Hi to all! This is my first real fanfic going on right now! And yes, it's a Stahn x Rutee fic. It'll center around ToWRM (1 or 2). As for Marian…well…I'm planning on writing a fanfic on her later. For now, just accept the fact that she can fight.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYONE IN THE TALES OF SERIES. If I did, Tales of Destiny would be in English.

BTW, Stahn and Kyle in this fanfic are brothers, not father and son.

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He was dying. That was the only answer for what was going on around him. First of all, he was on the ground…bleeding. His senses were quickly dying away. And his vision was going. Fast.

"Stahn! STAHN!"

"D-Dinmos…? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me, you idiot. I'm the only one here…"

"Heh…am I dying now?

"No you're not. Everyone is on their way here. You'll be saved."

"Well…that's good to hear…maybe…"

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"Rutee! Stop panicking and focus!!!"

She found herself swinging rapidly at the demon in front of her. It was just another spawn of Widdernshin, she told herself. Something that she can easily get rid of. Once he's rid of, she can continue her search for Stahn. Around her, she can see her friends striving to protect her. Behind her, she saw Mary and Marian run next to her, their weapons at the ready.

"Rutee!" She heard Keele remark. "You go find Stahn! We can handle him!"

"We'll cover you!" Mary stated.

"Right!" Marian held up her flute.

Rutee nodded at her friends, and charged ahead. For all the monsters that she was chasing off, it was either thrown off by Mary's sword, or by Marian's flute playing. The things that she can throw with her music was frightening, to say the least.

"Is Stahn…?" Marian panicked.

"Stahn is OK! I'm sure…no, I'm positive!" Rutee grumbled. "We'll find him, and he'll be alive!"

She heard the sound of a body falling on the ground, and soon, she saw her friends crowd around her as they continued their search for their close friend. Keele was oddly quick for a mage, and it was odd how quickly Leon jumped into the search group. Maybe it was because of Stahn…

A scream caught her attention. Actually, it caught everyone's attention. Since it was Marian's.

She darted her head up to see the body of a young man in front of her, covered with blood, and twitching inconsiderably. Next to it was a familiar red sword. The sight made her scream as well, and she threw himself onto the body in panic.

"Stahn! Stahn! Are you awake?! Get up!" She spat.

The sheer volume of the voice shocked him into consciousness, and he looked up to see the twitching face of Rutee looking down at him. He smiled.

"Rutee…" He grinned. "Well, guess you were right, Dinmos."

"Of course I was right."

"Hold on! We'll get you better! Marian, get over here!"

As she lifted Atwight and Marian lifted the flute to her lips, their combined healing skills began to work on the hurt body of the young man. Out of the corner of her eye, Rutee saw Leon twitching oddly with fear.

"It's not working…guess I overdid it a little." Stahn laughed.

"Overdid…?!" Rutee growled. "It is working! Two healers on you, Stahn! TWO HEALERS! It's working!"

"I'm not feeling any better…" Stahn sighed. "Seriously. Stop."

"I'm not stopping!" Rutee cried, tears slowly forming on the sides of her eyes. "I'm not losing you, you got that?!"

The hum of Atwight continued to fill in the small gaps of the silence that were left before he decided that he should allow her to do what she wanted. Marian had stopped her flute, and she fell silent as well.

"I'm not losing you…" Rutee muttered. "I'm not…"

"It's…getting cold in here…" Stahn shivered.

The statement shocked Rutee in silence. Atwight, shocked by Rutee's tightened grip, stopped her spell. The glow around her stopped. Rutee dropped Atwight before lunging herself on Stahn.

"No! I won't allow it! I don't want you to die!" She cried. "Don't die Stahn! Please…you mean too much to me to die…"

That statement shocked Stahn into silence, and with the last of his strength, he lifted his arms to complete her embrace. She shivered with a dying fear.

"Thank you…Rutee."

The hands on her back dropped, and his head drooped over her shoulder. All that was left was the continuing sobs of Rutee Katret.

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Through the empty hallways of the guild ship, Kiryll, Astrid, and Arche were walking quietly in mourning, dressed in black. No one was talking through the walk. They felt as if they couldn't even begin to talk.

"So…Stahn's dead…" Kiryll muttered quietly.

"I can't believe it…" Astrid shivered. "What was he doing, anyway?"

"Mission." Kiryll answered. "Widdernshin was involved with it. Stahn got cocky again, and…"

"W-wow…" Arche blinked. "I…see…"

"So…even though they tried…" Kiryll closed his eyes and looked upward. "He's in his room right now. They're planning on burying him back in Lienea once we get there. Preparations are already being made for the burial."

