A chapter already! OMG! Well even more good news! This whole week is a Falling to Rise Week! So look out for LOTS of chapters, we'll probably even finish PART 1 and maybe even start PART 2 if I can plan it fast enough.

Look out for a special Christmas special too! It will be LOST themed, Ft. the ALTERS! :D The Alters have pretty much become my babies, so look forward to that! Oh, and, even if you don't celebrate Christmas, think of it as a random gift instead, I just want to thank you all so much for the support. I love you all.

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Falling to Rise

Chapter 11

"The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something..."

~~~~~

Seto saw ropes. Ropes dangling from the top of a cream colored ceiling, they appeared to be cut and broken. He was standing atop a platform next to the ropes, raised several blocks from the floor and no stairs leading up to it.

All around him was silence, "Hello?" his voice echoed out. He was met with no reply. Seto felt an object fall from the binds that held his pants. It hit the platform with a sharp clunk behind him.

Seto looked to the ground and saw Adam's amulet. He picked it up and wiped his hands over the surface, cleaning it of dust. The purple jewel in the center shone with pristine colors, why on earth did he have Adam's amulet on him?

His fingers skimmed across the jewel with mild interest, it truly was beautiful. It made him envy Adam, he wondered just how much things would be different if he had remained a prince. He would have an amulet like this, in fact it would be this color, considering Keuta was represented by this color.

He knew Adam had an amulet that belonged to one of his family members, and wore it as a sign of unity between Emedo and Keuta.

His finger nicked the sharp, uneven edge of the jewel, he instinctively drew his finger back as the wound began to dribble small drops of blood. He sucked on the wound and squinted his eyes at the amulet and noticed the jewel was chipped.

No, not chipped, breaking! It was breaking in his hands, the jewel was falling to pieces! His eyes widened and he dropped the amulet without thinking. The fragments of the amethyst spilled out and Seto took too large of a step back. He felt his foot slip off the edge of the platform and he plummeted to the floor.

~~~~~

Seto woke from his sleep, a voice calling to him from the other side of the door, "Master Seto. Master Seto. Are you awake?"

Seto groaned quietly and pushed the blankets off of him. He'd changed into some nightwear the night before and it still felt odd to him that he didn't have the weighty feel of Adam's cloak.

He walked unsteadily to the door, his hands brushing through his curly hair. He tried to regain some composure before opening the door enough to see the maid behind it.

"Sorry to have waken you sir," she bowed humbly, "Breakfast is being served in the great hall. Our prince has expressed interest in meeting you." She bowed again, "I'll leave you to get ready now, sir."

The maid swiftly walked away from the door leaving Seto to fumble over his words in alarm, "Wh-what, n-now!" he closed the door a little louder than he wanted. He heard Jerome's interrupted snore as he jolted awake from the top of the canopy bed.

Jerome had said the night before that he found the tops of trees to be very relaxing, and the canopy hanging over the bed was a reminder of his home in the forest.

"Seto? Is that you?"

"Yea, sorry Jerome. We have to get ready, the uh...Prince wants to see me..."

Jerome snorted and leaned over the top of the canopy, "You don't need me do you? I can just stay here, right."

Seto shook his head, "Ian is watching us, he doesn't trust either of us."

Jerome groaned, "I know... but those ropes are a*s."

"Sorry..." Seto frowned as he got dressed and combed through his messy hair with his fingers before tying his headband back on.

Jerome climbed down the bed posts and landed on his feet as he jumped that last couple blocks down.

"I promise I won't make it to tight." Seto took the rope he'd put on the table after Jerome tossed it in the trash last night, and began to tie up Jerome's paws. He made sure not to make them to tight or uncomfortable, but enough that they were secure.

"You don't seem comfortable doing this--meeting the prince I mean."

Seto stayed silent, in all honesty, he wasn't but that wasn't what was making him worry. His mind had wandered to that odd dream he had, and that unfamiliar room he was in. It bothered him greatly but he couldn't put a finger on why.

