Chapter 1: We will always be together
Keele Zeibel was not a person who sheds tears easily, his world was impregnated in facts and evidence; not emotions…
Yet, in those terrible moments when chaos reigned; when the core of Seyfert's ring glowed menacingly and was randomly casting off spouts of electrical energy hot enough to vapourize any unfortunate soul who stood close enough. The worlds grew closer and closer together in impending doom, he could not see Reid or Farah; or reason.
Only her…
Meredy turned to him with a sorrowful smile on her face, Keele felt his eyes get hot as she asked gingerly.
"Take care of Quickie for me…"
No…
Quickie gazed at its master, then walked contritely towards Keele and stood at his feet. The creature's tail was tucked between its legs, and it looked quite defeated.
Keele felt something in him snap, and he did not know where the courage came from as he took two bold steps forward and enfolded the whole of Meredy's person into his arms. He held her fast, as a restrain or for comfort he did not know. He only knew he sincerely wished that he could take her place, it was far better than having to watch her die.
'Wishing…? How disgraceful.' He chided himself inwardly.
How he loathed himself for his own powerlessness; for not possessing the fibrill like Reid or the predisposition to the dark aurora like Shizel, then at least he will be able to save her…
But in that moment, all that tore out from his throat was a harsh, helpless plea, "Don't say that! We will always be together!"
Meredy inhaled deeply, then sighed, he could feel her warm breaths on his collarbones. It was an empty promise, Keele knew, Meredy knew it too, and Keele hated himself even more for his stupidity.
Tears began to roll down his face.
She did not pull away, did not look at him. Only adhered to his chest, seemingly drawing in the comfort in having someone warm beside her. Her fingers teased the surface of his skin, then her thumb came and brushed away the tears on his chin.
"Thank you…" She whispered softly, she sounded like she was crying as well. Though Keele did not manage to see, he knew anyway. It was then she pecked him gently on the cheek and pulled away, she turned around quickly, as if not wanting him to see her face. She placed one foot behind her, and put both her hands up.
"Ready?" Reid shouted from the other side, and Meredy echoed with forced cheerfulness, "You bet!"
Keele stood there transfixed at the sight. He noticed that Farah was bracing Reid, holding him up against the growing magnitude of force in the center. He hated he may not even be able to do that, he was not sure-footed or strong like Farah.
But that would not stop him from trying.
Meredy was gritting her teeth, and her heels dug into the ground in her efforts to fight the force. Keele stepped forward again and positioned her back against him, hoping that even if his physical strength failed, his body weight will prevent her from flying. And if that too failed, she will know that he was by her side till the very end.
It was illogical for him to act this way, for either ways, it will be futile…
She startled a little, but did not say a thing, only nodded appreciatively.
The auroras met, greedy for more power to be fed into its midst, it glowed like a dying star. Keele waited for the supernova-the force that would tear the worlds apart-literally.
He closed his eyes, adhering his chin to the top of her head. In that instant, time seemed to have stopped, and he inhaled deeply.
"…I love you…Meredy…"
He was unsure if she could not hear him in the ruckus. For she made no response, did not turn at his voice. In a sense, he was glad and relieved and irritated all at the same time…
He opened his eyes only when he realized in alarm that there was someone behind him, and that someone had gotten desperately close to him and Meredy. He whipped around, and spread his hands defensively as Shizel floated off the ground once again, he began to charge a spell that would bring as much distance as he could between that woman and Meredy. Reid and Farah saw, and shouted his name in alarm, but could not move.
Keele only smiled bitterly as perspiration flowed down his temple.
He was mere mortal, he knew he did not have the power or skills to fight off Neried single-handedly. Even the powers of the Greater Craymels are no match for that of a deity. But at least he could hold her off long enough to allow the rest to finish what they started. He vowed he would do it even if it cost him his life, at least he will die defending those he loved…
With his mind, he called out to the Greater Craymels at his disposal, willing for them to help him, and they responded more clearly than ever before.
'We will, young one…' They answered as one.
Silently he thanked them. Undine, the ever motherly and wise one. Efreet and Sylph, the rash and funny ones. Celsius, beautiful as a diamond, hard on the outside, soft to the core. Volt does not talk much and Maxwell has always reminded him of Galenos with his may-the-heavens-fall-and-we-will-still-be-merry ethics, Gnome sleeps most of the time. Shadow and Rem bickers about nothing at all when they are not looking and Sekundes, somehow Keele was sure Sekundes hated them from day one.
'I do not.' declared Sekundes stiffly now. Strange, it was unlike the Greater Time Craymel to be emotional. He presided from the beginning till the end, in theory, time existed even in an immaterial world like Vatenkeist, Keele always assumed Sekundes would know what will happen...
