For the next few weeks, my teammates seemed too busy with other things to explore dungeons with me, so I tagged along with my sister. As much as I didn't want to say it, it did put me in a foul mood.
Instead of being completely left in the dark, however, they did give me explanations. BlackRose was putting her foot down on studying because her grades were dropping well below her desired mark. Thankfully, she was also helping Tsukiko with her schoolwork.
Kite's explanation was a tad more confusing. He had told me he was leveling up with another player, but refused to tell me who.
"Rin!" BlackRose called from behind me. I turned to face her, waving her over.
"Long time, no see!" I replied. Instead of returning my smile, she stared at me with a frown.
"I got a message from Balmung," she said, her voice monotone. My heart dropped into my stomach.
Balmung? What the hell does he want?
"He told me that he wanted to talk to me," she continued. "He's at the Chaos Gate at Fort Ouph. You should come with me."
"I...I don't know if that's a very good idea." My palms instantly became sweaty and my knees felt shaky. The last thing I wanted to do was face Balmung. How long had it been since I had last saw him? A month? Two months? I couldn't remember. All I could remember was how angry and hurt I was.
"Please, Rin? I know he can't hurt me, but its not the same the other way around."
BlackRose was still livid with him as well, to the point of worrying for his safety.
I sighed in defeat. "Okay, let's go."
We warped to Fort Ouph only to face Kite. He seemed to be waiting.
"Oh, hey," he greeted us with a small wave.
"Hey," BlackRose replied. "So, I got this weird message from Balmung saying he wanted to meet me here. Did you get the same one?"
"No, but…" His eyes moved to meet mine and he said slowly, "He's on our side now."
"No," I told him. "Absolutely not."
"Why not?" Kite defended. "Balmung apologized to me and explained to me why he did what he—"
"I don't care," I interjected, noting that his eyes had strayed from mine to something behind me. "I don't care what his fucking excuse is. He's working for Lios, against us. He made that perfectly clear. I don't want him near me. I can't even think about him anymore without wanting to punch a fucking wall. I hate him, Kite, I really, really…" Turning to follow the object of Kite's gaze, I stared Balmung in the eyes. "…hate you."
The moment those words came from my mouth, I wanted to grab them and take them back, hiding them away inside myself like I'd been doing for the past couple months. Balmung nodded slowly, not breaking his eye contact with me.
"I understand," he muttered. "I know you do. I'm not upset about it. I'm just…sorry."
"Balmung…"
He turned to BlackRose and bowed slightly. "And I apologize for my actions to you as well, BlackRose."
BlackRose didn't respond. She just looked between myself and Balmung, unsure of what to say.
"Look," Kite started, putting his hands up. "I know this is probably the worst way to join forces, but I've been talking with Balmung since before our fight with Fidchell. There is a reason why he did what he did. And I now he doesn't need me to defend his case, but I trust him."
I struggled to open my mouth to say something, anything, but when I did, the roaring sound of static flew through the town. BlackRose, Balmung, and I flinched and frantically looked around for any cause of the noise, but Kite seemed to pay no attention to it.
"Aura," he said simply. "She's waiting for us."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded to know.
"Aura said she's waiting at Lambda: Merciless, Grieving, Furnace."
"She wants that segment."
"Segment?" Balmung repeated.
"We can explain on the way," BlackRose offered.
The four of us wasted no time warping to Carmina Gadelica and then the area. As Kite explained the recent events up until this point, I made sure to keep my distance from Balmung.
It wasn't as if I was unhappy that he was on our side. Actually, I was relieved. Still a little suspicious, but relieved. I was allowing my own personal feelings to get in the way of our goal. If Balmung wanted to help, then so be it, but I wanted nothing to do with him other than a teammate.
With Balmung's help, we were able to reach the bottom floor of the dungeon with ease. In an empty hallway we glanced around, looking for signs of anything.
"There's nothing here…"
As if on cue, the space before us quivered, forming Aura's body. A red sphere shot out from Kite's chest, floating up to meet the girl. Unlike the past time we had met her in a dungeon, she looked alive. Her eyes settled on us and as her mouth opened to speak, a familiar horrifying roar cut her off.
Cerulean tree roots shot up from the ground, the walls collapsed, and the dirt underneath our feet turned into the circular area we'd fought Cubia on before.
"Wait!" Kite called out to Aura. She looked around frantically before disappearing in the darkness behind her.
"What's going on?!" Balmung demanded to know. Although he tried to sound confident, the shaking in his voice gave obvious hint to how nervous he was.
"If it has a magical tolerance, use physical attacks! If physical tolerance, use magic!" I told him, suggesting the same strategy we had used for Fidchell.
When Cubia appeared, I covered my mouth to hide my heavy breathing. It was so much bigger than before.
This thing is growing…
"Can we defeat that?!" Balmung asked, grabbing the hilt of his blade.
"If we don't it'll kill us!" I reminded him.
