Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a hard night for Ryuu, he tried as best he could to be silent with his weeping so that Tobi could sleep, normally, he would be able to suck it up a bit and move on, but with the new hormones ravaging his body, his tears were flowing freely. He had cried himself to sleep that night. It was probably just as heartbreaking for Tobi to watch as it was embarrassing for Ryuu to actually be doing it. During the night though, they had a visitor, silent and stealth so as not to wake the boys, the large shadow was there and then it was gone within a few moments, not even stirring the boys from their much earned sleep. Ryuu was the first one to stir from his slumber and noticed the small, long box that rested on the nightstand in between the two beds. Ryuu didn’t know what to expect, after the disappointing few week that they had he wasn’t ready to get his hopes up, but there was still that last shred of hope that his Uncle came through for them at the last minute. He read the short note first, then, with excited, trembling hands, he reached over and quickly opened the box, then unrolled the velvet that was protecting the treasure. There, in his hands was the item that they had been hunting for, for months. There, in his hand, was the thing that was going to get him and his sister back to normal… it was there and it was real, this wasn’t an illusion. His Uncle had come through for them, he owed the man so much now, it was likely never going to be paid off in his lifetime.
Tobi! TobiTobiTobiTobiTobiTobi! Wake up! Uncle Vidor found it! He got the horn!” Ryuu was like a little kid who got what he always wanted at Giving-mass. He was so excited that he couldn’t sit still or hold a thought in his head. When Tobi stirred and sat up, Ryuu didn’t even think, he just wrapped his arms around him and gave his best friend a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the lips before pulling back and looking at the horn again. ”C’mon Tobs! We don’t have time to waste! Let’s go!!”
Poor Tobi, Ryuu was so excited he was running around and shoving things in his pack, wrapping his precious ingredient back in the velvet then closing the box before laying it to rest with the rest of the ingredients. He made damn good and sure that he was not going to be losing anything now that they had it all. It was such a relief to him, and probably Tobi as well, that when they went home, it would be because they accomplished their goals, not because it was winter and they failed.

At first, Ryuu was in such a hurry to leave that they almost didn’t get breakfast, though Tobi managed to convince him that it was probably best to get at least something before they left town. They settled on a quaint little café where they decided to blow a good portion of the remaining travel money on a celebration dinner. The Waitress was rather curious about what they were celebrating and jumped to the conclusion that Tobi had proposed to the lovely young lady sitting across from him… much to Ryuu’s embarrassment. Still, it did nothing to damper his good mood, and the Waitress was so loveable and bubbly that Ryuu just gave up and agreed it was because he was getting engaged to Tobi… though he never said it himself. After a fantastic breakfast the pair made it out towards home once more. It would take about two days of travel to get there, but Ryuu was wanting to push their horses a little bit, though they made sure to rest them and make sure that they weren’t going to keel over before they got back… it would be a huge pain in the a** for them to have to foot it back home… and Ryuu was sure that his mom would kill him if he pushed his birthday gift too far and it croaked. It was starting to snow the first snow of the season when Tobi and Ryuu finally made it back home. Ryuu was cold, no doubt about it, but at the same time he was more than happy to be home. The first stop was to the Alchemist who was going to make the potion for him, they started right away, seeing the changes in Ryuu now that he had come back, they knew that had little time to spare. Then there was one more stop that Ryuu wanted to make… ”Hey Tobs… if you want, you can head to the castle and pick out a room if you’d like… there is something that I need to take care of as a first order of business…”

The council was busy making their demands to the king, their usual uproar, though other than that, the courts were surprisingly quiet today. It seemed those who in attendance were trying their best just to make it thought the meeting with as little pain as possible when the large double doors burst open and a busty young lady entered with Dread Knights in tow. The knights who were guarding the doors were sent sprawling to the ground as if hit by great force.
”Arrest those men and women!” The rather attractive woman barked out, raising a Saber and pointing it at the table that the councillors occupied. ” You are all hereby charged with the Highest of treason, conspiracy against the crown, adding and consorting with people associated or practicing forbidden magic, dabbling in the Forbidden magic and treason against King and crown! Kill those who resist, spare those who surrender.”
Chaos entered the throne room as the Dread Knights descended upon the councilmen and their bodyguards, a few brave and foolish ones charged the Dread knights, Mayfew impaled one on his halberd and tossed him over his shoulder like he was nothing, sending him bleeding to the ground on one of the carpets not far away. Swords were dropped and hands raised as three Dread Knights circled the councilmen, their halberds forming a triangle that would sever the neck if they tried anything.
“This is outrageous! Do you know who we are? Do you know who you’re dealing with, young lady. We will have your head for this!”
”Mayfew… add ‘Death Threats’ to the list of charges. INQUISITION!” A cloaked figure appeared beside Ryuu in a gentle blast of wind. Their head was bowed and they were kneeling.
“At your service, my Prince.”
”Call Master Tormentor Morghoul and his paingivers out of retirement… I have some work for them.”
The councilmen visible grew terrified at their situation and started to plea and sell each other out in a burst of chaos, anything to get away from the man and his tortures… and away from the wrath of the feminized Prince. Ryuu then walked over to his throne, he raised his hands and conjured a more impressive one out of the darkness. He sat on it defiantly, proud and strong as a leader.
”I’m back.” The Prince declared triumphantly.

