it takes do come out, writeranon! >_< Take your time to find your muse! :D [This is soooo worth the wait! *A*]
ps.: sorry for my crapy English T_TU
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Please don't worry about how much time you take. RL is more important, afterall. :)
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“Lovino - GAH!” Alfred yelps and has to bite back a scream as another hand clamps onto his shoulder.
“There you are, you burger bastard.” Lovino shoves aside the bamboo and makes his way to Alfred’s side. “I was wondering where you were. Now let’s go!”
“What? Go where?” Alfred hears the bamboo click - Matthew making a gesture, probably. “For heaven’s sake, we can’t see anything! What would the use be, eh?”
“It’s better than just standing here, isn’t it? Let’s see if we can find a trail or anything! We don’t have anything to lose!”
Silence, filled only with the sound of birds and trilling cicadas.
“You’re right.” Matthew takes a step forward, prompting Lovino and Alfred to follow. “Let’s keep going. Who knows what we’ll find -”
And Alfred hears it; a high, organic sound, the voice of another human being somewhere to his left.
“Sakura, sakura…”
All three of them freeze at the high, eerie sound, at the voice of a child growing closer and closer. And beneath it all lays the choppy sound of bamboo being cut and hacked away.
“…no-yama mo sato mo…”
Hack. Tumble. Alfred swears he hears Lovino gulp behind him as the voice grows nearer. For some reason, all Alfred can wonder is how sharp something had to be to cut through bamboo.
“…mi-watasu kagiri…”
They can see it now, drawing closer; the bamboo jerking and falling away a little to the left of them. This seems to jerk Matthew out of his shock, and with a muffled cry he tries to run ahead.
His foot catches on a piece of bamboo, and with a sharp yelp he falls to the ground. Alfred tries to reach to help him up, but there isn’t enough time, it’s almost here -
“…kasumi ka kumo ka?”
With one last hack, the bamboo hiding the three of them falls away. They find themselves face-to-face with a little girl. And that should not be scary, but all Alfred can think of is how blank and neutral her face looks, how the blade of that cutter seems as long as one of her arms.
Lovino’s breath ghosts in quick, panicked gusts over his ear. Alfred swallows the fear trying to fight its way up his stomach.
“We’re…we’re sorry,” he says, as slow and quiet as possible. He has to explain that they’re not intruders - that they’re here by accident. “We…we do not mean to intrude…we came here…by…by accident -”
The girl tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Are you here to see Lady Kaguya?” she asks them in perfect English.
___
Yao is looking at the moon when Heracles joins him on the small porch in Yao’s room. “It’s a full moon tonight,” he hears Heracles say.
“It’s beautiful, aru,” Yao responds. They fall silent for a bit at that, just watching the moon reach out and eclipse the stars. “How is Ludwig?” he asks after a bit
“Still locked in his room, last I checked. I believe he’s working.”
“Working, aru?”
“…I gave him the journal that Kiku made.”
“Ah.” Yao drops his gaze to the balcony. “Yes. I…remember you telling me about that.”
“I still don’t know anything beyond what Kiku instructed me to do, though.”
“That’s all right, aru.” Yao clasps his hands together, not daring to meet Heracles’ gaze.
“…It’s been seven years,” Heracles responds at last. “Seven years since…since those three disappeared. And now it’s continuing, isn’t it? The story, I mean.”
“I think so.” Yao sighs and shuts his eyes. “…Though to be honest, I’m less afraid for Alfred and his companions than I am for others still among us, aru.”
Heracles doesn’t respond, choosing to wait instead for Yao to continue if he wishes.
“Seven years ago,” Yao said, lifting his head, “Arthur, Francis, and Antonio disappeared. Seven years ago, I asked the bai ze to journey around the world and collect the names of every demon living on this earth - all the living creatures that did not have souls.”
“And you think you will find the names of the kidnapper on that list?”
