"Christina Rose" "The Redwing Dilemma" An Original Work of Anime Fiction by Christina Rose Please send all comments and *constructive* criticism to cristina@netdoor.com; Pointless silly flames are deleted and ignored. Chapter one is a teaser, a prologue to the prologue I'll be releasing shortly. I wouldn't mind an MST if anyone felt like doing one, but I hope you enjoy it enough so that it's not really necessary! Chapter One Shayla Redwing was not a happy person at the moment. Not that that was unusual for the past few weeks, but those who knew her knew to give her a wide berth when she was like this. "What do you MEAN you're out of rooms tonight?!" She almost shouted at an innkeeper behind his desk. "W-well, the festivities going on have brought thousands of travelers to Kuraga, and the inn's just full to capacity tonight! The only place left for travelers to sleep here is the basement, and I'm sure you wouldn't..." "No, I wouldn't. Fine, thanks anyway." With a considerable amount of control, Shayla walked out of the inn, and as she stepped out, drops of rain began to fall. The drops soon became a torrent, and before she knew it, she was walking down the road, alone, drenched to the bone, under the driving sheets of rain pouring down on her. "Great... just great... what else could go wrong?!" She grumbled to herself. The only thing she was wearing was a battle-dress whose skirt reached about halfway to her knees, almost transparent against the shean of her skin. The few other men brave enough to go out in the storm found the view worth the small cost... Shayla saw two guys gawking at her soaked figure, and, blushing furiously, cried out, "What're YOU staring at?!" To discourage further, ah, admiration, she brandished her polearm and struck a combative stance. The two men wisely continued about their business. A hand clasping her shoulder from behind startled her into turning and striking out fiercely. "Aiee! Huh?! Daphne, is that you?!" An elven girl lay faceplanted in the ground where Shayla bashed her in. "Geez, Shayla... do you treat all your friends this way, or just me?" "Oh! Sorry, Daphne, there were these guys looking at me, and I got kind of nervous..." "By Sylpha's light, you never cease to amaze me with your backward ways! A few guys openly admire your figure, and you get so nervous you hit the next person that touches you over the head with that staff-thing of yours!" Daphne rubbed the bump on her head irritably. "What's with you today?" "Nothing is right... first, I lose my map, then when I finally find the place, everyone's gone, and then, I don't even have a place to stay since the festival of Kuraga's overcrowding all the inns in the town!" "Too bad... I got a room I could share, though. You interested?" "Really?!" Shayla gets that hopeful, bubbly-eyed look on her face. ~*Six Hours Later...*~ Shayla turned over on the stone floor, more irritated than ever now. Leave it to Daphne to get the cursed basement suite! Glancing over at Daphne's sleeping figure, she envied the sorceress her freedom and couldn't help wishing things had turned out far differently than they had. She looked back on the past few weeks, the days that had changed her life and irrevocably shattered a part of her she would never see again. Her irritation slowly melted away, leaving in its wake a low, mournful feeling that would remain with her for a long time to come... Meanwhile... The snoring clerk was startled awake by the loud squeek of the front door's rusty hinges, as a man soaked from the midnight rainstorm walked into the lobby. Lightning illuminated his dark silhouette. "Excuse me, sorry to come in this late," The man apoligized without smiling, "But could I trouble you for some information I need?" "We're clear out of rooms... wha..?" The late-shift clerk blinked his eyes groggily, attempting to clear out the sleep from them. "Say again?" "I'm looking for two girls, one samll, with pale blonde hair and a polearm she likes to carry around, the other an elf, tall, with a crimson cape and silver shoulder-guards. I heard they were staying here, can you help me?" The clerk remembered who he was talking about after a minute. *Oh yeah, those were the two that took the "basement suite!" If I go around telling anyone who asks, where our customers are sleeping, though, I'm gonna get it from the boss...* "Sorry, I can't help you. Maybe you could try again tomorrow?" "Thanks, but I already have a feeling I know where they are." The silver (metallic silver!) haired man walked right past the front reception desk and headed straight for the basement staircase in the next room. "Hey! You can't do... stop!" Ignoring the clerk's command to stop, the man proceeded down the basement stairs. *Soon, I'll have the revenge I deserve! Shayla Redwing, be ready!