The two soon took spots of the red leather seats and dim yellow lights with numerous people in the same cart.
"I haven't been in here in so long…" Henao looked around in fascination and awe.
"Why did you get banned anyway? It's only a two week ban, no?"
"Well, uhm…" Henao chuckled with a hand to the back of her neck, "A couple years back me and my old friends tried to uh… steal parts of the train" Sciel was instantly brought to laughing.
"But I didn't even want to, okay?! They thought it would be really funny if they did but he caught us and he permanently banned us for life!"
As the train rode its track, Henao fell for the trap of the dimmed yellow lights and comfortable air conditioning and fall asleep onto Sciel's lap. Sciel smiled at the girl before gazing out the windows taking a memory of the beautiful sky and grassy hills.
"I think you dropped this too" His voice said softly, his cheeky smile was all she could think of.
Sciel looked down to her chest; the scarf had fallen onto the side of Henao's head revealing writing on the inside of the scarf.
"Did you write something on this?" Sciel asked, reading the words on the scarf.
"I did!" Solus replied, "The pure I always needed." A tear fell onto the engraved writing on the scarf atop of Henao's head.
She soon fell asleep after Henao; their travel would be a timely one due to having to make full circle back to Manirosol. The waiters had been informed about Sciel and Henao being the exception to be asleep on the train, so they offered food as soon as either one had woken up. Henao ended up being the first to awaken, she too woke up Sciel to have their full.
The train ride wouldn't be as calm as they had hoped for though.
The sound of someone stumbling across the floor was heard from ahead of the train, catching the two girls' attention.
"Ya think I care about some stupid ban?! The old man can't do nothing to me!" An angry passenger had pushed one of the waitresses to the floor causing angry chatters from the rest of the passengers.
"Get off the train you bastard!" "Yeah, how dare you push a lady, asshole!"
"I will kill all of you, do you know who I am?!" The angry man bared short blonde hair and sharp, green eyes and a sword branded to his waist.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" One of the passengers assisted the young waitress with dark brown hair to her feet.
"What an asshole… Sciel, what are you-?" Henao realized Sciel had started taking steps toward the commotion.
"You get off my train now, ya stupid fuck!" Conductor Harris angrily yelled as he was stepping closer to the man.
"Oh yeah?! You need to learn your place for once don't you think, you old man?!" As the man tried to draw his sword, he felt a force stopping him from unsheathing.
"You need to get off this train," Sciel glared at the man as she had her hand on his hilt with her left one to her own which only caused further anger to rise.
"Just who the hell are you, bitch?!" The man raised his hand but before he could continue he felt a slap cross his cheek.
"Get off this train," She then grabbed the man by the back of his collar and dragged his feet out of the train, throwing him onto the hard concrete.
"What the hell?! Oh, you fucking- "As he tried to take his foothold a tip of a blade aimed between his eyes.
Sciel gazed down at him with angered eyes and the man groans furiously.
"I'll show you- "As he tried to grip his hilt it instantly crumbled into diced pieces which caused his eyes to widen in shock
"You don't deserve a sword if you use it to threaten the unarmed" Sciel sheathed her sword and the man growled, grabbing onto one of the sliced pieces and fires it towards Sciel only for it to shatter before reaching her head shocking the man.
Without uttering another word, she reentered the cart to be celebrated by the rest of the passengers.
"Thank you, miss" The waitress said with a soft smile and Sciel offers the same gesture.
"No need to thank me, ma'am" She bowed and the waitress giggles.
After the train had started it's pathing once again, the waitress soon stopped beside Henao and Sciel's conversation.
"Hi, I'm sorry I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" The waitress caught their attention.
"Oh, you're not, is there anything wrong?" Sciel asked.
"I just wanted to give my gratitude again, that man is known to be incredibly aggressive to anyone who defies or disrespects him, when he almost drew his sword, he wasn't bluffing when he was intending to harm Conductor Harris at that moment"
"Who is he?" Henao asked curiously.
"His name's Mal, he's been terrorizing the train recently trying to visit his sister, but he's been aggressive each time, so Conductor Harris banned him"
"Oh, I've heard of him, he's one of the well-known warriors of town tournaments, he has a sister?" Henao asked.
"He does, she's a sweetheart compared to him… she's been staying in Manirosol since her and her brother had an argument, that was also the day Conductor Harris banned him from traveling on his train"
"Manirosol? We're going there too, maybe we can see her" Sciel thought of.
"Really? If you do tell her, Witney said hi! That's my name, her name's Leya she has a very distinct look, so you'll know once you see her!"
