((Hello! Thanks for reading the first fanfiction that I've ever put online like something like this, much less my first fanfiction that I've ever completed period. If I've made any mistakes in the plot, blame it almost entirely on the fact that I've never played Grandia 2. Most of my information came from a close friend who inspired me to write this fic by ranting on the ending. Lastly, I'm thinking of writing a side story about how Ryudo helps Elena work through her issues (you'll see what I mean when you read the story.) ))
Ryudo stared hard at the choice that had presented itself to him as he walked along the winding dirt road. It was a fork in the road, both leading to two completely different destinations. He had been walking at a steady pace for the better half of the day, and now he was paralyzed by the impasse. Why? Why the Hell did he have trouble deciding where to go now?! Why now even after going at a steady clip?! After all, he had prevented Valmar from destroying the world along with his friends. He was glad that Tio and Roan could be happy together. After all, he had been one of the few people to have taught her about emotions and how to handle them. It had been an extremely hard lesson for her to learn. He knew that he wouldn't have been a good teacher. Hell, he couldn't even figure out whether he liked Elena or Millenia more! He turned his attention back to the problem at hand: the impasse.
"What's the matter, Ryudo? You've never had problems with forks before..." a deep, lofty sounding voice came from his shoulder. The voice came from the large bald eagle that had cocked his head curiously at his friend. It was Skye, Ryudo's companion, but what was he doing there in the first place? Didn't this bird know the meaning of the word "stay"?! Even a dog could do that!
"Dammit, Skye! Don't you see the problem here?! Stop playing with my emotions!" Ryudo let go of his momentary confusion, forgetting that Skye wasn't supposed to be there, and snapped at Skye, sending the raptor to take solace in the trees alongside the road. Obviously, Ryudo had been agitated by his dilemma, but the reason seemed to have escaped Skye.
"Well, if you're going to be that way, I might as well stay here for the time being..." Skye commented, sounding bored. Stretching out his impressive wingspan, he started to preen himself. He was overdue for a good preening.
"Che..." Ryudo muttered, plopping himself onto the ground.
"I'll be damned if you get any more of my blood, you vicious little parasite!" Skye, commenting out of nowhere. He had stopped cleaning himself. Ryudo shot Skye a murderous glare.
"I don't think that I was that..." Ryudo's face changed to one of nausea as he watched Skye pick a deer tick out of his plumage and devour it with no qualms about his actions.
"As I was saying..." Skye continued, folding his wings up. Ryudo gestured, not hiding his disgust. Skye nodded, understanding that most humans preferred not to eat the same insects that had been feeding off of them a minute ago though one question never failed to escape him: why not? Ticks had a pleasurable taste to them, a delicacy among his kind. Oh well. It was Ryudo's loss if he stubbornly refused.
"Why not flip a coin? No matter what the outcome is, it wouldn't hurt anyone." Skye suggested.
"'Flip a coin'? Flip a coin?! You're asking me to flip a coin and make a complete mockery of the choice I have to make and any future consequences of that choice!!" Ryudo shouted. Completely ignoring the dirt on his uniform, he bolted up from his current position, and with one sweeping gesture, called the bird's attention to the road. Skye blinked for a moment. This was new for Ryudo, who had never had a problem with deciding which direction to go...
on the road that is...
The raptor nodded in acknowledgment of Ryudo's indecision. This had been the perfect time for someone who was working out problems of love. In the battlefield, one had no use for such abstract concepts such as love. Emotions were best left to the ones who could deal with them best. Ryudo wasn't among them, since he knew exactly what would happen to the other, if he was forced to choose. Ryudo probably needed some time to meditate after fulfilling his errands: visiting Mareg's grave and burying the Granasaber.
The fork in the road...
One road, the one to the right, had lead to a group of songstresses...
Singing to the dead god, Granas. He has still remembered with great accuracy how shocked Elena had been to have found out that she had dedicated her entire life to a mortal god. How hard it must have been for her to grasp the fact that she had dedicated her entire life to a dead god. To pray to a god that was unable to hear her prayers...
He envisioned Elena waiting quietly for him at the end of that road, sitting in her usual pristine fashion for him to come. He imagined her pouting with those cute pink lips of hers, as she would scold Ryudo for being so late.
"Ryudo! You could have at least sent Skye ahead to warn me!" He saw her say. He would mutter an apology and follow her the rest of the way to hear her melodious voice. She had been one of the few people that he would show his softer side to. The other two women were Tio and Millenia. He liked Tio, but he had no problems with her. His problems lay with choosing between Millenia and Elena. His eyes slowly shifted from one side of the road, to the other, looking directly at the road leading to the left, to a school where the Millenia in his mind was waiting for him. The red haired priestess would have been much less forgiving than her songtress rival. The well endowed woman would stand there, her hands resting seductively on her hips and her ruby red lips twisted into a childish pout, making her look more like a child who had not gotten what she had wanted.
Millenia was beautiful. No doubt about it, but her beauty was different from Elena's. It was much less sutile than Elena's. It suited her brash, pushy personality: the complete opposite to Elena's more gentle ways.
If they were so different, then why was he having problems deciding?!
"It seems as if love is the only battleground that you can't fight on, Ryudo..." The bird stately simply. Ryudo sighed and nodded in defeat. Slowly, he turned around and turned his confused eyes to the sky and walked in the other direction.
"Where do you think you're going, Ryudo? Our mission lies beyond that fork." Skye asked, flying back onto Ryudo's shoulder. Ryudo only shook his head, watching his feet kick up dirt as he walked back. Ryudo sighed. How could he choose between two people that were so dear to him. He knew what would happen if he had committed himself to one of them. The other one would be so heartbroken. He couldn't stand the site of either one of them breaking down in tears. He thought about what this trip must have been doing to both of them, worrying them both sick. He wouldn't be a good husband if he was worrying about what would happen to the other. It just wouldn't be fair. It felt as if he was being forced to decide on his death. Two ways to die. Neither one more preferable than the other.
Commitment: Now there was a word that he had seldom used, especially when the word applied to him.
Skye stared hard at the boy. "So what will it be, Ryudo? When the time comes, will you be able to choose between two?" He asked, before fading right before Ryudo's eyes.
"What the Hell?!" Ryudo shouted, grasping for the thin air that filled the area where Skye had once been. He slowly brought his hand up to his face and reflexively looked at the empty space. Something was wrong, but whatever it was escaped Ryudo. He frowned intently, clenching his fists at his side. Why couldn't he remember what was bugging him about this place?!
Something told him that he had better get along his journey if he wanted to see Elena and Millenia again anytime soon.
As he walked away, he found himself becoming weak from some unknown force. Everything started to blur before him. Ryudo wobbled a little bit under the influence. If he had enough energy, he would have checked the canteen if Millenia had spiked it. It tasted normal. At least, he thought it tasted normal, but he was in no state of mind to be thinking about something like that. The images swirled before him, mixing and coming together in a whirlwind of colors and images. He felt nauseous. He felt his body fall heavily to the ground, and he felt his eyes close.
And then darkness...
He had slowly awakened on a sunny hillside, shaded by a large tree. Beside the tree was a clump of dirt. It seemed out of place, as if a man had come along and created it with his bear hands.
And then it struck him.
This was were he had buried the Granasaber, what he had used to defeat Valmar and drive the sword through its darkened heart. "Utopia"? "A perfect world" his ass! What that little man wanted was the destruction and anarchy befitting of a godless world!
Ryudo frowned seriously at the grave. He couldn't remember all of the details of what he had said to the Granasaber the day he had laid it to rest. It was coming back to haunt him. A godless world meant that they were here without meaning...
