Second Chapter
Midnight : a Sparkling Light in the Darkness
"Are you telling me that only seven months have passed since the beginning of all this?"
Rhys was puzzled by the woman's attitude towards their hardships of the previous months. Had she expected a longer delay between the beginning of the commander's illness and the worsening of his state?
She obviously had noticed the priest's troubled look, as she immediately apologized.
"Forgive me for what I said. Although I must say I had expected that a man in his state – nothing will be certain until I see him myself, by the way – had passed maybe the last three or four years in a barely better condition, I admit that the problem seems serious enough to be dangerously threatening his life."
As mistrustful as Rhys was towards the three strangers, he had not yet allowed them to enter the cabin in which the commander was resting – or was he? However, he could not keep them away for much longer : they were there to heal him, or so the girl had said. Even if he still did not trust the trio, he had no choice but to lead them inside the small room.
The smallest of the three silhouettes was the first one to enter, although she let the one who was obviously a woman sit beside the sick man. Ike suddenly began to moan and move when the taller one stepped inside. The woman immediately turned to him, and after a few seconds of visual confrontation, the red-eyed stranger turned back to leave. As soon as had disappeared in the dark, Rhys gave a questioning look to the remaining two, who uncovered their faces to reveal a young woman and a young girl. The deep green eyes of the woman met those of the priest as she responded with a mild smile.
"There can be many reasons for your friend to have reacted that way to his presence. It could be because of the large, dark aura he radiates. Many people feel threatened around him because of that."
The green-eyed healer started channelling light magic energy in her hands – in order to evaluate the sick man's state –, under the attentive eyes of the red-haired man. She let out a small cry of surprise when a hand suddenly tried to seize her wrist.
"Whoa… What in the world is taking him?"
The young woman did not seem to find it funny, unlike the mercenary and the purple-eyed girl.
"What do you think is affecting him?" asked the young girl, still smiling in amusement, to the older one.
"Heighjar, Melia," hissed the blonde, as an answer, before catching sight of the change in Rhys' expression, which meant he had understood that she had said "corruption" in the archmages' language. She then continued talking to her young companion in a different language, one that the red-haired man could not understand.
"C'est la seule chose qui peut produire cet effet en si peu de temps. Mais je n'en suis que peu sûre. L'autre est trop nerveux et, du coup, je ne sens rien qui provienne du malade lui-même…
– Est-ce que je peux t'aider d'une façon ou d'une autre?
– Si tu pouvais le faire sortir, ça m'aiderait à m'assurer de mon diagnostic.
– Et tu feras quoi si tu as bel et bien raison? Tu es trop fatiguée, ce serait dangereux pour toi de…
– Je sais, je sais. Je verrai ce que je ferai, le cas échéant, mais je ne ferai pas de connerie…
– D'accord. Je reviendrai plus tard… Une fois qu'il se sera endormi, et que je serai certaine qu'il ne reviendra pas de sitôt, je veux dire... "
The young girl lifted up her large, purple eyes on the priest, who was confused by the only word he had understood in what the two strangers had discussed about. What was this "corruption" they were talking about? Moreover, it had seemingly created a small tension between the two girls, but why? He was brought back from his thoughts by a small contact on his arm and a charmingly innocent smile.
"Excuse me, sir, but could I ask you for something to drink? And no alcohol, my dear mother strictly ordered me to keep myself away from that."
He took a moment before answering, suddenly getting lost in the child's somehow enigmatic eyes.
"Hum, yes, of course you can. I will go and get you something."
As the last mercenary who was awake and in the camp went outside of the cabin, suddenly forgetting every suspicion he had held in the two strangers, the young girl turned to give her companion a wink, for which she received a mild smile.
"Huh, I think I'll go and…escort him. See you later… mother."
As soon as she found herself alone with the mercenary, the young woman lost the calm and confident look she had held for the whole time before. As her eyes, filled with some kind of fear, went down on the man to examine him from the shoulders to the tip of the toes, her whole body began shaking. She gave her trembling hands a sad look.
"I haven't eaten enough in the last days… I haven't slept enough as well… If you truly are affected by the black venom, I won't be willing to do anything for you, you know? Ah, but I don't feel anything in you, even if they're both gone… What could be affecting you, then? I thought you were possessed, at first, but it would take a very powerful being to be able to hide itself from me like that, and it certainly would have made you become completely mad immediately after..."
