Chapter 36: Mt. Roneal
"The God-Generals brought a regiment of Oracle Knights here once," Ion said as the group approached Mt. Roneal. They were having some difficulty due to the strength of the howling winds accompanied with snow attempting to push them back. Ion had to shout to be heard over the wind, and it was strange to hear him speak in anything but a calm and quiet voice. "The monsters and avalanches took many of them."
"Yeah, you can't outrun an avalanche," Guy said.
"Don't make any more noise than you have to," Jade told them as they began trudging up the mountain side, "All right?"
In truth, Jade was probably the least happy about having to travel to Mt. Roneal. Not because of the cold, which had so far been complained about several times by Anise alone, but because the place brought back particularly bad memories for him.
"I'm so c-cold…" Anise complained through chattering teeth, hugging Tokunaga for warmth. She seemed to be the coldest out of all of them, though Natalia and Ion didn't seem to be coping that well with the cold either, and Mieu had long since retreated into the item bag. "Wh-why couldn't we have b-bought more scarves or s-something in the city? I'm dying here!"
"You're not dying. And we spent all of our gald on gels and food," Tear explained, "We can't go into a dangerous place unprepared, particularly when we know the God-Generals are waiting for us, and we didn't have that much gald to begin with."
"We w-won't even get to the God-Generals if we d-die of hypothermia on the way there!"
Tear shot her a glare.
"It's a good thing we bought all the winter gear we do have when we were here last time," Guy shrugged.
Luke sighed loudly, barely audible through the thick red collar of his coat, "Man…I wish I could get Father to provide funding for this journey."
Jade laughed at him, "As long as I'm with you, that won't happen."
"Oh yeah…Fa—the Duke hates Malkuthians…He wouldn't be happy about funding anything when a Malkuth soldier's involved."
It was clear by the look on her face that Alex was appalled at herself by the slip-up. It was certainly understandable. If Jade still wasn't completely accustomed to being addressed by the name 'Curtiss' after years, then it was perfectly reasonable for Alex to not be used to referring to the man she used to call 'Father' as 'the Duke' after only a month.
Jade noticed that most of the group was now giving Alex concerned or even pitying looks. And by the annoyed look accompanied by the slight blush on her face (though all their faces were red from the cold), she had noticed too.
"Why couldn't His Majesty fund it?" Alex asked, clearly more to change the subject than anything else, "He and Emperor Peony wanted us to go ahead and do this, you'd think they'd try to help in any way possible."
"Well, yeah," Guy replied, "But wouldn't we have done this anyway even if they didn't want us to? The Outer Lands are in danger and I don't think we would have let them fall…"
"But they do support us; they could help us out a little by giving us the proper funds to stay alive. Without Luke and Tear the Outer Lands would be screwed."
"Not really," Luke replied, "I mean, we need Tear, but Asch would probably be better at this than me."
No one responded, but Guy gave a very audible groan, clearly not wanting to talk about Luke's inferiority complex.
"I'm not sure about Emperor Peony," Natalia finally said, "But the extra funds of our kingdom are going toward those who are homeless, jobless, or those who need support when they lose family in the war. I have recently used parts of my own fund to create more jobs for people in the ports."
"That's reasonable…But none of those people would be there to relieve if we fail, would they?"
There was a pregnant pause.
"Well…" Natalia started thoughtfully, "I suppose we could use the Natalia Fund in cases of emergency."
"You m-mean like wandering around ins-side volcanoes, or w-walking around on extremely d-dangerous frozen mountains looking for God-Generals and possibly dying of hypothermia along the way?" Anise asked, shivering uncontrollably.
"Now, now, Anise," Jade told her with a shrug, "You seem to have forgotten that we could easily be buried in an avalanche as well."
Nobody thought this was particularly funny.
"How would money help us in an avalanche?..." Luke asked no one in particular. No one answered him.
"I'm gonna die here…" Anise muttered, barely heard over the wind.
Alex rolled her eyes and pulled off her long, light purple scarf, holding it out for Anise, "Here. It's not much, but it'll keep you warmer."
Anise looked at it, "A-are you s-sure?"
