The Night of The Necros: The Rise of The Queen

Chapter Six Part Two

When he finished explaining Tamaki took over and explained the events that took place leading up to her getting hurt. He explained how she was the one that had asked the Grand Elder to let the refugees in to the village and how the Council had hidden people in the group of refugees that were being detained until Arabella was able to wake up and investigate who was who. He explained that Jack had gotten angry with her when he learned that she had made the request of the Grand Elder and that she was the rumored Vosat without power. He explained everything then he showed them the recording that some of the guards had taken during the match. Everyone watched in awe as she battled the soldier. Horace nearly fell out of his seat when she slid through the fire and charged him with everything that she had. They watched as she disarmed her opponent and won the match. What they saw next made them sick. Her back was turned and she was thanking everyone for watching the match. It was then that he pressed his hand into her back and released a fireball into her.

"What the hell?" Horace whispered.

"That's what happened. That is how she ended up like that." Tamaki said.

Genova and everyone looked at him in shock. They had been unaware that the methods used to attack her were so heinous. Horace stared at the image playing before him and blinked his eyes a few times in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. No one could have stopped that.

"Can you play it again?" Horace asked.

"Why?" Genova asked.

"I think the poison took effect before the match was over."

They watched the video again and when Horace instructed them to slow it down they did. What they saw horrified them. She was beginning to collapse before he launched the fire ball into her back. Horace swore under his breath.

"She never stood a chance of being able to defend herself." Genova whispered.

"Why would someone do something like this?" The healer asked.

"Because there are people like Jack and Camilla that are angry that refugees were allowed into the village. They think that they should be allowed to fend for themselves." Genova said.

"But the Council would kill them." She said.

"We know. But there are Vosat that do not care." Tamaki said.

"There was something that we saw when we were working on her. She has a scar that is quite terrifying to look at." Horace began. "We do not talk about it." Genova said.

"It was from that night." Tamaki said. Horace's eyes widened.

"The night the village was attacked? How could she survive something like that? I know grown men that have died from less."

"I don't know but she did." Tamaki said shaking his head.

"Lord Tamaki," Nostace called. "She's awake! She woke up!" The little girl yelled excitedly as she ran down the stairs.

"Thank goodness." They breathed.

"Thank you both." Tamaki whispered as he took a shaky breath. "Thank you."

After that no one wasted another second and they ran up the stairs to Arabella sitting up in the bed with the sheets pulled up to her chest. Everyone stopped in their tracks when they saw the tears falling down her cheeks. She took a shaky breath and clenched the sheet to her chest.

"Arabella, what's wrong?" Genova asked.

"I thought that I would forget you when I saw you like I did everyone else!" She wailed. "I don't want to forget anyone again." Genova and the other's rushed to her side.

"It's okay." He whispered as he soothed her.

"No. What if something happens and I forget again?" She asked. "I don't want to forget anymore. I want to go home!"

"Arabella," Tamaki began. She looked up and blinked at him.

"You," She began as she stared at him. "Who are you to me and why do you look at me with such sadness? I have been wondering this for a while now." She said. Tamaki looked away from her trying to avoid her probing gaze. "And who are they? Why do I feel like I have seen him before?" She asked. Genova sighed. "Horace... You're Horace." She said knitting her brows. "Why do I know you and why does Tamaki plague my dreams?" She asked. "I need to get out of here!" She said suddenly standing up. The four men covered their eyes quickly. They wondered why she was so comfortable walking around like that in front of them.

Arabella proceeded to get dressed until her hand brushed the scar on her stomach. She ran to a mirror and looked at her scar with wide eyes. As she stared at it a memory began to form in front of her eyess. She was a child again and running after a boy. She was laughing until she noticed something that caused her to stop. She looked to her left and there she saw it, a flaming arrow was hurling towards her. She stepped back a little in fear. Before the arrow reached her the little boy pushed her out of the way.

"Tamaki!" She yelled.

"Come on, Princess. We need to hide." He said grabbing her hand. He hoisted her into his arms and opened a spatial portal. He ran through them hoping to escape the trouble that was sure to find them. To his surprise a large figure jumped out in front of them.

