Suikoden: Zwischen der Sonne und dem Mond

Disclaimer: You're all probably saying to yourself, "Wasn't this story cancelled?" No, it was not. Do to the last time this story was posted, the guys at thought I had violated a code and totally deleted it. Now back to the real author's note. I do not own Suikoden or its original characters, Konami does. However, characters like Keir and Selena are property of Freiheit Productions 2005 (my little "company" name). However, this Selena has no relation to the Selena in Millie-chan's story (I had someone tell me about that). This story takes place 100 years after Suikoden IV. And finally, the story title is translated to "between the sun and the moon." Now, on with the story.

Prologue

Her hand hurt. It felt as though someone had poured an entire pot of boiling water over her fragile right hand. The snow was blowing fast in her face, stinging her vision. Her brown eyes could hardly stay open, her long black hair whipping in the wind with her torn red cloak. Her yellow tunic had been soaked from the snow that had melted through the cloak during this journey. Her brown leather boots weren't assisting well for her feet. Her white as snow skin was starting to turn a hideous red color. Her spear that she carried was her only tool for balance. Maybe I shouldn't have left the village. she thought to herself. It wouldn't have mattered. If she stayed in her village, she would've been killed. She would've died in the flames the rune on her right hand produced.

Everyone in her country and village knew the story of the legendary 27 True Runes. Everyone knew the poem that went with it as well: "In the beginning, there was 'darkness.' Then, the 'darkness' shed a 'tear.' From that 'tear,' the brothers Sword and Shield were born. Shield claimed it could defend against any attack. Sword claimed it could slice through anything. The brothers began a legendary battle. At the end, both Sword and Shield shattered. Sword became the sky, Shield became the earth, and the sparks from the battle became the stars. As for the jewels, they fell to the ground and became the True Runes -- The runes that all other runes were born from." One of them, or at least half of one, had found its way to her. The Sun Rune, one half of the Eclipse Rune. It was rumored that when the Sun and Moon Rune would unite that it would bring forth death and destruction to the world. Others thought that if the two united that it would bring peace and end wars, but little did they know that another True Rune already does that. Another theory was that if the two runes united that it would grant the two eternal solitude in the holy kingdom of the heavens, cleaned of sin. If that were the case, why did the Sun Rune hurt her body?

The girl originated from a village known as Beaumont, a village famous for its flowers and other assorted items of nature. Outside its walls was an abandoned temple, the Temple of the Sun. This was where she had followed her parents for an archeological siting. She never knew that it would get her the Sun Rune. As she obtained it, she was officially dubbed an outcast by her peers, her village, even her family. She felt so much anger, so much anguish, so much pain. All of that jumbled up inside her and forced the rune to go out of control temporarily and wipe the village completely out. No one survived. This was all no more than two months ago. She had been traveling alone, trying to avoid contact from anyone. She was afraid that she would burn them to death as she did her only friends.

The cold was finally starting to get to her. She felt sick, her vision was now blurred. Her temperature was rising, but not because of her rune. She was suffering from a high fever now. She moaned and groaned, looking at the rune on the back of her right hand. The rune resembled the sun in every way. At least she knew it wasn't making her suffer. She moaned again and fell over face first into the white snow below. This is it, I guess. I'm going to die now. Not like it matters. No one cares if I live or die anymore. she thought. Before she even knew it, she felt herself being raised from the ground. She felt warm against whatever it was that had lifted her. She tried to see her savior, but only saw a blur, a silhouette of a man. She smiled as she finally shut her eyes.

The girl woke up after a few days had passed. She had a wash rag on her forehead, obviously trying to cool her off. Her fever had gone down a lot since she was rescued. She looked around to see her new surroundings. She looked to be in an inn, or at least a room of it. It was all too unfamiliar to her. She had noticed, though, that her spear and clothes were laid out next to a fire in a fireplace. The door to the room opened slowly. She tried to raise up, but she felt so much pain. She let out a bad cough. It almost sounded like she was about to cough up one of her lungs.

"Are you alright, deary? I didn't wake ye did I?" came a woman's voice. The woman's voice sounded odd, though. She had a strange accent on her. The girl looked to whom was loaming over. The woman had long red hair and blue eyes. She wore a dark blue dress that was covered by a dark yellow tunic. Around her head was a black ribbon tied in a neat bow. She wore nice brown shoes as well. The woman put her hand on the suffering girl's forehead. "My my, lassy, ye seem to be doing a lot better than when that young lad brought ye in."

The young girl didn't take her aching brown eyes off of her. She wasn't the one she was expecting at all. She was hoping she was going to see her savior. The innkeeper walked over to a small table next to the bed. It had a bowl of fresh hot soup in it. She grabbed and slowly walked over to the poor girl.

