Yeah, sorry about the long delay. Schoolwork, depression (Which has passed thank goodness), and a whole bumch of other stuff have been eating my time. Also, just the fact that I haven't been on this site in such a long time too kinda got me at this too, so sorry to keep all of you guys waiting. Anyway, here's the latest installment to Tale of the Judged.

Replies to Reviewers:

Luv2Game: No, I haven't noticed that it took me that long to update. I'm sorry I made you wait for so long, just som much stuff going on at home and school that I haven't got much time to work on it (Also the fact that I had little ideas of how to continue kinda sucked, and that I was beginning to question my writing abilities). I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Kuramagirl44: Heh heh, lol, at least you won't be sophomores pretty soon. Glad you liked the previous chapter, hope you like this one. (LOL, at the juniors, I'm going to be one after this summer).

StrawberryEggs: Yeah I know it's a little weird for Regal and Alicia to be angels, considering what they are in the TOS world. However, with all this purgatory stuff I thought it would be nice if I had them be angels since it seemed to be much better for the story. Anyway, I'm glad to see you were patient, and I won't abandon this story (hopefully anyway. I'm talking like far future assuming that schoolwork doesn't eat up my time so much).

YojimbosBlade: I have updated now, and I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. It's just been such a long and hard time for me the past several months.

Alright you guys, enjoy!

Warning: There is some pervertedness in this chapter (not by Zelos).

Disclaimer: I do not own the TOS characters or any of the Tales of series characters for that matter.

Chapter 10: Awkwardness

"Mmm…" He groaned as his head throbbed with pain. Instinctively, he grasped his forehead with his right hand and massaged his temples gently, slightly alleviating the pain on the sides as he slowly opened his eyes. The harsh sun was the first thing he felt and Regal quickly turned away from the rays. His blurry vision steadily grew clearer and he was able to make out a small bedside desk and a forest green blanket over his body. The battle artist let out a gasp and a quiet scream as he grasped his abdomen in pain, stopping himself from sitting up. He lied back down on his bed and felt a bandage wrapped around his stomach, stained with crimson red blood.

Regal didn't realize why at first, but the memory flooded back to him like a torrent. The cold seawater, the shock of Indignation, the excruciating pain, he remembered everything, even Presea. He sighed and shook his head. He had failed her. A ring sounded from the bedside table, catching Regal's attention. Slowly, he reached over and pulled the phone off the receiver, and set the device by his ear.

He groaned. "Hello?"

"Master Regal, are you alright?" An old male voice asked. Regal immediately recognized it as George, one of his higher employees at Lezareno.

"I have a headache…" He rubbed his forehead. "But other than that, yes, I'm fine."

"That is good to hear Regal. The headache is rather minor compared to your other injuries. We were worried that you would never wake up."

The last sentence piqued his curiosity. "George, what do you mean?"

"Master Regal, you were in a coma for the past seven days." Regal was silent upon hearing the statement. He heard George clear his throat and take a deep breath. "Sir, when we found you in the vault, you were barely alive. We had you as well as Presea on life support and were checked by the med team 24/7 for the past five days. However, your life signs were not improving, and on the fifth day we had decided to deactivate life support for you and Presea, so that we wouldn't keep you in such horrible pain. But on the day we were to do it, we couldn't believe our eyes…" He paused and took a breath.

"George," Regal asked. "What happened?"

"Your life signs, both of yours, were rising and improving rapidly. We had originally decided to disconnect you this morning, but when we noticed this improvement, we continued to monitor you and Presea and resumed our normal routine. Master Regal, we were ally worried that you would've taken a turn for the worst, but now it felt that the Goddess Martel has answered our prayers."

Regal could tell that George was deeply relieved and happy for his recovery. The old assistant had been a member of Lezareno for a long time, even longer than Regal has, and still he treated him with as much respect as his father did. Regal groaned as the pain throbbed again, and gently rubbed his head. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. "George, where is Presea? How is she?"

"I believe she's resting in her room Regal. She had regained consciousness before you had, and since then she was sleeping in her room. She is alright sir." It was Regal's turn to sigh with relief.

"Thank you George." He groaned from the headache again, which was audible over the phone. "I think I'll try to get some more rest right now. This headache is excruciating."

