**MEANWHILE**
Ace's vision was getting blurry. He was alone in the woods as he hunted for food when he was suddenly attacked by a splitting headache. He grabbed onto a tree trunk and leaned his weight slightly onto it for support.
What the hell is wrong with me?! Ace thought.
Lately, he started having headaches that either make his nose bleed or blackouts at night. Sometimes the pains are mild and he has trouble sleeping at night. It's also becoming hard to hide it from the others every day and he would want nothing more than to kill them when they find out.
Ace felt something cold and tasted something metallic in his mouth. He ran his hand to wipe his lips with the back of his hand only to see blood. "Great." He muttered and pulled out a cloth from his pocket as he wiped the blood from his nose. His headache was starting to fade until it was bearable for him to move. Once the blood was cleared did he pocketed the cloth away.
He looked around in the forest as he searched for squirrels or rabbits. That useless vampire told him specifically that he can only skin and gut small animals.
Tch! Useless.
So far, heI could not see any squirrels or rabbits nearby. They must have been hiding somewhere or are far too small for him to see. Either way he has to hunt fast. He wasted enough time cleaning my blood and he didn't want them to think that he was having trouble with his hunting.
He started to close his eyes and concentrated around him. He used his ability to see into the forest and to get a feel of the living and breathing creatures. There is no point for him to try and kill his gift anymore by waiting 10 more years. He was getting attuned to it already and he finds it convenient on some occasions.
Then he spotted them. Two squirrels fighting over an acorn on a tree just above me. Another one 5.7 meters 8 o'clock from me. 3 fully grown rabbits East.
He used his ability through his eyes. He grabbed some arrows and first targeted the rabbits since they are in a group and are more likely to flee since they are on the ground. Once he knocked the arrows he hit the squirrel at 8 o'clock before shooting the two, which are above him. It was a quick kill. All arrows directed to their heads to make their endless pain.
He heard the drops of the squirrels that he killed falling from the trees.
He gathered his kill, strapped them to his belt, and headed back to camp.
Once he arrived, he dropped the kill in front of Nate. "Gut and skin them quick so we can leave." He told him. He walked past him and settled on to sit on a log beside Midnight. Ace saw the idiot twins gushing about their berries and showing it to each other like little girls squealing over makeup.
"Has anyone seen Rose?" Idiot twin number one - Ace doesn't care about his name nor did he even know - asked.
"What? Miss her already?" Idiot twins number two wiggle his eyebrow at number one.
"Brother, she's been gone for far too long. Surely fetching water wouldn't take that long."
Tch. Well if he's talking about fetching water then why doesn’t he do it? He's a dog. But now that he mentioned it, the blond bimbo seemed to be missing. Again.
The prat vampire seemed to pause gutting and looked up at the simpleton twins. "Should we go look for her?"
"We should." number one asked, making him breathe out heavily. These fools are always worrying about that blond bimbo. No wonder she acts like a spoiled brat when she's with them.
"She'll be back. Probably took too long because she got eaten by a lion or something." Ace said tiredly and earned strange looks from the others. Then he realized that he had said it out loud.
"Prince Ace, don't say stuff like that. Aren't you worried?" Nate asked.
"No." Ace answered honestly.
"Should we not look for her? Make sure she's fine?" Twin number one - or two - asked.
This one pisses me off. Not only is he an idiot, but he's annoying! "You didn't hear her scream, did you?"
"No."
"Then she's fine. Unless she was killed before she could even scream."
"ACE!!" They all shouted.
"IT'S PRINCE!" He corrected and gave them all a pissed-off look. "And fine. Go look for her. Sniff her out and bring her back if it means shutting your traps up. Tch!" When Ace signed up for being a candidate for the king he did not expect to be in this kind of situation!
Twin number one or number two - hell if he knows - closed his eyes and started sniffing the air like the dog that he is. Once he got a good whiff, he started sneezing. "Acho! Achooo!"
"Hey! Watch where you spray it!" Said Nate and moved the skinned animals to his other side and away from the twin that was sneezing.
"Sorry. It's just that - Achoo! - I can't - Achoo! - get a proper - Achoo! - whiff of Rose's scent - Achoo!!"
Beside that twin, his other twin shook his head at him. "Oh brother. What will you do to find your girl when you can't even track her?"
"What?"
"Let me try it." The twin said arrogantly and started sniffing the air for Rose's scent. A few seconds later and he started sneezing too.
