Note: The story takes place right after Shadow Hearts one, and it follows the good ending. So I'm pretty much writing Shadow Hearts: Covenant all over again from different ending. Woot. It'll have much more complications now since Alice doesn't die, and Yuri won't go to Domremy, he won't meet Karin there. So how will he learn about all the evil he has to fight in the second one? XD Can't wait to get to all that.
For now however I wanted to just have a little romance story between Alice and Yuri, so no action for now, just a bunch of mushy stuff. Hope you enjoy.
Oh and Alicia, if your reading this right now I just have one thing to say to you…. RANK NUMBER ONE IN THE FIRST GAME BABY!!!!!! Ohhhh yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own Shadow Hearts.
Yuri slowly opened his eyes, being pulled from a deep sleep by the sound of the train's horn. He lifted his head from Alice's and looked out the window. Finally they arrived in Zurich. He looked down to Alice, who was still sleeping, and smiled down at her. He put his head against hers once more and whispered softly into her ear, "Alice, we're here. It's time to wake up." When she refused to wake up again he nudged her gently with his head.
Alice's eyes fluttered open when Yuri nudged her. She sat there, dazed for a moment, then looked up to Yuri. It all came back to her now. She looked out the window to see they had arrived at their destination. "My mother should be waiting for us here," she said to Yuri as she stood up.
Yuri didn't stand up just yet, but stared at Alice as she stood there. The lighting made her look breath taking. Even without the perfect lighting he thought she was still gorgeous.
Alice stared back at him, then looked from side to side. "Is there something on my face?" she asked.
Yuri smiled and shook his head no. Finally he stood up and stretched his arms way over his head and let out a large yawn. "We'd better get off now," he said, pointing out the obvious.
Alice giggled softly and nodded in agreement, turning to the right and walking down the aisle of the train. Yuri watched her for a moment, then reached up and grabbed the small single bag they had brought with them. They had traveled so much they learned to live with only a few pairs of clothes, so theirs combine fit into one bag easily.
Quickly Yuri caught up with Alice, feeling nervous about meeting the mother of the woman of his dreams. 'What if she hates me?' Yuri asked himself. He had never cared about what people thought of him, until now. He wanted to make a good impression on Alice's mother. He'd do anything for her.
They reached the outside and coughed a little because of the smoke being let out from the engine. Alice searched the crowd, trying to find that one familiar face. She glanced over at Yuri and saw how tense he was. She placed her hand on his arm, watching him jump, then said in a reassuring voice, "It's ok. She'll like you."
Yuri nodded, not feeling much better, and said, "I hope so." He cringed when he heard a female voice calling Alice's name. She sounded very much like Alice herself, so he knew it had to be her mother. He followed the woman's voice to the owner, and was astonished as to how much Alice and her mother looked alike.
Alice smiled and ran over to her mother, throwing her arms around her. It had been such a long time since she last saw her. She had been so caught up with her travels with her father that she rarely had time to come visit her. "Mother, it's been so long," Alice said, still holding onto her mother.
"Alice, it's so wonderful to see you," her mother replied warmly. They stood there in one another's embrace for a minute or so before they broke apart. Alice's mother seemed to notice Yuri standing off to the side with a dumbfounded look upon his face. "Is this the man you told me about?" she asked Alice quietly, inclining her head towards him.
Alice nodded and walked next to Yuri, taking his hand and leading him over to her mother. "Yes, this is Yuri." Alice turned to Yuri and smiled, "Yuri, this is my mother, Elizabeth."
Yuri and Elizabeth exchanged friendly glances and nodded. "Hello, Elizabeth. It's a pleasure to meet you." He bowed his head and shook her hand when she offered it to him. He tried not to sound stupid, or nervous, but he was afraid he already failed in trying to do that.
Elizabeth watched Yuri for a moment and could hear his voice trembling slightly. She laughed and smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Yuri." Yuri still had her hand, and she wondered when he was ever going to let it go. "May I have my hand back, please?" she asked him.
