The Bonds Between Love and War: Part 1

Music rang through the hallways of the school as Aria crept out the back door. Her date was a no-show and despite the best efforts of several other girls to cheer her up, she decided to hang it up for the night. What was the point of standing around in a pretty dress and her best makeup if none of the boys were going to ask her to dance?

“It’s not like I was expecting much, anyways,” she mumbled under her breath as she crept out the back door.

She unfolded a large bag she’d hidden in her purse and pulled the journals from the library out as she tried to make room for the dress. “I hate to fold it up, but,” tears stung her eyes, “if I take anything with me, it should be the dress. Grandma worked hard on it, so it’ll be the one memento I take.”

The dress folded easily as she placed the satin-like fabric inside her bag. She’d packed a simple cardigan crop-top, high-waisted shorts, and a pair of low-heeled sandals to change into once the dance was over or, God forbid, her date was a no-show. She scoffed.

“Whatever. Not like anyone will care when I’m gone anyways.” She placed her dress heels on the ground as she fumbled around in the bag for her sandals. “I never was a stilettos girl anyways. Why didn’t I just wear flats?” she whined.

After another minute of painstaking rummaging, she pulled her sandals from the bag and fastened the straps. “Now then,” she said, turning her attention towards the journals, “I guess I’ll call this phone number and say goodbye to this miserable life.”

On the innermost page of the first journal was a phone number written in faded ink. She dialed the number. The phone rang once… twice… three times… Just as she was about to end the call, a man’s voice answered the other line.

“There is no turning back once you’ve chosen this path. Are you certain this is what you want?” His voice was mysterious but cautious.

“What I want is my old life back. Not a game of twenty questions.”

“I see,” the man said. “Very well then, Aria Miruna. Stay right where you are.” The line died as a shiver crept down Aria’s back.

Was she having second thoughts? She shook her head. “No way. I’ve come this far and like he said, there’s no turning back.”

The sea of uncertainty was deep, and she’d chosen to dive in head-first. Another shiver, stronger this time, caused her whole body to shake. She felt horribly ill. Her legs struggled to support her weight.

“I should have warned you: I tend to have a bit of an overwhelming effect on some people. My apologies,” a voice whispered in her head. “You’ll get used to it.”

Her eyes rolled towards the sky. The stars were gorgeous despite the streetlamps, almost as if they were encouraging her to reach out for their light—to protect the final glimmers of hope in her heart. Outstretched to the sky, she closed her fist around a cluster of stars before falling backwards onto the asphalt. Her head erupted into a jumble of numbness. Her ears rang like a shrill whistle as dark spots occluded her vision.

Footsteps reflected off the concrete out into the empty back lot of the school. The features of a man gradually emerged into the low lamplight. “It seems this is everything you’re taking to start this new life of yours.” He crouched down beside Aria, now unconscious. “I would have preferred to pick your brain and learn more about you first, but I suppose you can rest for now.”

The man slung Aria over his shoulder as he carried her purse and bag with his free hand. He moseyed through the lot, whistling a tune before fading into the darkness. They disappeared without a trace, unbound by observable reality.

Millee reappeared beside Brendan, clearly troubled by the sequence of events he’d just witnessed. He opened his mouth to speak before noticing Millee had changed her entire outfit. The look of disdain on his face bought him a one-way ticket to gut-punch city.

“Dammit, Millee! Take this… seriously!” he said between breaths.

“I’m the one showing you all of this, remember? Take me seriously, Brendan.”

He rolled his eyes, ensuring he avoided Millee’s. “The top and skirt combo is cute, really.” He shifted his gaze back, examining her legwear. “But were the tiny bears for your knee-highs really the most appropriate thing you could have picked out?”

“Just because I want to be cute doesn’t mean I’m not taking this seriously.” She unwrapped a sucker and popped it in her mouth. “Want one?”

Brendan sighed before giving her a distasteful frown. “You have a hell of a fashion-sense, but there’s a couple things we need to address about what just happened.”

“You want to know where that man—” She pulled the sucker from her mouth. “Correction: where Ahzef took Aria, right?” She placed her foot against the wall and leaned back. The evening breeze was just enough to ruffle her skirt.

“Yes, but can you stop with all of the… subjectiveness?”

“When this is all over, I want to go back to the way things used to be,” she thought to herself.

He noticed the forlorn look on her face. “Millee?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She tilted her head towards the night sky. “Anyways, Aria was taken to the very same ship she told you about. I was going to have you watch a few more important pieces of her past, but I think you understand the gist of things from here. What I really need you to see are these next few fragments.”

She pulled what looked to be large shards of glass from thin air. Within them were a series of moving images, almost like a movie. “This is a fragment of her memory. No— It would be better to say this is part of what Ahzef tried to erase but failed to. When she finally broke, so too did several important pieces of her memory. He promised her that he could do the impossible.” A melancholy look crossed Millee’s face.

“He promised he could bring her parents back, that he could give her what she wanted most—a new life. To do that, he would theoretically rewrite the whole world, but it was all a lie.” Brendan slid down the wall next to Millee.

“No peeping,” she scolded.

“You know I’d never.”

She giggled, continuing. “Aria is perhaps the greatest weapon against the Reverse Royalty. I don’t claim to know everything, but what I do know is leverage. Why do you think Azael appeared before us in the library?”

“He knew we’d opened a link to the past and with that he had the opportunity to correct the mistake Ahzef made in putting his trust in her. My theory is he’d make her even more indentured the second time around.”

“Bingo. You might have stood a stood a chance, but it would have been a grueling fight. You could have potentially taken Azael down, but we can’t risk that.” She slid down next to Brendan as she stretched her legs forward. “Unlike Lucifero, Azael cannot be revived simply because Ahzef refuses to do so. He's no fool and in order to truly defeat the Reverse Royalty, we would have to defeat Ahzef first.” Her face turned serious as she locked eyes with Brendan again. “He truly thought he had Aria under his thumb, but he didn’t plan on Omnis’ intervention.”

Brendan piped up. “Mana told me about several of her encounters, but just who or what is Omnis?”

She struck a thoughtful pose. “I think it’s best you watch these final memory fragments before we get much deeper into this conversation. Remember, this is still about Aria.” Millee stood up as she paced forward a few steps. “These next fragments are some of Aria’s worst and will test you. Are you ready?”

Brendan stood up and gave a firm nod.

She smiled. “This time, actually do take my hand.”