"Witney, you're blocking the corridor," One of the waiters said as he stood behind her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry sir, I was just giving Miss Sciel my gratitude!" Witney replied in a panic and he sighed.
"It's alright but please, you have a job to do" Witney nodded and waved at the two before continuing to push her cart.
"That was a bit mean don't you t- "Before Henao could finish her words she noticed the guy's eyes sparkled as he watched Witney from afar.
"She looks so beautiful in her uniform…" He mumbled in a daze and Sciel smiles at Henao's stunned look.
Sciel patted her lips into a napkin as she finished eating, "Hey Sciel, did you wanna continue talking about earlier?" Henao's question brought a deep sigh out of Sciel.
"Of course," she said as she tugged her scarf.
"His name was Solus; I took his name as my last name to have a complete identity, neither of us knew our last names so we were supposed to come up with one when we get married but…" Henao frowned softly at the sight of Sciel's somber
expression.
"Neither of us knew our parents, they left us when we were young, but I was fortunate enough to be left in the care of a nun from the local church where I stayed for thirteen years. Solus was a neighbor of ours who lived in the woods but I invited him many times to stay at the church, but then I soon found out that he was shunned by the locals and wasn't accepted into any care, so he was forced into staying at a cabin in the forests."
"That sounds awful" Henao mumbled, "It was, I still don't know why he was till this day."
"I visited him many times during free periods, giving him the leftover food the church made, and giving him clean clothing. But he wasn't fully reliant on me. He hunted and took care of himself throughout the day. He would often teach me many things such as how to hunt and clean food, to purify dirty water, and most importantly how to defend yourself with a sword." She lifted her blade for the two to look at, Henao noticed all the imperfections on the sheath and the hilt of the straight sword.
"And one day when I visited him, he gave me this scarf and his sword" She shifted her attention to her scarf.
"Why did he give you his sword?" Henao asked as she gazed towards the blade.
"This… isn't his sword."
Solus and Sciel stood at the dock of the pond where Solus slowly lifted his shirt, revealing a large patch of pure darkness infecting his heart.
"W- what's that…?" Sciel stepped closer to lay her hands on the mark.
"I don't know, but it's been getting worse these past few weeks, and it's been weakening me every day…"
"For weeks?! Why didn't you tell me?" Sciel asked in a panic and worried.
"I just… didn't think much of it… but it's been getting worse and worse and I felt it's effects only earlier today," He looked away in embarrassment as Sciel stared at the mark.
"We should get you to a doctor, come on" She grabbed ahold of his arm, but Solus kept his ground.
"Sciel we can't, they're not going to help me"
"Yes, they will, I'll make sure they do" Solus sighs before giving her a soft smile, giving his trust.
Soon, Sciel and Solus arrived at the town's local hospital where Solus was met with angered, disgusted stares from other patients and staff as the two walked into the halls
of the hospital where they soon met with Sciel's doctor.
"Ah Miss Sciel how can I- "Before the woman with short, black hair could finish her sentence her eyes widened at the sight of Solus.
"Doctor Elle, please you need to take a look at Solus!" Sciel exclaimed as she brought the boy closer.
"R- right, I'll take a look…" She hesitated but the overwhelming panicked expression of Sciel convinced her.
Sciel lifted Solus's shirt revealing the black mark causing Doctor Elle to fall into a pit of shock.
With her eyes widened and pupils dilated to a tiny dot, the young girl looked at her in confusion.
"Doctor, what is it…?"
"I-… uhm… t- that's normal he just…" She turned around finding herself in hyperventilation but left unnoticed by Sciel and Solus.
"U- uhm here just… take this and leave…" She extended her arm with a bottle of medication in the grasp of her palm whilst continuing to look away.
Sciel tilted her head confused, "Doctor, what's wrong?" She asked.
"Just go! I won't take any further looks on that boy!" She spoke louder and demanding, and Solus sighs gesturing for them to leave.
"Uhm… okay…" Sciel took the bottle of pills before leaving with Solus.
Soon after their exiting a colleague of Elle barged into the room in a haste.
"Elle, what happened?!" As Elle turned, he was left mouth agape and eyes in shock.
"It's happening… Dom, we need to tell the Royal Guards!"
Sciel and Solus arrived back at the cabin, he laid on the bed in the place of refuge whilst Sciel was head in hands in frustration.
Solus didn't speak a word; he shifted himself to the side and wrapped his arms around her waist and with the leverage he had with a hand placed to her side, he slowly laid her
besides him, Sciel non-hesitantly caved in.
