Sorry about the wait. I honestly didn't mean to make you wait that long. I just had so much stuff get piled up, and before I knew it, Monster I've Become was at the bottom of the TO DO pile. But, never fear, it's finally done, and you can rest assured about it! ^__^

You get to learn about the mysterious Raphael and Kelly this chapter! ^__^ Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss

Recap: After getting attacked in the dead of night, Luke found himself in a black abyss. Wandering around a bit, Luke found a red wolf in the abyss as well. At first he thought it was going to attack him- but it didn't. Instead, it attacked a look-a-like of the wolf that had attacked him. When Luke touched the wolf, it had been absorbed into his body, and Luke found himself now a replica and a werewolf. At the end of the last chapter was introduced a new figure to the scene- the mysterious Raphael and Kelly.

Chapter 5

Raphael's eyes narrowed at the young girl.

"I'm sorry Kelly," Raphael told the girl as he strode across the room, and pulled her to her feet by her arm. "But I've orders." Kelly let out a grumble and yanked her arm from Raphael's grasp and stormed out of her room. Sighing, Raphael followed her.

"What's wrong with you Kelly?" Raphael asked, trying to make conversation. He knew there was something up with her, but what? She had acted like this since day one of entering the pack.

"Wrong with me?" Kelly stopped in the middle of the hallway and spun around so she was facing him. "Oh what possibly could be wrong with me?" Her voice was starting to rise, and it was gaining a sarcastic undertone to it.

Raphael sighed as Kelly stopped speaking and turned back to continue walking. Now he knew what was wrong.

Kelly resented what she was. Not that it was uncommon, even Raphael resented what he was for the first few weeks. But Kelly had been part of the clan for three months now… Why was she still showing such animosity towards their kind?

"You wanted me?" Kelly's voice came across cold, and Raphael watched her father's expression.

"Yes, I did." Her father replied, brushing off his daughter's harsh tone. "As you know, you're my oldest daughter-" If he noticed her scoff, he took no heed "-so that means you'll have to take over the pack when I die."

Raphael looked, eyes darting between Kelly and the Alpha, ready to spring in to stop Kelly from punching someone if he had to.

It was no secret amongst the pack that Kelly didn't want to be pack leader- or even part of the pack for that matter. Raphael had lost count of how many times Kelly had tried to run away- and had been brought back kicking and screaming with murder written on her face.

"Of course Father," Kelly's voice was honey sweet, causing Raphael to flinch. If her father took notice, once again, he took no heed. He just kept speaking as if there was nothing wrong.

"And as you'll be leader, you need to know everything the pack's been doing- public and non-public." He told her calmly. Raphael watched Kelly closely- she was a damn good actress and could portray her emotions in the exact opposite way she felt.

"Of course." Kelly's voice was steady and calm- the exact opposite of what she had just been a few minutes ago. The Alpha nodded, smiling.

"Great." He smiled. "Now Kelly, I'd like you to meet my- ah… associate, Miss Legretta."

X.x.X.x.X

Headache. That was the first thing that registered in his mind as he woke up. He had one hell of a headache. Placing a hand on his hurting head, Luke eased himself up into a sitting position, looking around the place he was in- it was definitely not the alley he had been attacked in. It looked almost exactly like…

"Luke! You shouldn't be sitting up yet!"

Scratch that. It was the castle's medic ward. Natalia just confirmed it. But how did he get there? And when did Natalia get back?

Last night. A nagging voice told him in the back of his head. She saved your ass from getting completely kicked around by that wolf that was treating you as its own personal chew toy. The voice wasn't Asch, but the words- almost -reminded Luke of his wayward Original.

"Natalia? When'd you get back to Baticul?"

Last Night. Of course- she was the one who saved his hide when he was nearly killed by that wolf- or would werewolf be a more appropriate term? At least, if last night really was last night.

"Late last night," A frown was upon her face as she gave him a look. "I came back just in time to keep you from getting killed by a wolf." Luke smiled weakly- looked like it really did happen.

"I have a knack for trouble, don't I?" He laughed weakly, Natalia frowning once more.

"You really shouldn't worry Aunt Suzanne like this," She reprimanded him. A frown flitted over Luke's face- what would he tell Mother? Would he tell Mother?

"Did you tell her?" Luke looked over at Natalia. She shook her head.

"Not yet." Natalia replied. "I wanted to make sure that you'd be alright before I told Aunt Suzanne."

"R-right," Luke agreed, looking down at the white bedspread. Thoughts started cluttering his mind, and no matter how hard he tried to push them away, they always came back.

Why did this always happen to him?

X.x.X.x.X

"Legretta?" A hand went on Kelly's hip. "Aren't you one of the God Generals?" Legretta raised an eyebrow and looked at the red head.

"Why does that matter?" Legretta asked, and Kelly rolled her eyes.

"What would one of the God Generals want with us?" Kelly demanded. "'Sides there's talk that your commandant was killed." Legretta placed her hand on one of her gun holsters, but she was beat to the shot.