"Yeah, I think my coat's warmer anyway, and has a higher collar. Plus, it'll hopefully stop your complaining."
Anise shot her a look, but took the scarf gratefully, wrapping it around her own pink one. She covered her mouth with it, and Jade hoped this would silence her complaints. It was hard to act like he was perfectly fine with the snow and cold when someone was complaining about it the entire way.
It didn't stop Anise's shivering, but she seemed a little happier.
They continued walking for a long while in complete silence, until the wind grew harsher as they got higher into the mountain. The howling of the wind sounded more ominous than it had before.
"Is that the wind?..." Luke asked.
"It sounds like a woman crying…" Tear said, looking up at the sky.
"It's kind of scary," Anise said, her voice muffled by the scarves.
The wind did sound a bit like a woman, and hearing it reminded Jade of Professor Nebilim.
"What is it, Jade?" Guy asked. Was he showing that much concern? "Don't tell me you're scared, too?"
"No…" Jade replied, looking up at him. Everyone was now looking at him, and he decided to humor them. "I was just remembering the past."
"The past?" Alex asked him, tilting her head to the side.
Jade chuckled in response, "It's the story about the ghost of a woman who died in these mountains. Would you like to hear it?"
Immediately, Alex and Natalia's eyes lit up in excitement, and Anise, Ion, Guy, and Luke all looked interested.
"Oh, I love those kinds of stories!" Natalia exclaimed, beaming at him.
"S-stop wasting time!" Tear suddenly shouted with her back to them, "Let's go!"
"Huh?" Luke asked as Tear started to walk ahead of them, "Don't tell me…"
Tear turned back to them and glared at Luke, "I'm not scared at all! So let's get going!"
She turned away again and started to walk as everyone else shared a bemused look. Eventually they started to follow her again.
The higher they got into the mountain, the icier it was getting, and in turn, the more everyone was struggling to stay on their feet. Anise had fallen at least three times now, and Natalia and Tear were not having much of an easier time. The others had slipped occasionally, but had managed to catch themselves before they fell.
They had reached the bottom of a very narrow, slanted path on the mountain. On one side of it was the mountain wall, on the other, was a very big fall if any of them were to slip.
"We're going to have to be extra careful here," Jade said, "If we fall, chances are, we'll fall down the mountain side."
Everyone nodded and they made their way in a line up the narrow path. Luke, Guy, and Alex were in front of Jade, the others behind him.
They made it about halfway up the slope when Jade heard the tell-tale cry of Anise losing her balance behind him. She had managed to stay on her feet, but it was still very nerve-wracking. He turned his head back to her, still walking, "Please watch your-Oh!"
The moment he took to turn his gaze from where he was walking had resulted in accidentally stepping on a patch of ice. On instinct, he reached out and ended up grabbing a handful of Luke's coat to keep him upright.
Luke cried out when he felt Jade pulling on his coat, causing him to lose his balance and fall over as well, "Jade! Don't grab my clothes! Gwah!"
"Now, really, Luke. Shouting and falling isn't very admirable, now is-?" Jade stopped short as he witnessed the event he had accidentally caused.
As Luke fell over, he bumped right into Guy, who was taken by surprise by the sudden contact and turned on instinct, falling sideways into Alex, who in turn stumbled and started to fall over the side of the path. Guy instinctively grabbed her hand as she fell, much like he had with Anise in Tataroo Valley, only this time he had ended up falling with her.
Jade's eyes widened in shock as he watched Guy and Alex both fall over the side of the cliff. The others had frozen in place to watch what was happening as well, all of them looking on with wide eyes as it happened. Luke hastily reached out to grab Guy's hand, but came up short, and Jade and the others watched in silent horror as the two of them fell down the mountain side.
At least they hadn't fallen into a chasm, and snow was usually soft. At the very least, they should have survived. It was lucky for them that Guy was carrying the item bag, since neither of their healers had fallen with them.
Well, this was troublesome.
Jade looked over to the others. While the girls and Ion were still staring at the side of the mountain in shock, Luke was looking back at him with a deadpan glare, and he sighed in response.
"I suppose you could argue that this is my fault."
...
"I swear, one of these days I am going to kill that bespectacled bastard," Alex grumbled as she and Guy sat up, brushing snow off of their clothes.
