Anonymous reviewers:
-Sturm and drang: I agree when you say that Beatrice's past is a little cliche, but what makes it "special" is that usually is that it was Lloyd Irving (the hero) the one who killed her family and friends. As you will see one of the points of this fic is to show that how the heroes for some people are the villains for others. Anyway I hope that this chapter throws some light over Beatrice's character. And sadly your 2º review didn't count as a full review just as a half, so you only saved one doggie and a half…
EPISODE 1: A NEW BEGINNING.
Chapter 10: In the hands of the devil.
Palmacosta, Dias' house.
It was early morning and Dias was in the living room sat over a chair working on a music box putting slowly all the pieces together with extreme caution. As a true craftsman, one piece at a time, he patiently completed the musical device when suddenly the bookshelf behind him spit in two revealing the stairs to what seemed to be a dungeon and coming out of it was a silver-haired woman dressed like a maid. Dias turned his head to her and smiled.
"About time" He said calmly smirking.
"Ho, could you just shut up and save your condescension to someone who is interested in it?" Beatrice replied in a bad mod throwing away her katyusha.
"I think I told you not to face him yet." He said smiling ignoring her complains about his behavior.
"For your information I was THIS CLOSE," she said putting her thumb and index almost together, "to getting him. If it wasn't because those morons showed up to help him, he would be nothing more than a bunch of minced meat right now. Damn coward!"
"The reason why I didn't want you to attack him wasn't because I didn't trust in your skills. It's because it wasn't the right moment."
"Huh?"
"How many times have we talked about this?" He said, scratching his forehead. "What's the first rule of war?"
"Carry the war to the enemy country so your country won't be injured in the process and you will be able to keep the war support?"
"You have been this close." He said putting his fingers almost together mocking her. "The first rule is not keeping the war support; it is getting the war support. Besides, we don't have it yet. We can't kill Lloyd right now because, even though a lot of people hate him, most of the world still sees him as a savior." Beatrice frowned when she heard the last sentence. "Don't take me wrong, we both know he is not the savior that people claim him to be, but that's how he is seen by most of the people. We have the support of almost all of the half-elves in Sylvarant. Also, thanks to the Blood Purge, we also have the support of the majority of the towns in Sylvarant. However, Luin, Iselia and almost all of Tethe'alla still see him as a hero. If we killed him now, our organization would be seen as the ones who killed the savior of the world. That would be bad publicity if we want to get rid of the Church of Martel."
"You told me that I could get my revenge when I was ready!" She shouted. "Well, now I'm ready!"
"Yes you are, but the time hasn't come yet. You need to be more patient." He said in a concerned voice. He understood her pain better than anyone.
In response, Beatrice only frowned and giving him a mean look with her crimson eyes she closed her fist lifting a finger in a rude way.
"Lift the finger in such an ill-mannered way isn't proper of a lady." Dias taunted.
"Why don't you come here and eat my lady's-"
Suddenly, before the conversation could go any deeper, the doorbell rang. Dias smiled as usual and put his hand into his pocket, taking out a pocket watch. He opened the golden cover and watched what time was.
"Just in time" He said, putting the pocket watch again in its place.
"Who are you waiting for?"
"Why don't you put on the black wig as well as something more appropriate? Then, you can go see them yourself?"
Beatrice grunted, but did as she was told and went to open the door for their visitors. Her eyes were suddenly filled with rage when she the pair who stood before them. One of them was a teen brunette with long hair and blue eyes. She had a pair of brown boots and a mini skirt that, for sure, couldn't let her kneel without showing her panties. The first word that came to her mind to describe her was 'slut'. She was giving the hand to an ashamed and completely blushed blonde boy with green eyes who looked quite unsure about himself; the first word that came to his mind to describe him was 'pussy'. She didn't know their names, but she knew that they were the ones involved with the massacre of the men and woman who worked for the Vanguard.
"Nice to see you" She said in a fake nice tone as she bowed her head to not show them her face full or rage. "Master Dias is waiting for you in the living room, please enter."
"Thank you." The guests answered politely.
