Ch5
‘It happened again, after months of not seeing it, it shows up here and now. Why, why does it have to plague me? I know what I did was wrong, but it was a mistake, a mistake I could never forget but I finally thought I was moving past it. Why was the Princess there though and why was I a Kamen Rider?’
The sound of the door iron door opening, pulled me from my thoughts as I saw three armed guards enter, one after another, enter. One of the guards, I noticed, was carrying a bowl of something though I couldn’t tell what until he came up to me and shoved it in my hands.
“Final meal for the day, eat up so we can get some sleep.” The bowl was filled with with some kind of meat that had been cooked to long, giving it a charcoal covering. Even though the prison food looked to be unappetizing, my stomach gave a loud growl in reminder that I hadn’t eaten for almost the whole day considering all this crazy stuff happened just after noon.
Nodding in compliance, I made to unhook the side strap of my helmet only to realize that it wasn’t there. Panicking, I began feeling my other side but there was still nothing. With no way of removing my helmet, it meant I would have to turn off my transformation and back into my nude body.
“Could I have a little privacy while I eat please?” The guards looked at me like I was some kind of idiot and truthfully, I could agree with them except that I was the one who would be getting nude.
“No, we watch all prisoner’s meals to make sure that the prisoner eats instead of simply starving himself to death so take off that stupid helmet and eat.”
“Um about that, I can’t.”
“What do you mean can’t, you had to put it on didn’t you and you’ve had to have eaten before?”
“Well yes but the problem is that the only way for me to take it off requires me to take off my entire suit which will leave me with nothing.”
“... Your telling me, that you can’t eat because you don’t want to be naked?” I knew I was red in the cheeks now so I simply nodded.
“How about no then? Just take off your suit and eat so we can get this over with, if you don’t, Brutus will get mad and force feed the stuff to you.” The leader of the group gestured to the larger of his two partners who was wielding a mace.
“Ok, no need for violence. God, this is so embarrassing.” removing Kamen Rider Chronicle, I pressed the de-transformation button and filled the room with light that soon faded away to reveal my now naked form.
“Holy Mother of the king’s eggs.” It was Brutus who spoke, and I knew why he reacted in such a way. My entire body was covered in patchworks burn marks that dotted all over me with the smallest one being around the size of my fist. As well as this, my bald head could also be seen as the pores had been melted close stopping any hair from growing again. All in all, you could consider me Frankenstein's burn victim cousin.
Now naked, I tried to cover my shame as best I could while using the Bugvisor before sitting down and puttin the bowl over my lap and started eating quickly. As I was doing so, each of the guard was staring off in some random direction but they would glance back before looking away so as to not be caught staring. Once done, I quickly replaced the Bugvisor in the bowl’s place before handing back the borrowed utensil. The leader of the trio took it away, but none of them moved to leave. Sighing, I knew what they wanted know.
“This happened because I involved myself with the wrong people when I was too young to understand what I was getting into and it’s only half my scars. The other half are even worse, and I don’t want to talk about them.” Apparently satisfied by my unasked explanation, the trio left, allowing me to transform once again. Now transformed, I sat back onto my temporary bed and stared at the door, not wanting to go back to sleep, no wanting to relive, That, again.
In time, my eyelids began to become heavy again, pulling me back into my unwanted sleep. Just before my eyelids could fully close though, the iron door was opened once more but much faster to reveal another Griffon but instead of armor and weapons, this one had a suit and briefcase.
“Are you the one called Cronus?” I only nodded my head.
“Good because I only want to explain this once. I am your government assigned lawyer who will be speaking on behalf for you as your defender. Unfortunately though, from what I can tell, you’re screwed no matter what I do.”
“What, why?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that you were climbing up the king’s mountain without permission and your only excuse was to blame the only kingdom to have ever thought of having a peace treaty with us which saved our species.”
“Oh.”
“Oh indeed,” my unnamed Griffon lawyer set his case down and opened it. “Unless by some miracle you can win a trial by duel, you’re going to spend either 20 years in confined custody or the rest of your life without a head.”
