Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Novelization:
Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyrie Profile or any other tri-Ace properties. Please support the official release.
Author's Note: This is a VP: L novelization with AU elements for the purposes of telling a clearer narrative than the original and expanding it to make a more cohesive whole. So, it's not going to adhere perfectly to the game it's based on. Characters and events might and will have their roles altered, expanded, diminished, removed, and/or replaced as needed for the sake of converting the story of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth into a more traditional novel-like format.
Additionally, since tri-Ace always loved to play coy with certain aspects of how the setting works, giving only inferences that can be taken a few ways, I'm forced to interpret certain things as best I can.
Prologue
When the tightly sealed doors of the heart
Are touched by the sadness and pain of man,
They do sometimes creak and moan
In protestation.
Are you on the inside of that door,
Or
On the outside?
I wish
That a leader of Fate
Would one day come
Open up that door.
Nothing
Is over yet.
"Oh, I have a hurry!"
The platinum-haired girl gasped as her attention was drawn out of her thoughts. She looked up at the sky through the spaces between the tree branches above. The position of the sun was an eternal clock for those who knew how to tell the time with it. The girl could see where it hung in the sky even under the canopy of leaves in the woods. She winced when she realized how late it was past midday.
"On, no, I'm late! Mother will be angry. Oh, I'm much too old to be lollygagging like this," she mumbled. "I can just hear her now! 'Where were you, Platina? You lazy girl!'"
She stepped quickly toward the bank of the little river before her and stooped to gather water in a bucket too large for her scrawny frame. Platina grunted almost painfully as she scooped it up from the rolling current which had filled it.
She was a girl of fourteen years. Though her face still had much of its baby fat, it was slowly waning into the appearance of womanhood. By her own reckoning, Platina was old enough to act like a little lady now. Whatever that meant as far as her limited knowledge of the world went.
Platina turned her thoughts back to her chores. In the foggy cool air, which the sun could barely warm, she was grateful for her heavy brown dress and shawl, which protected most of her from the cold. It was bad enough the wintery air of the north was able to chill her uncovered head and ungloved hands. Her ears, cheeks, and nose had already turned red, and she hoped to get inside again as soon as possible.
As soon as the bucket was full, Platina lifted it from the water's surface, sluggishly straightening up. Despite barely being able to lift the pail off the ground, she found the strength. With a grunt, she managed to force it up and began to move back up the trail out of the woods. Her long silver braid swayed back and forth across her back as she moved. Platina had to grip the handle of the pail with both hands to keep hold and maintain balance. She willed herself to ignore the pain as it dug into her fingers.
By the time she reached the tree line, she was panting, and had to stop for breath just outside the woods. While she rested, she glanced toward a nearly invisible break in the trees farther down, near her home.
"I guess Lucian and I won't be taking our treasures to play tonight," she thought sadly. "At least the hollow tree will keep them secret and safe until then."
Her thoughts briefly turned to playing knights with her friend with their homemade stick swords. Oh, yes, and his sister would sit off to the side with her crude dolls watching them.
A twinge of sadness hit Platina, thinking of the younger girl.
"Poor thing. Passed away during the night this last evening. I haven't been able to see Lucian and ask how he's holding up. I hope he's doing alright," she thought.
She wondered if she shouldn't stop by Lucian's home on her way, but a cursory second look at the sun's position told her didn't have time.
"I'm sorry, Lucian. Please be alright," she said. "I'll be over to see you yet."
She forced herself to shake these thoughts out as she glanced around the village. Around her was the squalid little hamlet she called home. Coriander Village, a place of long, rich history brought low as the balances of power changed far to its south. Now it stood in crumbling disgrace, forgotten and abandoned by civilization. All prior connections to the capital of the capital of Villnore had dried up, leaving Coriander to watch from a distance as the rest of the country grew while they rotted.
Nestled deep in the northern wilderness of the continent, it had the appearance of a perfect abandoned ghost town, enveloped in a constant mist that always blanketed it. Although the climate across much of the land was temperate, being so far north assured that a ghostly chill haunted Coriander even during the summer. Stone buildings similar in style to 10th century European masonry had all fallen into disrepair. Plant life overgrew the yards and up the side of the structures, and it wasn't uncommon to see random wild animal milling about at the edges. The perfect abandoned village, except it wasn't. It probably should have been, though. Had they existed yet, any sane safety inspector would have condemned each and every house years ago.