He had told the Granasaber to watch them from that spot. Watch them for what? He couldn't remember. For them to spiral into absurdity?! That was what it seemed that everything was going to go if there was nothing to guide them. Nothing to guide him. He fell to the ground in despair, hiding his face from the world with his hands. He brought his hands to his face, imagining Elena and Millenia in his hands. His eyes widened in horror as he watched the two figures slowly melt into the same person. Yes, as he suspected. Both of them... So different, but so similar. They would have been perfect twins, if they hadn't looked so damned different. Yet this difference seemed only to accentuate this duality...
Light... and it's shadow. Left and its right.
He watched them slowly vanish out of existence. He stared at the empty space that they had occupied, and lifted his head to see the buried sword. How could he have done this?! He told the Granasaber that people could make their own choices and look at him!! He was one of the ones that had saved the world and he wasn't able to make one choice! He slowly clenched his fists, and pounded the ground with them in one frustrated motion. How the hell do he do this to both of them?! He knew that by choosing one, he would fell the other's pain so acutely, as if it was his own.
"Greetings, Ryudo!" A voice above boomed. It didn't have the fanfare of a divine deity, but it might have well been for Ryudo.
"Mareg..." He said, looking at his fallen friend. "You..." The beast man rewarded Ryudo with a toothy grin.
"You can say it, Ryudo..."
"You look dead on your feet..." Ryudo returned a half-hearted smile. He should have expected that, even in death, Mareg was one to set him at ease. Mareg's hearty laugh shook the ground and offered Ryudo help up. Ryudo accepted this and rose to his feet. Mareg frowned.
"Why that look. boy?" He asked, referring to Ryudo's reaction. Ryudo was not one to do anything half-hearted. After seeing the look in Ryudo's eyes, Mareg roared with laughter.
"Women troubles, eh? I guess everyone has them." He said simply. Ryudo fell silent. This was true. No doubt about it. Mareg's deathly serious gaze fell upon Ryudo.
"Take care that you reconcile this issue soon. You're treading on dangerous ground, Ryudo..." He warned, after staring at Ryudo. After those words departed his lips, he vanished into thin air... Just as Skye, Millenia and Elena had...
"What did he mean..." He thought to himself, one hand lay reflexively on the hilt of his sword. It could have been a trick of some kind. Some fiend digging into the recesses of his mind to drudge up his fallen comrades and use them against him? Something was wrong. Why would he forget the events at the Gransaber's grave? Especially since that had happened not a few days ago. Ryudo's memory was much better than that.
"He meant us, Ryudo..." A deep, sultry voice came from behind him.
Millenia...
"So good to see you again, Ryudo..." A softer voice followed. Ryudo felt his insides churn. He knew who that was as well...
"Millenia...? Elena..." He asked, turning around to face them for the first time in awhile. It was as if he was looking at two succubus: beautiful, but deadly. Oh so deadly beings that had the power to rape him of his life energy if he ever dared to consummate his love to one of them. His hand dropped to his blade for reasons he did not know. After years of being a Geohound, he had honed his skills and his intuition to their peak. Something was very wrong with them.
"What's wrong, Ryudo?" Millenia asked seductively, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. Elena pressed her body onto his back, rubbing her hands along his shoulders. Ryudo blushed from the attention.
"Millenia...? Elena...?! What the Hell...?" Ryudo managed to ask, forcing a high pitch response to their affections. Millenia only smiled cruelly, and brought her lips close to Ryudo's ear and whispered ever so softly.
"Is this what you have always wanted? Both of us willing to do whatever you say...?" With that she pulled her ace down slowly to kiss his neck. What the Hell was going on?! Ryudo asked himself. He wanted to say that out loud, but the question would not surface. Maybe in an alternate universe, he could see Elena doing something this brash, this direct, but for this Elena, it was out of character. As for Millenia, she was better being direct. It suited her, but everything about this Millenia was wrong. She looked wrong, acted wrong, and even smelled wrong. If they weren't Millenia or Elena, then what were they? The very thought of someone playing with his mind enraged him to the point of becoming homosuidal. He shoved Millenia away from himself. He whirled around, gripping Elena's wrist and locked it up tightly behind her back, all the time keeping her at bay with his basic sword. His lips twisted into a livid sneer.
"Where the fuck is Elena and Millenia?! TELL ME!!" He screamed, pulling the blade's edge closer to her neck. A trickle of her blood slid its way down the blade, meeting with the hilt, before it made its way to the ground.
"Ryudo, I..." Elena whispered weakly. Ryudo, disgusted with her act, pushed her away and let his feet slide naturally into a battle stance, a stance more suited to him. Elena stumbled into Millienia's arms, and then started to make a sound that seemed at first like sobbing.
"So this is how it is then...?" She asked Ryudo in between sobbing, her face still buried in Millenia's arms. As she continued, it transformed into laughter...
Such dark, sinister laughter that would make even a "hardened" Geohound, such as Ryudo's flesh, turn cold. Elena turned around, allowing Ryudo to see her face twisted into an evil image. Her lips curled into a sadistic grin, and her eyes glowed as embers. The two forms before him melted into one, just as the shadows in his hands did. The whites, the golds, and reds of their likenesses swirled together and blended into gray. The figure loomed ominously over Ryudo, baring its massive fangs that stank of blood and poison and rotting flesh. Its tread-like hair flew wildly in the breeze, both covering and hiding the demonic blood-red glow where its eyes should have been. Body arms stretched out from underneath a transparent, torn sheet draped over her already dead body. Talon-like nails reached out, hungry for a taste of Ryudo's blood.
"As you see, my dear Ryudo..." the zombie-like creature spoke, its voice raspy and barely audible, mixing with the wind's howl to create an undead symphony. Ryudo noticed the marked sarcasm of its words. "We shall make you pay for playing with us!" She howled, lashing out at Ryudo, who had his wits about him enough to dodge out of the way, getting only his cheek slashed. Bits of skin and blood clung to the vapor's claws.
"Damn those cones!" He cursed to himself. This was the one time that he wished a Cone of Light was nearby to revive himself. Then again, how would he have guessed that this creature would have played his friends against him? The monster lapped up the blood on its nails with its elongated tongue. Ryudo paused for a moment, shaking the idea from his head that the attack had looked somewhat familiar. He had to push the idea out of his mind. He had to stay focused. But why? To reveal to Elena and Millenia his indecision?! To hurt them even more by telling them, hinting rather, that either one stuck out?!?!
"No!!" He screamed, swinging his blade in a precise arc to disembowel the creature. He landed, on his haunches. He slowly stood up, getting out of his crouched stance, and turned around to view his vanquished foe.
Only to see that he had only separated one transparent part from another. The two parts reunited, and Ryudo's heart stopped cold. Magic would be a more likely weapon against the undead. Ryudo raised a hand, calling upon the cleansing inferno and began the incantation.
"Take this! BurnStrike!!!" He finished, aiming his hand at the specter. Waves of flames surrounded the creature, circling around it and enclosing it in its wraith. The monster's horrific screams filled the air. Ryudo panted heavily, his arm still outstretched from casting the spell. It had felt as if he had used every ounce of strength that he possessed to cast a mere BurnStrike. Ryudo had a sinking feeling that he knew what was going to happen next.
"What the hell is going on?!" he wondered out loud, watching the creature resurrect itself again. The creature's terrific cackle chilled Ryudo to the bone.
"We've told you before, Ryudo... We'll make you pay." It said in the same raspy voice. Ryudo stared in disbelief. How can he be unable to do any damage, while this monster was capable of a fatal blow?! This had to be a dream! But the pain was all too real...
Ryudo reached for the wound that the monster had caused earlier, feeling the searing pain from the claw's poison. No. This couldn't possibly be a dream!