Beatrice guided them to the living room where Dias was waiting for them as she wondered what kind of hidden intentions he had to invite them to their house.
"Marta, Emil, welcome" Dias greet as he stood up. "Please take a seat as we have a lot to talk about."
Emil and Marta sat down on the couch. Emil looked a little nervous and not really knowing what to say or how to act. Dias had invited them to their house for no apparent reason and they didn't know what to expect or what was worrying him more. What he did expect from them, and he had to admit that his calm gaze and his permanent smile was begging to freak him out, there was something in the way he looked at them that just wasn't right and he was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"Oh, how impolite from my part, where are my manners." He suddenly said. "Do you want something? Tea, cakes, anything?"
"No, no" Marta quickly replied "We don't want to bother you."
"It is not a problem." Dias assured. "Are you sure that you don't want anything?" The teens denied. "Fine then, I guess that you are wondering why I invited you and that you may have a lot of questions but I'm quite interested in your crusade against the Vanguard. If I'm not wrong you are the daughter of Brute Lualdi aren't you?"
"Yes. I am Marta Lualdi."
"It must have been terrible to have to betray your own father and kill the Vanguard members that once were on your side."
Something twisted inside Marta as he said those words with his never fading smile. She knew it was true that the people she killed were the people that were once her allies. However, she never really was close to any member of the Vanguard aside Hawk and not even he was that close to her. Even so, even if she knew that she took the right decision, something felt wrong about what she did.
"Have you called us just to make her feel bad!" Emil shouted to everyone's surprise. Even Emil was surprised about what he said. All he knew is that Marta felt bad. When Dias spoke like that, he heard in his mind the words of certain grumpy redhead "What are you, a man or a dog". After that, he had lost the nerve and the rest was history.
Dias inspected him carefully. His eyes shined with an unexpected determination from someone who seemed that shy.
"Oh, no please, that wasn't my intention at all. It must have been a really tough situation. I was concerned. I didn't want to make you feel bad." He said taking Marta's hand between his. "Do you feel alright?"
Marta just nodded.
"I'm, I'm sorry…" Emil apologized. "I don't know where that came from."
"Don't worry"
The black haired musician stood and began to walk in circles.
"Well, one of the reasons I asked you to come here is because I'm intrigued about all that happened during the Vanguard events and I'm especially interested in that thing called… what was it, Solum's Core?" The pair nodded. "Good, well as I was telling you, I'm interested in Solum's Core and in that guy called Decus. I think that kind of information can be the key to dissolving the vandalism and smear campaign against Lloyd and the rest of heroes of regeneration."
"Is Lloyd in danger!" Emil asked worried.
"No, no. Not as far as I know, but there has been a bunch of despicable bandits who are beginning to organize and try to find more people to support their cause. All I know from the guys I have interrogated is that they are led by a half-elf who calls herself Beatrix the Black Rose. So, will you help me with your information?"
For a moment Marta could have swear that his smile turned from polite to proud but she didn't gave a lot importance.
"Yeah, we will." Emil answered.
"Perfect."
Desert of Triet, Renegade's Base.
Followed by Alice and Decus, who was holding Colette over his shoulder, Nickolay entered the medical room of the Renegades Base. The ex-desian scientist took a pair of scissors, put them on the table, and told Decus to put the unconscious body of the Chosen over the operating table. Meanwhile, Alice watched impatiently how Nickolay meticulously fitted the operating gloves as if it was part of a medical ritual, making the gloves fit finger by finger.
"Aren't you done yet?" Alice asked tapping impatiently the floor with her feet.
"Yes!" He said with a wide smile stretching the rubber and releasing it making it snap. "Let's do this."
By his smile and the look on his eyes, it was easy to tell that he was enjoying being back in business.
Using the scissors, he cut her dress from the top down, leaving the teen blonde only with her bra and the black leggings. Unceremoniously, Nicolay cut the bra leaving her upper body completely exposed. Decus suddenly turned back and closed his eyes with force.
"No need to be jealous my dear Alice! I only have eyes for you!"