"I'm... not hungry..." the girl said weakly, coughing afterwards.

"Ye got to eat something, lassy. How do ye expect to get better if you don't get the right nutrients in yer body?" the innkeeper asked.

"Just let me die... I don't deserve to live..."

"That's ridiculous! I think everyone deserves to live. If not, then why would we be inhabiting this Earth, deary?"

"I guess... the Gods made a mistake... with me..."

"Don't talk like that, deary." The innkeeper set the bowl back down on the small table. "Would it help if ye knew ma name?" The girl didn't answer back. "The name's Serena, Serena Fraser. May I ask yer name?"

"Selena... Selena Mirabelle... Delacroix..." the girl, Selena, whispered softly.

"Aye, I see. You must be from the Beaumont region. I didn't think anyone had survived that treacherous event."

"It was because of... me... the village is gone..."

Hearing this from Selena made Serena concerned. Selena moaned in pain trying to move her hand out of the cover. When she did, she revealed the Sun Rune to the kind innkeeper. Her blue eyes widened in concern. She knew too well the rumors that had spread with the Sun and Moon Runes. This was an event, she was sheltering one of those runes in her inn. A voice in her mind was telling her to kill the poor girl, but she ignored it. Serena quickly grabbed the soup bowl, some of the soup spilling onto the floor. She sighed as it did.

"I'll just take this outside and clean that mess up for ye. Until then, you get some rest. I won't have anyone dying in ma inn." Selena said, walking out of the room. As she did, she saw someone was standing against the wall near the door. The man had startled her and caused her to drop the entire bowl onto the floor. She sighed in frustration. "You really need to learn some social skills, lad."

"I'm sorry. If it'll make you feel better I'll clean that mess up myself." the man said.

"No, no, no worries. None at all, lad. It's ma inn, I'll clean it up. It wasn't yer fault." Selena said, walking away. "Oh, yes, yer little friend woke up a few minutes ago. Maybe you should go comfort her."

The young man nodded and walked into Selena's room. Selena painfully looked to the person that had entered her room. The young man had short light brown and his eyes were the same shade. He wore a black shirt that was covered by a blue jacket. He wore khaki-like pants and his boots were brown and leather. On his hands were two brown gloves. She turned her head from him.

"I'd only... be wasting your... time, sir..." Selena said weakly. The man walked over to her bed and put his hand on her head. He shook his head slowly and sighed.

"You're not a hundred percent better, but I think it would be best if you did stay in that bed for maybe two more days." the man said. His voice sounded almost childish-like. For such a tall man he sounded a lot younger than he looked. This didn't scare Selena, but it did make her feel comfortable in a way. She had nearly forgotten about her exposed hand that was hanging over the side of the bed. The young man looked at it and gently grasped it. He was obviously trying to put her arm back on the bed.

The minute he had touched it, the rune that had burned on her hand started to shine gold a bit. Selena moaned in pain. This took her visitor, her savior, by surprise.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Please... don't touch that... Don't..." Selena cried. The man did as instructed and let go of her hand, which slowly drifted onto the bed, across her chest. "It reacts... to my moods..."

"What is it?"

"You mean... you don't know?"

"Of course not. I have never seen something like this before." Selena could tell that this man was lying. He was lying through his teeth and she could see right through his deceit. She slowly turned her head away from him.

"Don't lie..." Selena muttered. "It hurts... when you lie..."

This girl was in serious pain. Not because of the sickness, but her rune. If it's causing her so much suffering, why doesn't she just remove it? the young man thought to himself. But then again, I guess I have no room to talk. He turned his head away from Selena. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

"None really... But I guess... before I ascend into the heavens... I would like to know my savior's name..."

"Don't talk like that, you'll live. I know you will." the man said. He looked back to Selena, who was now smiling. The rune was no longer glowing, but it made a nasty red mark on her hand. He didn't want to say anything that would offend her. "If you wish to know my name, you had better tell me your name first."

"My name... is Selena... Selena Mirabelle Delacroix..."

She smiled even bigger and slowly put her hand on her savior's right hand. He gasped silently and wanted to jerk it back, but that would hurt her in a way. He didn't feel like making her suffer. He had watched too many people suffer already. The funny thing was was that he couldn't help but smile back at her. Why am I feeling this way? I shouldn't. he thought.

"My name... is Ted."

Not exactly word for word as the original, but I think this is probably a lot better than the original had turned out. I bet you new readers wasn't expecting Ted in this story, huh? Well, you had better expect more of him as the story progresses with him, Selena, and the 108 Stars of Destiny. Tune in next time.