Genis: ...Y-
Me: Don't want to f***ing hear it. Yeah, another chapter. Whoo... Review, don't review. I don't care. And I know what you're thinking. You cannot, and I repeat, CANNOT deny it; you are thinking this. Every single human being always thinks the worst about something or someone. I do it, you do it, the entire world does it. So, right now, or when you read the note, you were thinking, "Oh, DragonLady24, you just put up those hiatus things to get more reviews."
I do not. As soon as I finish this chapter, I'm going to delete all the pity reviews since the first Author's Note I typed up. Kept them for inspiration, but what the hell. I'm not going to let you think that of me.
And now, to fuss at one of my reviewers. You know who you are, and by the time everyone else has read this, I will have deleted all of the reviews so... Time to let all hell loose. Take note, I more than likely will go overboard.
YOU LITTLE THIEF! YOU'VE WRITTEN CHAPTERS FOR MY STORY ALREADY?!?!? NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY THAT'S PLAGARISM!!! I don't care if it's legal here or not; plagarism is plagarism, and that's bad. It's STEALING! You said you were Christian, so act it. And I'm one too, so don't even go there with me. Don't question me about my thoughts because I have problems; I know it; I will deal with them myself. I will never be able to kill myself because I'm afraid of pain, now, with that said, AURORA AND DELIA AND THIS STORY LINE ARE ALL MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY! MY-F***ING PROPERTY!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE BEING FUSSED AT, DON'T STEAL OTHER PEOPLES IDEAS! It doesn't matter if you change all the names, start where they left off, or anything else, if you publish something in real life that is like someone else's story, you go to jail. End of story. Ir really REALLY pisses me off. If I want the story discontinued, I want it to STAY discontinued. You don't have the right to barge in here and steal MY story, even if it IS discontinued. NOR do you have the right to give ME a deadline on MY story. What if I wanted to restart it later huh? I swear, if I catch you or anyone else doing that I WILL find a way to kick you off fanfiction. I don't tolerate plagarism in real life, and I won't tolerate it HERE! UNDERSTAND!!! And I doubt you want to lose your first profile on here. If there is a report button, I WILL use it. If there isn't, I will contact fanfiction directly through E-mail. Don't think I won't. And if any of you want to comment, think first. What if I stole one of YOUR stories after you discontiuned it? Go ahead and be a smart alec if you want, but deep down inside, I know you would hate it just as much as I do. Now for you reviewer, if you're pissed off at my rant, good. You needed it. Read or don't read. I don't care.
Chapter 24: Balacruf Mausoleum Part 1
It was the longest time since Kratos had felt content.
The warmth that radiated off Aurora's body was astounding. His whole front side was burning up. The girl sat in his lap, legs mimicking his crossed ones, nose nuzzled against his neck, her body pressed against his own by battle worn hands. He leaned his head on hers, attempting to get a more complete feeling. She subconciously moved her hands into different posistions, one of them being on the sides of his arms where niether the gloves or the shoulder pads reached. The man shivered and held her closer. It wasn't supposed to feel like this. He had a job to do, but it didn't feel like this had anything to do with gaining her trust.
It felt like he was going just for her.
True to it's heritage, a strong gust of wind blew by the masoleum, swirling all of the sparkling pebbles and brown crinkled leaves around their bodies in a whirlwind of nature. The woman shook and jerked in the cold night air. Since she was practically glued to the man's body now, he took the heavy linen cape on his back, and attatched it to her shoulders. He had to support them a bit, seeing as it was too big, but it did give Aurora a more complete cover. Her soft nose was closed involuntarily by pressing into the underside of his chin, forcing her to breathe through her mouth. The warm breath tickled Kratos's neck, sending chill up and down his spine; it took an amazing amount of willpower not to shiver. The saliva in his mouth ran like a thick paste when he swallowed, giving him an uncomfortable feeling. Why did she reduce him to a emotional state. He was an angel, the ultimate being, never feeling, never manipulated, in command. What happened. So he could feel her body heat, so what?
Aurora mumbled in her sleep once more. "Tru-... Kr..? Yes... N-... Onl-... man... may-... able t-... trus-..." Her lips fluttered against his neck, soft as a pair of butterfly wings, fluid as a river, and warm as a fire, all at the same time. A moan vibrated through her chest to his as she came closer. He stiffened and went as solid as a statue. A thick, wet wad of cottonballs made its way down his dry throat.