"Kelly, be polite." Her 'father' ordered lightly. Kelly rolled her eyes and her arms crossed lightly over her chest.

"Your daughter is a feisty one," Legretta noted. "Why did you want her here Aifred?" Aifred chuckled lightly as he placed his chin on top of his laced fingers.

"Kelly is to lead the pack upon my death." Aifred explained. "I felt it necessary for her to come today. And, as you should remember, Raphael here is my second in command. He will also be helping Kelly when I pass on."

"I see." Legretta commented, her eyes fixing on the young girl. "She is young- how do you expect her to handle the responsibility?"

"If I'm not mistaken Asch the Bloody is her age, as is my second in command," Aifred shot back. "And Arietta the Wild and Sync the Tempest are younger than her." Van nodded.

"You're not mistaken." Legretta agreed. "It's just that they've been with the Order since they were young. Kelly's been with your pack for what, three months? And from what I've heard, she keeps trying to run away."

"That is true." Aifred relented. "Yet, that's only because she's not very adjusted to pack life. That, and her turning had been very traumatic. If it hadn't been for Raphael, she would've died along with her parents." Kelly flinched a little at that- she hadn't, nor ever would, forget what had happened.

She and her parents had been on their way to Engeve when they had been attacked by a pack of ligers. Out of the forest, a black wolf had appeared and took down the ligers single handedly. Her parents were already gone when the wolf had turned on her.

"Did you take care of the job I asked you to do?" Legretta asked, turning her attention back to Aifred.

Job? What job? Kelly wondered. Briefly Kelly thought back to Raphael's nose. It had looked broken. At first she had brushed it off, think he had gotten into another fight, but maybe he had been the one taking care of whatever job it was?

Raphael grimaced, and Aifred turned towards his second in command. He raised an eyebrow at the seventeen year old, and he gave a weak laugh.

"Uh, sort of?" He responded, not liking Legretta's displeased look. Aifred, however, seemed to look sort of pleased.

"Explain yourself," Aifred ordered, tone representing one of someone who was displeased with an underling instead of partial delight.

"Well, I had gotten into Baticul alright," Raphael explained, the only ones understanding Legretta and Aifred. "However, before I could kill him, I had a sort of problem…" Kelly gasped.

"You wanted him to kill someone?" Kelly gasped, appalled. Aifred sighed, and waved his hand.

"Kelly, daughter," Aifred sighed, "By the sound of it, Raphael did not kill the poor boy, is that right?" Kelly looked over to Raphael who nodded.

"I am sorry sir," Raphael, apologized. "But, there had been a girl. The princess, I assume. She was quick to come to his aid. I had no choice but to retreat, lest I get killed myself." Aifred nodded, while Legretta looked outraged. Kelly had to try not to laugh- she was better at hiding her emotions than her.

"Did he turn into… your kind?" She finally growled. Raphael opened his mouth to speak, but Aifred beat him.

"Of course not," Aifred interrupted. "It's not possible. Raphael hasn't been with us long enough for the glands that allow us to transform others to become mature enough for that to happen. Rest assured, the boy is very much human." There was a twinkle in Aifred's eye, and Kelly knew he was lying. She was told that once you were with the clan for half a year, you were able to turn others into their kind. Raphael had been with the clan for more than a year.

Not that Legretta knew, obviously.

She nodded, and turned to leave.

"Have a safe trip back to Daath," Aifred called, tone happy. "And don't forget our agreement."

Legretta didn't turn around, but she did nod. She left, and as soon as Aifred saw her leave through the gates to their village, Aifred turned towards Raphael.

"First in command?" He simply asked, and Raphael smirked.

Lanna was the first in command, Kelly knew. She was also the best healer they had. She was a prize to the clan, and she had helped a lot of their people survive the transformation.

"Lanna should be coming back soon." Raphael replied. "Executed just as you ordered- though, I wasn't expecting the Kimlascan Princess to intervene." Kelly looked between Aifred and Raphael, confused.

"Wha-?" She asked, and Aifred sighed.

"Kelly, it's time for you to learn everything." Aifred explained. "All my mistakes, and my attempts to redeem them. And when I finally perish, you will be left with the burden of making everything right." Kell hesitated, but before she could say anything, Aifred continued.

"Now, I know you still don't accept us as our family, you still hate what you are." Aifred stated calmly, "But, I know despite that, you will make a good leader. That's why you need to know the truth. And, I will be sending you out on supervised trips."

Kelly sighed, and took a seat. She was sure that this was going to take a while.

X.x.X.x.X

Close To One Month Later…

"I can never get over how pretty the sea is," Kelly sighed, leaning on the railing edge. They were- they, meaning her and Lanna -on a trip to see one of the other clans. Lanna nodded, standing next to the girl.

"It is," She agreed. "I'm going to go below deck. Am I safe to assume you won't jump deck?" Kelly laughed, and nodded, Lanna cracking a smile of her own. She disappeared down below.

Kelly stayed up for a bit, rolling back and forth on her heels. A slight wind started blowing, causing her to shiver, so she made to turn to head below deck…

And ran right into somebody.