Guy raised an eyebrow at her, "You'd never pull it off."
"…I guess not. I can dream though, can't I?"
Guy laughed, "It doesn't really matter. After this we're going to the Absorption Gate, and then we'll all go our separate ways."
He often wondered what would happen if…No, after they put a stop to Van. He knew he was going to Grand Chokmah with Alex, and that he intended to do his best to restore House Gardios to its former glory, but what then? And what would the others do? Especially Luke, who would probably have a hard time going back to being cooped up in the manor after finding out he's a replica, particularly with Guy and Alex both leaving. Would they see each other that often? It was pretty obvious that they had all become pretty close over the months, but they all had their own lives.
Alex furrowed her brow in thought, "Guy?"
"What's up?"
"Jade lives in Grand Chokmah. If anything he'll probably just start looking for us in the city to antagonize, instead of us just being there all the time like now."
Guy let out a quiet laugh. Jade wouldn't do that…Would he?
"I think he goes out of his way to bug us," Alex said.
"That…wouldn't really surprise me. But I think Jade will have better things to do when this is all over with."
He started to get up, and looked back at Alex when she didn't do the same. She looked troubled by something.
"Alex?"
"…I think I may have broken my ankle."
Guy's heart sank. That…wasn't good. "Are you sure? You don't look like you're in pain."
She tried to move her left foot and winced, "I think the cold's kinda made a numbing effect… But I can't move it, and it does hurt. I don't know if it's broken, but it's a sprain at least. I don't think I'll be able to stand, let alone walk, on it."
Guy sighed and covered his face with his hands, "That's just great."
"Well…At least you're not injured. You could go get the others and-"
Guy uncovered his face and looked at her, eyes wide, "What? And leave you here? Alex, this place is littered with monsters!"
"We haven't seen any monsters so far."
"That doesn't mean they aren't here!"
"And maybe they won't show up for a while if you quiet down. You're going to attract them with your shouting. I think avalanches are our main concern right now anyway."
Guy paused to think of a reply, "I'm not going to leave you here without any way to protect yourself, so you can drop that idea right now."
"Fine," she shrugged. How was she being so calm? Shouldn't she be freaking out too? "Then how do you suppose we regroup? You can't carry me."
Guy sighed and sat back down next to her, ignoring how cold and wet the snow was. "Well…I think I might be able to, actually."
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"No, really. I have been getting better, and think about it: I was able to help Anise in Tataroo Valley, and then I was able to comfort you in Grand Chokmah. I think I can do this. You need help, and no one else is here."
She nodded slowly, "Alright, if you think you can. But before we do anything that includes me moving, you were holding the item bag before we fell, right? I could use an apple gel."
He nodded and started to look around for the bag, as it must have landed a few feet from him, "How are you being so calm about this?"
She shrugged, "Just reminding myself that we could be crushed by an avalanche if I freak out too much, I guess."
Guy rolled his eyes, "That's a comforting thought."
"But it's effective."
Guy continued to search for the bag, which was covered in snow a few feet away from them. He grabbed it when he spotted the dull brown amongst the white and quickly opened it.
"Mieuuuuu… What happened?"
Oh, that's right. Mieu had taken refuge in the item bag.
Mieu floated slowly out of the bag, disoriented from the fall and probably a lack of air. Just as soon as he was out of the bag, the wind started to push him away. Guy grabbed him before he was blown out of reach.
"Oh, it's not really that bad," Alex explained to the cheagle as she took the item bag from Guy and began digging through it for some gels, "We just fell down a mountain side and got separated from the rest of the group, I sprained my ankle, and now Guy's going to carry me and try to find the others. We'll be fine."
"It almost disturbs me that that wasn't said with sarcasm."
She smiled, but didn't say anything as she went to applying the red gel to her now-exposed, rapidly swelling ankle. Its swelling went down a fair bit and she sighed in relief before quickly covering it up again, before it was exposed to the cold for too long, wincing slightly as she put her boot back on.
"It feels a bit better, but I still don't think I'll be able to walk on it. I'll need Tear or Natalia to actually heal it."
