Ladius knew he was in more trouble than he was before when he left Grugund behind to prove his innocence. The first time, he forced an injury on his best friend which caused her to retreat. Thanks in large part to Ellis's medical history with his father; he was able to find peace that she would be fine. Now on the mountains separating his homeland from his newest allies stood the two former friends.
If Valeria could get any more angry at him, Sherufanir made it happen by blurting out that not only was she his soul mate, but also Yayoi who was completely taken back by the thought. By saying those two words, Valeria unleashed the fury of a woman all on poor Ladius who once again got into a situation he didn't mean to cause.
And here on the battlefield to decide the domination of the mountain stood two generals, one wanting to reason with the one with the spear, the other wanting the head of one with the sword. Add on to this that Ladius knew that if he went all out, he could seriously wound Valeria. On the opposite side of the spectrum, If he didn't get serious real quick, he would be the one getting hurt.
"How could you betray us just for some woman!?" Valeria shouted and thrusted her spear towards the head of Ladius.
"I didn't, please just listen!" Ladius responded and used his armored right arm to deflect the spearhead. Ladius gripped the handle of Valeria's spear and locked her in front of him.
"NEVER!" Valeria yelled in response. She moved her head back and did a headbutt. However the move did not do anything to the densest man to ever live, all it did was hurt the attacker.
Ladius released his handle on the spear and kicked Valeria back. She rolled a quite a few meters away where her generals and soldiers formed a perimeter around her.
"Ladius, get out of their!" Ellis shouted from a far bit away to her figurative son.
Ladius did not know why but he was a small ball of snow rolling in front of him to the right. "There's no snow on this slope. Wait." The spirit vessel darted his head to the mountain peak where his worse fears were happening, an avalanche. Ladius knew he needed to get out of here but a grunt came in front of him reminding him that Valeria was still in the game. The avalanche would swallow both of them up if either of them didn't move.
"Oh no, hold on." Ladius said under his breath and quickly took off his crimson armor. Zerva's instincts kicked in as he saw Ladius throwing his armor to the side.
"Ladius, what are you doing!?" Zerva shouted to his nephew who bolted thanks to the heavy armor off his body towards the cluster of enemy forces.
Ellis and Vira-Lorr were running away from approaching death as they saw Ladius moving without his armor running towards grouping on the other side of the smooth path. Ellis was terrified as to what the young man was thinking with the force of nature coming crashing down to where he was.
Ladius had his father's sword held behind him as with his arms as the first grunt noticed he was coming at greater speed. "He's coming!" Valeria looked up to see her former friend running towards the grouping but what puzzled her was the lack of armor.
One soldier began to run towards Ladius who quickstep to the left to avoid him altogether. Said soldier looked back but then quickly saw his doom. "Avalanche!"
Valeria wondered what the simpleton just said but her thought discarded that as Ladius used speed no one had ever seen before to bypass and get closer to the woman. Time slowed for the two as she saw Ladius had sheathed his blade and his eyes were at her hand but then shifted to the mountain top. Valeria tried to bring her spear up to attack Ladius but the man gripped her right hand tightly before changing his foot stance and began to turn.
"Hruh!" Ladius shouted and literally threw a fully grown woman off her feet and into a small crowd of his friends and teammates. He saw Valeria landed in front of Ellis as the high elf looked on at the man who just smiled before covering his face with his arms.
"LADIUS!" Ellis cried out as the operation had just drastically changed. Valeria quickly regained herself and saw the area she just was at now covered by moving snow.
"That idiot, where did he go…?" Valeria said and turned to see a high elf woman who looked like she was about to blow a casket.
"Ladius just sacrificed himself to save you from being buried in that avalanche AND YOU'RE CALLING HIM AN IDIOT!?" Ellis screamed as it took Zerva and Vira-Lorr to stop a berserk Ellis from tearing the face off of the woman in front of him.
Valeria was wondering what the woman was talking about. She turned to see the fallen's armor sitting not too far from her. Everything began to go like clockwork, the removal of the armor for greater speed, the sheathing of his blade and grabbing her hand instead of hurting her. Valeria began to walk forward which turned to a running as she stopped to pick up the red armor.
