Curze: wow! I actually got a few hits! I didn't expect anyone to read this for a long time! I'm very sorry for the long wait, I don't have a beta yet so I asked a friend to proof read this. She's Gunz Ablaze, a talented writer who's been here much longer than I have.
Croix: what he means to say is that he forgot about this completely and lent his copy of the game to a friend.
Curze: *sigh* just say the disclaimer…
Croix: Shadow Curze does not own Ar Tonelico or Ar Tonelico 2 in any way, shape, or form. The Ar Tonelico franchise and characters belong to Gust Corporation.
Curze: if I did, Cynthia would be replaced by a pippin in one scene.
Chapter 2, ambush!
I was jolted awake, the image of the burning building seared into my mind. The alarm droned on as I sat up, trying to shake the image of that man in armor, impaled on the ground. As I looked around the room panicking, I glanced at the mirror; light green hair fell past my shoulders in a tight pony tail. My sapphire blue eyes, slightly unfocused, shone from my surprisingly scar free face. . "It's just a dream, only a dream." Was all I could say as I got ready for today.
I changed into my 'civilian' clothes, from a simple pair of black shirt and cloth pants to a tight black shirt, cotton pants, and a pair of wood sandals. My armor went over; helping to cover the scars I did have, mostly clustered on my arms. A loud and very annoying beeping noise came from downstairs.
"Seriously, this early?" I rushed into the main room, the annoying beeping coming from the large machine attached to the ceiling. "It's four in the morning, what is it?"
"You've been chosen to escort the holy maiden to rakshek resort. Report to the docks immediately." Sir Leglious' voice cut off, the beeping stopped.
"I have GOT to change that." I sighed and took a last look around my two room house. The main room was small, with a square table in the center for the guests that would never come, and a cabinet with all my armor and weapons, plus a small kitchen area with a fire extinguisher in reach.
Bad things have happened there. Fires, a failed robbery, and worse of all, my cooking. I sighed again and stepped out with my pack over my shoulder, locking the door. The sun wasn't even up yet, but the weapon shop girl was already opening shop. She saw me, I could recognize that little sparkle in her eyes that meant she wouldn't stop rambling about her boyfriend and love for hours. I bolted.
I arrived about ten minutes later, panting for breath and glaring at my commanding officer.
"You're late." Sir Leglious scowled, the rising sun's light shining blindingly off of his heavy full body armor and giant purple chakram, the same color as his armor. His scarred face and strong voice helped him get his job done, though he hates needless sacrifice. He wore his light blue hair spiked back with his bangs covering parts of his face, though he showed no attempt to hide the large X shaped scar on his left cheek and eye. I had never seen him smile.
"It's your own fault; you decided to leave so early." I growled at the man, he just opened the door on the side of the airship.
"We left so early because this is the holy maiden; we wanted to arouse as little suspicion as possible." He pointed at the woman standing next to him, a blonde with a similar expression of sleepiness on her face. Her clothing consisted of a white dress cut at the stomach to reveal a blue skirt. A gold and white headdress adorned her long blond hair, white folds of cloth falling from the sides. Her face almost seemed pale, her purple eyes standing out on her blemish free face. She wore white elbow length gloves. Her upper arms carried the most outstanding accessory I had ever seen, two fake wings. They looked like they where made of dove feathers, two gold pieces on each side somehow held them in place, floating inches above her skin. A rapier with a sun on the pommel and gold engravings was at her hip, obviously decoration. She took one look at me then sighed, obviously thinking 'is this all they could do?'
I bit back a retort, I was still half asleep. "I'm going to sleep, airships make me sick." It was stupid, but I had always been scared of heights. I couldn't even look out the window of my HOUSE! Lucky me, getting a house with a view off Pastalia! I couldn't sleep though, every time I drifted off the geezer from my dream cropped up. After what seemed like days we finally landed. Eager to be on solid ground again, I rushed to the ramp… and promptly fell off. The holy maiden laughed, a shock greater than my fall! She had always seemed so primp and proper, I had never imagined her smiling, much less laughing! 'Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all!' I thought, dusting the bits of dirt and grass off my armor. Rakshek resort was located about half a day's walk from the second largest city on this continent, Rakshek. To get there you would have to travel through the small forest surrounding the resort, it was one of the few green places left. The resort was newly built; our group was the first to stay.
