Me: Hrm…what should I say? What should I say?

Jiniasu: Eh, you're 'sorry', maybe?

Me: Well yeah, but, I'll e'splain the details (for those who refuse to go to my homepage for whatever reason) in the authors notes.

To Understand: Redemption of One's Sins

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Does a Dress Make it Better?

By Harmony283

Jiniasu: So this is the chapter where Mithos cross dresses?

Me: Well, it's what I had planned, and it definitely looks that way.

Jiniasu: But it's been a while, so, has the dress design changed much?

Authors Note: Err, not exactly sure why y'care, but no, not really. Now for this chapter, Mithos definitely dislikes dresses, especially dresses he's being forced to wear. But will Genis somehow convince him that it looks fine? Or, wait, they had an argument, didn't they? Will they be able to make up? Will it really be that easy? And is it really a good idea to leave Rose alone with your personal belongings? Read and find out!

Note: -tags on note because she doesn't want to put it in the main authors notes- I'm extremely sorry for making people wait for this update. I won't give all the details here (since that'd be taking up chapter space, which is so not cool on all regards) but school, plus writers block, plus 'where the heck did I save it?' plus computer crashing does NOT equal brownie points for motivation. Especially when it comes to this fanfic. If you want to know the specifics PM me, email me, or contact me on deviantArt/my homepage.

Jiniasu: that was short and sweet

Me: eh, I'm brain dead, and I really don't feel like going into a rant mode right now XP

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Ally's POV

I couldn't recognize him. Almost. He was standing there looking irritated as Rose straightened out the back of the dress she had bought. It was a nice dress. It suited him. Purple top, grey bottom, and black underneath. His hair was long enough too—after Rose put it up I was sure I wouldn't be able to recognize him. As a boy, anyway.

"You aren't going to put my hair up, are you?" Mithos seemed to read my mind, "If you do—I swear—I swear—"

"Well it looks fine down," Rose nonchalantly agreed, "Buuut we're doing this for another reason, aren't we?" She gave him a look and, even though he wasn't facing her, I could tell he felt it.

"Yeah," he didn't sound irritated, though. More like sad.

'It's what I felt earlier.' I thought, slowly sitting back down on the bed I chose to sleep in, 'When he fought with Genis. But Rose doesn't know yet.'

Or she could know. She was hard to read.

'But it was painful.' My heart clenched slightly at that, 'They must really—really…or something's wrong.' It was something I could probably easily look into as a Fortuneteller. But I couldn't. Not now. It felt like I betrayed it—the fortunes, the everything. Anything I saw…it wouldn't come true. I couldn't trust it. I'd have to change it, 'But I can't even do that.'

"Hey Ally, hand me the brush would you?" I looked up at Rose as she spoke those words, she was happy, if not a bit annoyed as well. She hadn't wanted to dress him up in the first place. But he was so convincing. And maybe—partly—it might be needed. I couldn't tell yet. After all, it'd be easy getting through this side of the bridge. Maybe.

I picked up the brush lying next to me on the bed, and slowly walked over to her, handing it to her before attempting to smile, "It…suits you. For a dress, I mean."

He glared at me through the mirror and it took everything I had not to flinch and look away. Well, I flinched. But that was it. His look softened when he saw my reaction, but I was already turning away, "I'm cutting my hair." He suddenly stated, "If you do anything more than put it up."

"Oh?" Rose cast me a worried glance but I turned away before it could truly reach me, "How short?"

"To my shoulders."

"Ehhh?" she looked startled at this, "But didn't it take you a while? To grow it out—I mean. It's almost to the middle of your back!"

"It did." I watched his eyes narrow in his reflection before the look in them softened, "But it was at that length two years ago…when I first met Genis."

"Speaking of Genis, I haven't seen 'im." Rose continued to brush out Mithos' hair, despite the fact that he had stiffened considerably, "I was surprised when he didn't follow us in here."

"He's…" Mithos started, his eyes saddening, fist clenching, "probably in his room…"

"Yeah I figured that," Rose continued on like she didn't even notice, "but why? Is he tired?"

"I…don't know."

Before Rose could ask him why I felt myself open my mouth, "I think he has a headache." They both turned to me with disbelieving looks on their faces, "O-Or at least I think he does. He didn't…look like he wanted to be around somewhere wi-with loud noises. L-Like thunder…or…maybe even voices."

