Amnesia Fantasy - Before the Aftermath

"/Now/ you look as if you belong." Ukyo smoothed his hand over her bow, and he wanted to draw her close.../very/ close. He could feel his darkness bubbling, but he shook his head and smiled at her sweetly, "I'll pay, and have your outfit from before put in a bag instead. I'll take you to the town square next, and show you the roses and the fountain. There's a lovely cherry tree, too. That's also where the trinket shops are, and perhaps we could stop for teatime?"

Megumi smiled warmly, though she had to admit the outfit was quite nice. It did feel better than the dresses that she was accustomed to wearing and honestly, she liked that she looked like she belonged. "Thank you." She said, sincerely. "For doing this for me. You certainly know how to make a girl feel special." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Tea would probably be lovely by the time we're done wandering around. Are the roses barafae or are they actual roses or are they different kind of roses?" She couldn't help but to ask her numerous amount of questions.

"Talking roses! Some other talking flowers, but there's cute baby buds, too." Ukyo took her pile of clothes and he turned to make his way to pay for Meg's outfit, "You'll love it all."

~

"You sure he'll like it?" Ukyo worried his bottom lip as he stared at the blue-dyed leather quiver resting beside Megumi's leg. They had the Spade crest put on it and Ikki's name below so there would be no mistaking it. They were sitting for teatime, and the talking flowers surrounding the fountain beneath the cherry tree were singing for them a soft tune.

Megumi was very fond of what Ukyo had did for her. Not only did he pay for the outfit, but he had kept his own promise about gifting the quiver to her brother. She had found the base, but it was Ukyo's idea about the crest and his name. "He'll love this." She assured him again, touching the leather as she said it. "You'll hear about it when he wears it." She assured. "He's been looking for a new one, and what better than this? You went through a lot of trouble too. He wouldn't throw it in your face, Ukyo. He's just gonna want to meet you faster. He may even try to do it without me. He can be just as reckless as I am." She took a sip of the tea, warm and soothing. It was very relaxing after the exciting day that they had.

"Is he really? I wouldn't have guessed, by the way you talk about him." Ukyo was amused, "I hope he does come with you. I'd like to see how you two interact." He nodded firmly, "I really am excited." He set his cup down and then looked at her with a tilt to his head, "You asked me why I was upset, earlier. At what Mine-chan and Waka-san did." He furrowed his brows, "I was worried you'd be scared away. You've proven yourself a lot to me, that you really can fit in here, in my land of misfits, but I still...panicked a little. They did it as a test. Their own way of seeing if you were right for me."

"Right...for you?" Megumi questioned and swallowed thickly. She doubted that he was talking about them as friends now. Then again, did anything he do today was even remotely friendly? It was so clear that he was trying to court her, it wasn't funny. She wondered how her brother would take it. He had thought that she would be the one to fall inexplicably in love with him. Not the other way around, but Wonderland was filled with wonders. With mischief and pranks. She took a sip of her tea. "I'm not scared." She said after a moment, knowing too well that he didn't need the assurance. "I don't think I could ever be scared. Though, I have a feeling that you're still waiting. Wonderland didn't. The villager's didn't. So that leaves Uki, right?"

"Seems a bit unfair of me, doesn't it?" Ukyo's smile turned sheepish and a little sad. "Yes...but even though I can switch on command, he likes doing things on his own terms as well. Its just a waiting game now." He bit his lip again, "I would like to wait to meet your brother, too, before I talk anymore about you, me, and us. I won't pursue anything if your family dislikes me."

"Well that's unfortunate." Megumi said, her heart thudding sadly in her chest. She understood it well though. Being royalty meant being subjected to what other people thought. It was...kind of maddening really. If she belonged here, would he have the same problem? Probably...the Mad King and all. "Well, considering that I'm going over to Tsume's, I can see what would happen if I sneak my brother into her Kingdom...kill two birds with one stone. Though knowing him, he'll probably want to travel at night. Not only for a game of courage, but if he's going to court Tsume, he's going to want to go at the height of romance and there's nothing romantic about a daylight tryst." She rolled her eyes. "Nothing romantic about getting caught by the guards too, but hey whatever floats his boat."

"I find that amusing, considering they're both royalty? Only scandal I can see is sex and children out of wedlock. Yet, with your brother's curse, if she is meant for him, he also wouldn't risk anything like that. He sounds like he would treasure her and they might be the sappy sweet kind of couple." Ukyo chuckled and shook his head. "So, you not going to see her alone, then? I can get a carrier pidgin."

