The Woman in Chains

Try as she might, Misa could not keep her eyes off the woman sitting in front of her. 

She was the human with the chains, the flushed skin, the sunken eyes. Her baggy, ragged clothing complemented her dirty head of hair which hung in unkempt waves over her face. Her shocking appearance affected Misa more than she thought it appropriate to, but Misa couldn't help it. She felt so bad for this woman, it made her want to cry over and over again.

She looks dead, Misa thought, her inner voice shaking is if near tears. She found herself drawn to the woman's eyes which were so dull that Misa feared there was nothing much left of her to take. 

They left her like this. They've taken everything from her but the last few droplets of her soul. What more do they want from her? She imagined the woman going through a lifetime of torture under the roof of these vampires. 

Misa swallowed a lump in her throat and ended up muttering aloud, "Why not just let her go?"

At the sound of her voice, the woman laboriously lifted her gaze to meet Misa's. Her head moved unsteadily, weakly, like holding it up consumed a ton of energy. For a split second, Misa thought the woman might give up and let her head fall forward again so she could continue resting. 

However, the woman's cracked lips parted as if to speak, but nothing came out. Misa leaned forward until she heard, "You feel sad for me, girl?"

It was the softest, most menacing whisper Misa had ever heard. It sent chills right down to her bones and she shot back to an upright position, slamming her back into the soft red cushion behind her. 

A wicked smile spread over the woman's face and a low rumble of laughter shook her bony frame. The chains shackling her hands and feet together clanked loudly as she laughed, as if there was anything in her situation to find entertaining. It was creepy, and Misa didn't much wish to hear it.

"You mustn't go near her." Came a monotonous voice's warning.

Prince Ran sat languidly at Misa's left, a leg crossed over the other and a thick, well-read book in his hand. Misa inhaled sharply--partly thankful to him for ripping her attention away from the woman in front of her--and nudged her body into the prince. "A bit late for that, aren't you?" She snapped, then went childishly for the book when he bothered not to glance up from it at all. Naturally, he fended her off with one hand as Misa whined, "You trying to be funny?!"

Across from them, seated next to the strange, silent-again woman, Leto let out a high-pitched titter.

"What's funny is you thinking His Highness could ever attempt anything funny. Hahaha! I can't even imagine! In the three centuries I've known him, I don't think I've ever even seen him laugh, let alone consider doing something interesting enough for us to even giggle about!" Then, "Huuuuhn!" Leto gasped with all the dramatics of a Broadway performer.

Misa had only met the creature today, and so she was hesitant to roll her eyes. Manners, and all that. But still, she realized now that her first impression of him as a gentle-voiced cool guy was grossly incorrect. 

Leto leaned forward in his seat, getting closer to stare pointedly at the prince. "Your Highness... Oh hopelessness, this could be tragic... Have you ever laughed?" He said 'laughed' like it was a playground secret.

The prince's immediate reply was, "How did you get aboard this carriage, you massive smear of horse manure?"

Their carriage was well on its way to Copperwood Village, the human town closest to the vampires' far-reaching kingdom. With the previous carriage having been destroyed by Misa in her fit of rage, a new one had been hastily prepared for the prince and his companions. This carriage, shiny black and trimmed in gold with deep red cushions, made the other, rather large, carriage look budget-built in comparison.

"You see," Leto answered, still speaking as if there was an audience of more than two before him, "I opened the door after you shut me out. And I stepped in! BAhaha--!" The uninvited attendant threw his head back in exaggerated laughter.

Prince Ran threw a glance at Misa in a moment of shared bewilderment. His yellowish eyes were squinted with a bit of craze as he said, "I'm going to rip his head off."

"Bet you could do it." Misa encouraged.

"I can."

"Don't do it!!" Leto cried, flailing his arms and legs like a wild child. He wrapped his long arms around his neck as if he meant to give himself a warm hug. "I really need my head. Can't laugh without it! BAAAhahaha--!"

"Oh, please!" The trio heard from outside. It came from Isel, Prince Ran's personal guard who rode horseback on one of the four horses pulling the royal carriage. "Why do we always have to be stuck with him, of all living and undead creatures?"

Meanwhile, Misa huffed dramatically, "Alas, I have finally encountered 'The Fool' of this fairy tale."

And then a sudden, fear-inducing chill overtook the carriage and the words, "Alas, you have, m'lady," hit Misa's ears like ice. Startled, she darted her eyes around the interior of the carriage, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice, as it seemed to have come from everywhere all at once. 

Through her window, Misa noticed the afternoon light outside descend into a place between dark and light. Like light shining through a thick fog. The horses' busy hooves stopped clacking against the ground. The carriage slowed to a stop. 

"What's going on?" Misa asked as Prince Ran shushed her with a swift hand in front of her mouth. She obliged, biting down on her bottom lip, and looked up to see how the strange woman was doing with all this.

A sharp gasp escaped her mouth before she could stop it.

The woman was gone, the only remaining trace of her the chains that had shackled her hands and feet. And not only had she disappeared but Leto was also nowhere to be seen.

Prince Ran! Misa cried in her mind and turned to him in alarm, afraid now to break the silence. His back was to her as he leaned toward the door to the carriage. Without looking back, he indicated with a hand for Misa to follow him out.

Just then, the door swung open with such force that the prince readied himself into a defensive position, only relaxing when he saw that it was Isel. He was with Ida who looked three times the (false) child when she stood beside Isel's large frame.

"Your Highness! We've been stopped--"

"Clearly." Prince Ran interrupted, calm as ever. He hopped down from the carriage with the grace of a gazelle. Surprisingly, he then stepped aside and looked back up to wait for Misa, and the action caused her heart to flutter for him for the first time. 

Until he stepped away from her hand when she gestured for his help getting down. Jerk. Misa frowned and hopped to the ground beside her vampire companions before turning her attention back to Isel who was shaking his head rapidly.

"No." he continued, "The path parted into two at the same time the fog came down over these woods. It was Fae magic. I'm sure of it!" Isel was insistent. Prince Ran was quiet.

Ida spoke then into the silence that had fallen among the group. "If it is true that we have fallen into Fae territory, then there is no easy way forward out of this fog and no sure way of getting back home."

Shallow breaths were beginning to leave Misa's mouth as she started panting in fear. "Ohhh noo," she sang in a ghostly, voice-wavering manner. "I-I'm not cool with this shit!" She screamed in whisper. 

"You are a scared sort, m'lady." Ida couldn't help commenting.

"Too scared. Calm down. We walk forward from here." Prince Ran said authoritatively. 

"O-O-Okay, but..." Misa stuttered, "What about Leto and the woman? The human? They're gone as hell if you haven't noticed!" Misa felt herself close to losing it. She blew air through her cheeks to calm herself down. 

When she calmed a little, she asked, "What do we do about them? They're missing out here!"

Prince Ran turned to face her, a brooding look on his face. "That woman is no human. She was our captive and our bargaining chip. With her gone, chains removed, and Leto likely at her side, it is no coincidence that we find ourselves here.

"She led us here. To her kind. One can only imagine what is to come."