When the sun began to rise, Kratos was very reluctant about handing the girl over to the morning, the day, her consciousness. The delicate woman laid on the ground, body spread out gracefully at full length. The wine red eye's onyx pupil scanned slowly over her face. The fragile bend of her forehead, warm nose that would burn him when she pressed it against his neck and chest, her neck the spread elegantly out to her shoulders. He let his eyes roam some more until they subconsciously came to a halt. For a good two minutes, he just kept staring,
And staring,
And staring until he realized just what it was he was staring at. The trail of his sight kept running over the large, but not abnormally huge, curves of her chest. His head shook violently as he looked away. Anna was the only one he could do that to. But, she was gone, and he would never love another woman again. A wistful frown crossed his face as he walked awway from her. A small, unsatisfied sound came from her motionless form. He ignored her and went to sit on the other side of the fire. The heavens reflected perfectly in his red eyes. His thoughts wandered to his family. Finally, Lloyd had appeared so many years later. Was... Anna out there somewhere? Was she alright? Did she long for him like he did for her? The cold heart in his purple covered chest had been shredded and was half-way beating because she died. He knew she was gone. Dead. But a tiny sliver of hope had revived with the discovery of Lloyd. But, wait... Something lost in the vast space of Kratos's mind seemed to come back. Lloyd said his mother was killed by Desians. He was forever seperated from his love. That one cursed sentence ran over and over again through his head.
Til death do us part.
His only hope was to die with her, and even then, were they already divorced from the minute she died? And it was so hard to die. Especially now since he found Lloyd. He wasn't going to leave without him knowing his past.
Then again, he might be better off not knowing.
But, Anna would've wanted him to know.
Yet, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just couldn't. What would his son think of him?
A ragged sigh heaved his chest. He could almost feel the slender comforting arms of his Anna around his neck and her soft pink lips rub against his ears, asking him what was wrong.
Kratos sat on the edge of one of the cliffs in Asgard, the night sky glimmering above him. He and Anna had been running from the Desians a full year, and now had come full circle. Somewhere along the line, he developed feelings for the Angelus project, but she would never accept him. He was an angel, the reason she was in such a state.
The day before, she had been ambushed by a group of Desians a little ways out of Palmacoasta. What posesed her to leave in the first place was beyond him, but regardless, she had been pretty brusied. The purple and black marks painted her pale body. She had been knocked unconcious, so he took her all the way from Palmacoasta to Asgard, making quick use of his wings. When she awoke, he lied and said she'd been out for three days. It was all his fault. The guilt hung over him like a massive lead curtain, leaving his back hunched over and aching.
"K-Kratos?" A drowsy voice asked from behind him. He didn't have to turn to recognize who it was. Anna was stumbling towards him with her clothes put on halfway correctly and hair a tumble weed.
"Yes Anna?" He asked.
"W-What're you doing up so la-aa-ah" She stretched her arms wide and yawned deeply.
His head looked to the side a little bit, catching the bed-headed brunette in the corner of his eye. "I could ask the same of you."
"Couldn't sleep."
"Really?" He asked skeptically.
She glared, then came and sat behind him since the room beside him was taken up by a two-hundred foot drop. "Are you okay?"
"Quite fine actually."
"Really? It doesn't seem that way."
"I am fine." He snapped.
She flinched at his tone. "Y-You don't have to yell." Her beautiful lips curled into a frown.
"I am sorry." He sighed.
The hurt expression left her face to make room for a sympathetic one. Her arms made thier way around his broad shoulders and her head in his neck. "What's wrong?" She asked once more.
His heart stopped for a moment. "A-Anna."
"Hm?"
Out of nowhere, he spun around and pressed her lips against his. She was wide awake now and stiff in his arms, shock written all over her face. Kratos was moving his lips at a worried pace, thinking she didn't want him back. His hands rubbed her back trying to coax her into a response. After a minute of nothing, he began to pull away in defeat. Anna suddenly came back to reality and pulled him closer to her using every ounce of her passion to kiss him back. Thier lips moved against one another's slowly, working hands up thier backs to thier hair. Kratos stopped at her mid back and pressed her chest up against him, relishing in the way it made his heart float. She let out a small moan and tried to come closer, if that was even possible. He reluctantly let his tongue slip through his lips and trace the outline of hers. After making one trip around all of her lips, he gently prodded the line between them for entrance. She trembled a little as she let her mouth part for him. Slowly, his tongue slid in and started to explore her mouth, tasting her. Her body shivered as she moaned a little more intensely into the kiss. When finally niether could continue, they broke apart for air. Panting, Anna leaned her head against his chest.