Ryuu leaned back in this throne, god it felt great to be home, when Niccy poked her head out from around the throne it took him a few minutes to realize who it was. Ryuu’s eyes widened a fraction. His sister made quiet the handsome young man, even he was willing to admit it. There was a strong resemblance to the King, though there was enough of their mother in her to cause a shadow of androgyny and remove any doubt from his mind. Ryuu chuckled and brought his arm up on the armrest, then leaned his cheek against it.
”Well don’t you just make the perfect little man, are you sure that you want to change back? You wouldn’t have to worry about the Princes coming after your a** again.” Ryuu closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax a little bit. ”You’ll be relieved to know that the ingredients are already being prepared for the potion, the Alchemist said that it would be ready tonight and he would send someone to get me when it was finished. I’ll bring it to you when it’s ready.”
It was a weight off of both of their minds, though waiting another half a day was going to be a huge pain in the a**. When you wanted something bad enough, it was so hard to be patient for it. Though in Ryuu’s case, maybe a nap in his own bed might be in order, though he doubted he would get any sleep, being so excited for the potion and all. His return caused quiet the stir in the castle, both at the beauty he now possessed and the fact that the Eldest had now returned. He half expected his mother to come in first, but the next people to come bursting through the doors was Sorcha and Annette. They were out of breath as though they had ran all the way from the other side of the castle to see him. They both seemed unprepared for what they were about to see, and for the longest time, they just sat and stared for a while. It was Annette who broke the silence first with a squee.
”Oh your Majesty~! You look incredible! Can I braid your hair? I want to braid your hair… Sorcha, let’s go and braid the Eldest hair!”
Annette bounded over to the former Prince and started to play with his long locks, catching him up on all the gossip that could ever shove in his ears, and yet couldn’t care less about. Annette was obviously excited for some reason, maybe it was his return, and maybe it was because all the girls were curious about what Ryuu was going to look like, there was even a betting pool going on about it in a select few groups… though needless to say, Sorcha lost that bet…
It took Sorcha a little while before she righted herself up and walked towards Ryuu, he was far more beautiful that she would have ever pictured… and mature too… actually, seeing him caused her to feel a little bit inadequate by comparison. She walked up to the Throne with far more restraint than her other, more carefree counterpart.
”I’m glad that you returned safely, your Highness.”
Ryuu offered her a gentle smile. ”It’s good to be back, Sorcha.”
”Sorcha! Hurry and come and help me! He has such beautiful hair, it would be a shame if we didn’t do something with it! You too Princess!”
Ryuu gave an exasperated sigh, Sorcha looked up with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. ”Alright, how about an elegant updo, or maybe some sort of crown braid.” It was going to be his payback for making her worry about him. Ryuu tried to greet the rest of those who came into see him with a level of awe inspiring confidence and intimidation… something that fell short when they would notice at least two girls playing with his hair.

Ryuu gave a wide, toothy grin at his sisters annoyance at being referred to as a ‘perfect little man’ and it was dutifully noted that he could use this as some means of petty sibling torment when the dust settled. For now though, he would just let it sleep. They had both been through enough of this as it was, they didn’t need to be throwing needless barbs at each other. His smiled died down to something more natural and relaxed. ”Yes, we got everything. The next time we see Uncle Vidor… we really need to thank him. Tobi and I would have returned less than successful if he hadn’t found the Unicorn horn for us.” Ryuu noted the gentle tugs on his hair and got something of an annoyed look on his own face. ”What are you two girls doing back there?” He asked with curious caution.
”Just putting some braids in your hair, your Majesty.” Annette answered truthfully. It was Sorcha that seemed to be scheming a bit.
”It’s important for girls to keep their hair out of their eyes, my Prince, especially when it’s as long as yours. We’re just keeping it out of your way.” Sorcha took a few pins out of her hair and started to do something with it, causing Annettes eyes to light up and a large smile to cross her face. She, in turn, pulled a few of her own pins out and started to follow suit.
Ryuu wasn’t sure if he should trust this, but he sighed and leaned more into his fist once more. ”You two are so lucky I like you.” The girls burst into giggles, it was about this time that his mom made her presence known to them and Ryuu visible relaxed. Man… it felt like forever sense he last saw her, it did him well to see that she wasn’t a weeping ball of nerves when he came back. She always was a huge worrier, something that she never lost as he got older. ”Mom…” He returned her embrace, he had honestly missed her, he didn’t realize it until now. It had felt good being hugged by her again after so long. ”It’s good to be back home. And look who got some new armour, I can’t say if I miss the old set or not… though this one seems to suit you better somehow. I have to say though, I was expecting a few more white hairs on your head considering the amount of time I’ve been gone.”
Ryuu grinned and was about to stand up when the girls behind him informed him hastily that they weren’t done yet. Ryuu sat back in the throne again with a bit of a frustrated look. ”So what’s happened to my kingdom sense I’ve been gone? I mean… aside from Niccy’s impatience at the time it took me to find the ingredients.” Ryuu imagined that they would all ask him for his tales, so he figured that he would get the shorter version out of the way first before he finished his. When the girls finally finished their masterpiece, they let him up again. Ryuu took a few steps off of the throne and more or less stood beside his mom, if he had stayed sitting any longer he was going to fall asleep, now that he was at home and far more relaxed, the restless nights were finally starting to get the better of him, he was exhausted from his travels and it was obvious. Though he seemed far more interested in getting that potion than he was catching up on sleep. Ryuu was having troubles getting used to the odd weight of his braided hair, and after a few turns of his head he looked over at the girls with a bit of a glare. ”What did you two do to my hair??” He asked, obviously oblivious to the rather girly and princess like creation that they put in his hair.
"Nothing your Majesty.” The two girls said in unison, sharing the same innocent smiles on their faces.