* He had spent a long three weeks tracking her, and he wasn't about to let that work go to waste! That girl had taken the opportunity of a lifetime out of his grasp, a treasure to crown all others, a promise he would never again have a chance to be granted... As he walked out of the stairwell, he saw Shayla's short, proud figure standing defiantly in the center of the room, facing him. "Kellin Siethe... took you long enough to find me! You really think you can sneak up on ME, of all people?!" "I won't even ask how you heard me coming. Things are different now, and I'm going to defeat you and take your prize once and for all!" As he gave her an imperious glare, he saw something in her had gone. What was it? What was missing from her angry, radiant countenance? *Shayla Redwing... what's happened to you? You're like you were almost a month ago today, and yet... so different...* The fighter held her polearm in front of her, ready for him to attack. Kellin, though, did not move from his contemplation of her. "Tell me what did this," he demanded. "What?" "You heard me! Tell me why you're so changed! What did this to you?!" "Changed? Changed?! You don't know me! How could you know if I change or not?! Not that it's any of your business anyway! Just fight me and get it over with!" "No." Kellin turned his back to her. "No?" Shayla repeated with disbelief, "No?!" "You're not the same Shayla Redwing that fought with me for a prize to top all others, and won. You're someone completely alike, and yet completely different. I can't fight you; you're not the same person." He turned and walked away without another word. Shayla watched him part in silence. Slowly, she put down her polearm and lay back down on the cold, dark stone floor. "What was -that- all about?" Daphne murmered sleepily from under the crimson cape she was using as a sheet. "That was so weird! I knew he was coming, but when he finally managed to find me, he said he wouldn't fight me because I wasn't the same person!" "That Kellin guy? Wow, I'd have thought he'd relish any chance he got to defeat you in one-on-one combat! Don't know what he means about not being the same person, though... guess he noticed the same thing I did..." "What is it about me that the people that know me notice so much nowadays? Tell me, Daphne!" "You know very well that something's missing. Can't you feel it in your soul?! I don't know what that missing thing is, but whatever it is, it's essential to your personality and behavior..." "Some guys just don't make any sense..." Shayla murmured to herself, before finally falling asleep for the last time that night. ~*End of Chapter One*~ Notes: I have anime-style pics of all my characters, except for the innkeeper, and if you want copies, all you have to do is send me money, then I can buy a scanner and send you all the pics you want! :P Thank you, all the people who read this, and all comments are welcome, except, as stated earlier, flames I have no time for. If you would like to preread future parts, or any of my other fanfics, feel free to drop me a line! Okay, for those of you who managed to stick with me through the first part, I finally finished the "exposition" chapter of the story. This is the beginning of the adventure up to the point of the prologue. As always, I hope you enjoy it, MST it if you must, and all non-flame comments go to cristina@netdoor.com. Final Note: Everything ties in to my prologue, so don't delete it yet! ;P "The Redwing Dilemma" Chapter Two The Orphan The girl woke, cold and dirty, in a small building she was staying in to shelter herself from the sheets of drenching icy rain currently pouring down outside. This was her life, this was what she had been reduced to: living without home, family, or friends of any kind. Yet Shayla Redwing was not unhappy, being the customarily bright, cheerful girl she was; she made the best of any situation. Her parents had died in a housefire, when she was only nine. Shayla had known no way to get in contact with any of her parents' relatives, so she decided to go out on her own. Now she was ten. Not much had changed since a year ago, but she had learned something more valuable to her than any material posessions could ever be. When she grew up, she had realized, she would be an adventuress, traveling the world over for treasure and excitement! She would need no place to call home; just the wind in her hair and the clothes on her body! Somehow, she decided, she would apprentice herself, or get a job at an adventurers' guild. As she started a fire over which she would cook her breakfast, she thought of places she could go to try and learn to be a warrioress or mage. Then her thoughts, wandering to far-off dreams, came back to her as she realized something. She was out of food! "Great... not again! Guess it's nuts and berries this morning, huh? Oh well... better wait