For whatever reason, whether health or financial resources, those who dwelled in Coriander Village remained, scraping by on what little they had. The few people who still lived there milled about, almost like puppets going through automated motions. They ignored the girl catching her breath even as she sparingly glanced their way.
Not far from Platina was the formerly bricked road, now jagged, uneven, and half taken over by the earth. On the other side of it was a thin older man who tended his modest garden and of half-dead plants. Farther down, towards the far edge of the village, a woman had ascended to her roof and was making quick fixes to it with sticks and long-grass, but in truth, the home had long past the point of repairs. It's stone brick walls stood irregularly now, ready to collapse within a year. Even as Platina watched her, she knew the woman who lived there wouldn't move out and would likely die there on some night or other when the strain of the abode's own weight finally became too much.
Putting these dour thoughts aside, the girl grabbed the bucket's handle again. Grunting once, Platina forced it up from the ground and continued on her way, lugging it home. The house her family lived in was in sight. Soon, she'd be boiling the water in the pot to start dinner for her father and mother.
"I wonder if father is back from hunting?" she asked aloud. "If so, I hope he caught something bigger than pheasant this time."
Ahead, the front door to the abode opened, and two men dressed in black stepped out of her home, followed by her mother. Platina barely took notice of them as she crossed a little bridge over the river which turned the wheel of their neighbor's watermill. It creaked as groaned as she walked past, eventually stepping onto her family's almost barren front lawn.
"I wonder what Lucian is up to?" she wondered. She just couldn't keep her thoughts off the boy.
Her musings briefly turned to the blue-eyed beauty of a lad, and a blush crossed her features. As she had begun blossoming into a young woman, she was slowly ceasing to just see Lucian as a good friend, but as something more. She wondered if one day, he might not be hers', and if they might not…
"Oof!"
She was jarred from her fantasies upon bumping into someone. She gasped as some of the water from the pail spilled onto the man's clothes. Swallowing, she looked up and deep blue eyes locked gazes with a brown-haired man wearing shaded spectacles.
"I… I'm so sorry!" she cried. "Your clothes, are they…"
Before she could finish, her mother stepped forward and slapped her across the face. Platina nearly dropped the bucket altogether as she stumbled back, clutching her sore cheek. She looked up at her mother's glaring face, ready to burst into tears under the matriarch's cold eyes.
"Look where you're going, girl! How dare you spill water on a guest!" Laia shouted angrily at her daughter.
The two men in black simply resumed walking past without another word. The other man, shorter and squatter than the one Platina had splashed spared her a sideways glance, observing her stricken cheek. He didn't stop or ask if she was alright, though. He just followed his slightly damp partner down the main road.
"Forgive me…" Platina mumbled, looking down at her boots.
She then turned towards the leaving men and called once more.
"I really am sorry. If you need me to dry your coat out, I will."
But the man she'd splashed only gave the slightest of dismissive gestures with his hand as he kept walking, and certainly didn't glance back at her.
"Oh, never you mind that now," Platina's mother scolded her. "You have work to do."
"Yes, ma'am," Platina replied, turning her gaze forward again. "But mother, who were those men?"
Her mother narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips.
"That is none of your business! You have chores to do yet, and you're running behind! Now grab your bucket and come along!"
Laia turned on her heels quickly and headed back towards the house. Platina hesitated out in the yard, watching her mother go, and did not move to head inside until the household matriarch had gone in.
Now far away, a lone figure poked their head around the corner of the windmill, first observing the departing men in black. Then he turned to look at the girl with the platinum hair. He watched as she took the bucket in hand again and slowly followed after her mother into the house. Then, the watcher hid behind the corner again.
"Interesting," the shorter of the two visitors said to his partner. "I wonder if that girl really is their daughter. Both the parents have brown hair and eyes, but the new merchandise has a silver-maned, blue-eyed beaut of a girl."
"Don't know. Don't care," the other replied.
Platina stoked the fires in the hearth. The flame crackled and popped as it grew, all satisfying sounds to the girl's ears. She glanced up from her work to make sure the lid was on the cooking pot firmly. Contented, she then turned away to the table where she'd laid out the vegetables and herbs. While the water heated up, she'd start preparing ingredients, working mostly on guesswork since she didn't know what her father would bring home from hunting, if anything.
"If Pappa comes home empty-handed, I'll have to get out the last loaf of bread to really make this a meal. I don't want to. Please don't let it come to that, Crafty Ull," she thought unhappily.
As she grabbed the carrots, some of which were only partially ripe, her mind wondered again.