Inside was amazing, the walls where a shiny stone I could only guess at, pillars held up the enormous ceiling, crystal chandeliers hanging every few feet to provide light. A mural of someone was carved into the wall, two candles illuminating the stone. "W-whoa!" was all I could say, my mouth hanging open.
"Our rooms are this way. You're probably tired, we could all use some rest." Sir Leglious said, though he held his chakram like he expected an attack at any moment. I just smiled as he led the Holy Maiden off down one hall, once they where out of sight I ran up to the mural, staring at the person immortalized in stone. Words at the bottom, some in English and some in unreadable Hymmnos, told who it was.
"The goddess. This is the end of peace." I turned, looking at the ground. A sense of sadness filled me, it depicted the day that the Holy Maiden of the past rebelled against the goddess, declaring war. The reyvateils' power drained from them; the Sacred army annihilated the rebels. The goddess herself smote the Holy Maiden, ending the war. I.P.D. has ravaged the reyvateil race since.
The next day
"I feel weird. Why can't I wear my armor again?" I was in a blue t-shirt and cloth pants, my armor and weapons were in my room. The Holy Maiden's room was next to mine, on Sir Leglious' orders, and where I was currently trapped.
"Because it's a vacation. Calm down. That's an order." I repressed a sigh; she was much more irritable now than when she was giving a speech. This time I did sigh, why was I stuck with this brat? I could be doing ANYTHING else! I couldn't like her, and I was even on good terms with Cynthia, the weapon shop girl. Voices broke through my thoughts.
"Huh? Did you say something holy maiden?"
"No, why?" I didn't answer, but moved between her and the door. Half the lights blew out; a small explosion rocked the building, knocking dust from the ceiling.
"Be quite and stay down, we're under attack." I drew a small dagger, made of blue airmetal, and leveled it at the door. I cursed my luck, my weapons where next door, it was already too late to get them. "Stay behind me, they won't get past without a fight!" She mumbled something from behind the table in the room, I had knocked it over when I stood, and she was using it for cover.
The door blew off its hinges, wood shards flying past my head. Sir Leglious stood in the doorway, blood on his chakram. A squad of soldiers lay behind them, clad in red stained blue armor. Without a word he chucked a hard bundle to me, the armor clanging as I caught it. Two pieces of blue metal fell out as I yanked the large plates of metal on, my weapons clanging on the ground. I called them 'claws', two original weapons. They are made of airmetal, a pair of bent pieces of airmetal, connected with a small molded bar between the inside ends. Four inch long blades where attached to the outside of the bend, four each, and can be changed out by threading new blades on. They are brutally effective, yet tough to use, weapon. Since there where few non-reyvateil soldiers, I had to wear a small suit of male armor. It was different though, I had added a few personal touches. The armor on the arms I had taken off, leaving a brown layer of cloth. The leg armor and cape I had removed, reinforcing the remaining armor. With this customization I could move very easily, but I had to rely on dodging and my reflexes more to avoid harm. Holsters on the hips, pack, and the clothes under it where also not standard, the only real thing unchanged was the color.
"We'll clear a path, follow us closely." The holy maiden nodded, I hurried down the hall. A lone reyvateil caught my attention, a giant fireball floating above her! I gasped, then rushed forward. She saw me, letting the last few words of her chant fade. I spun on the spot in front of her; she ducked my kick, losing focus. The ball fell, exploding above us. I was rocketed back, slamming into the wall, knocking my breath out in a whoosh. The clanking of boots signaled the arrival of a new squad of enemies, drawn by the blast. I staggered to my feet, salty blood dripping into my eyes and stars clouding my vision.