He made another swift move to catch hand when she channeled the light magic into it, and once again, she quickly avoided it. Her eyes were still filled with the same fear, mixed with anger, when she looked down on him again.
"Maybe you are simply mad… That would be the goddess' punishment for your deeds, although I don't know enough about you to be informed about most of them. In that case, I could have arrived too late to save you… It wouldn't be my fault, if your companions hadn't asked for my help earlier enough…"
Her gaze completely filled itself with anger as she stared down on Ike again, while he was blindly searching for her with a hand.
"Is it true, what the others are telling about you, or aren't they only blindfolded by your nice looks and don't see the monster you truly are?
She violently hit his hand to repel him when his fingers gently caught her cheek, on which tears had begun running down.
"You couldn't be different. Otherwise, you would not be in this state. In that case, there is only one thing I can do to stop your pain, and that is finishing you."
"Can you really be trusted, or are you also hiding a dark, hideous side beneath your respectable act?"
The clear voice echoed in Ike's mind while he opened his eyes to be blinded by the radiant light that had appeared before him.
"Hey! What have you done with Soren? He was there, right before me, a little while ago, and you were with him, as well as Rhys and somebody else! Hey! Won't you answer?"
As he slowly stood up, his eyes were growing used to this new light in his perfectly dark world. The blue-haired man tried to step towards the source of the light, but failed, as it moved to flee from him.
"Stop playing me like that, that's not funny at all. Where are you?"
He soon found out, by searching around him, that what had once been a nothing but a mass of light in his darkness was slowly turning in a frail silhouette that was, in fact, right in front of him.
The blonde hit him hard when he tried to touch her, fascinated by the light that emanated from such young and tired traits. He moved back while she did the same, and when he dared looking at her again, he saw only the top of her head, and nothing of her face. She was trembling, but he could not tell if it was in fear, anger or anything else.
"I am afraid your state might only be the result of the madness created by the evil you represent or have been. And I cannot accept to put myself in danger to heal a monster such as you."
He was face to face with a woman whose tone was harsh, and he could not help but try and move towards her, protesting.
"No! I am not a monster! I never wished for his death! "
When he made a step forward, she moved backwards by two, finally meeting his gaze with her own. What he saw in front of him was a pair of sparkling emeralds that were filled with torment and sadness.
"Every of them, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! told me the same thing. Why would you be different, and, most important, why should I believe that? What could tell me that you are sincere, unlike them?"
She suddenly turned her back on him and began walking to leave the place. As soon as she began to get farther, darkness began to surround the young mercenary again. Moved by the tears he had seen running down her cheeks, he had remained frozen for a small while before reacting to her going away.
"Hey! Wait! Couldn't you at least tell me who you are?"
She halted her walk for an instant.
"What would that be for? You will die…"
Without waiting any longer, the hero of Tellius began running towards the woman, ignoring the pain that took his exhaustingly heavy body at every of his movements, and ignoring the shadows that were gathering around him, all of a sudden, trying to make him stumble and fall.
"Wait! Haven't you told me that you could save me? At least, tell me who you are!"
When she realized how close he was getting, she began running, but it was too late. In a colossal effort, he grabbed her wrist to hold her back, and it was only then that she let out a loud cry of pain as the shadows assailed her to disappear in her body.
The young woman held back a shriek when Ike suddenly seized her wrist, and she began struggling frantically against the tight grip he had on her as every ounce of the dark energy that was in him was transferred into her frail body.
When she finally found herself able to free her arm, an intense pounding in her head was making her unable keep her eyes open, although her thoughts were still clear enough for her not to be too confused.
"Was he…possessed? How…? How could he withstand such a pressure on his mind? Most would have immediately become mad…"
She discharged all of the energy she had channeled into her own body in an ultimate effort to make the pain stop, although it was already too late, as she collapsed on the young man, losing consciousness.
When, a little while after, Ike woke up, still puzzled by the meaning of his last dream, he found a strangely bright world around him, as he had gotten used to seeing his surroundings getting darker day after day, during his slow descent in the abysses. Many times before, things had looked like they were about to get better. Many times before, his hope had been deceived. But this time, he knew it was the beginning of a new dawn for him. He knew he was out of the bottomless pit he had been thrown into. What remained was to know who had taken him out of it.