Suddenly the door was slammed open making Seto jump with a small squeak, "Seto!"

Adam yelled and rushed over to him with a mixture of glee and worry. He grabbed Seto's shoulders roughly and shook him repeatedly.

"Guess what!"

"W-wh-what?" Seto forced his voice out of himself while Adam continued to shake him.

"Mitch agreed he would talk about helping us, on the condition he meet the one who wants the help, that technically being you."

"That's great!" Seto's eyes shined with new hope, maybe this trip wasn't useless after all.

"But we have to hurry, breakfast is almost over!" Adam rushed out of the room dragging Seto with him. Seto was fiercely clutching the rope attached to Jerome and thus, dragged him with him too. He was not very pleased.

"Seems like I'm always getting dragged from place to place now," he muttered.

~~~~~

The three of them entered a very large room. Almost as large as the throne room. A long wooden table that could fit over 10 people stood in the middle with 14 chairs. Ian was already seated in one and the prince seated at the head of the table in an expertly carved and cushioned chair.

"Adam!" the prince joyously exclaimed. Two servants pulled out two chairs for Adam and Seto. Adam took as seat and one servant pushed his chair in. Seto was hesitant to sit and glanced at Jerome.

"Ah, you must be the one who wishes for my assistance, correct?"

"Y-yes."

The prince smiled warmly at him him, "Go ahead sit," he gestured to the chair the second servant had pulled out for him. It was the chair directly to the right of the prince, "My guards tell me you train Morvics, that's an especially difficult trade considering Morvics tend to be...violent." The prince smirked at Seto, his eyes glancing at Jerome for a short moment. Jerome's eyes glared at the prince but he said nothing.

"Huh? O-oh, r-right yes," Seto coughed and sat down in the chair.

"Now, I wouldn't want to be rude, go ahead, if you want, your morvic can join us at the table," He smiled warmly at Seto.

Seto felt slightly uneasy but nodded. The servant pulled out the chair next to Seto and Jerome sat down, glancing at everyone around him.

The prince of this kingdom was overly nice, but for some reason, Seto didn't feel as comfortable anymore, "We're all here now, I hope there's still some breakfast left!" Adam joked.

The prince laughed, his attention no longer to Seto and Jerome, "You never were good at waking up on time."

The prince waved his hands and a series of servers came out from doors carrying trays, "I made sure to save some for you and your friends, Ian and I have already eaten our fill. While you eat I suppose, we can talk about that favor you wanted."

"That's fine with me." Three trays were placed in front of them, one for Seto, one for Jerome and one for Adam. The food was a rich aroma of eggs and pork. A tall glass of milk accompanied it.

Seto noticed Jerome not eating, but carefully watching him without speaking, as Seto moved to place a cloth napkin on his lap so did Jerome. As he moved to cut his food with a knife and fork so did Jerome. He did this while his paws were bound, but he did it quite well. Seto had tuned out Adam's and the prince's conversation for only a moment before he heard clapping.

"You truly are an excellent trainer," the prince applauded Seto.

"Hm?" Ian cleared his throat and Seto quickly corrected himself, "Oh, right! Th-thank you."

"No really, you've gotten that thing to watch and mimic your every movements, if it weren't for the fur and claws and teeth, I'd almost think it were human." Jerome tensed up beside Seto at the word human. Just like Seto didn't like being called a sorcerer, he figured Jerome didn't want to be compared to a human.

"But, I have to wonder..."

"Y-yes?"

"Are you really a trainer, just looking at the way those ropes are tied, anyone can see you made them loose, so as not to hurt it, that or you're just bad with ropes. Which is quite careless, not to mention you let it sit here, at the table. I've never seen any sort of trainer do something as barbaric as that. And you hold no confidence in your walk, you make frequent glances to Adam and even that thing for support. It's hard to imagine that you'd be a trainer." He laughed at Seto and Seto made no attempt to stand up for himself.

"Well... you're right about that," Adam said.

"Figured as much, but if he isn't a trainer, then why on earth do you even have that thing with you. Not to mention this boy, he doesn't strike me as a soldier, there must be some sort of reason."

"Seto is a friend, and he truly is the one who wants your help, and Jerome, well we picked him up along the way. I saw no harm in letting him join us."

The prince nodded as if he understood, "Well I also happen to know that isn't completely true either." Adam tilted his head slightly. Seto gripped the edge of the table, how could this guy figure so much, was he really that easy to read. Like that time Ian had made Seto lose track of his emotions and his eyes turned purple. He couldn't let that happen again.

The prince abruptly stood from his chair, the chair was forced back as it made horrible screeching sounds on the floor, his hands slammed against the table, causing the silverware to clink and the glasses to shake. Seto was taken aback by his sudden aggression, there was silence in the room.

"You expect me to believe you just brought a random morvic in my castle just because what, you found it on the d*mn streets and felt sorry for such a thing."

"Yes." Adam said cooly. Ian paid little attention and sipped on his glass of cold water.

"Yes my a*s Adam, who the nether do you take me for! Do you really think I wouldn't have noticed that this morvic--is the leader of that d*mn rebel group killing people throughout my kingdom! You brought a criminal into my castle, and you trusted this boy with looking after it!" He slammed his hands against the tables again, Seto sat rigid at the terrifying scene.

"Guards! Take this morvic away!" A pair of guards came up behind Jerome and roughly grabbed his arms and pulled him away from the chair, Jerome yelped in surprise then started to growl and fight back.

"If you'd really wanted to hide his identity, you would've got rid of that filthy, red scarf of his, it was a dead give away."

"Take that back!" Jerome hissed as he fought against the guards, "What would you know, you're just a spoiled prince!"

"Throw him in the dungeons."

"Mitch, please calm down, there's no need for this--"

"Adam, you let a criminal into my castle, and now you want my help. If it wasn't for the fact that we're friends, I'd have you and Ian and that boy thrown out of here immediately!"

"Look, we were--"

"No excuses--"

"Seto!" Seto flinched as Jerome yelled his name, "I trusted you, why are you just sitting there!"

There were so many voices. So many voices shouting at once, so many people arguing. Without thinking, Seto screwed his eyes shut, his hands clenched into fists and yelled.

"S-Stop fighting!"