Ryudo pulled himself out of his reality check just in time to parry the creature's onslaught of slashes, scratches, and bites with the occasional tongue-lashing. Pun intended.
"Haiyai!" he exclaimed, commenting on the monster's speed. He blocked the first blow by instinct, the claws clanging against the sword's edge; the next one followed close behind, giving Ryudo precious little time to react. The monster lashed out its tongue, aiming right for Ryudo's heart, only to be blocked again, only centimeters away from its target. The attacks on Ryudo became faster and faster, hitting Ryudo again and again, each blow more powerful than the last. Ryudo hadn't had time neither to be suprized by the ferocity of the blows, nor by the sheer fact that the monster hadn't shown any signs of weakening. The next tongue slash knocked Ryudo off guard, cutting through his armor and leaving a gash on his already scared chest. Ryudo laid there, his chest heaving with pain. The damned creature floated above him, almost as if to taunt him into making his next move. The vapor swayed left to right, showing no signs of attacking or healing, or anything else. Ryudo picked up his sword, and brought it up to his face.
"Let's finish this!! Sky Dragon Slash!!" He yelled, leaping up into the air, aiming his sword downward. It wouldn't matter where he landed, just as long as this thing was in range of the special move's area attack. He plummeted into the ground, willing the energy of the earth and fire to erupt around him. A massive earthquake shook the ground around him, sending both debris and magma flying out of the pits of the nine hells. He closed his eyes, grasping the sword with all of his might. It was over. That it had to be over, or else he was dead. He opened his eyes, only to feel a piercing pain in his chest. He looked down, only to see the ghost rip outwards, tearing at his insides and causing him severe pain. Ryudo let out a moan of agony, and slumped to the ground. He was barely conscience of the actions outside of his body. All he knew was the terrible aching in his side.
Retracting its Grudging Claw, it assumed Millenia's form and sashayed over to Ryudo, It lifted Ryudo's head slightly, so Ryudo could get one good look at its face.
"We won't let you die. No. Not yet. We'll make you suffer first.. and let you die at the hands of your beloved..." She said, morphing into Elena. The "girl" took a few steps away, lifted her staff, and sang a few words, summoning bubbles to surround Ryudo...
Ryudo opened his eyes to a dark room, a room so dark that it was blue, a deep midnight blue. The only way he had of confirming anything were his senses of smell and hearing. The only thing that he could smell was blood, his blood to be precise. His wrists chained up against a table that he laid flat on. Sharp thorns, like millions of little needles, dug into the areas where he was bound: the wrists, the ankles, and the stomach. He was trapped. If he tried to escape, the thorns would tear at his insides, and make him bleed to death. Yet, if he stayed, he would absolutely starve to death. Ryudo heard a faint sound overhead. It sounded as if a heavy object was swooping in on him like a vulture.
A pendulum...
"That's right, Ryudo..." whispered the monster's voice. Ryudo turned his head around, making sure not to move much. For some reason, the monster had healed him, but then, why did every bone in his body feel as if it had been broken into two?! The pain coursed through his body.
"What do you want with me?!" He screamed into the darkness, yet he had already known the answer: revenge. Revenge for being so damned wishy washy.
"You killed us..." The monster accused Ryudo. "Now we'll get what we want... Choose the form of your demise!" The monster's voice echoed throughout the room. Ryudo struggled a little, feeling the thorns dig deeper into his skin. He winced from the pain.
"What?!"
"You've heard us... Choose your death. By Pendulum, or by Blood..."
Ryudo let out a sigh and relaxed. They were right. He had killed them, but not by mere weapons. No. Those would only inflict a minor wound. Something that could be healed in minutes, but to wound the heart, that was something unforgivable! How could he have such a damn jackass?! He was no better than (name of psychopath here) himself! He lay on the table, awaiting his death. A piece of rope broke from the twice which the pendulum was held.
It would all end very soon.
"Take care that you reconcile this issue soon", Mareg's warning echoed through his ears. Why was he hearing Mareg now? Was he here to torture Ryudo too?!
"No, boy. Which of those pretty girls would you rather be with?", He asked. Ryudo didn't understand what he meant by that. There was no point in choosing between them. Even though Ryudo couldn't see Mareg, he noticed the marked disappointment in his voice.
"You coward! Running away from a choice such as this one! I would have been better off back at Nannan! And to think that I once had respect for you..." The beastman's voice hissed, vanishing off into the darkness.
A coward?! Yes. That was what he was. Running away from making a choice, trying to escape the fact that there might be severe conscequences.
Another strand of the Pendulum broke, causing the object to jolt downward.
"When the time comes, will you be able to choose between two?"
Now it was Skye who had decided to taunt him...
A choice. A choice and millions of possibilities... Was his mind that simple that it could not even begin to comprehend them?! Now that Valmar and Granas were dead, there was no official distinction between Good and Evil. Those terms were now rendered abstract, having nothing to do with his existence now.
"Choose now, Ryudo. I'm warning you! Call out her name and she'll come to you!!", The bird's voice rang through his ears. Almost as if the Pendulum had heard Skye, the strands of rope broke off, one by one in rapid succession, and the Pendulum came hurling towards it's target. Ryudo's voice screamed out his answer, being muffled by the sound of the Pendulum crashing, severing something that had at once been a part of him and a hindrance to his very existence.
"Ryudo!" Elena and Millenia cried, watching Ryudo slowly open his eyes. After what had seemed like years to the girls, Ryudo was finally awake. Tio and Roan ran into the room, watching the three of them stare at each other with a pained expression on their faces, as if something important to all three of them had just been ripped from them, disconnected and leaving them separated from the other. Ryudo look unusually pale for someone who had woken up from a bad dream.
"What had happened...?" asked Tio, blinking her artificial eyes. Roan placed a hand on her shoulder, and smiled at Tio with his youthful, bright cerulean eyes.
"I think that we should let these three alone..." The thirteen year old prince gestured outside the door. Tio cocked her head to one side, not fully understanding why she should. She agreed anyway, since Roan could explain Ryudo's condition. The two of them walked out to a table and a couple of chairs. Skye followed them.
"Ryudo, I..." Elena lips quivered, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. Tracks of gray made their way down her face. It was obvious that she had been crying for quite some time. Ever since she found out about Ryudo's status two weeks ago. Elena was so engrossed in her emotions that she had hardly seen the change in Millenia's eyes.
"Elena..." He managed to say, relieved that it was over. Before he could say anything else, Millenia grabbed him and pulled him up to her bosom.
"Ryudo, I'm so glad that you're alive!" She exclaimed. Ryudo's face flushed in embarrassment as he saw what was right before him. He struggled out of her grip.
"Millenia... I... I'm sorry..." He said, and with that, he passed out.
"Ryudo!!!" They screamed in unison. A few seconds later, an emotionally and physically drained Ryudo was snoring, sound asleep. Elena closed her eyes, praying that he would sleep safely.
"Let's leave him alone for awhile." She suggested, picking her staff up. Since Ryudo was OK, she could get some sleep now. Millenia watched Elena walk out the door, and followed.
"So you believe that Ryudo's former condition was due to the ghost of a woman...?" Tio asked, taking a sip of tea that Roan had brewed. The boy folded his hands, resting his chin on them, and closed his eyes in concentration, as if trying to recall some bit of information that he had picked up on his journeys.
"Yes, but not any ghost. An Onryou I believe. There have been rumors of a pair of twins found dead near the plains where Ryudo was found unconscience. If I remember correctly, they were of noble birth, and the man that they had both loved, killed them both out of frustration. They must have thought that Ryudo was that man since Elena and Millenia's situation is not all that different..."
