Tales Of The Underlands (jjba part 5 Wonderland AU)

The Camp

In your sleep, you could only see swirls of blue in different shades, some lighter some darker. But you could hear voices far away from you, un distinguishable, but they were there. Only certain words made it through into your brain, like 'human', 'doctor' and 'medical tent'.

You felt cold and tired as you listened to the distant voices, before they faded away into your subconscious.

Now you were enveloped by warmth and slowly you felt yourself falling into a state of awareness. Your eyelids felt lighter and you could feel your body again, your feet and hands were resting on something soft, a blanket?

You blinked your eyes open just to close them again when felt a sharp pain coming from your head. The bright light around you didn't really help with that.

Holding a hand to your temple, you opened your eyes again and we're met with tent walls around you. It took you a minute to make out the forms of two people in the corner. One of them was Narancia who was animatedly talking to a taller man, dressed in dark blue and red, he was wearing a helmet that covered the majority of his face.

Did that mean that you finally reached the camp? And where were the others? Were you attacked while you were asleep?

Your throat still felt dry and you couldn't suppress the cough you leg out. Both boys turned their heads towards you.

"You're awake!" Narancia rushed to your side immediately holding a glass of water out for you to take. You gladly reached for it and gulped it down. Immediately you felt a bit better.

"You have been passed out for a few hours, Bucciarati wants to talk to you." When he saw that you choked on your water after hearing him say that he tried to reassure you," Only a few questions, totally harmless."

"Where are the others?" you croaked out. Did you even want to know that? What if they were already in a cell or worse killed.

"Currently Bucciarati is questioning them." the other man spoke up.

"What will happen to them?" you asked, voice a bit shaky.

"I can't tell you that, it depends on what the prince decides."

You let out a huff, all you could do was sit and wait. The guard in blue said he would leave you alone with Narancia, so that he could report to Bucciarati that you were awake.

Narancia began telling you about the camp a bit. Right now you were in one of the medical tents. Off the edge of the snow cliffs was the ocean, with some ships at anchor at the white bay.

He told you how the prince had some allies who supported him in secret, some lords and lady's from his late father's court and a lot of the citizens of the Underlands, merchants and smallfolk.

Still against the army of the king they would be bound to loose. Guerrilla tactics and small fights brought them victory and hope.

The boy was excited to tell you all those things. He also told you that the guard from before was one of his most trusted friends, called Mista.

Most people involved with the rebellion appeared to be young, barely adults. You felt sorry for them. They had to grow up in a tyrannical regime with no hope, other than to fight with their lives for the small chance to change this world.

"Oh here are also some clothes for you, you don't need to wear these weird ones anymore."

Your gaze landed on a bunch of clothes sitting on a chair next to your bed. They looked simple a white shirt with some buttons, a red coat, brown thick pants and simple boots made for the cold weather. Each item was probably used before, they didn't look that new and they would probably be too big for you, but if it would help against the cold you wouldn't complain.

You decided that you would change when you felt a bit stronger and had some privacy.

Just when Narancia was about to tell you something, the flaps of the tent opened and Mista entered again, accompanied by a man dressed in black and white with raven black hair, atop of which sat a crown. It didn't take a genius to know that he was the prince. The reason you were brought here in the first place.

It felt like the air changed when he entered, the man radiated authority even at his young age.

The man gave Narancia a nod of acknowledgement and Mista motioned for them to leave the tent.

Now you were alone with this stranger, who would hopefully finally tell you about this prophecy that dictated your and the Underlands fate.

You felt his eyes on you, curious, careful and a bit sceptic, like you could be an illusion, a trick of his mind, and could dissappear if he just blinked in the wrong moment. He sat down in one of the chairs across from your bed, still intend on watching you.

"You really are a human, aren't you? You're from the Above."

If you got a dollar for everytime someone asked you that, you would have bought yourself everything you've ever wanted, sadly there were no dollars and you were still in the Underlands and you didn't know which currency they had.

"Yes." you deadpanned, talking about your humanity had become tiring at this point.

To your surprise he let out a chuckle, it sounded warm, not like you expected.
"My apologies, I'm sure you heard this a lot during your travels. And I'm also sure you know who I am, but I would only find it fair if I still introduced myself to you, my name is Bruno Bucciarati. Might I know your name then?"

You told him your name, which he repeated.

"I've also been told that you know about the prophecy, is that correct?"

"I don't know everything exactly, they only told me that a human is important and that if you have one on your side you shall be victorious, something like that. I wasn't exactly told about the role that I have to play, since Risottos man didn't really know."

He was listening to you closely, before he exhaled slowly and stood up from where he sat. It was silent for a minute before he began to speak:

"Since we both have some time on our hands let me tell you a story. "