Ryuu bounced his head back and forth between his mom and his little sister, they seemed to have a secret of some sort they were holding out on him. How did his mom’s armour get ‘obliterated to bit’ and who on earth did it? Which Valkyries were kicked out and who were the new ones. Ryuu frowned, both at the way that his mom and sister where telling him nothing and how heavy his hair felt with the finished braids and the flower patterns that some of them made.
”Okay… thanks for telling me absolutely nothing. Let’s try again with a little more detail so that I can get caught up in things… how did Mom’s armour get ‘obliterated to bits’ and who were the new Valkyries that joined, why did you get rid of some of your old ones and who were they? Let’s try and keep the future king in some sort of a loop here, shall we?” Ryuu tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice, he hated it when his mom played this game of cat and mouse with information. It was something that ticked him off so quickly that it was impressive. When the topic came to his own adventures, Ryuu gave a huge defeated sigh, hanging his head slightly in the process.
”It was a god damn nightmare from start to finish. We got ambushed right off the bat by bandits, they tore my shirt and let slip my little problem to Tobi who at that time, hadn’t decided to more or less just come with me. The first ingredients took all night to gather as it was a needle in a stack of needles. I learned the hard way that my strength wasn’t what it used to be when we were ambushed by bandits again and my b*****d sword was too heavy for me to wield efficiently. I got cut up pretty bad, good thing Tobi was there or I would have been so screwed over. When we got to Lady Isabelle’s I found that she was engaged to someone else so our relationship is… a little tender right now. It’s also where I got this armour… which reminds me mom, I owe you a pair of riding pants, sorry… most of the rest of the gather was more or less guys hitting on me, grabbing my butt and us running from town to town and place to place in countless hours of looking for these hard to bloody find ingredients and wracking our brains to figure out how to harvest them. Then in the Grimgore mountains, we were ambushed by goblins and I was knocked off a cliff by their pet ogre, lucky for me Tobi save me, and lucky for us Uncle Vidor showed and saved our stuff form those greenskin bastards… then we met a dragon who tried to have her way with me to piss off Tobi and we ended up fighting her… then after a few weeks of finding utterly nothing in the way of the unicorn horn, we were about to just give up and come home when Uncle Vidor made a midnight visit to our room and we finally got the Unicorn horn.”
Ryuu gave a deep breath, wow, that was a long winded explanation. Certainly put his moms ‘catching up’ to shame. Niccy had damn well better appreciate what he did for her!

Ryuu listened fairly intently to what his mom had to say about the new Valkyries. He quirked an eyebrow. ”So you finally let the poor guy in huh?” Ryuu leaned back to look behind his mom at Mayfew. ”You lost that bet Mayfew, I told you she would cave at some point.” He straightened up again and then looked at his mom again. ”Well, at least you’ll know for next time not to wear your good armour when fighting him, huh. Time will tell if he can cut it as a Valkyrie though… I imagine that the girls aren’t going to be too welcoming of him…” In a way, he kind of felt bad for the guy, he was going to be throwing himself to a bunch of lioness and he might not make it out alive, especially with Lumia and her Feminazi regiment that seemed to have a campaign against all men.
And no sooner had those thoughts left his head then his mom piped up about Lumia’s expulsion from the Valkyries and banishment to the wastelands. A grim, satisfied smile crossed his face. ”Damn, I wish I could have seen that, I don’t know why you were so lenient with… wait?!? Niccy is into chicks?!?!” Ryuu’s gaze snapped over to Niccy with a look of surprise, he then raised his arm to grasp the upper arm on the other side of his body. ”…Um… is that a part of the curse or… is it just a Niccy thing, do you think.” Ryuu wasn’t really liking the idea of having his preferences switched all of a sudden, and got rather uncomfortable with the idea of him suddenly taking a liking to his best friends boy bits. Ugh… this got really uncomfortable is so many different ways…

His thoughts were violently pulled from him when his mom digested everything that was told about their journey, over the years, he had learned to more or less just nod his head and agree with his mom on things like this, even if he had no intention of actually doing them. Though he did roll his eyes a bit at his moms sudden insistence that he bring his Dread Knights with him at all times. God, he was not going to bring his heavy elites with him to talk a walk or go to their lake side property for vacation. Though he did do as he programed himself to do and nod his head saying: ”Yes mom.” with as much false understanding and enthusiasm as he could muster. It was a good thing that Tobi entered the room at that moment, because Ryuu wasn’t sure what he was going to tell his mom the reason that his friend was such a good fighter. He wasn’t going to just blurt out Tobi’s secret, that just… wasn’t cool and it wasn’t his place to do so. After a relieved look over in Tobi’s direction, he gave a big toothy grin to his mom, though the grin did look rather forced. ”Tobi and I just… made a dream team I guess.”