"So then Ryudo would be fine now that he's out of their haunting range, correct?" Tio asked.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that..." Skye said, glancing at Millenia, who was creeping into Elena's room with a sharp knife.
"You there! Millenia! What are you doing?!" He called out to her, only to get silence as Millenia shut the door behind her. Roan and Skye exchanged worried looks. Their suspicions had been confirmed when Elena's screams shot through the hallway.
"Elena!!!" They screamed, racing out of their chairs. Tio threw a ring, the large, sharp ring that she had always used as a weapon, at the door, finding that it only richoted off of it without a scratch to the door. Roan swung his hammer against the door, only to be knocked back by the recoil damage. The door had only vibrated a little before standing still once more. Roan and Tio only stared in disbelief at the thought that they would know nothing about the fight under someone walked out of the door.
Elena turned around, covering her undergarments with her dress. Her hat no longer hiding the short blonde hair that lay underneath. One hand held her clothes, in the other her staff that was placed in a defensive position. The staff bore a deep cut from Millenia's ambush. She remembered it vaguely since it happened so fast: Elena was taking off her clothes when she had noticed Millenia's intentions in the mirror behind her. She placed two fingers, her index and ring fingers, up to her mouth and whispered a few words, feeling the earth's protection surround her.
"Millenia?! What's wrong with you?!" She gasped, holding out the staff. Usually she was so calm, but with Millenia attacking her like this. Ironic as it was, in the back of her mind, Elena expected that Millenia would have done something like this. She knew. Millenia knew that her bond with Ryudo was broken. And Millenia would do ANYTHING if it meant keeping Elena from Ryudo...
Even killing.
Wiping the blood from the cut off of her cheek, she stared wide-eyed at Millenia. She didn't know what to think. In one part of her mind she didn't want to believe that Millenia would do this. In another part of her mind, she had a sinking feeling that someone was going to leave this encounter dead. Millenia took advantage of this situation to lash out at Elena again.
Elena leapt onto the floor, grabbing a metal plate that had been used for serving drinks. Now its use was for saving her life. There was no way that Elena was going to strike out against a friend that she had trusted. She brought her plate up to her face to parry another blow. Even with Diggin' cast, there was little hope that she would survive.
Using the plate as a shield, Elena blocked most of the blows, her body giving off a green glow each time an attack hit. The attacks came in quick succession, aiming right for Elena's throat. Millenia thrust the sword at her, cutting through the plate and making Elena fall over the bed, and into the mirror cutting herself badly. Blood started to trickle down her forehead.
"You weak little slut!!" Millenia snarled at Elena from the other side of the bed. "Why aren't you fighting back?!" Elena gasped at her attacker's words. Fighting back?! Did Millenia really want Elena to fight back? Was it because she wanted her foe to have one last futile attempt to save her pathetic life before murdering her?
"I..." Elena stuttered. She couldn't get the words out. She felt helpless. There was no possible way that she could attack her friend. Millenia stop her attacks, threw her head back and screamed. As if in pain, Millenia held her head in agony.
"Kill me!!" Millenia ordered. "She'll kill Ryudo if she doesn't!!" Elena shook her head in disbelief. This was not happening to her! To kill her own friend in cold blood?!
"I can't!" She said, bringing herself back up. Millenia only answered with another scream.
"Self righteous little bitch!" She swore in between screaming. Millenia made a wild throw, missing Elena by inches. How could she possibly kill her?!
"Millenia, I..."
"This isn't Millenia!!!" She screamed, and lashed out again, this time with her claws. Elena could do nothing but dodge them. Millenia stopped screaming, her eyes as red as they had always been. Somehow she had been able to regain control of her body.
"Kill me!" she pleaded again. Tears fell from Elena's cheeks. "Get rid of her and destroy me! She's the same one that put Ryudo in this condition in the first place!!"
"Her?!" A look of actual guilt swept over Millenia.
"She possessed my body when Ryudo awoke... I knew. I didn't want to accept it, but I knew. I... let her possess me, but when I found out that she was going to kill Ryudo as well..." Millenia wept, overcome with the sadness of her own weakness.
Elena leaned on her staff, visibly shaking. It took so much energy to even stand up for her. Millenia threw her head back, screamed, and then glared at Elena with such hatred that Elena could feel the room's temperature fall several degrees. Elena felt her stomach churn as she knew Millenia was right.
"So that betrayer told you about me? No matter. Your... lover shall pay for killing my sister, and you shall pay for being so foolish as to fall for him."
"What did you say...?" Elena asked, her voice eeringly calm. With the lighting, it had seemed that her blonde hair was hiding her eyes, throwing a dark shadow over her face.
"No! It can't be...!" The monster gasped, watching Elena for her next move. Elena opened her eyes, her bright mahogany eyes sparked with anger. Her features twisted into something so dark, so vengeful that even the ghost in Millenia's form took a step back. Elena was shaking not from fear, but from anger.
"You've used my friend. You've turned her against me just as she was starting to come around. .." She spoke, in the same calm voice. Her eyes flashed, turning into a deep crimson red.
"That was bad enough, but you've almost killed Ryudo. That was completely unforgivable." Her eyes turned a bright fire engine red, white energy surrounding her body, covering her with its light.
"and now you tell me that I'm foolish enough to fall in love?! I will NOT allow this to go on any longer!!" With those words, the energy that Elena had gathered focused itself into her hand, exploding with a bright light into fractions of light, splitting off into multicolored beams and sending it richoting off of the walls. They focused in on Millenia from above, circling around her, and in one swift motion, impaled her. As Millenia had engulfed by the light, Elena could have sworn that she had heard Millenia say "Take care, Elena. If anyone was to have Ryudo, then I'm glad that it was you"
When Elena had finished her spell, she looked down slowly at her hands. Blood stained her hands. Millenia's blood. The blood of someone that, just a few seconds ago had lived. She took a life. Not only just a life, but the life of a friend, someone who had fought beside her. She was too distressed to say anything. Spooked, she turned her head to the mirror, looking at her blood-smeared image looking back at her. Everything was red to her. Her knees finally gave way, causing her to fall down onto the ground in tears of uncontrollable sorrow. She could hear nothing.
Ryudo broke into the room, holding Elena gently in his arms, and yet she felt so numb, so physically numb.
Years had passed since the ghosts had terrorized her and her friends, preying on Millenia's desire. Elena had gotten over the events with the help of Roan, Tio, and Ryudo who was the most help of all. The wife of a Geohound, more importantly, the wife of a Geohound that had taken Millenia's responsibilities of taking care of the children that had once been in Millenia's care. She remembered her first reaction to Ryudo's entrance.
"I do NOT want to go along with that boor!"
She remembered how badly she was teased by him, earning the nickname "Princess" because of her attitude.
"Elena!!" Ryudo's voice called out of their house. He was carrying a little boy no older than 2 around in his arms. His intense blue eyes shown as brightly as the sky. Elena smiled at the boy. It was good to see that their first born son was in good heath.
"Hey, princess! Still spacing out again I see" He grinned, running up to her. He put his son down for a moment, as Elena gave him a playful punch in the arm. The child walked up to his mother, and lifted his arms up in a demand that Elena carry him.
"Don't joke about something like that!" Elena laughed, and her face turned serious. "I'm worried about Millenia" She looked over the edge of the porch. Ryudo made a face.
"Don't tell me that you're still beating yourself up over that." Elena hadn't heard what Ryudo said. She was staring at three ghostly images off in the sunrise.
"Look!" She gasped, pointing at the figures. Ryudo's face twitched as he recognized one of them. The boy; however, looked at his mother and then his father in confusion. What did they see anyway?! There she was.
