Az: travelling knight

Drowning probably had to be one of the worst ways of waking up. Shocker. Really. Azalea wasn’t one to be afraid of the water, she rather enjoyed the way it envelops you the moment you step into it, the small droplets that cling to you even after you leave it in lieu of beginning another activity. However, opening your eyes to see pure darkness pressuring every part of your body and viewing a physical manifestation of your breathing isn't reassuring. It was quite the opposite, actually. She could already feel a slight burn spreading through her lungs, the need to intake air slowly but surely a growing issue to her chances in survival. Her arms and legs struggled to respond to her wishes the first seconds after the initial panic set in, body drained and her large dress only weighing her down… A dress? It was hard to discern in the muddied waters, but she was fairly sure that her attire was, in fact, a dress. Not that she never wore them, though she was fairly sure she had prepared for bed and then… Yes, she is still under water and that is a far more pressing problem than wearing a dress. With a strong kick, Azalea turned herself to face the direction the bubbles were fading to. She tried to waddle behind them but was soon met with the realization that she wouldn’t be able to reach the surface at such a painstakingly slow pace. Her long flocks of hair that entangled with the spare details on her sleeves in addition to the voluptuous skirt were proving to be highly capable in restricting her movement. She stopped her efforts and refocused on the seams on her waist. Luckily, they looked to be old and frail, her trembling hands didn’t struggle much to rip the union that had been dragging her to an early death. Loosening her grip on the cloth, she saw it falling away from her. Much lighter and free, she summoned her strength to propel herself out of the water. Her mind screamed in want of oxygen, muscles strained from tiredness and the cold temperatures surrounding her, head pounding with each armful that tore more of her hair out. Then the darkness began to turn lighter. Hope flooded in her body that nearly made her inhale a deathly breath of relief. She couldn’t let her guard down, not until she reached shore and had at least a few feet between herself and the apparent infinite amount of deathly liquid. Her hand stretched out and finally broke the surface, face closely following behind. She took mouthfuls of air that seemed to pain her more, each breath a sharp stab in her already damaged lungs. Without another choice, she fought through the pain and managed to stay afloat, although some water entered her mouth from her flailing around. Once the hurt became somewhat bearable, Azalea turned herself in every direction in search for a solid surface. A bright full moon shone on the trees that encircled what she now realized was probably a lake, everything calm in contrast to her distressed state. She quickly chose to swim to the nearest piece of land, each shift of muscles bringing her closer to safety. When her feet touched the fore-shore her legs gave out, adrenaline already fading out from her system. Azalea hauled herself out of the treacherous water on her hands, body shaking for multiple motives she would have to come back to later. Laying on the grass while being drenched from top to bottom was far from pleasant, her body however sagged in relief. She closed her eyes and started assuming every piece of information in, mind still on alert after the dangerous experience and struggling to comprehend how she had actually gotten there. She wasn’t one for parties —the novelty of them disappearing by the last year she spent in college— and drugs had never striked her fancy, there was no way she would have taken them willingly at least. Had someone tried to murder her? And dressed her up in some old raggedy dress from God-knows-when to satisfy some weird-ass fantasy? It could be plausible, her inner true crime fan had learned about far more concerning ploys than this, but it still didn’t feel right. A cloud covered the moon and Azalea opened her eyes to see an endless sky extend before her. She had been raised all her life in the city so it was the first time she looked at such a night view, thousands of stars shining on the black canvas with two moons that were- Two moons? The cloud continued soaring as it revealed to Azalea’s incredulous eyes a second moon. It was small besides the one she had been looking at before —or maybe the other moon was too large, she didn't know— and they both floated in space without a sign of how wrong that actually was, as if this small miniature moon wasn’t an offense to everything Azalea knew for a fact. Her arms pushed her up so she didn’t have to see that aberration, it was then when she got a better look at her clothes and the white skin that appeared where they couldn’t hide it because of her ripping them off. White skin that she had never had. She knew that there was no way a measly killer could have the resources to whiten her skin so much, heck, she didn’t know if it was even possible to do so without some very serious side effects. She brought one hand to her face to examine it and noticed that the ribbon from her cuff had loosened. With bated breath she shoved the sleeve towards her elbow and her uneasiness grew. Her skin was littered with scars. Most of them appeared to be cuts that varied in size, but some were clearly burn marks that hadn’t been treated properly. She unmade the ribbon on her other arm and watched as it revealed a similar sight. When she proceeded to check her legs she wasn’t as surprised at what her pants —are they pants? Or some type of undergarment she didn’t know about?