Chapter I: The Lion and Zero
Ramza couldn't believe his eyes; they had slain Leo quickly enough, only for his blood to awaken the Virgo stone, Ajora possessing his sister right before his eyes. The Dark Knight refused to despair however, hefting the sword that had been stabbed into the deck of the airship, Ragnarok, in his hands, preparing to attack, only to halt as Ajora writhed, Alma fighting to regain control. Shouting his sister's name Ramza was shocked as Ajora and Alma cried out simultaneously, a beam of light separating the two back into separate bodies.
"Ramza…" Alma began as she passed out on the deck of the airship, Agrias and the others rushed over to her. Looking at the white haired copy of his younger sibling Ramza decided in an instant what he had to do.
"Construct 8, protect my sister and get her out of here," Ramza barked, his eyes focused on the figure that he had worshipped for nearly all of his twenty-one years of life. "Agrias, you and Mustadio are to lead everyone back to the surface."
"But Ramza, what about you?" Mustadio replied, clearly concerned for his friend.
"I will stay here and slay Ajora," Ramza replied with finality, preparing himself for a charge.
"But, Ramza-," Agrias began to argue, only to be cut off by Orlandeau surprisingly enough.
"Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do lass," the old veteran who was once called the Thunder God said with a hint of nostalgia as he turned to face the youngest and only remaining son of his late rival.
"Catch boy!" The grizzled Sword Saint shouted as he threw a glittering gold object through the air, which was in turn caught by a confused Ramza, his confusion only becoming greater when he registered just what he was now holding in his left hand.
"But Ser, this is-!" Ramza began, only to get cut off like Agrias.
"And I expect you to bring 'im back lad," Thunder God Cid replied, turning around and half-leading half-dragging an increasingly distraught Agrias as Ramza smiled gratefully, raising the golden Excalibur in his left hand and the white/blue Ragnarok in his right.
"To thwart my coming… you would dare assay?" Ajora asked the blonde Dark Knight with her head cocked incredulously, only for her expression to become one of fury as she stared at Ramza. "No. It shall not be. Loyal minions… heed my call—to me!" Ajora screamed, summoning four demons from the Abyss. "I suffer spite… from neither lord… nor serf!" The False Saint cried, surrounding herself in red light, the power of the Zodiac Stone flowing through her as Ramza readied himself, feeling the power of Excalibur as it raised his speed to the utmost, only to nearly falter as he saw what he was now confronted with. In appearance it could have been an Angel, with pure white wings and silver hair from which two head-wings sprouted. The only clue that such a divine figure could have been Fallen was her garb, a form-fitting leotard the color of blood that hugged tightly to her curvaceous figure and equally crimson boots that reached midway up her thighs, two shortswords were strapped to her calves.
"Your defiance reaps you not but Death's embrace!" Ultima, the High Seraph screamed as she charged at the warrior Beoulve with her swords drawn, a charge that was met by Ramza, the pure white shortswords clashing with the strongest Holy Sword and the Sword of the End in a struggle for dominance as Dark Knight and Seraph attempted to slay each other. The first blow went to Ramza, Ragnarok digging in to tear off one wing, and then Excalibur moved in to smite the other. With a scream of pain Ultima attempted to flee, teleporting away from the Beoulve, however, she clearly hadn't counted on the enhanced speed caused by Excalibur, as she hadn't escaped nearly far enough before Ramza seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind her, piercing her through with both blades, causing her to scream in agony.
"Impossible... this end to meet…" The High Seraph gasped, attempting to crawl away before finally turning to look at Ramza, "I see it now, too late. In you… his blood, my vanquisher in times… long past. But not so soon… shall I accept this defeat…" The Lucavi panted between labored breaths, her entire body lengthening and altering itself, absorbing the souls of her summoned demons in order to transform into a rotting form, a mockery of all things religious and holy. Eventually she stood thrice as tall as a mortal man, her once beautiful figure the rotting form of a dead priest, her wings ruined and covered in blood, her blood.
"Your soul itself shall not escape my wrath!" The Arch-Seraph declared with a howl of fury as it cast out one arm and cast a spell. In response to the words of invocation a blinding light that seared the youngest Beoulve's eyes, blinding him even as he charged forward, again piercing the flesh of the demon. However, the Arch-Seraph was stronger and better prepared this time, and its clawed right hand struck out and rent a portion of the young Dark Knight's armor and body.
"I! Will! Not! Fall!" Both foes declared in unison as they again exchanged blows, the last Beoulve warrior surrounded by the white halo of his Dragon's Heart, while the unholy Seraph began channeling the multi-colored light of the Ultima spell. The battle was destined to end however, as on the third clash the steel of the descendant of Germonique finally proved superior to the spells and evil of the strongest Lucavi.
Giving one last roar of defeat the Lucavi demon's magic engulfed the entire ship, the demon's form vanishing in the light as the injuries he had sustained finally caught up with Ramza, causing him to collapse on the deck of the destroyed airship, the ocean rushing to crush him as his blades fell out of his grasp. Ramza could no longer feel his armor as blood trickled out of his mouth and he closed his eyes, breathing what he believed would be his last, never noticing the portal that engulfed his body right as the wave of water tore past where he had stood.
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As depressing as the admission was Louise le Blanc de la Valliere was used to her spells exploding. With a record of zero successful spells cast her nickname of "the Zero" was well known by her classmates. Because of this, it would be very easy to imagine her relief and excitement when she managed to successfully cast "Summon Servant" without it so much as exploding in her face in complaint at being cast by such an incompetent mage. At least, she felt relief for half a second before an explosion of pure white greater than anything she had managed before shook the field. When she had finally managed to blink the spots out of her vision she could only gasp in shock at the sight confronting her.