"So he went outside because?" Rose questioned again before answering it herself, "Probably thought we'd get electrocuted. Not that he could've done anything." She ran the brush once more through Mithos' hair before taking the hair tie and pulling his hair through it, "He's already had enough electricity for a while now."

"Yeah. And I don't want him going anywhere near that Shrine again—even if we found the heir." Mithos' expression turned sour, "Which yeah we have but—"

"In the long run it won't do anyone any good." Rose finished, wrapping the hair tie once more around Mithos' hair.

"We'd probably end up fighting The God of Lightning—or whoever it is—if we went there again, and even I can see that none of us are ready." Mithos sighed out in defeat, his expression worsening the closer Rose got to being done with his hair.

"And the next Shrine's across the bridge."

"But it's in…a desert. So I've heard." I added on, sitting back down on the bed again, "A-And I also heard that only members of the highest families can enter."

"But Genis is the Elemental Chosen, right?" The title sounded foreign and strange, even Mithos seemed to react weirdly to it, "So he should be able to open it just fine!" She was being optimistic. But it was too forceful. It wasn't helping.

"I feel like I'm repeating something…" Mithos muttered before shaking his head, "Maybe. But isn't Sakura the main capital now? It seems like it's pretty important."

"Important?" I turned to the door and saw none other than that guy standing in it, "I'd say it's pretty important, after all it's where the current King lives."

"Really?" Mithos didn't sound like he fully believed him.

But, just as cheerful as always, he answered, "Yup!"

"It depends on where you live, though," Rose added on, sounding just as irritated as she had earlier, "since to some people—"

"—think of Jade as the capital." I finished for her, trying my best to stand up without my legs shaking, "I-I've been taught that ever since I was little."

"Really?" He didn't seem too surprised by that fact, "Is that why you hate me so much?" I didn't expect him to answer that—I couldn't even respond to that—not right now.

"Well you just up and ask the most awkward questions, don't ya?" Rose sounded really annoyed now, her eyes narrowing as she stared up at the brunette, "yeah maybe it is, but then your personality isn't all too great around us either."

"What're you talking about?!" He sounded too shocked at that, so much so that I could tell half of it was fake.

"And you remind me of a certain idiot I used to know." Mithos pointed out, stepping forward, and even though he tried to look menacing it didn't work. The dress really did make him girlier.

"But I'm not stupid!"

For a moment Mithos seemed to think that over before answering, "Well, no, you hopefully aren't. But then you just remind me of a philandering pervert that used his social status for his own gain."

"I—" he hesitated for only a fraction of a second before denying, "I don't do that either! So I'm not like either of them!"

"You're like both of them." Mithos shot back.

"Well let me meet 'em an' I'll decide for myself!"

"I doubt you'll ever meet them." The tone in his voice shifted drastically, "And I don't think you'll ever find them even if I do give you their names."

"Eh, really? Well I know a lot of people, I bet'cha I can find 'em even if you don't tell me their names!"

"Really?" I felt my stomach clench for some reason as Mithos tilted his head slightly to the side, causing his bangs to fall to one side, covering one of his eyes, "I still don't think you'll find them. Anywhere in Reti'thera, anyway."

"And I agree with him." Rose nodded her head, "Besides, it's really hard to find people anyway, unless you hire someone to go out and pick up any information at all on them."

"Which can be pretty hard anyway, and besides," My eyes widened as I saw Genis walk in as well, "I don't think you'd want to find them anyway. One of 'em might actually mistake you for a girl." He was directing that last comment at Mithos, and, oddly enough, Mithos blushed.

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Rose's POV

"Genis!" I put on a mock happy smile, hoping it looked realistic enough, "Where've you been? Are you feeling a little better?"

He looked surprised for a moment before trying to smile back, "Sorry…I just had a really bad headache. A-and I needed to be alone for a while."

"Ah," I nodded my head in understanding, "Ally said you didn't look too good." I put on another smile, "But it's great that you feel better now. What do you think of Mithos?"

"He looks like…a girl." I expected him to sound at least remotely happy about it, but he didn't. That worried me, but Genis just continued on, "I'm sure we'll be able to pass by without them noticing or at least without them noticing you…"

"Oh they'll notice you alright," Lance stated with a wide grin, "I mean—you'll pass off as a girl perfectly." Mithos blushed again, but I was sure it was for an entirely different reason.

"That's not what I meant." And it worried me that Genis didn't seem worried. At all. Something definitely happened. But I didn't even get a chance to ask before Lance started asking his own set of questions.