"Ikki would wait till marriage at least officially." Megumi said slowly, her mouth pressed tight. "They would be the sappy sweet couple. And they'd be the ones that have a thousand and one children. He wouldn't risk anything that'd hurt her, at least he'd try anyway." She gave him a soft smile. "No I'll see her alone tomorrow, but that pigeon is a good idea. Though, I think I'd know if you'd need me. Ikki might want to keep in touch." She gave him a look. "I know he's gonna like you. I have too much faith in that."

"At least you do." Ukyo hummed, but he waved his hand and their set up disappeared. He stood up and the chair poofed, "Let us walk. There is so much of the little town you've yet to see. I can /show/ you where the pub is at, so you can go there next time if you please, but I am going to be selfish and ask you to just tell /me/ a story later." He took her hand tightly in his, feeling greedy and dark. He didn't feel like this often, and as they weren't inside the forests of Wonderland, she could only see how the sky changed hue. "You surprise me, with the range of emotions you make me feel. I've been...living a sort of limbo, before you."

"A lukewarm kind of life?" Megumi knew how that felt. Kent told her exactly what it was like in the most literal sense of the terms. Even Ikki admitted that he felt that way from time to time, considering his predicament. She looked at the sky, which was a bright pink and a warm blue. It was a weird type of color, but she knew somehow what it meant. She squeezed his hand back. "...I'm glad I can share my adventures and stories and dreams with someone. Family is one thing, but a village of people and a person whose willing to listen and demands for my time is another entirely." She squeezed his hand again. "You've done so much for me. You've given me a lot too. I don't know if a story's gonna cut it, but I'll come up with an idea."

"As we're talking about him a lot, it could be about Ikki? Or inspired by him, anyway, of course." Ukyo corrected as he began leading her through the streets towards the deeper part of town. "Next time. Next time you come, an adventure at the pub can be had. Even if you don't find me first, I will find you."

"I have so many stories about him, I'll tell you one so that you'll feel a lot better about meeting him. You're usually so optimistic, it's weird for me to take the wheel." Megumi confessed. "I was terrified of what you thought of me, yet you take me as I am. Just as I hopefully take you and Wonderland for what you are. So I'll tell you something, something that'll soothe your worries just a smidgen and perhaps will make you look forward to seeing him, rather than fearful. At least, that'll be my intention."

~

"So, tell me your story. Perfect time, considering." Ukyo coaxed as he sat with Megumi on the top of a high hill, above the trees and they could see the multicolored sunset, which was completely and utterly different than the outside realms. Instead of oranges and reds and golds fading into deep blue and then blackness with twinkling white stars, a Wonderland Sunset was the pink sky turning deep maroon and burgundy with the blue clouds varying shades of purple and green, the few stars appearing were violet.

Megumi laid back on her back, her arms underneath her head as she watched the sunset. It was gorgeous and strange and she loved the colorful stars that were appearing in the night sky. Not too bright it overtook the sunset, but not so subtle that they were lost in the colors either. She wondered what the colors meant, if there were any meaning at all, before she thought that maybe there was no such thing as a meaning in the sunset. Just the memory now.

Strange way to think, but she was realizing that Wonderland was all about strange thinking. Rational thoughts didn't work here. Kent would be beside himself, but she also knew that he was just as open as Ikki was to the strange and impossible.

"When I was a little girl," Megumi said staring at the stars. "My brother and I would sometimes have a hard time falling asleep so we would go up the castle roofs and we would count stars. We liked it when it was a new moon because we could count higher and see more of them, and we could see the constellations and the milky way. Sometimes during those times, he'd ask me for a story about what I saw in the sky, and I'd tell him what I read or remembered someone telling me." She smiled softly. "Sometimes we'd drag Kent outside as well. He wasn't ever interested in the stars or the stories or the game, but he liked the simplicity of it."

Her voice fell and she picked it back up again. "One time, Ikki wasn't in a happy mood, and I dragged Kent to come with me outside on the rooftops. Kent was always the analytical, always cuts the chase in half type of guy. I was just...I don't know what I was trying to do back then. Be supportive, I suppose. He asked us a very strange question. Strange even for Wonderland.

He said, "I never seen a falling star before, do those even exist?"

Kent said, "No. I don't think a falling star will exist. Where would it go?"

And I said, "Yes. Falling stars exist. They're wishing stars. They take all the wishes and bring them to a Wish Granter. If your wish is worthy enough, strong enough, and sincere enough, it'll grant your wish."

