Scarlet's Awakening

It was dawn, even if the sun did not rise in the kingdom of Gehenna. Scarlet sat up in her room, smile on her lips, recalling what happened last night.

Flashback

"What's your name?" the sudden query of Scarlet and the gentle sound of her alluring voice took Jasper off guard.

Scarlet stared at Jasper's beautiful face, but there has been no response from his mouth.

In a delicate voice, she asked, "Are you deaf?"

Seeing how his face became overshadowed by her question, Scarlet guessed he wasn't.

"If you're not deaf, can you tell me your name?" she asked.

The man's face turned taciturn, "You're not supposed to be this friendly to a stranger."

Scarlet shuddered as soon as she heard the man's familiar baritone voice.

Wow!

His voice was just as s.e.xy as his face! His tone was cold and aloof, and at the same time, it was oddly s.e.xy and commanding. Just enough to make her blush profusely.

Nonetheless Scarlet concealed the appreciation from her eyes, not showing the guy that she was affected of his presence despite looking at him with confidence.

"Wise words from a man who sneaks into a woman's room, stroking her cheeks like a caring lover."

Jasper's heart hammered inside his c.h.e.s.t. Internally surprised that his wife was capable of such sassy remarks, making his conflicted emotions towards her to deepen even more.

He couldn't believe that she was conscious again after he saw her eyes opening and staring straight at him.

How did she know that I was here?

When he came, did she sense his presence?

Numerous questions swarmed within his head as she unexpectedly spoke.

"I know who you are,"

Jasper shallowed, hard. "Do you?"

She grinned, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Yes, I do. You're the guy I saw sleeping in the cave of the Other Dimension days ago!"

Jasper made a lasting sigh of relief.

"Of course, the guy in the cave was me ..." Jasper covered his face and smirks. It's a good thing that his wife wasn't so observant, otherwise that he might have been found.

Scarlet, on the other hand, glowed with joy as Jasper acknowledged that he was indeed the man who was sleeping in the cave. However she hid away her joy and returned to her neutral expression.

"I'm glad I was right... So, what are you doing?"

Jasper's body was flinching. Crap! He didn't think of an explanation for that. His initial intention was to check whether she was safe or not then leave without her knowing it. Clearly, the scheme is all for nothing now that Scarlet has captured him and is talking to him like they know each other.

"Milord," a shadow suddenly appeared behind him. It was the Anselme! And he wore a mask to hide his face, which also disguised his voice so that Scarlet didn't know that it was him.

"I think the time has come for us to leave." he reminded.

"Ah, yes."

Jasper gave Anselme a rather grateful look. Nice timing, soldier.

Scarlet looked at the beautiful man and the masked servant behind him, and felt terrified, afraid that he would leave her without even telling her his name! Without thinking, she reached out to her side and caught his arm as he was about to get up.

"Wait!" Jasper's body tensed and froze to his feet, leaving Scarlet's eyes gleaming with joy to see that he flinched when she touched him. It seems like she's affecting him as well as he's affecting her.

"Tell me your name first before you go," she said.

His back was to her, so she couldn't see his face whether he was angry with her or not. The guy, however, gave in to her demands and gave her his name without looking at her.

"Ishid ..." He said making Anselme flinch. Did his master just name himself Ishid? Like the god of war of their kingdom?

On the other hand, Scarlet's grin widens as he finally gave her his name, "Ishid, huh. It's a wonderful name. It suits you."

Scarlet didn't see it when hisface turned red with relief, but Anselme appears to have seen it. The corner of his lips twitched in humor, thinking that his master must be proud of his blasphemous act of declaring himself the primary God of the kingdom.

Satisfied, Scarlet let Jasper's arm go.

"Thank you for granting my selfish request." There was no response. "When will you see me again?" she immediately asked.

Scarlet's words made Jasper trip slightly on his feet, good thing he had fast reflexes, or else he would have been kissing the floor because shock at that moment. Jasper look at her, his expression was unreadable.

"You want to see me again." His tone was surprised but his words weren't a question, it was a statement that immediately Scarlet confirmed with a lovely smile.

"Yes." she said. "So when are you going to see me again?" Jasper looked at his wife. This woman sure is full of twists and turns.

"I'm going to come and visit you here at night. I can't tell you exactly when. However, if I'm still not here until midnight, then you should go to sleep because I'm not coming." he said.

"Oh!" Jasper avoided her eyes when she smiled. "Okay... I still have a lot of questions for you so I'll be waiting here until then."

That was the end of her memory last night..

After that, Ishid left her house, followed by his mans servant. His back vanished like a mist, his presence in her room totally disappeared like he wasn't there in the first place.

Scarlet sighed as she stood in front of the full length mirror, the maids helping her get dressed. However her mind was elsewhere, missing Ishid already, wondering if he'll visit her tonight.

The maids retreated.

"Thank you for your hard work," she thanked the maids.

They bobbed their heads with perfect unison.

"Does her majesty require anything else before we go?" one of them respectfully asked.

"Ah, yes! I want to ask, do you know where the members of my order are? Where are they right now?"

The maid lowered her head and opened her mouth. "To answer her majesty's inquiry, I've heard that Lady Eireen hasn't returned yet to the palace and is still in Donatel taking care of the rebels; Lord Eigeel has also not returned to the palace, he left urgently yesterday so this servant doesn't know why he left and where he went; Lady Silver and Lord Levin, however are still at the human for their investigation while the others are within this Palace Walls."

Scarlet nodded. "Thank you. You may leave me now."

The maids bowed their head in perfect unison again and quietly left. Scarlet looked outside the window, deep in thought.

"Navy," she called out.

The little blue fairy immediately appeared before her.

"You called for me, mistress?" her cute little voice asked.

"Yes, I wanna hear your thoughts. What do you think I should be doing for today?" she asked, seemingly lost since her mind was regretfully occupied by a certain someone that she wasn't planning on doing anything productive for the day.

Navy giggled happilty, "Well, I think mistress should start practicing your new found powers and train hard in preparation for the future."

"Why?"

"If your life get indangered you'll be able to stay alive and live another day if you master you powers thoroughly."

"Hmmm." Scarlet cupped her chin and nodded. "You're right." Knowing what she's going to do, Scarlet walked out of her room and headed for the palace training grounds or the Arena, as what they call it here.

Swish!

"Done being scolded" Scarlet teased the person walking behind her, feeling his presence behind her when she walked out of her room.

Talon fell to his knees and on to the ground, making Scarlet to halt in her steps.

Talon's head was low, his forehead nearly touching the floor in obvious regret and repentance. "I wasn't able to protect my master once again for the second time. My queen, please dispose this useless servant."