Homecoming
Alright, this is a story that I've been thinking about for a bit. It has a touch of angst, since ive recently become an angst addict, but I hope that you'll enjoy,
Disclaimer – I own Rayne, Lizzie, and Trip. Xenolord owns Maria, Natalya, and Serras. Flame and I own Felix. All others, we do not own.
There was a hush around Battleon. Not the scared, terror inducing hush that usually came whenever a maniac was threatening to destroy the town, or a war was very, very near to the town. No, it was the type of hush, which one usually associated with night time. And, indeed, night was upon the town. As usual.
And with night, there is always darkness. But with the darkness, there is always some illumination, usually caused by the moon, or the lights of the houses and buildings. And, indeed, there was lighting around the town. Also as usual.
But there was something unusual about the town that night. The usual moonlight was marred by the shadows of two figures, standing on the hill where Twilly usually was, overlooking the town. And the usual hush was penetrated by the sounds of the figures' voices.
If one came closer, only a little bit closer, one would be able to hear there conversation perfectly, the quiet letting the sound travel quite far.
"So this is Battleon." One figure said, their light, in-the-middle tone of voice, indicating that it was a woman.
"Mm." The other, taller figure replied, the sound alone deep enough to signify that it was a man.
"Why didn't we ever come here before?" The woman asked, turning to face the man. The darkness provided the perfect shading, so even with the moon, it was hard too hard to distinguish either of their specific facial features.
"It's an awfully long journey honey." The male said kindly, his roughish voice softening the slightest bit.
"I know." The lady sighed. "But don't you think it would have been wonderful to come here, back when-"
"We shouldn't dwell on the past." He interrupted suddenly, his voice hardening much more than before. "And you know this isn't a vacation."
The woman was silent for a few minutes, before she cleared her throat, and straightened her back. "I know."
There was an uncomfortable tension between them, as neither spoke. Clearing his throat, the male spoke again. "Come. We'll get a room, and we'll talk to the guardians about this tomorrow." And they headed off, down the hill, towards Yulgar's inn.
-Yulgar's Inn: The next morning-
Yulgar looked up, as he heard the familiar tinkling of the bell above the entrance to his door. Grinning, he spread his arms wide open. "Well, well, look who decided to visit." He laughed, as Trip, Lizzie, Maria, Natalya, Serras, Gale, Aria, Safiria, and Felix walked in, and sat down at a large table.
"Hey Yulgar." Felix waved, hyperactive as ever. Yulgar hopped over his front desk, and walked over to the group. "So what's the special occasion? Last time I heard, Lizzie over here cooked your breakfast."
Lizzie shrugged. "Well, I would've…had SOMEBODY" She raised her voice, and threw a not so discreet glance at Felix, who gulped, and slunk down in her seat "Not, somehow, use up a months worth of food, doing Creator knows what." She finished.
Yulgar clicked his tongue, and waggled a finger playfully at the childish cat demon. "Tut tut Ms. Katdemon." Looking at them all, he couldn't help but give a hearty laugh. "Well, we can't have some of Lore's finest guardians starve, now can we?" Pulling a notebook and a pencil out of his heavy leather apron, he held them, poised to write. "What would you like?"
"The full breakfast course!" Trip cheered excitedly. "Any specifications?" The smithy asked, scratching down a few words on the parchment. "The usual." They answered.
"So that's cocoa for Felix, Trip, and Aria…tea for Safiria and Lizzie...milk for Maria, Natalya, and Serras…and Orange Juice for Sage, Alex, Gale, Kay, and Rayne." Closing his small notebook, he scanned his eyes around the table. "Where is Rayne and the other kids anyways?"
"Rayne had to go check something out back in Rendd; she brought Kay with her. They should be back soon. And Sage and Alex are still asleep back at the tower." Lizzie explained. Yulgar nodded, and smiled. "Well, you wait right here. I'll be back as soon as I can with your orders. And I'll wrap something up for the kids." And with that, he headed into his kitchen.
Almost immediately after, Felix stood up. "I'll be back, I'm just going to the little cat girls' room."
Felix walked up the stairs, narrowly getting hit by Twig, as he was kicked down the stairs yet again by Blackhawke. Yulgar came by moments later, placing their ordered food on the table. As they conversed, and ate, they didn't notice the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, until…
"Excuse me."
They stopped eating and chatting, and turned to look at a man and a woman, most likely a couple, standing in front of their table.
"Are you part of the guardians of Battleon?" The man asked, as he shifted slightly, training his gaze on them, eyeing their armor.
"Yes…most of us are." Maria answered, as she turned around to face him, and who she supposed, was his wife.
"Thank the Elemental Lords." The woman whispered, as she relaxed, a weary smile on her face. The man, who looked like the stern type, couldn't help but smile along with her. Pulling out a chair by a nearby table, he seated the woman first, and then pulled out a chair for himself.