And my brother fell silent. Kent and I got into an argument about it, of course. Sometimes we do. I don't remember the fight, but I remember looking at my brother and he was scanning the sky as much as he could, to try to find a falling star.

I thought that there was something that happened in another Kingdom that he worried about. Toma was just a child, and we were quite friendly with the Diamond Kingdom, so I worried that something happened there. Then I thought of Kent, and how many times a woman would snub him as a teen because he wouldn't speak properly, saw right through them, and he just...wasn't understood. Then I thought of myself, and I immediately discarded that. He had no reason to waste a wish on me. I was happy as I could be, and I thought, worried, even that he might wish to take my stories away from me. Make me more normal."

She fell silent for a moment and she let out a hard breath. "It wasn't till much later, did I find out what happened. He was playing with some of the boys in the town square, showing them how to properly fence as well as telling, yet not telling, a story and one of them stabbed him and he overreacted the game. As he was supposed to. But the women who came to the gala who were going to dance with him, were a little mean. I suppose a little didn't cut it.

But I'm jumping ahead. It took months and suddenly he came barging into my room. He had a wild look in his eyes, and his face was so bright with happiness, it could power the town for an entire year. "I found a falling star!" He said, practically shaking with excitement.

I was nervous and scared. I thought this was it. He was going to tell me that he wished for something that he couldn't ever take back. I thought of Kent and prayed that he wished for his happiness rather than something that I considered to be mine and everyone else's sorrow. "What did you wish for?" I asked.

"I can't tell you, it won't come true." Which is true, it wouldn't have. Even to do this day, I.." She trailed off, trying to find a better word. "Well, it doesn't matter now. Anyway, I had began to notice something strange. He would do nothing but look at a girl and the girl would immediately come up to him and start talking to him like they were friends, or knew each other. A girl would become two, become three, and then it became a crowd. My brother was ecstatic, and I couldn't understand why."

She swallowed, "It wasn't till much, much later, when he began to regret his wish did I learn why he made it to begin with. Remember the miniature story I said, about him playing with the boys? The girls were horrified that a prince would be rough and rowdy with a bunch of commoner boys and who would dare teach them how to defend themselves properly in a battle? The girls would tell their mothers and they would tsk and say:

"Will he ever grow up out of that childishness? His sister's a hopeless case, but certainly not him. Don't marry him. Don't look his direction. Who knows what else his sister did to him to make him act like a fool."


She shook her head from side to side. "So he made a wish, in hopes that he wouldn't be judged like that anymore. But he was still judged. He was judged differently. The boys thought that he was stealing their girls. He would date a woman for three moon cycles, they'd say, and then if he gets laid he'd ditch them. They'd say that he would take three girls on the same date. They'd say that he was hot headed and violent, since he had punched a wall when they insulted me, but to this day I still say they deserved the fear. Again, I'm skipping stories."

She sighed softly. "He told me once that he just wanted someone to like all of us. He wanted girls to be a little more easier and a lot less harder. He wanted them to know me and Kent, but their attention was all on him and if he even tried to set Kent up, the girl would laugh in Kent's face and say that Ikki was better. If he tried to get a girl to become my friend, they were horrified. The alliances were harder to keep and arranged marriages went out the window almost as soon as they heard his name. Royal Family whore, and he was only fourteen at the time. They were never certain which was worse him or me. But they'd never take one of us. Never ever.

Sometimes I joked that he didn't charm anyone with his eyes, but showed the darkness in their hearts instead. He never takes it as a joke, he tells me that sometimes he thinks the same."

"Now you found me, and Ikki's found Tsume." Ukyo reached out and caught a peachy lock around his finger, leaning closer and kissing the hair, "Ikki must have been so happy, but he must still be scared, too. It was only one night a few weeks ago. I hope you do send him a pigeon to get him to go meet with her. If you made a wish on a falling star, what would you wish for?"

Megumi's breath was caught when he kissed her hair. It wasn't like he kissed her or anything, but the gesture was still sweet. She frowned a little, wishes were serious business and one didn't make one lightly. "I don't know." She admitted after a moment, causing him to pause. "To be honest all of my wishes I could ever have are slowly being granted now. A place to belong, someone unafraid of me, my stories go told and free." She frowned a little. "I don't think I could give this wish to a falling star." She confessed after a moment. "It's too close to the heart, and a star wouldn't know what to do with it. My wish though would be to be a home for someone. But that's a wish of selfishness. I think I'd wish my brother's curse gone honestly."

