Till Death Do Us Part

A/N: Urg! This has got to be one of my worst yet! I'm sorry people! I want so badly to write more chapters for you, but I'm reaching a creative slump! I know exactly what I want to do in the actual wedding chapter and everything after that, but until I get there, I find that I'm rushing these chapters in order to appease you guys and to get them out of the way. I'd love a beta-reader or someone who could help me with my creative juices! Anyways, the wedding is coming up really soon and I'm in another situation: I've never done a sex-scene before! If anyone wants to help me, then leave me an e-mail! If not then I suppose I can take a porno scene from off my DVD's and write it as pretty as I can.

Maybe I feel as though I need to update as frequently as possible to make you guys happy and keep you interested, but it's killing me artistically. From now on I won't post a chapter until I am 100% satisfied. I have every intention of continuing this and have no plans for a hiatus unless I state it otherwise. Maybe saying this I can let you guys know that I am alive and will always update. It's just that you see alot of other author's here who write a story you like, but then after one or two chapters, never update again. I'm definitely not doing that. Oh well, enjoy the next chapter!

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~Chapter VI :Revelations II~

Luther’s ship was large and livable---enough space to house at least a thousand people. It had everything and more, so it could be surprising that people didn’t opt to live on the ship instead of on a crowded planet.

“---and you have to smile pretty and wave to all the people just---like---this---“

Pennelo was currently in a spirited conversation with Caecelija about celebrity culture. She paraded the perimeter of their room with a large smile plastered on her face---which looked rather forced---and made strange, fluid motions with her hands (waving Caecelija supposed).

“I dunno,” Caecelija shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “Seems kinda forced to me.”

“It would be a shame to not see you smile!” Pennelo said. “They get enough of it with the King. Whenever you see him in the media or in public, he never smiles or anything! He always has this look on his face like he’s bored and too good to associate with anyone.”

“You’ve seen him in public, Penn?” Caecelija asked, using Futaba’s new nickname for the blonde-headed ditz.

“Yeah,” Pennelo replied. “Once when I was on Ariadne. I didn’t think that the King would remember my face. After all, we only got a glimpse of each other.”

Caecelija was interested.

“What were you doing there?” she asked.

“It was three years ago,” Pennelo explained. “I was sixteen. There were a fair share of rumors and leads about an assassin on Ariadne that wanted the King’s head. There was a large bounty on his head too. So naturally me an’ hundreds of others flooded the planet hoping to get that ten mill on his head.”

“Ten million?” Caecelija’s eyes widened considerably. “Ten million zennas? Ariadnian currency?”

She’d never seen that much money before in her life! Ariadnian currency was worth a lot more than any currency on the Earth!

“I don’t know why you’re getting all surprised,” Pennelo said amusedly, “seeing as how you’ll probably be wearing ten million zenna’s worth of clothes anyway.”

Caecelija blushed.

“Um, Penn, how did you get into bounty hunting?’ she asked.

“Oh,” Pennelo waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve been doing it since I was your age. I grew up on Earth like most humans, but, uh, my folks died when I was about eight. They died on the Second War of Nexus.”

“Oh,” Caecelija looked taken aback. “Sorry.”

"No, don’t be,” Pennelo said. “Anyway, I refused to be shipped off to some orphanage, and seeing as how I didn’t have any living relatives, I just, you know, ran away and made my own.”

Caecelija nodded.

“So, anyway,” Pennelo continued, “to make a long story short: I end up meeting these people who know these people who know the mystics on Hyda. They were all studying magic there, and they let me come with them…blah, blah, blah. I learned magic and swordplay, then we became bounty hunters by the time I was thirteen.”

“So what about Luther?” Caecelija questioned.

“Oh, that. Well, like I said before, there was an assassin that was supposed to attempt murder on him, so me an’ my buddies went to Ariadne. It was in the middle of a crowded street where I saw the King---he looked so bored and uninterested. Anyway, right there in the middle of some speech he was giving, a shot was fired—a plasma sniper, if I remember. Hit the King dead on, but it kinda just disintegrated.
Pennelo’s eyed brightened as she recalled the memory, reenacting her motions as if she were in a play.

“So there we are: me an’ the guys with our weapons ready and everything. People were screaming and that man of yours just stared at his fingernails. We rushed toward a building were we saw the shot. The sniper was trying to escape though the front door and he nearly got away until…”

Pennelo trailed off and looked highly upset.

“What?” Caecelija asked, sitting up a bit straighter.

“We didn’t get that bounty,” Pennelo growled bitterly. “A joke, really. He never got past the entrance; the King sort of held out his hand like this---“ Pennelo pointed her left hand to Caecelija like it was gun “--- and shot this guy’s head right of his shoulders with some strange spell.”

“So you lost the bounty,” Caecelija deduced.