Yuri's cheeks flushed. He hadn't realized he was still shaking her hand. "Oh, uhm, sure you can," he replied, letting go of her hand. He stared at the ground, not wanting to say anything else. He had already made a fool of himself and he didn't want to make it worse.
Elizabeth continued to smile, and gave Alice a look of approval. They all stood there in silence for a moment, then Elizabeth put her hands on her hips and said, "Well are we going to stand here all day, or would you rather us get home so we can eat. I'm sure you haven't eaten anything on the train. You must be famished."
Yuri was about to say that he wasn't that hungry, but his stomach spoke for him. He laughed slightly and said, "Yeah, I guess we are pretty hungry. Well, I am at least."
Alice giggled and said, "Yes, I'm quiet hungry myself."
Elizabeth nodded, "I was hoping you'd say that. I spent all day preparing a special meal for your arrival." She turned and began walking, then turned to say, "If you don't mind, I think we should walk. My house isn't far, and it's such a nice day out."
Alice and Yuri both nodded and followed behind her. Yuri leaned over close to Alice and whispered, "She seems real nice. You two look alike too. I guess you take after you mother a lot."
Alice nodded and replied back also in a whisper, "Yes, people often mistake us for sisters." She looked at Yuri and noticed he wasn't so nervous anymore. She was glad for that. Now he might start acting more like himself again. Ever since they got on the train he'd been quieter than usual, just anticipating meeting her mother. Alice wished she could have met his parents, and that Yuri could have met her father.
Yuri slung the suitcase over his shoulder and walked the rest of the way to Elizabeth's house in silence. It felt weird to be monster free for this long. He hadn't done battle since he fought Meta God in the stratosphere. Though he had to admit it was nice to know what it felt like to be a normal person for a few days.
A nice breeze began to blow by, and for a few seconds Yuri simply enjoyed the feeling of the cold air against his face. Then grinned slightly and slowed his walking so that Alice was in front of him by two small steps. As the wind blew it brought her mini skirt up just a tad so that he could catch a glimpse of her lavender panties.
Alice looked behind her, oblivious to what Yuri was doing, and asked, "Are you ok?"
Yuri blinked and looked up to Alice, feeling his face turn red, and said, "Uhm yeah I'm fine Alice. Just…err…thinking that's all."
Alice noticed the wind at that moment and felt her skirt flapping up and down against her thighs. Her cheeks as well turned a deep shade of red, "Oh, I see," she said softly.
Yuri rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little stupid at the moment. He couldn't help it though, he was a guy, and she was attractive. There was an awkward moment between the two, but it was broken by Elizabeth when she called out to them, "Well there it is."
Yuri looked beyond Alice to the house that was not far ahead of them. It was a nice little one-story house. Alice too looked at the house, glad to see it once again. It had been quite a few years since she had last been home, and now she finally was again. Though there was a part of her that wished she were still on an adventure. They got into quiet a few tight spots, but they always pulled themselves out of them. In a sense it was actually fun to her.
Elizabeth led the two inside and instantly the sweet smell of her cooking filled their noses. It made Yuri and Alice all the more hungry now. "You can set that bag down right over there," Elizabeth directed at Yuri.
Yuri nodded and put the suitcase down off to the side where no one would trip over it. He stood there, staring at the wall for a while. There were tons of pictures hung up on this one wall. He heard Alice and Elizabeth talking, so he let them talk while he walked down the wall and looked at each of the pictures. There were some of just Alice and Elizabeth; they almost did in fact look like twins.
In most of them Alice looked to be just a little younger than she was now. Perhaps five years younger. She hadn't changed much since then, however. He stopped when he past a family portrait. This was the first one he came across with Alice's father in it. Yuri guess that the reason for that was her father wasn't home much. From what he gathered on their journey together, Alice's father was searching for the stolen books from the Vatican most of the time.