until that rain stops, or I'll catch my death..." She organized her few belongings, the stones she used to start fires with, the dagger she used to slice things with, and her thermos of water, then she put them in her pack, and placed it aside. To pass the time, (oh, the boredom of life!) she polished her father's glaive -too big for her to use yet- with the hem of her shirt, giving the shiny, flawless blade the most caring of cleansings. Finally, when the rain stopped, she put out the fire that warmed her through the storm, slung the pack over her back, picked up her father's weapon, and stepped out into the open, muddy street. A shadow fell over her, and Shayla, startled, jumped back into the building's shadow and warily glared at the stranger who approached her. "W-what is it?!" The stranger, a silver-haired boy of about sixteen, gazed down at her curiously. He was about six feet tall, obviously very slim, even wearing his heavy navy cloak. He was a mercenary by his appearance; the three foot long sword he wore across his back could have given that one away. As he had been going down the street, minding his own affairs, he had seen a little girl, dressed in rags, step out into the street from out of an old, abandoned stone building, carrying with her a weapon of exceptional quality even to his untrained eyes. He could tell at a glance that this girl was special, without even knowing her name. "Who are you, that walks in rags, but carries such a fine weapon?" The girl was completely baffled by the question. "Shayla Redwing's my name. Who are you? Why do you want to know who I am?" Her open face hid nothing. He looked at her again, and guessed that she was an orphan without a home, judging from the smoldering fire in the building. If he left her now, she would continue as she had before; never knowing where she came from, never knowing where she was going next or where her next meal would come from. Yet he felt that she was someone special, someone who bore extra watching. He couldn't let potential like what he saw just go to waste! He made his decision. "I'm Kerin Siethe. I assume you don't have a home?" "Yeah, what if I don't? If you want to buy my dad's glaive, sorry, it's not for sale." "No, I wouldn't dream of taking it." "What do you want to know my name for, then?" Shayla was used to dealing with mercenaries that wanted her glaive and some who even tried to steal it or take it by force, or pretend to be her friend to try and get it. She wasn't used to people who spoke to her so respectfully, and she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. "You look hungry. Do you have any money?" "That's not your business..." She turned away to hide the blush on her face, being forced to look so poor in front of such a nice man. She didn't want his pity- anything but that! The man turned away so as not to look at the tears of indignity brimming in her eyes. Any other person would have offered her food by now, but he knew better than to show such pity to a proud, strong young lady like this one. He put a hand on her shoulder. She turned her face up to look straight into his. "I can find my own meals, okay?" "Fine. I've got a better idea, though; you can travel with me, and help me out, and in return, I'll share all my money and meals with you. Would you like to do that, Miss Redwing?" *Miss Redwing! He called me Miss Redwing! Traveling with a guy who treats me like an adult sounds better, at least, than what I'm doing now... and I get food and money... he doesn't look like a guy who would take advantage of me either... Okay, I'll bite!* Shayla nodded slowly. "I think that sounds good, where are you headed?" "Wherever the wind takes me... or did you want to go somewhere?" *Going with the wind... that sounds so cool!* "Wind's fine! Got anything to eat?" "Yeah..." Kerin rummaged through his own pack, silently reminding himself that she was only ten, and couldn't be expected to act any differently. He wasn't regretting the offer immediately; that was a good sign. He took out some cold buns, gave two to her, and ate the last one himself. *Maybe I could... nah. Maybe she would like... nah... I know!* "You want to learn how to use that glaive?" "You'd teach me?!" "I could try... I don't know enough to make you really good at it, but I can at least teach you the basic stuff to know..." Shayla looked up at him with newfound admiration. This guy with silver hair must have been sent by the gods to guide her! "I would love that!" She favored him with a grin, and he returned it with his own soft smile. ~*End of Chapter Two*~ Notes: Stuff in ** is thoughts, and of course stuff in "" is spoken words. Kerin Siethe is NOT Kellin Siethe. This chapter takes place five years before the prologue, where Shayla is fifteen. I hope you all enjoyed it, if you're still reading it ^_^