"Maybe the gods are angry with Coriander Village. We might need a blót to make them happy with us again."
She tried to keep such a dire thought away as she began work on the vegetables.
"It's not like we can spare any animals," she told herself. "Or maybe, we need to, anyway. I guess sacrifices are supposed to hurt."
She lined the carrots up with one hand, and began chopping them with the other. The dull rhythmic thumping on the wood surface began, and her mother looked up from her own work, giving Platina only a slight glance from the rickety rocking chair she sat in. Then the family matriarch returned her gaze to her task and continued to fix a rip in one of her aprons, but otherwise did nothing to assist her daughter.
Not knowing if her mother's eyes were on her, Platina dared a single glance out the open window. Through it, she could just see the nearly invisible animal trail that led to the secret hollow she, Lucian, and his sister Astrid played in. She'd meant to look only a quick peak, but her gaze lingered longingly on it. Oh, to be able to sneak out, round up Lucian and Astrid…
"Astrid," Platina murmured under her breath.
She again felt sorrow for the girl and Lucian.
She felt guilty thinking of going to their secret spot to take out their toys from their hiding place at a time like this. But she couldn't help it. It was their happy place. Lucian, Astrid, and herself had made those playthings, as the adults refused to buy or make them any. It made them feel bigger, somehow. Their play-place was the one aspect of their lives they controlled when the matter of choice was nonexistent everywhere else.
"Why have you stopped?"
The stern voice behind her reminded Platina to get back to work, which she did in haste.
"N-No reason! Forgive me!" the girl cried and resumed cutting the orange and greenish vegetables swiftly.
Laia "humphed" loudly and the sound of clicking needles recommenced. Still, the silver-headed girl's thoughts just couldn't stay away from the private sanctuary she and her friends had made for themselves. There was nowhere else they could keep their homemade treasures where they wouldn't be cast into the fireplace because there were chores to be done. She recalled one of their more recent play dates.
"When I'm old enough, I'm gonna get out of this dirt-pile village and be the greatest knight in all of Villnore!" Lucian declared.
He swung around a stick with a shorter piece of wood tied on crossways near one of its ends, serving as a makeshift hilt for his 'sword'. He faced off against Platina, who had a play sword of her own.
The two both swung their mighty weapons. The loud clicks echoed through the trees, making Astrid look up her dolls, a pair of vaguely human-shaped figures Platina had fashioned from straw and bits of string.
"When you're old enough? You mean, 'When you're grown up'?" Platina corrected Lucian.
"I'm already grown up," Lucian playfully retorted. "I just need a bit more time to prepare to leave."
Then he suddenly reached out and ruffled Platina's hair.
"You're the one that still needs some growing up, runt."
Platina giggled and batted his hand away from her head. She patted her silver locks back into place, doing her best to manage a pout.
"Why you!" she cried, hiding a giggle, and charged him again.
While Platina and Lucian continued to play duel, Astrid made her little dolls dance with each other as if waltzing together. She made believe the figures were her older brother and Platina as adults, having married and taken her far, far away from Coriander. One of Astrid's blonde locks fell over her eyes, but she didn't brush it away.
Lucian broke off the attack and his face turned serious for a moment.
"But don't worry. I won't be leaving you two behind," he said.
Platina smiled.
"You better not, or we'll have to come find you, jerk," she said with a giggle.
Lucian smirked in response and brought his play sword around in a down cut. Platina blocked the stroke, staring determined at the blonde boy.
A gust then blew through the hollow, making Astrid pull her shawl tighter.
"Brr," she shuddered.
Astrid was torn from her imagination when Platina suddenly just dropped her sword and tackled Lucian.
"Oop!" Lucian grunted as he was born to the ground by her weight.
He then stared up in astonishment at her as she stood on her hands and knees over him, staring into each other's almost identical deep blue eyes. She giggled.
"Ha! Got you, Sir Knight! Now you have to serve me forever!" Platina bragged.
"Oh, you did not get me! I just tripped!" Lucian said, smirked, and tried to hide his blush as he stared up at her.
"Sure! You just…"
"PLATINA! Where is that lazy girl!"
Platina gasped and jerked upright onto her knees. Her breathing became shaky as she looked down the animal trail, towards the village.
"She sounds angry this time!"
She stood up and took off running towards home.
"Wha… Hey, wait, Platina!" Lucian called.
She made herself stop before she'd dashed out and glanced over her shoulder.
"I really can't stay, Lucian. You heard her."
By then, Lucian had climbed to his feet and was dusting himself.
