Belle sat at the table in her sleeping quarters, her elbow on the table with her head resting in the palm of her hand, while staring gloomily at the weird patterns that swirled and waved around, all over the oak that was carved in to a table. Belle couldn't stop wondering what Halt, Gilan and Will were doing at that moment. And she couldn't stop worrying about them either. Belle kept replaying the kiss her and Will had 3 days ago when she left to come to Araluen. His soft lips pressed against hers was one of the best feelings she could ever imagine. She felt a prickly sensation in her eyes causing her to blink making a salty tear fall down her cheek. She may never see Will again, or Gilan who she thought of as a older brother, or Halt who she thought of as a second father. She loved them all and now she may never see them ever again. That's when the door of her sleeping quarters were swung open. Belle quickly wiped the tear away and turned to see her sister Cassandra.
"Hey Annabelle" Cassandra said. Belle surprised by her sudden appearance stuttered for a while before saying,
"Umm, hey Cassandra, and please, call me Belle" Belle replied. Cassandra nodded, putting on her best fake smile.
"Ok then Belle, well please call me Cassie" Belle could see straight through her fake smile. She didn't know why she was pretending to smile, but she was. Cassandra sighed and sat on a seat next to Belle.
"Belle, I know we haven't had much time to talk... At all in our lives, but you're my sister. Even if we have a different mother." Belle could still see that fake smile plastered on her face. Then, that's when she realised that Cassandra didn't like her at all, and everything she was saying right now was a total lie.
"You can stop with the lying and fake smiles, I know you don't like me," Belle said, instantly Cassandra's smile was wiped away with an angry expression covering her features.
"Well yes, To be honest I don't like you," Cassandra started, "When I found out you were my sister 6 months ago, I couldn't believe it. But, dad sent me here anyway to have some bonding time." Cassandra said in a bitter voice. Belle had always thought of Cassandra as a nice girl, but seeing her now made all Belle's thoughts of her being nice vanish from mind. Belle felt tears well up in her eyes. She was already distraught from facing the possibility of never seeing Halt, Gilan and Will again. And now Cassandra comes waltzing in and saying mean stuff to her. When Belle said to stop with the lies, she assumed Cassandra would just leave, but it seems she was wrong.
"Why are you so mean? It's not like it's my fault that I was born!" Belle fought back. Belle's vision went blurry and she felt moisture on her cheeks. great, now I'm crying. Belle thought. She hated crying in front of people. Especially people who are being mean to her, because that was a sign of weakness, and she hated looking weak. Cassandra's facial expression went from anger to guilt. But Belle didn't see it through her blurred vision. Cassandra felt a pang of self-shame run through her. She knew it wasn't Belle's fault for anything, and Belle hadn't even known any of her family history until 4-5 months ago. Cassandra then felt extremely bad of how she reacted. Cassandra then, moved forward and hugged Belle. For a second, Belle jolted back, and wiped her tears. Cassandra gave her a sad smile. showing her deepest sympathy.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things, you're right it's not you fault" Cassandra apologised, and Belle noticed that she sounded genuine and let Cassandra hug her, and cried on Cassandra's shoulder, letting all her emotions that she had been bottling up for the last three days overrun her.
<-------<<<-
The next two weeks went by in a blur. There wasn't much for Belle to do except call different marching orders and all the other boring stuff. Her mind was constantly on Will, Gilan and Halt and sometimes she would be so dazed in thought, that Crowley would have to click his fingers right in front of her eyes. She knew that it was starting to annoy Crowley and her father. But she couldn't help it.
The cold night air was filling the air as everyone settled down to go to sleep. Belle was ready to go to bed as well, when an unexpected knock came at her door. She opened the door to see her father standing there.
"May I come in?" he asked, sounding very concerned. Belle instantly moved out of the way so Duncan could come through. Duncan sat on a chair at the oak table and gestured for Belle to sit next to him. Belle sat down, her curiosity rising. With out any warning, Duncan began to speak.
