𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 Whispers of Destiny | ⋆ 𐙚 ̊.ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴀᴄᴇᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ. 𐙚 ̊⋆

𝐕𝐈𝐈

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       As Grace sat on her bed, sketching, she heard clattering and banging from downstairs. She gently placed her sketchbook on her bed and rushed down the stairs, only to see her uncle rushing around the kitchen, pot in one hand and spoon in the other hand.
       "Everything okay?" Grace asked as she entered the room. Derek shook his head. "I'm missing some of the ingredients for the meal l was going to make tonight," he frowned. "I was going to make a special meal for you and Dante but oh well, I guess I'll make something else."
        Grace felt bad for her uncle and wanted to help. He wasn't the best chef - he was the village doctor after all - but he tried his very best to make both Grace and Dante happy.
        "I can go and buy ingredients from the market if it helps?" Grace suggested to her uncle. Derek's face light up with happiness. "Thank you no much Grace! This is a huge help!"
        Grace could only smile at her Uncle's excitement. She loved seeing him happy, especially since he worked so had and tried his best for Grace and Dante. Derek has never had children. He never had a wife or even a girlfriend. He was still a virgin but he was quite happy with the way his life had turned out, especially since Grace and Dante were living with him now.
        Derek quickly grabbed a sheet of paper and dipped his feather in the pot of ink, before scribbling down the ingredients he needed on the paper. He took a moment's thought before scribbling one last ingredient onto the bottom of the list, and handed it to Grace.
        Grace had a quick read through the list; eggs, flour, bread, and wheat. She carefully folded the paper before placing it in her pocket and smiling to her uncle.
        "I need you to be back by five o'clock in order for me to have the meal ready in time," Derek began. "Also, if you happen to see Dante on your travels, tell him to be home by six o'clock for dinner."
        Grace nodded and Derek took a dusty pocket watch out of his coat pocket. "Here, take this with you." He handed Grace the pocket watch before turning back to the oven to tend to the beef.
        Grace looked at the pocket-watch that she now held in her hand. It was silver with designs circling the clock face, the numbers were in Roman-numerals, the Chan was made from many, tiny metal balls and there was a small crack on the glass of the clock-face. It was old but beautiful.
        Grace turned it over, only to see the name Maria Garcia engraved on the back. This was her mothers. This pocket watch had belonged to her mother all those years ago when Maria was a child. This made the pocket watch feel really special to her but it was also extremely special to Derek since his daughter now didn't remember him and might as well be dead.
        Although Grace would have loved to keep the pocket watch in memory of her mother, she couldn't bare to ask Derek if she could keep it because it was obviously extremely special to him. Grace shook off her wave of thoughts and without another thought or word, she opened the front door to the house and entered the busy marketplace.

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

       Dante slipped his hand through Amelia's, lacing their fingers as they walked through the busy marketplace. It was quite a windy day and people were rushing around the marketplace looking for supplies for a storm that was expected to come.
        Dante watched as Amelia's strawberry-blonde hair blew in the song wind and her eyes sparkled in the weak sunlight. She was the most beautiful girl Dante had ever seen. He was truly in love her and he was almost sure that she felt the same way. 
       The two walked through the stalls and when they saw one with baked goods, they rushed over. The stall was filled with different types of bread, cake, cupcakes, any baked good you could imagine.
        "Hi there! How can I help you?" A man that looked to be in his forties greeted them. Amelia smiled at him before scanning all of the food and making her decision. "I'll get a red velvet cupcake, please."
       The man nodded and placed the cupcake in a small, brown paper bag before handing it to Amelia. "And for you sir?" Dante scanned his eyes across the food, "The chocolate cupcake please."
       The man smiled once again before placing the cupcake in the bag and handing it to Dante along with napkins. "That will me four iron." 
       Dante nodded and the two searched their pockets for their iron. Just as Amelia was about to hand over her share of the Iron, Dante stopped her, wrapping his hand around hers. "Let me."
        Dante handed four of his iron to the man and although Amelia tried to stop him, he wouldn't let her. "Enjoy!" The man said cheerfully and the two thanked him before sitting on a bench a little away from the stall.
        They carefully took their cupcakes out of the paper bags and began eating them. There was an awkward silence as they both ate. Dante looked to Amelia - who looked to be really enjoying her red velvet cupcake - and slowly lifted his arm, placing it over her shoulder.
