Rune Factory: Frontiers of Norad

By Phoenix Fervor

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Rune Factory or Rune Factory Frontier. Original characters are of my own creation, and I do own them. This story was written for personal enjoyment and for the enjoyment of others. No profits ever have been or ever will be made from this story. Also, sorry for the delay, I wanted to include information I couldn't find, and finally said "screw it."

Author's notes: To avoid my formatting issues that have been plaguing my uploads, future chapters will have the following changes made.

- Words will be cut off at around 3000, to the nearest paragraph, with chapters uploaded as two parters if need be. Smaller chapters don't have the severe issues of longer chapters when uploaded. I'm still toying with the idea of redoing earlier chapters as well.

- Chapters will be limited to one per day, no more time jumps. That's not to say that I'll have chapters for every day of the week, but skipping two weeks in mid chapter last time? Yeah... shameless case of wanting to leave a cliffhanger.

- Chapter names will be the name of the day, to aid with any possible confusion due to two part chapters.

- I'll be going more in depth, less detail skipping. Originally I didn't want to bore the readers, but quite honestly, this is hurting the story. This means a lot of what seems like filler chapters, when really it all ties in later on.

- For the sake of the reader, I'll include a time stamp and a location name with each scene hop to a new group of people. One set of feedback I got multiple times was that when I opened a new scene with dialog and not a descriptive narrative of the where and when, people felt lost. It's good advice, and thanks for giving it!

- If it goes well, I'll redo the earlier chapters that were badly mutilated by formatting issues, especially chapter 2, in this style, as well as add in extra chapters of important development. In other words, "What I wanted from Square one and skimped out on."

Chapter Nine
Spring 7th
1:17 PM
Location: Church Kitchen

Unable to decide what to make on the situation, Merryck held an emergency meeting in the Church's kitchen. Stella and Lara were both present, and Raguna had run off to get someone else for their input. Merryck and Brodik sat on opposite sides of the table, staring one another down. Perhaps the worst part of all of it though, for Merryck, was Brodik's eyes. He was used to seeing disbelief in people's eyes, perhaps contempt... but this was something new: Pity. It told Merryck that if he surrendered, he would regret it, and that Brodik knew it. It shook Merryck deeply, and he cursed his recklessness in signing the letter requesting Trampoli remain unharmed.

"They WHAT!" Stella asked, dumbfounded, just loudly enough to snap Merryck out of his haze. "They'll leave the town alone if the one man who's been defending it surrenders? Hah, why not just stab myself now, save the Imperials the trouble!"

Merryck let his breath out, in a sigh of relief that startled those assembled. "Thank you. I was afraid my own bias clouded my views when I thought the same. Brodik, she's right, we don't think we can trust the Empire at this time, not after seeing the things we saw in Kardia. However, I do have an idea, if you'll humor me. If the empire could show we can trust them... say, if they could agree to not attack us for a month, and then honor that promise..."

"Merryck, don't even joke about that!" Lara scolded him. "You know-"

"Lara, please." Merryck cut her off. "You don't need to finish, I know. If I surrender, I die. The thing is, what we need is time. We need time to gather and grow supplies. If the Empire DOES attack, everyone needs to be ready to evacuate. We also can't trust them not to."

"The real question is, why go to such lengths to apprehend one man alive?" The voice that came from the doorway startled Brodik, causing him to jump up and knock his chair clean over. Raguna had returned, and he had brought Lynette back with him. "Raguna thought my insight as an Ex General would come in handy. And it's good to see you again, Brodik!"

Before anyone knew what was going on, Brodik and Lynette were hugging. Raguna shuffled away from them, trying to not stare. When they still hadn't broken away a few moments later, Lara decided to interject. "This is just a friendly reminder that we're inside a church, so please, no lusty twinkles in your eyes!" Stella, however, found this highly amusing.

"Lara, I dare you to find me a wedding that doesn't have lusty twinkles! Why, I bet even Merryck looks at you with lusty twinkles in his eyes, isn't that right, Merry?" Caught off guard, Merryck flinched, as Lara turned to him.

"Merryck, we can talk about this later..." She told him. He simply sighed and turned to Stella.

"You make my life so hard sometimes, you know that, right?" He asked her, forcing a smirk.

"Oh? I thought if anyone made something hard, it would be Lara!"

"I'm just going to pretend I never heard that!" Lara retorted, flustered.