"I'll come with you and tell her it was my fault. You mother hates me, anyway," he said.
Platina shook her head.
"No, she'd never let me play with you again if I let you do that," she replied. "I'm sorry I can't help clean up! But I have to go!"
With that, she took off again, hiking up her dress so she could run better through the narrow trail. She darted back and forth, following the narrow stomped down earth, ducking under branches and stepping over logs and stones until she emerged from the tree-line. Ahead, she could see the backside of her house. Her mother wasn't in sight. Probably gone around to the front, Platina figured.
The girl dashed to the corner and then slowed herself as she made her way around the side. Platina tried to catch her breath to appear as though she had not rushed.
"Girl, get over here!" she heard her mother.
"Coming! I'm sorry!" she called.
Laia appeared from around the corner almost immediately, face twisted into a nasty sneer. Platina stopped dead and cowered under that glare. Her mothered raised her hand and pointed at the ground right in front her, silently telling Platina to move closer. The teen gulped and obeyed. She slowly approached Laia and stood before her with her head bowed and her hands folded in front.
Laia reached down under Platina's chin and lifted her head to face hers'.
"Where were you just now?" she barked at the girl. "I was calling for you up and down the yard. You were messing about again with that Lucian, weren't you?"
Platina vigorously shook her head.
"No! No. It was my fault. I went off and played by mys…"
Platina stopped short and cried out as her mother's fingernails dug into her cheek. Laia's fury was quite palpable at this point.
"You have chores to do and you were off… playing?" Laia's voice was nearly a growl now.
She let go of Platina's cheek and grabbed her daughter under one of her arms.
"I see you need to be taught a lesson about what happens to lazy little girls."
Platina yelped as she was yanked forward, but not towards the house. The shed. Platina's eyes widened as she realized what was coming.
"Wait, you don't need to do that, Momma! I'll be good. You don't need to get the stick. Wait, please!"
"I will pull you by your braid, girl, if you fight me!""I couldn't sit for a week after that one…" Platina glumly mused as she dragged herself out of that memory.
"Why can't I just remember the happy times without bringing in the bad?" she mentally scolded herself.
It was a dark reminder of what happened when the three forgot themselves too much, and what would happen if the adults ever discovered their hideaway. It'd go away forever, and they'd be kept apart.
The front door slammed shut off to her left, making Platina gasp and jump slightly. She looked over at the figure who'd just entered the family home. It was her father, home from the hunt, and he had brought something with him this time. And it was bigger than pheasant. The grim-faced patriarch looked at her and sauntered over, holding up the bounty of his efforts.
"Wild chicken," the raggedy-looking man said.
Then he plopped it onto the table near the vegetables. He walked past Platina over to some shelves. He grabbed a bottle from the highest one.
"Don't you be digging into the drink again," Laia scolded. "We won't have another until next Spring."
"Quiet, woman," his rebuke was quiet but the distain in the words was no less potent.
Then he looked over his shoulder to his daughter quietly working at cutting the produce.
"Prepare the bird, girl," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," Platina answered, politely.
She shoved aside the cut-up carrots and dragged over the slain animal, and got to work on plucking it.
"Lucian? Lucian! Where is that boy?"
The boy being called looked up, over his shoulder. He reached out behind him and pushed the door shut a little more to ensure he would not be seen. Then he turned back to the leather shoulder satchel he was packing. As soon as he'd stuffed the last couple of items inside, he stood and shouldered the bag.
He turned to the cracked doorway and peered out. No one in sight. Then he crept through his house, carrying both the satchel and his boots as he went. Walking on bare feet, he barely made a noise as he moved through the back part of the house and entered the bedroom he used to share with Astrid. He quietly closed the door behind him and went over to the window. Once there, he stopped and pulled on his boots. Then he unclasped the window shutters and opened them. He paused, glancing over his shoulder once more to listen for the sound of anyone coming. He heard his mother moving through the house, but not in his direction. With that, he climbed over and closed the shutters behind him.
Platina sat on her tiny bed. She hadn't bothered to change out of her day clothes, removing only her boots, as it was just too cold to wear only a nightgown to bed this time of the year. She blew out of the candle and set it on her bedside. She wouldn't be needing it. The moonlight streamed through the cracks in the window shutters just fine, and her bed was right next to it, anyway. She considered draping something over the shutters to keep cold air from getting in, but somehow, now that she was sitting in bed, she just couldn't make herself move to fetch something. She couldn't even work by the energy to undo her braid.