Guy handed her Mieu and got to his feet before stooping to pick her up. He really was getting better at being around women, but he still hesitated slightly before picking her up, having to remind himself that she needed his help.
"Hold on," she said suddenly as he began to walk with her in his arms.
"What is it?"
"You won't be able to fight off any monsters if you're carrying me."
Guy thought about this for a moment, "We'll make it work."
"I can be a lookout!" Mieu squeaked from Alex's arms, just loud enough to be heard over the wind, "I can sense monsters, so you'll have enough time to put Alex down and prepare to fight that way if we get attacked!"
That was probably the best plan, "Alright then, we're counting on you, Mieu."
"Of course!" the fur ball squeaked, "I'm worried about Master! And he'd be upset if you didn't make it back to him."
Guy chose to ignore that last little bit. He didn't want to think about that right now.
"How do you expect to protect me if we do get attacked by a group of monsters?" Alex asked, "I won't be able to help you."
Guy hesitated, "…I'll figure something out."
"What if we run into the God-Generals before we find the others?"
Again, he hesitated. That definitely wouldn't go well. "We'll be fine. Just like you said before."
They were all quiet for a while as Guy trudged up the mountain. There were no signs of monsters so far, and he was happy about that. He honestly had no idea how it would work if he ended up having to fight off any monsters by himself. Ion had said that they were strong enough to seriously injure the God-Generals.
"I don't think I like snow anymore."
Guy couldn't help but smile at her comment, "Come on, you loved winter back in Baticul." He had many memories of snowball fights and snowmen building and laughter to prove it.
"Well yeah, but that was because snow was pretty rare in Baticul. And it melted pretty quickly. Here though it's kind of permanent. And there's way too much! I don't think anybody can go through this mountain and come out still liking snow."
Guy laughed, "Yeah, alright. I guess that makes sense."
"Does it snow much in Grand Chokmah?"
"How would you expect me to know? I've never lived there."
"But I thought you liked reading about vacation spots?" Alex asked him with a smirk.
He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. Had he really used that excuse that often when covering up about being from Hod? Thinking back, yeah. He had. "Touché… Well, Grand Chokmah's located right beside an ocean, and there's water all around the city. The ocean's warmer than lakes so it'll snow less. But there'll be a lot of rain."
"Oh. Okay."
"You're not actually interested in this, are you?"
"No, not really… Well, I mean, it's good to know for later. Time'll just go by faster if we talk instead of being quiet all the time."
"Umm, Guy?" Mieu squeaked, his ears perking up slightly and worry shining in his big eyes.
Guy already knew what he was going to say before he asked, "What is it, Mieu?"
"A monster's coming. And it's really big!"
Well damn. That definitely was not good news.
"Guy?" Alex asked, worry in her voice.
"Hold on," Guy replied, looking in every direction for a place to hide. Why was everything so white?
He spotted a bit of grey amongst the white and made his way over to it, not remotely happy about hearing the sounds of growling growing closer to them. He hastily put Alex and Mieu down and stood up again, drawing his sword.
"Stay here," he told her as he slowly approached the area loud footsteps were coming from, not that she had a lot of choice with her ankle. He needed to get away from her so she wouldn't be brought into the battle, but he also needed her to stay in his sight. She didn't look too pleased about Guy going into battle alone with the poor conditions the snow caused, but there was nothing else they could do.
It was difficult for him to see the thing since it blended in so well with the snow, if it weren't for the patches of orange fur on its arms and legs accompanied with the sound of its footsteps, he never would have seen it come at him and start to swipe at him from the side.
He raised his sword just in time to protect himself from the claws of the beast, but the force still knocked him off his feet and he was thrown a few feet to the side.
"Guy!"
He got to his feet with some difficulty, and looked up to see the yeti making its way toward Alex and Mieu. Her calling his name when he was hit had most likely attracted its attention. The cheagle was in Alex's arms, attempting to ward the monster off by breathing fire at it as Alex slowly inched backward, trying to get away from the thing. The fire seemed to be working, but Mieu could only keep breathing fire for so long.
