Angels of Cruxis
by: Fehize

----------

There seemed to be nothing but an endless sea of green far below them. Not only was it smelling of pine and all other sorts of deciduous trees (not much, but those types were very potent in smell...), but it was also smelling like... well..... pine cones. It ended up that it was the first sign of winter on the land that they were flying over. That was to be expected somewhat. There were signs inside Welgaia that it was beginning to be the climate change down on the surface world. In truth, the signs could be seen down by the large windows that surrounded the living quarters. The world below them was turning browns and white. Such a sight it was.

It seemed that the flight was taking shorter time than expected. That was because of the fact that the air was making the fliers go towards where they wanted to be on the stream of fast moving wind. Because of this, the red head had to tell the brown headed son that they had to land right about then, unless they wished to swim in from the sea that was right in front of them. So, as the mid-afternoon sun was beginning to rise hgh upon the wintry-touched land below them, the smell of winter's fury not so far away, the two beings landed with an undetectable noise. After all, what else could years of practice give? You did not merely train for this sort of thing unless you were going to put it into some use sooner or later.

The leaves were not yet fallen down upon the ground. Apparently the winter that was detectable by the air high above was not in effect in this valley of sorts. Perhaps it was just the smell of the sea from far away. Or I could be thinking of Flanior where Yuan is, no doubt. Doing something I suppose... The grass around them was still a green color, and the air around them seemed to be a nice one. Not to hot, nor to cold. Of course, for the two Seraphim angels, this was not at all a problem. Heat? Cold? Such words had not much meaning to them. They could remember them, no doubt, could perhaps feel the effects of heat on their bodies, but in general, heat was nothing but a word.

"Umm... Kratos..." stared the red head's son in a manner that showed that he was still unfamiliar with calling his father something other than Dad or Daddy. The red head just hoped he wouldn't leak that out. On the bright side, if he did manage to say something other that Kratos it wasn't as bad as saying that they were from Cruxis. "Are we almost at the temple, Kratos?"

The red head walked over towards his curious son, who - no doubt - was already looking around at the things that surrounded him. The trees in the area were immense, taller than most things the teen had seen with his own two eyes. Of course, compared to the Tower of Salvation, they were nothing, but the lad had been cooped up inside that area for many, many years. Pulling out a small little tree branch that had gotten stuck into the child's (He always secretly called his son a child. It was what he will forever be in his heart) hair, the red head had to sigh. "Lloyd... You are going to have to improve in your skills of talking around. Just think of trying to fool Yggdrasil that it wasn't you who broke one of his statues. You acted pretty well then and made up a good story on the spot. So, come on. We still have quite a walk to do... little trainee."

The brown head gawked. "TRAINee? Aww man! Why do I have to be a trainee?" Apparently, the idea seemed to not resolve itself nicely in the boy's mind. Not that the red head expected it to be but...

"It's because you are too young to be master or anything like that sort. Just be glad I'm not calling you squire or something along those lines. Cheer up, Lloyd. You know I hate it when you..." Too late. Lloyd was putting on the pouty-mouth technique, and was laying on it good. The red head adult let out a bigger sigh, which moved his tuft of red hair off towards the sky for a mere moment. "Alright, alright. You can be my aquaintance. Now stop that! You can't be doing that and be expected to get what you want when we join the Chosen's group..."

His red head son smiled. "Aw, Dad, brighten up! If I can't do it anymore, at least that was the last time for goodness sakes!"

The red head, an adult mercenary, just sighed. Knowing his son... this 'last time' was not going to be his 'last time' for long...

---

The Temple of Martel, the temple for the sister of the Leader of the Angels, loomed right in front of them; the little beacon of light seemed to shimmer high into the sky. It was the light that was certain to call forth Reminal as well as alert any form of Renegade within a one hundred mile radius. Too bad that Yggdrasil wanted the light to stay as part of the ceremony. It would have been much better off for protection issues to turn it off.

"I betcha Reminal's going to be angry when he see's the both of us," snickered Lloyd.

"Lloyd! Remember!" Warned his father. Second blunder already and the red head knew that it was going to a hassle to keep the secrets that the teen knew inside his head for the duration of the journey. "You can't keep on saying these things, you know... I can't always say 'remember' either. Now, come on, let's go before they get into any trouble..."

And as if almost of exact queue... There right, ahead of both of the angels, was the Chosen's group. Which, in fact, was a small one that consisted of a tall half-elf and a small blonde girl. She seemed to be around maybe fifteen or sixteen. All that she wore was... the most dreaded color in the world. White. Not to mention the blue that bordered her outfit all the way around. On the bright side, it made a good color mix, and there was no buckles. She was holding her hands together and began to look around, mainly at the large building, keeping a nice look at the beacon of light high above her head. The red head blinked, then began to walk forwards, keeping a mental ear open for any sounds that did not belong there.