"Stop acting like an idiot Dumbo-Decus! I'm not jealous, in fact I couldn't care less!"
Nickolay himself was too excited by being on duty again to care about whatever they were talking about. The adrenaline ran through his whole body, making his extremities tickle as he prepared the material to begin the extraction of the Cruxis Crystal. It had been years since he had a body in his hands. Oh, the things he couldn't wait to do to it; open it, stab needles, extract blood or do whatever it was necessary to satisfy his curiosity. However he had to hold on to his composure. This was the Chosen's body and it was too important to mess with it, for the time being.
Using a syringe, he extracted some blood and put it into a machine. He then injected two needles into the arm of the Chosen. In the extreme of each needle was a tube that entered in the machine. When he activated the device, it began to drain blood from one of the needles and go back into her body through the other.
"What's that thing?" Alice asked.
"I'm glad that you ask. This is one of my creations: 'The Mana Hemopurifier'. I'm sure that you might wonder how it works-"
"Not really." She interrupted uninterested.
"So I will explain it to you." The half-elf said playing deaf. "First of all I put in the diagnosis device a blood sample of the subject and it analyzes the percentage of mana in the blood of the subject. Then the blood runs through these tubes from the body to the machine and, if the machine detects an anomaly in the quantity of mana, the hemopurifier corrects and injects it into the body again preventing, in this way, the exbeulization of the subject in the extraction process of the exsphere." He explained proudly. "Of course since the Cruxis Crystal is already freed, there should be no problems with the extraction. It shouldn't cause a mana disorder and an overfeeding of the cells making them reproduce almost without control. It's better to be safe than sorry."
"So can you extract the Crystal already?" Alice asked impatiently, not really caring about how the hemopurifier explanation worked.
"Yes" Nickolay said as he lifted both hands and looked at the roof. He then shouted: "Let's begin the extraction!"
"Finally!" Alice thought. "Once the process of the extraction is over I will take the Cruxis Crystal and with its power I will become completely invincible. No one will ever tell me how to life my life! Then, I will get rid of any menace, beginning with Martmart and her friends! I will kill her for what she did, but not before torturing her dear boyfriend in front of her!"
Alice recovered from her fantasy to see the extraction of the Cruxis Crystal; a process thatpromised to be entertaining. Alice rubbed her hands in anticipation.
"I bet he has to cut her flesh with a scalpel. I wonder what could happen if I stumbled over him while he is cutting her." Alice giggled as a little girl as she thought about the possible consequences of her 'accidental' stumble.
Nickolay took the Cruxis Crystal along with the key-crest and removed it with the hand. "Operation completed." He said putting the Crystal over the table.
Alice looked him in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he had made such a show just to take it like that.
"Are you kidding? It was that easy?" She asked.
"Yeah. Why should it be harder? The only point of carrying her here was to put her in the Mana Hemopurifier just in case something went wrong." Then he looked to the numbers in the screen of the machine. "It looks like everything is pretty normal so, this is it."
In that moment Alice only wanted to scratch the scientist face with her nails and drive them deep into his flesh for making her lose very precious time.
"Can I watch, or is she still naked?" Decus asked.
Nickolay covered Colette's body with a blanket.
"Yes, you can. Though, I still can't understand what the bid deal is about a naked body. It's just a bunch of bones covered with flesh and filled with organs."
"Who cares? I finally have what I wanted!" Alice said, taking the Cruxis Crystal.
Her hands trembled nervously as she pulled it closer to her chest.
"Alice, are you sure you want to do this?" Decus asked taking both of her hand preventing her to put it in her chest. "It can be dangerous. If you want we can try it on myself. That way, if everything goes alright, you can use it. What you think?" He asked smiling, hopefully with a concerned look.
Decus didn't want Alice to take any unnecessary risk. He knew she was strong but he couldn't stay quiet and let her do something that could end up causing her serious harm. He was ready to be her guinea pig if that meant keeping her safe.
"Don't touch me with your dirty hands!" She said releasing her hands of his. "What have we said about personal space?"
