Allen

I've been working a lot on this at home so it's kinda long... I'm not quite sure where
I want it to go, I'm open to suggestion. It didn't pick up all my indentations when I

copied and pasted this so it may be hard to read...

Introduction
“I'm not a fighter though,” Dedala said, “I'm not meant to be in Atres. Allen, I'm not that sort of person. In my dreams sometimes I imagine that I live in Jupitar, or even Venis. But then I wake up and I'm still here. And I know that I cannot survive here. I cannot be who I am and live. Not in Atres. But you can Allen. You're stronger than anyone. You'll be so great everyone in Jupitar will know your name. I'll die the day I turn thirteen. But you won't. As my sister you'll have to represent us both soon.”
“Don’t talk like that,” I snapped although I knew it was true. Dedala was too sensuous and sweet for Atres. Sensuous and sweet didn’t survive in Atres. She was always the worst in the class during training. I was the best. At twelve I knew not to show any weakness of any sort. So I didn't let anyone know how much it hurt when Franz knocked me off my feet. And I definitely didn't let it show how much I worried for Dedala in one year’s time.
“Don’t defend me from myself Allen,” Dedala said softly, “You can’t love me, even if you are my sister. To love someone from Atres is unhealthy. You know perfectly well that half the people in Atres die at thirteen. Life in Atres is all about war. And so I’ll have to go. You know that.”
And I did. I knew that Dedala wouldn’t make it in Atres. But I wasn’t willing to accept it. In school they told us that love was a weakness, a very big one in fact. So I would never admit it, I strived so hard to be strong, but I loved Dedala. She was the only person in the world I did love. In Atres so many died you tried not to get too attached to anyone. The Calibanst army is the strongest in the world. But that's because of the city of Atres. Everyone, no matter of age and gender, in Atres is trained in the ways of war. Everyone in Atres has been in a war, is in a war, or is going to be in one, either that or they're dead. All my teachers have told me that to have a strong country you must have a strong army. And the army or Atres is the best so Caliban prospers. And if you don’t live in Atres you can’t join the Calibanst army even if you live in Caliban, others aren’t brought up to be as strong.
You start your training at five. And at thirteen you learn how to kill. You go up against prisoners of war with one partner with everything you have because the consequences of not are dire. But these prisoners won't be defenseless and if they're better they'll live. But you won't. And once you're seventeen you're eligible for war. And there's always a war.
So you’d best train as hard as you possibly can. Dedala did her best but it never was enough. Dedala’s death was harsh. She was right in saying that it was unhealthy to love someone else in Atres. It was. Only one fifth of our babies live to be thirty, death is everywhere in Atres. You get used to it. But Dedala’s death was the first that affected me. I didn’t cry. Of course I didn’t. You don’t cry. Thirteen years of training teaches you not to cry. Crying is for the weak and we Atrians have no tolerance for the weak. Anyone that saw me would think I wasn’t bothered at all.
I am the best student Atres has ever seen, I told myself, I can best anyone in a fight. I have no plans to show any signs of pain, nothing out of the norm. I am not from Venis, I am an Atrian. And Dedala was right; people in Jupitar will know my name for I am the strongest of the strong and because I don’t care.
 But that was a lie I told myself for years. I never understood for a long, long time why I always thought of Dedala before I went to sleep at night. I never told anyone the reason why I couldn’t sleep was because of my nightmares of her death. I didn’t even know why I couldn’t sleep because of them.