"Give me the girl and I might let you live!" He ordered.

"Never!" Tamaki yelled as he grit his teeth and ran to his right.

However, he wasn't quick enough. The guard caught up to him and grabbed him by his hair. The boy cried out in pain and squeezed her tightly against himself. He wouldn't let them take her. He vowed. To his surprise they grabbed her by her hair and began to pull her from his arms.

"No!" He cried. The Guard that had a hold of his hair punched him in the face. Tamaki fell to the ground as the world around him began to spin. The guard laughed and proceeded to kick him. Tamaki had the air knocked out of him and lay on the ground coughing . When they tried to drag her away he charged at them. One of the guards raised their sword to him. Tamaki prepared himself for the blow. When Arabella saw this she kicked the guard that had her by the hair in the shin. When he went to hit her Arabella took the hit full in the face. She chose that moment to grab his arm and bit him until she drew blood. The guard dropped her and howled in pain. Arabella ran and threw herself between the guard's sword and Tamaki. As she lay there bleeding Tamaki held on to her tightly. Blood covered his forehead. The Guard was going to run his sword through her when someone jumped in front of her taking the full force of the guard's thrusting blade. Arabella's eyes widened as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Mom!" She cried.

"Your Majesty!" Tamaki yelled.

Blood filled her vision and her breathing grew ragged. Her hand clenched at the scar that covered her torso. When the memory faded Arabella slumped to the ground. The healer gasped and grabbed a sheet and draped it around her shaking shoulders.

"Arabella," She called shaking her shoulder.

When Tamaki heard the commotion he looked up to see that she was sitting on the floor shaking. He cursed under his breath and ran to her side. He peered into her face as her eyes were beginning to focus again. He let out a relieved sigh.

"Are you okay?" He asked her. Arabella looked at him for a moment as if she was just now seeing him for the first time.

"Tamaki?" She breathed softly. Her breathing became ragged as she took in the familiar features of his face. Her hands shook as she reached out to frame his face. Tears filled her eyes when she saw the scar. "I remember you." She whispered. "I remember that night. I remember-" Here voice caught in her throat as she tried to tell him that she remembered that night.

"Shh. It's okay." He whispered smoothing the hair from her face. As she stared at him tears began to fill her eyes.

"I've missed you!" She wailed as she threw herself against him. Tamaki enfolded her in his arms and cradled her against his chest.

"I missed you too." He whispered as she buried her face into his neck.

Everyone stared in shock at the display. They didn't expect her to gain some of her memories back. Still they waited for her to calm down before they left the room so that she could dress in peace. When she was done she joined them down stairs.

"So what do you remember?" Genova asked.

"Not much. I remember Horace and Tamaki. I also remember that night. I remember sparing with Michael when we were kids. Other than that not much. I still don't know how I knew you but I do know that we were friends." She said picking at a thread on her pants.

"Still I can't believe that you remembered us." Horace said.

"There's just something that is still bothering me. I keep remembering parts of things that happen and then somehow before I can grasp what's being said everything begins the fade away." She said with disappointment.

"You will remember when you are ready." Genova assured her. She looked at the four men before her. She was tied to each of them some way or another. Still she wondered why she couldn't remember who she actually was. It felt like a big piece of the puzzle was still missing. As she sat there she found herself lost in thought. She wasn't sure how long she sat there but someone calling her name pulled her from her thoughts.

"Arabella, we need you to watch this." Tamaki said as an image popped up before her.

"What's this?" She asked as she looked at it.

"It's video from your match." He said.

"Someone recorded it?" She asked.

"A lot of people recorded it. We were just about to go through them to see if we could find the person that first poisoned you." Genova said.

"Just how many times was I poisoned?" She asked.

"Twice." Horace said.

"That many?" She asked. "How in the hell am I still alive?" She wondered aloud. Nostace and the healer looked at each other in shock.

"Should she be speaking like that?" Nostace asked.

