The Zodiac Empire

Chapter 11 - Sheathed Scars

Authors Notes: "Everyday's the same, she fights to find her way. She hurts, she breaks, she hides, and tries to pray. She wonders why, does anyone hear her when she cries?"  Gah this song fits too perfectly T_T I think I'm gonna tear up every time I write a chapter about Alsen and Cosena. Hope you enjoy, and thank you for supporting me through eleven chapters!

"Ahem." Alile tapped her glass after Casele poured Naito's cup. Everyone stood in a circle in the hotel room, holding a glass of water and slice of pizza. It took them nearly a whole twenty four hours to make it to shore, yet no one seemed to have much of an appetite. Alsen felt like she'd baby barf if she so much as looked at her slice. "I'd like to propose a toast to our very own king Naito. If not for him and his quick thinking, we would not be here tonight." Alile rose her glass to the air and everyone pressed theirs against it.

"To king Naito!"

"Hold on a sec," Naito said before anyone could drink, "We need another toast, to Alile! If not for her bravery, we would have died before I could've thought of building the wall to begin with." he rose his glass for another toast. No one had any objections to his proposal.

"To Alile!"

"And one more," Naito added right when Zento was about to press his glass to his lips. "To my sister, Cosena, for building the boat we all made it here in!"

"To Cosena!"

"Come on Naito, all I did was make a little canoe, that's nothing compared to what you did." Cosena said with a weak smile, lightly blushing at the recognition.

"Any more proposals?" Alile asked. "No? Then, cheers." she took a gulp from her glass and started to eat her pizza, but still no one else showed any interest in theirs, simply taking small sips of water.

"Man, it feels so good to be out of there." Zento said, finishing his cup of water in one big gulp.

"Yeah...thank goodness our illusions weren't real, right?" Casele asked with a fake chuckle, her hand shaking as she rose her glass to her lips. Glass shaking in her hand as she rose it to her lips.

"Thank goodness indeed..." Zento replied with a shake of his head.

"I think we should all get some proper sleep now." Cosena suggested, her little smile from a minute ago gone. They all nodded in agreement.

"We'll take care of cleaning all this up, my lord." Casele said as she, Zento, and Alile began to take the glasses and boxes.

"We must report back to master Sartur first thing in the morning, so you might not see us first thing in the morning." Alile said as they walked out. "Goodnight." the three soldiers said with bows and shut the door, leaving the siblings alone.

"Naito, don't forget to change before falling asleep tonight." Cosena reminded him, then went into the bathroom. Naito and Alsen silently changed into their nightclothes before Naito threw himself onto the bed while Alsen climbed in after him. The soft comfort of the bed had her drifting to sleep right away, but gusts of freezing cold air blew in and had her shivering. Sitting up, she noticed that the window was left open and heard voices from outside shouting.

"Hey, it's snowing again!" one of the voices shouted.

Alsen got out of bed and walked up to the window. Naito couldn't have been asleep for more than just a few minutes, yet it had already started snowing. People outside were pointing at the sudden snow and shouting in excitement and confusion. She rested her elbows against the windowsill and her face in her palm, watching the snow fall. It was such a shame that Naito wouldn't get to see the beautiful phenomenon his sleep was causing. Alsen's eyes threatened to shut, so she closed the window. With all the noise from outside gone, she could hear soft sobs coming from the bathroom. She walked to the bathroom door and pressed her ear against it to be sure that she wasn't just imagining things. There was no doubt about what she heard. Cosena was crying.