Where Fairies Dwell

The Night Before the Trial

As the trial continues Ren and Noir are seen running from a dark figure fear in both of their eyes as the ground explodes around them. Desperate to get away Ren ran as fast as he could until he ran right into a tree. Dizzy and disoriented Ren tries to get back to his feet but when he turns around, he sees the dark figure standing there with Noir in its clutches. A scream of agony rang out from Noir as the figure started to crush him until suddenly his screaming just stopped. Frozen by fear all Ren could do was watch in horror as this figure through Noir away then raised his hand towards Ren.

Immediately Ren woke up breathing heavily with beads of sweat running down his face. He moved his long hair out of the way and looked around to see he was still in the castle waiting for the trial to start in a few days. He then looked to find Noir sleeping on a pillow. Seeing that everything was alright Ren laid down and tried to go back to sleep but no matter what he just couldn't sleep. Being quiet he grabbed a jacket and a pair of shoes and left the room hoping that a walk might help to calm his nerves. Ren walked through the hallways of the castle seemingly deserted aside from a few guards. Ren eventually ended up at a balcony and looked out at the night sky. With little clouds the night sky was in full view with hundreds of stars dancing in the night sky all centered around the moon. As Ren stared off into the vast unknown, he can't help but let his mind wonder thinking about everything that happened in this past year. Finding a new fairy that can use multiple types of magic, having to fight just so he can have a future, all the training over the past year, and know in just a few days he's going to have to fight again to become a knight.

As Ren continued to think about this, the foot steps of a person in heels can be heard walking up behind him. "Well didn't expect you to be awake at this hour.", Claire said as he approached the railing of the balcony. "Oh, I couldn't sleep, it's kind of hard to with the knights trial coming up in two days. What about you why are you still awake?", Ren in a rather tired tone. Claire put her arms on the railing and replied, "I don't sleep at least not anymore, with the help of certain people my body no longer requires sleep. It's handy unfortunately all notes on it were destroyed so we can't replicate it." Ren was surprised by this he had no idea magic could work on this level. Ren then asked, "So if you don't sleep then what do you do when everyone else is asleep?" Claire stretched her back for a second then answered, "I pretty much just run experiments it can get kinda boring when no one else is awake.", she paused for a moment then stared up into the night, "One thing I like to do when bored is coming out here to look at the stars, tonight's especially pretty." Claire's expression became a tad more serious and said, "You're scared aren't you about what's going to happen at the trial." Ren wasn't surprised by this Claire seemed to have a knack for telling what's going on in people's heads. Ren responded, "How could I not be, for an entire year now I spent every moment getting ready for this one day and now that it's almost here I don't know what to do." Claire looked at Ren with a sympathetic look and spoke, "I understand it's only natural to worry about this I still remember what a mess I was when I took the exam. Just don't vomit an hour before the exam like I did." Claire chuckled a little trying to help Ren calm down unfortunately it didn't seem to work.

Ren's face went grimmer for a second and spoke, "If I fail, I'm going to lose Noir aren't I?" Claire responded her expression more serious as, "I was hoping you wouldn't find out but yes. Even if the king says so there are nobles in this kingdom who have the power to rival his word. He and I tried everything but unless you pass this exam the nobles will take Noir." Ren gritted his teeth and slammed his hand on the railing, "Dammit it's always one thing after another I thought after the minotaur, I was free but even now I'm still being tested just because of Noir." Claire responded, "Ren what are you...". She was immediately cut off as Ren continued, "I've had to go through so much sometimes I wished he wasn't...". Ren was immediately cut off by a slap to the face by Claire, "Listen here you don't even think about finishing that sentence.", Claire said in an angry tone and continued, "I understand that this isn't fair, but you never take your anger out on your partner. There are already way too many people in this world who do that I don't want you to be one either." Ren felt the stinging pain on his cheek as Claire continued, "Our world isn't a fair one for many people it's one of hardships and pain, you go through your entire life hoping that once you get your fairy that life will be easy but for most life is still hard. When the one thing you hoped for turned out to be a farce this disappointment for many turns into anger directed at the one who's supposed to be your partner forever." Ren looked down dismay and spoke, "You're right I don't regret Noir as my partner." Claire put her hand on Ren's head and started stroking his hair, "It's fine. Let's get inside it's getting cold out and you can't afford to get sick now." Claire starts walking inside with Ren following.

As Ren was about to go towards his room Claire said, "Hey before you go let me cut your hair. You have a big day coming up and it might get in the way." Ren responded a little taken a back, "Uh sure I guess you can." Claire took Ren into an empty room and told him to wait there while she grabbed a set of scissors from her room. Minutes passed as Ren was left alone with only his thoughts but eventually Claire returned with an entire box of supplies. Ren sat down in a nearby chair as Claire pulled out a pair of scissors and started clipping Ren's long hair. "I'm not an experienced barber but over the years I've gotten the hang of basic maintenance and care.", Claire responded as hair fell strand after strand to the floor. "It's weird have someone else cut my hair back home one of my neighbors would usually cut it for me.", Ren said. "You didn't have your mother cut it for you?", Claire asked. Ren paused for a moment the spoke, "I don't have a mother, she died when shortly after I was born. I don't know anything about her not even what her name was, whenever I asked my dad, he'd always say, 'We'll talk later'." Claire continued, "And I'm guessing later, never came did it?" Ren simply responded with a simple nod no, "I'm sorry it must be hard not knowing who the woman who gave birth to you was. My mother has been dead for a long time now, but I still had so many precious memories with her birthdays, picnics, rolling around like animals just because, so many memories that at the time seemed so trivial are so important to me, to think you couldn't experience any of that." Ren spoke in a quieted voice, "It's alright even without my mom I had my dad that was there for me."

The next few moments were silent as Claire continued working on Ren's hair she then reached into her box and grabbed several items and applied them to Ren's hair. "Ok finished.", Claire spoke in a chipper tone. "Here, take a look.", she said handing Ren a mirror. Ren looked into the mirror in disbelief as he sees that Claire tied his hair into little buns and gave him patches of sky-blue hair dye. In fury Ren turned with fire in his eyes to Claire and spoke in mad voice, "Not funny!" Claire tried to hold in her laughter as a smile formed on her face calming down, "What I think you look adorable you look like a pretty princess.", she said jokingly. A few minutes later after forcing Ren back into his sit Claire was able to seriously fix his hair. As Ren looked into the mirror this time, he saw that is hair was shortened to the average length of a mail and the sky-blue patches in his hair were replaced with dark blue patches. "Still decided to stick with the hair dye.", Ren said looking in the mirror still. Claire replied, "Well yeah you have a black fairy, and your hair is completely black one, that's too much black if you ask me one of you really needs to add color to your look."

Ren's night concluded as he said goodnight to Claire and walked towards his room. He got back into bed and fell fast asleep. As night grew a dark figure is seen standing in the windowsill this person quickly yet quietly makes their way towards Ren, as they reach him, they pull out a knife. As this intruder is about to plunge the knife into Ren, they suddenly freeze in place unable to move. No matter what the intruder tried to do they couldn't move an inch, suddenly the door to the hallway opened up as Claire walked in with Celti behind her glowing green as she approached the intruder she spoke softly in their ear, "You have five seconds leave or you die. Five...", before Claire could get to four the would-be killer bolted out of the room as fast as lightning. Claire turned her head to Ren and Noir who was undisturbed by the entire event she placed her hand on both of them and whispered softly, "For the next day sleep, just sleep. You two are gonna need all your energy.", as she said that green energy sprouted from her hands and onto both of Ren and Noir. After that Claire and Celti quietly left the room.