“In two ways, actually,” Pennelo sighed, plopping herself next to Caecelija. “One: the King blew his head off, so we couldn’t get any credit. Two: the fact that that tyrant did blow his head off. He was supposed to be brought in alive! Couldn’t do that when what remained of his brains were scattered along the street.”

“So what happened next?” Caecelija went on.

“The King just looked at us for a minute then scoffed. He went on with his speech like nothing had ever happened. Me and my friends left Ariadne---there wasn’t any use of us staying there---and for the next two years we just did our little bounty hunting gig all over the universe until I decided I wanted to go back to school.. I said my goodbyes, and that’s where all this plays in. I really didn’t expect for this to happen, but I’m actually kinda happy.”

Caecelija fell back on the overstuffed pillows, thinking to herself.

“Hey, Penn?’ she said.

“Yeah? the older girl answered.

“There’s no way I can do this. I’m only thirteen!”

“I was only thirteen when I became a bounty hunter, but I understand where you’re coming from.”

“Hmm.”

Caecelija and Pennelo were far below any concept of cerebral thought now. So much had happened to the both of them in less than twenty-four hours. It felt as though their brains were slowly turning into phlegm. Pennelo may have understood that concept, being so ditzy sometimes, but Caecelija had never before experienced such mental exhaustion before. Her mind had always been active even while she attempted to sleep at night. A plethora of thoughts always invaded her mind at all times, but now she felt empty. It was a nice feeling.

The last thing she remembered was Futaba entering the room and whispering something to Pennelo. Both girls giggled and left Caecelija alone in the room.

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She hadn’t even noticed she’d fallen asleep until she felt those deft fingers tracing the outline of her small face.

Caecelija didn’t ever remember opening her eyes; she only knew that the larger hands had lifted her bodily and carried her down what must have been a corridor and onto a transporter (she could tell when she felt the odd sensation her molecules being broken down then rearranged).

It was considerably warmer now. She felt the warm sun melting against her face.

“NO!”

Caecelija’s eyes shot wide open. She was in Luther’s arms, standing out in the beautiful gardens of Neo-England’s perpetual summer seasons.
A blonde-haired woman ran frantically across the open marble corridor by the gardens, clinging to the arm of a raven-haired man dressed in black.

“No, please!” the woman whimpered. “I do not understand this! If you are not his highness then who are you, and where is my fiancé?”

The pair stopped just outside the corridor in front of Luther who was placing the awakened Caecelija on her feet.

Lachlan looked at Caecelija for a moment with a strange look on his face. His eyes widened for a moment, but then he quickly turned his attention to Luther before she could notice.

“You owe me big,” he growled, shrugging Adelaide off his shoulder. He kept stealing glances at Caecelija.

“Naturally,” Luther replied, indifferent. “Come, Lachlan. I’ve come down here to fetch you so, let us be off.”

Just then a middle-aged man in blue robes came scuttling to the scene.

“What is going on here?” The Prime Minister demanded.

“I am taking my leave,” Luther stated simply. “I have no desire to marry your princess for I have found a much more suitable candidate.” He nudged Caecelija gently.

“No desire to marry my daughter?” the English king said from the opposite side. He and his queen were approaching garbed in elegant robes of silver and gold. “But all the diplomatic negotiations and meetings?”

“Lachlan, let’s go,” Luther commanded.

“You can’t just leave!” the queen cried. “You are supposed to marry my daughter!”

“My general can marry your daughter for all I care,” Luther called already half-way gone.

Adelaide looked at Caecelija for a moment.

“He can’t possibly think of marrying you!” she said bewildered. “You’re only a child and a gutter-snipe at that! Your posture! Your disposition! You’re obviously a common child from the states! What could he see in you? He'll gain naught from wedding you!”

“Ceci, my love!” Luther yelled loudly enough so that all could hear. “Are you coming?”

Caecelija blushed and followed after him.

Adelaide fumed and stomped her heeled foot on the marble floors that made a cacophonic crack. She turned to Lachlan who was straightening his black cloak and purred, “Forget about the King. We’re perfect for each other! You’re the highly esteemed general of Ariadne, correct?”

“Not even in your dreams,” Lachlan replied and took his leave.

The last thing that could be heard was Princess Adelaide of Neo-England’s horrible banshee shrieks as she cried in the arms of her mother and father about the terrible events which had just taken place. All they could do was console and re-assure her that Luther was suffering from mental instability. The Prime Minster paced back and forth muttering to himself: “What a travesty! He was our only hope for a semblance of peace!”

This highly amused Lachlan, but then his thoughts wandered back to Luther’s little fiancée with the long, ebony hair and those strangely colored eyes that contradicted one another.

“I know it’s her,” Lachlan muttered to himself. “It’s no mere coincidence.”

He looked up into the sky, staring directly at the sun.

“Of all people, Luther, why her?”

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A/N: Review!