Weeks Ago
"My feet are KILLING meeeeeee!"
79, 80, 81
Just block them out. Damn you master! Sending me off alone with these two? Have I offended him somehow?
"Are we THERE YET"
85…86…
"Aye lass! Over the next hill! I'd bet my life on it Ahaha!"
93….97…
"That's what you said LAST time! You HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE! WHAT KIND OF GUIDE ARE YOU! WE SKIPPED OUR HONEYMOON FOR THIS!"
104….100 and, where was it?
"The kind that makes bandits quake in fear AHAHAHA! One look at my armor, and they'll go running for the hills"
Block… out…
"Erkiepoo would be more than happy to fry a few bandits for me! He's the best mage in all of Elibe! What I need is someone who knows where they're going!"
Finally, Erk snapped.
"WOULD YOU TWO STOP! SO IRRITATING!"
"Look what you did, peasant, you made Erkiepoo mad! I'll have you KNOW he is on a very important mission for the Mage General of Etruria. He could make you disappear in a heartbeat for interfering!"
Erk threw his hands up in defeat.
Of all the women in the world, he had to fall in love with this one.
"I swear lass, we're almost in Ostia! It won't be long now!"
"You already said that before!"
She was right.
What was he thinking, hiring GENERAL WALLACE as a guide?
But then again, how could Lord Pent have known the former Caelin General had no sense of direction.
For days upon days the trio had been wandering aimlessly, without so much as sight of a town or even other travelers. For all Erk knew, they were still in Etruria.
A very hilly part of Etruria.
The next hill came and went, as did Erk's patience.
"Oh…well… I'm sure we're almost there, just keep moving forward"
"You oaf! When we find Ostia I'm having you arrested for the kidnapping of an Etrurian noblewoman! You'll be HANGED! DO you hear ME!"
"The whole world can hear you Sera"
He had had enough.
"The situation is bad, but your constant complaining isn't making anything any better."
"But erk-"
"no buts, sera, enough!"
Wallace had walked a good bit ahead of them, not wanting to be in the middle of this lover's spat. He was atop the next hill as they rounded the last.
"Hey… Guys"
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!"
Sera had stopped in her tracks, and Erk had followed suit
"Your loving wife! I could have been with any man in all of Elibe, but I chose YOU"
"Indeed, and I ask the maker every day what did I do to deserve such punishment!"
"Why you... Stuck up... scruffy looking!"
"Hey, you two"
"Stuck up? IM stuck up? What about YOU? Miss 'Gift of the goddess'"
"I can't help it if people love me!"
"HEY LOVE BIRDS!"
They both turned their heads and looked at their older companion.
He had a smug grin on his face and a finger pointed out in front of him
"Told ya so"
"Bulgar? BULGAR!"
Sera screamed at the top of her lungs, scaring the man who told her this information half to death, and sending him scurrying away.
"That's in SACAE!"
She glared at Wallace.
"YOU! YOU-"
"At least we made it to a town."
Erk interjected, probably saving the old general's life.
"we'll stay the night, restock our supplies, and then in the morning hire a REAL guide,"
He may have added a larger trace of venom than he intended on the word real
"and be safe in Ostia before anyone can miss us."
"Great!"
The general sounded cheery for a man facing the wrath of a woman scorned.
Sera glared at him again, but he remained oblivious to her gaze.
"Without YOU moron!" they seemed to say, but he missed the message completely.
"I can't wait. Maybe we'll actually meet some bandits along the way this time! My lance hungers for some action"
Erk once again threw his hands up in surrender.
"I'll go rent the three of us a room"
"Just ONE room? But Erk-"
"Say no more lass. I'll rent my own room. Give you two kids some alone time."
Erk's face flushed red
"N-no, it's not like-"
But before he could finish the man was off to do his own thing.
"I'll meet back up with you kids tonight! Enjoy the honeymoon!"
"We COULD leave him you know"
"No, he may be useful should we actually be attacked by bandits along the way. C'mon lets go rent that room"
Sera flung herself on the bed
"Oh My GOD! Finally, a real bed!"
It was a small bed meant for one, but Erk had no problems being close.
He lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Erk?"
"This is not what I expected our honeymoon to be like" he admitted solemnly
"It's alright. So long as you have me it'll always be alright."
She curled her lips into a playful smile and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Erk knew that was her way of saying she was just glad they were together, and he was glad as well.
They broke embrace, and Erk sat up.
She mimicked him playfully.
"Well, here we are. It may not be the most conventional honeymoon, but-"
"But we're alone at last."
"Right"
"Soooooo?"
"so what?"
She shook her head in disappointment. Then lunged at him.
"S-Sera!"
"Erk!"
"Sera!"
"ERK!"
Then came a voice that wasn't either of theirs
"SERA! ERK!"
General Wallace burst through the door
"EEEEEEK GET OUT!"
"OH uh sorry, it's just I was doing thrusts right outside the city gate…. Oh sorry, bad way to phrase that"
Erk blushed violently. Sera scowled.
"when I saw this blinding light, and then this guy fell from the sky and landed right on me! He looked like he was in bad shape, so I carried him here. You're a healer, do something for him!"
"Blinding light, and then he just appeared you say?"
Erk was quick to talk about something else.
"Yeah, fell right out of the sky!"
"Those are properties commonly associated with the warp staff, did you see anyone else?"
"no, just him."
Erk gave the man a look over. It seemed he would be fine. Someone had already healed the majority of his wounds, still he was in pretty rough shape. He would need some rest more than anything.
"Sera, get off the bed. We need it for him"
Sera scowled at him violently.
"Sera, please."
Finally she complied.
"See what you can do for him, im going to go check the area he appeared in with Wallace."
"oooooo, he's a real looker isn't he" She thought. "Must make all the girls swoon"
"And so strong. Nothing like that worthless husband of mine"
"Hm, whats this?"
She noticed a pouch on his side.
"He won't mind if I take a look. Afterall, what he doesn't know won't hurt him."
She reached in, and pulled out a medallion.
It was made of pure gold.
"WHAT!"
"And this is where he fell?"
"Yup"
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely, heavy bastard too"
Erk scoured the point of impact looking for any clue as to what happened. Finally he found it.
"Magic Dust"
The rarest of all materials, said to increase the potency of a magician's spell one-hundred fold. The caster could have been anywhere between here and Pherae.
"Well we won't be finding any more clues here. Best to Patch him up, pay the innkeeper to watch over him until he wakes up, and be on our way"
"We HAVE to wait!"
"What? Why?"
"Look at this!"
She pulled out a golden medallion from a pouch in her hands
"I found this on him! If he can waste money on this useless thing, he must be ROLLING in it! If he knows we helped him, Maybe he'll reward us!"
"Or maybe he'll kill us in our sleep, how do we know he didn't steal that off the corpse of some noble somewhere?"
"I'll have you know I'm a phenomenal judge of character!"
"How could you possibly judge his character? He's ASLEEP!"
"I can tell from the look on his face."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Sure it does. I want my REWARD!"
"I have an idea"
General Wallace attempted to throw his own opinion inside the hurricane of emotions that was young love.
"Butt out!"
They both said in unison.
"I think the young lass is right"
"please, continue"
"amazing how quickly she can change her tone," Erk thought
"I'll stand guard, in here. You two can sleep in the next room"
He put emphasis on the word sleep.
It was not appreciated.
"When he wakes up, I'll come get you. No bad deed should go unpunished I always say. Well the opposite is true for a good deed."
"Alright it's settled!"
Erk once again threw his hands up in defeat.
"Fine! I'll be in the next room *mumble mumble* "
Note from Me: This is easily my favorite chapter so far. I always love portraying the interactions between characters, and I particularly loved the love hate relationship between Erk and Sera in the games. Wallace also, for being such a loveable ham. He reminds me a good bit of Kikuchyo from Samurai 7, so i apologize if more of kikuchyo shined through than of Wallace. This chapter is filler more than anything. Also, since it probably never will be expanded upon, the medallion in this chapter IS THE medallion that held The dark goddess. Without her influence the medallion became pure gold. no longer any threat to anyone, Ike kept it as a memento of his home.