Millenia, smiling brightly as she stood next to two blonde female twins. The twins waved at Ryudo, thanking him for setting them free, wandering spirits turned to flesh by their immense hatred. They watched the married couple, and slowly disappeared with the rising sun.
Ryudo stared hard at the choice that had presented itself to him as he walked along the winding dirt road. It was a fork in the road, both leading to two completely different destinations. He had been walking at a steady pace for the better half of the day, and now he was paralyzed by the impasse. Why? Why the Hell did he have trouble deciding where to go now?! Why now even after going at a steady clip?! After all, he had prevented Valmar from destroying the world along with his friends. He was glad that Tio and Roan could be happy together. After all, he had been one of the few people to have taught her about emotions and how to handle them. It had been an extremely hard lesson for her to learn. He knew that he wouldn't have been a good teacher. Hell, he couldn't even figure out whether he liked Elena or Millenia more! He turned his attention back to the problem at hand: the impasse.
"What's the matter, Ryudo? You've never had problems with forks before..." a deep, lofty sounding voice came from his shoulder. The voice came from the large bald eagle that had cocked his head curiously at his friend. It was Skye, Ryudo's companion, but what was he doing there in the first place? Didn't this bird know the meaning of the word "stay"?! Even a dog could do that!
"Dammit, Skye! Don't you see the problem here?! Stop playing with my emotions!" Ryudo let go of his momentary confusion, forgetting that Skye wasn't supposed to be there, and snapped at Skye, sending the raptor to take solace in the trees alongside the road. Obviously, Ryudo had been agitated by his dilemma, but the reason seemed to have escaped Skye.
"Well, if you're going to be that way, I might as well stay here for the time being..." Skye commented, sounding bored. Stretching out his impressive wingspan, he started to preen himself. He was overdue for a good preening.
"Che..." Ryudo muttered, plopping himself onto the ground.
"I'll be damned if you get any more of my blood, you vicious little parasite!" Skye, commenting out of nowhere. He had stopped cleaning himself. Ryudo shot Skye a murderous glare.
"I don't think that I was that..." Ryudo's face changed to one of nausea as he watched Skye pick a deer tick out of his plumage and devour it with no qualms about his actions.
"As I was saying..." Skye continued, folding his wings up. Ryudo gestured, not hiding his disgust. Skye nodded, understanding that most humans preferred not to eat the same insects that had been feeding off of them a minute ago though one question never failed to escape him: why not? Ticks had a pleasurable taste to them, a delicacy among his kind. Oh well. It was Ryudo's loss if he stubbornly refused.
"Why not flip a coin? No matter what the outcome is, it wouldn't hurt anyone." Skye suggested.
"'Flip a coin'? Flip a coin?! You're asking me to flip a coin and make a complete mockery of the choice I have to make and any future consequences of that choice!!" Ryudo shouted. Completely ignoring the dirt on his uniform, he bolted up from his current position, and with one sweeping gesture, called the bird's attention to the road. Skye blinked for a moment. This was new for Ryudo, who had never had a problem with deciding which direction to go...
on the road that is...
The raptor nodded in acknowledgment of Ryudo's indecision. This had been the perfect time for someone who was working out problems of love. In the battlefield, one had no use for such abstract concepts such as love. Emotions were best left to the ones who could deal with them best. Ryudo wasn't among them, since he knew exactly what would happen to the other, if he was forced to choose. Ryudo probably needed some time to meditate after fulfilling his errands: visiting Mareg's grave and burying the Granasaber.
The fork in the road...
One road, the one to the right, had lead to a group of songstresses...
Singing to the dead god, Granas. He has still remembered with great accuracy how shocked Elena had been to have found out that she had dedicated her entire life to a mortal god. How hard it must have been for her to grasp the fact that she had dedicated her entire life to a dead god. To pray to a god that was unable to hear her prayers...
He envisioned Elena waiting quietly for him at the end of that road, sitting in her usual pristine fashion for him to come. He imagined her pouting with those cute pink lips of hers, as she would scold Ryudo for being so late.
"Ryudo! You could have at least sent Skye ahead to warn me!" He saw her say. He would mutter an apology and follow her the rest of the way to hear her melodious voice. She had been one of the few people that he would show his softer side to. The other two women were Tio and Millenia. He liked Tio, but he had no problems with her. His problems lay with choosing between Millenia and Elena. His eyes slowly shifted from one side of the road, to the other, looking directly at the road leading to the left, to a school where the Millenia in his mind was waiting for him. The red haired priestess would have been much less forgiving than her songtress rival. The well endowed woman would stand there, her hands resting seductively on her hips and her ruby red lips twisted into a childish pout, making her look more like a child who had not gotten what she had wanted.
Millenia was beautiful. No doubt about it, but her beauty was different from Elena's. It was much less sutile than Elena's. It suited her brash, pushy personality: the complete opposite to Elena's more gentle ways.
If they were so different, then why was he having problems deciding?!
"It seems as if love is the only battleground that you can't fight on, Ryudo..." The bird stately simply. Ryudo sighed and nodded in defeat. Slowly, he turned around and turned his confused eyes to the sky and walked in the other direction.
"Where do you think you're going, Ryudo? Our mission lies beyond that fork." Skye asked, flying back onto Ryudo's shoulder. Ryudo only shook his head, watching his feet kick up dirt as he walked back. Ryudo sighed. How could he choose between two people that were so dear to him. He knew what would happen if he had committed himself to one of them. The other one would be so heartbroken. He couldn't stand the site of either one of them breaking down in tears. He thought about what this trip must have been doing to both of them, worrying them both sick. He wouldn't be a good husband if he was worrying about what would happen to the other. It just wouldn't be fair. It felt as if he was being forced to decide on his death. Two ways to die. Neither one more preferable than the other.
Commitment: Now there was a word that he had seldom used, especially when the word applied to him.
Skye stared hard at the boy. "So what will it be, Ryudo? When the time comes, will you be able to choose between two?" He asked, before fading right before Ryudo's eyes.
"What the Hell?!" Ryudo shouted, grasping for the thin air that filled the area where Skye had once been. He slowly brought his hand up to his face and reflexively looked at the empty space. Something was wrong, but whatever it was escaped Ryudo. He frowned intently, clenching his fists at his side. Why couldn't he remember what was bugging him about this place?!
Something told him that he had better get along his journey if he wanted to see Elena and Millenia again anytime soon.
As he walked away, he found himself becoming weak from some unknown force. Everything started to blur before him. Ryudo wobbled a little bit under the influence. If he had enough energy, he would have checked the canteen if Millenia had spiked it. It tasted normal. At least, he thought it tasted normal, but he was in no state of mind to be thinking about something like that. The images swirled before him, mixing and coming together in a whirlwind of colors and images. He felt nauseous. He felt his body fall heavily to the ground, and he felt his eyes close.
And then darkness...
He had slowly awakened on a sunny hillside, shaded by a large tree. Beside the tree was a clump of dirt. It seemed out of place, as if a man had come along and created it with his bear hands.
And then it struck him.
This was were he had buried the Granasaber, what he had used to defeat Valmar and drive the sword through its darkened heart. "Utopia"? "A perfect world" his ass! What that little man wanted was the destruction and anarchy befitting of a godless world!
Ryudo frowned seriously at the grave. He couldn't remember all of the details of what he had said to the Granasaber the day he had laid it to rest. It was coming back to haunt him. A godless world meant that they were here without meaning...