"I love you too Kratos."
That was the first time he ever felt truly happy.
"I love you Anna." He murmered to himself, staring at the ground as if she would pop out at any moment.
Morning came and they all got up a little more groggily than they'd hoped. Well, at least, all of them but one.
"GOOD MORNING!" Delia shouted at the top of her lungs. It was loud enough to cause Kratos to flinch. What the hell was she on?
"Ugh." Lloyd moaned. "Why'd you have to wake me up Delia?" The teen got up, stretched lazily, and yawned deeply, slowly but surely waking up.
"ARGH! D*** BLANKET! BURN!" A fireball was cast onto the purple blanket by a MAD SCIENTIST!!!
...Nah, it was just Genis with a bad case of bed-head.
"Whoa. Uh, what did you do last night Genis? You're hair's a mess." Lloyd commented to his friend's immense dislike. The frizzled mage stuck his tongue out at the red clad swordsman. Raine rolled her eyes.
"Yes, very mature Genis. Now, pick up the blanket."
"Uh... Raine," Genis began, "How am I going to pick up... OH MY FREAKIN' GODDESS! HOW THE HELL DIDN'T IT BURN?!?!?! DEMON BLANKET!!!" He got on his knees and put his hands in his hair. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"Stop being so melodramatic." Aurora teased him as she passed. "Do you need me to help again?"
"...Please?" His voice was filled with a pathetic tone. Like a lost puppy's whine. Her eyebrows moved as if she were rolling her eyes.
"Come here fuzzball." She demanded. He reluctantly walked over and waited for the painful process to begin.
"Well," Colette murmered to herself, "I guess we'll break the third seal today. Only one more left..." Her bright blue eyes stared worriedly at the mausoleum, her face as pale as the moon, and her soft blonde hair wavered, like her confidence, in the wind. She felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked down, grateful for a reason to not think about the coming events.
"Can I see your wings?" Delia gazed into her sky blue eyes with her emerald orbs that were filled to the brim with a boundless curiosity that only youth could provide. The blonde smiled and unfurled her pink and purple wings. The same orbs opened wider, this time with immense satisfaction and lust. Her tiny grasping fingers reached out to touch the sparkling appendages of her parnter. One... Two.. Three seconds and her hand went straight through her target. With a gasp, she jerked her hand back in disbelief. The green eyes held more curiosity than before, and her greedy hands wanted to test her wings again. As her white fingertips reached the sparkling mana substance, it went through again.
"Ooooooh." Was her generic and childish response. The Chosen giggled and fluttered them a little more. "Preeeettyyyyyy..." The girl's eyes were transfixed on the glowing wings.
"Time to go!" Raine called. That all to familiar glint was in her eyes as she ascended the steps, leaving her group in the dust.
Genis facepalmed. "Oh boy..."
After walking twenty minutes up what took Raine five seconds to climb, the group made it to the top.
"F-Finally." Lloyd collapsed at the summit. "Must... sleep. Going to... die... Ugh." He rolled over on his back.
"Get up lazy bum." Genis kicked him in the side.
"Hey!" The teen glared, then rolled his eyes when Genis kept staring straight ahead.
Raine was already oogling at the cold stone walls when they came in. Her cerulean eyes sparkled with archeological mania.
"Look! We're really here! The Balacruf Mausoleum! It's wonderous!!!" Raine shrieked with delight.
Everyone plugged thier ears. Her incesant speeches took on a mumbled hum to everyone else; sighs of relief sounded amongst them.
Delia kept her eyes wide open, drinking in every detail of the intricately carved stone walls and pillars. They were cold to the touch, but a warmth of the ancient people radiated from all sides. It was like she could feel them calling her. Where was it coming from? They walked past many hallways, each getting creepier and creepier. The familiar whispers grew stronger and stronger in Delia's ears as they neared the end. She had her ears plugged. How could she hear it. A few more steps and a barrage of voices rammed into her from the right. She looked to the sound and saw a long hallway stretching into an abyss.
