Disclaimer: Soul Nomad and the World Eaters is the property of Nippon Ichi Software. Rating is for offensive language, adult themes and strong violence. Some content may be disturbing and/or triggering.

AN: I'm adding a special note to my SN stories to apologize for the use of some slurs in Gig's dialogue (possibly elsewhere in the stories, but that's where I remember them occurring). I'm going to let the text stand for the record, but I should've avoided them when I originally wrote the stories, and I'm very sorry for using them.

Cycles

1

The savior of the world frowned at the fly that had just drowned itself in her cup of raspberry juice, then emptied the cup on the cobblestones next to her table. She sighed, crossing her right leg over her left, leaned her elbow on the small round table, and went back to watching the children across the street.

In a moment, a shadow fell across her. "It's true, no sign of him. Damn, I knew this would happen. I told you."

Revya shook her head. "I just can't believe it's come to this. We used to be so tight with Vitali."

Gig slumped down in the chair across from her, angling his long scythe over the chair back. "Seven years is enough to sour any relationship."

Revya went back to watching the kids. "Eight years."

"Seven years."

"Eight. You lost a year back there, remember?"

"Bitch." He drummed his fingers against the table, then looked over his shoulder to see what she was studying. And groaned. "No, no, no, you're not getting ideas, are you?"

One of the four children was bouncing a gray rubber ball. Revya admired his hand-eye coordination. "What ideas?"

"You know, widdle happy shit-covered babies wunning awound deh house."

Revya rolled her eyes. "I was just watching them. They're really well-behaved. See, they don't even have a guardian, but they're not running off and causing trouble. They can't be older than five."

"Big whoop. There's something screwy about them."

Revya frowned again, wondering if Gig were just making noise or had actually noticed something she hadn't. She gave the group another look, then straightened and returned her attention to the other side of the table. "So Vitali's cut loose, huh? This is bad."

"This is horrific. Remember when he banned us from the restaurant all those years ago? It took two years to get back into his good graces. And now he's run out and left no forwarding address. The restaurant is empty." He groaned again, tilting his head back. "In other words, all the things that made this life worth living are gone."

"I didn't think we ate that much last time we visited." Revya stood. "Well, there's always Christophe. He'll feed us hotpods."

Gig also stood. "Something about Christophe's always bothered me. Besides, his hotpods suck. Everyone's hotpods suck if they aren't Vitali's."

Revya re-strapped her black claymore, which she'd slung across the chair back. "Well, maybe we should just head back to the Village. Danette will fry us if we aren't back by evening. Especially me. She's got another guy she wants me to vet."

Gig swore under his breath. "The last one had a harem in Orviska. The cow loses more brain cells in a day than most people do during three life-cycles."

"She's persistent. It's an...endearing quality." Leaving the shade of the street-side café, she brushed her hip against his as she passed and pretended not to notice.

So, apparently, did he, catching up to her as she crossed the street, heading towards the east gates of the city. As they passed the group of children, one looked up. Revya smiled at him - then her smile flickered into a frown and her steps slowed. The boy stared up at her, chewing his ragged lower lip, his eyes huge with fear. Revya swallowed. Was it the weapons? Was that all he was scared of? She didn't want to think she was frightening.

She glanced at the other three. Another boy bent low over his ball, not looking at anything else. The other two were pretty twin girls, sitting cross-legged. They glanced up at her, and one whispered to the other. Disquieted, Revya lengthened her strides to catch up to Gig.

They took a different route back to the Village. Danette had found it last week and said it had cut down her traveling time by a half hour. What she hadn't mentioned was that it was a rock scramble.

"Gig, stop it," Revya warned, dodging a flying rock. "You're going to kill me."

"I should kill us both," Gig snapped from up the slope. "Put us out of our misery." He struggled up another incline, shale and rock shards clattering down, then disappeared from view. Taking a deep breath, Revya hoisted herself up after him. The rocks were by no means high, but they were large, and there wasn't getting around them.

Revya sat a moment to rest, staring at the path from her new vantage. The rocks seemed to stretch out forever, an illusion not helped by the westering sun. "What do you think?"

Gig paced to the extreme edge of the rock. "I think, in the vaguest sense of the phrase, we're going in the right direction. I don't think we'll land in the Nereid palace."

"It'd be better if we did." Revya swung to her feet, the wind beating across her. "We'd know where - what the-?"

Gig turned back to her. "Noticed, did you?"

Pressing her finger to her upper lip to control her gag reflex, Revya scanned the rocks. Gig crossed to her side, looked around for half a moment, then nodded down slope.

A naked body lay wedged between two rocks, blue-stained and bulbous. For a moment, Revya wanted it to be an animal's, but then she saw the hands.

They kept heading west. To Revya's mild surprise, Gig forbore from mentioning the corpse until she brought it up, after they'd outpaced the smell. "I guess he was robbed."

"Recently, by the looks of things," he answered. "Or smell." After seeing the body, they'd both been watching their surroundings more carefully.

"I wonder what he was." Revya was glad her voice came evenly; she'd seen death before, there was no need to honor it with fear. "A crushed Whirwin, maybe. He was too small for a human." She stretched her sword arm, then rotated the shoulder. "I guess he's reentered the cycle then."

Gig shrugged. "Maybe his next life will treat him better. But I doubt it."

"What? I thought you told me karma didn't have anything to do with it." Granted, Gig didn't often talk about the secrets of birth and rebirth, but he'd let a few things slip. "I thought once you die, it's over. Everything from your past life is gone. Or-" she added, recalling the strange dreams she'd had eight years go, as well as Gig's own manipulation of the cycle, bringing himself back with his memories "-it's supposed to be."

"Bad things always happen," he responded, and she assumed he wasn't going to give her a real answer. But he continued. "Everything works by cycles."

Revya braced her leg on the slope of another boulder, jogging clumsily up. "I don't follow."

"You're born. You die. You're born again. You die again. You're born again. Now, I know it's really difficult, but if you study it hard for a long time, you'll notice a pattern."

"Okay." She put her arm out to help him up after her, but he ignored it, using his scythe like a grappling hook. "But not everything works that way."

"Sure they do." He was outpacing her. She scrambled up the slope, not about to give him any advantage. "Ever heard of seasons? They're a cycle. Ever seen water? Another cycle. Rocks like this stupid one? Bingo." They paused a moment on that boulder, catching their breath. "Even your body. The way you breathe: a cycle. Your blood cycling through your heart. That crappy 'time of month' thing you put me through when we were fused. A cycle. Don't try to argue with me again."

"Yeah?" She raised an eyebrow. "What about the Master of Death choosing where and when he's reborn and keeping all of his memories? What was that?"

Gig leaned against the haft of his scythe. "That was me improving the cycle."

An arrow shot between the two of them.