'And I am not a softie.' Snapped Celsius even as the spell was ready to be unleashed.
Despite the circumstances, Keele wanted to laugh.
"Freeze lan…!"
"Step aside...Let me talk to my daughter…" Shizel only said quietly.
Keele was startled, and when he saw the sorrow on the woman's face, he stopped. He was certain that it was not Nereid.
"Please, step aside…both of you." She asked.
Manners, definitely not Nereid.
"Shizel..."
"Baiba…?" Meredy turned and stared at her mother. "Shizel?"
The woman smiled with ancient kindness, the sort that would only adorn a mother's face. With one hand, she gently pushed Meredy aside towards Keele, and placed both her hands out, beginning to draw on the power. Meredy struggled as she realized what her mother was about to do. "Shizel!"
"Meredy…" Shizel whispered as darkness pooled about her form, the smile never left her face. "Meredy, my dear…Farewells are not the end, we will always be together…" The look on her face was one of peace...
"No…No!" Meredy cried, Keele held her fast, unwilling for her to get in harm's way. Shizel is likely to die anyway, she had been a vessel for the dark for far too long beyond her own mortality, it was plain miracle that she was able to retain her humanity; her soul.
"Mother!" Meredy cried helplessly.
The rest was like a dream, the noise reach a crescendo as the unearthly powers fringed, and the very ground they were standing on split in half.
Shizel's body blackened, and fragmented, becoming nothing more than black dust. But before she disappeared completely, Keele swore she looked him in the eye, he saw her lips moving. Though no sound came forth as she mouthed those words, he understood her final message to him.
'Take care of Meredy…'
"I will…!" He answered as Quickie flew past him, and he quickly grabbed onto Quickie's tail. The creature clung to his robe in terror, its fur standing on end. "Kwe…Kweeky!"
"It's alright Quickie, stay calm." He commandeered, though he was not sure. He gazed around frantically as the world around them splintered, and saw Farah cling on to Reid as they were sucked backwards, away from Keele and Meredy who was pulled in the opposite direction.
"Reid, Farah!" He yelled.
"Keele?! NO!" Reid shouted, reaching out to them in vain.
Keele lost sight of them in the next second. Then, from being pulled backwards, he realized he was falling groundwards, judging from the colours of the world, it was Celestia gravity doing its job.
Well, if theories held, it was better than getting sucked out into space.
"Meredy, hang on!" He called to her as he wrapped about her like a human blanket.
Meredy laid limp in his arms, and he realized she had lost consciousness. Cursing, he tightened his arms around her and reoriented themselves in mid-air such that he was below her. He was beginning to call upon Sylph as debris and water rained down from the exploding orbus, he curled up as little pieces of burning rock scalded past his face and soon something bigger smashed into them, it felt as if a mountain had bonked him on the head, then everything went black.
Ooo
Meredy blinked the icicles and salt crystals from her eyes, and she woke with a start. There was something heavy and warm beside her, and when she saw that it was Keele she shoved his arms off her back indignantly.
A flood of emotions came back to her, and she found herself feeling proud and shy and angry at the same time, mainly angry. For ultimately, Keele had prevented her from running to Shizel's aid, and that broke Meredy's heart. She had to watch her own mother leave her once again, getting incinerated by the terrible force.
She was forced to watch helplessly as her mother died.
After that initial outburst, she was beginning to feel cold, there was a blizzard blowing about. But because she was so upset and angry she was determined not to have him help her in any way, she did not go nearer to him, even if it was apparent that he had wrapped about her to keep her warm and safe…
She resisted the urge to hit him and gazed around instead, they appeared to be on the pinnacle of mount Celsius, though the snow mountain had been effectively flattened. Not far from her was the Igloo they had dwelled at as a party when they first mounted Mt Celsius, but it was half buried, perhaps by an avalanche, for the snow below her feet was soft and loosely-packed. She began to wonder where Reid and Farah and Quickie were.
A pile of snow moved nearby, and Quickie jumped out, shaking and looking around frantically.
"Quickie...!" Meredy cried with open arms, and the blue creature's eyes brightened as it took bounding leaps towards its master and bounced right into her arms. "Kweekieeee!"
"Thank goodness you are alright!" Meredy hugged back.
"Meredy…"
She turned, Keele stirred, trying to sit up but seemingly cannot. He placed a hand on her shoulder, but his eyes were looking somewhere past her.
"You… alright?" He asked. "Are you cold…?"
"Baiba~!" She slapped his hand off and hugged herself against the elements, shouting back sarcastically. "Meredy is warm!" Quickie appear perplexed, and leapt out of her arms in protests. "Quickie?" She called, beckoning. But Quickie shook its furry head, its tail defiant. Then prodded over to Keele's side, and nibbled his ear.