He had told the Granasaber to watch them from that spot. Watch them for what? He couldn't remember. For them to spiral into absurdity?! That was what it seemed that everything was going to go if there was nothing to guide them. Nothing to guide him. He fell to the ground in despair, hiding his face from the world with his hands. He brought his hands to his face, imagining Elena and Millenia in his hands. His eyes widened in horror as he watched the two figures slowly melt into the same person. Yes, as he suspected. Both of them... So different, but so similar. They would have been perfect twins, if they hadn't looked so damned different. Yet this difference seemed only to accentuate this duality...
Light... and it's shadow. Left and its right.
He watched them slowly vanish out of existence. He stared at the empty space that they had occupied, and lifted his head to see the buried sword. How could he have done this?! He told the Granasaber that people could make their own choices and look at him!! He was one of the ones that had saved the world and he wasn't able to make one choice! He slowly clenched his fists, and pounded the ground with them in one frustrated motion. How the hell do he do this to both of them?! He knew that by choosing one, he would fell the other's pain so acutely, as if it was his own.
"Greetings, Ryudo!" A voice above boomed. It didn't have the fanfare of a divine deity, but it might have well been for Ryudo.
"Mareg..." He said, looking at his fallen friend. "You..." The beast man rewarded Ryudo with a toothy grin.
"You can say it, Ryudo..."
"You look dead on your feet..." Ryudo returned a half-hearted smile. He should have expected that, even in death, Mareg was one to set him at ease. Mareg's hearty laugh shook the ground and offered Ryudo help up. Ryudo accepted this and rose to his feet. Mareg frowned.
"Why that look. boy?" He asked, referring to Ryudo's reaction. Ryudo was not one to do anything half-hearted. After seeing the look in Ryudo's eyes, Mareg roared with laughter.
"Women troubles, eh? I guess everyone has them." He said simply. Ryudo fell silent. This was true. No doubt about it. Mareg's deathly serious gaze fell upon Ryudo.
"Take care that you reconcile this issue soon. You're treading on dangerous ground, Ryudo..." He warned, after staring at Ryudo. After those words departed his lips, he vanished into thin air... Just as Skye, Millenia and Elena had...
"What did he mean..." He thought to himself, one hand lay reflexively on the hilt of his sword. It could have been a trick of some kind. Some fiend digging into the recesses of his mind to drudge up his fallen comrades and use them against him? Something was wrong. Why would he forget the events at the Gransaber's grave? Especially since that had happened not a few days ago. Ryudo's memory was much better than that.
"He meant us, Ryudo..." A deep, sultry voice came from behind him.
Millenia...
"So good to see you again, Ryudo..." A softer voice followed. Ryudo felt his insides churn. He knew who that was as well...
"Millenia...? Elena..." He asked, turning around to face them for the first time in awhile. It was as if he was looking at two succubus: beautiful, but deadly. Oh so deadly beings that had the power to rape him of his life energy if he ever dared to consummate his love to one of them. His hand dropped to his blade for reasons he did not know. After years of being a Geohound, he had honed his skills and his intuition to their peak. Something was very wrong with them.
"What's wrong, Ryudo?" Millenia asked seductively, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. Elena pressed her body onto his back, rubbing her hands along his shoulders. Ryudo blushed from the attention.
"Millenia...? Elena...?! What the Hell...?" Ryudo managed to ask, forcing a high pitch response to their affections. Millenia only smiled cruelly, and brought her lips close to Ryudo's ear and whispered ever so softly.
"Is this what you have always wanted? Both of us willing to do whatever you say...?" With that she pulled her ace down slowly to kiss his neck. What the Hell was going on?! Ryudo asked himself. He wanted to say that out loud, but the question would not surface. Maybe in an alternate universe, he could see Elena doing something this brash, this direct, but for this Elena, it was out of character. As for Millenia, she was better being direct. It suited her, but everything about this Millenia was wrong. She looked wrong, acted wrong, and even smelled wrong. If they weren't Millenia or Elena, then what were they? The very thought of someone playing with his mind enraged him to the point of becoming homosuidal. He shoved Millenia away from himself. He whirled around, gripping Elena's wrist and locked it up tightly behind her back, all the time keeping her at bay with his basic sword. His lips twisted into a livid sneer.
"Where the fuck is Elena and Millenia?! TELL ME!!" He screamed, pulling the blade's edge closer to her neck. A trickle of her blood slid its way down the blade, meeting with the hilt, before it made its way to the ground.
"Ryudo, I..." Elena whispered weakly. Ryudo, disgusted with her act, pushed her away and let his feet slide naturally into a battle stance, a stance more suited to him. Elena stumbled into Millienia's arms, and then started to make a sound that seemed at first like sobbing.
"So this is how it is then...?" She asked Ryudo in between sobbing, her face still buried in Millenia's arms. As she continued, it transformed into laughter...
Such dark, sinister laughter that would make even a "hardened" Geohound, such as Ryudo's flesh, turn cold. Elena turned around, allowing Ryudo to see her face twisted into an evil image. Her lips curled into a sadistic grin, and her eyes glowed as embers. The two forms before him melted into one, just as the shadows in his hands did. The whites, the golds, and reds of their likenesses swirled together and blended into gray. The figure loomed ominously over Ryudo, baring its massive fangs that stank of blood and poison and rotting flesh. Its tread-like hair flew wildly in the breeze, both covering and hiding the demonic blood-red glow where its eyes should have been. Body arms stretched out from underneath a transparent, torn sheet draped over her already dead body. Talon-like nails reached out, hungry for a taste of Ryudo's blood.
"As you see, my dear Ryudo..." the zombie-like creature spoke, its voice raspy and barely audible, mixing with the wind's howl to create an undead symphony. Ryudo noticed the marked sarcasm of its words. "We shall make you pay for playing with us!" She howled, lashing out at Ryudo, who had his wits about him enough to dodge out of the way, getting only his cheek slashed. Bits of skin and blood clung to the vapor's claws.
"Damn those cones!" He cursed to himself. This was the one time that he wished a Cone of Light was nearby to revive himself. Then again, how would he have guessed that this creature would have played his friends against him? The monster lapped up the blood on its nails with its elongated tongue. Ryudo paused for a moment, shaking the idea from his head that the attack had looked somewhat familiar. He had to push the idea out of his mind. He had to stay focused. But why? To reveal to Elena and Millenia his indecision?! To hurt them even more by telling them, hinting rather, that either one stuck out?!?!
"No!!" He screamed, swinging his blade in a precise arc to disembowel the creature. He landed, on his haunches. He slowly stood up, getting out of his crouched stance, and turned around to view his vanquished foe.
Only to see that he had only separated one transparent part from another. The two parts reunited, and Ryudo's heart stopped cold. Magic would be a more likely weapon against the undead. Ryudo raised a hand, calling upon the cleansing inferno and began the incantation.
"Take this! BurnStrike!!!" He finished, aiming his hand at the specter. Waves of flames surrounded the creature, circling around it and enclosing it in its wraith. The monster's horrific screams filled the air. Ryudo panted heavily, his arm still outstretched from casting the spell. It had felt as if he had used every ounce of strength that he possessed to cast a mere BurnStrike. Ryudo had a sinking feeling that he knew what was going to happen next.
"What the hell is going on?!" he wondered out loud, watching the creature resurrect itself again. The creature's terrific cackle chilled Ryudo to the bone.
"We've told you before, Ryudo... We'll make you pay." It said in the same raspy voice. Ryudo stared in disbelief. How can he be unable to do any damage, while this monster was capable of a fatal blow?! This had to be a dream! But the pain was all too real...
Ryudo reached for the wound that the monster had caused earlier, feeling the searing pain from the claw's poison. No. This couldn't possibly be a dream!
Ryudo pulled himself out of his reality check just in time to parry the creature's onslaught of slashes, scratches, and bites with the occasional tongue-lashing. Pun intended.
