Everything's Going To Be Alright
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: All of the characters and part of the dialogue property of Camelot.

CCX: And the reason I never went back to "A Quiet Night" after the game actually came out? Well, mostly it's because once I played the game, I was no longer on board that ship. ;-)

"That howl came from near the tower! It was Volechek, I'm certain."

"Sveta…" Karis tried to comfort her, but it was of no use.

"Volechek! VOLECHEK!" the catgirl cried. "Volechek…"

"Sveta, there's nothing you can do for him now. Come inside. It's cold out here…"

Sveta shook her head, and Karis frowned. Then Sveta heard a voice in her head. "Sveta… Dear sister…"

"Volechek!"

There atop the tower was her brother, the king of Morgal. "Forgive me for being such a fool. Those Tuaparang scum used me, and I didn't see it until it was too late."

"Of course I forgive you…" Sveta replied.

Volechek held up a blue orb and tossed it over to Sveta. "Take this. I stole it from Blados—hopefully you can use it as a weapon against the Tuaparang."

"Where are you going? You can't stay in Belinsk!" Sveta protested.

"Where can I go but here?"

"Come with us!"

"I am king of Morgal. I cannot leave our capital when my own misjudgment may have destroyed it."

"Then I will stay with you."

Volechek shook his head. "No, dear sister. I am the king, and you are the last of our line. My duty is to stay… Yours is to live."

"No! I refuse! Dock the boat and let me off!"

"Good-bye, Sveta. I pray you live a long and happy life." Volechek turned and entered the Eclipse Tower.

"…Good-bye, Volechek."

Sveta just stood there for awhile, looking back at Belinsk as it faded out of view. "Come inside," Karis repeated. "There's no use worrying about it. What's done is done. Your brother is a strong warrior, right?"

"Right…" Sveta allowed.

"And we were able to fight off those monsters, even if it wasn't easy. So if anyone could survive in that city after it's been overrun by those monsters, it would be him. The best thing we can do is try to find a way to stop this eclipse so that Belinsk can start the healing process." Karis led her into the cabin.

"Yeah…you're right. I just wish there was something more I could do."

"What you have to do now is stay strong. I…I know it can't be easy for you. Losing someone you care about, being powerless to stop it…"

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"The circumstances were different. But yeah…I don't know if your situation is better or worse. You don't actually know what will happen to Volechek; you at least have a chance to reunite with him, but at the same time, that unsureness can be worse than knowing that there's nothing that can save her."

"'Her'?"

"…"

"Who was it that you lost?"

"My mother. She fell ill about 9 years ago, and…it wasn't a quick and merciful death. It was slow and painful, and it was painful for my father and me to watch, as well."

"…My parents…"

"You don't need to talk about it. You already told us."

"R-right. But…you at least still have your father, and you also have such good friends to support you. I'm…all alone."

Karis smiled. "You have friends supporting you, too. You have all of us. Yeah, Tyrell can be a bit hardheaded at times, and Matthew doesn't really say much, but they're both good people, and if you ever need someone, you can always call on me. It will all work out, I promise."

"Thank you, Karis."

"No problem. Now, let's get some sleep. I'll be right here with you, okay?"

"Okay." The beastgirl began to strip.

"Oh, you…have other clothes with you? I kind of wish I'd had the foresight to bring more clothes with me…I should have realized that this would be a long journey, although I never imagined it would be this long."

Sveta looked quizzically at the girl. "Hmm? No, I didn't bring anything else with me…if anything, I'd have had even less reason to expect that I'd be getting caught up in a long journey than you would have."

"But…"

"I've always slept like this. And I'd think that especially if you didn't have any change of clothes, you wouldn't want to be sleeping in them."

"That's…a very valid point, but…hey, what are you doing?"

"I guess I understand why you might be reserved about it when you're sleeping at inns, where everyone's sharing a room, but it's just the two of us in here."

"So? That doesn't give you the right to undress me."

Sveta frowned. "Sorry. You're right."

"But, you do have a point." Karis finished getting undressed. "It's…not a big deal, if you see me naked." She got into bed.

Sveta climbed into the same bed. "Yeah. You're very pretty, you know that, Karis?"

"Thanks…wait, why are you in my bed?"

"…You said you'd be right there beside me."

"I said I'd be right here with you; I didn't…ah, forget it; go right ahead." Sveta snuggled up with her. "You're…very warm. And soft…"

Sveta grinned. "Hardly. My body is that of a warrior, lean and muscular. You're far lovelier a woman than I am."

Karis looked uncomfortable at this. "Ah…did I misspeak? But you are quite beautiful as well." She began to run her fingers through Sveta's long hair. "Your hair is gorgeous…and you have such pretty eyes."

Sveta blushed. "Thanks…normally I'd take it down to sleep, but back at the castle, I had multiple assistants to help braid it every morning."

"I'd gladly help."

"Multiple assistants," Sveta repeated. "It probably could be done—I could probably even do it alone—but it would take a long time. You really think I'm pretty? Even though I look so different from you?"

"You don't look that different. A little furrier, perhaps, but still a very pretty girl." Without even thinking about it, Karis began stroking Sveta's back, which the beastgirl found very comforting. Sveta pressed herself closer to the green-haired girl. "Ah…"

"Thank you…Karis…"

Tyrell yawned. "So I guess we made it?" Matthew merely groaned in response; the five male members of the party had spent the night out on the deck. "Between the monsters and the storm, I thought we'd had it."

