Four days of finals…and then school is OUT!
Okay…so I'm going to change this form Humor/Romance to Humor/Action/Adventure, since this is really not turning out all that romantic. This chapter happens to have more action in it than the rest, as well, but there's still some humor to it.
Enjoy!
Matthew stumbled out of the supply wagon, nearly colliding with Merlinus and knocking over several carefully positioned lances.
"Where's Serra?" he called out to the group.
Marcus turned to face him. "Serra ran off to find Nils," he said sternly. "And you should still be resting."
"Yeah, whatever," Matthew grumbled. He charged past the paladin and ran off toward the ship. Marcus frowned at the thief and then hurled a javelin at a nearby morph.
Erk and Guy walked alongside Renault toward the Black Fang's headquarters. Erk kept trying to bring up the Archangel, but was unsure how to do so. Especially with a strange and quite possibly deranged man.
"So what brings a bishop out to Dread Isle?" Guy asked cheerfully.
"…I suppose I'm here for the same reason you are," Renault answered. "I wish to stop Nergal."
"Is the church of Elimine involved now?" Guy asked. "I thought we were the only ones who knew about Nergal and his schemes."
Renault sighed. "I don't wish to talk about it." He hesitated for a few seconds. "Why are you a member of these ranks?"
"Oh…" Guy said. "Well, uh…you see, this guy Matthew kind of save my life a while back, and I'm here to help him out. I don't know how long this'll go on, but I figure I might as well stay in all the way! Besides, I've made some friends here." He grinned and Priscilla and winked at her, and then quickly looked away when Raven pointed his axe at him.
"Excuse me, Father Renault…" Erk started. "Is that...um…the Archangel?"
Renault raised his eyebrows. "Why, yes. I managed to reclaim it from the morphs here. I was happy to find it intact."
Erk cleared his throat. "Um…I know this is asking a lot, but…may we use it for something?"
"...What?" Renault asked.
"My..." Erk paused for a second. "…friend Serra made a wish recently. She wished that she would become stronger like 'that creepy dude that Nino's always hanging out with'. The next morning, she found herself in that man's body, and he is now in hers. We want to switch them back to themselves, but Canas said that the only way is to use the Archangel…"
Renault paused to consider it. "I suppose no harm could come of letting you do that," he mused. "But I advise you to only use it this once. Overusing the Archangel or using it for your own selfish desires can have…interesting consequences."
"Like what?" Guy asked excitedly.
"Like destroying all of the muscles in your right arm," Renault said dryly. Guy grimaced at the mere thought of losing his swordfighting ability.
Jaffar stood in the middle of the woods, listening. He was sure he had heard someone, or something. Could it possibly have been Nils? Or perhaps Serra?
No. Too quiet. Nils would be walking normally, and Serra's group was on horseback. This person was being silent on purpose.
Jaffar looked around. He was sure that the sound was coming from the right, but he didn't know how close the source was yet. He silently cursed Serra's pathetic ears.
He reached for his dagger to prepare for the upcoming fight. But when his hand reached his side, he stopped abruptly.
He didn't have a dagger. What he did have was a Sleep Staff.
He raised it slowly and pointed it to the source of the sound. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate, praying that the staff would work for him…
The army finally reached the ruins that served as the Black Fang's headquarters. Only five morphs remained, Limstella among them.
"I will not allow you to enter this place," Limstella droned as she shot a Fimbulvetr at Nino, who jumped out of the way just in time. She responded with a blast of Elfire, which hit the ground at the morph's feet and sent her flying backwards.
Florina and Fiora were circling around a sniper. He shot an arrow at Fiora, who barely evaded the attack. Florina took the opportunity to swoop down and attack. Fiora smiled; snipers always seemed to fall for that tactic.
Sain let out a deafening shout and charged an opposing paladin. The two got into a bizarre battle; the morph seemed to mimic everything Sain did.
Bartre and Dorcas were, as usual, duking it out with morph Warriors.
Canas charged up to Limstella as she picked herself back up. For a second, he considered asking her technical questions about morphs, but when she glared at him and shot another Fimbulvetr, he decided to attack instead. He shot a Fenrir at her, which consumed her completely.
Lyn walked up to the entrance of the ruins.
"Who's ready to go inside?" she asked.
Jaffar walked up to the man. Apparently the staff had worked; the would-be assassin was lying prone on the dirt, his limbs flung about in all different directions. Jaffar slowly walked up to the man and reached for his dagger…
Timnon's eyes flew open and he grabbed the girl's arm. He yanked her forward, causing her to trip over him and stumble forward. He quickly stood up, brandished his two blades, and charged at her.
Jaffar leapt to the side and grabbed the Sleep Staff once again. Perhaps he couldn't use magic, even in a cleric's body; but did that mean he couldn't use a heavy object as a blunt weapon?
He leapt back just out of reach of Timnon's attack and then swung the staff at his head. It connected, and he staggered backwards.
Timnon glared at Jaffar. They both hesitated for a second, and then Timnon raised his daggers to his side and began to spin them.
Timnon leapt at Jaffar, but before he could get there, he was met with a surprise; a dagger that implanted itself in his back. He made a choking noise and fell forwards, revealing a blonde thief behind him.
"Are you okay?" Matthew asked. He ran over to Jaffar, who was holding the staff like a shield. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"
Jaffar shook his head. He was still trying to get past the fact that someone had tried to pull that move off on him. And, worse yet, he couldn't have done anything about it.
Matthew wrapped his arms around the cleric's body. "Those were some pretty cool moves you pulled," he said, smiling. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
"…Nino told me a story about Jaffar once. I just kind of reenacted it."
Matthew took his right hand and gently pushed Jaffar's chin up. He felt his stomach churn for a second as he understood what was about to happen.
Matthew leaned in and kissed Jaffar.
Don't…throw…up…don't…throw…up…don't…gah…
Jaffar used the one safe tactic he could.
He fainted.
And that's chapter 9…I think 10 will be the last one, although there might be a chapter 11. I hope you liked this one, even though it was a little more actiony than the rest.
See you all later! Please leave a review on your way out. XD