"Seriously you two! Get away from the food!" Growled Nate.
"Sorry."
Sniffed one of them as he covered his nose. "It's just weird - Achoo! - why can't I sniff her out? Achoo!"
What he said started to make me wonder. He can't find that idiot's scent? What does it mean? Somehow Ace has a bad feeling about this.
He caught Nate's look and saw that they somehow have the same thought. What kind of trouble did that girl get into now? It's like she's a walking disaster. He's kind of surprised she's still alive.
While the three of them continued to talk Ace tapped into his gift and used the forest and animals as his eyes. He remembered that she brought her horse, Cloud, along with her so he tried to locate her horse instead. His vision sped up as if he was riding and soon he was seeing in the eyes of a horse; Cloud.
Through her eyes, he saw the area around her. He could see the lake located just below the cliff-like He saw from a hawk's eye a while back. He willed her to look around more and found no signs of that moron anywhere. Suddenly, Ace saw something - or Cloud did. Just by the edge of the lake are their bota bags that that good-for-nothing-human is supposed to fill up with water - useless as ever - and located just a few inches from them is the idiot's shoe. It was missing one pair. He tried to get Cloud to move closer but her reins were tied to a tree branch tightly. She let out a disgruntled noise when she couldn't move closer and he had to calm her down by projecting calm thoughts. After she settled down, he tried to focus again on the spot where she most likely had been a while ago. The area around it was wet and there's a sign of dragging from the ground. Something pulled her down. His head started aching again and he was thrown back into his own consciousness.
The three were still talking about her, which he was glad since blood was dripping down his nose again. He turned back slightly to wipe the blood off of his nose and lips. He gritted his teeth as the pain in his head doubled, but he fought it off since they have more important things as of now. Someone took Rose. Ace has no idea who or what but he does know that whatever it was, it came from the lake.
Despite his migraine, he got up and headed towards the useless fools. "You two," Ace addressed the twins with his gaze. "stay here and guard our camp. Prince Nate and I will look for her." Ace said and gestured for the vampire to drop the kills.
"I want to go too!"
"Yeah! Let Ren come. Dan will stay here and guard."
Ace glared at them. "No. With the state that you two are in you both are useless." He said. Besides, he can't tell which one Prince Ren is. When the two looked like they were about to protest, he faced them fully and fixed them a murderous glare if they dared to disobey. That shut them up and they sank down on the ground and sulked.
"Come on." He told Nate. "We'll start looking at the place where she last went to."
"Where?"
"The lake." Tch! Ace can't believe this idiot even asked.
They arrived at the location and just like what he saw through Cloud's eyes, nothing seemed to change. The area still seemed...well empty.
Ace heard Nathaniel gasp, then he started running towards our bota bags. "What are these things doing here? And where's Rose?" You could hear that he was about to freak out at any moment. And Ace was not in the mood to see him rant about it. He looked around again until he saw Cloud still tied to the tree branch. He headed towards the white horse and started petting her as Ace let Nathaniel have his moment of tantrums. Let Romeo there have his moment.
If Ace remembers it right, Romeo is a character from Shakespeare's novels in the human world. It's a tragic romance story of two lovers in different families, who both oppose each other. Ace remembered that when Juliet pretended to die for a reason that he could not remember - maybe because she thought her Romeo died and wanted to be free from her engagement with a third wheeler. Then when Romeo thought she died he killed himself.
At that moment, that dumb human woke up and saw Romeo really die and killed herself too. Tragic and stupid, but still a good story.
Now, he wonders that if Nate is Romeo and Rose is Juliet he would kill himself if he thinks that she's dead. The only difference is, Ace doesn't think Rose would kill herself for him. Too bad. The world would have been better with two idiots gone.
"Rose?" Ace heard Nathaniel say behind him. He snorted at the hopefulness and the sound of delight behind it. He's starting to hallucinate.
Cloud made a noise and seemed to jerk her head upward as if in fear. Ace has to pull her down by the reins to calm her down. "Hey. Calm down." He said, but my voice lacks any emotion or softness.
"Where have you been? We were worried." Nate continued to hallucinate.
Cloud continued to jerk and seemed restless. "I said calm down." He muttered. What's her deal? Is her head as broken as her owner’s? Great.
"I was just walking around."
Ace turned around as soon as he heard the voice. What he saw made him confused and weird out.
