Kenji and Rouge

""They're missing!"

Those words were hurled all around the estate as a sudden storm took over the peaceful dinner. After Rouge stormed off, having insulted the Blackwells and getting herself dismissed by her grandfather, she was nowhere to be found. Mer, who had gone after her, was missing too.

"I saw them sitting by the pond, like usual. I didn't think much of it. And then they went somewhere. Not to the forest, I thought, because Mer was leading the way", a servant who'd last seen them told the master of the house.

It was already too dark out, this was no time for them to be wandering around. Especially if Mer was with her, he'd have been mindful to bring her home on time. Her grandfather apologized profusely to the guests after the distasteful event, but old Blackwell could sense the anxiety in his voice.

There wasn't a stone left unturned in the entire estate when the old master ordered a search party to go into the forest. He intended to call the local sorcerer's search party too. Rouge's father was getting paler by the second, but he kept a perfect composure, supporting his father, the old master.

Hours passed, the anxiety grew and even her father was beginning to look unnerved. The search parties were scanning the entire forest.

"I'll go out", her father finally couldn't wait around anymore.

"I'll accompany you then", old Blackwell got up too. Kenji hadn't been around for a while. He was probably out there already searching.

"No, you mustn't-"

"Master!", a maid came running, all out of breath.

Old Blackwell, Rouge's father and grandfather, all wasted no more seconds to go downstairs.

Rouge stood crying, her knees scraped, her hair disheveled and her dress all muddy. Kenji was holding her hand, with Mer on his back. Mer's fair hair were smeared in red and he was unconscious.

"Kenji!", old Blackwell exclaimed at the odd sight.

"Mr. Poisson, we need to get him a doctor. Please hurry, he's losing a lot of blood."

Fortunately, Kenji had found the two of them just in time to save Mer. Mer later told him he took Rouge to see the waterfall to lift her spirits. He'd slipped and fell down the slope and gotten washed away with the waterfall. Rouge, as frail as she was, could barely move him. All this, he admitted only to Kenji, after regaining conscious the next morning. Kenji had stayed by his side watching over him when no one else would.

Rouge was unscathed and after being tended to by a dozen maids and her father and grandfather, she was tucked in bed. But at a later hour, she snuck out to find Kenji. And then she cried her heart out, thanking and apologizing to him without making sense of anything else. She stayed beside Mer for a while, holding his hand and weeping but then Kenji sent her off.

She was dizzy from all the crying and fell asleep soon.

The whole incident was settled without any loss. Mer recovered too. But as soon as the Blackwells left, Rouge's father dismissed Mer from his service and told him that he'd be sent home as soon as he recovered fully. He wasn't harsh on him. He didn't scold him or blame him for anything but his decision was absolute. He gently told Mer that he'd done enough and that they were grateful.

Perhaps Mr. Poisson realized his daughter was too much for poor Mer. Mer felt heartbroken, though he dare not show it. Rouge put up quite a fight though.

"I'll go where Mer goes!"

But this decision wasn't one that could be altered. Mer recovered soon enough and despite a hell of a resistance by Rouge, he was sent off a month later.

Rouge wrote to him everyday. He never replied but he was always happy to listen to her. She knew that too so she wrote to him without fail for eight years until her marriage was decided. She was already sprouting into a singer and had all the intention to become independent and find Mer someday. But that never came to pass.

Two years later, exactly ten after having said goodbye to Mer, she was married into the Blackwell family.

Mer wrote to her then. For the next ten years. Not everyday but every so often. She never replied. Perhaps she had gotten to hate him just as she hated her life. And then she died.

**************

"Claire!", it was a rather rude awakening for him.

"It's morning, Mer", Lubbock chimed.

Claire didn't move an inch.

"You were really at peace, huh? Were you dreaming?", I leaned over him.

"A dream...right. That's what it was", he was still a little lost in his world but he sat up.

"What were you dreaming about, dear Mer?", Lubbock sat down next to him.

"Ah...I wonder", he rubbed his head, smiling nervously.

Of course, we couldn't be sure if he really was dreaming or if he was pretending to be asleep while listening in on our conversation. At least, that's what Lubbock was thinking. I, on my part, was pretty much satisfied. I didn't get any cunning sort of feeling from Mer. So I was just putting up with Lubbock's sudden coziness and nothing else.

"We'll need to get the breakfast started. It's going to be really hot today too", I proposed, realizing it was getting late.

I was also wondering if Mer Claire wouldn't recognize my face again since it was light out. But for now at least, he was lost in his own thoughts.

"Let me help you with that", he said, getting up, "We're having snakes for breakfast."