~~~~~

"S-Stop fighting!" Seto's outburst silenced Adam and the prince, they turned their hands to look at him. The guards had stopped moving, even Jerome had stopped fighting.

"A s-sorcerer." The prince murmured.

"H-huh!" Seto gasped when he opened his eyes, his hands were still fists on the table, but they were emitting a faint purple glow. The parts of the table around his hands were charred. Seto panicked and jumped out of the chair, knocking it down in the process. He backed away from the table and glanced at Adam and the prince who still stood shocked. The guards hadn't moved and Jerome's eyes were still transfixed at the area Seto had burned, small plumes of smoke rising from the spot. Seto then looked at Ian, his eyes watched Seto carefully, his hands hidden from view, but he was sure Ian was hiding a weapon. A moment later, he could've been dead if hadn't snapped out of it.

Seto was shaken from his fright then there was laughter, "T-This! Is amazing! A sorcerer! Adam you were hiding a sorcerer, that's why you needed the morvic, so you could try to convince me this kid was just some regular guy who trained morvics."

"We were?" Adam straightened up and looked over at Ian confused. Ian had relaxed from his previous tense pose and nodded to Adam, a signal for him to go along with it, "Oh yes! We were, yes!"

"If you thought I was going to turn him into your father," he laughed, "you're wrong. Turn in a guy like this, no way!" The prince walked over to the shocked sorcerer whose mouth was hanging open. The prince peered at Seto, looking at him from every angle, "Never would've guessed you were a sorcerer."

"I-I'm not...."

"Pfffft. You can't fake magic like that--hey, how bout you move into the castle here with me?"

"Huh?" Seto said.

"What?" Adam said too.

