Happiness, Hugs & Home (The first part of the Bound trilogy) - by Shade

disclaimer: Lufia 2 is not mine. Dekar is not mine either (sadly). But this story is, so I would appreciate it if this is respected.

That day, no one celebrated. Everyone had agreed that, in order to respect the remembrance of Dekar's sister, festivities were not appropriate. The people instead asked Artea to speak about a more morose subject: the events on Doom Island. The elf ascended the stage, aided by Milka, and bowed in front of everyone before starting.

"We arrived in a great palace, totally darkened. The energies of the Sinistrals, all four of them, were taunting us and a cold akin to that of the Ice Valkyrie swept the halls. Selan illuminated the way for us and we wended our way through the maze of demonic beauty.

First, we encountered Gades." He swallowed, as if struggling to carry on, but then continued in a firm voice, his face betraying no emotion. "The Sinistral of Destruction, Gades tried with all his might to destroy us. But Maxim's strength, combined with that of the Dual Blade, was enough to easily prevail over our first adversary. Then, after a few more corridors, we came to a great hall with a grand stage. On it, Amon was waiting.

The Sinistral of Chaos was terrible to behold in his anger. Again, with Maxim's strength and with a beautiful piece of collaboration between Guy and Selan, we easily won the fight. We then went to the next floor, where there was an empty room with a bridge over a chasm. Daos' voice resounded, saying that we were allowed to pass. Maxim suspected Daos was lying and that it was a trap, but the rest of us didn't doubt and we crossed. As Selan convinced Maxim to cross, Erim appeared.

Jealous of Selan and dismissive of the close bond between Maxim and his wife, the Sinistral of Death directed all her attacks against Selan. Maxim retaliated swift and merciless and soon, the way was clear to Daos. The Sinistral of Terror sat in his throne, laughing at us. He told us that one named Arek, the Absolute, devised the Dual Blade as a test to see when humankind wouldn't need Sinistrals or gods anymore. He then attacked us. It was a fight that was intense beyond all that had happened before. Maxim threw in all he had to defeat the Sinistral, Selan pitched in even though she exhausted herself...

And then it was over... or so we thought. Daos summoned the spirits of his comrades and they combined their energies. They were all defeated, but the energy was still enough to be able to destroy the world. Maxim, seeing their plan, then asked us to unite our energies and try to stop them – to utterly defeat them. Our first attempt was futile, and Maxim pleaded for us to give all we could. Selan barely held on after that battle, but she gave up her final energy to defeat them. We were smashed into the walls and left unconscious. Maxim, Guy and I recovered immediately, but Selan was dying... She had depleted all her energy and didn't have anything left to escape. Then, just when I wanted to warp the four of us to safety, the bridge collapsed, separating Maxim and Selan from me and Guy. Maxim pleaded for us to warp to safety, to leave him with his wife, and so we did.

When we arrived in Portravia a few seconds later, I heard from Lexis that Doom Island was heading for Parcelyte, on a collision course... yet, moments before it would've hit the city, it turned and headed elsewhere, crashing into the ocean..." He concluded his story with a sad smile on his face. "The journey and my added recounts of the final battle are in Maxim's journal. I have copied it meticulously and now I have enough copies for everyone here. I like to think of it as a way to preserve what Maxim died achieving, and of a way to remember a dear and mighty friend." Under the applause of the people gathered, Artea descended and started distributing copies, passing first by Tia to present her with one. "Here, Tia. Read it, and you will feel better.", Tia was sure she heard Artea whisper, but when she looked at the elven man, his face betrayed nothing.

The next morning, Tia awoke feeling refreshed. She had read well into the night, finding the solace that Artea had promised inside the journal. Maxim had written of her often, describing childhood memories as well as more recent recollections of battles and their journey together. He often spoke of the others as well, and Tia found herself getting to know everyone of Maxim's party from the way he described them. Birthdays and special traits of character, along with oddities and small comments: it had all been noted down. Tia's sadness felt lifted somewhat, though she knew she would miss her childhood friend for the rest of her days – if only because of her memories.

"Good morning, Tia... just came to ask if you would like your breakfast here..." Dekar poked his head carefully around the corner.

"Oh, I'll be down in a few minutes. What did you cook anyway?", she asked, having noted the sadness in Dekar's voice.

"Pancakes. Do you want some honey with them?", he asked as he closed the door, allowing Tia to slide out of her pyjamas.

"Honey sounds good. ...Dekar?", she called out as she had finished putting on her dress.

"Yes?", his voice sounded out of the hallway.

"Have you had a good night's sleep?"

"Considering the circumstances, I did, but it could've been better. Come on down now, Tia, our breakfast is getting cold and we still have the tournament to hold..." Tia smiled as she remembered the tournament, and she giggled.

"Okay, I'm here..."

The tournament was the attraction of the day: everyone gathered in the stands around the arena, in which Tia served as the referee – seeing she was the only woman that was present with the strength to break up the fighters should something go wrong. The first fights were between fairly simple: Dekar beat three guys to get to the semifinals, Guy did similar and Artea breezed through his fights with ease, while Lexis struggled but lasted along with the rest. The Semifinals were a bit more exciting, since Guy would be facing Artea and Dekar would compete against Lexis. Lexis took the easy way out, however, and surrendered before entering the arena, thus giving Dekar a clear way to the finals. Guy and Artea, on the other hand, battled fiercely, a fight in which Guy managed to win the upper hand slowly and eventually brought down Artea with an IP attack.