The silver head pulled the raggedy covers up and swung her legs under them. She wrapped them around herself and snuggled tightly in their embrace to keep warm. Then she rolled over and let her head sink onto her pillow with a weary sigh. Tomorrow would be just as hard as this day had been. She tried not to think about it. She tried to convince herself that was a problem for the Platina of the future.
"Tonight, I'm in my little bed, ready to sleep like a princess on a feather mattress," she told herself.
Of course, that didn't happen. All she could think about was how the dinner had been in total silence. How she had slaved over that meal for both her parents and didn't even receive a thank you for it. They took the lion's share of the meat and left her much less.
"Did you enjoy hunting today, father?"
"What? T'was fine. Just wash the dishes and go to bed."
"Already?"
"You need to be up all the earlier tomorrow. There's firewood to chop before the frost comes in."
"Don't know why I bother," she thought. "They never want to talk…"
She rolled, turning away from the window as she attempted to get comfortable. After some wiggling around, she found a good position, and yawned. Her lips smacked together a few times as her eyes grew heavy, and they slowly started to close. She was entrenched in the darkness behind her eyelids, looking into the nothingness while awaiting sleep to take her.
The window shutters suddenly swung open. Platina's eyes snapped open as she turned to look at an intruder looming right over her through the opened window. She tried to scream, but the figure clamped his hand over her mouth quicker than she could belt out any sounds. She struggled with the intruder, letting out several muffled protests while grabbing his arm in her hands and trying to pry his hand from her mouth, but couldn't.
"Platina, stop!" a familiar voice hissed. "It's me!"
She ceased her struggles at the sound of that voice, looking up her attacker, their visage clear under the moonlight. She could just let out a stifled "Lucian?!" from behind his palm. Satisfied she wasn't going to fight anymore, he withdrew his hand from her face.
"Wh-what…?" she started to demand.
But he held a finger to his lips, making a shushing sound. She gave him an indignant look but complied.
"Wh-what's going on?" she demanded in a lowered but irritated voice. "What are you doing? Do you know what time it is?"
"Platina, I know this is sudden, but you have to come with me. Now," he said firmly.
She stared at him uncertainly. As she studied him, she noticed the satchel over his shoulder.
"Lucian, what is going on?" she asked.
He leaned in close until his face was very closer to hers'. Platina almost veered backwards as a blush crossed her cheeks.
"Please listen carefully," his voice whispered directly into her ear. "Your mother and father… They're going to sell you."
"What?"
Before Lucian could elaborate any further, the bedroom door swung open and Laia stormed in.
"What is all the commotion! We told you to…" Laia's rant died on her lips when she saw Lucian leaning over her daughter's bed through the open window. An angry sneer crossed her lips.
"You little ruffian!" she cried. "What are you doing to my daughter?!"
Lucian didn't waste any more time. He reached in and grabbed Platina by both shoulders, practically lifting her out the window.
"Come on!" he cried as he pulled her out.
Platina offered no resistance. She even swung her legs over the side of the windowsill. She let out a yelp as her bare feet came into contact with the ice-cold earth, but Lucian pulled her along before she could protest anymore.
"BEN! COME QUICKLY!" Laia's voice rang out behind them, spurring them on.
The two children dashed through the village under the moonlight. Platina's braid bounced and trailed behind almost like a tail as they went. Behind them, they could hear the front door of Platina's house fly open and bang against the side of the abode. Her father's angry shouts erupted through the air behind.
"Get back here, you little bastard! I'll wring your neck!"
Lucian took a sharp right, leading Platina into the grass and then into the darkness of the forest.
"Wait, wait!" Platina cried behind him, but he did not stop.
They tore through the brush and around the trees until the shouts and curses of Platina's father faded into the distance. Finally, they slowed to the walk, but Lucian kept a hold of her hand every step of the way.
"Lucian, I…" she started to say.
He finally stopped and turned to look at her. Then a realization crossed his features and he looked down at her bare feet. He unshouldered the leather satchel and undid the flap. Reaching in, he felt around until he found what he was looking for and produced a pair of spare boots.
"These will be a bit too big for you, but it's better than running around barefoot all night," he said.
"All night?" Platina cried incredulously.
Lucian looked at her firmly as he handed her the boots.
"Yes, all night," he said. "We have to get out of here before they catch up and sell you to those guys."
Platina paused putting on the second boot and looked up at him.
"I…" she stuttered. "I still want to ask mother. Are you sure you didn't just misunderstand the situation? Let's go back home, Lucian. Please?"