As Maria watched them both, she couldn't help but notice something familiar about them. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but she had a feeling she had seen them before…she just couldn't tell where. Glancing slightly at the others, she could tell they were thinking the same thing.
"You see, my wife and I, we've come from Lyndbaum." He explained, as he ran a hand through his dark hair, and rubbed at his eyes.
"That's a village in Rendd." His wife continued.
Gale whistled lowly. "That's pretty far away." She said, having traveled, just to the capital, Rendd City, on foot once. If it took that long to get their by foot, she couldn't imagine how far it would be to a village.
"It is." She smiled at the little girl. Gale smiled back at the woman. The woman's smile faded a little bit, as her gaze lingered on the little girl. Maria arched an eyebrow, and shifted a little closer to her daughter, wrapping an arm around her tiny waist. "Is something wrong?" She asked her.
The woman shook her head, and tore her eyes away from Gale. "No, no…she just…reminded me of someone, that's all…" The woman trailed off, looking wistful. Nobody spoke a word, before Natalya cleared her throat
"So, anyways, why did you need the guardians?" She asked, her cheerful demeanor changing into a more serious one.
"Oh…yes." The man, who had also seemed to have drifted off, snapped back to attention. "For over the past year, monsters have been attacking our livestock."
"Well, it's only a couple of cows and such." Lizzie pointed out. "That's not big enough to involve the guardians in it."
"That's what I was getting to." He said, thinly veiling his annoyance at being interrupted. "Lately, though, it's began to become worse."
"How so?" Trip asked, just as serious as Nat was.
"They've began to come into the village, and wounding and killing the villagers." His wife answered.
"Not to mention that they've began to attack almost every night. Before, it was just once, or twice every few weeks." The man said. "We've been managing to hold them off, but it's like every single time that we manage to save the village, they come back, with more monsters. And when they attack, they attack a different location every night. Almost like it's…"
"Like it's being planned." Aria finished. "I might not know much about subjects like this, but I know that monsters, any type of monster, don't attack like that, even when provoked. There's definitely got to be someone behind all of that."
"And that's why we need your help." The woman said, sounding desperate. "We don't want anyone else dying."
"Well, I can believe that." Safiria said, understanding the situation. "But, it could be a trap set up for the guardians. Maybe whoever's controlling the monsters WANTS them to get the guardians, and knights, over there." Lizzie pointed out. And noise erupted, as they began to converse on the situation.
Maria, who had remained silent for most of the conversation, slowly took a sip from her glass of milk, and then banged it hard, down onto the table, effectively stopping the conversation.
"Whether it's a trap or not, we should help them." She announced, looking at everyone, her take charge, military side taking over. "Not just because were obligated to as guardians…and knights," She added in, looking at Lizzie and Trip, "But because we should, as human beings, and sub-humans." Maria finished her little mini-speech. Turning to the couple, she spoke to them professionally.
"I'll make sure that captain Krieger knows that were going back with you to your village. With getting ready and such, we should be able to leave either by tonight, or early next morning."
The couple looked at her, in pure shock, before they allowed matching, weary smiles on their faces. "Thank you." The man said, his stern expression sliding away.
She smiled back at them, before looking to her friends. "Well, we should finish eating, before this gets any colder." Turning back to them, she looked at the man and woman. "Would you like to join us?"
Still smiling, they nodded, and pulled up chairs to the table, and once again, they resumed eating. Just as Maria was about to dig into her food, she stopped, glancing around the table. "What happened to-"
"Sorry I took so long everyone!" Felix shouted, as she ran down the stairs. "That stupid overgrown squid in the washrooms tried to turn me into cat food, and I had…to…" As she approached the table, she stopped talking, as she finally approached the table, and saw who was sitting there.
The couple looked back at her, mildly shocked and confused. "Felix?" The woman asked. The man, just as surprised at his wife, stared at her. "But if you're here, then that means-"
The bell tinkled for the second time that morning, as Rayne walked into the inn. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, there was just-"
The knight stopped moving, as she caught sight of the people at the table. They switched their gazes from Felix to Rayne, and their own mouths hung open. "Rayne!?" They gasped, looking at her, wide eyed.
Rayne gaped, eyes wide open. Her friends were surprised to see her like that, as Rayne rarely ever lost her composure. And when she did, it wasn't like she was acting now. Rayne blinked hard, and moved her jaw, but no words came out. Finally, she closed her eyes, drew in a deep, ragged breath, and looked at the couple, no emotion in her chocolate amethyst eyes, as she said coldly-
"Hi Mom. Hi dad."
-
So this is the first chapter so far. I hope you liked this, cause there gonnna be more.