"This is the safest place for a guy like you to be, being a sorcerer is no crime here...and" he grinned, "having a sorcerer working for me would be an added plus to the kingdom."

"W-working for you?" Now Seto was truly puzzled. Wasn't this guy just a moment ago raging mad at Adam for bringing in a criminal into his castle? Now he's all of a sudden happy-go-lucky as to ask him to drop everything and come work for him.

"Well, not without some perks. I imagine you have family, they'll be free to visit you and such."

"What? I-I'm not work--"

"I'll even let you pet go."

"His name is J--"

The prince waved him off, he was acting like a giddy child who'd just found a new toy he needed to have, "Who cares, you'll be treated like royalty here, better than living your life in fear with Adam. No offense, but it puts him in a bad position if he were to be found aiding you, I doubt you'd want that."

"Well no, but--"

"Then it's settled! My name is Mitch if you don't know." Mitch grasped Seto's hands and shook them firmly. Then he waved his guards off of Jerome who let him go immediately.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Adam said, "This is totally not what was supposed to happen. We need your help in Emedo, and Seto is not staying here."

Mitch looked at Adam with a bored expression, "Oh that, eh, I still can't help with that."

"What?" Adam looked to Ian, "Ian, help me out here." Ian shrugged and sipped his water.

"You have to help us, please, that's why we came here. I just want to save my friend," Seto begged.

Mitch shrugged, "Does that really matter, I mean you're here now, why care what happens to one person. There are other people in the world to fill the holes--"

"Y-You're a horrible, horrible prince! Don't you care about anyone! To think that...that someone like you is even a prince! Adam is a much better prince than you!"

The entire hall was in silence. There was a clink of a glass as it was set on the table. The sound of a chair moving back and then being pushed forward, back into place.

"H-huh, Ian, where are we going." Ian was currently dragging Adam away from the table.

"Somewhere safe."

Seto didn't stop glaring at Mitch, some prince he was. To think he was actually fooled into believing that this guy had a heart to care. That he would actually help him save Ty. Ty was his friend, and he would let no one insult him or say he was replaceable. He wasn't going to lose another friend because he did nothing, not like last time, not like what he almost did to Jerome. He wouldn't let Jerome go either.

"So..." Mitch said darkly, "You think I'm a bad prince, you think I don't deserve to be here just because I don't want to help save your one friend? Fine... We'll strike a deal."

Seto stayed silent and glaring, "A game of skill, we'll follow Duhitian customs and Duhitian rules. And to make things fair, I'll let you choose who I will fight and the weapons we both use, since it's apparent you wouldn't last in a fight. Sound fair?" He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down on the shorter boy.

"Fine," to be honest, Seto was just saying that because he was so mad.

"Seto, I don't think this a good--"

"Ah," Mitch interrupted, "no outside interference, this is between me, and the sorcerer boy. Got it." Mitch wagged his finger in Adam's direction, but never stopped looking at Seto. And Seto did nothing to back down.

"We'll place the bets now before I fight, if I win you'll work here at the castle, you can keep your little dog, but that's it--"

"Hey, that's not fair--"

"Shut it Adam," Ian slapped a hand over Adam's mouth, he hissed quietly in his ear so that Seto would not hear, "He'll learn soon enough that Mitch is just tricking him, and that he'd lost from the start."

"And if I win, you'll help me save my friend!"

He laughed, "Fine, I'll even go as far to travel with your little brigade, if you win, of course." he taunted.

"Fine!" Seto glared.

Mitch clapped his hands together and smiled, "And since you agreed to Duhitian customs and rules, let's begin the vows."

"Vows?"

"Yes, I suppose you'll have to be quickly taught the vows if we're to continue." Mitch took a step back from Seto, opening up more space between them.

~~~~~

Miittcchh! why are you so mean! ;-; 

Oh I don't know... maybe because I made him a very sad and lonely jerk with a big ego...

Look out Chapter 12 will be out tomorrow! Awesome fight scene! :D

I love you all, and good bye! <3 

~WrittenDarkness