— hid. There were also bruises, much less in quantity but still present.  On closer inspection she deduced that most of the scars weren’t recent, they had similar coloring to the ones she knew she had from her youth. Again, the uncertainty of not really knowing where she was or what happened to her travelled through her body. Without really any other options, Azalea decided to investigate her surroundings. She got up and began walking towards the treeline.  The forest that extended before her at least seemed normal, no unnatural things stood out to her which was a small yet welcomed relief. There were no signs of human interaction, trees growing wild and grass that rose far beyond her ankles. Her feet were covered in dirt, an unpleasant sensation that made her wiggle her toes to try and get some of it to fall. It didn’t help much. She chose to walk by the treeline, rounding the lake which she had just escaped from. By the looks of it, the lake extended far beyond where she could see, there might be a river that poured all the water here which she could follow up-stream to find civilization. Or maybe encounter some road where she could wait for help, she would be satisfied with either. And hence, she began again walking. From time to time she heard some rustle coming from the woods which made her pause in case some wild animal decided to appear. Her heart rate spiked up but slowly calmed as nothing came to attack her, resuming her stroll shortly and always keeping an eye out for any strange movements. Because of that, she caught sight of a wooden landing that entered the calm surface of the lake, the first sign that this wasn’t some forgotten land and it actually had been visited by someone at some point. Hurriedly, she distanced herself from the forest and got closer to that first show of civilization. Seeing it up close gave her more hope, as it was apparent that it wasn’t some old piece of wood; if the less rusted nails were anything to go by, this small dock had been repaired not long ago. When she finally stepped foot on the wood, her eyes landed on a pair of heels that stood on the end of the dock. Careful to avoid any splinters, Azalea approached them to examine them. She crouched down, without failing to notice that the white of the heel was a similar color to the remains of her dress, and the shoe size probably would fit her. Not wanting to wait for answers, she took the heels and put them on. She was right, the old styled heels fitted her perfectly, the worn out insides accommodated her foot without a struggle. Now only one thing had to be confirmed.  The moonlight reflected on the surface of the lake clearly. Azalea grabbed the end of the dock and moved her head so it directly faced the waters, an audible gasp leaving her lips the moment she saw herself. Facing her reflection, Azalea’s hands gripped tighter the edge. As she noticed earlier, her skin was white, much whiter than her usual tanned complexion. Her face was much rougher, cheekbones sharper and bigger than she remembered, nose still perked but wider, eyebrows inkly black like her hair. And her eyes. Jesus Christ those eyes. She had never seen something like them outside of fiction, irises a shiny red that belonged in every bad vampire chick-flick. Her reflection returned her confused look and then she threw herself backwards. She was in another person's body. In a place similar to Earth but not quite like it. The original owner of her body had probably received heavy abuse and ended up trying to drown herself —probably even managed it— before Azalea took control of this mind and saved herself. It was a lot to take in. She sat there for what she believed to be ages, cursing her fate and bad luck. Her past life time wasn’t ideal, but she had learned to live with it, even had found a passion and had somehow made a little place for herself and her small circle of friends. Azalea had obtained it, worked for it hard and she had thought the universe was finally on her side, helping her instead of making her life even more miserable. The universe, by all means, is a b***h.  She had begun laughing hysterically when a sudden shout came out of the woods. It startled her out of the pity party she had started to throw to herself, ears and eyes immediately alert for any movement or sound.  When a second shout boomed from the woods, Azalea stood and retraced her steps. She found a bush that could cover her form and hid in it. The shouts were getting closer and closer, male voices aggressive but clearly searching for someone. She thought about revealing herself, any person was better than no one at all for her. Then she remembered her scarred body and decided against it. She would hide for the time being, see who they were and what they were looking for. Worst come to worst, she could just follow them to find some village, after all they had to go somewhere to either report their findings or merely sleep. With the plan in mind, she hunched over herself more and willed her breathing to come out slower, quietly. The shouts were becoming more discernible with each passing minute, ‘come out’s and ‘where are you’s the most repeated words thrown to the wilderness. Then, she heard her name. It came really muffled, but Azalea still tensed with recognition. Whoever these people were, they clearly knew her name. Or she was simply a victim of another casualty. Her name had been an uncommon one on Earth, but on this other, hm, planet, it might be a common one.  