"I do not like your behaviour, Annabelle," Duncan began, "You're always in daydreams, you're never really cooperating and Crowley is not happy about it. You need to stop this instant." Just how Duncan called Belle Annabelle explained that he was angry. Belle swallowed nervously. She didn't like to see her father angry, and she certainly didn't like it when her father's anger was directed to her. But, even so, Belle wasn't going to let her father boss her around when he was that reason why she was like this.
"Father," Belle began, containing her anger well. "I'm genuinely sorry that I have been acting like this, but I can't help it when Will, Gilan and Halt are out there, possibly facing death, and I may not see them ever again!" as Belle reached further in her sentence, her words grew louder and more anger was powered in to them, so by the end of her sentence, she was yelling.
"Don't you think I know that? Of course I know that! That's why I brought you here! To keep you safe!" Belle then stood up from her chair, with the chair falling behind her from the force.
"Well, I don't want you to! I want to be a ranger, and you agreed to let me be one! But, you still dragged me here to keep me away from my dream after you promised! YOU PROMISED!" Belle said, almost screeching the last two words. Duncan stood from his seat as well.
"Annabelle your the-" Duncan began, but got no further as Belle, rudely interrupted, resuming her yelling once again.
"Yes, I know! I'm the heir to the stupid throne! Well, maybe I don't want the throne! Have you ever even considered asking my say in this? Have you? No you haven't, but I'm going to tell you whether you like it or not!" Belle took a quick breath and started to speak, still yelling. "I don't want the throne! I don't even want to wear dresses let alone a crown! I refuse to be queen and that's final!" Belle said. Duncan looked stunned, but his facial expression slowly changed into anger.
"How dare you! You have been given the authority to have the crown, to be the queen of Araluen when I'm gone and you refuse it! You are not at all who I thought you were! you-" but again, Belle interrupted, her face red with anger.
"You hardly even know me! You kept me for not even 3 months and you left your friend to do all the dirty work, then 15 years later, you took me back!" Belle said, tears running down her face. "You haven't been nearly as good to me, as Halt has, you gave me up when I was a baby, a tiny, helpless baby," Belle said, her yelling dying down, into a harsh whisper. "yes, I know it was because you couldn't help but feel guilty for my mother's death, but if you really loved me, then you would have kept me" Belle said. Duncan felt a salty tear sliding down his cheek.
"Belle, of course I loved you, I loved you so, so much" Duncan said, more tears springing from his eyes. Belle just shook her head.
"Just forget it, ok? I don't want to be queen so let Cassandra, your darling daughter you kept be queen." Belle said. She went to turn around, but then a thought struck her. "Oh, and I'm going after Halt, Gilan and Will, by the way, because they actually do love me" she said before grabbing her bow and arrows, Saxe Knife and throwing knife. Belle was surprised that Duncan didn't go after her, but she didn't even care to even look back as she left the room. She just walked out with saying a goodbye.
A/N: OMG!!! So, so, so, so, so SOOORRRYYYYY!! I have been REALLY sick and haven't been able to update my book. So you can get the Brussels sprouts ready, because I know I deserve them. ):
ANYWAY!!!
I hope you liked it! SO close to finishing, but I'm really sad because something is going to happen, which I'm not telling you guys, and I'm gonna be really sad about it): Although, it's not too sad, I'm probably just be a girl and I just get waaaayyy too addicted to my fictional characters. (I know, Im super dorky) but OH WELL. Suck it up!
anyways, hope you liked it. VOTE. COMMENT. FOLLOW. FAN!
Until next time my fluffy marshmallows (Awesome nickname right???)
-Jess (:
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Halt's Ranger Apprentices- John Flanagan Ranger Apprentice fan-fiction
FanfictionA fifteen-year-old girl, meets fifteen-year-old Will. Two apprentices, one Halt. The life of this girl was out of the ordinary, secretive, very few knew that the grim, dark and cunning Halt had been raising a girl for fifteen years. There's someth...