Guy darted toward them, just as Mieu's fire stopped, and the enraged beast raised his clawed paw over his head and prepared to slash at them. Alex drew her sword and prepared to try and deflect the blow, just as Guy rushed in front of her and did the same, closing his eyes and preparing himself for the impact.
It never came.
Instead he heard the strangled cry of the yeti and the the sound of its flesh being torn. He opened one eye and looked up at the yeti's face, which was contorted in pain. Its arms fell limply to its sides and Guy saw blood dripping fast and thick onto the snow behind it. It was definitely a blade that had cut it.
He was just about to thank whoever had just saved them, expecting it to be Luke, when the monster keeled over and revealed Largo instead, the black and red of his uniform standing out in the snow, holding his giant scythe over his shoulder with the blade covered in the yeti's blood. He froze, not knowing what to do or say as Largo looked at them.
"Largo!" Arietta cried, appearing from behind the giant man, "He was just protecting his territory! Why did you kill him?"
"It had to be done, Arietta," Legretta explained as she walked over to them, "The Commandant would be unimpressed if we let a monster kill two Hod survivors before we got the chance to talk to them."
"I could have talked to him…" Arietta said, looking sadly at the bloodied corpse of the monster.
"Let's cut to the chase," Largo said, looking at Guy, "The Commandant has decided to give you another chance to join us. It works out in our favor that you were separated from the rest of your group."
"I've already had this discussion with Van," Guy replied, holding Largo's gaze, "I'm no longer interested in going along with his plans."
"I see," Legretta replied, she turned her gaze to Alex, who was looking very much like she did not want to be there, "And you?"
Alex shook her head, "I'm not interested."
Legretta looked at her for a moment, "This truly is unfortunate. The Commandant had wanted you both to see the new world, along with Tear. We won't be holding back this time."
"But they're Hod survivors," Arietta said as quietly as possible where she could still be heard over the wind, hugging her strange doll to her chest, "Van wanted them kept alive. And Garcia would be upset if we killed her sister."
"Garcia has been distanced from the God-Generals for a reason," Legretta told her, not moving her gaze from Alex. Guy got the feeling she wasn't particularly fond of Isabell.
"But I like Garcia," Arietta said, hugging her doll closer, "She was always kind to me..."
Legretta paused to look at her for a moment, her stern gaze faltering slightly, "Are these not the people who killed your mother?"
Arietta shook her head, "No. My liger friends told me it was Luke, Tear, and that Malkuth Colonel who killed Mommy Liger." She paused and nodded toward Mieu, "But that cheagle did burn down Mommy's home, so I don't like him."
Guy saw Mieu's ears droop in Alex's arms at the comment from the corner of his eye. Honestly, he was hoping Arietta would protest more, the others might find them before the whole situation went from seriously bad to worse.
Legretta sighed, "Arietta, Hod survivors or not, these people are against the Commandant. They're our enemies, we have no choice."
Arietta looked at Alex, "But can't we wait until their friends get here? She's injured, so it wouldn't be fair to fight three against one."
They both looked at her, and Legretta finally replied, "It'll be easier to take care of them when they're separated."
"It doesn't do well for my pride to attack a girl incapable of protecting herself," Largo said grimly, looking at Alex.
Legretta looked at him sternly for a moment, "You two are far too soft. I won't stand for it if your pride costs the Commandant his goal."
"I don't intend to lose this time," Largo replied as Legretta walked over to Alex, who looked nothing short of terrified of being approached by the God-General when she was unable to protect herself. Guy got up and started moving toward her, ignoring the aches all over his body, but stopped shot when Legretta knelt down next Alex and inspected her ankle. Was she seriously about to heal her?
"O healing power… First aid."
Apparently so. Alex slowly stood up, testing her ankle out. She looked up at Legretta as she walked over to Guy, Mieu staying behind and retreating into the item bag. "I'm not going to thank you for that."
"I never wanted you to," she replied, pulling out her guns, "I trust three against two is more your taste, Arietta?"
She looked a little reluctant at first, but nodded.
"Then let's begin."
Without any sign of warning, Largo swiped at them with his scythe; they only just jumped out of the way in time. Arietta immediately set to casting, as did Legretta. The conditions were too bad for her to aim properly with her guns, and since Alex and Guy were so close to Largo she ran the risk of hitting him.