       Amelia didn't push him away like he thought she would, instead, she just smiled up at him and continued to eat her cupcake. 
        As he finished his cupcake, Dante pulled Amelia into his chest. Even though he was only twelve, Dante was quite the flirt, and some people would even call him a Casanova. 
       Dante noticed some icing on Amelia's lips as she finished her cupcake. He smiled at how cute it was in his eyes before turning to the paper bag from his cupcake and taking a napkin from it. He gently brushed it across Amelia's mouth, wiping away the icing.
        Butterflies filled Amelia's tummy and her face turned really red as she started to giggle. "Thank you," she giggled before turning her attention to a nearby stall where she heard a man shouting.
       "Theif!" The man shouted as he ran out from behind his stall. "Catch that their!" Dante looked to where the made was pointing at a young boy, no older than eight. 
        The child was wearing brown rags as clothes, black-dirty and ripped shoes, hair messy and so dirty that Dante couldn't tell what colour it was, and his face was filthy dirty. His legs and arms looked like twigs which brought horror to Dante.
       Dante guessed that he was homeless, which was correct. He was so shocked that the people in Gapalan wouldn't even let a poor, starving and homeless child have even just a small bit of fresh food instead of searching though grabage.
       Although, the people of Gapalan didn't like outsiders so Dante guess they didn't like the homeless either, with was cruel and pathetic. 
        The two watched as multiple people ran after the child who began running for his life. People grabbed at the child but he escaped their grasp each time. For a boy who's legs and arms were like twigs, he sure was fast.
       Dante thought he got away when the child ran down an alleyway, but that's when he heard a scream and a man walked out of the alleyway, holding the child over his shoulder. 
       "I caught him!" The man yelled excitedly and everyone cheered. Two guards approached and handcuffed the child. How corrupt could Gapalan be? Why arrest a staving child when they steal a small amount of food. 
       Dante looked to Amelia with horror in his eyes, Amelia nodding to him sadly. "That's the usual. If a starving child takes just a tiny slice of bread, they get arrested."
       Dante could see the mixture of anger and sadness in Amelia's eyes. He knew she hated what the people of the village were like but she couldn't do anything about it.
        Dante couldn't look at the child being treated that way and knew he had to do something. He stood up from the bench and began to walk towards the commotion when Amelia grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "Dante, please, don't!" She begged, worriedly looking into his eyes.
       "Why not? I thought you didn't like how corrupt the people and guards are?"
       Amelia looked at the ground, tears flooding her eyes. "They will arrest you if you interfere." Dante saw how worried and upset Amelia looked and knew he needed to reassure her.
        He kneeled in front of her and took both of her hands in his, looking up into her eyes. "I promise I won't let them arrest me, I just don't want to see that poor child be arrested and tortured."
       Amelia wiped away her tears and nodded. Dante pulled her into a hug before walking towards the commotion.
       Amelia loved how caring he was. She loved how brave he was to risk being arrested just to save a poor boy. Although he was the biggest flirt she had ever met, he was also the most caring, generous and brave person she had ever met. And that's what she loved about him. Although she was almost sure he felt the same way about her, she didn't want to risk loosing their friendship.
        "Please, let the child free," Dante pleaded as he approached the guard. The guards looked at him in shock. No one had ever stood up to them before, let alone ask to let a criminal free.
       "Excuse me?" One guard asked intimidatingly, trying to see if Dante would change his mind. But Dante stood his ground. "Please, the child didn't do anything. He is starving and all that he wants is food. I'll pay for the bread if you will set him free."
       The two guards exchanged glances before turning back to Dante. The first guard unclipped handcuffed from the belt of his armour, pushed Dante chest-first to a nearby wall, handcuffing him.
       Amelia gasped in horror and rushed over. "Please, he's innocent!" The guards turned to Amelia and glared at her. "Do you want to be arrested too?
       Amelia shook her head and took a step back. She wanted to help but she was scared, scared to be arrested, scared for Dante, scared for the child. She didn't know what to do.

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

       Grace walked through the marketplace, shopping for each of the ingredients her uncle needed. She had been walking around for ages and still hadn't seen Dante which was really staring to worry her.
