A/N: Hello, Rockman here. This fanfic is actually the rehash of Guile: Origins by impmontamer03. However, he lets me handle it. He is busy while I need some ideas to start writing for my favorite character (Guile), so it's kind of a fair trade.

Original plot and concepts are created by impmontamer03. I'm only writing based on his summary of this fanfic. And of course, I don't own Chrono Cross.

1011 AD, Magic Guild

"Mommy!" a teary-eyed Adela Steel screamed, watching Wanda Steel's back hitting the ground beside Viktor Steel's charred corpse. "No, don't leave me! I'll be all alone!"

No answer. Wanda remained motionless on the cracked ceramic floor. Her eyes were shut. Threads of smoke were coming out of her scorched body.

"Mommy…" Adela turned away from Wanda and looked at the group of men in black robes and hoods. "Why? Why did you kill Dad and Mom?"

"We're just obeying our boss, kiddo," one of the men replied. "Our boss asked us to attack everybody in this house to test his presumption about his experiment."

"Experiment?"

"First of all, your parents are trying to ruin his work!" the man snapped, pointing over Adela's head. "Our boss has never trapped Guile inside a big lump of ice!"

Adela turned to see a huge block of ice, in which a tall, muscular man rested.

"My big bro?" She blinked. "Dad just said that he was dead and then revived with dark magic. Now, he's sleeping peacefully, and Dad told me to never wake him up."

"Well, of course. Your dad is afraid that he'll be very wild." With a hand, the black mage picked Adela up by her neck. "But we'll wake him up to confirm our boss' theory."

"No!" Adela cried out.

As cold vapor gathered on his free hand, the black mage muttered, "He's your big brother right?"

"W-why?" Adela asked, beads of sweat trickling down her temple. She had a bad feeling about this, especially after seeing a slim, pointy icicle forming in the man's free hand.

"Our boss theorizes that strong family tie or friendship can suppress his dark side." The man raised the icicle, its sharp point sparkling in the sun.

"No! Don't!" Adela wailed, bawling aloud whilst kicking the empty air wildly. "STOP!"

CRACK!

"Huh?" the black mage shifted his glance and released Adela from his grip.

"It's Guile!" the other wizards shouted from behind. "He's gonna wake up!"

"Really?" the black mage walked past Adela. "Let's see."

Adela's gaze followed the black mage, culminating in an amazing view. A pair of tiny green fireballs was glowing within a cracked solid ice block.

Soon, fissures spread across the slab of ice and…

CRASH!

The huge block of ice shattered, sending shards of frost shooting everywhere.

"What the… Waaah!" the black mage screamed in pain as an icicle pierced his torso.

CHAPTER 1: Because We Are Family

Guile walked out of the ice fragments and over the fallen mage's corpse.

Wiping her tears, Adela smiled. With her big brother around, she wouldn't suffer the same fate as her parents. Although it was sad to know that Guile was no longer resting in peace, at least, Adela wouldn't lose her life to the black mages. She was sure of it because of his scarred face, which consisted of missing eyebrows and a large patch of reddish brown skin around his eyes; such marred look indicated that he was a tough man.

"He's awake," one of the wizards spoke. "Let's test his strength."

"Gotcha!" The remaining men in black raised their hands, conjuring fireballs over their palms.

As Guile walked past her, Adela stood up and ran further back to the ruined stone wall. She knew that her power was nothing compared to those senior black mages, so she had better stay away from the fight. She would only watch the battle and lend a hand if needed, although she wouldn't be of much help.

A barrage of fireballs came to Guile, exploding violently as the burning orbs hit his body.

"Big Bro!" Adela called out, rubbing the dust out of her eyes.

The smoke cleared, revealing good news to Adela. Guile was standing firm; the cross-shaped scar on his back was perfectly unscathed.

Within a split-second, Guile dashed towards the cohort of black mages. He grabbed one of them by the head and threw the warlock into another one.

Their skulls slammed against each other. The collision resulted in blood trickling down their faces and their loss of consciousness.

Guile continued his assault with a spin kick. The impact sent two mages smashing into the ruined stone wall and knocked them out upon the crash.

The other wizards were now staring at him with widening eyes and ajar mouths, terrified. Unfortunately, they didn't know that it was just the beginning of Guile's melee advance.

Guile hailed the mages with a torrent of uppercuts, straights, and hooks. Snaps and cracks resounded as his knuckles hit the mages' bodies.