Even in the dark, she could see his expression turn stern.
"Lucian?" she asked again, weakly.
She reached out a hand and grabbed his arm, trying to tug him back in the direction of the village, but he remained rooted in place. He opened his mouth to speak after a moment.
"You remember the men in black you ran into earlier?" he asked. "I saw them, too."
She nodded her head.
"They came to my house, too. Yesterday," he continued.
"Hmm? That must have been when I was gardening with mother," Platina muttered.
Lucian nodded.
"Then…" he tried to begin, but his voice strained under a wash of emotion.
Platina watched in concern as he had to take a few breaths to calm himself back down.
"Then this morning…" he began slowly. "My sister… was gone…"
He bowed his head as he began to tremble.
"But I… I couldn't get my parents to say anything."
"Just gone?" Platina muttered in confusion. "But I heard she got sick and died during the night."
Lucian's head snapped up, and as tears he'd tried to hold back fell down his cheeks, he shouted:
"What kind of sickness just makes someone disappear!"
Platina jumped back and all was silent except for his voice echoing through the forest for the next several seconds. She watched with growing empathy and concern as he quietly started to sob and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He attempted to regain composure, but the hiccups and quiet sobs would not be suppressed.
"We don't have money for a doctor," his shaky, moaning wail of a voice was barely comprehensible now. "No body. Just gone. There were horse tracks and wheels marks in the dirt behind our house. They must have come in the night. While I was sleeping."
He turned away from her and stood staring up at the roof of tree branches and leaves. He took a sharp breath, followed by slower ones as he tried to regain control. This gave Platina time to process this. Knowing full well Lucian wouldn't lie about something like this, that meant...
"Oh, gods," escaped her lips unconsciously.
She felt her heart shatter like a mirror that'd just had a stone flung against its surface. Her parents had sold her, and it scared her how easily she was willing to believe this. A lifetime of scoldings and having most of the work around the property pushed onto her shoulders floated through her mind. Then her own tears fell. She buried her face in her hands, beginning to sob as well. Lucian turned to look at her.
Platina became lost in her dark thoughts. There was no place for her now. Before she had little. Now, she was a girl with nothing, except for the boy in front of her. Her musings were interrupted when she suddenly felt herself wrapped in something. She gasped in surprise, lifting her head from her hands to look. Lucian had just wrapped her in his own vest. She looked to meet his gaze.
"I can't lose you, too," he said sincerely.
They stared into each other's eyes. In his eyes, she saw a desperation and earnestness. In hers', he saw despair, and it scared him. She wiped away her tears before speaking again.
"Lucian, would you take me far away from here?" she asked.
"Anywhere. Anywhere at all," he said.
He gulped and steeled himself, forcing a big, confidence smile onto his face.
"You better believe it," he replied with enthusiasm he almost believed.
"But where in the world can we go?" Platina thought.
Seeing Lucian's confidence, she tried to swallow her fear and despair.
"Good," she responded, forcing her lips to turn up in a small smile. "Anywhere is fine as long as it's with you."
He smiled in return and offered his hand. Despite her heavy doubts, she took it. He started to lead her away, but she resisted. Lucian looked at her questioningly.
"We should pray for Freya and Hlin to protect us on our journey," Platina said.
Lucian smiled.
"Right," he nodded.
Both teens dropped onto their knees with their heads bowed.
"Please, lovely Freya and faithful Hlin, watch over us as we traverse the wilderness. Protect us from harm so that we may see the new day," Platina prayed.
When they were finished, Lucian took her by the hand and led her off through the woods. Without any heading, they trudged on all throughout the night. One foot in front of the other. Eventually, the trees began to thin out and an unfamiliar land stretched out into the distance unfolded around them.
"Where are we?" Platina asked.
Lucian looked around, but he didn't recognize anything, either.
"I don't know," he answered.
Platina could feel her heart grow heavy again at that answer. They were lost in an endless expanse of wilderness, and even if they did reach civilization, who would help them? How would they live? Surely, everyone else had their own problems. Two lost children would be of little consequence to them.
"It'd almost be better just to die out here, sooner than later," she thought.
She looked at Lucian. He still stood firm and was ready to keep going. Her lips remained closed. No, she couldn't take his resolve to keep going away from him. It was all he had, just like he was all she had now. It'd be cruel of her to suggest giving up. To make his heart as broken as the one beating in her chest would be more than she could live with.
"What's going to happen to us?" she asked, hoping to prompt him into action.
