Not A Fairy Tale

Chapter 2

(This chapter's going to be a long one. Enjoy!!)

The pathway seemed to go on forever. Every turn she made, Lauren found another long turn waiting for her. But she wasn't going to stop. It had been too long in that castle. Way to long. Finally, she reached the end. The path had lead her to huge valley, leading to a cottage at the top of a hill. The valley was covered with grape vines, except for the entrance which had a cobblestone patio with a huge cherry blossom tree in the center. There was a empty stable on the side of the patio. She was lost for words. She didn't even move and just stared.

The suddenly a horse turned the corner, lead by a boy. He gently rode it over to the stables and hopped off it. He suddenly realized the girl staring at his tree. He cautiously walked over to her and tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me, miss?"

"Huh, oh...AH!" Lauren screamed falling over.

"H-hey are you ok?" the boy said as he knelt down in front of her.

"Yeah I'm-" she was cut off when she looked up at him. He had light brown hair and crystal blue eyes. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt, black jeans, and black boots. A sword was tethered to his belt. He looked so familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out why...

"Um, miss?"

"I-I," Lauren managed to get out.

"Can I help you up?" he asked reaching his hand out towards her.

"S-Sure," she said taking his hand.

Once she was back on her feet, her attention was drawn to the tree again. The boy noticed her gaze, and looked at the tree himself.

"It is really something, isn't it," he said.

"Yeah," Lauren said, not breaking her gaze.

"It was a gift," the boy said, "a gift from my mother years ago."

"Oh," Lauren said, thinking about her own mother.(If you don't know what happened to her parents or Jaxon's go read he author's note in the first chapter)

"You see, she...well she died," he said looking at his feet, "A long time ago, along with my father."

Lauren looked at the boy. She knew how he felt because she had lost her parents too.

~Flashback~

Lauren was 8. She's sitting on the side of the castle wall, being watched carefully by her two guards in training, Lucas and Nicole.

"You should be careful, Lauren," said Nicole, "You could fall."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All you ever do is correct me," Lauren said.

"N-Nicole's right. You could f-fall," Lucas said.

"Oh not you too!" Lauren said turning around.

"Please get off the-" The front gate of the castle opened. The army of Taika(cough cough, the name of the kingdom, cough cough, forgot to mention that oops) poured through the gate and into the courtyard, followed by a wagon and horses.

"Oh my gosh! Mom and Dad are back early!!" Lauren yelled, running for the staircase. Lucas went to follow Lauren, but Nicole stopped him.

"Lucas," Nicole said.

"W-what?" he said.

"This can't be good,"

"What do you mean?!" he said, "They're never home early! This is great for Lauren!"

"That's exactly it, Lucas. They're never home early," she said back, "Something's not right here."

Lucas was silent. She had a point, they aren't ever home early. It's always they're home later than usual.