Lunar: Childhood's End - Chapter 4: Darkness which Spins the Shadows

Translation by Kizyr Images from Manga	Lunar: Childhood's End (Lunar - Yonenki no Owari) Author: Akari Funato Based on Work By: Kei Shigema Publisher: Kadokawa Comics Dragon Jr.
Translation by Kaiser Farooque ("Kizyr"). Editing help from Robin Peters. Translation may not be used without express permission of translator. Translation also may not be posted in part (longer than five pages) nor in full at any location besides LunarNET (www.lunar-net.com) without express permission of translator.

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Chapter 4: Darkness which Spins the Shadows

[We see Ghaleon, in his Magic Emperor armor, holding the helmet in his arm. Behind the throne is an image of Xenobia’s face, looking to one side.]

-82-

[The scene is once again at Taben’s Peak, inside a throne room, with the shadow of the Magic Emperor on one side and Xenobia pacing across the other.]

-click click click-
Magic Emperor: The teleportation spell was supposed to be perfect
Magic Emperor: I gave you enough magic power, did I not?

Magic Emperor: So why did you return without Alice!?

Xenobia (protesting): That’s enough! I...

[She grabs onto the side of the throne.]

-grip-

Xenobia (sad): ......

-83-

[Xenobia sits on the armrest of the empty throne.]

Xenobia: Master Ghaleon...

[The scene changes to the next morning at the Carnival.]

Jean: Vane is a great place!

[Jean kneels behind Alice inside a tent, brushing Alice’s hair.]

Jean: Just because they call it the “Magic City”, it’s full of magicians.
Jean: Since it’s open to anyone who wants to study magic.

[Jean ties Alice’s ribbon on her hair.]

-tug-
Jean: And if you enter the Magic Guild, you can learn all the fundamentals of magic.

Jean: Alice, will you be learning magic, too?
[Alice looks back, blankly.]

-84-

Jean: ...is something wrong?
Alice: Oh... no, no.

[Alice looks shocked as she seems to recall something from before.]

Alice: Um...
Last night...
-heartbeat-
Alice: Um... Jean...

[Alice is visibly nervous. She recalls someone placing an arm around her, trying to comfort and calm her down. Thoughts of what she could say come up, but remain unspoken.]

Last night, something...
-heartbeat-
Alice: Ah......
Did something happen last night?

Jean: ?

Alice: ...oh, nothing...

-85-

Alice: Sorry...

[Jean hugs Alice, smiling wide. Alice blushes.]

Jean: Oh you’re such a strange girl!

[Alice is lost in thought.]

I can’t say...

I’m afraid to ask...

[The caravan is packing up, ready to move.]

Ruby: Hey! What’s the matter?

-86-

[Ruby flies up to Alice, who is downcast, eyes watering.]

Ruby: Come on Alice, let’s go!!
Ruby: You can ride in the caravan, and they have really good food. Well!?

[Alice shakes her head, eyes closed.]

-shake shake-

Alice: I...
Alice: I’m not going with anyone.

[Jean and Ronfar look back, confused.]

Jean: ...but why? Is it that...

Jean: ...you don’t like us?

[Alice looks back up, in protest.]

-87-

Alice: ......
Alice (crying): I hate you...!

[Jean looks on, disheartened.]

Jean: Well, then that’s the way it is.

[Alice raises her hands to her mouth.]

I hurt them...

[Ronfar and Jean climb into one of the caravans.]

Ronfar: See you around, Alice

[Hiro pets Ruby on his shoulder. Alice stands beside them, looking down.]

Hiro: Shall we go?

-88-

[Ronfar and Jean are sitting back inside the caravan.]

Ronfar: Say, she left rather quickly...
Jean: Hiro will take care of her now.

Jean (looking up): That girl is clinging onto something false

[The caravan continues through the plains.]

-creak creak creak-
Jean: It won’t do her any good...

[Hiro, Ruby, and Alice are traveling through the plains on foot. Alice is still downcast.]

Alice: ...it would’ve been better...
Hiro (smiling): Huh?

-89-

[Hiro briefly recalls Ronfar, Jean, and Ruby surrounding him, smiling.]