"What do you mean?" Arabella asked confused that she would ask such a question. Tamaki gave the girl a stern look

"Nothing." She mumbled. Arabella shrugged and began watching the video of her match. To her nothing seemed out of place until she got to the part where she slid through the fire. There she noticed something rather odd.

"Can you stop it here?" She asked. Tamaki stopped the video. "Thank you. Zoom in there." She said peering at the person that caught her attention.

"What is it?" Genova asked. As she stared at it.

"Something is not right about that person." She mumbled to herself. What is in their hand? She wondered to herself. "Is there video with that same person in it?" She asked. Everyone checked their video "There!" She shouted and pointed. "Stop it there and zoom in." Genova did as he was told.

"What do you see?" Horace asked.

"That!" She said pointing. "Do you not see it?" She asked.They shook their heads.

Arabella jumped up and was about to go outside when she noticed a little girl looking at the video with a horrified expression. The little girl had tears in her eyes. Arabella looked back at the video then at the little girl.

"Do you know that man?" She asked her. The little girl nodded . "I see. Can you take me to him?" She asked.

"What?" Genova asked.

"You can't go!" Tamaki said.

"I will go. There is something that I need to know." She said.

"He can't meet you." She said.

"Why not?" Arabella asked.

"Because." She cried softly. Arabella sighed. She already guessed what was happening.

"Can you tell your daddy that I need to speak with him. No harm will come to him." She said. The little girl shook her head. "Are there bad people that won't let you speak with him?" She asked. The little girl nodded her head. Arabella sighed and scratched here head. "I see." She said. "Don't worry. I will help him." She said walking up the stairs.

"What is she doing?" Horace asked.

"I think she figured out what happened." Genova said.

"What do you mean?" Tamaki asked.

Before he could answer Arabella was racing down the stairs. When they saw her with her bow and arrows and swords they got up to follow her. Arabella turned and faced them with a stern look.

"Do not follow me." She ordered.

"But what if something happens?" Tamaki asked.

"I will be fine." She said walking away.

"Are we going to listen to her?" Horace asked.

"We follow and only intervene if she is in trouble." Genova said. "Do not get caught or she will tear you a new one and I don't think we want that." They nodded their heads and followed her from a distance. To their surprise Arabella used the shadows and scouted the building and the people inside. She disappeared into the shadows and climbed up a tree whose branches were hanging over the building. She dropped down onto the branch and took her quiver full of arrows off and hung it from a tree branch. She waited for one of the Council's hired men to pass by. She drew her arrow and let it fly. The arrow hit its mark and the guard went down without making a sound. Arabella hopped down from the tree and moved the body to the woods.

Tamaki and the others watched in quiet shock as she felled the three guards making their rounds outside the building. They looked at Genova who just shrugged his shoulders as if it was a normal occurrence for her to do something like that. They continued to watch as she infiltrated the building without anyone noticing.

"What the hell was that?" Tamaki wondered.

"It's like she's a goddamn assassin." Michael whispered.

"Yeah well, she has had a lot of time on her hands to learn a lot of interesting things." Genova whispered. "At least the two of you got out of being her little test subject."

"Its these moments that I do not envy you." Tamaki whispered as he patted him on the back.

"You grew up with that maniac?" Horace asked.

"Yeah. You guys got to escape but the horror continued for me." He said shaking his head.

"How did she get so good at that?" Michael asked. The two men pointed at Genova who looked terrified. "Really? You taught her all of that? You must be a genius." He whispered.

"No. She read about it in books and then decided that she would use me for practice." Genova said. "It was a nightmare. I became terrified when she would ask me to help her with something. Then she got smart and stopped telling me beforehand what she was studying. Those were horrible times."

"He's not the only one who suffered." Tamaki said. "Still, we need to make sure that she doesn't get hurt while she plays infiltration." He said. "We will talk about our favorite Arabella horror stories later." The men nodded and continued to watch for any signs that something was amiss. While they waited a few people passed them and said hello. A few villagers asked how Arabella was doing and the guys assured them that she was better. One of the villagers looked towards the house that they were watching and noticed that there was a cloud of smoke leaking out from under the door.

