Chapter 9 : Convicts

Hey there my lovely readers! :) Okay I'm sure some of you noticed I've stopped posting chapters once a week, and I've been gone for a few months now. My computer actually died on me in November and I lost all my data. I was quiet depressed of losing all my hard work but I finally came round this difficulty and I'm submitting chapter 9 today ;D I'm very sorry about this inconvenience, I did read the reviews you posted though, and they greatly helped me to rewrite the chappie :p

I now would like to write about something that happened in my country, and I'm sure most of you must know what I'm talking about. I know there is absolutely no connection to this fanfic but I wanted to say it anyway, to show my support. Wednesday, there was an attack in Paris on a satirical newspaper: Charlie Hebdo. There were 12 deaths, and 4 jewish people died yesterday as well. I'm French, and I'm Charlie. Je suis Charlie. Thanks for reading.

Anyway, onward with the story

Disclaimer: I don't own ToS, Namco does, I only own Kaylin

The sky had that sickening blue color to it. It wasn't gray or light blue or anything indicating to our situation, really. The clouds were gone, washed away by the wind, and all that remained was a perfectly cloudless blue sky, filling my vision while I walked out of the Academy. The ocean was only a shade darker, and the mid-afternoon autumn sun shone brightly upon it.

A lazy daze had taken hold of the harbor and only several people turned their head at the unusual show, three half-elves in handcuffs, followed by five Papal Knights. Soon, their curious gazes became ones of disgust and whispers replaced the lazy silence. After a few minutes, a crowd had gathered around us, and whispers turned into insults and shouts. My eyes were glazed and hazard as I walked mindlessly through the now crowded streets, spears teasing my burning sides so I would walk faster. In the corner of my eye, I saw a mother taking her children inside, while the father joined the angry gathering of people. I wanted to scream.

A stone flew.

"Filthy half-blood!"

Another followed.

"Monsters!"

"Scum!"

Everyone had the same face, the same mask of hatred, some of them even spat at us. They didn't even know us. The kind librarian from earlier could even be among them at this point, because everyone was the same. Humans were all the same.

Bitter filled my mouth like poison and my eyes burned from looking at those people. No, they couldn't be qualified as people, they were the monsters.

A stone hit me in the jaw and pain blinded my vision. I couldn't even raise my hand to wipe the blood away and I felt it making its way down my neck and under my shirt.

"Hey, stand back! We have to bring them alive to the capital!" Some knights waved their weapon threateningly and the crowd slightly backed out, still glaring.

I glared back and brought my attention to the Sages. The Professor looked... hollow, her face was pale as death, and she shielded her brother protectively while they walked, trying to keep her composure still. She avoided my gaze though, and her indigo eyes were shifting to any spot but mine.

Her younger sibling, on the contrary, kept looking at the ground, and that was when I was reminded of how young Genis really was. He always had this mature point of view and intelligent thinking, so much different from Lloyd who was yet a good 5 years older. I always seemed to forget what his real age was and now more then ever, with the tears straining his cheeks, his shut eyes and trembling little body, Genis was unquestionably twelve. And the cruelty of this situation seemed even more realistic and ridiculous. A kid. Genis was a kid! How could anyone throw a stone at a kid, let alone a handcuffed kid? That was beyond unfair, beyond cruel, beyond sick.

What if the kid was a half-elf? Who the fuck decided you could sentence a kid to death?

Hot tears of rage formed in my eyes and I held my chin high, refusing to lower my gaze again. I clenched my jaw when the hilt of a spear hit me in the gut, and glowered at the Knight behind me. My wrists hurt too, the enchanted cuffs plunging into my flesh painfully. They had to be a bloody mess by now, quite literally.

I bit my lips and after a few minutes, hours, moments, we were outside the town's walls and the walk of shame ended.

I concentrated on my footsteps to pass the time, counting them. It was the only way not to break down in tears or scream in horror. A cold sweat had begun to run down my spine as I took notice of the reality of the situation again. We were really going to die, right? An escape plan was impossible to set up, the handcuffs were not allowing us to use magic, and even if we found a way around them... I had no weapon and two mages didn't stand a chance against five berserk-type soldiers. Therefore, freeing ourselves was out of our range. I sighed in defeat, spotting the sun setting to my right and slowly drenching the sky from its colors as the minute passed.

After a few moments, a faint sound was heard and I soon realized it was a fit of sobs coming from Genis. I looked away and focused on the now darkening landscapes, feeling too direful to look at him in the face, his sobs tearing my heart out.

After a few hours and when the torches became of no use to walk properly, we set camp in the middle of the plains, the knights sending us on our knees while they prepared the open fireplace. Genis had stopped crying and Raine had bags under her eyes: we could use a good night's rest, huh? The knights took their helmet off and I sat painfully on the hard floor, the smell of earth and wet grass filling my nostrils. I found myself discovering our guards' face with curiosity, the only way to know about them being their muffled voice and their jabbing spears.