"Yowch!" She yelped as they both fell backwards. "Sorry about that." The boy shook his head.

"It's my fault," The boy insisted. Kelly sighed.

"Kelly," She introduced herself. "And you are?" She looked over the boy- short red hair, light red, not her mahogany shade. He had emerald eyes, and a crescent scar under one of his eyes- similar to hers.'''

"Luke fon Fabre." He held out his hand to shake. Kelly smiled, and went to shake Luke's hand.

"Kelly." Lanna's voice cut through them like a knife. Kelly turned as well as Luke to watch her walk up towards them.

"Yes, Lanna?" She asked, looking over at her caretaker. She opened her mouth to scold the girl, but her eyes fell on Luke. Kelly looked between the two before saying, "Meet Luke before, Lanna?"

Lanna's eerie amber eyes glanced over Luke. He stiffened, there was something weird about her, he could tell. She seemed to notice, because she gave a very… wolf-like grin.

"Hello Fabre," She grinned eerily. "Last I saw, your cousin was worried over you. Have your… wolf problem figured out?" Luke took a shocked step back, and Kelly's eyes widened.

"Lanna, you don't mean…?" Kelly started, but Luke grasped his hand on his sword as he snarled,

"Who are you?" He took a step back from Kelly as well, regarding the girls carefully. Lanna gave a small laugh.

"I wouldn't attack if I were you." Lanna warned, as Luke drew his sword. No one was on deck, so there'd be no panic aroused by him drawing his sword.

"Why not?" He growled, and Lanna stepped in front of Kelly protectively.

"You will make an enemy you don't want if you hurt Kelly," Lanna growled back. "Now stand down." Luke hesitated, but held his stance.

"Stand down." She ordered again, and there was a bigger hesitation on Luke's part.

"Luke, stand down." Kelly snapped, voice cutting from behind Lanna.

Luke didn't know what came over him, but he put his sword away. He went to redraw it, but Kelly's voice cut through once more.

"Take off your sword belt and kick it over to me." Kelly told Luke, and Luke undid the belt and found himself kicking the sword towards the red head.

Luke took the chance to look at Kelly, and noticed that her eyes were slightly glazed as she forced him to do that stuff. He looked to Lanna who picked up his sword, pulling the bandaged hilt out to examine the blade more closely.

"Ho ho!" She laughed. "Brave one, aren't you? Silver; brave choice for the ones who are murdered by that very metal." Luke knew that. That's why the hilt was wrapped in the bandages. That way he could still use it and not burn himself. When he had done his first trials of what he could or could not do, he had tried touching silver. Depending on the amount of silver in the object and how long he touched it, he would get varying degree of burns- which were very hard to explain to Natalia, mind you.

"Who are you?" Luke asked once more, and Lanna sighed.

"I'm the one who kept you alive after you were attacked by Raphael." Lanna conceded. "And before you say thanks, don't- it's my responsibility to keep fledglings alive." Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Fledglings?" He asked, and Kelly nodded.

"It's annoying," She sighed, "But they call you a fledgling until you're six months in- until you've had six transformations under the full moon." Luke hesitated, before finally saying,

"You're… You're-" But Luke didn't get to finish, because Lanna cut through.

"Werewolves?" Her amber eyes seemed to glow. "Yes we are. And as you obviously figured out, you are one too." She was grinning like a fool, and the wind blew lightly around her, letting Luke see as her hair blew away from her ear that she had a cut around her ear, in a full moon shape.

"I am our Alpha's first in command," Lanna continued. "I would sooner die for him than give him up." Luke eyed Kelly.

"Then why so protective over Kelly?" Luke inquired, staring at the girl.

"I am to take the Alpha's place," Kelly said at last. "When he dies. I will become the new Alpha and lead the clan through troubles that are yet to come." Kelly looked over Luke, pondering.

'He has to be the one that that Legretta woman wanted Raphael to kill.' She determined. 'That's why Lanna recognized him. But why? Why would the God Generals want someone like him dead?'

Kelly sighed, confused. Taking Luke's sword from Lanna, she tossed it back to its rightful owner, turning her back to the sea.

"We're going down below." Kelly told Lanna, who moved to go by the younger. Kelly turned to look at Luke with piercing aquamarine eyes.

"If you don't want any trouble," Kelly advised Luke. "You'd best stay away from the God Generals." And she turned on her heel and strode down into the lower cabins of the ship.

Luke shook his head, staring at Kelly in disbelief, buckling his sword belt back around his waist. Stay away from the God Generals? He already knew that.

X.x.X.x.X

I'm sorry if some of this doesn't match up with the game- I haven't played it in a while, and my brother just got it back and I haven't had a chance yet to play it again. But never fear, I'll start playing it as soon as I find it, then my updates should be quicker! (And yes, I know there's an anime, I just can't get some of the episodes to work for me...)

So how was it? Good? Bad? Surprising? Tell me what you think!

~~Paw-Chan Signing Out~~