”Where’s that filthy, no good son of mine?!?” A voice boomed out over the crashing of the main doors, it was a voice that everyone here knew all too well, it was the voice of Ryuu’s second Mother and Tobi’s first, it was the voice that belonged to a woman of both gentle nurturing and yet a horrifyingly hot temper that kept even the most strong willed person in line.
The lithe and graceful figure flowed across the room like water, her look of youth belied her years of age, her soft platinum blonde hair dances around her frame in soft curls, her vibrant blue eyes, though normally soft and mischievous, held a bridled fury that almost set anything flammable up in smoke in the room. In those delicate hands of hers, she had a scroll, wound up tightly in her hand, though crushed under her grip.
”A couple of weeks my a**!” Ishtar threw the small scroll at Tobi, the force of the impact would likely have given him a concussion if it wasn’t for his dragon linage. ”You’re lucky I found you here Tobi, because I swear to the Mother Goddess if I found you in bed with another woman, it had better have been because you were sick or dead, I kid you NOT! You and I are going to have a very long chat about you leaving on one of your… who are you?!” Ishtars fury was temporarily halted with the sight of a new, rather beautiful girl near Ana who seemed to be talking to her. Ishtars eyes squinted a bit and she took in the smell of this new person subtly. Her eyes shot open. ”Ryuu honey?! What happened to you… and is that Nicolette over there too?”
Ryuu snapped at attention when Ishtar’s eyes started to crawl over him, he started to sweat bullets under the pressure but when she seemed to have figured it out, he relaxed again. ”It’s a… long story M2…” Ryuu quickly brought Ishtar up to speed about what happened, though he didn’t retell a lot of the adventure, more for Tobi’s sake then his, he did at least give her enough to not tear her son to pieces when she got home. He told her about the curse and that Tobi had gone with him to get the ingredients for the potion and that it was a last minute thing that he decided on. He also told her that they were back because of their success in finding things.
Ishtar visibly cooled down at the explanation, though she shot a glare to Tobi telling him he wasn’t totally out of the hot water yet. ”Alright, I’ll forgive you this time… but next time you decide to go away for any more length of time than what you thought originally… you’d damn well better write to me to tell me such… got it Tobias?”

At Nicolette’s teasing, Ryuu looked over at Mayfew and started to twirl his braid a little bit in between his finger. ”Well… he is awfully cute, sadly though, another woman has captured his heart and as he’s captured hers. I do hope that Mayfew and Sorcha have a really long and happy life together.”
Sorcha’s face exposed into a deep shade of red. ”Wh-what are you talking about? It isn’t like that at all! Wh-why would you make and spread such rumours like that?!” Sorcha was obviously more than a little flustered, Mayfew stood there silently with a bit of an amused smile spread across his lips. Annette giggled and patted Sorcha’s shoulder while she turned away in a bit of a pout.

Ishtar’s breath hitched at the mention of Tobi finding one of her… estranged… family members. She didn’t let on right away that she was put off by something, preferring to keep a stoic mask in place of anything that would cause worry or perhaps even raise suspicion that something was wrong. Ana would probably offer to help, they had been friends for years now, thanks to the boys, but this was something of a family matter that Ishtar tried to keep solely to herself, going so far as to try and protect her hatchlings from it as much as possible. ”I don’t know her, Tobi, but we’ll talk later about it.” She replied silently before she cranked up the volume and put on her less than impressed face once again, grabbing Tobi’s ear and giving it a good pull to make sure that he was going with her, like it or not. ”As for YOU young man, you have three months’ worth of duties to catch up on, and you damn well better not even LOOK at another female before it’s all finished! Do I make myself PERFECTLY clear young man?!” Ishtar turned to Ryuu, her face becoming soft and sweet with once more, her voice matching her new, sudden demeanour. ”Thank you, Ryuu Honey, for taking care of my baby boy. We should be heading back now. Thank you as well, Ana for offering to shelter my boy tonight.” Once more he demeanour shifted to the rather aggressive demeanour that Tobi seem to bring out of her. ”Come along Tobi, you’d better be thinking of a good reason why I don’t hide you for this little stunt.” Tobi had no choice in the matter as Ishtar stormed off towards the door, Tobias’ ear firmly in her grasp. The doors were opened for her and she disappeared behind the door… though a heartbeat later she poked her head through once more. ”Oh, Ryuu Honey?”
Ryuu looked back over at his second mother a little puzzled. ”Yeah?”
” I LOVE what you did with your hair! It looks fantastic, you’ll have to send me the maids who braided it sometime so they can teach me how to do that!” And with that, she withdrew her head to the sounds of Sorcha and Annette giggling.
Ishtar continued her little façade until they were away from the other servants and knights. Her pace slowed and she wrapped her arms around her son from behind, resting her head on his shoulder. ”I’m so sorry my little hatchling… please, tell me as much as you can about Hlin and where you met her.”