Chapter One:
“Are you ready Allen?” Rafe asked me.
 “Yes,” I said decidedly. Rafe was seventeen, two years older than me. After Dedala’s death I paired up with him as my partner in combat. He was better at hand to hand fighting and using a sword than I was. But I was quicker; could more accurately use a bow and arrow. He was better at thinking of plans than I was and most importantly had my back. And so I couldn’t ask for a better partner.
 “Come,” said a brunette girl from Jupitar who looked about twenty. She was accompanied by a younger girl with astonishing red hair surrounding a round pale face that looked about my age. But the two looked so much alike they couldn’t be anything but siblings. The same pale skin, chubby cheeks, and pointy nose. 
 I took a piece of a chalk and rubbed it against my hands so they wouldn’t be slippery when I sweat. Then I followed her out.
 “Here is your battlefield,” said the Jupitarian girl.
 “A playground?” I heard Rafe whisper to himself.
 I turned to the girl, “Where are our weapons?”
 The brunette girl handed Rafe a slingshot, me a pebble.
 “Some weaponry,” I muttered to Rafe handing him the ammunition for his slingshot.
 Two figures advanced. They both looked a year older than I. One was tall and slim with blond hair and a pack which held seven knitting needle shaped objects. The other was fat, with short black hair and a bow staff but he held it at the top showing that he didn’t know how to use it. You couldn’t move a bow staff well from the top.
 “You take a fat one,” I muttered to Rafe, "I'll worry about the other."
Before he could reply a whistle rang signifying that we were starting. The slim one had fought before, that much was obvious . The fat one however was probably some rich kid who had been pampered their whole entire life for he just stood there shaking like that would help.
 The slim one threw one of the needles like it was a mini spear. Luckily it zoomed past my left shoulder, it was surprising how fast it went. I kept charging towards him. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was trying to achieve besides proving that I wasn’t scared. I was defenseless and soon I would’ve covered all the space between us and wasn’t sure what I was going to do once that happened. This is was utter stupidity on my part. After fifteen years of training I knew that I should make a plan beforehand.
 I made a quick decision. I turned left and jumped from the woodchips to the playground barely avoiding getting stabbed by the needle. With one so close to me I could really see how truly sharp it was. It wasn’t exactly like a knitting needle. This was more aerodynamic and sharper. But it just skimmed my thigh and stuck into the ground. I picked it up. I was happy to have it. Now I wasn’t completely defenseless. I shot a quick glance at Rafe. He had gotten the rich kid on the ground bawling his eyes out. It looked as if my partner had broken his arm. It was almost easy from there. Soon Rafe would be able to assist me and victory would be ours.
 Now the slim one wasn’t coming but eventually he would. I wait for him. He didn’t seem to care about his weakling partner so I doubted he would try to assist him. He just stood there watching me. I wasn’t the best at throwing so I decided to hold onto my weapon until he was close enough to stab him with it like a knife. He would come. I could just stand here until he did. And Rafe could run him over here when he got a chance.
 The slim one just smiled and walked over to the swings never taking his eyes off me as he started swinging.
 He’s playing with me, I thought indignantly, acting like he doesn’t care and he’s got all the time in the world. Like nothing important is going on. Just playing happily, well I’ve made my decision. I’m not leaving. He can just stand there until Rafe comes and finishes him off because he’s not worth my time to do it myself. His stupid little smiles just drips from mediocrity. His every breath insults me. He thinks if he mocks me he can have me rush in head-first and easy. Well he obviously doesn’t know the ways of an Atrian.
 “Allen!”
 I’m startled out of my thoughts by Rafe. But I quickly recover to notice the tall boy has been caught off guard too. I’ve never been the best at throwing long distance. I’ve got the ability to create power but not the aim, especially when my target it so far away. But I take a chance. I throw.
Whenever I go into a fight I tell my brain to take everything in slow motion so I can feel like I’m much more able and quicker than I really am. I see every little detail. The boy is pulling out another one of his needles to throw at the charging Rafe. My needle is off from where I aimed but it still will hit when the boy throws his arm back and-
 My mouth drops.
 “That’s not fair!” I hear someone yell. I think it was me.
 “Well you can’t kill him!” said the red haired girl. She’d just leaped in front of the boy and snatched the arrow.
 “Of course I can!” I yelled and stormed over picking up a fallen needle on the ground prepared to stab both of them.
 “Stop right there!” ordered the brunette Jupitar girl, “This is Colyn of Jupitar!”
 “Who?”
 “Are you people here in Atres so desperately uneducated that you don’t even know who you’re future king will be?” snapped the brunette girl.
 Rafe gave me a look of surprise. I said to her, “What’re you talking about?”
 The brunette sniffed, “Daddy says not to expect much here but this?”
 “Ellowyn,” said the boy, “Let me do the talking.” He turned back to us.
 Rafe straightened up like he was under inspection. I just folded my arms and glared. Why would they put someone in the arena if we weren’t allowed to kill them? Who cares who the crap they are? Not me.
 “Greetings from Jupitar,” said the boy, “My name is Colyn. The brunette is my older sister Ellowyn and my younger sister Emisyn is the redhead. First, congratulations. Not many come close to besting the prince.”
 “That's surprising," I said, "Because it's not like you were all that good.”
 Colyn’s eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed as if trying to find something appropriate to say.
 “Just because we’re not in Jupitar does not mean that we don’t demand respect from all our subjects!” Ellowyn hissed.
 “Ellowyn,” Colyn said, “I thought I told you to let me do the talking.”
 I smiled sweetly in her face.
 “Anyways my father the king thinks it would be good for me to travel along to all the major cities of my country Caliban, before I reign. And I couldn’t really know Atres without participating in the fighting. After all, it'd be a good chance to show off.”
 He wasn't serious, I could tell
“Don't you have to be good to show off?" Rafe asked.
 “Colyn!” Ellowyn said sharply, “You’re the prince. They're commoners!”
 “So?” Colyn asked.
 Ellowyn glowered and quickly stormed off.
 “Well either way according to my paperwork you, Allen, are the most skilled girl fighter in all of Atres that hasn’t been off to war yet,” Colyn said.
 I was surprised. I knew it was true. I mean, everyone knows that I'm the best. But I never that it says on paper.
 “Do you want to see the paperwork?” asked Colyn.
 Before I could tell him I couldn’t read he handing it to me. It was just a bunch of squiggles to be. The only things that I could understand were the pictures. There was me as a baby, me on my first day of military school at five, me holding the championship trophy in wrestling at seven, and the last one was of me after my first match at thirteen.
 “Calibanst paperwork is almost as good as the Calibanst army,” Colyn said smugly, “There’s written record of anyone and anything that ever was or is in Calibanst.”
 “Interesting,” I said although I didn’t find it very interesting.
 “Why are you here?” Rafe demanded.
 Colyn looked as if he’d never been addressed in such a tone before, “Does a prince not have a right to travel through his own country?”
 Neither Rafe nor I could seem to think of a suitable response.
 “Where are you staying?” Rafe asked after a while, “Atres does not receive visitors.”
 “How should I know?” Colyn shrugged, “I have people to decide such things for me. A prince has much more important things to think about.”
Then the prince and his sister turned and walked away to where other luxuriously dressed people were waiting for them.
 “How should I know? I have people to decide such things for me,” Rafe mimicked, “Ugh, that fellow makes me sick. The way he talks is so…
“Annoying,” I finished.
 “Annoying,” he agreed.
 “I hope he leaves soon,” I said.