Although he felt strong and perfectly well to do anything, he made no move to stand up, as there was a little weight on his stomach, a little weight whose weak and cold breath went through his fingers and made him shiver.
"Mist…" thought he, as a little smile appeared on his lips.
However, when his fingers softly went through curly locks, he realized that it could not be his sister.
Puzzled, he lifted his head – and only his head, as he was trying not to awake the sleeper – and was surprised to find a blonde head laying on him.
He immediately recognized the woman in his dream when his eyes scanned the frail, pale silhouette that was partly collapsed on him and whose whole body was shaking. Panic immediately took hold of him : who was she, and why was she there, laying on him that way? He could not remind himself of anything that involved her, except that bizarre dream from which he had just awoken.
"Damn, could I have done things without knowing it? Oh, I hope I haven't… Damnit! I can't remember anything!"
The young man forced himself to remain calm as his eyes went down on the trembling young woman for the second time. The last thing he wanted was to wake her up before having remembered who she was and why she was there. That was why Hhis heart began racing when he saw her begin to move, and he froze when she slowly opened her eyes, finding himself unable to detach his gaze from the two emeralds filled with sadness that had just appeared.
When the young woman moved away in a sudden movement, curling up on the chair, the mercenary was startled as well, and the two were left speechless, each considering the other with an uncertain look. He was the first one to speak, although he failed to make any complete sentence :
"Did I… I mean… You know… Did we…"
She gave him a frown as she tried to figure out what he meant, and raised her eyebrows, her eyes rolling, when she understood.
"No."
The blue-haired hero let out a loud sigh in relief, but suddenly felt like he had been rude (or something of the kind) when he saw her frown again. He began offering profuse apologies, clumsily trying to put things right.
"I did not mean to insult you, and I don't think that you are ugly or that you look like a… You must understand! Ever since I was young, I've been afraid of doing, while being…not really conscious of it, some things that I would not do while being fully conscious. And I wouldn't have…I mean, I don't even know who you are, so…"
Her gaze went away to stare at through the window as she interrupted him brusquely, obviously annoyed.
"It's okay."
As he found himself searching for those two shining green eyes that were staring at him right before, Ike, while moving to sit instead of lying down, mechanically apologized :
"I. am. sorry."
Strangely, the young mercenary's reaction seemed to provoke in her a kind of aversion towards him, and she did not hide anything as she stared at him like he had been some kind of foreign creature.
"Sorry for what?" asked she, brusquely, before fleeing his gaze once again.
"Well… I don't know! It's your expression that makes me feel like I did something wrong!" responded the man, as he kept looking at the fair-haired healer. "Worst is, I don't even remember what happened before I found you sleeping on me, so I don't know what I could have done to upset you that way!"
"You haven't done anything wrong, so don't worry about that."
The glare the young woman sent to the head of the Greil Mercenaries was filled with anger, but it was not enough to make him look away. However, it ended up annoying him, and he responded with a touch of annoyance in his voice.
"Then why are you so upset?"
It was only then that the blue-haired man stared down, realizing that losing his composure was only a good way to upset her even more.
"Sorry again. That was rude from my part. I usually have better manners than that. Please forgive me."
The girl was still looking away, but her anger had suddenly vanished, leaving all the room for sorrow to appear once again in her beautiful eyes.
"I told you it was okay."
He saw the frail woman bite her lips in anger as her body began trembling again, and his eyes found themselves sticking on marks on her left wrist – bruises –, which she held close to her. A look aside was enough for her to remark the attention he was suddenly giving her, although she waited a little bit before reacting, suddenly beginning to fear the man who was tirelessly staring at her with eyes that she could not decipher.
"Am I the one who did you that?"
"Stop staring at me that way!"
Worry. It was worry she saw in his gaze, although she had not yet realized it. But she had understood his question, he knew it, and her silence was speaking more than her words could have.
Under the healer's puzzled look, the mercenary stretched out his arm to grab a small container that was on the bedside table. Then, he untied his headband and, still holding it, reached out for her arm. She moved back, trying to get out of his reach, clearly afraid.