She frowned, confused. Her feet stepped foward cautiously and brought her to the entrance of the corridor. The voices flowed through the hallway like a river, hooked around her waist, and tugged her back. Giving into the calls, she continued walking until the floor fell out from under her.
She landed with a thud on her rear end. The voices were gone, and it was dark. Shakily, she rose to her feet,
THUD!
"Ow... Why did you come down here Delia?"
"Genis?" She asked.
"No duh. Now what the heck did you come down here for. We were headed in the opposite direction."
"I... heard voices."
"Voices."
"Yeah."
"...Okay... Uh..." He stared at the pitch blackness that covered Delia. "What exactly did they say?"
She furrowed her brows, and thought of what it was they actually said. "I... don't remember."
"Really?... Well, we're here now, so let's find a way out. Aurora is probably worried sick about you."
"Aurora doesn't care."
"What? I think you've gone crazy Delia. Aurora was worried sick."
"...She was?"
"Yes."
"..."
"Well," Genis tried to look around by craning his neck in the darkness. "We probably need some light." He stood up and took posistion for a fireball spell. "Fireball!" He chanted. Three large fireballs shot forward a bit, illuminating a pile of corpses.
"Ah!" They both shrieked. One of the fireballs caught the bottom of the pile and set it aflame.
With eyes like a deer's in headlights, they looked around the large room they were currently standing in which was illuminated by the burning bodies. Many more piles of rotting people lay there, some reduced to bones, some still quite fresh. Delia cried out and ran to Genis a few feet away. The mage stood frozen there with the child clinging to his arm.
"D-Delia," He stutterd, trying to gently shake her off. "Come on Delia, the faster we find a way out of here, the faster we find the group."
She shook, but let go of Genis's arm. The blood rushed back through his arm, causing him to flinch in pain. "Now," He began, "To find a way out of-"
The ground began to shake, cutting him off. One of the walls began to move. They stared with both confusion and fear. When the loud din of the scraping stone ceased, they waited in an eerie silence.
"Is... that the way out?" Delia asked.
"I don't know, but it's the only way to go." Genis answered. He took a step foward, only to have a bird dart towards him. He only narrowly dodged it. It shireked and came to a halt. It caused some of his hair to blow from his face, uncovering his ears. Delia gasped.
"Y-You're a Desian!"
"Wha-?" Genis turned to of the opening, several more birds joined in, cutting the two kids with thier beaks as they flew in. Genis grabbed a cut on his arm, the blood seeping out from between his fingers. They were shireking as loud as they could, hurting Genis and Delis'a ears. One of the birds came at Delia. Genis tried to snatch her back from it, but she pulled her arm away.
"Stay away!" She cried. By then it was too late, the bird cut her arm and joined its friends once more.
"Delia, I'm not a- watch out!" One of the birds took off at her again, going at a dangerous speed. This hit was meant to kill. Delia snapped her head to look at the oncoming enemy, and used her arms to cover her face. She flinched on what should've been impact time.
"Ah!" Genis had thrown himself in front of her. Delia took down her arms and looked at the boy in front of her. Blood dripped to the floor from his stomach. In one second, he dropped in a pile on the floor. Delia''s green eyes stared down at his body in disbelief.
"Genis!" She knelt down beside him. "Genis!" She shook him. He moaned in agony and rolled over on his side, clutching his stomach.
"G-Get out Delia." He ordered. Delia frowned and got up to face the birds.
She let her eyes stare forward, unwavering. A tiny hand was placed on one of the knives in her belt she had out on by Lloyd that morning. It slipped out easily, and she gripped it with determination.
With a blood-crazed shriek, the birds shot forward.
And Delia took aim.
Me: Finally. I've been writing this for weeks.
Genis: You SHOULD be working on your 5-10 page paper for your honors class due Thursday.
Me: Don't remind me. T.T
Genis: You don't seem as upset as you were earlier.
Me: That's because I wrote the intro a loooooooooong time ago. Don't remind me about that either, I'm still pissed.
Genis: Okay then! Not reminding you.
Me: That review was patronizing. Anyway. This chapter is dedicated to ShadowVDP because I probably would not still be here if it wasn't for him. He gets a lifetime supply of peanut butter! Lol. Please go check out our one-shot Locket of Love.