"It'll be okay, Sciel" She dug her head into her chest whilst Solus wrapped around her body with silence in the air before sudden sniffling.
"Why… why do they cast you out like that…?" Sciel mumbled in a cracking voice and Solus softly smiled.
"I mean, it doesn't even make sense like-! You're amazing and kind and that's all you've ever been, but everyone just gives you weird stares and I just- I just don't get it!" She cried out as she pounded her curled fist onto Solus's chest.
"Don't you hate it?! Why don't you want to show them that you're a good person?!"
"It doesn't matter if I'm a good person or not to them Sciel, I was shunned away ever since I was able to walk. There's no changing their minds in that, and I don't care about anyone
liking me, I just need you… to love me"
"May I have your attention, passengers aboard the Harrison?" It was Witney speaking on radio of the train.
"We are soon to be arriving in the Kingdom of Manirosol in about twenty minutes, so please get your personal belongings together and to those who stored their possessions in our cargo I suggest speaking with our Cargo Manager beforehand, please and thank you."
"We're almost at Manirosol, we should-" Before Sciel could finish she notices Henao's big-eyed stare as tears ran down her face.
"Hey, why are you crying?!"
"N- no reason…! Please, continue your story…" She mumbled with a scratched voice as she tried to keep her composure.
"R- right…"
"After he said that all I could think about is my fast-beating heart, and all those feelings in my stomach. We always loved
each other but we never really… said it out loud, until that moment. I cried till it got dark."
Sciel and Solus both sat besides each other on the bed, Sciel held a piece of cloth to her face as she blew her nose into it.
"You cried for so long, I thought you were going to faint from dehydration" Solus chuckled whilst scratching the back of his head.
"Shut up, you're the dumbass who said I love you" She softly hit him with her elbow as she giggled, her voice still coarse from sobbing.
Solus coughed into his hand before a sharp pain slashed his eye, causing him to grip it suddenly.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Sciel asked confused as Solus darted his attention outside the window.
"Solus…?" As Sciel turned towards the window, a figure in dark clothing and glowing blue eyes stood there, staring at the two of them.
Sciel felt her heart fall to her stomach, the tension in the air grew thick as the figure stared deeper into her eyes.
"Sciel… stay calm…" Solus placed his hand to hers as she continued to stare at the figure's beating, glowing eyes .
"I don't remembermuch at that moment, I just… forgot it, all I can remember is its pure, glowing eyes"
"That's so creepy… just a dark figure standing outside of your window staring at you?"
"It was horrifying. I was paralyzed throughout my body… it was like the air around me weighed me down by the thousands"
"We soon fled the shed and made a run through the forest, but as we did, they struck us with gunshots. We made it to a cliff at a dead-end where he said his final goodbye before pushing me over the ledge. I managed to survive somehow; I don't know why but when I woke up, I was completely unharmed."
Henao leaped into her arms sobbing into her chest heavily as she gave Sciel a hug so tight.
"That's so sad!" She cried out and Sciel softly chuckles.
"It's been three years since that day, I've been looking for him ever since." She placed her hand on Henao's head, patting her softly.
"I'll do everything I can to help you! Absolutely everything and anything I promise!" Henao looked up at her in sorrow and Sciel smiles at her.
"Thank you, Henao…"
"Attention passengers, we are arriving at the Kingdom of Manirosol, please gather your belongings together" Witney announced once again.
"We're finally here!" Henao said as she smeared a paper towel across her nose.
A few children of the train stood on their seats and smushed their faces into the windows, and taking a long look at the kingdom.
"Whoa…" The kids gasped with sparkling eyes.
The Kingdom of Manirosol. The kingdom was one formed inside a great mountain taking a crescent shape that the founders of before completed the circular shape with stonewalls towering hundreds of feet, but still stood shorter than the mountains around them. Many medieval type buildings reside at the outskirts of the walls with even more people inhabiting inside the kingdoms walls. Henao and Sciel were unaware of Hanna Hart's location unfortunately, so the two have gone with a question for many.
The sound of the steam engine blowed as many passengers exited the train, Henao gripping Sciel's arm dragged her feet into Manirosol.
Their first victim, a knight of Manirosol who stood guard in the streets.
"Hi sir!" Henao greeted with Sciel beside her.
"I'm looking for a woman named Hanna Hart, do you perhaps have any clue of where we can see her?"
"Hanna Hart huh? Yeah, I've heard of her. She's in the town in the walls," The knight gestured towards the castle walls aiming directly at the wooden gates.