"No…" Valeria softly spoke as a tear came from her eyes, then another as they began to come down like a waterfall. "Ladius…"
It was Winfield of all people who walked over to the armor of the boy he trained and began to speak. "Ladius may not have ever told you this but I think you deserve to know." Winfield cleared his throat as the emotions began to overtake him. "When we left the capital, all he ever talked about aside from his whole destiny thing was how he wished that you wouldn't get hurt during this event. After your first fight, he felt terrible about what he did to you. Even as Yayoi and Sherufanir joined out party, he still only thought about you. You could say he loved you but situations and denseness prevented him from saying it."
"Love…" Valeria pondered on the word as she remembered that Ladius wasn't trying to harm during their fights instead trying to reason with her. Guilty crept into Valeria's being as it overtook her. Ladius's friends began plans to find the boy although they knew the chances of him surviving were slim.
Ladius opened his eyes and found almost complete darkness. Since he was still alive and kicking, he assumed he had fallen into a cavern of sort to escape the frozen death. He flicked his wrist and out came one of his few elemental uses of fire. As he thought, he had fallen into a cave.
"At least I escaped the avalanche." Ladius said and tried to rise to his feet, only for a tremendous pain to appear in his right ankle. "I twisted my ankle badly. This is not good." Ladius began to weight his options on the matter before him. "If I not add the tremendous cold of the snow, I could live for three days with anything." His chances of survival appeared very slim, if not impossible. Most likely his friends would search the snow but even then…
"I'm sorry mother, father, I made a mistake that might destroy that which you sacrificed yourselves for. I have failed you all…" Ladius said and laid himself against one of the walls in the cavern. A feeling of warmth started to come over the man but he extinguished his fire not too long ago. He closed his eyes to get some rest but they opened on their own to reveal…
"Ladius." A spiritual image of his mother, Fyuria, appeared in front of the wounded male. "You have not failed. If anything, you have set into motion an event that will help you reunited with your lost friend."
"Indeed, and we are not disappointed in you my boy." Ladius looked to his right to see his father, Leonhardt, sitting in front of him. "We are so proud of you for everything you have accomplished without us two guiding you. You have nothing to be ashamed of."
"But I acted without thinking of the results of my actions." Ladius sat as Fyuria sat down to next to her husband, in front of her son.
"But it is through your actions that you have proven that you are Ladius, you are not Leonhardt but your own person. Do not live in the shadow of your father, rise above him and prove that you are indeed the savior this world needs."
"She is right my son, you have the power to surpass both of us in every way. You just need to awaken it your blood and the power of the spirit vessel within." Leonhardt reached for Ladius's right hand as Fyuria his left. The three had their hands together with Ladius's in the middle. "Never give up, no matter the challenge before you. And know, that we will always love you."
"Father… mother…" Ladius finally broke down in tears in finally hearing the voices of his parents.
A light radiated from the palms of the family as strength began to course throw the veins of Ladius. Almost as soon as it began, it vanished along with his parents. Ladius wondered if it was just a hallucination but the tremendous power coursing through his body removed any doubt in his mind Ladius turned his attention to his right ankle which just by looking at it he could tell it still wasn't ready for walking.
"Never give up, no matter the challenge before you…" Ladius muttered the words of his father. He looked towards a path in the cave. He fell forward and hit the stone surface of the cave. Ladius began to slowly, but surely crawl in that direction. "I promised my parents…" Ladius threw one hand in front of him and dragged his dead weight forward. "That I would not give up… and I will not let them down…" Ladius threw his other hand out to continue the process.
Two days have passed since Ladius's disappearance and hopes were beginning to dwindle. Ellis entered into a state of depression of her failure to protect the child of Leonhardt. Zerva once again had to deal with the very real possibility of losing another close family member to this war. Yayoi silently was praying that somehow Ladius was still alive and that by some struck of luck. Sherufanir questioned that if she was not always the way she acted, if it would have changed the outcome.
But the worst came from Valeria.
Despite explicit orders to return to the capital after the loss of the battle, Valeria refused to admit to the possibility that Ladius have perished to save her from death and defied orders. She searched from sunrise to sunset for any signs of Ladius which all came up as empty. She knew he was out there somewhere; he just needed to be rescued by someone.