"What's that?" They asked. As soon as they asked the question the door opened and Arabella was carrying a badly beaten man on her shoulders.

"Oh come on!" Tamaki all but shouted. The men and the villager raced towards her but Arabella was already standing before them.

"What is happening here?" The villager asked.

"Get the guards. I found the men that were acting for the Council." She said as she pulled a black cloth away from her face. She handed Horace the man.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"He is the man that poisoned the arena. What I don't know is why. The little girl at the estate is his daughter, I think." She said. Arabella pulled the mask back over her face and went back into the building while Tamaki called for his guards.

"I don't understand what just happened." The villager said as the men ran towards the building. "Still I can be of some assistance if you will let me." They looked at him dubiously but continued towards the building anyway. When they got to the building the guards were arriving and Arabella was dragging the Council's men out into the fresh air. The guards began to restrain them while Tamaki gave orders. Genova was over seeing the transfer of the prisoners when they heard a scuffle from inside the building. Everyone stopped and looked towards the building. Tamaki went to move towards it but a dark figure came flying out of it.

"What the hell?" Tamaki cursed as he looked down at the person laying there groaning in pain.

Arabella walked out of the building and sighed in frustration. Everyone looked between the two of them unsure of what to make of the situation. Arabella pulled the cloth from her face again and squatted down in front of him.

"You really shouldn't mark a lady's face." She said with an annoyed expression as she pointed at the gash on the side of her face.

"You think you're a f*****g lady? You're just a b***h that got lucky." He snarled and spat in her face.

Arabella closed her eyes and took a calming breath. When the guard began laughing at her she let the fist that she had balled up fly hitting him square in the nose. The guard's head fell backwards as he howled in pain. Arabella frowned and wiped the spit from her face. The soldiers began to laugh as he rolled around on the ground with his hands covering his nose.

"Someone get him out of here, please." She said standing up. Tamaki and Michael cracked up laughing as she walked away from the group of people that were assembled outside the building.

"That was awesome." Michael said laughing.

"I hope someone recorded that." Tamaki said.

"Is there someone that we can assign to her so that we don't miss out on things like this?" Michael asked.

"Yeah she's got one, Genova." Tamaki said.

"Nope. I don't do that anymore. She nearly kicked my ass the last time. Never again." He said holding up his hands.

"Why not?" Michael asked. "Chronicling her adventures alone would be a dream come true."

"Nah. She can get pretty mean when she is in a bad mood." Tamaki said in an understanding tone.

They continued to oversee the people being detained. When it was done Arabella had rejoined them. By then many of the villagers and refugees were gathered outside the building and asking questions. Tamaki and Genova were doing their best to answer them without giving them too much information. Arabella sighed and shook her head.

"We received word that some of the Council guards were traveling with refugees." She said. "In order to keep the peace in the village and protect the refugees we kept their presence quiet until we could figure out who was with the Council. Thanks to the soldier that challenged me to a match we were able to come up with a way to keep the refugees here without raising suspicion. I do apologize for keeping it a secret but as of tonight the village is safe."

"What about the woman that left?" One of the villagers asked.

"What woman?" She asked.

"She was here earlier until some of the refugees made a fuss about being kept here." One woman said.

"Was she one of the people that were yelling at the guards?" Tamaki asked.

"No she was standing in the back until just before those two showed up." A kid said pointing at Michael and Genova.

"s**t!" Tamaki cursed "I'm sorry, Arabella. It would seem that one of them escaped." He said bowing to her. Arabella took a deep breath and shook her head.

"It's too late to do anything about it now, right?" She said.

"No it's not!" Michael said. "Didn't Tamaki say that he was recording the whole scene outside?"

"That's right!" Genova said. "Does anyone remember what she looks like?" He asked. One hand shot up.

"I would know her if I saw her." A little girl said in a small voice from behind them.

Arabella turned around to see the little girl that she had talked to in the estate. She smiled gently at her. The little girl nodded her head at Arabella. Arabella walked over to her and got down on her level.

"Do you think that you could point her out?" Arabella asked.