To that, Lucian didn't have an answer, either.
"Let's…" he uttered, while looking around.
He turned to Platina sharply.
"Let's just keep moving," he said.
He started forward again, and she fell in line. Yes, she reasoned with herself. If Lucian could keep going, she could make herself press on, too. One foot in front of the other.
Soon, a field of white appeared before them. As it grew nearer with each step, they realized it was a field of flowers. Platina let out an excited "Oh!" and ran ahead of Lucian. He lingered behind, staring uneasily at the white flowers. He eyes moved from them to Platina, who stood right among them, and was transfixed. Her hands were clasped together in almost a prayer position as she bounced on her heels a couple of times. The light of the moon shined in her silver hair and against the flowers, giving both almost an ethereal gleam in the darkness. For a few fleeting moments, Lucian was enraptured into paradise just watching her skip the among the flowers.
"~Oh, it's so pretty!~" Platina hummed.
The wind caught her hair and made it flutter along with the petals it whipped into the air. They swirled around her almost moving in rhythm with her in a dance. Platina spun with her arms stretched out to her sides.
"Could this place be Heaven?" she asked.
The question stabbed into Lucian's chest, wrenching him from his reverie.
"Don't say such things!" Lucian scolded. "It's unlucky."
Platina giggled.
"Sorry," she said coyly.
While she ran to another spot, Lucian again looked at the flowers more closely this time. They looked kind of like lilies, but not quite. He got down on one knee and plucked one off its stem. The stalk had bloomed flowers all along it, from the bottom to top in alternating spots. He stared at the little four-petaled flowers; his eyes widened. He knew this flower.
"This is…" he uttered.
He spun around to find Platina, who had picked one of them and was giving its smell a deep lungful.
"Don't do that!" Lucian shouted as he dashed over to her.
Platina dropped it in surprise.
"Do what?" she asked.
She climbed to to her feet in alarm.
"These are Weeping Lilies!" Lucian told.
He grabbed her hand again.
"We have to leave," he explained. "If we stay, we'll die from their poison. Now come on."
He started to lead her out, but after just two steps, Platina started to feel dizzy.
"L-Lucian…" she stammered.
Then her legs grow weak under her weight. She yelped as she stumbled and fell into the boy. Lucian turned as she fell, and he grabbed her around the shoulders and waist. He felt the first pangs of panic hit as she stared up at him with unfocused eyes. It turned into full-blown terror when she started going limp in his arms.
"Hang on!" he cried.
Then he half-carried, half-dragged her out of the field and set her down in the grass a short distant from the flowers. He gently gripped both sides of her head, keeping it pointed at him.
"Eyes on me, Platina," he said. "Just hang in there, we'll…"
"Lucian, everything looks fuzzy," she whimpered. "And I feel… so weak…"
Lucian gulped, and he looked around frantically for something, anything, that could be their salvation.
"Just… just…" he stuttered. He looked her in the eyes and begged. "Just hang in there, okay? Just breath. Just breath, okay?"
Platina reached up and gripped his hand in hers', and he gripped it into return, except…
"Lucian, I can't feel your hand," she said dully.
The blonde put the back of his hand on her forehead. She was burning up, and her breathing was becoming ragged.
"How is she getting this sick this fast?"
"I'll carry you!" Lucian said, hooking his hands around her shoulders and under her knees.
"No…" she murmured.
Lucian looked at her in astonishment through tear-stained eyes.
"What do you mean 'No'?" he demanded.
"Lucian… This was never… going to work," she told him.
She lied back, closing her eyes in acceptance of her fate.
"Nonsense! We made it this far!" he argued.
She opened her eyes and used the last of her vision to stare up at the moon.
"If I rest here," she spoke softly. "Will I die a happy death?"
Lucian sputtered and made a choking sound with his throat, unable to find his words. To this, Platina just shook her head. Once again, the tears flowed.
"I can't take it," she choked out. "No matter how hard I tried… Mother and father never loved me."
Lucian had gone speechless. He didn't want to be, though. Every thought and instinct screamed for him to open his mouth, to say something. Anything at all, but he was lost whilst holding the dying girl in his arms.
"The two people I loved the most…" Platina wailed between sobs. "Were selling me."
It broke Lucian to see her like this, but there was no time to dwell on it. She was fading fast and there was nothing he could do about it.
"If I die, can we be born again," she said. "Will you still be there with me?"
"Oh, Platina," Lucian murmured hoarsely.