She sat there, waiting, as the previously low footsteps became louder. There were now lights floating in her direction, the crack of branches loud enough to scare any animal that may have been in the vicinity. Some of the members from the search party had already breached the treeline, tired huffs could be heard from them. “Sir, this is the last place we can search tonight,” spoke a middle-aged man, “I understand the urgency to find Lady Azalea, but we must leave the forest before the monsters come out.” A figure emerged from the forest with another light. “If Lady Azalea is not found tonight there are going to be far more harsh consequences than whatever waits for us in the woods, Kedan.” “But we don’t have enough light bearers to defend our party, sir. We could barely even find a coven of witches to come and support us.” Light? Coven of witches? What kind of place had Azalea come to? “He’s right, sir. I wish to bring the Lady to her home safe and sound, but I know she wouldn’t be happy if she knew some of us died in her search. The Lady always worries about our well being.” Her original body owner was kind, apparently. And of noble family, if the way they were referring to her was anything to go by. “Cado, shut your mouth. Unless you volunteer to deliver the news to the already distraught Duke about how we abandoned the search of his beloved niece because of our own incompetence.” “But sir! It isn’t our fault most of our troops are out, it was the Duke’s order to-“ “I would be very careful with the next words you dare try to speak, Kedan.” The moonlight shone menacingly on the sword the man unsheathed. Kedan, or who at least she assumed he was, took a step back and froze. “That’s what I thought.” The group of men continued their search silent along the shore. They were shortly joined by more people and the weariness became more notable as they approached the spot Azalea was hidden in. She couldn’t trust them, but the concern was clear in their voices and she was tempted to get out of her hiding spot. As she prepared to do it, a loud female shriek erupted from the other side of the lake causing the party to come to a stop. Some men tried to run in the direction, but the man who was referred to as ‘sir’ before raised his hand and everyone stood in their places. Azalea’s patience grew thin as she saw these fully grown adults equipped to their teeth but refusing to go help a woman that was clearly in danger. Still, she bit her tongue and maintained her position, wary of what could come next. A light then shone from the way she had come. It approached them at an inhuman pace and Azalea had to fight every instinct in her that told her to flee. The figure stopped right in front of her, and she was again surprised to see a boy with a light orb floating around him.  A boy that had just broken any running record there had to be and only showed a few droplets of sweat. “Th-this…” he extended his hand towards the leader and Azalea got a good look at the skirt she had ripped from her dress earlier. Yep, that seemed to be hers. Audible gasps fell from the audience as the leader took it into his hands. “Where was it?” “Th-the…” the boy took a few deep breaths and stood upright. “The shore on the other side, sir. It was noticed by Duchess Meliora floating in the lake. We fished it out and well… She shouted the moment she recognized it as Lady Azalea’s.” “I can’t believe we didn’t find her on time.” Came from somewhere in the group. Everyone nodded resigned, heads hung low. “You bastards!” A female said, the loud interruption caught the group's attention. Azalea also turned her head in the direction of the voice, surprised at the tall blonde woman that had approached them so silently. “I paid you to find her! Fast! But you made some flimsy excuses a-and- now Aza- Azale-” Her already bloodshot eyes came into view as she stood by the boy's side. Her elegant dress had seen better days, the otherwise colorful purple now dirtied and ripped on the edges. She held her head high with trembling lips, clearly trying to contain the tears, but then she fell down onto her knees and just wept. Her cries were met with silence as everyone looked at the elegant and proud woman break down in front of them. Azalea saw as a few of the men also weren’t capable of keeping the tears in, knees buckling and following the Duchess’ breakdown.  “My sister’s… she was the last piece I had of her and now…” she saw as the woman fell more into herself and Azalea couldn’t continue hiding. She had only seen her stand elegantly for a few seconds, but even she saw the wrongness in the current situation. With her mind made up, she circled the group so she was nearer the party. She made some noise, but no one heard her over the cries so she quickly moved to her spot. Once there, she finally stood and walked towards the group. “Eh, hello?”  