”Okay… seriously! What the hell did you two do to my hair?” Ryuu demanded, though his only response was Sorcha and Annette quickly shuffling away to get back to their duties as Ranking officers of Valkyries. Ryuu watched with some annoyance as they left before turning his attention back to his mom. He looked at her with something of a tired smile. He walked over to her and gave her another hug before backing up and informing her that he was going to get some food and maybe catch a quick nap.
Damn, it was good to be home, Ryuu wasted no time in getting settled back into a more comfortable environment, it had been a long time sense he had a decent meal, oh how he missed the cooks of the castle, they food was so much better than anything that was made over a campfire or in some rustic tavern in the middle of town. With a fresh change of rather odd fitting clothes, and even a brief shower, Ryuu was quick to crash on his bed… even quicker to fall into something of soothed sleep.
It was dark outside when Ryuu was stirred from his sleep by a knock on the door, he was informed that the potion was ready and waiting at the University for him. It took Ryuu no time to rush over and get the potion that was waiting for him at the university.

”What do you mean that there is only enough for one potion? I tripled the ingredients needed to make sure I had enough…” Ryuu could hardly believe his ears, it devastated him that he had actually failed in his mission, there were two sibling and two potions needed, but only one was here and in his hand. Ryuu looked down at the blue liquid that was in vial and in his hand. He felt rather defeated… though… he did the work, shouldn’t he get the rewards?...
”I’m sorry your Majesty, we tried our best to synthesis the Unicorn horn for two potions, but… it was just too old, and it wasn’t yielding enough of what we needed. I’m… sorry.”
Ryuu didn’t know what to say really, he just stared at the potion in his hands, he was wrestling with himself as to what to do. He looked up at the Head Alchemy master. ”Do you have the rest of the potion, if so, I’d like to have it.”
”We… do your majesty, but… it would be of no use to you or your sister…”
”That’s fine. I’ll take it anyway.”


Ryuu walked back home slowly, he felt heavy and unsure what to do, if he took the potion, his throne would not be challenged… he could be happy and the Kingdom would have the strong leader it needed and deserved. But… Niccy looked so happy and so relieved that he had gotten the ingredients. It was like, this experience was tormenting her and she was grasping onto whatever hope that she could to get back to what she was before. Would he be able to live with himself if she… gave up? Would his mother or Kingdom ever forgive him for something like that? Would it even matter? He and Niccy didn’t get along very well at the best of times, why should he sacrifice the rest of his life for a sibling whom he barely got along with. Ryuu gave a heavy sigh and let the thoughts and conflicts wrestle around in his head while he pushed the doors open to the castle and slowly made his way up to Niccy’s room. When he got to her door, he paused and looked down at the potions in his hands before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door. ”Hey Niccy, its me. I got the potions.”
He was almost immediately let in and he took a seat on the bed, Niccy had rushed over to join him. He had put on his brave face, acting like there was nothing wrong, that there were no acts or thoughts of betrayal about to occur. Ryuu handed Niccy one of the blue liquid fill vials and took the other one in his hand. Was he making the right decision after all? Was he doing what was right in the end? He drank the vial of liquid at the same time Niccy did, he looked down at the empty vial and smiled, perhaps a little sadly.
”I can remember when you were a baby, and I was still a toddler… you used to cry a lot for some reason and it just got the point where I couldn’t take it anymore. One day, I was pushing you in your stroller, I was going to try and sell you at the market place because you drove me nuts. Needless to say, I didn’t make it past the front door when Mom stopped me and asked what I was doing. I was a little kid and was honest to a fault. I’ll never forget what she told me, honestly, it’s stuck with me ever sense. She told me: You know why Big brothers are born first? It’s so that they can protect their little sisters.” Ryuu seemed to smile a little more at the memory. He stood up, ruffled Niccy’s hair and started to leave. ”The alchemist said that the potion may need a full day or so to completely change you back, though you’ll definitely notice changes by the time that you wake up in the morning. Night Nick.”
Ryuu left his sisters room, closing the door behind him softly and making his way down the hall towards his room.
Did he make the right choice? Did he do the right thing after all?