"How are Lilith and Kyle handling it?" Astrid asked.

"They're strong. They'll be able to go through this." Kiryll answered.

Before they knew it, the ship slowly began to stop. Everyone looked at each other.

"I guess we're there." Astrid sighed. "C'mon you guys…we better go pay our respects…"

Kiryll and Astrid began walking toward the guild entrance, their hands held tightly around the roses. They were so caught up in their sadness, they didn't notice Arche standing back and watching them leave.

I wonder if I should've told them that Stahn…ah, never mind. They'll find out sooner or later…maybe.

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This was the family's worst nightmare.

"Wait! What do you mean by that?!" Kyle argued.

"I mean what I mean!" Karol panicked. "Loni and I went to get his body, right? And HE WASN'T THERE!"

"This just reeks of a horror flick…" Caius grumbled. "Are you sure he didn't have a zombie spell on him?"

"I was in charge of that." Mint said. "And he had no spell on him."

"So where could be possibly be?!" Lilith freaked out. "Geez, even in death, he always seems to vanish whenever you need him!"

Rutee blinked in shock, stunned at the turn of events. Looking around, her mind tuning out any form of sound, she saw her friends running around, trying desperately to find answers to Stahn's disappearance. Kyle was still interrogating Karol and Loni about Stahn, while Lilith and Mint ran to tell the others about his disappearance. She couldn't take it anymore, and she ran out of the funeral room.

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Dammit Stahn! Where are you?!

She found herself flailing around the night-covered roads. Since it was deep inside the countryside, the light barely had any roads on them, and she didn't know where she was going. After a few trips here and there, she found herself face-to-face with a gigantic lake in front of her. The moon was reflecting quietly on the wave pool, and with that moon, there stood the lonely image of an 18 year old woman, dying to find out what had happened to the love of her life.

You had to go and abandon me…TWICE…what the hell did I do to you?! Huh?! "YOU HEAR ME, STAHN AILERON?! WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!"

She was taking in deep breaths from her rant, and collapsed onto her knees. She really was alone right now. Through her panic, she had forgotten to bring Atwight with her. Staring deep into the lake, she reflected on everything in her life. The loss of her mother, the abandonment of her father, and the denial of her younger brother…without her friends, she would've truly been alone.

But the one closest to her was always Stahn.

She wouldn't deny that she had a growing love for him. What was there that wasn't to like? OK…maybe his lack of brain function would be one of them, but…that was it in her mind. Everything else was the best of him. His smile, his likable personality…he was a living angel.

"Heh…Stahn really was an angel, huh?" She choked out through her tears. "And he was returning back to heaven, like all angels should be."

She chuckled at her joke for a few seconds before the tears took over the function of her face. She leaned over, and forced out all of her tears. The last thing that she needed to do was cry on Stahn's found casket. If they ever find it.

"Rutee?"

She froze at the familiar voice. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew that the voice was all too real. Still, she remained frozen.

"Rutee? Is that you?"

She thought she was dreaming. Maybe it was Kiryll. He always did know a way to manipulate every single voice his keen ears can catch. Or maybe she was just dreaming all of this.

But she wasn't.

Almost instantly, the water reflected the image of an angel clad in white armor. She froze at the image in the water, and yet her body refused to turn. Her tears stopped as the image reached to her image's shoulder, and touched it. The veins on her shoulder became warm, and her heart stopped. She turned her head, and saw that the image in the water was indeed real.

"Stahn…?" She gasped. "I-It can't…"

"S-sorry for vanishing like that…" Stahn chuckled. "Arche smuggled me out when everyone left the room. She wanted to put on a 'performance' of some kind."

"You made me cry…" Rutee grumbled.

He flinched when he saw the tear fall from her eye, and he quickly hugged her, shocking the tear straight out of her face. She yelped, which made Stahn grip even tighter.

"I'm sorry, Rutee…" He said. "I only passed out. Guess that monster really took me in deep."

"Heh…besides…how are you even alive?"

"Like you said…two healers work wonders."

She smacked him once, throwing him off. She cried a little more before she lunged onto him, crying all the way. Stahn held her tighter than before, both of them knowing exactly what they wanted to say.

And they had already said it.

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I just wanted to write a Stahn x Rutee fluff. Fluffy, really.

I love Stahn x Rutee! They're so cute! Next I might write a Leon x Marian fanfic. There aren't that much going around. Either that or I'm going to write a Marian intro fanfic. This time…she's the one that will defend her friends!