Spring 7th

1:20 PM

Location: Forest outside of town.

While she normally found Selphy to be rather annoying, the threat of attack had led Cinnamon to tutor her in magic, after her insistence that she wanted to be prepared in case of emergency. Together with Melody, the three of them had gathered to practice. In a small clearing in the woods not far from town, they had set up some empty boxes to aim at.

Cinnamon had initially tried to teach them with fireball, considered the most elementary spell. At first, Selphy and Melody kept failing in various ways, and one had even exploded in Selphy's face, much to Lara's displeasure. It was then that Cinnamon had suggested an old magic tutoring tip that her grandfather had mentioned once. "It's easiest with your own element." She had explained. "Everyone has an element they're comfortable with. Learn with that." Based on their personalities, she had deduced that Selphy was best suited to try learning with Wind, while Melody would be better off with water. It was time to see if Kanno had been right all along.

Selphy went first. Tightening her focus, she took aim. "So it went like... this? WHOA! That was great!" A large blast of wind had snapped branches off some of the nearby trees. "I... wow! I did it! Hey, did you see that?"

"No." Cinnamon answered, to silence her. "Melody. Now you..."

Spring 7th
1:35 PM
Location: Church Kitchen

After Lynette and Brodik had had time to catch up, everyone sat back down around the table. "We used to be in the core army together." Lynette explained, when Stella asked how they knew one another. "During training, we were fierce rivals, always trying to one-up each other. During one mission, our squad was split in an ambush, and we were alone. We took shelter in an abandoned ruin when a storm hit, and... well... the rest speaks for itself!"

"Yeah." Brodik chimed in. "We should have died a hundred times over on that mission, but our rivalry wouldn't let us admit defeat. We realized just how important we really were to one another. And that's why Lynette's side in this is my side. I was just supposed to be the messenger, but Lynette is right: why would the Empire do all this just to apprehend one man?"

"So... you're saying you know why!" Raguna asked, startled. "That's great! If we know what they're after, we can-"

"Not so fast." Merryck cut in. "Brodik would be executed if they knew he leaked information. Anything he tells us can't get back to them. If Brodik really is on our side, I want everyone in this room to keep this conversation a secret, understood?"

"You can't be serious!" Lara complained. "If we could give them something they want in order to spare you, you won't! Merry, I-"

"If they wanted something we could give them, Brodik would have just asked for it." Shaking his head for a moment, Merryck sighed. "I can't for the life of me guess why they'd want me though. Brodik, can you please fill us in? Why does the Empire want me?"

"Do the words Omega Project ring a bell?" Brodik asked. Merryck gasped.

"Yeah, about a month ago I killed an imperial agent who was looking for it. Apparently it's a human-shaped war machine. What does it have to do with anything me? I... Oh gosh, I'm not an imperial, am I! Uh... no offense or anything!"

"Merryck, allow me to apologize." Lynette replied. "I recognized your eyes when we met during Kardia's evacuation, but I didn't think I should tell you. The truth is-"

"You know me!" Merryck gasped, "Lynette, what-"

"Merryck." Brodik cut in. "The Omega Project is called a machine, because that's what the Emperor sees it as. It's merely a tool to be used, like our tanks. The truth of the matter is that the project is..."

"... an actual human who had his memories toyed with." Lynette cut in. "The Omega Project was one of three captives we had experimented on to make use of Norad's own people against them. I myself personally oversaw the Alpha Project, whose mission was to awaken Terrable, so we could capture it. We wiped his memory and let him loose, knowing he'd do the rest on his own."

"Yes, I still remember." Raguna told her. "I arrived in Kardia with no memory. It was only later I learned that my amnesia was caused by the Empire. They needed a chosen earthmate to awaken Terrable, and I unknowingly walked right into their hands."

"I... the Empire captures people and uses them like this! That's-" Merryck gasped, shocked at the revelation.

"It gets worse." Brodik told him. "The Alpha project was the easy one. The Beta Project? No amnesia, but he would black out when a nearby operative gave the trigger word. He'd obey his master without a second thought, even killing his own family or taking his own life."

"He'd forget anything he did under the trigger's influence, too." Lynette added "This means that he'd never have any idea he was being used. And finally, the Omega Project. The Omega Project's memories were wiped, and had fake memories put in their place. After a mission, his memory would wipe, except for these fake memories. The desire to find his family would drive him to wander until he returned to the Empire to be recaptured and used again."