Ryuu was about halfway to his room when agony tore at his pelvic region and a hemorrhage of blood rolled down his legs and pooled quickly on the floor, Ryuu’s legs gave out from underneath him and he quickly crawled to a garbage pail to empty the contents of his stomach. Ryuu rolled on his back, clenching his teeth as he tried to bite back the howls of pain that caused his neck to tense and the veins to bulge. Ryuu forced out a held in breath and took a deep gasp of air in. His pelvic area felt like it was being torn apart, stretched and stabbed, it was all he could do to crawl on his forearms to where his moms spare room was. He didn’t know if she was there or not, but it was the closest room that his agony addled mind could think of. Streaking a trial of crimson behind him he worked his way slowly to the private chambers that belonged to his mom. He was sweating he was in so much pain, his face a ghastly shade of white. His vision was starting to get black rings around it as he slowly inched his way towards his goal. When he finally got to the room, he rested his back on the wall and reached behind him, open the door and more or less falling into the room. He reached the side of the bed before another blast of throbbing, tearing agony washed over him and he howled through his clenched teeth. His strength was now gone, there was no way that he was going to get up on the bed. His vision was starting to get swimmy and he was starting to lose his consciousness. He saw the streaks of blood coming into the doorway and could only think about how his mom was going to kill him if this final run of the transformation didn’t. Niccy was lucky… she wouldn’t have to go through this, she got the reversal potion… did… did he make the right decision after all? Ryuu’s mind was starting to lose focus as darkness swallowed the rest of his vision and he was taken into a merciful black out.

Ishtar squeezed a little tighter in her hug before easing off a bit on it. She listened to the description of what her son had encountered and the reasons for it. ”It’s alright Tobi… I’m not mad that you revealed yourself to Ryuu or felt you were forced to take it. I’m glad that you have someone you can trust to be yourself, I sometimes worry that your dragon nature will take over destructively because you suppress it.” Ishtar let out a bit of a sigh. ”We’ll just have to keep an eye on this, that’s all. If she comes looking for troubles, then we’ll have to deal with it… though may I ask how on earth you managed to fend off a full blooded dragon? That’s no easy feat, I’m rather curious as to what happened. Though, you can tell me later… you must be exhausted from your journey.” Ishtar’s voice trailed off slightly and her tone became a little more ominous as she mentioned: ”And I’m not joking about getting that three months’ worth of your duties done, young man. Now will I have to grab you by the ear again, or is Tobi going to be a good boy and take his forgotten responsibilities back like a man?”

~*~*~*~

It was going to be a long and stressful night for Ana as she watched over her boy, he would slowly seem to be waking up, his face stained with agony the more he would stir, then fade out when he once more gave into the pain that wracked his lower body. It wasn’t until about three in the morning when Ryuu gave something in between a groan and a whimper. Sweat had matted hair to his forehead and he was still dreadfully pale from the pain. His eyes slowly cracked open to see his mom overtop of him. She looked a fright as well, it was as though she had been crying or something the way her eyes were so red.
”Mom…” He called out weakly before he threw his head back, clenching his teeth, his neck muscles strained for a moment before they slowly relaxed once more. ”Mom? Can you do the right thing, and still have regrets about doing it?”
It was something that was kind of gnawing at him for a while. He wasn’t sure if his mom was in any sort of condition to answer the question just yet, though she seemed relieved enough that he was awake… at least for the time being. Ryuu clenched his eyes closed and almost wrapped himself into a ball on his moms lap. It hurt… it hurt so much… Ryuu forced another couple of breaths in and out of his body. He couldn’t feel his legs through the agony of his pelvic area. Somewhere in his mind, he asked himself if he was really going to make it or if he was going to die here like this. He would never admit it out loud, but he was rather scared at the moment.
Ryuu took some more deep breaths before relaxing as best he could, have a merciful time out from the transformation that would finish the curse. ”The unicorn horn was too old… there was… only enough for one potion… I… I gave it to Niccy.” He regretted it, especially now. It seemed like a split second choice had ruined his life, torn it to shreds and burnt what was left of it. What would the kingdom think of him now? What would the people do if they saw him as nothing but a weakling and a coward who makes nothing but poor choices? Nightmare scenarios and worse crawled through his foggy head.
”It hurts…” He mumbled out loud, though more to himself that anything. ”It hurts so bad…”
To think, his mom had her fist adventure when she was around his age, and she succeeded in saving the King… he went on his adventure, and he failed, he just… failed…

Over the next few weeks, Ryuu threw himself into the study of alchemy and the various crafts of magic to try and find another way to a cure. It was a hard time for Ryuu, he seemed to refuse the fact that he was going to be stuck as a princess the rest of his life. He tried, lord he tried everything to recreate that potion that he gave up for Nickolette. He made substitutes for that rare Unicorn horn that would likely be forever out of his reach but to no avail, Ryuu was reaching to point of madness, he barely spent time with his family or Tobi, he was always in either one the study or locked away behind a pile of books in the library. Ryuu even turned to the various faiths of the world before fickly abandoning it for the next one that may help him out or offer him the guidance he needed. Eventually he went back to his previous believes, though now far more strained by the misfortune of his past and the cost of his masculinity.