The tallest one, also the loudest one and, I assumed, the chief of this group, had rough features, filling the stereotype of the bad guy. He had icy gray eyes and a three-day beard, an crooked nose and a matching crooked smile. His hair was a dusty mix of brown and gray, and his armor seemed to be the only thing kept clean about him. I never caught his name and honestly couldn't care less either way but I tried to take every detail in before... that day.

The second one was the most decent of the bunch, not that any man molesting half-elves 'just because' could be considered decent, but he actually seemed a little weirded out about his own actions. His name was something like Randal or Randill, I hadn't really listened either. This one had dark brown eyes and chestnut hair, he seemed pretty young and I didn't give him more years than Raine. He was the one guarding Genis, and actually seemed to realize that he was leading a child to his death, not that he was doing anything about it either. I briefly wondered if he had any children or younger siblings but then shook my head and moved on to the others.

The third one was the one that had stabbed me in the gut, and probably the most vicious of the bunch. He actually wore an all-but-innocent grin at the moment, and answered the lovely name of Jabbers. I wasn't sure if it was a nickname or if his parents had a very bad sense of humor, but that kind of suited him. This name took a sick pleasure of seeing us wincing or whimpering and made sure to jab us with his spear whenever he could. He was the kind of guy who could watch a kitten dying and genuinely smile at the sight.

The last one was reminding me of a statue, quite frankly, and the man remained a mystery. He wouldn't speak a word to any of them and only gave curt nods to his chief in acknowledgment. It was quite disturbing but still better than Jabbers' constant barking, which he seemed to be bearing as well. Cole was his name, I think. He seemed to be a Meltokioan noble, from his straight posture to his typical physique: ash blonde hair, small blue eyes. He wasn't insecure like Randal but didn't look at us with hatred like the other two did; instead, he looked at us with this strange mixture of an almighty and righteous stare, like he was the bloody carrier of the goddess' will. How ironic could it get?

I stared at them for a while, decrypting their conversations, and finally rested my head on the grass. I hated them all.

I shifted in my position to find a comfortable way to lay down without hurting myself with the handcuffs and took a deep breath. I didn't want to think, I just wanted to sleep and forget it all. Forget that tomorrow, we would walk restlessly until sunset, and the day after that, too. Forget that my bleeding wrists and burning sides. Forget about Genis and Raine, how we would all die before the end of the week. Forget about mom, or dad, or anyone else. I just wanted to lie there ans pretend everything was okay, that I wasn't in this scary world but still in Exire. That people had not just thrown stones at me. At us. Half-elves.

Raine and Genis... Were half-elves all along, huh? Ironically, I had hoped they were, a few days ago. I didn't expect them to hide it like they did, so I took it for granted and just accepted the fact that they were elves. I now remembered Raine's shocked face and Genis' scared one then; they had been surprised, hadn't they? Of course telling strangers you were a half-elf wasn't a thing to do here, right? Telling friends, even, as it seemed.

"Here." I suddenly heard and jerked my head up to meet Cole's face. The latter was impassive and I didn't understand what this was about, until I saw his extended hand.

...He was giving me food?

I cautiously considered the piece of cereal bread sitting in his hand. Was it poisoned? Did he want to kill me off before the execution?

"I'm not waiting all night." He glared at me, seeing my lack of response and my wary look. I slightly nodded, wide-eyed, and wordlessly grabbed the food, not wanting to pass the chance of being fed, if that was really the case.

The man then quietly went back to his occupations, leaving me wondering about his motives. Were they feeding me poison or on the contrary gave me food so I wouldn't collapse before reaching the capital? Did that even matter?

I swallowed back my question and attacked the cereal bread, slightly remembering the delicious blueberry muffins from Meltokio's inn with wonder. The bread was hard but it surprisingly filled my empty stomach quite quickly, seeing as I hadn't eaten since... Holy crap, that was one entire day! I never did eat lunch yesterday as well, huh? With all that running around and totally failing excursion. Lloyd had made us miss breakfast and... Wow, how come I hadn't noticed? Never mind that, my hunger was settled now, and it looked like Raine and Genis had gotten some as well.

I couldn't sleep that night, too many things were spiraling in my head, and my thoughts altered between despair and anger, or maybe some of each. I could tell none of us got sleep, after all, and I was apprehending the day to come: we had yet two other days of walking awaiting us and then... And then... Death. Would it be painful? Would it be quick? Would they do it in public or in secret? How was I supposed to sleep with all of those morbid questions running through my head? At least, other people had a goddess to pray to...