"That's inhuman!" Lara gasped. Stella nodded in agreement.

"The Omega Project..." Brodik continued. "It was supposed to be a warrior of incredible skill. The scientists tampered with his instincts to create a super soldier. But he also had a few glaring weaknesses we could exploit. Since they created his "family," look-alikes could be used to force his surrender. He also works best when he doesn't need to worry about others. Killing an entire unit marked you, Merryck. They think you're him. And they want you back."

"This is absurd!" Merryck protested. "They think I'm the Omega Project? I-"

"Merryck." Lynette interrupted. "Your appearance has changed a lot in eight years, but your eyes haven't. You were one of the captives used in the experiments, I have no doubts in my mind. You were so trusting that it pained me to lie to you, especially so soon after your family's death. You were still crying about your little brother..."

"My- wait, WHAT!" Merryck didn't care about his tone of voice. This had simply gotten too out of hand for him. "My brother! I don't have a brother! All I have is two abusive pricks for parents and an older sister!"

"Remember what we said about fake memories." Brodik pointed out. Merryck sighed.

"You trusted me, as we were preparing the machines. I lied, I promised it wouldn't hurt, and you screamed so loud..." Lynette shook her head. "You said I reminded you of your cousin, and told me a lot about what had happened..."

"Lynette, I'm not-"

"Merryck, let her finish." Raguna told him. "Trust me on this."

"You told me your family ran a boating business." Lynette continued. "Fishermen, tourists, your family had a nice big boat and everyone wanted a ride. One day, two members of the royal family were on board, along with some of their knights. A storm hit and the ship was wrecked. You, a knight, and one of the archduke's sons washed ashore together, and you quickly heard the other young noble had survived too, so you set out after him."

"I... You know, I'll just stop arguing and wait for you to finish." Merryck groaned.

"You were captured when you entered the Sechs border. You didn't have the proper identification, after all. Still, you spoke fondly if your brief visit in Kardia while passing through, and your words helped convince me to live there once Raguna had foiled the last invasion and only death awaited me at home."

"K-Kardia!" Lara asked. "Eight years ago, you stopped by Kardia! Merryck, I remember! Remember when we said it felt like we'd met somewhere before! If you were with a knight and another boy, you might have been with Arthur! He used to be stationed in Kardia about ten years ago when we thought the Empire would invade. He stopped by Kardia when he was looking for someone, and that was the last time any of us ever saw him."

"Lara, I-"

"Sorry, everyone else was interrupting you, I didn't want to feel left out!" Stella laughed. Merryck groaned, although everyone else found this highly amusing.

"May I finish?" Merryck began, once the laughter died down. "Lara, how could you remember something from eight years ago to the point that you're certain I was there? I mean, if Lynette's story is true, we stopped there for one night!"

"Actually, it was a week." Lara corrected him. "Arthur was gathering information, since he had lost the trail of the one he was looking for. There was a boy I didn't talk to. Finally, there was one I played with every day that week. He was a little older than me, but he was so nice, and his eyes sparkled like diamonds. He said they were tears, since his family had just... yes, I'm certain of it! Merry! Your real name is Dalton!"

With a jolt, Merryck's head was in excruciating pain, as though someone tried to cleave his skull with an axe but was too weak to finish the job. "Why does this happen every time I try to remember the past!" he wailed. Brodik gasped.

"You ARE The Omega!" Brodik told him. "The Omega Project has a special machine installed a bit behind his right ear that causes a migraine when he tries to remember any suppressed memories!" Brodik pulled out a dagger, and turning to Lara, told her, "Don't worry, I'm just breaking the machine." One quick jab, and Merryck fell to the ground.

"Let him sleep." Lynette told Lara, when she tried to wake him. "Because of the nature of his false memories, and any particularly powerful ones he may have clung to during the wipe, it's best to let him dream. Our first tests were... well, let's just say that they were always fine if they slept after the memory unit broke..."

"And I'll return to give a report." Brodik told Stella. "Merryck's idea of asking for time as a show of trust is the best chance Trampoli has for preparing to evacuate. I'll hurry back once I do, under the pretence of escorting Merryck back once he surrenders. I've got a strong back, I can carry quite a bit when we leave!"

"Thanks for everything, Brodik!" Raguna smiled. "You're a lifesaver!"

"Literally!" Lara chimed in.