With those words, she closed her eyes put the Crystal on herself. As soon as she put it on, a chill went through her body. It was as quick as a lighting bolt, rising up through her spine, traveling through her arms and legs until it reached the tips of her toes and fingers giving her an energizing sensation. The shivering sensation of power she suddenly felt almost made her fall to the ground. A smile of pleasure was drawn on her face as she finally opened her eyes.
"Let's see what I'm able to do." She said smirking, evilly showing her fangs.
She pointed with her whip to an empty space in the room and began to cast a spell. Cerulean runic symbols began to run in circles on the ground as Alice concentrated.
Nickolay clicked a small button in his glasses a looked at the place where the spell was being incarnated.
Proceeding to read data…
_Loading_
-Spell lvl.3
-Element: Ice
"She is casting a level. 3 spell without an incantation! I haven't seen that power in a half-elf since Yuan. And she is only a teen!" He thought. "I knew that something like this could happen, but I never thought that she would actually be able to do it."
"ABSOLUTE!"
As the blonde half-elf shouted the spell command an enormous icicle multi-peaked burst through the floor.
"You did it Alice!" Decus congratulated. "I knew you could do it! You are the greatest!"
Decus ran to embrace her. Just when he was a few inches of her, Alice took a side step and tripped Decus making him fall to the floor cumbersomely.
"Yes! I did" she said, completely ignoring Decus groans of pain. "Now no one will ever stop me. No one will ever put a finger on me."
"I hate to interrupt your celebration" Nickolay chuckled at the irony of his own words. "As much as I love watching this, your ice block is unstable."
Decus and Alice looked to the icicle. It was quickly cracking and melting and, in a matter of seconds, it crashed over the ground leaving only a small pool of hailed water.
"That wasn't supposed to happen was it?" Decus asked reincorporating.
"What the-? Of course not!" she complained.
Alice once again cast Absolute without the proper incarnation but at soon as the deadly icicle appeared it crashed and melted down as fast as the first one.
"What's going on?" Alice pouted as she waved the toy-rapier.
"Looks like the Cruxis Crystal isn't working" The scientist pointed.
"What do you mean? I felt the power inside me!" Alice said, more than a little frustrated.
"That was probably the placebo effect. In short terms, you thought that you got the power and so your brain made your body react and feel the sensations that it thought you should feel when gaining power."
Alice felt ashamed when he finished the explanation. She had over reacted like that for nothing. Decus looked the disappointed look of Alice and walked towards the pink-haired half-elf.
"Then all we have done. It was for nothing?" The flamboyant lover asked. "How could you dare to give false hopes to my dear Alice?"
"Shut up! I don't need you to defend me Dumbo."
"There is no reason to be touchy." Nickolay said calmly taking a mechanic device and putting it over a table. "In fact, I think that I know what could be the problem. Could you give me the Crystal?" Alice looked at him distrustfully. "Please, if I wanted the Crystal from the beginning, I would have never given it to you in the first place."
Alice looked at him suspiciously and gave the advanced exsphere to the scientist. "You make a good point."
"Stay away" Nickolay warned. Alice and Decus looked at each other and promptly backed a couple of steps.
Nickolay placed the Crystal in a pincer. After that, he activated the machine he took seconds ago. The machine shot an indigo laser that impacted directly with the Cruxis Crystal sending a four colored rainbow through the other side of the Crystal.
Decus stared amazed. "Wow. That thing is actually pretty cool. What is it?"
Alice mentally face-palmed when Decus asked. "Here we go, another unnecessary explanation from 'Mr. I-know-everything-and-love-my-own-voice'" She thought.
"I'm glad that you asked." Nickolay said smiling.
"Sure you are" Alice thought as she rolled her eyes.
"This is a mana laser. This machine sends a concentrated M-wave. It is a wave that causes a vibration in the frequency of mana. When the mana vibrates, its molecules rub against each other. This produces energy, and that energy emits an indigo light, which allow us to see the mana."
Decus nodded at him with a gaze that said 'I have Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder'.
