AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have been able to play Suikoden III twice, first choosing Hugo as my Flame Champion and then trying Geddoe's route on the second round. Both my sister (pen name: Spatula Girl) and my cousin (pen name: firesenshi) chose Chris for their FC. Seeing all three scenarios, we noticed that the story didn't really change. It's just that the endings showed different perspectives, depending on whom you selected. The only other elements that can also be affected are the identities of the True Rune bearers. We all know that whomever we choose to be the Flame Champion would affect the wearer of the True Lightning and True Water runes.

In this series of stories, however, Hugo still is the Flame Champion, which means that Geddoe has the True Lightning Rune and Chris has the True Water Rune. This doesn't affect what happens to Chris' and Geddoe's endings.

This isn't a continuing saga. Each chapter can stand alone. Let's just say this is actually a collection of Aila and Jacques' romance vignettes, set after the end of the game. You can choose to skip chapters if you wish because they won't really affect each other. There isn't any ultimate plotline. There will be times, though, that some situations in other chapters will depend on what happened in previous installations. This is just for consistency's sake.

Now for the first major question I know you would ask. Why Jacques and Aila? It's really funny because the first time I encountered Aila, I was infuriated with her attitude. In fact, I was wishing for a duel so I could kick her butt so hard, she'd fly to Budehuc Castle. My coldness towards her character began to thaw when I noticed that Jacques was particularly very attentive to her. And after seeing all possible scenarios, I can't help but be touched by those rare moments shared by these two. When Geddoe's ending highlighted another Aila-Jacques moment, my sister and I started screaming like rabid fangirls. As for the title? I really suck at titles. I racked my brain for a decent name for this fic but to no avail. I was just about to upload this as "Untlited"that is, until I noticed that Ayumi Hamasaki's song "No More Words" was playing in the background. I think it perfectly fits Jacques personality, ne?

UPDATE: I just changed the title to "Secret Signs" because I find the title "No More Words" a bit cheesy. Okay, you guessed it...L'arc~En~Ciel is playing in my background. ^^;; At least this one describes the entire collection better because of Jacques quiet demeanor and Aila's innocence.

For future reviewers, please check my Author's Note every now and then because this is where I will be responding to you.

Oh and if you're wonderingI played Suikoden 1 and 2 and carried over my stats unto Suikoden 3. There might be some references to both previous Suikodens and both previous Suikogaidens in later chapters.

AUTHOR'S REPLIES (to reviewers)

None so far.