Standing in front of Nate was Rose and yet it wasn't. Ace stared at her. He has this feeling that something was not right here. It was her face alright, but today it was beautiful unlike her usual pig face that even any amount of makeup could not hide. Also, her voice was still the same, but there seemed to be an added sweetness in it. Before, he couldn't even tell if she's really a girl or a guy who looks like a girl wearing a fancy dress. Now, she looks like a girl. A pretty one at that.
Nate and Rose were still talking while he observed. She really is different. She acts flirty and twirls her hair around her fingers. The sight alone makes me want to puke. Suddenly, she did the most unexpected thing. She leaned forward and kissed Nate.
Ew.
He doesn't even know why but he blocked their view from her horse, which is weird.
As soon as their kiss ended, Nate seemed to be in a daze for a few seconds before turning to face the lake and then jumping.
"Nate!" Ace yelled. The fool!! Who says he can have a swim!? He will butcher him for that! He will cut a hole in his stomach and use his intestines as ropes to pull him ashore!! He stormed to the edge of the lake furiously while Nate swam to the middle of the lake and suddenly played dead. Oh, he'll be dead alright! And it will be slow and painful.
"Get out of the water!" Ace growled.
"I-I can't!" Yelled Nate. Ace looked at him and noticed that he seemed to be in an internal struggle.
"Oh. You're here."
He turned towards Rose, who was giving him a sweet smile while batting her eyelashes. Ace cringed for a second before glowering at her. "You." He said and reached for her as he wrapped my hand around her neck. "I don't know who you are or what's going on, but I have a feeling that you're behind all of this." The person, who looks like Rose, choked and clawed at his hand. Her eyes widened in fear. "W-What are you talking about?"
"I am not a fool." He said. "I can tell by the way that you act and look that you are not Rose. Also, I heard the charm in your voice when you were talking to Nathaniel. Tell me, what do you want from us, a siren?" He left out the part about her smelling like a fish. Mermaids tend to smell when they're out of the water even for a few minutes. The longer they are out, the worse they smell.
The fish lady smiled at him. "Well, you certainly are a smart one. Now, why don't you unwrap your hand from my neck and we can talk about it?"
If it weren't for the headache that he was constantly having, she might have lured him with her charm speech. The pain helps him concentrate.
"How about you start talking. Now!"
Her jaw dropped when her charm speech failed on him. "H-how-"
"Speak!" He asked her again. His voice is strong and firm. "Where.Is.She!?"
At that, the mermaid looked at him and frowned. "You men are cheaters and liars!" She screamed at him which he did not appreciate.
Ace snorted and jerked his thumb in Nate's direction. "If you are looking for a cheater and a liar, then your dream guy is over there. Drowning." He said. "Now back to the matter at hand. Tell me where she is!!"
"No!"
"No?"
"NO!! As in....NEVER!!!" She yelled and sprays of spit hit my face. He ran his sleeves over his face using his free hand and glared at her.
She's dead!!! She dared to spit at him!? HIM! A PRINCE!
Growling, he pushed her face down into the water and she laughed. He drew her head slightly for her to talk. She only laughed at him. "You intend to drown me? Hahaha! I'm a mermaid! I don't drown!"
Ace raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Wanna bet?"
"Wha-" Before this creature could talk Ace pushed her face back in the water and squeezed her neck. Not a second later and she started to flail and fight him, but he was too strong for her.
She was laughing a while ago, now Ace was laughing.
Once he was satisfied, he pulled her back again to ask her where Rose was. But as soon as he did, she hissed at him. "You're a monster!!"
"And you're the first mermaid who just drowned."
"Let me go, Ace!!" She called him by his name and with no TITLE which angered him more. He dipped her head in the water again for a long time before pulling her back up.
"IT'S PRINCE Ace! No one can call me by my name without my title!!"
"But Rose-"
"She has no brain and she cannot follow simple instructions!!" Ace drowned her again before pulling her back up.
Her face was now red in anger. "I'm wearing the face of the girl you are looking for. Do you not feel any guilt at all?"
"That's exactly why I'm enjoying this. Now talk."
"Never."
He drowned her again for a few seconds before pulling her back up.
"And they said that mermaids are good swimmers. But look at you. Shocking." He mocked. "Are you willing to talk now?"
"Atrocious!"
"Guess not."
Then Ace drowned her again. And he would be lying when he said that he is not enjoying this.