"Haiyai!" he exclaimed, commenting on the monster's speed. He blocked the first blow by instinct, the claws clanging against the sword's edge; the next one followed close behind, giving Ryudo precious little time to react. The monster lashed out its tongue, aiming right for Ryudo's heart, only to be blocked again, only centimeters away from its target. The attacks on Ryudo became faster and faster, hitting Ryudo again and again, each blow more powerful than the last. Ryudo hadn't had time neither to be suprized by the ferocity of the blows, nor by the sheer fact that the monster hadn't shown any signs of weakening. The next tongue slash knocked Ryudo off guard, cutting through his armor and leaving a gash on his already scared chest. Ryudo laid there, his chest heaving with pain. The damned creature floated above him, almost as if to taunt him into making his next move. The vapor swayed left to right, showing no signs of attacking or healing, or anything else. Ryudo picked up his sword, and brought it up to his face.
"Let's finish this!! Sky Dragon Slash!!" He yelled, leaping up into the air, aiming his sword downward. It wouldn't matter where he landed, just as long as this thing was in range of the special move's area attack. He plummeted into the ground, willing the energy of the earth and fire to erupt around him. A massive earthquake shook the ground around him, sending both debris and magma flying out of the pits of the nine hells. He closed his eyes, grasping the sword with all of his might. It was over. That it had to be over, or else he was dead. He opened his eyes, only to feel a piercing pain in his chest. He looked down, only to see the ghost rip outwards, tearing at his insides and causing him severe pain. Ryudo let out a moan of agony, and slumped to the ground. He was barely conscience of the actions outside of his body. All he knew was the terrible aching in his side.
Retracting its Grudging Claw, it assumed Millenia's form and sashayed over to Ryudo, It lifted Ryudo's head slightly, so Ryudo could get one good look at its face.
"We won't let you die. No. Not yet. We'll make you suffer first.. and let you die at the hands of your beloved..." She said, morphing into Elena. The "girl" took a few steps away, lifted her staff, and sang a few words, summoning bubbles to surround Ryudo...
Ryudo opened his eyes to a dark room, a room so dark that it was blue, a deep midnight blue. The only way he had of confirming anything were his senses of smell and hearing. The only thing that he could smell was blood, his blood to be precise. His wrists chained up against a table that he laid flat on. Sharp thorns, like millions of little needles, dug into the areas where he was bound: the wrists, the ankles, and the stomach. He was trapped. If he tried to escape, the thorns would tear at his insides, and make him bleed to death. Yet, if he stayed, he would absolutely starve to death. Ryudo heard a faint sound overhead. It sounded as if a heavy object was swooping in on him like a vulture.
A pendulum...
"That's right, Ryudo..." whispered the monster's voice. Ryudo turned his head around, making sure not to move much. For some reason, the monster had healed him, but then, why did every bone in his body feel as if it had been broken into two?! The pain coursed through his body.
"What do you want with me?!" He screamed into the darkness, yet he had already known the answer: revenge. Revenge for being so damned wishy washy.
"You killed us..." The monster accused Ryudo. "Now we'll get what we want... Choose the form of your demise!" The monster's voice echoed throughout the room. Ryudo struggled a little, feeling the thorns dig deeper into his skin. He winced from the pain.
"What?!"
"You've heard us... Choose your death. By Pendulum, or by Blood..."
Ryudo let out a sigh and relaxed. They were right. He had killed them, but not by mere weapons. No. Those would only inflict a minor wound. Something that could be healed in minutes, but to wound the heart, that was something unforgivable! How could he have such a damn jackass?! He was no better than (name of psychopath here) himself! He lay on the table, awaiting his death. A piece of rope broke from the twice which the pendulum was held.
It would all end very soon.
"Take care that you reconcile this issue soon", Mareg's warning echoed through his ears. Why was he hearing Mareg now? Was he here to torture Ryudo too?!
"No, boy. Which of those pretty girls would you rather be with?", He asked. Ryudo didn't understand what he meant by that. There was no point in choosing between them. Even though Ryudo couldn't see Mareg, he noticed the marked disappointment in his voice.
"You coward! Running away from a choice such as this one! I would have been better off back at Nannan! And to think that I once had respect for you..." The beastman's voice hissed, vanishing off into the darkness.
A coward?! Yes. That was what he was. Running away from making a choice, trying to escape the fact that there might be severe conscequences.
Another strand of the Pendulum broke, causing the object to jolt downward.
"When the time comes, will you be able to choose between two?"
Now it was Skye who had decided to taunt him...
A choice. A choice and millions of possibilities... Was his mind that simple that it could not even begin to comprehend them?! Now that Valmar and Granas were dead, there was no official distinction between Good and Evil. Those terms were now rendered abstract, having nothing to do with his existence now.
"Choose now, Ryudo. I'm warning you! Call out her name and she'll come to you!!", The bird's voice rang through his ears. Almost as if the Pendulum had heard Skye, the strands of rope broke off, one by one in rapid succession, and the Pendulum came hurling towards it's target. Ryudo's voice screamed out his answer, being muffled by the sound of the Pendulum crashing, severing something that had at once been a part of him and a hindrance to his very existence.
"Ryudo!" Elena and Millenia cried, watching Ryudo slowly open his eyes. After what had seemed like years to the girls, Ryudo was finally awake. Tio and Roan ran into the room, watching the three of them stare at each other with a pained expression on their faces, as if something important to all three of them had just been ripped from them, disconnected and leaving them separated from the other. Ryudo look unusually pale for someone who had woken up from a bad dream.
"What had happened...?" asked Tio, blinking her artificial eyes. Roan placed a hand on her shoulder, and smiled at Tio with his youthful, bright cerulean eyes.
"I think that we should let these three alone..." The thirteen year old prince gestured outside the door. Tio cocked her head to one side, not fully understanding why she should. She agreed anyway, since Roan could explain Ryudo's condition. The two of them walked out to a table and a couple of chairs. Skye followed them.
"Ryudo, I..." Elena lips quivered, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. Tracks of gray made their way down her face. It was obvious that she had been crying for quite some time. Ever since she found out about Ryudo's status two weeks ago. Elena was so engrossed in her emotions that she had hardly seen the change in Millenia's eyes.
"Elena..." He managed to say, relieved that it was over. Before he could say anything else, Millenia grabbed him and pulled him up to her bosom.
"Ryudo, I'm so glad that you're alive!" She exclaimed. Ryudo's face flushed in embarrassment as he saw what was right before him. He struggled out of her grip.
"Millenia... I... I'm sorry..." He said, and with that, he passed out.
"Ryudo!!!" They screamed in unison. A few seconds later, an emotionally and physically drained Ryudo was snoring, sound asleep. Elena closed her eyes, praying that he would sleep safely.
"Let's leave him alone for awhile." She suggested, picking her staff up. Since Ryudo was OK, she could get some sleep now. Millenia watched Elena walk out the door, and followed.
"So you believe that Ryudo's former condition was due to the ghost of a woman...?" Tio asked, taking a sip of tea that Roan had brewed. The boy folded his hands, resting his chin on them, and closed his eyes in concentration, as if trying to recall some bit of information that he had picked up on his journeys.
"Yes, but not any ghost. An Onryou I believe. There have been rumors of a pair of twins found dead near the plains where Ryudo was found unconscience. If I remember correctly, they were of noble birth, and the man that they had both loved, killed them both out of frustration. They must have thought that Ryudo was that man since Elena and Millenia's situation is not all that different..."
"So then Ryudo would be fine now that he's out of their haunting range, correct?" Tio asked.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that..." Skye said, glancing at Millenia, who was creeping into Elena's room with a sharp knife.