"Very well sir. I'll tend to Lezareno while you're absent."

"Thank you." Regal placed the phone back on the receiver and set his head back on the pillow. The pain had lessened slightly but it wasn't significant enough to feel any actual change. He took a deep breath and exhaled before closing his eyes in an attempt to sleep, but it did not come. Aside from the pounding headache, Regal's thoughts dwelled on Vharley's apparent revival. He pondered how the man could've been revived and standing before them when he and Presea had witnessed him die before their eyes. The axe wound and the blunt trauma from the greaves is more than enough for a human body to handle, even with the aid of a Cruxis Crystal. Everyone knew that, even though the exspheres will allow you to fight at full potential, it does not make you invincible. There is still a certain amount of damage you can take before collapsing due to exhaustion, or worst case scenario, die. So how could it be possible for Vharley to be standing before them unscathed and seemingly more powerful, even after witnessing his death?

"Ow…"Regal muttered quietly as he grasped his head again. It seemed the pain only intensified when he thought about the situation. He turned his head so that the left side of his face was resting on the pillow but that barely helped. He tossed and turned in the bed but even so could not fall asleep nor ease his excruciating pain. Regal finally sighed and sat up on the bed. There should be some medicine in the bathroom, he thought to himself and set his feet on the floor. Before he got off the bed, he took a whiff of the salty spray of the sea, which permeated his body. "I could use a shower anyway."

Slowly, Regal walked down the hallway toward the bathroom. As he held his head in his right hand, thoughts of the situation revived within his mind, ranging from the possibilities of Vharley's revival, his plans, and many other factors, including the fate of his company. He passed the double wooden doors that led to Presea's room and upon noticing, Regal stopped before them. He reached for the brass doorknob and prepared to set foot in the room, but stopped himself before he could grasp it. Presea's probably still sleeping, so it wouldn't be a good idea to wake her up while she's recovering, so the battle artist resumed his walk down the hall.

The thoughts continued to run through his head as he made his way to the bathroom. He was especially worried about the files in the vault, more specifically, the one which was stolen. If Lezareno's company secrets were exposed to the world, some of which were illegalized decades ago, his company could be in shambles within weeks and be facing against other rival companies. The only question that could be answered by this is what file or files did Vharley steal? The battle artist continued to ponder that question as he approached the bathroom door, however, he was so preoccupied in his thoughts that he did not feel the increase in temperature as he reached the door, or the sound of running water, or the faint sound of clothes hitting the bathroom floor, and when he pushed open the door…

"Aieeee!" Regal looked up and caught a quick glimpse of the back of a pink-haired woman's toweled body before being greeted by a swift punch to the face. The impact caused him to stagger backwards and the battle artist struggled to grip something for support with one hand holding his mouth, the impact point, while another struggled to grip the sink. Numerous bottles, toothbrushes, and other various items fell to the floor as Regal's hand, in his disorientation slipped across the countertop. Presea made an audible gasp when she realized she accidentally hit Regal in self-defense, and rushed over to him as he continued to stagger backwards. "Regal, I…I'm sorry are you okay?"

The battle artist's hand finally gripped the countertop and he stopped his staggering. "I'm fine Presea, I'm sorry I didn't know…" He took a step forward only to slip on a bar of soap, sending him tripping forward toward the toweled Presea. As he began to fall forward, one of Regal's hands, by chance grabbed the edge of Presea's towel. He fell flat on his face on the tile floor, and the towel draped over his head, inhibiting his view. The late bloomer screamed and covered herself with her hands, and by this time, Regal had recovered from the fall and was lifting the towel off his head. The first thing he saw were Presea's feet, and slowly his eyes scrolled up her legs, her knees, her thighs, her…

"Augh!" He quickly covered his eyes and scooted backwards. Presea grabbed the towel from the floor and held it like a sheet over her body, concealing her front side while Regal, still blocking his sight, turned and headed out of the bathroom. However, he ran into the doorpost head on before finally stumbling out of the bathroom and landing on the soft carpeted floor.

"Owww…" The headache returned, with ten times the intensity.

