The Chronicles Of Bournemouthshire

Since I still have no idea how to carry on with where I left off in Xia's arc, until I have a game plan I decided to write whatever snippets come into mind that I wish to include in the story. Tbh so far it seems more like fan fiction shipping more than anything else but hopefully I will soon regain my muse and get back in the game...one day. Anyway, enjoy~

  “Lost, kitten?” in my bewilderment to place everything back in its place, I knock over the candle. I snap into action and freeze in a stance of half-crouch-half-reach for the candle. My breathing stops as I prepare for the loud noise and the blaze of the wooden floor that never happens. A long pale arm instead holds up the candle in its position of mid-fall. I let out my breath slowly as I look into the face that is now eye-level with mine.
  The light of the candle reflects the playful gleam in the snake-like eyes as my saviour and my curse grins, “Careful, now. It would be such a… shame… if the Cathedral went into blazes.”
  I tried to supress the shaking in my knees as my voice gave away my worry, “Arane… You goddamn bastard, I couldn’t be happier to see you at this time…”
  The sly devil chuckles as he puts the candle back onto the desk while rising into an upright position. I follow his example so as not to look stupid in my strange crouching position, looking like I was from some theatre drama after spilling my drink.
  “Strange hobbies you have, my kitten…” Arane’s attention slithers across the scrolls and books I have been looking into, “I wouldn’t have taken you for a bookworm. Although I do find you often with your nose in a scroll in the middle of the night…”
  I grit my teeth as I hurriedly began to tidy up the mess I had made, “How else am I to conduct my research?”
  While I was busy, Arane was making himself as useless as ever while examining various crevices on the wall or tracing the glass stained windows with this fingers, “You will not find anything at this rate, kitten…”
  My irritation was building up as I finally finished putting everything back in its place, “And pray tell however am I to find anything, if you’re oh-so-knowledgeable?”
  Arane was now by the balcony, examining the curtains this time, it seemed. I shivered as the moonlight covered half of his face while the other half was overshadowed by the very curtain he was examining, “Dig deeper, poppet.”
  My breath caught in my throat as his eyes glowed in the dark, his figure now fully submerged in the darkness; the clouds were gathering and covering the moonlight. I was brought back to my senses as fingers brushed my right cheek.
  “You seem afraid, kitten…” I could not feel any warmth coming from neither Arane’s eyes nor his fingers while he spun his honeyed words, “Why do you shiver so? Are you cold? Should I close the balcony doors?”
  “C-cut it out.” I snapped as I slapped his hand away from my face, “How do you even manage to become creepier than you already are…”
  Another chuckle as I blew out the candlelight after double checking that I left no traces behind. Arane stalked me to the balcony. I hurriedly closed the doors and began preparations for climbing back down the walls by putting on my gloves.
  “Kitten, don’t cats always land paws first on the ground?”
  I froze as I was half way across the railing, “What are you suggesti-?!”
  “Let’s test that theory, shall we?” a manic grin was the last thing I saw before I was pushed across the edge with great force. I bit back the scream building up in my throat as I began to plummet towards my doom. Curse whoever had the genius idea of locating the Amber tribe leader’s bedroom at the highest tower of the Amber Cathedral!
  I shut my eyes tight. The collision I was expecting did not happen though. Instead I felt as though I was floating mid-air with something wrapped around me. I **** one eyelid open. Gasping, both my eyelids flew wide open.
  “Silly kitten… As if I could be this cruel!” Arane nearly howled with laughter as we made our descent onto the rooftop of the Cathedral. Judging from the chain onto which Arane was holding, he must have jumped after he pushed me out. After catching me, he must have released his usual crossbow and chain weapon; the hook at the end of the chain struck the roof and Arane used the momentum of the chain resisting our fall to fling us back up.
  “You…absolute scoundrel!” I smack Arane’s arm holding onto me. His grip doesn’t loosen though until he is sure that I am secure on my feet.
  “Your reactions are quite entertaining, kitten.” Arane dodged another strike from me, “I simply could not help myself!”
  “I always knew you were a sadist…but this is too much!” I glared, “What if I had a heart attack right there and then?!”
  I froze as Arane’s cold finger’s traced my lips, his impish smile growing wider, “Perhaps I would have to perform a mouth-to-mouth to save my cute pet, hmm?”
  The gleam in his eyes didn’t seem as cold as usual. Perhaps it was the lighting, but it seemed as though for the first time I saw a flicker of warmth in those merciless, ever-watchful eyes of his. Unable to look at him much longer, I turned my head to the side.
  “A-as if that would help someone smashed flat on the ground, s-stupid!” I quickly retorted before it was too late to hide my panic.
  What was that?! I was trying to slow my breathing as I felt my face grow slightly warmer than usual.
  Silence followed before I heard a small movement of the roof tiles. I looked back to where Arane had stood only to find him sitting down and gazing at the sky.
  This is…rather unusual… I thought to myself as I slowly sat down next to him.
  Glancing at Arane with the corner of my eye, it was rather unsettling to find him looking… almost serene. His brows were knit, his eyes focused on something far in the distant skies. His shoulders drooped as if they carried all the burdens of the world while his mouth hung slightly open.
  I was almost afraid to give voice, “Arane…”
  “Time has almost ran out…” a whisper escapes his mouth.
  “Arane…?” I try to reach out, but he is up in a flash with his usual playful grin.
  “We’re nearly there, kitten…” he stretches his arms as I unsteadily rise to my feet, “Just remember to… dig deeper.”
  Still in confusion as to what happened, I find myself alone on the roof. Arane was gone in a flash. Just what is going on with that lunatic?
  I gasp. Frustration builds up inside me as I realise that I will have to climb down the entire Cathedral on my own. The bastard just made it much harder for me to get down!
  Grumbling, I began to climb down. Curse that Arane!
  That night a door slammed, nearly ripped out of its hinges as a figure storms into the room. The figure proceeds to knock everything off the table full of various devices and scrolls in frustration. After wreaking havoc in the room completely, it sinks on the floor flooded in moonlight.
  “What…am I doing…?” a voice full of despair breaks the silence as the figure pulls a handful of his long hair while his other hand leaves traces of blood where his nails dug into his skin sliding down, “What am I doing?!”
  His breathing becomes haggard as the invisible chains binding him tighten around his throat.
  “This can’t go on… I must… finish the job…” his green eyes, the only thing glowing in the darkness of the room, become as hollow as his empty soul.

