Chapter 1: It's What You Do

A young man awakens from his deep abyss like slumber. His whole body aches from every muscle. Cuts, and bruises were found on every part of his body. As he took a look around him, he noticed that he was laying on the sidewalk of a dark street.

Something warm was felt from his right hand, and something cold was held in his left. He lifted his left hand. He held a razor sharp blade no smaller than that of a dagger. He lifted his right hand. Quickly, he threw whatever it was that was held in his right hand to the side with a shocked expression.

His eyes widened in disbelief. He could feel his whole body shaking and that was not due to the shock, but due to fatigue. He fell on his knees short of breath while thinking to himself, "What in the world?"

Suddenly, voices of shouts and screams were heard in the distance. They were filled with panic and anger.

"Find him! Find him at all costs!" a horse's voice yelled out!

"Who was it?! Just who would be so daring?!" another yelled in anger.

"Who killed her!?"

"Who killed the princess!?"

The man tried to get up. He felt that he shouldn't be there. It wasn't safe for him to stay any longer but, his body wouldn't move, and his eyes were closing on him.

He shut his eyes thinking to himself, "Is this the end?"

A shadow looms over him as his thoughts pass by. He instantly looks up, "Who is it!?"

A little girl, no younger than twelve years old stares at him straight in the eye. He blinks at her, "A child?"

The chilly wind blew again the noisy night making her shoulder length black hair flow along with it. Her shimmering yellow eyes seem to smile at him.

The little girl grabs his arm and pulls him up, "I was wondering where you went. Running off like that! How many times do I have to remind you that I can't run as fast as you, Gear!"

The little girl pouts out at him. He blinks at her, "My name is Gear...?"

"Huh? What are you saying? Of course your name is Gear," said the girl as she tilted her head, "Oh, did you lose your memories again?"

He stares at her a bit puzzled. Just how did this little girl know that he couldn't remember anything.

The little girl taps her finger against her chin, "What was I supposed to do when this happens...?"

Before she could decide on what to do, the angry voices from earlier were getting closer. The little girl takes out a bag from her pocket and throws the head inside. She then grabs Gears hands and runs.

They ran until they reached the gate of the city. The little girl wipes her sweats as she turns around. No one has found nor caught up to them yet. She sighs out in relief before opening the gate. As soon as the gate opened, loud noises were heard behind them. Gear and the little girl looked behind them and saw an angry mod ready to rip out their throat.

The little girl quickly drags Gear out of the city with her and runs again. Until they finally reached the forest did the little girl stop running. She was out of breath and so was Gear. She threw the bag down on the ground hard as she fell against the grass.

"Haahh... I swear. Doing this with you will shorten my life!" she yelled out.

"Who are you," Gear asked.

The little girl glances over to her right, " Lunar Eclipse... But you call me Luna."

The wind blew in gently as the bright moon's moonlight shines down onto them. Her eyes that were as yellow as the moonlight sparkled at him. The name, Lunar Eclipsed fitted her greatly. Gear wondered who it was that gave her that name.

"Luna..." said Gear, "Just what happened?"

"That's what I want to ask," said Luna with teary eyes, "I told you killing that woman in the plaza will cause this to happen, but noooo. You just had to hack her head off!"

"Are you saying that I killed her?" Gear asked as he pointed at the bloody bag.

Luna nods, "You did. It's what you do."

"What...?"

Luna grabs the bag and shoves it to Gears feet while still laying down.

"You've been doing this kind of thing since I met you."

"...What things?" Gear asked with a trembling voice.

Luna signs with her hand, "Chopping off Princesses head off."

Gear narrows his eyes at the bloody bag before his feet. He recalled the expression on the face of the head. Fear was written all over the girl's face. He shakes his head to get rid of the image, but it lingers in his mind.

He sighs out tirelessly, "So you're saying that I murdered this princess... Why?"

Luna gets up on her feet as she pat off the dirt on her. She grabs the bag and turns to him, "Let's find a place to talk first. Standing here out in the open doesn't give us much cover if those people come here and find us."

Gear nods in agreement and leaves with her. If what she said was true, and if he really did murdered the princess, then those angry mob won't stop looking for him. It's better to leave now then never.

Deep in the forest, there was an old shack. Luna grabs the door and opens it. Gear enters the shack after her. Inside, there was a fire pit, a small kitchen and a floor large enough for two people to sit on. There was also a coffee table as well. Luna places the head on the table with a sigh of relief.

"Finally back here... No one will come looking for us so, we're safe here," said Luna as she sits up.

Gear sits down at the opposite side of the table.

"Well?"

"Before we talk," said Luna, "I need to confirm something first."

"And that is?"

Luna walks over to his side and sits down beside him. Out of nowhere she grabs his shirt and lifts it up.

Gear cringes back from the wound he had received, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, the number really did change," said Luna.

"Number?"

Luna takes off his shirt, "There, on your left chest. There's a number on it."

Luna gets up and looks for an aid kit to bandage up his wound. Gear looks at his left chest. She was right. There was a number there. It looks like a scar that was made out of being burned by a cigarette.

59

"What does this number mean?" he asked.

Luna comes back with some bandages and wipes. As she cleans his wound, she answers his question.

"The number of princesses you still have left to kill," said Luna, "Before it was 60. Now it's 59. Meaning that it's been confirmed that you killed the princess."

"Wait, what?"

Luna finishes his arm and moves on to his back, "You told me that each time you kill a princess the number would go down. The more it goes down, the better it is for the world."

"...why?"

"Why would it be better for the world? Hell, if I know," said Luna as she finished up on his back.

She moves down to his leg, " All I know is that you go around killing the princesses and say that it was for the sake of the world... Like a Vagabond."

"...If I'm doing this for the sake of the world, killing princesses, then wouldn't you be in danger?" he asked.

Luna moves on to the next leg, "You have no idea."

"...How do you even know me?"

Luna pauses on the treatment, "You also forgot about that as well?"

Gear felt like he said something he shouldn't have. Luna sighs out at him as she finishes up the treatment.

"When you get your memories back, then you'll know how we met," Luna said with a pouting expression.

"How does that happen?"

She points at the number, "I'm not sure, but every time that number has a zero on it, you seem to have all your memories back."

Gear looks at his left chest, "A zero? ...Like 60, or 70?"

Luna nods, "That's what you told me."

"Hmm..."

Luna puts the leftover bandages away, "Anything else you want to know?"

"...did I tell you who I'm killing next?"

Luna taps her finger for a while before giving Gear an answer.

"You did and didn't," said Luna.

"What does that mean?"

"Well," said Luna as she pulls out paper from her pocket, "I have to go gather information again. And depending on the information I have, you make up your mind on who to kill next."

Gear stares at her in silence as she tells him what she knows. When Luna finished explaining all she knew, she could still feel his stare on her. It was drilling a hole through her face.

"What?"

"You speak as though you're used to this. Used to me killing princess," said Gear.

She shrugs at him, "I wasn't at first. But I've seen you chop off twelve princess heads already so... I guess I got used to it."

"...Why do I chop off their heads?"

"Now, that's a question you should ask yourself," said Luna, "It's getting late and we've been up for a while trying to… Well... Kill this princess. Now that we succeed, I'm going to sleep."

And with that, Luna yawns out her exhaustion as she quickly sets up the bed to sleep. Gear still had many questions to ask her, but could tell that she needed her rest. She had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. The whole time she was treating him, Luna's head was already nodding off. For now, those questions she answered were enough. Soon, Gear also fell asleep. He had forgotten that he too was exhausted.