"…That's good." He whispered slowly, not comprehending her at all, "He fingered Quickie's tiny ears, "Stop it...it tickles. You're alright too...Quickie?"
"Kwee Kweeky!" The creature chirped, but there was worry on his brow.
"Good."
Keele seemed to close his eyes for a bit.
She let the issue drop. "Let's go. We need to find Reid and Farah…"
When he did not answer, she stood up, threatening. "Get up, or…or Meredy will go without you..!" Quickie squealed in protests again, Meredy did not understand why, but did not have the patience to guess.
"…You go…It's alright." He answered softly, barely opening his eyes, then seemed to fall asleep after that, and remained quite still. Quickie went wild, it ran around in tight circles on Keele's chest, using its tail to trace his face. "Kwee...Kwee...Kweeekie!"
This time, she understood, something was awfully wrong. She knelt down beside him again.
"Keele." She called.
There was no response from the scholar.
It was then she noticed the extent of his injuries...
She held Quickie, and made it sit still on her lap. Keele's face was scratched and he was bleeding from a wound on his head, his hair was singed. One arm laid at a weird angle away from his side, probably broken. His robes were torn at a thousand places, and the pale, exposed skin was either burnt or lacerated or frost-bitten. His breathing was rapid and ragged, quite unlike a sleeping person, and his lips were turning blue.
"Keele…wake up." She placed a hand on his neck, the pulse beneath was weakening, his flesh cold.
"Nurse!" She casted. The little scratches and wounds sealed themselves up immediately, but it did nothing for everything else. Keele did not move nor awake.
"Undine!" She summoned, wanting the Water Craymel's magic to rise, but all that met her exclamation was an eerie calmness. Nothing happened, and she began to panic.
"Keele…?!" Suddenly she was afraid that Keele will never wake up. She swallowed panic, fighting the urge to cry.
If she can't heal him she needed to get down the mountain and find someone who could.
"…Celsius!" She summoned with a cry.
Keele's pocket glowed with a cerulean light, no doubt the Craymel cage was within, and the greater Snow Craymel materialized.
Celsius surveyed the damage of Mount Celsius with her hawk-like silver eyes and a frown, then sighed, "At least my home is still intact."
"Celsius…can you help us get off the mountain quickly?" Meredy asked gingerly. "Something's wrong, Keele is cold…and hurt."
"Craymels feel no pain, nor hot and cold. I am not certain what you mean but…I'll see to it."
"Thank you!" She gushed.
The Greater Ice Craymel smiled quirkily, "This is goodbye…"
"I know." Whispered Meredy.
Leisurely, Celsius raised a hand, and snapped her fingers just once. She was indeed the ice-queen, and she went out with style. The ground beneath them rumbled and buckled, Meredy just had time to grab on to Keele as a group of Abominable Snowman came pounding down the mountain.
There was a big man on the largest of them, and that brought a smile to Meredy's face.
"Max!" Meredy exclaimed, "You're alright!"
Chat and Max were snooping around in the castle, investigating all else when the auroras fringed. Obviously they did not have intel on the unplanned...
"Mwahahaha!" He gwaffered, his usual confident self. The pack of white creatures shouldered them as they passed, and Meredy clung on to Keele as they were found nestled snugly amongst the warm white pelt. It was not easy, Keele's clothes were saturated with blood. Meredy bit her lip as she knew it could very well have been her blood that was spilt.
The group united and ran on as one, their fur was surprisingly soft.
It was a fast, yet gentle ride Meredy was hoping for. "Celsius! Thank you!" She yelled out. "Goodbye!"
The ice queen only smiled gently, and rose to greet her domain, silhouetted against the glaring sun. Then all but dematerialized, her grin was last to go.
Thank you, you little ones were brave. Your bravery saved our world. Goodbye…
"Bye, Celsius…" Meredy felt genuinely sad that it might be the last time she will ever see Celsius again…
ooo
Hey everyone! Mingathur here! This fic is written after our seventh play through of Tales of Eternia. By 'our', I meant my younger sister and I, she was roommate and partner-in-crime before I got married. To use one player to defeat the bosses in hardcore mode is impossible as the computer AI is so sluggish, and I am thankful to my sister who made things so much easier and possible.
So this is to my sister Xiu Xiu!
Personally I don't like Meredy much, but my favourite character is Keele! So I hope that all those who like the tales of series will like this story as well.
Warning label: My updates are generally slow, like snail-paced (Not Turbo that kinda snail). So please be patient.
R&R pls!
Ming