Episode III: Crossroads of Fate
Chapter 1-2:
A Dogged, Yet Pointless Pursuit

Having become an expert tracker by this point, Lutz has been able to remain not far behind his target when he tailed them. Bent grass, branches broken underfoot, ground slightly depressed inwards; all signs he could now easily notice and follow. Swiftly evading the trees that jumped out to grab him, he did not let up as his eyes tracked the shadow carefully. Soon, the forest disappeared and became a rocky plain which in turn evolved into the base of a dormant volcano.

[It's like he isn't even trying to hide himself from me, the arrogant prick!]

After climbing around the side of a hilltop and descending down an inclined plane, they made it to a limitless cliffside with a sea of layered, un-scale-able bluffs descending to yet another grassland below. Pausing momentarily, the man casually scanned his surroundings as to where to move next.

"I have finally have you again! There is nowhere to run. Stand and fight!" Lutz shouted, firing a powerful lightning bolt from Zonde which the man cricked his neck to the left to dodge without even facing him. Taking aim with the Raygun, he fired off a few rounds which streamed endlessly through the open air. Coating his surroundings with Gibarta, he still managed to hit nothing. Everything he did was completely negligible. Finally, he raised the Raygun once more but this time he readied Foie and for him to dodge. Once he vanished, he hurled the fireball at an empty spot when menace to reappeared at the exact location. Contact! The fire succeeded in singeing the bottom of his cloak, as well as ticking him off. Preparing another Technique to fire; as soon as he loosed it, the man dissipated and surfaced directly on top of him within the blink of an eye. His hand wrapped around Lutz's throat so quickly and with such force that it swept him off his feet and onto the ground. In his other hand was a swirling dark vortex, aimed for Lutz's forehead. "Do it…kill me…" The vortex slowly gyrated as his dark eyes perpetually ripped a hole into Lutz's soul. "C'mon! Do it already!" The vortex slowed and shrunk until it was gone. The man's attention moved elsewhere as he retracted his grip around his throat and stood up. Silently, he began to proceed back in the direction they came from. "Oh no you don't!" Lutz fired off one last bolt from Zonde to unsurprisingly miss. "Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?! Why not finish the job?!" The man stopped in his tracks and audibly sighed.

"…I've told you time and time again. That explosion wasn't meant to kill anyone. The men truly responsible are rotting in the ground" he said. He evaded another spike from Barta.

"And time and time again, you don't answer why you were there! If they were solely responsible for what happened; why were you at the estate on that night?! Why did you take our family heirloom?! Lutz cried, showering his nemesis with green razor blades of air from Zan.

"You will learn when I deem you ready to be able to handle the truth."

"Or I can just beat the information out of you instead!" Shooting more speeding blasts from his Raygun, Z disappeared once again, reappearing in front of Lutz's face and then again behind him by the cliffside.

"Please, you don't have the gravitas to fight me, nor the bravado to face what is ahead… Not yet." He leapt into the air and went out of view as he merged with the cliffside line. Rushing over to its side, Lutz watched as the black mercenary gracefully hopped down the previously thought to be impassable bluffs with ease. Tightly clenching his fist to the point of pain, he glared down at the man as he soon melted away into the coming night. A thought just ripped a throbbing ripple in the back of his mind. Blinded by his insatiable lust for revenge and unquellable rage, it finally hit him that he had relinquished the safety of his dear sister. With all haste, he returned to whence he last saw her. Jumping off the small ledge, he looked around and called out her name with no response. Another thought came across. There was a Guardians Flyer not far from here before when he arrived at the location.

[Did she join the Guardians?]

Leaving the forest, he retraced his steps through the grassland to find a few native corpses and a large patch of trampled grass. The G-Flyer was definitely there before. The next possible location she could be in would be the Holtes City Guardians Branch. In the dead of night, Lutz made it to the outskirts of Holtes City, a place he hasn't been in for over fifteen years. The Guardians Branch was open at all times in case of emergency, and an attendant was always ready to assist anyone that would enter the lobby at all hours of the day.

"Can I help you?" a tired looking young man called from behind the front desk.

"Yes, I came to see if Elizabeth Beltraz is here" Lutz solicited.

"Why yes, her barracks are just up the stairs behind the desk to the right. From there, go down the hall, taking a right and then the next available left and then another right. Her barracks should be 402, which should be towards the end on the left. She is probably asleep at this hour though."

"Thank you." Reverently traversing the quiet and dimmed corridors, he had approached Elizabeth's barracks. He knocked on the door.

[To think…My sister is a Guardian…Wow…]

"I'm sorry, Miss Beltraz is currently asleep. Would you like to…" a small robotic voice beckoned out from behind the door until it was interrupted from a distant echo,"Itsh okay…I'll g-get it." The door slowly opened to uncover a sleepy-eyed Elizabeth.

"L-Lutz? How'd you find me?" she whispered, half startled yet half asleep. Lutz said nothing, only hugging her tightly. Elizabeth reciprocated the hug with silent tears. They embraced quietly in the hushed hall for a whole two minutes before they let each other go.

"I'm sorry that I left you alone back there…That was so foolish of me…I've always protected you…I've abandoned you and Rachel on my pointless quest for vengeance…"

"It's okay, Lutz. I understand your reasons."

"…Is it okay if I burden you to stay the night?"

"No, please! Come in! I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Thank you Elizabeth."

"Here, you can take my bed…"

"No. You go back to sleep, I shouldn't have bothered you in the first place. I'll take the couch. We can talk in the morning."

"…Okay. Good night Lutz."

"Good night Elizabeth." As she yawned and slinked her way back into her bedroom and under her covers, Lutz steadily perched himself on the unsoiled white couch. He carefully arched his back so that he wouldn't hurt himself any more in the process of lying down from his constant wear-and-tear that he had received from endless traveling. The couch was smooth and butter. Nearly asleep, an object fell into his lap and curled up. Its warmth was so familiar and kindred; he couldn't help but stroke its soft back before resting his eyes.