Yuri thought that Alice didn't resemble her father much at all. Maybe she had his eyes. The major difference between Alice and her mother was that Alice had sparkling blue eyes, and her mothers were a light shade of brown. Yuri couldn't tell from the black and white picture whether her father had blue eyes or not, so he didn't ponder on the thought much. He moved down the line of pictures and stopped at one where Alice was a little girl.
Yuri let out a burst of laughter when he saw the picture. Alice was not a cute child at all. 'She really grew into her looks' Yuri said in his head. Alice had chubby cheeks and a goofy smile. Usually chubby cheeks on a kid were cute, but not for Alice. It just didn't work. Her hair was very long when she was little, pulled back into a long braid. Her hair was slightly frizzy, not doing her any justice.
Yuri looked over at his shoulder to Alice, then back to the picture. He couldn't believe that was her. "I hate that picture," Alice said suddenly from beside Yuri.
Yuri jumped and looked at her. He tried not to laugh, and said, "But it's so cute."
Alice's cheeks were red, and she gave him a look as if to say, 'Yeah right, liar.' She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know why mother keeps it up here."
Yuri's stomach stopped him from speaking any further, and made Alice giggle. "Oh yeah, my mom said dinners ready anytime we are. From the sounds of it your ready to eat now."
Yuri rubbed the back of his head and nodded, "Yeah, I haven't eaten since yesterday."
The two of them walked side by side to the dining room. Elizabeth made a variety of food for them to eat. She made a roast and ham. There was some fried eggplant, rolls, spinach, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes. Plenty for them to eat, and have left over's for tomorrow as well.
Yuri took a seat next to Alice, and wasn't shy about eating. He filled his plate with a little bit of everything and chowed down. It was fun evening. Elizabeth told embarrassing stories of Alice when she was little, like every mother does to their child. Yuri laughed at most of the stories. Most of them were about Alice doing something completely stupid. He just couldn't imagine the smart girl he knew now doing all those stupid things.
Elizabeth told about the time Alice accidentally set a cats tail on fire when she was two years old. "It was a good thing I was not to far off, or the poor cat would have been burnt to a crisp!" she exclaimed.
Alice's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment the entire night. She wished her mother would stop, but she never seemed too. Every time she thought that maybe she had run out of stories to tell, she always surprised her and began telling yet another one.
Yuri could see how frustrated and embarrassed she was getting, so he thought it would be nice tell some stories of himself to show that everyone did stupid things when they were little. There weren't many stories that he could tell her, though. He wasn't that old when he his parents had died, so there weren't many memories he could tell her. Most of the other ones involved the times when he was constantly in battle with monsters, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Elizabeth about all that, at least right now that was.
Alice smiled and saw what Yuri was trying to do for her. She was relieved that her mother was busy listening to Yuri speak instead of trying to think up more stories that she could embarrass her with.
Finally they stopped with the silly stories and all began to ramble on, talking about anything that came to their minds at the time. At one point they were all laughing so hard they had tears forming at the corners of their eyes. As their laughter finally died down, Elizabeth glanced at the clock and gawked, "Wow, nine already. Time sure does fly."
They stood up from the table and every one helped to clean it off. Alice and Yuri offered to do the dishes since Elizabeth was the one who did all the cooking, and she looked extremely tired now.
As they washed the dishes Yuri kept splashing Alice with water playfully, and Alice couldn't do anything since she wasn't near the sink and was just drying the dishes. It took them ten minutes longer than it should have since they were messing around, and at the same time trying to be quiet so Elizabeth could sleep.
When they were done Yuri got their suitcase and walked to the other side of the house with Alice. There was a spare bedroom right across from Alice's, and Yuri wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. All the time they traveled together they slept in separate bedrooms because they traveled with several others.
Alice turned to look over her shoulder and saw Yuri just standing there. "Coming?" she asked with a smile and walked in her old room. It was just as she had left it all those years ago.