The next day was one of stress and tiredness, as predicted. None of us having gotten enough sleep, we weren't in shape for walking miles and miles without taking any break and by the end of the first morning, we were all exhausted. I had stopped dwelling on my own thoughts and actually sought comfort from Genis and Raine, slipping little words here and there, squeezing their hand while the guards were talking. Genis was... Well he had not recovered at all and looked devastated, with his puffy red eyes and slumped shoulders. He had a nasty cut on his forehead with blood coagulating, and I couldn't even cast a first aid to help him out. Her sister, on the other hand, had seemed to change her behavior slightly, and responded to my signals unlike her younger sibling. She was taking on the role of the mature adult in this, and always kept a look on the both of us, despite having little power in this situation.

At some point we stopped for lunch, and received another piece of cereal bread and some water. I felt like my stomach was stretching and tearing my insides as I chew on my bread, my legs aching from the previous walk. As I had some time to spare, I decided to discreetly eavesdrop on the Papal Knights' conversations.

Jabbers and Cole were talking silently, keeping their eye on us.

"H-Hey, you!" I heard another voice shouting. In alert, I quickly turned to the voice's source. Randal was pointing at Genis at the other end of the camp site. The latter looked like a deer caught in headlights and was desperately looking for his sister. Unfortunately, Raine was nowhere near him and couldn't do much except look at them in fear, powerless. "I-I-I'm sorry sir, I'm r-really sorry, I'll eat it." Genis whimpered, bending over to grab something on the floor. All eyes on them, Randal frowned and told his partners off. "I've got this, guys." His last statement made me pale in horror as I watched him taking Genis away, disappearing from our sight.

"NO!" yelled Raine, getting up, ready to rescue her little brother. "Wait, Raine!" I grabbed her forearm before she could get herself whipped and she glared at me. "What do you think you're accomplishing, here? You'll get yourself injured, and judging from these guys," I pointed to the three remaining, "You won't get away with this lightly."

She struggled in my grip for a few moments but finally, exhausted, she slumped her shoulders in defeat, "I'm sorry Kaylin, you're right, I shouldn't be acting like this. I should know better, but Genis..." I cut her off. "I can't promise you that Genis will be fine but... They're not supposed to kill us now, and the guy who took him doesn't seem like such a bad guy." I answered, sharing my thoughts.
"Doesn't seem like such a bad guy? You're sure you know who you're talking about?" she raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "I know this is stupid but... I just feel like he's not that cruel." I shifted my gaze to where the two of them had disappeared, somehow hoping Genis was safe and sound. "Well, we'll see..." Raine added, her face becoming paler and paler as the minutes passed.

Behind us, Jabbers, Cole and the chief were still conversing animatedly. "I still don't get why we should feed the scum." Jabbers announced, shining his axe

"Every prisoner deserves to eat, drink and defend himself at the trial. It's the law." Cole replied, his piercing blue eyes set on the loud man.

"Ha! We both know there's no 'fair trials' for halflings! Dogs can survive one day or two without eating!" Jabbers barked, and I felt my jaw clenching by itself. Trials were unfair, too?

"This is our duty as Knights serving the kingdom. We must carry on the law." Answered the strict man, glaring slightly at Jabbers.

"We're serving the Pope, Cole." intervened the chief, quiet until then.

"And the Pope serves the King. Don't you have any sense of honor? The kid gets it, at least." Cole glared fully at both of them, nearly getting up in his anger.

"He's a deluded fool, and so are you." Replied the chief coolly, his icy gray eyes daring him to make a move.

I suddenly caught a movement in the corner of my eye and saw Genis and Randal return, the silver-haired boy looking down so I couldn't read his expression.

"Here, and make sure I don't catch you dropping your food again!" The knight pushed Genis in the back and joined his companions. I quickly inspected Genis for injuries but found none as he faintly smiled at her sister while she hugged him. Which made me wonder: what had happened? It was surely the first time I had seen the kid smile since we left the Academy. I watched Randal with curiosity as he packed his weapons and joined the knights' conversation. Was he a nice guy, after all?

"What are you looking at, half-elf? We're leaving." I jumped in surprise at the 'chief's' voice, and quickly got on my feet, still stealing glances at Randal. As everyone prepared for the seven-hour walk, Raine shifted closer to me and caught my gaze, looking at the young knight herself. "I can't believe it... You were right, Kaylin." She said softly, gesturing to her brother. "About what?"

"This man, Randal, is it? He didn't do anything to Genis. No, even better, he gave him another bread. His bread." She announced, seemingly shaken and relieved at the news. My eyes widened as I processed the information. "You mean he helped him out?".

"Stop standing there, you filth! Or do you want me to shorten your shackles?" A voice cut us off, making us hurry over to the death march. We still had a long way to go, didn't we?