Ronfar: It’d be better if you came along with us, Hiro

[Hiro stares blankly. He and Ruby then begin laughing.]

-stare-
Hiro (laughing): What are you talking about, Alice!?
-ha ha ha ha ha!-

(a caption on the side says: ‘Read this as Hikaru Midorigawa would say it.’
Midorigawa is the voice of Hiro in Lunar 2: Eternal Blue.)

Hiro: Do you know how to tell what direction you’re facing without any tools?
Hiro: Look at how the trees grow, how the mountains stand, how the grass is shaded, and how the wind blows. There are so many signs!

Hiro (smiling): Not even a naive child could miss them.

-90-

[Hiro’s back is turned. Alice calls after him.]

Alice: Hiro...

Alice (pained expression): I...

[Alice trips and falls flat.]

Alice: Yah!
-crash-
Hiro: Huh? Are... you ok?

[Alice picks herself up off of a large rock. They’re under the shade of a tree in the plains.]

Alice: Ow... Why is there a huge stone here?
Ruby (off-screen): Hey Hiro, look over here!

-91-

[Ruby flies towards Hiro. A small village surrounded by a fence is a little ways away.]

Ruby (excited): It’s a village!

Hiro: A small village, huh.
Ruby: Say, I wonder where their inn is

[The frame shows a small house.]

Hiro: ...I think that’s it over there...

[They open the door to the house.]

-creak-

[A silhouette of a person inside greets them from behind a desk.]

Innkeeper: Welcome! Room for two?
Hiro: ! We’re in luck!

-92-

[Hiro signs a form which the innkeeper holds out.]

Innkeeper: Your names here...
Hiro (turning back): Hey, Alice

[Alice writes her name down.]

Innkeeper: Alice Rampling?

[Alice looks up, confused. The innkeeper leans in closely, his face intent and serious.]

Innkeeper: How... how old are you?
Alice: 13 years
Innkeeper: What is your mother’s name...!?
Alice: Phacia Rampling...

Innkeeper (shocked): What?

[A brief flashback of someone holding a younger Alice close to her. All we see of the ‘someone’ is her teeth, slightly pointed, and hair, silver and in curls.]

Innkeeper: Leave this place
Innkeeper: Leave. And... and don’t return to this village ever again
Alice: Huh?

-93-

[A flashback of Alice in the arms of her mother and father. Both are more clearly visible; her parents appear quite young, both of them shrinking back in fear of something, protecting Alice.]

Do not come near this town ever again.

[Alice holds her hands to her mouth in shock.]

Alice: This is... the village where I was born!?

[Hiro and Ruby interject. Alice tugs at their sleeves in tears, protesting.]

Hiro (angry): What are you—
Alice (crying): It’s ok, Hiro!! Let’s go!! Let’s leave!!

Hiro: But Alice!
Alice: I said it’s fine! It’s really ok!!

[Alice runs through the pathway through town.]

-thud thud-
-thud-

[She shuts her eyes tightly, clenching her teeth.]

Alice: ......

-94-

[In a meadow on the outskirts of the village. Hiro yells after Alice.]

Hiro: What’s wrong?
Ruby: Maybe Alice is...

[A flashback to Alice’s mother, holding Alice in her arms. Alice is perhaps 7 or 8 years old. They are surrounded by nondescript people; both are in tears.]

People: You have descended from monsters, is that not true?
Alice’s Mother: I will leave.
Alice’s Mother: But, will you at least forgive my husband and this child?
People: Does she not have your blood?
People: Vile blood...

[The flashback ends. Alice and Hiro are at a tree. Alice brushes off some dirt from a stone marker at its base.]

Alice: Argh...
-brush brush-

-brush-

[Writing is visible on the stone.]

-95-

[Hiro and Alice look down at it. Alice is worried; tears fall from her eyes.]

Hiro (reading the stone): “Here lies Phacia”?

[Alice places her hands on the marker.]

-pat-
Alice: This is...

Alice: my mother...!!

[Alice lays down on the stone, crying. A shadow appears over them, and Xenobia and the Magic Emperor fade into view.]

-96-

[Hiro stands protectively before Alice, glaring at the two. Ruby arches her back.]