Together, the red head adult and his brown head son - a son who was considered a young baby when compared towards the other members of Welgaia - began to walk through the bush. The sun was beginning to just manage to hit through the green canopy tops, and then suddenly, they were both within a clearing that was in the area right next to a cliff-face that made the Temple of Martel easier to see with the bare eyes.

"Chosen One, I am so glad that you can make it here alright. Only a few minuets ago, the Desians attacked the priests. They currently left towards the village to go and try to find you." That voice came from the old woman that was resting her weight upon a wooden stave. (The red head secretly thought deep in his head about how he would have looked if he was still four thousand years old, but aged. Thank goodness nothing really came up into mind, but it was getting to be rather absurd, thinking about. The thoughts actually came from his son, who instilled them in his head earlier. Trust Lloyd to do something like that.) She was wearing a robe that resembled something one of the angels inside the city high above them would wear. A priestess outfit, which meant that no doubt that she was the one who took care of the Temple until the Chosen One entered. However, that only meant that her job was over as the Chosen was now entering.

"Lloyd, we must make sure she stays ok. Perhaps we can go offer our services right now." It came out like something a mercenary would tell his 'accomplice', so he just hoped that his son took the hint that he had to begin his acting skills right about then. Ended up he did..."Ready to get going, Lloyd?"

His son tried to bring upon his most serious face... which immediately fell down into a smile that was always seemed to be plastered there... "Sure, Kratos! I'm as ready as ready can be!"

With a jump, they both reached the base of the central area right in front of the large main fleet of stairs that protected the temple from outsiders. Looking at each other, they both began to climb up the stairs... Of course, the red head had to make sure that they were within sight. Not like there was going to be some Renegade right then and there. The red head Seraphim heard nothing, and he was confident (yet not over confident) of his hearing abilities. Eventually, after a few mere moments, they were at the top. Huge doors were hung open at their sides.

"Looks like we have some monster bashing, eh, Kratos?" smiled his son even bigger. Needed something to have its life taken out, and that thing happened to be a monster? No one was better at that job that the over-hyper new Seraphim angel... The red head tried to remember when he was like that. Was he? Can he remember that far? Oh well... It's more fun seeing Lloyd do it anyways... To think this is before he has taken a bite out of sugar...

The sounds of fighting were already very loud in the ears of the red head. He tried to ignore them, but the cries of monsters screaming, wooden stick smashing, and spells being casted was something that was quite straining to the ears... Very straining. Of course, the red head could make sure his body was not outwardly showing any forms of twitching...

Less could be said about his son doing that though. With every major sound there was some sort of twitch that erupted from the lad's body. The bigger the sound, the more twitchier the twitch. Shacking his head slowly, the father of the son did a sigh out loud. "Lloyd... You'll have to find away to ignore it. I know it takes time, and it may hurt a bit-"

"A bit? Those sounds seem like they busted my fucking ear drums!"

"Lloyd..." said the red head in a fatherly you-are-in-trouble-if-you-say-that-again voice. "Mind your tongue, and LEARN to ignore it." The teen heard it, but automatically his hands went towards his ears to try to cover them. The red head took a deep breath and continued. "If you don't manage to learn to deal with it..." he began, healing the 'busted ear drums' to reassure the getting-better son. "It'll just get worse. Come on. I'll stay here for only three minutes before we have to go. Chasing after the Chosen is this temple is going to be easy, but we still have to go make sure she is protected."

"I thought you said no talking about it unless we back at-"

The red head helped push the child ahead. "I was whispering it. See, feel better now that you are ignoring the pain, right?"

It took a while, but then the red head saw his son smile, yet again. "Thanks, Kratos!"

---

"Professor! There are so many of them! How can we be sure to keep on going safely?"

The white haired woman took a look at the Chosen, a girl called Collette. "Don't worry about it Collette. Martel provides us for what we would need. Just keep having a little bit of faith!" With that sentence done, the normally calm teacher from the small town of Iselia rose her wooden staff and delivered a nice good THONK on the head of an approaching monster. Her red-orange robes flew up in the attack, but it was a thing to ignored. One monster hit, only four more to go. The problem was that there was far too many for just the two of them. They were going to have to finish the temple's secrets for two reasons. 1) Collette needed to get the Oracle before those Desians returned back from the town after finding out that the Chosen was already gone. And more importantly (to her) 2) THEY WERE INSIDE SOME REALLY RARE RUINS AND SHE JUST HAD TO GO AND FIND ALL OF THE SECRETS! OHOHOHOHO! Of course, the first reason was the main on, even if her fascination towards ruins tended her mind to think otherwise.