"Basically it works similarly to how micro-waves work with the molecules of water." Nickolay explained with an 'easier concept', trying to make take Decus attention.
Decus just nodded again. Nickolay grunted.
"Well, at least I have Alice's attention. She is a half-elf, much more cult and thoughtful than a human." The scientist thought. Then he looked to Alice who was looking at the tips of her hair.
"Since the body is made of mana, this laser could actually burn someone!" Nickolay shouted trying to attract the attention of sadist nature of the blonde.
"Nice" Alice said smiling.
Now that he had the attention of the half-elf, the scientist continued with his explanation.
"As you can see, the mana laser is crossing the Cruxis Crystal from side to side. However, when it crosses it, it is divided in to four different colors: blue, red, green and yellow. This is because the exsphere is corrupted."
"What do you mean by corrupted? Colettie was perfectly able to use it. We all saw how she opened her wings."
"Exactly. The Cruxis Crystal was sealed in a way that only the Chosen would be able to use it. It has been 'corrupted' by the elements of water, fire, wind and light."
Nicolay went over to a table. After pressing some keys, it created a three dimensional hologram of Sylvarant.
"Cool. This place is full of amazing machines." Decus said.
Nickolay rolled his eyes.
"These are the four elemental temples of Sylvarant." The scientist said as four red arrows appeared over the location of the four temples. "Each of them emits a kind of mana, all of which is linked to this Cruxis Crystal."
"So if we seal the four opened seals…" Alice deducted.
"Exactly. The Crystal would work in anyone." Nickolay finished.
"Wait a moment!" Decus interrupted. "What will happen if we seal the seals? Won't it break the balance of mana? It could be dangerous. I mean, the Journey of Regeneration was done for something, wasn't it?"
"Who cares?" Alice said "The seals were once sealed and nothing happened to the world. So what if some people suffer because of it? As long as I have the power nothing else matters." She finished with an evil smile.
"Besides, nothing will happen to the world." Nickolay said. "Opening or sealing the seals wasn't what joined Sylvarant or Tethe'alla. There is nothing to fear."
"Still…" Decus murmured worried.
"Still what?" Alice asked angrily. "I'm going to do this with your agreement or without it. What will you do?"
She hated when Decus doubted her ideas. He always ended doing what she wanted, but she was annoyed by the fact that Decus didn't agree sometimes with her choices, even if he ended following them. She wanted him to support all her decisions no matter what. Couldn't he see that what she was doing it was for the best?
"No- Nothing. I would never put myself against you!" Decus said, his voice sounding hurt. "I love you Alice. I would kill myself before doing anything that could be against you."
Decus looked sad to the floor. How could she not trust him after all he did for her? He once gave his life for her. What else could he do to win her trust?
"Empty words as always. But as long as you don't interfere I don't care."
Alice looked at his expression of sadness for her distrust in him, but instead of feeling proud, she felt something twisting in her stomach. The image of Decus being dead didn't help her. When he mentioned that he would kill himself, the flashback of events in the Ginnungagap came back to her mind along with the image of his body bleeding to death. It was an image that she had tried to erase of her mind, an image that reminded her how she felt when the swordsman blocked the sword with his own body, an image that reminded her of her weakness.
Nickolay looked at the pair. He knew that there was something weird in their relationship but he was more worried about another obvious problem.
"You might have not notice it. But how are we going to seal the seals?" The pink-haired scientist asked. "Do any of you know the angelic language?"
"No, but I know someone that does" Alice answered simply. She then looked at the Chosen, smiling like a demon.
"I don't think that she will cooperate." Nickolay said.
Alice touched the face of the chosen tenderly. "Don't worry" she said. Suddenly, she pressed her nails against her face, scratching her cheeks. "I'm sure that I can find a way to convince her."
Author notes:
If wonder why most of the half-elves in Sylvarant are against Lloyd is because most of the half-elves in Sylvarant were Renegades or Desians and Lloyd and his friends pretty much massacred them.
Anyway, as always if you want to tell me something, ask me anything or just give me some feedback just press the review button and do it.