Moments later, he stopped his assault and remained still. What was left was bruised and battered mages with bloody noses and lips. They were all lying on the ground, either writhing in pain with their hands on their stomachs or completely unconscious.

However, he had missed one mage.

Standing in front of Guile, the last sorcerer said, "Amazing. You're really strong."

Without answering, Guile delivered a bone-crushing straight to the black mage's face. His blow sent blood gushing out of the wizard's nose and knocked him down to a sitting position.

"Why did you attack us?" Guile muttered, readying himself to cast a spell by raising a hand.

Covering his bleeding nose with both of his hands, the black mage replied in a muffled voice, "Our boss wanted to confirm his theory."

"What do you mean?"

"Sir Franken wonders if strong family tie can suppress your dark side. Then, he wants us to test your power."

At this, Guile lowered his hand and remained still for a few moments.

Guile's reaction sparked some questions in Adela's mind. Was he trying to spare the mages because they were Franken's men? If yes, why? Franken didn't deserve any mercy because he was responsible for her parents' and her big brother's death.

Guile's following action answered her questions. He roared and raised his hands, conjuring a gigantic sphere of flame above his palms. It was clear that he was going to kill the black mages.

"You're working for that murderer, aren't you?" Guile squatted a bit and hurled the torching orb at the mage. "Be gone!"

A loud boom echoed as the sphere hit the ground and detonated. The explosion sent thick black smoke enveloping the ruined building, choking Adela and obscuring her vision.

Coughing whilst rubbing her eyes, she slowly walked ahead, hoping to reunite with Guile.

As the stench of scorched ground and charred flesh dissipated, she stopped coughing and opened her eyes. She stood in front of Guile and muttered, "Big Bro."

Guile turned, shocking Adela with the injuries on his torso. Blisters, rashes, and peeling skin were scattered across his body.

"Oh, no!" Adela latched into Guile's scalded stomach and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're hurt!" She sobbed into his lean, yet stacked abdomen.

Soon, she felt a warm touch on her head. She looked up to find that a smiling Guile had placed a massive palm of his on her skull.

"I'm fine, Adela. I can heal myself." He suddenly gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, furrowing his marred brow.

"Huh?"

Glaring fiercely ahead, Guile roared. As he did, his peeling skin flaked off and fell to the ground. The rash and the blisters on his body shrunk as well. It only took a few seconds until his torso regained its color.

"See?" Guile looked at Adela. "I'm fine."

"Big Bro…" Adela glanced at Guile tearfully. "Dad told me to never wake you up…but you just woke up to save me. I feel bad."

Guile smiled. "Think nothing of it, Adela. We're family."

"Big Bro, don't leave me, okay?" Adela said, looking into Guile's fluorescent green eyes. "Mom and Dad are gone. Those mages killed them."

At this, Guile gritted his teeth and growled.

"Huh?"

Guile released Adela and began looking around.

All of a sudden, he dashed past Adela. Kneeling before Viktor's and Wanda's scorched, motionless bodies, Guile screamed, "No… No!" He slammed his fists onto the floor, sending small chunks of ceramic flying to the sides. "Franken, you murderer! You'll pay for this!"

1011 AD, Franken's Base

With a batch of documents in his hands, Franken Steel sat on a recliner, leaning against the comfy backrest of the chair.

Humming, Franken stared at the wall of text on the sheets of paper he was holding. Soon, he put the documents down on the desk and let out a bored sigh. He had been hoping to know how to minimize the disadvantages of the Metalcraft necromancy he used on Guile, but his read earlier didn't mention anything about that. The record only informed something that he had learned through his logic, which was a waste. Of course, who didn't know that someone with titanium bones had enhanced durability and physical strength while retaining good mobility?

He leant back and rested his head on his hands. Now, all he could do was waiting for his men to report whatever they found about Guile. Hopefully, his guess was correct; Guile fended off his men to protect Adela, Guile's little sister.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in."

With a click and a creak, the door opened. A tall and slender man with a long black ponytail stepped in. Behind him, a short man in a tattered black robe followed, clutching his bleeding head with a hand.

"Ah, Gonzales," Franken began. "Did your men find anything?"

Gonzales Quicksilver stepped aside and patted the mage's back with a hand. "Tell him what you and the others found."

"Sir, Guile woke up when we tried to harm that girl. He fought for her and defeated us easily. Out of the twenty mages you sent, only two survived, including me. Thomas said that he would return after having his injuries treated by the local white mage."