In the distance, one could see the massive hits that the teenager behind the white-haired adult was doing with her chakurams. They were floating over the air, acting like some sort of circular boomerang. Her blonde hair kept flowing behind her, like something alive when it clearly was not at all. However, no matter how many times she tried to hit the zombies that were chasing after her, they kept on coming closer and closer. Eventually, she was surrounded... as was the Professor...

The monsters then began to raise their arms for the killing strokes. The adult woman screamed in her mind. What would I give for Genis and his spells! WHY DIDN'T I TAKE HIM? She could smell their breath. Right then, she grabbed the Chosen from below her and then placed her body over the teenager's. If she was to go right then and there... at least she would be protecting the Chosen and help do her part in saving the world... After all, what more honorable way for a half-elf like to to go than...

Two sticks - no three sticks - of metal stabbed right into the bowels of the monsters that were around them, leaving only one monster left alive. The same stick of metal seemed to flow right from the bowel of one... and then (to her disgust) chopped the head of another monster (and to be precise, a zombie). Then, the sticks were all gone, and then the remains of the monsters dissipated in a swirling mass of colors... (Which she, Raine, had to constantly remind herself to research as to why they died that way...)

When the bodies were all cleared for, that was when the Professor allowed herself to open her eyes once again to take a look around at the items that no doubt saved her life...as well as the life of the Chosen One, Colette. It didn't take long, for right there in front of her was two people in contrasting colors. One was purple with red hair, while the other was red with brown hair. One seemed inexperience, and the other seemed to give an air that said Be-glad-I-am-on-your-side-and-not-on-the-monsters.

She ran over towards them, hurriedly.

"Thanks so much! You two saved us!" yelled Colette, who was closer and hovering around them both. "Goddess Martel, thank you so much for providing us what we need."

The woman, who was the professor, stood right next to the two strangers that were inside the Temple. They were actually allowed there? A sacred temple? No matter. She needed to give thanks to them anyways. "Yes, thank you! But, if I may ask, who are you and why did you help us?"

The red head one, the authority figure without a doubt, merely looked over at Colette, who was looking at both of them with question. "My name is Kratos, and this is my partner, Lloyd. We are mercenaries and I was wondering if you would like to hire our services."

Wow, I was saved by mercenaries. Hmmm, how.... convenient... "I guess I don't really have much of a choice. I mean, Colette and I don't exactly seem to be enough to take care of all of these monsters." Though it saddened her, on the bright side she wouldn't have to be right there in the middle of the fight, afraid any hit might ruin the chances of saving the world. She offered them a medium amount of gold, gold that saved for moments if they were to run into trouble along the way. Well, they just did, and looks like she had to pay her way out...

"This seems enough for starters. I hope you wouldn't mind if we join you now."

As a response, the half-elf woman pointed over towards some monsters that were suddenly coming closer within eye range. "I hope you can help us take those things down. We have a world to save, after all."

---

The red head walked next to the young girl that was deemed the Chosen, watching her movements and her step to make sure that she was well enough to still be a host for the coming future. It was a good thing that they decided to come in right about then, for the Chosen already seemed to be in some sort of trouble... This being before they had run into any real signs of Renegades. He turned around to the more important thing in his life as of right now, his son. Currently, he was taking a good look around, seeing things that seemed to be really neat for someone as open minded as he was.

"Come on, Lloyd. It is best that you don't get lost. You could get lost somewhere around there." The red head said it in perfect teacher-pupil like voice, but in the inside, they both knew the truth. There was some slight complaints coming from the background, but the sound of the adult's son's boots rubbing against the floor was easily heard from his ears. As was the 'girl's talk' that both of the females up ahead were saying. Apparently, HE seemed to be 'a bit cold, but a little bit pleasing to the eye' and his son seemed to be 'nice-looking' for the Chosen One. The faster the job, the better. It was best that the teen did not have a relationship with the host... But YOU had a 'relationship' with a host that YOU sent to the grave, didn't you Kratos? Remember?

The brown headed one nodded, then continued on his step to follow the adult figure. Eventually, they ended up in an area that a monster (a golem looking one) was lurking around. It was kinda there, stuttering back and forth, to and fro. It seemed not to be the most sneakiest thing around, mainly because with every step it took, it let out a loud sound that could be heard even without angelic hearing...

"Seems we have a puzzle to solve..." muttered the half-elf woman.

The red head looked onwards. As for the beginning, it was a rather nice way to start...

----------

Made Raine less of a Ruin Maniac, especially right after she got saved.
Seriously, what overcame me to write her like that...? 'Oh! I'M GOING TO DIE!' -saved- 'RUINS!'
Yeah... D:
Still some of it left, there, though. Didn't want to remove all of it.

Retouched - [4.24.2009]