Two soldiers rushed toward me, lances leveled with my chest. My breath came back with the rush of adrenaline; I stumbled to the side, a claw hitting one lance, shattering the hardened wood. The other spun the pole at my head; I barely managed to move enough to save me another head injury. I ended his life with a clawed punch to the chest, the blades shining with scarlet. The other soldier swung the broken weapon at my back; it broke on my armor, stunning me again. I barely caught myself and landed a sharp kick to his ribs, followed by another to his head, he fell with a shout. A ball of ice impacted with my exposed hand, knocking my weapon away with a crunch. I spun, clutching my injured hand. A reyvateil stood, arms raised, a huge icicle over her.
"Die Grand Bell scum!" she yelled, the razor sharp piece of ice rocketing toward my head. Purple armor entered my vision, the malicious ice sawed in two before it could harm me. A purple blur flashed toward the girl, it slammed into her chest. Sir Leglious yanked the silver, barely visible, wire attached to the back of his gauntlet, the chakram flying back into his hand the way a trained bird flies to its master.
"Let's continue." He dashed off; I started to follow when a stabbing pain pierced my leg, drawing a scream from my lips as I fell to the floor. The soldier I had stabbed drew his dagger back for another stab; I was shocked he had enough strength left to move. A purple boot crushed the man's hand, a bladed chakram slamming into the man's back. I shuddered as Sir Leglious helped me stand, trying to remove the look of terror he had wore as he realized his life was about to end.
"Take this." Sir Leglious had returned, he handed me a small blue bottle with a C on the bottle. I downed the Healo-B energy drink; the pain vanished as my minor wounds closed, I wiped the last of the blood from my eyes. I never understood how that worked.
"Where's lady cloche?" I managed to say, my vision still blurred.
"She's holed up in the room at the end of this corridor. The path is clear." We turned a corner; three soldiers and a reyvateil were sneaking toward the room he had indicated.
"Oh really." I rushed the soldiers, catching two in the back before they had noticed us. Sir Leglious caught the last soldier in the head with a chakram, all three fell before the reyvateil had turned. She caught one sight of her fallen comrades and our bloody weapons before falling in a dead faint. No others stood in our path. My leg still hurt, the exertion had opened the wound. Thankfully it was just the skin, everything else was fine. I waved away Sir Leglious' healing item, instead drawing a bandage from my pack. I wrapped it around the wound, those Healo-Bs tasted horrible. I couldn't imagine downing ten or more a day like some people do. I could hear the Holy Maiden shouting from the room in front of us, clearly angry at being left behind.
"I sent for reinforcements, block the door." I pushed a dresser in front of one door as Sir Leglious tried to calm down the Holy Maiden, the other I left open. "Two squads will arrive shortly."
"It took us all day to get here, we'll be overwhelmed!" panic finally breaking through the training and adrenaline.
"We took a civilian airship, the military's are much faster." I stepped between the Holy Maiden and the door, Sir Leglious beside me. A loud burst of Hymmnos echoed through the door, the enemy upon us.
Two hours later in the same room... :D
"After this, I am SO changing armor!" I complained, striking down the last soldier. I had numerous wounds; my armor was chipped and simply DYED red with blood, most of it wasn't even mine! Of course Sir Leglious didn't have a scratch on him, I blamed his armor. "Here's some more." I sighed and stood, the three soldiers advancing. The door slammed open again, two people rushing into the room.
"Captain!" A male in brown armor and carrying a heavy booster lance yelled, lifting it in a battle stance. A young girl yanked the two objects in her hair out, snapping them together; a pole connected them, forming a half moon bladed baton. The male slammed the side of his lance into one soldier's back, loud cracks signaling his departure from life. The girl quickly finished off the other soldier in ways I couldn't believe someone her age was capable of. Sir Leglious and I struck down the final soldier, dead before he hit the floor.
"Captain, are you alright?" the male, obviously grand bell, said. He had straight black hair, dark eyes, and a metal tassel hanging from his hair, signaling he was a newly accepted. His regulation armor was almost spotless, minus the dirt, and his booster lance, a large lance that was very unwieldy, was bloodied. His eyes where slightly unfocused as if he wore glasses.