"You have a pure heart. I like that about you." Ukyo smoothed her hair back down, "I am glad I am able to grant a few of your heart's desires by simply being and existing. It's a beautiful thing, that you fit in so seamlessly here. Thank you, that was less of a mighty tale and more of a personal story. I don't take that lightly." He traced his hand over her spine, wanting to tug her closer, but didn't want to be too forward, "You would think I would have personal stories to share, living as long as I have, but I don't. You told the story of me and my friend; I told you how I became bound to this place. Time has flown by since then. I have watched the town grow into what it is, I became mad /over/ time, I am a King and yet I don't have a Kingdom. I am more of a Guardian. I might, in fact, make Hisako Queen when she is older."

Megumi thought of the little witch who lived in a cabin alongside a shifter pup. She could see them being a Queen and King. Being outsiders and misfits themselves, they'd probably be a decent Kingdom of their own. "What's in a name? I told you you're you no matter what you choose. I think Hisako would make a good Queen when she's older and I think she'll take either Shin or Toma and they'll be good to the people here. Shin more than Toma, but that's just because I met the pup first." She mused. "I think that you're wrong though, about not having personal stories. What about meeting Hisako and Shin? What about meeting me in the forest?" She smiled warmly at him. "Maybe they're not stories you'll tell me and that's fine. Maybe you're not a storyteller, but a story keeper and that makes all the difference. But I got a feeling that you'll tell these stories one day. I'll hear them, but it's not going to be me you're telling."

"Not going to be you?" Ukyo's brows furrowed, but then he laughed softly, "Riddle me this, riddle me that. Of course. You're slipping further and further, how fun." He did slip his arm around her now, the sun now gone and the sky slowly catching up and getting darker into twilight, which had a purple haze instead of a grey one, and he laid them down on the grass which was plush and soft beneath them. "I will tell you one day, all the stories you wish to know. I am content right now being your story keeper." He would be sad tomorrow when she left, but she would be back. She promised. She had a gift to deliver, and that helped ease him.

"Kingdom of Stories and Riddles." Megumi said solemnly making him laugh again and she smiled, pleased to hear it. She liked that he was easy to laugh with, easy to amuse. She liked the natural flow of conversation and she decided.

Tomorrow will be sad, but she had to bring Ikki this way. And to see Tsume, maybe bring her this way too one day.

She needed to stop being so easily distracted, it was maddening.

Hehe, maddening.

Oh god.
()

Tsume felt the shift of the atmosphere from the boring hustle and bustle to the utter confusion and then exasperation of her people. The /only/ thing that would cause such a reaction would be someone from Wonderland. Was it just somebody passing through on their way to the beach? There was no resort like she wanted there to be, but there were a few shops along the water's edge and maybe a house or two. They didn't get storms terrible enough to tear them down, protected on one side by mountains, the other by large sloping hills and a huge forest. They were practically in a valley. It was a gorgeous place and Tsume had been trying to talk to her father about setting up the resort and spa that Ikki and Megumi had entertained her with. Her mother heard about it and immediately shut her down, saying neither of them had an interest to keep such an outlandish idea afloat once she was married off to another kingdom.

Her sad little reverie was broken when she made it to the main hall where a girl was arguing with a guard. She was dressed in an outfit that no doubt specifically came from Wonderland, and she looked absolutely stunning. "Megumi! So you /actually/ decided to come see me! You know, if you had messaged me beforehand I could have covered for your trysts through the White King's land, instead of outing you. I thought about it in hindsight after I sent the return pigeon." The guard looked upset that she actually knew who the ginger haired girl was.

"Hey long time no see." Megumi beamed as she did a flourishing bow. "It's fine, it's fine. It made Ikki and U-I mean the White King curious about each other so I think you did some good. You might want to bring me in however, I think we're attracting unwanted attention. At least, my outfit is. Pretty cool isn't it?" She spun around.

"You look ravishing, my dear." Tsume waved the guard away and took Megumi's hand. Instead of into the castle, she took Megumi back the way she came across the bridge, "Your first visit here won't be spent behind stuffy ol' walls. We're going to the seaside village." She explained. "Did the King suggest you that outfit? It's a fashion disaster, but you look so good in it. You really do wear trousers well. I tell you, I'm glad I'm not wearing heels." Instead of the poofy style she had worn at the Ball, she had a slim and flowing type of dress with a blue bodice and a yellow skirt. As she walked simple black flats could be seen.