Darkened Heart

Fandoms: Spctrobes/Phantasy Star Online (Ep. I)

Pairings: Rallen/Jeena, Rex/Liz (OC's)

Rating: Currently T, possibly M for later chapters

Genre: Adventure/Tragedy

Summary: Rallen and Jeena receive a simple mission; go to a planet just outside of Nanairo and bring home Rallen's brother, Rex. But is it really so easy?


Chapter 0

As the darkness descended upon the planet's surface, all of its fauna began to prepare itself for the coming night. Those who were nocturnal awoke from their slumber and prepared themselves to take off once the sun's rays had completely disappeared, while all others tucked themselves in for a well-deserved rest.

But there was one being that did neither…

It was not nocturnal, but it also was not a creature who roamed during the daytime. It was a creature capable of being active both in light and dark, and at this time, it was wandering the planet in silence, walking on two legs, with two of its limbs folded around its torso, as though to ward off the oncoming chill that the night promised to bring. It had no real fur of its own, and only had hair of a fiery orange-red color that came from its head to rest along its back, and instead of its own fur, it wore the furs of other beings it had killed to keep itself warm. Its eyes were a golden-orange in color, and they appeared weary, as though they wished to slide shut and not open again for a long time.

It walked slowly, and as the sun disappeared and the stars were seen, it stepped into a part of the planet that was different from the norm. There was no nature there; no plants, no trees, no grass, only cold rock and steel.

And no life…

It flinched briefly when something gave a loud crunch beneath its foot, and it jumped sideways instinctively. Once it had calmed itself, it breathed out slightly in relief, and then continued to walk, its body shaking as the cold began to sink in, finally.

It continued to walk, even when its movements became more and more sluggish, until, finally, it collapsed, but it breathed again in relief, glad that it had arrived where it had been going to.

"…hahhah… hah… I… can't go… home… can't… go… home…" it choked out, as water rolled out from its eyes. "…Rall… Lizzy… I'm… sorry… I can't… keep my… promise… fare…well…"


SNAP

"Urgh! Dammit, stupid styluses these days…" Commander Liz Marks growled as she tossed the broken stylus into the trash.

The woman sighed as she ran a hand through her long bangs as they tried to obscure her vision, before they were tucked behind her ear. She accidentally brushed over her eyepatch, and the contact made her flinch momentarily, but she shook it off and reached for her drawer to get a new stylus.

Most people on Kollin knew only how to type, but Liz preferred to write the words down when she had the time. But since typing it over again took so long, she wrote onto a pad that immediately read the "written" words into typed ones. It wasn't 100% accurate, but Liz could hardly care about that.

As she retrieved a new stylus from her drawer, however, she paused, then turned and looked out the window. It was already dark out, but she had been working overtime to finish her work.

When the stylus had broken, she could've sworn she'd also felt a chill run down her spine… something that seemed to happen whenever something bad was about to happen.

"…"

Just then, her comm link suddenly rang, and she cursed, before reaching over and flipping the switch. "Marks."

"Liz, you might want to wake Rallen up," Grant's voice called. "We found him."

"Found wh–…are you serious?" Liz whispered breathlessly as she realized what Grant was talking about.

"Yes. After the scanners were enhanced with Kaio's technology, we picked up his pod's signature just outside of Nanairo."

"…"

"Liz? Are you still there?"

"Yes… I'm here… I'll call Rallen in a bit. He'll probably want to head out first thing tomorrow, though. Possibly tonight if he can."

"I thought as much. He has my permission to do so. I'll send you the coordinates in a moment."

"Understood."

Without another word, Liz hung up again, but once she had, she didn't move again for a long time, as she frowned in something that could almost be called worry. Eventually, she turned to look out the window again.

"…it couldn't be… could it…? …Rex…"


A/N: Where the devil did THIS come from? I wasn't even thinking of either of these games when the idea came to me. WTF?

Well, in any case… those who know both games will probably realize before long how this story's going to end. Unlike my other story about what (potentially) became of Rex, this one will NOT be a happy ending…

You have been warned.