       She had already gotten the eggs, flour and wwheat and all that was left was the bread. As she walked towards the bread stall, she noticed a crowd of people gathered nearby. 
       Although she was curious, she thought nothing of it and walked up to the bread stall. A man in his fifties stood behind the stall with a serious look on his face. Grace felt a small bit uncomfortable as she scanned her across the range of breads. The man hadn't said a word to her and she could feel him staring at her as she looked.
       She just wanted to get away from the stall at that point so she quickly pointed to a loaf of soda bread, "Could I please get that soda bread." The man grunted and put the bread into a paper bag. 
       "That's two iron." Not even a bit of manners no? Grace was shocked but she just took the iron from her pocket and handed it to the man. She just wanted to get away from there but a framiliar cry came from the crowd nearby, catching her attention.
        "What's happening over there?" Grace asked, shakily, gesturing to the crowd. The man grunted a laugh before speaking. "A child tried to steal bread from me but when he was arrested a stupid blue haired boy tried to stop the guards. Pretty useless if you ask me."
        The man continued to mumble on about something but Grace had completely zoned out. 'A stupid blue haired boy...'  Grace could only think of one blue haired boy who would do something like that. That would stand up for what's right and not let a starving child be arrested for stealing food. Dante. It had to be.
        Grace rushed from the stall, to were the crowd was gathered, only to find Amelia standing there, tears filling her eyes. "A!" Grace called as she rushed over to her. As soon as Amelia saw Grace, she rushed over, wrapping her arms around her. "Grace...," she sobbed. "D-Dante is being a-arrested b-because he tried to h-help a starving child w-who was being a-arrested."
       Amelia gestured to the middle of the crowd where Dante standing, his back against the was and a scared look covered his face. Grace could see he was terrified. He was so scared that he had completely frozen and was unable to fight back.
        Grace watched in horror as Dante was hit by one of the guards. He cried in pain as he fell to his knees, hands still cuffed behind his back. Grace wanted to do something but she couldn't, she was frozen in fear. She was terrified for her brother and what was going to happen to him.
        Meanwhile, as Xavier walked into the village market, he noticed the crowd and wanted to see what all of the commotion was. He was the Lord's son after all, he deserved to know what was happening in the village.
       As he grew closer, he saw that a blue haired boy about twelve and a poor, dirty child about eight. Although he didn't know her name, he saw Grace standing within the crowd, hugging another girl about two or three years younger than her and she looked angry and terrified at the same time.
       As Xavier looked to the blue-haired boy again, he noticed that he did look familiar. It was Grace's brother. Although he wanted to help out of the goodness of his heart, it also might get him noticed by Grace. He had the authority to set prisoners free after all, he was the Lord's son.
       Xavier pushed through the crowd towards the guards, a serious look on his face. As soon as the guards saw him, they threw Dante and the child to the floor and bowed down to honour him.
       "What's going on here?" Xavier asked as the guards stood up, taking hold of Dante and the child again. "This boy tried to steal bread from a stall," the first guard said,  gesturing to the child. "And this boy tried taking back to us to free the boy," he finished, gesturing at Dante.
       Xavier took a deep breath before looking back at Grace who looked back at him with a mixture if confusion and scaredness.
        "Who's that?" Grace asked Amelia, continuing to look at where Xavier stood. "That's Xavier, the Lord's son," Amelia replied, looking at Grace worriedly. "He blows hot and cold so he could either save Dante and the child, or throw them in the village dungeon."
       "He can do that?" Grace asked looking to Amelia with worry in her eyes. Amelia nodded. She was as scared as Grace was. She loved Dante and didn't want to loose him to some corrupt guards. She just hoped that Xavier was in a good mood so that Dante might be freed.
       Grace looked back over at Xavier who had continued to look at her worried expression. 'Please,' she mouthed to him, worry written across her face. Xavier nodded weakly at her before turning back to the guards.
       He could see how desperate she was and if he wanted her to fall for him, he needed to help her. "Set them free."
       The guards looked at Xavier, shocked, before looking at each other, and then looking back at Xavier. "But Sir Xavier, they are criminals," the second guard said in a confused tone.
        Xavier shook his head, "No. They are not. If you can't tell, the child is starving and the least you could do is spare him a slice of bread. And the boy was right to stand up to you for arresting an innocent child. They are both innocent so I command you to set them free."