Franken smiled. "Good. Anything else?"

"When we raided that house, we killed the girl's parents."

"You killed them?" Franken asked in a low, rumbling voice. "You killed…Viktor Steel?"

The mage nodded.

At this, Franken's eyes widened as a vision of his life as a homeless child along with Viktor and Stein materialized in his mind.

985 AD, Medina

"Aw, man. I'm hungry," a nine-year-old Franken whined, shuffling through the mound of rubbish with his tiny hands in the alley. "Why is it that hard to find a job? I'm nine, but I can work just well, just like my fifteen-year-old bro!"

"Relax, bro," a calm voice called out. "Let's just wait for Viktor."

"You can't rely forever on the others, Stein," Franken muttered, throwing away the empty can he had just salvaged. As the metallic object hit the ground, he turned to see a boy in a ragged white t-shirt and shorts sitting on the ground and leaning against the brick wall. "You'd better join me."

Stein Steel closed his eyes and yawned. "What for?"

"To find food!"

"Nah, good food doesn't exist amidst rubbish." Stein opened a droopy eye to steal a glance at Franken. "Better wait for Viktor."

Franken ran towards Stein and grabbed him by his collar. As their foreheads collided with each other, Franken snapped, "Idiot! When you don't have money, spoiled food is better than nothing!"

Stein smiled. "It's more troublesome if you get a stomachache."

"I won't! I'm used to eating spoiled food!"

All of a sudden, a voice called out to them, "Hey, stop fighting! If you don't, I won't give you anything."

Franken released Stein and turned around. A skinny teenage boy was walking towards them with three paper bags in his embrace.

"Viktor?" Franken asked.

Stein followed from behind, "You bring food?"

"Yeah, today is a lucky day." Viktor sat on the ground. "Take one, each of you."

Franken picked one of the bags up with a hand.

At the same time, he saw Stein taking a sack as well. He frowned at this, since he wished that a lazy bone like Stein didn't deserve any food. However, he wouldn't complain; he was afraid that he might start a fight with Viktor, which might lead to him having his lunch confiscated as a punishment.

Sitting on the ground, he peeked into the paper bag. As he did, he held back his desire to salivate. The fragrance coming from a piece of bread and several thin strips of smoked beef in it was strong.

Looking up to his right side, Franken inquired, "Where did you get this?"

"From the inn," Viktor answered; his voice was muffled thanks to the bread in his mouth. "The dishwasher was sick, so I offered to be his substitute. Things went well, so I got some money."

"And you bought these?" Franken questioned.

Viktor swallowed. "No, the money I got was only enough to cover our lunch for today, so…I pleaded like a beggar."

"You had to do that?" Franken asked, his hands wavering. He thought that Viktor had gone a bit too far. "D-don't you feel low?"

"Why does it matter?" Viktor sneered. "I'll do anything to keep you fed. It's my job as a big brother." He chuckled. "Well, at least, the innkeeper is a nice guy. He feels for us, so he doesn't mind if we take their leftovers."

1011 AD, Franken's Base

"Sir?"

That calling disrupted Franken's train of thoughts. Now, what was in his sight was an injured mage standing beside Gonzales.

Looking at the mage's face roused his will to kill. His big brother was dead because of that stupid wizard.

"You bastard!" Franken snapped, pointing at the mage. "Why did you kill my big brother? No one asked you to!" As his index finger emitted blue radiance, he yelled, "Go to hell, you idiot!"

A slim beam of blue light headed towards the mage and pierced through his forehead. Blood gushed out from his gaping wound as his lifeless body fell flat on its back.

"No, this can't be…" Franken stared at his wooden desk vacantly. "Viktor…" He held his head and screamed, "NO!"

Silence.

"Hey, Franken," Gonzales suddenly called out.

Franken released his head and looked at Gonzales with a pair of droopy eyes. "Leave me alone, Gonzales."

"But Franken, since we've known the nature of Metalcraft creatures, why don't we continue with our mission?"

"Mission?"

"You remember? We're planning create an army of Metalcraft creatures to kill Stein, right?" Gonzales chuckled. "Once Stein is dead, you'll become the leader of Magic Guild."

Franken's frown turned into a faint smile. "Oh, I remember now," he began. "Gonzales, invite your good friends to be converted into Metalcraft creatures. Don't worry; once I'm on the top, I'll reward you."