"You there! Millenia! What are you doing?!" He called out to her, only to get silence as Millenia shut the door behind her. Roan and Skye exchanged worried looks. Their suspicions had been confirmed when Elena's screams shot through the hallway.
"Elena!!!" They screamed, racing out of their chairs. Tio threw a ring, the large, sharp ring that she had always used as a weapon, at the door, finding that it only richoted off of it without a scratch to the door. Roan swung his hammer against the door, only to be knocked back by the recoil damage. The door had only vibrated a little before standing still once more. Roan and Tio only stared in disbelief at the thought that they would know nothing about the fight under someone walked out of the door.
Elena turned around, covering her undergarments with her dress. Her hat no longer hiding the short blonde hair that lay underneath. One hand held her clothes, in the other her staff that was placed in a defensive position. The staff bore a deep cut from Millenia's ambush. She remembered it vaguely since it happened so fast: Elena was taking off her clothes when she had noticed Millenia's intentions in the mirror behind her. She placed two fingers, her index and ring fingers, up to her mouth and whispered a few words, feeling the earth's protection surround her.
"Millenia?! What's wrong with you?!" She gasped, holding out the staff. Usually she was so calm, but with Millenia attacking her like this. Ironic as it was, in the back of her mind, Elena expected that Millenia would have done something like this. She knew. Millenia knew that her bond with Ryudo was broken. And Millenia would do ANYTHING if it meant keeping Elena from Ryudo...
Even killing.
Wiping the blood from the cut off of her cheek, she stared wide-eyed at Millenia. She didn't know what to think. In one part of her mind she didn't want to believe that Millenia would do this. In another part of her mind, she had a sinking feeling that someone was going to leave this encounter dead. Millenia took advantage of this situation to lash out at Elena again.
Elena leapt onto the floor, grabbing a metal plate that had been used for serving drinks. Now its use was for saving her life. There was no way that Elena was going to strike out against a friend that she had trusted. She brought her plate up to her face to parry another blow. Even with Diggin' cast, there was little hope that she would survive.
Using the plate as a shield, Elena blocked most of the blows, her body giving off a green glow each time an attack hit. The attacks came in quick succession, aiming right for Elena's throat. Millenia thrust the sword at her, cutting through the plate and making Elena fall over the bed, and into the mirror cutting herself badly. Blood started to trickle down her forehead.
"You weak little slut!!" Millenia snarled at Elena from the other side of the bed. "Why aren't you fighting back?!" Elena gasped at her attacker's words. Fighting back?! Did Millenia really want Elena to fight back? Was it because she wanted her foe to have one last futile attempt to save her pathetic life before murdering her?
"I..." Elena stuttered. She couldn't get the words out. She felt helpless. There was no possible way that she could attack her friend. Millenia stop her attacks, threw her head back and screamed. As if in pain, Millenia held her head in agony.
"Kill me!!" Millenia ordered. "She'll kill Ryudo if she doesn't!!" Elena shook her head in disbelief. This was not happening to her! To kill her own friend in cold blood?!
"I can't!" She said, bringing herself back up. Millenia only answered with another scream.
"Self righteous little bitch!" She swore in between screaming. Millenia made a wild throw, missing Elena by inches. How could she possibly kill her?!
"Millenia, I..."
"This isn't Millenia!!!" She screamed, and lashed out again, this time with her claws. Elena could do nothing but dodge them. Millenia stopped screaming, her eyes as red as they had always been. Somehow she had been able to regain control of her body.
"Kill me!" she pleaded again. Tears fell from Elena's cheeks. "Get rid of her and destroy me! She's the same one that put Ryudo in this condition in the first place!!"
"Her?!" A look of actual guilt swept over Millenia.
"She possessed my body when Ryudo awoke... I knew. I didn't want to accept it, but I knew. I... let her possess me, but when I found out that she was going to kill Ryudo as well..." Millenia wept, overcome with the sadness of her own weakness.
Elena leaned on her staff, visibly shaking. It took so much energy to even stand up for her. Millenia threw her head back, screamed, and then glared at Elena with such hatred that Elena could feel the room's temperature fall several degrees. Elena felt her stomach churn as she knew Millenia was right.
"So that betrayer told you about me? No matter. Your... lover shall pay for killing my sister, and you shall pay for being so foolish as to fall for him."
"What did you say...?" Elena asked, her voice eeringly calm. With the lighting, it had seemed that her blonde hair was hiding her eyes, throwing a dark shadow over her face.
"No! It can't be...!" The monster gasped, watching Elena for her next move. Elena opened her eyes, her bright mahogany eyes sparked with anger. Her features twisted into something so dark, so vengeful that even the ghost in Millenia's form took a step back. Elena was shaking not from fear, but from anger.
"You've used my friend. You've turned her against me just as she was starting to come around. .." She spoke, in the same calm voice. Her eyes flashed, turning into a deep crimson red.
"That was bad enough, but you've almost killed Ryudo. That was completely unforgivable." Her eyes turned a bright fire engine red, white energy surrounding her body, covering her with its light.
"and now you tell me that I'm foolish enough to fall in love?! I will NOT allow this to go on any longer!!" With those words, the energy that Elena had gathered focused itself into her hand, exploding with a bright light into fractions of light, splitting off into multicolored beams and sending it richoting off of the walls. They focused in on Millenia from above, circling around her, and in one swift motion, impaled her. As Millenia had engulfed by the light, Elena could have sworn that she had heard Millenia say "Take care, Elena. If anyone was to have Ryudo, then I'm glad that it was you"
When Elena had finished her spell, she looked down slowly at her hands. Blood stained her hands. Millenia's blood. The blood of someone that, just a few seconds ago had lived. She took a life. Not only just a life, but the life of a friend, someone who had fought beside her. She was too distressed to say anything. Spooked, she turned her head to the mirror, looking at her blood-smeared image looking back at her. Everything was red to her. Her knees finally gave way, causing her to fall down onto the ground in tears of uncontrollable sorrow. She could hear nothing.
Ryudo broke into the room, holding Elena gently in his arms, and yet she felt so numb, so physically numb.
Years had passed since the ghosts had terrorized her and her friends, preying on Millenia's desire. Elena had gotten over the events with the help of Roan, Tio, and Ryudo who was the most help of all. The wife of a Geohound, more importantly, the wife of a Geohound that had taken Millenia's responsibilities of taking care of the children that had once been in Millenia's care. She remembered her first reaction to Ryudo's entrance.
"I do NOT want to go along with that boor!"
She remembered how badly she was teased by him, earning the nickname "Princess" because of her attitude.
"Elena!!" Ryudo's voice called out of their house. He was carrying a little boy no older than 2 around in his arms. His intense blue eyes shown as brightly as the sky. Elena smiled at the boy. It was good to see that their first born son was in good heath.
"Hey, princess! Still spacing out again I see" He grinned, running up to her. He put his son down for a moment, as Elena gave him a playful punch in the arm. The child walked up to his mother, and lifted his arms up in a demand that Elena carry him.
"Don't joke about something like that!" Elena laughed, and her face turned serious. "I'm worried about Millenia" She looked over the edge of the porch. Ryudo made a face.
"Don't tell me that you're still beating yourself up over that." Elena hadn't heard what Ryudo said. She was staring at three ghostly images off in the sunrise.
"Look!" She gasped, pointing at the figures. Ryudo's face twitched as he recognized one of them. The boy; however, looked at his mother and then his father in confusion. What did they see anyway?! There she was.
Millenia, smiling brightly as she stood next to two blonde female twins. The twins waved at Ryudo, thanking him for setting them free, wandering spirits turned to flesh by their immense hatred. They watched the married couple, and slowly disappeared with the rising sun.