After everything was exhausted and it turned out all for naught, Ryuu’s temper became volatile. The smallest things would set him off, and being at the receiving end of his already unstable mood was one of the more terrifying things that could be seen. The occupants of the palace walked on eggshells around him, unsure if their once misplaced step would trigger an explosive reaction from the Eldest. It got to the point that only a select few maids would approach him, and Ana had to save more than a few good maids from quitting because of him. It was a hellish time as Ryuu struggled with his new identity, the realization that he was going to be like this for the rest of his life had finally seemed to hit home and it devastated his world. The darkness and the shadows within every nook and cranny were always in a state of deep agitation. It became a hell house for those who were new or unused to the powers of the Eldest. Ryuu had given his sister everything, and that was what it felt like she took from him. A hatred and animosity started to build and bubble inside of his being towards his sister, whom he saw as being ungrateful for the sacrifices that he made for her, despite the fact that she was probably more grateful then she had a chance to show. On those rare times that he did show himself, it was obvious that the Darkness was running almost unchecked within him. Willing or unwilling, Ryuu had become something of a terror within the palace to the point where even Thomas was starting to take precautions to protect his family and staff with his Light abilities.

Then just as suddenly as the darkness began to snap and grab hostilely at those who drew too close to the corners of the house, they suddenly stopped. It was about this time that Ryuu shut himself away from the world, isolating himself from everyone and everything that made up the outside world. He refused to see anyone, not even Tobi was able to coax him out of his room. With the blinds shut and the curtains drawn, he blocked out the world and kept solely to himself. It was about a week after the disappearance of the Eldest that the shadows once more acted strangely. The darkness all over the Palace, and even outside in the gardens, suddenly started to pull unnaturally towards the room of the former prince. No matter what time of day it was, these strange phenomena remained consistent within the palace and it’s outside area. For the most part, during this time, many of the maids and servants breathe a sigh of relief as things settled down and became quiet once more. Life seemed to have more or less returned to normal despite the absence of the former Prince, the tone relaxed once more among the workers but Ryuu wasn’t doing as well as people seemed to assume. The Darkness of his element was rushing to comfort their Prince as he wallowed in his own agony of not knowing who he was or what the future would hold for him anymore. The darkness was there though, doing its best to comfort its master as he walked through the more difficult portions of his healing.

It had been a few weeks sense anyone had seen hide or hair of the Eldest, the only indication that he was even alive was the half picked through meals that were outside of the door when the maids came around to do their chores. The darkness had all but disappeared from the castle as it came to Ryuu’s side, comforting the fallen prince who at this point felt more dead than alive. Ryuu would just lay on his bed, staring blankly into the void that had infested his room. Dark thoughts and questions toiled and devoured him from the inside out until he decided to do something about it.
Late one night, after everyone was asleep, Ryuu climbed to the top of the palace and looked out over the landscape for what he planned to be the last time. He looked down at the high drop and stepped onto the ledge of the balcony. Ryuu stood there for a few moments, just looking down into the darkness that surrounded his chosen fate. His leg pushed out and gravity took a hold to bring him crashing down to his doom. He closed his eyes, at peace with this choice and relaxed in the action that he had decided on. Before he hit the ground though, a plume of darkness outside of his control rushed up and cradled him in its embrace. Ryuu could feel a pair of strong arms –one metallic in nature- wrap around him and bring him close into an embrace in a comforting manner. They tightened their grip ever so slightly as if trying to drive away the painful loneliness that had manifested itself within Ryuu, at first, Ryuu wasn’t sure what happened, but he knew Vidor’s scent by heart now. His eyes squinted as they tried to hold back the tears that burned and bubbled in his eyes until he gave a strangled gasp and the flood gates opened. He pushed his head into the shoulder of his blood-father and wept openly, too distraught to care what he looked like, and too emotionally needy to care what others would think of him. He grabbed Vidor’s shirt and clenched it tightly as he felt Vidor stand up and begin walking. It wasn’t long before the cool air was replaced with warmer climate of his room. Nothing was said between father and new daughter… they didn’t need words right now. Vidor knew that right now Ryuu just needed to feel raw in his emotions and let them out.

Vidor sat quietly with Ryuu in his lap, wailing and weeping till dawn was starting to break the horizon, Ryuu started to settle down a little and fell into a deep, much needed sleep. Vidor, though not allowed on the castle grounds any longer, stayed to watch over his child. If anything, Thomas would understand a fathers need to be there for his child. When Ryuu did finally get up, the two of them talked on and off all day and night as Ryuu tried to sort through these new thoughts and feelings, Vidor challenging them when needed and offering advice when appropriate. On the third night after Vidor saved his child, he placed a kiss on his forehead and vowed that he would be there whenever Ryuu needed him before he departed once more into gentle night.

It was the first time that Ryuu had a good sleep while he was all by himself. When the morning came Ryuu gently pushed himself… no… she pushed herself off the bed and walked over to the windows where she threw back the curtain for the first time in months. Sunlight flooded in, scattering the shadows where they were supposed to be and leaving Ryuu to let her eyes adjust to the bright sun. She closed her eyes and let the warmth bath her for a few moments before she walked over to unlock her door for the maids… the room was in a bit of disarray, and she nibbled her lip for a moment. The morning was still very early so she did a quick tidying before she grabbed a towel and walked towards the bathing room. When she got there, she stripped and placed a towel around herself to make sure she didn’t get a chill. She started to run the water to let it warm up when she noticed some sort of salts that were not far off. She knew them to be her moms, but she would share them with Niccy constantly. Opening one of the lids she took a light smell of it, finding that her suspicions were right about them being scented. It was about then that the maids arrived to help whoever was running the water.