"Yes." She said nodding her head.

"Okay. Then come with us." Arabella said. "Oh! Someone might want to get the people that are in the woods. They might be Council guards but they deserve a proper burial." She said walking with the little girl back to the estate

"Genova, take over here." Tamaki said following them to back to where they were staying. Genova nodded his head and instructed the soldiers to get back to work. The villagers and refugees dispersed while everyone carried on with their orders.

While Genova was making sure that everything outside was taken care of Tamaki and the others were inside going over the video. The little girl watched as the video played out the commotion from the previous day. Arabella held her hand to help reassure her. When she noticed movement at the back of the crowd her hand began to shake. Arabella rubbed her hand and soothed her. The little girl looked at her and nodded her head.

"Stop it here and then zoom in." Arabella said. Tamaki did as he was told. Arabella turned to the little girl. "Is that her?" She asked. The little girl's hand trembled as she looked at the woman in the image.

"Yes that's her." She said softly. "Please don't hurt my daddy." She whispered.

"What do you mean?" Arabella asked.

"My daddy didn't want to do it." She said crying.

"I understand." Arabella said laying a reassuring hand on her head.

"No you don't. They have my mommy and little brother." She said wailing.

Arabella and Tamaki's eyes widened in shock. They didn't know that they had family that were being held hostage. The little girl looked at them with wide eyes filled with tears. Arabella and Tamaki cursed the Council at that moment.

"Why don't you go see how your father is doing?" She said. "My friend and I are going to try and figure something out."

The little girl nodded her head and slipped out of the room. They watched her go. When they were sure that she was gone they decided that it would be the time to talk about the next steps that they should take. Arabella sighed and looked at Tamaki. He could sense the uneasiness that was beginning to build inside her.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I just feel like we're over looking something. I don't know what it could be but something about all of this just isn't sitting right with me." She said gnawing on her thumbnail.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I don't know it just feels like this is too easy." She whispered.

"Too easy?" Tamaki asked. "There was practically a whole platoon of Council guards here and we have to find a way to rescue a woman and her son from the Council. What about this seems easy?" He demanded. "From here it would seem that everything just got more complicated."

"No. We're missing something. There is something that we over looked." She insisted.

"Maybe you're looking for smoke where there is none." He suggested.

"No. My gut is telling me that something isn't right." She said softly.

"Well, whatever it is will have to wait. We can't spend time chasing our tails over a hunch." He said.

"Tamaki, do not brush me off." Arabella warned. "I don't know what it is that is bugging me but something just isn't right about any of this." She said.

"Look, I am not brushing you off. I just think that maybe you feel like this was too easy because you expected it to be harder than what it actually was." Tamaki said.

Arabella glared at him and stormed off. Tamaki sat there staring at her in surprise. He knew that she was always a bit difficult to handle when she got like this but he didn't want her to look for things where there were none. He sat there and ran his hands through his hair.

"Where did Arabella go?" Horace asked.

"I don't know." Tamaki said with a sigh.

"What happened?" Horace asked.

Tamaki sighed and looked at him shaking his head. He really didn't know what to make of the whole situation. He stood up and began to pace and recounted his conversation with her before she stormed out.

"Why would she think that she missed something?" Horace asked.

"I don't know." Tamaki muttered. "All I know is that she got angry when I suggested that she was looking for smoke where there was none."

"Hmm. I don't know what to say." Horace said. "Although it would seem that maybe she felt like you were dismissing her when you didn't intend for her to feel that way." He suggested.

"Maybe." He said. "By the way how is that little girl?"

"What do you mean?" Horace asked.

"The little girl. She said that the man you were working on is her father." Tamaki said.

"I don't know who you could be talking about. No one has been up there except for myself and the healer that I brought with me." He said rubbing his chin in thought.

"Hmm..."Tamaki mumbled. "I wonder why she didn't go up there? She seemed like she was really worried."

"I don't know. It would seem that maybe she was too afraid of going up there." Horace said.

"Yeah." Tamaki said.

"You should go look for her." Horace said.

"Okay." Tamaki said standing up.