All pairs of eyes snapped to her in that moment. She was sure that the silence that reigned was so absolute that she would be able to hear everyone’s heart beats if she so desired. Then chaos ensued. She was instantly surrounded by the concerned men who were asking her about her well being, where had she been and what happened. She didn’t have any answers, so she tried to calm them down and reassure them that she wasn’t hurt. Her smile began to falter as her uneasiness at the lack of personal space increased. She had never been one for crowds, and having so many people practically trapping her was an oppressive feeling. Blackness suddenly surrounded her. It took her a few seconds to notice that it was a cloak that had sumed her in darkness, the silky fabric a welcomed feeling to her cold hands. “Everyone, back off.” A pair of hands adjusted the cloak so Azalea could see and was completely covered. “Lady Azalea, where in the Goddesses name have you been?” She tilted her head down to see upfront the one she thought was the leader. “I...” Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Duchess, mouth fallen open and eyes wide. She turned herself to face her and smiled slightly. “I’m sorry.” In a hurried rush the woman approached her and threw her hands around her shoulders. She stumbled a bit in her place as she struggled to keep both of them upright. She could hear the Duchess begin to sob again but laugh slightly in relief.  “W-what happened to you?” “I don’t really remember…” she avoided the prying eyes under the hood of the cloak. “I just- everything was dark and then there was so much water and I was so afraid-“ As she spoke she relived the experience and began shaking in the embrace, the arms around her tightening and grounding her. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” the Duchess reassured her as she pulled away. Azalea clung to her arm and refused to forfeit it. “Sir Lucas, lead us back to the estate, I think that’s enough for today.”  The group parted as Sir Lucas nodded and once again entered the forest, followed closely behind by Azalea and the Duchess. The men recomposed themselves and automatically went to what Azalea could only guess were their positions, frontline with unsheathed swords and backline shining that weird magical light for everyone. It was a long quiet walk. The spirits were high because of the miraculous appearance of Azalea, but the party was on guard for the monsters, or so she presumed. The conversation she overheard earlier didn’t bring her any peace of mind, and most of the way towards her new home was spent praying to whatever deity was out there to not be as cruel as the universe had been to her. One close call was enough for the night. The moment Azalea saw the back of the frontline relax, she felt herself breathe a little easier. The Duchess by her side spoke something she failed to catch, and then a black rabbit emerged from her delicate hand and sped away from them. She hid her curiosity and continued walking. Eventually they reached a road. She was beginning to feel really tired, the mental and physical exertion only now hitting her full force. Her eyes were getting heavy by the time they finally arrived at the entrance of a mansion. ‘My new house’, the thought passed through her exhausted mind. “That will be all, Sir Lucas. I thank you for your help and apologize for my previous behavior. It was very out of line.” “Please, Duchess Meliora, we all understand how stricken you were by Lady Azalea’s disappearance,” Azalea heard a soft murmur of affirmations, “it was our pleasure to help you. You both are exhausted, please don’t mind us anymore and have a good night.” Azalea turned her head towards the group and showed a tired smile, everyone responded in kind, with low whispers wishing her to rest and take care of herself.  The gates to the mansion opened and she stepped behind the Duchess inside. The garden they walked through was majestic and well kept to her untrained eye, red and black flowers adorning most of the road that led up to the building. Marble steps led up to giant wood doors that appeared too heavy to open, but when she came to the last stair the doors opened without trouble, as if magic had done it.  She contained herself from running inside, falling into step behind the Duchess who had kindly not asked her anymore questions. Azalea was glad that her original wariness was unfounded. From what she had seen, the Duchess appreciated the original owner of the body greatly, no one had cried for her the way the woman had. Ever. A pang of jealousy ran through her. The door closed behind them. Azalea’s wandering eyes tried to view the interior of the mansion, but she only saw the floor instead. A sharp slap echoed in the vast hallway, her cheek hurt as she raised her hand to touch it, still in a bit of a shock. “Try any of that again, I dare you, you filthy scum.” The venom in the previously sweet voice made her stare with wide eyes at the Duchess. “You just had to throw a tantrum. I guess like mother like daughter,huh, my sister just had to raise another attention whore.” Azalea just willingly entered the tiger’s den. Or a snake's den, more like it.  She rose to her feet, blinking back the surprised tears. She schooled her expression and glared at the woman that she had trusted mere seconds ago. Anger bubbled inside her. The scars on her body now had a face to who had inflicted them on the other Azalea. She was livid for her, a girl that had been driven to suicide because she was quite literally tortured. This woman had broken her so much that she thought it easier to die than to fight for herself. It was maddening. But Azalea wasn’t going to back down, oh no. She had not once bowed her head to anyone who mistreated her. Life had been hard, but she had always stood tall and proud, a winner. And she would get revenge. Whatever methods she would have to use, she would get revenge. This was a war that she would never lose.