"I'm fine with that, Franken." Gonzales winked and gave a thumbs-up, before turning away. "Just remember to keep your promise."

"Wait."

Gonzales turned. "Huh?"

"Have some mages scout Stein's defensive forces too," Franken said. "That'll make our job easier."

1011 AD, Magic Guild Cemetery

Guile put the shovel down and began collecting some rocks on the ground beneath him.

Adela stood behind him, watching him crouching and placing the stones on the protruding soil; their parents' graves. For Adela, it was a letdown to know that they didn't have any headstones, unlike the majority of the graves on the burial ground. However, there was just no choice; it was impossible to purchase fancy tombstones in such condition. Their house was no more. Their parents died in an unexpected incident. Her big brother had just returned from the dead. She was just twelve.

Another thought bothered her. Viktor told her that Franken killed her big brother and experimented on his body, which led to his transformation to Guile. So this meant that Franken might steal her parents' corpses and experiment on them.

"Big Bro," she called.

Guile rose to a standing position and turned to her, blinking whilst sporting an emotionless face.

"Do you think Uncle Franken will steal their bodies and experiment on them?"

Guile shook his head.

"Why?"

Guile remained silent for a moment, before replying, "Family ties."

"Huh?"

"Father and mother don't like Uncle Franken," Guile said. "If he experiments on their bodies, they'll fight back."

"So it's safe to leave them here?"

Guile nodded.

"Ah, okay."

Without saying anything, Guile walked towards and past Adela.

"Big Bro?"

Guile stopped.

"Where are you going?"

"To Uncle Franken," Guile muttered. "He must pay for everything he has done." He paused. "You shouldn't follow me, Adela."

"But…" Adela ran towards Guile and wrapped her small arms around his narrow waist. "No! I don't wanna be alone!"

Guile looked at Adela and put a hand on her head, smiling slightly. "Adela, Uncle Franken is a dangerous man. If you follow me, you may end up like our parents and me."

"I don't care!" Adela shouted, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'll do whatever it takes to stay with you! I'm still young, but I'll study hard so that I can be a great mage much faster to help you!"

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard. " Guile's thumb shuffled through Adela's short black hair. "I'll return once I've dispatched Uncle Franken, so…just wait for me."

"You sure?"

Guile nodded.

"Okay," Adela muttered, but she soon raised the volume of her voice. "It's a promise! I don't wanna be alone!"

Guile nodded again, before letting go of Adela's head and turning away. "I'll find a safe place for you."

"Where?"

"Uh, I have no idea," Guile murmured. "Let's just keep walking. I'm certain that there's such place here."

"Okay."

With that, they set off.

1011 AD, Outskirts of Magic Guild

The sun was glowing intensely in the cerulean sky, providing heat and enlightenment for everything on the earth below. It had sent slanted rays shuffling through the canopy of trees at the outskirts of Magic Guild.

Adela stood by Guile's right side, scanning the environment as she walked. The trail between the graveyard and the town district had nothing interesting. There were only clusters of trees surrounding the dry, uneven dirt lane.

Soon, the cracked earthen trail shifted to a solid concrete path. They might soon arrive at Magic Guild.

However, as they walked, a forked lane caught Guile's interest. He stopped at the junction and turned to see where the branch led to.

This act prompted Adela to stop as well. Looking at Guile, she asked, "Big Bro?"

Guile remained silent whilst looking ahead.

Adela shifted her attention to the direction Guile was facing. What had caught Guile's interest?

A mansion. At the distance, a manor loomed within a set of spear-shaped metal fence. In front of the building's gate, two silhouettes of hooded men stood, leaning against the iron rail.

"This is Uncle Stein's Arcane Mansion," Adela began. "Since he became the leader of Magic Guild, he lived here."

Without saying anything, Guile walked along the stone path, heading to the manor.

Joining Guile on the walk, Adela asked, "Why are you going there?"

"Uncle Stein… I'm certain that he will let you stay with him."

Adela raised an eyebrow. "No way! He's already the big guy here! He won't let me stay with him."

"He will," Guile muttered. "He's part of our family."

"You don't make any sense!"

"I do," Guile replied calmly. "To be part of a family means to never leave anybody behind. Father taught us that."

Hearing that, Adela smiled weakly. Guile was right, and if he were correct, Stein should let her stay…unless Stein forgot about their family ties.

Silence crept into the environment as they walked. There was no wind to blow the leaves on the trees surrounding the path. The only noises around were the sounds of light footsteps…

Crack!