For the first time since we met in Fort Ouph, we made eye contact. I was half expecting to become instantly infuriated again, but when I saw how scared he was, although he was trying his hardest to hide it from me, I couldn't feel that way. I had to rely on him to stay alive, just as he had to rely on me.
"It'll be okay," I told him, forcing a (hopefully) reassuring smile onto my face.
Cubia's roar sent the Gomoras out into battle. Before anyone suffered any damage, I used what precious time I had to cast strengthening spells on everyone. Finally, after about ten seconds, the Cubia Core appeared behind the Gomoras. As Kite attempted to land a physical hit on it, a barrier shot up, blocking the attack.
"OrmeAni Kruz!"
"OrRue Rom!"
"RaJuk Zot!"
I held my staff above my head and shouted, "Yarthkins Ch!" Behind me, I heard the roar of the Earth god as large boulders were thrown at the Cubia Core.
An emerald light surrounded the Cubia Core, restoring a portion of it's HP. Balmung targeted the responsible Gomora and began hacking away at it. However, for every one he defeated, two more appeared in it's place. He let out a loud growl of frustration.
Suddenly, all the enemies except Cubia itself disappeared. Rearing it's head back, it cried out deafeningly. The roots below us grew overhead in the blink of an eye and before we knew it, slammed into the disc we were standing on.
I stumbled back to avoid them, but in the process I lost my footing, sending my body tumbling over the edge and into the vast emptiness below us. The ear-piercing scream I let out could've shattered glass.
Turning my body, I stared down at my fate: a never ending fall. I closed my eyes tightly, wishing to be scared to death. At least that way, I wouldn't have to suffer.
A body collided with mine, arms wrapping tightly around me.
"It's okay, it's okay," Balmung breathed in my ear. "I've got you."
I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding myself as close as possible to him. "I'm sorry," I whispered between hiccupping sobs. "I-I'm heavy."
His chest rumbled with laughter. "I don't know," he said, taking a breath from his chuckling, "if I'm hysterical right now or if I actually think that's funny."
I don't care…It just feels good to hear your laughter again.
As Balmung's wings carried us back up to our teammates, I wiped my tears with the backs of my hands. A faint beeping noise grew louder as we neared them, so the first thing I did as soon as we landed on solid ground was cast a healing spell.
We arrived just in time to save BlackRose from death and watch Kite deliver the final blow. Setting her eyes on me, the Heavyblade ran to me and wrapped her arms around me. I could hear sniffling through her FMD.
Cubia's final roar shook us to the point of throwing the four of us to our feet. Just like it had before, it glanced around for someone of an escape before fleeing.
"Hey," BlackRose muttered, breaking our silence. "What if that thing…Cubia, is trying to stop you from talking to Aura?" All eyes settled on Kite.
"Stop me from talking to her? Why?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems like it, you know? Every time we find her, Cubia is right behind her, but it always runs away. I don't understand that part."
"Maybe Cubia is stalling for time," Balmung suggested.
"Maybe," I muttered, pressing my palm to the disc. "It's definitely getting stronger, though."
Kite stood up. "I think you're right. At this rate, we won't be able to fight it separately anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"We may need Lios' help."
"Why?!" BlackRose and I yelled simultaneously.
I already didn't trust Balmung. The idea of adding Lios to our team made me even more uneasy.
"I was just thinking that maybe he could lend us a hand. Its his job to keep this game running smoothly, so I think our objectives would be the same."
After a long time, Balmung added, "I agree with you, Kite."
"Yeah, you would, traitor," I snapped.
The look we shot at each other could kill, if that were possible.
BlackRose sighed annoyingly. "Lios is hardheaded. I don't think he'll be willing to help us on his own terms."
"The problem is," Kite said, clearing his throat, "Helba."
"I'll handle it!" BlackRose offered, joining Kite to her feet. "I'll call them together and I'll be in touch with you all."
"How are you going to do that?"
Giving a confident smirk, she answered, "I've got the woman's touch. Just leave it to me."
:-:-:-:
"So, I guess we just wait for BlackRose," Kite said when we arrived back at Carmina Gadelica. "I'm going to go now. You two…try not to kill each other, please." Although he was joking, I could sense a small hint of seriousness in his tone.
Once Balmung and I were left alone, I turned my back to him and brought up the keyword screen at the Chaos Gate.
"See ya," I told him.
"Can we talk?"
I sighed, looking at him from over my shoulder. "Look," I told him, "I appreciate the fact that you saved my ass, but it doesn't change anything."
He moved around me, pressing his palm onto the screen. "I have an explanation."
"I don't care." Before he had the chance to see what keywords I randomly picked, I warped to the area.
A forest extended around me. Digital bugs chirped and a soft breeze ruffled my hair about.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I sat back against my heels. Then suddenly, I felt as if all my emotions exploded all at once. The fear of falling to my death, the heartbreak of seeing Balmung's face again, the pain of betrayal replaying over and over again in my head.
All I could do was scream until there wasn't anything left.