The young girl, she looked about ten, had replaced the halves of her baton, the pole had broken in half and shrunk back into the blades. She wore them in her black hair, the yellow and orange matching her outfit. She wore an orange kimono, trimmed with yellow, handing off her waist by a belt. She wore an orange undershirt with white bars of cloth over it. Two reddish orange tails came off the back of her kimono. She wore a pair of short shorts and red sandals. She looked similar enough to the male to be his sister.
"Yes, but I used up a lot of energy in that last battle." Sir Leglious had barely broken a sweat in the last two hours; I bet he was just acting normal for once. But he had emptied his bottomless supply of Healo-Bs, so I couldn't complain.
The young girl pointed behind us as the blocked door exploded. "Look, reyvateils!" we spun around, drawing weapons.
"Croix! Take lady Cloche and run, I'll hold them off." Sir Leglious threw a chakram at one of the reyvateils.
"But captain!"
"That's an order."
"Yes sir."
"Alicia, you go too. They need your help more than I do." I started to protest, but stopped. He didn't make captain without reason, he was tough.
"Fine. Holy Maiden, if you will." I motioned toward the door with one hand, standing between the Holy Maiden and the enemy.
"You're entrusting my life to an untested rookie?" She looked shocked
"Hey! Cro's shown his skills plenty of times!" I smiled as the girl yelled at the Holy Maiden, glad I wasn't the only one who didn't like her.
"She's right; Croix is very capable, now go!" Sir Leglious shouted as I rushed the Holy Maiden out the door, Croix and the girl right behind me, slamming the door in our wake. I sighed as the holy maiden started yelling at me for pushing her, a crack echoed from behind us. The door had sunk in from the impact of something, shards of ice and wood flying in all directions. One shard planted itself squarely in my arm. I gasped as the ice vanished, signaling the reyvateils was dead. I gritted my teeth as I realized I was out of bandages, though it hadn't pierced the muscle.
"Alicia, are you ok?" I wanted to yell at Croix for his thickness.
I wanted to say, "No! I just got stabbed in the arm!" but instead said "yeah, I'm fine. Do you have any bandages?" The girl handed me a cloth roll from who know where, I wrapped it around the wound as the Holy Maiden yelled at Croix.
"We can rest at that circle there." He pointed to the empty, circle free, corner.
'Is he ok? Did he get hit in the head?' I thought, deciding to ignore any more circle talk. No enemies bothered us, there couldn't be that many left after two hours of fighting. We stepped into the entrance chamber, sunlight shining through the open doors. As if on cue, two soldiers entered from the door, another two from the corridor we had come from, and a reyvateil from the opposite hallway.
"We're surrounded!" Croix just won the captain obvious award. "This is bad, Holy Maiden, can you use song magic?"
"Is that an insult? I was baptized in Frelia's holy water, of course I'm a reyvateil!" she looked truly insulted.
"Then please sing for us, we could use your help in battle."
"How dare you suggest I use my songs in a battle such as this, why don't you get you reyvateil partner to sing?"
"I'm just a little girl…" the girl chuckled sadly, looking down.
"Fine, I'll sing! But you will pay for this!"
"If we're still alive." Croix said simply, raising his lance.
'Why didn't he ask me? Not that I was a reyvateil or anything. I didn't understand a word of hymmnos, nor could I feel the flow of power from the tower like some reyvateils had reported.' I sighed, charging at the man behind us. They finally had decided to attack, drawing lances. I swung at the soldier, a lance of pain along my wound. I flinched, he stabbed at me with the metal blade, it cut along my wounded arm, adding a new pain. I regained my composure in time to block it enough, the lance only cut skin. I grabbed onto the lance near his hand, I slammed my free hand into his chest, knocking him flat. He lost his hold on his weapon; I spun it around and planted it into his chest. He screamed once and was still.