 * * * * *

When I came home with Rafe after training I was surprised to have a crowd waiting for me. Rafe gave me a look of surprise and I returned it.
I walked over to my mother, “What’s going on?”
“Don’t ask questions, Allen,” snapped my mother. In other words, "Shut up and watch."
“Greetings Atrians!”
I turned to my left to see Colyn standing in front my house as if he owned it. I glowered. I should have suspected such a crowd was revolving around him.
“So Allen has finally made an appearance!” Colyn said enthusiastically to emotionless faces, “Now I’m sure you all are wondering why it is that you have been called here.”
I wondered what methods he did use to acquire this group. I doubt that half of Atres would have responded to a request from a sixteen year old boy; even if he was royalty. 
 “This year one girl from each major city has been chosen to visit Jupitar for about a year,” Colyn says, “And so the chosen from Atres is Allen Gracen.”

Chapter Two
All eyes seemed to turn on me.
Looking back I wish I could've thought of a more ingenious response but I just blinked and said, “What?”
Colyn looked uncomfortable under my hard gaze.
“Um… Do you think I’m joking?” he asked after a while of just standing there, looking awkward, unable to think of a suitable response.
“Joking…?” I repeated, never having heard the word before.
“Never mind,” he said.
“What is the meaning of this,” Rafe said coldly. I felt his protective hand on my shoulder. Usually this gesture would have annoyed me but now it felt like it was the right thing to do.
Colyn didn’t look like he knew what do say. But before everyone got bored and left his red haired sister stepped in saying, “The most accomplished girl of each city has been invited to Jupitar. Why ask questions resisting it? It’s not like another wonderful opportunity such as this will come again. Be grateful for it.”
This is met by silence.
“Well if that’s all,” Colyn said, “We’ll be taking Allen Gracen and be on our way.”
“You just can’t take Allen away from us!” Rafe said in horror, “She belongs in Atres. You can’t just come here and take her away! No, Allen is Atrian!”
Colyn slowly turns to face Rafe. Colyn is taller but Rafe is obviously stronger, there’s no competition.
“I know perfectly well that she's Atrian,” Colyn said quietly after a while, “No, it’s just assumed that Allen in destined for greatness. And we want to educate her properly and make her more socially liked.”
“I don’t need to be socially liked,” I said.
“Well it never hurts,” Colyn replied as if telling something to a little child.
“Colyn!” Ellowyn calls as running up to her brother, “Colyn we must go immediately! Sicilie is anxious to leave.”
“Who’s Sicilie?” I ask.
“You’ll meet her shortly,” Emisyn answered, “Now Allen. I don’t mean to rush you but we’re behind schedule as it is. We must be going to Minera as soon as possible.”
“Minera?” I gasped.
Rafe gives me a look of alarm. Minera is a cursed place as far as any Atrian is concerned. It’s in Caliban so we’re not allowed to attack it but if we had it our way it was be completely, and I do mean completely destroyed. That’s because in Minera you are not allowed to fight. In Minera you are expected to sit and look at squiggles in books for hours straight. The idea of living in such a way is so utterly preposterous to an Atrian we wish to squash the very idea. Their ideas are so utterly stupid that any Atrian would rather die than go to such a place where everything is so completely wrong. An Atrian cannot go to Minera under any circumstances.
“No,” I said in a stubborn manner, “I will not go.”
“I agree,” my mother seconded, “You cannot ruin my daughter’s life in such a way!”
“Ruin her life? Nonsense!” Ellowyn scoffed.
“I’m not leaving Atres,” I said in a final sort of manner, “You don’t understand.”
“You’ll leave if we tell you to leave,” Ellowyn said, “It’s not like we were giving you a choice.”
She turned to face the rest of my city, “Do you even have the slightest idea what would happen if you defied us? I could destroy each and every one of us with the snap of my fingers. I wouldn’t advise testing that out.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” Ellowyn shrieked as Rafe stepped towards her, his hands in fists, “This goes to anyone else as well. If you so much as touch me your life is over! We’re taking Allen with us now and anyone who dares argue will feel the wrath of all of my father!”