Thumps echoed loudly through the mansion as Regal walked down the stairs into the kitchen. He now wore a dark blue shirt with green pants, and his hair was dripping wet from the shower. Thankfully the excruciating headache was gone, along with the foul smell of the salty sea. Also, he was glad that there was no evident mark of the punch earlier. He stopped in front of the kitchen where he saw Presea, her back facing him, eating at the table. She wore a light blue shirt and dark pants and apparently hadn't noticed Regal standing behind her. Regal breathed a sigh and strolled through the room, sharing momentary eye contact with Presea before breaking away. He was still extremely embrassed of what happened earlier, especially for a respectful man like himself to walk in on a woman when she was about to take a shower. He shook his head to rid of the thought and quickly grabbed a bowl, a box of cereal, and a spoon before setting them on the table and sitting in his seat, right across from the deadly flower. Each spoonful made a loud crunch in his mouth as the battle artist attempted to distract himself from what happened earlier and keep his mind from wandering to…other things.

Presea looked up from her toast upon hearing the loud crunching noise and the two shared very brief eye contact before the two looked down at their food again. A small blush was beginning to grow on her cheeks as the flower tried to focus on her food and not on the little incident that occurred earlier. However, the loud crunching was beginning to annoy her, and it was growing in intensity as the man across from her was now trying to finish the food as fast as he can. She looked up from her toast slightly but once again, Regal caught her eye and the two looked downward again and resumed eating, identical blushes growing on both of their faces. After another minute of awkward eating habits, Presea slowly raised her head and cleared her throat to grab Regal's attention…

"Um Regal…" She fought internally with herself not to break eye contact, and the battle artist was doing the same. "D…Do you want some milk?"

He looked down and noticed that he hadn't poured the milk in his cereal bowl. For the past 10 minutes, he had been eating cereal without milk, and he hadn't noticed at all. "Yes…please." Presea slowly reached for the milk carton with her trembling arm and passed it over to Regal. Regal in turn, grabbed the carton and poured the white liquid in the bowl, then placed it back at the middle of the table. "Th…Thank you." The awkwardness of the situation was still getting the best of him.

"You're welcome." She responded quickly. The two resumed eating their respective breakfasts and not sharing eye contact, chewing and eating in almost utter silence for another five minutes. Finally, Regal set his spoon down and sighed.

"I...I'm sorry for what happened earlier." He simply stated. Presea's head lifted up but Regal could not see it, as his eyes were glued to the cereal and he had his hands folded before him. "I thought you were…"

"It's okay Regal." The flower replied. Regal looked up to see Presea's face and he was hesitant, if not doubtful about the reply. He wasn't expecting her to forgive him so easily, especially after nearly viewing her when she was unclothed.

"Are you sure?" He inquired.

"It's fine."

Before he could ask any further, a loud ring sounded through the mansion. Regal stood up off of the chair and walked to the phone nearby. "Hello? Yes this is me George. I'm feeling much better, thank you George." He turned his head toward Presea, who was watching curiously as Regal continued the conversation. "No, she's awake. Yes, she is alright, have you found out which file which has been stolen? Oh, I see. Well get the files repaired as soon as possible, we need to know what file they stole. Ok, call me back when you've found out, thank you George." He placed the phone back on the receiver and returned to the table.

"What'd he say?" Presea asked, trying to move past the little event.

"The files in the vault have been damaged. They were soaked in seawater when the chamber flooded so they can't determine which file was stolen by Vharley. The files are being repaired, but it will take about 9 hours before we know which file was stolen." He sighed. "Until then, we have no idea what Vharley or those men are up to."

"Do you think we should try to find him?" The flower suggested.

"It wouldn't be advised. Vharley could be anywhere by now, and I'm sure those men have only been hired for stealing that file, so it complicates confirming his location." The phone suddenly rang again and the battle artist stood up and picked up the phone. It was rather brief and ended with him saying "I'll be right there." He placed the phone back on the receiver. "There's a client from Mizuho waiting for me at the office. He says it's an important business matter." Regal headed out of the kitchen and to the front door.

"I'll come with you." Presea took one last bite of her toast and ran after him. The two took their respective wingpacks and headed outside, then after initiating their rhieards, they hopped on, and flew off for Altamira.

Yeah, sorry about the ending part. I was getting a little lazy there since I just wanted to end this chapter (I honestly hate doing dialogue, especially when it's those times where I can act it out easily but forget it within a minute I finished.)