She reached for his face, not knowing if she found it or not through the waning vision and numbness. She didn't feel him take her hand and press it to the cheek she was trying to find.
"Being with you was fun, Lucian," she told him, but with each word, her voice failed her more and more. She forced another deep breath and kept going. He needed to hear this last part. "You were the best thing in my life. I have so many terrible memories, and I want…"
Her arm fell limp, though she didn't feel it happen.
"I just want to sleep… forever. And forget. Forget… everything…"
As she faded, she ears were filled unbidden with the tolling of church bells. She saw herself standing at the altar of a large chapel of finely carved pale stones with rich red tapestries hanging from the walls. Light shined in through decorative wooden window frames with carved gaps shaped like flowers, squares, and circles, casting pleasing shapes on the walls. The pews were empty, there was no minister, bridesmaid, or bridegrooms. Just herself, alone.
She looked down at herself and saw she wore a beautiful white strapless wedding gown with a skirt of many lairs and ruffles. A transparent veil hung over her face, held in place by a white circlet on her head. She held a bouquet of flowers in both hands. Slowly, the vision of the chapel faded, but before it did, the doors opened, and a man entered. Just before she could no longer see him, she turned to get a look at him. The darkness moved in from the corners of her vision and by the time he was close enough for her to see his face, it was all she could still see.
Lucian! Except he was a man now, and the last thing she saw before all sight left her was his smile.
And then she was gone. Her last breath was expelled from her body in one final jerk, as if she'd been struck. Lifeless blue eyes stared unseeing up at the moon.
"Platina? Platina!" Lucian cried.
He began shaking her.
"Hey, wake up! Don't kid around like that!" he begged.
He grabbed both sides of her face again, turning it to face him.
"Come on, please!" he pled. "We escaped together!"
His sobbing began uncontrollable as his futile screams pierced the air. He clutched the girl's lifeless body against his own as he howled.
"What was it for, if you die?" he yelled in beseechment. "I can still take you far, far away from Coriander and those horrible people to start over! So please, just wake up! Breathe! Come on! Don't just forget everything and die! Don't leave me! Please…"
"PLATINA!" his final scream of heartbroken torment rang out into the night.
Then he was silent and still. He was alone. Platina had passed far beyond anyplace he could ever follow.
Far away in another land, a woman who looked about a decade older than Platina stood alone in a field of flowers much like the one the unfortunate boy and girl came across. She opened her eyes and gazed out onto the field before her. Her deep blue eyes scanned the area around her as her long silver braid fluttered in the breeze. She smiled, breathing in familiar air as she looked around. The wind blew in, caressing her with its cool embrace. She enjoyed the feeling of it on her face.
It made her clothes flutter and her braid whip out to the side. The loose sleeves her of her light blue dress billowed about her wrists and arms. Her sky-blue dress vest was difficult to keep straightened and she had to cross her arms to keep it secured in place. It had no buttons, and so always hung open. That wasn't an issue, though, as her loose non-form fitting dress was modest by all standards, hastening at the top in a tall collar halfway up her neck.
She looked to her left and saw where the field ended at an abrupt cliff. She strode over to it and peered over the side. Instead of seeing land or sea below, large white puffy clouds blanketed the area beneath like a carpet, or an ocean in their own right. Her smile deepened. She never got tired of watching those clouds roll down below. In the distance, there were other land masses poking up from the clouds, all floating in the air among them just like the ground she stood upon.
She turned again, walking away from the edge, taking in the sight of distant, ornate gothic-style stone structures that peppered the countryside. Towers, protective walls, fortresses, castles, and more, stretched out into the distance, interrupted only green rolling hills, trees, and wildlife.
"How nostalgic…" the woman hummed happily in a smooth melodious voice.
She sighed, contented, allowing herself to enjoy the view a little more. Then her expression turned firm as she turned westward, eyes falling onto the well-trodden dirt path she had walked many times before.
"If I am here, then I've been summoned," she said. "Lord Odin awaits."
She started down the path, taking the confident strides of a soldier off to receive to her orders, whatever they may be. She paused when she noticed her right ring finger now bore a ring. She came to a stop and held it up to get a better look at it.
"What is this?" she asked.
It was silver, but with intricate gold lettering along its shoulder.
"This is the Nibelungen Ring," she murmured. "But why do I have it?"
She shook her head. Another question for Odin. She had to get going. Within a few strides, she reached the path which would take her to the golden hall in the distance, to Valhalla.
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I've been to the Land Before Time section on AO3 before...huge mistake.