I’ve been in countless life or death situations. Even as I’ve been pinned to the ground as someone is preparing to deliver my deathblow I’m not panicking because I have a plan. Now there is no one bigger and stronger advancing towards me as I’m virtually unable to defend myself, but I would rather be in that situation than the one Ellowyn is telling me. I have hope in the arena. I have hope that Rafe will slaughter him before he gets close to me. But now I’m hopeless. Rafe is as defenseless as I.
General McAllister clears his throat. I look at him. But even he is unable to defend me. The king could destroy anyone in Caliban that defied him and his family if he wanted to. My people couldn't help me. If they said I was going to Jupitar, then I was going to Jupitar.

Chapter Three
"Meet your companions," Emisyn said, "Sicilie from Venis, Rennia from Ceres, Evaline from Seidon, Rudie from Vulca, and Acacia from Polen. We just need to pick up Cevian in Minera and we can head to the Jupitar.
I critically looked around the room before quickly whirling around. "Do you mean to tell me that all of the best are all girls?"
Colyn smiled smugly, "Well maybe there was a good year for girls to be born, the girls from that time to seem much more accomplished than the boys."
I stared back at him.
"It's not right," Acacia said, "I wasn't the best, Andrew was better than I was. So why am I here?"
With that she shot Colyn a look of utter disgust, distrust, and disapproval. I almost smiled. Maybe this voyage would be interesting.
"Oh don't be ridiculous!" Sicilie said smiling cheerfully with immaculately white teeth, "Don't question the best things, relish them!"
She had bright red lips, redder than anything I'd ever seen on my countrymen. And she had strange black things around her eyes. She was unnaturally skinny and wore a skin-tight blue dress of some unusual flimsy material to show it.
"Well don't just stand there!" Ellowyn cried, "We have a lot of ground to cover to pick up this Cossie person."
"It's Cevian," said Acacia indignantly.
Ellowyn ignored her and said, "Now let's be on our way!"
I reluctantly but decidedly sat down; perfect posture, no flinching, no itching, no letting my eyes stray, no expression, no movement whatsoever.
"I'm Evaline, you're Allen right?" said the girl to my right.
I didn't move from my statue position.
"Did you hear me? I'm Evaline," she repeated, "Hello? Um, I'm talking to you...You know when someone's talking to you, you should at least show them the courtesy of making eye contact. You know you're being really rude."
I looked at her. She had eyes that were black and hard, her black hair perfectly straight and all the way down to her hips.
She acknowledged my perfect posture and straightened up her natural slouch, "I'm Evaline, Evaline Monteith."
"I know," I replied, "I heard you the first time."
"Well I'm just making sure you did," Evaline said, "It's hard to tell when you pretend you didn't, you know."
"I wasn't pretending anything!"
"Well I'm glad to hear that," Acacia said, apparently she'd been listening, "If you ask me that's all anyone's been doing. Pretending to be friendly, pretending to clever, pretending this isn't a screwy situation, pretending, pretending, pretending."
"Screwy situation?" I repeated.
"Yeah," Evaline said, she lowered her voice, "I'm not going to be so open about my discomfort and suspicion but I feel the same way. Something's not right, why would we be taken to Jupitar. This sort of thing just doesn't happen, it doesn't add up. Why would they invite seven, fifteen year old girls?"
 "Invite?" I muttered bitterly.
"Snatch is more like it," Acacia whispered, "Did you want to come? I didn't. I had things planned back home. They didn't even give me the courtesy of time to pack. We're going to have to wear Jupitar clothing, have you seen it? It's hideous and completely impractical besides. You know, that I want to scream because I don't have some items, they're back in Seidon. And who knows how long they're going to keep us captive!"
"That's an interesting point of view," I said, "That we're prisoners..."
"What's that?" Emisyn said, "Well, that's ridiculous! Prisoners? You are… Honorary guests!"
"You really should learn how to whisper," Evaline muttered under her breath once Emisyn looked away.
I looked at her and blinked hard before turning straight forward to my primary position; perfect posture, no flinching, no itching, no letting my eyes stray, no expression, no movement whatsoever.