There seemed to be an uninvited guest around.

At this, Adela stopped walking to see Guile looking at his right side with his hands clenched. She could guess what was in his mind right now, so she paid attention at the direction Guile was facing.

A man in a black long coat with a staff in his right hand was crouching on a stout branch of a tree. He was oblivious to her and Guile's presence; his attention was only at the mansion.

The man was indeed, suspicious. Was he a spy?

Guile probably shared the same feeling with her. He appeared to have known what to do though. He pointed at the man with a glowing index finger.

Whoosh!

A beam of pure white energy ripped through the air and pierced the man's head. The attack left a charred hole on his temple and knocked him off perch.

The man landed on the ground with a thud, sending dust and broken twigs into the air.

The mess had attracted someone else into the scene. A man adorned in a black robe suddenly leapt out of the clusters of trees and landed before Guile and Adela.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing? We're just looking at the mansion!" the man snapped.

"What for?" Guile asked.

The man gritted his teeth; he didn't know how to answer Guile.

"Staring at a mansion earns you nothing good." Guile pointed at the man, blue light emanating from his index finger.

Whoosh!

"You think that'll work on me?" The man leapt to his left side, dodging the beam of light entirely. "You killed my friend with that, so I knew about it." He pulled both of his hands back, as if he were going to push something.

Guile didn't seem to care about the man's stance. He simply rushed with his fists ready.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man let out a mischievous grin as he thrust his arms.

A loud scream escaped from Guile's mouth as he tumbled backwards with a thud.

"Big bro!" Adela shouted, her eyes widening in worry as she looked at a wincing and breathless Guile. "But how? I don't see anything like fireballs. What have you done to him?"

"Look at the space between me and him, kid."

Adela's gaze dropped down to the ground between Guile and the man. She was still unsure of what had hurt Guile, but it might be related to the fissures she spotted on the concrete trail.

"I bet a kid like you doesn't know anything." The man shrugged. "I specialize in creating invisible shock waves."

Adela raised her head and blinked. "Shock waves?"

"It breaks solid objects." He glanced at Guile. "Like bones."

Suddenly, Guile growled and slowly raised his trembling right hand.

"That won't work, buddy." The man leapt into the air and landed his foot on Guile's right wrist. The impact locked his arm to the ground and brought about a snap.

However, Guile hadn't given up. He slowly raised his quivering left hand.

But he didn't manage to turn the table. The man quickly stepped on his left wrist with his other foot.

The man grinned at the helpless and defenseless Guile.

Seeing the man pulling back both of his hands, Adela could feel fear enveloping her mind. The man's stance indicated that he would soon kill her big brother.

This meant that she might soon be alone.

With tears welling in her widened eyes, she screamed, "No! Stop it!"

The man turned to Adela. "Why should I? This man killed my friend for no good reason."

"No! He attacked your friend because…he thought that you were spying the mansion!"

"What the…" The man stared at Adela and raised his right fist. "You're Stein's allies, aren't you? Then die!"

The man brought down his right hand, as if he were about to pound the ground with it. Cracks resounded as fissures traveled along the earth towards Adela.

Adela quickly leapt to the right. Unfortunately, she was clumsy. She fell on her right side with a thud. But that wasn't the worst of all. She could feel sharp pain jolting from her left leg.

"The next one will both kill you." The man jumped up high into the air. Airborne, he raised both of his hands.

Seeing this, Adela tried to get up, but to no avail. She couldn't move her left leg.

It appeared that her end was in sight. With this in mind, she closed her eyes, ready to accept death…

But the spell never came.

Instead, a painful scream amidst numerous loud booms was audible.

Adela opened her eyes. From what she saw, she could determine that she was safe. A barrage of fireballs was hailing the man. Each collision between the blazing sphere and him produced an explosion of orange flame and thick black smoke.

Adela knew that her brother should be the one who was attacking the man. She looked down to confirm if she were correct.

Right. Guile was punching rapidly at the man's direction. Each thrust of his arm launched a fireball into the air.

Soon, Guile stopped bombarding the man with fiery spheres. Putting down his hands, he snapped, "Never hurt my little sister!"

The man's smoldering body went limp before dropping down like a rock. It landed stomach first on Guile's torso.

It was over.

Adela smiled, knowing that her big brother was victorious. He might sustain broken bones like what that man said earlier, but that didn't matter. Guile being alive was the most important of all.