A veil of light covered me, hymmnos echoing in my ears as my wounds healed. "Thank you Holy Maiden!" I shouted as the tone of her song changed, a ball of flames growing above her. Her song ended abruptly, she pointed at the reyvateil, the ball flashed toward her before exploding. The girl fell, her song unfinished. Croix and the girl had taken care of the two blocking the door, they where signaling for us to follow. More soldiers appeared behind us; I grabbed the Holy Maiden's arm and dragged her through the door. Croix and the girl slammed it behind us, locking the large bar into place.
"Whew, that was close!" I smiled at Croix; at least he seem indestructible like the captain.
"Yeah, but that door won't hold them long. We have to keep moving." I sighed, cleaning my wound with some water. The Holy Maiden sighed and said a short line in Hymmnos. A light enveloped my arm, the wound closing before my eyes. I stuttered out thanks, it hit me that she actually looked tired. She never let any emotion show in public; except to be passionate and energetic. I could feel my frustration at her in the past day draining out of me… until we stood up and she started complaining about wanting to rest.
The dirt trail twisted and turned through the forest, we had lost the enemy soldiers after stepping hastily behind a few trees. The bushes rustled, Croix and the girl drew weapons. A few tense second before a small yellow thing popped out of the bush behind us, I screamed. Both of them spun around, I rushed between them.
"Aww, it's so cute! What is it?" I picked it up and squeezed it, it made a cute "Pyon" sound; lady cloche joined me in petting it.
"That's a pompon, a ferocious beast that has shown no mercy to travelers." He pointed his lance at it, backing away slowly with a look of utter terror on his face. The girl looked torn between hiding behind him and hugging it.
"It's too cute to be that mean!" I set it back on the ground; it scooted around in circles at my feet. "Oh, can I keep it!" Croix sighed as I asked this; his sister stared at him with starry eyes.
"Fine. But you have to feed it!" he finally gave it. I cheered; it gave a little "Pyon!" as if celebrating too. A few minutes later my new pet was sitting in the backpack I wore, fast asleep.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves as a clearing came into sight, the trees stopped past a small sign. The scene looked like the perfect place for a picnic, but Croix said we had to keep moving. "Well well, the maiden of disaster escaped." a voice said, the speaker no where in sight.
"Who DARES call me disaster and chaos? Show yourself!" Lady Cloche looked murderous. Pon, I had named it that, squeaked and hid further in my pack.
"Well, she's got a temper too. Sorry, but this is as far as you go." A blue ring appeared on the ground, a blue wolf with white wings and gold trimmed horns appeared in the center before the circle disappeared.
Lady Cloche stomped her foot, actually stomped her foot, and stepped toward the wolf. She drew her sun pommel rapier and pointed it at the being! She started to yell at it, I grabbed her arm and tried to drag her behind us, this being was extremely dangerous. She pulled out of my grip and renewed her verbal assault. He got fed up with it when she called him a dog; he growled and lunged at her. She screamed and fell back, Croix rushing to help.
"Shun, stop!" I yelled, stepping in front of Lady Cloche. His eyes widened as he froze in mid pounce. 'Why did I say that?'
"Don't think this is over, maiden of disaster, I'll be back." The blue ring appeared around him again, he vanished without a trace.
"W-what did you do?" Lady cloche was standing again, her rapier pointed toward me now!
"I-I don't know!" I backed up from her, Croix stepped in between us.
"She doesn't know and threatening her won't change anything. We need to leave, who knows when that wolf thing will come back?" he stepped toward the exit; Lady Cloche sheathed her rapier and followed, staring at me strangely. Only the little girl didn't seem bothered. I took Pon from my pack, holding him tightly. My head throbbed a second later; my vision went black as I hit the ground. "Are you ok?" Croix's voice was the last thing I heard.
Curze: well well! Do I sense some deep and hidden trauma?
Croix: shut up, those things are pure evil! They lure you in with their cuteness, and then kill you in your sleep!
Curze: really… that's nice. Look, there's one behind you.
(Insert girlish scream here)
Curze: wow. Anyway, please rate and review! Please tell me how you like the addition of Pon!