They were surprised to say the least that Ryuu was there, and looking as though she was in dire need of a bath, the maids were obviously not sure how to react, but one particularly brave maid stepped forward with a cautious curtsey.
”G-good morning you’re Majesty, would you like some assistance with your bath, this morning?”
”Good morning.” Ryuu replied a little shyly and distantly, she knew what she had been like the past few months, there was an awkwardness there and a level of tension from the servants who were here. Ryuu paused a moment before answering the servant who had offered their help. ”Yes, I think I would appreciate that, thank you.”
The maids kind of looked at each other, as if surprised that the Eldest wasn’t tearing their faces off by disturbing her presence there. She at least seemed somewhat cheerier of character. One of the younger maids noticed the salts in Ryuu’s hand but said nothing. The three servants started to scurry around and prepare to give her majesty a well groomed and first class bath. Ryuu finally gathered up the courage to ask the maids what exactly was in his hand.
”Oh! Those are bath salts your majesty, they help with exfoliating the skin to make it healthier, the Queen and Princess use them frequently so we have a large number of them… most of them are scented though. Would you like to add some in your bath today?”
Ryuu paused for a moment and thought. ”…yes, please. What… scents are there?”
The maids once more looked at each other with some level of surprise before the youngest one fetched a sample of the scents that they had and Ryuu made her selection. The bath was poured and Ryuu climbed in slowly to allow her body to adjust to the heat. The water felt a little… funny… with the bath salt in, but she quickly found herself relaxing. One of the maids worked on her hair, while the other two were tending to her feet and hands. The maids chatted sparingly with each other, still a little cautious around the former Prince who had been a terror to them for a while now. After a long beat of silence, Ryuu spoke up at last.
”I’m sorry.”
All the maids stopped and looked at each other once more before they offered sympathetic smiles to the young woman whose gaze was down cast. It took a lot of humility for the former Prince to say that, so they knew that those words were simply not given out lightly.
”It’s… alright you’re majesty, you’ve been through so much, and we can only guess what you must be going through even now. We thank you though, and we are humbled by your apology.”
“Would you’re majesty like us to inform the Queen that you are up and about?” Another maid asked her.
”No thank you. I was hoping to surprise her at breakfast, I still have some time.”
”Of course, you’re majesty.”

When Ryuu was finished with her bath, the servants led her over to the vanity where they began to bombard Ryuu with questions.
“Would you’re majesty like some make-up today?” One of the maids offered cautiously, not wanting to spoil the former prince’s mood. She got a nasty look from one of the head maids.
“…maybe just a little...” She replied, much to the surprise of everyone there. “I… don’t think I want too much though.”
The maid smiled at her. “I’ll just put some eyeliner, mascara and something on your lips then, your majesty.”
“How would you like your hair done this morning?” A little more courage was in their voices now.
“Umm…” Ryuu didn’t really know how to respond, she never had long hair like this before.
“I think that a French braid would suit your majesty just fine, it is simple and will help you keep your hair out of your eyes.”
Ryuu looked up with a bit of a lost expression. “I’ll… trust your judgement then.”
“Nail polish, your majesty?” Once more, poor Ryuu looked a little lost.
“What shall you wear, your majesty?”
Ryuu paused once more at the question, looking up at the maid who asked before looking at her wardrobe. She gave a sigh. “I’ll have to borrow something from my mom, nothing in my wardrobe fits me anymore.”
“A dress you’re majesty?”
“NO!... no, thank you, umm… a blouse and a pair of riding pants… if you can steal a vest from the King that matches the color of the pants, then do so… and some fingerless gloves so I can show off my manicure and nail polish.”
The maid burst into giggles and set off to collect the things Ryuu wanted.

When Ryuu finally came down the stairs to eat, she actually looked rather stunning. There was a light in her eyes that wasn’t there for some time. She carried herself with almost and arrogant confidence again. The minimal make-up that was used drew attention to her features without being overpowering. Her clothes were crisp and brought about a look of Androgynous aristocracy that flowed well with her persona. When she got downstairs, she saw her mom sitting alone at the breakfast table. She crept up behind her and tapped her on one of the shoulders, when she turned to look who was trying to get her attention, Ryuu approached from the other side and snatched up her fresh and still warm Danish, when she went to investigate the movement that stole her breakfast, she reached around and took up her cup of tea, leaving behind a soft aroma of Lavender and Peppermint. She took a step back in case her mother launched herself up in surprise or something. Taking a bite of the Danish she then washed it down with some of her mom’s tea, grimacing a bit as she did so.
”God! I’ve had brews in the alchemy lab that tasted better than your Black Cherry tea, how can you drink this stuff all the time?”