"Oh, that was easy, thank you sir!" Henao thanked and the two walked towards the city walls.
The knight lifted up a certain device from his chest-plate, putting it to his mouth.
"This is so exciting!" Henao giggled, but Sciel had a tightening grip to her arm.
"Henao, stay quiet." The two stood there silently, the noise of the people on the streets were all Henao could hear.
"What's wrong?" She whispered as she felt the tension emitting from Sciel taking over her.
"I was watching the guard, he said something through a speaker after we talked, we need to be careful," Sciel whispered back as she looked around.
Clink.
Sciel's eyes sparked open, the sheath flew off her waist and as she swung her blade a loud bang crashed into her steel which caused her to slide across the concrete.
"Sciel!" Henao stood guard looking around for the shooter, but to their surprise a group of knights in seven surrounded the two.
Henao quickly stood behind Sciel as she kept her blade high, waiting for another possible shot.
"Lower your weapons or we will unleash fire" The Knight, the two who had walked up to, ordered with his rifle aimed as well.
"What the hell is going on?" Sciel asked with a steely tone to her words.
"Under Queen Wimeria's orders you are required to retreat from your arms and to be taken in for questioning!" Knight 2 shouted.
"Sciel, you should put your sword down," Henao tried convincing.
"They fired without warning, we can't trust that they won't again once I do" "You shot without warning, if I lower my blade how will I know you won't just let loose!" Sciel yelled and the Knights responded with a stronger stance.
"Stop it, stop it!" A girl's voice shouted from afar, catching everyone's attention.
"Princess Yarelle, stay back!" Knight 4 ordered as he tries to intervene with the woman.
"Princess?" Henao exclaimed as she tried to get a better sight.
There stood a beautiful young girl with hair as blue as ice, but she wore clothes as casual as Henao's. Bearing an off-shoulder peach-colored sweater with deep blue jeans, an unusual combo for a Princess of Manirosol.
"Yarelle, wait up!" Another girl shouted; another girl of Sciel and Henao's age of sixteen crossed the gap Yarelle left behind.
The 4th knight held Yarelle back as she tries to cease the fighting.
"That girl, she's Hanna's niece!" Yarelle's announcement shocked both Sciel and Henao as well as the Knights surrounding them.
"Princess, are you sure?!" Knight 3 asked.
"Girl, what's your name?! What's your name!?" Yarelle asked, keeping her eyes on Henao with her index finger directed at her.
"I'm Henao, Henao Hart!" She responded with a bright smile and the knights lowered their rifles.
At the same time, the girl calling for Yarelle earlier had arrived, Sciel noticed them standing behind Princess Yarelle, a young girl with hazel colored hair slipping freely beneath her black beanie with flappy bunny ears and her bright green eyes pierced the distance between her and Sciel and Henao.
"What are you doing here?!" Princess Yarelle who was finally freed walked up to Henao and Sciel along with the knights standing close to her.
"I finally managed to get here! It took much longer than I wanted to though…" Henao awkwardly chuckled and Yarelle giggled.
"This is amazing though! I'm Princess Yarelle but please just call me Yarelle. I apologize for the knights sudden attack, a week ago a group tried to kidnap Miss Hart, so they've been ordered to be on high alert…" Henao and Sciel gave shocked eyes, causing worry to Henao specifically.
"What?! Kidnapped?!" Henao exclaimed in shock and worry.
"Don't worry, she's okay! She's in the castle right now, she's furious that she lost her fight so she's been upset ever since…" Henao sighed in relief.
"I would like to apologize for calling a sudden attack, I should have known better, my apologies," The 1st knight said, lowering his head with his helmet to his side.
"It's okay, if I had known about what happened I would be just as cautious as well," Sciel responded.
"You deflected a bullet in such a short timeframe, that was most certainly impressive, just who are you?" The bearded knight asked curiously.
"I'm just a tournament warrior, my name's Sciel, Sciel Solus," She bowed before the knight and Princess Yarelle which caused her to smile.
"She's a really good fighter, I've seen her fight," Henao smirked with pride and Sciel chuckles awkwardly.
"I can most confidently confirm that just by her quick speed" The knight laughed loud, his mood certainly changed after knowing the two weren't dangerous.
"Wait, so you're Henao Hart? Hanna has talked about you so much!" The girl with hazel hair said catching their attention.
"My name's Doe Luni, it's nice to meet you two!" She grinned with a chuckle.
"Come on, let's bring them to the castle, Doe," Princess Yarelle said and the two turned around with Sciel and Henao following behind.