"We appear to be basically safe and sound," Rief replied.

"I confess I was hoping to wake up in the palace of Ayuthay," said Amiti, "I suppose my old life was the dream, though."

"Yeah, guess so. Kind of a rude wake-up call, eh?" Eoleo replied.

"Ah, excellent. You are all awake at last." Kraden, the elderly scholar, had spent the night in another cabin, as he would have been of no help fending off monster attacks. He exited onto the deck, followed by Karis.

"Sorry to interrupt, everyone, but we can't just lie around anymore. Get up!" she said.

Matthew seemed to be in shock. "Oof. So stiff…" Tyrell whined.

Rief was also in pain. "Ow…"

"Are you certain we are ready?" Amiti asked.

"Maybe not," replied Eoleo, "but what else are we gonna do?"

"Good morning, everyone," Sveta said, joining them on the deck. Matthew was surprised to see her looking so well, given the condition she'd been in the previous night.

"Oh, hey, Sveta," Tyrell said.

"I'm glad to see you're alright, Sveta," Rief said.

Amiti commented, "You look remarkably well, Sveta."

"All right? You look like nothing happened!" Eoleo said. Sveta glared at him, a blush coming to her face. "And hey—did you say it's time to get up? Do we know something?"

Karis and Sveta looked nervously at each other, and Sveta held up the Blue Orb. "Ah, is that the item that King Volechek threw to Sveta?" Rief asked.

"He made it sound extremely important," Amiti said.

"So what's the deal with it?" Tyrell asked.

Kraden replied, "At this point…we are still unsure what it is."

"Wait a minute! I thought you knew everything, Kraden!"

Rief seemed worried. "If Kraden can't identify it…"

"I cannot believe it," Amiti agreed.

"You're kidding, right?" Eoleo asked.

Karis got angry at them. "Hey—we only have the item itself to work with! It's not a lot to go on, you know!" Matthew seemed understanding, which Karis thanked him for.

"The item is ancient and presumably valuable," Kraden said, "but that alone is not enough to go on. We also know that Volechek risked his life to keep it out of our enemies' hands. Volechek also described it as a 'weapon', though it's still unclear what he meant."

"So what do we do now?" Rief asked.

"What have you learned while we were apart, Rief?" Kraden replied. Rief merely echoed his question. "Karis tells me that you've had quite the journey around the world before arriving in Belinsk. You've restarted Alchemy Machines and traversed Craggy Peak. I couldn't have done those things. Your accomplishments speak volumes of your determination and skill, as well as teamwork."

"Yes, I suppose you're right…"

"Ultimately, I study only the long past, which does nothing to answer questions on its own. So what will answer our questions? Your travels have granted you experience, the true knowledge."

"You're saying we have to figure out what to do ourselves and can't wait for you to tell us," Karis said.

"More or less. Though I certainly won't abandon you. Let's look for answers together."

"Well, you know my vote is always for doing stuff, not standing around talking about it," Tyrell opined.

Though Kraden's face looked angry, he replied, "And that may actually be our wisest course."

"Really?"

"Indeed. Sometimes the surest path to knowledge is simply to start moving."

"So are we done with this discussion?" Amiti asked.

"Almost. I did want to bring up that the tower's activation seemed to have been somehow preset eons ago."

"That's what that Ward machine in the tower said too," Sveta said.

"Somehow the ancients knew we were coming, like a prophecy," Karis said.

"That masked man claimed this was only the beginning," Amiti said.

"Yeah," agreed Rief, "Arcanus also said we'd meet again, and soon."

"'But know this—opening the seal on this dread machine was only the beginning. I look forward to our next meeting. Until then, farewell.' That's what he said," Karis said.

"Hmm…I suspected as much," Kraden said. The others seemed shocked. "Up until now, we have done exactly as our enemies have expected."

"Yeah, we've been a step behind the whole way…even Dad," Eoleo said, "I'm gonna make them pay for that, though."

"I think it's fair to say you'll have that chance, Eoleo," Kraden replied. "You've led well to this point, Matthew, so I see no reason to change that arrangement." Everyone agreed, and Kraden suggested that they find some land that overlaps the edge of the eclipse and viewed it from the outside, and also to talk to local leaders.

Afterwards, Sveta went up to Matthew. "You should also know, Matthew, that my Spirit Sense can look into people's hearts." She blushed. "You may find it useful, so don't hesitate to ask me to use it. Matthew nodded and mumbled something. "What was that? Oh, you want to know why I'm not sad anymore? Well, it's…I don't really want to get into the details, but I guess it's because with my family possibly all gone—with all of Morgal in danger due to that eclipse—I was feeling like I was all alone, and now…I know that's not true. I will…never be alone again. It's not going to be easy, but somehow I know…everything's going to be alright."

CCX: Transcribing the long conversation wasn't exactly the most fun part, but I think it was worth it. Really, seeing Karis showing the most concern for Sveta when talking to everyone before the boat left and even during the scene with Volechek, and then seeing Karis and Sveta refreshed the next morning while the other characters were all worn out and Sveta blushing when Eoleo pointed out that it was as if nothing happened, was the point where I abandoned the Dawnship and became a Stormshipper (or Zephyrshipper, if you prefer...which I don't.). I even left a separate save file at the point right before the ship left on my second playthrough so that I'd be able to write this. Haha…so there you have it.