Xenobia: Will you run away again, Alice?
Xenobia: Why not take your revenge?

Xenobia: In five years, nothing has changed.
Xenobia: This village still treats you exactly the same.

Xenobia: No, it’s not only the people of this village.

[Another flashback. Alice is younger, perhaps 5 or 6. She is led by the hand by her mother, with her father on the other side.]

Young Alice: Ah!

[Some other kids are playing beside a house, drawing things in the dirt with a stick.]

Young Alice: Hey, Ku! Lito!

[Alice runs over to them.]

-97-

[Back to the present. Xenobia glares out and angrily continues.]

Xenobia: People don’t change...!! However many years may pass...
Xenobia: They will always hate us.

[Hiro still stares forward. Ruby turns towards Alice. Alice, meanwhile, is scared, looking up at Ruby.]

Hiro: “Us”?
Ruby: !

[In the flashback, the kids drop the stick they were playing with and run away. Xenobia now grins and bares her fangs.]

Xenobia: ......hmph
Xenobia: You don’t know, so I’ll tell you. Alice is—

[Alice cries out, terrified.]

Alice: Stop it!
She’ll tell them!
Alice: Don’t say anything!

-98-

[Alice holds her face in her hands, eyes shut tight in sadness, anger, and fear.]

Alice: Don’t say that I’m a descendent of the Vile Tribe, like you.

[In the flashback, Alice as a child is standing in the snow, alone.]

They’ll hate me.

[Flashback ends again. Alice falls to the ground, eyes still in tears, scared.]

-thud-
Alice: Even though I’m a half-blood
Alice: They still treat me like anyone else from the Vile Tribe.

[Alice looks up. An armored hand is beside her.]

-99-

Xenobia: If people know, then they won’t accept you. Do you really want to live in fear of that for your entire life?

[Hiro clenches his fists.]

What is she saying?

[Xenobia opens her arms wide.]

Xenobia: Now, Alice
Xenobia: Come with me

[Alice looks up at Hiro’s backside.]

Hiro...

[Hiro reaches up and grabs an armored hand’s forearm, reaching for Alice.]

-100-

[Hiro has hold of the Magic Emperor’s arm. Ruby flies beside him, angry.]

Hiro: No way.
-grip-

Hiro: I will not hand Alice over.

[Hiro jumps back and front-kicks the Magic Emperor in the head, knocking him back slightly.]

-kick-
-swish-

-101-

[Hiro side-kicks the Magic Emperor again.]

-clang-
-strike-

[Hiro pulls out a dagger and lunges at the Magic Emperor.]

-stop-

[He stops right before attacking. He looks back in shock.]

-102-

[Hiro’s slumped over. His side is smoking, struck by a magic bolt. He holds it in pain. Xenobia looks smugly at Hiro.]

-chuckle-
Ruby: Hiro!!

[Ruby flies over to Xenobia. She slaps her across the back.]

Ruby (attacking): Yah!
-slap-

[The Magic Emperor now has gripped Hiro by the neck, raising him up.]

-urgh-
Hiro: A death grip...!!
Alice (off-screen): Stop!!

-103-

[Alice grabs onto Xenobia, pleading. Xenobia looks irritated.]

Alice: Please, stop
Alice: Don’t kill Hiro!!

[The Magic Emperor still has hold of Hiro by the neck. In front of them are Xenobia and Alice.]

Xenobia (to Alice): Will you come back with us?
Xenobia: Only then will I spare his life

Hiro (teeth clenched): Don’t go with her... Run away...

[The Magic Emperor tightens his grip and chokes Hiro.]

Magic Emperor: Silence!
-snap-

Alice: Hiro!
Ruby: Hiro!

[Alice and Ruby are shocked, in tears.]

-104-

[Ruby tugs at Alice’s sleeve.]

Ruby: ...We have to go, or—
Alice: Let Hiro go...!

[The Magic Emperor raises Hiro over the edge of a cliff. Xenobia, Alice, and Ruby watch.]

Alice: !
-turn-

[He lets Hiro go...]

-drop-

[...over the cliff’s edge.]

Alice: No!!!!!!!
Xenobia: ah ha ha ha ha ha!