After a tiring second day of searching the mountain, Valeria returned to a camp where she and some of her more loyal soldiers stayed.
"General Valeria." An officer walked over to his commander and saluted.
"Yes…?" Valeria asked with her body showing signs of tiring.
"I have a message from Duke Halizen." The officer handed the letter to Valeria who quickly read the contents of it.
"That will be all, you are dismissed." Valeria turned and made for her tent. Reaching her tent, she closed the front part off and turned to face where her wooden desk sat but more importantly what sat on it. She walked over to the table and pulled up a chair and sat down. "Ladius, where are you…" Valeria stared at his red armor which she took with her after her army routed.
Ladius did not know how long it had been since he was trapped in this cavern but by the way his body had been acting, he assumed it was day three, his final day. Ladius knew that if he did not at least get something to drink very soon, he would perish from dehydration alone. The man bravely crawled for two days nonstop before his body finally gave up on him. Ladius's will tried to force the body to move but it had finally given in.
"I need to rest, if I don't, it won't matter if I have water to drink." Ladius said and laid his head on the familiar stone surface. Without the red armor on his body, he felt the effects of cold creep up on his body. He knew this was his ultimate test and he would do whatever it takes to prevent it from being his last.
Valeria did not sleep well on her mat during the night. Visions of Ladius being consumed by the snow and ice prevented her from getting any good sleep but she still was able to recover from her fatigue from the night before. She got off the mat and began to stretch before seeing the armor once more.
"I don't care what happens to me, I just want you back Ladius." Valeria said, wiping the tears from her face before presenting herself before the troops.
She opened the tent and took her spear along with her. She knew that each day she stayed out in the field searching for him, the angrier the lords got. This was the last day she could afford to search before having no choice but to return to the capital.
"Ladius…" Valeria said softly, not to speak it in front of her troops.
She sat down in front of a firepot where a soldier was cooking a meal for everyone. Valeria began to thihk of what to do since she searched very direction she could think of. Pondering the question, a soft gust of air pressed against her body but she ignored it. Again the wind blew but this time strong then before.
"Private, what is the weather suppose to be like today?" Valeria asked the troop on the firepot.
"It is suppose to be perfect weather, nothing out of the ordinary ma'am."
"Then why is this wind so strong, and why does it only seem to be directed towards me?" Valeria pondered as the wind dyed down a bit but something seemed different, it felt different, almost as if it was trying to tell her something. "I will be back in a moment." Valeria said and picked up her spear. "Alright, I hope this wind knows what it is doing."
Ladius knew this was his final day so he decided to throw everything his now rested body had and tried to walk, with some success with the assistance of the walls. As he travelled down the walls of the cave limping, he heard footsteps, multiple footsteps.
"Hello!?"
Ladius exclaimed, hoping that help had finally arrived; he was met by a fireball. The male threw himself from the edge of the wall and onto the smooth floor. He knew right then and there whoever was ahead of him was hostile and drew his father's blade, be it sluggishly was the lack of nourishment.
"Hey look John, our next meal had arrived." A dark voice spoke out from the shadows as a chill entered the body of the spirit vessel.
"Cannibals, this is not good. I have no choice but to use my weakest ex skill to try and scare them off." Ladius thought as he drew on what little energy he had left in his body. "HRAAHHH!:" Ladius screamed with all his might and swung his sword in front of him, causing a beam of green energy to shot out in front of her to the hostile foe.
Valeria stood in front of a cave, one she had never seen before. Whatever the wind either was or is, it was trying to get her to enter it. Her first thought was this is a waste of time when she could get a meal in her body.
"I knew I should have stayed in the-"
"HRAAHHH!"
Valeria heard a cry of power from the cavern. The voice sounded familiar but she suddenly saw a green tunnel of energy come coursing through it at the entrance. She jumped back as the wave of power shot clean out of the cave and into the sky before disappearing.
"That's… Ladius!" Valeria lifted herself up and ran into the cave. As she continued running in the direction of the cry, two voices started talking as Valeria hide in the shadows.