My gulp of fear had to have been audible but the Griffon paid it no mind as he opened his briefcase and began to rifle through it. While he did so, something about what he had said, clicked into place.
“Wait, what’s a trial by duel?” I felt my question was justified but he apparently didn’t as he looked towards me as though I had just asked if the sky was blue.
“A Trial by Duel, is just as the name entails. The accused is given the option, at the beginning of the proceedings, to challenge their accuser to a 1 on 1 fight. If the accused wins, they are given a full pardon their actions but if they lose, they are immediately given the highest punishment their crime allows. Which means death in your case.”
“So I just have to fight the king than. Sounds easy enough, I’ll beat him in no time and then get the hell out of here.” It would be a sinch to do so with my bugvisor.
“I won’t be like fighting the average Griffon on the street though. You must reconsider.” i didn’t listen though. Noticing my lack of attention, the lawyer simply sighed before closing his briefcase and leaving as fast as he had came. Now alone, with the thought of leaving by tomorrow, I allowed myself to sleep with a smile on my lips.
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(Celestia POV)
The Elements of Harmony had been rushed to the castle as quickly as possible with eager faces for the news they had hoped for. Those faces of hope and smiles broke after I told them what my sister had saw in Cronus’ mind.
“Are you sure it wasn’t just a bad dream Princess Luna? Cronus didn’t act like that at all. What about the deep voice you mentioned, could it have been someone tampering with it.” Luna only looked with a stare of somber pity before shaking her head.
“No. That voice was apart of it as much as his own. As for it being a dream, I will admit that it was what I saw but I know that it was a dream based on a memory. For him to have a memory so malicious, without showing even a hint of remorse, shows that he is not to be trusted.”
“Then wha’ are we supposes to do then ma’am?” It was Applejack who spoke this time as the rest had begun to turn and leave the throne room. Most likely to distraught to fully handle everything that they had been told but with Applejack being the bearer of Honesty, she also had to know everything for the conversation. A true testament to her stout nature.
“Nothing.” I spoke in a soft voice, feeling once more to where location of Cronus was. “Cronus has passed the borders of Equestria and entered the land of the Griffons. If either I or Luna tried to enter without permission, then it could cause to much of a commotion and allow him to escape. So for now, there is nothing we can do. As for you and the rest of your friends, you are not bound by such restraint. You can go in our stead and capture him yourselves before he does any damage.”Applejack simply nodded before trotting off to reach her friends. When the Elements finally left, I stood from my seat.
Seeing me do so, Luna quickly followed after, curious as to where I was going. After walking through the main the majority of the castle, I stopped before a large tapestry depicting myself and my sister within our respective celestial bodies while circling around a small circle, covered in green and blue. Without warning, I ripped it from its hangers to reveal door, chained and padlocked with no keyhole. Using the magic within my body, I seeped it into the inner workings of the hunk of metal to unlock it, causing the chains to fall from their place.
When the door opened, no longer chained closed, it revealed a simple room with a pentagram etched into the floor. Entering the pentagram, I saw my sister had become wary now. Seeing this, it reminded me of the time when both Luna and swam in the lakes of old with Natsu watching over us. Realizing where my thoughts were beginning to stray, I shook my head.
“Come along Luna, I have something to show you.” she came as I had asked but it was hesitant. Once fully inside, I ignited the lines with my magic, causing a walls of golden light to surround us. Within a few seconds, the walls receded to reveal that we were now in a new room. Awed at the sight, Luna began looking around. The room was easily larger than any room in the castle with much of the wall covered in weapons and trophies I had collected from times long past.
“Where are we, Celestia?” I did not answer, instead, I moved to a nearby door and opened it. Following after me, Luna exited the room and gasped at the sight she saw.
“The one place, where we can find the strength to defeat Cronus, should the Elements fail.” We both stood on a Terrace looking over a plain like floor covered in relatively small bumps. Those bumps, were the millions of displaced that had been encased in stone, all those years ago. Perfectly preserved, and ready for us to use their power. All we had to do was finish my original designs on how to see them.