Grunting, Guile shoved the man's body away with both of his hands.

Palms on the ground, Guile tried to push himself up to a sitting position. Unfortunately, he soon fell back. He remained still, wincing and gasping for breath.

"Big bro!" Adela shouted. She supported herself with both of her hands to get up, but she failed. Her left leg hurt and prevented her from standing up.

At this, she sat still and tried to think what she should do to ease Guile's pain. Hmm, a healing spell might help.

Reaching out her hands, she uttered, "Cure!"

Blue sparkling particles rose from the ground as cobalt light engulfed Guile's body.

As the radiance faded, nothing seemed to have changed. Guile was still wincing.

"It didn't work?" Adela asked.

"You can't heal me like that," Guile replied, frowning. "Healing spells only work on living objects."

"But why can't I heal you? You're alive, right?"

"I'm already dead, Adela. I look alive outside, but I've died inside. My bones are made of metal."

"Then I'll find a blacksmith to fix them!" Adela pushed herself up to a standing position with her palms; however, her left leg faltered. She fell flat on her bottom soon after.

"Adela, heal yourself first. You can't go on with a broken leg."

Adela nodded and placed a hand on her left leg. Soothing coolness crept along her limb as blue light engulfed her leg, easing the pain.

She stood up, but she had to bend her left knee to feel less painful. Her healing spell wasn't strong enough to completely heal her broken bones.

However, that wasn't the most pressing problem. What mattered more was Guile's life. If he truly died, she would be all alone.

Adela turned and limped forward to the mansion's gate. Walking wasn't easy with an injured leg, but she had to move on. She wouldn't be able to save her big brother if she remained still to moan about her injuries.

She toiled on to the manor's entrance. What she needed now was calling the two guards she saw earlier…

That would be hard. The guards were fast asleep, snoring as they breathed.

Adela walked towards one of the mages. Placing her hands on the man's shoulder and shaking him, she called out, "Mister."

No answer.

At this, Adela shifted her attention to the other man and called out to him. Unfortunately, she earned no response.

Despite these, she wouldn't give up. Looking at the iron fence, she had an idea. She could fly over it, and once she was inside, she would have better chances of receiving help.

She flicked her feet, but her left foot jolted her entire leg with a sharp pain. She fell to the ground soon after.

"No, you don't have to go inside."

Huh? Who said that? As she knew, the guards were still sleeping, while Guile was far from her.

But she was curious. Sitting still on the ground, she turned, and saw Guile lying on his stomach with his head raised.

"H-how can you get here?"

"I crawled."

"Why?"

"I knew that you would have difficulties finding help here."

"How do you know?"

"Simple. I had known that the guards were asleep before I came here. They didn't react when that mage attacked us."

"So?"

"Somebody had either killed or cast a sleep spell on them." Guile paused. "But they aren't dead. They can still snore." He smiled. "All we need is just dispelling the sleep spell."

Dispelling the sleep spell… That wasn't hard to do.

Adela stretched her right arm, her palm facing the sleeping man on her left side. As the word 'purify' escaped from her lips, the man's body glowed with white light.

Soon, the radiance faded. The man opened his eyes and shook his head.

"Mister, help us."

"Huh?" the man uttered, rubbing his eyes with a hand. "You look familiar…or maybe sleeping too long has affected my brain."

"I'm Adela Steel. I know the owner of this house. He's my uncle."

"Steel… Steel…" The man scratched his head. "Hmm, now I know why you look familiar. You're related to Sir Stein Steel, right?"

Adela nodded.

"She's Sir Stein's niece!" another man's voice butted in. "And this guy is… Uh, if he hasn't had those scars and glowing eyes, I must've mistaken him as Alf Shadow."

"Alf Shadow? Sir Viktor's foster child?"

Adela smiled. "This man is my big bro. Dad said that he had died, but Uncle Franken revived him with dark magic."

"You mean this guy is…Alf?"

Adela nodded.

The guards chuckled. "Guess this is a family reunion, huh?" They grinned at Adela and Guile. "We'll take you inside."

"Yay! Thanks, mister!" Adela nodded and turned to Guile. At this, her jaw dropped as she saw Guile bowing down. It was weird. This was a happy situation, yet he seemed to be sad? Or did his broken bones hurt so badly?

"Big bro?"

No answer.

"You okay?"

Guile raised his head. "My apologies. When I heard the name 'Alf Shadow,' I just remembered something." He paused. "I was once known as…Alf Shadow."