* * * * *

"You cannot be serious!" Sicilie yelled, "Share a suite! We all have to share a suite! You have got to be joking!"
There's that word again, I thought, Joking… I wonder what it means…
"It's not all that bad," Emisyn reassured, "It's a very big suite."
Sicilie took a deep breath as if she had to state the obvious, "We're all sharing one bedroom..."
"It's a huge bedroom!" Emisyn argued, "It's bigger than the royal dining hall!"
"What's the point in having one humungous room instead of several smaller ones?" Rennia, that Ceres girl protested, "I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything but I'd be much more comfortable with more privacy."
"Share? I cannot share with six other girls!" Sicilie fumed, "One bathroom?"
"But look how big it is..." Emisyn started.
"This is outrageous," Sicilie ran to Ellowyn, "I've never heard of anyone denying their guests comfort, especially in Jupitar!"
"Don't pretend that you know anything about Jupitar!" Ellowyn said in a nasty tone.
I rolled my eyes. I didn't get what the big deal was about. We were given a room beyond luxury, with more space than any seven people needed. What were they complaining about?
"This isn't fair!" Sicilie repeated.
"I'm terribly sorry that you don't like your dormitory but, I'm sorry. We don't have any room prepared for you arrival. We worked long and hard to have this ready for you. My father thought that it would be best if you were close together. He imagined that you'd quickly become friends and..." Emisyn said quickly.
"Come on, Emisyn!" Ellowyn said impatiently, "We don't owe them any explanation. I'm tired from our travels. Besides, father requested to see us as soon as possible and you know father doesn't like to wait. We did what we were told to do, now let's be on our way!"
Emisyn quickly followed not at all seeming reluctant to go.
Sicilie threw herself on one of the beds the instant they left, "It's not fair! It's not! I had a room all to myself in Venis… I thought that everything was supposed to be better in Jupitar! How dare they treat us like this? I thought we were honorary guests!" Sicilie looked venomous.
None of us exactly knew how to respond to this. We all just stood there not making eye contact as Sicilie grabbed a pillow and threw it on the floor in anger.
Then Evaline sighed, "Okay, look. Let's all go to the living room. It's time we all had a talk."
Still expressionless I followed Rudie into the next room and sat crisply down on a large couch that sank in instantly as I sat.
"I'm glad we're finally alone," said Acacia quickly, as soon as we were all seated, "I don't trust it. I hate it here."
"We only just arrived," Rudie muttered.
Acacia gave Rudie a look, "Well I hate the fact that I am here. Happy? Let's think of this long term. Sure everything is amazing now…"
Sicilie gave a hysterical laugh.
"…But do they even intend on sending us back? And this whole, 'to better educate the girls' junk... I mean what's up with that? Since when do Jupitar people even give a crap about everyone else in Caliban?" Acacia finished with a defiant glare.
"It's not like that," Cevian muttered.
"Oh, yes, it is!" Acacia yelled, "Don't you dare pretend otherwise!"
Acacia seemed to realize that she'd been screaming. Her volume dropped but her voice was cracked with emotion, "I'm scared. I really am. I don't like what's going on. I don't trust it, so how can I like it?"
It was Rennia who finally answered, "You can't."