The rest of the day was exactly the same as the morning, and the following day followed that same pattern, constant walking, occasional insults, and as I walked closer and closer to my death, I strangely became more aware of my surroundings. I wasn't certain of why, or how that was even possible, but my hearing sharpened and my eyesight too. I noticed it at first when I heard the brigands coming, on the morning of the second day, just half a day before reaching the bridge.

At first, it was just a faint sound, barely recognizable. But then, I could definitely hear footsteps coming from behind us. But every time I looked, there was no one. I thought I was turning nuts, then, but I soon heard lots of other sounds like birds chirping or the wind shaking the trees. I had freaked out, of course, wondering how the hell I could hear those, and thought that maybe I was hallucinating. The nearest tree was miles away. And the weird thing was that I could see it. What would have been a blur the day before would become clean and clear if I focused on it. It looked like I could dilate my pupil at command.

And then, I saw them, the group of travelers, or brigands, it was impossible to know. A good distance away from us, and they were running. They were four, maybe five, and at this rate they would quickly catch up to us in the afternoon. I couldn't decipher their faces or genders, or anything, but after a few moments staring, I could tell there were definitely five of them, so they weren't Lloyd, Zelos, Colette and Presea. Not that it was possible in the first place. I decided not to tell Raine about it, for she probably couldn't see them, and would ask me questions I couldn't answer. Why did my senses sharpen like this? Could it be because of my weird exsphere? How come it happened now, then?

With all of those unanswered questions, we continued our tiring journey, and I couldn't help but compare it to our previous travel. These days had been fun, and we would play tag to chase away the boredom, but now, the days couldn't stretch more, and I felt like this had been going on for way longer than two days.

The occasional sobs from Genis had stopped, and Raine looked less tired since the Randal incident. I think Genis thought he would save us from the execution but I wasn't so convinced. Randal was kind, but obedient. He felt bad for us but wouldn't go as far as to risk his job or go to jail because of us. I didn't resent him for that, surprisingly. I think I came to understand that he was born this way and he had no choice in this conceited society. His surroundings wouldn't let him have a choice.

I chuckled darkly at this thought. How stupid, feeling sorry for someone when I was about to die, way to go Kaylin! But this was okay, wasn't it? Even if I didn't find mom when I died, because she was confined in that exsphere I wore, it was okay. I had seen the real world. I had seen the Ground, and I knew the worlds were going to be reunited and that my mother's wish would be granted. I was just sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to Yadiel before I died. And that I didn't get to see my dad, too. Would he ever know he had a daughter? Would he ever know he had a daughter that loved him and admired him even without knowing him? Would he be sad, then?

There was no more sadness filling me. Only regrets and sorrow.

We reached the bridge just when it was getting dark, and Cole lit a torch so we could see where we were going, before the closure of the drawbridge. The echos of the running footsteps were becoming closer and closer now, and I swear I could hear their feet hit the bridge when we were halfway to the other side. After a few moments, I was no longer the only one to hear them. The knights began shifting and turned around a few times but could see nothing, the mist separating our pursuers from us. After a few moments, everyone had realized what was going on: that people were running in our direction. And that they were fast.

"Hurry up!" Shouted the chief, "We must cut them off by lifting the bridge!".

Raine and Genis turned to me, an unspoken question showing on their face.

Were these people who we thought they were?

I couldn't answer that question, and I was beginning to doubt myself. Could I be mistaken? Were these brigands not brigands but... Friends?

We were forced to run to the other side, and when turning my head for the hundredth time, I saw him.

Lloyd.

Stunned for a moment, I stopped running and stared at him. There was no doubt, this red outfit couldn't belong to anyone else. I smiled, and felt tears pricking my eyes. Thank you. A blow to the head snapped me out of my trance.

"What are you doing, idiotic girl? Keep standing there and I throw you in the ocean!" Jabbers yelled in my face, and I could only smile at him. I didn't care. They were going to come for us, they were going to free us, and we were going to live. Startled at my strange behavior, the huge man grabbed me wordlessly and dragged me behind him. We quickly reached the end of the bridge, and the humans working there activated the drawing process. I frowned and looked at the slowly lifting bridge: could they make it?

"Sir! They're jumping!" Randal shouted after a few tensed minutes, his face one of incredulity. "They're the Chosen and his group!"

"They're stupid, let them be. They'll die if they fall from there." The chief snorted, sheathing his sword. "Let's keep moving."

"Err, sir?" Randal said, his face becoming paler and paler as he spoke. "They made it!" "-What?!"

A wave of relief washed over me as I heard his words. They did it! We were safe! Weirdly enough, they didn't have to run to us either, as they were carried by a stream of glowing water. I blinked at that, but decided to worry about that later.

"Genis! Raine! Kay!" I saw Lloyd jumping in front of the knights, which had formed a line in front of us.

"Lloyd..." Breathed out Genis, stunned by his best friend's apparition.

And all hell broke loose.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! ;)

Until next week! :D