Tir led his friends up the stairs. He stopped for a moment, making sure everyone was still together. Luikan was falling behind. Viktor walked back towards him and helped him walk faster. The prison was depressing. Tir looked at his protector Gremio, a sinister feeling began building in the bottom of his stomach. 'Maybe Viktor was right…maybe Gremio shouldn't have come,' he thought. He pushed the thoughts away.
The group moved ahead and the feeling returned as they neared a room. They all walked in and Tir frowned once he saw Milich in the corner of the room. The door was already closed behind them. Milich grinned sinisterly.
"Oh, we meet again," he said, smiling directly at Tir. Viktor growled. "I dropped by to take a look after hearing that some rats sneaked in, and it turns out to be you." Viktor took a threatening step forward.
"Good timing. Let's fight it out right here. We'll save some time this way," he said gruffly. Milich replied with a small laugh.
"My my, how barbarous. I'm not that bad with a sword, but right now I'm not in the mood. So I'll give you this instead," Milich pulled out a blue bottle. Tir instinctively took a step back, running into Cleo.
"Can you see what this is? It's a bottle." Flik rolled his eyes at Milich's condescending comment. "This bottle is filled with the Spores of Agony. Aren't they beautiful? It took a lot of work to fill this bottle. Did you know that these spores eat humans? Man-eating spores they are," Milich quickly explained. Flik clenched his fists, glaring at the general.
"What! What do you plan to do with that stuff?" He asked. Tir didn't move. Flik had no reason to yell at someone who had a deadly weapon and was ready to use it against them.
"Why, I plan to do this, of course," Milich smiled as he threw the bottle to the ground, breaking it into thousands of pieces. A small cloud of yellow clung to the stone ground.
"Oh dear, the bottle's broken. You must hurry, or you'll be in big trouble," he smiled innocently. "By the way, that's a dead end, so there's not much you can do. Now if you'll excuse me…" He quickly ran out the other door. Viktor ran towards the door and pulled as hard as he could.
"Damn, it won't open. That Milich must have locked it. Run! They'll eat us!" He ran back over to the group. Gremio quickly ran over to the lever and pulled it, opening the door which they had entered. Everyone except Tir ran out into the hallway. Tir stared at Gremio, realizing what was about to happen.
"Young Master, the door! Hurry!" Gremio quickly pushed Tir out the door and shut the door. Tir turned around and stared at the door that Gremio had closed.
"My god! Gremio! Come on out! What are you doing? Hurry!" Viktor shouted. He shoved his way through the group and past Tir and began banging on the door.
"Viktor. This door can only be opened and closed from this side," Gremio replied. The group realized what his statement meant. Gremio was going to die.
"What are you talking about? We'll get by somehow. So hurry up and come…" Viktor's voice trailed off. He was trying to keep from crying. His voice was shaking.
"No, it's too late. The spores are at my feet now, so if I open the door…" Gremio stopped speaking. Tir lunged forward, ramming into the door. He banged his fists on the door, letting his tears fall from his eyes and down his cheeks.
"Open the door, Gremio!" He cried, not wanting to allow his friend to sacrifice himself. Viktor stared at the young boy with sorrow and sympathy. Cleo and Pahn stepped forward, trying to calm they young boy down. Tir refused to keep from yelling. He opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by Gremio.
"Young Master, for once I refuse to do as you ask." Tir dropped to his knees. He kept hitting the door.
"This is an order, Gremio!" Tir shouted, hoping that Gremio would come running out. But the door didn't open. Cleo knelt down beside him and wrapped her arms around him.
"No Young Master…" Gremio's voice was weak. Viktor began crying softly and so did Cleo. Pahn continued to stare at the ground, obviously trying to hide his sadness from Tir.
"Young Master, can you hear me?" Tir looked up at the sound of Gremio's voice. "I'm sorry I can't protect you anymore. …But now that you've grown up, you no longer need my protection. Young Master…you make me proud. I wish Master Teo could see you now."
Tir listened to his friend speak. He knew that he was going to have to say goodbye soon by the way Gremio was speaking. His voice was softer than ever and he sounded like it hurt to speak. Cleo hugged Tir tighter, less for him and more for herself.
"Gremio…" Viktor managed to say. Tir looked over towards Viktor. He had never seen the man cry before. Not even when Odessa…
"Young Master." Tir's head whipped back towards the door. "I think it's time to say goodbye. I can't see anymore. Young Master, I'm proud of you. Promise me you'll always follow your heart. That is my first, and final…" Tir began crying again. He buried his face into Cleo's shoulder, unable to keep looking the way that Gremio was. "...Request…"
The silence following Gremio's final words didn't last long.
"Gremio!" Tir screamed, ripping himself away from Cleo and back up to his feet. "Gremio! Gremio! Gremio…" Cleo stood up and looked at Pahn and Viktor. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back at Tir, who was now banging on the door as hard as he could, tears pouring from his eyes. He kept mumbling Gremio's name, as if he believed that if he kept saying it, Gremio would come back.
Oh my god…this was so hard to write. I teared up about a thousand times…it still hurts…I just went through this in the game again and it still hurts…I hope I did the scene justice. I really loved Gremio…
I hope you all enjoy this. I used exact dialogue from the game up until Gremio's final word. And if you noticed, I used both of Tir's responses. :) May Gremio and this game live on forever in our hearts.