  I scanned the village square for any more weirdos while muttering, “No signs of sane, intelligent lifeforms sighted… coast is clear…”
  “That is harsh. What about me?”
  I nearly jumped out of my skin as someone blew into my ear. My suspicions were confirmed as soon as I heard a mocking chuckle.
  “You son of a–!” I turned rapidly only to gape at the sight in front of me.
  I never thought it was possible, but Arane had finally achieved the impossible – he looked weirder than usual. His hair was sticking out in poor attempts of plaiting it, with a few flowers here and there. His clothes left little to the imagination as he wore tight open-chested vest and trousers with high boots. What was ridiculous about it (since showing off his good physique was nothing new) though was how bright purple the clothes were.
  “What…” I opened and closed my mouth like a fish, “What even are you?!”
  “Your words sting me, love…” Arane overdramatically covered his eyes with his palm, “To think you would not recognise your fine specimen of a master!”
  After not getting a reaction other than a blank stare, Arane shrugged and did a spin, “How do I look? Oh, do tell me I am positively fabulous!”
  If there was one useful thing about this strange getup, it’s that his rear did look on point. His backside was beside the point though and I would rather die than say that out loud.
  “You look like you ran away from a third rate circus, clown.” I couldn’t believe he even added a few little bows to the tails of his vest tailcoat.
  “You know you love it, my sweet.” Arane blew me a kiss while looking like he was posing for a portrait.
  To be fair, I was in no position to judge him. My own outfit followed close to his. Pretending to be a dancer of the Amethyst tribe involved a lot of sacrifice as far as your self-respect goes.
  “And look!” Arane carried on to ignore my lack of replies. He squished his cheek to mine and grabbed my waist while holding up a hand mirror to show our reflection, “We match!”
  The reflection showed an excited Arane and a disgusted beyond words me.
  I shoved Arane off of me, “What are you doing here?”
  “Living the life,” Arane shrugged and tossed the mirror away. I flinched as I heard it smash through a window and someone scream curses at the top of their lungs, “What does it look like? I’m going about my own business. Thought I’d say hi.”
  I rolled my eyes before proceeding to walk into the Glenton square. It was a **** that he wouldn’t want to be seen with me in broad daylight, but as usual Arane completely surpassed my expectations and skipped over next to me.
  He poked my cheek, “Kitten, you mad at me–?”
  “Why would I–”
  “–for not showing up earlier?”
  “Hell no.”
  Some may see our bickering as a sign of a close relationship. That was far from the truth, though. It may seem leisurely now, but our meeting was far from sunshine and daisies. I can still remember it even now.
  It was on a frosty winter early morning. As usually, I had left the library at around three in the morning and was making my way through the alleyways of Londinium. I had seen a fair share of all sorts of creepy and shady in these alleys, from questionable substance trade to human trafficking of the most indecent kind. Thanks to those, I always carried my weapons with me at all times. This night was no exception of the daily strange occurrences.
  A strange mist had formed around a particular part of the alleyways, the temperature dropping even lower than normal. I was shivering and rubbing my hands together when I came across a sight which shouldn’t have been a surprise to me. Yet it still shook me to the core. There, under the distant moon, in a dead end stood he.
  It was Arane. And he was surrounded by a pool…no, it seemed more like a sea… of blood. A lone assassin in the middle of the night, strangely and dangerously beautiful. His silky, white hair was a complete contrast to his blood-soaked body.
  I dropped my bag as I saw the decapitated corpses lying around, the source of this sea. This had created a splash. The ethereal assassin in front of me twitched as he slowly directed his blank gaze at me.
  For a while, we just stared at one another.
  His gaze was empty. His mouth slightly ajar. His shoulders slumped. He looked like he was lost. It was strange to be feeling pity when he had clearly killed all those men.
  I was probably the complete contrast to him: my eyes were wide and shaking in disbelief, my mouth was quivering with a silent scream, heart racing and very much alive. For how long, though? was my only thought at the time.
  The stranger in front of me tilted his head, his movements graceful as he jumped off the wall. I immediately backed away. After that, I can’t remember much. I do remember running away though. He didn’t give chase. Last I looked behind me, he just stared at me with a kicked puppy gaze.
  It was more shocking to find him in the library the next day when I arrived. He was in his usual order robes with the slight modifications to as usually show off his chest and arms.
  “We meet again, fair lady.” he seemed almost like a completely different person, with his nonchalant smirk on him. He lifted my half-soaked in blood bag, “You left a little something behind last night.”
  That was the start of our few interactions. It seemed that Arane had knew me from before. He came to the library once in a while, according to him (although he would not reveal why). The few times he did come in, he could not help but be amused by the ‘silly library assistant who kept messing everything up quite adorably’.
  Arane’s teasing was rather strange, considering the true face I saw that night we first officially met in the dark alley. Over time, he even began to call me ‘kitten’. Something to do with my always messy hair and lack of balance while climbing the library ladders.