"Then what did you mean?" He looked from Genis, to Mithos, then to me, like he expected me to be the one with the answers.

I just shrugged, "What do you think?"

He gave me an even weirder look before looking back at Genis, "Don't tell me you guys're wanted criminals or something…?"

"Well you'd figure that out eventually." I managed to jab in, but, of course, they ignored me.

"So you are? Oh, hell—you'd better not drag me into…into," he paused for a moment and blinked, "What the hell'd you do anyway?"

I opened my mouth to answer that one as well—in hopes that they'd actually take the time and notice me—but when it came down to it, I had no idea what to even say, "Well, it's complicated." I managed out.

"That's one way to put it," Mithos muttered out, crossing his arms across his chest in a very 'girly' manner, letting his hair fall slightly over one of his shoulders, "I'd like to think it's more them dragging us into a bunch of needless crap."

"Basically, yeah, it's complicated." Genis quickly corrected, his eyes wavering for a moment before dragging away from Mithos to look at Lance, "We kinda got on their bad side to begin with."

"Whose bad side?"

Genis flinched, "Ruby—the Crimson Knights."

I knew that was going to cause a bit of trouble, and I was right. Lance's shoulders immediately straightened, and his back went rigid, "Really? What'd you do? Beat the crap out of 'em or somethin'? They're always one for a fight." He said that almost sarcastically, but he probably knew more about them than any of us did.

Mithos let out a short snicker, "Well we did kick their asses pretty bad."

"But they almost, ah," I thought for a moment—the last thing I needed was for him to be angry and sarcastic with me—so I had to phrase what I said next very carefully, "they barged into my hometown. One of their spies held my father captive."

He blinked at me for a moment before his shoulders relaxed, just a bit, "And why the hell'd they do that?"

"Didn't they want a map?" Genis answered his question with a question, "I mean—you said before that no one can really agree on what the map should look like so…" he trailed off then, seeming to realize that he probably shouldn't've answered that question for me.

I just shrugged my shoulders, "Yeah—that's pretty much it. It surprised me though, who the spy was." I couldn't help the smirk that suddenly crossed my face—tryin' to be nice, or break the topic gently, just didn't seem to work now.

"Who was it?" He seemed interested enough as well, "I'm pretty familiar everyone in the army—since they come by here frequently. Probably know a bit I shouldn't know but," he shook his head, "so spill. What'd they look like? An' if they gave their name—what was it?"

For a moment I had to question why he wanted to know that—even Genis looked indecisive on how we should answer that—but again, to both our surprises, Mithos was the one who spoke, "And why the hell do you wanna know something like that? I doubt she'd come around here anyway."

Lance looked almost surprised by that, but not for the reason Genis and Mithos were probably thinking. Or, who was I to know? They knew by now what a woman's standpoint was, they probably already guessed that that was one of his reasons. "A…woman? As a spy?" He looked unsure, "You sure about that? I mean—"

"See? As I said—doubt you'd know her." Mithos cut him off, his voice terse and cold, his eyes focusing—again, surprisingly—on Genis. The gaze wasn't gentle; it was almost like he was reprimanding Genis of something—

And from the guilty look on Genis' face, I could tell he knew what it was. He even sounded nervous when he cleared his throat to speak, "I guess…you really wouldn't know her." He hesitantly agreed, "I-I know you want to know, but maybe it's better you didn't ask."

For a moment Lance debated over this, before saying, in an oddly knowing manner—or at least more knowing than his outward appearance cared to display—"Eh, then I won't. But y'do realize this means I'm ditchin' ya right after we reach Sakura, right?"

"All the better for us."

"Mithos!"

"What?" Genis immediately flinched, and immediately their expressions were reversed—well, almost, anyway. Mithos went from annoyed—and almost betrayed—to guilty, and Genis went immediately to a sort of sad annoyance like he had just been hurt by someone he wasn't expected to be hurt by.

'Oh the drama.' I sarcastically thought, biting my lip to keep from saying it out loud.

Meanwhile Lance shot them both confused looks before raising his hands in defeat, "Okay, okay, I know when I'm not wanted." He turned around and walked over to the door, but before he went through he looked at us from over his shoulder, "When you're ready I'll be waiting on the west side of town, at the bar—y'can't miss it. If all else fails look for the guy with a big sword." He mock saluted before taking one gigantic step out the door, and practically slamming it behind me.