Largo was too big for them to get around, and they couldn't get to either of the casters to distract them. He was more than enough to hold off both Guy and Alex. Things weren't looking good. Largo slashed at them again, and this time they weren't as lucky. Alex was thrown backwards by the force, landing a few feet away, and the blade of his scythe managed to slice open Guy's arm.
Guy swore as he dropped his scabbard and his hand went to his wound.
Yeah, things definitely weren't looking good.
"O hellion whose roar chills the very soul-Aah!"
Arietta was cut off in her casting as Anise came crashing into the scene on Tokunaga, using the doll's arm to swipe at the small girl and send her flying a few feet into the air. At the same time, one of Tear's throwing knives was flying toward Legretta, successfully distracting her from casting despite the fact that the knife had been blocked by one of her guns.
"Fon Master!" Arietta cried, getting to her feet as she noticed Ion approaching the battle with the others, "Please don't get in the way!"
"Arietta," Ion replied, giving her a sad look. Guy knew he was about to tell her the truth, "I'm-"
"Ion, stop!" Anise cried as she moved Tokunaga to stand right in front of him, "There's no need to tell stupid Arietta! Some things are better left unknown."
Arietta gave them a confused look, before Legretta spoke, aiming her guns at Tear, "Tear, stop sacrificing yourself. Is this word really worth that much?"
"I cannot follow my brother's extreme view," Tear replied as she began to heal Guy. He welcomed the feeling of relief as his arm was healed, along with the bruises both falling, and the attack from that yeti had given him. When she was finished, she stood up and looked at Legretta, "It frustrates me that I can't stop him, but I look down on you more for not even trying."
Legretta looked hurt by Tear's word at first, then replaced the look on her face with one of determination, "…Then I won't hold back any longer. We will eliminate those who oppose the Commandant!"
Natalia prepared herself for battle and shot an arrow at Largo, the projectile barely missing his head.
"How about you go back to your castle and behave yourself, Princess?" Largo asked.
"Do not insult me," she replied with a glare, bowing another arrow, "I have a duty to see everything through on behalf of my father."
Largo raised an eyebrow at her, "Your 'father', huh? No matter. If we can't convince you, then we'll stop you by force!"
After the words were out of his mouth, complete chaos was unleashed.
Anise focused on Arietta, attacking her with Tokunaga every time she attempted to start casting. Jade and Tear set to casting, Alex and Guy continued to hold off Largo since they were already close to him, and Natalia and Luke held off Legretta, Natalia going from healing and support casting to shooting an arrow every now and then to prevent Legretta from casting any healing artes when Luke was having a hard time.
Eventually Legretta gave up on casting, and started to shoot at Tear and Jade, distracting them instead. The sounds of her guns firing was deafening, even with the loud wind, and it was a wonder she hadn't caused an avalanche yet. It got Guy wondering whether or not she was trying to cause an avalanche, since she didn't seem to be trying that hard to hit Tear or Jade. She continued to shoot even while expertly dodging Luke's blade and Natalia's arrows.
As that went on, Largo managed to shake off Guy and Alex and headed straight for Anise instead, swiping at Tokunaga and ripping open his chest before slamming Anise away from Arietta, who immediately started to cast again. Alex started to run to the girl to prevent her from casting, but was cut off by Largo yet again, so Guy ran at Arietta from a different angle instead. He was slightly reluctant to hurt her after she was reluctant to fight Guy and Alex before, but he had no choice.
But by the time he'd reached her, it was too late.
She screamed, "Bloody Howling!" just as Jade shouted "Flare Tornado!"
Guy was cut off by the flames surrounding the pink-haired girl and Largo, as Anise shrunk Tokunaga and moved, a red, black, and purple, vortex of blades appearing where she just was.
All of that happened in the span of about a two minutes.
As the spells effects started to fade, the ground started to shake violently, and everyone stopped what they were doing.
Everything was happening so fast, and all Guy was aware of was the loud rumbling and shaking of the ground below, mixed together with everyone's screams. He felt the snow beneath his feet start to move and he fell over, not even having the time to really process what was happening.
And then everything was black.