“Perhaps.” Yao looks up at the moon again. “But I am more afraid that I shall find the name of another - the name of one of us.”
“One of us?”
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argh!!! cliffhanger right at the most interesting part!
but don't worry
you make a very good and interesting fic, i'll wait patiently, okay ^__^
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“…I won’t ask,” Heracles says. “You think one of us is doing this?”
“No, not necessarily, aru. I’m just…afraid.”
They don’t speak after that. A kitten comes up and rubs itself against Heracles’ ankle. Heracles reaches down, pets its head with the back of his knuckle. Murmuring in Greek, he picks it up, stands, and leaves, closing the glass door to the porch behind him.
“You worked so hard to get a soul - to learn to feel,” he murmurs into the horizon. “I’d hate for you to have lost it to those insidious creatures.
“If you have….”
China’s fingers curl into his palm.
“…then I pray that they will find it before things get too out of hand.”
___
Alfred decided two things, then and there. One was that he preferred walking on the bamboo forest’s paths to walking through the bamboo itself. The other was that he preferred talking to Fujiwara Takako as opposed to listening to her singing in that high, eerie voice.
“So where is this village you say you’re from?” Alfred asks, looking down at her.
“It’s just over the next few hills - once we’re there, I’ll take you to my master’s house and you’ll be able to find some help.” She reaches into her sack, rooting around before taking something wrapped in a leaf out. “Are you hungry? I have a leftover riceball from lunch.”
“Ah - no, that’s all right, thank you.” Lovino takes her offer instead, reaching down and plucking it from her hand.
Takako shifts her gaze to Lovino, then to Alfred and Matthew. “…The both of you look a bit like her,” she says, “except that your clothes are very different.”
“Eh?”
Alfred resists the urge to roll his eyes at his brother. “Like who?” he asks.
“Like the master’s daughter.” Her eyes light up.
Alfred looks over at his brother and is certain that his expression mirrors Matthew’s. He’s positive that they’re both thinking the same thing - wondering why a town in a very oriental setting would have a daughter with blonde hair.
“A daughter, you say?” Lovino’s interest sounds piqued. “Is she very pretty?”
“There are suitors who come from far and wide to ask for her hand in marriage, but none have managed to win it thus far,” she says.
“So in other words, there’s still hope for me?” Lovino presses on, and Alfred looks over in time to see him look a lot cheerier than before. Figures.
“Maybe,” Takako says. “I know that the last man who tried to win her hand in marriage was found in a nearby cave with a broken dragon’s egg near his hand.” She smiles, the edges of her eyes crinkling up further. “Or what was left of him, anyway. The ones sent to collect him said they grew sick at the smell of burnt flesh in the cavern.”
Alfred hears himself make a high, uncomfortable sound and sees Lovino go sheet-white. Only Matthew responds to this revelation with a confused “Eh?”
Before Alfred has a chance to ask him about that, though, Takako points forward and says, “We’ve arrived. This is Aokihagara-mura, the village that took me in.”
Alfred stops, perched at the top of the hill. Over the growing shoots of bamboo, he sees the small huts, the paths, and the people walking along them. He lets his eyes sweep over the small town and up to the horizon.
There are a few huts after the great mansion in the center of the village, but it’s the mansion that draws Alfred’s eye back - a great structure of tans, browns, and earthy reds that stands out among the much smaller houses.
“Is that where the magistrate of this village lives?” Alfred asks, glancing back down at Takako.
“I guess so. My master and his wife live there - as well as my mistress, Kaguya-hime.” She takes a few steps forward, but stops. “Oh….”
“What?” Alfred asks, but he thinks he knows, recognizes the marching lines of men and the glint of steel armor in the sun.
“The Emperor’s army is back,” Takako says, then turns and gestures to them. “We’ll have to go down, but be careful. Follow me, and you should be fine.”
Lovino snorts out a “Ch, how inconvenient,” before following Takako down the hill. Alfred’s about to follow, but Matthew reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder.
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