Then, after an hour rest in order for the two finalists to regain their strength, the finals were announced. Dekar entered the arena holding the sword he cherished, while Guy brought his trademark halberd with him. Tia swallowed: in the previous fights, Guy had chosen a sword in order not to have an advantage over his opponents, but now he would be using his halberd to have just that advantage. Dekar, on the other hand, had used his impressive Dekar Sword each time. She decided to stop them from having an advantage over one another and stepped into the center of the arena.

"In this match, it isn't allowed for the fighters to choose their favored weapon. Instead, their weapon shall be chosen. Return your weapons to the edge of the arena and take from the weapon stands a short sword." She smiled as Dekar nodded in approval: he, too, spotted the inequity of the battle. When both fighters had rejoined her in the arena, short swords drawn and ready to fight, she stepped to the side and announced the beginning of the fight.

Dekar and Guy first circled each other, wary to be the one to get hit first but eager to get in the first hit. Suddenly, Dekar lunged and Guy parried, and the fight was truly underway. Both fighters moved in a blur of lunges and parries, so fast no one could distinguish where the swords actually met. And then, a burst of fire illuminated the grounds: Guy had tried to use an IP attack on Dekar, who had merely blocked it. Guy had a few cuts and bruises, but Dekar had a wound on his arm and blood was running down his face from a gash above his eyebrow. Dekar then brought up his arm and attacked Guy so fiercely that the other fighter had no chance to block at all: he fell and fainted. Dekar panted as he wobbled on his legs a bit, which Tia took as a cue to move swiftly onto the middle of the arena again and declare Dekar victor of the tournament. Lexis rushed past her, putting his hands onto Guy's chest and chanting a spell to bring Guy back to consciousness. That must be the Rally spell..., Tia mused as she tended to Dekar's wounds, using the Strong spell twice. The fighters both got a bit of color back to their faces, and the blood on Dekar's forehead faded from view, although he kept a few scars and bruises.

"Hah! Told you I would win!", Dekar exclaimed as Guy got up. Guy merely grinned back.

"I could've beaten you, you know, you were in pretty bad shape..."

"Just savin' for the old IP attack... Your 'Dive' attack was no match for my 'Roundhouse'...", Dekar said, and Guy's eyes widened. Dekar had slowly worn away his health by giving him bruises, yet not wounds to heighten his IP; he had slashed Dekar time and again with his attacks, thus raising the fighter's IP through the roof. "Oh, and by the way, I could've healed anytime, this is a Silver Plate.", Dekar added to Tia, who still looked a bit concerned. Tia smiled...

...and then she was nearly kicked aside by a soldier rushing to the scene. The soldier dragged Dekar along, whose features darkened almost immediately. He then nodded and ran to the house where he and Tia were staying. Tia followed close behind him, eager to find out what the conversation had been about.

When she entered the house, she found Dekar sitting by the table, the will of his parents in his hands. He sighed as he saw her and rose, and it was then that Tia saw his bags. He was leaving.

"That soldier was sent to me by the king of Bound. They've received word of my parents' and my sister's death, and they want me to come back to the castle to formally pass on my father's title to me. I've got to leave a great party because of some stupid knighting ceremony...", he concluded with a sigh. Then, he motioned for her to sit down next to him.

"Oh, Dekar...", Tia said, seeing the sadness in his eyes and realising he had once again been reminded of the death of his relatives, still hurting in his heart.

"Tia, I have something to ask of you. I don't know what my sister has or has not told you, but she wanted you to come with me to Bound. I want that, too..." Tia looked at Dekar, her expression between shock and anticipation. "It was Maxim's wish that I look after you. He asked me to make sure you lived closer to one of the others – preferring me or Guy, probably since we know you. But I know leaving Elcid is a rather difficult decision..."

"I'll come, Dekar...", Tia whispered, but meanwhile the fighter carried on.

"...so I understand that you can't say 'yes' or 'no' right away. But if you decide in a few weeks, maybe a month..."

"I'll come, Dekar.", Tia spoke, now out loud, but her words were drowned in those of her friend.

"...I'll welcome you with open arms, and I'm sure Guy would as well. ...Tia?", Dekar said as Tia suddenly put her hand on his arm to draw his attention.

"Dekar, I've already decided. I'll come with you. Your sister told me everything. About Maxim's wish, about Iris' prophetic words, everything. And if you would want me to live near you, then I'll come." And with that, she rose and went to pack her own belongings to leave along with him.

And a week later, after having travelled through a vast expanse of desert, they arrived at the splendid castle Tia remembered.

"Welcome to your new home, Tia", Dekar said before leading her in.

A/N: And this concludes the first part of the Bound Trilogy! The second part, "Fate, Friends & Feelings", will be posted chapter-per-chapter as soon as it is finished. I would like to thank you for reading this far already, and I hope to welcome all of you, dear readers, in the first chapter of "Fate, Friends & Feelings".