"Okay, what the hell happened between you two." The words were out of my mouth before either of them could so much as move.

Mithos seemed to recover the fastest though, and the first words out of his mouth were, "Nothing." He glanced over at Genis with an almost regretful look, but Genis made no move to meet the gaze back.

And if that wasn't the most awkward silence I didn't know what was, "Yes, it's nothing." I agreed, glancing between the both of them, "But," I saw the way Genis took one step away from Mithos and I turned to the blond, "It's obviously something you did."

I thought he'd get angry, even deny, but to my surprise he didn't do either of these things. In fact, I could see a small blushing forming on his face as he spoke, "I…yes." I nodded my head for him to continue, and immediately the blush fell, "But then," he looked over at Genis, his voice raising, "you kicked me out. How was I supposed to—"

"I had a headache." Genis cut him off, "It…would've made things worse." He took another step away from Mithos—or at least tried to. But then the oddest thing happened.

I'd honestly figure that neither would want to touch each other—in any way—until this argument got resolved. Or at the very least if they did try to touch each other it'd be more on the violent side. This was…sort of violent. Mithos had crossed the short space—annoyance, worry, regret clear on his face—and grabbed one of Genis' wrists, but instead of pushing him backwards, like I had thought, he pulled him forwards.

All Genis could make in sounds of protest was a small, barely audible, squeak as he hit Mithos' chest.

"And you didn't tell me this because?" I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hear it—Mithos had, after all, said it right in Genis' ear, like it was some sort of intimate word between—

"I'm sorry." Genis whispered just as quietly, relaxing slightly into his hold, "I said…it'd make things worse so…I wanted to calm down f-first."

It was almost like they weren't talking about a regular headache. Like they were talking about something that was worse than that, but—

I let out a sigh, "Ah, I see we aren't much use here either." I looked over at Ally who was looking feebily down at her feet, "Okay, I get it. Let's go." She seemed surprised when I grabbed onto her wrist and yanked her forward enough to get behind her. I pushed her the rest of the way towards the door—which, thankfully, she opened—before turning back. Mithos was staring right at me, but Genis didn't seem content on moving anytime soon, "Don't kill each other 'kay?" I winked before stepping out into the hallway as well and shutting the door behind me.

"Um," Ally, awkwardly, shifted in front of me, "That was…our room."

"You're right, it was." I agreed.

"So we kicked…ourselves out of our own room." Something told me—whether she wanted to admit it out loud or not—she thought I was an idiot.

"Ah well," I chuckled softly at the thought, "They need to be alone right now. I don't think sending them to their room would've made things better."

"Really?" She didn't sound like she believed me fully, "But…it'd be more comfortable, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe, maybe not." I shrugged, "We just rented these rooms anyway, so I don't think it makes that much of a difference."

"M-Maybe." It surprised me how quickly she agreed, seeing as she didn't seem to want to agree, with her head bowed. It almost made me feel guilty.

No, actually. Maybe it did. Oh dear.

I stepped closer to her, but she didn't seem to notice, "Oh come on now, stop with the gloomy face," she jolted at the words and looked up at me. I smiled, "So, what do you want to do now?"

She looked generally confused at my question, "Wh-what?"

"I'm asking, what should we do?" again she gave me a look that told me she thought I was at least a little out of the loop, but that she didn't want to say it out loud. How cute.

Wait. Not cute.

But cute anyway.

I backed up a step, "Oh I dunno, since they're using our room, why don't we use theirs?"

"But their stuff is still in there—" it felt like she was trying to point it out for a reason and, really, maybe she was.

It did, however, give me the best little idea. I couldn't help but grin, "Exactly. Why don't we give ourselves a little history lesson?"

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Mithos gained the title Gender-bending Beauty

-Not every man can pull off such an act of Beauty—

you are truly one of a kind!

Me: Glad I was able to manage out 8 pages in this chapter...(and a title for a character)

Jiniasu: Took way too long, I'll tell y'that much—and where the heck did we go.

Me: Gee, I wonder. Don't worry, you'll pop up again soon. –smiles-

Jiniasu: Because of revisions?

Me: Yup! Now then, R&R please! I think I've said this too much, but I really love all the reviews I receive! They really do motivate me (if I don't procrastinate). Though I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next (it's Winter vacation, thus everyone is home, thus sis and dad hog the computer constantly), I can assure you I have time to write, and I'll definitely use it.