        The guards looked at each other before bowing their heads and setting the boys free. The two boys fell to their knees as they were freed, before standing up and bowing to Xavier. "Thank you so very much," Dante said bowing his head. Xavier nodded and gestured for him to go and meet his sister. 
       Dante ran towards Grace and she rushed over, pulling him into a bear hug. "I was so scared!" Grace began, tears running down her face. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know what to do."
       Dante pulled out of the hug and smiled. "Don't worry about it, G. It was my fault for running into a problem I knew I couldn't solve." Grace smiled and nodded before Amelia rushed over pulling Dante into a tight hug. 
       "Please, never to that again," she pleaded softly, resting her head against his chest. Dante chuckled. "Don't worry Amelia, I think I've learned my lesson," he began before turning around only to see the young boy standing in the middle of the crowd looking at the ground. "But..."
       Dante walked over to the child who stepped back as he looked up at Dante. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," Dabte began, crouching down to his level. "But I do want to buy you some food and find you shelter."
       A beaming smile spread across the boy's face as he eagerly nodded. Dante stood up taking the boy's hand and walking back to the marketplace. The boy tried to guide Dante to the bread stall but he shook his head. 
       "No, not that one," Dante began, giving the man behind the stall a sly smirk. "I wouldn't give that man a dime if my life depended on it." He lead the child to the stall that him and Amelia had gone to earlier. 
       The child's face filled with joy as he looked at all the baked goods on the stall. "Pick anything you want," Dante said before smiling at the nice man behind the stall. The man smiled back before looking down at the poor starving boy.
       "Take what you want and more. It's free, just for you though." Dante looked back at the man, about to protest but the man stopped him. "Please, I don't mind helping out children in need. In fact, I'll take this child in if he needs somewhere to stay."
       Dante could only smile, he was the nicest and most caring man that Dante had ever met. He knew the child would be safe with him so of course, he agreed.
        Meanwhile, while Dante had gone to find the boy food, Grace approached Xavier to thank him. "Hi," she said softly, catching Xaviers attention, causing him to turn around. 
       Xavier was shocked to see Grace standing behind him, a sweet smile spread across her face. Was all of dreams finally coming true? The girl he had been crushing on since forever had finally recognised him. Maybe saving her brother had made her notice him.
       "Oh, um, hi," she stuttered, turning around to meet her smile. "Thank you for saving my brother and that child. I was honestly so scared for them."
       Xavier froze. What should he say? Should he ask her on a date? No, it's too soon. He needed to make sure she would say yes.
       Xavier nodded awkwardly before his lips parted. He racked his brain looking for something to say. "It was no problem really, the guards of this village can be really corrupt."
        Grace nodded and there was an awkward silence between the two as they gazed into each others eyes. After a few seconds, Grace snapped back into reality, quickly taking her unless pocket watch out of her coat pocket and checking the time."
       Her eyes widened when she realised it was five o'clock - the time the Derek had told her to be back for. "I'm sorry but I really have to go. My uncle needed me home by five o'clock with these ingredients," she explained, gesturing to the basket of goods on her arm.
        Just as she was about to leave, Xavier gently grabbed her wrist, stopping her and causing her to turn to him. "Everything okay?" 
       Xavier froze for a moment as he saw the way her light brown hair fell on her face and her ocean blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. He was mesmerised by her beauty. But he couldn't stall any longer, he had to ask her on a date. Right here, right now.
       "Well, um..." he began as she scratched the back of his head. "I was wondering... if I could maybe take you on a date sometime?" Athough he was praying to Irene that she wouldn't, he was ready for her to say no.
        Grace was stunned, he had never expected him to ask her on a date. She didn't know what to say. She had just met him but maybe she could give him a chance? And that's what she did.
        "You know what? Sure." 
        It was Xavier's turn to be stunned. Although he wanted her to say yes, she didn't expect her to actually agree. He had just met her after all so he never expected her to say yes. 
       "Great!" He began. "Meet here at noon?" Grace nodded in agreement. "See you tomorrow, then?"
       "See you tomorrow," Grace replied as she left, hurrying back to her uncle's house, telling Dante to be home by six o'clock on the way.
       Meanwhile, Xavier watched Grace as she left. He was still in shock. He never expected her to say yes but he was happy she did. He already had plans for the date.
        Now just to set it up.
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