"Three days and the guy still has that much power, hard to believe he has had neither no water or food in that time span."
"Doesn't matter, he is our breakfast."
Ladius laid on the floor, his body not responding to his commands to get up and fight back. He grits his teeth, knowing this was not going to end well. What he saw next was a spear in the middle of one of the two men before him. His vision began to blur as a head rolled from the second person and an unknown person dropped their spear and was running to his side.
As Ladius began to return to the land of the living, the first thing he felt is his body was not on cold stone but instead on what felt like cotton. The second is his foot no longer felt in pain and was adjusted back into position. The third and final is his strength seemed to have come back but far from what it used to be.
Ladius opened his eyes slowly to find himself in a tent with light brown covers. He raised his right hand to rub his eyes before lifting his body up to see that he is on a mat. Ladius noticed the front of it remained closed off as he assumed without the natural light it is night time.
"Ugggghhhh." Ladius groaned as he saw a small basket of edible berries next to his bed.
Despite an empty stomach, he calmly started eating the food before him as his strength started coming back to him. He looked to his left and saw the side of the tent so he turned his head to the right and saw two things. First he saw his armor on a table but who was sleeping in a chair next to the armor surprised the male.
"Valeria."
Ladius placed the basket down on the floor as the eyes of his greatest opponent opened to see the male sitting up from the sleeping mat. Valeria slowly lifted her head from the table and got out of her chair. She started walking towards him but jumped him and the two stood on their knees. on the mat.
"Idiot, idiot, idiot!" She cried, hugging him as tight as she could. Ladius just stood there wondering if this was the same Valeria that accused him of betraying his country for two ladies. Valeria moved back and kissed Ladius on the lips, shocking the male even more.
Ladius broke the kiss before regaining himself. "V-Valeria, what has gotten into you?"
"How could you be so stupid and put yourself in such danger, I looked everywhere for you!" She pulled him back in for a hug, not wanting this to end. Although he did not admit it, having her hug him for the first time in quite a while felt warming.
"I didn't want you to get hurt so I pulled you out of harm's way." Ladius said and he finally put his arms around the body of Valeria and closed his eyes. The two sat there in each other's embrace, not wishing time would end. "Valeria, it was you who saved me from those cannibals?"
"Mh huh."
"I owe you my life then, thank you so much. How could I repay you?"
"Just don't let go, promise you will never leave me again." Valeria said, resting her head against his.
"I promise."
And so it is that the two enemies finally reunited under a bond of love. Ladius and Valeria knew that they would have to part ways once more for their respective sides of the war.
Hours after the two shared the mat together and got some rest, Valeria told her men they were finally returning home. As the troops were preparing for the trip home, he returned to her tent to find Ladius putting his armor back on.
"Thank you for taking care of this." Ladius said and finished adjusting the metal piece on his body.
"Of course. You are leaving now?" Valeria said with sadness in her voice.
"Yes, I must return back to everyone and help rest their minds of my well being. I need to leave while your troops are busy with removal of the campsite." Ladius said and took the last berry from the basket.
"Ladius..."
"I know what you are going to say. I promise one day-" Ladius held his hand out to Valeria who accepted it and the two shared a brief kiss. "-this war will be over and we will finally be able live in peace, together."
"I expect you to hold up to it Ladius… dear." Valeria added the last part of the sentence as he nodded.
"I swear I will." Ladius walked over to the edge of the tent to see the soldiers distracted. "Which way is Ellis and the rest?"
"Northwest from here. Goodbye Ladius."
"This is not the last we will see one another so do not say goodbye. See you soon would be the better." Ladius said as Valeria nodded.
"Yes, see you soon Ladius." Valeria said as the man in the blood-red armor left her tent to avoid the soldiers and return to his friends. Although the two were now separated from each other, Valeria felt a part of him will never leave her and so did Ladius.
Author's Notes – If I had to pick a third favorite, it would have to be Ladius and Valeria. The idea of this story came from two scenes from Gen 2, the first being the fights between Ladius and Valeria and the second being the scene when Ladius and one heroine are trapped in a cave; an easy idea but one with a lot of possibility.