He was blonde, the locks of gold atop his head made that obvious, in any other situation she would have called him handsome, but at the moment she was more entranced by the massive tears in his torso, she could clearly see all the layers of muscle and flesh as well as occasional glimpses of bone, yet despite the massive injuries, the wounds did not bleed, instead it almost seemed like instead of being on death's doorstep he was merely resting, waiting for his injuries to heal.
The silence was finally broken by someone screaming, in less than an instant, the stillness was shattered as Louise's classmates shrieked and began running about in shock, the one's that weren't busy being sick that was. Dimly Louise heard Professor Colbert taking control of things, after a few moments Louise became aware of herself being led away as water mages hurried the blonde boy towards the Academy.
§§§
When Ramza first opened his eyes, he wasn't sure what he had expected, possibly the dark pits of the Abyss, ruled by Zalera, maybe if he was extremely lucky he would have found a peaceful death in Paradise, he did not expect the sterilized white ceiling of an infirmary.
[Ah, you're awake,] a voice said in what appeared to by a rather… unique dialect of Ordallian, although it was still recognizable.
When Ramza turned to see the owner of the voice he was confronted by a middle-aged man who looked like he was a Professor at an Akademy and a very petite girl with strawberry blond hair that looked to be around 13 who was seemed to be practically hiding behind his robes.
'Mages?' Ramza wondered silently as he took notice of the bandages covering his chest and left side.
"Would you care to enlighten us on how you wound up with injuries that by all rights should have killed you?" The Professor asked, his head cocked appraisingly, "You gave Miss Valliere here quite a fright." He tacked on, almost as an afterthought.
"I take it you've never fought alongside a Dragoon before?" Ramza inquired, despite finding the idea to be a bit ridiculous, the man had the air of a veteran, though it was well hidden.
"Dragoon, you mean someone who rides a dragon? You're a noble?" The Mage asked with increasing perplexity, before asking the question which sent warning signals through Ramza's mind.
"No, no, I am just a merchant's son; I was permitted into the Akademy at Gariland on a sponsorship." Ramza replied quickly, afraid of dropping the name "Beoulve" and needing to try and cut his way through an institute of education, so he merely supplied the same excuse he had with Agrias when they had begun travelling together.
"Gariland, I am not familiar with that school…" The older man muttered before suddenly popping his fist into his palm. "Ah! Where are my manners," The Professor exclaimed, "I am Professor Colbert; this young lady is the one who summoned you." Colbert explained, indicating the pink-haired girl that now approached Ramza cautiously.
'Summoned?' Ramza though confusedly, trying to figure out why he would have been called up instead of an esper if the young girl was a Summoner.
"gr-Greetings, my name is Louise le Blanc de La Valliere, what is your name familiar?" The petite girl asked him, clearly confused.
"Wait, familiar?" Ramza asked incredulously, it wasn't that he wasn't aware if what a familiar was, even though it was optional there was a not small portion of people that had them back at Gariland Akademy, but as far as he knew it wasn't possible to use a human as a familiar, demons disguised as humans on the other hand…
"Ah, yes, the Lady Valliere used Summon Servant to call for a familiar and you were the one that was summoned, there should be some runes on your left hand that can attest to that." The Professor, Colbert, supplied for the puzzled Ramza, and sure enough, there was a strange set of runes on his left hand, arranged and written into a word he had never encountered before.
After a moment the pink-haired girl seemed to become impatient and once again inquired after his name.
"Ah, I apologize, I am Ramza Lugria." Ramza said, once again using his mother's name to conceal who he truly was, if it worked before it would probably work again.
At this point Ramza began to stand up, only to become aware of a very important fact, aside from some bandages on his thighs and the ones on his torso, he had no clothes on, a fact that made his entire face heat up and turned his Summoner a shade of red that he wasn't entirely certain was healthy.
Moving quickly so as to avoid scarring the poor girl Ramza somehow managed to cover himself in the white bedsheet, which now seemed dreadfully thin.
"i-I do not suppose I could have my clothes returned?" Ramza asked weakly.
§§§
An hour after her short introduction with her new familiar, Ramza, Louise was in her bed, blushing as she thought about his appearance and trying to ignore that brief glimpse she had had of- No! Stop thinking about it!
She had been surprised at how young he had looked now that she thought about it, he looked as though he was a few years older than she was, but his youthful face which had been so handsome when he was sleeping had not given even the slightest hint of the impressive muscles that had been beneath his clothing, not a single inch of his upper half had carried even an ounce of fat that she had seen and instead it had been all corded muscle and the most well-rounded build that many soldiers would have killed for.
Blushing deeply enough that her room was bathed in a faint red glow Louise threw her covers over her head and curled up, trying to fall asleep and ignore all thoughts of the handsome youth that was still being held in the infirmary.
Actually, she had almost expected that he was going to die, not that she thought about it, his injuries were so severe that according to the healing mages they should have killed him in a matter of minutes, yet instead the injuries had not bled at all as the healers went to work, but even without having to fear for her new familiar's life she had been told it would take a few days for him to be healed completely and until then he was confined to the hospital.
"But still, that was so scary…" Louise muttered as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
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Guess what's back baby! That's right; Ramza and Louise are back and better than ever! (I hope.) As always, please remember to review and favorite this series. Reviews are necessary to feed the plot bunnies.