"Please. I know, for sure, that I owe you my life, and yet I was rude enough to hurt you. I cannot heal you instantly, but let me do what I can to help."
Although she was reluctant, the frail young woman slowly stretched out her shaking arm towards him. As she expected for him to take her hand eagerly, she startled when his fingers touched hers, but it was very carefully that he took her pale, small palm on his.
"I won't hurt you, I promise… But you might feel a little itch."
The girl forced herself to stop trembling, even though it was obvious that she was not reassured at all. However, he kept talking to her, even if she did not say anything, while he applied she ointment on her bruises.
"I know it seems stupid to apply something like that on bruises, but trust me, it does work. Soren was tired of seeing me with so many bruises – I don't really care about myself, when I fight, so I often end up with many of these –, so he prepared this for me, and it's a real miracle. Well…"
He sighed, and his eyes went up to the ceiling as he failed to notice that, for the first time, she had laid a curious look on him, as if the mention of the mercenaries' former strategist had aroused her curiosity. However, when he looked back at her, with a mild smile on his lips, he only saw her stare at her left wrist in concern. There had nevertheless been a complete change in her attitude towards him, from the moment he had pronounced the name of the former strategist of the Greil Mercenaries.
"I don't know why I'm telling you about him… It's not like you could know him, and it's not like I could present him to you… After what happened, I would be surprised to find him alive… No matter how clever, nobody could have made it out alive of a fight with such a demon, unless they were of the same kind… That being said...we would not have survived either, hadn't it been for that injury he inflicted him…"
While the man finished covering her wrist with ointment, his blue eyes went down to contemplate what he had done, and the full-of-concern look of the fair-haired young healer easily saw the sadness and guilt that were in those sparkling sapphires. He however quickly regained his composure, and he put the finishing touch to his work by tying the piece of cloth around the frail forearm.
"Is it too tight?"
"No, it's just nice. Thank you… But now, please let go of my hand…"
"Here you go."
The young woman had a shy smile on her lips as she got her hand back against herself, and Ike could not help but feel like he had just won a great battle, although his own reaction surprised him. His amazement grew when she suddenly uncurled to sit properly on the chair and, like a perfect lady, bend over before introducing herself.
"My name is Leona, I was asked to come here and heal you. Sorry for not introducing myself before now."
"I… I am Ike, leader of this group of mercenaries that was founded by my father. I'm pleased to meet you."
It was her turn to examine him, halting at his face's height to scan his eyes more thoroughly, and it made him feel slightly uneasy. However, it did not last long, as she soon revealed what she had been searching for by asking him :
"This Soren you were telling me about… Who was he to you?"
"He…was my best friend… I was the only one he had… And I let him down, treating him like a traitor while he was only trying to save me…"
Seeing his gaze emptying itself upon thinking about the mercenaries' former strategist, the fair-haired healer lowered her head, thinking about something that obviously was bothering her. She had the look of somebody who knows something that one might want to know, but that one should not know, for his or her own sake. A few minutes later, her concerned look tried to catch the mercenary's eyes, but failed as he was too lost in his thoughts.
"Hey…"
Unsure, she reached out for his shoulder, but changed her mind on the way, and withdrew back to safety. Instead, she raised her voice a little bit.
"You told I couldn't know him… But I do happen to know a Soren… We found him in the castle's courtyard, he was near death… Somehow, he survived… probably because of his blood's awakening… It sure sounds like an odd coincidence to me…"
As the blue eyes of the mercenary slowly went up to meet the two sparkling emeralds of the young woman, they slowly lost their sad cover, instead filling themselves with an unutterable astonishment that soon morphed into joy.
With a burst of laugh, the man jumped out of his bed and seized the frail lady to lift her in his arms, squeezing her so hard that she was out of breath when, a few seconds after, he carefully let her down. As she tried to take it back, it was easy to see that she had been scared by him jumping out of his bed to seize her that way.
"It can only be him, it couldn't be anybody else! He's alive!"
The girl did not seem to share his joy, and she waved her arms while she regained her breath, trying to get him to calm down as she tried to get ahold of her panic. He soon noticed her lukewarm reaction.
"What is wrong?"
"He may come back here, someday, but don't expect anything great from him, Ike. He forgot everything from his previous life. When he woke up, he did not even know what his own name was."